NAV Blog

Preparation Is The Best Cure For Pre-Exit Squabbles

There is just one thing I hate about start-up company exits (sale or IPO): they can destroy relationships and bring out the worst in some people. In the start-up world, people work for years, often more than a decade, for one big payday…

Make The Most Of Your Vital First Pitch To An Investor

After 20 years of early-stage investing, I’m often asked for help with investor presentations. It’s a tough challenge: there is so much you could say in a first pitch, and a limited amount of investor time and attention to work with…

Entrepreneurs Are Big Losers If The Government Hamstrings Facebook

The world has awakened to the danger in Facebook: it learns a great deal about who its users are as people. Then it enables advertisers and apps on the Facebook platform to take advantage of that knowledge and, in…

Entrepreneurs: Even If You Hate Accounting, Keep An Eye On This Ball

Accounting is a nuisance for many entrepreneurs: a lot of time spent on things that don’t feel like top priorities. However, entrepreneurs should never take their eyes off one financial ball: “Rev Rec” (revenue…

Inventors Need To Be Marketers: Here’s How To Start

Most inventions achieve little or no commercial success. The problem is often a marketing failure: a promising innovation is never brought to customers in a form that they will buy. Inventors need marketing mind-set and skills to get their…

Entrepreneurs: Ignore The Political Noise And Focus On These 2018 Opportunities

We’re a few weeks into 2018, and it’s looking like another crazy year: the government has shut down already; controversy swirls around the Trump presidency; fighting continues in the Middle…

Challenges Entrepreneurs Can Expect In Healthcare Next Year

Year end is the time when we wonder what to expect next year. 2018 brings unusual uncertainty: will the unprecedented longevity of the bull market continue with the Fed raising rates? What effect will the speed-dating tax…

Reconciliation Is The Key To Ending Sexual Harassment In The Workplace