Some of the top venture capitalists, including Sequoia and Benchmark, are warning of looming problems for start-ups. In fact, we are already seeing layoffs at some VC-backed companies, such as Zillow and AdBrite.

The new mantra is: cut costs and get to profitability -- and fast.

I think it's good advice, whether your company is seeking venture capital or not.

It should also be no surprise that there has been a downtrend in VC fundings lately. A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association shows that there was $7.1 billion in VC investment in Q3, a 7% drop from Q2.

It's a good bet that the decline will continue. Basically, the IPO market is dead and M&A activity is fairly slow, making it difficult for VCs to get returns.

So does this mean you should forget about VC funding? Not necessarily. No doubt, the market is still large and VCs continue to find opportunities, especially at lower valuations.

However, it's critical that a company meet the tough criteria that VCs look for:

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Is it worth looking for venture capital?

Entrepreneur's Journal: Is it worth looking for venture capital? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 26 Oct 2008 18:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Twitter gets venture funding from Amazon.com's Jeffrey Bezos originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

In light of the mega deals from Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), IBM (NYSE: IBM), and SAP (NYSE: SAP), the buzz is that business software is dead. How can small- and mid-sized players compete?

Well, I think there's still life in the sector. Take a look at the on-demand operators, such as Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) and NetSuite. They are disrupting existing markets - and growing at break-neck speeds.

We are also seeing some new-fangled Web 2.0 players enter the market. Take Huddle.net, which announced a venture capital round of $4 million (the investor is Eden Ventures).

Basically, the company realizes that the MySpace/Facebook generations want a different approach to software. As a result, Huddle.net has a cool system that allows for online workspaces, which even allow for social networking.

True, I know many think that this is a fad. Ironically enough, that's probably good news for Huddle.net. It allows the company to build out its offerings and learn form customer interactions.

In fact, for the past six months, Huddle.net has seen 25% growth in new users per month.

If you want to check out other cool venture capital deals, visit DealProfiles.com.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Huddle.net raises $4 million: Ready to tackle the software giants? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 13 Nov 2007 15:24:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

If you take a look at the stories of great entrepreneurs - such as Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT)'s Sam Walton, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT)'s Bill Gates, and Howard Schultz of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) - you will see that they had the help of mentors and advisors.

After all, being an entrepreneur can be lonely, stressful and challenging. And it's often difficult to get solid advice.

"I can't overstate the importance of mentors in my life," said Ben Casnocha. Ben started his first business at 14 years old, and even wrote a book on his experiences, My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley.

So where do you find mentors? Ben recommends lots of networking. In fact, he considers the Small Business Administration's SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) a great resource (and it's free).

But be wary. Make sure you do lots of background research on the people you like. You might realize that they really aren't a good fit.

Continue reading Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting real advice for your business

Entrepreneur's Journal: Getting real advice for your business originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sat, 10 Nov 2007 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When VMIX got started several years ago, the company realized that online video would be big. So why not be the mega brand in the category?

But thankfully, the company changed its strategy. "While YouTube was still young," said Greg Kostello, the CEO of VMIX, "we realized that they were getting lots of traction and may become the category killer."

As a sign of its success, VMIX raised $16.5 million last week. The investors include JK&B Capital, ATA Ventures, Mission Ventures and Enterprise Partners.

VMIX has built a rich media platform, which allows for not only videos, but also blogs, slide shows, and even social networking. "We focus on technology," said Kostello, "And our customers focus on what they are good at. That is, creating great content."

More than 190 websites use VMIX's technology - handling more than 60 million monthly unique visitors. Customers include Tribune Interactive (NYSE: TRB), Media General (NYSE: MEG), and Lee Enterprises (NYSE: LEE).

Also visit DealProfiles for more recent venture capital activity.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

VMIX: Avoiding the YouTube onslaught originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 05 Nov 2007 15:42:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Social Security's future is in trouble? Yeah, and Yogi played baseball. originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 16 Oct 2007 18:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

When Sequoia Capital does a venture deal, people listen. The firm has backed such companies as Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) and YouTube.

Well, Sequoia is making another play in the video space; that is, it has arranged a $4 million investment in TokBox.

With TokBox, you can make video calls - for free. Also, the platform is completely web-based. You don't even have to register for the service. There is also a cool feature that allows you to embed TokBox on a blog or social network.

I had a chance to interview Chase Norlin on the matter (he is the CEO and founder of Pixsy, which is a video search engine). According to him:

"Tokbox is in a very interesting space that has yet to produce a clear winner. The pioneer and current leader of the space is Paltalk, the main difference being that they're a downloadable app. The recent funding of TokBok brings back a lot of memories of eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY)'s Skype in the early days: Find a breakthrough technology, get mass distribution, then figure out how to monetize it later. Hopefully these guys will figure out that last part quicker than Skype has."

If you want to check out other venture fundings, click here.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements.

Sequoia Capital backs Tokbox: YouTube redux? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 15 Oct 2007 15:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.