From the Crowd

Venture capital vs. crowdfunding: Let's get real

Not all money is created equal.

By Roger Ehrenberg

Crowdfunding is all the rage. Even the SEC recently blessed one type of crowdfunding for which there was risk of an enforcement action. Several in the early-stage ecosystem have called for venture capitalists to "up their game," as alternative paths to financing create competitive threats to both incumbent firms and the venture model itself. I think drawing parallels between crowdfunding and VC investment is MORE

When VC deals don't work out

Not every VC deal can be a hit. And that's when the real work begins.

By Fred Wilson

FORTUNE -- Early stage venture capital is a lot like baseball: If you get a hit one out of every three times, you are headed to the Hall of Fame. And if I look back over my career, and also over the track records of the firms and funds I have helped manage, MORE

5 traits of the best growth-stage CEOs

Founders face new challenges as companies scale.

FORTUNE -- Founders are the best start-up CEOs, thanks to their passion, focus and audacity. In the growth stage, however, the job of a company leader changes from inception to execution, from development to scale.

Great growth-stage CEOs require unique skills to complement the attributes that contributed to their success as early stage leaders. Below are five common traits among the best growth stage CEOs with MORE

Why Boston is attracting great entrepreneurs

Boston's startup scene is thriving, even if that's not obvious from confines of Harvard Business School.

By Brent Grinna, contributor

Earlier this week I read Jon Lai's post detailing the reasons why many of his peers at Harvard Business School aren't interested in building companies in Boston. Jon cited an inferior lifestyle, FOMO ("Fear of Missing Out") and said "the prevailing image of Boston is one of a non-progressive entrepreneurial community."

No matter where you MORE

How Boston can keep entrepreneurs

A current HBS student explains why his peers plan to leave Boston upon graduation.

By Jon Lai

FORTUNE -- On the last day of my Launching Technology Ventures class at Harvard Business School, our professor asked why so few of us plan to stay in Boston and become entrepreneurs here. After all, Boston is cash-flushed with venture capitalists and a great talent pool from some of the world's top universities. Not MORE

10 requirements for a successful IPO

An IPO checklist for tech companies.

By Glenn Solomon

FORTUNE -- These days, for the typical ventured-backed tech company, the duration from founding to IPO is a full 8 to 10 years. There are no overnight success stories. It's a serious accomplishment representing a ton of work to get a company to the precipice of an IPO.

To be ready you need predictability and visibility, huge growth potential and no single points of MORE

Should Apple buy Hungary?

Apple probably won't buy anything big, but if it's looking for ideas ...

By Lee Hower

Yesterday was Apple's shareholder meeting and, as many of you know, there's been healthy debate about what they should do with its $137 billion in cash. I had read somewhere that Apple's cash pile was equivalent to Hungary's GDP so perhaps an activist shareholder should push an acquisition of Hungary rather than thinking small (e.g., MORE

Is your company IPO ready?

The three real keys to going public have nothing to do with $100 million in revenue.

By Glenn Solomon

FORTUNE -- As a junior banker at Goldman Sachs (GS) in the early 1990's, I was weaned on the conventional wisdom that growth companies were ready to go public when they reached $100 million in annualized revenue and had at least two quarters of profitability under their belts.

The "$100 million revenue" theory MORE

Lessons from the frontlines of early-stage biotech investing

Tips for navigating early-stage investments in biotech.

By Bruce Booth, contributor

Venture capital is often called an apprenticeship business because experience matters and takes time to accumulate. But successful firms are able to translate and transfer experiential wisdom through institutional memory, which involves codifying what works and what doesn't. Back in 2007, we did this with our life science team by pulling together a detailed list of "Lessons Learned" from our existing MORE

Transitioning from a startup to growth-stage company

The long march: Maintaining big ambitions in the growth stage.

By Glenn Solomon, contributor

Congratulations Ms. Entrepreneur. After years of toiling and challenging insurmountable odds, you've finally moved through the gates of startup hell. You've established product and market fit, you're 10x better that your competition, and you've begun to scale customers and revenues. You've also assembled a talented and passionate team who is bought into your culture. Take a breath. MORE