Backed by nearly $11 million from investors that include Reid Hoffman, Mark Pincus, and Benchmark Capital, San Francisco-based Grockit is teaching kids to study for standardized tests through social games online. It’s the kind of approach that some seasoned educators might sniff at. Yet the educational world is precisely where Farb Nivi, Grockit’s 32-year-old CEO, has spent most of his adult life. Indeed, he believes that schools across the nation are ready for some modernizing, via a “benevolent takeover.” (“Sounds better than a hostile takeover, right?” says Nivi.) Yesterday, Nivi and I talked about Grockit’s origins, how a teacher lands an all-star line-up of investors, and how long it takes to recuperate when you’re knocked from your Vespa by a minivan.
5 min read · 09 January 2010
CEOs tend to get all the credit, but as many of them would likely admit, it’s countless invisible yet talented individuals who make up the vast amount of value in Silicon Valley. Beginning this week, we're hoping to shine a light on some of these unexposed stars through a regular new feature called Behind the Screens. Kicking off the series is 28-year-old Erik “Dutch” Vanbragt, the franchise lead of technology on Mafia Wars, an enormously popular multiplayer browser game from the social networking game company Zynga.
6 min read · 08 January 2010
Last March, the New York Times profiled President Obama’s budget director, Peter Orszag, portraying the self-described “supernerd” as superharried. “At 6 in the morning, Peter R. Orszag is racing across wet pavement for a 35-minute run, into a shower and a suit…”the piece began. Yet Orszag has found time for love. While the New York Post reports tonight that Orszag and venture capitalist Claire Milonas welcomed a "love child" in November, the news isn't entirely happy for Orszag. Why not? The 41-year-old -- who also recently served as director of the Congressional Budget Office and was once among Bill Clinton's economic advisors -- announced his engagement a few weeks ago, and it wasn't to Milonas; he's instead planning to marry ABC News correspondent Bianna Golodryga.
2 min read · 07 January 2010
By now, everyone knows that Apple recently agreed to plunk down $275 million for mobile ad startup Quattro Wireless. The deal comes less than two months after Google snatched up AdMob, a Quattro competitor that, like Quattro, was formed in late 2006 and, like Quattro, had once had acquisition discussions with Apple -- reportedly fairly involved ones at that. (Unsurprisingly, the $750 million in stock that Google put on the table was a little too rich for AdMob to resist.) What might interest followers of the mobile ad industry is that Quattro, which had raised just under $30 million over three rounds, was in the market for another $10 million to $15 million as recently as early November. The reason: while the mobile market opportunity is huge, Quattro was slated to see just $18 million in revenue in 2009, with a revenue target of $36 million in 2010. (This according to a trusted source who met with the company recently but, sadly, I didn't see until today.)
1 min read · 06 January 2010
They aren’t exactly Ernst Stavro Blofelds, stroking white cats at their desks, but VCs are assiduously planning how best to capitalize on the Consumer Electronics Show coming up this weekend in Sin City. The investors’ strategies vary, though one thing is clear: a growing number of them seems prepared to kick software to the curb if the right hardware opportunity comes along. Here’s a snapshot: Howard Morgan, founding partner at First Round Capital "This will be my 28th year at CES, and this year in particular we’re looking for Web connectivity devices, along with any interesting software pieces to exploit that connectivity, such as Blu-ray allows between different things like TV sets and mobile devices.
4 min read · 06 January 2010
3 min read · 05 January 2010
First it was the rakish Winklevoss twins, suing Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg for purportedly making off with intellectual property from their startup, ConnectU. (Last year, after a protracted battle, the brothers squeezed a $65 million cash and stock settlement out of the social networking giant.) Now, an old business associate of the Winklevoss bros is coming after his own piece of their windfall settlement, reports CNet’s Caroline McCarthy. According to a December 21 court complaint, programming whiz Wayne Chang states that he retains a 15% stake in the Winklevoss’s now-defunct company, and he wants to see some money.
2 min read · 04 January 2010
Investor, entrepreneur and uber-promoter Jason Calacanis is using the New Year as reason to blast his friends, colleagues and followers with an exhaustive list of the tech products he uses -- all of which he says he is trying to invest in. Calacanis says in a related aside that he’s trying to become the “most sought-after angel investor on the planet.” He writes: “It's a lofty goal and it's going to create a massive amount of conflict for me as an pundit, but you know what they say: no conflict, no interest." (No false modesty, either, apparently.) If you’re interested, here are the three technologies Calacanis loved most in 2009, in his own words. It’s a good list, though reading number two, you have to feel pretty alarmed for anyone who lives in or visits the Calacanis home(!):
3 min read · 04 January 2010
Happy New Year, peHUB readers! As many of you know, I’ve been away on maternity leave over the last five months. It’s been joyously fulfilling, though I’m also very happy to be back at work, especially after the last couple of weeks. (I love the holidays, but let’s face it: when they involve small children, they age you. I’m still exhausted.) I promised to give complete attention to my family over these last months, which means I’m a little behind on life in the Valley. I’ve taken notice of some of this fall’s biggest stories -- Michael Arrington smacking down OfferPal for its shadier advertisements on social gaming platforms, the Canopy Financial debacle, etc. --but I’d love your help in getting caught up on what’s what. If you’re a VC or entrepreneur in the Bay Area and want to grab coffee or to just give me a call to discuss story ideas, trends, or, ahem, gossip, I’d love to hear from you at connie.loizos@thomsonreuters.com. Much thanks, and here’s to a happy, prosperous, and action-packed 2010!
1 min read · 04 January 2010
The National Venture Capital Association just published a dozen videos offering an overview of various aspects of the industry to better educate Tim Geithner -- I mean, anyone wanting to better understand the origins of venture capital and "the unique relationship between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs." I just watched a handful of these roughly minute-long montages and found several of them interesting. Others, particularly those featuring some of the biggest, and earliest, names in the business -- including Bill Draper (Draper and Johnson, Draper Richards), Pete Bancroft (Bessemer), and Pitch Johnson (Draper and Johnson, Asset Management Co.) -- also reminded me of all the great hair in the venture business.
1 min read · 08 August 2009
