Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 12, 2013

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that we have added Greg Bettinelli as a partner at GRP Partners. The feedback was always universal, “that was the most helpful marketing meeting I’ve every had.” This is exactly the brand that GRP Partners wants to embody. Approachable.

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Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2013

To that end, Venice-based Epoxy announced this morning that it has raised $2M in a funding round, to help build out its product suite to help grow, engage, and monetize online video channels. The new round was led by GRP Partners, which adds Mark Suster to Epoxy's board of directors.

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Bertelsmann Downey GRP Partners Southern California 191

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

One of the investment themes I’ve been focused on in the past 3 years has been Performance-Based Marketing. When I started investing the US advertising market was $300 billion with only 10% of it ($30 billion) of it being online and measurable. When we tune into any stream: Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, etc., Thus, we click!

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Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

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’ll explain in detail below. What does it do?

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Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

million led by GRP Partners, with participation from Baroda Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), Daher Capital, Double M Capital, Karlin Ventures, Clark Landry, Andy Rankin, and Launchpad LA. Less Neglect helps companies reduce churn, upsell users, and increase customer acquisition rates. .

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GRP Partners Startup Tech Coast Angels Bertelsmann 96

socalTECH

JUNE 13, 2013

Mark is a frequent blogger, conference speaker, and thought leader in the technology industry, and a venture capitalist at GRP Partners. And sometimes I feel happy to help somebody even when were just getting to know each other. I have a motto in business and life, give before you get.. Its a philosophy, really.

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GRP Partners Conference Email Networking 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

And sometimes I feel happy to help somebody even when we’re just getting to know each other. 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. It feels much better to be helpful than to be indebted. Be helpful. ” So true.

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Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

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. Like many modern VCs, we’re committed to investing in the community and in our portfolio companies. Please help me spread the news as only RTs or FB Likes can! (

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Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

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. The link with MySpace pulls Ad.ly The link with MySpace pulls Ad.ly Suster also runs Launchpad LA.

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Advertising Userplane GRP Partners Mahalo 168

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

GRP Partners is looking to hire two analysts (maybe even three) to join our practice in Los Angeles. The chosen candidate will probably have worked for a very reputable firm that is either in technology, consulting, investment banking, media or a startup. We need help. Often these jobs aren’t even publicized.&#.

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Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

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. At the time of that investment I had exchanged notes with Dave McClure who also invested. Come to partner meetings.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2013

I’m super excited to announce that GRP Partners led the investment in Ethan Anderson’s new company MyTime (link has LA-based merchants but will give you a good feel for the product). MyTime aims to be the first industry-wide platform to help create consistency across the SKUs in services businesses.

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CTO Coach Google CTO Hire Yammer 359

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

And my company is hugely relevant to what they’re doing so having an advocate at senior levels there is certainly a help.” There were regular events where experts talked about: fund raising, term sheets, constructing a team, product development, establishing biz dev partners, M&A, dealing with the press, etc.

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Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 24, 2012

.” He was generous with his time with me and helpful. I told him that our market was absolutely booming and was worthy of a commensurate investment. Invest they have. They scooped up none other than David Hernand who will join the practice as managing partner. He was a mensch. And I know that Mike agreed.

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Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 14, 2014

On Innovation Crush , Hamet Watt helps shed some light on the intricacies of successes – and failures – in the start-up community. His new post comes on the tail end of the company changing their name from GRP Partners, and announcing a new, $200 million fund which allows them to now take the reigns as LA’s largest venture fund.

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GRP Partners Startup Incubator Venture Capital 87

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

I myself recently covered the topic when I spoke about why GRP Partners invested in Ad.ly. GRP Partners invested in GoTo.com which rebranded as Overture. But our investment and the thesis of the team led to huge leaps of innovation that all consumers now benefit from. Some goes with Google.

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

Also, we had an investment in a company that went public this year, BroadSoft, which is one of 2010's best-performing IPOs. Most of the new investments we made this year -- and the ones in the pipeline we're most excited about -- were referred to us by founders with whom we've already invested. There are lots.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

LA generally doesn’t have an appetite for this kind of investment at early stages. Never say never – GRP Partners is actually looking very closely at a company in its A round that is raising a large sum of money. my firm, GRP Partners, was an investor). LA investors are more pragmatic.

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Company Companies Technology Startup 290

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

We caught up with Sam Teller , who is directing efforts at the accelerator, to help fill entrepreneurs in on where the program fits in the world of technology and startup acceleration. We were founded in 2009 by Mark Suster from GRP Partners. It was really just something built for the community to help support entrepreneurs.

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Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 1, 2010

StartupDemo partners Mixergy & AsAble.com have just announced their VC/Angel investor panel for the event. This Panel is filled with investing super stars who will be going over amazing content for all the startups and entrepreneurs out there. Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Panel speakers: Paige Craig , aka.

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Venture Capital Mixergy Orange County Tech Coast Angels 58

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Stuart Lander has joined Upfront Ventures to help us run operations. 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. We have worked together ever since.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2013

We spoke with Christopher Webb, the firm's CEO, to hear about how ChowNow's goal is to make mobile, social orders something any restaurant can afford and implement--and how a new $3M funding round from GRP Partners, Double M Capital, Daher Capital, Karlin Ventures, and Velos Partners is helping it to deliver on its mission.

Mobile 197

Mobile Startup Platform GRP Partners 197

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

I had one of the biggest mental breakthroughs about what I want to do differently at GRP Partners in 2013. They often need teams of people to help them Plan how to turn their ideas into realities. Even if you have to ask for help from others to turn the Think into Do. I don’t want to be on autopilot.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Alan was “over the top” helpful and engaged in making sure we were all talking / meeting each other and having a great time [he literally walks people around and makes sure they’re meeting other people]. My action item – I will soon announce the GRP Partners CEO Summit.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

socalTECH

APRIL 1, 2010

in a venture round from GRP Partners and Rincon Ventures, for the firm's mobile ad management platform. Mark Suster lead GRP's investment in the firm, and Jim Andelman led Rincon's investment. I've been in the ad network business, helping Adconian, and know the web site publishing world.

Startup 164

Startup Platform Advertising GRP Partners 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

He eventually applied his lessons learned in these experiences when he founded Zag, a company that helps consumers buy cars over the Internet at pre-negotiated prices with nearly 4,000 dealers across the country [disclosure: my firm GRP Partners is an investor in Zag]. Current round: $11mm Series-B led by Accel.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I programed macros to help my mom with her Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets for work. I helped program my college’s recruiting office’s software system. I had to laugh a bit reading it. What about strategy?

Startup 337

Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I’m not saying I don’t spend time trying to help entrepreneurs that I am not planning to invest it – anyone who knows me can attest to the fact that I do. Don’t get me wrong – I still feel the pressure to ensure that the companies I’ve invested in perform well. Maybe 10-15%.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington. They’ve been a long-term investor in our fund – GRP Partners – and it was important to me to spend time with them in their home market and meet the people with whom they deal locally.

Press 364

Press Course Startup Email 364

socalTECH

JUNE 19, 2013

We spoke with Ben about how Burstly is now creating a company to help mobile developers create, develop, distribute, and monetize their apps. Burstly is headed by Evan Rifkin, and backed by GRP Partners, Rincon Venture Partners, SoftBank Capital, and Founder Collective. I helped them do their first SDK.

Startup 262

Startup Mobile Outsource Development Tool 262

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Consultants Don’t Pivot, Founders Do - Steve Blank , May 13, 2010 Consultants can help startups leverage their limited resources. friend of mine asked me to chat with a startup he’d invested in. think his strategy is essentially the Ron Conway strategy , and at his rate ("34-ish investments" in 1-2yr?) Here’s why.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. Fun Fact: Their latest investment was into LA-based Daqri – the augmented reality platform that has been used for campaigns with Cadillac and MAXIM Magazine. Get to know them now before they become household names.

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Leading advertising networks like Commission Junction, LinkShare, Google Affiliate Network, ShareASale and many others license our platform to help their advertisers and publishers easily create, manage, track, and optimize call-based advertising campaigns.”. Our platform helps them do that. Our partners put a lot of trust in us.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Current round: $20mm in Series C by Accel Partners (Jim Breyer, board member at Wal-Mart, Dell, and FaceBook), KPCB, and DAG Ventures. Helps content publishers and advertisers launch campaigns that develop viral distribution attributes and therefore gain “buzz.”. Total raised: $29.5mm. Read more: CrunchBase profile , TechCrunch.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

This Panel is filled with investing super stars who will be going over must have content for all the startups and entrepreneurs out there. Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Investment trends in startups that are about or related to social media. Be sure to tune in at 5:30pm PT. Panel speakers: Paige Craig , aka.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Investment trends in startups that are about or related to social media. They make it easy to collect investment funds, track ownership, and provide targeted updates to investors. Allen Morgan , Mayfield Ventures. Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

Amazon in turn led to the formation of an earlier stage of venture capital now led by what I call “micro VCs&# who typically invest $250-500k in companies rather than the $5-7 million that VCs used to invest. Some have moved into later stage investments in an effort to “put logos on their websites.&#

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Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296