Author Archives: Simeon Simeonov

About Simeon Simeonov

Entrepreneur. Investor. Trusted advisor.

Startup Founder Agreements

I have been thinking a lot recently about how to apply agile development principles to investing and key aspects of startup development such as team building. That’s also the thread connecting my two recent posts on VentureHacks. Both stem from … Continue reading

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , , | 76 Comments

What it takes to make the Web more personal

Tom Pinckney has written a great post on GigaOm about the new kinds of processing companies have to do to create a highly personalized experience for users. My comment is still in moderation, so in the spirit of the real-time … Continue reading

Posted in Facebook, startups, Web 2.0 | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

The best vesting schedule

There is no such thing as the best or optimal vesting schedule in a startup. That doesn’t mean current vesting schedules are really good but it does mean that many of the so-called best alternatives are not much better. No … Continue reading

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , | 31 Comments

The entrepreneur’s dilemma

“The entrepreneurs dilemma” is a term that @azeem came up with in reference to a post on how to raise money without lying to investors on VentureHacks. The point I wanted to make was that entrepreneurs often have to chose … Continue reading

Posted in startups, VC, Venture Capital | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Three rules for buying your friend’s company

Better Advertising bought Ghostery, an awesome Firefox add-on that David Cancel built. Read the Better Advertising take and David’s take. Other than the fact that Ghostery is awesome and a perfect fit for the mission at @betterads, the reason I’m … Continue reading

Posted in startups | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

What constitutes a startup mistake?

Through a tweet from David Skok, I was reminded of a Paul Graham essay on the 18 mistakes that kill startups. Here they are: 1. Single Founder 2. Bad Location 3. Marginal Niche 4. Derivative Idea 5. Obstinacy 6. Hiring … Continue reading

Posted in startups | Tagged , , , , | 16 Comments

Better Advertising backs self-regulation

Better Advertising has a new web site. Check it out. Also, our corporate blog is up. The current post outlines the three pillars of behavioral targeting self-regulation: Education, to empower consumers Transparency, to make clear who is doing what to … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, FastIgnite, startups | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Exploring privacy

The title of this post is also the title of the first of three public roundtable discussions by the FTC focused on privacy online. The Federal Trade Commission will host a series of day-long public roundtable discussions to explore the … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Competing for competition’s sake

I don’t agree with Vivek Wadhwa that losing a business plan competition is better than winning it. However, I do think that business plan competitions force many teams to aim for the wrong target. Here is the comment I left … Continue reading

Posted in startups | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Better Advertising Launches

Exciting day today. Better Advertising just came out of stealth. I’m acting CTO & co-founder, much in the way we started Plinky/Thing Labs last year. In fact, I got to know Better Advertising CEO Scott Meyer though the Plinky diligence … Continue reading

Posted in Advertising, FastIgnite | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments