I remember a financial advisor (a woman) once said that when the male spouse dies its at least an 80% chance the female spouse didn't know anything about their finances. I asked her was that due to their age set and she said no, she finds about the same split with the younger couples she advises as well.
"A weaker currency 'makes them more competitive and reduces the burden of debt," - makes them more competitive? It makes the pricing lower but not more competitive. China and any other country that is racing to the bottom is playing a losing game in the long term. In short term, there may be some benefit but as with anything that becomes commoditized manufacturing is only as good as your last price.
As far as relief of debt that theory has been shown wrong for a good number of years. Lowering the value of a currency may look good to someone who is in debt but it makes those hold the debt less likely to lend which freezes capital and we all go into recession.
Should the US currency not be tied to world gas/oil and other commodity markets we could be seeing what's happening in Japan (pre-quake) where they were a a neg interest rate and are the most highly in debt country. They tried lowering their debt by devaluing but it hasn't and won't work.
First some facts:
The upper 5% of the population pays 75% of all federal revenue, even though they only account for about 25% of the GDP
Almost 60% pay no income tax
The real US tax rate is already one of the highest in the world
The corporate tax is #2 to Japan
Now the ramifications are that the US is already seeing a capital flight out of the country and that trend will only pickup until the Tax Code is fixed.
That's a good way, IMO. I think a lot of non-tech co-founders should look more at outsourcing the development. When even Jrs at good computer schools already have jobs with the big guys, either a tech co-founder really gets your vision and is totally in synch with you (rare) or they have a lot of their own ideas. Let's face it the track record of companies founded without a tech co-founder is dismal and I think that's because the non-tech co-founder has no appreciation for the tech side.
I happen to be a non-tech with a CS degree (old) but at least I know what's involved having come from development. We need to educate ourselves so at least we can have a cogent conversation with techs. One way to do that is to build something with our own resources.
I think also having a prototype that you can at least test customers with and even maybe make a sale or two will go a long way towards swaying a tech co-founder candidate.
I totally agree. As a non-tech co-founder it is up to me to sell value to the prospective tech co-founder, investor and eventually to the customer. If I can't do that then why work with me. That's my main function.
All that being said, I think there is a call for humility on the tech side of things too (I know I might get flamed for this) but most good BD people I know may not be able to code but they do know the business and what is possible. Any great product will go no where without good sales and marketing and that's a fact. Both sides have to have respect for each other's visions.
That is a pretty different dynamic and more similar to an angel round, given all the competition from angels for the same investment. The key is, once you get to Series A, the universe of potential financiers collapses down to the venture community.
Hey Elad, thanks for all the advice. Can you write the same post, but geared for someone at the stage just before that? i.e. going from $0 to seed round.
I still can't understand how to use the iPad. It doesn't do what my Mac Book can and I can do what it does on my iPhone. For eBooks I have my Kindle which is much better to read on. The only use I've seen so far that it excels in is in use in debates. The speaker can have more than one document up at a time. Other than that?????
I'm the opposite, I have an iPad, but no iPhone - am actually considering an iPhone now (might as well wait for the next tech refresh). But to quote my mate Dave, since I got my iPad, I just use my iPhone as a phone!
Everyone should have a mate called Dave, think I'll just stick to my nokia classic for telecoms.
