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Why Has LA Suddenly Gotten So Much Attention from VCs and Entrepreneurs?

Both Sides of the Table

” It’s the most common refrain I hear from investors and even entrepreneurs these days. I think there is also no denying the role that Richard Rosenblatt has played in building the LA tech ecosystem and spawning great entrepreneurs who followed in his footsteps. “There’s something going on in LA.”

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This Week in VC – Scott Painter, CEO of Zag & TrueCar

Both Sides of the Table

He didn’t tell it in the video but, ever the entrepreneur, Scott started a business to take couples up on a “mile high club&# flight on airplanes as a way of getting all of his miles logged to get his next class of airplane license that required a certain number of hours logged. It’s part of what makes him so likable.

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Bolstering the Partner Ranks at GRP

Both Sides of the Table

We both wanted to build a practice that would make Los Angeles proud but where we would travel tirelessly to other locations to make investments in the best entrepreneurs wherever they were. We both wanted to put energy into GRP’s platform of services that provide more value to our investments than merely capital.

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Want to Start a Technology Company in LA?

Both Sides of the Table

We have many seasoned entrepreneurs who have built successful companies here and made a lot of money for investors and themselves. It’s not uncommon for incredibly smart and talented Phd’s or CS majors from Stanford to raise $10 million on an early-stage “platform&# that if it succeeds it will be huge.

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Can You Really Build a Great Tech Firm Outside Silicon Valley?

Both Sides of the Table

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.

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How to Develop Your Fund Raising Strategy

Both Sides of the Table

I raised money as an entrepreneur, like you, in 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003 and 2005 for two different companies. I never suggest that entrepreneurs just randomly pitch VCs. He knows the history of all of the payment gateways, mobile payment platforms, credit offerings, remittance companies, etc. Tell a friend! Not so much.

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