Capital Chaos

 Dizzywood (Tiburon, CA) just pulled in its first million as reported by TechCrunch.  The company has created a virtual world for kids between the ages of 8-12 that aims to offer the demographic a “web site that inspires a sense of imagination, discovery, exploration, and most of all, fun”.

This Series A Round was led by Charles River Ventures and Shelby Bonnie (Co-founder of CNET Networks) with participation from Shelby Bonnie and other private investors.

In going through Dizzywood, kids experience entertainment through storytelling, creative activities and kids can actually work with one another on specific tasks.

The company was founded by Scott Arpajian (former SVP of CNETDownloads.com) Sean Kelly (Co-founder of Wallop) Ken Marden (Game designer at Hasbro).

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 Charles River Ventures (Waltham MA - Menlo Park, CA) is one of the oldest venture capital firms around having been founded in 1970.  They are an early-stage VC that has a very diversified track record of investing in a broad series of sectors such as:

While a business plan is a must and important, at the end of the day, these guys believe in investing in people and their belief in those people to execute on the plan (with the help of CRV).

If you are looking to prepare a plan for CRV, focus on creating a concise executive summary, an expense budget for the first two years, the revenue model, and a PowerPoint presentation.  Also, keep in mind that these guys are not afraid to invest in a young company. They claim that “more than half of their investments have been to companies with 0-9 employees”.

Something also unique about CRV is a program they have called the CRV QuickStart Seed Funding Program.  It is basically up to $250k in the form of a convertible loan (note) without any significant dilution before you even get off the ground.  It is worth exploring if you are just setting forth on a path to building a company.

As we have stated before, when you are dealing with a seasoned firm like a CRV, expect some pitfalls along the way in terms of the process.  While they may get back to you quickly, is some cases you may wait over a month.  Biggest complaint oftern heard about these guys is if they say no, they dont give you much of an explanation as to why.  If you do get to pitch them, seek out Susan Wu (swu@crv.com) as she has the most experience on the QuickStart Program and has heard a lot of pitches to know what they are looking for.

Contact:
1000 Winter Street, Waltham, MA 02451
Tel: (781) 768-6000
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2800 Sand Hill Road
Suite 150
Menlo Park, CA 94025
(650) 687-5600