Emerging Enterprise Center Blog - Commentary and Analysis For Entrepreneurs and Startups

I am going to deviate from my usual practice of limiting my blog posts to subjects related to start ups, venture capital and the like to comment on the Madoff scandal. This particular post reflects my views and my views alone. Specifically, it does not represent the point of view of any of my partners or of Foley Hoag LLP. I am solely responsible for this content.  For all of my years as a practicing attorney I have represented small public companies before the SEC in connection with their ’34 Act compliance as well as in financing activities (including all sorts of PIPE... More

This morning  I attended a “CEO Breakfast” with Don Bulens, former CEO of EqualLogic (here's a video interview of him from YouTube), sponsored by The Massachusetts Network Communications Council. He commented on a couple of things that are recurring themes in this blog.  Don made reference to slide 49 from the now famous (infamous?) Sequoia Capital’s 56 slide presentation of doom. This slide has a red line labeled “Death spiral” which shows a hypothetical company that does not trim its burn rate falling off a cliff to presumed extinction some time in ’09. It also has a green line that shows a hypothetical... More

One refrain I have started hearing from some entreprenuers is that they have now gone a long time without a paycheck or angel funding -- let alone venture funding, and they need to pay the rent so they will soon have to put their ventures on hold. It will come as no surprise that the continuing crisis in the finance sector has put an end to the little IPO activity that seemed to be cropping up just a few weeks ago.   According to an article in the September 23 edition of VentureWire entitled "IPO Flow Perked Up Until Wall Street... More