Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

I’m an entrepreneur at heart so I’m always inspired when I hear stories about innovation. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs. Some people do the conference circuit too much, get involved in lots of side projects and attend every entrepreneur dinner. I love it.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

.&# Surprisinly, this strategy works well with many entrepreneurs. It’s as though we forgot the management mantra of the 90′s about “core competencies&# or the most common VC advice to entrepreneurs: Focus. I would put my firm, GRP Partners in with the group working with teams in different ways.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296

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

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Do you have any words of caution or advice for entrepreneurs who attempt to “Get Their Band Back Together”? “In When assembling a team, I encourage entrepreneurs to seek out the MVPs, and look to build diversity into the teams they assemble.”. Who do you view as your biggest competition? You’re right.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. What a bubble means for each entrepreneur. Still, market amnesia by ordinarily rational actors always surprises me. I believe that.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. In many of them I get asked similar questions, including the inevitable “what makes a great entrepreneur?” Marketplace companies are notoriously difficult to start, so I'm constantly amazed that so many entrepreneurs chose this route. If you’re an entrepreneur, the glib answer is “no.”

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

I was meeting regularly with entrepreneurs and offering (for better or for worse) advice on how to run a startup and how to raise venture capital from my experience in doing so at two companies. I know that I have not yet earned these kudos based on investment returns (although my partners have. It really started simply enough.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. First, if the VC does 15-20 of these under one partner then it is certain he can’t spend any time with these investments. Let me explain: 1.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

side note: our last fund at GRP Partners is currently ranked as the 5th best performing fund of the year 2000. I have never seen a fund that spends so much time building relationships with every other VC (in addition to many entrepreneurs.) I’m not anti competition – to the contrary. VC will shrink.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

We brought together Peter Cowen of Groundwork Equity , Mark Suster of GRP Partners , Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures , and Richard Yen of Saban Ventures -- all of who will be on the judging panel for the Tech Coast Angel's Fast Pitch on February 24th, to give us a their hints and tips about pitching to venture capitalists.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Ideas Entrepreneur Invest 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). I don’t intend either, Burstly has respectable and strong competition.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

We will be bringing you some of the hottest startups around to give you a quick rundown about their companies and get to know the entrepreneur behind those companies. For those of you who may not know about StartupDemo, it is an event that TechZulu and Schmoozd have partnered up to bring you some of the hottest startups around.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Mark Suster , GRP Partners. CapLinked lets entrepreneurs focus on what they do best, while making sure their investors always stay in the loop. A co-working space based out of Santa Monica, CA, Coloft feels that Entrepreneurs are of a different breed; put them in a room together, and they are just that much more effective.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

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. Read this story that is typical of many entrepreneurs with whom I talk. Twitter is a valuable and unique service.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

Mark Suster, a partner at GRP Partners in Los Angeles, spoke with Fastcompany.com about what makes L.A.s before which is second-time entrepreneurs. Because its just not that hyper-competitive, Im-hiring-all-your-staff, because-Im-Google environment. startup scene so hot. What makes L.A. a great place for startups?

Los Angeles 50

Los Angeles Company Companies Angel 50