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Kara Nortman Was Just Promoted to Co-Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures. Here’s What it All Means

Both Sides of the Table

She worked for 5 years as a VC at Battery Ventures and co-headed M&A at IAC working with Barry Diller. She took an operating role helping run Citysearch and Urbanspoon. Venture capital is about backing the leaders of tomorrow who imagine the world as it should be and aren’t constrained by what it is today.

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Los Angeles, San Diego Among Top 10 Cities For Startups

socalTECH

A list of the top ten cities for startups was released by USA Today and the National Venture Capital Association today, naming both Los Angeles and San Diego among the best cities for startup companies. READ MORE>>.

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GRP Partners Raises New $200M Fund, Becomes Upfront Ventures

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based venture capital investor GRP Partners announced this morning that it has raised a fourth fund, worth $200M, and also renamed the firm Upfront Ventures. GRP has been quite active in the local technology industry, having founded accelerator LaunchpadLA. READ MORE>>.

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Bolstering the Partner Ranks at GRP

Both Sides of the Table

Because my role as a VC requires me to take and endless stream of meetings I long ago decided I need to learn as much as I can from the meetings I attend so I often just ask tons of questions and assimilate knowledge. When I think about what defines us as a VC I think: Operationally knowledgeable / strong startup competence.

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Interview with Michael Barton, Startup Exchange

socalTECH

It's also through venture capital funds we talk with--there are no formal partnerships yet--but certainly referrals to their relationships. We work fairly closer with venture firms in New York, here in Southern California, and network in a number of different ways with companies. He recently became CEO of X1, an Idealab company.

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Announcing a Deal I’ve Wanted to Talk About for a Year

Both Sides of the Table

And I certainly didn’t want him having to trapse up-and-down Sand Hill Road informing every VC of his next idea. They decided early to only book very high quality vendors so they build a system that could pull in Yelp & CitySearch reviews and they set the standard that it had to be highly rated.

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Interview with Mark Suster, GRP Partners

socalTECH

This morning's interview is with Mark Suster , a venture capitalist at GRP Partners (www.grpvc.com). GRP has just recently closed on a new $200M fund, and Mark has been one of the more active venture capitalists in the Los Angeles area in recent months. What's your thoughts on the local venture market?