Businessweek has an interesting piece on how PE and turnaround funds are making life difficult for short-sellers: But as short-selling has proliferated, it has become increasingly difficult to make money at the game. Whereas a profit-challenged enterprise may once have floundered until shutting down or filing for bankruptcy, many such companies are now targets for […]
VC boom in Russia?
BW piece on how the VC scene is hotting up in Russia: To encourage such investments, the Russian government has set up a trust that matches investments from private venture capitalists. Already, it has agreed to dispense nearly $100 million to three groups of investors. Among them: Asset Management, run by legendary Silicon Valley venture […]
Unrest behind the scenes in the VC world
The NYT has an article on how LPs are unhappy with US VCs – most of them, anyway – and has some interesting bits to it. Some limited partners, whose billions of dollars help fund the investments made by venture capitalists and who pay their fetching salaries, are unhappy. They say the industry is far […]
Indian VC funds wait on tax bracket decision
I recall a conversation with Alok on this topic, on the day the budget was presented. The Economic Times has an article today that outlines the issue, but presents no clear resolution one way or another. Would some of the knowledgable folks here comment? The worst isn’t over for venture capital funds (VCFs). The million-dollar […]
Selling commercial rights to work already released under a Creative Co...
My friend Cory Doctorow (one of the more interesting of the current crop of Science Fiction writers, though he may be more well-known from his work with the EFF and his role with the award-winning blog boing boing) has posted a very interesting piece about how one can commercially exploit CC-licensed content: Lots of people […]
P2P micropayments – mediated by your cellphone operator!
I think that the best way to kickstart a working micropayment infrastructure may lie with mobile phone operators – the billing and tracking infrastructure is in place, and they don’t have the baggage that the credit card issuers do. Here’s an interesting piece about such a scheme in Kenya. The ping of a text message […]
Fred Wilson’s take on Superdistribution
Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures with an interesting take on Superdistribution – the practice of turning each consumer into a retailer of the good in question. […] superdistribution is something I’ve become obsessed with. Superdistribution means turning every consumer into a distribution partner. Every person who buys a record, a movie, reads a newspaper, […]
Startupping – a new resource for entrepreneurs
I recently came across Startupping – which looks to be an interesting online gathering place for entrepreneurs. It is heavily focused on the internet space, but other kinds of entrepreneurs will also find some interesting tidbits here. Worth keeping an eye on. From their home page: Startupping is a one-of-a-kind community resource created for Internet […]
Real Estate Collapse in the US?
A long, scary and data-laden argument that the real estate market in the US is headed for a crash – with worldwide recessionary effects (though particularly nasty in the US itself). This is likely to be exacerbated by the fact that crude oil prices are likely to face upward pressure in the near/middle term too. […]
Allianz report on Climate Change and the insurance business
Here’s an interesting – and sobering – report by insurance giant Allianz and the World Wildlife Fund which basically says that that the insurance industry needs to do more to address the growing impact of climate change-induced damages — and the resulting insurance claims. We’re going to see much, MUCH more of this in the […]
All Things Web 2.0
An interesting attempt at an “open” directory of anything Web 2.0. 0
WB report on China and India in the Global Economy
This is a draft report, but looks very interesting. I will re-read this in more detail soon. China is now the world’s fourth largest economy and growing very fast. India’s economic salience is also on the rise. Together these two countries will profoundly influence the pace and nature of global economic change. Drawing upon the […]