Groupable is a NY-based startup that provides a marketplace bringing together online/offline groups and sponsors. The company describes their service as, "We are an online marketplace connecting groups of all types to corporate and local sponsors." The concept is interesting because so many groups and recurring meetups are always looking for a helping hand from a sponsor for food, venue, etc.

I like their success stories section - it's always a smart idea to show off your startup's customers - helps other potential customers to increase their trust in your startup. It looks like they have about 90 groups in their database currently.

The challenge for Groupable will be getting enough supply of sponsors into their network. But at the same time, they need to get enough groups in to meet a sponsor's requirements. I would make sure that they have a notification system setup for sponsors so that any new groups who signup that meet the sponsor's requirements send off a notification to the sponsor. On the groups side, Groupable staff needs to hit up every single group in the U.S. and get them to register if they are seeking sponsorship.

Eventually the company plans to charge sponsors but for now the service is free for both groups and sponsors.

Warner Bros. has signed, through its agency, MediaCom Interaction, a web video sponsorship program for its upcoming “Watchmen” with For Your Imagination, the New York-based online media studio, for a custom-programming package of comedy and entertainment shows produced under For Your Imaignation’s Axis of Comedy video network.

The unique campaign provides for narrative integration of a “Watchmen”-themed storyline through four programs in the video network, including an original mini-web series, which launch on February 18, 2009 and runs through March 6, 2009, the opening date of “Watchmen”:

A 3-part series on KYLE PICCOLO: COMIC SHOP THERAPIST
Problems with women? Frustrated at work? Suspect you have a mutant power? Just head down to your local comic book shop and have a chat with the man behind the counter — Kyle Piccolo, the always sardonic, sometimes empathetic, and not quite all-knowing Comic Shop Therapist.

ABIGAIL’S TEEN DIARY
Abigail is a 13 year-old girl vlogging about boys, school and living with Bloomberger's Syndrome. That's a fictional genetic condition that makes her look like a 30-something guy!

THE RETRIBUTIONERS
Stephanie Scott, is a happily married, accomplished woman, who feels that she has not yet proven herself to the world. She decides to contact past boyfriends, former friends, teachers, rude people, skinny people, etc., to seek retribution.

HungrymanTV’s PHISTOPHICLES
The lesser known Greek philosopher, Phistophicles, recites his ponderings on all things important in this recently discovered, thought-to-be-lost ancient video footage.

All programming will be available on www.axisofcomedy.tv utilizing a customized interactive video player by Innovid that includes clickable Easter eggs and “Watchmen” references as part of a fan contest. Videos will be syndicated across For Your Imagination’s distribution network of video sharing platforms such as Blip, DailyMotion, MySpace, Yahoo! and Viddler, entertainment and comic book websites and as a podcast on iTunes.

“The Watchmen can appeal to not only the comic book fans but also the mainstream moviegoer that is looking for great entertainment,” says Paul Kontonis, CEO and Co-Founder of For Your Imagination, “and this sponsorship campaign brings the uninitiated into the fold by reaching out to mainstream audiences and introducing them to the Watchmen storyline through entertaining videos.”

"The Watchmen references naturally fit into our comic web series and once we got started, some of them just wrote themselves,” says Alec Pollak, Chief Creative Officer of For Your Imagination and co-creator of Kyle Piccolo, “As comic book fans we consider this KYLE PICCOLO/WATCHMEN integrated campaign as a contender for best team-up, ever!"

“Its no secret that the lines between traditional advertising and on screen entertainment is blurring and the seamlessly embedding Kyle Piccolo and The Watchmen into an original episode of Phistophicles is a terrific example of branded entertainment at its best,” says Mark Grande, Head of Development of Hungry Man. “Why must we smother the viewer with a brand message, when creating a piece of great content that simply references a brand has a much more engaging effect?”

"Innovid is bringing a true interactive experience to the campaign by enabling users to engage with subtle branded elements within the videos," says Tal Chalozin, CTO and Co-Founder of Innovid. "We expect that users will spend more time with the videos clicking around and finding the interactive elements."

NYConvergence ORIGINALYuli Ziv's Style Coalition with assistance from the NextWeb team, including Brett Petersel and Oz Sultan, threw a party last night to attempt to bridge the gap between the fashion and online worlds at a penthouse overlooking Bryant Park...

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I’m speaking twice in the next few weeks on ‘Career Opportunities with Private Equity and Venture Capital Portfolio Companies’ . Institutional investors are certainly paying much more attention now to operational issues, which is good from the point of view of executives who are seeking opportunities at portfolio companies.

My hosts for these two presentations are both private executives group, so the programs are not open to the public. However, I have posted below the slides, also visible at http://teten.com/executive.htm . Of course, I always welcome feedback.

Issues I’ll discuss:
- Common engagement models with private equity and venture capital firms: Expert networks, senior advisor networks, executives in residence, and deal executives.
- How you can work with a private equity portfolio company: board member, deal origination, consultant, employee, interim executive.
- Why operational expertise is now far more important for private equity portfolio companies.
- How private equity ownership impacts a company.
- How you can use online networks and other “Web 2.0″ internet technologies to increase your pool of potential employers.
- Non-traditional tools to win consulting projects.

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NYConvergence ORIGINALWe arrived early last night to stake out a seat for the Shorty Awards, the first awards ceremony to honor producers of the most interesting content on the microblogging service Twitter and the focal point of Social Media Week...