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Who Let the Dogs Out?
Things are getting pretty chilly on Wall Street and a recent article in the The New York Times said the frost is spreading to Silicon Valley.
Despite the fact corporations like Tyco, WorldCom and Enron were condos made of cards, the last downturn in the economy seemed to be--and continues to be--attributed solely on the crash of the dot.com economy. Laying the blame on an emerging growth industry, while the consumer broadband market was still nascent and investors were demanding a quick and unrealistically large ROI, is similar to blaming Saddam Hussein for 9/11. The dot.com crash prompted many former technology execs, and investors, to turn their talents and money into something they thought was more stable: real estate. Unless it's your property on the block, you gotta love the irony in that!
Maybe expansion-stage companies are going to get a break this time and the investors will have the fortitude to continue to support their portfolio companies while the investment banks haggle with mortgage holders and the Fed. Silicon Valley execs might be re-thinking the new sports cars, private jets and island vacations and East Coast technology execs should be pulling out the sandbags. But, the good news is, that according to a recent MoneyTree Report by the National Venture Capital Association, regions other than the Valley and New England are the fastest growing areas for venture investing.
Pittsburgh and New Mexico were noted as increasing their share of VC investing. It reports that Washington D.C. has been quietly growing its venture investing over the last 10 years.
The report attributes Pittsburgh's growth to academic powerhouses Carnegie Mellon University and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. It also emphasizes that VCs are looking for talent, whether it be the entrepreneur or management, in areas which are less expensive to operate.
What is certain is that executives can't be so sure anymore that taking the Fortune 1000 route is the safest option. I am seeing that trend in the press releases which come my way. Of note, in this issue, Cambridge, Mass.-based TAGSYS announced their new CEO, former IBM exec Bill Stuek; AOL sales executive Dan Fowler has joined BDMetrics as Chief Revenue Officer; Mark Van Dine joins Lexington, Mass-based Makana from Fidelity; former Yahoo Exec Amy Covey has joined Stamford, Conn.-based InsightExpress; and Johnson & Johnson exec, Dr. Gary Shangold, has joined Kentucky-based Xanodyne. Of note, former AOL/Time Warner exec, now sports team owner, Ted Leonsis has joined the board of Vero Beach, Fla.-based Bridgevine.
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About Janet Stites' Talent Pool News [east]
Talent Pool News [east] is an online journal covering Executive-level talent at emerging growth companies up and down the east coast. The publication systematically tracks the comings and goings of executives—CEOs, COOs, CFOs etc.—at start-ups and venture backed firms, as they help create the next generation of Fortune 1000 companies. What’s more, it facilitates a community among what has historically been an under-the-radar group of men and women. Primary coverage includes start-up firms in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
Columns include Executive Hires, Boardroom Appointments, Executive Close-up, VC Profile, Funding, and Boardroom Briefs. Talent Pool News [east] is the brainchild of Janet Stites, long-time science, technology and business journalist, and co-founder of New York-based AlleyCat News magazine.
About Janet Stites
Janet Stites has worked as a science, technology and business writer and publisher for twenty years. Best known in the New York City-area for her work as founder and publisher of tech/finance magazine AlleyCat News, Stites has most recently worked as a freelance writer for publications such as Fortune Small Business and the Bulletin of the Santa Fe Institute and researcher and consultant in business development, sales, marketing and communications, for clients such as Business Development Institute, Deloitte & Touche, North Fork Bank, and Geller & Company.
In the late eighties, she was founding publisher, editor and part-owner of the telecommunications trade magazine, PHONE+. Later she worked as a science writer for OMNI Magazine and the Santa Fe Institute. In 1994, she served as editorial director for Jupiter Communications managing newsletter, research reports and conferences. In 1995, she launched one of the first consumer online newsletters NetGuide Now!, a weekly electronic newsletter published by CMP’s NetGuide Magazine.
She has written for the Pricewaterhouse Technology Forecast and has been a frequent guest on CNNfn. She has been profiled in Fortune, Folio, CyberTimes (owned by The New York Times), Worth and more. She served on Mayor Guiliani's New Media Task Force, was a founding member of the New York-based Women in New Media, and has twice been a judge for Ernst & Young’s “Entrepreneur of the Year" award's program.
Talent Pool News [east] is owned by The Carter Stites Group, LLC.
Copyright 2008, Janet Stites, The Carter Stites Group, LLC
Who’s Who at Talent Pool News [east]
Publisher & Editor: Janet Stites
Web Master: Tony Chen
Concept Design: Ellen O’Malley
Art Director: Tuan Yeun
Business Strategy Consultant: Cynthia Hollen, Hollen Inc.
Editorial Consultant: Joe D’Agnese
Comic Relief: Sam Stites
Photo credit for picture of Janet Stites: Davide Butson-Fiori
Send press releases to: Editor
For Sponsorship/Advertising Info: Sales
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