There's no reason to cry anymore because our very own Adam Kalsey's FeedCrier, has been swept off its feet by IMified. Big congratulations to Adam and we'll be looking forward to see what the extended team can accomplish.  read more »

Starting a company for the first time and raising money is like opening Pandora's Box. There are challenges at every turn, and if you are unprepared, lazy, or cowardly then You Are Fucked.

However, everything changes with the Internet, and now everybody has the opportunity to learn about anything they want in just about as much detail as they can handle. One of the difficult parts for startups and entrepreneurs is that there is still a cloud of mystery surrounding raising money and negotiating deal terms. There is still a lot that you can only learn by jumping in wholeheartedly, maybe making some mistakes along the way as well, but there is also a lot that you can do to educate yourself.  read more »

I've never actually been to one of these UC Davis Center For Entrepreneurship events, so I can't tell you what to expect. Dave Samuel from Grouper and Tim Westergren from Pandora are speaking on campus on two different dates. I added these events to the SacStarts upcoming events, so RSVP here if you're planning on going so we could all plan on meeting up for beers. Also make sure to RSVP with Nicole Starsinic who is the Program Manager of this UC Davis Center For Entrepreneurship thing.  read more »

Wil Schroter is an entrepreneur who started a social network called Go BIG, which is intended to connect entrepreneurs with investors with employees. He writes about his experiences good and bad as an entrepreneur, and he says it without an ounce of sugar coating. I agree with the majority of what Wil says, but every once in a while I'll fervently disagree with his stance of "leap first, look later." In any case Wil is the real deal, and if you're an entrepreneur you can't afford to miss what Wil has to say.  read more »

New VentureOne data released by Ernst & Young and Dow Jones shows that twice as much VC money went into Web 2.0 deals in 2006 compared to the previous year.

• $844.4 million globally was directed into 167 deals in 2006
• Web 2.0 investment has doubled every year since 2002
• Globally, the median pre-money valuation was $6 million for a Web 2.0 company in 2006
• In the US, the median pre-money valuation was $18.5 million
• In Europe, the median pre-money valuation was $7 million
• The median financing round globally and in the US was $5 million, and $6 million in Europe

Keep in mind that this is strictly Web 2.0 deals, because there was certainly more than $844.4 million invested by VCs last year.  read more »

What do you do when you're 81 years old, your $1 billion a year empire goes through a second bankruptcy, and then gets auctioned off to be liquidated? You do it again of course!

Russ Solomon started Tower Records in Sacramento almost 50 years ago, but the retail chain just couldn't survive amid big box retailers and rampant piracy. His plans now are to open up a small record shop where the original Tower once was. Maybe it'll be a hit, or maybe the writing is already on the wall for all record stores. In any case this is going to be interesting to watch, and at the very least we can all pitch in and support a local entrepreneur by buying a few CDs from him.  read more »

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then 48 pictures are worth 48,000 words! So instead of me writing all weekend long for just one blog entry, you should take a look at the photos geof lambert took at the most recent Sacramento Executive event held at Il Fornaio in downtown Sac. Good time, good food, good people, and it's not uncommon to end up with a hot date with an investor, entrepreneur, or potential employee/collaborator for your startup. If you're in Sacramento and you're reading this, you have no excuse not to come to the next one!

Company: WhosOnMyPage
Founded: March 2006
Founders: Mike DiCarlo and Layton Wedgeworth

WhosOnMyPage just did a re-launch on February 9th, which included support for tracking the social networks Bebo, Friendster, and Hi5. This is a Sacramento company, and the guys are regulars at SacStarts dinners.  read more »