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LA tech industry mourns Kobe Bryant

TechCrunch LA

“Kobe was loved in Los Angeles,” wrote Mark Suster , managing partner of the Los Angeles-based venture capital firm Upfront Ventures , in a private message to TechCrunch. Bryant launched his venture career with partner and serial entrepreneur Jeff Stibel back in 2013, according to Crunchbase.

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Early-stage investment firm Defy updates the venture partner model

TechCrunch LA

Defy , the early-stage venture investment firm founded by Neil Sequeira and Trae Vassallo, is putting a new twist on the venture partner model as it brings Brian Lee and Sujal Patel on board to help out with investing and guiding companies in the firm’s portfolio. Just don’t call them venture partners.

Invest 109
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Announcing a Deal I’ve Wanted to Talk About for a Year

Both Sides of the Table

I am taking the lead from GRP and we also invested alongside a number of friends including Dave McClure, Dave Tisch, Ben Smith (Merchant Circle), Brian Lee (ShoeDazzle, LegalZoom), Jason Calacanis, Evan Rifkin, Jennifer Lum, Jay Weintraub and a whole host of other angels. I acted as the occasional mentor, advisor and coach to Ethan.

CTO Coach 359
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The Silent Killer – The Company Your Community Never Created

Both Sides of the Table

Local capital matters. Local mentors matter. I figured if we couldn’t fund every company locally we should at least embrace them as a community and show that we’re willing to mentor them whether they raise their money in town or not. But talent with no capital is another word for migration.

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