Note: This is a remix of The Path To Disaster: A Startup Is Not A Small Version of A Big Company, a blog post I wrote for publication at Tekedia on August 20, 2012. This remix is based on my experience meeting early stage startup founders in NYC since then. Each time I hold office […]
Business Models
Revisiting What I Know About Intangibles & Startups
This is the third post in my series of blog posts on economic moats. I have already written about Network Effects and Switching Costs. The remaining three sources of an economic moat are Cost Advantages, Efficient Scale, and Intangibles. ((Any errors in appropriately citing my sources are entirely mine. Let me know what you object […]
How Studying Bankruptcy And Working On Two Turnaround Assignments Prepared Me To Become An Early Stage Venture Capitalist
When I started business school at NYU Stern in the fall of 2005 my plan centered on taking every class in Bankruptcy & Reorganization, and Distressed Investing that I could. I took 3 elective classes in that area; Bankruptcy & Reorganization with Prof. Ed Altman, Case Studies in Bankruptcy & Reorganization with Prof. Max […]
Notes on Strategy; Where Does Disruption Come From?
Marc Andreessen’s brilliant explanation of @claychristensen‘s disruptive innovation theory in 15 tweets: pic.twitter.com/3ic1teQbRW — Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) June 24, 2015 Introduction You can imagine my surprise when I was browsing my Twitter feed one night last month and came across one of Marc Andreessen’s tweetstorms. This time he was tweeting about Clayton Christensen’s Theory of […]
Industry Study: Nanotechnology
Note 1: This is an update of an article that I wrote on a whim in December 2006, while I was on a break from business school at NYU Stern. It was published without update at Tekedia in July, 2011. The announcement by IBM about its new 7nm chip prompted me to dig it up […]
Notes on Strategy; For Early Stage Technology Startups
Alternate Title: What Can 24’s Jack Bauer Teach a Tech Startup Founder About Strategy? Running a business without a strategy is like breathing air without oxygen. The purpose of this blog post is to attempt to synthesize certain fundamental lessons on strategy that are relevant for anyone trying to build a business. ((Let me know […]