Sequoia-backed RockYou, the second-largest widgetmaker on Facebook, is considering plans to staff a New York office with 2-5 ad salespeople — copying a move made by archrival Slide two months ago. Funny, it normally doesn't take these two so long to imitate each other. It's a much-needed move: RockYou has a…
Network-equipment giant Cisco Systems is buying WiMax equipment maker Navini for $330 million in Cisco's 124th acquisition. Navini owns a number of patents related to their SmartBeaming technology that may give Cisco an edge in WiMax, a wireless-Internet technology with much longer range than Wi-Fi. Hopefully…
Pictured this morning on the TechCrunch40 stage, four men worth a total of a kajillion dollars or something along those lines. From left, Yahoo founder David Filo, wearing the safe and unimaginative Silicon Valley uniform, YouTube cofounder Chad Hurley in his jeans-and-jacket casual yuppie attire, Ning and Netscape…
Sequoia looks east, raises "a massive amount of funding" for investment in Chinese companies. [VentureBeat]
Sequoia's Indian office recently led a $7m round for Minglebox, an Indian social network. Minglebox's founder is Kavita Iyer, who just happens to be the wife of Sandeep Singhal, managing director of the prestigious venture capital firm's Indian operation. Funny, that. But, before working one's self into a lather,…
You have to admire the George Costanza-like persistence of one Anand Lyer Vaidyanathan. After hanging around the Sequoia lobby a little too much last October and November, Vaidyanathan was finally arrested for trespassing. Vaidyanathan protested, convinced that he somehow already worked for Sequoia. He then applied…
Attention investment-math nerds — clear something up for us? Reading through the SEC filing for all the Youtubers preparing to sell their Google stock, a reader asks:
We're not sure what motivates venture capitalists to engage in such humiliating spectacle. Ours is not to reason why a group of folks with billions at their disposal must sing a cappella to party guests. Not sure who this magical duo is (help?), but the gig went down last November at the home of Sequoia's Pierre…
After disappearing from the Sequoia homepage of fame, one-time Paypal CEO Elon Musk — see his take on his own backstory here — is back, with a new smiley portrait. Peter Thiel and Max Levchin, the mo' "real" founders of Paypal, are also still on the page of course. They're both wearing crowns as befits their royal…
Once you've had fun with the marquee moneymakers selling off their Youtube-bought Google stock, it's a diverting pastime to poke around in the guts of the SEC filing to see who else plans to make book. For example, Keith "Hope You Die of AIDS" Rabois could toddle off with $4.2 million. Rabois was the first person to…
Despite a mere hiccup in electoral support, San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom may be enduring just the beginning of fallout from his affair with the wife of his campaign manager, Alex Tourk. Word around the Valley is that angel investor Ron Conway is cutting his ties with Newsom, making it clear that his loyalties…
As filed with the SEC, Youtube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen — along with a crowd of other investors — plan to sell off a huge chunk of the Google stock acquired when Youtube was purchased by the search corp. The numbers are indeed sweet: based on current stock prices, Hurley's shares are worth $345 million…
