Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

I am super excited to announce that today is a day of lots of new things for my partners & me: A new fund, a new office and a new brand. Let’s start with the fund. Santa Monica is the place where the highest concentration of early-stage startups are created if you consider also the contiguous geography of Venice Beach.

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Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

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

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. Jordan Hudson.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

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

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

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

DECEMBER 13, 2012

Marina Del Rey-based textPlus , the provider of free texting and calling services, said Thursday that it has begun offering up inexpensive, international calling services via its Android application. textPlus said Android users in the US and Canada can make calls to any international mobile or landline number starting at two cents a minute.

Marina Del Rey 159

Marina Del Rey GRP Partners Mobile Startup 159

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

MARCH 12, 2013

It is with great pleasure that I can finally announce that we have added Greg Bettinelli as a partner at GRP Partners. He had joined a young startup in LA called HauteLook and was interested in getting to know the local tech community. So I started introducing him to portfolio companies. You won’t regret it.

Venture Capital 360

Venture Capital GRP Partners Startup Invest 360

SoCal Tech Calendar

DECEMBER 3, 2010

Thursday, December 9, 2010 -- If the Venture Model is Broken, Whos Funding All These Startups? What is the new business of investing  startups are getting funded at rapid speeds, if venture is broken, whos doing the investing? Dealmaker Media LA.

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GRP Partners Clearstone Funding Startup 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 19, 2009

This morning's Insights and Opinions article comes from venture capitalist Mark Suster of GRP Partners , who shares some of the most common mistakes he sees startups making. I often talk with entrepreneurs who are kicking around their next idea. Read more on the most common startup mistakes.

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GRP Partners Startup Venture Capital Ideas 124

socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2010

Los Angeles-based Launchpad LA , the startup mentoring effort spearheaded by GRP Partners' Mark Suster, is announcing this afternoon that it has selected 10 startups for the second season of the program. Tags: incubation mentoring startup launchpadla. READ MORE>>.

Class 188

Class GRP Partners Mentor Incubator 188

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. It was very widely read.

Venture Capital 299

Venture Capital Startup Los Angeles GRP Partners 299

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2016

The scholarship also includes a conference call with DogVacay CEO Aaron Hirschhorn--who, aside from his experience starting DogVacay, previously spent his days vetting startup ideas as a venture capitalist. The company says it plans on another scholarship competition next year.

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners Conference Venture Capital Ideas 100

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

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.

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners UCSD SoCal Southern California 100

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.

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Class Mentor Startup Santa Monica 261

socalTECH

AUGUST 30, 2011

For today's Insights and Opinions piece, we turn again to prolific blogger and local venture capitalist Mark Suster of GRP Partners , for his insights into how a wider experience--beyond the confines of the startup world--can help you as an entrepreneur. It was an enterprise 2.0

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Web 2.0 GRP Partners Blogging Web 124

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. 500 Startups. GRP Partners. being funded. Siemer Ventures. Tech Coast Angels.

Dollar Shave Club 170

Dollar Shave Club Report Southern California Funding 170

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.

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GRP Partners Startup Incubator Venture Capital 87

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

side note: our last fund at GRP Partners is currently ranked as the 5th best performing fund of the year 2000. Many funds have not performed and will start to disappear. PEHub followed up their analysis with this. He then profiled his portfolio company FourSquare who started with a very small investment.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 9, 2010

TechZulu has covered Launchpad LA before they opened their doors to entrepreneurs looking for mentorship in the Los Angeles area. Click here to watch live on August 11, 2010 at 5:30pm PST. However, they do not allow just anyone to be part of Launchpad. On August 11, 2010 at 5:30pm PST we present " TechStars Meets Launchpad LA" Live.

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GRP Partners Startup Los Angeles Education 72

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. He said yes.

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Press Course Startup Email 364

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.

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Venture Capital Conference Ideas Entrepreneur 400

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2013

One of the most common questions I hear from first-time entrepreneurs is, “How do I meet angels?” Todd Gitlin is one of the best executive recruiters the technology & startup market in Los Angeles. When I joined GRP Partners in 2007 I was offered a role as a General Partner. Startup Advice'

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Venture Capital Press GRP Partners Blogging 407

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

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. How long has the firm been around, and why did you decide to start the company?

Startup 164

Startup Platform Advertising GRP Partners 164

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

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

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 4, 2009

-The Scott Sanfilippo Interview Media Optimization Firms Are Red Hot In Southern California in 2009 Proliferate - Aggregate - Integrate Startups Uncensored #4 - “Finding and Working with Partners” SoCal VC’s absent from Forbes Midas List Top Five Best Uses of an Entrepreneur's Legal Dollars What Data Crunchers Did for Obama An Evaluation of Web Strategy (..)

Layoffs 159

Layoffs Woodland Hills Southern California Orange County 159

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

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. Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs.

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Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

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. Being so open, when entrepreneurs think about capital, we want to be top of mind. Tell us about the new fund? Mark Suster: It''s a $200M fund.

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

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

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

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. The company was called Red Beacon.

CTO Coach 359

CTO Coach Google CTO Hire GRP Partners 359

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. Mobile app downloads went from 300mm in 2009 to 5 billion in 2010, Android ad impressions up over 2,000% as two examples.

Technical Review 160

Technical Review Southern California Cloud Computing Venture Capital 160

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 21, 2013

Funds were contributed by returning investor GRP Partners along with Double M Capitol, Karlin Ventures, LaunchPad LA and Daher Capitol, all local investors. Steven Dietz, Partner at GRP said, “GRP works with entrepreneurs solving important challenges for many people.

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GRP Partners Email Incubator Platform 73