(HMG Celebrity News) ? Double congratulations to Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, who are celebrating their third anniversary this weekend, and� also became parents to twins, a baby girl and boy.
Carey gave birth via C section Saturday at noon EST, at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles.
Their baby girl was born first and weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 oz. and was 18 inches long. Their baby boy arrived at 5 pounds 6 oz and was 19 inches.� Neither child has yet been named.
Mariah?s rep, who confirmed the births to The Associated Press, said that they listened to Carey?s ?We Belong Together? after the children were born.� New daddy Nick took to Twitter to share the news. ?My wife just gave me the most incredible anniversary gift ever in life!?�� Carey and Cannon wed April 30, 2008 in the Bahamas, following a whirlwind romance.
Pemo Theodore, a Startup Coach & Australian origin online entrepreneur, video interviews venture capitalists & women entrepreneurs on the shortfall in funding for women @EZebis: Winning theVenture Game for Women.
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland. Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience.�
She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.�
In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next Facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to even get to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.�
But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.�
Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
Elaine: That's a very good point.� I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato'
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland http://www.abven.com/team/elaine_coughlan.html Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience. She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
�
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.� In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
�
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to evenget to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.� But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
�
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
�
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.� Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
�������
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
�
Elaine: That's a very good point.�
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland http://www.abven.com/team/elaine_coughlan.html Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience. She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.� In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to evenget to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.� But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.� Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
Elaine: That's a very good point.� I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato' http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/718
I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato' http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/718
Hi, my name is...Catherine Middleton thank you very much.
The special wedding tea towels may say Kate, but they're calling her Catherine now. These Brits sure move fast, already switching (lots of them, anyway) to their future queen's full birth name now that she's a royal and all.
And actually it's HRH Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, since we're getting so proper and all just 24-hours after she became a princess. So what's with dropping the name Kate all about? Has she gone all queeny on us already?
"It's royal protocol. I'd imagine the queen calls her Catherine," said native South Londoner Steve Hodge. "Her friends will probably still call her Kate. William probably has a pet name for her." Hodge said that although the tabloid papers across the U.K. will still refer to them as Wills and Kate, that's over the day she turns queen. "It will be Queen Catherine from there on out," Hodge told E! News.
On television (or the telly 'round these parts), Sky News refers to the former Kate as Catherine in every news report on the wedding.
According to Londoner Chris Montgomery, it'll be all about what class you're in in this city. "A lot of the clued-up, posher class will call her Catherine now," he explained. "Others outside the country and most commoners will still call her Kate. We're used to it."
And Londoner Paul David, who honors royal tradition, breaks down exactly when the transformation from Kate to Catherine took place. "It's Catherine now," he told us. "She turned up in a car but left in a carriage, she turned up as Kate and left as Catherine. She was not saluted on her way in, but she was saluted on her way out. She's joined the royal establishment. She is Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge now. She's a royal and should be addressed as so."
There you have it. Prince William Arthur Philip Louis of Wales turned Duke of Cambridge and his wife Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.
Country star Sara Evans? ex-husband, Craig Schelske, has filed for joint custody of their children, claiming the singer surrounds the kids with drugs and alcohol while on tour.
Sara Evans, who is currently married to Jay Barker, is battling her ex-husband Craig Schelske for joint custody of their three children.
In legal documents filed on Wednesday, Schelske requests shared custody in order to ?protect the children from the likelihood of substantial harm? during Sara?s upcoming tour.
Evans? ex said he has been on tour with her before and ?has first-hand knowledge that the children are exposed to inappropriate conduct, spend little time with Evans], and are placed in a party atmosphere with excessive drinking and drug use.?
Craig even went so far as to say the country singer, ?encouraged and condoned underage drinking.?
Sara Evans currently has full custody of the children and will leave out on tour in around a month.
Craig Schelske and Sara Evans? divorce and custody war has been ugly, with Sara claiming Craig had a porn addiction.
New to the market, this California ranch home can be purchased for the price of $3.59 million. Built in 1950, the three bedroom, two-and-a-half bathroom home was once owned by "Closer" Producer Cary Brokaw and his wife, Christine. Located in the architecturally significant Brentwood enclave, Sullivan Canyon, this property is on over thirty-thousand square feet of green lawns. The grounds feature four horse corrals and an equestrian ring, as well as a pool and spa. The structure was built with an indoor, outdoor flow. Vaulted ceilings and french doors maintain the openness of the floor plan.
This home was influenced by Cliff May's ranch-style properties. Cliff May is known as the father of ranch homes and is the most prominent architect in the Sullivan Canyon area. Recently, Bea Arthur's original Cliff May home was listed just around the corner from this property.
Photos by Everett Fenton Gidley, courtesy of Geoffrey Grisham at Coldwell Banker-BH North.
Our friend Nick Cannon airing his second radio countdown show ever week, and we’re airing it here! Check back each weekend for the countdown in full. It’s our second show, and we’re rocking it hard up in here! Sit back everybody as I walk you through the 30 hottest pop hits of the week. Will [...]
Hip-hop and screen star Ice-T has just published a memoir, 'Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption - from South Central to Hollywood.' In it he writes honestly about his time as a successful thief and hustler to controversial rapper to beloved actor as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola on 'Law & Order: SVU.' It's a fascinating tale of redemption and quite unexpectedly romantic as the real-life Tracy Morrow waxes about his wife of ten years, Coco. The two will soon be starring in their own reality show, 'Ice Loves Coco,' that starts in July. Ice talked to PopEater about that and the book in a lighthearted interview that turns sugar-sweet when talking about why he's got such a solid marriage.
"Oh no, she's out of her mind. She looks like a superhero. She's a doll," he says, later adding, "I really admire my wife. I think she's the best and I love everything she does and we admire each other."
First of all tell me about the reality show. Ha! That's where you want to start? It's a little show we've been working on. We kind of went against reality shows. They've been after us for a long time, they begged us, they pleaded with us. We said that we'd do something on our terms. It's called 'Ice Loves Coco.' It's a fun show. It's a show about our life and how Coco runs my life. It's done in good taste and nobody's fighting. It comes out June 12 on E! after the Kardashians.
So there's no deep dark secret that will be revealed on the show? None of that. I'm kind of goofy and so is Coco. That's the only secret.
How is Ice-T goofy? People listen to my music and in my music I'm always serious. It's kind of like if you met Clint Eastwood you wouldn't think he jokes because all his movies are so hard and the guy I play on 'Law & Order' is pretty hard but I can have fun. My wife is crazy so you're going to see how we get along.
Your wife does look like she could be a cartoon character. Oh no, she's out of her mind. She looks like a superhero. She's a doll. We've been married ten great years. If you watch reality TV you'd believe there's not a happy woman on earth. That's a lie. You don't necessarily have to show all that negativity to keep people watching. I believe there's an audience out there that just wants to see people have fun.
So you're here to tell me that Ice-T likes a good fart joke? I love a good fart joke. If you go to Twitter, you'll see I talk about farts and all kinds of good stuff.
What is the secret to a happy marriage? First you've got to marry the right person. There's a saying when a woman finds a man it's the right time, when a man hits the right time he'll find the right woman. I think with men it's more about us sowing our wild oats, getting to that point, another thing they say is a woman marries a man hoping to change him and we marry you hoping you'll stay the same. So you've got to get around those two things. Also admiration. I really admire my wife. I think she's the best and I love everything she does and we admire each other. Admiration is way different than love. You can love somebody and still think they're beneath you.
Your entire career was inspired by a sergeant in the army calling you a loser. Absolutely. I had gotten my girlfriend pregnant and my daughter was a baby and I was trying to do the right thing and get off the streets and the sergeant said to me one day, 'You're here because you cannot make it in civilian life.' Sometimes things like that cut so close and I was dead set on a mission to prove him wrong. I didn't want to stay in there forever and when I would have bad moments I would hear him say that. Sometimes a little negative comment might trigger you so that's what triggered me.
Does it bug you hearing nerdy white people use rap terms? It doesn't really bother me. It bothers me when people use it incorrectly. I think the one that bothers me the most is when people use the word wack but they spell it with an h.
You were part of a robbery crew but you hated stealing. It's not that I didn't like it, it's that I hated the risk. So therefore during it I wanted to take it all. It was like, I don't like doing this so if we gotta do this let's just rob them blind. (Laughs). Every time I did something I was trying to retire, now some people like it, they're there for the fun and excitement of it. I knew that when you did it your days were numbered in the low digits. At the end of this story all my friends went to prison, a lot of them are still in for life. I was very fortunate because I detoured off that road and went into rap. I think in the book I don't make it seem like I was smarter, opportunities just happened and something in my mind said, 'Go this way.' My plan was never to go be on network television. I mean come on, how far fetched is that?
Don't you think it's ironic the guy who wrote 'Cop Killer' plays a cop on TV? It bothers more people that it bothers me. (Laughs). The thing of it was, 'Cop Killer' was a character too. I was singing as somebody. That wasn't me, that was a character I created. It is kind of ironic at the end of the day. I tell people I have no allegiance to crime. When I was breaking the law the cops were the opponent, they weren't somebody I hated. I just thought I could outsmart them. If there's anything I hate it's racist people, that's just a a piece of shit human being.
NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 09: Model Coco and rapper/actor Iced T attend the Richie Rich Spring 2011 fashion show during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week at The Studio at Lincoln Center on September 9, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for IMG) *** Local Caption *** Iced T;Coco
Getty Images for IMG
Getty Images North America
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 28: Coco and Ice-T attend the TFI Special Legacy Celebration Quincy Jones Tribute At The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival at Hiro Ballroom at The Maritime Hotel on April 28, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Astrid Stawiarz/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 28: Coco and Ice-T attend the TFI Special Legacy Celebration Quincy Jones Tribute At The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival at Hiro Ballroom at The Maritime Hotel on April 28, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Dario Cantatore/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 01: Ice-T and Coco attend Coco's Birthday Bash at Nikki Beach on April 1, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Steve Mack/WireImage)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 01: Musician Ice-T attends Coco's Birthday Bash at Nikki Beach on April 1, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Marc Stamas/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - APRIL 01: Musician Ice-T and Coco attend Coco's Birthday Bash at Nikki Beach on April 1, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Marc Stamas/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
Ice-T, right, and Nicole "CoCo" Austin arrive to the Comedy Central Roast of Donald Trump in New York, Wednesday, March 9, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Sykes)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
Ice-T, Served With Coco
NEW YORK, NY - MARCH 09: Coco and Ice-T attend the Comedy Central Roast Of Donald Trump at the Hammerstein Ballroom on March 9, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)
"Emulating the quiet stillness of an oak woodland."
That's how Melissa Kellogg of Sanctuary Gardens describes the grounds she created at her client's '20s-era Spanish colonial estate above rugged Eaton Canyon in Altadena.
When she was brought in by lead landscape designer Mark Goldschmidt to install the planted areas in 2009, Kellogg set out to blur the line between the cultivated and the wild - a big trend these days.
"There was no question that a natural approach involving California native and Mediterranean-adapted plants was both environmentally and stylistically appropriate," Kellogg says.
Be it oak woodlands or desert-inspired cactus and succulent gardens, suburban wildscapes are catching on as more homeowners look for ways to reduce water use and embrace all the color, texture and shapes California native plants and wildflowers have to offer - and without all the fuss.
No fertilizing or soil amending required here.
South Bay landscaper Tony Baker, whose Natural Landscapes promotes California native and drought-tolerant gardening, keeps "a very wild-looking garden" at his home.
The garden attracts an array of wildlife, from bees and lizards to birds.
"It's amazing how just sitting on my deck I'll see dozens and dozens of birds flying around the garden," says Baker, who designed and maintains the native plant garden at the Madrona Marsh Nature Center in Torrance. "It's great entertainment.
"I'm
amazed more people aren't doing it, but they're pretty attached to their lawns."
That could explain the quizzical looks from passersby when Marilyn Beaumont began tearing out the scraggly grass in the parkway of her daughter's Redondo Beach bungalow.
"My daughter's spouse, Vanessa, was tired of watering and taking care of the huge parkway that they have ... and this is a big corner," she says. "So she said, `I want a California native garden,' which means she didn't want to water it or mow it anymore.
"So, I said, can I do it?"
While her daughter's family was out of town for 10 days she broke ground. Working off a design she had drafted weeks earlier, she put in plants that promised to come alive with fragrance and color.
She also buried logs and rocks to give the effect that they'd been there for a while.
"I just wanted it to look woodsy, and it does," she says of the garden now featured in the upcoming South Bay Water-Wise Garden Tour on May 15.
But Kellogg says the only direction she got from her client was that the garden be attractive. The rest was up to her.
The property was already home to a number of venerable oak trees, palo verde trees and succulents. So Kellogg worked around them.
She chose vibrant plants that were environmentally suitable and would complement the woodland look she was going for.
"I don't want anyone to have to be constantly irrigating or constantly spraying for pests or constantly fertilizing," she says. "And yet I want plants to always look their best."
The streetside garden features a variety of heat- and sun-loving plants, such as the dark mahogany branches of a manzanita backdropped by the purple-spired Pride of Madeira. In the same area, blue chalk sticks and orange lantana ramble wildly around a cluster of Agave attenuata.
In other areas of this garden, bunches of grassy Kniphofia mimic a seasonal meadow near a plum tree.
Just behind the gate, the entry garden leads to the front of the house.
"How you get to the front door is basically through this woodland garden," Kellogg says. "So it was important to consider where you were going to be standing and viewing the garden, or how you were going to be moving through it."
Matte-leafed coffeeberry grows in a soft natural shape. Native Heuchera maxima sends up huge spires of dainty blossoms and colorful Douglas iris reappear year after year in seasonal wet spots.
Garden-adapted groundcover manzanita slowly wanders over a thick natural layer of fallen oak leaves. At the edge of the oak canopy, purple California native daisy Erigeron "Wayne Roderick" crawls uninhibited through sun-adapted succulents.
"Spring is really the high time for that garden because that's when things are in bloom," Kellogg says. "Once those blooms are done the garden will still have contrast in terms of leaf foliage, color and shape. So there's still interest even though it's not always in bloom.
"But right now it's stunning."
South Bay Water-Wise Garden Tour
What: A self-guided tour of South Bay gardens that embrace water conservation. When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 15, 2011 Tickets: $12. Information: www.southbaywaterwisegardentour.com.
Pemo Theodore, a Startup Coach & Australian origin online entrepreneur, video interviews venture capitalists & women entrepreneurs on the shortfall in funding for women @EZebis: Winning theVenture Game for Women.
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland. Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience.�
She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.�
In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next Facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to even get to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.�
But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.�
Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
Elaine: That's a very good point.� I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato'
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland http://www.abven.com/team/elaine_coughlan.html Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience. She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
�
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.� In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
�
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to evenget to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.� But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
�
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
�
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.� Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
�������
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
�
Elaine: That's a very good point.�
Video interview with Elaine Coughlan, Partner Atlantic Bridge, Ireland http://www.abven.com/team/elaine_coughlan.html Elaine has over 15 years operational experience in technology companies with extensive merger and acquisition experience. She has been involved in three successful initial public offerings and two secondary offerings raising more than $1.6 billion in capital for various companies. She served as the CFO of semiconductor company Parthus Technologies plc (now CEVA Inc., a NASDAQ-listed company), from 1999 to 2003. Most recently she was a director and co-founder of GloNav, a GPS semiconductor portfolio company which was sold to NXP in January 2008 for $110 million
Pemo: Which themes do you like to invest, what is your sweet spot?�
Elaine: We just do tech. In Europe we are rare enough in that the team is all from industry.� We're from semi conductors & software backgrounds, long careers. So you have people in the team that are serial entrepreneurs that have built a few companies. Executives, so CEO, CFO all types of roles. That's not the common, it is in the US but it's not in Europe the common approach where venture capital is typically drawn from the financial industry. We don't like taking product risk so we like to move a little bit beyond the curb.� We have done it & in our first one we've got a mix of mid & early stage.� But we prefer to move beyond the seed & the first round & to I suppose the scaling type stage. But we're not religious about, if you have an opportunity where you have a serial entrepreneur who has a fantastic record in a particular domain it can be of interest to us.� In terms of technologies we may sometimes change but generally speaking mobile, wireless have been a big feature of what we have done both in our tech backgrounds & in our businesses. Mobile, wireless, cloud computing is such a huge part of the shift & trend. Security around that, security software, web infrastructure.� It's very difficult to know or back what's the next facebook or Twitter so we probably focus a little bit more on the infrastructure that enables those businesses. Digital home, home networking, intranet everywhere, technologies like wifi direct which is both home & wireless play. So we accept the domains & we obviously keep them under review & they change sometimes.� We then go out & try & find the companies in those domains.� So we probably have 5 or 6 domains that are relatively broad. We stick to those & they're areas that we have guys that have domain knowledge, expertise etc in.� So we try to stick to what we know.�
Pemo: What do you look for in women entrepreneurs & startups that indicate interest to you in investing in their businesses?
Elaine: Well there's not many of them, that's the first problem.� I don't think there's anything different in terms of what we look for between a woman entrepreneur or a guy.� I think in general when you meet women entrepreneurs you find that they are incredibly energetic & focused about their business. That's really critical.� They probably have that in spades maybe a little bit more than some of the guys.� Just purely because they've had to have that to evenget to the stage to spin something out, back something out, start something up.� But genuinely I've been disappointed in terms of just the numbers coming through.� They say never waste a crisis, I think the current recession particularly in Ireland & indeed across Europe will probably long term be a very good driver for women entrepreneurs. I think there's probably better structures now & we can talk about some of those later on.� But I think in general from an entrepreneur we look that they are very passionate about what they're about to do or want to do.� That they have fantastic knowledge, domain knowledge about the market, product, the competitors. Not just the technology, but how it actually fits into the ecosystem & how it's going to compete. Then finally how they're going to take it to market. A lot of entrepreneurs don't actually think about (they might have great technology) but they haven't quite worked out what the sales strategy, what the business plan is & how they'e actually going to get it into the market. I think they're kind of personal attributes.� You want them also to be keen listeners.� I mean in the sense, open to taking in input. We're not passive investors.� Entrepreneurs aren't passive people either. You back entrepreneurs, you don't hire them! You hire CEOs, you don't hire entrepreneurs.� So we back teams, we back entrepreneurs & teams.� That's what we're looking for first & foremost. Not easy to find the ones that are truly world class but you can find guys that can absolutely grow & scale & benefit from our mistakes, as previous entrepreneurs & founders. And our successes as well & you're hoping to actually pass that on. To do that they've got to be open to it.������
Pemo: What can women entrepreneurs/startups do to increase their chances in sourcing venture?
Elaine: I think that's a very good question.� I think that women have got to be really much more confident in themselves & have much more belief in themselves. Be a little bit more ballsy & going out there & sourcing capital & be willing to get nos.� Because the reality is you get a lot of nos in this business.� Actually you don't even get the nos, a lot of people don't even tell you no.� The good guys tell you no.� I think women aren't as good at getting out there & networking & being a little bit more forthright.� It would never be said about us that we're too backward in going forward, which we are.� Typically you find women entrepreneurs are product experts so maybe they've been the code monkey, they've been the one that has built the product. They know the space well. Completely blind on sales, pushing, marketing, getting out there. I think those front of house skills, as I call them, as opposed to back of house skills.� I think they must be much, much more confident in front of house. Take a chance. Guys are much more willing to give it a whirl. Let's spin, let's see what happens.� Instead of quietly beavering away.� They don't really shine the light very brightly in terms of saying 'Look how fabulous I am & look at what a fabulous product I have. So in selling ourselves I think we've just got to be much more confident & a little bit more outgoing. I don't want to use the word aggressive but being much more proactive about pushing. Be open & be very aware that you're going to suffer a lot of rejection.� But you just need one to say yes! You can take thousands of nos if you get one yes.� Also I think familiarity with the process.� I think that's fair.� Women just aren't familar with the vc process because quite frankly this generation of women entrepreneurs are standing on the shoulders of the previous generation of women.� And there wasn't many of them that were out there as entrepreneurs. So they're really pioneers & cutting new ground. I think that's where we have to look at the supports, the mentoring, to help give them the framework of this is what you need to expect.� Because women are really fast learners. They don't need to be told things twice. You don't expect people to do it in a vacuum is the reality. It's going to be difficult for them to do it in a vacuum.� I think network.� We've got to be much better at networking. Women should not have a bias now with networking with other women & other successful women. Other successful women always to the next generation of women, to put a hand down & pull them up. At all levels, both the women that have been successful in venture, in industry, in finance, we need to be much more cohesive as a group in trying to bring women entrepreneurs forward. The reality is that entrepreneurs need a lot of support in any event.� But as a minority women entrepreneurs just need much more coaching, mentoring, support to understand the rules of the game as it were.�
Pemo: That's one of the reasons I've been doing these interviews.� I think the other piece that happens in Europe, having lived in Ireland & the UK is that failure which is obviously part of the deal when you're doing these sort of startups or ventures is culturally looked at differently than it would be say in the US. I'm wondering how you tackle that I guess with female entrepreneurs?� Because women tend to want to really make sure that they succeed, that's what I've heard from other vcs & women founders.� That may be also where the numbers are falling down?
Elaine: That's a very good point.� I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato' http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/718
I think it's very true.� Failure is very difficult & there is a cultural aspect to this.� If you look at the US its a badge of honor.� Here it's a bit of a badge of honor, believe it or not, I love for a guy to say we did this but we failed.� I immediately think well you know what he's gone off & bled on somebody else's carpet.� He knows now, he's worth backing. So culturally it is an issue & genderwise I think you're right, women always aspire to be top of the class.� I think failure doesn't come naturally to us. We're not probably natural risk takers either.� That's the other part, that's the corollary of that. So I think again I think it comes back to, to the extent that they're in the world of tech, venture, finance, they're going to see hey you know what a lot of other people fail.� It's a bit like the banks here in Ireland.� I have to say they were run by guys & you know what girls we really can't do any worse than them.� They've made such a screwup of it. So women need to think like that.�
Thanks to Alexander Blu for music 'Moderato' http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/718
(HMG Celebrity News) ? Double congratulations to Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon, who are celebrating their third anniversary this weekend, and� also became parents to twins, a baby girl and boy.
Hip-hop and screen star Ice-T has just published a memoir, 'Ice: A Memoir of Gangster Life and Redemption - from South Central to Hollywood.' In it he writes honestly about his time as a successful thief and hustler to controversial rapper to beloved actor as Detective Odafin "Fin" Tutuola on 'Law & Order: SVU.' It's a fascinating tale of redemption and quite unexpectedly romantic as the real-life Tracy Morrow waxes about his wife of ten years, Coco. The two will soon be starring in their own reality show, 'Ice Loves Coco,' that starts in July. Ice talked to PopEater about that and the book in a lighthearted interview that turns sugar-sweet when talking about why he's got such a solid marriage.
What is the secret to a happy marriage?