The total number of IPOs is six for 2008 per the article and no "tech ones" since Valentine's Day? Here in 2008 it is around $130. Patrick's Day funding IPO Oil globalizatio I was reading the daily Venture Wire blurb last Friday. Usually these are "quick reads" and sort of a mix between a story in the LA Times and Food and Wine, but the content in this one was particularly fascinating and alarming at the same time.

As he says in his book, not all startups are meant to go through the funding process. I think Guy Kawasaki felt I was being a jerk when I pressed him about whether he was following the advice in his own book, Reality Check , at his new company Alltop . But Guy is amazingly open and he really does live the ideas in his book.

Entrepreneurs spend a lot of time researching their market and customers.  But, when it comes to raising money, they tend to approach anyone with a heartbeat!   The problem with this approach is that a large majority of the investors you pitch are simply not appropriate for what you are doing or where you are as a company.  So, any time you spend on them is wasted. 

What a way to start off 2008! First, we are honored with a number of awards (more on this later)... And today, we at the the Rubicon Project announced that we have raised $21 million in total financing (see press announcement). We are very excited, as this is a huge vote of a confidence for the company from investors.

Despite the fact that fund size and fund returns are generally inverse related, all of the incentives are to raise bigger funds: As fund size grows larger, fund managers essentially ends up with guaranteed wealth.    A general partnership that has a total of $500mm under management (over 2 or even three funds) generates $10mm per year in fees before making its first investment.   The number of partners Saturday’s TechCrunch had an article with the title above…  the “end” of traditional VC has been something that we (and many others) have been predicting for a while.  

Today, San Diego-based Metaplace (www.metaplace.com), which develops virtual world software, is announcing a funding round from Charles River Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, and high profile investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz. What are you going to be using the new funding for? Raph We spoke with Raph Koster, the firm's CEO and founder, about the site and the new investment round. Metaplace was formerly known as Areae. First

but I digress) without seeing articles/blogs relating to social networking, VC "overheated fundings ", communities of millions run by kids at Starbucks, and "how many people follow me on Twitter when I say I am going to bathroom." look for 2-3 "Amazon's" to grow, excess bubble and valuations to the moon, then a 95% valuations/stock price crash and no new venture fundings. You can't read, view or listen to any news media channel (Web mostly of course because mainstream old news media pretty much discounts Web 2.0 and vice versa...just

PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association released their Q3 2008 venture capital numbers over the weekend, finding that Southern California companies raised nearly $751 in funding during the quarter. The biggest deals for the quarter were Santa Monica-based SolarReserve , which raised $140M in a clean technology funding; Irvine-based electric automaker Fisker Automotive , which scored $65M; San Diego-based renewable petrochemical maker Sapphire Energy with $35M, and a nearly $35M funding of Laguna Hills-based According to the MoneyTree Report, based on data from Thomson Reuters, Los Angeles companies led the region with $385.6M

Andrew Warner from Mixergy posted - Before Looking for Funding, Get an Advisor . He recommends that early stage companies get input from people who know the funding process, know the vertical, etc. That's great advice. Of course, it's sometimes hard to find advisors. On the flip side, as a person who regularly advises early stage start-ups, I

The basic conclusion was that it was a bit premature if you were talking about a serious, funded start-up. I'm blogging from the CalTech Enterprise Forum . The topic is: Betting Your Company On An Internet Platform? A very interesting topic, especially for those of us involved in developing for start-ups. At the CTO Group that I organize in Santa Monica, we've had lots of discussions around this.