It was much cooler than I thought being in the Rose Garden at the White House for the signing of the JOBS Act. I was just a few feet from Obama. Surprised at how many people I knew there, including Tom Alberg (Madrona), Joe Schocken (Broadmark), Steve Case (former AOL), Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA), Bill Carleton (McNaul Ebel), etc. …
Read more >
Blog
Attending the JOBS Act Signing I will be there!
On Thursday afternoon, I will attend the JOBS Act signing ceremony in the Rose Garden at the White House. The Jumpstart Our Business Startup Act passed both the House and Senate with broad bi-partisan support. It is primarily a regulatory reform act and does not address tax policy issues.
For details on the JOBS Act, see my previous post: http://blog.drosenassoc.com/?p=87…
Read more >
JOBS Act
Here is a post that I helped author for the ACA:
ACA Public Policy Flash
March 27, 2012
Dear ACA Member –
Unless you’ve been on a vacation on a remote island, you have heard that the US House and Senate have each passed their own versions of the JOBS Act
(Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act,
HR 3606), aimed …
Read more >
Shugie
I don’t usually do personal stuff on my blog. However, so many of my colleagues knew my little dog, Shugie; I felt I needed to let them know of her passing. She died last Tuesday (3/12), after a brief battle with pulmonary hypertension. Shugie lived a charmed life and was just shy of 16. She was well loved and loved …
Read more >
SkyCast the cooler path to in-flight entertainment
Occasionally, you see a deal where you immediately understand both how cool it is and the impact that it will have on an industry. Couple that with one that will also have an impact on you personally and a great team, and you have SkyCast Solutions.
Founded by the inventor of the digEplayer (if you fly Alaska as much as …
Read more >
AppAttach Serving the long tail
I recently invested in AppAttach (http://www.appattach.com/about), an online marketplace for device manufacturers (OEMs) to find and sign up software vendors (ISVs) and receive a bounty the way the very largest hardware OEMs do.
It’s widely known that software preinstallation has become key to profitability for consumer electronic device manufacturers, but whether it’s major OEM bundling an antivirus application …
Read more >
Virticus Acquired by LSI
One of my AoA portfolio companies was acquired today by LSI Industries. http://www.nasdaq.com/article/lsi-industries-inc-announces-acquisition-of-virticus-corporation-20120319-00192
Virticus is an integrated set of products and services that reduce energy and maintenance costs by 30-50% through a communication and control system that allows the management of lights individually and collectively. It is a cost-effective solution that scales from 10 lights in a church parking lot …
Read more >
Clarisonic what a fabulous exit for AoA
Clarisonic, a signature Alliance of Angels portfolio company, was acquired by L’Oreal at the end of 2011 (http://clarisonic.com/about_us/press_releases/press/claire_release_12_15_11.php). David Giuliani, the CEO of Clarisonic, was an AoA member at the time and brought the deal to the group. Naturally, many AoA members immediately invested; I was among them. Those fortunate enough to be in that first round received …
Read more >
Crowdfunding and Angel Investing
My friend, Bill Carleton, posted a very thoughtful blog on Crowdfunding and angel investing: http://www.geekwire.com/2012/angels-crowds
Bill has teed up some excellent questions. See my response.
While you should definitely read the entire post, here is brief excerpt:
Crowding out angels from startup financings?
March 3, 2012 at 1:52 pm by William Carleton
As early as next week, we may know …
Read more >
Angel Investing on NPR
NPR ran a great story on Angels and entrepreneurs in Milwaukee. Worth hearing. http://www.npr.org/2012/02/10/146697508/angel-investors-and-startups-mingle-in-milwaukee
This is another example of government beginning to understand the impact of the benefits of high-growth startups backed by angels. It is good public policy to encourage angels to help create companies through extension of the zero percent capital gains (Extension of 100% gains exemption on …
Read more >