At this point, it’s like shooting very large fish in a very small barrel to mock startup music videos. Everyone keeps doing them, and they’re always awful. But this latest installment from 500 Startups is probably–though it strains belief!–the worst yet.
We never thought we’d say this, but shouldn’t you guys be working on your pitch decks or something? Read More
So the tech world likes incubators. Indeed, even as new players enter the field, there are signs that the incubator model is bursting at the seams. Y Combinator downsized to less than 50 companies in its most recent class, from 84 last summer. When 500 Startups decided to establish a base in New York, it opted for a coworking space instead of an incubator. TechStars keeps growing, but its most recently announced additions have been abroad or in more narrowly-defined niches. Read More
Earlier this afternoon, Gawker republished photos and a video of AlphaBoost CEO Matt Monahan drunk and naked during a vacation to India. The escapades were originally shared by Jesse Thomas founder of JESS3, a social media advertising firm.
Venture-backed startup founders are fond of booze-soaked jaunts to unwind from the pressure of crushing it, celebrating a big milestone, or just because they can afford to. The difference here is that Mr. Thomas graduated from ill-advised Instagram shots of popping bottles to sharing a video and photos of a stark naked Mr. Monahan cavorting on the beach, somewhere approaching blackout drunk.
And that Mr. Monahan got caught on tape at the same time that he’s trying to sell his company. Read More
Goooood Morning Silicon Alley!
This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.
First things first: Stop reading this and go watch “House of Cards” on Netflix. Yup, it’s that good. You’re welcome!
Back? Okay! Hope y’all survived the weekend #snow-pocalypse (a.k.a. Nemo) and had a blast sledding in the park, hurling snowballs at each other and making elaborate snow sculptures. Here’s an awesome Vine mashup of the storm that my friends Kelsey and Steve made.
Now that you’ve had your winter fun, it’s time to get ready for spring. And that can only mean one thing: internships! That’s right. It’s that time of the year again, when bright-eyed young kids will be running around your offices eager to learn the ropes, change the world, and…err… get you your early-morning fix of decaf-grande-mocha-soy lattes. So, who’s looking for interns? Everybody, that’s who! Squarespace, Metamorphic Ventures, UrbanDaddy, HowAboutWe, ff Ventures, MoviePass, Birchbox, Artsicle, Learnvest and many, many more. Read More
Shai Goldman, a venture partner at 500 Startups, recently announced another sign of the seed stage fund’s growing interest in New York City–besides poaching a Silicon Alley stalwart like Mr. Goldman, of course. This February, the firm plans on opening a coworking office at 28th Street and Park Avenue in the Flatiron, not far from General Assembly.
500 Startups is known for its global focus. The only physical space the firm had up until New York was a corporate office in Mountain View, “which is where we run our accelerator throughout the year,” Mr. Goldman told Betabeat by phone. But 500 Startups opted for a different route here. Read More
The moment you’ve all been waiting for is briskly approaching. Though the much-maligned Start-Ups: Silicon Valley reality show doesn’t premiere until Monday November 5th at 10 p.m., Bravo has begun publishing clips to its website in order to sate our boundless curiosity. AllThingsD picked up on the two drama-filled scenes, one of which features 500 Startups cofounder and noted giver of zero fucks Dave McClure. Read More
Got a bunch of stuff hanging in your closet you’re no longer thrilled with? Well, the Los Angeles-based marketplace Tradesy wants to help you out–and the company has just raised a $1.5 million round to do just that. Participants include Rincon Venture Partners, 500 Startups’ Dave McClure, DailyCandy founder Dany Levy, Daher Capital, Bee Partners, Double M Capital and Launchpad LA.
The site is the second project from Tracy DiNunzio, who previously started RecycledBride, a marketplace for wedding-related resale. But she wanted to do something broader all along, she told Betabeat. Read More
Goodness, the early-stage scene in New York City sure is getting crowded. Pretty soon investors are going to have to start throwing them ‘bows if they want to get past their competitors and reach the most promising founding teams for so much as a hi-how-are-you chat.
The news today, via TechCrunch: Dave McClure’s 500 Startups has just announced the addition of two “amazing geeks” to the team: Shai Goldman here in New York, and Pankaj Jain in India. They’ll be venture partners, focused on making deals in their respective locations. Read More
We’ve got to hand it to 500 Startups founder Dave McClure: dude sure knows how to make a point. GeekWire reported yesterday that at the GROW business conference in Vancouver, Mr. McClure went on an obscenity-laced tirade against VCs, calling them “insufferable, arrogant, fucking assholes.” Whoa, what’s the punishment for investor-on-investor crime? Read More
The 500 Startups accelerator program is poised to launch with a new round of early-stage companies hoping for some VC TLC, which is all well and good until you see the YouTube video they shot to announce the beginning of the new program. Read More
