Both Sides of the Table
MAY 9, 2012
It’s Wednesday late afternoon. I’m aboard Delta flight 1833 from Cincinnati (actually, Northern Kentucky for what it’s worth) to Los Angeles. I had a very enjoyable day in Cincinnati meeting many local entrepreneurs, angels and accelerators. I was here to see one of our LPs (limited partners are the people who invest money in VC funds) called Fort Washington.
socalTECH
MAY 23, 2012
In what is a huge blow to Silicon Beach, Santa Monica-based BetterWorks , the software-and-technology-meets-employee-perks startup run by Paige Craig, told its users today that it is sunsetting its site on May 31st. According to an email from Craig, the company decided to close down the BettterWorks perk platform, and will not longer be active after next Thursday.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
SoCal CTO
MAY 14, 2012
Ben Kuo just posted on SoCalTech: Are the good times for startups back? That seemed to be the mood running through the cloud at the more-than-sellout crowd at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica Thursday at the first LA Demo Day. At the event, the enthusiasm for startups was palpable. The crowd of more than 1,500 spilled out into hallways, and would-be investors were turned away from the doors, as a crush of entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, wanna-be entrepreneurs, and others looked
InfoChachkie
MAY 7, 2012
This entry originally appeared on Forbes HERE. Although it is tempting to overly intellectualize modern-day venture capital, its underlying construct has been part of human society for thousands of years. From the earliest days of seafaring traders, affluent dilettantes have been entrusting their capital to less-affluent, enterprising workers willing to share a portion of the resulting gain with their benefactors.
Advertiser: Aggregage
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.
Berkonomics
MAY 2, 2012
Some of us remember things better when given a catchy phrase or rhyme. Here’s one to help you with squeezing the most out of your available resources. It reflects the new reality in our business world, one with little room for mistakes and no room for bloat within our companies. The first “P” stands for people. The wrong person in a job causes all below or above that person in the production system, that depend upon that person, to operate at a reduced rate or quality of output.
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 6, 2012
Saturday, May 12, 2012 -- Getting in the Game: Entrepreneurs and the. Video Game Industry. Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum. Developments in technology have forever changed the gaming industry and the way video games are developed, distributed, and played. The Internet and mobile devices have allowed gaming to move well beyond the confines of the classic arcade cabinet.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
MAY 7, 2012
If you're a photographer or artist, what's the easiest way to display, print, frame, and sell your photos or artwork to. customers? You could handle all the details of printing, framing things, collecting payments, dealing with shipping, and. more--or you can go online and use Fine Art America (www.fineartamerica.com), a Santa Monica company which is doing. all of that for more than a 100,000 members.
SoCal CTO
MAY 22, 2012
I recently posted about the Increase in Early-Stage Startup Activity in Los Angeles. In that post, I mentioned how one of the signals is the big increase in number of startup events and the number of attendees at those events. I realized that it has been a little while since I posted about the Los Angeles Startup Community and so needed to update my list of startup events that will be out of date almost before I finish publishing it.
InfoChachkie
MAY 22, 2012
“One of the big misconceptions in baseball is that playing the game keeps you in shape to pitch. I wish that was true. It’s not.” Steven Ellis, Professional Pitcher. Major League baseball pitchers spend far more time preparing to pitch than they actually do pitching. The same should be true of an entrepreneur who is attempting to secure money from sophisticated investors.
Berkonomics
MAY 10, 2012
Consider your core. It is the one skill, process or advantage you have over your competition. Then think of all the things you do to surround that core with people and assets that complete the company and allow you to release your product or perform your service. Now consider how many of those surrounding assets and services are really necessary for you to perform in order to protect and grow your core.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 17, 2012
I’m fond of saying that I look for entrepreneurs that have a chip on their shoulder. That they have something to prove. That they’re not afraid to stick their noses up to the establishment. I have always felt this way. It’s something I kind of seek out. I guess my thoughts are that if you’re part of the country club you have a vested interest in protecting the existing order and that disruption happens more from those that are on the outside wanting to change the rules.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 10, 2012
I recently spoke at the Blue Glass conference on the topic of marketing. I’ll write up some thoughts in a blog post format soon. I’ve been spending time looking at marketing conversion metrics at portfolio companies lately. We’ve been testing things like: How do Facebook “Likes” perform relative to FB ads that drive you directly to a web page.
socalTECH
MAY 23, 2012
A new Los Angeles startup, MergeLocal , launched this week, releasing an iPhone app which pays users to check into their favorite places around town. The app--created by Michael Wong, Steven Elliott and Rusty Jenkins--allows users to check into restaurants, bars, spas, and alons, and receive points for checking into those locations. Those points can be exchanged for cash payments through PayPal.
socalTECH
MAY 8, 2012
Los Angeles-based Virurl , a new startup headed by former Titan Gaming foundder Francisco Diaz-Mitoma and co-founded by Tim Symington of LAST.VC, has raised $1.2M in a funding round, and launched its service. According to Virurl, it will pay users to share links to videos, articles, and games, awarding those users with points which can be redeemed for cash and prizes.
socalTECH
MAY 3, 2012
San Diego-based Qualcomm has renewed its investment in Visage , as part of a Series C funding for the enterprise mobility management software provider. According to Visage, the round was led by Motorola Solutions, and also included Palisades Ventures, Qualcomm Ventures and Worldview Technology Partners. Qualcomm was the lead on the February 2010 round for Visage, whose software is used to manage the security and mobile policy for enterprise customers.
socalTECH
MAY 25, 2012
If you were a student in college, working on a startup idea, what would spur you to drop your education plans, and go full time on your startup? For Scott Ferreira , the founder of MySocialCloud.com (www.mysocialcloud.com), it was an investment from Sir Richard Branson and Jerry Murdock. We talked with Scott--who until recently, was a student at the University of Southern California--about how he created his company and how that investment from Branson pushed him to take his startup full time.
socalTECH
MAY 7, 2012
Los Angeles-based Mobile Roadie , the developer of a mobile app development platform being used by brands, celebrities, companies, and others to easily create their mobile apps, is powering a new app today from the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. The app is the second app using Mobile Roadie's platform for the zoo. Mobile Roadie also powers the official app for the San Diego Zoo.
socalTECH
MAY 10, 2012
How do you help aspiring actors and actresses break into the film industry? Gary Beer is a longtime film industry insider, having been Managing Director of the Sundance Film Festival from its beginnings until 1999 , and founder documentary cable programming service Smithsonian Networks, which he started while he was CEO of the business enterprises of the Smithsonian Institution.
socalTECH
MAY 23, 2012
A new startup, headed by entrepreneur Wil Schroter, has launched this week, looking to make it easier for startups to raise funding. Santa Monica- and Columbus, Ohio-based Fundable said that it is looking to provide a crowdfunding platform for "serious startups". The site allow early stage startups to gain capital from anyone, using the new JOBS Act to raise money from anyone interested in a startup, and not just professional investors and banks.
socalTECH
MAY 30, 2012
If you're a startup business owner, how do you get to the next step, and build your first product? One way is getting funding from your potential customers. That's the idea behind a new startup, Fundable , headed by serial entrepreneur Wil Schroter , which allows you to use rewards -- product, company schwag, an even equity -- as a tool to get your startup to the next stage.
InfoChachkie
MAY 29, 2012
Because Your Big Break May Start As A Little One. This article originally appeared on Forbes HERE. Ever heard of the band “Five Cool What?” No? I am not surprised. When opportunity knocked, rather than busting open the door, they first asked, “What do you want?”. In 1987 the band was discovered by Ron Fair, a rising executive at Chrysalis Records. Ron brought the band into Chrysalis’ headquarters and introduced them to his staff.
socalTECH
MAY 14, 2012
The UC Santa Barbara has received a big boost to the firm's technology programs with a $50M gift from the Chairman of Oracle and his wife, Jeff and Judy Henley. Jeff Henley, who is a UCSB graduate, is currently Chairman of the Board of Oracle, and served as Chief Financial Officer of the company from 1991 to 2004. UCSB said that $30M of the funds will go towards Henley Hall, for UCSB's Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE), with the remaining $20M going to support the school's College of Enginee
socalTECH
MAY 24, 2012
Two of the newest startups to emerge out of Southern California's technology and accelerator scene, Lifecrowd , and Eventup , are partnering, to join Lifecrowd's social activities site with Eventup's service to help people book exclusive private residences and locations for their events. According to the two, they will showcase "distinctive" Eventup locations with Lifecrowd's activities, through a series of events.
socalTECH
MAY 21, 2012
Santa Monica-based Fastpoint Games , the developer of virtual fantasy sports games which was headed by Kelly Perdew, has been sold to Los Angeles-based WePlay , Weplay announced Monday. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. WePlay, which is headed by Lane Soelberg, said the deal will launch it into the fantasy sports sector, allowing users of its site to create their own teams and play in fantasy leagues.
socalTECH
MAY 11, 2012
Looking to become the next Instagram--but for video, instead--Los Angeles-based Viddy has just added $30M in funding to its warchest, confirming today reports that it has scored a huge new funding for the mobile video sharing site. Viddy said the Series B funding comes from New Enterprise Associates, Goldman Scahs, Khosla Ventures, and Battery Ventures.
socalTECH
MAY 11, 2012
Are the good times for startups back? That seemed to be the mood running through the cloud at the more-than-sellout crowd at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica Thursday at the first LA Demo Day , organized by Docstoc's Jason Nazar. At the event, the enthusiasm for startups was palpable. The crowd of more than 1,500 spilled out into hallways, and would-be investors were turned away from the doors, as a crush of entrepreneurs, investors, service providers, wanna-be entrepreneurs, and others look
socalTECH
MAY 4, 2012
Hoping to make it easier for human resources departments to mangae employee recommendations and referrals, a Newport Beach startup, Recmnd.Me , said this week that it has launched a new online social recruiting service. The startup said that its site provides a social recommendation service that allows co-workers to recommend and rate each other, helping HR departments to better locate the "A" players.
socalTECH
MAY 22, 2012
The successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket this morning, and the Dragon capsule, is set to make history with a docking of the International Space Station. It's also finally delivered the ashes of actor James Doohan, who played Scotty in the 1960's television series and subsequent "Star Trek" movies. Apparently, Doohan's ashes were delivered to space as part of a payload agreement with SpaceX and Celestis, which sells delivery of the deceased into space.
socalTECH
MAY 24, 2012
Los Angeles-based ShareSquare , the developer of mobile marketing services founded by Matthias Galica, said today that it is targeting the restaurant industry with a new service called TacoGrid. The firm said that TacoGrid will automatically general mobile site for restaurants, aimed at restaurants in the top 50 cities in the U.S., which will feature menus from SinglePlatform, and tips and specials from Foursquare.
socalTECH
MAY 2, 2012
Los Angeles business accelerator program upStart.LA , one of numerous startup acceleration and incubation efforts to start in the last year in Southern California, is merging with a startup in Santa Monica, Cross Campus. According to a note to supporters form upStart.LA founder Dan Dato, the accelerator has merged with Cross Campus, a yet-to-be launched startup building a "collaborative workspace and education platform" in Santa Monica.
socalTECH
MAY 8, 2012
It seems you can just about get anything via a subscription now from a Los Angeles e-commerce startup. The latest? Weekly or monthly floral deliveries from SimplyPetals.com , which delivers fresh flowers via three different subscriptions. The new startup--headed by celebrity florist Kevin Lee--said it will allow users to receive exclusive designs from Lee, by selecting a price point and frequency of delivery.
socalTECH
MAY 3, 2012
Online video site YouTube said yesterday that it has launched a new set of original shows and channels, including two from Southern California's entertainment talent pool. YouTube said it has launched a new channel around Tribeca Enterprises, the firm behind the Tribeca Film Festival, which will be powered by Maker Studios , and also will launch a Halo-themed live action series from Los Angeles-based Machinima , called "Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn".
socalTECH
MAY 9, 2012
Santa Barbara-based FindTheBest , the online comparisons site headed by former DoubleClick founder Kevin O'Conner, has inked another distribution deal, this time with ad network and widget provider Lijit. According to Lijit, which is part of Federated Media, it has linked with FinDTheBest to provide customizable widgets and Wordpress plugins which allows blogs and other sites to embed comparisons of different products within those sites.
socalTECH
MAY 30, 2012
Los Angeles-based StartEngine , the venture accelerator run by former Activision founder Howard Marks, has aligned with recruiting firm Neohire , Neohire has announced. According to Neohire, it is in an exclusive partnership with StartEngine to provide portfolio companies with unlimited access to its database of resumes and candidates. Neohire also said it iwll be advising StartEngine's startups on hiring key personnel.
socalTECH
MAY 23, 2012
Santa Monica-based Docstoc , the business document sharing and online small business site run by Jason Nazar, has gone app happy, saying today that it has launched 30, free iPhone and iPad apps aimed at the small business and entrepreneur market. The apps--which range from advice on how to get a job interview or venture capital, to sales techniques and HR advice--cover a wide range of small business topics.
socalTECH
MAY 22, 2012
Los Angeles-based Xfire is continuing its expansion into Southeast Asia with a new partnership, the firm said today, with Southeast Asian games publisher SEA Gaming. According to the two, SEA Gaming will integrate Xfire's online gaming utility into its massively multiplayer online games offerings. Financial details of the deal were not announced. Xfire develops chat and communications tools which allow videogame players to talk with their friends, take screenshots and capture videos, and more.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
364 
Let's personalize your content