Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 8, 2011

Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. But the most important metric has been the deep and lasting relationships that have been built with startups and also between senior executives. There are at least 6 incubators now being set up in LA.

Venture Capital 287

Venture Capital Funding Startup GRP Partners 287

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. So what is an EIR and why Sam?

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

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

socalTECH

JANUARY 8, 2013

Two, Internet-enabled communications startups, FreedomPop , and TextPlus said this morning that they are working together to introduce a 100 percent free mobile data, text and calling service, by combining plans and technology from the two companies. READ MORE>>.

GRP Partners 157

GRP Partners Startup Mobile Los Angeles 157

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.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

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

socalTECH

OCTOBER 11, 2010

Los Angeles-based venture capital firm GRP Partners --which has been very active in the local technology startup market--has made its latest investment, in an interesting industry: mortgage lending. GRP is the lead investor in Skyline Financial , a Calabasas-based provider of mortgage banking and lending.

GRP Partners 160

GRP Partners Calabasas Venture Capital Invest 160

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. It is to out friend. Enjoyed this post? Disruptive. We get it! I Be specific.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2013

was invested across Southern California in Q4 of 2012. The funding brings Southern California's total 2012 investments to $3.2 Karlin Ventures and Siemer Ventures both made five investments each. billion was invested in 3,698 deals. billion was invested in 3,698 deals. That total was less than the $859.6M

Southern California 237

Southern California Orange County GRP Partners San Diego 237

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. Moderator: Vince Thompson, Middleshift and author of the business bestseller, Ignited.

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners Clearstone Funding Startup 100

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

socalTECH

JUNE 23, 2020

Upfront Ventures started raising $250M in a growth fund, Upfront Growth II, back in June of 2019, and raised its last core fund, Upfront VI, back in June of 2017. Upfront Ventures--formerly known as GRP Partners--has been in existence for 24 years now. Upfront--as is expected--has not announced any details on the new fund yet.

GRP Partners 113

GRP Partners Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles 113

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

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

socalTECH

DECEMBER 14, 2010

Beverly Hills-based Snowball Factory , the startup behind awe.sm , the url shortener and analytics service, tweetpo.st , which updates Facebook from Twitter, and other tools, has raised $500,000 more, according to a recent regulatory filing by the firm. It's unclear if Suster's involvement is a personal investment or an investment of GRP.

Beverly Hills 162

Beverly Hills GRP Partners Yahoo Invest 162

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

socalTECH

APRIL 18, 2012

Earlier this week, Brad Feld, a venture capitalist who is well known for his work on TechStars, investments, and for his frequent blogging and speaking engagements, commented on the Los Angeles area using the term Silicon Beach. Read the rest of Mark Suster's opinions at Some Thoughts on Branding Startups and Communities. Continued.).

GRP Partners 147

GRP Partners Startup Blogging Los Angeles 147

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

ChowNow , a startup which provides social, mobile, and web-based online ordering for restaurants, said this morning that it has raised $3M in a Series A funding. The funding was led by GRP Partners, and also included Double M Capital, Daher Capital, Karlin Ventures, and Velos Partners. READ MORE>>.

Mobile 157

Mobile GRP Partners Web Capital 157

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

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

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Today’s startup innovators come from about six hours south of Silicon Valley. Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. Fun Fact: One of the most prominent figures from their firm, Mark Suster t, runs a blog startups follow religiously.

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

socalTECH

JANUARY 19, 2012

The latest numbers from the PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture capital Association MoneyTree survey, which is based on data from Thomson Reuters, tallies $738.34M invested in Southern California in Q4 of 2011. The amount is up from $528.0M raised in Q4 of 2010, and up from the $652M invested in the region last quarter.

Southern California 157

Southern California Orange County San Diego GRP Partners 157

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 25, 2011

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. Come hear him talk about about SoCal startups, entrepreneurship and the investment scene. See [link] (more)

GRP Partners 100

GRP Partners UCSD SoCal Southern California 100

socalTECH

JULY 9, 2009

Santa Monica-based GumGum , the online startup headed by Ophir Tanz which licenses photos on a CPM basis to online publishers, confirmed it had raised $2.6M in a venture round Wednesday, telling socalTECH that the Series A-1 round was led by GRP Partners , with participation by First Round Capital.

Invest 100

Invest SoCalTech GRP Partners Geni 100

socalTECH

JULY 19, 2011

in funding, and San Diego $198.18M in investments. Quarter to quarter, investments were up from Q1, when $585M was invested in the region. Investments were slightly down from Q2 of 2010, when the region saw $856M in funding. Nationally, venture capitalists invested $7.5M billion invested across 814 deals.

Southern California 167

Southern California Venture Capital Orange County Rustic Canyon 167

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

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

NOVEMBER 9, 2011

Today marks another great day for the LA startup community as one of the city’s prominent mentoring programs , Launchpad LA, received VC funding – for each startup.

Venture Capital 74

Venture Capital GRP Partners Funding Idealab 74

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

GRP Partners is looking to hire two analysts (maybe even three) to join our practice in Los Angeles. At the highest level we’re looking for somebody really intelligent, digitally native, financially numerate and interested in startups. Or if you did something really interesting / innovative in a startup company.

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 9, 2011

Today marks another great day for the LA startup community as one of the city’s prominent mentoring programs , Launchpad LA, received VC funding – for each startup.

Venture Capital 65

Venture Capital GRP Partners Funding Idealab 65

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

socalTECH

JULY 15, 2010

Investments by venture capitalists in Southern California were up, both in terms of deals and dollars in Q2, according to the latest numbers from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). in 91 investments, up significantly from the $451.8M invested in 24 deals. and 80 deals in Q1.

Southern California 174

Southern California Orange County Rustic Canyon SoCal 174

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 22, 2009

The topic of whether in-stream advertising has heated up. I myself recently covered the topic when I spoke about why GRP Partners invested in Ad.ly. GRP Partners invested in GoTo.com which rebranded as Overture. Are you horrified when you search for an address in Google Maps and ads pop up?

Advertising 277

Advertising Technical Review GRP Partners Google 277

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

APRIL 2, 2010

VC’s don’t invest 100% of their own money. They raise money from institutions who want to have some allocation of their investment dollars in a category known as “alternatives,&# which is supposed to mean higher risk, higher returns. And funds also have investments from the partners of the firm.

Venture Capital 269

Venture Capital Funding Invest GRP Partners 269

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2010

Los Angeles-based MySpace and startup Ad.ly , also based in LA, said today that they have linked in an in-stream advertising deal. helps celebrities, musicians, and other social influencers monetize their Twitter and other activity streams with advertising; the firm is backed by GRP Partners, Greycroft Partners, and LowerMyBills' Matt Coffin.

Advertising 168

Advertising Userplane GRP Partners Mahalo 168