Intel Capital Still Investing Aggressively

So many articles have appeared recently describing how venture capitalists are NOT investing that we can forgive the entrepreneurs among us for thinking it rains every day here in NH.

In contrast, Intel seems to be a pretty optimistic company, and not just because Intel CEO Paul Otellini recently said he saw quarterly sales at the chip giant return to "normal" levels. While many venture capitalists have been hunkering down since last October, Intel's venture capital unit has been actively looking at deals.

Lucy McQuilken, Investment Manager at Intel Capital, confirms that she is aggressively looking for investments. "We're very active," she said. "It's an excellent time to invest. We invested through the last downturn in 2001 and I think we wished we invested more. Some great companies were built during that time."

To learn more, click here to view Bambi Francisco’s interview with Lucy on Vator TV News.

Videos, humor, Ballmer disses the iPhone

It being a dreary Saturday, I’m looking around for amusing items. This brief video poking fun at iPhones, iPhone Apps, and social networks uses language no worse than my Granddaughter uses on Facebook, so it must be OK.

I’m less amused by Steve Ballmer’s recent comments. “There’s still, in my opinion, more venture capital than there are good ideas to support the venture capital,” Ballmer said in a speech to Stanford students studying entrepreneurship as part of the school’s “Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders” series. As the worldwide economy contracts, fewer mediocre business ideas will get funded, he said. That will result in a healthier startup environment than exists now, when “too many companies can hang on for almost too long with too much money.”

Of course, the flaw in his argument lies in our imperfect ability to separate the good ideas from the bad in their early stages. If you would like see an amusing but significant example, look at this video from 30 months ago, Microsoft CEO Ballmer laughs at Apple iPhone. A sample, “We’re selling millions and millions and millions of phones this year, Apple is selling zero.”