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Having heard and read tons of anecdotal stories about Murdoch in the past years, I finally wanted to fully understand how Murdoch got to where he is today (most like the most powerful media mogul in the world). So I started Michael Wolff's new Murdoch biography "<a href="http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=wolff&amp;sts=t&amp;tn=the+man+who+owns+the+news&amp;x=39&amp;y=18">The man who owns the news</a>" during the Christmas break and finished it today. There seem to be a lot of people (especially among journalists) that don't like Murdoch because of his close involvement in the newsroom but there are two important lessons that an entrepreneur can learn from him: <ul> <li>He is relentlesly focused on the reader (=his customers) and doesn't care about respectability or status which is often an important factor in the media business (just think about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_Black">Conrad Black</a>) - and he doesn't change his focus with age or increased wealth. </li> <li>He takes a very long view - Murdoch doesn't fear short-term losses and can puruse acquisition targets over decades (e.g. his pursuit of the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/public/us">WSJ</a> / <a href="http://www.dowjones.com/">Dow Jones</a>) until he gets what he wants.</li> </ul> Definitely an inspirational book for everybody who loves media but also for every entrepreneur.

Having heard and read tons of anecdotal stories about Murdoch in the past years, I finally wanted to fully understand how Murdoch got to where he is today (most like the most powerful media mogul in the world). So I started Michael Wolff’s new Murdoch biography “The man who owns the news” during the Christmas break and finished it today. There seem to be a lot of people (especially among journalists) that don’t like Murdoch because of his close involvement in the newsroom but there are two important lessons that an entrepreneur can learn from him:

I am very happy to announce that First Round Capital, one of the most successful VC in the consumer internet space, is coming to Vancouver and will host an Office Hours event together with W Media on Jan 15 from 4pm to 6pm. For all other details (what the heck is an Office Hour event?) I simply re-blogged Kent's post on <a href="http://www.thecornice.com">The Cornice.com</a> below. Looking forward to seeing many of you next Thursday at the Agro Cafe! Here is Kent's post: The <a href="http://www.firstround.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">First Round Capital</span></a> team had such a <a href="http://thecornice.com/2008/10/22/office-hours-thank-you/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">good time</span></a>, at our inaugural <a href="http://thecornice.com/2008/10/14/announcing-first-round-capital-office-hours-and-free-coffee/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">Office Hours</span></a>, that we’ve decided to make it a semi-regular practice. Back in October, Josh Kopelman, Rob Hayes and myself met with more than 5o entrepreneurs. The energy from the event proved what we already knew: the economic downturn hasn’t dampened the entrepreneurial spirit. On January 15th, we’ll be partnering with our good friends at <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">W Media Ventures</span></a> to host an Office Hours in Vancouver. <a href="http://firstround.com/team/cfralic.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">Chris Fralic</span></a> and <a href="http://firstround.com/team/kgoldman.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">Kent Goldman</span></a> will represent First Round Capital, with <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/about-us/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">Boris Wertz</span></a> of W Media Ventures acting as the local host. And just like the original Palo Alto edition, we’d love to meet with entrepreneurs, people thinking about becoming entrepreneurs or folks who would like join a start-up. We’ll be available for a bunch of informal ~15 minute chats. Again, there’s no agenda. We’ll provide the napkins to write on and the coffee to keep you warm while you wait. When: Thursday, January 15th, 4:00pm-6:00pm Where: <a href="http://www.agrocafe.org/locations/yaletown.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">Agro Cafe</span></a>, 1207 Hamilton Street, Vancouver BC V6B 6K3 We’re hoping to keep the atmosphere casual, but we don’t want to waste anyone’s time. Help us load balance the meeting times by letting us know when you plan to arrive by filling out <a href="http://www.frevvo.com/frevvo/web/user/OfficeHours/app/_YeOcsdt7Ed2kuKGJ0UiUfA/formtype/_mf-gMNt7Ed2kuKGJ0UiUfA/popupform" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"><span style="color: #da1071;">this quick form</span></a> (not required but helpful). Looking forward to seeing you in the Great White Canadian North… More FRC Offices Hours coming soon to a coffee shop near you!

I am very happy to announce that First Round Capital, one of the most successful VC in the consumer internet space, is coming to Vancouver and will host an Office Hours event together with W Media on Jan 15 from 4pm to 6pm. For all other details (what the heck is an Office Hour event?) I simply re-blogged Kent’s post on The Cornice.com below. Looking forward to seeing many of you next Thursday at the Agro Cafe!

2008 is almost over so it is time for a review of the year - here is what I am taking away from 2008 (and what I think about 2009): <ul> <li>In the past few months we have experienced the fastest economic meltdown since a long time - perhaps ever, perhaps since the Great Depression but in any case with a speed that nobody could have foreseen. Despite some cautious optimism building up in the markets right now, I think that the worst is still to come. There is a gigantic de-leveraging going on, paired with a huge drop in consumer confidence - all that will take some time to trickle through the system and 2009 will therefore be a tough year economically.</li> <li>The most important take away though: markets are not always efficient. Let's just keep this in mind the next time somebody proposes a deregulation of sort.</li> <li>Internet start-ups have fared pretty well despite the economic chaos. Yes, we have seen some significant lay-offs, and yes, we have seen (and will see even more) fire sales of companies that have not yet gotten any traction or revenues. But the Web 2.0 bubble that started to build up in the past 2 years was way less pronounced that the bubble we have seen in the 1999 / 2000 time frame. 2009 will be the year where everybody refocuses on the fundamentals of building a great product and generating revenues and we will see some great companies emerging out of that class of 2009.</li> <li>Canadian Internet start-ups where a bit of a disappointment in 2008 - not a single important one emerged, not a single one made significant headlines. Or am I missing something? So I hope that 2009 will be the year of the Canadian start-ups. I have argued before that the <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/why-these-tough-times-are-good-for-canadian-internet-start-ups/">current economic conditions might actually be pretty good for us</a>.</li> <li>I was however really impressed by how the tech community starts to develop in Canada. Tech blogs like <a href="http://montrealtechwatch.com/">MontrealTech Watch</a>, <a href="http://www.startupnorth.ca/">StartupNorth</a> or <a href="http://www.techvibes.com">Techvibes</a> and events like <a href="http://startupempire.ca/">Startup Empire</a>, <a href="http://stirr.net/">STIRR</a> or <a href="http://www.launchpartyhq.com/">LaunchParty</a> help build the community that is so important for our space. So thanks to everybody who helped built a piece of this community in 2008, continue the great work in 2009!</li> <li>Last but not least this was an exciting year for myself and <a href="http://box693.bluehost.com/~version3/wp">W Media</a>: got back into an operational role (<a href="http://www.nexopia.com">Nexopia</a>), <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/four-months-in-the-works-amazon-acquires-abebooks">had my first exit</a> (<a href="http://www.abebooks.com">AbeBooks</a>) and did 3 new investments (<a href="http://www.carrieanddanielle.com">CarrieandDanielle</a>and two that have not yet been announced). 2009 will certainly see more activity on the investing front, both through W Media as well as through the late stage fund from <a href="http://www.actoncapital.de/">Acton Capital</a>.</li> </ul> So I wish everybody Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year - enjoy the holiday times and see you back in 2009!

2008 is almost over so it is time for a review of the year – here is what I am taking away from 2008 (and what I think about 2009):

I think that <a href="http://www.bivinteractive.com/index.php?option=com_content&amp;task=view&amp;id=1298&amp;Itemid=39">Curt Cherewayko has done a great job in this week's Business in Vancouver</a> describing the market opportunities for both W Media Ventures as well as <a href="http://www.nexopia.com">Nexopia</a>. Only correction: I am the proud father of only one (and not two) boys but what the heck....

I think that Curt Cherewayko has done a great job in this week’s Business in Vancouver describing the market opportunities for both W Media Ventures as well as Nexopia. Only correction: I am the proud father of only one (and not two) boys but what the heck….

These are definitely tough times for start-ups and it is amazing to see how quickly the mood has changed, from continued optimism despite the looming sub prime market meltdown to sheer panic after the stock market sell-out. Since the <a href="http://www.slideshare.net/eldon/sequoia-capital-on-startups-and-the-economic-downturn-presentation?type=powerpoint">now-already-famous Sequoia presentation</a>, many start-ups have already reacted by significantly cutting their burn-rate and more cutting is most likely to come. I think however that these tough times might actually be good for Canadian Internet start-ups and we could be coming out stronger from the crisis than before - here are the 3 main reasons for my thinking: <ul> <li>Canadian Internet start-ups never had access to abundant venture capital and are therefore operating on a much more competitive cost basis that many Silicon Valley start-ups. Actually, 4 out of the top 5 companies on the <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/canada-startup-index-october-2008">Techvibes Canadian start-up index</a> have never raised any venture capital at all and grew organically.</li> <li>The sharp decline of the Canadian dollar (now down over 30% YoY) means an important revenue windfall for all start-ups that get a majority of their revenues in USD (many of our <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/portfolio/">portfolio companies</a> generate over 80% of their topline in USD with minimal costs in that currency).</li> <li>The partly drastic downsizing of Sillicon Valley start-ups means that more talent is available on the market - talent that now might want to look at the opportunity of a different life-work-balance by joining a Canadian Internet-start-ups that tries to build something more long-term and more organically.</li> </ul> It would be great if we could turn this crisis into a major opportunity for the Canadian Internet scene. Some of the stars are definitely aligned.

These are definitely tough times for start-ups and it is amazing to see how quickly the mood has changed, from continued optimism despite the looming sub prime market meltdown to sheer panic after the stock market sell-out. Since the now-already-famous Sequoia presentation, many start-ups have already reacted by significantly cutting their burn-rate and more cutting is most likely to come. I think however that these tough times might actually be good for Canadian Internet start-ups and we could be coming out stronger from the crisis than before – here are the 3 main reasons for my thinking:

Not a day passes that people don't talk about the great opportunities that India and China are offering and I have been slowly getting involved with both countries: <a href="http://www.indochino.com">Indochino</a> - while a Canadian company - operates it tailor-made suits business out of Shanghai and <a href="http://www.livecurrent.com">LiveCurrent</a> is very active in India with its <a href="http://www.cricket.com">Cricket.com</a> venture. But I would love to understand both countries and their opportunities more and I am therefore calling all India and China experts and entrepreneurs - if you are interested in sharing your experiences, drop me an email at bwertz[at]wmediaventures.com or let's grab a coffee if you are in Vancouver. Looking forward to hearing from you (Vancouver is the hub to Asia-Pacific after all)!

Not a day passes that people don’t talk about the great opportunities that India and China are offering and I have been slowly getting involved with both countries: Indochino – while a Canadian company – operates it tailor-made suits business out of Shanghai and LiveCurrent is very active in India with its Cricket.com venture. But I would love to understand both countries and their opportunities more and I am therefore calling all India and China experts and entrepreneurs – if you are interested in sharing your experiences, drop me an email at bwertz[at]wmediaventures.com or let’s grab a coffee if you are in Vancouver. Looking forward to hearing from you (Vancouver is the hub to Asia-Pacific after all)!

The <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/relaunch-time/">season of relaunches</a> continues: last week, <a href="http://www.techvibes.com">Techvibes</a> launched a <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-techvibes.com">completely overhauled pro</a><a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-techvibes.com">d</a><a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-techvibes.com">uct</a> that has received some pretty good feedback <a href="http://www.raincitystudios.com/blogs-and-pods/daveo/vancouver-tech-community-update">here</a> and <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-techvibes.com#comments">here</a>. The new product should lay the foundation to build a network of hyper-local technology news blogs and communities across North-America - while Techvibes currently only covers all major Canadian cities plus <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/seattle">Seattle</a> and <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/portland">Portland</a>, the team is working hard on launching additional cities south of the border. The site provides a great tool set for every local tech community to organize itself in more efficient ways - so <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/article/who-s-contributing">become a blog contributor</a>, <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/company-directory/add">add your company to the directory</a>, <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/event/add">post an event</a> or <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/job/add">add a job</a> today! Kudos to <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/article/rob-lewis">Rob</a>, <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/article/greg-andrews">Greg</a> and the fabulous Thomas who pretty much built the new site on his own.

The season of relaunches continues: last week, Techvibes launched a completely overhauled product that has received some pretty good feedback here and here. The new product should lay the foundation to build a network of hyper-local technology news blogs and communities across North-America – while Techvibes currently only covers all major Canadian cities plus Seattle and Portland, the team is working hard on launching additional cities south of the border. The site provides a great tool set for every local tech community to organize itself in more efficient ways – so become a blog contributor, add your company to the directory, post an event or add a job today! Kudos to Rob, Greg and the fabulous Thomas who pretty much built the new site on his own.

Today Amazon announced the acquisition of Victoria-based AbeBooks, the company I have been involved with for over 7 years (operationally as COO until October last year, since then as Director and consultant).

Summer seems to be relaunch time for our <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/portfolio/">portfolio companies</a>: <a href="http://www.teampages.com">TeamPages</a> has a <a href="http://blog.teampages.com/2008/07/24/a-new-teampages-is-here/">fresh new look and an easier navigation</a> and <a href="http://www.tripsbytips.com">Tripsbytips</a> completely relaunched its site making it much easier to add recommendations so that the <a href="http://blog.tripsbytips.com/view/heute-relaunch-von-tripsbytips-nur-das-beste-der-welt/">best community-based travel tips</a> should emerge very quickly for the main travel destinations of this world. In addition, <a href="http://www.livecurrent.com">LiveCurrent</a> (<a href="https://www.versionone.vc/joining-the-communicatecom-board/">where I am a board member</a>) just relaunched their <a href="http://www.cricket.com">Cricket.com</a> website - <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/live-current-lands-ten-year-cricket-deal/">LiveCurrent's cricket venture</a> has seen <a href="http://www.techvibes.com/blog/no-sticky-wicket-for-live-current/">some huge developments</a> over the past few months and building out the Cricket.com website is another important step. All 3 relaunches look really great and are major steps forward for each of the companies - congrats to the product teams, keep up the great work!

While Facebook goes for world domination, signing up teens, parents and grandparents alike, Nexopia stays focused on the 13- to 20 years olds– this t-shirt says it all and it has been a huge hit with Nexopia’s users (and strangely enough, often with their parents as well).

<a href="http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/">Fred Wilson</a> published an interesting post today <a href="http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/07/biking-around-b.html">about the start-up scene in Berlin</a>. Having founded my own start-up in Germany (<a href="http://www.justbooks.de">JustBooks</a>, later acquired by Victoria's <a href="http://www.abebooks.com">AbeBooks</a>), being currently invested in a successfull Internet start-up based in Berlin (<a href="http://www.tripsbytips.com">Tripsbytips, an online travel community</a>) and working with one of the leading German VC's (<a href="https://www.versionone.vc/burda-digital-ventures-turns-into-acton-capital-partners/">Munich-based Acton Capital / Burda Digital Ventures</a>) on building up a <a href="https://www.versionone.vc/portfolio/">portfolio of consumer Internet companies</a> in the Pacific NorthWest, I was extremely happy that one of the best known US VC's had a closer look at my home countries' entrepreneurial state of things. Having said that I must disagree with two points Fred makes. First of all, I don't think that there is a mismatch of high energy/high quality tech start-ups and the amount of capital available to fund them. When we planned to raise our first institutional round for Tripsbytips last May, we had offers from 4 VC's before we even went out and pitched the business. Germany has a very active angel scene around Spreadshirt founder <a href="http://spreadlog.net/">Lukasz Gadowski</a>, some of the most aggressive early-stage investors with the <a href="http://www.europeanfounders.com/">Samwer brothers</a>, two major media companies (<a href="http://www.burda.de">Burda</a> and <a href="http://www.holtzbrinck.de/">Holtzbrinck</a>) that very actively push digital investments and tons of other (lesser known) VC's - rumor has that quite a few of them struggle to get deals at all. So I would argue that the problem is not a lack of money. What I consider lacking in Germany are on the one side a critical mass of serial entrepreneurs who know how to successfully build and scale a business and on the other side true innovation. Which brings me to the second point where I disagree with Fred: I don't think that we have seen many innovative Internet business models coming out of Europe, most activity is still being generated by the <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/05/14/web-2-in-germany-copy-paste-innovation-or-more/">copycat approach</a> which has gotten even more aggressive during this latest (Web 2.0) boom compared to the late nineties. The only area where I have seen true innovation coming out of Germany is in the mobile space - <a href="http://www.jamba.de/">Jamba</a> (also founded by the Samwer brothers) or <a href="http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/23/breaking-germanys-plazes-acquired-by-nokia/">recently acquired Plazes</a> are some of the examples. I think that the Germany's start-up scene has greatly developed over the past ten years but there is still much to do - and most importantly, we need more innovation and more (serial) entrepreneurs.

Fred Wilson published an interesting post today about the start-up scene in Berlin. Having founded my own start-up in Germany (JustBooks, later acquired by Victoria’s AbeBooks), being currently invested in a successfull Internet start-up based in Berlin (Tripsbytips, an online travel community) and working with one of the leading German VC’s (Munich-based Acton Capital / Burda Digital Ventures) on building up a portfolio of consumer Internet companies in the Pacific NorthWest, I was extremely happy that one of the best known US VC’s had a closer look at my home countries’ entrepreneurial state of things.