The Sleeper Agents of Innovation

Your industry?    It’s in trouble.  Your most experienced execs can’t stop the bleeding and they’re jumping ship—or you’re having to throw them over the side to save money. Yet, somewhere deep within the halls of your enterprise, you have bright young talent that was once really motivated.  Corporate bureaucracy, reluctance to take risks, lack of innovation and protectionism have ...

Anecdote from an actual turndown note I wrote today

"Growing up, my mom would overcook steak, and so I never really liked it.  I didn't know I loved steak until I went to a work event at Del Frisco's--didn't really know how good steak could be. The problem in this scenario, is that it would be prohibitively expensive for a steakhouse to try and acquire me by giving me a free steak...and you have a market where customer acquisition costs are ...

Stories of Opportunity from the First Round Capital Key Hire Wire � VP of Sales, CTO, VP of Engineer

A week or so ago, we launched the Key Hire Wire at First Round. We realized that there were certain open positions in our portfolio we wanted to call extra attention to.  Over 1,000 senior professionals have since signed up for the mailer, which goes out on Fridays.  I tried to make it a little more entertaining than your average job RSS feed.  If you know of senior level business and technical ...

Stories of Opportunity from the First Round Capital Key Hire Wire – VP of Sales, CTO, VP of Engine

A week or so ago, we launched the Key Hire Wire at First Round. We realized that there were certain open positions in our portfolio we wanted to call extra attention to.  Over 1,000 senior professionals have since signed up for the mailer, which goes out on Fridays.  I tried to make it a little more entertaining than your average job RSS feed.  If you know of senior level business and technical ...

This Week in NYC Innovation - February 22, 2010

Are you still not getting this weekly in your e-mail inbox? Fill out this form so you're not missing anything. Nothing interesting to say here... I'm still trying to figure out this curling thing.  How do you get into curling as a kid?   Are there now kids in the projects tying cinder blocks to skateboards as we speak--inspired by their idols in Vancouver? Tuesday, February 23rd 7PM ...

Hello, my name is Phin and I am a sneakerhead VC

Phin Barnes - SneakerHead VC

I am a sneakerhead VC and At the end of the day, my job was to work with extremely talented people to help them bring their vision to market. In my role at First Round I do the same thing. My years of addiction, of developing a curiosity and deep appreciation for the creative process and for discovering what a consumer really wants are paying ...

A tale of two cities: Bewildered by the city government’s continued cluelessness on NYC’s innovation

I generally like NYC City Council Speaker Christine Quinn.  I think she's smart, hardworking, and I think she'd probably make a good mayor someday.  However, her take on the NYC innovation economy during her recent State of the City Address confirmed my thinking: Most of what the NYC government should be doing to support technology entrepreneurship in NYC is to try and stay out of the way.  It's ...

In Cloud We Trust: First Round invests in Backupify

I am excited to share the news of First Round Capital's recent investment in cloud-to-cloud backup service Backupify.  This is the first deal I've closed for FRC and I've also joined the board of the company.  Josh Kopelman will be working closely on this investment as well. Joining our investment in the $900k round were General Catalyst, Betaworks, Jason Calacanis, and Chris Sacca. The ...

Introducing the First Round Capital Key Hire Wire

Josh Kopelman - Redeye VC

One of the most useful things a VC can ever do for a portfolio company is to help a CEO make a key hire. While every hire is important, some additions are pivotal value creating moments in the life ...