Connie Loizos

This year, the anonymous college gossip site JuicyCampus.com has raised some alarmed buzz by big media outlets like BusinessWeek and NPR. Launched in August 2007 by twentysomething Duke alum Matt Ivester, JuicyCampus invites  users to say whatever they want about their college classmates, regardless of whether what they say is true. Users do. To give you some idea of what this […]

Mark Cuban has made a new investment, in a blog that intends to track how the $700 billion federal bailout package is administered. The new property, BailoutSleuth.com, is a companion to securities fraud watchdog site Sharesleuth.com, also financed by Cuban. Both properties are being managed by former St. Louis Dispatch reporter Chris Carey, who plans […]

The interactive ad agency Razorfish just released its yearly “consumer experience report,” and it’s turned up some interesting findings — some so interesting, in fact, they’re hard to believe. The report focuses on how advances in Internet technologies — specifically in online activity, social media usage, ecommerce habits and mobile access— are changing consumer behavior. […]

Like Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia Capital prides itself on cultivating an air of mystique: it rarely releases information or talks to the press. That’s why the firm’s “RIP: Good Times” presentation - presumably meant to give cover to its partners and their portfolio companies - created such a stir. Still, playing along with Sequoia’s mania for secrecy can be exhausting. Herewith, my most recent exchange:

It’s hard to get public relations professionals to tell you what they’re experiencing right now as a result of cutbacks — and by “you,” I mean me. Last week, I reached out to a number of friends in the business, almost all of whom politely declined to participate in an informal survey for peHUB. One […]

Want further proof that hedge funds are yesterday’s news? Artis Capital Management, the hedge fund with close ties to Sequoia Capital and an investor in YouTube, has just raised a modest, $43.1 million venture capital fund, according to a regulatory filing. The filing gives about as much away to the outside world as Artis’s website, […]

In January of last year, for the San Jose Mercury News, I wrote about 27-year-old Sherwood Partners in Palo Alto, long known to industry insiders as “the undertaker" because its primary role is to efficiently shutter companies. Sherwood made a killing in the aftermath of the Internet bubble, closing down roughly 180 startups. In the years that followed, however, as the tech economy rebounded and startups became more efficient, Sherwood's business slowed considerably. It closed two satellite offices that it had opened and cut down its staff of 60 MBAs and CPAs to less than 30. In fact, as I was writing my piece, it was fair to compare Sherwood to some of the former high-fliers it has wound down -- and I did. What a difference an almost unprecedented economic meltdown makes. When I caught up with Sherwood’s gregarious cofounder Marty Pichinson on Friday afternoon, he was just wrapping up an hour-long conference call, juggling two new calls, and eager to escape the office after a very long week. Before he took off, Pichinson, who has an inimitable flair for drama, told me why startups should keep their PR people, how to negotiate with a landlord, and what most startup employees can expect in the way of a severance package.

Today in TechCrunch, Michael Arrington asks: “So who has adopted Facebook Connect so far?” No doubt Facebook doesn’t like the answer, which is: not many developers. As many readers will know, Facebook Connect is a newer iteration of the Facebook Platform that allows users to “connect” their Facebook identity, friends and privacy to any site. […]

If you’re discouraged by the financial situation now, just wait until the Kellogg School MBA candidates graduate. Here's an email the classes of '09 and '10 received last week. Sent: Thursday, October 16, 2008 12:54 PM To: class09and10@kellogg.northwestern.edu Subject: Student Conduct at Social Events Students, During our time at Kellogg, we have many opportunities to strengthen the "Kellogg" brand. Our relationships with one another and the time we spend together, both at Jacobs and away from campus, often provide great benefits to students and the school. Unfortunately, there are also times when students' conduct can have a negative impact on the brand. Since CIM Ball, there have been many rumors about what occurred that evening. KSA would like to provide clarification as well as provide a few reminders: The Field Museum made the decision to shut the bar at CIM Ball down early because of student behavior, NOT because they ran out of alcohol. A few examples of such behavior included: *Students were throwing things at a historic artifact: Sue, the Tyrannosaurus Rex, which The Field Museum purchased for over

You might not think of serial entrepreneur Eric Greenberg as an outspoken advocate for America’s youth, but you will soon if he has anything to do with it. Greenberg, with the help of writer Karl Weber, has just published Generation We, a book that explores the emerging power of today’s twentysomethings and argues that they’re poised to change […]