Some definitions of copacetic. I first came across it in the works of James Ellroy and it kinda hooked me.

Tim responds elegantly and cogently to the Web 2.0 trademark controversy. However he compares the use of Web 2.0 with trademarks for Apache and Linux.

Spot the difference Tim, I can run an Apache conference or a Linux conference safe in the knowledge that neither organisation will come gunning for me. They distinguish their conference marks (Apachecon, LinuxWorld) from their web memes (Apache, Linux) , and rightly so.

.. its simple really.

All attendees at IT@Cork’s Web 2.0 Conference get free passes to O’Reilly’s next Web 2.0 Conference.

O’Reilly has retreated from their Cease and Desist Stance. Hooray for IT@Cork.

A kick right in the PC. Dell is going to preinstall the Google Desktop, toolbar and friends on all their PCs.

Ballmer must be having a shit fit!

Tom reports that he received a Cease and Desist letter from O’Reilly regarding the use of the term Web 2.0.

Tough it out Tom, there is a long distance between cease and desist and going to court. Remember they would have to fight this action in Ireland!

Brian Caulfield of Trinity Venture Capital visited the HotHouse Program today to do a two hour presentation on Investor Documentation. The subtitle of the talk was From Term Sheets to Sale and Purchase Agreements and everything in Between. Brian was a co-founder of two succesful Irish software companies Exceptis and Similiarity Systems.
He kindly provided a copy of the slides after the talk, but the slides don’t communicate the wealth of personal knowledge Brian has in this area. He made a number of key points that stayed with me,

• Don’t obsess about the percentage of the company you will retain after investment. Instead focus on the “cash waterfall”, e.g. what is likely to be left after the preferences pile has been discharged and any interest or other exit options have been exercised. He worked through three examples of investment and three exit scenarios where the share spilt on investment and exit was radically different.
• People confuse good leaver/bad leaver. If you leave the company as a founder and the VC doens’t want you to go, that that is considered a bad leaver e.g. you leaving will impact the valuation of the company. If you leave the company and the VC can’t wait to see the back of you, then that is a good leaver. Bad leaver is likely to feel the full weight of any penalties because of their impact on company valuation, good leaver is likely to get a pretty reasonable goodbye package just to get him out the door.
• A Well Thumbed bible is a problem. If you are spending a lot of time consulting the investor documentation then you are probably in trouble. These documents are not instruments that should be used to run a company.
• Multiple Exit prefs and ratchets are less common. The penal terms circa 2001 are less common this days. Exit multiples proved to be a complete turn off to subsequent investors and ratchets encourage very short term thinking.

An excellent talk all round for anybody starting a company who is planning to raise VC money.

Reg Cheramy lists 13 reasons to consider Microsoft for Web 2.0 Development.

The one reason not to? Your stuff will probably not run correctly in Firefox or Safari.

Enterprise Ireland has just circulated copies of the presentations made at the recent Web 2.0 conference at DCU.I’ve taken the liberty of converting these to HTML and providing them here.

• Judy Gibbons, Accel Partners,

• Web 2.0, The Virtuous Circle

Marc Canter, BroadbandMechanics,

• Digital Lifestyle Aggregators (Mark’s talk didn’t really have a title)

Jeff Clavier, Softtech Ventures.

• Web 2.0, Key Factors for Success

Daniel Waterhouse, 3i,

• Web 2.0, The Investors Perspective

Nasser Batley, Dresdner Kleinwort Wassterstein,

• Web 2.0, The Exits

In addition to the speakers the following Irish companies made presentations regarding their businesses.

• Sxoop – PXN8
• Infacta – A Technology Marketing Company
• Herbert Street Technologies – Encryption Technology for Business
• InnerWorkings – Briefing to Web 2.0 Ireland Conference
• Alatto – Mobile Search
• Tablane – Your Internet Research Tool
• Nooked –RSS Marketing Made Simple

Apologies if I got the ordering of the Irish companies wrong, but I an working from memory.

If any of the original authors would prefer not to have their content hosted here, drop me a line and I’ll remove it.

(Apologies for the weird indentation, wordpress voimits all over nested lists)

Holy Cow, sunshine after days of pissy rain and wind. Keep it coming!