Marc Andreessen vs. the Bubble: The Full D9 Interview (Video)

All that money going into all those startups? No big deal, says Marc Andreessen. And it’s definitely not a bubble, says the man who helped kick off the Web 1.0 bubble with Netscape way back in the ’90s.
Marc Andreessen

Private-Share Trade Is Probed

The Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating potential conflicts of interest in the fast-growing market for buying and selling shares of private companies such as Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc.

VCs Pay Up for Second(ary) Chance to Invest in Web Winners

Apparently some folks wanted extra cash to buy ultra-deluxe Christmas gifts last year. Current employees of private companies made up the largest single portion of stock sellers on SecondMarket in December, a huge leap from prior months.

Skullcandy IPO? Check Your Head.

If anyone needs proof the tech sector has entered extra-frothy, double-latte territory, it’s best to look past the immense valuations discussed for Groupon or Facebook.

Welcome to the Wild West of Venture Capital

Inflated valuations typically signal that a particular investment segment is overheated. Deals in the digital and social media category, for instance, are becoming so expensive for venture investors that they may invoke an unsavory label–bubble.

Exclusive: Here's a Deal That Is Happening–AOL Buying Web Video Distributor 5Min

Here’s a deal we can confirm: AOL is buying Web video distributor 5Min Media–to fill in a big piece of the video strategy that CEO Tim Armstrong alluded to earlier this month. The price is between $50 million and $65 million, and sources say AOL plans to announce the deal Tuesday morning.

Venture Capital: It’s a Downer

Being able to secure venture-capital financing in the recession is something of an achievement. But getting that money now appears to be coming at a cost. According to a new survey from law firm Fenwick & West, the terms of venture financing in the first quarter of 2009 were heavily dominated by “down” rounds–industry jargon for saying that companies are getting much lower valuations than they previously commanded.

Irrational Exuberance?

They say “flat is the new up” and that certainly seems to be the case with the venture capital industry. Though we’ve had two consecutive quarters without an IPO and the venture market is all but frozen, VC optimism is beginning to return. The latest Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index shows a small but noteworthy uptick in the VC community’s views of the entrepreneurial environment in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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Econalypse Now

The government’s $700 bailout of Wall Street, signed into law Friday after weeks of contentious debate, clearly isn’t the panacea for which tech investors, and investors in general, had hoped. Technology stocks stumbled at the opening bell Monday and then fell flat on their faces as investors succumbed once again to the market malaise.