Where Are They Now and Why Should We Care?

UPDATE: Thanks for your feedback on my eBay blog post/TechCrunch article. I’ve received so many emails from eBay alumni that I have created a Facebook Group called “eBay 2000-2005.” We already have nearly 800 members so please reach out for an invite to any one of the current members. All eBay alumni who worked at eBay Inc. (in any office) during that period are encouraged join this group.  https://www.facebook.com/groups/391373577637047/

TechCrunch recently published an article I wrote abo...

This post originally appeared on VentureBeat

There was a time when investors would rush startups to market, but a shift has taken place during the past 20 years where the pace has slowed a bit. Now I find myself increasingly advising entrepreneurs to avoid putting a product to market before it is truly ready.

Seed funding and Series A rounds are intended to help startups tease out their big idea and begin laying the product development groundwork. But it seems best practices for customer validation/product management are being frequently tossed out the window. This is so counter-productive that it will almost certainly place the next funding round at risk and can sink the full enterprise.

Over 30 years of operational and investment experience, I have refined a list of five critical things ent...

Today Motif Investing announced a $25M investment led by Goldman Sachs. NVP is very proud of the team and humbled to be part of this great company and the board of directors.  Sergio led the Series A venture investment for NVP a few years ago and serves on the board.

Motif, as well as Lending Club, where Jeff led NVP’s Series A investment and is a board member, are two of several financial superstar technology companies in NVP’s global portfolio.  Both of these companies play on a significant mega trend we are very excited about in the consumer finance space: “the emergence of the empowered investor.”

We believe the combination of such internet innovations as mobile, crowd sourcing, social media and big data make this a perfect time to build new companies and empower consumers by providing them with better tools, more data an...

While consumer internet companies grab the headlines, the IPO market over the last year tells a different story. Innovative startups are exploiting massively disruptive forces now changing the face of enterprise technology. This time, the shakeup isn’t a periodic upheaval creating a new normal. This time, disruption is the new normal.

IT’s role is evolving dramatically as employees and customers armed with mobile gadgets create a BYOD culture. The smartphone is more than the six-shooter of the 21st Century; it is the new place of business.

Today’s customers function amidst ambient technology, and increasingly expect businesses to react in real time. This has huge implications for IT. As we look at the emergence of the social enterprise, much more advanced security threats, and the rise of big data, it is clear that technology no longer simply supports business. Technology is becoming indistinguishable from business. Here’s how.

The Social Enterprise