What's Going On At 12?
from the nothing-good dept
A few months back someone told me that 12 Entrepreneuring, the incubator founded by Halsey Minor (founder of CNET) and Eric Greenberg (founder of both Viant and Scient) was trying to raise a new round of funding that valued the company at a whopping $750 million, despite the fact they hadn’t shown any success stories. I’d heard that investors were laughing as they left pitches and were amazed at the lavish spending the company had put into their offices. This was already after Greenberg had left (due to what many people said was an “ego clash” with Minor). Last week the rumors started flying that a bunch of the investors in 12 started asking Minor for their money back. That’s a pretty extreme step – especially for such a high profile company. It seems they’ve worked out their differences, but they’re not telling any details. The rumor is that some of the investors are getting some of their money back. As for how 12 is actually doing, it appears they’re scaling back their operations to focus on the two companies they already started. That’s not much of an incubator… Once again, this looks like a company that was more focused on the people associated with it, than any particular good idea.
