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The Valley's Newest VC: Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber: Photos From The Forbes Cover Shoot

Bieber has acquired everything: fame, fortune and networks. He recently turned 18 and is looking for a new challenge. Instead of spending his fortune on blow and alcohol, Bieber has decided to follow the route of other celebrities, that being investing in hot startups. Celebrities are no different than other investors, who have concluded that investing in tech is a gold mine. 

With stakes in Tinychat, Spotify, Stamped and now Viddy, Bieber hopes to foray into the VC world with a portfolio, similar to Kutcher. In an interview with Forbes, the following was disclosed about his investment plan in startups:

In a typical Bieber deal he’ll put in about $250,000 at the favorable pricing generally reserved for smart money—the kind of strategic partners that help a company long term. Braun won’t disclose the size of Bieber’s portfolio but says it’s between 2% and 5% of the singer’s net worth. FORBES puts Bieber’s fortune at about $80 million, which translates to somewhere in the ballpark of $3 million in venture investments.

Great going Bieber - its good to see the newest boy idol not crashing and burning like other teen pop stars.

Mirror Trading: Trade based on experts’ ideas

Online trading has been around for awhile. Traditional online trading institutions represent the likes of Scottrade, Etrade and Ameritrade, brokerage houses that let you use their platform and charge a flat fee per transaction. Self-research would dictate the trades executed. 

Social media has negated the need for self-reliance. Decision making has trickled in not only consumer habits, but trade habits as well. Using the backbone of individual’s lack of confidence in their investing habits pre and during the recent recession, multiple startups such as Roboinvest, Stocktwits and Covestor have been born, letting users trade based on the investment profiles and ideas of other users. This is definitely the next frontier in online trading. It also represents a way to derive expertise from our so called experts of trade, making not only their ideas, but performance transparent as well. 

Peter Thiel and Reid Hoffman Share Stanford Memories

Two venture capital giants and friends reminisce about their time at Stanford and how they first met.

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Warren Buffett: The Oracle of Omaha | Infographic Everyone knows the name Warren Buffett. Everyone knows he consistently makes the list of the top 5 richest people in the world every year. Some know he has pledged most of his wealth in 2006, along with other like-minded wealthy philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg.  What about his outlook on gold? Did you know that Warren Buffett plays Bridge and the Ukulele? Our infographic provides a nice first look at Warren Buffett, the man and investor. 

Warren Buffett: The Oracle of Omaha | Infographic

Everyone knows the name Warren Buffett. Everyone knows he consistently makes the list of the top 5 richest people in the world every year. Some know he has pledged most of his wealth in 2006, along with other like-minded wealthy philanthropists such as Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. 

What about his outlook on gold? Did you know that Warren Buffett plays Bridge and the Ukulele? Our infographic provides a nice first look at Warren Buffett, the man and investor. 

VC Q1 2012 Performance: $5.8 Billion across 758 deals

I had recently blogged about how the NYC VC performance this quarter was dismal. Well the trend seems to be carried across the board, with the overall quarter on quarter numbers dropping by 19% and 15% in terms of dollar value and number of deals respectively. The overall Q4 2011 VC performance showed an investment of $7.1 Billion across 889 deals.

This disparity seems to be a sector specific phenomenon with a drop in deal activity in clean tech and lifesciences while seeing a boost in telecommunications and consumer products and services. The difference between the VC deals in NYC and the overall VC performance nationally is that NYC had more early stage investment versus nationally which has seen a growth of 11% in Q1 2012 in late stage investments. 

Web 2.0 seemed to have the most deals, both in number and dollar terms, across all sectors. The overall numbers for web2.0, however, slipped by 18% on a quarter-on-quarter basis. The higher than other sector numbers in web 2.0, on a general basis, stem from the lack of barriers to entry in terms of expertise, initial investment and the perceived gold rush due to the initial 2 reasons. The recent pullback maybe due to the overall stock market going through a correction and people being extra precautious, perceiving a bust in the bubble.

Cleantech’s slump maybe due to the sector wide dollar consolidation and contraction in spending. However, it continues to remain an attractive sector, with the industry speculated to rise to $325 Billion by 2018.

Embark NYC | Making Subway Travel Easy

Embark NYC is a mass transit mobile app designed for travelers to make travel decisions more smart and sensible, while avoiding any travel surprises such as subway maintenance etc. Currently connecting 12 cities, Embark NYC has been funded by John Hering, Start Fund, SV Angel and Y Combinator and is the winner of the MTA App Quest.

Key features of Embark NYC: 

- Tailored step-by-step trip planning, even with no cell signal

- Trip sharing via email, text message, or Twitter to coordinate plans 

- Upcoming arrivals and street maps for each station 

- Smart geo-location and landmark search 

- Push notifications for delays & diversions during your commute 

- Available on both iOS and Android

The Top Cloud VCs: 7 stars + 5 Up & Comers

Do you want to learn more about the heavy hitters investing in cloud computing ventures? These guys could help fund your idea if you have a qualified venture in that space. 

Before OMGPOP Sold For $210 Million, The CEO Hired Back Everyone He Laid Off And Made Sure They Cashed In

Amongst all the wall street competition, with bankers and CEOs cannibalizing each other for the next big deal, it is reassuring to know that the rest of the world does not follow suit. Silicon Valley has always prided itself on being an exception to every rule and here is a shining example why:

You are the CEO of the company. Circumstances haven’t panned out. Qualified and talented employees have had to be laid off and there is nothing you can do about it. Then you discover your next big idea and it gains accelerated traction. The investors and buyers come swarming in. Youre flush with cash - what do you do now? If you were anyone else: you cash out. But if you’re Dan Porter, CEO OMGPOP, you rehire your laid off colleagues so that they can get a piece of the pie. 

Why You Can't Hire | Startup Boy

Naval Ravikant, well known in the startup community, for starting companies such as Vast, Venture Hacks, DotSpots, i/o Ventures and AngelList, writes a concise yet definitive piece on the evolution of recent startups and how founders should bring their startups to market. 

With angels and VCs clamoring at entrepreneurs doors, looking to be part of the next Facebook/ Pinterest, bargaining power lies with the entrepreneurs. Prototyping is no longer the challenge; aligning internal and external expectations while taking your product viral should be the focus. The cookie crumbles when, not only the product, but circumstances do not gel. 

The price of gold has risen five-fold in little more than a decade. The video provided explains why. But what does this mean for the future of money?

Source theeconomist

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