Venture capitalists are eager to see passage of the JOBS Act, but regulators are concerned that the bill will end up hurting investors. Where do you stand?

Jeff Clavier has closed a $55 million third fund that will enable his seed-stage firm, SoftTech VC, to make bigger bets on portfolio companies and reap bigger rewards. Clavier, the firm’s founder and managing partner, said the fund was oversubscribed and has invested in 23 companies so far with money from its first and second [...]

Seed investing fell 56% in the recent third quarter to the lowest level of the past six years, according to the MoneyTree Report. The question is whether this accurately reflects the seemingly irrepressible seed market. One line of thinking is that the MoneyTree study may not entirely capture the continued ground swell of support for [...]

BetterWorks said it raised an $8 million Series A round from Redpoint Ventures. The Los Angeles company that helps employers manage employee perks programs has now raised a total of $10 million. Angel investors include Jeff Clavier, John Frankel and David Lee. PRESS RELEASE BetterWorks Raises $8 Million from Redpoint Ventures to Make Work Rewarding [...]

In this week’s Social Scene, Brad Feld of Foundry Group goes the distance (and more) for Fitbit, Mark Suster of GRP Partners is the butt of a bathroom joke at South by Southwest, while an angel, PE pro, marketing VP and venture advisor get ready to celebrate being one year older. Have a personal tidbit [...]

Want to cozy up to angel extraordinaire-turned-VC Reid Hoffman? We suggest learning the board game “Settlers of Catan.” Or, better yet, ask him to teach you how to play. (See video link below.) Hoffman — co-founder of LinkedIn and a partner at Greylock Partners — is a genuinely nice guy who has a hard time saying no to legitimate requests for help.

As Tom Stein notes in his excellent profile of Hoffman in this month’s Venture Capital Journal, German ad exec Cyriac Roeding sent a message to Hoffman six years ago not really expecting him to respond. Hoffman not only responded, but he also invited Roeding to breakfast the next time he was in Palo Alto, Calif.

Roeding took him up on the offer, and the pair met several times a year over the next few years. “I have no idea why Reid ever took that first meeting,” Roeding says. “He is so insanely busy, but he always manages to find the time.”