Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2014

We are often asked how companies get funded, why VCs make the decisions we make and what we’re looking for in entrepreneurs. I think this is a Seriously great example of how this process works for at least one VC – Upfront Ventures. We met in August (so much for VCs taking the Summer off!) Domain Knowledge.

Funding 373

Funding Technical Review Startup Screening 373

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2010

When I joined the company, I found an amazing technology platform and analytics capability. He's gone through this a couple of times now, so we have a robust platform which can predict the content users will like, and do so in an elegant and efficient manner. By using our analytics platform, they learn about what consumers want.

Content 189

Content Screening Mobile Custom 189

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We held a 90-minute demo session where 150 of LA’s VC’s and senior technology executives watched the LPLA V2 group present in small groups of 12-15 each. The VC’s & executives were then asked to make “commitments&# (in writing) to 3-5 of the companies that they felt they could make some sort of contribution to.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Well, we started out a free text messaging platform. We just happen to have significantly more users than most of the group texting platforms you typically read about. You don’t stack an amazing mobile + games team like this to build a free text messaging platform. Why are they doing it on textPlus? People like free.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 26, 2016

I recently sat down with Troy Carter to talk about what he does and why he believes it is applicable to venture capital. And more recently he has turned that into a fund called CrossCulture VC such that many in Silicon Valley and beyond now know Troy as well. It’s the same story.

Mentor 150

Mentor Venture Capital Marketing Product 150

socalTECH

JULY 25, 2016

Avantika Shahi: We are a home search platform. I've been a buyer, an agent, and broker, and have gone through lots of different platforms, mediums, and sites, and it's hard to get a comprehensive picture of a home or neighborhood, without going to lots of different sites. What is Haus all about? How are you funding the company?

Startup 100

Startup Sites Los Angeles Platform 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

Equally, I encouraged entrepreneurs to spend time getting to know their future VCs early because getting a feel for your chemistry is far more important than how the VC is ranked in some survey. Equally, I encouraged entrepreneurs to thoroughly reference check their VCs – you’ll learn much more from this than anything else.

Entrepreneur 330

Entrepreneur Marketing Venture Capital Hulu 330

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

He found creative ways to politely stay on my radar screen. He used the 500Startups platform to uber network in the Bay Area where he was living. But … we had committed to setting up an EIR program where we would fund people to work on their ideas in our offices and also get the dual experience of working inside a VC.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2017

Aaron Robin: Essentially, iExhale is an online, on-demand, wellness and mental health platform. I wanted to figure out a platform to reduce that friction, and make it something a lot more comfortable. The third, is the platform, and anonymous social network we built. What's iExhale all about?

Social Network 113

Social Network Startup Platform Networking 113

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 7, 2011

One of the great joys of doing the web series This Week in VC every week is that I get to spend time with great people debating the issues of our day including how our industry is evolving as well as insights into how companies got started, got their initial traction and dealt with adversities. Oh, yeah.

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. So what are you waiting for?

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

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 ). Burstly is the first open and free platform that helps you optimize all of these options.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2021

I mostly talk about startups, technology & venture capital. Suddenly I look at the screen and 45 minutes have passed. With no platform to really help me with “food coaching” I had to be this coach for myself. Mental Psyche [If you want to sign-up for my free newsletter you can click here.

Coach 538

Coach Startup Guide Journal 538

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

I believe that Twiistup is now a platform from which to grow and highlight what is uniquely LA. For highlighting what is uniquely LA, for adhering to a strict quality standard for speakers and for building this great platform for the future Francisco Dao (aka “ The Man ”) should feel proud of what he has accomplished.

Twiistup 228

Twiistup SoCal Southern California Yammer 228

Tech Zulu Event

OCTOBER 20, 2011

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. Earbits is an online radio platform where artists, labels and concert promoters bid for airtime on a per-song-played basis, and use the exposure to sell their music, event tickets and more.

UCLA 102

UCLA Company Companies Idealab 102

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. Leftronic is a real-time data visualization platform for startups. Everything happens in the browser (no software to download) and the finished product looks amazing on large screens!

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2017

I am so proud and humbled to be able to formally announce that Upfront Ventures has raised its 6th venture capital fund in the past 21 years. A huge thank you to all of the Limited Partners who have entrusted us with your capital, time and reputations.

Funding 287

Funding Venture Capital Santa Monica Invest 287

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2014

It can still be caught through a third party app or a screen cap. million in venture capital after getting the initial $1 million dollar last month. Future plans for the app includes commercializing it so that it can be a platform for companies to alert people when they have something interesting to offer them.

Snapchat 82

Snapchat Social Media Social Network Media 82

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

And of course I’ve sat on the other side of the table: As a VC. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. This is not just the perspective of a VC although I can’t say I have zero VC bias. I now observes the fund raising process as a profession. Why buy me?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. The VC partner, somebody I greatly respect said, “Yeah, we like Gil and what they’re doing. In my LA I often see computer screens open with entrepreneurs talking about digital media.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was sick of hyperbole articles pronouncing that VCs were “scared or AngelList&# or “it was disrupting VC&# or some other BS exaggeration like that. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. It is a communication platform. But it’s not cutting VCs out.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

I never asked Marc why he stopped blogging but I presume it is some combo of having started a venture capital firm (which you might guess takes a bit of time) and also allowing some air time for his then-less-well-known compadre. My advice always follows along the line of: Twitter is part media distribution platform.

Social Media 307

Social Media Blogging Media Startup 307

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 13, 2011

You just have to deal with some insufferable VCs and journalists for a while. It is the same movie I saw 10 years ago when every VC would say to me, “yeah, I get that you’re an online document sharing service, but what’s going to happen when Microsoft enters the market? They risk little but of course knew better all along. Fight hard.

Google 325

Google Press Marketing Content 325

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 26, 2012

We are building a robust social gaming platform with a specific focus on sports games. We've started with a robust platform in Facebook, and now we're pushing hard in mobile. We have invested in a very robust platform. We take what have been our most successful games in social, and basically take them to the mobile platform.

Mobile 248

Mobile Platform Startup Examples 248

Tech.Co

JANUARY 19, 2016

“Investing in Caplinked was an easy decision for us,” explained Subtraction Capital General Partner Jason Portnoy. Given the nature of the venture capital industry, we understand the need for a secure deal management and stakeholder communications platform. It complements other tech you are using. We are more like vault.

Doc 120

Doc Invest Screening Capital 120

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

You see – running a SaaS platform for customers like you is the ONLY thing our team does. Let me give you another simple example from my experience as a VC at Upfront Ventures. When we went to raise funds we faced lots of competition as there are of course many other VC funds in the country. We are hands on.

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 17, 2010

I’m now a VC. App is one step forward, two steps back – In 1999 I launched my first company, BuildOnline, a SaaS-based (back then we were ASP’s) content management platform for large-scale engineering and construction projects. In the same year Salesforce.com launched a SaaS CRM platform to compete with Siebel.

Brentwood 326

Brentwood Mobile Google Web 326

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. Idealab also continues to partner with leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies.

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 12, 2016

The most common theme of being a startup in today’s world is that the computing environment and platforms change so rapidly that only the best equipped teams survive the transitions (think Facebook’s shift to mobile or Snapchat’s embrace of augmented reality). And of course we welcome Microsoft Ventures.

Software 105

Software Mobile Artificial Inteligence Oracle 105

TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Next she took to Instagram, a new social media platform that quickly became the most effective tool in a blogger’s toolkit. I feel this responsibility to my industry to put the best business practices I’ve learned along the way into a platform so I can help other influencers.”. Bain Capital Ventures' Jamison Hill.

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 10, 2014

I considered changing to a blog publishing platform that would allow me to change the visual design more easily myself. He runs platform for Upfront Ventures and is doing an amazing job. He also had the clever idea of making my home screen banner on the blog be a visually stunning image from Los Angeles, my home.

Blogging 294

Blogging Design Venture Capital Screening 294

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Joey Flores is co-founder and CEO of Earbits , an online radio platform that enables bands, labels and concert promoters to acquire fans, market new releases and promote live events. a perks platform for small and medium sized businesses. Goodreads raised a Series A round of funding from True Ventures in the summer of 2009.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2016

Your customers are all on this product so not trying to grok this platform gives you a few big handicaps: Some VCs on on Snapchat and interacting with them daily on Snapchat and you’re not. The starting screen every time is the camera. Look at the top of your screen in the middle and you’ll see the Snapchat ghost.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Screening Venture Capital Guide 150