Connie Loizos
On Tuesday, TechCrunch reported that celebrity entrepreneur Kevin Rose has raised $1.5 million for his startup, Milk, from a “wide syndicate of Valley elites.” “Wide” may be understating things. Fully 24 angels participated in the round at what I’m told was a pre-money valuation of $15 million. Among those on the star-studded list: Twitter cofounder Evan Williams, […]
If Facebook goes public next year as is widely expected, hundreds of its employees will become worth more than most average-size American businesses. They’d better start thinking of themselves as business entities, wealth experts suggest. It’s going to be a roller coaster. How terrible can it possibly be to become a freshly minted multi-millionaire with […]
Six months ago, economist Paul Kedrosky found himself in a curious situation. After being introduced to a new service, along with several other potential investors, the founder of the service announced that as part of any seed-stage deal, he expected immediate liquidity for up to 25 percent of his shares. Kedrosky, a seed investor in […]
Earlier today, Business Insider’s Henry Blodget wrote a sensational piece titled, “ZipCar’s IPO Underwriters Just Screwed the Company to the Tune of $50 Million.” In it, Blodget pointed to ZipCar’s opening price of $30 – which is $12 more than the institutional clients of Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan (and other insiders) paid. He accused the banks of […]
Mark Zuckerberg has been painted as many things, from brilliant and visionary to robotic and downright duplicitous. The least-flattering of these impressions — fueled in part by his long battle with the Winklevoss twins and Facebook’s murky privacy policies — was hardly dispelled when earlier this week, wind of a new lawsuit was leaked to the press. The complaint […]
Crisis management expert Howard Anderson has some advice for Mark Zuckerberg, who has been named in yet another lawsuit.
“Right now, [Zuckerberg] should practice benign neglect," says Anderson. "[He should] pay attention to his business, and not let [the lawsuit] get in the way” of his “fantastic” work as the head of Facebook.
Anderson is referring to the suit filed by small businessman Paul Ceglia, whose claims of last year -- that a 2003 contract with Zuckerberg entitles him to at least half of Facebook -- resurfaced in an amended complaint filed on Monday.
Yesterday, Business Insider reported that Paul Ceglia, who emerged last July with claims he’s entitled to at least 50 percent of Facebook, is back with a new lawsuit, new evidence, and a new, serious, law firm: DLA Piper. For his newest suit, Ceglia has produced more than a dozen emails dating back to 2003 in which […]
Recruiter Jon Holman has seen a lot in his 30-year career, working with venture capital firms like Accel Partners and Sequoia Capital and their portfolio companies.
In the ‘80s, when he placed the occasional GP, it was a matter of plucking someone from an investment bank or operating position. In the go-go ‘90s, the business of GP searches became brisker, though “you weren’t going to pry a GP from an existing fund; that just didn’t happen,” according to Holman.
Then came the Great Implosion of 2000. A wave of VCs looking to jump ship because of internal dynamics or poor performance was eventually followed by those grown desperate to land something else before their funds dried up. Indeed, according to Holman’s estimates, roughly 100 VCs were “loose in the saddle” by 2007. By 2009, Holman was fielding calls around the clock, many from GPs who had either left their firms or would have to soon.
The industry still isn’t done spitting out VCs, says Holman.
Based on the industry’s latest bombshell, the news that the venture firm Andreessen Horowitz has raised yet another $200 million to invest in the firm’s other “growth stage” investments, one might wonder if venture fundraising is on its way back. It isn’t. Though Andreessen Horowitz has managed to now raise $1.15 billion in its mere […]
Earlier today, the Sand Hill Road venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz announced that it has raised an additional $200 million fund to invest in “growth stage” companies. With a marketing blitz that has become routine for the firm — beginning with a blog post — the firm disclosed that the new monies, raised from existing […]