Startup Madness (Be the Underdog!)
The glory of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament is the ability for any Division I team, no matter their record, to earn an automatic bid for the 68-team tournament by winning their conference tournament (except only for Ivy League where best record goes). Once in the tournament, every team has a chance to w
Startup Pitfalls after Raising a New Round
You and your team have just closed on a new round of capital. Some of you are tired and weary. All of you are glad to have it done. Now you can keep the momentum rolling and do the things that you’ve been wanting to do but didn’t have the capital to previously execute.
Startupalooza
The annual Lollapalooza festival was just held here in Chicago with a record 300,000 attending the three-day event. I remember attending Lollapalooza in St. Louis back in 1992 w/ Pearl Jam playing a summer afternoon set supporting their still new “Ten” album. Me and by buddy Jeff in the 3rd row watching one
Stop Complaining About “High” Seed Valuations (No One Said You Had to Invest)
Every six months around a certain prestigious accelerator’s demo day event, my Twitter feed lights up about how high seed valuations are in today’s market.
Swift Navigation
Precise positioning solutions for automotive
Syndicates, Backers, and Angels Oh My!
I’ve mentioned AngelList before and Promus Ventures is a strong supporter of the platform and privileged to be an investor in the company. They just came off quite a week.
Tackle the Hard Stuff Head On
What coaches first teach you when learning to play football is how to properly tackle an oncoming player. Head up, back straight, make direct contact, keep your feet moving, and drive the player into the ground. If your approach is wrong, you can get hurt badly. Once you feel a stinger down your spine because o
The “Hard” in Hardware
So the world is now flocking to hear the music of hardware startups. Kickstarter is rockin’ with all types of makers testing the market for prototype demand and feedback. The press is full of flowing prose for founding teams that are “taking the offline online” and creating “the internet of things.” I
The “Heads Down” Fallacy
At Promus Ventures, we believe that having a well-thought out thesis on the macro economy and markets is key to navigating the path ahead. So we make it a point every quarter to refine our thoughts on the setup and make sure 1) our investors know our evolving thesis on macro outlook and 2) our portfolio founde