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”.

Clearstone 236

Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 28, 2010

One of things I’ve loved the most about doing now 11 weeks of This Week in VC is a chance to have an hour-long recorded conversation with investors. And in my interviews with many VCs I feel that people can watch these and get to know the VC’s as human beings a bit better. So how did Mike get into VC?

Venture Capital 230

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Fandango 230

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

We had a special edition of This Week in Venture Capital this week shooting out of the Next New Networks offices in New York. Our guest was Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital. Topics we discussed in the first 45 minutes of the video include: What is VC like in NY? Tags: This Week in Venture Capital.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

socalTECH

OCTOBER 16, 2013

A new, Los Angeles-based startup, Townhang.com , announced Wednesday that it has raised $700,000, and launched a new site to help people find interesting events, happenings, and activities in their city. townhang venture capital equity crowdfunding event discovery social meet' READ MORE>>.

Sites 212

Sites Equity Venture Capital Los Angeles 212

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. Greycroft is an early-stage VC. Closing a VC fund in 2009/10 is a major achievement in and of itself. Gilt Group is currently the largest private sale web site in US.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. I’d link to it but it’s behind a paywall.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

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MAY 20, 2013

Los Angeles-based Prevoty , a developer of security tools for preventing cross-site scripting (XSS), a security issue for websites, has raised $700,000 in seed funding, the firm disclosed today. The funding came from Plus Capital, MM Capital, Paige Craig, Eric Hann (Netscape), and other angels. The firm is part of Launchpad LA.

Sites 153

Sites Seed Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles 153

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APRIL 18, 2013

The Hunt says it is developing a community-driven, online shopping site, focused on making social media photos "shoppable". The site--reminiscent of Pinterst--helps users find products features from other social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr. READ MORE>>.

Hollywood 164

Hollywood Sites Social Media Seed Funding 164

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 1, 2010

A demand side advertising platform which allows advertisers to bid on individual ad impressions in real time, based on the site and who would see it. Site launched in October and CEO stated ad impressions are increasing ~200% month; now at 15 billion impressions/day. Tags: This Week in Venture Capital. See: paidContent.

Zag 248

Zag Truecar Venture Capital CarsDirect 248

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 3, 2012

I had this ethical dilemma pop up on one of the first deals I even did as a VC. ” I was learning which VCs I wanted to work with, what stage & check size I wanted to commit do and what teams would be a good fit for me. .” The call from a fellow VC to “look harder” made me decide to request a site visit.

Venture Capital 356

Venture Capital Pricing Startup Writing 356

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 9, 2009

This is part of my series on Raising Venture Capital. Many businesses that pitch to me have White Elephant issues and I’d like to tell you how to deal with these when you’re raising venture capital. But the VC is thinking about the issue whether you address it or not. You raised $1.5

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Startup Training Sales 264

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MAY 22, 2012

Xfire is in a major Asian push, bolstered by a recent funding round from Asian investor IDM Venture Capital. The deal extends Xfire's reach into the Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand markets. READ MORE>>.

Sites 196

Sites Venture Capital Los Angeles Tool 196

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. Thank you. (if

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

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MAY 24, 2012

Los Angeles-based Crowdfunder , an online crowd funding site headed by Chance Barnett, has raised $400,000 in seed funding, according to reports today. READ MORE>>.

Sites 174

Sites Seed Funding Web Los Angeles 174

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MARCH 11, 2013

Two, Hollywood heavyweights--the Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and William Morris Endeavor (WME) --are backing an online site which provides live workshops from experts. Lynda.com recently raised a humongous, $103M funding round in January, and just acquired another video education site in Europe in February. READ MORE>>.

Education 168

Education Sites Course Hollywood 168

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

She hasn’t raised any venture capital. It represents the great majority of entrepreneurship and eschews the fairytale rags-to-VC-riches stories we so often read about in the press. I blog on entrepreneurship & VC precisely because entrepreneurs and other VCs are my customers. That may soon change.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

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NOVEMBER 1, 2010

Hollywood-based Ranker , the online startup headed by Clark Benson, said today that it is now seeing over 1 million unique monthly visitors to its web site. Benson was the founder of eCrush, which he sold to Hearst in 2006; Ranker is backed by Benson, Siemer Venture Capital, and the Tech Coast Angels.

Tech Coast Angels 237

Tech Coast Angels Hollywood Venture Capital Sites 237

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 6, 2021

Online dating sites usually fail because online dating usually fails. This business suffers from what Paul Graham calls the ‘chicken and the egg problem‘ – no one wants to use a dating site with only a few users. Social networking” is really the new term for dating, with mega-sites like Facebook , and the hyperlocal site Foursquare.

Sites 134

Sites Social Network Competition Networking 134

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 12, 2011

He and I once took different sides of an debate about whether “VC signaling&# in early-stage deals is a serious problem or not. So it was fun to turn the cameras on him for 45 minutes for a special “NY edition of This Week in VC&# and hearing his views. I’ve also found him to not be dogmatic either.

Technical Review 281

Technical Review Venture Capital Startup Artificial Inteligence 281

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JULY 6, 2011

The site allows companies to manage their investor communications, including venture capital fundraising and other efforts. The firm said it has grown the platform's users by over 2,000 percent, year-to-date, taking user accounts from only 2,000 at the beginning of the year, to over 55,000 accounts today.

Platform 252

Platform Venture Capital Los Angeles Report 252

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 13, 2011

I know with a title like that I’m going to subject myself to people thinking I’m just being a grumpy, exclusive VC. This is best when there’s a reason for a site visit. It can be great for second VC meetings. If you’re both VC Associates – no biggie. That’s not the point.

Venture Capital 397

Venture Capital Startup Email Networking 397

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MAY 13, 2013

According to Greentoe, it will use the funding for marketing of the site, including a multi-platform advertising campaign across the web, television, and mobile. greentoe venture capital angel ecommerce retail retailer seed' The funding came from Parker Thompson from 500 Startups/Dave McClure. READ MORE>>.

Angel 231

Angel Funding Venture Capital Entertainment 231

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 18, 2011

What a sweet feeling it was last week to see the launch of the photo sharing site Pose , whose application targets shoppers of apparel. I hope you’ll excuse me when I do the latter in combination with the former to try and explain how I see macro trends and help you think about the mind of a VC. Pose is no different.

Invest 303

Invest Company Companies Web 2.0 303

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

socalTECH

APRIL 4, 2012

The funding came from Siemer Venture Capital, Rincon Venture Partners, Draper Associates, the Tech Coast Angels, and the Pasadena Angels, according to CEO Clark Benson. Los Angeles-based Ranker , the online rankings website where consumers can rank anything they like, has scored a new round of funding, in an inside round.

Tech Coast Angels 197

Tech Coast Angels Funding Draper Pasadena Angels 197

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AUGUST 15, 2012

Venice-based Movieclips , the online movie clips site and content site founded by Zach James and Richard Raddon, said today that it has raised $18.9M Venture Partners, and also included MK Capital, Shasta Ventures , SoftTech VC, First Round Capital , Richmond Park Partners , and Machinima CEO Allen DeBevoise.

Venice 178

Venice Content Venture Capital Sites 178

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APRIL 8, 2015

San Diego-based Dealstruck , the small business lending site led by Ethan Senturia, has raised $58M in a combination of debt and equity, the company said this morning. Dealstruck said that it raised $50M in a credit facility from Brevet Capital management, and $8.3M READ MORE>>.

Sites 100

Sites Equity San Diego Venture Capital 100

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DECEMBER 31, 2012

Exits Down in 2011 - One of the most popular stories to be read on the site--perhaps. venture capital exits in. 2011, showing a reduced number of exits--but more IPOs--in venture backed companies. SpaceX Plans Launch Site In Texas - In April, SpaceX announced plans to set up a launch. We have no idea.

Southern California 211

Southern California Thousand Oaks Incubator SpaceX 211

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JULY 19, 2012

Los Angeles investor Baroda Ventures , the venture capital arm of David Bohnett, has re-upped on online fashion and e-commerce site Fab.com , in a big, $105M third round of funding for that site. Baroda has been an investor in Fab since its seed funding back in June of 2010. Bohnett is the founder of Geocities.com.

Funding 178

Funding Seed Funding Commerce Social Network 178

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JUNE 27, 2013

Despite the increase in startup activity in Southern California, local venture capital funds are still few and far between, and a large chunk of the funding here is still from Sand Hill Road. mark suster grpvc upfront ventures interview venture capital fund launchpadla startup angeles' READ MORE>>.

Funding 196

Funding Venture Capital Los Angeles Social Media 196

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 22, 2010

So it was my great pleasure to host Chamillionaire on This Week in VC this week talking marketing, entrepreneurship, old media and, of course, music. Raising Capital – The VC equivalent for musicians is getting signed by a major label. People want what they can’t have and VCs are no different.

Entrepreneur 356

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Startup Email 356

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JUNE 17, 2011

Santa MOnica-based BeachMint , the celebrity e-commerce site started by former MySpace founder Josh Berman and Diego Berdakin, said Friday afternoon that it has raised $23.5M The round was led by Scale Venture Partners and Lightbank. Lightbank is the venture capital firm of Groupon founders Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell.

Anthem 185

Anthem Santa Monica Commerce Venture Capital 185

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 27, 2013

If you’re an app for “normals” targeting middle America it might be good to target the USA Today or if you’re a B2B site you might target industrial rags. Trust me, you’ll regret it the next time you’re preparing for a fund raising event and every VC you meet knows your strongest competitor and not you.

Blogging 309

Blogging Journal Press Startup 309

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APRIL 21, 2015

Los Angeles-based venture investor Upfront Ventures has lead another round in San Francisco-based online appointment booking site MyTime , as parto f a $9.25M Series B. MyTime said that the funding round was led by Upfront Ventures, and also included Khosla Ventures, Daher Capital, Accelerator Ventures, and Westfield Corp.

Sites 100

Sites Tool Venture Capital Los Angeles 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2011

Los Angeles-based Steelhouse , a provider of behavioral targeting technology for e-commerce sites, has raised $3.8M The funding is a Series B, and was led by Rincon Venture Partners and Greycroft Partners. Other investors in the firm include Baroda Ventures, the venture capital arm of former Geocities founder Dave Bohnett.

Commerce 200

Commerce Venture Capital Los Angeles Sites 200

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 13, 2009

Worth a read on how to maximize the traffic that comes to you site since much of it will be fleeting. We then had a piece in Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Europe, we ran front cover of Tornado Insider (the top VC magazine in Europe at the time). If you need VC, no better time than the present. Don’t drink it.

Startup 310

Startup Venture Capital Press Journal 310

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. For Meebo 1.3%

Startup 286

Startup Venture Capital Web Ideas 286