Business 2.0 Publishes List of ''The Smartest Companies to Start Now'' in Sept. 2006 Issue; Top Venture Capitalists, Including Steve Case and Howard Schultz, Among Others, Discuss Companies Considered Worthy of a Collective $100 Million Investment.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Budding Entrepreneurs with Solid Business Plans Are Encouraged to Forward Pitches When Business 2.0 magazine asked dozens of venture capitalists and investors around the country about great startup ideas, more than a few indignantly shot back, "Are you out of your mind?" But after some prodding from its reporters, a surprising number of them couldn't help but start jawing about companies they would love to build--if only the right people could be found to perfect the technologies or the business plans and make them seem possible. The resulting list of 20 business ideas, ranging from a host of new websites and applications to next-generation power sources and a luxury housing development, is featured in "The 20 Smartest Companies to Start Now," in the September 2006 issue of Business 2.0 (on newsstands August 28). The featured investors--which include some of Silicon Valley's most successful VCs as well as serial entrepreneurs like Steve Case Steve Case (born August 21, 1958) is a businessman best known as the co-founder and former chief executive officer and chairman of America Online (AOL). He reached his highest profile when he played an instrumental role in AOL's merger with Time Warner in 2000. and Howard Schultz--are backing their ideas with a collective $100 million in funding to the entrepreneurs who can get them off the ground. Each of the 20 business ideas in the feature includes contact information for entrepreneurs to forward their pitches. Several of the startup ideas suggested by the investors and the funding they propose in the upcoming issue include: --Jonathan Fram, managing partner, and Howard Schultz  This article or section needs copy editing for grammar, style, cohesion, tone and/or spelling.You can assist by [ editing it] now. , co-founder, Maveron WHAT THEY WANT NOW: A driver's tech fantasy fully realized: an in-dash computer with a keyboard built into the steering wheel and a full-screen, heads-up display A display technology that superimposes images onto the inside of the windshield to enable drivers to view the information while keeping their eyes on the road. Heads-up displays (HUDs) are also used in goggles and helmets (see head mounted display). projected on the windshield. The technology behind the system that Fram and Starbucks founder Schultz envision--laser or cathode-ray tubes that convert pixels into projected light--was invented for jet fighters more than 30 years ago, allowing pilots to read cockpit data without taking their eyes off the sky. WHAT THEY'LL INVEST: $5 million for a deeply qualified 20-person team to deliver a prototype and a plan for pitching a commercial version to automakers within three years. --Donn Davis, president, and Steve Case, founder, Revolution WHAT THEY WANT NOW: A design scheme for a community of affordable new homes, packed with luxury amenities and based on green values. This is yet another baby-boomer play, but AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. co-founder Case and partner Davis--who helped bring fractional ownership In business, fractional ownership is a percentage share of an expensive asset. Shares are sold to individual owners. A fractional owner enjoys priorities and privileges, such as reduced rates, priority access on holidays and income sharing. to the ultraluxury-home market with Exclusive Resorts--don't think builders like KB Home and Pulte Homes Pulte Homes, Inc (NYSE: PHM) is a Bloomfield Hills, MI based company founded by Bill Pulte. Pulte is the third largest (by units) builder of homes and residential community developers in the United States according to Builder Magazine's"Builder 100", and is the nation's have all the angles covered. WHAT THEY'LL INVEST: $5 million for the right plan. --Samir Kaul and Vinod Khosla Vinod Khosla (born January 28, 1955 in Pune, India[1]) is an Indian-American venture capitalist. He is an influential personality in Silicon Valley. He was one of the co-founders of Sun Microsystems and became a general partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner, , partners, Khosla Ventures WHAT THEY WANT NOW: Khosla, a legendary Silicon Valley VC whose winners have included Juniper Networks Juniper Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: JNPR) is an information technology company based in Sunnyvale, California and founded in 1996. The company designs and sells Internet Protocol network products and services. and Redback Networks Redback Networks is a telecommunications equipment company. History Redback Networks was founded in August, 1996. Redback is an ERICSSON subsidiary since the beginning of 2007 (was previously traded on NASDAQ under the symbol RBAK). , and Kaul are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. an engineering team to build a lithium-ion battery Lithium-ion batteries (sometimes abbreviated Li-ion batteries) are a type of rechargeable battery commonly used in consumer electronics. They are currently one of the most popular types of battery for portable electronics, with one of the best energy-to-weight ratios, no with five times the life of anything found in cell phones, PDAs, or cameras. Matsushita and Sanyo are pushing the limits on lithium-ion cells, as are a couple of promising startups. WHAT THEY'LL INVEST: $2 million for a 10- to 15-person team to show proof of concept. --Amanda Reed, partner, Palomar Ventures WHAT SHE WANTS NOW: A Web-based platform to make company spreadsheets--for revenue forecasting and other analytical chores--more easily viewed, updated, and shared by managers. Many small-business execs still rely on e-mailing Excel files around the office to share data forecasts. Software apps like NetSuite import data but not the formulas embedded in spreadsheets. WHAT SHE'LL INVEST: $5 million for a team of five engineers to create a prototype in less than two years. --Elon Musk, co-founder, PayPal WHAT HE WANTS NOW: As Musk's two most recent investments--in a space rocket and an all-electric sports car--suggest, the 35-year-old entrepreneur likes to think big. So he's intrigued by the promise of a next-generation battery called an ultracapacitor, capable of powering everything from cars to tractors. Unlike chemical batteries, ultracapacitors store energy as an electrical field between a pair of conducting plates. WHAT HE'LL INVEST: $4 million over two years for a working prototype. --Jeff Crowe, general partner, Norwest Venture Partners WHAT HE WANTS NOW: GPS-enabled ads and coupons piped to your mobile phone at just the right time and place. Location-based marketing is a concept that's been bandied about for years, but only now is the required technology becoming cheap enough to implement. WHAT HE'LL INVEST: $3 million for a demo application and retail partners ready to test. --Jim Breyer, partner, Accel Partners WHAT HE WANTS NOW: Social-networking sites may be sprouting like weeds, but none yet operates as a bona fide [Latin, In good faith.] Honest; genuine; actual; authentic; acting without the intention of defrauding. A bona fide purchaser is one who purchases property for a valuable consideration that is inducement for entering into a contract and without suspicion of being marketplace, with members buying and selling their own creations as much as they blog, link, and post. Breyer, who sits on Wal-Mart's board, is interested in backing an international network for indie artists, musicians, filmmakers, authors, designers, and other creative types from dozens of countries. Ideally, the site would have the download and payment features to create what he calls a "micromarket" for members' wares. WHAT HE'LL INVEST: $10 million. --David Kirkpatrick, co-founder, SJF SJF Shortest Job First SJF Schweizer Jugend Forscht (German) SJF Sustainable Jobs Fund SJF Social Justice Fund SJF Single Jewish Female SJF Skopje Jazz Festival SJF San Jacinto Fault SJF Saint John Fisher Ventures WHAT HE WANTS NOW: An enviro-friendly office-maintenance service. Most businesses hire different vendors for recycling, janitorial, and supply services. Kirkpatrick thinks a startup can cobble them together in a tidy green package for clients willing to pay a premium not just for the convenience but for a stamp of eco-approval to tout to employees and customers. WHAT HE'LL INVEST: $1 million for a plan that spells out the acquisition strategy. For the complete list of Business 2.0's "Smartest Companies to Start Now," information about the business plan submission process and a video featuring Jeff Crowe Jeffrey John Crowe (born 14 September 1958) is a former New Zealand cricket player. He is the son of David John Crowe and elder brother of Martin Crowe. They are cousins of Oscar winning actor, Russell Crowe. of Norwest Venture Partners and Business 2.0's Michael Copeland, log on to www.Business2.com. Additional content will be posted online throughout the month of September. In addition, the entire September issue of Business 2.0 will be available in digital format and can be accessed online at http://digital.business2.com beginning Thursday, August 24. |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion