Tag Archives: blog

Evaluating the Risks in Facebook’s IPO: Would You Invest?

Posted on February 2, 2012 by Antone Johnson • 1 Comment

Facebook is forthcoming about the challenges of mobile: No revenue currently generated from mobile advertising; unclear how much mobile use could be monetized; failure to solve this puzzle combined with a dramatic shift toward mobile usage could be a serious problem; and they don’t control the iOS and Android platforms. Frankly, if there were one thing that persuaded me not to invest in FB at current valuations, this would be it.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: digital media, law, liquidity events, social media, startups, Web 2.0

Convertible Note Financing 101 for Startups

Posted on October 31, 2011 by Antone Johnson • 5 Comments

A key advisory role of startup lawyers in my opinion is to level the playing field by bringing our own perspectives to bear, having gone through the twists and turns with many clients over the years. Knowledge is power.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: angel investing, law, startups, venture capital

South by Social Media: Improving the Signal-to-Noise Ratio

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Antone Johnson • 0 Comments

It’s impossible to capture all of the ideas, experiences, people, products, pitches, events of such a huge, intense event in one blog post. A few thoughts and resources to cut through the chatter:… Continue Reading

Filed Under: coworking, digital media, entrepreneurship, events, Silicon Valley, social media, startups

Web 2.0 Summit 2010 – Thought Leaders Ponder the “Battelle” for the Network Economy

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Antone Johnson • 1 Comment

This week, industry leaders, pundits, journalists and assorted hangers-on are gathering in San Francisco for the annual Web 2.0 Summit, one of the online industry’s most influential events. John Battelle and Tim O’Reilly moderate conversations with a long list of Web luminaries, including Eric Schmidt, Carol Bartz, Marc Benioff, Reed Hastings, Peter Chernin, Tony Hsieh, Evan Williams, Mark Zuckerberg, Mark Pincus, Ron Conway, John Doerr, and Fred Wilson.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: angel investing, digital media, entrepreneurship, events, law, public policy, social media, startups, venture capital, Web 2.0

If You Build It, They Will Abuse It

Posted on November 12, 2010 by Antone Johnson • 4 Comments

As a completely made-up statistic, assume that 0.01% of users are sociopaths or predators who cause serious damage to the community and its other members. With 10,000 users, that’s one guy. With a million, it’s a hundred people. With 100 million registered users — the scale at MySpace when I left — it’s ten thousand. That kind of math illustrates why every major consumer Internet company has an abuse team that serves as the first line of defense against all kinds of ugliness.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: digital media, law, social media, startups

The Crying of Bin 38: Valley Insiders, Anonymous Quorans, and a Vast Angel-Wing Conspiracy

Posted on October 30, 2010 by Antone Johnson • 1 Comment

My particular interest in Angelgate relates to the role of anonymity in social media, its facilitation of information flow in a way never seen before, and the fragility — under some circumstances — of that anonymity. Allowing users to log in via Facebook Connect, Twitter OAuth or Google Apps makes it easier than ever to unmask anonymous posters when a site owner is required to comply with a subpoena or search warrant.… Continue Reading

Filed Under: angel investing, entrepreneurship, law, social media, startups, super angels, venture capital