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. I know that advertising is important to inform consumers of offers – the same reason many tech companies use SEM. GRP Partners invested in GoTo.com which rebranded as Overture. I’m hopeful that Ad.ly

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2013

We caught up with Michael to learn more about what Gradient X is doing, and why the three have teamed up at the company. Gradient X is backed by Rincon Venture Partners, GRP Partners (now Upfront Ventures), CrossCut Ventures, Founder Collective, Siemer Ventures, Baroda Ventures, and Double M Partners.

Advertising 253

Advertising Mobile OpenX Software Review 253

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?

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

All this week, we are sharing the opinions of some of the top influencers in Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same five questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next two weeks. 2010 was very good to us.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

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. And in our last fund our two biggest exits came from companies run by women, neither of whom fit the 20-something entrepreneur stereotype. Our portfolio companies value us as sparring partners.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

The first two companies to realize this en mass were Machinima & Maker Studios (where I am an investor. If you press on the link to the company you’ll see a very cool, short video that describes the company). If you add Vevo & MovieClips these companies are doing well in excess 3 billion video views / month.

GRP Partners 371

GRP Partners Content Technical Review Press 371

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

If I’m interested I get to spend more time with them, if I’m not I don’t have to – A few companies per month come in that have fascinating business ideas that warrant my spending more time trying to understand their people, company, technology and market. I will obviously be judged on my performance.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

Jason & Tyler brought forward 5 high quality companies and super high quality ones rose to the top and quickly got funded. There wasn’t a bad company tonight but I had a clear favorite. I suppose I should keep it to myself but I guess Jason will be helping to hype up all the companies anyways.

Angel 254

Angel Technical Review Software Review Platform 254

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer development, etc. My action item – I will soon announce the GRP Partners CEO Summit. I’m going to save that for a future blog post.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. I’ve always been a big believer that just a couple of key individuals make all of the difference in a company’s success.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 28, 2012

He kicked off the fest with his opening keynote, saying LA is a unique city of mash-ups, where tech, startups and entertainment – plus creativity, cultures, and passion – mix with successful results. RT @OEInnovation #SBF why I live in #LA: intersection of #beach #tech #entrepreneur #entertainment. & Women 2.0:

Hollywood 67

Hollywood Technical Review Startup Rustic Canyon 67

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 was a proud angel investor in Jody’s company, EcoMom. He founded a company and tried to persuade me to use his product (and invest).

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

But VC is an “illiquid asset&# so funds didn’t disappear quickly - In 2000/01 the stock market quickly adjusted punishing investors in the NASDAQ and in individual public technology stocks. side note: our last fund at GRP Partners is currently ranked as the 5th best performing fund of the year 2000. Oh yes it will.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2009

My firm GRP Partners recently funded a young LA based company named Ad.Ly that is an “in-stream advertising&# company currently focused on monetizing Twitter. Traditional media companies published their stories on the web. But 70% of my investment decision in early-stage companies is the team.

Ideas 286

Ideas Advertising Google Technical Review 286

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

As any historian of bubbles will tell you – there were periods of bubbles in assets as arcane as tulips , South American trading companies , dot-com bubbles & housing bubbles. The fact that today’s Internet bubble does not represent all companies does not disprove its existence. I said that at the Founder Showcase, too.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

VC’s raise this money from university endowments, public & private pension funds, insurance companies, banks who invest from their balance sheet or that of their wealthy clients, “family offices&# which means money from very wealthy people, etc. And funds also have investments from the partners of the firm.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

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

TechZulu captured the entire VC/Angle panel and we also had a chance to interview every StartupDemo startup company that participated. Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Mark Suster , GRP Partners. VC/Angel Panel.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60