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.

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Startup Venture Capital Study Course 337

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 6, 2012

From this debate about Klout John and I have had a series of in person meetings and debates about our industry (both VC & tech) and what is changing. Including ff Venture Capital’s unique approach to finding deals and the services they provide to their startups. 2:00 Why don’t you like the term VC?

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Cornerstone OnDemand Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup 303

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.

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Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

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.

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Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Blogging 341

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

Los Angeles-based venture firm GRP Partners announced Wednesday that it has hired a new, entrepreneur-in-residence for the company, Sam Rosen, who was formerly the founder of SpeakerGram in New York City, was involved in 500Startups in San Francisco, and also has been involved with ScoreBig.

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GRP Partners Blogging Los Angeles Entrepreneur 168

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?

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Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

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>>.

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Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

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.

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GRP Partners UCSD SoCal Southern California 100

socalTECH

OCTOBER 19, 2011

Mark Suster , the highly visible venture capitalist blogger at GRP Partners, has invested in UK-based TreeHouse , an online, video-focused site for helping users learn web design and development. Suster, in announcing the deal on his blog, did not say if his firm, GRP Partners, participated in the round.

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GRP Partners Invest Web Design Blogging 124

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.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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. They scooped up none other than David Hernand who will join the practice as managing partner.

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Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

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. SlideShare: VC signaling in seed rounds.

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Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

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. My views are pretty well known.

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GRP Partners Startup Blogging Los Angeles 147

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.

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Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

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. GRP Partners has created more than a dozen of these so as a firm we know something about creating big companies.

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Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321

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: ———————————————-.

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Southern California GRP Partners Blogging SoCal 113

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.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

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.

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Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

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. I started working with David when I was an entrepreneur and he was an associate with a VC firmed called … wait for it … GRP Partners (now Upfront Ventures)!

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CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

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. When you think about the success that is Silicon Valley, the unfair advantage is not just the huge amounts of available venture capital.

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Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

My personal favorite and best fit for GRP Partners was Thumbtack. Finally, it was a real pleasure to meet Manu Kumar of K9 Ventures. It’s always great to meet somebody in person that you’ve interacted with on blogs and on Twitter. Tags: Tech Market Analysis VC Industry.

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Angel Technical Review Software Review Platform 254

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. Make sure to check out Both Sides of the Table

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Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 23, 2010

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. He blogs here and tweets here. Mediacode was sold to Yahoo. as a senior vice president of AOL.

Guide 42

Guide Startup Mahalo GRP Partners 42

SoCal CTO

JUNE 14, 2008

I'm blogging from the CalTech Enterprise Forum. Whether they originate in IM, message board trheads, mail lists or blog posts - conversations can be brought together, made re-enrant and be enhanced with media. Mark Suster Partner GRP Partners He's an ex-Salesforce.com employee. Everything else is closed.

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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 asymmetry provides another very important thing: it expresses my interests.

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Platform News Startup Invest 307

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

Surprisingly, Hollywood hasnt played a major role in the formation of new companies, which have tended to be in less glamorous though more lucrative areas like lead-generation and service (with obvious exceptions like JibJab and Hulu, a joint venture of Fox and NBC). startup scene so hot. What makes L.A. a great place for startups?

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Los Angeles Company Companies Angel 50