TheFunded Founder Institute tries to tempt investors with a new financing model
Everyone knows it’s a tough time for startups raising money — for one thing, the first three months of the year saw the lowest number of venture investment since the late 90s. In response, Adeo Ressi, founding member of the controversial VC-rating site TheFunded, has introduced a new and unusual funding model to encourage hesitant investors to get back in the game.
Ressi, who is probably most familiar to VentureBeat readers as a critic of the… Continue Reading
Roundup: Apple gets busted, original Rickroller feels played and more
Here’s the latest action:
Apple slapped with touchscreen suit — Taiwanese touchscreen maker Elan Microelectronics has filed suit against Apple for violating patents to produce its beloved multi-touch iPhone and iPod Touch.
TheFunded strikes again with Founders Institute — Adeo Ressi, the controversial founder of TheFunded, is offering four-month training sessions for startup founders.
Tesla nabs European toehold — The electric car company will open its first dealership across the pond in London’s central, swanky Knightsbridge area, home of Harrods and… Continue Reading
April Fools flood begins: TheFunded’s shutdown the first prank of many?
There was some head-scratching over the weekend about rumors that TheFunded, the controversial site where entrepreneurs can rate and review venture capitalists, had been shut down due to threats of a lawsuit. But it was all just a prank by site founder Adeo Ressi.
Basically, Ressi posted a message on the site on Friday titled, “Conclusion: Investors are great” and stating that TheFunded would stop publishing reviews on April 2. Many people assumed this was a… Continue Reading
Roundup: Facebook nears 200M users and seeks loans, Disney joins Hulu, and more
updated
Here’s the latest action:
GamesBeat videos — Check out our videos from last week’s game conference.
Facebook nears 200 million users — The New York Times has a profile of Facebook as it struggles with users angry about its redesign. And it looks like Facebook is looking to raise new debt to replace a $100 million line of credit, reports Businessweek. Here’s our earlier story about the line of credit.
A heist hits 103 countries – A vast Internet spying… Continue Reading
TheFunded reveals blacklisted VCs
TheFunded, the site that allows entrepreneurs to anonymously review and rate venture capitalists, has released a list of venture firms that are banned from the site’s leaderboards.
What did these firms do to get on TheFunded’s blacklist? Founder Adeo Ressi says there are three possible reasons: Suspicious activity suggesting the firms pressured chief executives in their portfolio to write or review them favorably, threatening a member of TheFunded with legal action, and failing to make new… Continue Reading
Make decisions with TheFunded’s new Topicki tool
TheFunded, the sometimes controversial site where entrepreneurs can rate and share information about venture capitalists, is beta testing a new tool. It’s called Topicki, and it’s a site for simple decision-making and management.
There are, of course, a lot of other project management tools out there, but I don’t think anyone’s really dominating the field yet. At VentureBeat, we still use email for a lot of our decisions, which kind of sucks — there’s a lot… Continue Reading
A VC sneaks into TheFunded, but the world doesn’t end
Someone claiming to be a venture capitalist managed to snag a membership with TheFunded, the site where entrepreneurs rate venture firms and gossip about fundraising, and posted an open letter to entrepreneurs. (TheFunded has a business relationship with VentureBeat.) VCs are explicitly forbidden from becoming members, and since members can rate other VCs and access private areas of the site, this is a pretty big lapse — site founder Adeo Ressi says he was “shocked”… Continue Reading
TheFunded delivers subpoenaed documents
TheFunded, the VC-review site that was recently subponaed by EDF Ventures, says it has handed over the requested documents — and, amusingly, site owner Adeo Ressi decided to videotape himself as he delivered the documents to the Oakland offices of EDF’s attorneys.
During the video, Ressi repeats his claim that the documents don’t reveal anything about the anonymous commenter whom EDF has filed suit against; the firm alleges that the commenter misrepresented him- or herself in… Continue Reading
Analysts: EDF Ventures’ deal terms aren’t that harsh
Updated
In the wake of EDF Ventures‘ subpoena demanding information about one of its critics on controversial VC-rating site TheFunded, more scathing commentary about the Ann Arbor, Michigan firm has come to light. For example, the commenter targeted by EDF says the firm has “very harsh deal terms.” But does that criticism hold any water? Not really, according to the analysts at VC Experts, who examined four of EDF’s recent deals and found “nothing too out… Continue Reading
Subpoenaed documents at TheFunded reveal more negative commentary about EDF Ventures
updated
Venture capital firm EDF Ventures last week subpoenaed the Web site TheFunded, demanding information about a person who left negative comments about EDF.
This evening, VentureBeat has exclusively obtained documents requested by the subpoena. TheFunded’s owner, Adeo Ressi, will likely hand over these documents to the court (which actually issued the subpoena) in ten days or so. For now, this post is the only place you’ll see the documents.
First, a quick disclosure: VentureBeat has a business… Continue Reading
Venture firm EDF moves to silence entrepreneur at TheFunded
TheFunded, a site that lets entrepreneurs rate venture capitalists, continues to stir things up.
EDF Ventures, a mid-sized venture capital fund in Ann Arbor, Michigan which has been reviewed negatively by several people at the site, has subpoenaed some records from TheFunded in a court action the firm is taking against an entrepreneur who left a comment.
As you’ll see below, the anonymous entrepreneur said the firm’s members “are to be avoided unless you are desperate.”
The retaliation… Continue Reading
TheFunded now lets members refer companies to VCs
Updated
TheFunded, the controversial website that lets entrepreneurs rate venture capitalists, has rolled out a new feature that lets entrepreneurs pitch venture capitalists with help from their friends.
Called TheFunded Connect, the new feature, to be unveiled tomorrow, lets entrepreneurs solicit help from their fellow entrepreneurs to refer them to venture capitalists. Entrepreneurs wanting funding fill out a form, and then entrepreneur friends can look at the pitch and decide whether to recommend the company to contacts… Continue Reading
Are VCs threatening lawsuits to stay spotless at TheFunded?
TheFunded, a site that lets entrepreneurs rate and comment about venture capitalists, has drawn a lot of attention from folks eager to learn salacious gossip about bad VCs.
Over recent months, though, there’s been an odd development: Certain posts by entrepreneurs critical of VCs are being quietly removed and then replaced with more favorable comments. On its face, it looks like a whitewash. Or maybe it’s not so troubling. You decide.
The changes are notable because TheFunded… Continue Reading
TheFunded penalizes venture capital firms that “game” it
TheFunded, the site that lets entrepreneurs rate venture capitalists, often with aggressively snarky commentary, has released a new feature to reduce criticism the site is being gamed.
It has created an algorithm that looks for signs VCs are trying to manipulate their rankings to be more positive. It flags apparently guilty firms and puts them in a virtual penalty box. The site’s algorithm is already in effect, listing about a dozen firms among the transgressors, including… Continue Reading
TheFunded exposes deal terms, including dreaded liquidation preference
updated
TheFunded, the site that lets entrepreneurs rate venture capitalists, has just unveiled a new feature that could bring a whole new level of transparency to the cloaked world of financing deals.
It now lets entrepreneurs submit the terms (subscription required) of their funding deals to the site, so that other entrepreneurs can see them — and make sure they’re not getting a raw deal for their own company. Until now, this sort of resource hasn’t been… Continue Reading
The Funded, a site of contradictions
updated
Last night, the founder of the TheFunded, the controversial VC-rating site, held a coming-out-of-the-closet event at Stanford University.
We pointed to a Wired story last night, which first revealed the founder is Adeo Ressi. That article recounts how and why Ressi launched the site. But only in seeing and listening to Ressi talk before a crowd of between 60 and 70 people did I appreciate the richness of contradictions and controversy of this man and his… Continue Reading
TheFunded further embraces VCs, but Sequoia still hazed
TheFunded.com, a forum that lets entrepreneurs dish dirt publicly about venture capitalists, has taken another step toward accommodating the VCs.
The site now lets VCs provide feedback on any public comment made about their firm. Initially, TheFunded had banned VCs from commenting. Recently, it relaxed that stance, letting VCs provide comments on other funds, but not on their own. This latest, second step is an effort to get VCs engaged with the site.
However, it is still… Continue Reading
Thefunded continues to divide and conquer VC firms
Updated again: To clarify paid membership vs. free access.
Updated: To clarify confusion about certification process at Thefunded, and to include Ignite’s response.
TheFunded, the controversial Web site designed to let entrepreneurs rate venture capitalists, says it is finally winning over cooperation from many VC firms.
It says some 50 firms, from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Mohr Davidow Ventures to NEA have submitted key facts about their firms for entrepreneurs to review. These are called “certified profiles.” However, some… Continue Reading
TheFunded capitulates, lets VCs post comments
TheFunded, a site where entrepreneurs can rate VCs, has capitulated and is allowing venture capitalists to participate.
Until late yesterday, the site had prohibited venture capitalists from responding. However our post a few days ago about the unfairness of that policy – in light of the ugly, spiteful comments being left about VCs – created a surge of demands for a policy change.
It’s just the latest in a string of controversies where character assassination and hateful… Continue Reading
TheFunded, the site for VC hatchet jobs
(See update here: TheFunded has capitulated, and allowed VCs to respond to these attacks)
The Funded, the Web site that lets people anonymously rate venture capitalists, is causing some concern in venture capital circles about the hatchet jobs on VC firms.
Rejected entrepreneurs are flaming VCs with snide remarks at the site, often with no grounding in reality. The site came up during a talk again today when I spoke before a group of 40 or so… Continue Reading