This morning's interview is with Mark Suster , a venture capitalist at GRP Partners (www.grpvc.com). GRP has just recently closed on a new $200M fund, and Mark has been one of the more active venture capitalists in the Los Angeles area in recent months. We caught up with Mark to hear about what kinds of investments GRP is looking at nowadays, his view on the software-as-a-service market, and how best to approach him with a pitch. It Mark has also been quite active mentoring entrepreneurs,. It

Mark Suster , Partner at GRP Partners , rated 4.8571 by 7 CEOs Menell , Partner at Rustic Canyon Ventures , rated 4.3333 by 12 CEOs Michael Kim , Partner at Rustic Canyon Ventures , rated 4.1538 by 13 CEOs Venture capital rating site TheFunded released their 2009 “most loved VCs” list via TechCrunch Tuesday — with a surprise, in that they actually had some Southern California venture capitalists ranked on the list . The SoCal folks I noticed on the list:

Mark Suster – Partner – GRP Partners Cal Cap Partners Rustic Canyon Partners Sir Richard Branson is known for being a successful entrepreneur. Ten minutes alone with the guy could probably change your life if you used it correctly. An opportunity like that is usually one in a million but with the Perfect Pitch Conference

Burnham, Partner, Strategic Law Partners Frank Addante, CEO, Rubicon Project Jason Nazar, CEO, DocStoc John Babcock, Partner, Rustic Canyon Partners John Suh, CEO, Legal Zoom Kent Goldman, Principal, First Round Capital Jeff Tinsley, CEO, Mylife Mark Suster, Partner, GRP Partners Richard Wolpert, Partner, The Mailroom Fund Seth Sternberg, CEO, meebo William Quigley, Partner, Clearstone Ventures. Tuesday, October 6, 2009 -- The Workshop: Get Funded in One Day (Dealmaker LA). Brought to you by the team who produces Startonomics

Nate Redmond , Partner, Rustic Canyon Ventures Jim Armstrong , Managing Director, Clearstone Venture Partners Mark Suster , Partner, GRP Partners My dear friend Debbie Landa, supreme queen of DealMaker Media is hosting another kick ass event in Los Angeles, and… I’M GIVING AWAY A TICKET TO THE EVENT (keep reading below).

Before you jump in, you need to understand the strategies and tactics of negotiating a funding round and it starts with the first date. · Room 1 (VC Perspective): Mark Suster, Partner, GRP Partners · Room 2 (Founder and Legal Perspective): Charles Halloran, KPPB & Seth Sternberg, CEO, meebo This session will help you determine how much financing you actually need, explore alternative financing options every entrepreneur should consider, understand the investor’s math, and protect your (ass)ets along the