Propensity for Action

Last month, I was interviewed by Durham Magazine for my views on startups and entrepreneurs. One of my views is that great entrepreneurs have a strong propensity for action. The interview also details quirky stories from my past — like how I majored in Computer Science to avoid writing papers. Pro tip: bad idea! You […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship

Five Things On Software IP

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to a Duke class on Intellectual Property and Innovation: Law, Policy & Entrepreneurship. Thanks Ed for including me! In addition to sharing my story and hawking GrepBeat, I reviewed five things that mattered when thinking about Intellectual Property (IP) for software startups. But, let me save you $60k/year […]

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YAWA! Yet Another Web Application

YAWA! Yet Another Web Application. Software has clearly moved to the cloud and web applications are the way for software to be delivered. In the late 1990s, SalesForce.com and others were innovators in this new business model: software as a service. Times were good and Bronto jumped on it in the early 2000s. Twenty years […]

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Welcome, Alon Greyber!

We are pleased to welcome back another member into the Colopy Ventures team this summer!  Alon Greyber worked here last summer, and will join us again this summer as an engineering intern.   Hey, Alon! It’s great to have you here as another intern to work with.  I heard that you worked here last summer […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship, Raleigh-Durham

Interview with Chris Geiss, Seguno Founder

Hello! My name is Emma and today I had the pleasure of talking to Seguno’s founder, Chris Geiss.  Seguno is one of Colopy Ventures’ latest investments. Thanks for taking the time to talk to me about Seguno. To start, what is Seguno?  Sure, thanks for having me. I started Seguno last year with my co-founder and […]

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Missions, Strategies and Values … Oh My!

I played the scarecrow in my elementary school’s rendition of Wizard of Oz. One of the best parts was when my fellow sixth grade Tin Man, Dorothy and I cantered across the stage as we chanted “Lions, Tigers and Bears … oh my!” Tales of my performance still echo through the hallowed halls of Fairlawn […]

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Growth by a Thousand Paper Cuts

Entrepreneurs and investors are on a perpetual quest to have hockey stick growth for their startups. Hockey stick growth happens (hopefully!) after you get product-market fit and start ramping. If growth accelerates, the revenue curve maps to the curve of a hockey stick — smoothly up and to the right. But, in reality, startup growth […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship

TO VC, OR ALT VC?

Modern day Shakespeare would be a startup entrepreneur asking the question: “TO VC, or ALT VC?” Raise venture capital or bootstrap? Bootstrapping is a hard but great alternative to raising venture capital (VC). Unfortunately, the media rarely tells the story of the bootstrapping startup. The more commonly told story is of the glories of raising […]

Posted in Entrepreneurship

“Stories from the Bronto Journey” @ Harvard

Last week, I spoke to a Harvard class on “Stories from the Bronto Journey.” The class was offered as part of the Technology and Entrepreneurship Center at Harvard (TECH) and consisted mainly of undergraduates — almost 200 of them! Excited to see so much enthusiasm for technology and entrepreneurship. Here are some takeaways from my talk: […]

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