silicon valley

To Sell or Not to Sell: Silicon Valley Acquisitions Market Heats Up

Farhad Manjoo — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 13:00:00 -0500

Aaron Patzer twice walked away from a potential deal with his archrival. During months of deliberations about whether to sell Mint.com, his much-celebrated personal-finance startup, to Intuit, Patzer held out for the keys to the kingdom. "Then all of a sudden Intuit says, 'Not only will we buy you, but we will let you and your team run our personal-finance division,' " Patzer says. Under the terms of the proposal, Patzer would manage not just Mint but also Quicken's online and desktop products.

East versus West Coast

VJ Misra — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 20:47:51 -0400

The United States of America is massive, and other than the 3,000 miles that divides us coast to coast, we see a lot of cultural difference between states. I personally live on the West coast but have worked extensively on the East coast. I have seen a huge cultural divide between the two coasts. No offence to anyone, but things become progressively uptight as you travel from West to East.

Venture Capital Slows to a Trickle

Chris Dannen — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 22:11:52 -0400

It's well know that VC funds take their economic hits with a delay because they work in liquid money, but it seems like their time of reckoning for the great bust of '08 has finally come. VentureBeat reports that new data from the National Venture Capital Association and Thomson Reuters show a drop in second-quarter VC fundraising that's pretty discouraging: between April and June, they raised a collective $1.7 billion, the smallest amount raised in any quarter since 2003, and split between the smallest number of funds since 1996.

Why Does Tesla Get All the Love? It's Selling California, Not Cars

Chris Dannen — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:00:23 -0400

Yesterday, Tesla Motors fulfilled its stereotype as a Silicon Valley startup by botching the unveiling of its second major product launch, the four-door Model S sedan.

Mo'Better Tech

Gadi Amit — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:24:56 -0400

Living and working for years in the Bay Area, I find it pathetic at times to see how many good people latch on to the notion of technology as the great savior to all problems, large or small. While I love technology and surround myself with anything computerized, I also think it's about time to re-examine some core beliefs related to electronic technology.

Second Life Still Gets Great Press, Even When It's Dying

Danielle Sacks — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 11:42:36 -0400

With the art world imploding alongside the economy, we could all use an inspired feel-good-art-is-still-alive story. But to describe Second Life--which has about 65,000 users logged on at any given time--as the zeitgeist of the art world? Maybe if it were 2006.

The Most Influential Women in Technology

Lynne d Johnson, Ellen McGirt, and Sherri Smith — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 13:46:05 -0500

We inadvertently ignited a firestorm late last year when we posted a story on fastcompany.com called "The Most Influential Women in Web 2.0." The post became the subject of heated debate on the user-recommendation site Digg, as well as on our own site.

2009 BIO International Convention

Facebook Tries to Buy Twitter. Are They Insane?

Chris Dannen — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:10:46 -0500

There are two kinds of companies in the Valley: those that make money, and those that don't have to. As the economy worsens, the former group behaves like firms in other sectors, making cuts and revising earnings expectations. For the latter group, living in a VC-backed candyland, it's as good a time as any to spend half a billion dollars on something fun.

The Designer-Small Biz Connection

Rachel King — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 16:49:06 -0400

If you want your business to be noticed, design is everything. However, a lot of startups and small businesses often don’t have the budget for an in-house design department. In an effort to facilitate the connection between freelance designers and small businesses, there’s 99designs, an online crowdsourcing contest that creates a forum for designers to showcase their work and win new clients. The Melbourne, Australia-based operation just opened up their American headquarters in San Francisco.

Wall Street and the New Startup Economy

Chris Dannen — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 17:00:09 -0400

The vocabulary of this month's financial news has been dismal, with words like slumping, collapsing, and failure dominating the media lexicon. While the tumult has prompted credit scarcity, layoffs, and write-downs for many companies, the market for tech startups has remained a small and viable haven.

Is Michael Arrington One of the World's Most Influential People?

Kermit Pattison — Fri, 09 May 2008 19:05:54 -0400

In the 19th century, the Bay Area saw the rise of William Randolph Hearst as a new type of media baron. Now the Silicon Valley has Michael Arrington, founder and editor of TechCrunch. The blog has become an influential must-read within the tech industry and claims 884,000 readers. Arrington has been anointed a "Kingmaker" (Fortune) and a "power broker" (Wired) and was recently was included in Time's list of the world's 100 most influential people.

Coming Soon: Nontrepreneur Nation

Bernard Moon — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 13:57:18 -0400

Coming Soon: Nontrepreneur Nation

How parenting and education are killing American entrepreneurship and innovation

Despite how U.S. students continue to lag far behind those in
Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Japan in math and