angel-investors

Inside the Media Matters, Clinton, Obama Love Triangle

Maggie · 11/16/07 05:20PM

There were three separate pieces today on "watchdog" website Media Matters complaining about how badly Barack Obama has been manhandled by the press. The first piece takes aim at Good Morning America, the New York Sun and The Politico. The second impugns CNN anchor and debate moderator Suzanne Malveaux, and the third takes a long mean look at by U.S. News & World Report editor David Gergen. Hey, Media Matters, why the crush on Obama?

Ram Shriram made a mint, invests in Mint

Jordan Golson · 10/16/07 12:52PM

Ram Shriram is No. 271 on the Forbes Billionaires list. He's a veteran of Netscape and Amazon, and an investor in StumbleUpon and Google. He owes his place on the list to the latter, where, as an angel investor, he had more shares than anyone besides the company's founders at the time of its IPO. Now he acts as a "sherpa" to young companies, helping guide them to success. He also participated in financial-planning startup Mint's latest round of financing. Mint CEO Aaron Patzer shares a story about Shriram's investing habits after the jump. If you want this guy as your startup sherpa, take notes.

MerchantCircle provides a circle jerk for local businesses

Tim Faulkner · 08/20/07 12:17PM

The first rule of Valleywag: Never pitch Valleywag. But sometimes the temptation just proves too great. In response to a post about Google and Yelp's rivalry in local search, a MerchantCircle employee contacted us to tout the company's supposed leadership in the market, pitching the site for some Valleywag love. Well, here's some tough love. We've looked into MerchantCircle's business model .. and found nothing but self-love.

How funding works: So startups are abandoning venture capital. Why?

Nick Douglas · 11/09/06 02:33PM

An insightful article on "startups on a shoestring" in the New York Times covers the rise of companies running on angel investors, loans, or even credit cards. It's a switch from the more famous method of raising piles of venture capital from a firm. But what does that mean? It means startup founders get to keep more of their money and power.

Yahoo angels buy into Etsy.com

Nick Douglas · 06/06/06 07:20PM

Online boutique Etsy — think of it as a hipper eBay for handmades — would be just another dot-com, except for the familiarity of its funders. VC Fred Wilson names the Etsy angel investors:

Ron Conway, the angel flying a little too close to the sun

ndouglas · 04/10/06 12:25PM

This angel investor's popping up on too many shoulders. Ron Conway, head of Angel Investors, L.P., has been passing his personal investment list — which apparently includes potential investments — to plenty of players in the tech sector. I haven't nabbed a copy yet, but a few too many people have; Ron lately got in trouble with a potential investee.