Strategy
HP today announced that they will acquire data warehouse and analytics platform provider Vertica of Billerica, MA. Cowen and Company estimated the price at 5x revenues, estimating that Vertica did $40M in 2010 revenues, suggesting a valuation of $200M which I find low. Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised
Boards
I remember during my first year at Cal we’d sometimes see a local band, Psycotic Pineapple [sic], who performed a song entitled “The Devil has Work for Idle Hands.” Every time they sang the chorus, audience members would hold their arms above their heads and dangle their crossed hands
Marketing
I stumbled into this press release during my morning reading (ParAccel Triples Revenue, Doubles Customers and Appoints New Executive Team in 2010) and felt an overwhelming and immediate need to use it as an educational example in public relations (PR). CAMPBELL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--ParAccel, Inc., provider of the
SaaS
I had breakfast the other day with a software entrepreneur. When I asked if his company was on a subscription or perpetual model he said: “we should kill the guy who invented the perpetual license -- I’m on the perpetual money model, subscription all the way.” Having worked largely
After six great years, I have resigned my position as CEO of MarkLogic Corp. I can say that the parting is amicable and the board and I have been working for several months to ensure a smooth transition because we have a shared interest in the company’s continued success
Strategy
One thing they drill into your head in business school is how to make everything a quadrant. While I don't know for sure if it started with the famous BCG matrix -- which groups business into dogs, cash cows, stars, and question-marks -- I'd bet that
Management
There was a great column in the 12/10 Harvard Business Review entitled Good Decisions, Bad Outcomes by Dan Ariely, professor of behavioral economics at Duke and author of the excellent book Predictably Irrational. In the column, he hits on one of my favorite topics, the loose coupling of decisions
Marketing
In a age where some 30% of the US adult population is technically obese, if you're like most people, then you're probably trying to keep an eye on your weight, and therefore on your daily food intake as measured by things like number of calories, grams
Culture
I wrote this short note on culture a while back for the MarkLogic website, but since it wasn't terribly "poppy copy," the marketing and recruiting folks buried it behind this, relegating me here. I'm OK with that because I think their copy sells better,
I saw this piece of creative the other day for a tradeshow ad and loved it. Remember, Ted Codd invented the relational database in 1970 with his paper "A Relational Model for Shared Data Banks." This PDF of the classic looks about as old as the ad. (Do
Management
I had lunch last week with a senior executive at a major software vendor. I asked him how one of my former (non-MarkLogic) colleagues was doing. His reply: And defending weak people is the beginning of the death cycle The last sentence caught my attention because it's a
Marketing
One of my colleagues forwarded me this deck, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs, which I thought I'd share. It's based on this book (of the same name) written by BusinessWeek reporter Carmine Gallo. My favorite points: * Introduce the antagonist * Use the rule of threes * Sell
