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Redeye VC

A view of the startup ecosystem from a coastally challenged VC


My Top 10 Blackberry ApplicationsDecember 22 2008

I recently had to upgrade my Blackberry, and as a result, had to re-install all of the applications I had previously installed.  I have yet to find a good, concise list of useful Blackberry Applications -- so I thought I'd post mine.  I'd love to hear any thoughts/suggestions for other apps to install.


AIM - http://mobile.aol.com/aolproducts/aim-for-blackberry-directions

Facebook - http://na.blackberry.com/eng/devices/features/social/facebook.jsp#tab_tab_download

TwitterBerry - http://www.orangatame.com

Google Applications (Search, Maps, Reader, Docs) - http://www.google.com/intl/en_us/mobile/blackberry/

Yammer - http://www.yammer.com/blackberry/download

Berry Bloglines - http://www.thebogles.com/berrybloglines.jad

Wall Street Journal Mobile Reader (my favorite News Application) - http://www.wsjmobilereader.com

Berrystore - http://m.berrystore.com

Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/blackberry

CNBC (s


Happy Holidays...December 17 2008

Frc It was sometime in August when I first saw the Where The Hell Is Matt video. It had just gone viral, and unlike most other "viral videos", I thought Matt's video was moving, fun and uplifting -- it was a great way to showcase the differences and similarities between 40+ different countries.

Then I had the idea. What if we filmed a similar video with our 40+ portfolio companies. And thus began the quest to film our holiday video. My partners and I kept our Flip cameras in our briefcases, and starting in August, whenever we went to visit our portfolio companies we invoked the "dancing" clause in the term sheet. As you can see, we all had a blast.

And then the market crashed. My partners and I discussed scrapping our little holiday project. But the more we talked about it, the more we were convinced that we should continue. While our companies were all facing up to the new realities -- and in some cases, making some tough choices -- it didn't mean that they couldn't take 15 seconds to have some fun. In times of adversity, maintaining perspective and an espirit-de-corps is even more important than ever.

I look forward to "keeping on my toes" this year with all of you.

Road Trip!November 8 2008

6a00d83452d6c969e2010535d9dd6d970b-800wiAs we've grown First Round Capital over the last several years, I've come to believe that there are three types of value-add that venture capital firms can add to portfolio companies. 

  • The first is the money.  There is no differentation or value-add here.  Every investor's money is the same.

  • The second is the value that the specific people (partners, principals, associates) at a venture firm add.  Let's call it "people" value.  Can your VC help you with your distribution strategy?  Can they help you build your team?  Can they connect you with a partner?  This value is dependent on the skills and rolodex of the particular VC that a startup is working with -- as well as the amount of time they can allocate to your company.

  • The third level of value is what I call "structural" value.  This is the value that the firm can bring outside of any specific partner interaction -- it is scaleable, institutional value-add.  While I think that my colleagues and I add a tremendous amount of "people value", we really spend a great amount of effort trying to add structural value to our portfolio companies.


This is why we hold our annual



The Business of API'sOctober 16 2008

Logo_apiconference


First Round Capital portfolio company, Mashery, will be hosting their third annual Business of APIs conference, coming up on Monday, November 3rd in San Francisco.

As its name suggests, "The Business of APIs" is not a technical conference. It is a place where the people responsible for bringing in revenue, building traffic or building content syndication channels will learn how some of the most prominent and successful media and internet companies are enjoying significant growth through building a web services distribution channel.

In this one-day conference you will learn from companies that have executed API strategies to reinvent their businesses. They will share why and how they did it, what they expected to achieve, and how they are measuring success. It will be a day of real-world advice and lessons learned from many of your peers who are already part of the Web's Industrial Revolution.

Confirmed speakers include:

  • Heidi Tucker, VP of Business Development, Hoover's
  • Marc Frons, CTO, New York Times
  • Mike Hart, Director of Engineering, Web API, Netflix
  • Daniel Jacboson, Manager of Applica



First Round Capital Office Hours (and Free Coffee)October 14 2008

OfficehoursCORRECTION - My initial post had the wrong date.  The correct date is Tuesday, October 21st.

We live in interesting times.   Despite the recent doom and gloom forecasts for startup companies, we at First Round Capital are still investing in new companies and actively seeking talented entrepreneurs to back.  My colleagues on the west coast are holding our first Office Hours next Tuesday.  As Kent wrote in his blog post:

"At Office Hours, we’d love to meet with entrepreneurs, people thinking about becoming entrepreneurs or folks who would like join a start-up. We’ll be available for a bunch of informal ~15 minute chats. There’s no agenda. Ask us what we think of the market environment or share an idea for a company – we’ll be sure to have plenty of napkins available to help draft that first product plan. We’ll listen, share our perspective and pay for the coffee (which