The general role of a board is to provide oversight, guidance, feedback, governance and accountability. With board meetings, as with many things in life, you will get out what you put in – planning ahead thoughtfully and doing the prep work can lead to extremely valuable and productive board sessions. The inverse is also true […]
As entrepreneurs who have been through the fund raising process know, this question is one they should be prepared for when speaking with potential venture investors. Giving some real thought and analysis as to who will be a potential acquirer and why is important as it the mostly likely way that investors will eventually get […]
Borrowing an enterprise sales term, the “funnel” for startup opportunities at a venture firm starts very wide and ends up extremely narrow, and there are numerous stages along the way. From initial call or email to actual funding, there is a massive filtering process. The magnitude varies amongst firms, but to give you a sense, […]
Early stage investing has remained exciting and seen healthy, even increasing, capital flows since 2010. While it is defined differently by different venture industry participants, at Ascent, we separate angel and seed into a separate category that comes before the early stage. Those that are successful in the early stage and want to raise more […]
Boston-based Connected2Fiber just announced a new round of funding, which we lead along with Osage Ventures and existing investors Nauta Capital and NXT Ventures. So why did we invest? C2F has built a SaaS platform specifically for sales and marketing in the $80B global networking and communications industry. What is unique and compelling about their […]
Our collective nostalgia for the 1990s is a thing that is either currently happening, or already passed, depending on your pop culture barometer. For most of us, that time represents Seinfeld and Pulp Fiction, and for others it marks the heyday of the telecom and networking markets as the internet drove explosive growth. Much like […]
Today’s ultra competitive, ever-evolving and customer-centric business landscape demands a continuous flow of change – change that’s often delivered in the form of “shiny and new.” Innovation has become the cornerstone for sustainable success, and one way to achieve this is through strategic partnerships. As a result, mergers and acquisitions activity continues to trend upwards, […]
Relationships between big corporate giants and startup companies are not new; young nimble companies bring innovation and new ideas, while larger established players have strong customer relationships and know how to properly support them. As innovation and market shifts accelerate, collaboration between naturally aligned companies only becomes more critical as new products need to get […]
AI in the real world – a snapshot of what’s to come
Recently at Code Conference 2017, internet analyst Mary Meeker, presented her annual Internet Trends report.
