For VentureBeat, a profitable display of excess
This is what I remember from last night's VentureBeat party: A social network for golfers announced a round of funding at the event. A social network for golfers? Is this what blogging has come to, I asked founder Matt Marshall. He gamely held his ground and ducked the question. As Kara Swisher documented in the clip above, VentureBeat's party at the Ambassador in San Francisco was a bubbly affair, packed wall to wall with free drinks for all comers — until the bar turned cash. That kept the event, paid for by sponsors, profitable, Marshall explained. I'm glad the blog bought me a drink. I needed it when I ran into Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster later that evening. He was perfectly civil, but it's disconcerting to talk to a man to whom one only comes up to clenched-fist level.