Technology & Cyber Strategy for the Mergers & Acquisitions Industry

What's the Scoop: Venture Capital firms are continuing to review and invest in web 2.0 firms but the initial honeymoon is over. According to the PriceWaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report and VentureSource summaries, VC investments in Web 2.0 fell almost 50% in Q3 of 2008. While investments were still made it is important to keep in mind some fundamentals that social and collaborative technologies need to evince to be considered mature products. What to Look For: Here is a quick and dirty list of qualities a VC should look for in a Web 2.o company while performing technology due diligence and assessment: Sustainable Technological Advantag e - the idea (like sharing RSS feeds) has to be great but the IT implementation has to one that cannot be easily replicated. This is what happened to MySpace, someone came right in and made a good idea great and now has all the marketshare. New innovations will take Web 2.0 to the next level, ideas such as unifying all internet message boards via a ...

CleanTech has been the hot venue for new venture capital investments for a couple years now as it offers great potential returns, revolutions in innovation and immense social benefits. Energy & Fuel is the by far the largest sector and it incorporates a significant amount of technology behind it so today I am looking at it from the VC review process. How big is the industry? "Biofuels (global production and wholesale pricing of ethanol and biodiesel) reached $25.4 billion in 2007 and are projected to grow to $81.1 billion by 2017 ." Clean Energy Trends 2008 Clean Edge Inc. 2008 After all, CleanTech, just like any other industry for investment needs to undergo comprehensive due diligence to vet the deal. Here is an overview of CleanTech with an eye towards the tech behind the energy and what to look for: Energy is a focal point as it addresses alternative fuels as well as storage (batteries, etc) and it is a potential world changer. We wary of any technolo...

The never-ending battle: An eternal part of the venture capital process is sourcing new deals. No competitive VC outfit merely sits around while anonymous business plans filter through their info@bigmoneyvc.com address on their website. In fact, many have proprietary channels they have forged to maintain a competitive edge and ensure the "first-look" luxury whenever possible. Increasingly, VCs are turning back to university research for new breakthroughs and these often come in the form Technology Transfer offices which exist to commercialize and develop new ideas which are the property of the university.  I wrote an paper on the VC landscape while at Columbia Business School so please excuse me while I quote myself: " Where will the new deals come from? Sourcing is often a critical differentiating factor for VC firms. Bringing untouched, solid deals to the table is as important as appropriately evaluating them. Traditionally, many firms referred to their pipeline as a p...

Interview with Ramana Jampala at SAS Investors, 2006, Columbia Business School Who will VCs choose to work with? Good Teams   Assessing the team is often more important than the business thesis itself. It is standard for investors to place heavy merit on the value of the management team they are reviewing. Relevant industry experience is critical but some investors feel that they are not truly comfortable with the team unless they have specific experience successfully running a similar early-staged company in the same sector, even going to far as to seek out entrepreneurs with established track records looking for a 2nd home run. Good Technologies It is interesting also to note how important qualitative factors have become in screening management teams. Mr. Jampala also noted that people seeking funding for their business should appear dedicated and “hungry” to succeed. This is what compels investors to put their money and faith in potential management team. While this may not be a rad...