chris sacca.jpgAnother Google guy has started investing in start-ups, though this time he is not likely to leave Google anytime soon to do this full-time.

Chris Sacca, a dealmaker at Google and overseer of Google’s WiFi project in San Francisco, says on his blog What is Left that he has invested in popular photo-sharing company, Photobucket — noteworthy, since he’s backing a competitor to Google’s own photo site, Picasa.

But then Sacca isn’t a meek guy. He’s been griping in public about San Francisco officials who have been slowing down Google’s efforts to install its WiFi network there. He complained that the talks on the final contract have stalled, and that officials have requested free computers and a share in revenues — both unreasonable demands. “The WiFi project will happen,” he told us last night. “It has worked in Mountain View and will eventually work in SF. Every now and then we need to remember that we are all building these systems for the people who visit our community training sessions and ask, “What’s a browser?,” he said. “When we think of those disenfranchised folks, everyone moves faster and with the deserving end user in mind.”

Will frustration with SF force Sacca to exit Google to launch an angel career, similar to ex-Google Aydin Senkut, who has been investing all over the place, and rivaling angel Ron Conway as chief sponsor of Web 2.0 companies? No. Sacca said in an email: “I wish I had the ammo that Aydin has. However, I joined Google in 2003 and therefore my investment in Photobucket makes no rational sense with respect to my net worth. :)”

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  1. Negonation Blog » Blog Archive » Cómo repartir las acciones de una startup en internet: El caso de Google said:

    [...] En el caso de Google, aparte del desfile de fortunas y famosos, llama la atención que sus primeros inversores fuesen emprendedores de éxito antes. La historia se repite una y otra vez: no solo los fundadores reinvierten su fortuna en nuevos proyectos sino que esta cultura también se extiende a sus empleados. No los idealizo pero está claro que han dado con la receta de la tarta, el peso exacto de los ingredientes: tanto de porcentajes como de esfuerzo. Crear un gigante como Google requirió talento, la colaboración de muchos pesos pesados con contactos y cerca de 70 millones de dólares de inversión. Todos entienden la mecánica de la tarta, contribuyen al “círculo virtuoso de Silicon Valley”… y tienen expectativas realistas. [...]

  2. Negonation Blog » Blog Archive » How to distribute shares in an Internet start-up: Google said:

    [...] In the case of Google, apart from the list of famous and rich people, the initial investors had also been successful entrepreneurs previously. History repeats itself: the founders not only reinvest their fortune in new projects but this culture also extends to their employees. I am not going to idealize them but it is clear that they have come up with the cake’s recipe and the exact weight of the ingredients: in terms of both percentages and efforts. Fairy tales aside, creating a giant like Google required talent, collaboration from many heavyweights with contacts, nearly 65 million dollars of investment, and fair profit-sharing. They all understand the mechanics of the cake, they contribute to the “virtuous cycle of Silicon Valley” and they have realistic expectations. [...]

  3. VentureBeat » Google’s wireless chief, Sacca, leaves to become angel investor said:

    [...] from the carriers, and one top mobile executive reportedly called for Sacca’s resignation. Sacca also made waves by criticizing the bureaucracy in San [...]

  4. Someecards raises round, for funnier e-greeting cards » VentureBeat said:

    [...] are probably not safe for work. The company just raised a $350,000 seed round from Betaworks and angel investor Chris Sacca (formerly Google’s wireless chief), who says the site’s humor makes it popular with a [...]

2 Comments

  1. Lazaro Sanchez said:

    Chris contact me, lets talk. I have a huge deal on the books.

  2. July 18th, 2008
    1:09 pm

    michael germaine said:

    I am an inventor in alternate energy. I have invented away to build human dwellings “Ashram-Arks” & Levees that are manmade and natural disaster being fire, flood tornado, hurricane, earthquake resistant & Usurp Carbon Dioxide from the Environment. I need an Angel Investor to bring them into production now.
    My firm is Cooperative Energy Pioneers In People Power! P.O.Box 113 Middletown, CT 06457 Tel# 860-681-3589.

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