Robert R. Ackerman, Jr. is the founder and managing director of Allegis Capital (www.allegiscapital.com), a seed and early-stage venture firm headquartered in Palo Alto, California. A former serial entrepreneur, Ackerman has worked with more than 50 corporate investment partners over the past 20 years as both a venture capitalist and a startup executive. His firm’s investments include more than 70 companies including Ironport Systems, RIBBIT, Rent.com, Shopzilla, CompareNet and StepUp Commerce. Allegis has assets under management of $500 million.
Ask most people to tell you the story of the iPhone, and you’ll likely hear about how an innovative computer company took the traditional telephone, combined it with the Internet, and... Read more »
Congressional leaders of both parties have a short-term opportunity to come together in rare bipartisan fashion and get on the right side of American economic growth and job creation. With the House... Read more »
They say the first casualty of war is the truth. Based upon recent events in the U.S. presidential elections, it looks like the truth is a casualty in politics as well. Whether... Read more »
Fifteen years ago, the expansion model of a startup was fairly linear: The first three years were dedicated to building the business domestically. Year four generally saw European expansion. And by year... Read more »
Venture capital-backed startups got a slap on the back this week, but that was followed by a slap in the face in the latest round of Washington political gamesmanship over how much lawmakers... Read more »
It’s now very clear to me: a successful M&A exit is far more likely for entrepreneurs than the once vaunted IPO. Structural changes in the venture-IPO ecosystem over the past 15 years... Read more »
