In this month’s edition of Vanity Fair Bruce Feirstein suggests that ‘Everything old is new again’ and provides the following historical analysis. What did he miss? Valpak Coupons + Internet Explorer = Groupon Scrapbooking x iPhone = Pinterest The Sears Catalog + A mouse = Amazon The Rotary Club x Fiber-Optic Cable = LinkedIn Pearle [...]
Boulder Startup Week
Each May the startup community in Boulder hosts a 5-day event called Boulder Startup Week in an effort to showcase the unique startup culture found in this tiny Colorado city. This year I was invited to attend and spent the last three days taking in all that Boulder could offer. It was an amazing experience [...]
My Next Big Thing. . .
Lots of you are asking about what I am up to these days so I thought I would give you a little update. Since January I have been working on a new startup called HAUL. Initially, spending all of my free time learning all I could about the market and attempting to formulate a plan [...]
Startups: The Family Business
This morning I learned that AutoSeis, the company that my father and little sister founded three years ago, will be awarded the 2013 Hart’s E&P Award for Engineering Innovation next month. The Hart award was established in 1971 and honors the world’s best new technologies and techniques for finding, drilling and producing oil and gas [...]
Dallas is accelerating, AGAIN!
Last week I had the opportunity to have lunch with Kraettli Epperson and Dave Matthews to discuss VentureSpur – a new startup accelerator coming to Dallas. Started in Oklahoma City last year, VentureSpur is expanding their 12-week startup acceleration program to Dallas. They are now accepting applications – deadline for applications is May 17th – [...]
My Foursquare Experiment
Since Foursquare’s launch at SXSW back in 2009 I have successfully avoided using the application – at least until a few weeks ago. We are working on a project that necessitated my use of the app and I decided to double down for two weeks and use the app prolifically. Here are my stats: 194 [...]
The Birth of the Dallas Startup Eco-System
Have you ever wondered what it would take to build a startup ecosystem in your community? You might be surprised at how easy it is to build a robust community of entrepreneurs in a relatively short period of time. My story covers the years between 2005 and 2012: Several months ago I met Derek Holt, [...]
Think twice about using the courts to get even. . .
Liz Gannes from All Things D recently wrote a story about a founder who is suing Benchmark Capital for stealing his idea. The founder, Raj Abhyanker, tells a oft repeated story about how his ‘idea’ was lifted by a venture capital firm. After reading the details I am fairly certain Raj doesn’t have a case [...]
Counteroffers and Threats
Companies like ShopSavvy are in hiring mode. They are looking for the best and brightest in their fields to come join their teams. Often the ‘best and brightest’ are working for other companies and aren’t actively seeking new employment. Of course many of these candidates aren’t opposed to looking at new opportunities. Tip One: Make [...]
We just raised $7M, now what?
Back in October I wrote a post titled, “Post Funding, The Real Work Begins…” We had closed on the first million dollars of our eventual $7M round and everyone was spending a lot of time congratulating us. Now that we have closed on the full round (read more about it here) I thought it might [...]
