Why Andreessen is One of My Heroes

On July 5, 2009, In Biz, By Tac Anderson
Image representing Marc Andreessen as depicted...
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These four articles came into my feed back to back. Of any serial entrepreneur out there, he’s the one I admire the most. I’ve never had the chance to meet Mark but I hope to someday. I was a loyal subscriber to his blog before he took a break for almost a year. He posted today for the first time. I really hope he keeps it up.

Andreessen was the man behind Netscape, Opsware (which he sold to HP for 1.6 Billion while I was there), Ning (which he started while still doing Opsware) and is involved either as a board member or angel investor in Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. Not to mention about 45 other investments.

He has recently raised a 300 Million Venture Fund. I have no doubt that it (and the companies he invests in) are going to be hugely successful. I’m going to geek out and say that he may just be the single greatest entrepreneur of our time.

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Sequoia and Ycombinator team up, but is that a good thing?

On March 16, 2009, In Biz, By Tac Anderson
Image representing Y Combinator as depicted in...
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YCombinator has been a huge inspiration for many a young startup. The whole investment/accelerator/incubator model is something I would love to see more of (esp here in my home town of Boise) but I have to wonder if YCombinator’s newest deal is a good thing or not.

(via TechCrunch) Y Combinator Gets The Sequoia Capital Seal Of Approval

Sequoia and the angel investors (Ron Conway, Paul Buchheit and Aydin Senkut) aren’t investing directly in Y Combinator. Instead, they are putting money into a new entity, managed by Y Combinator, that will make investments in new startups going forward. In other words, Y Combinator won’t just be investing their own capital any more, and they’ve got a larger war chest to expand operations.

Right now YCombinator has been successful by focusing on companies that they have direct contact with and can really nurture. While this new fund gives them greater reach at a time which makes a heck of a lot of sense to be branching out into early stage funding I wonder if it just dilutes their focus and distracts them from building great early stage companies.

Of note TechStars out of Colorado i another great model that is also aggressively expanding right now.

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Why is VC money so alluring?

On February 16, 2009, In Biz, By Tac Anderson

In the tech entrepreneur space there seems to be a dichotomy about raising VC money.

  1. One side seems to view raising VC money for their business as a necessity.
  2. The other sees VC money as evil.

These are of course the polar extremes to the dichotomy but you get the idea. The truth of course lies somewhere in the middle. It really depends on your goals.

Having done a few small scale startups myself I was well aware of the overly generalized statistic that 1 in 10 new business fail. Not very encouraging odds for most. However today I read an article that reshaped the argument for me:

peHUB » HBS Study Finds VCs Need Successful Serial Entrepreneurs Way More than Vice Versa

[S]uccessful entrepreneurs have a 34 percent chance of succeeding in the next venture-backed firm, compared with 23 percent who failed previously, and 22 percent chance for new venture-backed entrepreneurs.

Even first time entrepreneurs who receive VC backing basically double their odds just by taking the money.

This has a lot to do with the fact that good VC’s bring experience and lots of connections to the table with them. Yes VC money is expensive, but apparently so can going it on your own.

The article also showed some other interesting results. If you’re a successful entrepreneur going with the big VC firms doesn’t buy you any greater chance of success as going with a smaller VC firm.

If a company is started by someone with a track record of success, then that startup’s future isn’t going to be impacted one way or the other if it takes company from a top fund, or a firm in a lower tier.

The plus side here is that smaller VC firms may be more inclined to give you a better deal and you’re more likely to get attention from the top level partners as opposed to a less experienced Jr partner.

[Disclosure:] I work with Highway 12 Ventures, so I may be a little biased ;)

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Entrepreneurs! Start Your Engines!

On October 10, 2008, In Biz, By Tac Anderson

Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior

At the end of the worst financial week the World has ever seen, bankers and stockbrokers may be ready to jump out windows, but I’m feeling rather optimistic today.

Barring a complete meltdown of society (some may argue we are already witnessing that) the coming months are going to be a great time to start a business.

If you already have your own business, Brad Feld has two amazing posts that demonstrate why he’s been a successful entrepreneur, Angel investor and VC: Fear is the Mind Killer and OK Entrepreneurs, Time to Step Up.

Starting a Real Business

When I say start a business, I mean a real business. Something with a revenue plan. Something that scales as the revenue comes in. Something that is built on the premise of what VC’s are telling their portfolio companies (Sequoia Benchmark); aka have a low burn rate and be profitable.

I think companies that start in 2009 will be better off than companies that started in 2008, for one simple reason: The rules changed. Companies starting from scratch will have leaner business models than those that started over the last year.

The last 5 years have been a lot of fun, we’ve got to play with all kinds of cool new products….and now we’re done. Done playing that is. This doesn’t mean an end to Web 2.0, it just means that Web 2.0 has to grow up and look for different business models to add value to.

If you are one of the unfortunate people being laid off from work, I really feel for you and your family. While there may not seem like any upside remember that there is safety in numbers (or misery loves company, that one works too). Grab a few of your most talented colleagues, who also find themselves out of work, and make the leap together.

Entrepreneurs are the only ones that can fix this mess

Entrepreneurs are great at creating something out of nothing. Let’s face it, the more the government gets involved the more they screw it up. The banks (I don’t even need to go there). No one has any answers. Everyone is paralyzed with fear or uncertainty. And while it may be hard to find any capital for your start-up the good news is that everything just got a lot cheaper.

Have you had a great idea but couldn’t find any local programmers willing to give you a break on price? Looking for a good business partner with enterprise experience? I bet all that just got easier.

There are no quick fixes to this mess. My *best case* scenario is that we’ve got 7 long, hard years ahead of us. Entrepreneurialism is tough, so if the next several years are going to suck anyway you might as well face it with both hands on the steering wheel ;)

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Web 2.0, Venture Capital and Me

On September 4, 2008, In Biz, By Tac Anderson

Today my two worlds collide.

Tac Search on Wordle 9-4-08

I’ve always had two slightly different (but overlapping) worlds I live in.  One is the Online Social Media/Marketing world that most of you reading this blog are familiar with. The other is as an evangelist for the Boise tech scene, which I cover on my TechBoise blog.

About 18 months ago I started TechBoise to fill a gap I saw here.  That has lead me along a wonderful path where I have met some of the smartest and best people. It has been a truly humbling experience.

Shortly after starting TechBoise and getting out to meet people I got an email.  Mark Solon of Highway 12 Ventures liked what I was doing and wanted to meet with me.  I’d worked with enough start-ups to know that VC’s typically don’t email people out of the blue.

Highway 12 and Mark were different though.  This is the most accessible, engaged firm I’ve ever met. Mark has been a great mentor to me.  He has gone out of his way to support TechBoise, make introductions for me, listen to my crazy ideas and answer my stupid questions.

Today I’m excited to announce that I’ll be joining Highway 12 as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR).  EIR is kind of a vague term that has several different applications.  Wikipedia has a general definition here.

Basically this will be a knowledge exchange.  I’ll be advising Highway 12 in the areas of Web 2.0/Social Media and Marketing.  I’ll participate in the due diligence process and help out their portfolio companies where appropriate.  In exchange I get an inside view into the world of Venture Capital.  I’ll get to do my two favorite things: meet interesting people and learn new things.

I will not be leaving HP, this is something that I’m doing on my own and is not a conflict of interest with work.  My management knows about this and is supportive. They realize that value that I can bring to my job being out there on the front lines seeing what’s coming up.

As usual I will share with you what I can about what I learn but will obviously respect all companies confidentiality. If I ever write about a company Highway 12 is working with I’ll be sure to do so with full disclosure.

Here’s the officiall media release.

Highway 12 Ventures Gets Serious about Social Media
Rocky Mountain venture firm taps HP Web 2.0 Marketing Manager
to focus on Web 2.0 and Social Media Start-Ups

BOISE, Idaho – (September 4, 2008) – With the increase in social media start-up activity in the Rocky Mountains, the opportunities for early-stage funding are increasing.  Highway 12 Ventures, a leading VC firm investing in high-growth, entrepreneurial companies in the Intermountain West, has brought Tac Anderson on as an Entrepreneur-In-Residence (EIR) to focus on new opportunities in this fast-growing emerging sector.

Anderson is a frequent speaker and nationally recognized expert on social media and Web 2.0. He is actively engaged in driving social media initiatives for both public and private enterprises. Anderson currently leads social media activities across Hewlett Packard’s global enterprise unit for both internal collaboration and external marketing.

“Tac has passion and a vision for the future of social media. He has become a thought leader in this area and will be a great asset to our firm in evaluating and making investments in this fast growing sector,” said Mark Solon, managing partner. “Having founded multiple businesses in his career, he also has a keen sense of the challenges that start-ups face.” Anderson also started the highly successful TechBoise blog, known as the voice of Idaho’s tech community, and is active in his hometown’s start-up and economic development communities.

About Highway 12 Ventures
Highway 12 Ventures is a leading early-stage VC fund investing in high-growth, entrepreneurial companies in the Intermountain West. With over $100 million under management, it is Idaho’s largest venture capital firm. Highway 12 Ventures is part of the Village Ventures nationwide network of venture capital funds. For more information call Denise DeCarli (208) 345-8383 or visit www.highway12ventures.com

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