Author Archives: Jim Scheinman

Interview with Jim Scheinman ’88 of Maven Ventures

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This interview was originally published by the Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network on August 28, 2012.

Jim Scheinman T ’88 is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and advisor to start-up companies in Silicon Valley. He is a pioneer in social networking and engagement marketing, a relatively new form of marketing and the predominant source of revenue for facebook and other online social networks. Jim is most prominently known for his role as employee number one (essentially a co-founder) at Bebo, the third largest social network in the world when it was acquired by AOL in early 2008 for $850M. Since his founding of his angel investment business Maven Ventures in 2008, he has had 3 successful exits, two of which were Google acquisitions. Today, several of his investments are leaders in their industry with tens of millions of customers and tens of millions in capital raised, including Tango, Zoom, Pageonce and Banjo.

To read the full interview, navigate to the Duke Global Entrepreneurship Network.

Co-founder of Bebo leaves to join venture firm: Q&A

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jim-scheinman-headshot

This interview was originally published in VentureBeat on November 13, 2007.  

Jim Scheinman, one of three founders of Bebo, is leaving the company he helped start to become an Entrepreneur in Residence at the VC firm, Charles River Ventures. We talked with him to discuss that decision, his days at Friendster, his plans for the future and, of course, Facebook.

VB: What was it about this opportunity that made you decide to leave Bebo?

JS: I’m an early-stage entrepreneur at heart and the time was right for me to look to the next opportunity in the start-up world. It’s always hard leaving something that you’ve started, especially when the business is doing as great as Bebo is, but sometimes when a special opportunity presents itself, you’ve got to go for it. I suppose it’s the risk-taker in me helping make this decision.

To read the remaining part of this enlightening interview, check out the original version published on VentureBeat.