Finance Geek

Google’s daily brainteaser helps hone your search skills.

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This week on the Gadget Lab Show, the gang takes a look at the spoils of this year’s Google I/O conference: Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Nexus 7 tablet, and the Nexus Q.

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Likening his legal tactics to a “fishing expedition,” a federal judge is threatening to impose more monetary sanctions against a Buffalo man who claims in a lawsuit that he owns half of Facebook.

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Ford (F) shares stumbled Friday after the automaker warned losses in its international division could be three times greater than the $190 million first-quarter loss. Pre-tax losses could hit $570 million in the just-concluded second quarter, the company disclosed in an SEC filing, released after CFO Robert Shanks told The NY Times “overall company profits [...]

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Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook! Facebook is arguably one of the biggest stories of our generation: it has forever changed how people communicate with each other and is reaching new users at record speeds. The latest frenzy surrounding the social media company is a new book entitled The Boy Kings: A Journey into the [...]

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Nineteen looks like a lucky number in Europe. The EU Summit — the 19th such confab since the debt crisis began — is resulting in progress on two major issues: long-term fiscal unity and short-term relief for Spain and Italy. “We affirm our strong commitment to do what is necessary to ensure the financial stability [...]

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Google’s new Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” drops support for Adobe’s Mobile Flash Player. Worse for Flash fans Adobe plans to pull Flash from the Google Play Store later this summer. If you want the latest and greatest in Android and Flash you’ve got until August 15.

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JPMorgan Chase (JPM) has lost billions of dollars from its so-called “London Whale” trades — a fact no one disputes. Exactly how much the sour trades will cost JPMorgan remains unknown. Nearly two months after the bank revealed that a massive trade went sour in its Chief Investment Office — the very division that was [...]

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The first iPhone went on sale to the public on June 29, 2007. It seems like it’s been with us forever, but the handset that changed the entire smartphone space is only just five years old today. Here’s a look at our favorite moments in iPhone history.

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Provided by Business Insider’s Simone Foxman: Markets are soaring after European leaders decided to use European bailout funds to directly recapitalize troubled banks. They also enacted two smaller measures—an important alteration to the Spanish bank bailout that will encourage investors not to be scared of it and €120 billion in funds devoted to growth. Regardless [...]

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Earlier this week ReadWriteWeb reported on a study into the 29 North American accelerator programmes by Aziz Gilani, a director at DFJ Mercury, one of our sister funds in the DFJ network. They found that 14 of those programmes hadn’t produced a single graduate that went on to raise venture funding.

There are a number of problems with this statistic, probably the most important of which is that raising venture capital is not the only measure of success, but it is still indicative of something I have felt for some time – that there are many startup accelerators which offer a bad deal to their companies. To be clear, I think the best accelerators offer tremendous value, Paul Graham and Y Combinator have practically re-invented very early stage financing and here in Europe Springboard, Seedcamp, StartupBootcamp and maybe now Wayra are doing a great job (let me know in the comments if I’ve missed any) – but there is only space for so many accelerators.

There are two finite resources which limit the number of quality accelerators the market can bear:

• Inspirational founders for the accelerator programme
• Availability of quality mentors

Accelerator programmes can only help companies accelerate if they provide good guidance and/or access to investors yet there aren’t many people like Paul Graham with the experience, coaching skills and networks required to really help startups. Access to mentors is even more problematic – I know that the folk here at DFJ Esprit have to turn down more opportunities to mentor than they can say yes to, and I’m sure the same is true for other mentors in the startup ecosystem. We choose to mentor at the programmes with the best companies and I’m left wondering what life is like for startups at the other programmes.

The ReadWriteWeb article advises that for first time entrepreneurs participating in a top programme is a no-brainer, always assuming they can get in. For the second tier they say the following:

But what about a second-tier or third-tier accelerator? “When you’re a young startup and you don’t have a lot of cash, you have one currency, your equity,” Gilani says. “So treat an accelerator like any other service provider. Be rigorous in your diligence. Or make the decision not to join one.”

Ask three questions of your accelerator:

1. Will it help you get follow-on funding?
2. Will it help you form partnerships with other companies or accelerate your growth?
3. Does it have proven mentors who will help you get traction?

If the answers are no, it’s probably best to steer your startup in another direction.

I think their advice is on the money.

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