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Why Startups Should Raise Money at the Top End of Normal
Jun 05, 1:22PM
Editor's Note: This is a guest post by (@msuster) Mark Suster, a 2x entrepreneur, now VC at GRP Partners. Read more about Suster at Bothsidesofthetable It's 2011 but you could forgive yourself for thinking you've gone back in a decade old time capsule to a time with frothy valuations and easy money. I know, I know. It's not the same market. There are more users now using the Internet for more of their lives. And there is real revenue now although as we've discovered recently - not always profits. The fact remains - raising money has consequences. Raise at too low of a price and you take too much dilution. Obvious. But raising at too high of a price can potentially cause you even worse problems. Existential ones. My motto is that startups should raise "at the top end of normal." Read on to undertand why ...
A TechCrunch Disrupt Proposal
Jun 05, 1:33AM
Ah, true love. Everyone was surprised — even Michael Arrington was left speechless and said he was "discombobulated" — after Julia Hu was proposed to onstage during her special product announcement at TechCrunch Disrupt in New York City. Hu, CEO and founder of LARK, was near the end of her presentation when someone called out that she had one more slide left to go over. As she clicked on the last slide, she screamed as her boyfriend came running up onstage to place a ring on her finger. It was the first ever TechCrunch Disrupt proposal and we caught the whole thing on camera.
When Facebook Captured Beluga, They May Have Harpooned It In The Head
Jun 05, 12:50AM
When Facebook acquired Beluga this past March, it was an interesting deal for them. Interesting, because they previously had only done deals for talent. But this deal, they told us, was for both talent and assets. In other words, they were also interested in the technology behind Beluga. More importantly, the plan was to keep Beluga running. And they have. Sort of. Over the past several weeks, users of Beluga have probably noticed some major reliability issues. These range from the mobile apps missing messages because they're unable to connect to the service, to the service's website being totally down. Last night, Beluga was totally down for a few hours. There was no indication why it was down, even after it came back. This has been happening more frequently. Not good.
Hornik on VC's Secondary Mania: "If It's Just Money, We're All Fungible" (TCTV)
Jun 04, 11:18PM
August Capital was doing very late stage deals when most VCs refused to. And its early 2000 era buyout of Seagate was one of the better returns in the firm's history. So why is it mostly sitting out this round of late-stage mega-deal mania? In the final segment of our Ask a VC on the road with David Hornik, he explains why the answer to missing out on Facebook early isn't dumping money in at a $75 billion price tag. The firm has done three $100 million-plus deals of late, but they're all in companies you haven't heard of, not the handful of names we talk about all the time. It goes back to that belief that VCs aren't just a checkbook; that they actually add value to the companies they back. A lot of cynical or burned entrepreneurs dispute that claim already, and Hornik argues if VCs act too much like hedge funds, they risk giving those cynics more ammo.
Why The Groupon IPO Feels Like A Swindle
Jun 04, 10:57PM
The reason the Groupon IPO feels like a swindle is because profits are nowhere in sight and founders are saying trust us while they pocket $
OMG/JK: iCloud, gWallet, and tPhotos
Jun 04, 10:22PM
In this week's episode of OMG/JK, Jason and I start off with a preview of what may be coming at Apple's WWDC event next week in San Francisco. Then we get into what Google unveiled at their NFC event in New York City last week. And finally, we talk about Twitter's move into the photo space. All three topics have a bit of controversy surrounding them. First of all, WWDC will not feature a new iPhone for the first time in several years. Second, it took PayPal a matter of hours to sue Google after Google Wallet was announced. And third, the Twitter developer ecosystem is up in arms again after Twitter has moved to fill another hole. Well, at least TwitPic is, for sure.
Hornik on Blippy: "Apparently I Was More Interested in Sharing Credit Card Purchases than the Average Person" (TCTV)
Jun 04, 7:34PM
Let's be honest: One of the reasons David Hornik actually agreed to be on camera at All Things D is that he didn't have a startup about to file to go public any second. So we talked about some of his more high profile investments that haven't always lived up to the hype. Hornik explains why reports of Blippy's death have been greatly exaggerated, and why he says the investment still wasn't a mistake. What's more he dishes (sort of) of the nine-figure annual revenues of another portfolio company Say Media-- the love child of VideoEgg and SixApart. And he tells us about an enterprise software company that's a budding sleeper hit. More broadly, he argues the immediate-hit-or-it's-a-failure misses the point of venture investing. (A philosophy Reid Hoffman might agree with after a decade-long slog at LinkedIn.)
David Hornik: Why Real Entrepreneurs Aren't in it for the Money (TCTV)
Jun 04, 6:46PM
We haven't done Ask a VC for a while thanks to my hectic travel schedule, so I pulled David Hornik out of the hallway at D to catch up on his thoughts on his portfolio and the industry. But first, we chat about the highlights from the All Things Digital conference. Or we started with that and then talked about how the motivation for starting companies is changing in Silicon Valley, given the soaring valuations and ease of raising money. And Hornik explains why he's not a fan of Peter Thiel's 20 Under 20 Program, although he admits he still hasn't paid off his own law school education.
Gillmor Gang 6.04.11 (TCTV)
Jun 04, 5:00PM
The Gillmor Gang — Robert Scoble, John Taschek, Kevin Marks, and Steve Gillmor — shuddered with expectant glee at Apple's presumed iCloud announcement at next week's WWDC event. It's clear from all the leaks, most interestingly from Apple itself, that the record companies are finally healthy enough to move into the new streaming era. With Lady Gaga selling five times as many records as the next entry on the album charts, the numbers have strongly tipped from retail to downloads. Amazon helped by subsidizing over a million copies at $1 a sale (8 bucks to Lady Gaga), but by next time, the market will have moved almost completely online. This gives Apple the leverage to get the TV/cable networks and the movie studios on board, with Netflix playing the Amazon role in stoking demand for streaming. Live events are last, probably following the heavyweight boxing matches of Ali and Tyson via pay-per-view but direct to Apple TV and its competitors, of which there are none. iCloud is the moment when the bits stay where they are, and the checksum becomes the value point. See you Monday for a special Gillmor Gang extra.
Weekend Giveaway: An iPad 2
Jun 04, 3:51PM
If I didn't know any better, I'd think iPads grew on trees or were on sale at TJ Maxx or something with the number of these things people want to give away. Regardless, we have a 16GB Wi-Fi iPad 2 waiting for you in sunny San Francisco, ready to wing its way to your mailbox in a few days. Want it? Thought so. Here's how to enter.
(Founder Stories) Reddit's Alexis Ohanian Bows To "Lord Jobs" And Jabs Investors
Jun 04, 2:30PM
Color gets bashed as being a contributing player to the so called startup bubble and the frat-boy attitude of investors from the Web 1.0 era don't do much better in this episode of Founder Stories with host Chris Dixon and Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian. In a conversation spanning a variety of topics, you'll hear Ohanian describe how "Lord Jobs" has indirectly contributed to the success of Zappos and Instagram, the gaping opportunities for start-ups to solve, and the attitude adjustment seen in present day investors; swinging a big load of cash (and something else) doesn't cut it with this class of start-ups.
SEC Watch: Tiger Global Bought Massive Amounts Of LinkedIn Stock Pre And Post IPO
Jun 04, 2:09PM
LinkedIn and investment firm Tiger Global both filed separate SEC filings yesterday evening indicating that the firm loaded up on LinkedIn stock both before and after the company's IPO in May. According to the filing, a Tiger's head Chase Coleman and Tiger fund, PIP V, acquired 2,436,001 shares of preferred and common stock of LinkedIn on secondary markst, from December 21, 2009 to August 10, 2010, for $31,740,600.70. Some of Tiger's investment during this time was reported, but the filing shows Tiger had a much bigger stake. 
The Kno Textbook App Hits The iPad
Jun 04, 12:38PM
Last night, Kno quietly released its first digital textbook app for the iPad. It includes its own store of "over 70,000 titles at 30% to 50% off list" price. And the app is a full textbook reader. The iPad app allows you to organize your digital textbooks and PDFs by dragging and dropping them into "courses." Once you open a textbook, you can swipe through the pages or navigate via a filmstrip of thumbnails up top. There is also full text search. Pages can be bookmarked and highlighted. You can also add digital sticky notes which pop out from the margins. 
Could This Be The First Solar Powered Laptop?
Jun 04, 11:56AM
While there are plenty of solar-powered peripherals that plug into your laptop to boost its battery power, we haven't yet seen a model that runs solely on solar. Industrial Designer Andrea Ponti's concept for the Luce Solar Panel Powered PC could become the greenest laptop ever made. 
White-Hot Flickr Alternative 500px Raises $525K In Series A
Jun 04, 1:39AM
As the complaints about Flickr continue to pile on, scrappy Toronto-based service 500px continues to grow, going from 1000 users in 2009 to over 85K (around 45K of which have joined in the last three months). And after two years of bootstrapping, the startup is today announcing its $525K Series A round with investment from High Line Venture Capital, Deep Creek Capital and ff Venture Capital.
Forget Google, DoJ Fears Apple Gaining Nortel's "Stockpile Of Nuclear Weapons" — Here's Why
Jun 03, 10:26PM
Two months ago, Google disclosed that they were bidding on bankrupt Nortel's patent portfolio. Why? They claim it's a defensive maneuver to protect the "relatively young" company from would-be patent predators. And Google is very serious about it. They put up the $900 million "stalking-horse bid" (the initial bid) for the over 6,000 patents. Given the stakes, it should be no surprise that the U.S. Department of Justice is looking into the bidding. But interestingly, it may not be Google they're too concerned with. As The Wall Street Journal reports today, the DoJ "hasn't found any major competitive issues that would lead it to challenge [Google's] purchase of the patent portfolio." But the same is apparently not true of Apple. The government is concerned about Apple's history of intellectual property protection, WSJ cites sources as saying.
Venture Crapital Lets You Play The Tech Bubble As An HTML5 Game
Jun 03, 10:22PM
Whether you're on Team Andreessen, who held that we weren't in a tech bubble at the AllThingsD conference, or the now revised Team Arrington ("All signs point to a real bubble, probably starting later this year when a lot more companies start to go public."), there's no denying post Groupon S-1 drop that we're in a bubble of people talking about whether or not we're in a tech bubble.
500Friends Allows Retailers To Reward Customers For Social Actions
Jun 03, 10:09PM
Consumers are engaging retailers on Facebook and Twitter now more than ever. Whether it is Liking a deal, Tweeting the link to a product, or even participating in a contest, shoppers are mentioning and interacting with these e-commerce sites on a daily basis. The problem with traditional online loyalty programs mirror offline programs, they only focus on rewarding users for simply their purchases. The challenge for retailers is not only how to track online mentions, but also how to meaningfully reward consumers for these mentions. Enter Y Combinator-backed 500Friends, which offers a platform called Loyalty Plus, which allows retailers to reward their customers for social actions. The SaaS allows retailers to track users Tweeting their purchases, Liking the Facebook page and referring friends. It also allows merchants to reward other actions such as writing product reviews, entering sweepstakes or signing up to newsletters. Each action gives the user points, which can be used towards discounts, or even put towards charity donations. 
Review: HTC Flyer
Jun 03, 9:55PM
A promising aberration. The Flyer is barely a viable product, but it hints at potential that is almost surely being unlocked in the labs of HTC right now. It's kind of cool, and Sense looks nice, but for $600 you have a right to expect something more than a shiny Android 2 tablet with the ability to scribble on screenshots of your email.
Heyzap Brings Social Discovery And Check-In For Games To The iPhone
Jun 03, 9:42PM
Heyzap, a social discovery platform for mobile and online games, announced today that it's zapping its way onto the iPhone just in time for WWDC 2011, Apple's developer conference. The startup will be extending its fast-growing Android community (which launched in March) and has been doubling in size every month since. The startup's new iPhone app will detect recent gameplay and lets users check-in to their favorite games. Once checked-in, Heyzap users can share scores and more on Facebook and Twitter and see what games their friends are playing. Mobile gamers can now check-in to all 65K games on iOS and all 10K games on Android. Huzzah!
Facebook VP Chamath Palihapitiya Forms New Venture Fund, The Social+Capital Partnership
Jun 03, 8:32PM
Facebook vice president Chamath Palihapitiya will leave the company as he launches a large new venture fund called The Social+Capital Partnership, with backing from some of the worlds leading business and technology leaders. The new fund will be up to $400 million in size, he says, and will focus on a wide range of investments in technology, healthcare, education and financial services. Investors in the fund are not yet being disclosed, although Palihapitiya is the largest single limited partner. Facebook is also investing, says the company. Palihapitiya, who joinedFacebook in 2007 and led the launch of the Facebook platform, has been investing for the last several years through a fund called Embarcadero Ventures. Not all of his investments through that fund have been disclosed, but they include Playdom, Peixe Urbano, Pure Storage, Yammer and others.
How Facebook Can Put Google Out of Business
Jun 03, 8:30PM
I was surprised to hear former Google CEO Eric Schmidt publicly lament lost opportunities and missed chances to catch Facebook the other day. I used to envy Google and the vast digital empire that Schmidt commanded. Google had one of the most intricate monopolies of all time. It had the most impressive dataset the world had ever seen; the most sophisticated algorithm to make sense of it; an audience of a billion users expressing their interest; and more than a million advertisers bidding furiously to reach those consumers at just the right moment. And that's why I used to think that Google was unstoppable. Until I realized one very important thing: Google's revered and unparalleled dataset is increasingly dating itself as an ossified relic akin to the Dead Sea Scrolls—outshined by the freshness of the living, breathing organism that is the social Web.
Here We Go Again: Syria Goes Offline
Jun 03, 8:22PM
After Egypt and Libya this spring, Syria is the latest Middle Eastern/North African country to get its connectivity pulled due to internal anti-governmental unrest. According to the Rensys blog almost 2/3rds of Syrian networks have been pulled as of late last night. It seems like killing the Internet is the MENA government default when it comes to quelling protests. 
Apple Hires The Guy Who Hacked Together A Better iOS Notifications System
Jun 03, 7:52PM
Back in February, I wrote that MobileNotifier (a replacement notifications system for jailbroken iOS devices) would be the one thing that would make anyone want to jailbreak — and I stand by it. Months later, my iPhone is still jailbroken, almost solely so that I don't have to go back to Apple's built-in system. It seems I'm not the only one who was impressed. Sometime in the last week or so — just days before they announce iOS 5, which is expected to come complete with a new (and hopefully less terrible) notifications system — Apple has pulled MobileNotifier's developer, Peter Hajas, under their wing.
Twitter Photos Live For Twitter Employees, User Roll-Out Begins Next Week
Jun 03, 7:42PM
So now that we know that the Twitter Photos is very real (as we first reported), the next question is: when can we actually use it? In their initial announcement, Twitter said that the product would roll-out to users in the "next several weeks". But today brings a bit more specific timeline. Initial roll-out to users will begin next week. Twitter's PR team has just sent out a tweet updating users. "Currently, Twitter employees can upload #photos to Twitter.com. We'll start slowly rolling this out to users next week," Twitter's Carolyn Penner writes. You can see a collection of early pictures here. Again, Twitter employees have already begun tweeting with the new feature, using the pic.twitter.com URL.
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