A little less than a year ago, we published the Battery Network Effects Index, a market index including 36 current or previously publicly traded, consumer-Internet companies, each valued at $1 billion or more at the time. We highlighted the companies because all exhibited profound “network effects”, … Read More »

For founders navigating the stormy waters of entrepreneurship, the effectiveness and engagement of the board can keep a company afloat—or, conversely, sink it. In the second of a four part video mini-series, Roger Lee, general partner at Battery Ventures, and Nick Mehta, CEO of customer success m … Read More »

There’s a saying in the technology industry that it’s harder to split from your venture capitalist than it is to get a divorce from your spouse. In some ways, it’s true. But what happens when you and your VC are actually friends before he or she makes an investment—and all the hard years of company … Read More »

For startup CEOs, tough economic periods are like stressful stretches in a marriage: They test your mettle while making ugly truths impossible to hide. And these days, amid industrywide belt-tightening, “down rounds” and a still-moribund (though hopefully improving) IPO market, many venture-backed CE … Read More »

Most entrepreneurs focus on the hard economics of the deal when they negotiate with investors: percentage ownership, valuation, preferences and other terms. Those things are all important — but so is the soft stuff, especially in today’s volatile market. Think about it. Taking venture capital fund … Read More »

You’ve perhaps heard of the LAMP stack, the standard web-service building blocks of Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP. Now there’s a new superstar technology stack on the rise: MSG. That’s right, when it comes to building a robust customer lifecycle management program – from generating and nurturing l … Read More »

Big data has permeated almost all aspects of the enterprise today—from sales and marketing to product management to back-end IT. Now, the smartest companies are using big data to help fuel next-generation HR operations. Traditional tools like LinkedIn, outside recruiting firms and even the t … Read More »

Today’s business-software entrepreneurs must start out mobile-first, building an elegant, simple mobile app before dealing with the desktop. (It’s a topic I wrote about in a previous “Playbook” post.) And while it’s always preferable to access a product via a company-specific, mobile app--instead of … Read More »