'venture capital' Category
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An impairment of good will
June 3, 2019A couple days ago I released a stream of consciousness tweetstorm about Nomura’s sudden and substantial goodwill impairment following 11 years of radio silence. I intended to provoke and expected some feedback on it. What I did not expect was the near consensus condemning the financial integrity of many corporate balance sheets in Japan. The […]
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Drug prices in Japan
May 22, 2019An editorial in this morning’s Yomiuri Shimbun reminded me of a mind-blowing conversation I had the other day with an accomplished health care investor. Today’s Yomiuri editorial, Extremely high drug prices should be reviewed for appropriateness, cites the case of Kymriah, a breakthrough biological drug which efficaciously treats certain types of leukemia and other blood […]
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Time for some spring cleaning ?
May 12, 2019On a recent trip to Paris I found myself in the 9ème arrondissement with a spare 30 minutes so decided to pop into one of Drouot’s auction houses. If you haven’t visited Drouot, I recommend dropping in on one of their open auctions just for the experience. It’s entertaining, and there’s no expectation that you […]
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Musings on shareholder value
May 5, 2019A conversation with a friend this weekend drifted onto the recent documentaries about the Fyre Festival (Fyre and Fyre Fraud on Netflix and Hulu, respectively). I haven’t watched them yet, but they reflect a theme we’ve been witnessing with increasing frequency these days. Also documenting this theme are the recent non-fiction thriller novels Bad Blood […]
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Plan B vs Plan[et] A
April 22, 2019When founders allocate an inordinate amount of board meeting time to explaining their “Plan B” if things don’t work out, I’ve been known to growl something along the lines of, “Every hour you spend thinking about Plan B means one fewer hour focused on achieving Plan A.” Don’t get me wrong. Contingency planning is the […]
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AI Summit Tokyo finalists
April 16, 2019Congratulations to the 6 foreign Artificial Intelligence startups selected for Nikkei’s AI Summit next week in Tokyo.
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A SAFE note simulation
April 2, 2019The other day I explained several drawbacks of SAFE notes which I fear are often overlooked by founders raising funds. This post here will only make sense if you’ve read that earlier piece, so feel free to skim through it first before reading this one. Also, as I stated last time but will reiterate here, […]
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Five reasons SAFE notes may not prove as safe as hoped
March 18, 2019[Note: see here for this piece published in Japanese.] When I raised money for my startups in the 90s, preferred shares were the primary investment instrument employed by VCs. Convertible notes and venture loans occasionally made an appearance on the debt financing side, especially during the run-up period to the dot-com bubble. One of today’s […]
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Springtime for AI in Tokyo: Global startups invited
March 10, 2019I’ve written before about Japan’s deep thirst for innovation in the field of artificial intelligence. Another prestigious event in the domain is taking place next month: AI/SUM. Nikkei has generously offered me a few complimentary invitations to promising AI startups from Europe. Accepted applicants will receive free airfare and accommodation for Tokyo for the event. […]
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Perceptions of Brexit on the other side of the world
March 3, 2019Although I don’t believe to be directly affected by this shambles referred to as Brexit, I am concerned about it. Despite occasionally taking the piss out of my British friends, I am preoccupied by Brexit because on a regular basis I bear witness to its adverse impact on the UK’s perception abroad. For reasons I have […]
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ICOs in Japan revisited
February 24, 2019“Why invest in a security token ?” That was how the conversation started with some co-investor friends over wagyu dinner in Tokyo the other night. The question was triggered by the collective observation of the sudden spike in deal flow these days from projects raising funds for their ‘security tokens’. One example cited was that […]
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Free Revolut card (limited time)
February 16, 2019In order to be an effective investor in the fintech space I try to be a consumer of every fintech startup I can. Readers of this blog know how big a fan I am of Revolut, ever since their early days at Level 39. Revolut’s interbank rate on currency exchange and versatile cashback metal card […]