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. If you don’t have much experience in working with law firms at a startup it’s a good primer. In that post I talked about how to select a law-firm for a startup. Startup-focused. It was very widely read.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

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. Get your product/market fit working before you ramp up your costs (or raise too much money). And market your brand, not your personality.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

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. It’s why I talk about building VC relationships early – Lines, Not Dots. When I joined GRP Partners in 2007 I was offered a role as a General Partner.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

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. It was not a planted question by me.

GRP Partners 147

GRP Partners Startup Blogging Los Angeles 147

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. Clever MoFo.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

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 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. The firm just announced that new fund, and a new name, Upfront Ventures (www.upfront.com). Tell us about the new fund? READ MORE>>.

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. We tell startup stories. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. My other partner, Steven Dietz, was on the board of my second company.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

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

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2010

Los Angeles-based MySpace and startup Ad.ly , also based in LA, said today that they have linked in an in-stream advertising deal. 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.

Advertising 168

Advertising Userplane GRP Partners Mahalo 168

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Today’s startup innovators come from about six hours south of Silicon Valley. Venture Capital: Upfront Ventures. Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. Fun Fact: Their startup beach house costs a tiny fee of $20,000 per month!

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers. But getting caught up in the doing can often leave you directionless. Frankly, I think venture capital is that way, too.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? People often ask me why I started blogging. It really started simply enough. Or “I’m a new entrepreneur, why would I offer advice on how to run a startup?&#.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

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

MARCH 5, 2010

Jason Calacanis started this initiative in response to the pay-to-play network of angel events that he despised. The San Francisco events will be run by Chris Sacca (of Lowercase Capital ) and Kevin Rose of Digg. I suppose I should keep it to myself but I guess Jason will be helping to hype up all the companies anyways.

Angel 254

Angel Technical Review Software Review Platform 254

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 23, 2010

Why should a startup thinking about moving to a new place choose LA? Southern California companies are second to only Silicon Valley in raising venture capital , there are three major universities to recruit talent – UCLA, Caltech, and USC – and a thriving startup community to mingle with.

Guide 42

Guide Startup Mahalo GRP Partners 42

SoCal CTO

JUNE 14, 2008

I'm blogging from the CalTech Enterprise Forum. A very interesting topic, especially for those of us involved in developing for start-ups. The basic conclusion was that it was a bit premature if you were talking about a serious, funded start-up. Start-up on top of pen computing - Go Corp - pen point.

Platform 150

Platform EC2 Java S3 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 3, 2011

On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts? In it she observes that only 3% of the comments on this blog are from women. Please watch this.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m inspired by the enthusiasm of the young, emerging startup ecosystem that is here. As I gear up to give a keynote at the annual Seattle 2.0 awards dinner on Thursday night I started reflected on what it would take to “change the trajectory&# for Seattle or for any regional market, really.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

RSS ); Why You Should Start a Company in. Los Angeles By: Laura Rich February 26, 2010 It used to be, if you were serious about starting a tech company, you went to Silicon Valley. But emerging entrepreneurial hubs around the country are giving startup aspirants options. startup scene so hot. a great place for startups?

Los Angeles 50

Los Angeles Company Companies Angel 50

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

It all started in 2010 with Klout. I had always liked and respected CEO Joe Fernandez but could never get my head around the fact that the Klout was putting up charts showing who influenced me and it didn’t map to the reality I knew in my head. Every startup needs accounting and it’s often a huge distraction and non core.

Cornerstone OnDemand 303

Cornerstone OnDemand Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup 303

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

In 2006, Steven Dietz, a partner at my firm, GRP Partners, had given me $500,000 in a seed in convertible debt when I started my second company, Koral. GRP Partners had also funded my first company. I believe in my bones that entrepreneurs shouldn’t “over raise” capital. I know I’m being vague.

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321

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. But that’s not the deal they made with us when we signed up. The Importance of Twitter.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307