If you consider the PEG ratio of both, you'll actually see that when taking growth rate into consideration, Apple is still cheaper than Microsoft...barely. So, if you put faith in PEG ratios, Apple is still a better buy. If you don't know what a PEG ratio is, check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEG_ratio
I got it....didn't think I did at first. The email address I have on my Y Combinator account is different than the one I put on my application. Maybe some of you did the same????
Maybe you should focus on building your product and utilize a service that will be able to scale better than you will be able to do on your own. Check out Amazon Web Services http://aws.amazon.com/ . There are a lot of big sites using their EC2 and S3 services...you should check these out. That said, I am not a scaling expert, so if you're hell bent on doing it yourself, good luck! I'm sure somebody on here will be able to offer you "do it yourself" advice.
Convertible Debt is a popular instrument currently. Make sure you understand it though. What is it convertible to? This typically means that you intend to allow your debt holders to convert their investment to stock offered at the time of accepting Series A (or next round) funding....and they convert it at a discount....and the interest accrued is converted to stock at the same discount. Typically the max time frame for the debt is 1 year (securities issues I believe...has to be registered if longer), so if you don't anticipate taking additional funding in the near future, convertible debt is probably not for you. We could discuss this forever, but thats enough for now.
this is my point...great when you have several highly motivated creative people (like 37signals), but what about "most" companies? I have several friends who would absolutely take advantage of this type of atmosphere by not doing sh*t. They would be fired in smaller companies, but lost in the shuffle of larger ones. Now you are focusing on house cleaning.
I love the thought of improving the workplace for productive and quality individuals. There is nothing worse than stifling creativity and imagination.
That said, I wonder how this model works if you are running a business that employs people that may not be as smart or motivated as say the 37Signals crew or Google, which probably means most businesses.
It would appear so. The government isn't an investment fund, so I am curious as to what their exit strategy is for this "investment". I'm sure they'll come out OK. I wonder where their profit (assuming there is a profit) will actually go.
I have been contemplating. I hate to cold-contact people. Don't hear many success stories coming from this method. I might give it a shot though. Any suggestions on how to go about it? I know he can be reached through blogmaverick.
We need more groups like this in Dallas too. It's very difficult finding people who are truly interested in consumer facing internet. Lots of talk here about reviving it as a cool place for the startup community, but not a lot of support to back it up. As is the case in NYC, there just don't seem to be a lot of cashed out entrepreneurs here in our space. Very smart people, but few who would have invested in Facebook or Youtube.
I look forward to hearing stories about people who get funded by this guy/group.
This is really starting to bother me. These giant financial institutions make tons of money by taking RISKS. When things go well they make lots of money, people get big bonuses and the rest of society gets to read about "Talented Bankers and Their $50mil Bonuses" on the latest cover of Forbes. When things don't go well, the government gives them a loan to bail them out or else our economy will collapse. What choice do we have?
I don't know the answer here, but I don't like this.
At least in Venture Capital and startups, we understand that risk is risky, and we take the good with the bad.
I am personally in the process of raising capital and have already felt the effects of this. I talked to a possible investor, a financial adviser, yesterday and his response was "I'm sitting tight with my money right now". Of course, he was in the middle of receiving phone calls from many panicked investors, so it probably wasn't the best time for my dumb ass to touch base. I also heard from another party that is still interested and said "I am still interested, but all of my other contacts are sitting on their cash right now, as they are panicked about the economy."
It's always possible, or likely, that these are polite "No's", but I have had polite no's before and I get the feeling that this market is going to affect all of us raising capital.
I agree with the author when he says that angels invest when they are "feeling wealthy". Most angel types I know invest in internet/tech deals because it's just something different and want to be in on the action. I can't imagine this turmoil being a positive thing.
You can see my comment below for a short list. Art of the Start is a great place to begin. It covers everything with a very pragmatic approach and is very easy to read. "The Power of Unfair Advantage" is a great book that I don't often hear people talking about. I just don't think it's that well known. I highly recommend it.
Also, earnings for MSFT are about $17B and AAPL is about $11B