Ning raised $60M on $500M pre-money valuation. They don't really have a great use for these funds - they just want to "keep their powder dry" to let Ning grow even through an impeding recession.

Quoted: All TechCrunch Web 2.0 Articles for

The origins of venture capital.

Quoted: Amazon.com: Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital: Spencer E. Ante: Books

Andy Sack and Chris Devore (both of Judy's Book) have created a $2M fund and co-working space for new internet founders. Very nice idea. I like the investment tie they are making between founders in the fund to get a pool of equity in each other's companies (I talked about doing this last year - but these guys are actually putting $ behind it).

Yelp is a great site - I've recently been using it to find great spots to grab a weekend breakfast. They have raised a total of $31M. Wow - that's a BIG NUMBER. And one wonders - WHY? Certainly the technology development and data center costs can build the equivalent site for far less.

An even bigger number - their purported $200M valuation. That's $25 per monthly unique. That's BUBBLE territory, in my book.

Revenues are claimed at "sub $10M". My (generous) guess - they're getting 20M monthly page views at $4 CPM -> that's less than $1M per year. It doesn't make sense to me they can be making anywhere near $10M.

Quoted: Yelp, the popular local review site, will soon announce a new $15 million dollar round of financing led by DAG Ventures. The valuation ...

(I thought I faved this yesterday - disappeared?)

It's great to see a Seattle-based startup getting such big A-round. blist will certainly be a serious competitor in the online database market.

Interesting timing. Following the recent Seattle Tech Startups thread bemoaning the poor quality of startup-friendliness in Seattle. It may be that we're at an inflection point between mediocre to getting pretty-good.

Quoted: Many communities dream of becoming the next Silicon Valley. But Seattle is actually doing it.

Advice from the trenches of Y Combinator. Most of this is about stuff like getting an apartment....but a few good insights into what is (perceived as) the most valuable parts of the program.

Quoted: the most valuable aspect of the program is the community, and those dinners are the focal point. It’s where you will get to know founders from current and previous batches. In fact, since you’re on the West Coast, you’ll get to meet almost every Y C startup that’s still alive and kicking, and maybe some that aren’t.

Great guide to seed-stage internet startup incubators (in the style of Y combinator)

Quoted: They say imitation the most sincere form of flattery. If that's true, then Paul Graham must be about to drown from all the praise. His Y Combinator project, ...