Private Equity
For the first time in 30 years, the automotive market is wide open for innovation and market share gains. So wake up Detroit, and give us a 500,000 mile car that can be easily serviced, and which comes with a warranty linked to a service contract. Once upon a time the most innovative car in the country was the 1967 GTO. Designed by famed cocaine dealer John DeLorean, the GTO was a quantum leap in driving fun delivered by putting a huge engine on a relatively light chassis. I was driving one of these beauties in the 70’s, when along came an “Oil Crisis” and a stock market crash. The fat gasoline prices and skinny paychecks of the 70’s opened the US car market to strange little cars from Japan that were far from perfect, but cost an order of magnitude less to own than their Big 3 competition – they cost less to buy, less fill the tank and less to maintain. They even had slower deprecation rates because their value proposition was durable. Toyota, Honda and Nissan didn’t deliver a quantum leap in technology, but they did deliver a quantum leap in value proposition.
3 min read · 13 May 2009
For as long as I can remember, I have been an enthusiastic participant in sports. To be clear, I'm not a great athlete (in fact, I'm the only one of Flybridge's five general partners that wasn't a varsity athlete in college), just good enough to participate passionately and aggressively like the prototypical weekend warrior. During any of my amateur sports efforts -- whether competing in mini-triathlons, tackling hard ski runs or trying to jump the wake while Water-skiing -- I've always enjoyed pushing myself and approaching the task fearlessly. This week, for reasons that will become clear shortly, I was reflecting on why it is that I am so fearless as a competitor, even as I've gotten older. I came up with two reasons. First, I'm not afraid of losing or failing and, second, I'm not afraid of getting hurt. The former is probably because winning has never my ultimate objective, but rather the fun of competing and the enjoyment of achieving some level of mastery. And I've probably never been afraid of getting hurt because I've never gotten hurt. I've been simply very lucky. That is, until 6 weeks ago when a collision during a Saturday morning pick-up basketball game caused my ACL tendon to rupture. My luck ran out.
3 min read · 12 May 2009
You are a lawyer. You represent a hot start up that is venture-backed. One day the CEO comes to you - out of the blue - and says "you're fired." (Cue Donald Trump frown). You've stuck it out through the lean times with the company even when they weren't funded and now you are on the outside looking in. What gives? It must be the evil venture capitalist (me). He must want one of "his guys" at the legal helm. Not so fast. Even ex-lawyers like me who believe we can evaluate the best of legal talent don't take this action lightly. And I never like to have a heavy hand with my CEOs. It's their company to run and I work for them. I, however, have seen some unbelievably stupid things that company counsel lawyers have pulled that has ruined their credibility with the VC (me) and thus found their way out the door, either by my strong urging, or by agreement of the entire company.
5 min read · 11 May 2009
4 min read · 07 May 2009
That first telephone interview is your one chance to convince the interviewer to invite you in for an in-person interview. There are no “do-overs”, so concentrate on making a great first impression.
5 min read · 06 May 2009
2 min read · 05 May 2009
It used to be that anyone in the entrepreneurial world had to be keenly cognizant of what was going on in New York City. If you were funded by VCs in Silicon Valley, Boston or Bombay, it still paid to have your CEO and sales team keep eyes and ears in NYC. My how things have changed. New York City feels increasingly irrelevant to most startups as both a source of customers and large amounts of capital. Instead, Washington DC has in many ways become the New, New York.
4 min read · 30 April 2009
3 min read · 27 April 2009
3 min read · 24 April 2009
Finding ways to transfer assets to your family without making significant taxable gifts is critical to the goal of passing the wealth you have accumulated to the next generation. A “GRAT” can leverage the confluence of today’s depressed asset values and low interest rates to help you achieve this goal. However, this is a window of opportunity that exists today and may close in the very near future. Once you have accumulated enough wealth to satisfy your own needs, transferring assets to the next generation - instead of to the IRS - becomes an important goal. The federal estate tax will take 45% of all assets valued in excess of $3,500,000 that you transfer at death to anyone other than your spouse. Many states, Massachusetts among them, also impose a state estate tax.
4 min read · 23 April 2009
