Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

We have many seasoned entrepreneurs who have built successful companies here and made a lot of money for investors and themselves. But LA is not Silicon Valley and we don’t need to aspire to be so. We will never be Silicon Valley in the way that Toronto will never be Hollywood. For some, it’s a nightmare.

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

ZestCash, founded by Douglas Merrill, former CIO of Google [Hollywood]. Deviant Art, led by Angelo Sotira, which is one of the largest online communities on the Internet [Hollywood]. Like they truly understood entrepreneurs. Alas, I sold my company so I never became company 8 but have been a fan ever since.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

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