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The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Of Software Patents

Startup Professionals Musings

I always advise software startups to file patents to protect their “secret sauce” from competitors, and to increase their valuation. This patent holding company has charged infringement and demanded royalties from every app developer for the iPhone and Android, for a feature most agree has been in apps for many years.

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Retro: My Favorite Blog Post on Raising VC

Both Sides of the Table

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

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The Audacious Plan to Make Electricity as Easy as WiFi

Both Sides of the Table

Today I’m handing her the largest A-round check I’ve ever written as a VC as we lead her $10 million A-Round at uBeam. As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. We hired IP specialists to review prior art.

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6 Key Rules To Stay Competitive In The Digital World

Startup Professionals Musings

As a business advisor, I have to recommend even to established companies that they review and revamp their competitive strategy now, even if it appears to be working today. The old approaches of controlling distribution channels, saturating retail, and methodically scaling your brand awareness don’t protect you anymore.

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On Ramp Wireless: Connecting The Smart Grid

socalTECH

We also operate the network software than runs and manages the entire network layer, from access point to end point. It''s very resistant to interference, due to the way the technology was designed. This last round is a significant amount of capital, why the new funding? Kevin Hell: Hardware companies do require more capital.

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REACH Connected Future | Cleantech Recap

Tech Zulu Event

It’s almost been a work week since Techzulu and Gadget Review’s REACH | The Connected Future and we’re still reeling with excitement. Today, the conversation on Cleantech with a panel of entreprenurs, doing work as local VC’s, university, incubators, and startups. 2050 full utilization of local water.

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Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010

SoCal CTO

10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , June 18, 2010 The folks at Behance and Cool Hunting asked me to talk at their 99% Conference a couple months ago. Just because a product has a patent, deep complexity and an obvious competitive advantage does not mean that it can fly by itself into the market.

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