No feature or fun friday today. I wanted to talk a bit about a feat that my friend Mark Suster has pulled off. He has completely repositioned and rebranded a 17 year old venture capital firm. And I think it is really impressive what he has pulled off.
I joined a 17 year old venture capital firm in 1987. It was run by the founding partners who were in their late 50s at the time. I was there for ten years and we struggled mightily to remain relevant with a brand that was, frankly, stuck in the seventies.
I eventually left and started a new firm, a new brand, and a new thing. We called it Flatiron Partners. When that blew up, I started a new firm, a new brand, and a new thing. We called it Union Square Ventures. That's the typical model in VC. Restart when things aren't working.
What I have not seen done well is to take an aging brand and inject new life, new positioning, and new meaning into it. And that is what Mark has done. They are now the biggest early stage VC in LA. Mark has one of the few must read blogs in the VC world. And they have a new name, Upfront Ventures. I love the name and what it means about how they want to behave and be seen in the world.
Congratulations Upfront Ventures. Very well done.
