LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is undoubtedly one of the Valley’s most prolific angel investors. Hoffman has made angel investments in Digg, One King’s Lane, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga. Last November, Hoffman joined VC firm Greylock as a partner, making all his future angel and seed investments through the VC fund. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, Greylock Partners and Hoffman have announced a $20 million fund solely for seed and angel investments.
Hoffman will be managing partner of the fund, which is called the Greylock Discovery Fund and is part of the VC firm’s 13th fund raised last fall, totaling $575 million. Hoffman and his team will make investments anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 in startups in the technology space. Any Greylock partner can make investments out of the fund, and the investments don’t need to go through the entire partnership approval process.
We are told the funding will be mainly put towards investments that don’t result in a board seat at the company. Hoffman has a great track record of angel investing, making big bets on Zynga, Facebook and more, and Greylock is essentially giving him the opportunity to do what he does best (besides, of course, founding companies like LinkedIn and PayPal).
As super angels (like Hoffman) are now challenging venture capital firms like Greylock, as startups take angel funding, launch without much investment, and don’t reach out to VCs until late in the game when startup valuations are higher and returns are lower.
Because of this pressure, VC firms are starting to respond with their own early stage funds, which is what Greylock is doing with Hoffman. Some venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz make both seed investments as well as larger infusions in startups.
Here are are live notes from the panel:
MA: How did you miss Twitter?
DS: We feel happy about out bets, but feel great for Twitter.
ES: Here’s an example of a a company that didn’t know how big it would be.
DS: That’s a great point; people have said that about LinkedIn, Facebook, Pandora.
ES: Let’s go through some of those.
DS: We spent a o lot of time talking about how to be intelligently contrarian over what we should invest in. Pandora is a great example of this, but now it’s doing great. re: going public-it depends on whether it’s the right time for the company to go public.
RH: You have to think about whether it’s a world class founder, and if you win, is the market place big. When you make early-stage bets, that’s what you are looking at.
MA: What are you looking at now?
RH: I recently invested in Shopkick, when you get deep into shopping experience, Mobile is going to be big. I feel strongly that they will be successful. I think the consumerfication of the enterprise is very interesting.
ES: When you look at the companies you are investing in, are they tackling hard problems?
RH: It’s very difficult to build a service that reaches massive amounts of people.
MA: Can we talk about Cuil? What went wrong?
DS: Can’t say, at the ends of the day we invest in a lot of companies; some do well. You take risks.
MA: Let’s talk about Digg. Which way are they going to go?
DS: I don’t think Digg is happy with how the last launch went off, but they are moving forward. Now can rapidly innovate, even if it’s small changes. You are going to see more and more of that. Matt Williams, who they brought on as CEO, is going to be great for the company.
RH: If you are in motion as a company, this is a good thing.
DS: Everyone hits these trouble points, but it’s how you power through them.
ES: Can you talk about the growth of LinkedIn? What were the inflection points?
RH: In the first year, it was how do we get people to believe in us. How do we make enough money to break even? There is always a serious challenge. Right now, we are focusing on how we provide and convey the business intelligence necessary.
DS: All along the way, pick great partners that will be there through endless battle.
ES: Can you talk about Facebook and LinkedIn?
RH: I believe in different social networks for different parts of your life. What does a connection mean? That’s a differentiating point. Facebook is about the social factor, Zynga games, sharing photos and more.
MA: The idea that people want social networks for different things doesn’t make that much sense. How is LinkedIn managing to stay alive as more use Facebook for resumes etc.
RH: We are growing each month.
You would think that Californians had learned their lesson by now.
Remember Darrell Issa? Issa, who ran against Barbara Boxer in 1998, but lost his party's nomination to Matt Fong, the California Treasurer. In that race, Issa spent $12 million of his own money and, after losing, went on to get elected to the House in 2000. Issa actually stands to become the head of the House Government Operations Committee if Republicans take control of the Congress in he next election.
Issa, you may recall, gave Californians Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor. Issa contributed $1.6 million toward the recall of Gray Davis and presumed he would be his party's nominee to replace Davis. Then, following the recall of Davis, the party tapped Issa on the shoulder and said, "Your work is done." Schwarzenegger became governor. And California, like the rest of the country, sank into even worse economic shape than when Davis was in office.
Now, California Republicans want you to refocus. The man who had no governmental experience whatsoever, yet who went on to become the chief executive, was really a highly successful movie actor with little aptitude for the job. That may not have been the best idea. What California needs now is a businessman. Or businesswoman. Enter Meg Whitman.
Beyond being another figure in a business success story who now believes that power is her next entitlement and governing is the next challenging hobby, Whitman, like Schwarzenegger, has no government experience. That is problematic for two reasons. One is that California is a remarkably diverse state. Its near hemispheric political divide between its northern and southern constituencies makes politics in the state capitol very complicated. In these economic times, to send another candidate to Sacramento who simply mouths that "Government needs to be run like a business" would be disastrous.
The second issue is Whitman's opponent. In my opinion, Jerry Brown is one of the most visionary and dedicated public servants I have ever encountered during my life time. Smart, tough, experienced, committed, Brown wasn't making a fortune for himself these past four decades. He was serving the people of California. The attack ad that Whitman shows of Bill Clinton laying into Brown is unfair, inaccurate and repugnant. Primary races can be bloodier than the general election and Brown versus Clinton exemplifies that. But Clinton is guilty of a bit of hyperbole when he states that Brown spent down California's surplus while in office. The most casual examination of the record shows that, in classic California fashion, a loss of property tax revenues forced Brown to spend a good deal of the state's surplus, but not all of it. Californians, with their preposterous property tax laws, never seem to recognize that a loss of revenue to the counties and/or cities usually spells undue pressure on the state to find that money elsewhere. Even Schwarzenegger, the fitness role model, was reduced to selling state park land to make up for huge gaps in his budget. Clinton in full attack mode is a sight to behold, but not one Californians should base this race on.
In their websites and in their official statements, both Whitman and Brown say the usual things about jobs, taxes and education. But it is in the area of jobs from clean energy technologies and in pension reform that Brown holds the clearest edge. California has, through necessity, been a leader in environmental policy-making. Spend any time in California and see how many hybrid cars are on the road. How many wind turbines are in operation. How much photo-voltaic equipment is already in place. Brown knows that this is just the beginning. Where Whitman and other business types believe that markets themselves will lead us where we need to go, Brown knows that government must lead. The push to bring as much of the American power grid into the renewable market must come from government. The money we spent on Iraq alone might well have begun to solve this problem once and for all.
Whitman the businesswoman lacks the political skill to bring the pension issue into the 21st century. Unions and pensioners must be brought to the table for talks that recognize them as entitled on one hand yet partners with taxpayers on the other. Brown will do that. And he must before the pension problem in California crushes the government into insolvency.
All governments need to be run in a more business-like manner and now more than ever. But government should never literally be run like a business. Business is about cold numbers, strict adherence to bottom lines and the ascent of those with the greatest skills and advantages. Governing requires a humanism that we find largely absent in the business world of today. It calls for skills that the business world often overlooks or shuns. Governing requires the ability not to follow spreadsheets and marketing advice but to weigh all of the relevant information and decide what is best for all of California in both the long and short term.
There is no one better for that job than Jerry Brown.
------
A post script regarding the New York governor's race. Voter dissatisfaction is real and valid. But Palladino versus Cuomo is a nearly impossible distortion of that reality. The difference between Carl Palladino and Andrew Cuomo, in terms of effectiveness, talent and experience, is the between a water pistol and a fire hose. A pea shooter and a cannon. When Eliot Spitzer was elected, a great man became governor. That man faltered and was replaced by an interim governor who has struggled. Now, New Yorkers can return another brilliant, hard-working public servant to the governor's office by electing Andrew Cuomo.
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LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman is undoubtedly one of the Valley’s most prolific angel investors. Hoffman has made angel investments in Digg, One King’s Lane, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga. Last November, Hoffman joined VC firm Greylock as a partner, making all his future angel and seed investments through the VC fund. Today at TechCrunch Disrupt, Greylock Partners and Hoffman have announced a $20 million fund solely for seed and angel investments.
Hoffman will be managing partner of the fund, which is called the Greylock Discovery Fund and is part of the VC firm’s 13th fund raised last fall, totaling $575 million. Hoffman and his team will make investments anywhere from $25,000 to $500,000 in startups in the technology space. Any Greylock partner can make investments out of the fund, and the investments don’t need to go through the entire partnership approval process.
We are told the funding will be mainly put towards investments that don’t result in a board seat at the company. Hoffman has a great track record of angel investing, making big bets on Zynga, Facebook and more, and Greylock is essentially giving him the opportunity to do what he does best (besides, of course, founding companies like LinkedIn and PayPal).
As super angels (like Hoffman) are now challenging venture capital firms like Greylock, as startups take angel funding, launch without much investment, and don’t reach out to VCs until late in the game when startup valuations are higher and returns are lower.
Because of this pressure, VC firms are starting to respond with their own early stage funds, which is what Greylock is doing with Hoffman. Some venture firms like Andreessen Horowitz make both seed investments as well as larger infusions in startups.
Here are are live notes from the panel:
MA: How did you miss Twitter?
DS: We feel happy about out bets, but feel great for Twitter.
ES: Here’s an example of a a company that didn’t know how big it would be.
DS: That’s a great point; people have said that about LinkedIn, Facebook, Pandora.
ES: Let’s go through some of those.
DS: We spent a o lot of time talking about how to be intelligently contrarian over what we should invest in. Pandora is a great example of this, but now it’s doing great. re: going public-it depends on whether it’s the right time for the company to go public.
RH: You have to think about whether it’s a world class founder, and if you win, is the market place big. When you make early-stage bets, that’s what you are looking at.
MA: What are you looking at now?
RH: I recently invested in Shopkick, when you get deep into shopping experience, Mobile is going to be big. I feel strongly that they will be successful. I think the consumerfication of the enterprise is very interesting.
ES: When you look at the companies you are investing in, are they tackling hard problems?
RH: It’s very difficult to build a service that reaches massive amounts of people.
MA: Can we talk about Cuil? What went wrong?
DS: Can’t say, at the ends of the day we invest in a lot of companies; some do well. You take risks.
MA: Let’s talk about Digg. Which way are they going to go?
DS: I don’t think Digg is happy with how the last launch went off, but they are moving forward. Now can rapidly innovate, even if it’s small changes. You are going to see more and more of that. Matt Williams, who they brought on as CEO, is going to be great for the company.
RH: If you are in motion as a company, this is a good thing.
DS: Everyone hits these trouble points, but it’s how you power through them.
ES: Can you talk about the growth of LinkedIn? What were the inflection points?
RH: In the first year, it was how do we get people to believe in us. How do we make enough money to break even? There is always a serious challenge. Right now, we are focusing on how we provide and convey the business intelligence necessary.
DS: All along the way, pick great partners that will be there through endless battle.
ES: Can you talk about Facebook and LinkedIn?
RH: I believe in different social networks for different parts of your life. What does a connection mean? That’s a differentiating point. Facebook is about the social factor, Zynga games, sharing photos and more.
MA: The idea that people want social networks for different things doesn’t make that much sense. How is LinkedIn managing to stay alive as more use Facebook for resumes etc.
RH: We are growing each month.
You would think that Californians had learned their lesson by now.
Remember Darrell Issa? Issa, who ran against Barbara Boxer in 1998, but lost his party's nomination to Matt Fong, the California Treasurer. In that race, Issa spent $12 million of his own money and, after losing, went on to get elected to the House in 2000. Issa actually stands to become the head of the House Government Operations Committee if Republicans take control of the Congress in he next election.
Issa, you may recall, gave Californians Arnold Schwarzenegger as their governor. Issa contributed $1.6 million toward the recall of Gray Davis and presumed he would be his party's nominee to replace Davis. Then, following the recall of Davis, the party tapped Issa on the shoulder and said, "Your work is done." Schwarzenegger became governor. And California, like the rest of the country, sank into even worse economic shape than when Davis was in office.
Now, California Republicans want you to refocus. The man who had no governmental experience whatsoever, yet who went on to become the chief executive, was really a highly successful movie actor with little aptitude for the job. That may not have been the best idea. What California needs now is a businessman. Or businesswoman. Enter Meg Whitman.
Beyond being another figure in a business success story who now believes that power is her next entitlement and governing is the next challenging hobby, Whitman, like Schwarzenegger, has no government experience. That is problematic for two reasons. One is that California is a remarkably diverse state. Its near hemispheric political divide between its northern and southern constituencies makes politics in the state capitol very complicated. In these economic times, to send another candidate to Sacramento who simply mouths that "Government needs to be run like a business" would be disastrous.
The second issue is Whitman's opponent. In my opinion, Jerry Brown is one of the most visionary and dedicated public servants I have ever encountered during my life time. Smart, tough, experienced, committed, Brown wasn't making a fortune for himself these past four decades. He was serving the people of California. The attack ad that Whitman shows of Bill Clinton laying into Brown is unfair, inaccurate and repugnant. Primary races can be bloodier than the general election and Brown versus Clinton exemplifies that. But Clinton is guilty of a bit of hyperbole when he states that Brown spent down California's surplus while in office. The most casual examination of the record shows that, in classic California fashion, a loss of property tax revenues forced Brown to spend a good deal of the state's surplus, but not all of it. Californians, with their preposterous property tax laws, never seem to recognize that a loss of revenue to the counties and/or cities usually spells undue pressure on the state to find that money elsewhere. Even Schwarzenegger, the fitness role model, was reduced to selling state park land to make up for huge gaps in his budget. Clinton in full attack mode is a sight to behold, but not one Californians should base this race on.
In their websites and in their official statements, both Whitman and Brown say the usual things about jobs, taxes and education. But it is in the area of jobs from clean energy technologies and in pension reform that Brown holds the clearest edge. California has, through necessity, been a leader in environmental policy-making. Spend any time in California and see how many hybrid cars are on the road. How many wind turbines are in operation. How much photo-voltaic equipment is already in place. Brown knows that this is just the beginning. Where Whitman and other business types believe that markets themselves will lead us where we need to go, Brown knows that government must lead. The push to bring as much of the American power grid into the renewable market must come from government. The money we spent on Iraq alone might well have begun to solve this problem once and for all.
Whitman the businesswoman lacks the political skill to bring the pension issue into the 21st century. Unions and pensioners must be brought to the table for talks that recognize them as entitled on one hand yet partners with taxpayers on the other. Brown will do that. And he must before the pension problem in California crushes the government into insolvency.
All governments need to be run in a more business-like manner and now more than ever. But government should never literally be run like a business. Business is about cold numbers, strict adherence to bottom lines and the ascent of those with the greatest skills and advantages. Governing requires a humanism that we find largely absent in the business world of today. It calls for skills that the business world often overlooks or shuns. Governing requires the ability not to follow spreadsheets and marketing advice but to weigh all of the relevant information and decide what is best for all of California in both the long and short term.
There is no one better for that job than Jerry Brown.
------
A post script regarding the New York governor's race. Voter dissatisfaction is real and valid. But Palladino versus Cuomo is a nearly impossible distortion of that reality. The difference between Carl Palladino and Andrew Cuomo, in terms of effectiveness, talent and experience, is the between a water pistol and a fire hose. A pea shooter and a cannon. When Eliot Spitzer was elected, a great man became governor. That man faltered and was replaced by an interim governor who has struggled. Now, New Yorkers can return another brilliant, hard-working public servant to the governor's office by electing Andrew Cuomo.
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Glenn Beck vs. Fox <b>News</b>: 'Tension' Between Beck & Network
Glenn Beck appears on the cover of this weekend's New York Times Magazine in a lengthy profile written by Mark Leibovich. In the profile, Leibovich touches on tensions between Beck and Fox News, the network that catapulted him to ...
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