I just read on John Battelle's blog that Topix, a company, called the "Craigslist.org of news" by the SJ Mercury News has just begun a new service for start ups based on a former client's (LinkSV) database. The combination should be an great reference for entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, accountants and others on some 2,500 Silicon Valley start-ups.
From the Merc, Link SV "is worth a deeper look itself. The profiles include information like name and bio details of key executives, a business focus summary, a listing of board members, venture capital backing, company contact info and names of customers."
" Alternative database services like VentureOne and Venture Economics charge users a lot of money, largely because they deliver exclusive data about financing rounds, based on laborious work sending out questionnaires to start-ups and then subsequent fact-checking. While LinkSV says it too will charge for premium services, its free version is offers quite a bit. One cool feature allows you to search your LinkedIn contacts by clicking on highlighted executive names or companies listed on LinkSV."
I've been using LinkSV for sometime now and think the new service will provide a great benefit.
I read with interest your commentary on LinkSV -- you (or some of your readers) might be interested in a similar service which covers high tech ventures in Southern California, socalTECH.com. The site offers a continually updated list of venture funded startups; company profiles; searchable biographies of its executives; contact information; visual navigation (i.e. social network) info for companies and the VCs that fund them; customized news; and more. Plus, it also lets you search LinkedIn for contacts. It's a subscription service but has a free trial. http://www.socaltech.com/intelligence
Posted by: Benjamin Kuo | January 09, 2005 at 03:39 PM
Hi Ben,
It sounds like a great service. I'm glad to learn about it, and will let clients know. Best of luck. Robin
Posted by: Robin Stavisky | January 10, 2005 at 10:14 PM