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Can You Really Build a Great Tech Firm Outside Silicon Valley?

Both Sides of the Table

Zorik Gordon built & IPO’s ReachLocal. Douglas Merrill, the former CIO of Google, is building his next company, ZestCash in LA. Each of these companies exited for more than $500 million and several north of $1 billion. Scott Painter , founder of CarsDirect has created TrueCar (backed by GRP Partners).

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Want to Start a Technology Company in LA?

Both Sides of the Table

Zorik Gordon is tearing it up at ReachLocal. Douglas Merrill, the former CIO of Google, is building his next company in LA. A great team from MySpace has created Gravity. Gil Elbaz from Applied Semantics has now created Factual. TechCoast Angels backed GreenDot should be a major IPO this year. Frank Addante has created Rubicon Project.

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Some Thoughts on Branding Startups and Communities

Both Sides of the Table

ZestCash, founded by Douglas Merrill, former CIO of Google [Hollywood]. ReachLocal, founded by Zorik Gordon, publicly traded company helping small businesses across America use the Internet for marketing [Woodland Hills. Here’s a short list that are decidedly East of the 405 freeway (i.e.

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