Mark Bivens
Rude VC: Percent vs. value
At a conference the other day a fundraising advisor I know approached me about a prospective investment opportunity. The opportunity, a project in the mobile analytics space, fit well within our invest domain of interest. I was intrigued and listened attentively as the intermediary explained the product, the market need, the company’s progress to date, […]
State of the (Venture Capital) Union in France: Bleak
Last summer I wrote a piece about how France’s Retail VC funds were facing bleak prospects (Retail VCs: Pivot or Perish). With the jury now in from 2012’s fundraising cycle for these vehicles, it unfortunately appears that my August piece proved ominously prescient. By way of refresher, Retail VCs are the venture capital firms whose […]
Rude VC: The importance of blogging for entrepreneurs
The entrepreneurs with whom I work closely are familiar with my repeated encouragement that they blog on a regular basis. Perhaps encouragement, as my portfolio companies might suggest, is too soft a word; unrelenting nagging is more like it. I’ve often felt like a lone voice in the wilderness on this topic, at least in […]
Vacances à volonté, a rising trend of unlimited vacation days
“Impossible, that would never work in France; don’t be so idealistic,” chided my friend with a dismissive wave of the hand. With a storied career rising through the ranks of a CAC40 firm and more recently a business owner, my friend knew a lot about managing people in a French workplace. We were discussing a […]
Rude VC: Ode to the Salesperson
For the bulk of my portfolio companies, this is the time of year that I brace myself for a dip in financial performance. While the reasons differ, the effect in Q1 is similar. In the web and mobile companies whose products follow consumer buying patterns, the short month of February translates directly into fewer days […]
Rude VC: Courage to vote for courage
Last May we elected a new French president largely based on his extent of ‘normalcy’. The recent U.S. presidential election revolved around the issue of business acumen rather than inspirational leadership. Not to mention last week’s embarrassing punt by the U.S. congress on the fiscal cliff resolution when what would have really made sense would […]
The 5 Best (or worst) VC holiday greetings
I’ve often remarked how U.S. venture capital firms are miles ahead of European VCs in their strategies and execution. Mercifully, there is one so-called ‘best practice’ in Silicon Valley that has not really caught on here in Europe: the one-upmanship in releasing humorous holiday parodies. Here are 5 standouts over the past decade (caveat viewer: […]
5 Things to be Thankful for in the French Startup Ecosystem
The atmosphere surrounding France’s VC and startup ecosystem over the second half of the year has provided ample opportunities to dampen one’s spirits. Between the dearth of stock market liquidity, the potentially devastating fiscal policies of the new government, VC’s who behave more like overpaid lenders than risk backers, and the general macroeconomic malaise within […]
Musings on advanced urban ecosystems
For the second time in a month this weekend, fortune had it that I caught one of the brand new trains on RER B. I’ve long suspected that one of the reasons that keeps Paris below other world-class cities in various rankings (such as the recent 11th out of Startup Genome’s Top 20 Startup Ecosystems) […]
Rude VC: Moody Blues in France
It has been a demoralizing 10 days for France in its standing in the business world. A week ago Friday, The Economist published a damning report on the parlous state of France’s economy with a cheeky cover story calling the country The Time-Bomb at the Heart of Europe. Then on November 19th, Moody’s downgraded France’s […]