Last week, The Idaho Technology Council (ITC) held a press conference announcing the public launch of this very important organization. Judging by some of the comments I’ve seen on local media sites and some rash reaction from folks in the blogosphere, there’s clearly some misunderstanding about what the ITC is and what its mission is. […]
Archive for January, 2010
Jan
27
Jan
24
5 Minutes With OpenView Venture Partners
In 2009, I was introduced to Scott Maxwell and George Roberts when their firm, OpenView Venture Partners led the $7 million Series C round of Boise-based Balihoo, a company that we’ve been invested in since 2007. From the very beginning, it was clear to me that OpenView was a different firm. Based in Boston, they […]
Jan
21
Big Company Blues? It’s A Great Time To Make The Jump to A Start-Up
Imagine you’re a successful 10+ year veteran at HP, Micron, Oracle or some other behemoth technology company and one day John, a co-worker approaches you and says “ Hey Dave, Mary and I are meeting for a couple of beers tonight, we’ve got a great idea for a start-up, care to join us?” Would you […]
Jan
18
5 More Minutes with Eric Hansen
Back in November, 2009, I posted a blog entitled “5 Minutes with Eric Hansen of August Ventures.” Well, another firm raised their hand and claimed the name, so instead of fighting about it, Eric did the smart thing and changed the name of the firm to Portas Ventures. The investment thesis and ideas are the […]
Jan
13
The Future Of Innovation In Idaho
(The following is an open letter to members of the Idaho Legislature) Dear Idaho Legislator, As the father of a 9 and 11 year old, “why?” “how come?” and “can you explain?” are very, very common questions in my house these days. Inquisitiveness… Where does this come from? I need look no further than my […]
Jan
11
The Story Behind The DAZ3D - Gizmoz Merger
About 3 years ago, we made an investment in DAZ3D, a very interesting company that markets 3D creation software and content to digital artists, including a family of very high quality 3D avatars that quickly became a standard. The company’s founders, Chris Creek and Dan Farr had successfully bootstrapped DAZ to profitability and had built […]