http://konamoxt.com Life is good at Konamoxt. Fri, 05 Feb 2010 07:32:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Hey, small business person! Yeah, you... the Startup CEO with less than 100 employees. You and I both know you're paying the worst possible health insurance rates around. If you're lucky enough to be able to afford to provide health insurance to your employees you're lumped into a group insurance ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/07/08/whos-got-your-back/ This weekend I went to the first show of Green Day's "21st Century Breakdown" Tour. I'll admit that although I enjoy Green Day's music, as a former owner of an independent (punk) record label I am in the camp of those who feel like Green Day lost some credibility when ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/07/06/what-startups-can-learn-from-punk-rock/ I spent most of today at the Small and Special event hosted by Jackson Fish Market, and I have to say it far exceeded my high expectations. The venue was amazing. The presenters were each amazing and inspiring in their own right! Even more amazing was the synergy between the ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/30/wow-that-was-special/ I can't help but shake my head a little when I read that 52.9% of VCs think that their own approach is broken. Why are VC's so concerned, you ask? Well, we've been talking about this issue a lot lately, but it all boils down to finding the next buyer ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/29/if-the-vc-model-is-broken-then-what-how-about-be-special/ A group of researchers from Harvard Business Scholl recently published a study that showed that startups whose headquarters are further away from their VCs are more likely to be successful than companies that are closer to their investors. Xconomy and PEHub both ran articles about the study and reach similar ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/26/is-out-of-sight-out-of-mind-a-good-strategy-for-vc-backed-companies/ As I've mentioned in my last couple posts, there's been a lot of talk about bootstrapping, VC investments, and lifestyle businesses in the Seattle entrepreneur scene lately. I was recently sent a link to an interview with James Hong of HOTorNOT.com. He has an interesting, I'll say fresh, perspective how ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/24/cash-cow/ One of my favorite Seattle area entrepreneurial focused blogs is written by William Carlet, an attorney at McNaul Ebel Nawrot & Helgrn PLLC. William has written several posts recently about how macro shifts in our economy may have big implications on how the traditional VC business model works. The headline of ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/22/more-cracks-in-the-vc-business-model/ Being successful at business requires a thick skin, a "killer" instinct, and often times personality traits that in other settings  would be described as anti-social, and maybe even sociopathic. We all remember the great quote from Andy Grove (Intel's CEO from 1987-1998): "Only the paranoid survive!" This week I was reminded on a valuable ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/19/never-make-it-personal/ /**/ I am always fascinated by watching the reaction of businesses to various issues related to government reform. The media loves to portray most businesses and business people as ruthless, greedy, and generaly anti-government. However, in my experience, things are always more complicated than they seem. At the risk of starting a ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/17/will-health-care-reform-help-entrepreneurs/ In Seattle we have a very active start up entrepreneurial community with many great resources for news , debate , education , and discussion . Recently there has been a rash of rather public debates about the virtues and implications of Bootstrapping your business. This debate has, unfortunately devolved on ... http://konamoxt.com/2009/06/15/bootstrapped-vs-lifestyle-businesses/