socalTECH

JULY 13, 2009

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? That as unhealthy.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Southern California Santa Barbara Rustic Canyon 157

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

I know that most people who are close to them tend to deny their existence, as we saw in the great housing bubble of 2002-2007 and the dot com bubble of 1997-2000. I guess that makes USV, Spark Capital, Foundry Group, Accel, Benchmark, Revolution (along with several others) pretty happy right now. source: Capital IQ.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

I recently read the book eBoys about the founding of Benchmark Capital and the founding of eBay. Partners in VC funds only wanted to fund entrepreneurs who had a certain percentage of their net worth tied up in their venture. You have kids, a mortgage, MBA debt? That’s hard core. Not my problem. I Practice What I Preach.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. We need venture debt, factoring companies and public markets. Dave McClure argued passionately that since the overwhelming majority of exits are sub $100 million we need to readjust how much capital goes in.

Venture Capital 308

Venture Capital Training Startup Entrepreneur 308

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

As described in Venture Debt , sophisticated investors generally say “No” to the Million Dollar Question, as they typically demand a higher return than can be obtained by selling a company in its early stages. Long Term Value – Look at your adVenture objectively, in the same manner as a Venture Capitalist (VC).

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Acquisition Pricing 124

InfoChachkie

OCTOBER 27, 2010

As described in Venture Debt , sophisticated investors generally say “No” to the Million Dollar Question, as they typically demand a higher return than can be obtained by selling a company in its early stages. Long Term Value – Look at your adVenture objectively, in the same manner as a Venture Capitalist (VC).

Entrepreneur 124

Entrepreneur Acquisition Pricing .Net 124

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We had a special edition of This Week in Venture Capital this week shooting out of the Next New Networks offices in New York. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital. The Spark Capital website (it’s one of my favorites). Current round: $10mm in Series B by Norwest (lead), Storm Ventures and Adams Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Loren Bendele joined Savings.com in January 2007 as the CEO. Shivani Siroya is the CEO and Founder of InVenture , which helps to expand small businesses around the world by providing access to growth capital and business tracking tools via the Internet and mobile technology. Loren Bendele – CEO of Savings.com.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2011

Mike is a no BS guy, has all the attributes I look for in a founder and says things like, openly shares knowledge and opines without a filter including this one, “whoever invented uncapped convertible debt should be spanked!&# The Union Square Ventures partners started whispering in his ear that “it’s all about social now”.

Google 302

Google Startup Advertising Acquisition 302

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 9, 2011

Venture Capitalists typically have partners’ meetings on Mondays. When I first got into the industry it was 2007. Consumer spending 70% of the economy and vulnerable (wealth effect, build up debts). This article was originally published on TechCrunch. Why is that? But probably because as a group we travel a lot.

Marketing 305

Marketing Venture Capital Funding Technical Review 305

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. I had an offer to sell my company to Salesforce.com in 2007. I had initially called them wondering if they’d fund my third venture. They should right size their capital raises.

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298