Ocala's Intellon Goes Public

Homeplug semiconductor company, Intellon, reached a difficult milestone last week, pricing their Initial Public Offering around $6/share and joining NASDAQ as ticker ITLN. That is a significant accomplishment for any company, but even more impressive as an Ocala, FL-based chip company -- a space dominated by west coast and international firms. In related news, Intellon recently announced they may move HQ to Orlando, Toronto or San Jose -- keeping core R&D in Florida.

Their stock price has moved around a bit so far and I'm hoping they see a steady climb through 2008. The home networking space is brutal, but Intellon's bet on AV and HomePlug could pay dividends, particularly overseas. Wireless and coax are formidable alternatives in the US as carriers and cable companies fight to provide all digital services to the home: internet, phone, and TV.

I'm proud to know many from the Intellon team and wish them continued success. Congrats guys!

UF and Alexandria Ink Biotech Labspace Deal

If you aren't already familiar with Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., their tagline says it all:

Alexandria = LabSpace

The publicly-traded landlord and developer has been in talks with the University of Florida for a few years and just recently announced a deal to build more than 75,000 square feet of biotech incubator on the UF campus -- complimenting great off-campus incubators like GTEC and the Sid Martin Biotech Incubator. This is great news for all of us: biotech researchers, entrepreneurs and investors alike, that call Gainesville home.

Most of the press about the announcement references UF President Bernie Machen and he deserves plenty of credit for aiming high -- 75,000-150,000sf equals a bunch of companies. That said, I also wanted to share kudos with the Office of Research and Office of Technology Licensing. Specifically, I've had the pleasure of watching Win Phillips, David Day and Jane Muir lay key groundwork for this and other UF entrepreneurial efforts. They've been a very supportive LP of the Inflexion Fund, helped create local angel groups and have leveraged the entire Gator Nation to build on UF's research innovations. I've touted UF's track record on patents and spinouts before, and this labspace deal is another key piece of the puzzle. Great work!

Related articles:
http://www.gainesville.com/article/20071130/NEWS/711300318/0/entertainment
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/91229.php
http://news.ufl.edu/2007/11/30/innovation-center/
Related images: alexandria labspace, biotech, bernie machen, win phillips, david day

Dry Powder = Venture Capital Reserves

Now that Inflexion Fund is well into it's life, I spent some time today reviewing how our reserve approach is working out across the portfolio (short answer: great). When I say reserves, I mean the amount of money or "dry powder" a fund mentally reserves for follow-on rounds in their companies. It's a concept that isn't immediately obvious to some entrepreneurs and even many investors.

As an early stage investor, I like to reserve at least $2 for every $1 of initial investment. Many funds focus on a $1 to $1 reserve and some funds may hold as much as $10 dry powder behind their initial $1 invested. Entrepreneurs would do well to ask potential investors about their reserve approach (as part of their overall investing strategy).

In particular, if an investor stumbles on the question or holds minimal reserves (or zero), consider it a big red flag. It typically means the investor hasn't done enough early-stage investing or they just sprinkle money around with a goal of heavying up in only one or two favorites. Their money is still green, but you might have mismatched expectations going forward -- especially when you need that extra little support that the investor never budgeted for. An investor that doesn't reserve properly can also impact your ability to raise future capital, because lack of insider reserves can signal weakness to new investors.

So, have you faced this issue before? What happened?

Anatomy of a Holiday Contest Campaign: Overstock.com

First, I'd like to thank Overstock.com for sponsoring this charity post (via PayPerPost) -- donating a goodly sum to the Alzheimer's Walk on my behalf. Campaigns like this are a great way to do good, while also doing well with corporate marketing -- and, for me, writing a post is a fun and easy way to give.

Overstock just kicked off a Holiday contest called the "All I want for Christmas Giveaway". I like that it's multi-model, incorporating YouTube, blogs, on-site video, site navigation and tell-a-friend email. For example, here's their YouTube teaser:

The contest started December 3 and appears to be running for only the next 5 days, with winners each day and a final Grand Price winner. I see that Sandra from Florida was the Day 1 winner of a 37-inch LCD HDTV. After this contest walk-through, maybe you'll be next. I really like the concept that you can win anything at Overstock (up to $1,000) -- more exciting and immediately exposes registrants to Overstock shopping. My post introduces the contest, while also sharing some feedback for Overstock's contest team.

The contest welcome page is pretty straightforward, embedding the contest teaser video. Feedback: Cute video introducing the concept, but doesn't create much excitement.

Upon clicking "Begin", you reach the contest registration page. Feedback: I'm not sure why you have to select a cute little snow-avatar. I think the IMPORTANT message is good, but should probably reference spam filters for the novice user. I also think the email permission should be default No, instead of Yes.

Upon clicking "Next", you reach the "Choose a Gift" page and video instructions autoplay. Feedback: Although I typically don't like autoplay video, this is a good use for it. Contest participation requires a couple steps and the video does a good job explaining. Although the use of win@overstockcontest.com was innovative (saving developer effort), I worry Overstock will lose a bunch of registrants during the gift selection process.

Speaking of gift selection, the best part comes after clicking "Choose a Gift". You get to browse or search all of Overstock.com for the gift you'd like to win -- any product at Overstock.com (up to $1,000). Given that you can pick a new gift every day, I went for a 20GB/32X Digital Video Camera yesterday and a 32" LCD monitor today. Feedback: It would be interesting to see a page including all the gifts others are selecting -- to jumpstart some ideas. Long-term, it would be best to have a one-click gift/contest button alongside all items instead of the win@ email kludge.

The final step is to select the friends you would like to win with you. In other words, if you win, those friends that register will win also. For example, I hooked up Nicholas Chance over at KidReviewer.com. Feedback: Viral growth might go even faster if the win-sharing was both directions -- I win if they win.

As you can tell from the fact I've played a couple days, I like this holiday contest. It's much more interesting than winning one specific item (e.g. "win an iPod") and the opportunity to help friends win is smart. I've known about Overstock for a long time, but I have to admit participating in this contest exposed me to much more of their site and products. That's a win-win for me and Overstock...and maybe you!

Related images: overstock, gifts, gift ideas, all i want for christmas