socalTECH

JUNE 24, 2010

Los Angeles-based GumGum , the image licensing startup headed by Ophir Tanz, is hailing its traffic and customer wins this week, saying that it now is reaching 65 million monthly uniques, and has been signing up a number of brand advertisers for campaigns. The firm is venture backed by GRP Partners, First Round Capital, and Crosscut Ventures.

Advertising 140

Advertising GRP Partners Los Angeles Sites 140

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2010

We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer development, etc. It is the key to “customer development” that Steve Blank talks about. My action item – I will soon announce the GRP Partners CEO Summit.

Startup 279

Startup Venture Capital Tips Custom Development 279

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2010

I run the recruiting process for my VC firm, GRP Partners. I want our associate to have empathy for the customers we serve — our portfolio companies. I joined GRP Partners in 2007 before they raised their current fund (we closed a $200 million fund in March 2009). What about VC’s and Risk? It was May.

Entrepreneur 293

Entrepreneur Startup Venture Capital CTO Hire 293

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 9, 2012

I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington. They’ve been a long-term investor in our fund – GRP Partners – and it was important to me to spend time with them in their home market and meet the people with whom they deal locally. Win over customers.

Press 364

Press Course Startup Email 364

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 18, 2009

Customers are harder to sign than you want. You’ve got to accept customer losses as learning experiences and see how you can improve next time. But then I got a call from my lead investor (coincidentally it was GRP Partners where I now am a partner) and they told me not to lose confidence.

Entrepreneur 298

Entrepreneur Startup GRP Partners Venture Capital 298

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 27, 2011

If you care about accessing customers, reaching an audience, communicating your vision, influencing people in your industry, marketing your services or just plain engaging in a dialog with others in your industry a blog is a great way to achieve this. I’ll bet your customers, business partners or suppliers would love similar.

Blogging 373

Blogging Startup Writing Venture Capital 373

socalTECH

JUNE 10, 2009

Zag's technology provides a level of customization and detail on "fleet" style, pre-negotiated sales of autos, down to the accessory level; the firm has deals with USAA, Capital One, Overstock.com, AAA groups, and others to provide its service. Painter is the former CEO of CarsDirect.com.

Zag 100

Zag GRP Partners Anthem Santa Monica 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2010

My job doesn’t involve the daily grind of customer complaints, product outages, business partner / channel problems, hiring / firing, etc. You get on a plane at a moment’s notice because a senior customer agreed to meet you. I get paid to network – I love meeting people. I work hard, don’t get me wrong.

Venture Capital 312

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 312

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 18, 2012

Mark is a Partner at GRP Partners and authors one of the most widely read startup blogs, BothSidesOfTheTable. Winning customers is sales. I wasn’t attending enough sales meetings, I wasn’t looking customers in the eye and seeing their reaction. Go see customers yourself. Number one is sales.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Startup Conference Santa Barbara 272

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 8, 2013

million led by GRP Partners, with participation from Baroda Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments (BDMI), Daher Capital, Double M Capital, Karlin Ventures, Clark Landry, Andy Rankin, and Launchpad LA. Less Neglect helps companies reduce churn, upsell users, and increase customer acquisition rates.

GRP Partners 96

GRP Partners Startup Tech Coast Angels Bertelsmann 96

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 21, 2014

Neither is very strategic nor in the best interest of either set of customers that VCs have (portfolio companies & LPs). I started working with David when I was an entrepreneur and he was an associate with a VC firmed called … wait for it … GRP Partners (now Upfront Ventures)! Writing a book will be fun.

CTO Hire 320

CTO Hire Startup CTO Coach Venture Capital 320

socalTECH

OCTOBER 6, 2008

Santa Monica-based Zag, which is developing software for auto buying programs, has signed on another AAA group as a customer. Zag is headed by former CarsDirect CEO Scott Painter, and is venture backed by Anthem Venture Partners, Capital One Auto Finance, GRP Partners, Arcturus Capital, Callaway Cars and the Skoll Fund.

Zag 100

Zag CarsDirect Arcturus GRP Partners 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

For our Insights and Opinions section today, we have a piece from GRP Partners' Mark Suster , who--after watching and judging pitches at last week's Twiistup event--gives some hints and tips about how not to suck at presentations. Most people suck at presenting to big groups.

Twiistup 124

Twiistup GRP Partners Tips UCLA 124

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2013

We spoke with Christopher Webb, the firm's CEO, to hear about how ChowNow's goal is to make mobile, social orders something any restaurant can afford and implement--and how a new $3M funding round from GRP Partners, Double M Capital, Daher Capital, Karlin Ventures, and Velos Partners is helping it to deliver on its mission.

Mobile 197

Mobile Startup Platform GRP Partners 197

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 21, 2013

Funds were contributed by returning investor GRP Partners along with Double M Capitol, Karlin Ventures, LaunchPad LA and Daher Capitol, all local investors. ChowNow offers restaurants a suite of customized branded interactive apps to make online ordering a snap. ChowNow came out of incubator LaunchPad LA.

GRP Partners 73

GRP Partners Email Incubator Platform 73

InfoChachkie

JULY 14, 2011

Messenger : Rob Duva , Co-Founder, COO RingRevenue, prior Director of Customer Acquisition, CallWave. At CallWave, Colin was CTO, Jason was CFO and I was in charge of product marketing and customer acquisition. We spend a lot of time listening to our customers and working with them to build the right solutions.

Marketing 209

Marketing Advertising Paid Search Startup 209

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 21, 2010

My firm, GRP Partners, invested in the company that innovated this entire category – Overture (formerly known as GoTo.com). It should lead to higher conversion rates and happier customers.

Advertising 284

Advertising Invest RSS CPC 284

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

If you hit a groove on funding and customer growth it does become a challenge to ramp quickly. Scott Painter , founder of CarsDirect has created TrueCar (backed by GRP Partners). Hit some bumps in the road? Outside the Valley we have struggles, too. In LA you can attract a great team to build out your first 30-50 employees.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

customers who paid for services often get burned. So at GRP Partners we’re very active now. Um … many people also lose their jobs when bubbles burst. some founders lose their life savings. people who poured their hearts into projects see their efforts vanish over night.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

He listed all of the product releases that were up coming, the customers that were in the pipeline and where he saw his competition moving. A key deal not only helps you raise venture capital but it can help attract employees, garner press attention, help with product focus & importantly drive customer adoption and/or revenue.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). He knows the ad management and ad network businesses.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 16, 2013

Previously known as GRP Partners, Upfront Ventures has focused on early stage investments since 1996. By using SteelHouse, ecommerce sites can use live data to instantly respond to a customer’s wants and needs for stronger transaction values, increased conversion rates, and an overall better customer experience.

Startup 111

Startup Snapchat Venice Social Media 111

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 9, 2009

We brought together Peter Cowen of Groundwork Equity , Mark Suster of GRP Partners , Rick Smith of Crosscut Ventures , and Richard Yen of Saban Ventures -- all of who will be on the judging panel for the Tech Coast Angel's Fast Pitch on February 24th, to give us a their hints and tips about pitching to venture capitalists.

Tech Coast Angels 100

Tech Coast Angels Ideas Entrepreneur Invest 100

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Bring your products to your Customers, their social network and their influencers with DoTogether Hosted Facebook Applications. An advanced online application platform to promote your reels, customize presentations and accelerate your project collaboration. Panel speakers: Paige Craig , aka.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 24, 2010

Mark Suster , GRP Partners. Bring your products to your Customers, their social network and their influencers with DoTogether Hosted Facebook Applications. An advanced online application platform to promote your reels, customize presentations and accelerate your project collaboration. Panel speakers: Paige Craig , aka.

Social Media 60

Social Media Technical Review Tech Coast Angels Venture Capital 60

SoCal Delicious

MARCH 1, 2010

Mark Suster, a partner at GRP Partners in Los Angeles, spoke with Fastcompany.com about what makes L.A.s Customer Service Workshop Fast Company joins the customer service revolution across the US. startup scene so hot. What makes L.A. a great place for startups? Lets start with the basics. Register Now! Learn more.

Los Angeles 50

Los Angeles Company Companies Angel 50

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Putting customers first. Legendary customer support. Instead of making a few dollars per sale and hoping for thousands of sales, you sell to only a few customers, and charge much higher rates.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 3, 2010

They were grateful for the extra money as their launch was overwhelmingly successful and they had to rapidly hire staff to support customer demand. And then there is GRP Partners. We funded it just before they took the wrappers off of the company. It’s true that some VCs view seed deals as options.

Venture Capital 265

Venture Capital Seed Funding Pricing Invest 265

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 10, 2011

Today I’m announcing that GRP Partners is doubling down on the Twitter ecosystem by investing in DataSift , a company who provides a real-time data platform and tools to third-party developers and corporations. Or the probability of Southern Democrats to buy cable versus satellite or an Android versus an iPhone.

Platform 307

Platform News Startup Invest 307

SoCal CTO

JUNE 14, 2008

Benefit of a proprietary platform can be finding customers. Mark Suster Partner GRP Partners He's an ex-Salesforce.com employee. Stamps.com - two back-ends - mainline service vs. marketing site. Some other points - LAMP,Net, Java - doesn't make much difference. I would tend to agree. AppExchange on Salesforce.

Platform 150

Platform EC2 Java S3 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 1, 2010

In 2006, Steven Dietz, a partner at my firm, GRP Partners, had given me $500,000 in a seed in convertible debt when I started my second company, Koral. GRP Partners had also funded my first company. GRP Partners has created more than a dozen of these so as a firm we know something about creating big companies.

Entrepreneur 321

Entrepreneur GRP Partners Venture Capital Invest 321