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APRIL 21, 2010

Xobni “Social plug-in for Microsoft Outlook&# – As Enrique Gutierrez said on Twitter today, Xobni is “ the best damn thing ever for Outlook.&# Here’s the thing. Increasing this is also migrating to social network messaging but email is still king. The build “implicit social networks.&#

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Social Network Angel Investor Chad 265

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OCTOBER 1, 2009

It’s my job to invest wisely in entrepreneurs who are capital efficient, who innovate in ways that pay off economically in good markets or bad and who plan for worst-case scenarios. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice VC Industry startup technology vc venture capital. It is also a result of pent-up demand.

Technical Review 269

Technical Review Stock Hawaii Early Stage 269

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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. million for a social networking site 18 months ago. I sometimes call these White Elephants.

Venture Capital 264

Venture Capital Due Diligence Flash Strategic Investors 264

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FEBRUARY 7, 2011

It became a theme in my keynote at Caltech on the future of social networking. He grew up in Connecticut attended Yale undergrad and worked for IBM after graduation doing M&A, strategy and venture capital. We then captured this conversation again on camera. We then spoke about startups.

Connecticut 286

Connecticut Cofounder Silicon Valley Web 286

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AUGUST 14, 2009

Social Network s / Search / Blogs – Obvious, huh? I’m surprised at the number of people who aren’t good at tracking down relationships in social networks. &# Most important question – “do you know any other early-stage start ups that you recommend I talk with?&#.

Silicon Valley 291

Silicon Valley Ireland Technical Review Valuation 291

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SEPTEMBER 21, 2011

All of this has become a lot more relevant lately given social networking. He has founded a new social networking site called AnyBeat to take on this issue. And, harrumph, do I really want to go to another fucking social network. Social networks are like Iran. Think about it. It’s scary.

Social Network 329

Social Network Iran Naming Networking 329

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OCTOBER 1, 2009

So what is driving the new energy in the remaining venture capital firms when we kept hearing how much the whole industry was “against the ropes?&# … 1. note: there is one rare exception – in 2006 Sevin Rosen declared that Venture Capital was broken and actually returned money to their LPs !

IPO 255

IPO Investment Bankers Venture Capital Marketing 255

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APRIL 16, 2011

After seeing “The Social Network&# there is an increased attitude amongst this generation (of women) that … why not go into startups? The current generation of college students want to be entrepreneurs more than rock stars - &# This next generation is going to be very interesting.

Startup 311

Startup Sales Database Community 311

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APRIL 14, 2012

…” I’ll write soon on my views of why I believe Instagram took off as a social network and what I think comes next. Instagram happens to be one of the few social networks I regularly use along with Twitter. Clichés abound about, “You know what would be cool? Just checked their balance sheet.

Valuation 316

Valuation Balance Sheet Dilution Term Sheet 316

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AUGUST 3, 2009

I recently appeared on Fox Business News covering the topic of raising Venture Capital. I’m guessing it’s easier to get a meeting these days from Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures than from Evan Williams at Twitter. Social networks - When I raised capital in 1999 it was hard to know who knew the VCs.

Dividend 210

Dividend Venture Capital Social Network Portfolio 210

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JUNE 28, 2010

Current round: $10mm in Series E from Alloy Ventures, Lightspeed, and Walden International. Web service that allows parents to monitor children’s activity on social networks in realtime for about $10/child/month. Current round: $8.5mm Series-C led by Jafco Ventures with DCM , Emergence Capital, and August Capital participating.

San Francisco 230

San Francisco Los Angeles Cofounder SMS 230

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OCTOBER 15, 2009

This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence. True story.) 2 weeks later and we may never have raised any more VC.

Founder 299

Founder Technical Review Startup Venture Capital 299

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JANUARY 19, 2010

I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. If one vocal person blurts out, “just give us the details, we all know social networking&# don’t assume that person speaks for the entire room.

Technical Review 318

Technical Review Venture Capital Partner Due Diligence 318

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MARCH 17, 2010

Funding is different – In Silicon Valley you have mega venture capital funds and many of them. LA was a leader in lead generation (LowerMyBills), comparison shopping (PriceGrabber, Shopzilla), social networking (MySpace … I know, I know – Facebook won – but it was still a big business).

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Technology Los Angeles Southern California 290

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OCTOBER 17, 2009

This is part of my ongoing series about Raising Venture Capital. One of the hotter companies lately in the mobile social networking is FourSquare, which raised $1.35 million from Albert Wenger and Fred Wilson at Union Square Ventures and O’Reilly AlphaTech Ventures.

Software Review 283

Software Review Term Sheet Due Diligence Southern California 283

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MAY 15, 2010

Next Wednesday we’ll have Dana Settle of Greycroft Partners, a New York / LA early-stage venture capital fund. Swipely is a social network orientated around users credit card transaction data. I think this episode is worth watching ( video is here ) but as always I’ll try to summarize for anybody short on time.

Stealth 285

Stealth SEC Advertising Accredited Investor 285

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JANUARY 16, 2012

In the era of social networks, LinkedIn, Facebook messaging, Quora and email addresses that are easily guessable, it’s easy to think that maybe you should just approach a VC directly. So why would raising venture capital be any different. ” I use the same methodology I am advocating to you.

Developer 366

Developer Silicon Valley PR Las Vegas 366

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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. And what we think about Sequoia’s website , First Round Capital’s and True Ventures (we both like to copy stuff from True).

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Los Angeles Oakland Asia 217

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OCTOBER 3, 2011

But this coming generation is much more likely to be inspired by The Social Network and want to be entrepreneurs. In my post on what has changed the venture capital industry more than any other factor I talked about Amazon.com’s role. Perhaps it’s because everybody used to watch LA Law.

Entrepreneur 341

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Open Source Social Network 341

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AUGUST 11, 2009

I run a monthly meeting called the VCA that represents the majority of Southern California venture capital firms. Sales of avatars in social games nearly 50% of total revenue eclipsing revenue from affiliate transaction, ads or paid games (slide 97). couponing, vertical social networks, Internet TV, etc.

Asia 188

Asia Southern California China Japan 188

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JANUARY 18, 2011

I first met the founder of Pose, Dustin Rosen , when he was a junior person with an LA-based venture capital firm called The Mail Room Fund. I said as much in my post about The Future of Social Networking. Pose is no different. Dustin was junior but I’m not hierarchic so we spent a bunch of time together.

Term Sheet 303

Term Sheet Mobile Cofounder Early Stage 303

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FEBRUARY 14, 2016

Social networking finally came of age connected the planet and leading to enormous wealth creation for Facebook employees and investors. Put simply, it’s really hard to build a strong company when all of your competitors are giving away free s**t fueled by venture capital chasing winner-take-all returns.

Valuation 150

Valuation Down Round Startup Later Stage 150

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AUGUST 9, 2011

2010 was the year of the “super angel&# and 2011 has to date been the year of unbelievably highly priced B,C & D rounds of venture capital. Computing will be an order of magnitude more mobile 10 years from now, changing the way applications are delivered and the way we interact with our real social networks.

Stock 305

Stock Technical Review Marketing Greece 305

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DECEMBER 22, 2011

LinkedIn – Lots of people talk about LinkedIn as a social network. It’s no surprise that it has now become one of the most viewed networks of video programming in the world, achieving 500 million video views per month having only raised $3 million in venture capital. is getting 3 million views.

Non-Compete 386

Non-Compete Startup Internet Cost 386

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OCTOBER 18, 2015

There is a lot of uncertainty about the state of the private, high-growth technology markets and the venture capital markets that underpin them. Technology riches yield bumper crops in venture capital with new firms and new largesses – the rewards of LPs rediscovering our asset class. Are LPs to blame?

IPO 150

IPO Venture Capital LP SEC 150