'venture capital' Category
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The Hierarchy of VC Bloggers (just for fun)
February 28, 2015Nic Brisbourne, veteran VC and Founder of Forward Partners, posits that everyone should be a writer. It’s not difficult to understand such a sweeping assertion coming from a writer of Nic’s calibre. I largely agree, not necessarily for everyone, but that most people purporting to work around innovation should look for some way to regularly […]
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Introducing the European FinTech RUDEscape
February 24, 2015Wow, the appetite for FinTech in Europe is booming, with VC funding reaching dizzying heights. It’s not just Europe, by the way. A recent visit to Bangkok confirmed that even in the emerging startup ecosystem of Thailand, FinTech is hotter than a spicy som tam salad (more on that later). With the entire sector representing […]
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How LINE is turning Instagram into an ecommerce app in Thailand
February 17, 2015On a recent exploratory visit to Bangkok, I witnessed first-hand a consumer shopping behavior that absolutely blew my mind and underscored how the West does not have a monopoly on business model innovation. Incidentally, my secret for glimpsing generalized consumer behaviors in a foreign country is to eschew the convenience of taxis or Uber in […]
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Negotiating your compensation, part deux
February 10, 2015When I first moved to France fourteen years ago, the joke among educated expats was that the best way to get hired for a job in France was to apply for one in which you possessed direct experience in the exact same sector but for lower pay. This is admittedly a slight exaggeration, but back […]
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State of the (European) Union in VC
February 3, 2015A couple years back I argued that the state of the union for VC in Europe was bleak. In particular, I was referring to the tax-advantaged retail fund sector — most prolific in France but not unheard of in some other European countries like in the form of the UK’s VCT vehicles. Today in contrast, […]
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Thank you 猎云网
January 31, 2015Oh wow, I’ve been alerted that some of my writings are posted in the Chinese media. Hope I didn’t say anything silly that was lost in translation! Thank you 猎云网 ! Kind regards, 毕马克
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How to negotiate your compensation (with a French angle)
January 27, 2015As a new year begins, the time is appropriate to prepare for an annual professional assessment. This should involve an introspective self-assessment, to reflect on one’s professional ambitions and career trajectory (a process I strongly endorse, at least one a year). For salaried workers in France at all levels, the yearly assessment usually also involves […]
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Predictions are hard, especially about the future
January 20, 2015The previous RudeVC column on predictions from smart European VCs generated a lot of feedback. Many readers apparently liked the diverse, pan-European nature of the perspectives. Some zoomed in on the granularity of them, agreeing with some and questioning others. One reader questioned the relevance of limiting the predictions to a one-year period. It’s a […]
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Predictions on the State of VC in Europe 2015
January 6, 2015Rather than merely spouting my own views on what’s in store for the VC sector in Europe this year, I decided to solicit the opinions of my more omniscient peers. Here are the thoughts from several top-tier European VCs: Marc Fournier, Serena Capital, France: 2015 should be another great year for technology and venture capital. […]
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2014 Year-End To-Do List
December 23, 2014As another year draws to a close, I prepare to clear my desk and tie up a few loose ends that I had been meaning to address since the start of the year but never got around to doing… In laughter or in pain, happy holidays to all !
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Dear LaFrenchTech: Let’s never stop learning
December 16, 2014Arguably at one point the hottest tech conference on the European continent and still undisputably one of the top tier events, LeWeb took place last week and brought leading international entrepreneurs and investors like Phil Libin, Hiroshi Mikitani, Kevin Rose, Yossi Vardi, Tony Conrad, David Hornik, Jeff Clavier, and Fred Wilson to Paris. The conference […]
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European entrepreneurs: Beware the Silicon Valley travel trap
December 9, 2014There seems be a growing trend in startup communities throughout continental Europe that I find a bit fatiguing. It has to do with the plethora of consultants offering to organize tailored travel packages for young tech companies to global tech hubs, usually Silicon Valley. Consultants are like ants: they usually show up when there’s a […]