Archive for July, 2006.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Venture Capital firms talk a good game when it comes to internationally diversifying their portfolio, but how aggressively do they really seek offshore investment opportunities? According to a recent study published Deloitte & Touche and the National Venture Capital Association apparently not very often. It seems that VCs feel that domestic investments are more attractive when contrasted to expatriating their capital abroad. While I don’t doubt that the US is a more mature, stable and certainly familiar market, I do question the study’s findings that it’s a more attractive market. In this blog post I’ll give the other side of the story from the perspective of someone who has been doing business internationally since the mid 80’s.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
With the unprecedented growth and undeniable success of the Blogosphere, Rupert Murdoch paying $580 million dollars to purchase MySpace, Facebook’s valuation resting comfortably in excess of $1 Billion dollars, and venture capitalists tripping all over each other to fund social networking companies before the ink is even dry on their business plans there is little doubt that social networking is at the forefront of today’s business climate. I recently had the opportunity to interview Penny Power, the founder of Ecademy. Ecademy, founded in 1998 is not only one of social networking’s pioneers, but having in excess of 80,000 members in more than 100 countries worldwide and operating in the black, Ecademy is also the leader in social networking for business. In the interview that follows you’ll have the opportunity to hear the inside story on social networking and one of its hottest companies.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Based upon numerous requests from N2growth Blog readers and subscribers I will be publishing my advice and opinions in answer to your questions each Monday in a new series creatively named: “Myatt on Mondays“. Any questions related to the topic of business in general (Branding, Finance, Leadership, Talent Management, Marketing, Sales, PR, Strategy, etc.) are fair game. While I will do my best to accommodate as many requests as possible, the reality is that not all submissions will be accepted. Furthermore, because I am only going to publish an answer to one question each week it may be sometime before your answer is published (assuming your request is accepted). Therefore if you need immediate response, please mark your inquiry accordingly and I will attempt to contact you directly. Now that the ground rules are out of the way the first question I’ll answer is: “What is the difference between Venture Capital and Private Equity?”
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
If you’re not familiar with WiMAX you may want to take a few minutes to read this blog post because it is the next big thing in wireless broadband Internet access. WiMAX (Wireless Interoperability for Microwave Access) is like WiFi on steroids. It is a second generation protocol that allows for increased bandwidth efficiency (download speeds up to 1.5Mb), improved interference avoidance and will provide access to much higher data rates over longer distances. Whereas WiFi has a range of 300+/- feet, WiMAX has a range of up to 30 miles for fixed stations and up to 10 miles for wireless stations. This is not a far-off reality as it is already available in many locations around the US. This is more than just a new technology advancement, as WiMAX will have a far reaching ripple effect on business and capital markets as well.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
Let me begin by saying that I have no direct stake in this fight as I’m neither Arab nor Jew. That being said we all have an indirect stake in that conflicts in the Middle East have a direct impact on how we live and do business. If asked I’ll certainly give you my religious, military or philosophical opinion, but this is after all a business blog, and for purposes of this post I’ll focus mainly on the business impact of the current goings on in the Mid East.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
One of the requests I’ve had of late is to begin conducting interviews with Authors, CEO’s and other business personalities that would be of interest our readers. Well, ask and you shall receive….I first stumbled across Phil Gerbyshak on the blogosphere by posting a comment on an article he authored. An e-mail dialogue ensued, and a few weeks later Phil and I have learned that we have many things in common…A passion for personal development and learning, a love for baseball, and an admiration of Zig Ziglar among other things. My hope is that I will be the first one to put Phil Gerbyshak on your radar screen, and that you can follow along with what I believe is truly one of the rising stars in the personal develop business. May I introduce Phil Gerbyshak, author and speaker. On to the interview…
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
One of the first and most important professional communication techniques I was taught in business was the importance of developing an “Elevator Pitch” a very short statement describing what it is that you do. In fifty words or less (about 30 €“ 45 seconds) you should be able to communicate who you are, what you do, who you do it for and how people benefit from what you do.
By Mike Myatt, Chief Strategy Officer, N2growth
There has been much written about the life and death of Ken Lay since he passed away earlier this week. I have long made it a point not to sit in judgment of others as it is very difficult to properly connect the dots from afar. It is my belief that there are indeed at least two sides to every story and that what often times appears in the media as hard news can actually be editorial commentary that may or may not portray the reality of a given situation. Furthermore, just knowing someone who knows someone will rarely even provide you with accurate information relating to the actual events of a situation especially one veiled in controversy.
