Talk:Mark Suster

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N Not done and not likely to be done

• I'm replying to this request on the requestor's talk page. Orville1974 (talk) 02:54, 5 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

{{request edit|R}}I added a Paid Conflict of Interest template on the article. I’ve been requested by my employer, FlexTeam, on behalf of Upfront Ventures to modify the existing page and transform it into the following. There are many changes to be added and removed so I’ve copied and pasted the new proposed code below, in its entirety. You may copy and paste all or just sections that you approve, for your convenience.— Spncrinc (talk), per Orville1974 (talk) 04:04, 5 June 2019 (UTC)

— Preceding unsigned comment added by Orville1974 (talk • contribs) 02:58, 5 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thank you, I've inserted the requestor's signature block into the template. Orville1974 (talk) 16:54, 5 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

I added a Paid Conflict of Interest template on the article. I’ve been requested by my employer, FlexTeam, on behalf of Upfront Ventures to modify the existing page.

In the introductory section, after "He is currently managing partner at Upfront Ventures."

Please, change the end of sentence period to a comma and add " the largest venture capital firm in Southern California with investments in tech companies such as TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring, Overture and Bird."

And after "He is a prominent blogger in the startup venture capital world."

Please, add "Suster is married and has two sons."

I've attached the Wikipedia code below, so that the references and footnotes will be added too. The tech companies TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring, Overture and Bird all have internal Wikipedia pages. Respectively: TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring (company), Yahoo! Search Marketing, Bird (company)

If you have any questions for me, please, feel free to contact me at my user talk page.

Here's the code:

Mark Suster is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is currently managing partner at Upfront Ventures,^[1][2] the largest venture capital firm in Southern California with investments in tech companies such as TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring, Overture and Bird. He is a prominent blogger in the startup venture capital world.^[3][4] Suster is married and has two sons.^[5]

Spncrinc (talk) 04:06, 7 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

  Edit request partially implemented  

1. N The selection of which companies to be mentioned in the lead as opposed to others which would not be mentioned is not immediately clear, and no reasoning has been provided by the COI editor for why these were chosen over others.
2. Y The prose regarding the wife and children was added.

Regards,  Spintendo  11:39, 7 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

@Spintendo: Thanks for making edits. The client's reasons for including these companies and removing the others are that the new companies mentioned were exited (sold) within the last decade, with the exception of Bird. Bird has not been sold yet, but it is the company with the largest valuation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Spncrinc (talk • contribs) 00:37, 15 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thank you for the clarification. The only issues left are the phrasing, shown below.

He is currently managing partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in Southern California with investments in tech companies such as TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring, Overture and Bird.

Is it the largest venture capital firm with investments in tech companies, or is it the largest venture capital firm because of its investments in tech companies? It's not clear which is the case. Also, "Southern California" is not a geographical location with distinct, well-laid out and apparent boundaries. Is the boundary of Southern California being figured with California split in the middle? Or in thirds or more, as is often mentioned when describing the different economic areas? This designation is somewhat meaningless unless those boundaries are better defined. Saying that it's the largest in So Cal implies that there is a larger firm in Northern California, because why else make a distinction of "So. Cal" in the first place. This would imply that it is the 2nd largest in California, which seems to be the clear way to phrase this distinction. (Or, is there a larger venture capital firm in So Cal without investments in tech companies?) Please clarify. Regards,  Spintendo  01:41, 15 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Thanks for the quick turnaround. I'll ask the client for clarification. I'll get back to you, probably in a few days. Spncrinc (talk) 01:53, 15 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Spintendo and @Spncrinc:, the sources in the Upfront Ventures article state it's the largest venture capital company in Los Angeles county. I haven't seen a source that includes larger areas of California. Orville1974 (talk) 04:30, 15 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Part of an edit requested by an editor with a conflict of interest has been implemented. {See below]

@Spintendo: @Orville1974: Let's use the wording "in Los Angeles" since we have a source to support that. Let's split this sentence into two, to make it clearer "He is currently managing partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in Southern California with investments in..." Please, write "He is currently managing partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest venture capital firm in Los Angeles. It has investments in tech companies such as TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring, Overture and Bird." Then, the next sentence, we should replace "He" with "Mark Suster" to keep it from being confusing, since the previous sentence's noun is 'It' and we were talking about the firm.

Here's the source code that I propose:

Mark Suster is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is currently managing partner at Upfront Ventures,^[1][2] the largest venture capital firm in Los Angeles.^[3][4] It has investments in tech companies such as TrueCar, Maker Studios, Ring, Overture and Bird. Mark Suster is a prominent blogger in the startup venture capital world.^[5][6]

Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 16:57, 17 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

• "the sources in the Upfront Ventures article state it's the largest venture capital company in Los Angeles county. Which Upfront Ventures article?
• "Let's use the wording in Los Angeles since we have a source to support that." What source would that be?
• If you both are referring to Crunchbase, I'd suggest choosing another source, perhaps the LA Times.^[1]. Regards,  Spintendo  17:28, 17 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Yes, I believe it was the Crunchbase article. Thanks for the link about reliable sources. I've chosen 2 (LA Times as you recommended, and CBInsight) and added the footnotes above at the end of the phrase "...the largest venture capital firm in Los Angeles." Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 20:51, 17 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

  Edit request partially implemented  

1. Y The claim regarding the subject as managing partner at "the largest venture capital firm in Los Angeles" was added, because this is information on where the subject of a biographical article works.
2. N The claims regarding Upfront Ventures' investments were not added. These claims involve the business activities of a company, and are not apropos for the lead section of a biographical article.

 Spintendo  08:54, 18 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

The client would like to reorganize some of the existing content into other sections. The goal of this edit is to make Mark Suster's page look a bit more like pages on Wikipedia of other venture capitalists that have sections for Investing and/or Career. For example, those pages are Aileen Lee, Bill Gurley and Fred Wilson (financier).

Could you please create a section called "Investing."

Please, put the following text in that section. I've added code for it below, if that's more convenient.
"Suster joined venture capital firm Upfront Ventures in 2007 and became a Managing Partner in 2011. At Upfront, Suster has led investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, Density, mitu, Nanit, Projector, Tact, and Maker Studios (acquired by Disney in 2014)."

And then in the section "Education and career"
Please, remove the line:
"At Upfront, Suster leads investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, MakeSpace, mitu, Nanit, Osmo, Tact, and uBeam."

Code:

• Investing

Suster joined venture capital firm Upfront Ventures in 2007^[1] and became a Managing Partner in 2011.^[2] At Upfront, Suster has led investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, Density, mitu, Nanit,^[3] Projector, Tact, and Maker Studios (acquired by Disney in 2014).^[4][5][6][7]

Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 01:07, 20 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

  Clarification requested  

• At Upfront, Suster leads investments in companies It is not known what is meant by the phrase "leads investments".^[a][b][c]

Regards,  Spintendo  07:24, 20 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

I've heard back from the client. Rather than naming the new section "Investing" let's just rename the "Education and career" section to "Career". And then because the first paragraph in that section is about education and not career, please, move it to the "Personal" section.

Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 01:18, 28 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

@Spncrinc: I've implemented this portion of your edit request. I believe you still have other pending changes you've been working with Spintendo on above, so I've left you're request open. If that has also been resolved, please let me know so I can close out the request. Orville1974^talk 03:29, 28 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

Already done The initial request was: Could you please create a section called "Investing." Please, put the following text in that section: "At Upfront, Suster has led investments in companies including Bird, Invoca..." which was then changed to: Rather than naming the new section "Investing" let's just rename the "Education and career" section to "Career". The section in question has been renamed Career rather than Investing, and the requested claim regarding the subject "leading investments" already exists in that section. Thus, the request can be considered already done. Regards,  Spintendo  06:46, 29 June 2019 (UTC)Reply

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

• In the Career section, the 5th line includes some investments. Please, add an investment called Density.

The citation for that is:
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/27/density-series-a/
Title: Density raises $4 million to track crowds at the DMV, theme parks and corporate campuses
Author: Megan Rose Dickey
Website Name: Tech Crunch
Ref: 27 July 2016

Here's the code if it helps

At Upfront, Suster leads investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, MakeSpace, Density^[1], mitu, Nanit,^[2] Osmo, Tact, and uBeam.^[3]

• In the Career section, please add at the beginning, to make the very first sentence "Suster started his career as a programmer and consultant at Accenture." with the double brackets around Accenture since there is an internal Wikipedia link.
• In the Personal section, please change "He started his career as a programmer at Accenture, which later paid for a postgraduate Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago." to "He received his MBA from the University of Chicago." And keep the citation there where it is, after the word "Chicago."

Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 19:55, 8 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

  Unable to implement  

• The verbatim text for which changes are to be made has not been included in the request.^[a]

Regards,  Spintendo  05:08, 14 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

In the Career section, before the very first line which says

"In 1999, with Ireland-based property entrepreneur..."

please add the sentence

"Suster started his career as a programmer and consultant at Accenture."

In the Career section, please change

"At Upfront, Suster leads investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, MakeSpace, mitu, Nanit, Osmo, Tact, and uBeam."

to

"At Upfront, Suster leads investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, MakeSpace, Density, mitu, Nanit, Osmo, Tact, and uBeam."

The citation for the added company called Density is in the code here:

^[1]

or, if you prefer to add it manually:
URL: https://techcrunch.com/2016/07/27/density-series-a/
Title: Density raises $4 million to track crowds at the DMV, theme parks and corporate campuses
Author: Megan Rose Dickey
Website Name: Tech Crunch
Ref: 27 July 2016

In the Personal section, please change

"He started his career as a programmer at Accenture, which later paid for a postgraduate Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago."

to

"He received his MBA from the University of Chicago."

Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 00:25, 16 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

1. The proposed text should include all elements which are to be placed in the article, including prior references and WikiLinks. The only provided reference thus far is the one for Density.
2. Please indicate from the following source where the claim regarding the University of Chicago is.
   1. Suster, Mark. "Personal Bio". Archived from the original on March 13, 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2011. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

Regards,  Spintendo  06:27, 16 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

This edit request by an editor with a conflict of interest has now been answered.

The client says that let's just leave "At Upfront, Suster leads investments in companies including Bird, Invoca, MakeSpace, mitu, Nanit, Osmo, Tact, and uBeam." as is.

Upfront Ventures has provided 4 sources for Mark Suster's MBA from University of Chicago. I will provide code for all 4 below, and you can select which one(s) you'd like to include as references.

Here are the edit requests:

In the Career section, before the very first line which says

"In 1999, with Ireland-based property entrepreneur..."

please add the sentence

"Suster started his career as a programmer and consultant at Accenture."

In the Personal section, please change

"He started his career as a programmer at Accenture, which later paid for a postgraduate Master of Business Administration from the University of Chicago."

to

"He received his MBA from the University of Chicago.^[1][2][3][4]"

Thanks Spncrinc (talk) 21:29, 26 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

The claim is that he started his career at Accenture. But the career listed for the article is venture capitalist and entreprenuer. Thus the claim that his career began at Accenture is not correct, as the subject was not an entreprenuer nor a venture capitalist at that location.^[a] The claim involving U of Chicago was altered as requested, although a date was not provided either in the proposal nor in the reference.  Spintendo  02:04, 27 July 2019 (UTC)Reply

@Spintendo: Looks great! Thanks for all your help! Spncrinc (talk) 19:47, 14 August 2019 (UTC)Reply