If there is an industry that thrives on upsetting unconventional wisdom, it’s tech. Don’t talk to strangers? How about hailing a ride — or renting a room — from someone you have never met. People will never buy things if they can’t hold them first. That sort of stuff…

If blogs aren’t visual enough for you, WonkBlog has a series on the best graphs of the year, while back on the blog side, here are some thoughts from Ben Horowitz on taking the mystery out of scaling a company; Tim Harford on why there are no new ideas, only remixes…

One of the axioms of raising capital is simple: all money is green, so what is the value an entrepreneur should expect from an investor? For many early-stage companies that are growing quickly, with money safely in the bank, the primary need is talent.  And one of the resources…

Like many people, I am now getting more and more news and information through twitter. I’ve always thought that facebook is socially familiar —  because it is permission-based and…

Top tweeter Fred Wilson has two interesting posts that echo the same theme: venture investing should be much more complicated than simply finding the Next Big Thing. First, he talks about the fallacy of bimodal returns – that the two most likely outcomes for an early-stage investment are either…

It’s a theme as old as Dickens and reflects both a central tenet of biology and the basic economic belief that as an industry matures, it divides.  Fred Wilson sees the venture capital industry increasingly split into two parts:…

Amid financial and regulatory oil slicks is an ongoing debate about carried interest, which Warren Buffet once characterized by asking why his receptionist was paying a higher tax rate than he was. She did so because investment funds…

After venture-backed IPOs went MIA in 2009, VentureBeat notes the oddly imprecise appearance of 15-17 IPOs in Q2 alone, close to 2007 levels.  But even VentureBeat sounds a cautious note, since post-IPO performance has been poor,…

Last month we looked at the external factors partly responsible for the consolidation of the venture industry.  What also bears consideration is the internal economics of the industry itself.  As the industry grew and…

An online brouhaha broke out over angel groups that charge startups to pitch potential investors. Led by media entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, and with an echo from Fred Wilson, soon a full chorus…

The predictable pendulum swing of harsher terms during a buyer’s market lead to a lively online discussion on the future of the term sheet.  A dialogue between influential bloggers — entrepreneurs and venture capitalists alike…