Serial Entrepreneur: Manoj Saxena (Part 1)

Our Serial Entreprenuer series continues with a fascinating interview with Manoj Saxena. In this first segment we explore his background up to the point of his first venture. SM: Where did you grow up? MS: I grew up in India. A city called Hyderabad most of my life and then we were down in Bombay.

Serial Entrepreneur: Peng Ong (Part 5)

SM: Have you read any of my writings on the entrepreneurship in India? PO: Yes I have, and we have talked some on this. What are you referring to specifically? SM: Well I did a series under the title of Concept Arbitrage. If you look at Indian entrepreneurship right now there is a huge amount

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Serial Entrepreneur: Peng Ong (Part 4)

After founding Interwoven, Peng Ong become involved in some unique projects with the government of Singapore and even tried retiring. However, he discovered he still had a passion for entreprenuership and founded his next company, Encentuate. We also gain some insight into his future goals. SM: After Interwoven did you found Encentuate right away, or

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Serial Entrepreneur: Peng Ong (Part 3)

We continue our interview with Peng Ong and talk about his next venture, Interwoven. Here Peng addresses some very interesting topics and his personal philosophy on risk. SM: So tell us the story of Interwoven. You put in your own money? PO: I think the interesting thing if you look at my career, usually the

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Serial Entrepreneur: Peng Ong (Part 2)

Previously, we discussed Peng Ong and his background. Today we begin to explore his first true entrepreneurial venture, Electric Classifieds, which spawned the creation of Match.com, the worlds largest online dating service. SM: How long was match.com? PO: I spent probably a total of less than a year totally active there. SM: So you were

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Serial Entrepreneur: Peng Ong (Part 1)

Here is an interview with Peng Ong, the first in a new Serial Entrepreneurial series. This series will highlight those entrepreneurs who have repeatedly been able to come up with innovative ideas for new ventures, been successful in their endeavors, and also failed, but most importantly, have taken in their stride a certain way of

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Powerpoint Financing

Here’s an article from today’s New York Times on how entrepreneurs are shunning venture capital, and choosing to bootstrap their companies. While that is a very good strategy for web 2.0 plays where very little money is needed, and a 12-18 month exit is in the cards, is it necessarily the right strategy for all

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Microcap: Shvoong

Google acquires Jotspot, Wired (CondeNast) acquires Reddit. These are companies that have achieved exit with little investment. [Jotspot raised one round of funding in 2004 for $5.2 million from Redpoint Ventures and Mayfield Funds. Joe Krause frequently points out that it cost only $100,000 to get Jotspot to market.] Reddit, it appears, did it for

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