Disqus - Latest Comments for Mark MacLeod

Re: Beyond the Money: Some VCs Provide Startups With A Competitive Edge

Mark MacLeod — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 06:36:14 -0000

The name of the VC game is "unfair advantage". You look for companies to invest in that have such an advantage in their technology or biz model, people etc. And if you're a top fund you bring such an advantage in your network and experience.

The VC industry is heavily skewed. The vast majority of returns (and unfair advantage) rest with

Re: Twitter’s Valuation, $73.52 an Active User?

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 06:33:56 -0000

Jeremiah,

Here's my analysis: http://startupcfo.ca/2009/01/is-twitter-overval...

Hope you're enjoying Maui.

Mark

Re: The Problem With SaaS: Lack of Flexibility

Mark MacLeod — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 07:30:42 -0000

I am both a vendor and purchaser of SaaS solutions.

As a customer, I like that I have a low initial entry price to get World-class solutions such as Salesforce or Netsuite. I also like that these solutions scale as I do.

As a vendor, I like the predictable revenue stream - a lot.

I just think SaaS is the right model. VCs seem to think so to. And public markets put a premium on SaaS plays vs. their SW licensing counterparts.

Mark

Re: Is your Company Market Driven or Product Driven?

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 26 May 2008 12:48:02 -0000

Engineering is the foundation. It's vital and you have to invest in it. However, the tail should not wag the dog. 99% of technologies that are invented fail commercially. They do so because of operational and goto market issues. You must invest heavily in these areas to succeed.

social media enables brings leverage (through lower costs and higher touch) to companies. It's an absolutely essential part of the mix. Every person in our company is involved in the online conversations in and around our company.

Re: Tungle – Sr. Java Developer

Mark MacLeod — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 14:34:13 -0000

Hey David - thanks for posting this and helping us find someone. This position is actually in our Waterloo, ON office.

Re: A Microsoft venture fund

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 04:21:20 -0000

I see the benefit for Microsoft but see a few issues:

1.) Would a startup want money from them?

2.) Would a startup trust them to not take the idea sooner or later?

3.) Would MS invest in a startup that's developing in a LAMP environment (I don't know of one startup using .net as an example)?

4.) What changes in process, culture, etc would need to be made throughout MS for this to be successful?

Mark

Re: Tarsnap and the prepaid billing model

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:07:34 -0000

Colin, thanks for sharing my post. I am amazed that you make money with this average revenue per user. And you're absolutely correct about the cost of payment processing. Sounds like your approach is a good one.

Re: Workbrain Children

Mark MacLeod — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:13:04 -0000

Great to see these people stepping up to the plate again. This + Radialpoint recently announcing its second acquisition + the provincial governments' recent commitments to financing innovation or all positive signs as we try and build depth and bench strength in the Canadian tech landscape. All good...

Re: http://www.instigatorblog.com/are-strategic-investors-more-important-in-a-downturn-economy/2008/10/26/

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 06:27:54 -0000

Hey Ben,

Thanks for the link in this post. You ask a good, timely question. While I recognize that excepions exist, I am as against strategic investment as ever. Strategic big public companies are reeling from the drop in their stock price these days. They don't have the confidence or patience these days to carry uncertain investments on their books.

In contrast, VCs are private and can take a multi year view.

Mark

Re: http://www.instigatorblog.com/is-the-vc-model-broken/2009/01/15/

Mark MacLeod — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:00:38 -0000

Hey Ben,

It is important to have different plans based on different cash levels, but you should not share those with VCs. If you're talking to VCs, especially in the US, what they want to hear is that you want to build a big company. Go big or go home. Increase the risk. Deploy a lot of capital to grow quickly. This, for better or worse, is their model. It is a big factor in the failure rates Basil references.

If you tell them you have more modest plans based on lower spend they won't fund you.

There are some exceptions such as Union Square Ventures.

I too have called for some changes to the VC model:

http://startupcfo.ca/2008/11/questioning-vc-mod...

http://startupcfo.ca/2008/09/new-kind-of-vc-bri...

Mark

Re: WSGR online venture financing term sheet generator

Mark MacLeod — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 21:33:13 -0000

This is totally cool! Just gave it a try and posted about it

Re: Angel Investing is Where VC was 25 Years Ago

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 06:39:19 -0000

Sounds like an exciting time for angel investing. To me it will always be going through this stage. I know many angels. Most are very accomplished, successful and wealthy entrepreneurs.

Despite this universally high level of business experience they are almost all new to investing and to tech investing in particular, so I am sure conferences will always cover the fundamentals.

Still, to the reader comments above, I certainly hope the angel industry does not follow the same path. As you pool larger funds you introduce agency risk and misalign your goals because it can be more interesting to get a management fee on the fund size than to earn your carry.

Re: Ning: 1,000,000 Social Networks and Counting

Mark MacLeod — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:24:27 -0000

I run a network for tech CFOs and entrepreneurs on Ning - http://startupcfos.ning.com/

It's a great platform.

Re: Get Your Google Profile Tidied Up

Mark MacLeod — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 08:49:33 -0000

Cool. Thanks Chris. Profile created.

Re: Requesting your Presence

Mark MacLeod — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 08:47:39 -0000

This is something I definitely need to do more off. When I am fully present it is great - for me and the kids. It can be hard to unplug, but there's just no excuse. Nothing is so important that I can't take time for those few hours (even less) between when I get home and when the kids go to bed.

Re: The Silicon Valley VC Disease

Mark MacLeod — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 12:45:34 -0000

Great post. I completely agree that we have an issue when it comes to VC funding. Funds are waiting until an idea is fully baked (and market-validated) before investing. Also funds are getting bigger and want to write bigger checks at the same time as startups are getting more capital efficient and actually need less$.

I posted on this topic last week:
http://startupcfo.ca/2008/07/early-stage-fundin...

Silicon alley insider also covered it:
http://www.alleyinsider.com/2008/7/vcs-have-it-...

Mark

Re: Twitter Is Raising Money At A $1 Billion Valuation

Mark MacLeod — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:20:34 -0000

This is crazy. It's 1999 all over again http://www.startupcfo.ca/2009/09/twitters-valua...