Connie Loizos
Yesterday, it came to light that a San Francisco-based freelance writer used the peer-to-peer vacation rental Website Airbnb to disastrous effect last month. Among other damage to her apartment were smashed doors, stolen family heirlooms, and guest sheets turned to ash in the fireplace. The injury to Airbnb’s reputation may prove extensive, given the image it […]
If this year already seems like a blur to you, imagine how the LPs of Andreessen Horowitz and Digital Sky Technologies (DST) must feel. Both venture capital firms are known for aggressively placing outsize bets on companies whose full potential they see as unfulfilled. Still, when on Sunday night, they reported investing a combined $112 […]
Recently, a group of M&A pros who represent 22 tech companies in Silicon Valley met for a round-table discussion sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers. Among other things, they talked at length about what they spend most of their time on when it comes to early-stage deals. The answer: due diligence, by a lot. They also said they […]
2011 will likely be remembered for its bubbly valuations. But plenty of startup employees may wind up recalling it as the year that their company's top dog was kicked to the curb or else stepped aside to make room for someone better suited for the challenges ahead.
Etsy staffers will be among them. Today, the online marketplace for handmade goods revealed in a blog post that CTO Chad Dickerson has replaced Etsy founder Rob Kalin as CEO. (AllThingsD was first to notice the post, in which Dickerson smartly thanked Kalin for dreaming up Etsy, as well as for hiring him.)
It isn’t yet clear whether Kalin wanted to stay or go, but he’s now been in and out of the CEO’s (presumed) cubicle twice. In 2008, Kalin handed the management reins to Maria Thomas, NPR’s longtime digital head before coming to Etsy. By late 2009, he was back, and she was gone.
Following are some others who this year have gone from managing, to having time for Mah Jong.
Entrepreneur Scott Kurnit regularly places his 18-month-old, pre-revenue, “platform” startup AdKeeper in the same company as Facebook, Twitter, and Google, and people don’t spit out their coffee at the suggestion. It begs the question of whether Kurnit, 57, is a brilliant salesman, a visionary, or both. According to Kurnit, the technology behind New York-based Adkeeper […]
New York is getting awfully crowded these days. Accel has opened an office in the Big Apple this year. So has Canaan Partners, Matrix Partners, and, now, New Enterprise Associates, which already has a handful of investments in local startups and wants to demonstrate its “continued commitment to the area,” as NEA partner Tony Florence […]
Forty-four-year-old Louis Ferrante hasn’t led a life that might naturally lead to business consulting. As a teenager growing up in Queens, New York, he stole car batteries that he “sold for $10 to get a slice of pizza and play video games.” Later, Ferrante moved on to stealing cars for joy rides, then taking orders […]
Many entrepreneurs privately disparage venture capitalists as egoistic, autocratic, and increasingly unnecessary. Not serial entrepreneur Mike McCue. He believes in VC. Case in point: McCue’s newest startup, Flipboard, a 20-month-old iPad application that transforms social media feeds into an elegant, print-like magazine. Though the Palo Alto-based company has yet to develop a business model — […]
Ellie Wheeler thought she’d be a doctor one day. Instead, she’s just become the newest member of Greycroft Partners in New York. It’s been a circuitous journey. After one semester at UMass’s medical school, Wheeler, who’d majored in psychology at Georgetown, realized she’d rather put her old finance classes to use instead. A posting she […]
Lately, it seems that firms chasing late-stage deals are getting all of the attention from the media. Turns out the same is true of LPs. According to data released today by the NVCA, the vast majority of the venture firms aren’t getting much love from institutional investors, with just 37 funds able to raise a […]