That was a big validation.
But the biggest validation of Alfonzo's star status is not the All-Star ring he wears or the World Series ring he hopes to earn this month.
It is aimed at Hispanics of Mexican origin, who are around two-thirds of the Hispanic population in America, and imports telenovelas from Mexico; Telemundo makes its own, and caters to Caribbean Hispanics.Emilio Romano, the boss of Telemundo, insists it is a "big validation of our business" that media giants are piling into its market.
eBay as a strategic investor is a big validation for Shipwire's technology.
For him to come here was a big validation for what we've been doing," said CcHub's Tijani.
So, when 23andMe was recently awarded its first patent for determining a user's risk for Parkinson's Disease, it was naturally seen as big validation for its crowdsourced and community-driven approach to genetic research.
The IBM deal is a big validation for Thomas Campbell, who started investment shop D.C. Capital Partners in 2007 after an acrimonious departure involving a contract dispute from Veritas Capital, a private equity firm dedicated to defense deals.
This is big validation for the young company, as Hed has not only built and sold international software companies, but he's also the founder of investment firm Global Inter Partner and majority stakeholder (69.7percentt) in Rovio, which is of course best known as the creator of Angry Birds.
So, while there's plenty of speculation over which of the major mobile payments players will crack the mainstream first, whether it's Google Wallet, Isis, Pay With Square, or PayPal, perhaps the biggest validation for the service comes from the fact that several of LevelUp's backers are now investing in the startup on top of their own mobile payment solutions.
