What it’s like to raise money when you’re Gwyneth PaltrowIt’s not uncommon for Silicon Valley investors to get a money pitch from a celebrity who moonlights as an entrepreneur: Jessica Alba founded the Honest Company. Brooklyn Decker in recent months has been meeting with venture capitalists on her startup, Finery. And Gwyneth Paltrow has pitched investors on Goop, the easy-to-criticize media and commerce company she launched from her kitchen. So, what’s it like to be pitched by Gwyneth Paltrow? Let’s ask Gwyneth Paltrow. [ Re/Code ] Kleiner Perkins raises $600 million for new fundVenture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers today closed its eighteenth flagship fund with $600 million in capital commitments. Why it matters: Kleiner Perkins is one of the oldest and most successful venture capital firms in Silicon Valley but has undergone significant change, including its growth capital team recently spinning out into an independent firm. [ Axios ] BuzzFeed layoffs show that “winter is here for digital news,” says former NYT editor Jill AbramsonAs she was finishing her new book about the future of the news business, Merchants of Truth, Jill Abramson was calling BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti constantly. “I called him seriously by the week until my galley couldn’t be changed anymore,” she recalled on the latest episode of Recode Media with Peter Kafka. She asked, “‘Are you sure your commitment to news is real and will outlast the publication of my book?’ ... For a while, it looked
like winter is coming. And now, winter clearly is here for digital news operations.” [ Recode ] The CEO behind Bustle and the new Gawker is reportedly making a bid on the remaining Gizmodo Media blogs
Early risers have long been hailed as smarter, more successful, and wildly ambitious. “Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise,” Benjamin Franklin once said. The most lauded of CEOs–PepsiCo’s now former chief executive Indra Nooyi and Apple’s Tim Cook, for example–spring out of bed no later than 4:30 a.m. Lay people, too, sing the praises of the morning hours. “I have some unsolicited work (life?) advice, which is that if you don’t know how to deal with a problem, or a whole host of problems, try getting up obscenely early,” writer Edith Zimmerman penned in The Cut recently. Miki Agrawal's Unapologetic New Book Offers a Glimpse Into the Mind of the Fallen EntrepreneurThe 40-year-old entrepreneur's second book, Disrupt-Her: A Manifesto for the Modern Woman, hit shelves January 29. It is Agrawal's first new project since allegations of sexual misconduct drove her out of the CEO role at her New York City-based "period-proof" underwear startup Thinx in March 2017. Agrawal continues to deny any wrongdoing--and a subsequent investigation commissioned by Thinx found the allegations had "no legal merit." She ended up settling the dispute and a complaint filed with the New York Commission on Human Rights was withdrawn, Jezebel reported in July 2017. [ Inc. ] Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s artist-collaboration platform HitRecord raises $6.4MIn the early 2000s, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt was frustrated with the roles he was being offered. Instead of starring in critically acclaimed indies, he was typecast as “the funny kid on TV” due to roles like Tommyfrom “3rd Rock from the Sun.” So like anyone who matured alongside the internet, he created a website where he could ideate, produce and share his work. More than 10 years later, he wants to turn that pet project, called HitRecord, into a full-fledged technology company. [ Tech Crunch ] In Early-Stage VC, The Coasts Raise The MostIn old-school, brick-and-mortar business, success is all about location, location, location. And what goes for local restaurants and mom and pop shops also applies to the rarified world of venture-backed startups, particularly when it comes to the “venture-backed” part. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that the amount of money an early-stage startup ends up raising will vary depending on a number of factors. Geography is certainly one of them. And, spoiler alert, ventures on the coasts tend to raise more than their land-locked counterparts. But you probably already knew that. [ Crunch base ] LegalTech Companies Snap Up $106M In VC During Active JanuaryFor the second time in two weeks, a company focused on making lawyers’ lives a bit easier has secured venture capital. Yesterday, Ironclad, a San Francisco-based company working on contract management, announced that it raised a $23 million Series B, bringing its total known funding up to $34 million, according to Crunchbase data. [ Crunch base ] This Edtech Company Just Secured $30 Million In Venture Capital And Gives Its Product AwayEvolution Media, the investment arm of the well-known and influential Creative Artists Agency (CAA), has made a $30 million investment in Epic!, a consumer-facing, five-year-old education technology company. It’s interesting that the Evolution investment continues a trend in which the largest portion of education technology capital is aimed at consumers instead of classrooms – accounting for an estimated $3.9 billion of the $9.5 billion invested in edtech in 2017. But two things about the Evolution/Epic! connection are probably even more interesting. [ Forbes ] Isabelle O'Keeffe Suir Valley Ventures at Startup Grind DublinIsabelle O'Keeffe, Principal, Suir Valley Ventures, in conversation with David Scanlon, Co-Director of Startup Grind Dublin. Recorded at Huckletree D2, 28th of January, 2019 Immigration Shifts 2019: Prep & Resources for StartupsFor startups, which rely on a broad set of talent to breakout, immigration is always top of mind -- but especially now, as the policy environment shifts. What are the key trends and shifts (around the shutdown, H-1Bs, RFEs, etc.) to know? In fact, what are the basic visa processes and acronyms founders should be aware of here; and what are the best applications for hiring foreign nationals (including alternatives to the H-1B)? How Northern California’s Reality Distortion Field Is Reflected In Startup FundingThe San Francisco Bay Area may be best understood as one giant reality distortion field. People live on top of earthquake faults. Many are billionaires; the rest barely afford rent. It is always 60 degrees in some microclimate. And every week, another multi-billion-dollar company crops up that sounds either hare-brained, impossibly risky, or both. [ Venture Beat ] San Antonio Venture Capital Firm Announces Debut Fund of $20 MillionA local venture capital firm founded by former Rackspace executives Pat Condon and Pat Matthews and focusing on early-stage tech startups is bringing more than $20 million to entrepreneurs in traditionally unglamorous tech markets, including San Antonio. Active Capital secured its initial installment of $21.5 million in capital to support early-stage software startups. Featuring more than 20 startups throughout the country, Active Capital’s portfolio includes tech firms that sell software to businesses for a subscription rate. Matthews, Active Capital’s CEO, said he and Condon invest in startups with “inspirational founders” developing groundbreaking products. [ Crunch base ] QSBS Tax Factors for Startup Founders, Employees, and Venture Capital InvestorsHank Reiling, one of my favorite professors at HBS, taught his students in his excellent class “Tax Factors in Business Decisions,” that is it best to approach tax law not as simply rules-driven, but to understand the purpose behind the rules. In this case, the goal is clear and noble – to stimulate new investment in startups, and particularly technology startups. The Qualified Small Business Stock (QSBS) tax rules (IRC Section 1202 and related Section 1045) have significant economic benefits for founders, employees, and venture capital investors. We are encouraging all of our portfolio company founders and CEOs to pay special attention to these rules to make sure they understand them so that they can benefit when eligible and avoid disqualifying foot faults. [ Ali Rahimtula ] Infinity Wells and Deep WorkOver the weekend, the NY Times interviewed a classmate of mine from Dartmouth and fellow oarsman on the freshman crew team, Cal Newport, about his book and his idea, Deep Work. Here’s the crux of the idea:
The costs of switching and of interruptions is real. The typical American worker is interrupted every 210 seconds. But half of those interruptions are self-interruptions. If we check our phones every 12 minutes or 70 times per day, the question is how much deep work can we do? [ Tomasz Tunguz ] Courier startup Sendle raises $20 million Series B led by FederationCourier service Sendle has raised $20 million in a Series B round led by Federation, with participation from Full Circle Venture Capital, Rampersand, and Giant Leap Fund. Launched in 2014, Sendle raised a $5 million Series A in 2016. Competing with both established giant Australia Post and a handful of startup competitors, from Zoom2u to GoPeople, Sendle reported that its customer base has grown by over 600 percent in the last two years. [ Startup Daily ] What Makes a Great Leader?It’s very difficult question to answer. How do you judge a leader? Is it financial success? The loyalty they engender? Their ability to inspire? There are war-time leaders and peace-time leaders. Leaders may be understated or zealous. I’m not sure we’ll ever be able to say definitively what constitutes a great leader. Regardless, we all want to improve our ability to lead, whether it’s a small team or a Fortune 500. But how? [ Tomasz Tunguz ] |