TechCrunch LA

NOVEMBER 4, 2019

Her newest venture, Moe Assist, claims to be the first project management and payments tool for influencers. Last month, the product launched with $1.2 The company was co-founded by Eric Wei, a former product manager at Instagram who focused on the creator and influencer side of the business. Benett/Dave Benett/WireImage).

Platform 170

Platform Marketing Tool Venture Capital 170

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

Huge thank you to Steve De Long for the write up. Yeah, that was when I changed for me…” “…there was so much positive feedback on demystifying this one element of venture capital. Either it’s a bunch of pictures or screen shots or it’s a bunch of words. Is that when it became big? was starting. was starting.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2018

Your product demo crushed. At night I had a group dinner where I met 6 new entrepreneurs and hung out with some old friends from law firms, banks and other VC funds. On a phone call it’s too easy to be distracted and thumb through paperwork, stare out the window or glance at your computer screen. The dialog was great.

Software Review 381

Software Review Startup Email Conference 381

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

This is a post I’ve been dying to write for 18 months. I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. OK, that sounds like an interesting business, but nothing to write a freakin’ blog post about?

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

Kind of like a law firm (or VC firm) with four partners but shortened to just two, people dropped off his second two words. I’ve wanted to write a blog post called “Mobile Second” for a long time to make this point more forcefully. The power of large screen real estate. I believe in integrated products.

Web 334

Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

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.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. PHONE CALLS. Not so fast.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2013

When I sit down to write every week I never really imagine what is going to end up resonating the most with people but it seems I’ve most often been defined by my post that I Invest in Lines, not Dots. He found creative ways to politely stay on my radar screen. I told him that he needed to ship product before we could fund it.

Startup 372

Startup Course Ideas Invest 372

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

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

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I keep my competitors as friends and those that didn’t choose me or my product as friends, too. On Losing in VC. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Quite the opposite. I’m usually quite a gracious loser.

Outsource Development 333

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 333

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 25, 2010

I keep my competitors as friends and those that didn’t choose me or my product as friends, too. On Losing in VC. I know I won’t win every deal I want to in VC. Write things down. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Quite the opposite. I’m usually quite a gracious loser.

Outsource Development 328

Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review News 328

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 16, 2009

They spot opportunities that aren’t being met and the design products to meet these needs. They realized that they were selling a bunch of cool products but none that had enough economic value. We couldn’t cut product development (we had 23 people!) We committed to product features. I’m sorry.

Entrepreneur 306

Entrepreneur Startup Outsource Development Customer 306

socalTECH

MAY 11, 2010

We help them identify products that are safe and health for them and their families, from organic baby food, to household items. We do deep research on every single product we advocate for, using the criteria and condition that they create a healthy child and a healthy world. They had a store, but weren't selling much.

Software Review 200

Software Review Commerce Startup Sites 200

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 15, 2009

I keep my competitors as friends and those that didn’t choose me or my product as friends, too. We helped the write out their requirements for a system. Did we really have good change management procedures if we were willing to launch products without backward compatibility. Quite the opposite. I move on.

Startup 151

Startup Outsource Development Software Review Technical Review 151

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 10, 2010

Want to take a year pursuing your dream to write a screenplay, travel through Asia, run a triathlon or start your own fashion line? When a new email comes in you see the little pop-up in the bottom right-hand corner of your screen and like Pavlov’s dog you feel an adrenaline rush and need to read that email.

Startup 295

Startup Email Technical Review Course 295

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. We write and create our own content for the game. 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

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 ). And this part of the product is entirely free to use. I like that.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

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

JANUARY 31, 2010

So I thought I’d write a piece on how to not suck when you give a presentation. The bring your product to life. Establish the persona of the person who would be using your products. Tell us what their life is like without your product – how they struggle. I spoke about this yesterday on Fox Business News.

Startup 362

Startup Twiistup Slides Screening 362

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 17, 2011

So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A The need for creativity extends well beyond product design. The key is channeling what you learn when you drive onto paper for retention purposes so you have to write it down soon afterward. Many people are visual thinkers.

Writing 356

Writing Startup Ideas Summary 356

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2011

I was saying that I was happy it was all out in the open because I felt at least everybody could now understand the issues & opportunities from the perspectives of angels, entrepreneurs and VCs. Let’s be clear: AngelList doesn’t scare a single VC I know. But it’s not cutting VCs out. It is additive.

Startup 292

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Summary 292

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 14, 2009

One of the questions I’m most often asked as a VC is what I’m looking for in an investment. This post covers the first out of 10 that I’ll write about. I once had a debate with a prominent VC on a panel. What attributes am I looking for during the process? Yeah, right. Next on the checklist.

Entrepreneur 338

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital Google 338

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2011

I’m still planning to write some in depth pieces on the topic but I thought, “given that this is about how video will consume the Internet over the next 5 years, what better way to exemplify this than with a 10-minute video.” And where GRP Partners , the VC firm in which I’m a partner, is based. Deck is below.

GRP Partners 371

GRP Partners Content Technical Review Press 371

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. ” He was writing to people. To get on his radar screen. Many people. Any people.

Social Media 307

Social Media Blogging Media Startup 307

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 22, 2010

This week I was preparing for my weekly This Week in Venture Capital web show and was researching some of the deals that were announced for the week. I believe that you need to have product excellence in order to scale to being a really big business and that’s pretty tough when you have such a wide remit.

Screening 266

Screening Screencast Web Yammer 266

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

There are hundreds of entrepreneurs here in Los Angeles who are building awesome companies, writing awesome books, making awesome movies and are trying to solve important problems to help make this world a better place. Contributors include GRAMMY winning composers and Oscar winning sound effects artists and production houses.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2010

My original thinking from Oct ’09 was, while I didn’t (and still don’t) have a crystal ball I worried that: consumers were over-stretched with debt (and make up 77% of the economy), unemployment would continue to rise, which in turn would drive the stock market south and cut the rate of M&A activity and VC investment even further.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Startup 298

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2016

Let me just put this more clearly for you up front – the vast majority of the Internet is used for porn so every product has this use but you probably just don’t know about it: YouTube, Tumblr, Facebook, FaceTime, Skype and of course be very careful on Google Search without “safe mode” on.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Screening Venture Capital Guide 150