socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

We thought today for our interview, that we'd get an update on the angel investment environment here in Southern California from Scott Sangster , the incoming President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels , the biggest angel investment group in Southern California.

Tech Coast Angels 182

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 182

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

The dinner parties now are filled with self-righteous angel investors bragging about how many deals they are in on. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. The best angels will do very well just at the best real estate investors did well in good times and bad. It is slowly becoming Florida Condos.

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 14, 2011

The Tech Coast Angels announced this morning that it has had a first close on its Angel Capital Entrepreneurial (ACE) Fund 1, the firm's new early-stage investment fund. The fund--which has been in the works since last year--is aimed at making it easier for the TCA to move quickly to invest in companies.

Tech Coast Angels 165

Tech Coast Angels Angel Funding Technical Review 165

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2022

The market was down considerably with public valuations down 53–79% across the four sectors we were reviewing (it is since down even further). ==> Aside, we also have a NEW LA-based partner I’m thrilled to announce: Nick Kim. First in late-stage tech companies and then it will filter back to Growth and then A and ultimately Seed Rounds.

Venture Capital 416

Venture Capital Marketing Technical Review Seed Funding 416

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

As I’ve written about recently, at Upfront Ventures we started talking a couple of years ago about wanting to fund stuff with more meaning. I think this is a combination of being realists as venture capitalists that outsized returns in our funds must come from taking on bigger, more impactful projects that can move markets.

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

socalTECH

JUNE 7, 2012

Los Angeles-based CapLinked , the online service which helps startups manage their fundraising process, announced this morning that it has linked with half a dozen startup accelerators to help those firms' companies help raise their funding rounds. CapLinked is headed by Eric Jackson and Christopher Grey.

Technical Review 224

Technical Review Software Review Los Angeles Startup 224

socalTECH

JUNE 15, 2020

The Tech Coast Angels says it has launched a new, annual fund, and is continuing to invest--despite the pandemic. The angel group, the largest in the nation, said it invested over $19M in 2019, in part due to a similar fund created by its San Diego chapter, the TCA-San Diego, last year. READ MORE>>.

Tech Coast Angels 113

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Los Angeles Angel 113

socalTECH

JULY 21, 2010

Watson , a member of the San Diego Tech Coast Angels , who was found dead in June. According to authorities, Kent Thomas Keigwin , age 59, has been charged by the San Diego County District Attorney's Office with the murder of Watson, who had been found by fellow angel investors when he failed to show for a meeting.

Tech Coast Angels 145

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel San Diego 145

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 27, 2013

I am super excited to announce that today is a day of lots of new things for my partners & me: A new fund, a new office and a new brand. Let’s start with the fund. We have previously raised funds in 1996 ($200 million), 2000 ($400 million) and 2008/9 ($200 million). This month we closed our 4th fund of $200 million.

Funding 343

Funding Santa Monica Venture Capital Startup 343

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2010

Thus, it is very hard to make a commitment to fund you. You’ll be able to give them an update on key hires, pilot customers, key tech innovations – whatever. I funded Ad.ly This is happening with both angels and VCs. For this reason I tell entrepreneurs the following: Meet your potential investors early.

Invest 411

Invest Technical Review Venture Capital Startup 411

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). We feature a prominent speaker at every event.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 16, 2011

Earlier this week, the Tech Coast Angels , the largest and most active organized angel group in Southern California, announced a new effort to create an angel group network, which will share and syndicate deals between groups--current the TCA, Golden Seeds, and Band of Angels.

Technical Review 145

Technical Review Networking Angel Tech Coast Angels 145

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 12, 2013

Venture and angel investing has long been considered a man''s world--with domination of the industry, executives, financiers, and others by men, with only a few exceptions. The Pipeline Fellowship--founded by Natalia Oberti Noguera--says it has been running angel investing bootcamps for women, looking to active more female angel investors.

Angel 276

Angel Invest Mentor Technical Review 276

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 1, 2014

It’s the company that evokes fear into more startups and venture capitalists looking to fund eCommerce businesses than any other potential competitor. reviews – every due diligence process should feel like this) to our nascent offering and the dedication and detail orientation of the MakeSpace team.

Technical Review 380

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire Startup 380

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 5, 2010

I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum in Los Angeles back in January and wrote about it here. Jason Calacanis started this initiative in response to the pay-to-play network of angel events that he despised. The first event was a big success and brought out many of LA’s angel elite. But I loved it).

Angel 254

Angel Technical Review Software Review Platform 254

InfoChachkie

MARCH 18, 2013

In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you. Four Common Angel Archetypes.

Angel 217

Angel Technical Review RSS Entrepreneur 217

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. ” Stated simply – if you seed funded Uber at $4.5m Why is this?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

“Yes&# was given to me by one of my favorite angel investor / seed VC’s to work with – John Greathouse of Rincon Venture Partners and author of the blog InfoChachkie that you should check out because it is filled with great info from a guy who has been a very successful operator. It is how angel rounds come together.&#.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 20, 2017

million in capital to build out its operations in 4 cities: New York City , Los Angeles , Chicago and Washington D.C. So how did a company that provides storage grow so fast (we’ll exit 2017 with 10’s of millions in recurring revenue), why is it so defensible and is it really a tech startup?

Technical Review 268

Technical Review Funding Software Review Artificial Inteligence 268

Berkonomics

JUNE 26, 2014

Angel investors, particularly those in organized angel groups, are typically former entrepreneurs who have had successful liquidity events in their pasts, or executives of companies who’ve retired with the funds from their stock options. So how an angel responds to your pitch depends upon his or her background.

Angel 191

Angel Technical Review Coach Entrepreneur 191

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Now they are partners.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Berkonomics

JUNE 19, 2014

If you seek funds from an organized investment group such as an angel fund, venture capital entity, or even an investment club, the first thing you want to do is to find one person to buy into your vision, become excited by your enthusiasm and be willing to become the internal champion for your fund-raising effort.

Technical Review 207

Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Summary Email 207

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 5, 2020

Companies that have leveraged technology to make the procurement and delivery of food more accessible to more people have been seeing a big surge of business this year, as millions of consumers are encouraged (or outright mandated, due to Covid-19) to socially distance or want to avoid the crowds of physical shopping and eating excursions.

Technical Review 343

Technical Review Startup Marketing San Diego 343

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 27, 2020

The 29 year-old CEO has, indeed, built a decentralized ghost kitchen — and managed to convince Softbank’s latest Vision Fund to invest in a $120 million round for that the company announced today. In some ways, Nextbite couldn’t exist without Ordermark’s delivery aggregation technology.

Funding 263

Funding Los Angeles Technical Review Training 263

socalTECH

OCTOBER 18, 2012

in funding in Q3, up in terms of dollars from Q3 of last year, when $670.9M In Los Angeles, near $324.2M invested in that sector; Industrial/Energy firms, which includes a significant number of clean technology companies, had a total of $137.4M was raised. New York followed Southern California with $512.8M in investments.

Southern California 210

Southern California GRP Partners Funding Orange County 210

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 12, 2019

Seed investments are down by any measure (funds, deals, dollars) over the past 3 years in deals < $1 million AND in deals between $1–5 million. The reality is that as a result of two major trends the costs of starting a technology startup went down massively. So What Impact Did the Drop in Tech Founding Costs Have on VC?

Venture Capital 328

Venture Capital Invest Seed Funding Startup 328

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2010

The VC industry grew dramatically as a result of the Internet bubble - Before the Internet bubble the people who invested in VC funds (called LPs or Limited Partners) put about $50 billion into the industry and by 2001 this had grown precipitously to around $250 billion. So the people who invest in VC funds have two problems.

Venture Capital 311

Venture Capital Startup Seed Funding Rustic Canyon 311

socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2013

In the latest roundup of fundings (big few weeks for San Diego, apparently): PatientSafe Solutions ($20M, San Diego, mobile health). Surf Air ($2.6M, Los Angeles, subscription aircraft service). Southern California's Most Popular Tech Stories. LaunchpadLA Opens Up Spring Applications. Broadcom Powering New Mac Wireless.

Southern California 168

Southern California Technical Review SoCal San Diego 168

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 13, 2021

Last year at this time, SpotOn was on the brink of announcing a $60 million Series C funding round at a $625 million valuation. Advisors Douglas Merritt, CEO of Splunk, and Mike Scarpelli, CFO of Snowflake, also made individual investments as angels. SpotOn is paying $415 million in cash and stock for the Los Angeles-based company.

Technical Review 296

Technical Review Software Review Invest Acquisition 296

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 6, 2023

This is the mysterious and dreaded due diligence process, which can kill the whole deal. Some entrepreneurs do very little to prepare for due diligence, assuming all the talking has already been done, and the business plan and results to-date tell the right story. My best advice is to stick to the middle ground.

Technical Review 118

Technical Review Startup Satisfaction Invest 118

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 28, 2019

Wednesday, April 3, 2019 -- Angel Investing 101. Tech Coast Angels. It turns out that angel investing is more than art - it's also very much a science. On April 3rd, 2019 we're pleased to offer you another round of the popular "Angel Investing 101" workshop. How do we know?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Invest Angel Tech Coast Angels 100

socalTECH

JUNE 21, 2012

Los Angeles-based CapLinked , the startup which provides an online site to help companies manage their fundraising process, is announcing this morning thta it has raised $400,000 in a new funding round. The firm said the funding brings its total raised to $1.8M. The firm said the funding brings its total raised to $1.8M.

Technical Review 113

Technical Review Software Review Yammer Funding 113

TechCrunch LA

APRIL 12, 2018

seems like an unlikely place to grow one of the next billion-dollar startups in the booming Los Angeles tech ecosystem. But it’s here in the (other) Valley’s southernmost edge that investors have found a startup they consider to be the next potential billion-dollar “unicorn” that will come out of Los Angeles.

Glendale 271

Glendale Los Angeles Startup Technical Review 271

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. These tensions seep out in some angels or seed funds publicly or semi-privately deriding later-stage VCs for their “bad” behavior. As always a balanced perspective is in order.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 9, 2013

My partner Steven Dietz is an expert on cars (and auto startups having funded DealerTrack , TrueCar , Digital Airstrike , Uparts and others) and I called him and he said, “Decline everything. It got me thinking about the tech industry. A few years ago I headed out to China for a few weeks on a tech tour. ” Anyway.

Conference 398

Conference Technical Review Truecar Software Review 398

socalTECH

DECEMBER 27, 2012

For the last week of the year, we're featuring the thoughts and reflections of some of the movers and shakers of Southern California's high tech community. We asked the same four questions of a variety of top technology entrepreneurs, investors, and others, to hear what they're thinking about, and are sharing it here over the next week.

Dollar Shave Club 272

Dollar Shave Club Technical Review Santa Monica Southern California 272

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2012

Los Angeles-based CapLinked , which operates an online platform for managing fundraising by startups, has linked with the Startup America Partnership. CapLinked's site allows companies to manage due diligence documents, shareholder communications, finding investors, and more; the firm said it now has over 135,000 users using its site.

Technical Review 153

Technical Review Software Review Startup Yammer 153