1 October 2009 by Grizz.

Welcome to Grizz’s blog on things things that fly into and out of his head.

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9 August 2009 by Grizz.

I’ve said many times that the “Steve and Steve in a garage” startup won’t work but for a few new firms. The demise of venture capital is another sign I’m right.

The VC community is at an all-time low. Investments in startups have decreased over the last two years and exit mechanisms for those investors, including IPOs, have become scarce. There is way more VC money than needed by The System, even though it’s harder and harder to come by.

The VC community has battened down their hatches and has focused their money on later stage deals, existing portfolio firms, and companies that stand out in a constantly-increasingly crowded market. What this means to a new or early stage firm is that you’ll have to find other sources of capital, including around the playground (friends and family), personal debt, and strategic partners.

Strategic partners include materials suppliers and vendors, manufactures, and even customers. While not necessarily sensitive to price and terms, startup CEOs have to make a compelling case for an established firm to bother investing in a startup. This could be first or unusual access to new product streams and revenue, associated services that go along with those products, and exclusive supplier/manufacturer relationships. Positioning your firm into one of these categories is more likely to get an established firm behind you, but the investment case and ROI angle has to be there as well.

This can appear daunting for both the startup and the potential new strategic investor, but having a group of folks that actually know how to run a business, not just invest in one, is definitely worth the effort. And there’s access to their capital–natch.

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1 September 2008 by Grizz.

Heard from a friend raising capital worried that our economic silliness will choke off his new idea for a chicken processing plant.

Au contrariar mon frair.

Look, folks that invest other people’s money (OPM) have to have a place to put said money. If the stock market is being finicky, and interest rates mirror Japan’s…where else can a brother put his money?

Venture capital, weirdo funds tracking the mating habits of marsupials, and the bottom of a very comfy mattress—that’s where.

This doesn’t mean the VC community is just giving it away. All the business and strategy fundamentals remain the same.

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1 August 2008 by Grizz.

PMV is working with Technology Ventures Corp. again this year on the New Mexico Equity Capital Symposium (NMECS09, 6 & 7 May 2009 in ABQ).

TVC is having two events in October to famialiarize entreprenuers with the Symposium and TVC in general: Thursday 2 October 2008 in Albuquerque, and Thursday 23 Octover 2008 in Los Alamos. Details at http://techventures.org/NM-ECS

For 15 years TVC has lead New Mexico’s tech entreprenuerial efforts, now TVC has gone national, as it was awarded a contract to work with U.S. DOE labs in the Office of Nucelar Energy across the country: INL, ANL, BNL, ORNL, SRNL.

More info at http://www.techventures.org

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13 June 2008 by Grizz.

Make your business travel easier and much less stressful by bothering to fill out the form and pay a hundred bucks to be pre-screened for air travel.

I use Clear (http://www.flyclear.com).

30 July 2009

%#^$& Clear went belly up…having to stand in line with Coach and the Senior soccer team headed for the play-offs.

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13 June 2008 by Grizz.

Wanna get blown away? Read John Medina’s “Brain Rules.”

Also search for videos of his talks on You Tube.

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1 June 2008 by Grizz.

America is at a permanent state of war: on al Qaeda, terrorists, inflation, drugs, poverty, illiteracy, stupidity, recession…we are at a permanent state of war on ourselves.

I’ve decided to make peace with myself first. Maybe it will rub off.

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25 May 2008 by Grizz.

In the movie The Fifth Element, Chris Tucker’s character Ruby Rhod uses the term “green” for just about anything he likes, or thinks is popular, or is cool, etc.

Now, so does much of America.

So what is “green?” Given there is much debate on the subject, I offer my own definition.

“Green” is better. Full stop.

Green is not a certification, nor destination, but a journey to do better socially, economically, and environmentally. What is green now, will look anything but in the future.

When I was a kid, and gas prices shot up because some very attractive gentlemen in Near Asia wanted to flex their economic muscles, the idea of an automobile that could reach speeds of over 100 mph and get 50 mpg was a fantasy. Now, those same benchmarks, look less than novel.

So is such an auto “green?” It was; it is no more.

Green means constantly striving to do better.

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12 April 2008 by Grizz.

The economy is just a symptom of the general malaise in the U.S.

Since markets are to a great extent driven by emotion, the war, the political mess in Washington, and the coming election are the reasons our economic engine has slowed…we’re all, in the words of the Oracle, “waiting for something.”

As with the Internet bubble, Americans went out and took risks, this time on housing. The American can-do spirit means we’ll fall for just about any reason to get excited and start taking risks. The collapse of the housing market and the sub-prime loan mess has given us all pause…now it seems we’re just waiting for a reason to start taking risks again.

The Iraq war, a conflict that has now out-lasted any other conflict in our short history, has droned on and on with no end in sight. While wars usually create an economic spark, that can only last so long. The inability for Congress to get much done (but plenty of time to focus on baseball and steroids) shows just how dysfunctional our political leadership is right now.

So here we are, waiting around, keeping our money safely tucked in our mattresses, hoping for change in the Fall.

Rothschild is quoted as saying “buy when there’s blood on the streets,” but I believe only those willing to take enormous risks will follow such advice. Families with kids, a mortgage, car loans, and college expenses can’t afford such ultra-risky behavior. It’s up to the rest of us to crank up the economic engine.

I’ve been talking about a “green” bubble for a couple of years now. More on that next.

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12 April 2008 by Grizz.

Read the WSJ story on American Apparel and its CEO Dov Charney in today’s edition. Go ahead and substitute “idiot” for “eccentric” whenever you read Mr. Charney’s name. American Apparel is a mess, and a now public mess (through a reverse merger) because Mr. Charney won’t follow standard business practices…you know know, like GAAP…oh, and he sleeps with members of his staff (four sexual harassment lawsuits) and continues to open new stores even though same store sales are down, and to top it all off, the company has had to restate earnings several times.

This is a classic case of the product genius getting in the way of making his own vision a success. What Mr. Charney needs is adult supervision. He seems to have his shareholders over a barrel by threatening to leave whenever any approach to bringing normalcy to his firm is introduced.

At some point his shareholders, then his customers, are going to give up.

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