Ty McMahan ran a great article on the Wall Street Journal today about entrepreneurhsip in NYC. Definitely worth a read. Join discussion...

A look at seven of the top venture investors in Web 2.0 today, with background and links on each person. Join discussion...

As a fairly entrepreneurial 20something, I take part in some of the business plan competitions in my area. I proceeded to the final round of the 06-07 Cozad BPC and walked away with some tips for students who plan on pitching to VCs. Keep in mind that this is stuff that applies to me, and while it may not work for everyone, you can probably test it out and see what works best in your situation: Join discussion...

Some blowhard VC spouts his trite words of wisdom... Join discussion...

"It’s surprising how often I meet with first-time entrepreneurs who tell me they need $5 million. Not many companies need that amount in their first round of funding. Much of the time, what they need at the earliest stage is enough money to prove the concept and mitigate some initial risk. Often, what they require is seed funding, more on the order of $250,000 or $500,000." Join discussion...

The equity in your startup company, often distributed in the form of stock options, is the most valuable asset you will ever part with. They are like the organs in your body – you only start with a limited amount and at first they seem like they are free. But like the organs in your body, you only get one chance to give them away, so you had better be real careful about giving them away. Join discussion...

A closer look at otherwise strong investment growth shows many firms are getting all the drawbacks of a hot market, with few of the benefits Join discussion...

Dave McClure: "i'll have a lot more to say about this in the future, but at the moment i just want to observe that for a group of folks who hang around startups & talk about technology & innovation all day long, most VCs & lawyers i know really need to eat some of their own [startup's] dogfood." Join discussion...

In 2000, there were 1156 different venture firms that made at least one new deal. In 2006, there were only 597. This is more like a 50% drop, not just 15%! We think that is the big, so far unwritten, story. The US venture industry has been cut in half. That certainly qualifies as a major shake-out. There is one more piece of data we found interesting, and here we and the NVCA are completely in synch. The average size of the most recent fund raised by the venture funds in 2006 was exactly double that of 2000. The 2000 funds came in about $100M, while the 2006 funds were at $200M. Join discussion...

Good perspective on VC Join discussion...