Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. The three largest webmail services had over 1 billion global users at the end of 2011. And while this data is from mid-2011 I can assure you that data is not going down. There are 2.9

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 27, 2011

This is a blog post I really didn’t want to write. I didn’t want to write it because I have mixed feelings about AngelList. I didn’t want to write it because the bloggosphere doesn’t always do nuance well. So why I am writing it then? Most VCs fund companies with a degree of traction.

Venture Capital 267

Venture Capital Writing Blogging Startup 267

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 7, 2015

I myself coined the term ENIFA (everyone now is a f **g angel) in 2011 but it didn’t stick as well as the term Unicorn did. And from Nancy Hua … “Too many angels can also hurt a start-up and be taken as an indication that a company is not strong enough to attract any one “lead” investor, said Ms. Hua of Apptimize.

Angel 150

Angel Startup Seed Funding Invest 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Recently the firms two founding partners (and also Managing Partners) —  Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham  — decided to transition management of the firm to Andy Weissman (who joined in 2012) and Albert Wenger (joined in 2008 and writes one of the most thoughtful blogs in our industry ).

Venture Capital 161

Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

InfoChachkie

JULY 30, 2012

I always enjoy a great guerilla marketing story, such as TestFlight’s use of T-shirts and Tacos to gain Steve Jobs’ attention at Apple’s 2011 developers’ conference. For instance, a senior executive from a major media agency, who did not attend the show, was prompted by a bearded-booth-babe tweet to contact the company’s VP of Sales.

Marketing 209

Marketing Conference RSS Angel 209

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on the skills I’ve developed in my career. In the latter cases many companies (Flickr, Delicious, Blogger, Writely in 05-08 and lately Invite Media, Aardvark, Dodgeball, etc.) So where are we now?

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 15, 2012

I define a "VC" as, "a professional investor who deploys third-party funds into relatively early-stage companies." All you need do to become an Angel is identify a promising venture and write a check. Spend as much time as possible in the company of aspiring and accomplished entrepreneurs. Microscopic Industry.

Venture Capital 242

Venture Capital Technical Review Invest RSS 242

socalTECH

MAY 14, 2013

We caught up with founder Evan Britton about how his company has created the top site in the Internet niche of celebrity birthdays, and how that intense focus on a single niche--and user experience- has paid off for the company in terms of user engagement and growth. What''s next for your company? What is FamousBirthdays.com?

Google 236

Google Sites Startup Web 236

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 21, 2015

Since launching 2011 global membership has grown to be over 500k people actively collaborating and supporting each other to move film and television projects forward. In the past year alone the company has amassed over 1k hours of educational content and generated over $1 million. Membership took off. Again, access is limited.

Education 82

Education Entertainment Class Manhattan Beach 82

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Steve Jillings has a long track record of running successful startups in Southern California, ranging from such companies as FrontBridge Technologies (sold to Microsoft in 2005 for over $200M) and Vantage Media (acquired in 2007). 2011 was an incredibly huge year for us, and 2012 will be the same way. They started in January of 2005.

Marina Del Rey 238

Marina Del Rey Startup IP Web 238

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 14, 2010

I’d rather be Roger Ehrenberg with a thesis around data-centric companies and base my investment decisions on my background. In the latter case many companies (Flickr, Delicious, Blogger, Writely, etc.) If 2011 & 2012 look like 2010 then the current crop of angel investors will look great. So where are we now?

Invest 152

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 152

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this series because if you better understand how VC firms work you can better target which firms make sense for you to speak with. I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

Employers also have a hard time looking for viable candidates for their company. We clearly went through some difficult transitions in the company. The company almost died. Then we rescued it from nothing around the end of 2011. Hearing that your company almost died. I had to lay off 60% of the company in one day.

Mobile 86

Mobile Marketing Writing Startup 86

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

It helps get of how hard it is to send a postcard nowadays, where you have to look for a postcard at a kiosk, write out that postcard, find a stamp, and all sorts of other stuff. Where did the idea for the company come from? Samantha Lurey: This is actually my third company. I'm more of a serial entrepreneur.

Guide 232

Guide Framework Mobile Startup 232

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

In April 2011, the Association of Coupon Professionals held an Industry Conference in Atlanta to address the present and future state of couponing. The benefits “digital interactions” have and continue to offer coupon companies are vast. Paul Breummer, Search Engine Land. Getting Mobile-Ready.

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 5, 2012

Will Zell (CEO) is based in Columbus, OH, and is an Empact100 entrepreneur who was honored at The White House in 2011. His main company Providence Holdings has invested in real estate and several small businesses. Two great companies! Who are the founders/ background? He also attended The Ohio State University.

Mentor 94

Mentor Platform Social Network Chief Technology Officer 94

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

I find it amusing when a journalist writes an article about a prominent startup (either privately held or preparing for an IPO) and decries that, “They’re not even profitable!” Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. One of them is profitability.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 31, 2012

Yahoo is an amazing brand and company, and I leave knowing we did all we could to help inform and entertain more than 700 million users each month. Leading this company has been one of the best experiences of my career, but it is time for me to look for the next challenge. His compensation. as of Friday,adding up to over $5 million.”.

Yahoo 74

Yahoo Pricing Writing Entertainment 74

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 19, 2011

Don’t and you might make one catastrophic mistake that leaves you in the annals of Effed Companies. Matt was one of my inspirations behind Launchpad LA (yes, we’re going to have a program in 2011 – news very, very soon). Big thank you to Darius Vasefi , of EyeOnJewels for the write up. And he said ok got it.

Acquisition 304

Acquisition Startup Customer Custom 304

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Even though they usually end up innovating and creating at the idea level, they usually need to have a business partner or someone else, to either become CEO of a company, or help them translate their innovation into practical use. Then, I went and founded a company called Intelisense. Who can enter the competition?

Competition 154

Competition Southern California Mentor USC 154

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 31, 2011

BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2011 comes to Los Angeles and its finally here. Shani Higgins joined Technorati in 2007 to lead strategy and day to day operations for the company¹s advertising sales, business development and the Technorati Media advertising network. Jace Hall is the President and founder of HDFILMS INC.

Los Angeles 75

Los Angeles Angel Social Media Media 75

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 26, 2012

Miselu presented their first prototype, neiro, this year at SXSW for an early debut of what is to come from the company. Miselu is his third company, the first in consumer electronics. Press, Pause, Play ‘s message of mediocrity is one that musical hardware device maker of this year’s SXSW, Miselu , plans to overcome.

Press 100

Press Ideas Product Activity 100

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 22, 2012

Formerly an area considered PayPal ‘s domain, new companies are setting up shop in the online payments sector and capitalizing on what they say is the giant’s weaknesses. The company was founded in 2008 but launched publicly in March 2010. Rich oversees the company’s product and marketing effort.

Startup 71

Startup Tool Capital Customer 71

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 6, 2014

To get some up to speed, Rap Genius , as a team and company have upheld a reputation as anomalies in the tech world. More recently, they launched an iPhone app called Genius , which they say will be a cornerstone for the company’s future. As we’d mentioned, they were listed as one of YC’s fastest growing companies.

Startup 93

Startup Mobile Entertainment Sites 93

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 31, 2011

BlogWorld and New Media Expo 2011 comes to Los Angeles and its finally here. Shani Higgins joined Technorati in 2007 to lead strategy and day to day operations for the company¹s advertising sales, business development and the Technorati Media advertising network. Jace Hall is the President and founder of HDFILMS INC.

Los Angeles 49

Los Angeles Angel Social Media Media 49

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

I’ve been on the road much of 2012 and part of 2011. I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. He shut down his company gracefully and even thought it must have felt like a crap sandwich doing so I’ll bet his reputation is still solid with his backers. And so it goes again.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 11, 2012

Facebook just hit 1 billion active users globally and that was great but a new social payment application is set to make Facebook users across the world get more from their connections and even allowing companies to sell or receive payments from their pages. TechZulu caught up Robert Sussman, Co-CEO of Zunguz , the Facebook payment app.

Software Review 92

Software Review Social Network Technical Review Platform 92

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify’s portfolio companies are schooled on every challenge they need to master in order to achieve success. All the companies that graduate from the accelerator’s program work from the same office and can literally reach out and touch their investors at any time. Jeff looks for these same qualities in the companies he backs.

Web Design 103

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 103

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I will write more about this in the next 2 weeks. As any historian of bubbles will tell you – there were periods of bubbles in assets as arcane as tulips , South American trading companies , dot-com bubbles & housing bubbles. Ah, but today’s Internet companies have real revenue! I believe that. and profits!

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 7, 2011

With QR codes, a company is able to promote their newest line of clothes with just one promotional media. There are companies that have seen the future of QR codes and the great potential they hold. The LA based company ShareSquare offers users all this and more. In the past an affordable solution was far from available.

Advertising 87

Advertising Content Template Technology 87

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 23, 2013

Founded in the summer of 2011 and their first product out a few weeks ago amSTATS wants to help users to follow fitness events and programs near them and find a great fitness trainer to help them stay fit. I am ( Michael Piermont ) co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer amSTATZ.

Social Network 92

Social Network Networking Training Summary 92

From the Venture Trenches

APRIL 30, 2013

Amplify’s portfolio companies are schooled on every challenge they need to master in order to achieve success. All the companies that graduate from the accelerator’s program work from the same office and can literally reach out and touch their investors at any time. Jeff looks for these same qualities in the companies he backs.

Web Design 40

Web Design Social Media Seed Funding Design 40

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Features like this, as well as our daily interviews wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support of our sponsor eMinutes – a law firm here in Los Angeles that focuses on helping entrepreneurs structure their companies. Cyrus Farudi is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Flipswap, Inc in 2004 and Capsule in 2011.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

As I sit here writing this, I can’t help but think how excited I am about our future. Sometime in 2011, I started to notice that the content I was putting out on Twitter was not getting the attention that it used to. A company is only truly failing when it refuses to accept change or adapt to current situations.

Platform 40

Platform Startup News Content 40

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

We were talking about a company, Factual (disclosure my firm is an investor), which was founded by one of LA’s most talented Internet entrepreneurs, Gil Elbaz , who as co-founder of Applied Semantics (purchased by pre-IPO Google for $102 million and now Google AdSense) is responsible for a large portion of the Internet’s monetization.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

Occasionally on this blog I break away from industry commentary and write more broadly. The travel companies offer brochures showing private beaches and phenomenal sights. 2011 was the first year I went to SxSW. You get a feel for the company “vibe.” You don’t get to know companies that way.

Startup 319

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Conference 319

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. But I didn’t write it for you; I wrote it for myself. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175