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Mar29
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Know More:
Today I held the first "Breakfast on Devin" of the year. It was great. We had two venture capitalists, an internet entrepreneur and an intellectual property attorney. First, everyone showed up--on time to boot.
Second, my favorite server took care of us. Third, no one in the group knew all of the others so lots of introductions were made. Fourth, the level of discussion was awesome. We all learned something new about doing business.
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Mar28
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Last week I took the time to visit the Bay Area for networking purposes. I visited with the general partner of a large Palo Alto-based fund over lunch at Il Fornaio. Although we didn't remember each other from the old...
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Mar26
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Friend Darren Johnson asks "Do you have historical data for how fast Utah has moved up over the last 5/10 years?"In fact, the PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report which I mentioned in January does address this question. Utah's absolute level of venture...
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Recently Matt Marsh, an Associate in our firm, was admitted to Wharton's combined MBA and "Lauder" international relations program.Matt is an exceptionally deserving candidate whose career will be a credit to his business school.Dan Harrison, a former analyst in our...
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Mar21
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The Federal Reserve Bank of Bost has recently published a report on venture capital that notes that two thirds of venture capital goes to just five regional areas: Silicon Valley, New England, metro New York, Texas, and Los Angeles/Orange County.Among...
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Mar20
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I had a great conversation with Ted McAleer, the head of USTAR, over breakfast this morning. (I reported on his USTAR update briefly on the MWCN blog.)Ted attended West Point, the U.S. Military Academy. He later earned a masters degree...
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Mar19
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Tonight I had the pleasure of attending a viewing party for a friend (or better put the daughter-in-law of a great friend), Aubrey Wentworth, who was on the NBC Television Show Deal or No Deal. She and her twin sister...
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Mar16
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Just a quick note that the MountainWest Capital Network has recently launched a blog. A variety of people will contribute to this blog, giving it some of the benefits of collected wisdom.You can read my first post here. I will...
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The MountainWest Capital Network held it's annual deal flow event yesterday. The effort was led by venture capitalist Steve Grizzell, who did a wonderful job of planning and hosting the event.The event featured five minutes from each of eight companies...
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Mar14
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A second important lesson that I took away from my recent reading of Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People (HTWFIP) is to motivate people with praise and appreciation.After considering a variety of things that motivate people, from...
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Mar13
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It's been too long since I scheduled a "Breakfast on Devin."So, on Thursday, March 29 at 8:00 breakfast is on me (both literally and in the I'm buying sense). The first three people who let me know by e-mail that...
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Mar12
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Some of you may be wondering (and the rest of you should be wondering) what the sub-prime mortgage market meltdown means to your business.While it may be true that the economy can recover from this crisis in the credit markets,...
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Mar 8
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My lunch friend yesterday recommended that I read the Warren Buffet shareholder letters from Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) and today he followed up with a link to the latest one.I confess, I had never read them. As much as I...
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Mar 7
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The MountainWest Capital Network Deal Flow Luncheon will be held on Thursday, March 15, 2007 at the Little America with networking and registration beginning at 11:30 AM.This is one of the most important business events of the year. All recipients...
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Mar 6
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Today I had lunch with a friend that I met via this blog and with whom I feel I've developed a genuine, if casual friendship.Early on we explored ways in which we might work together. Didn't find one.We did find...
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Mar 5
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Today I visited beautiful Visalia, California. I had never been there before.Visiting with a prospective client, I learned that California's Central Valley contains the three highest producing agricultural counties in the nation.One observation about economics and pricing power. From Salt...
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Mar 2
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Utah Business announced today that it has made James Lee Sorenson its CEO of the Year.I had the pleasure of learning this from Jim (notice how I refer to him as Jim like he's my brother-in-law--that's Mr. Sorenson) a few...
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Mar 1
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The first good lesson to take from Dale Carnegie's How To Win Friends and Influence People is: Don't treat people likey they're stupid (or cheaters, crooks, punks, or otherwise undesirable).Carnegie points out the story of a murder who described himself...
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