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| Tuesday, December 30, 2008 |
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Outlook 2009
By Jonathan Aberman @ 10:23 PM :: 221 Views ::
3 Comments :: Amplified Blog
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Last year, I ended my Outlook
2008 with the following sentences: “As we head into 2008 my best advice to
entrepreneurs is to be flexible and creative. This is going to be a very
interesting and probably volatile year.”
Talk about understatement. Well,
as 2008 draws to a close, I can safely say that one thing is certain: if you
scare the stuffing out of consumers and businesses, they will stop spending
money. That’s pretty much where the
certainty appears to end. As we head into 2009, uncertainty is the order of the
day. That being said, there are some data points out there which I will try to connect
to provide some guideposts for the coming year.
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| Friday, December 26, 2008 |
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| Sunday, December 14, 2008 |
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Is Venture Capital Broken?
By Jonathan Aberman @ 9:37 AM :: 240 Views ::
0 Comments :: Amplified Blog
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Venture Capital as an industry is under considerable stress right now. Early stage venture capital is hard to find, and existing venture backed businesses are finding it difficult to obtain expansion capital. These difficulties should not be surprising to regular readers of financial pages, in light of the general problems of obtaining capital in the current economic crisis. But, by the same token, problems in the venture industry could have a profound adverse effect on the US economy, and its ability to grow once the systemic financial crisis passes.
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| Friday, December 12, 2008 |
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| Friday, December 05, 2008 |
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Mr. Obama, Please Don’t Forget the Entrepreneurs
By Jonathan Aberman @ 3:02 PM :: 255 Views ::
0 Comments :: Amplified Blog
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President-elect Barak Obama is one of the most entrepreneurial presidential candidates in American history. He has shown himself to be an optimistic self-starter who can create and sell a vision to others. His campaign and transition activities demonstrate his exceptional communication and organizational skills. As a country that is based upon entrepreneurial behavior, it is not surprising to see that Americans elected an entrepreneur to lead them through a difficult economic crisis. Professional investors back entrepreneurs who have the characteristics that Mr. Obama is showing. The question now is whether this most entrepreneurial of Presidents will support those most like him.
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| Tuesday, December 02, 2008 |
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| Saturday, November 22, 2008 |
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A Car too Far – Adventures in Private Jetting and Pan Handling
By Jonathan Aberman @ 4:21 PM :: 308 Views ::
0 Comments :: Amplified Blog
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This week brought a new low in day time programming to America. In case you missed it, mixed in with Days or Our Lives, Oprah and countless Swiffer commercials we had the Secretary of Treasury do his best Emily Litela imitation. And, if that wasn’t enough hilarity, there on the large screen were the heads of the Big Three (plus their Union Leader sidekick) going to Congress with their hats in hand. It was just riveting, sort of like watching a train wreck in slow motion is riveting if you are not on the train. Problem is – the last time I looked we were on the train, and worse, the train is being run by the some folks that give us Amtrack.
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| Monday, November 17, 2008 |
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| Friday, November 14, 2008 |
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Get Me a VC! I Need to Start a Company
By Jonathan Aberman @ 2:34 PM :: 434 Views ::
3 Comments :: Amplified Blog
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You ever have one of those Grinch moments? You know, the one when you are in a room with a group of people and you find yourself about to shout out “bah, humbug!” or the modern day equivalent? Ever feel that? Thought so. Well, I had one of those moments a few days ago. And, it’s been rolling around in my mind ever since.
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| Saturday, November 08, 2008 |
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The Political Entrepreneur
By Jonathan Aberman @ 12:26 PM :: 383 Views ::
0 Comments :: Amplified Blog
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Years ago, back before time began and there were dinosaurs roaming the earth (well maybe not that long ago, unless you ask my kids) I studied political science, particularly the American Presidency. I learned many things that felt useful and interesting at the time, and, although I didn’t really think about it that way then, was actually studying patterns of entrepreneurship. Two recent events crystallized this for me. The first was watching President Elect Obama’s first press conference and the second was talking with a friend of mine who had lost a hard fought Congressional election.
In each instance, I thought about what had made me a supporter or friend, and why I thought that they would ultimately be successful. And, I realized that what I had really been doing was evaluating them as if they were an entrepreneur I would back.
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