2 min read · 30 April 2010
2 min read · 29 April 2010
The biggest piece of financial legislation facing Congress right now is Chris Dodd's sweeping reform bill. But the best is probably the Startup Visa Act, which would provide visas to foreign entrepreneurs who have at least $1 million in committed capital to launch a business -- and create at least ten jobs -- in the U.S. Proponents say the greatest impediment to passage is inertia, rather than anti-immigrant sentiment, which means that they must get their message heard. To that end, a new series of videos have been produced about a recent trip to Washington D.C. to meet with legislators. The first features Shervin Pishevar, a native Iranian best-known as the founder and former CEO of Social Gaming Network (one of the top gaming publishers on the iPhone) and the founding president and former COO of Webs (formerly FreeWebs). He has also helped back startups GoWalla, Space Pencil, and Fotomoto, among others. Get it after the jump...
1 min read · 29 April 2010
2 min read · 29 April 2010
1 min read · 28 April 2010
2 min read · 27 April 2010
For 20 years, San Francisco-based Steele Foundation has been in the business of providing protection to the uber-rich, and by numerous accounts, it’s the company to which Silicon Valley’s richest investors and entrepreneurs turn when they’re feeling vulnerable or need a security detail to pave their way to some far-flung destination. Indeed, asked various details about Steele’s regional clients, Steele CEO Kenn Kurtz says simply, “We own the tech sector.” While Steele protects much more than that -- the global company employs several thousand employees across 20 offices who work with governments, commercial clients, and “high-net-worth individuals,” including on intelligence-related work -- Kurtz and I talked exclusively about Steele’s security work with tech industry executives yesterday.
6 min read · 27 April 2010
Former Wall Street analyst Lise Buyer helped take Google public in 2004, so it’s no surprise that many tech companies seek out the help of her IPO advisory firm, Class V Group, when the public market is in their sights. Unsurprisingly, last year was “a very quiet year for the business — very quiet,” says Buyer with a laugh. This year, Buyer, who works with just four companies a year, has had be selective. Indeed, one of the seven companies to list on both Nasdaq and the NYSE last Thursday was a client of hers. (Owing to SEC concerns, she asked that I keep which on background.) Earlier today, Buyer and I talked about the underwhelming performance of those new offerings, what she makes of what’s in the pipeline, and whether VCs should hold onto their companies — or elbow them out of their portfolios while the window is still open.
6 min read · 27 April 2010
I’m intermittently watching the Future of Money and Technology Conference, taking place today in San Francisco. It's a good event, and one of the highlights I've caught so far was Aaron Patzer, the founder of the free personal finance service Mint, hinting that he doesn’t much get Blippy, a social networking site that publishes its users’ credit card transactions as they are made. Asked what he thought of the service, Patzer said something along the lines of, “I don't want people to know when I’m buying lingerie.” Pausing, he added, “There's no reason people should know what I’m wearing."
1 min read · 26 April 2010
3 min read · 23 April 2010
