Is Value-Based Venture Investing Returning?

The Wall Street Journal and others are noticing that Internet startup valuations are coming back to Earth.  Aggregate numbers show industry rebalancing.  Health and consumer services investment sectors are down big.  Energy is up.

The press and Wall Street love a great story, which means sex and financial gore.   Silicon Valley has grown large enough to accommodate.  From billionaire moguls to VC and superangel glitterati and seductive new products to painful lawsuits, there is always a tale of intrigue.

But the players in the news are just the tip of the investment iceberg.  There are about 600 angel networks that represent 12,000 accredited investors.  That’s less than one percent of the estimated  1.6 million angels.

The real story is that value-based investing never left. As Ralph Patterson notes, “the majority of VCs and Angels haven’t strayed very far from the belief in ‘traction.'”

Funding fashions come and go in the top strata of Bay Area and other venture capitals.  But everywhere else value investing in the best deals available was and continues to be the norm.

 

 

 

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NFTE Dallas World Series of Innovation Sat. Sept 29

From NFTE:

World Series of Innovation Saturday, September 29, 2012

VOLUNTEERS STILL NEEDED!!!

Are you interested in:

• Serving as an Innovation Coach for one or more teams?
• Guiding students through experiential activities?
• Encouraging students?
• Modeling positive behavior and collaboration?
• Assisting students with idea development?
• Providing targeted advice for areas where students have difficulty understanding or articulating?
• Helping to develop student’s submissions for consideration in The World Series of Innovation?
• Proofreading submission for content and clarity?

If any of these areas interest you then please join us on Saturday, September 29th from 9:00 to noon as students select from 6 categories and create an innovative solution in those areas.

Where:   Greiner Middle School, 501 S. Edgefied, Dallas, TX  75208

Time:      9:00 a.m. to noon

How to become involved.

If you are currently registered in the NFTE Greater Dallas Volunteer Group please click on the link below to login and then go to the volunteer portal to select World Series of Innovation to sign up.

Already a Member

If you are not currently registered with the NFTE Greater Dallas Volunteer Group, please click on the link below to register.

Click here

Important:  Because volunteers will be working one-on-one with student groups it is imperative that a criminal background check has been completed and approved.

If you have questions or need any additional information, please feel free to contact Karen Ezell at 469.544.6082 or email Karen at karen.ezell@nfte.com

We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, September 29th.

Karen Ezell

Program Director, NFTE Greater Dallas

Wed. Sept 26 Dallas Power Networking & Wine Tasting

DallasBlue is back this Fall with exciting networking and special free and heavy discount offers.  Please join us Wed. Sept 26 5-8pm for Power Networking & Wine Tasting at Total Wine in Dallas. 

This program incorporates everything you’ve told us you love about our networking and happy hour events over the past several years.

• Power Networking. Every attendee gets a few minutes to introduce themselves in front of the group.  Have your elevator pitch ready and learn who you need to meet!

• Online Networking. Say you’re attending on our LinkedIn Event to find and be found by fellow attendees for direct contact.

• Premium Registration. Promote yourself not just at the event, but to the entire DallasBlue newsletter audience of 7,000 readers. Now THAT’S networking!

• Wine Tasting. Learn about and try terrific new wines that you can buy at the store.

Every attendee also receives a nifty wine and beer bottle.  We get a great crowd. Bring your friends and coworkers and save money when you register multiple people.

Register now at DallasMeet.com!

Balance, not Bluster: Free market ideology is anti-science

Research from the University of Western Australia sheds light on the irrationality of extremism, typified by the far right of the Republican party in the U.S.

The data is from a survey called  NASA faked the moon landing|Therefore (Climate) Science is a Hoax: An Anatomy of the Motivated Rejection of Science. While the study finds support for crank magnetism (if you believe in one anti-science theory, you believe in others), it found an even greater correlation with free market ideology where believers rejected science from humans causing climate change to smoking causing lung cancer and HIV causing AIDS.

Science Blogs has excellent commentary at More data on why people reject science.

The survey unfortunately doesn’t break down free market ideology.  The free market is a proven part of modern economics.  But it’s just one cog in a strong and healthy civilization. A strict belief that elevates the free market at the expense of the other pillars of society is a fundamental part of what caused the global recession and the breakdown of the middle class in the U.S.

Of course if you are one such believer you’ll reject this piece of science as well.  Please continue on to the next blog on fairies, unicorns, little green men, the drug war, universal forces that take an interest in your personal affairs, and  the salvation (i.e. continuing destruction) of America through greed and anarchy.

Rotator cuff injury? Yoga cures from head to toe, including Back Pain and Arthritis

I wrote about yoga as a superior workout in A Cross-Training Secret.

You can’t kickbox every day.  So what’s the ideal secondary workout to stay in shape and complement? …

The traditional answer is running. But there is a better exercise – yoga.  Yoga doesn’t just burn calories and raise your fitness level like running; it also builds flexibility, balance, and strength.

There is much more with scientific research and clinical trials aimed at understanding yoga’s benefits better.  According to Dr. Loren Fishman in the Huffington Post article Yoga Fixes From Head To Toes: Poses For 8 Common Conditions, yoga  is proven to  reduce or eliminate migraines, neck pain, back pain, shoulder pain, Piriformis Syndrome, Knee Osteoarthritis, Osteoporosis, Plantar Fasciitis, and bunions.

In particular, he accidentally discovered and ran his own trial to prove  that a headstand fixes rotator cuff injury.  If you’re part of the estimated 40-60% of the adult population, including me, that has this injury, this is welcome news.  A $20 yoga mat is slightly cheaper than a $10,000 surgery.

Shoulder Pain: A yoga-based maneuver has erased pain and disability for more than 800 of my patients who have rotator cuff difficulties, saving them from expensive, painful surgery and at least three months of physical therapy for recovery. The Triangular Forearm Support (TFS) is based on the headstand but you don’t have to stand on your head to do it. It activates a muscle that takes over the function of the one that has been injured. Activating the muscle for a minute and then enthusiastically, fearlessly raising the arm on the bad side trains the subscapularis muscle to take over for the injured superspinadis. The injured muscle never has to work again. I have followed patients who have been cured by this maneuver — painless full range of motion for 10 years.