BusinessWeek Logo

Bubble Talk and Joe Kraus

Posted by: Heather Green on December 20

All this discussion among the technorati including John Battelle, Om Malik and even Michael Arrington about bubbles reminds me of a brief discussion about bubbles that I had last week when I met with JotSpot co-founder and serial entrepreneur Joe Kraus. Kraus, who is an active angel investor and advisor for small companies, said he had stopped investing during the past few months.

He said that while it’s easy and cheap to start a company these days, that doesn’t meant that there is a business behind all of these companies. He also talked about Angel Fractricide. Basically, he said that too many angel investors are funding the same kind of companies and that that’s hyping companies. Eventually, there will be a correction and some startups will go under. In an environment like this, he says, longevity is a strategy. Easy money won’t always be around.

TrackBack URL for this entry: http://blogs.businessweek.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/

Reader Comments

Henrique Plöger Abreu

December 22, 2005 01:46 PM

The development of a business strategy is driven by what an organization is trying to accomplish.
To reach longevity as a start-up You need more than just a mission statement that answers the questions: Why does our organization exist? What business are we in? What values will guide us?
More important is to have a strong and compelling business vision, one that tries to answer the following question : "What will success look like?" By following that image of success people get motivated and committed to work together as a Team and ultimately to reach their objectives.
It is crucial that these managers realize that in the long term the most important question for a company is not what they are but what they are becoming.

Jim Dermitt

December 22, 2005 05:32 PM

If you need to ask "What business are we in?" you shouldn't be in business. What's up with this? Is this some new flat earth business idea? Hire four people and then sit around the office trying to figure out what business you are in and see how far you get. It seems like being clueless is now a method for establishing a business. Go build a $5 million plant, equip it and then figure out what you should make when you figure out what business you are in.

Post a comment

 

About

In Blogspotting Senior Writer Stephen Baker and Associate Editor Heather Green take a look at how cutting-edge technologies are changing business and society. Whether its blogs or wikis, data crunching or data targeting, technology’s advances are reshaping the world that we live in.

RSS Feed: Blogspotting

BW Mall - Sponsored Links