Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 30, 2010
I was recently involved with a company (not as an investor) where an embarrassing mistake was made. One of the leaders took a sort of “heads will roll&# approach. It’s not my company so I basically stayed out but tried to encourage him to think differently about the “punishment.&# I didn’t stick around for the repercussions so I hope the process was balanced.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
Today's interview is with Eric M. Jackson, CEO and co-founder of CapLinked (www.caplinked.com), which is developing tools to help entrepreneurs and investors connect. Eric is an experienced entrepreneur, and was a very, very early employee at PayPal, where he was recruited by Peter Thiel. Eric is also author of the book The PayPal Wars: Battles With Ebay, the Media, the Mafia, And the Rest of Planet Earth , where he documented that experience.
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InfoChachkie
SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
Americans are the most generous people on the planet. Arthur Brooks, a public administration Professor at Syracuse University and author of, Who Really Cares: America’s Charity Divide , cites the following facts: “Americans per capita individually give about three and a half times more money per year, than the French per capita. Seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians.
SoCal CTO
SEPTEMBER 8, 2010
August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts for July 2010 Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March Here they are: How to Minimize Politics in Your Company - Ben's Blog , August 24, 2010 “Who the f
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Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
All other board functions are secondary. Even venture capitalists who sit on boards where they have significant investments often forget this point. They write into 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.
Eric Greenspan
SEPTEMBER 21, 2010
So, I’ve been married, 3x. My first wife, we were young, it ended. It was hardly enigmatic. No kids. I wish her well. So, I married again, the mother of my oldest boy Jacob. That ended too, not as smoothly as the first, but we all got through it. We both love Jacob, live less than a mile from one another and share his time wisely. I’ve been with my current wife for almost 10 years.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 22, 2010
Manhattan Beach-based MaestroDev , a firm developing Java build, test, and release tools for the software development community, has uncloaked at the JavaOne conference, exposing the latest firm started by GlueCode founder Winston Damarillo. The firm--which was in a closed, stealth beta until recently--said it is developing a single application interface to manage "every step of the DevOps cycle".
InfoChachkie
SEPTEMBER 21, 2010
Question : How do I identify a great adVenture opportunity? Answer : (Passion + Solvable) * Sufficient Reward = Great adVenture. Venture Ideas are like hobbies. You do not discover a hobby, hobbies discover you. Hobbies arise from activities that you initially engage in casually and you eventually fall in love with. Thus, adVenture opportunities will generally arise from your proclivities and interests.
SoCal CTO
SEPTEMBER 2, 2010
I’ve updated my earlier post on Networking Events Los Angeles with some great suggestions from Lorin Cha who I just met through LinkedIn. Here were the new ones: LeanLA Startup Circle Meetup I’ve gone to a couple of these. Often the presentations are pretty basic because of a fair number of newbies in the audience. However, there are some great folks who have lots of experience also attending so the networking and discussion is generally pretty great.
Berkonomics
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
Start-ups with one founder rarely have or need a board of directors. In fact, such a board would seem out of place in a one person company. As soon as any outside money is ingested into the corporation, others have a vested and legal interest in the behavior of officers entrusted with the best use of funds. Money from friends and family usually is offered in a casual manner with much less restriction than professional investors, so that a formal board is a logical step but not often created u
SoCal Tech Calendar
SEPTEMBER 18, 2010
Friday, September 24, 2010 -- Opportunity Green. The world can no longer afford business as usual. Opportunity Green confronts this challenge and brings together the brightest innovators leading the growth of the new green economy. On Sept. 22-24, forge new strategic partnerships, get the inside view on the hottest trends and technologies. Explore the latest in sustainability strategies and best practices, and lead your organization to success.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
What do you get when you combine 7 panelist plus one moderator on to a stage for 30 minutes to talk about a serious topic? Answer: Not much. And that was evident on today’s Angel vs. VC panel. It’s a shame. There are real changes in the venture capital industry and it would have been fun to talk about them. I said almost nothing in the 30 minutes.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
San Diego-based Bump.com , a new startup headed by former Active Network co-founder Mitch Thrower, said today that it has launched a new service which allows drivers to send voice, text, and email messages too people based on their license plate numbers. According to Bump.com, it has an iPhone application which allows users to send messages to any driver it sees, via voice or by text, given only the license plate of that driver.
InfoChachkie
SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
Below is a talk on New Venture Investing from the University of California Santa Barbara’s Technology Management Program, by Jim Andelman. In this video Jim Andelman explores venture capital investing and the emergence of capital efficient businesses. Bio: Jim Andelman, co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture Partner. Jim is a co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture Partners.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
Executive Summary. I believe the rise in angel investing is here to stay and the professionalization of this class (aka “super angels&# or “micro VC&# ) is a good thing for the VC industry and for entrepreneurs. It is basically a return to the type of VC that was done 20 years ago long before the craziness of the Internet boom that skewed things so greatly.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 10, 2010
I had a really fun 20-minute interview with Howard Lindzon of Stock Twits as part of a 5-part series on whether the web is dead. If you have 20 minutes I think you’ll enjoy watching. I’ve also covered the general topic in the text below the video embed. Obviously taking on this topic is bound to be controversial and I’m not trying to pick any many fights but I think it’s worth a healthy debate.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
I recently got an email from a friend who had been approached by a well known VC. He sent me an email asking whether the approach was real and whether he should take it seriously. Here is the email he received (reprinted without names with his permission). “Hi [entrepreneur], I hope all is well. I’m an investor at [Big Name, Large Fund VC] and recently came across [Your Company].
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 6, 2010
I was thumbing through Twitter messages on my Blackberry on Monday (I use Twitter as a “ mobile first, web second &# product) when I saw the following Tweet (see graphic). I resisted the temptation to jump in with a response because I knew it was too complicated of a topic to discuss on Twitter. But I thought I should do a quick post on the topic. 1.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
This is the second article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here. I have talked extensively about “social proof&# in fund raising in the past. But the problem is that most deals – even really promising ones – fail.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
I think we’ve all come to accept that “ banner blindness &# is a real phenomenon. Sometimes you see solutions and immediately know they just make sense. Solve Media is that. In the early days of the Internet as an advertising medium the industry organized to create “standard ad units&# for which most media companies would sell their inventory.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 25, 2010
When I first read Paul Graham’s blog post on “High Resolution&# Financing I read it as a treatise arguing that convertible notes are better than equity. As I’m generally a believer in ‘pricing rounds’ I initially didn’t agree with the premise of the post. Photo credit: D. Story/J. Blanchard/O’Reilly Media. I just re-read it and on second reflection, I’m surprised just how much I found myself in near TOTAL agreement with Paul.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
This is the third article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here. Part 2 discussed the need for domain knowledge since merely “joining the right club deal&# will in no way determine success. Not everybody agreed on the need for domain knowledge.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
This is the fourth article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here. The first three skills I espoused were: access to the highest-quality deal-flow, domain knowledge of the topic area in which you’re investing and access to VCs to help fund the next stages of development.
Both Sides of the Table
SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
This is the fifth & final (I promise!) article in a series on what it takes to be a great angel investor (and why this should matter to entrepreneurs). Part 1 – Access to Great Deal Flow – is here. After that it’s domain experience, access to VCs and deep pockets. 5. Access to buyers – I saved the least obvious for last. Most people think that being a successful investor is about finding the right deals and nurturing the teams through the difficult times to come out with
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 27, 2010
Last week, Santa Monica-based Tecca (www.tecca.com) launched a consumer electronics, consumer information service, backed by Fuse Capital and Best Buy. The service--currently only available on iPhone and Android--allows users to find reviews and information about consumer electronics products. We caught up with Mickie Rosen , the firm's CEO, about the company, its links to Best Buy, and how it was incubated out of Fuse Capital.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
Santa Barbara-based Sonos , the developer of the Sonos wireless, multi-room music systems, said Wednesday that it has released its Apple iPad application. The application--which users had been eagerly awaiting, particularly since a slip of its release date in August--is available for free on the iTunes App Store. The Sonos Controller for iPad allows owners of Sonos equipment to control that equipment using the iPad's touch screen.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 13, 2010
Irvine-based Kareo , a developer of web-based medical billing software, announced today that it has raised $9.5M in an investment round. According to Kareo, the funding came from OpenView Venture Partners. The firm said the new funding will go to enhance customer service, expand its product suite, build out sales and marketing, as well as to bolster its management team.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 15, 2010
Last night, we (and the entire rest of the tent) spied Olivia Palermo working her publicity magic on the gawkers. She is actually much shorter and slighter than I thought, pretty tiny. Whose shoes do you think she was wearing? She’s been a prominent fixture at most of the shows. Ah, reality shows — they’ve made stars of socialites.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
Encino-based SodaHead , the social news and question and answer site headed by Jason Feffer, told its users today that it is launching a major redesign this week. According to the site, it is improving the look and feel of its site, adding polls with an interactive map feature, and improving the layout of pages. Among major changes, the new site now feature more featured content; more graphical and interactive headings; rankings of the most popular topics for a day; and more information from pol
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
Manhattan Beach-based Morphlabs , the developer of cloud computing software run by Winston Damarillo, announced this morning that it has released a "significant upgrade" to its mCloud Controller product. The firm said the release simplifies the process of building and managing internal cloud computing environments. In addition to the release, the firm also said it has partnered with Zend Technologies, to integrate the software as part of mCloud Enterprise.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 29, 2010
In what looks to be a banner year for IPO filings for Southern California, Santa Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand filed for an IPO this morning, saying that it is looking to raise up to $115M in an IPO. The firm has not yet specified an exchange it plans to list on. The IPO is being underwritten by Goldman, Sachs & Co., Barclays Capital, William Blair & Company, Piper Jaffray, Pacific Crest Securities, and JMP Securities.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 20, 2010
Los Angeles-based Invested.in , a startup focused on helping people to manage fundraising efforts for individuals, non-profits, and businesses, has launched a new site for The BizWorld Foundation, a group which teaches business basics to children. According to The BizWorld Foundation and Invested.in, their new site will help educators to raise the fund they need to purchase BizWorld's educational programs for their classrooms.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
Despite the excitement and lure of startups to those in the tech industry, not everyone wants to join a startup after college--according to Mike Gammarino , who is helping to organize a new effort here to recruit students to startups. According to Mike, startups have an uphill battle recruiting from college campuses, including fighting over the best students with big name technology firm.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 22, 2010
Santa Monica-based Factual , the open data startup headed by Gil Elbaz, the inventor of Google's AdSense technology, said today that it has launched a new open set of data that the firm says provides geo-coded data for 14 million local U.S. businesses. Factual said that the data set helps developers gain access to information which had previously been difficult to license, due to multiple vendors and licensing requirements.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 14, 2010
Los Angeles-based Health In Reach , a new startup founded by Scott Sangster, has launched its new service today at the DEMO Fall conference. Health In Reach is focused on helping patients find doctors, schedule appointments, and receive upfront pricing on medical procedures. Sangster is well known in Los Angeles for his work with the Tech Coast Angels, and previously was in strategic planning and corporate development at Walt Disney Internet Group.
socalTECH
SEPTEMBER 16, 2010
Los Angeles-based ResumeBucket , the online job search site co-founded by Josh Stomel and Ted Hekman, said this week that it has launched a new set of tools on the site. According to the firm, it is offering up a new resume builder to help people create a resume; ability to create up to 20 different resumes tailored to different opportunities, industries, or job titles; and sample resumes for job seekers looking for a start point for their own resume.
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