THE U2 FRONTMAN AND POP SENSATION JOIN JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE AND ASHTON KUTCHER
http://dervishcom.blogspot.com/2011/07/u2-frontman-and-pop-sensation-join.html
When we consider of Bono or Lady Gaga, a tenure “Silicon Valley entrepreneur” frequency springs to mind.
For now, during least. The U2 frontman as good as cocktail prodigy stick upon Justin Timberlake as good as Ashton Kutcher in between a flourishing ranks of celebrities who, rsther than than occupy their star energy to hawk consumer products, have been increasingly pushing high-tech investments.
Hollywood has regularly hold a sure mindfulness for a monied elite, from Wall Street bankers to Middle Eastern oil sheiks. Now, it seems Hollywood is returning a preference as good as dabbling in a bit of collateral resource-allocation of a own.
Timberlake done waves in late Jun when he paid for a interest in bum amicable network Myspace to a single side digital promotion organisation Specific Media. The actor-singer will fool around a consequential purpose in revitalizing a web company.
“We live in a universe of brands,” pronounced Howard Bragman, a open family senior manager as good as owner of a vital media group Fifteen Minutes. “A handful of intelligent celebrities as good as their reps comprehend which all a areas where they can be during home their selling flesh have been monetary opportunities.”
Savvy celebs have been perplexing to compound party as good as amicable networking, shutting a opening in between actor as good as fan. That competence good be a pass to destiny success, according to Bragman.
Lady Gaga — maybe a many manifest star upon a amicable web — teamed up with Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt’s Tomorrow Ventures to deposit in Backplane, slated to launch in a final week of August. Backplane — a arrange of amicable network for wild fans of all from football to, yes, cocktail song — has lifted over $1 million in funding.
“Celebrities, upon top of all others, have to assimilate a significance of code brand new media in sequence to survive. Social media platforms, in particular, have been where luminary careers possibly flower or decline,” pronounced Johanna Blakley, handling executive during a University of Southern California’s Norman Lear Center.
“Timberlake’s gamble upon Myspace is a unsure one, though it signals an admission which shopping in to a party commercial operation these days equates to shopping in to code brand new media, not aged media.”
BEST AND WORST
Gaga has a double-digit percent cut of Backplane as good as a chair upon a board, according to CEO as good as Founder Matthew Michelsen, who says he represents a cocktail diva in her Silicon Valley tech ventures.
The most appropriate approach to assimilate Backplane is to demeanour to football fans Michelsen calls facepainters — a ones in a stands. The site goes beta in late Aug in between Gaga’s fans, whom she calls “little monsters,” according to Michelsen.
“You do not know if those people have been a boss of a Fortune 500 organisation or a UPS man,” Michelsen said. “We wish to yield a height for them to correlate around their love. It could be their a a single preferred football team. It could be a small monsters. It could be Harley Davidson riders.”
Timberlake has been active in start-ups similar to Apple iPhone gaming app developer Tapulous as good as Particle, which develops micro-video focus Robo.tv, by a digital investment wing of his commercial operation empire, Tennman Digital.
With Myspace, however, a former ‘N Sync part of is not usually putting his face upon a product or bankrolling a venture. He gets an office, a staff of six, as good as a care role, according to Specific Media CEO Tim Vanderhook.
Timberlake isn’t a usually Hollywood kingship possibly creation a critical pull in to technology.
Ashton Kutcher, who got his begin in “Dude, Where’s My car?”, has done a fibre of clearly savvy investments from location-based amicable web Foursquare to Flipboard apps for a iPad. Most recently, his investment in Airbnb — a website which matches travelers seeking for a poor room with homeowners seeking to lease out — won publicity when try collateral organisation Andreessen Horowitz led a $112 million turn of financing for a fast-growing company.
But whilst a little celebrities competence be fervent to rise their code by demonstrating boardroom savvy, critics contend a couple of investments competence have been misplaced.
There “arguably competence be an additional tech bubble,” pronounced Christopher Smith, executive of USC’s Center upon Communication Leadership as good as Policy. “Once your shoe-shine chairman starts articulate about batch deals, it’s time to sell.”
Irish rocker Bono of U2 celebrity is a single of 5 co-founders of Elevation Partners, to a single side former Apple CFO Fred Anderson as good as Silver Lake Partners co-founder Roger McNamee. He has an undisclosed volume of his own income invested in a fund.
But in 2010, Bono was dubbed a “worst financier in America” by blog 24/7 Wall St, as good as his firm’s investments in Palm — given taken over by Hewlett Packard — Forbes Inc as good as Move.com have been roundly panned.
“Not each organisation works, though in a most appropriate cases they lift a profiles of a projects they have been concerned with, tempt alternative investors as good as enthuse consumers,” Bragman said.
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