It's is hard for people to justify the investment to integrate themselves into your community. Last Saturday, I was a panelist at the CalTech - Social Networks event. It was a really good event with lots of interesting folks in attendance. I would guess that there was about 100 people - on a Saturday in Pasadena.

Once the product features (and thus the user flows) are sufficiently mature to invest in this area, then it makes sense to formalize out the reports. generally invest zero time into cute visualizations and graphs, and prefer to read the key numbers. If you liked this blog post, please recommend it to a colleague and/or click here to get updates via email or RSS . Written by Andrew Chen September Futuristic Play by @Andrew_Chen Analysis on viral marketing, user experience, game design, and online ads As

Last week's angel investment report by the Angel Capital Association reported that investments by angel investors dropped nine percent in 2008, with a hefty percentage of angel investors--40 percent--expecting this year will be a down year. However, a quick check of local, Southern California angel investors finds that although angel investment is down, investors are still investing--albeit much more selectively. "Capital Capital efficient companies offering very competitive terms are still getting funded," says Al Schneider of the Tech Coast Angels , although it appears the group is much more sensitive about how it is investing in deals.

There have been hundreds of venture-backed investments since March 19 th , but none of the existing investments have gone IPO ? The total number of IPOs is six for 2008 per the article and no "tech ones" since Valentine's Day? Does a "spooked" capital market in one asset class bring down the whole capital chain as far as investment capital realization and availability? 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

Two of the unique values of our culture at the Rubicon Project are transparency and active communication. Communication takes effort, but we make it a priority. Transparency is a big commitment but it's also a discipline that, while difficult at times, is incredibly beneficial. A A

Angel investing He also started investing in companies like Tesla Motors, Mahalo, and Intent.com. asked Ryan how he made his investment decisions. What would you do if you built a tremendously successful internet company and sold it? I interviewed Ryan Scott to find out what he did after he sold Netcreations,

Google's new Ad Manager technology will soon enable premium ad banners to be sold directly to advertisers by publishers and when the clicks are used up on the premium ads it will revert automatically to use Google Adsense. This is a brilliant move and will further accelerate the gap between premium content and generic publishers who don't provide any unique content value. I

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. 

The bulk of Hedge Fund investment comes from the East coast – principally Connecticut and New York City – which has become the leading location for hedge fund managers. In 2008 were 12,000 hedge funds with nearly $2.5 The bulk of venture capital investment comes from the West coast - principally Silicon Valley. The Civil War II has begun but this time it’s not the North versus the South. This Civil War is about money under management in the financial services industry and it’s the West Coast versus the East Coast.

We spoke with Raph Koster, the firm's CEO and founder, about the site and the new investment round. Raph Koster: Actually, Marc heard about what we were doing, and cold called me one day and set up the investment. He Raph Koster: He had a lot of confidence in us and wanted to invest right away. 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. Metaplace was formerly known as Areae. First