Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Short summary of my posts: 1.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I was reading Chris Dixon’s blog tonight. I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners.

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2013

Despite the increase in startup activity in Southern California, local venture capital funds are still few and far between, and a large chunk of the funding here is still from Sand Hill Road. As you probably know, two thirds of our investments go into Los Angeles. Tell us about the new fund? Mark Suster: It''s a $200M fund.

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

But less as a complaint and more as advice to younger networkers, the more you invest in relationships the more you will get when you need. Brunson’s short and to-the-point blog post, “ It’s Called Networking, Not Using.” It’s why I wrote the blog post on 50 Coffee Meetings. ” Be authentic.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

I wrote a blog post on how to work with lawyers at a startup nearly two-and-a-half years ago. He knows every startup & VC in town.” This was 2005 when I had no exits under my belt, no blogs … nobody was looking. I told him that our market was absolutely booming and was worthy of a commensurate investment.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

If you’ve been following the press about VC funds you’ll know this is no small feat. Perhaps the biggest piece of new news is that after 17 years of operations we’ve changed our name from GRP Partners to Upfront Ventures. Our portfolio companies value us as sparring partners. What’s up with that?

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 25, 2011

Mark Suster is a 2x entrepreneur who has gone to the Dark Side of VC. He joined GRP Partners in 2007 as a General Partner after selling his company to Salesforce.com. Mark is a UCSD graduate and writes one of the best startup blogs on the Internet. He focuses on early-stage technology companies.

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners UCSD SoCal Southern California 100

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2010

helps celebrities, musicians, and other social influencers monetize their Twitter and other activity streams with advertising; the firm is backed by GRP Partners, Greycroft Partners, and LowerMyBills' Matt Coffin. squarely into a multi-way intersection of who's who in Southern California's blog and technology world.

Advertising 168

Advertising Userplane GRP Partners Mahalo 168

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Draw Your Ideas - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , May 16, 2010 I saw Jack Dorsey give this talk at The 99% Conference last month. You could just outspend. Tesla is not. Stay Tuned.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

Today’s post is about my investment thesis. My investment philosophy is to back the best possible entrepreneurs I can. But when I’m looking to invest the dollars that my Limited Partners have entrusted my firm with I’m going with my view. He invested $8 million in a company in the computer networking space.

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2012

Earlier this week, Brad Feld, a venture capitalist who is well known for his work on TechStars, investments, and for his frequent blogging and speaking engagements, commented on the Los Angeles area using the term Silicon Beach. In his blog he says, "I responded that I thought it was stupid. I hate Silicon Whatever.

GRP Partners 147

GRP Partners Startup Blogging Los Angeles 147

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 20, 2010

Noted entrepreneurial blogger and respected Venture Capitalist, Mark Suster , who is also a Partner at GRP Partners, recently published a great post related to influence and persuasion, which is excerpted below: ———————————————-.

Southern California 113

Southern California GRP Partners Blogging SoCal 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

I’m very excited to be finally be able to announce that this week we’ve added Sam Rosen to our ranks at GRP Partners in the role of entrepreneurs-in-residence – EIR. I became aware of Sam several years ago as I started noticing his name repeated in the comments section of my blog. Come to partner meetings.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. I’m going to save that for a future blog post. My action item – I will soon announce the GRP Partners CEO Summit. We learned this weekend that it was named after his East Hampton home.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too. How do VCs break out of group think when they are shuttling from one board meeting to the next, from one conference to the other and talking with all the same people? I had one of the biggest mental breakthroughs about what I want to do differently at GRP Partners in 2013.

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. I need to take some VC meetings. But it did take Brad as a public spokesman, consummate networker and successful VC to help create legitimacy to let David’s ideas flourish. Local Angel Community / Recycled Capital.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Stuart is well worth following on Twitter & now that’s he’s a VC he is likely to share his wisdom more freely. And the fact that we’ve all worked for a decade with Dana Kibler who is our long-time CFO and now helping run Investment Operations & Platform Services we have a truly senior & killer internal team.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Venture Capital: Upfront Ventures. Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. Fun Fact: One of the most prominent figures from their firm, Mark Suster t, runs a blog startups follow religiously. Social Enterprise: Hub LA.

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. Some will cite my investment two years ago in social-media advertising company Ad.ly

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307