Disqus - Latest Comments for chikkman

Re: FinTech Strategic Buyer Landscape

mcichows — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:35:15 -0000

Companies that are actively acquiring Fintech startups

Re: What Does It Take To Be A Public Company?

mcichows — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 15:14:31 -0000

Good topic and congrats on NextView! I couldn't agree more. Revenue growth and strong profitability are important as well. Even then there's no guarantee. The other thing is that unless you are a founder it's doubtful the IPO will bring you significant financial rewards (Suster has a great post on this topic: http://grp.vc/Wk).

Re: Banking 2.0 at SXSW

mcichows — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 12:40:59 -0000

Sounds like a great session. You bring up a good point and one of the core problems with retail banking today -- your bank is just the place you hold your money. Not much value other than that for most people (outside of the HNW segment, which IMO someone needs to bring to the masses). No *real* customer relationship, no financial advice, etc. I can't remember the last time I was actually at a bank other than to use the ATM. Can you? Online services are engaging customers and providing value. Overall, a great time for startups to disrupt the status quo and change how we think about banking.

Re: Do you own your data stream?

mcichows — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:29:23 -0000

Good commentary. The rights issue is a big one and probably won't be answered any time soon. As I consumer, I'd like to at least have a say in who can or can't access my data. Take the Blippy example and apply it to Mint. That's equivalent to the banks and credit card companies deciding not to allow Mint to access any of their data. Thankfully this didn't happen, but what if?

Re: Style of VC Fund

mcichows — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 09:43:54 -0000

Nice post. I'd argue that experienced entrepreneurs know who they are pitching beforehand and do their homework on the VC's portfolio, sector, etc. The same goes for good VCs. Although, it is surprising how many entrepreneurs don't do this so thanks for shedding light on the topic. Also, there are a number of other questions that don't typically get asked during fundraising: http://bit.ly/8J3Jk4.

Re: Disrupting Wall Street

mcichows — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 16:33:26 -0000

Spot on post. Financial Services has been historically an under-invested sector by VCs, but with the spotlight on the crisis I think we are starting to move in the right direction. We need more startups with new business models and disruptive technologies that change the rules of the game.

Re: Business School

mcichows — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 11:41:52 -0000

Coming from a guy who doesn't have a MBA, I'd say about 50% of the people that I've talked with who have attended top programs agree with you particularly those later in their careers. Ultimately, I think it comes down your career goals and how an MBA will get you there faster and cheaper -- the latter very much so debatable. If you are in an industry you are passionate about (much like I am with VC) it is very difficult to justify leaving unless you've hit a ceiling in your career trajectory. Alternatives like part-time and executive programs are more appealing in those cases. Unfortunately, there are still many industries that require you to "check the MBA box" and I don't think that will be changing any time soon.

Re: Never Launch, Just Iterate

mcichows — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:51:32 -0000

Nice post, Eric. Sounded like a great event. Wish I was able to attend.

Agree the focus should be almost entirely on getting people to use your product and getting their feedback. Everything else is a distraction.

Re: Information security – are we experiencing a Pax Romana?

mcichows — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 14:46:51 -0000

It almost feels like the calm before the storm on the consumer side, particularly in mobile. No doubt that will be a big time target by the bad guys. On the enterprise and govt side, I would say the state of affairs is pretty bad and attacks are getting much worse in both size and severity, but we haven't been hearing much about it. What scares me are initiatives like smart grid where new devices are coming online, and the effects of hackers could be devastating (e.g. shutting off your electricity). Perhaps, the good news is that there will be plenty of opportunity for startups b/c we know the bad guys won't be resting any time soon.

Re: All Around Athletes vs. Specialists and Why the UFC is a great model for career development

mcichows — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 22:20:48 -0000

Great post, Rob! I wouldn't stop there. The best fighters are continuously training and seeking to improve their skills. I think the same translates over to career development. It's lifelong and never ends. There's always room for improvement.

Re: The Future of SaaS

mcichows — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 17:57:33 -0000

Adam,

Thanks for the comment and link. While I don't doubt that NetSuite locks their customers in (along with many other vendors), I do believe customers are sick and tired of this practice along with software not fulfilling expectations.

Re: Teams vs. Markets

mcichows — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 22:57:57 -0000

Marc Andreessen also has a great post on this topic and throws product into the mix. Definitely worth the read.

http://blog.pmarca.com/2007...