7 posts and columns on Polaris Ventures

Special Delivery for All: Message Bus Launches Email Service

in Social on March 29, 2011 at 9:15 am PT

The co-founders of Webshots and Twitter’s early infrastructure and operations lead have started a new email services company called Message Bus that’s already backed with more than $3 million from True Ventures and Polaris Ventures.

Hey Start-Ups! These Guys Have Checkbooks. Just Ask Them!

in Media on December 10, 2010 at 6:19 am PT

When times are tough, you don’t get VCs in a room to convince start-ups to work with them. But that’s what’s happening Wednesday, so take the money while you can. Also: Free beer!

What Shall BoomTown Ask the Twits–Oops, I Mean Twitter-Loving VCs–at Chirp Today?

in News on April 14, 2010 at 8:21 am PT

Later today at Twitter’s Chirp conference in San Francisco, BoomTown is moderating a panel titled “Investing in the Ecosystem.” Or as I like to call it, “How Do You VCs Come Up With Those Crazy Valuations: Magic 8-Ball? Ouiji Board? Darts?” I have a choice group of dudes–of course, they are all dudes–for the panel, all of whom have invested in a range of start-ups, including Twitter. Presumably, the group will give the audience the 411 on what goes into finding, feeding and nurturing the many start-ups that populate the Twitterverse.

Series Seed Documents Legal Guru Ted Wang Speaks! (Plus Get Your Free Term Sheet Here)

in News on March 4, 2010 at 5:30 am PT

BoomTown finally got to meet Silicon Valley lawyer Ted Wang today, which was kind of a thrill since most tight-lipped attorneys run in the other direction when they see me coming. But Wang–who works for Fenwick & West and is a popular legal adviser to a spate of digital start-ups, such as Facebook, Aardvark, Twitter and many others–has a lot to talk about with the launch of a new Web site called Series Seed Documents earlier this week. It’s a laudable effort at simplifying the complex–especially since most lawyers mostly like to complexify the simple.

Series Seed Documents–With an Assist From Andreessen Horowitz–To Help Entrepreneurs With Legal Hairballs

in News on March 1, 2010 at 9:03 am PT

Series Seed Documents, templated term sheets for entrepreneurs to use for seed-stage deals, will be launched today, part of an effort by Silicon Valley lawyer Ted Wang and pushed by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The point: So new entrepreneurs don’t waste time and money negotiating often unnecessarily complex term sheets.

The Guardian's Changing Media Summit in London: No Answers There Either!

in News on March 26, 2009 at 2:33 pm PT

On BoomTown’s recent grand tour of Europe, I paid a visit a week ago to London to moderate some sessions at Media Guardian’s Changing Media Summit 2009. As in the U.S., a lot of the same questions were asked there about when and how the new media business would cross the Rubicon to transform into a strongly profitable and sustainable business. And the answer to that query was just as hard to find as here.
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Kara Visits Larry Kramer

in News on August 24, 2007 at 1:03 am PT

I have known Larry Kramer since I was a college student in Washington, D.C., and he hired me as a stringer for the Washington Post’s Metro section–even after I insulted him about the newspaper’s terrible coverage of students. At the time, Kramer was running the section. Since then–back in the dark ages and after a [...]