socalTECH

JANUARY 22, 2019

This morning's interview is with Kevin O'Connor , a longtime investor and serial entrepreneur, who is now running venture capital investment firm ScOp Venture Capital. Congrats on the new name for your venture capital firm. It's always hard with venture capital. It's so obvious and so simple.

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socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2018

Here's Marc Averitt of Okapi Venture Capital (www.okapivc.com). The biggest news this year for Okapi, Southern Californias original seed stage venture capital fund, is that we ramped up the deployment of our 3rd fund and saw its portfolio grow by another 10 companies! What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?

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Venture Capital Capital Southern California News 113

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 11, 2022

Something happened in the past 7 years in the startup and venture capital world that I hadn’t experienced since the late 90’s — we all began praying to the God of Valuation. How might our next phase of the journey seem brighter, even with more uncertain days for startups and capital markets? What happened? It was 1991.

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Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 17, 2019

I became a VC 12 years ago in 2007 when the pace of deals was much slower. I had just left Salesforce.com where I was VP, Products, after they had acquired my second startup. It proved to be fortuitous because it allowed me the time & space I needed to get to know tons of founders and VCs and to hone my craft.

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Venture Capital IP Startup Google 223

InfoChachkie

JULY 7, 2016

The entrepreneur cannot wait to show me their product via a demo. Most entrepreneurs seem confused by my reaction and often say something like: “VCs love demos. You’re the first one I’ve met who didn’t want to see our product.” Note: I invest almost exclusively in b-to-b software companies. Don’t Demo Me Bro.

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Venture Capital Product Software Review Technical Review 176

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 10, 2021

how on Earth could the venture capital market stand still? One of the most common questions I’m asked by people intrigued by but also scared by venture capital and technology markets is some variant of, “Aren’t technology markets way overvalued? How our VC Firms Like Ours Organizing to Meet the Challenges?

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Venture Capital Writing Invest Pricing 471

socalTECH

APRIL 30, 2019

Irvine-based Specright , a developer of specification data management software, has raised $8.8M The startup said the funding was led by Pritzker Group Venture Capital (PGVC), and also included Okapi Venture Capital, Fika Ventures, and Mucker Capital. in a Series A funding, according to the company.

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Software Venture Capital Capital Funding 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

Picking a VC is hard. So I thought I’d write about out with what I would look for in a VC knowing what I know now and why. Most VCs are book smart. VCs should be more of a coach than proscriptively telling you what to do. You want a VC who will spar with you but then STFU and let you get on with things.

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Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2018

Accoding to Bonfire, it invests in early stage startups with a software-based product and a business buyer, and will make seed state investments with a typical initial check size of $1M, with initial investments as low as $250,000 and as high as $1.5M.

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socalTECH

JANUARY 6, 2023

Los Angeles-based Product Science said this week that it has raised $18M in a seed funding round. The funding came from Slow Ventures, Coatue, K5 Global, Mantis Ventures, plus angels Peter Fenton (Benchmark), Jerry Murdock (Insight Partners), and executives at Snap.

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Artificial Inteligence Mobile Product Seed Funding 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 30, 2011

This is the final part of a 3-part series on the major changes in the structure of the software & the venture capital industries. The result was a massive increase in startups & a whole group of new funding sources: both angels & “micro VCs&#. But … Downsizing Venture Capital.

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Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 28, 2010

This was the first episode where Jason wasn’t on the show, which gave me the chance to have another VC on the show to discuss deals. Rustic Canyon is an LA-based, but geography-agnostic VC that is currently investing from a $200 million fund. VC Financings: 1. So my gut says this will be a youth-oriented product.

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Venture Capital Capital Rustic Canyon Mobile 270

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

This is part of my ongoing series on Understanding Venture Capital. I recently wrote a blog post on understanding how the size and age of a venture capital fund might affect you when you’re raising money. I believe these VC funds have suffered some amount of reputation fall out. Let me explain: 1.

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Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

I had previously raised VC in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005. In case VC’s haven’t figured this out yet, shit rolls downhill. My blog linked to Brad Feld’s blog because I was so grateful for his series on term sheets and he was one of the biggest reasons that as a VC I felt compelled to blog. And covered we did.

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Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 2, 2021

The company said it is building software "to expand creativity and redefine virtual production and immersive entertainment". DGene, a content creation company which has a team in Los Angeles, but is based in San Jose, says it has raised $20M in a Series A funding. The funding was led by Alibaba Group.

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socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2021

Los Angeles- and Nashville-based Clovers, a developer of interviewing and recruiting software, has raised $15M in a funding round, the company said this week. According to Clovers, the funding was led by Greycroft and Alpha Edison, and also included Crosslink Capital, Acadian Ventures, Fika Ventures and Act One Ventures.

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Cornerstone OnDemand Software Coach Los Angeles 124

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2010

Venture capital investments in Southern California in Q3 totaled to $464.18M, according to the latest numbers released by the PricewaterhouseCoopers/NVCA Money Tree Report this evening, based on data from Thomson Reuters. billion invested in 780 venture capital deals for Q3. Nationwide, there was $4.8 in investments.

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Southern California Venture Capital Orange County Rustic Canyon 195

socalTECH

MARCH 18, 2014

Irvine-based Bitvore , a startup developing big data and intelligence-gathering software which pulls information from both public and private data sources for businesses, said this morning that it has closed a $4.5M, Series A funding round. bitvore data intelligence gathering venture capital yuri pikover' READ MORE>>.

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Software IBM IBM Social Media 227

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2021

Los Angeles-based BLAZE, a developer of enterprise resource planning and point-of-sale software for the legal cannabis market, recently raised $8M in a funding round, according to the company. The funding was led by Delta Emerald Ventures with participation from returning investor Act One Ventures and new investor SOJE Capital.

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Software Sales Resource Los Angeles 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2014

The startup--which was founded by Scott Kriz and Erik Gustavson--said the round came from Polar Partners, Amplify, Resolute VC, Double M Partners, Social Leverage, Karlin Ventures, Lazerow Ventures and Rob Glaser. The company said the new funding will go towards product development, sales, and marketing activities.

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Software Santa Monica SaaS Venture Capital 153

socalTECH

OCTOBER 9, 2013

San Juan Capistrano-based Cirro , a developer of software for data access, exploration, and analysis, announced this morning that it has raised $8M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Toba Capital, and also included Frost Venture Partners and Miramar Venture Partners. Cirro''s CEO is Mark Theissen.

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Software Miramar Venture Capital Incubator 153

socalTECH

JULY 8, 2013

San Juan Capistrano-based Predixion Software , the predictive analytics software firm headed by Simon Arkell, has raised $20M in a Series C financing, the company said this morning. The new funding came from Accenture and GE Ventures, two strategic investors in the company, along with new investor Frost Venture Partners.

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Software Palomar Miramar Venture Capital 193

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2010

To see the video of This Week in VC click on this link. What a pleasure that I got to spend an hour talking with both Om Malik (whom I’ve always respected his views) and Paul Jozefak , a venture capital partner at Neuhaus Partners in Germany (and formerly the head of Europe for SAP Ventures). 406 Ventures.

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Venture Capital Google Web Sites 225

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 29, 2011

End result, the company’s product timeline has been pushed back substantially and the company’s morale is at an all-time low. Thanks Mr. Big Firm VC. Naval Ravikant describes how Silicon Valley’s dominance over the venture capital landscape will evolve over time in the previously mentioned interview. Do The Math.

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Venture Capital Capital Funding Technical Review 233

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

Had a great chat with Jim Armstrong who is a General Partner at Clearstone Venture Partners today on TWiVC. It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. Segment Three: “VC Deals Funded this Week”.

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Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

socalTECH

JULY 13, 2021

Tustin-based Specright, which develops specification management software, announced this morning that it has raised $30M in its Series B funding round. The funding was led by Sageview Capital, and also included VMG Catalyst, plus Pritzker Venture Capital Group, Okapi Venture Capital, Fika Ventures, and Mucker Capital.

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Venture Capital Capital Software Funding 113

socalTECH

JUNE 25, 2013

Santa Barbara-based Lastline has raised $10M in a funding round, to go towards the development of its malware defense software, the firm announced this morning. The new funding round was led by Redpoint Ventures and e.ventures, with Redpoint''s John Walecka joining the firm''s board. The firm launched its first product last month.

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Redpoint Santa Barbara Software Venture Capital 159

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In the first post in this three part series I described why I believe the VC market froze between September 2008 – April 2009. I’m not a doomsday guy, but just believe that we won’t see a V shaped recovery, which could make VC funding more difficult for tech start-ups (don’t shoot the messenger!).

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Venture Capital Startup Funding Technical Review 269

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

in a funding round, for the company''s software for automatically improving site layout and advertising revenue. The Series A funding was led by Balderton Capital, and also included New Amsterdam Capital, Silicon Valley Bank and angels. The company''s product is currently in private beta. READ MORE>>.

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Software San Diego Advertising Venture Capital 147

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 7, 2022

The funding was led by Keyframe Capital, and also included ArcTern Ventures, Moderne Ventures, Ramez Naan, plus Nexus Labs, Wind Ventures, and Alpaca VC. Xeal's EV charging products are deployed in conjunction with building developers and owners.

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Venture Capital Los Angeles Capital Funding 113

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2015

If you want to understand the software trend that drove the creation of the seed-stage VC phenomenon I wrote about it that linked blog post but in short: cloud computing drove down the cost to create startups enabling a new category of investor. Some quick highlights include: The Role of a Seed Stage VC. But not many others.

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Venture Capital Startup Invest Cloud Computing 150

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 17, 2022

Based on the best evidence I can find, the genesis of this trend and the advantages come from several evolutionary changes in the startup investment industry, and some innovations driven by the recession several years ago and the recent pandemic: Venture capital funds are regaining momentum.

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Guide Venture Capital Funding Class 136

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 24, 2021

This is true in consumer but it’s also true in enterprise software. Of the first four investments I made as a VC in 2009, two have exited and two (Invoca & GumGum) still are independent and likely to produce $billion++ outcomes . The abundance of late-stage capital is good for us all. Entrada Ventures? —?that

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Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 8, 2009

I came across this blog post about getting a computer science degree as the best degree for getting into venture capital or working at a VC-backed start up. I just completed an exercise where I went out to hire a new associate for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I had to laugh a bit reading it. What about strategy?

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Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

Lots of discussion these days about the changes in the VC industry. 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.

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SoCal CTO

MARCH 20, 2007

Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller SEO for Startups Startup Version 1.0 Early Stage Marketing and Branding – Farida Fotouh.

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Venture Capital Guide CTO Coach Southern California 150

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I had dinner this week with a top new customer at one of our enterprise software investments. I wish I did more enterprise software investing because when I attend meetings like this I realize that this is my core DNA – rolling out business software solutions to customers. Contrast that with a VC conversation I had.

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