Venture Capital

Another big software company – BEA – is being consumed by Oracle today . While some people will say this goes back three months to the first offer Oracle made for BEA, the idea has been floating around for a long time. I quickly found a priceless article about it online in Linux World from 3/16/04 (republished on Java.net). Facing almost certain defeat in its pursuit of PeopleSoft, Oracle is eyeing other candidates and possibly BEA*. “Faced with a tough, if not losing, battle for PeopleSoft, Oracle executives said Thursday that they were considering other acquisitions… Henley (CFO, Chairman) said Oracle had been ‘looking at a variety of areas’ but didn’t identify any potential takeover targets. It has expressed interest in BEA as well as reserve over the price.* ...

If you are a venture capitalist and you haven’t heard about FAS 157 (also known as Fair Value Accounting), I recommend you ask your accounting firm’s audit partner about it. Today. Until recently, most VC firms used a straightforward and consistent method to valuing their portfolio companies. No more – now we have to conform to FAS 157 to get a clean GAAP opinion from our auditors. Since our LP agreements require a GAAP opinion, FAS 157 here we come. ...

Now that one of our favorite IRS regs – Mr. 409a – has been around for a while, it’s still causing plenty of confusion, wasted time, energy, and money. The final regulations – issued in April – are to become effective on January 1, 2008. However, one 9/10/07, the IRS announced that they were extended the compliance deadline a year – it’s now 12/31/08 instead of 12/31/07. Thanks Uncle Sam – that’s nice. ...

If you are a VC firm looking for a summer intern, or an MBA looking for a VC summer internship, Dan Primack and PEHub have put launched their 5th Annual Internship Rodeo. We regularly get inbound emails asking how to land a job in venture capital. If you have ever sent me a note like that or are looking for a job, this is one of the best ways to get in the mix. ...

Fred Wilson wrote an excellent post last month titled Saying No . I thought of it today when I found myself tangled up an in email exchange with someone I said no to. I won’t repeat what Fred said (his post is worth reading) but I’ll add to it. I get tons of inbound email from entrepreneurs (and bankers, and lawyers) pitching new investments. I take a look at all of them and always try to respond within a day. I say no to many of them, but I’m happy to be on the receiving end of them (and encourage you – dear reader – to send me stuff anytime.) ...

That got your attention, right? Actually I am in a place called “The Palace” – a hotel on New Montgomery Street that I always think of as “the Sheraton Commander” (but am not sure that’s right either.) I won’t be here for long so good luck trying to find the physical instantiation of me today. Two of my favorite bloggers (and people I adore – both working with and just simply as people) have excellent posts up today that are worth reading. I’ll start with Dick Costolo’s post titled Have a Company Voice. Dick is so completely right – I was at a board meeting yesterday and while talking about launch and roll out strategy, I wish I could have simply passed around a copy of this post (jh – hint.) ...

My friends Paul Kedrosky and Fred Wilson both showed up on WallStrip interviews this week. Lindsey interviewed Paul and got to ask about why people punch him in the face and Fred talked with Howard about the “Fuck You Phone.” While Bijan didn’t make WallStrip this week, he did notice that 50 students at Boulder High walked out during the pledge of allegiance this week . It was that whole “one nation, under God” thing that doesn’t really work that well in a public school, especially in the people’s republic of Boulder. Praise to the kids for being independent and critical thinkers. ...

Fred Wilson has an awesome post up today titled Venture Fund Distributions – Cash versus Stock . It explains, in great detail, how a VC thinks about distributing stock (either from IPOs or from sales of companies to publicly traded ones) back to their investors (or LPs.) It’s extremely detailed, gets into the mechanics of it, and also – as usual for Fred’s posts – has Fred’s own personal viewpoints woven through it. This is by far the best discussion I’ve ever seen of VC stock distributions either in the blogosphere or in interviews. A must read. ...

The number “2” (and in $250m and $280m .) Announcements at the WSJ D Conference? The checkbooks appear to be out in force again.

From a mug found in Fred Wilson’s office. It’s important to have a sense of humor in this business (and in every business, and in life.) The coffee was great.