There is a controversy brewing in the world of government grant money to start-ups that is trickling into the VC community. The Small Business Association (SBA) of the US government administers Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) provides grants to small businesses (defined as fewer than 500 employees) to the […]
There is no denying that our Boston is a winning town. Since last year, John Henry’s Red Sox won another World Series title… we are now leading the Yankees 2-0 in world championships during this Millennium, the Patriots were one Asante Samuel missed interception away from winning another Super Bowl and Red Auerbach’s smoky ghost […]
Anyone following the open source phenomenon can’t help but be amazed at what appears to be volunteerism on a massive scale for corporate gain. Almost every company in the world has some strands of open source code floating around their company. Whether it is the Linux operating system, Apache web server, the IP protocol or […]
Fareed Zakaria’s new book on post-American world order is a fascinating read. I won’t speak to the political ramifications of the new world order that Zakaria outlines, but I was struck by the one important element of America’s lingering contribution to the world that he seems to have missed: entrepreneurship. In an era where the […]
I never thought I would be channeling Spiro Agnew. After all, didn’t this Nixon V.P. resign disgracefully in the face of tax fraud charges? Yet, he is also known for a few choice turns of phrase. He didn’t mince words calling his administration’s enemies, “hopeless, hysterical hypochondriacs of history” and the anti-war movement, “effete corps […]
Ask any consumer start-up what their biggest obstacle to growth is and it’s likely you’ll get a consistent but surprising answer: I simply can’t find enough SEM/SEO talent. It’s not a shortage of programmers that are hindering start-up growth (much of the coding talent is being provided by offshore developers anyway), but rather the talent […]
I previously posted an article called “Why Start-up Lawyers Frustrate Me.” In only my 4th post on my new blog, I managed to piss off nearly every friend I have who works for a major law firm. There has been a ton of press and I think my IT guy is ready to shut off […]
Last week I read some startling statistics on layoffs in a number of industries. The numbers are for cutbacks or RIF’s since October 2007: 83,000 banking industry jobs 23,000 automotive industry jobs 22,000 airline industry jobs 11,000 hospitality industry jobs That’s over 125,000 jobs lost in just four industries in the past ¾ of a […]
I’ve decided to start a series of posts called “Why Xs Frustrate Me.” Today, X = Venture Lawyers. In future posts, X will equal academics, entrepreneurs, accountants, venture capitalists, drummers, the patent ecosystem and other targets of my affection. Given that I used to be a start-up lawyer and that even today more than half […]
Some say it’s “in the air.” In a recent New Yorker article by that name, Malcolm Gladwell reports that numerous inventions were actually simultaneously contemplated in parallel, but unknown to each other, undertakings. Other inventions were under-discovered until the right champion came along. In a far more startling observation, he reports of the efforts by […]