Web 2.0: Sean Parker on why Facebook will win, and Google will lose
Sean Parker, a managing partner at Founders Fund and an early president of Facebook, argued that a new breed of “network” companies will overshadow tech giants like Google over the next decade.
At just 10 years of age, Google will decline in importance relative to companies that effectively harness the power of networks like Apple and Facebook, he said during a talk at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco today.
What’s a “networked” company? It’s a… Continue Reading
Founders Fund raises new fund, aims for more VC disruption
updated
The Founders Fund, a maverick venture firm run by veteran entrepreneurs, has just raised a new fund of $220 million.
The firm will invest money from the fund, officially called Founders Fund II, in 15 to 20 early-stage startups.
The San Francisco firm has made a point of giving power to entrepreneurs in ways that many competing firms don’t. In its view, this focus is fixing the venture business model.
Specifically, it will continue its practice of offering… Continue Reading
Ron Conway: Third-rate VCs are paying off entrepreneurs
Ron Conway, the most prolific investor in the latest wave of Internet companies, is hot for video companies, and ways to monetize them.
However, he’s upset by some recent investment practices, he says. Some VCs are offering entrepreneurs cash out of financing rounds, he tells reporter Kara Swisher. Basically, he says, it’s a “cash bonus for going with that VC….a payoff or a bribe… I think payoff is a great word for it.”
He continues:
What’s happening is… Continue Reading
Introducing “Causes on Facebook”
updated
Serial entrepreneur Sean Parker’s new philanthropy focused company, Project Agape, launches tonight, with a special version of its software tailored for Facebook users.
It is called Causes on Facebook.
Just as significant as its launch, however, is its intent to showcase the strengths of Facebook’s new “Platform,” a set of tools to allow developers to build applications upon Facebook. More on that in a second.
Project Agape is the most ambitious social network we’ve seen that lets people… Continue Reading
More on Project Agape, the meta non-profit
updated
Project Agape, as we mentioned earlier, is a site that wants to empower people to further their political or social cause using the Internet.
The site remains secretive for now, but we spent some time with co-founders Sean Parker and Joe Green last week, and got a sneak peak at what they are doing, including a demonstration of their site. We came away impressed. This site is likely to have significant impact on philanthropic causes. We’d… Continue Reading
Parker’s Project Agape = Friendster + Facebook?
Entrepreneur Sean Parker’s latest undertaking is Project Agape, a secretive start-up working to empower people to further their political or social cause using the Internet.
Parker, 27, isn’t sharing much publicly about the company yet, but it’s worth noting because Parker tends to make waves when he gets serious about something.
There was controversial music-sharing site Napster, where he was co-founder; the contact updating service, Plaxo, where he was also co-founder, and which rubbed lots of… Continue Reading
Ooma, home communications co., raises $12M
Updated
Ooma, a secretive Palo Alto, Calif. company that has labored for more than two years to produce a telecommunications product for the home, has raised $12M of an $18M Series B round, according to a regulatory filing cited by PE Week. Return backers include Worldview Technology Partners and Draper Fisher Jurvetson, the report said
Not mentioned, however, is the investment by Sean Parker, partner at the Founders Fund. Parker invested last year, a source tells VentureBeat.
The… Continue Reading
Philotic, a secretive politics social networking site, raises about $1.2M
More details are leaking out about Sean Parker’s first investment on behalf of The Founders Fund. We mentioned the Berkeley company, called Philotic, here.
Today, Dan Primack writes that it appears “to be an evolution of a politically-focused social networking site launched last fall called Predict06.com (site has since been disabled). The founder is a fellow ex-Facebooker named Joseph Green, and a regulatory filing indicates that it has secured around $1.2 million of a $2.75 million… Continue Reading
The “FF class” of stock, for founders who want cash early
(Updated with more details on how FF works)
A form venture capital funding in Silicon Valley is getting increased interest from founders of start-ups.
It is called the “FF class” of stock, for founders who want to cash out a small percentage of their stake in a company so they don’t have to wait until the company is sold or goes public.
This practice is not entirely new. Many founders through the decades, including at Intuit years ago… Continue Reading
Founders Fund hires Sean Parker as partner, to launch second fund
The Founders Fund, the venture firm led by former PayPal chief executive Peter Thiel, has hired Sean Parker, the controversial entrepreneur, who has just turned 27, as a managing partner.
Parker somehow attracts attention wherever he goes. He has already launched three well-known companies. At 19, he co-founded Napster, and his cheekiness drew anger from the recording labels, which eventually shut down Napster with lawsuits. Parker told VentureBeat last week, in an interview, that his… Continue Reading