Connie Loizos
When Ignition Partners sprang up on the Seattle scene almost a decade ago, it immediately became the go-to firm for local entrepreneurs, particularly those focused on wireless and enterprise software. Founded by veterans from Microsoft Corp. and McCaw Cellular, the firm used its pedigree and some quick exits — three from its first, $140 million fund — […]
Well, as if the news were gloomy enough for a struggling billionaire, Forbes is reporting that the average age of the the world’s richest individuals has jumped from age 32 to age 35. More, despite that the 20 youngest rich people were under age 36 last year, this year, one is, gasp, 40 — an […]
Yesterday, the Obama administration announced its decision to overturn restrictions on federal funding for embryonic stem cell research.
To find out what it will mean to startups, along with who is most likely to benefit from the reversal first and why, I spoke just now with venture capitalist Chris Christoffersen, a Boulder, Colo.-based partner in the healthcare practice of Morgenthaler Ventures, who sits on the boards of two stem cell companies.
Last night, cuddly Apple cofounder Steve Wozniak made his much-anticipated (in Silicon Valley) appearance on “Dancing With the Stars.” It was, in the words of one of the judges, “a disaster.” Another compared Wozniak’s performance to “a Teletubby going mad.” I’ve never met Wozniak, whose primary form of exercise appears to be playing Segway Polo in […]
Looking for a recession-proof investment? AdultVest, a Beverly Hills-based hedge fund focused on the adult industry, is trying to sell off shares in iPorn.com, a blank URL it acquired almost a year ago and that it has since transformed into a full-blown subscription site rife with the kind of sexually explicit material you might want […]
I can’t believe I’m saying so, but thank God for false advertising. I just shuddered to read that a new U.K-based startup called Babylolly.com — a low-tech site that bills itself as “part online babybook, part social network for babies” — has emerged. Thankfully, the concept behind the company is far more pedestrian than it would have you believe. What the […]
Investors whose funds are registered as SBICs (Small Business Investment Companies) have something to cheer, and something to fret about, under the Obama administration’s new stimulus bill, signed into law last month. The good news first: as some readers will already know, the amount that the SBA allowed firms to borrow will see a modest increase. Prior, the […]
Partly in response to a post I’d written last night, famed venture capitalist Pierre Lamond called me a few minutes ago, as he piloted his car down the 280 toward a physical therapy appointment. We used the opportunity to talk more about his decision to move over to Khosla Ventures, how he left things with Sequoia Capital, […]
Pierre Lamond, the legendarily successful Sequoia Capital partner, caused tongues to wag earlier this week when he abruptly announced that he was leaving the firm to join Khosla Ventures, just down the street on Sand Hill Road. Most couldn’t help but wonder: after 27 years at one of the country’s most successful venture firms, and at […]
Back in October, we reported that Pierre Lamond was leaving Sequoia. What we didn't realize was that the 78-year-old wasn't about to retire, as we'd guessed, but was being wooed by Vinod Khosla, whose firm he is joining to make clean tech investments.
WSJ has the scoop that after 27 years at Sequoia Capital, the legendary semiconductor investor will begin his new job in April.
Lamond told the paper that the investments that Khosla Ventures has been making, largely in cleantech companies, “fits with the type of companies I want to build," adding that he hasn’t been an active day-to-day investor at Sequoia for the past 18 months and had “decided to phase out of Sequoia about a year ago.”