[Posted on November 8, 2007 - 5:22 PM]
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Auren Hoffman, CEO of San Francisco email reputation management startup Rapleaf Inc., once teased Dina Kaplan, co-founder and COO of online video firm Blip.tv, about working in New York, which he described as the "B-league" of startups.Although the two are friends, the comment stung, Kaplan recalls today. Because in some ways it was true. "There's a true community of entrepreneurs in San Francisco," she says. "They know each other, they do deals together. There really isn't anything like that scene in New York."
Or at least there wasn't. Now, thanks to Hoffman's heckling and Kaplan's organizing, there's the Founders Club, which isn't a club at all but rather a series of invitation-only cocktail parties for the CEOs of digital startups. The vibe is hip, aspirational (financially and professionally, that is) and, by New York tech standards, swinging. Kaplan's primary goal is to introduce the entrepreneurs to each other, then to big media companies they can partner with, then to a handful of reporters like me who cover them and finally to a small group of investors.
Kaplan says she tries to "pack as many entrepreneurs into a room as I can and get them drunk." Tuesday's shindig, the fourth and final one this year, was held at NBC's Studio 8H at 30 Rock, home of Saturday Night Live (Before co-founding blip.tv Kaplan was a news reporter for WNBC in New York.) More than 250 digerati attended, including 80's hip hop star MC Hammer, founder of the forthcoming DanceJam.com, which may or may not prove 2 legit to quit.
To loosen things up, Kaplan (who claims to be a teetotaler) served "Classic CEO martinis" made with Chopin Vodka. The free booze, mini-burgers and BBQ chicken wings came courtesy of the evening's sponsors, which included NBC Universal Digital Media, Bain Capital Ventures and Silverjet Aviation Ltd.
Hosting the event were Kaplan, Hoffman and a slew of other tech and entrepreneurs and dealmakers, including:
- Jessica Schell, NBC Universal Digital Media vice president
- Jason Rapp, Jason Rapp
- David Kidder, co-founder and CEO of online advertising Web service Clickable, which recently raised $3 million from Union Square Ventures and others
- Graham Hill, founder of Treehugger.com, acquired by Discovery Communications Inc. for a reported $10 million
- Marc Cenedella, CEO of high-end job site TheLadders.com, which recently secured $7.25 million from Matrix Partners
- Joseph Varet, CEO of LX Networks LLC., which is developing a lifestyle video site called LX.TV
- Joel Smernoff, COO of video chat firm PalTalk, which raised $6 million from Softbank Capital Partners back in 2004
- Josh Abramson, co-founder and president of CollegeHumor.com, in whose parent company Connected Ventures LLC IAC took a majority stake in a year ago
- Daniel Klaus, founder and CEO of Music Nation, which has raised $5.5 million from Greylock Partners and Point Judith Capital
Although he declines to offer details, Klaus reports making "two or three really significant deal relationships just from meeting people at these events." Indeed, attending the event with Klaus were Greylock's Bill Hellman and Point Judith Capital's Sean Marsh.
At least one company has already received funding thanks to an introduction at the first Founders Club bash, held at the three-story TriBeCa loft of angel investor David Larkin back in February. At the soirée he introduced George Kaltner, founder of Managed Systems Inc., in which Larkin made an angel investment, to venture capitalist Bob Greenhill. A few weeks later Greenhill SAVP led a $2.5 million investment in the enterprise tech services provider as part of a $3 million round of financing. - Mary Kathleen Flynn
See Aug. 20 post on Auren Hoffman from Tech Confidential
For more on Tuesday's event see Notes on a Party, Silicon Alley Insider and Valleywag
See photos of Tuesday's event on flickr
See Tech Confidential's video interview with Music Nation's Daniel Klaus
See press release from Greenhill SAVP
