Industry Expert Blogs

Entrepreneurism is alive and well in the software segment, especially the EDA market, apparent from the 200 or so exhibitors at DAC last month, most of whom were either startups or emerging companies.

EDA and social networking startups share at least one common denominator. Funding for either doesn’t take a huge amount of money—unlike a semiconductor startup that needs to raise about $50 million to get its chip to market.

Instead, many of the DAC exhibitor startups are in the $3-5 million revenue range, ready for the next phase of their growth, which often means expanding the management team with, possibly, making way for an experienced chief executive officer. This transition gives the technical founder, serving as the CEO pro tem, additional resources. Moreover, it enables him or her to go back to what he or she does best and signals that the company is serious about moving to the next inflection point.