Entrepreneurs

CircleUp: Crowdfunding for the 1 percent

The idea of helping businesses raise money through crowdfunding didn't start when the JOBS Act began to get traction. Over at CircleUp, which is launching today, the thinking is that the JOBS Act changes things, but "not as much as a lot of people think." At least according to CEO Ryan Caldbeck.

But then CircleUp isn't a crowdfunding site for everyone. Instead, it's a service to help accredited investors -- people with incomes more than $200,000 a year or a net worth of more than $1 million -- find nonpublic companies to invest in. … Read more

Who says Silicon Valley forgets you if you're over 40?

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--It's nearly 10 a.m. in the City Council chambers here, and 43 people are waiting for their turn to speak.

These are not citizens with civic matters on their minds; divided into two lines that stretch out from either side of the podium in the center of the room, these veterans of Google, Cisco, NASA, Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo, Microsoft, Boeing, Sun, and others, are here looking for a new lease on their professional lives.

One by one, they lean into the microphone to introduce themselves. They mention where they've worked in the past, list their skills, … Read more

Dave McClure's 500 Startups raising $50M fund

Dave McClure, one of the most active early stage investors in Silicon Valley, is trying to add to his arsenal.

McClure's incubator and seed fund, 500 Startups, revealed today in an SEC filing that it's raising a new fund. The target size for the new fund: $50 million fund. That's not a lot for a VC fund, but for a fund like McClure's it represents a lot of investments. He plows an average of $50,000 into about two startups a week. To date, 500 Startups has made about 260 investments, including Twillio, Hipster and Udemy.… Read more

Zite launches platform to highlight partners' stories

Aiming to work more closely with top-tier publishers, the popular news reader Zite today unveiled a platform that will prominently highlight stories from its media partners.

Zite, which works on iOS and Android devices, is built around the concept of giving people personalized news in discrete subject sections like "technology," "politics," "sports," and so on. People can choose as many sections as they like, and stories are algorithmically curated at least in part based on people's feedback about whether they do or don't like stories, publications, and even individual authors.

Now, with … Read more

Pinterest: Now with executive drama!

When a startup is hot, there's often drama -- and now the startup world wants to know what exactly is going on at Pinterest, the virtual pinboard site that has quickly become a phenomenon.

One of the company's three co-founders, Paul Sciarra, is on his way out of the company, according to Startup Grind. There is speculation that Sciarra will join a venture capital firm.

What's it mean for millions of Pinterest fans? Most like, not a thing.

The man who's the public face of Pinterest, Ben Silbermann, will now officially become the CEO, and the … Read more

CNET's live event: A good time to start a business? (video)

We hosted a panel last week at CNET's San Francisco headquarters with three top investors who shared their take on booming tech startup world and, more importantly, what they're looking for among the throngs of people trying to create next big thing.

So is the opportunity big now for budding entrepreneurs?

"Hell, yeah," said the Dave McClure of 500 Startups (beginning around 1:45).

George Zachary, with the VC firm Charles River Partners, said the "tension in the air is definitely higher" as his inbox is filling up faster and faster with eager pitches … Read more

SecondMarket confirms layoffs

SecondMarket confirmed today that it has executed a round of layoffs in response to the impending Facebook IPO. CNET first broke news of layoffs at the online private equity market yesterday.

Although we previously reported that the layoffs would affect over 20 percent of its staff, SecondMarket now tells us that the number is closer to 10 percent.

While we were unable to obtain a comment yesterday, a SecondMarket representative said this in an official statement:

In a post-Facebook market world, we have decided to eliminate some positions that are no longer core to our company's long-term mission. We … Read more

Another sign Facebook IPO's getting close

Facebook's upcoming monster-size IPO has led to plenty of speculation -- about demand for the stock, about what it will mean for Facebook, about how it might drive up the valuations of the zillions of startups hoping to ride the Facebook exuberance wave.

And, more to the point, about just when exactly it will happen.

For all you tea-leaf readers out there, clues abound, and I'm here to offer up some fresh ones. Check out the video clip below from a panel I hosted here at CNET headquarters last night with three big startup investors: Dave McClure of … Read more

VC: There's no Series A crunch, there's a 'seed glut'

SAN FRANCISCO--An article last fall suggesting investment was getting scarce for early stage startups stirred a major commotion in Silicon Valley. But one of the Valley's most prolific investors said tonight that the real issue is there are simply too many companies getting seed funding.

At the inaugural CNET Community Series event here this evening, Naval Ravikant, the founder and CEO of AngelList, rejected the notion that there is a so-called Series A crunch, saying instead that there is a "seed glut."

During the panel on "Startup Funding: Strategies and Opportunities" hosted by CNET's … Read more