5to1, a stealth startup founded by former Fox Interactive execs Jim Heckman (pictured left) and Ross Levinsohn, has raised $4.5 million according to a recent SEC filing. Heckman is the CEO of the new company. Levinsohn, a partner at Fuse Capital, is on the board of directors.
The company isn’t saying what they’re up to yet. But Heckman has a history of successful startups – he founded Rivals.com (acquired by Yahoo in 2007 for $100 million), and Scout.com (acquired by News Corp./Fox Interactive in 2005 for around $50 million).
Other founders/execs/investors include Dale Strang, Mark Stieglitz, Michael Barrett and Woody Benson.
A summary of funding from the recent filing shows the company closed $2.2 million in April 2009 and $2.3 million in June 2009, bringing the total to $4.5 million. Fuse, Prism, and several angles are listed as investors.
Let me guess…Advertising platform?
Based on their publisher login page – http://www.5to1.../publisher/Main
Yea you might be right about that
http://www.5to1...tion/index.html
Not so stealth anymore, right
“Ad revenue on your own terms.” What does that mean.. does anyone know what the hell that means.. fine I want lots of money without having to do a dam thing….. and blondes.. lots of blonds.. hmmmm blondes..
Nope!
I need some help… can anyone help?
My gmail account got hacked, and by the ‘Activity Log’ feature of Google, I could figure out the IP address from where my email account was logged in.
The IP was 204.15.23.171
I do not know how to figure out which browser is this. Is there any software that can figure out whose machine is this where my account was opened and emails were tampered?
How to track down this hacker with IP 204.15.23.171 ?
Would those be obtuse or acute angles?
first it was blueroverlabs and now this. money, no product. i think both should apply for TC 50 just to see what would happen .:)
This guy is the most over hyped snake oil salesmen you’ll find.
He burned through a 100 million in VC at rivals when it went into bankruptcy. The subsequent turnaround and yahoo acquisition happened after he was no longer steering the ship into massive ice bergs.
Next was Scout which burned through less cash before getting acquired by Fox. The secret on that one was he had to skim off the top to get a good exit
http://benkoo.c...mer-publishers/
Thy Myspace Google deal… Good for myspace and Fox, bad for rest of the world including myspace users. Even TC covered how it incentived myspace to make their platform less user friendly in hopes of hitting revenue guarantees based on google search thresholds.
Heckman’s whole career is built on shady dealings and spin. Looking forward to seeing what he trots out this time around.
Thanks for the Info. Michael didn’t disclose that angle for whatever reasons
Is it Jason Hurschhorn or Jason Hirschhorn?
If this guy sold an intenret company for 100 million what does he need investors @ 4 million for? I smell B.S.
easy its not his money burning
Silicon valley dropout is right, plus he probably didn’t make more than 50 million from the 100 million dollar sale.
Heckman is very overrated and wasn’t well liked at FIM. Not sure why levensohn backed. don’t even get me started on Michael barreett
Not well liked at FIM? Say it ain’t so! What’s not to like about $900M? And in case you missed it, FIM died a quiet death this week, so being well liked there hardly seems like an indicator of success.
i think there was a lot of myspace jealousy towards him. but he certainly brought in the dollars.
He had no equity in Rivals when it got acquired. He BURNED through a 1 million dollars before it was liquidated to a group out of Tennessee.
The 50 million dollar exit was built on a business plan that skimmed millions of dollars from publishers to cook the books. It just got settled for 5 million dollars + and he is far and clear away from the carnage.
I mean 100 million not 1 million and that quoted rivals acquisition price is a little too rich
Michael,
usually you comment on these posts to confirm to us readers that the commenter’s are nothing more than trolls. Helps the normal amongst us out.
I have to disagree with the above. This team is a bunch of studs, who all have wins under their belt. Heckman is a serial builder, very very smart and is tireless. I’m very interested to see what this crew is coming up with.
He’s also a serial liar with few friends and countless enemies….
I’ve worked with these guys before and would again. They know their stuff and, unlike most startup builders, actually know how to sell the good stuff they make. I believe this initiative will go far.
There is an art to making anonymous comments, ritespot. You failed.
Real Deal-
It’s ironic to call someone out for anonymous comments. I worked with these guys and know what they are capable of. Not only can they build good products and vision, they actually have the capacity to sell what they are talking about and generate real return. Good luck with your vendetta.
Well said Josh! We’re getting better at this commenting stuff. What are we going to do with the other commentators though?
VIVA HECKMAN!!!!!!! He’s Jesus Christ 2.0
In my opinion i think it’s Advertising platform.
I’ve dealt with Heckman. The word “arrogant” doesn’t come close to describing him. One of FIM’s big mistakes was Scout. Scout is junk traffic. FIM overpayed for it. Heckman was arrogant as hell and didn’t know crap about monetizing the properties.
heckman? utterly and maniacally arrogant – true – but he’s been right more often than not and engendered loyalty from those around him as evidenced by the team of proven execs that have joined him and investors that have backed him time and again
myspace/google? 1bn dropped to bottom line. got ms off of life support and gave it a 3.5 yr window to get it right. the deal was a coup. are you kidding?
scout? had great momentum at time of acquisition – even caught up to rivals after launching years later. execution and lack of integration post-deal was the issue, not the deal. publisher settlement occurred 4 yrs post-deal and 2 years after heckman left–he didn’t even run it while at fim–so i find it amusing to see those stretching to cast blame on this one.
rivals? left them with a bucket of cash when he departed and built the business model, brand and network that thrived and sold to yahoo.
sour grapes? definitely
These “top rate team launching stealth startup” posts are at best useless. No details, no analysis, no information. Why bother?
FAIL! http://publishe...p?loc=USYPN0005