marc

For Salesforce.com co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff, business is more than creating disruptive technologies and changing business models. It's also about helping other people. He has been true to his word in donating $100 million to build a children's hospital in San Francisco, and the company's philanthropic arm has given more than $40 million in grants over the last 13 years.

But Benioff isn't all about helping other people. In a panel discussion prior to his interview at TechCrunch Disrupt with angel investor and TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, the CEOs from Asana, Box … Read more

See that image above? That's a plain old giant banner ad grabbed from my Facebook page. It appeared after I logged out. Facebook actually calls them "Logged Out" ads. It rolled them out in February when it was trying to show Madison Avenue it was serious about brand advertising in advance of its IPO.

A social ad? Sort of, I guess. It wants me to "like" it to get an insurance quote. But make no mistake: While Facebook can come up with whatever terminology it wants, this is the sort of ad that Mark Zuckerberg … Read more

Never mind the slew of economic concerns -- hell, make that catastrophic concerns -- hanging over the world. Silicon Valley is riding high. And no venture firm is leading the charge harder than Andreessen Horowitz.

The company started three years ago this month by longtime business partners Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz (first Netscape, then LoudCloud and Opsware). They've since raised $2.7 billion and have backed 150 companies, including newly-public Facebook, Zynga and Groupon, as well as hot private companies such as Pinterest and AirBnb. Earlier this month, Andreessen Horowitz made a $100 million bet on GitHub, a … Read more

It's been more than a week since Facebook's blockbuster acquisition of Instagram, and many people are still confused about the deal. It's understandable -- the $1 billion acquisition happened in the span of 48 hours between two CEOs rather than over the course of weeks between two armies of lawyers.

Facebook and Instagram consistently defy convention though, and that's one of many things you need to understand about both companies -- they are anomalies rather than the norm, even in the fast-paced world of tech startups.

I've seen countless reporters and bloggers question the valuation (… Read more

At least one person didn't seem to have a good time at Apple's iPad event yesterday.

Salesforce's outspoken CEO Marc Benioff let loose with a barrage of nasty tweets as he watched Apple executives demo the company's latest iPad.

Benioff started kvetching even before the main event took place, tweeting that he was in the cheap seats listening to horrible pop music. After tweeting some of the facts and figures touted by Apple CEO Tim Cook, Benioff apparently wasn't impressed with the new Apple TV, tweeting that "We all hope we're not here … Read more

Mark Ecko beefs up its Unltd.Sound series of streetwear headphones with two new over-ears blasted with bright colors.

The company today announced the Exhibit headphones that make bold statements in green, blue, red, gray, and white. The guts feature standard 40mm drivers but the presser makes no mention of an in-line remote control to control music on smartphones, which sounds irritating for users that prefer to keep their devices in a backpack or tucked away in a pocket.

The bright designs of the Exhibit headphones are inspired and extended to Ecko's matching CE accessories that include a range … Read more

The team of Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, a duo since the go-go Netscape days of the mid-1990s, is on fire.

Today, their 3-year-old venture capital firm, Andreessen Horowitz, announced that it has closed its third fund--this one, $1.5 billion, brings the total amount they've raised to $2.7 billion, which isn't bad for a time when VC returns have been lackluster, at best.

Andreessen Horowitz now has stakes in 90 consumer and enterprise businesses, including some of the hottest names in tech: Zynga, Facebook, Twitter, Airbnb, Foursquare, Box, Groupon, Fab, Uber, and on and on. … Read more

One of Silicon Valley's most successful venture capital firms could become quite a bit richer if rumors that its founder is trying raise $1.5 billion are true.

The New York Times reported today that one of tech's most influential investors, Marc Andreessen, is looking to raise $1.5 billion for his Andreessen Horowitz investment firm. According to the Times, if Andreessen comes up with the funds, it could more than double the firm's assets. Right now, Andreessen Horowitz has $1.2 billion distributed between three funds.

Since launching in 2009, Andreessen Horowitz has been one of … Read more

LightSquared today appointed Marc Montagner, a veteran of major telecommunications deals, to the role of chief financial officer.

Montagner's appointment may signal LightSquared's willingness to strike a deal or partnership. One of Montagner's prior roles was the head of merger-and-acquisition activities for Sprint, helping to usher in the $70 billion merger with Nextel back in 2005. He was also co-head of Banc of America Securities' telecom, media and technology merger group.

Montagner had been executive vice president of sales, marketing, and strategy at SkyTerra, which was absorbed by LightSquared in 2010. LightSquared plans to take advantage of … Read more