Comments on: Amazon Acquires Shelfari

By: kyle_s10731

kyle_s10731 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:58 +0000

Hi Brad,
Interesting you mention this on the same day that the Insight folks' angel round investment in Photobucket got a writeup in the WSJ. What's your take on when you need to consider taking an investment to Foundry vs making it yourself? Is it based on the investment size? I imagine Foundry doesn't (isn't allowed to?) make investments below a certain size and that you do it that way. Do you see the potential conflict of interest inherent in investing on your own vs for your investors as a big deal now or in the future?
Thanks,
Kyle

By: aziz_griese5636

aziz_griese5636 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:55 +0000

Congrats to Josh Hug. I thought he was very kind, open, and candid with us.

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:55 +0000

I’ve only been active as an angel / personal investor during two periods. The first was pre-1997 before I co-founded what become Mobius. Once we’d raised our first fund, I stopped making new angel investments. The second period was 2006 and 2007. The investment period for our last Mobius fund ended at the end of 2005. Once Mobius was no longer in the market for new investments, I made a number of investments (like Shelfari) with my own money. Once we had raised the first Foundry fund (end of 2007), I stopped making new angel investments.

By: kyle_s10731

kyle_s10731 — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:55 +0000

Thanks for the response, Brad. You seem to take potential conflicts very seriously. If I were one of your LPs, I'd feel good about that. It does seem like a problem that could get bigger for other VCs in the future who plan on doing angel investing as the capital requirements for early stage venture rounds start becoming hard to distinguish from heavy angel rounds…

By: Aaron Fulkerson

Aaron Fulkerson — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:55:55 +0000

I'd like to proudly point out that a sizeable chunk of Shelfari (unbound section – author profiles) was built on MindTouch Deki: http://www.mindtouch.com

GJ Shelfari.

By: Aaron Fulkerson

Aaron Fulkerson — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:06:05 +0000

I'd like to proudly point out that a sizeable chunk of Shelfari (unbound section – author profiles) was built on MindTouch Deki: http://www.mindtouch.com

GJ Shelfari.

By: Kyle S

Kyle S — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 20:32:39 +0000

By: Brad Feld

Brad Feld — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 19:53:40 +0000

Iâve only been active as an angel / personal investor during two periods.Â The first was pre-1997 before I co-founded what become Mobius. Â Once weâd raised our first fund, I stopped making new angel investments.Â The second period was 2006 and 2007.Â The investment period for our last Mobius fund ended at the end of 2005.Â Once Mobius was no longer in the market for new investments, I made a number of investments (like Shelfari) with my own money.Â Once we had raised the first Foundry fund (end of 2007), I stopped making new angel investments.

By: Kyle S

Kyle S — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 14:43:19 +0000

By: Aziz Grieser

Aziz Grieser — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 13:02:24 +0000

Congrats to Josh Hug. I thought he was very kind, open, and candid with us.