Jason Ball's TechBytes

Technology & Venture Capital. Early stage venture capital news mixed with personal views and comments

November 27, 2006 • 8:45 pm 9

How to be a VC

Shantanu of Amadeus Capital posted about being a VC at the tail end of last week.

As I just answered an email about becoming a VC over the weekend and was cornered by an MBA re what it takes to be a VC at last Monday’s “Silicon Valley comes to Oxford”, I thought I would link to Shantanu’s two posts on the topic: So you want to be a Venture Capitalist and  How to become a VC.

For me, the number one requirement for being a VC is having been an entrepreneur or having worked in a start up. I cannot stress this requirement enough.

Other nice to haves:

  1. Strategic consulting background
  2. M&A background
  3. MBA
  4. Scientific background (actually a must have if you’re in Biotech/Medtech investments)

Oh, and lastly luck and perseverance. There are few jobs in VC out there- you have to push to get one and be in the right place at the right time…

Filed under: Venture Capital

November 26, 2006 • 9:10 pm 2

Abel & Cole- Healthy Eating

 Last night was the belated Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house. As the entire evening revolved around food, the conversation turned to online shopping and where to get good food. My friends suggested Abel & Cole. I had never heard of but apparently they supply Londoners with boxes of organic, fresh, in season, fruit and veg. You pick your family size and box size/type, sign up and fresh veg arrives at your door every week.

We’re going to give it a whirl- we keep getting stuck in a rut buying the same things (Tesco online shopping is great, but it gets a bit monotonous. This should mix things up a bit.

Filed under: Other

November 26, 2006 • 8:03 pm 2

On Vox: Vox cross-post

View Jason Ball’s Blog

I’ve been given a Vox account since I’m a long-time TypePad user. Supposedly, you can cross post to Vox and Typepad simultaneously, however, most Vox will be private posts for friends and family, not for the entire world…

» Read more on Vox

Filed under: Uncategorized

November 25, 2006 • 4:24 pm 2

VC Blogger Meetup [Updated]

Fred’s posted a brief recap of Thursday night with the Five Horsemen (Fred, Nic, Shantanu, Paul and me). Max couldn’t make it, but hopefully he’s a proud new father now…

As Fred highlights, one of the issues discussed was the poor state of blogging tools. I’ve been trying out one of Fred’s suggestions- Flock- since Thursday. I used the browser last year and even looked at their business model, but wasn’t convinced it was the browser for me and haven’t really looked at it again.

However, that opinion is changing. I do like the simple blogging interface and have re-discovered the built-in RSS reader. I have been asked to beta test Flock’s 1.0 release, so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s new under the hood.

[Update]

Shantanu and Nic have posted their thoughts on the night as well.

Filed under: Events, Conferences and Panels, Software, Venture Capital

November 25, 2006 • 4:24 pm 2

VC Blogger Meetup [Updated]

Fred’s posted a brief recap of Thursday night with the Five Horsemen (Fred, Nic, Shantanu, Paul and me). Max couldn’t make it, but hopefully he’s a proud new father now…

As Fred highlights, one of the issues discussed was the poor state of blogging tools. I’ve been trying out one of Fred’s suggestions- Flock- since Thursday. I used the browser last year and even looked at their business model, but wasn’t convinced it was the browser for me and haven’t really looked at it again.

However, that opinion is changing. I do like the simple blogging interface and have re-discovered the built-in RSS reader. I have been asked to beta test Flock’s 1.0 release, so I’m looking forward to seeing what’s new under the hood.

[Update]

Shantanu and Nic have posted their thoughts on the night as well.

Filed under: Events, Conferences and Panels, Software, Venture Capital

November 24, 2006 • 11:37 pm 0

This can’t be good….

Boo.com to relaunch

Filed under: Other

November 24, 2006 • 11:37 pm 0

This can’t be good….

Boo.com to relaunch

Filed under: Other

November 24, 2006 • 11:37 pm 0

This can’t be good….

Boo.com to relaunch

Filed under: Other

November 24, 2006 • 12:48 am 0

MedTech Investments

I love MedTech- it is the silent killer. A show of hands please, how many people out there heard about Johnson and Johnson’s announcement to acquire Conor Medsystems last week for $1.4bn in CASH?

Now, how many heard about Google’s YouTube acquisition for $1.6bn in PAPER?

Yes, cash is made of paper, but the similarity ends there. This was an amazing purchase that has the DES (drug eluting stent) market buzzing.

As an investor in this space (Chameleon BioSurfaces) I was very pleased to see that type of acquisition hit the front page weeks after completion for a number of reasons.

It’s worth noting that Conor’s turnover was $2 million last year, with a net loss of $58 million for the year. T/O for Q3 2006 was $10 million, with a net loss of $10 million – Sales price $1.4 billion CASH. (It’s worth repeating)

Filed under: Technology, Venture Capital

November 22, 2006 • 9:53 pm 0

The Coolest Macbook Pro

I just picked up on this from TechCrunch UK. The final product is possibly the coolest Macbook Pro ever.

Laptoplarge
I think Leah should look at making copies of this machine available through each of the sites that sponsored her- that adds to the PR coverage and bang for the advertiser’s buck- plus, there could be thousands of these floating around!

Filed under: Apple Computer

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