Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

Over 500 startups applied last quarter to Launchpad LA’s accelerator, but only eight were chosen. Meet the Graduates: · Connectifier, which connects recruiters to potential job candidates, consists of 4 ex-Google employees and local angel investor, Terrence Yang, has dubbed Connectifier one of the best startups of 2012.

GRP Partners 96

GRP Partners Startup Tech Coast Angels Bertelsmann 96

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. It is to out friend. Enjoyed this post? Disruptive.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

I was recently interviewed for an article that appeared in Fast Company titled, “ Why you should start a business in LA.&# If you’re interested in the topic it’s worth a read, but I thought I’d elaborate on the topic since it comes up all the time. my firm, GRP Partners, was an investor).

Company 290

Company Companies Technology Startup 290

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. If you don’t have much experience in working with law firms at a startup it’s a good primer. In that post I talked about how to select a law-firm for a startup. Startup-focused. Invest they have.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

SoCal Tech Calendar

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Thursday, December 9, 2010 -- If the Venture Model is Broken, Whos Funding All These Startups? Early stage investing is booming and we are finally seeing the kind of exits that show signs of a potential IPO market in our future. Dealmaker Media LA.

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners Clearstone Funding Startup 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

Get your product/market fit working before you ramp up your costs (or raise too much money). Let me start by saying two things: Events like this are invaluable to startups because the significant value comes from building the network across portfolio companies and the discussion one can have with your peer group.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

There's been a lot of talk about the boom in Southern California's startup world. Driven by success in the sector, accelerators, serial entrepreneurs, and more, there are more startups starting and relocating here than ever. Recent investments: Fresh Dish , Urban Remedy , HelloInsights, TripleThread, Dollar Shave Club.

Dollar Shave Club 170

Dollar Shave Club Report Southern California Funding 170

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2013

Silicon Beach Fest is gearing up to showcase the most promising startups and visionaries from across LA’s growing startup entertainment ecosystem. Mark Suster of GRP Partners and Launchpad was confirmed to keynote along with Nely Galan of Galan Entertainment, the first Latina president of Telemundo.

GRP Partners 88

GRP Partners MyLife Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 88

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. I hope to announce one investment in this space in the next few months.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

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. See [link] (more)

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners UCSD SoCal Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

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 ). Let’s start from the highest level that will not be rocket science.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

socalTECH

JUNE 20, 2012

There is a large menu of startup accelerators in the Los Angeles, but one of more established efforts in the area is LaunchpadLA ([link] The effort actually started as an informal mentoring program, but has grown and expanded to follow the accelerator model. We were founded in 2009 by Mark Suster from GRP Partners.

Class 261

Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Startups are hard. You join teams that got good write-ups on TechCrunch, have great VCs, have star CEO’s, whatever. We tell startup stories. Our founder, Yves Sisteron, was my mentor and board member at my first startup. My other partner, Steven Dietz, was on the board of my second company. You REALLY know.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 14, 2014

Every day, 1000’s of new bright-eyed and bushy tailed companies sprout from depths of start-up soil. Like a song on the radio, we never quite know how some blow up and become chart topping billion-dollar organizations while others – even crowd favorites – simply bang, pop and fizzle; never to be heard from again.

GRP Partners 87

GRP Partners Startup Incubator Venture Capital 87

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t have a “options&# strategy with our investment.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

This was an audience of mostly first-time entrepreneurs. It is great for entrepreneurs and great for VCs. So here is what I have been telling entrepreneurs privately for the past 6 months. People get too worked up over the word. Perhaps this will trend up massively but historical data doesn’t bode well.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

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. As you probably know, two thirds of our investments go into Los Angeles. All of our partners are based here. Tell us about the new fund?

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 2, 2010

I’m writing this post to explain to entrepreneurs what you should be thinking about in terms of the VC’s you approach and the size and stage of their funds. VC’s don’t invest 100% of their own money. And funds also have investments from the partners of the firm.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

I had a very enjoyable day in Cincinnati meeting many local entrepreneurs, angels and accelerators. I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington. But I found resonance in meeting the local investors and startups. In that sense it felt very LA.

Press 364

Press Course Startup Email 364

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

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. One of the most common questions I hear from first-time entrepreneurs is, “How do I meet angels?” When I joined GRP Partners in 2007 I was offered a role as a General Partner.

Venture Capital 407

Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 20, 2012

Every so often I find myself caught up in a really hectic 3-4 week schedule where it seems like I float endlessly betweens meetings. I get sucked up in “Do” mode. Startups Are for Doers. Now, I’m pretty on the record that being an entrepreneur is about being great at The Do. Board Meetings. Conferences.

Venture Capital 400

Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

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. We let you set up complex rules like that. Evan Rifkin: We started in Q1 of last year. What is Burstly?

Startup 164

Startup Platform Advertising GRP Partners 164

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# I get paid (well) for interesting people to come in and tell me how they want to change the world – Being an entrepreneur is like having blinders on. At least for the best entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

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: ———————————————-.

Southern California 113

Southern California GRP Partners Blogging SoCal 113

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2010

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. Also, we had an investment in a company that went public this year, BroadSoft, which is one of 2010's best-performing IPOs.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

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). In the same year they won Business Insider’s Startup competition. Let me not bury the lede. Nice sweep!

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire GRP Partners 359

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

In fact, he’s personally started 34 businesses and run 17 of them. He started a car washing business as a way to be able to drive other people’s fancy cars. They say that the best entrepreneurs are those who fundamentally want to solve problems or change industries. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

I know many super experienced entrepreneurs who don’t understand the basics of how fund size and age can affect them so I thought it was worth establishing a baseline. First, if the VC does 15-20 of these under one partner then it is certain he can’t spend any time with these investments. And they don’t.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

But, when it comes to tracking what ad placement or publisher was responsible for getting a consumer to pick up the phone and call, that’s pretty difficult. Do you have any words of caution or advice for entrepreneurs who attempt to “Get Their Band Back Together”? “In Accountability starts at an individual level.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 28, 2012

The first-ever Silicon Beach Fest attracted more than 2,000 attendees from LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, New York, Toronto, and London to celebrate LA startups and entertainment with panels, parties, pitch fests, hackathon, and beach games: volleyball, basketball and surfing lessons in Santa Monica and Venice on June 21-23, 2012.

Hollywood 67

Hollywood Technical Review Startup Rustic Canyon 67

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. Startups Apply to Demo.

Venture Capital 58

Venture Capital Mixergy Orange County Tech Coast Angels 58

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

We brought together Peter Cowen of Groundwork Equity , Mark Suster of GRP Partners , Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures , and Richard Yen of Saban Ventures -- all of who will be on the judging panel for the Tech Coast Angel's Fast Pitch on February 24th, to give us a their hints and tips about pitching to venture capitalists.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Ideas Entrepreneur Invest 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? People often ask me why I started blogging. It really started simply enough. I know that I have not yet earned these kudos based on investment returns (although my partners have. By definition, you read blogs.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

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 Tech Coast Angels Mixergy 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

We would like give a huge thank you to Social Media Week and the supportive startup community here in Los Angeles. For those who ever said there is no startup community in Los Angeles I most certainly beg to differ. In attendance we had startups galore with VC's and Angle's mixing and mingling all through the night.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2011

This led to an explosion in startups. 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. Surprisinly, this strategy works well with many entrepreneurs.

Venture Capital 296

Venture Capital Capital Software Startup 296