Charles River Ventures introduces friendly “convertible” seed round
Updated
Charles River Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm, has launched a new investment strategy, offering rapid but tiny $250,000 checks to Internet start-ups.
The program, called QuickStart, recognizes times have changed, and that Internet companies no longer need the vast amounts of cash that most venture capital firms want to give to them. The CRV program also offers entrepreneur the friendly terms of the “convertible” seed round, explained below.
VentureBeat talked with the firm’s Silicon Valley… Continue Reading
Second Life’s “Wild West” — the land of start-ups and no cops, yet
The buzz around the growth of virtual world site, Second Life, is drawing more scrutiny from real-world regulators who fear they’re losing grip with the growing economy.
The site appears to have hit a sort of critical mass — and the attention is fueling even more activity.
A U.S. congressional committee has launched an investigation of the site, to see that people pay taxes properly on income they make at the site. Outsiders are scratching their… Continue Reading
Logitech snaps up Slim Devices for $20M, plus performance multiple
Logitech has acquired Slim Devices, the Mountain View maker of open source home networked music systems, for $20 million in cash plus a performance-based payment that will amount to “several multiples” of that.
This is a hit for the 20-something founder Sean Adams. He founded the company in 2001, and got by on almost nothing — by relying on a community of developers for the company’s main products, the Squeezebox and the Transporter.
He reached profitability on… Continue Reading
Slim Devices, a come-out-of-nowhere hit
The NYTs’ Pogue runs a story singing the high praises of the Squeezebox, a product from Slim Devices which lets you play your computer’s music anywhere in the house.
This is an intriguing company, based in Mountain View.
Beginning next week, the Squeezebox will do something no other hi-fi component can do: it will hook into Pandora… a sophisticated music-recommendation site. You name a band, singer or song that you like. Immediately, you hear a new “radio… Continue Reading