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.

So last week I did this blog post highlighting The 16 SXSW Parties You Really, Really Don’t Want to Miss. And I got a ton of email from you guys & gals saying a) “Thank you, you’re a life saver!” and b) “We want more, more, MOARRR!”

For the hardcore partier, I’ve put together the ULTIMATE Guide to all the SXSW Parties (a whopping 300+ and counting!). Print this out before your trip and you’re golden, my friend. And as you can see, there’re a ton of events that don’t even require a SXSW badge. 

For the rest of you, here are 16 More SXSW Parties that have the Gary Stamp of Approval. You’re welcome, my little tech monsters! Now go forth and RSVP away. Oh and next week when you're walking around in downtown Austin, if you notice a guy with a big 'fro in a black suit, white shirt and a Red Tie (with ads all over it), come over and say hello!

Btw, I have 2 FREE Passes to the much anticipated Rovio (Angry Birds) Pool Party! :) Its on Mar 11 @ Ashton Austin. The Mighty Eagle will be there (of course). There will be music and BBQ! I hear Rovio may be showcasing something new. Each Pass is good for 1 person + 1 guest. Interested? Apply Here.

I've also been told that there will be #BrilliantBrew Coffee Trucks from-the-future driving around, housing GE's Barista Bots that will print portraits of coffee drinkers into the foam of their latte using face-detection software! Craazzzy huh? You can find them parked on the corner of Trinity & 3rd (Mar 8), outside the Made in NY event (Mar 9), 101 Red River (Mar 10) and 301 E Cesar Chavez (Mar 11).

If you've ever wondered whether you have what it takes to become a performer on Cirque du Soleil (sure, why not), then check out their party on the 15th where their talent scouts will be present. Also, Livefyre's SXSW NewsHub will be curating tweets & photos in real-time from the hottest panels and parties.

And now--drumroll please--16 *MORE* SXSW Parties that you really, really, reeeaally don’t wanna miss… ;)

Mobi + Verizon SXSW Kickoff Party
Lots of food and refreshments, including authentic Austin BBQ, as well as live music with a scenic view!
Thursday (Mar 07), 4 p.m. @ One American Center, 600 Congress Ave, Ste 1600

Sake Bomb Party!
Sake Shot Bar, Ty Ku Premium Sake Tastings, Free Kenichi Appetizers, Beer & Cocktails and Live D.J.
Friday (Mar 08), 10 p.m. @ Kenichi, 419 Colorado St

Happy Hour at the Hackers Hostel, Presented by WeHostels
Happy Hour of handcrafted cocktails and a live jazz band!
Saturday (Mar 09), 5 p.m. @ Firehouse Hostel & Lounge, 605 Brazos St, Ste 100

Awesomest Journalism Party. Ever. III.
Featuring awesome Texas food, awesome Texas beer and an awesome photobooth from SnapFiesta
Saturday (Mar 09), 5 p.m. @ The Palm Door, 401 Sabine St

ff Massive Party
Come meet ff Venture's portfolio companies, founders, & execs. Featuring: live music & an open bar.
Saturday (Mar 09), 6 p.m. @ Empire Automotive, 604 E 7th St

TechStars Conquers SXSW 2013
DJs Fubari (TechStars' own Ari Newman), [Whoop Whoop/Cabin Fever], Part Time Chiller [CHNL - LA], and John Wander [CHNL, Roam Music LA] will be dropping beats all night long!
Saturday (Mar 09), 8 p.m. @ Cedar St Courtyard, 208 West 4th St

House Party!
Featuring DJ Sets by Viceroy with Sean Glass. Sponsored by Dos Equis and Patron XO Cafe. In partnership with Thrillist, Wired, Track, Cameo and small Girls PR!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9 p.m. @ CTC House & Garden, 1102 E Cesar Chavez St

Pop! In & Party with PayPal
Performances by Man Man, The Octopus Project and Belaire. Plus an epic Superhero surprise!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9 p.m. @ Mohawk, 912 Red River St

MRY SXSW Launch Party
2 DJ's, including LA Riots, Food by one of Austin's best, East Side King, Fire Troupe, Ice Louge, Go-Go Dancers, and a few more surprises!
Saturday (Mar 09), 9:30 p.m. @ The Belmont, 305 West 6th St

Gannett Media Lounge #GANNETTLOUNGE
Houndstooth Coffee, Peached Tortilla Breakfast Tacos, Salt Lick BBQ Lunch
Sunday (Mar 10), 9 a.m. @ Hangar Lounge, 318 Colorado St

Livefyre Presents: SXSW13 Fyrebash
3 live acts - Vacationer, (Brooklyn-based) Body Language and The Hood Internet. Open Bar.
Sunday (Mar 10), 8 p.m. @ TenOak, 409 Colorado St

The Crowdtap VIP Party III - The Legendary Cant Miss Party of SXSWi
With White Panda, Radical Something, Little Daylight, VJ Culture and NYC's top DJ Vikas. Open bar and year two of the Battle of Austin's Best Food Trucks!
Sunday (Mar 10), 8:30 p.m. @ Haven, 409 Colorado St

Spotify House
Daily live performances, artist DJ sets, local food truck flavors, ping-pong, photobooth, giveaways and more!
Monday (Mar 11), 12 p.m. @ Spotify House, 1010 E Cesar Chavez

The Barbarian Group + Vimeo present No Way Back
3 stages featuring no less than 15 illustrious band performances, over the top DJ sets + mind melting visuals!
Monday (Mar 11), 6 p.m. @ Mohawk, 912 Red River St

Geeks from Gangnam
Seven startups from Korea will be there. Live musical performances by popular Korean bands Galaxy Express and Goonam. Free drinks and delicious appetizers!
Monday (Mar 11), 6:30 p.m. @ Moonshine Bar & Grill, 303 Red River St

GroupMe Major Rager 3D
Performances by RAC, Tim Sweeney & Viceroy.
Monday (Mar 11), 8 p.m. @ Cedar Street Courtyard, 208 W 4th St

BONUS #1
#Secret_Wine_Party with Gary Vaynerchuk (Wine Library, Vayner Media and Author of Thank You Economy)
I can’t say when. I can’t say where. But if you follow @garyvee, All shall be clear!

BONUS #2
Conduit Corner will be playing host to a bunch of happy hours (There'll be drinks, backrubs, munchies & much more)! With Internet Week NY & StartOut (Mar 8), Tracx (Mar 9), SF Music Tech (Mar 10), Warner Brothers (Mar 12), BandPage (Mar 13) and Sweet Relief (Mar 13).
Friday (Mar 8) to Wednesday (Mar 13) @ Conduit Corner, E 7th St and N Congress Avenue

BONUS #3
#FEED Flavorpill Sanctuary Pwd By Windows 8
Yoga, cycling, bootcamp, massage, juice w/ CRUNCH, CYC Fitness, BLUEPRINT, KIND Breakfast.
Friday (Mar 9) to Tuesday (Mar 12), 9 a.m. @ AMOA Arthouse @ Jones Center, 700 Congress Ave

BONUS #4
Cats Live Here Happy Hour
And if you like watching cat videos online (and srsly who doesn't), you're gonna like this one.
Animal Planet & the Walker Art Center bring you cat-themed cocktails, live music
 and a first look at the upcoming season of "My Cat From Hell." Plus, catch a sneak peek of the all-new "Henri" video!

Don’t forget – What Happens At SXSW… Is Gonna Be All Over Twitter ;)

There's a stylish skeleton just outside the frame, btw.

When Betabeat arrived downtown at a hulking brownstone bathed in red light with a double-digit Fifth Avenue address, there was already a line out the door. We were promptly assigned a pink wristband and told to head downstairs, where we discovered we'd be attending three classes over the course of the evening: Poker, music, and arts and crafts. So educational!

We'd arrived for the launch party of Experiences by GroupMe.* The company got its start with a group messaging service (which it parlayed into an $80 million acquisition by Skype) but recently expanded into the new group purchasing service, which allows numerous people to sign up for suggested events simultaneously and still split the bill.

The venue: the Salmagundi, an arts club founded in the mid-nineteenth century. GroupMe had conspired with event designer Adam Aleksander to send the service into the world in grand style. The suggested dress code was "elegant cocktail attire," but budget Kardashian would have to do for this reporter.

A quick look-see around the first floor uncovered a table full of tater tots and grilled cheese sandwiches, a bar handing out mint juleps, and a photo booth involving major costumes. The elegant Gilded Age interiors had been swathed in Christmas lights and streamers of varying shades.

Downstairs, we were met by Jeffrey, identifiable as a chaperone thanks to his blue-and-white striped tie. He explained that, over the course of the next hour and a half, we'd be shepherded to three different experiences. But he refused to divulge too many details about what each would entail, other than to say our first experience would be a poker lesson from underground champ Haroon (just the one name, like Cher).

There were about twenty people assigned to our particular group, including the cofounders of Small Girls PR, Mallory Blair and Bianca Caampued, Pushd founder Chris Carella and the cofounder of GroupMe himself, Steve Martocci. 

Unfortunately, it turned out that twenty minutes wasn't really enough to teach a room full of people of varying skill levels much about poker. Mr. Martocci's companion Kelsey gamely questioned Haroon about the ins and outs of the game. But the crowd didn't light up until our instructor mentioned something that sound an awful lot like venture capital. To wit: Sometimes an investor of sorts will pay his tournament entrance fees, in exchange for 50 percent of any winnings.

"You should get angel investors," suggested Ms. Blair with a cheeky grin. Another man asked about ROI, then yelled, "AngelList for poker!" Mr. Martocci swiveled around to inform him that poker players are notoriously bad bets and their backers therefore subject to even more significant reversals of fortune than the average early-stage VC.

Soon enough however, bells were ringing throughout the house and it was time for our music class. As we headed up the stairs, Mr. Martocci stopped to chat with someone who'd just been in a tango class and "crushed it." A glance at the map revealed that, elsewhere in the club, there were classes in etiquette, billiards, and other such arts. It was all a little bit like adult education crossed with one of those evenings of amusement that're always happening in Jane Austen novels and Anne of Green Gables.

The author's own Shrinky Dink. (Traced, naturally.)

We arrived upstairs to find musician Todd Reynolds waiting at the head of a small, claustrophobic room full of folding chairs, violin in hand and an iPad stationed on his music stand. Once the seats filled in, Mr. Reynolds picked up his violin and launched into an impromptu performance in which he used his electronic setup to layer sound upon sound, until there seemed to be an entire orchestra right there with us in the tiny room.

But it was the last of the evening's activities--the least in keeping with the Sleep No More styling and the swanky attire--that inspired the most apparent delight: making shrinky dinks in a brightly light arts and crafts room. A room full of suddenly gleeful adults each took a piece of plastic and began drawing, finally waiting politely in line to shrink them in toaster ovens.

That concluded the program for the evening, though the party was scheduled to last for another two hours. Attendees dispersed accordingly to their activities of choice, to the photobooth and the dance floor--though the Shrinky Dink room remained popular as this reporter saw herself out.

*Disclosure.

Jordan Cooper, left, and Ben Lerer (Photo: via The Pitch)

Roughly a year-and-a-half after closing its second $25 million seed stage fund, Lerer Ventures is in the processing of raising money for a third. An SEC filing, first noted by TechCrunch, says the size of the round is $30 million.

Although the Form D indicates that the early-stage venture capital firm has yet to sell, expect the round to close quickly.

Last May, it only took Lerer Ventures "a matter of weeks" to raise that $25 million from individuals and family offices. And that was before the highly-regarded New York City firm--launched by Huffington Post cofounder (and Betaworks and Buzzfeed chairman) Ken Lerer and his son Ben Lerer, cofounder of Thrillist--boasted a handful of exits. 

Indeed, Lerer Ventures, whose team also includes partners Jordan Cooper and Eric Hippeau as well as advisors Jonah Peretti and  Christopher Poole, aka Moot, has been humming along since last August when portfolio company GroupMe*, a group messaging service, was acquired by Skype for $41 million.

In February, Groupon purchased Mr. Cooper's startup Hyperpublic-- an open database of location-based info on people, places, and things--which was funded by Lerer Ventures. This March, AOL purchased the photo sharing app Hipster. In July, Airbnb acqui-hired DailyBooth, the startup that lets you share webcam photos. And last month, Venmo, the mobile payments startup, was acquired by Braintree for $26.2 million.

Thrive Capital*, helmed by Josh Kushner, also recently a new $150 million fund after a number of exits, including GroupMe.

SEC regulations prohibit discussing private placements while fundraising is still in progress, but we will update you when we know more. In the meantime, please enjoy the odd couple stylings of Mr. Lerer and Mr. Cooper, courtesy of Betabeat's 2011 web series, The Pitch.

The Pitch, Episode 1 from Spinks on Vimeo.

*Disclosure

(Photo: Crunchbase)

Thrive Capital, the New York-based venture capital firm helmed by 26-year-old Josh Kushner*, announced today that it has successfully raised a $150 million fund for early and later stage startups. The news comes almost a year to the day after Thrive announced a $40 million raise from investors like Princeton University. The fresh $150 million comes from a slew of some of the same investors, including Princeton, Wellcome Trust and Hall Capital Partners.

Thrive has backed many of New York's recent notable startup exits. The firm was an investor in Instagram, purchased by Facebook for $1 billion; Hot Potato, also purchased by Facebook for around $10 million; and GroupMe, purchased by Skype for more than $50 million.

The current Thrive portfolio reads like a who's who in New York tech: the company is also an investor in Pinterest competitor The Fancy, flash sales site Fab and e-commerce glasses hub Warby Parker.

“Many see the way the Internet has already transformed our daily lives and conclude that most of the change that was going to happen already has.” Mr. Kushner told The New York Times. “I am of the belief that it is only the beginning.”

*Disclosure: Thrive Capital is invested in several start-up companies. Josh Kushner, a Thrive principal, is also part-owner of Observer Media Group, which owns Betabeat. Betabeat has no affiliation with Thrive Capital and the views expressed in Betabeat do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Thrive Capital or its principals.

No smiley face for Groupie.

Last week, GroupMe*, the popular group messaging app acquired by Skype in late August--filed a complaint in Southern District of New York against Groupie, another New York City-based startup. Their stated motive: to “remove the ‘cloud’ of uncertainty” around the GroupMe trademark.

In the filing, GroupMe stops just short of calling Groupie a trademark troll. Funny, we're more accustomed to hearing about the patent kind.  

Groupie, which was founded in 2008, is also a group messaging app. However, Groupie is more narrowly focused around connecting users by interests and hobbies and only works on the iPhone. It does not appear to have raised any outside financing. Last year, Groupie claimed 60,000 users who sent more than 1 million in-app messages daily. GroupMe, on the other hand, which was founded in 2010 and works on multiple platforms, recently expanded in the events space. GroupMe also raised $11.5 million before its acquisition and, according to the court documents, currently has 4.6 million users who send an average of 550 million messages per month.

In May 2009, Groupie trademarked its name as a “computer application software for mobile phones,” and "challenged" GroupMe's attempt to trademark "GroupMe" last year.

The new court documents, which were first picked up by The Next Web, allege that GroupMe's "perceived 'deep pockets' and rapid success have caused it to become unfairly targeted and wrongfully accused of trademark infringement" by Groupie. The filing goes on to say that Groupie has "threatened" GroupMe with "infringement liability if it does not acquiesce to an outrageous payout, it has also initiated a media blitz against [GroupMe] through which it has contacted countless reporters and bloggers in the technology sector," in order to get the press to write about Groupie challenging GroupMe over trademark infringement.

It's been almost a year since we last heard of this dispute. In fact, early last August, before the Skype acquisition was announced, Groupie reached out to Betabeat over this alleged infringement. As we noted at the time, we had never heard of Groupie until they contacted us. Tech blogs like GigaOm and Business Insider also picked up the story and GigaOm's post was syndicated to the New York Times. Oddly enough, however, there doesn't appear to have been any coverage of the dispute since last August. Even then, it seemed to quickly fade from the public eye . . . until last week's filing.

In the lawsuit, which was filed July 11th, GroupMe requested declarations from the court that there is "no likelihood of confusion" between the GroupMe mark and the Groupie mark. GroupMe is also seeking a declaration that it has not violated any trademark of Groupie's.

The filing goes on to request that Groupie's trademark registration be cancelled because it is "merely descriptive." (Trademark rights are not granted to descriptive marks, only distinctive ones.)

Part of GroupMe's argument rests on the fact that its rapid success has built "substantial recognition and goodwill," as well as "significant property rights." The suit in particular notes that "approximately 1000 articles have been written about [GroupMe] and its founders."

Indeed, Betabeat has mentioned GroupMe's success with the press in a profile of Brooke Hammerling, the founder of Brew Media Relations, GroupMe's PR firm, which the company hired when it was still notably early-stage.

Through Brew PR, GroupMe declined to comment on the suit. Groupie has not responded to requests for updated figures on its user base and engaged, however, the startup drafted the following response for Betabeat with the help of its lawyers:

This newly filed action is just the latest volley in an ongoing trademark dispute rooted in the confusing similarities between Groupie's pre-existing, validly registered trademark "Groupie" and the nearly identical Groupme name.  Groupie initially filed an Opposition Proceeding against Groupme before the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board in July of 2011 (Groupie LLC v. Groupme Inc., TTAB Opposition No. 91200478).  Groupie's Opposition Proceeding seeks to protect its trademark by preventing Groupme from registering the confusingly similar "Groupme" mark.  Not only do "Groupie" and "Groupme" look and sound the same, the two companies' products are virtually identical and are distributed through the same channels of commerce, thus causing ongoing consumer confusion.  Additionally, the evidence will show that Groupme's claim for cancellation of Groupie's valid trademark is a late pursued theory premised on the illogical conclusion that the trademarked brand "Groupie" is a generic term.  Groupie is confident that claim will be summarily rejected.  In short, Groupie has been vigorously fighting to protect its trademark in the Opposition Proceeding and will do the same in the newly filed action.

Something tells us this lawsuit won't be getting 1,000 articles.

*Disclosure.

1 Main

A little less than a year after being acquired by Skype for an estimated $80 million, GroupMe's* founders Jared Hecht and Steve Martocci are still in startup mode. Today the company released "Experiences by GroupMe," the biggest expansion beyond its core group messaging function.

The service, which was released to select New York users this morning, offers groups of friends a handpicked list of events like, say, a concert, dinner, or UCB improv showcase in Central Park. Each event comes with an "I want to do this" button and lets users create a landing page with a unique URL to recruit friends to sign up. Experiences then lets you split the bill--using standard Visa, Amex, and Mastercard options that won't charge your card until all the spots have been reserved. Better still, GroupMe builds a group around the event for you to communicate with everyone who's attending.

"We own the experience end-to-end," Mr. Hecht told Betabeat over the phone.

The events and experiences space makes sense for a service that proved its utility to the masses at SXSW. But Mr. Hecht said this has actually been part of the plan since GroupMe first launched at TechCrunch Disrupt. They put together a product road map, "with the idea that we would ultimately want to get to a place where we could help groups of people make decisions better, where we could help them get together better in the real world and where we could ultimately help them buy things together."

For the privilege, GroupMe takes an "industry standard" percentage of gross sales for every Experience.

Beyond monetization, it doesn't hurt that Experiences also give people another reason to use GroupMe. "We really do believe that we have the most fun when we’re with our friends, doing activities, sharing moments, communicating with them in private," added Mr. Hecht.

There are also plans down the road for a self-service option, Mr. Martocci explained. "We’e starting with great curated stuff from our team, but we envision this going into things like empowering people to create their own experiences." Hopefully in time for summer-share season next year?

*Disclosure.

Mr. Spillman (twitter.com)

What happens when a seasoned Alley veteran temporarily trades the MUD truck for Blue Bottle, the underdogs for the overlords, the stench of the East River for air that carries a hint of jasmine? A lot of anti-Valley tweets, apparently.

GroupMe's community manager, Steve Spillman, tweeted his way through the Valley and came to the below conclusions.

]]>

Mr. Spillman (twitter.com)

What happens when a seasoned Alley veteran temporarily trades the MUD truck for Blue Bottle, the underdogs for the overlords, the stench of the East River for air that carries a hint of jasmine? A lot of anti-Valley tweets, apparently.

GroupMe's community manager, Steve Spillman, tweeted his way through the Valley and came to the below conclusions.

]]> http://betabeat.com/2012/04/groupmes-steve-spillman-goes-to-the-valley/feed/ 0 jhanasobserver 00325C49-5607-415D-87C3-8A0920ED938D http://betabeat.com/2012/04/jack-leidlein-first-rounds-new-head-of-talent-wants-to-hire-you/#comments Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:58:08 -0400 http://betabeat.com/2012/04/jack-leidlein-first-rounds-new-head-of-talent-wants-to-hire-you/ Jessica Roy http://www.betabeat.com/?p=38166

Mr. Leidlein (redeye.firstround.com)

Jack Leidlein, who was hired last week by First Round Capital to be their head of talent, really loves to use the word “exceptional.” It makes sense, though; the very core of Mr. Leidlein’s new job--recruiting brilliant engineers to fill the ranks at First Round-funded startups--hinges on exceptionalism, and his knack for finding diamonds in the rough.

“The top level goal [of my new position] is supporting our portfolio companies in our effort to attract and hire exceptional talent,” Mr. Leidlein told Betabeat over phone. “The best way to build meaningful companies is by competing for and getting great talent."

In order to join First Round, Mr. Leidlein left his position as head of business operations and recruiting at Scribd, the social publishing site, where he worked for almost four years. Joining a VC firm--particularly one like First Round, with its focus on early stage companies--was something he’d thought about doing for a long time, Mr. Leidlein said.

In his new role, Mr. Leidlein will be splitting his time between San Francisco and New York, as 40 percent of First Round’s portfolio is located in the Alley, boasting all-stars like Birchbox and GroupMe. Mr. Leidlein will be mining both coasts for the most brilliant--and yes, exceptional--tech talent to add to First Round’s roster of seed funded startups.

So how does he plan to do it? His approach is twofold.

“First by building robust talent networks, meeting exceptional people and ultimately looking to connect them with the companies in our portfolio,” said Mr. Leidlein. He’ll also be working with First Round’s companies to provide them with actionable advice, effectively transforming them into recruiting machines. “At that early early stage, a lot of founders haven’t built teams [before], so helping them put the right foundation in place upon which to go out and try to find exceptional talent is going to be important.”

But exceptionalism isn’t the only thing that Mr. Leidlein looks for in a potential candidate.

“What I like to see when I go out to find talent is a real passion for whatever it is that they’re doing,” he said. “If you’re a developer, I love to see that passion represented through personal projects. When you’re not at work, you’re home building something, you’re creating something that you think is interesting and you’re sharing that with your network and spending your time doing what you’re most passionate about.”

An emphasis on community involvement is also key--devs who are active in the community that they work in, by attending events like Ruby meetups or contributing to someone else’s project on Github, prove that they’re passionate as well as a team player.

Mr. Leidlein is looking for that hustle, that drive. “I want people that want to work with exceptional talent, they want to sort of be the dumbest guy in the group on day one,” he said. “They want to feel like they can contribute and learn a lot from the people they work with.”

In that case, Mr. Leidlein, we did you a favor: perhaps you might find our Poachables list helpful.

via BrooklynBridgeVentures.com

On his blog this morning, New York City tech stalwart Charlie O'Donnell announced the creation of a new seed investment fund called Brooklyn Bridge Ventures. Mr. O'Donnell, who used to bike the 9.2 miles from his home in Bay Ridge to his last job—principal at First Round Capital in Union Square—says his is the first venture capital fund based in Brooklyn and that the borough "has the potential to be the very best place in the world to start a technology business."

Business Insider's sources say Mr. O'Donnell's fund will be $10 million. Betabeat has heard somewhere in the range of $10 million to $20 million and that Quotidian Ventures might be his first big LP, although Mr. O'Donnell would not return earlier calls to confirm. We have reached out to Quotidian and will update the post when we hear back.

For the past two years, Mr. O'Donnell, who founded Path 101, has been working at First Round, first as an entrepreneur-in-residence, and then, in November 2010, as a principal at the fund. On his blog, First Round's managing director Josh Kopelman said his one-year term was extended "after witnessing Charlie’s hustle and energy firsthand." He was particular critical to the firm, says Mr. Kopelman, in expanding its presence in New York as well as sourcing seven deals including GroupMe, which was acquired by Skype.

According to both Mr. O'Donnell and Mr. Kopelman, building his own investment firm has long been a goal.

"In fact, it’s what Henry Blodget told me I should do the first time I met him--back in May of 2007 during a pre-Business Insider lunch at Coffee Shop.  Josh Kopelman said the same thing to me about a year ago and we’ve talked a lot about firm building in my time at First Round."

At Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, the plan is to lead or co-lead seed rounds and helping with recruiting, PR, and product management. When we spoke in July about the tech talent crunch in New York, Mr. O'Donnell said he spent about a third of his time recruiting for First Round portfolio companies.

Another hallmark of his new fund? A Brooklyn state of mind. The Bensohurst native writes:

"Given that many of the companies I work with don’t even have offices yet, and that many of their founders and future employees live in Brooklyn, I won’t be surprised of the majority of the fund winds up being invested in Brooklyn startups.  It’s a great place to build a business--creative, less expensive, flexible, etc.  However, my goal is not to geographically limit the fund but to help create and leverage an ecosystem that connects and attracts talent and knowledge in such a way that people all over the city want to be a part of it.  I want to erase the barrier to attending a Meetup in Brooklyn and make building here a bigger part of everyone’s consideration set.  I’ll fund deals elsewhere for sure, but I hope to convince folks that you won’t want to be elsewhere."

Any doubts about his street cred, just check out the urban brick background to his new website. Or this inspirational video:

Made In Brooklyn from Brooklyn Bridge Ventures on Vimeo.

(maketecheasier.com)

BIG BITES. Big Apps winner MyCityWay partners with NYC app Bitehunter. "No other app helps you navigate a city like a true local than MyCityWay and now... the apps make it possible to roam and find a great meal for cheap. Users can share tips on activities, hot spots and restaurants with each other, as well as create 'best of' lists to share with users and, as of today, foodies can find the top local deals for each market thanks to BiteHunter’s thousands of sources."

GEORGIA STARTUPS. OnWednesday, January 18th, Union Square Ventures will host the first Flashpoint Demo Day. Flashpoint is a three-month accelerator program based at Georgia Tech; 17 startups will demo.

ONLY IN THE ALLEY. The 12-startup calendar, from SNAP Interactive and Hotlist, has been released and the syndicate will ring the opening bell at the NASDAQ on December 28.

CHRIS CLINGLE. "Clingle launched a new feature that ‘merries’ social, tech and the holidays to let you gift conveniently and thoughtfully right from your smartphone.

Here’s how Clingle Gifts work:

1. Download the Clingle App (available for iPhone and Android)
2. Select a friend on the Clingle platform or through Facebook.
3. Choose a gift from a choice of 40+ brand partners, powered by iStash, including Zappos, Barnes and Noble, SpaFinder, Wine.com and Travelocity.
4. Pay securely by credit card and attach a video or audio message to send to friends."

HOLIDAY LARGESSE. "For each new group created on our special Happy Holidays page or in the Featured tab on your GroupMe app between now and New Year’s Day, we’ll donate $1 to the Food Bank For New York City, for up to 2,000 groups.  For every $1 donated 5 meals can be provided to New Yorkers in need."

GET UPDATES. "GetGlue rolled out major updates to its iPhone app and website... These updates will enable users to be introduced to new content based on their check-ins and connect them to other fans who like the same type of content." The features include redesigned profiles, different UX for real time chat, a more visual stream, and a Guides tab to help users find stuff to watch.

APP LAUNCH. Pocket Card Greetings is made in NYC. "The latest is an iOS app perfect for the holidays--it lets you send virtual greeting cards to your friends and loved ones.  The front of the card is a Christmas/NewYears/Holiday message and the back of the card is a 30 second video message."

DEADLINES: Peter Thiel cradle-robbing fellowship: Dec. 31. Rockstart Accelerator Amsterdam, Jan. 6. FinTech Innovation Lab, Jan. 18. TechStars NYC, early deadline Jan. 10, final deadline Jan. 23. NYC Big Apps Awards, Jan 25.

JOBS. Spotify looking for head of communications. SignPost needs a product manager. P2PU is looking for a Django developer. Lot18 needs a junior operations associate. Loosecubes needs an office manager. Producteev is looking for a social media manager (intern).