Both founders and researchers in healthcare are spending far too much of their energy in areas where they’re not going to make maximum impact. Most health problems are self-inflicted, but the innovation economy doesn’t reflect the power of preventive healthcare. Dr. An Nguyen and I just completed an analysis of VC and research funding compared...
[Continue Reading]Venture capital superheroes
CB Insights just included ffVC in 13 Micro VCs We’re Watching, along with a (highly inaccurate) superhero graphic. CB Insights has become a very influential data source in the industry. In fact, I recently had dinner with a well-known VC who said that he was surprised to see the CB Insights database includes investments his...
[Continue Reading]Please don’t pitch a venture capitalist without this checklist
I’m surprised at how many funding pitches I get which lack some of the basic information which investors require before funding. I think this stems from two causes: 1) Lack of basic knowledge of the information investors require. But I would hope that a reasonably competent founder could easily educate herself about what information an...
[Continue Reading]How to pitch an entrepreneur and persuade her to take your cash
With the rise of a trillion-dollar crowdfunding market, angel investors bundling their investment offerings, and family offices doing more direct investments, venture capitalists are no longer the only available source for entrepreneurs seeking funding. Now that anyone can benefit from the global growth of entrepreneurial activity, venture capitalists need to show their true added value...
[Continue Reading]Why are venture capitalists (76% white men) ignoring the future?
Why do so many venture capitalists ignore the single best predictor of the future: demographics? Paul Graham, cofounder of Y Combinator, observes, “Many suspect that venture capital firms are biased against female founders. This would be easy to detect: among their portfolio companies, do startups with female founders outperform those without? A couple months ago,...
[Continue Reading]Startup Grind interview (with vertical pushup)
Last month I did an on-stage interview with Peter Crysdale of Startup Grind. You can read a summary at AlleyWatch. For fun, I did an on-stage vertical pushup at the end of the interview (skip to 44:00)....
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