What's the big deal about closing another round of funding? So many companies have received funding over the last two years so that's not a reflection of the viability or success of a venture. In fact, Erick Schonfeld over at Techcrunch just posted a nice article on venture funding of new-age (web 2.0, web 3.0 whatever you want to call them) consumer internet companies. Wow, so many companies  read more »

A little before mid-night on Nov 18, Retrevo launched its next big innovation. This innovation dramatically simplifies gadget (electronics) shopping for masses. You see, consumer electronics category is inundated with constant technological innovation, price changes and obsolescence. It is daunting to take the shopping journey even for the tech-savvy consumers. You don't know where to start and when you do manage to start the journey and zoom into a set of products that meet your brand and feature preference, you are never sure which product delivers a good bang for the buck.  read more »

A few weeks ago I was on a panel at Investor Business Forum when one of the venture investors attending the session asked "why is it that we see more entrepreneurs and even companies we fund founded by immigrant entrepreneurs"? I answered the question and it is not hard to understand why it is so. From 1513, when the Spanish explorer Ponce De Leon discovered Florida to French and German emigration in mid 19th century to emigration of Russians in late 19th century, Italians in early 20th century and Asians in mid 20th century, America has been the land of opportunity that has attracted talent, labor and intellectual capital from all over the world. And I would argue this has been the major driver behind the growth that has made America the super-power it is today.  read more »

Many of us have still not gotten used to the changed daylight saving time (three weeks earlier in March and one week later in Nov). And those of us who are at least aware have often rationalized the inconvenience by savings in energy cost (myself included). Yes, we will get used to starting work at odd hours and working at odd hours in the evening. But will we really save energy? There was an article in the journal today that covered this topic at length. According to Megan Barnett, the spokeswoman of US Energy Department "The jury is still out on the potential national energy savings". Well, that kills my excitement about the change in daylight saving implemented earlier this year.  read more »

For some reason there are editors out there who simply do not accept press releases via email, which forces me to have the foresight and discipline to mail my attention-seeking announcements in advance so the editors receive them in a timely and relative manner. Ugh. But thanks to eSnailer, I can include snail mail in my email!  read more »

I was at a business dinner organized by Silicon Valley Bank a few nights ago along with a few other CEO clients of theirs. It was good to hear and share thoughts about globalization, wage inflation, innovation and different views about the economy. Everyone shared their frustration about (difficulty in) hiring, wage inflation, on-site vs. offshore development etc. During the course of discussion, one of the CEOs asked me "will you start your next company in Silicon Valley"? "Absolutely" was my answer which surprised many CEOs. However, it shouldn't come as a surprise to mos  read more »

I have been fascinated by all the debate around the inefficacy of Cost-Per-Click (CPC) model prevalent with search engines and shopping comparison sites. In his December 4 article in the New York Times, Bob Tedeschi highlighted some of the online shopping newcomers who are attempting to differentiate themselves from the three leading, multi-million dollar shopping sites,  read more »

There was a well-written article in Wall Street Journal today about venture debt and its virtues. You can read the article summary here. You need subscription to read the complete article. Besides the fact that the article started with Retrevo, Pui-Wing did a good job of presenting different viewpoints about the venture debt from entrepreneurs, venture capital investors and venture lender  read more »

Is search going to become the primary interface of choice for a consumer's online experience? What do consumers expect when they "search"? Do consumers need something beyond search for serious online purchases and services? These are some of the questions that we raised (and still grapple with) when we started Retrevo. Yes, we targeted a market that was big. We targeted a market that was undergoing a major transformation with analog to digital conversion, convergence of media and content portability. We targeted a market  read more »

In last few years, it has been amazing for me to see all the exciting development in the consumer electronics industry, the conversion from analog to digital and FCC's mandate to phase out analog broadcast alltogether, from VHS to DVD to HD-DVD and Blu-ray, from tape to CDs to iPods, you name it. Every piece of electronics you owned has gone through major changes. One subtle change taking place in the home theater system environments is the move from CD mega changers to hard-disk based servers. Here is  read more »