Entrepreneurship Archives - Fabrice Grinda

Entrepreneurship

FJ LABS 2018 Year in Review

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A framework for making important decisions: Step 2/4

The process of putting your thoughts on paper is useful as it crystalizes your thinking and may allow your subconscious mind to come up with the right answer in the days, weeks and months following yo...

A framework for making important decisions: Step 1/4

In life there seems to be a pretty clear default path in terms of societal, parental and personal expectations: go to college, get a job, get married, have kids. In addition to the default general pat...

Great Interview & Podcast in Forbes with Alejandro Cremades

I had the pleasure of running into Alejandro Cremades at the latest Founders Forum in New York. As luck would have it, he had prepared the angel investor ranking for Forbes where I was named #1. He wa...

Far ranging and fun podcast with Meb Faber

I had the pleasure of chatting with Meb Faber, co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management. He normally covers public market investing which led to a fun conversation ...

Forbes just named me the #1 angel investor in the world :)

They counted publicly recorded investments and exits to make their ranking. Admittedly they are not the best metrics. Number of investments only shows how prolific I am, not how good an investor I am...

Fabrice Grinda: Lay Out The Options

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Alex Grodnik of WallStreetOasis about how I make important decisions in life. You can find the podcast embedded below. ...

Lessons Learned Building Online Marketplaces

I had the pleasure of being invited to be the closing keynote speaker at the Global Online Marketplaces Summit in Miami. I presented how FJ Labs evaluates marketplaces we invest in or build. I discuss...

Better lucky than good!

FJ Labs just had its best exit ever with Zynga’s acquisition of Gram Games for $250 million, yielding a 75x multiple in cash upfront, not including escrow and earnout payments to be made over the ne...

Fun podcast in French covering my nerdy youth and much more!

I had the pleasure of chatting with Matthieu Stefani about my origin story as a young Sheldon Cooper :) iOS users should download episode 32 in the app store. ...

Fun “Ask Me Anything” conversation with Heidi Moore

We covered everything and anything: autonomous cars, crypto, hot trends, failures and much more! [embed]https://www.facebook.com/FrenchTechNYC/videos/1556319941336043/[/embed]...

The Thesis Fabrice Grinda & FJ Labs Use To Invest in 1–2 Startups Per Week

42 Questions is a YouTube series exploring options for startups seeking venture capital funding. We interview leading active VCs from around the world, who share advice and shed light on their prefe...

42 Questions – Fabrice Grinda’s Path into VC

Quick and fun interview by Sean O’Sullivan about how I became a venture investor. [embed]https://youtu.be/0YgnnVBV6WE[/embed]...

How I was hacked, and all my cryptocurrencies were stolen!

Because I started playing with cryptocurrencies as a hobby years ago, and for a long time they were not worth much of anything (read Some thoughts on cryptocurrencies), it did not occur to me to treat...

42 Questions with Fabrice Grinda of FJ Labs

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by the amazing Sean O'Sullivan about FJ Labs. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q39AFKg_HdU&feature=youtu.be[/embed]...

Some thoughts on Bitcoin energy consumption

By Eric Denovitzer The rising popularity1 and price in Bitcoin has been accompanied by widespread criticism of the amount of energy used by miners of the network. Often cited by critics is the fac...

FJ Labs 2017 Year in Review

FJ Labs continued to rock. In 2017, the team grew to 14 people. We deployed $35 million. We made 89 investments, 54 first time investments and 35 follow-on investments. We had 18 exits, 8 successful e...

Some thoughts on cryptocurrencies

To anyone living in the West the purpose of Bitcoin and the blockchain can seem opaque because we have functioning legal systems, rule of law, no capital controls and respect for property rights. Howe...

BPI Keynote: Let’s build a better future

We are extraordinarily privileged to reside in a developed country at the beginning of the 21st century. We are living in the most prosperous and peaceful time in the history of humanity. In 1800 no c...

Keynote BPI : Construisons un meilleur avenir

Nous sommes extraordinairement privilégiés d’habiter dans un pays développé au début du 21ème siècle. Nous vivons dans l’ère la plus prospère et paisible de l’histoire de l’humanité....

Eve: from launch to IPO in 31 months!

FJ Labs is mostly a marketplace venture investor and startup studio. However, a few years ago, we had a secondary thesis of investing in and building vertically integrated online brands. It makes perf...

Venture Capitalists: change your life with Kushim

by Clément Aglietta Imagine how difficult it was for an empire to keep track of the birth rate, the size of harvests or the spoils from a conquest, with no writing system. In this era, certain...

Interview with Whats Up New York BFMTV!

What's Up New York: Zoom sur un business angel multimillionnaire - 15/03 Fabrice Grinda, entrepreneur et business angel, était l'invité de Sabrina Quagliozzi, correspondante de BFM Business à ...

FJ Labs 2016 Year in Review

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NOAH 2016 Keynote: Confessions of an Accidental Angel

I had the privilege of giving a keynote at NOAH. I shared FJ Labs’ vision and unconventional approach and some contrarian thoughts on AI, VR, drones and much more. You can also find...

Apparently I am the top French business angel of 2016!

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Grit, Perseverance, and Happenstance: The Genesis of our Apprenticeship Program

Most of you are not aware that FJ Labs has an apprenticeship program. The program has been fantastic. The apprentices have created extraordinary companies, including AdoreMe and Beepi. They have helpe...

The Next Evolution: AI-Powered Marketplaces

By Güimar Vaca Sittic and Fabrice Grinda Online marketplaces are fascinating. Matching demand and supply seems mundane, but it takes a lot of work to actually make it happen. As we pointed out befo...

Donald Trump: The Startup Disrupting the GOP Establishment

by Fabrice Grinda and Mike Lloyd Many people have been amazed at the support that Donald Trump has been able to amass since he threw his red “Make America Great Again” hat into the ring to be the...

FJ LABS 2015 Investment Year in Review

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Macro perspective: The startup party is far from over!

Hang around venture capitalists in Silicon Valley and a clear sense of fear pervades the air. The main topic of conversation these days seems to be of humbled or fallen unicorns. Many are writing down...

Fun Interview on The Twenty Minute VC

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Harry Stebbings of The Twenty Minute VC. You can find the interviews on iTunes at http://bitly/thetwentyminutevc and on the Web at: http://www.thetwentymi...

Asset prices are more sensitive to very low interest rates than most suspect

Global interest rates are now at historical lows. Conversely we are seeing record prices for asset prices be they share prices of listed companies, privately held Internet startups, art, collectible c...

Apparently I am the second most prolific French angel!

It’s funny. I never set out to be an angel investor. If you are a visible entrepreneur, you get approached by other entrepreneurs in need of advice and capital. I loved helping out and kind of fell ...

Fun Discussion with Dave McClure at PreMONEY Miami

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I failed my way to success!

I wanted to share a fun interview I gave to JobSpotting. They kindly allowed me to reproduce it on my blog. You can find the original at: http://journal.jobspotting.com/en/fabrice-grinda-i-failed-my-w...

2015 Venture Investing Update

It’s been a while since I posted a missive on our venture investments and I felt it was long overdue given the fundamental changes we’ve made to our strategy. We are now investors in a mind-boggli...

Marketplace Breakfast

As we scaled up our operations, Jose and I more pro-actively assist our portfolio companies. We now help them fundraise, share best practices and do business development deals with each other. One of...

Building Marketplaces

I gave a few speeches last year on building marketplaces. I covered the evolution of marketplaces, what it takes to build successful vertical marketplaces, marketplace design, how to growth hack liqui...

FIAF Interview

I was interviewed by Jean-Christian Agid for the FIAF event last December. We talked about everything and anything: the nature of entrepreneurship, life philosophy, the importance of culture in our li...

Great Interview with La Tribune

La Tribune just published an interview where we discuss the nature of entrepreneurship, the necessity of failing in order to succeed and my current thinking about marketplaces. It’s a very flatteri...

2014 Investment Year in Review

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FIAF Pilier d’Or Acceptance Speech

It was an honor to be awarded the Pilier d’Or by the FIAF on December 5 at the Plaza. Receiving the award was the culmination of an extraordinary year. In the FIAF’s words: “The Pilier d'Or re...

Fun interview on BFMTV

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Sabrina Quagliozzi on BFMTV. In this two part interview we covered both my year in review and discussed the latest trends in the Internet startup world. My ...

Silicon Cabarete MVP

It is common knowledge that it’s unwise to fight Russia in the winter. As such, I have been trying to convince my programmers in Ukraine (and Romania) to move to Cabarete. The setting and quality o...

Yahoo to acquire Brightroll for $640 million in cash!

Sometimes you just bet on people. I mostly invest in consumer facing startups, especially marketplaces. However, in July 2006, my good friend Auren Hoffman introduced me to Tod Sacerdoti who was CEO...

One Step Closer To Streamlining the Car Buying and Selling Process

As an entrepreneur and investor, I am fortunate enough to collaborate with startups on a regular basis, learning about their ambitions and plans to shake up their respective industries. In my previous...

The Case for New York

I was recently invited to give a keynote at the French Touch conference in New York. Using some of the analysis provided by my friend Nick Beim at Venrock, I showed that New York is now the second lar...

The used car buying and selling process is broken and we are going to fix it!

The used car industry is massive. There are 40 million used cars sold per year in the US representing $320 billion in value and $70 billion in industry revenues. The average household buys a $8,000 u...

My first interview in Spanish!

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Emprendedor Universal … in Spanish! They asked me to relate my entrepreneurial journey, focusing on the challenges I faced along the way. I also shared wha...

Fantastic presentation on customer acquisition

My good friend Saar Gur who is a general partner at Charles River Ventures just posted a brilliant presentation on customer acquisition. He explains that most startups fail because they don’t acquir...

The Case for Optimism

We live in difficult times. Financial crisis, sovereign debt crisis, euro crisis, Syrian conflict, global warming. We are bombarded nonstop with despairing news. In Europe, the mood is morose and the ...

Video of my LeWeb Keynote: The Case for Optimism

Last year I finally resolved my internal cognitive dissonance between my profound optimism about humanity and my pessimism about the near term economic outlook in the West. It’s ultimately hard to b...

Slides from my LeWeb Keynote: The Case for Optimism

Fabrice Grinda at LeWeb 2013: The Case for Optimism from Fabrice Grinda ...

LeWeb 2013 Interview of Arnaud Montebourg

Loic Lemeur asked Jeff Clavier and me to react to Arnaud Montebourg’s presentation at LeWeb and ask him a few questions. I suggested France might adopt some measures that would make the economy mo...

Fun interview at LeWeb 2013

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Philippe Guerrier whom I had the pleasure of knowing during the crazy Internet bubble days of the late 1990s. We talked about what I have been up to since I ...

Business Code: Ces Francais qui ont conquis New York

I had the pleasure of being followed for a few days by Business Code who decided to share my New York adventures with budding entrepreneurs in France. It also illustrates my life post The Very Big Dow...

Why we play Moneyball rather than Powerball

I was reading The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande which shows the efficacy of checklists in complex situations. It resonated with me, because Jose & I use a checklist as part of our angel investin...

Delusional optimism can go a long way!

As I have repeatedly observed both as an entrepreneur and angel investor if you believe in something strongly enough and fight for it beyond what most would consider reasonable, you can typically achi...

Absolute must read for all entrepreneurs!

James Altucher just published on Techcrunch a 100 point FAQ on starting an Internet business. It’s straight to the point and very clear. I basically agree with every point! All entrepreneurs should...

How to launch your startup

Paul Graham just published yet another must read blog post. This one is entitled Do Things that Don’t Scale. It’s essentially a how-to guide on launching your startup. He suggests eschewing the tr...

Fun interview with The Next Women

I had the pleasure of having a fun and engaging conversation with Beth from The Next Women. We covered a wide range of topics: What I have been up to since I left OLX How investing in Latin America d...

Am I ambitious enough?

I have been wondering of late if my rational heuristic driven approach to business selection is making me under reach. I feel I have been building and investing in reasonably “small projects” in t...

The class notes from Peter Thiel’s Stanford class are a must read for all entrepreneurs

I just finished reading through all of them and found them very insightful. Some sections are useful to aspiring entrepreneurs as they cover the basics of financing, vesting, etc. Most sections are us...

Great inspirational video by Michael Marantz

The Future is Ours! ...

Raising money from VCs is just like dating!

The first two times I raised VC money, until success simplified things, it occurred to me how the process really mimics real world dating. Observing many other entrepreneurs similarly struggling with ...

Just do it!

With every day it becomes ever more apparent that Nike and Edison were right: genius is in the execution and not the idea. I don’t particularly like GoDaddy, but their latest ad is right on. ...

Bloomberg TV Interview about my angel investing heuristics

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Erik Schatzker on Market Makers. We discussed why we would have passed on Facebook, Google and Pinterest at seed and the processes we use to maximize our hit...

First Round Capital's Holiday Video is Amazing!

Their portfolio is not too bad either :) ...

Why I am leaving OLX

I decided to relinquish my position as Co-CEO of OLX. My partner Alec is staying as CEO. Given how much of my life and soul I poured in the company and the many friends I have working there, I did not...

Bloomberg TV interview about investing in frontier countries

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Deidre Bolton on Bloomberg TV. We discussed the vagaries of investing in emerging markets. What was not discussed but is worth mentioning is how I ended up i...

Further evidence suggesting consumer Internet series A financings are more difficult to come by

Fred Wilson just wrote an article, What Has Changed, in which he confirms the observation I made in a recent post (And then there were 100…) that Series A funding rounds are harder to obtain for con...

My IDCEE Keynote

I attempt to share the lessons I learned operating and angel investing in emerging markets. ...

And then there were a 100…

Given the pace at which Jose and I have been angel investing, it’s not surprising we have now invested in 100 startups! Pitzi, the Assurion of Brazil, takes the prize for being the 100th startup! In...

Is this the most honest interview ever?

At the very least it’s my most honest and intimate interview ever. Unfortunately for you, dear reader, it is also my longest interview ever. The interview is far ranging and covers a variety of topi...

If it's in the press it must be true :)

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by CNBC. The interview consisted of some pretty open-ended questions about innovation and entrepreneurship, their role in society and the global economy, and th...

Why we won’t invest in Pinterest clones

In the past few months, we’ve been approached by almost 10 companies who want to be the Pinterest for some foreign country. As you well know, we like investing in copies of established ideas and tak...

Entrepreneur quote of the day: "I VIP!"

Me: Long time no speak. How are you? Him: I VIP! Me: ?????? Him: I Vest in Peace! ...

What is it like to be on the cover of the New York Observer? :)

VentureVillage did a quick and fun interview following last week’s fun profile of me in the New York Observer: VV. Any strange feedback to The Observer article? Grinda. I thought people would ask ...

They did a fun profile of me in this week’s New York Observer

Adrienne Jeffries, the reporter, did a very thorough job. She interviewed many of the CEOs whose companies I backed and many of my close friends for a portrait that I find, in all objectivity of cours...

Very detailed interview about the emerging markets Internet craze

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by memeburn a few weeks ago. Topics included the following: which emerging markets are most attractive, why tech clusters are no longer required to create succe...

Fantastic Startup Launch Video

I have not seen the deck or met the entrepreneur. I have no idea what the gross margins are and how big this can get, but the launch video is brilliant! Clear, simple and funny! ...

What people think entrepreneurs do

Sounds about right:) ...

LeWeb 2011: The Trials and Tribulations of Angel Investing in Brazil, Russia and around the World!

I had the great pleasure of being invited to give a keynote at LeWeb 2011 on angel investing in Brazil, Russia and around the world! I really enjoyed the fireside chat I had with Loic Lemeur at LeWeb ...

Very detailed interview about everything I learned as an entrepreneur and business angel

For the French speakers among you: http://www.itespresso.fr/fievre-de-start-up-fabrice-grinda-toujours-essayer-jusqua-trouver-ce-qui-marche-le-mieux-44612.html...

The Ultimate Startup: Creating a New Country

My good friend Auren Hoffman posited that existing nation states would benefit from a little bit of creative destruction and competition to maximize the welfare of their “customers“: http://blog.s...

I just uploaded the Envoye Special video

In case you missed it when it first aired, you can watch it on the original blog post: Envoye Special Sequel: Conquering the Web, 11 Years Later...

Angel Investing Secrets

A few weeks ago, I was invited to give a keynote speech at La Red Innova in Madrid. La Red Innova is the premier Spanish and Latin American tech conference. As I have given a few keynotes on entrepren...

Cameron Rules, Sarkozy Sucks!

Over the last two weeks I had the pleasure of attending the eG8 Summit in Paris at the invitation of French President Nicolas Sarkozy and being invited to tea with David Cameron, the Prime Minister of...

The Entrepreneur vs. The Strategy Consultant

My good friend Auren Hoffman just wrote a great article on the difference between entrepreneurs and McKinsey-type strategy consultants. Read it at: http://blog.summation.net/2011/02/entrepreneur.html...

Envoye Special Sequel: Conquering the Web, 11 Years Later

Envoye Special just aired the sequel to the show from 11 years ago that I mentioned in the previous blog post. In this flattering portrait, they follow me around New York and Buenos Aires as I run OL...

Flashback: Aucland TV Coverage

Remy Debrant who managed all the PR for Aucland during the bubble days managed to dig up this great TV coverage on Aucland. If you are dying to hear what I sounded like 11 years ago or just to see wha...

BFM Business Interview

Last Friday BFM Business interviewed me in French in front of Nasdaq to get the latest news on OLX. I am embedding it below for your viewing pleasure. ...

The Ricther Scales should update “Here Comes Another Bubble”

I posted the video when it first came out in 2007 and watched it again this morning and it feels much more relevant today than it did then. It might not be a bubble yet, but the environment is definit...

Lessons of a super tenacious first time entrepreneur

Read this amazing article by my good friend Xenios Thrasyvoulou, the Founder & CEO of Peopleperhour, one of my portfolio companies. He recalls his amazing journey in entrepreneurship and all the lesso...

Fabrice Grinda, serial entrepreneur

Elizabeth Treussard from French Morning New York just wrote a nice article on my adventures. French speakers can check it out at: http://frenchmorning.com/ny/2011/03/22/fabrice-grinda-serial-entrepre...

A SuperAngel’s Investment Guide

In recent years I came to realize how much I truly love angel investing: I get to meet tons of young new entrepreneurs, I get to see and hear the newest developments in the market, and I get to partic...

Interview on OLX, Angel Investing, Entrepreneurship and Life

I had the pleasure of being interviewed by Marie Rufo from CapeCalm. In the first part of the interview we talked about OLX and angel investing. In the second part of the interview we spoke about ...

Emerce eDay Keynote Speech

I had the pleasure of being invited to give a keynote at Emerce eDay last September. I already posted the video of the fun interview which took place after the keynote, but it took me a while to get t...

Should you raise money from VCs? If so, how should you pick your VC?

It has become part of the conventional entrepreneur wisdom that you should raise an angel round, then a first VC round followed by a few more before taking the company public, selling to a strategic o...

The Secret History of Silicon Valley

Great Google Tech Talk by Steve Blank on the military origins of Silicon Valley. ...

Angelgate is overblown!

I like a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy and some of the Hitler Angelgate parodies are really funny, but the alleged attempted collusion is a nonissue if only because even if the super ...

Just Manic Enough: Seeking Perfect Entrepreneurs

I had written about how America’s success might be because America’s entrepreneurs are hypomanics (Hypomanics to the rescue :)). The New York Times just wrote a great article on hypomanic entrepr...

Great eDay Interview

I was just a keynote speaker at Emerce eDay in Rotterdam. I shared some of the lessons I learned over the years as an entrepreneur, I explained why I love OLX so much and gave pointers on running a gl...

What to do with your millions

One of the wonders of entrepreneurship is that sometimes we can get lucky and make millions. Paul Buchheit wrote a good article on what to do when that happens. His advice is very practical and covers...

Great article on the future of startup funding: Founders vs. Angels vs. VCs!

Paul Graham wrote another great article on the future of startup funding. Read it at: www.paulgraham.com/future.html...

Great article on what happened to Yahoo

Paul Graham just wrote another fantastic article, this time covering what happened to Yahoo. Read it at: www.paulgraham.com/yahoo.html ...

Google just acquired Lab Pixies, one of my portfolio companies!

I am glad to report that Google just acquired Lab Pixies, one of my portfolio companies. Lab Pixies was the first investment I had made in Israel. The impetus for investing in Israel came from my frie...

French Entrepreneur Dinner

My entrepreneur dinners have become somewhat of a tradition on my visits to Paris. They allow me to reconnect with my old Internet friends from the bubble days and meet the new generation of French ...

Three Cheers for Jason Calacanis!

I don’t really know Jason. I sublet some office space from him in the early days of Zingy when he was running Venture Reporter, but we never took the time to have a meaningful conversation. However,...

My speech at TEDx Paris (in English)

Last January, I was privileged to be invited to speak in French at the first TEDx Paris. They asked me to speak for 10 minutes about my life as an entrepreneur and my love of entrepreneurship. I had a...

Malcolm Gladwell is wrong!

I usually find much to agree with in Malcolm Gladwell’s writing, be it in Outliers or his collection of assorted New Yorker articles in What the Dog Saw. However, I strongly disagree with his recent...

Why entrepreneurs should never retire!

This poem about an idling Ulysses by Alfred Tennyson brings to mind what might happen to an entrepreneur who sold his company and is now whittling away inside a large firm or on the beach. Conquer an...

My speech at TEDx Paris on the love of entrepreneurship

For the French speakers among you. ...

College Will Kill Your Entrepreneurial Spirit While Simultaneously Turning You into a Worker Bee

This article tells a fascinating story of a journey of survival through entrepreneurship. The persistence and trial and error approach will ring true to all entrepreneurs. His conclusion does not appl...

The New York Internet community is thriving!

I participated last night in an Internet entrepreneur ping pong tournament organized by Spark Capital. It was incredibly well attended – Fred Wilson, Chris Dixon, Kevin Ryan, Dina Kaplan, Charlie O�...

The 18 Mistakes that Kill Startups

This is an old article by Paul Graham (October 2006), but a must read for all entrepreneurs. Read it at: http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html...

The Power of Two: 2 > 1!

Looking at the most successful Internet and technology companies of the past few decades, it’s shocking to see how many have two or more founders: Google, Apple, Microsoft, Intel, Youtube, Skype, Ya...

Fantastic fireside chat with Loic Lemeur at LeWeb

I loved this year's LeWeb. I met many great entrepreneurs and was truly impressed by the organization and the quality of the participants. Loic Lemeur, LeWeb's founder, generously invited me to chat ...

If at first you don't succeed, try, try again!

Great article on the value of persistence: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/bregman/2009/11/how-not-achieving-something-is.html...

Looking for an entrepreneurial stint: at what startup stage should you join?

In the past few weeks I met a few seasoned executives who had reached a point in their lives where they had saved enough to take on additional risk and were looking forward to experiencing the thrill ...

Lessons from Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix

I had the pleasure of being invited to attend the Liberty Media Net Leaders Forum. The forum was fantastic featuring great presentations from Mark Mahaney, the star Internet analyst from Citigroup, an...

BFM Radio Interview

BFM is the leading French economic and business radio channel. They were interested in hearing about my American adventure and the latest happenings at OLX. French speakers can download the mp3 of th...

Lessons from a startup failure

I met Jordan Cooper a few years ago while he was an associate at General Catalyst in Boston. I immediately loved his enthusiasm, energy and intelligence. Early last year, when he moved to New York int...

Venture Voice Follow-Up Interview

The last time I was interviewed by Greg at Venture Voice was on my last day at Zingy. I shared the wild ride I had been on at Aucland and Zingy and pontificated on entrepreneurship. You can find that ...

Work smarter and harder

I just came across a fantastic blog post by Jeffrey Kalmikoff who is the entrepreneur behind Threadless. Love what you do and do what you love. If you love your job, it's not work. With regards to ho...

The value of positive advisors

When you create a startup there are many people to discourage you. The most common refrain is “this idea will never work”. It was by far the most common thing I heard when creating Aucland and Zin...

Entrepreneurs: Global Heroes!

There is a great series of articles on entrepreneurship in the latest Economist. Check them out: http://www.economist.com/specialreports/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13216025 ...

Change in angel investment strategy

Over the past few years, my angel investing strategy has been to be very selectively aggressive. I would invest relatively large amounts of capital in very few companies and typically sit on the board...

VCs are not sheep – why VCs invest less during downturns

As an entrepreneur, I often find myself defending venture capitalists. For some reason, they have acquired a terrible reputation. During downturns, I often hear first time entrepreneurs complaining th...

Ten tips to ride the economic slowdown

After all the dire warnings given by various VCs, here is a more positive list of recommendations sent from one of my friendly VCs: Don’t panic! Economic cycles are part of life. Best companies a...

Psychology of an Entrepreneur

Kevin O'Connor came across a few interesting studies on what makes entrepreneurs tick: 1. Need to control and believe you control 2. Self-confidence 3. Rebellious 4. Need to innovate 5. Urgency, stro...

What the financial crisis means to entrepreneurs

Last March I explained why startups should raise as much money as possible to prepare for the upcoming crisis (Why the startup market is like the real estate market). Now that the crisis has hit, we c...

A Fundraising Survival Guide

Paul Graham has a fantastic article on the perils of raising money and advice on how to best do it. Read it at: http://paulgraham.com/fundraising.html...

Why active entrepreneurs mostly invest in consumer Internet companies

My good friend Auren Hoffman just wrote an interesting article on why entrepreneurs end up investing mostly in consumer focused companies. As he points out, we have day jobs running our own companies ...

French Entrepreneur Dinner

I had the pleasure of organizing a redux of my last entrepreneur dinner in Paris in September 2006. I am happy to report that French entrepreneurship is alive and well: Michel de Guilhermier sold ...

Why I invested in Lab Pixies

A few months ago, I had dinner at Le Colonial with Mark Gerson (the founder of Gerson Lehrman Group and Joe Sigelman (the founder of Office Tiger). As an aside, I was introduced to Mark by Jeremy Levi...

Why I invested in Sonico

I first met Sonico at BarCamp in Buenos Aires last September. They were by far the most interesting company. Alec and I met Rodrigo, the CEO, and his team in person a few days later and we were blown ...

Graduating from College: Starting your own business or joining an established company?

I often get asked by college students whether they should start their own businesses right out of college or whether they should join an established company. The reality is that at that stage in your ...

Interview on Small Businesses for the Washington Post

I was interviewed by Big Think as part of a series on small businesses for the Washington Post. You can see the interview below. For more interviews on the topic you can visit: http://bigthink.com/us...

How it all began…

When I explained how I raised my very first round of financing in a recent post, a number of you asked me to count the story of my first company. The story is a lot less sexy and purposeful than that ...

How did you raise your very first round of financing?

Greg Galant at Venture Voice just started a new series where he asks former show guests a question. You can find my answer to his first question below and on Venture Voice. The first time I had to ra...

Jira is a fantastic technical project management tool

Nine months ago we moved all of OLX to Jira (http://www.atlassian.com/software/jira/). We are extremely satisfied with the product. It’s extremely important to input every single project your tech ...

Why the startup market is like the real estate market

Homeowners hate to sell their houses for less than they paid for them. When prices fall, instead of adjusting to the new reality, homeowners keep their price expectations hoping that their house will ...

Cityvox, my learnings as an angel investor and the power of grit and tenacity

In a prior post – Sometimes it pays to be lucky – I was expressing my gratitude when I learned that MilleMercis, one of the companies I got involved with after my Aucland days, had gone public. S...

Another way to raise money from VCs :)

HOW TO RAISE MONEY FROM VCS ...

While on the topic of startup valuations…

Paul Graham wrote these two interesting articles on the topic: How to Fund a Startup The Equity Equation...

Startup Valuations

Many of you have written asking how you should value your startup during the fund raising process. There is no easy answer. I will start by telling you how your startup is NOT valued. To the disappoin...

Startup Kit / Startup 101: Select Articles for First Time Entrepreneurs to Read

A number of you have asked me which of my articles first time entrepreneurs should read. Here is the list as requested: Fund Raising 101 The nature of entrepreneurship: randomness, trial and error, an...

Why Early Stage Venture Investments Fail

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures just wrote a great article on why early stage ventures fail. Check it out at: http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/11/why_early_stage.html ...

Alan Patricof, Microcredit, Trickle Up and Equity Investments in Developing Countries

Last night, I had the pleasure of listening to Alan Patricof speak on Entrepreneurship in Africa at the Core Club. As you are probably aware, microcredit has been one of the success stories of develop...

The pitfalls of marrying an entrepreneur

The Financial Times just ran a very interesting article on the pitfalls of marrying an entrepreneur. As they point out: We want to conquer the world and are willing to sacrifice almost everything, in...

Internet: we are still at the beginning!

Many people worry that they missed the opportunity to participate in the Internet revolution. I have often heard that most of the opportunities are already taken and that the incumbents are set to win...

Zero to $1 billion

Most business books cover what it takes for large businesses to get even larger. Very few have covered what it takes to go from $0 to $1 billion in revenues. David Thomson, a former McKinsey consultan...

Entrepreneurship matchup: France versus Afghanistan

The Financial Times ran an amazing story on three French entrepreneurs in Afghanistan. I loved their quote on how you can go skiing if you know how to avoid the minefields. The money quote though is ...

The nature of entrepreneurship: randomness, trial and error, and how intelligence can get in the way

In many ways, I am not a typical entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are often risk taking, creative types who do not do well in the traditional education system or workplace. By contrast, I was the shy, intr...

Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea is great: thrilling and informative at the same time

Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea manages a rare feat – it’s a non-fiction story that reads like a thriller! It documents both the story of the SS Central America on its journey from Panama to New...

Learning from Steve Case

I had the pleasure to listen to Steve Case speak at a General Catalyst event in Boston. It was interesting to hear about his early struggles and the importance of perseverance. The first startup he jo...

Inside Facebook is a fun, quick read that allows you to experience the startup spirit!

Reading the book, I felt like I was reading about the first two years of almost every startup I have been involved with. The names of the people and product were different, but the ethos and spirit wa...

Meetic: The rules of the game have changed

Meetic is now the largest online dating site in the world. With its emphasis on chat and the easiness of getting dates, it has become a societal phenomenon in France. With its acquisitions in the UK, ...

Kite boarding and entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurs are often risk taking, adventurous individuals. Not surprisingly many of them try things like kite boarding, ice climbing, car racing, flying planes and heli-skiing. According to Sean T...

It pays to be lucky – part 3

This time I am not blogging about how lucky I have been in the past but about how lucky others have been. Paul Kedrosky, a venture capitalist, recently posted the shareholder information from the You...

LeWeb3 Conference Debrief

The conference was interesting with the quality of the debates and presentation on par with anything done in Silicon Valley. If anything the conference showed that France and Europe are not lacking in...

Top ten geek business myths

Ron Garret, an LA based venture capitalist, recently posted a hilarious and very true analysis of the top 10 tech entrepreneur myths: Myth #1: A brilliant idea will make you rich. Myth #2: If you bui...

The past, present and future of French Internet entrepreneurship!

With apologies the French Internet Entrepreneurs I have not met yet. As part of my whirlwind tour of the world, I spent a few days in Paris last week. On Thursday evening I threw a dinner party with ...

The Video History of Akamai

After the story of Amazon, I really appreciated the story of Akamai as its story and that of the Internet are intertwined and fascinating. The video gets better after the first 10 minutes. I loved the...

The Video History of Amazon by Jeff Bezos

I have always admired Jeff Bezos as an entrepreneur because he actually did what he set out to do. Many other entrepreneurs who succeeded got lucky. That is not to say they were not smart, successful ...

And then there were 8 business selection criteria!

A few months ago I wrote about my 9 business selection criteria for evaluating business ideas. After some deliberation, I have decided to relax the selection process. Specifically, as long as the idea...

Hypomanics to the rescue :)

In a recent interesting book “The Hypomanic Edge: The Link Between (A Little) Craziness and (a Lot of) Success in America” author John D. Gartner, an assistant professor of psychiatry at John Hopk...

The Hardest Lesson for Startups to Learn

Paul Graham, an essayist, programmer and programming language designer, just wrote a very interesting essay on the hardest lesson for startups to learn. You can read the entire essay here. The key le...

Startup Kit

You have a brilliant idea for a product and may even have found the technical resources to build it. You are almost ready to get going – now you need to create a company. For its simplicity of admi...

Entrepreneurs or the invisible men of the economy!

As an economist at heart and by training, I found the following article in The Economist fascinating as economists are finally starting to measure to value of entrepreneurs. Click here for the full a...

California Calling

I spent the past two weeks in the Bay Area. I am happy to report that the spirit of entrepreneurship is alive and well. I mostly met new startups that were just getting off the ground and was fascinat...

Entrepreneurship: The Game

As a champion of entrepreneurship, I can only applaud the charitable Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, headed by Carl Schramm, which gives away $70 million per year to promote entrepreneurship around ...

A Eulogy to Rong Yiren

While I never knew him, I would much have liked to. Rong Yiren was a true entrepreneur. Rong’s family had created one of the largest businesses in China. When his family fled from China in 1949 as t...

Investment Banking Fees

My post praising the value of investment bankers led to a number of e-mails asking for the parameters for investment banking fees for M&A. Here is the retail M&A price list from a first tier investmen...

In Praise of Investment Bankers

Investment bankers have often decried as adding little value and adding complexity to otherwise simple sale processes. I strongly disagree. Even if a startup is run by a former investment banker or s...

Fund Raising 101

Looking back, I realize how little I really knew about fund raising when I started Aucland. It seemed to me all you had to do was write an amazing business plan, send it to a VC, organize a management...

Entrepreneurs Everywhere :)

The guiding theme of my current vacation is to meet entrepreneurs from the world over. As my travels take me from New York to Paris, London or even Buenos Aires, I am meeting entrepreneurs to hear the...

International Idea Arbitrage

An international idea arbitrage is a concept I coined in the mid-1990s (apologies in advance to whomever might have said it before me). It’s the concept of taking an idea from one country and duplic...

9 Business Selection Criteria

As I am entering a new stage of my life, the time has come to pull from my shelf my trusty old 9 business selection criteria. The traditional cliché of entrepreneurs is that they have an idea and vis...

The End of a Journey, the Beginning of a New One

Over the past four and half years, I have had the pleasure to share a wonderful journey with all of you. Thanks to your passion, dedication, grit, commitment, tenacity, and to some sheer luck, we have...