Last March, at a Round Zero dinner - the monthly Silicon Valley event for wannabe entrepreneurs - August Capital's Naval Ravikant leaned across the table and whispered an idea to Round Zero founder Nirav Tolia. Four months and three founding partners later, the notion grew into epinions.com, a Web-based consumer resource with links to product specs, company sites, and buying guides - and a host of user opinions.
"It's a platform for all the cottage Siskels and Eberts," explains Tolia, admitting, "it's maybe not the best idea anyone has ever thought of." That said, Tolia wasn't a bad person to whisper it to: As head of an entrepreneurial networking organization, he figured it was time to walk the walk, and he had the connections to do it. Thanks to August Capital and Benchmark Capital, the balance in epinions.com's bank account already has many round zeros.
ELECTRIC WORD
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Power Trip
