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venture capital
"Fight for Mike" moves to YouTube
Mike Homer, the former Netscape executive suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, has inspired a YouTube channel for the "Defeat Dementia" campaign, an effort to educate the public about neurodegenerative diseases. Angel investor Ron Conway, Google advisor Bill Campbell, and YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley organized the collaboration between the online-video site and UCSF, where Homer is being treated. [AllThingsD]
Mike Homer, the former Netscape executive suffering from Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, has inspired a YouTube channel for the "Defeat Dementia" campaign, an effort to educate the public about neurodegenerative diseases. Angel investor Ron Conway, Google advisor Bill Campbell, and YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley organized the collaboration between the online-video site and UCSF, where Homer is being treated. [AllThingsD]
valley spawn
She's, like, the Valley Girl and VC Tim Draper is totally her daddy
Venture capitalist Tim Draper's daughter Jesse will soon launch a a new Web TV series called "Valley Girl." Watch the show's teaser, embedded here. It features awkward moments like Google CEO Eric Schmidt introducing himself as "I'm, like, Eric Schmidt" and angel investor Ron Conway doing the same. We're pleased as punch! Because with Julia Allison no longer driving traffic, we worried that the whole fameball phenomenon might be over. Turns out we just needed another pink-loving, camera-finding, ever-posing brunette with more ambition than sense to show us the way. Valleywag readers: Meet Jesse Draper. More videos and personal details, below. More »
Ron Hornbaker
Angel investor Ron Conway backs convicted fraudster's Youvebeenboned.com
In the Valley, they call it "dropping the Ron bomb" — when prolific angel investor Ron Conway, a Midas who has touched everything from Google to StumbleUpon, showers cash on a promising startup. His latest bomb target, however, is a bit explosive himself. Ron Hornbaker is the CEO of Foomojo, a stealth startup whose website can be found at the URL www.youvebeenboned.com. Private Equity Hub's Connie Loizos points out that Hornbaker was convicted of extorting AOL users in chat rooms in 1996. More »
jackpot
Shawn Fanning might never have to pitch Volkswagens again
Finally, Napster creator Shawn Fanning will make a little bank. After Napster went bankrupt and he sold Snocap to Imeem for not much at all, Fanning and cofounder Jon Baudanza have sold social network startup Rupture to Electronic Arts for $30 million. The best part: Fanning and Baudanza did it without launching a product out of beta. All Rupture ever built was a still-in-beta network for World of Warcraft gamers. Investors cashing in on the Volkswagen pitchman's payday (see video) include Ron Conway, Joi Ito, Reid Hoffman, and Baseline Ventures.
acquisitions
Ross Levinsohn gets ready for another knife fight
Former Fox Interactive exec turned venture capitalist Ross Levinsohn only needs to finish the paperwork to become the biggest name on Microsoft's list of 10 nominees to replace Yahoo's board, TechCrunch reports and BoomTown confirms. The high-profile rubber-stamping position should suit Levinsohn's ego just fine. More »
venture capital
Ron Conway and Marc Andreessen love Lonelygirl15
EQAL, the L.A. Web-video studio which first brought you Lonelygirl15's bedroom antics, today announced it's raised $5 million in funding. The moneymen backing Bree's braintrust include angel investor Ron Conway, Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen, reality-TV producer Conrag Riggs, former Google exec Georges Harik, and Spark Capital. Bree, who made the cover of Wired is gone from Lonelygirl15, having been killed off, but the series continues, as does EQAL's KateModern, which now runs on Bebo. EQAL CEO Miles Beckett and president Greg Goodfried told the Wall Street Journal the company is already profitable, having earned money with product placements woven into plotlines. Sounds more plausible than selling online ads.
it girls
Allison, Asha and Rambin dump the Web, embrace TV
It's unclear if wanterpreneurs Julia Allison, Meghan Asha and Mary Rambin will cancel their Silicon Valley tour entirely, but word is the trio has wised up to venture-capital realities. Valley angel Ron Conway, an early backer of Google and Ask.com, "has a list of 200 things he'd invest in and nowhere on there is content," Allison's friend David Karp, the founder of Tumblr, advised her. She got the same advice from Valleywag commenters. Undaunted, Allison, Asha and Rambin are already onto funding plan B. The New York Post reports the trio will star in a pilot for a reality TV show named IT Girls about creating their Web company. The difference between exposing every detail of their lives to Web viewers and TV audiences? The latter actually gets them paid.
mine is bigger
One day left to commission portrait of "Fellowship of the VCs"
"Are you a leader in Silicon Valley who has been unfairly left out of this work of art?" asks a project proposal on Strayform."Much like patronages offered by the leaders depicted in historical works, your patronage can earn you the recognition you deserve."More »
venture capital
