29 November 2008
Friends occasionally seek my advice on raising venture capital, knowing I’ve been involved with a range of VC financings – from seed, through A, B, and C rounds, to investments by a “strategic partner,” to venture debt financing, through to trade sales.
Today I pass along four sources of advice – with a bit of my own advice thrown in for good measure – ranging from advice for the person wanting to plan for all their VC rounds as they are just starting out (analogous to the plan-ahead friend seeking advice on the process of finding that perfect person to marry,) to advice for the person just days from making a big VC pitch (analogous to the last-minute friend seeking advice the night before he’s going to propose!)
So whether you’re the long-range planner or the last-minute proposer, maybe you’ll find one of these right for you.
“Raising Venture Capital for the Serious Entrepreneur” by Dermot Berkery
Dermot’s advice is for the long-range planner. Dermot was the first person my wife Jules and I met when we landed in Ireland on the first of April 2001. Gratefully, he didn’t immediately laugh when we told him our plan to move to Ireland without jobs – “On spec?” he asked – with our 6, 9, and 12 year old boys. Rather he copped on right away that this was not an April Fools Day joke. Months later, a fellow Irish VC described Dermot thusly: “Des, Dermot’s an oxymoron because he’s both a Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in April Fools, Business, Carleen Hawn, Delta Partners, Dermot Berkery, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Due Diligence, Flybridge Capital Partners, IDG Ventures, Ignition Partners, Jeff Bussgang, John Zagula, Jules Pieri, Ori Brafman, Raising Venture Capital, Rom Brafman, Scott Painter, Series A, Series B, Sway, Venture Capital, xconomy | 3 Comments »
4 May 2008
Executives Online, a firm specializing in placing interim C-level executives in Europe, reports today that the demand for CEO / COO to perform Change Management has increased 220% in on one year. They attribute this dramatic increase in demand to a combination of the impact on all types of businesses of the problems in the financial markets, as well as the US recession.
This is good news for people (like me!) who specialize in interim ‘Change Agent’ type assignments.
Posted in Business, C-Level, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Europe, Interim, Interim Management | 1 Comment »
26 March 2008
I’ve finished my assignment as interim President and COO (reporting to the founding CEO, Omar Khudari) of independent video game developer, Cecropia. When I arrived in 2006, I managed a team of 75 that created The Act, a new style of video game that combines the appeal of an animated film with a simple game mechanic that anyone can enjoy — a video game that appeals to “the rest of us.” As a team, we navigated the challenge of finishing the game on time while simultaneously downsizing the operation significantly. As a company, we learned about creating a powerful, emotional connection between game players and interactive characters. Building on this knowledge, we have transitioned the company to where it can now develop a new kind of interactive advertisement, a Flash Comedy Skit, which could, in our view, become a key component of the Facebook strategy of large consumer products companies.
Check out two things on our updated web site: Under the Projects tab you can play games that are completed and get a ‘sneak peak’ of games in development. And under the Blog tab, read the 12 March 2008 post to answer the question we get asked every day, “What happened to The Act?
Posted in Advergame, Cecropia, Facebook Strategy, Flash comedy skit, Omar Khudari, Video Game | Leave a Comment »
2 March 2008
Last week’s “Triumph in Tech” event at the R&D Pub in MIT’s Stata Center was a success. Polaris Venture Partners and the MIT VCPE (Venture Capital and Private Equity) Club hosted the ‘round robin’ dinner – we changed tables after each course – with the purpose of bringing together three types of people: Venture Capitalists (looking to meet this year’s top graduates); MIT Sloan School MBA students, most from the Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program (looking to find a start-up that’ll hire them); and seasoned CEOs – people like me who Polaris asked to speak directly to the subject of the evening, “How Great Teams Come Together and Break Through to Success.”
Though I enjoyed talking about the teams I’ve pulled together in early-stage start-ups, turn arounds, or ‘growth-phase’ companies both here and in Europe, I enjoyed even more learning new ‘tricks of the trade’ from my contemporaries. Unfortunately I suspect some of the students did not enjoy the advice given by many of the CEOs: since start-ups don’t have the luxury to groom, you’ll not likely find a start-up willing to hire a fresh MBA grad for their executive team. So land a position – preferably in Bus Dev and / or Product Management – at a large, well run company with a strong management training program. Then come back in ten years and seek out your start-up.
This event was one of those win / win situations where all in attendance – the Polaris VCs, the MIT MBA candidates, and the CEOs – benefited.
Posted in Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program, Europe, MIT, MIT Sloan School, MIT Stata Center, MIT VCPE, Polaris Venture Partners, Turnaround | 1 Comment »
27 February 2008
Every CEO with a Series B coming up in the next 6-12 months would be wise to use this post from Jeff Bussgang (General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners, formerly known as IDG Ventures) as the ‘roadmap’ for his or her actions. Instead of learning what VCs will require from trial end error, using Jeff’s roadmap would allow a CEO to provide — on their first Series B presentation — exactly what the VC expects. And rather than waiting until the Series B time arrives, the CEO should today put a list on the wall of Jeff’s required items; then put together an action plan to obtain each item over the next six months.
Preparing a company for a Series B (which I’ve done a number of times, often in the role of interim CEO / COO) reminds me of preparing for a ‘phase review’ when I was a product manager years ago. Though some people dreaded preparing for such a phase review, I found that — if my product development program (including the go-to-market component) was under control — then providing all the data requested at a phase review was not difficult.
Similarly, for a start-up company, the data Jeff says is required for a Series B is really the data you should normally have to operate the business in the Series A phase: an accurate sales pipeline; customer references; a product road map; financial projections; market analysis / potential, etc. are really all things that should be part of your normal operations. If that’s the case, then pulling together the Series B package will be a reasonable process.
If you’re a CEO facing a Series B in the next year save yourself a lot of pain and heartache and follow Jeff’s advice.
Added 17 March 2008: IDG Ventures announced their third fund ($280 million) and a name change to Flybridge Capital Partners. Check out Jeff Bussgang’s post for the reasons why.
Posted in Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Flybridge Capital Partners, IDG Ventures, Jeff Bussgang, Series B | 1 Comment »
14 January 2008
I don’t consider myself an ‘interim kind of guy.’ But I’ve completed numerous turn-arounds in the last decade, usually as interim CEO / COO / GM. Earlier posts discussed the benefits of interim executive management from a company’s point of view, as well as from an executive’s. Another post described the process I use my first week to determine the real problems and to begin to come up with solutions.
Though each company’s situation has been different – different products, different markets, different problems, and different teams – each situation has been the same in that, somewhere around day ten, the ‘powers to be’ ask to switch the role from interim to permanent. Why do they ask? And why do I say, “No?”
They ask because – for the first time in a long time – they like what they see happening. They like the transparency of knowing what’s really going on. They like seeing that bad apples in the management team have been shown the door. And, most importantly, they like seeing key players revitalized and charged up about the company’s future. (It’s these ‘revitalized key players’ who are the foundation of any turnaround.)
So why do I say, “No?” Because, though things have changed for the better at each company, what’s not changed is the reason why the assignment was made interim in the first place. Did they want to keep open the option to sell the company? Did they want to clean the place up to attract an industry-specific, name brand CEO? Did they want to have more time before committing to significant further capital investment? At each company, the reasons for making the assignment interim in the first place have still been valid, hence my response.
Posted in Business, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Interim, Interim Management | 2 Comments »
8 October 2007
In an earlier post I related how the Irish enjoy three-day holiday weekends so much better than we Americans. In America, if you’re involved in retail – either as a retailer or as a customer – these weekends are not a holiday.
When I described the Irish way to a friend, he suggested I try to change America one family at a time. So we started with our family – a retail-free weekend spent with family and friends. Very enjoyable. Give it a try come Veterans Day this November.
Posted in 5. A Few Blogs I Like, A Better Way?, Bank Holiday Weekend, Change Agent, Holiday, Ireland, Irish, Life in Ireland, Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
16 September 2007
Having completed a dozen turn-arounds – usually in the role of Interim CEO / COO / GM – I’m often asked, “Are there consistent actions you take the first week at each company?” to which I answer, “Yes…and no.” ‘No’ because each company is unique, with it’s own set of problems, strengths, and market constraints; therefore each company requires a unique set of actions. But ‘Yes’ because I have settled on a consistent process for the first week, a process that helps me determine the real problems and possible solutions.
That said, there is one action I always take the first day; although the companies I’ve helped turn around have been in very different industries – from electronic ink to wireless mesh to software (of many types) to heart defibrillators to video games – each company needed cash to survive. So the one action I always take the first day is… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Business, Change Agent, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Dublin, Interim, Interim Management, Turnaround, Uncategorized | 9 Comments »
4 June 2007
Making the rounds of high school graduation parties this month, I’m repeatedly asked about the differences between life in Ireland vs. life in the States. My wife Jules’s post, End Of The Year Mania, covers a key area of difference, how we in the States are making important events (like high school graduations) unimportant by over-celebrating the trivial (like preschool graduations.) Jules references a brilliant piece in the The Boston Globe’s op-ed section on the downside of American over-celebrating. Jules nicely contrasts this with the upside of the Irish way of making the really important things truly matter more. Check it out.
Posted in A Better Way?, American, Arcade Fire, Boston Globe, End Of School Year, High School Graduation, Ireland, Irish, Irish Celebration, Irish Schools, Jules Pieri, Life in Ireland, The States | Leave a Comment »
31 May 2007
Today school children in Ireland start their three-month long summer vacation. They enjoy a longer break than their American counterparts due to a more efficient school calendar, one of six things Irish schools do well that American schools should consider adopting.
When we moved to Ireland in 2001 from the top-notch public schools of Lexington MA (Lexington’s schools had just been selected as the best in the northeast) we were pleased to learn that the Irish schools were equally as good. The quality of public education – a key focus of the Irish government for thirty years – is one of the three factors behind the Celtic Tiger boom; in less than a decade the Irish economy became the healthiest in the EU, with the Irish now enjoying the highest per capita income in Europe. (The other two drivers of the Irish economy – a dramatic increase in the number of women… Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in A Better Way?, College Admissions, Des Pieri, Desmond Pieri, Dublin, Europe, Ireland, Irish, Irish Schools, Leaving Cert, Less Stress More Success, Marilee Jones, School Uniforms, Summer Vacation, Teachers, Tenure, The Economist | 8 Comments »
Friends occasionally seek my advice on raising venture capital, knowing I’ve been involved with a range of VC financings – from seed, through A, B, and C rounds, to investments by a “strategic partner,” to venture debt financing, through to trade sales.
Dermot’s advice is for the long-range planner. Dermot was the first person my wife Jules and I met when we landed in Ireland on the first of April 2001. Gratefully, he didn’t immediately laugh when we told him our plan to move to Ireland without jobs – “On spec?” he asked – with our 6, 9, and 12 year old boys. Rather he copped on right away that this was not an April Fools Day joke. Months later, a fellow Irish VC described Dermot thusly: “Des, Dermot’s an oxymoron because he’s both a Read the rest of this entry »
Change Agent 