Last week, I was on a panel with other investors discussing the “do’s� and “don’ts� of angel and venture capital investing some one from the audience fired a series of intriguing compounded questions � why are the VC’s so illusive?, � All valid questions and valid statements – the event made me think that entrepreneurs view of the equity investment community is entirely different than that of the inner circle and this mismatch of perceptions is not disruptive and unhealthy. why don’t they have all their information available? Why don’t they disclose

Last week's angel investment report by the Angel Capital Association reported that investments by angel investors dropped nine percent in 2008, with a hefty percentage of angel investors--40 percent--expecting this year will be a down year. However, a quick check of local, Southern California angel investors finds that although angel investment is down, investors are still investing--albeit much more selectively. "Capital Capital efficient companies offering very competitive terms are still getting funded," says Al Schneider of the Tech Coast Angels , although it appears the group is much more sensitive about how it is investing in deals.

The bulk of Hedge Fund investment comes from the East coast – principally Connecticut and New York City – which has become the leading location for hedge fund managers. The bulk of venture capital investment comes from the West coast - principally Silicon Valley. In 1999 there were 1000 VC firms which invested $100 Billion. The Civil War II has begun but this time it’s not the North versus the South. This Civil War is about money under management in the financial services industry and it’s the West Coast versus the East Coast.

There is just too much to say about the topic and I have been warned about being too verbose with lengthily postings so this is a 3 posting series. Following is the first posting: Some Good reasons to Bootstrap 1- Bootstrapping ensures that you build your business on legitimate, real world value propositions. You truly focused on customer value from day one.

I got the following question from an entrepreneur and I thought I share it with everyone. “Why do many startups actually fail? In my observation, i have felt that there are many a startups which have a brilliant idea, a genuine team to execute that and also a good support for the product they intend to build, but still the companies fail to break even. I

If the limited partners who fund venture firms either a) change the percent of funds they allocate to VCs or b) don’t come through on their capital calls, we’ll all quickly find the venture community becoming drastically constrained. Instead of making as many new investments, VCs will use their cash for inside rounds to fund their top preforming portfolio companies that have the greatest likelihood of success. There has been a lot of conjecture about how the Venture community will respond to the economic downturn. My personal opinion is that its going to be bad,

My advice to this group is there a lot of smart people out there and that it is “doing� that makes money and not “hiding� – To capitalize on a good idea you must first share it. The Enforcer Well, these folks are skillful, mechanical and hard workers. In my days, I have met with many many entrepreneurs. We have agreed and disagreed on things, learned from each other, and experienced disappointments and successes together.

Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time researching their market and customers.  But, when it comes to raising money, they tend to approach anyone with a heartbeat!   The problem with this approach is that a large majority of the investors you pitch are simply not appropriate for what you are doing or where you are as a company.  So, any time you spend on them is wasted. 

Yelp has raised $31M in venture capital and average 7M visitors per month according to Quantast. 2) Jiwire.com - Founded in 2003 to help wifi users find and use local wifi hotspots. Jiwire has raised $22M in venture capital and averages 350,000 visitors per month to its' web site according to Quantast. 3) GasBuddy.com - Founded in 2001, to enable drivers to help each other find the best gas prices around town. Crowdsourcing has become a hot VC entrepreneur topic lately based on new companies forming and demonstrations I have seen at TechCrunch50 and Demo. This has

Venture capital fundraising activity dropped significantly in Q4, according to a report released Monday by Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). The report, which tracks the fundraising activity of venture capital firms, found that there was $3.4 billion in forty-three venture capital funds raised in Q4 of 2008, down from $8.4 billion in the prior quarter, and down significantly from the $11.7 billion raised in Q4 of 2007.