Bob Rice

Bob Rice

Bob is Managing Partner of Tangent Capital, a registered broker-dealer and merchant bank focused on alternative assets and strategies. He is the resident industry expert on early stage and other private investments for Bloomberg TV, appearing daily as Contributing Editor on “Money Moves.” Bob is a Director of asset management companies with over $2 billion in AUM. Bob began his career as a trial attorney at the U.S. Department of Justice and then became a partner at Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, where his practice centered on financial products. He left the law in 1996 to found a 3D graphics technology startup that eventually became the publicly traded Viewpoint, provider of the web’s first “rich media” advertising platform. He has been an active angel investor and startup mentor since 2004. Along the way, Bob also served as the Commissioner of the Professional Chess Association and authored the business strategy book Three Moves Ahead

Articles by Bob Rice

Industry Experts

Cohort Analysis

Don’t mean to disappoint you, but this idea isn’t nearly as devious or dark as the name implies.  It’s just a straightforward, really smart, thing to do.

The term derives from sociology: groups of people who share certain characteristics are “cohorts”.   Instead of focusing on average behaviors of a large population, cohort analysis looks to find and understand patterns among subgroups, and how those change over time.  Especially for new businesses, that analysis can reveal  some surprising and important data… including what the company might be worth. Read more

Bob Rice , Managing Partner, Tangent Capital
January 9th, 2012 0

Industry Experts

A long time ago in an economy far, far away. . .

Listen my children and you shall hear
Of IPO dreams once held so dear
Our forefathers’ jackpot, guaranteed to arrive
Hardly a founder now alive
Can remember that famous yesteryear

So begins, of course, one of the most famous poems of the entire startup canon.  And, a bit misty-eyed, this old war veteran can actually remember the glory days: Venture capitalists would commit tens of millions for a startup to buy expensive infrastructure; hire sales and marketing teams as products were still being built; and lease out big slugs of office space for the coming hiring spree.  And it was all fully justified, because the inevitable IPO would repay those investments many times over, and quite soon indeed.  Ah, thanks for the memories. Read more

Bob Rice , Managing Partner, Tangent Capital
December 16th, 2011 0

Industry Experts

The Care and Feeding of Advisory Boards

Sure, you want investors.  But sometimes the outsiders most capable of helping your business are those who invest time, not money.  And I don’t mean because they lend a credible name to an investor pitch: way too many entrepreneurs look at names on Advisory Board as just a way to expedite a raise.  If that’s all you really expect of the Board, you’re cheating yourself as well as the investors before whom you dangled the names. Read more

Bob Rice , Managing Partner, Tangent Capital
December 3rd, 2011 0

Power Pitches

Who’s The Real Competition?

Perhaps the most misunderstood topic in the world of startup investing is the question of who the competition is and isn’t.  And angels get this wrong just as often as entrepreneurs do.

Of course, we’re all familiar with the inevitable pitch slide on the topic, which features some sort of grid or circle image with – how fortunate! – a blank space in the zone in which this particular company characterizes itself.  Great, one less thing to worry about. Read more

Bob Rice , Managing Partner, Tangent Capital
November 18th, 2011 0

Industry Experts

Jack and the Startup Bean Stalk

If only there were a single idea that could make any startup succeed, huh? Well, it does exist: a business seed that, planted and watered, will grow to the sky. And you can have it without even giving me a gold coin. Read more

Bob Rice , Managing Partner, Tangent Capital
November 14th, 2011 0