It has taken about ten months longer then we had planned, but CircleBuilder.com has finally closed its seed round of funding. The convertible debt has become equity priced at a dollar a share and it's gone up in value, at least on paper. However, that value is not liquid, so is not worth discussing.

Before I go further, I should disclose that I am on the Advisory Board of the company and was one of the early investors. Many of my posts are written as an "adventure in investorland" relating my own experiences. For those who feel this is too promotional, you can turn away. My purpose is to share the journey of an insider as this company builds.

There was little certainty that CircleBuilder would be a success when we started. Along the way, I have had some reservations about the financial and time commitment; I do not need one more thing to do, or a way to lose money.

When we started, MySpace was all the rage and Facebook was gaining momentum rapidly. The founders, Howard Brown and Brent Cohen, came to me with an idea to develop a social networking site catering to religious communities that were not well served by the free-for-all, anything-goes nature of existing alternatives.

Continue reading Investment Diary: CircleBuilder closes first round

Investment Diary: CircleBuilder closes first round originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 09 Sep 2008 13:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Social networking sites are all the rage and growing fast. A little over a year ago on July 19, 2006, Rupert Murdoch's NewsCorp (NYSE: NWS) paid $580 million for MySpace.com. It has continued to grow and establish business partnerships, bringing comments that this was the biggest deal of the new millennium, and garnering staggering valuations that it is worth upward of $10 billion.

Early on, my teenage daughter was spending countless hours on the site (and probably yours, too) with her friends and it has grown to be a real community. But that success was bound to be copied, and now it appears that Facebook.com is stealing some of MySpace's thunder.

According to reports, Facebook is growing faster than MySpace, and having started on college campuses, caters to a better educated and more affluent customer base. My daughter, now in college is making the switch. This does not mean that there is not room for both of them, but it does indicate the market is still wide open and that there is plenty of opportunity. It is rumored that Facebook has already turned down multi-billion dollar offers to be acquired and is gearing up for a grand IPO some day in the foreseeable future. Based on all the hype and the growth of the site I do not think I would be going out on a limb to suggest an IPO would be the hottest thing since Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG), and they know it.

Continue reading Social networking sites are growing and growing up

Social networking sites are growing and growing up originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 30 Aug 2007 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.