TechCrunch LA
MARCH 1, 2024
Waymo received approval Friday afternoon from the California Public Utilities Commission to operate a commercial robotaxi service in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Peninsula and on San Francisco freeways. The approval removes the last barrier for the Alphabet company to charge for rides in these expanded areas. Importantly, it opens up new territory for Waymo […] © 2024 TechCrunch.
Berkonomics
AUGUST 8, 2024
Fifty percent of all businesses formed will fail within the first two years. There are many variations of this number since there are a number of ways to measure failure. But the number is a startling reminder that creating a business is not easy, nor is it any assurance of success. How to define “success” for a startup? After speaking with many entrepreneurs over the years, each defines success in his or her unique way.
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TechEmpower
MARCH 4, 2024
Generative AI is revolutionizing how corporations operate by enhancing efficiency and innovation across various functions. Focusing on generative AI applications in a select few corporate functions can contribute to a significant portion of the technology's overall impact. Key Functions with High Impact Generative AI is revolutionizing sales by enabling dynamic pricing and personalized customer interactions, boosting conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
Both Sides of the Table
JUNE 12, 2024
Credit: Apex Today, Apex announced their Series B funding round, led by XYZ Ventures and CRV, with participation from Upfront. And if you spend much time in LA, you’ll quickly realize that we’re in a groundswell of space and defense startups. Is it because of the rich engineering talent coming out of Caltech, UCLA, USC, Harvey Mudd, and all the other universities?
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Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.
Tech.Co
MAY 16, 2024
In recent years, Black-owned businesses have grown at the fastest pace in 30 years. However, despite growing optimism, the path to success for Black entrepreneurs is still paved with systematic barriers in 2024. In addition to the regular pressures of running a business in this climate, Black business owners have to contend with discriminatory lending practices from banking institutions and racial prejudices from buyers – with a recent report revealing that 76% of Black business owners cla
Startup San Diego
OCTOBER 30, 2024
Over 1,600+ attendees joined us throughout October 21st-25th for the 12th Annual San Diego Startup Week. This was a monumental event, “Making Waves of Innovation,” from Carlsbad all the way […] The post 1,600+ Made Waves of Innovation for the 12th Annual San Diego Startup Week appeared first on Startup San Diego.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
LATechDigest
NOVEMBER 1, 2024
Multi-player mobile games network just raised $35 million in Series A funding from a pool that includes Knoll Ventures, Sands Capital Ventures, The Chernin Group, Greycroft Partners, Highland Capital Partners, and Evolution Media Capital. More details at VentureBeat.
StartUp Beat
FEBRUARY 2, 2024
Los Angeles has long been renowned for the prowess of its entertainment industry, with Hollywood being a larger-than-life symbol known across the world. Yet the growth of its tech sector has also increasingly been receiving attention. We spoke to serial investor Brad Zions from Los Angeles to get a better perspective on tech trends in […] The post Interview with Brad Zions: Investor and Tech Veteran from Los Angeles appeared first on StartUp Beat.
Berkonomics
MARCH 28, 2024
All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write in their investment documents that they will occupy a seat on the board for as long as they are invested in the company, thinking of this as a protection for their investment and tool for them to influence growth.
Berkonomics
AUGUST 22, 2024
You’re building a company from your vision and a passion, and lots of people are going to tell you that you have this or that wrong, and that it just won’t work. Business plans rarely survive market contact The truth is that very, very few early business plans survive in a form completely recognizable when looking back a few years. But even with massive changes, the vision and passion usually don’t diminish in the process of morphing a business plan into a profitable business.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 21, 2024
How do you value pre-revenue companies? Last time we examined ten different ways to value companies already in revenue, usually beyond the early stage. Now we tackle the more difficult and subjective task of placing a value upon those startups that don’t fit into that mold. For those of us who’ve invested in early-stage companies, especially technology startups, we have confronted a universal problem.
Tech.Co
JANUARY 26, 2024
There are just five days left to enter the digital detox competition set up by Icelandic Yogurt company Siggi’s Dairy, which has pledged to give selected contestants $10,000 to spend an entire month “detoxing” without a smartphone or social media. To be considered for the contest, you will have to write a 100-500 word essay to enter on why you’d like to digitally detox and the positive impact it’ll have on your life – but that's all that's needed to apply.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 31, 2024
Why reduce investor risk? In the creation of a young company, there are five principal risks to be addressed by the entrepreneur. Professional investors will probe these five risk areas and make the decision to invest based upon comfort with each. So, it is important for the entrepreneur to identify, address and mitigate each of these in order to increase valuation and decrease the risk of ultimate loss of the business.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 10, 2024
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. Four reasons you should reconsider. First, few startups can use that much money today with all the virtual services available and increasingly inexpensive methods of development, prototyping and marketing.
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 15, 2024
Forming business relationships at the highest level As you follow these insights from ignition to liquidity event, you’ll detect a continuing theme, emphasizing the need for deep and wide relationships that the CEO and senior staff can call upon for advice and guidance. This is the time to elevate those insights to the level of highest value for the corporation, one that cannot be listed on a balance sheet nor included in an appraisal of corporate worth.
Tech.Co
FEBRUARY 16, 2024
There's no denying that 2024 is a challenging year to run a business. As inflation rates spiral and consumer demand takes a hit, business owners are forced to be more mindful of their bottom lines than ever. But whether you're grappling with debt, or looking to expand, accessing third-party financing may be easier than you think. While free money may sound too good to be true, there are hundreds of grants available to small businesses in 2024 designed to make financing more accessible to busines
Tech.Co
OCTOBER 16, 2024
Free money might sound like it’s too good to be true – especially in 2024 when businesses are finding it harder than ever to access traditional financing. Yet, whether you’re looking to start a business or take an existing venture to the next level, there is actually a wealth of opportunities out there to help you reach your potential.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 5, 2024
Every investor or lender wants regular information from companies taking their money. And most of us are frustrated by the lack of regular communication – unless the company needs more money. On the other side, entrepreneurs and CEOs usually have a natural fear of giving too much information to investors and bankers after the initial amounts have been received.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 3, 2024
John Tukey, coiner of the word ‘bit’ to describe a single switch of digital micro-data made this provocative statement. Tukey was a statistician; one you would expect to describe events in terms reeking with precision. Where’s the precision in that? Instead, Tukey of asking for precision as we’d expect, he implored us to think in terms of relevancy, cause and comparisons to known events.
Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 26, 2024
This argument is getting trite for those of us who’ve been around for a few years. We’re always asked the question, and almost always have the same answer. Let me explain it to those newer to the game or curious about our attitudes. Early-stage investors have been arguing over this for years. Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)?
Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 19, 2024
Think you don’t use negotiation most every day of your life? From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to today, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers. As we enter the business world, we negotiate with our bosses and our subordinates. We negotiate with our suppliers, customers, investors, and even our auditors.
Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 12, 2024
Last week we introduced the subject of non-compete agreements. Let’s dive a little deeper and present some “gray area” scenarios to consider. First the obvious case in point What if you are the seller of a previous business or shares amounting to more than an insignificant percentage of a previous business? Certainly, the buyer’s asset purchase documents included a non-compete clause, usually valid for two years from the date of the closing.
Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 5, 2024
Entrepreneurs tend to remain in the business niche they know best. Usually that means one they once or recently spent time as an employee or manager within a company where they had little or no ownership. Are you one of those? Some of these entrepreneurs starting a new company are alumni from companies that would be a competitor to the enterprise being created or joined.
Berkonomics
AUGUST 29, 2024
Here’s a question that should strike close to home. Professional investors like to quote this mantra to anyone who will listen. “Fail fast,” they say. But what if you believe so strongly in your budding enterprise that this seems to be the most ill-advised directive you’ve ever heard? So here are some rules that might make it clearer for you and for those who so easily quote the mantra.
Berkonomics
AUGUST 15, 2024
Eighty percent of all businesses purchased by another company or by a new investor-operator fail to meet the stated expectations of the buyer after one year. As with the fifty percent rule discussed last week (fifty percent of startups fail within two years), this rule is hard to find an author willing to be quoted as the source. But it is within the range of experience by many of us professional investors, and with those who have acted as brokers, serial purchasers or consultants for acquisiti
Berkonomics
AUGUST 1, 2024
Too many business leaders fail to point their troops in a single direction where the goal is known and the process to achieve it clear. Some work to achieve good deeds and hope that their efforts will result in financial success over time. Others aim for financial success during the growth of their business and at the liquidity event or sale of the business – someday.
Berkonomics
JULY 25, 2024
You may have never thought of it like this before, but to make your work or company a success you will need to address the three Ps, performance, planning and profit. Let’s take a minute to demonstrate why. Performance, the first “P” You are part of a team, no matter how small. The success of the team depends upon everyone carrying their own weight.
Berkonomics
JULY 18, 2024
Too many startup businesses, especially in the technology world, are built upon brand new concepts that have not yet been proven in the field against products from other companies that already have revenues flowing. As a rule, creating a product that does not fit into an existing space, cannot be defined against one or more competitors, or which needs a long description to understand, will require considerably more marketing capital and entail much more risk than one that follows an existing tre
Berkonomics
JULY 11, 2024
People argue over whether an entrepreneur with a sense of fairness, a desire for collegiality, a want to share the profits can succeed in the long run within a business world full of lions and tigers that eat timid entrepreneurs for lunch. Does a “good heart” diminish the chances of success? First, let’s separate the “good heart” from the issue of whether an entrepreneur is driven to succeed.
Berkonomics
JULY 3, 2024
There is nothing quite as thrilling in business as igniting a startup and watching it blossom. Especially when starting a company with personal savings or money from relatives and friends, early signs of success are intoxicating. Each new customer, each mention in the press or online adds to the feeling of early accomplishment. And it is more satisfying because it is yours, from idea to execution.
Berkonomics
JUNE 27, 2024
Have you found your special place to think strategically without interruption? I found mine on a rock in Ensenada, Mexico years ago… But I am ahead of myself… Every entrepreneur has that moment of truth – the one that marks the decision to take the path to entrepreneurship or the path to job security with a larger employer. And down the road a bit, most of us face another when deciding whether or not to go for growth, requiring new investment and increased risks.
Berkonomics
JUNE 20, 2024
Ever get bad advice? Sure. We all have in our past. Ever take that advice without question because the person giving it was an investor, a superior in rank, the chairperson of your board? I’ll bet you have at least one story of bad advice taken and being bitten as a result. Reaching back for an important lesson As one illustration among many I can recall, let me tell you the story of the first investment made by a newly organized formal group of angel investors.
Berkonomics
JUNE 13, 2024
Does this resonate with you? The CEO position can be a lonely place, especially when you find yourself in a position of not being able to bring an issue directly to the board and not wanting to explore solutions with associates within the company. Sign of weakness? This sometimes happens when a person is unwilling to admit a weakness in an area that is critical, such as analysis of financial statements, or when unhappy with the actions of your board or with pay offers by the board’s compensation
Berkonomics
JUNE 6, 2024
I’ve been sued as a board member too many times over the past twenty-five years of board service. Five times. Does that shock you? It does me. What’s the exposure? Here are some examples: Entrepreneurs blaming their board for failures of a fragile, early- stage company. Shareholders unhappy over the same loss, reaching out to sue every name available.
Berkonomics
MAY 30, 2024
Expect a board member to give a meeting a month, emails and phone calls between. Urgent issues require more of all. Of course this is a tricky question. You might expect the answer to be “as much as necessary” or “more during emergencies” or “usually just at scheduled meetings.” But board members are usually busy people, often running other companies or serving on multiple boards.
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