Infotrade

This article   initially appeared on TechCrunch  - with a minor update highlighted in red below. Ah. We’re back to discussing convertible debt again. This time by the efforts of Adeo Ressi to introduce a new kind of structure called “ convertible equity .” I applaud all efforts by people to take on this issue and especially be Adeo who – let’s be honest – was really the first champion of trying to make the VC world more transparent by launching TheFunded, which didn’t exactly endear him to VCs initially. My initial reaction to Adeo when we spoke was that while it may have solved some issues (debt versus equity) it didn’t solve the ones that I’ve been warning entrepreneurs about most loudly. And frankly I feel he overstates the potential harm of convertible debt, which if properly structured acts mostly as an equity instrument anyways. To better understand the arguments for / against convertible equity I suggest you read my posts on those topics: Is convertible de...

We can thank entrepreneurs for much of the success of the global economy over the past half century. And if we're going to emerge from the worldwide economic slump, entrepreneurs will lead the way. These driven, creative individuals know plenty about battling adversity. They've overcome infrastructure and regulatory hurdles to start their businesses. Often, they've fulfilled an unsatisfied demand and, in many cases, actually built demand by introducing new products to the market. But despite all that entrepreneurs have contributed to the global economy and to wellbeing and human development worldwide, most leaders and policymakers don't have a clue about what makes them successful or how to help them thrive. In the U.S., for example, nearly half of all jobs are in the small-business sector, and small businesses accounted for 65% of the net new jobs created between 1993 and 2009. Yet fewer than half of new American businesses survive their first five years. To drive st...

Raaj Nemani and a pal were making plans to start their own business, an online retailer of limited-edition sneakers. But they couldn't afford the $100,000 for high-end website design. Then, they learned of an alternative. Alana Prant Raaj Nemani and Aaron Firestein of Chicago paid for website development primarily using equity in their firm, BucketFeet Inc. By joining forces with a Chicago website-design and professional-services firm, the pair of first-time entrepreneurs were able to get the work they needed by paying primarily with equity, instead of cash. The swapping of equity for services is exploding, as a range of professional services providers—including website designers, attorneys, ad agencies and business consultants—seek to profit directly from the growing demand for their services on the part of U.S. start-ups. Because starting a company is less expensive than ever before, thanks to lower-cost technologies, there's been a surge in new ventures that are very smal...

This morning at the Democratic National Convention , Startup America hosted a panel titled “Creating Jobs: Female Founders” that underscored the growing opportunities (and lingering stereotypes) affording women in the entrepreneurial landscape, and I have to admit—although thrilled to see women representing, I found myself less-than-impressed. The panelists, which included USA Network’s Kay Koplovitz, Molly Barker, founder of Girls on the Run and Change the Ratio lead Rachel Sklar, rattled stats on women graduating colleges more than ever before and shared the usual platitudes about the need for gender diversity (“we need to move the needle!” “the full participation of women’s talent in the marketplace”). I very nearly turned off the uStream video and went back to work. And then I heard the question on brogrammers, one of the hot-button issues of women in tech for the past 12 months–and one I took an interest in after Millennial product manager Shanley Kane was attacked...