<![CDATA[Gawker: draper fisher jurvetson]]> http://tags.gawker.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/gawker.com.png <![CDATA[Gawker: draper fisher jurvetson]]> http://gawker.com/tag/draperfisherjurvetson http://gawker.com/tag/draperfisherjurvetson <![CDATA[Reduced emissions from electric car offset by VCs' unwillingness to carpool]]> Of the handful of Tesla Roadster coupes on America's byways, guess where you can find two parked side by side? At the office of Tesla Motors investor Draper Fisher Jurvetson on Sand Hill Road. They even have matching paint jobs! Mock away your envy in the comments — best effort becomes the new title. Yesterday's winner was UTnick with "This banner printed in Mexico." (Photo by Steve Jurvetson)

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<![CDATA[Monitor110 investor snippily confirms Draper Fisher Jurvetson's backstabbing]]> Roger Ehrenberg wrote a popular post-mortem on Monitor110, a news aggregator for investors he'd backed. It burned through $20 million in funding before finally dying this summer. We'd learned that Ehrenberg had omitted a key detail from his history of the company — that it had sought a bridge loan from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a VC which had invested in the company, gotten a promise of the money, spent it, and then seen DFJ renege on the loan and fund a competitor Skygrid instead. We contacted Ehrenberg for comment before running the story, and he passed up an opportunity to deny any of the facts. We ran the story. Now Ehrenberg writes: "Few things irk me more than shoddy journalism, lousy research and bad intentions, and these three neatly came together in a piece by Nicholas Carlson published today in Valleywag." He then proceeded to confirm everything we reported. "Here are the real facts," he writes:

Monitor110 was burning cash more quickly than expected due to revenues falling short of projections. We did have a disagreement with our VCs about a bridge. The contingencies they thought were baked into the commitment were different than those we perceived. Did this suck? Yes, it certainly did from management's side of things. But did it cause Monitor110's ultimate demise? No. Poor execution did. And I'm not sure simply adding more capital would have enabled us to grow out of our deeply-seated problems.

Ehrenberg does contest one bit of speculation in our post, on why he omitted the tale of DFJ's treachery: "Most likely explanation is that he knows he might do business with Draper Fisher Jurvetson again, and he doesn't want to be blackballed."

In today's rebuttal, Ehrenberg made it very clear that he will not need Draper Fisher's money ever again:

I don't need DFJ to do my next deal or any other deal and the issue of being "blackballed" is beyond a red herring. It's moronic. I have money. I have access to lots of money. I have access to plenty of non-VC money.

It's settled: Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Roger Ehrenberg have no plans to do business again — you heard it from Ehrenberg.

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<![CDATA[What actually happened to Monitor110? Its VCs killed it]]> Why did investor-news aggregator Monitor110 go under, taking $20 million in funding with it? Read early investor Roger Ehrenberg's surprisingly humble and informative blog post about the ordeal, titled "Monitor110: A Post Mortem," and it sounds like the startup fell prey to the usual pratfalls — too much PR, weak leadership, and a confused product vision. Probably all that's true. But what's also true, a source tells us, is that Monitor110's own investors, specifically Draper Fisher Jurvetson, which invested most of that $20 million, ensured Monitor110's failure during its final months.

A source familiar with the venture capitalists tell us that after Monitor110's last funding round, the company began to burn through cash faster than expected. Fortunately for Monitor110 CEO Brennan Carley, the company's primary investors at DFJ were very understanding. They promised — "truly promised," our source tells us — Monitor110 a bridge loan to get the startup through until its next funding round. Monitor110 went ahead and spent the money, "with DFW's "assurance the bridge was coming," our source says. But it never came.

Instead, DFJ killed the bridge loan and — as is being reported today — funded Monitor110's direct competitor Skygrid instead, leaving Monitor110's other investors, like Ehrenberg, with nothing better to do than write humble postmortems. Ehrenberg, reached for comments, did not deny any of the particulars of this story.

The real lesson of Monitor110, then, is this: Never trust a venture capitalist. Why isn't Ehrenberg telling us this story? He wouldn't say, but the most likely explanation is that he knows he might do business with Draper Fisher Jurvetson again, and he doesn't want to be blackballed. Far easier to play the humble martyr, and gain popularity by licking his wounds and sharing anodyne lessons learned.

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<![CDATA[She's, like, the Valley Girl and VC Tim Draper is totally her daddy]]> Venture capitalist Tim Draper's daughter Jesse will soon launch a a new Web TV series called "Valley Girl." Watch the show's teaser, embedded here. It features awkward moments like Google CEO Eric Schmidt introducing himself as "I'm, like, Eric Schmidt" and angel investor Ron Conway doing the same. We're pleased as punch! Because with Julia Allison no longer driving traffic, we worried that the whole fameball phenomenon might be over. Turns out we just needed another pink-loving, camera-finding, ever-posing brunette with more ambition than sense to show us the way. Valleywag readers: Meet Jesse Draper. More videos and personal details, below.

Her favorite quotes:

Jesse: I feel bad for all the homeless people
Katharine: I know, they should all go to shelters
Jesse: But I think these are the homeless people who refuse to go to the shelters.
Katharine: Well then why don't we use them for genetic testing!

A longer trailer for her new show:

An interview about her show:

Her prior claim to fame, appearing on Nickelodeon's "The Naked Brothers Band" as Jesse Cook:

Jesse also does comedy. Sort of.

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<![CDATA[Steve Jurvetson makes chess nerd supermodel Carmen Kass smile]]> carmen_kass_smiles_for_steve_jurvetson.jpgDraper Fisher Jurvetson general manager Steve Jurvetson was wallowing in Estonian pride on Friday at a party held by the Swedish ambassador. Sidling up to chess-playing überhottie Carmen Kass, he even managed to elicit a smile from the thin minx, who is most often pictured with the professionally dour expression demanded on the runway. But just in case the intimate moment might be misinterpreted, Jurvetson seems to be holding up his hand to make sure the photographer catches the glint from his wedding ring. (Photo from Steve Jurvetson)

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<![CDATA[Tesla finds the electric car business is a litigious one]]> 2415913160_5c5d76ace4.jpgThe New York Times reported earlier today that local electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors is suing Fisker Automotive, alleging breach of contract by a designer who took his trade secrets to the upstart rival. Earth2Tech pointed out that the two startup automakers are the pet projects of rival VCs, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson on Tesla's side and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers on Fisker's, making for a classic Valley catfight. But that's not the only case bedeviling Tesla.

Some more digging turned up another suit in San Mateo County courts, but in this one Tesla is the defendant, with original transmission manufacturer Magna suing the company, demanding $5.6 million in outstanding payments. It was the development of a transmission that has been widely cited as the reason for the company's slow march to market with an actual product. Looks like cleantech is like any other emerging industry — the real winners aren't the VCs or the entrepreneurs, but the lawyers. (Photo by Alexander van Dijk)

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<![CDATA[Draper Fisher Jurvetson continues its venture...]]> Draper Fisher Jurvetson continues its venture tourism, opening up an office in Russia. Are there actually interesting startups in Russia, or is this just an excuse to stick DFJ's investors with the bill for Tim Draper's round-the-world plane tickets? [DFJ.com]

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<![CDATA[Billy Campbell wants to friend your mom]]> Sometime actor Andrew Shue, pictured left, is best known for playing Billy Campbell, the most boring character on '90s nighttime soap opera Melrose Place. Less well known is his status as cofounder of CMI Marketing, the parent company of social networks ClubMom and CafeMom, the latter of which recently received $5 million in funding from VCs Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Highland Capital Partners. Unknown is the relationship between CMI's two mom-affiliated sites, ClubMom, founded in 1999, and CafeMom. Moms or not, we have a great idea for how to get more traffic on the CafeMom site: Post pictures of Andrew Shue, who's still listed as a member of CafeMom's management team, in his underwear. We bet he'll pose for new ones in exchange for just a few extra stock options.

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<![CDATA[Dysoned: Can Carl Pope's face render emotion?]]> Esther Dyson makes this job too easy. Embarrassing VIP shots always show up on the jet-setting tech philosopher's Flickr stream.

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Sierra Club's Carl Pope tries to cry for a tree. Lindsay Bluth is not impressed.

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DFJ managing director Andreas Stavropoulos gives someone a roundhouse kick to the face. Chuck Norris is not impressed.

Esther Dyson's photostream [Flickr]
Previous Flickr'd VCs: Extreme networking can be dangerous to your health [Steve Jurvetson on Valleywag]

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