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Today’s post courtesy of the Dave McClure school of vocabulary. About a month ago I was meeting with a seasoned entrepreneur. After 10 minutes I felt like we were old buddies because we had both been through the trenches of startup tech land and had had similar experiences. He was recounting one of his higher profile startups to me. He founded the company, raised a bunch of money, built the product and established a good reputation and market position.
Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Words of startup wisdom from Jeff Bezos. In the course of my recent interview with Guy Kawasaki , author and former Apple Evangelist, Guy describes Steve Jobs as: “… the world’s greatest CEO, ever. He did more for Apple’s shareholders, customers and employees than any other CEO has ever done for their shareholders, customers and employees.
The Los Angeles winners of the Deloitte Fast 500 ranking of fastest growing companies was announced last night at an event at Santa Monica's Shutters on the Beach, with 26 companies recognized in the overall 2011 Technology Fast 500, and three "Technology Rising Stars" recognized in the Los Angeles area. In the private award event, Deloitte announced the local companies who made the national list of fastest growing companies.
I saw a great post from Tristan Kromer Pivoting on Investor Feedback a.k.a Beware of Mentors. It was a top post on StartupRoar on Tuesday. His basic point was: If someone, including me, tells you something isn’t a great idea and there’s no market for it there are only two acceptable responses. Either: "That’s interesting. I’m going to take that thought out into the field and validate it with my customers.
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.
You’ve surely heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, in which Abraham Maslow laid out a human’s needs from the physiological first, to safety, then love and belonging, on to esteem and finally self-actualization. Assuming that you have now passed through a successful sale of your shares in a business, and the money is in the bank, enough to at least temporarily satisfy your needs, if not much more, you have climbed the ladder within Maslow’s Hierarchy.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011 -- HealthCamp LA. Experience a unique user-organized, unconference event focused on Innovations in Nutrition, Wellness and Total Health.
OK. I know with a title like that I’m going to subject myself to people thinking I’m just being a grumpy, exclusive VC. That’s not the point. It’s honest advice so please judge once you’re read the post. I’ll keep it short. Meals or coffee are a great way to build rapport with other people and since I’m an ENTP I love breaking bread as much as the next guy.
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OK. I know with a title like that I’m going to subject myself to people thinking I’m just being a grumpy, exclusive VC. That’s not the point. It’s honest advice so please judge once you’re read the post. I’ll keep it short. Meals or coffee are a great way to build rapport with other people and since I’m an ENTP I love breaking bread as much as the next guy.
Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs. Last weekend, a friend gave me and my family a wonderful ride in his plane. Departing from Edwards AFB, we flew over the Mojave Air and Spaceport, home of the world’s largest private manufacturer of spacecraft, The Spaceship Company (TSC).
Santa Barbara-based Zuuka , the mobile app and story publisher behind the iStoryTime line of digital storybooks for children, is branching its efforts into digital entertainment publishing today. The firm is announcing iTalk Smurf , an iPhone and iPod Touch app based on the blue characters, which allows users to speak into their device and have Clumsy the smurf repeat everything back in a "smurfy voice".
I continually face the challenge of designing and building registration / sign-up pages on a wide variety of different web sites and mobile applications. Back in January 2010, I wrote a post that's one of the most popular on this blog: When to Use Facebook Connect – Twitter Oauth – Google Friend Connect for Authentication? That post looked at when and why you would use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. as part of your registration and authentication mechanism.
Be honest now. Have you ever thought of what legacy you’ll leave behind? If you are an entrepreneur or CEO, surely you’ve thought of how you’ll be remembered by your associates and stakeholders after you move on. . We’ve all heard the stories of tough SOB bosses that took advantage of employees, vendors, even stock holders.
Monday, October 24, 2011 -- LEDs 2011: Bringing Lighting to Life. By delivering even more technical depth across a broader range of issues than ever before and bringing together the key industry RandD personnel, investors and executives, LEDs 2011 is the must-attend event of the year for the LED and lighting sector. LEDs 2011 will provide three full days of coverage of the latest technology, applications and end uses, lighting design and luminaires and market expectations and analysis most relev
This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. Dilution. Or as industry insiders call it, “taking a haircut.” Everybody knows that when you raise money at a startup your ownership percentage of the company goes down. The goal is to have the value of the startup go up by enough that you own a smaller percentage of a much larger business and therefore your total personal value goes up.
Note: This is the fourth installment of an ongoing Guerilla Marketing series. The other installments address: 1) FUEL’s use of faux Monks dominates the social consciousness of a major media tradeshow. 2) TestFlight’s clever distribution of free meals garners Steve Jobs’ attention. 3) Social Stay’s failed attempt to utilize parcours to liven up a hospitality tradeshow nearly lands them in jail.
Torrance-based Swagbucks.com , an online site which allows users to earn virtual currency or other rewards from taking actions online, has now given away $15M in prizes since its launch in 2008. The site--which is headed by Scott Dudelson--also said it is on track to have $25M in revenues this year. Swagbucks site allows users to register and then play games, shop online, search the web, and conduct other activities on the web in exchange for loyalty points "Swag Bucks" -- which can be redeemed
I’m often asked the question about why there aren’t more women who are entrepreneurs. On my blog I’ve been hesitant to take the topic head on. Somehow it seems kind of strange for a man to answer this question that obviously comes from a man’s point of view. But last week I noticed a blog post by a woman, Tara Tiger Brown, that asked the question, “ Why Aren’t More Women Commenting on VC Blog Posts?
I’ve thought a lot about team construction of early stage companies. I was once asked on Quora what my idea startup team would be. I wrote the following : “I like to invest at the seed or A round. My ideal team is simple: Assuming 6 people. 1. 5 engineers. 2. 1 CEO who doubles as head of product management. 3. Nothing else. But obviously I am open to other configurations.
What could you learn from looking at your competitors or other tech startups in a different way? Are you cynical about their chances in the market just because they seem to be hot in the press and that bugs you? Or you think their startup is a passing fad and yours is the real deal? I hear views like this all the time. Even if you’re right – there’s something you may be missing.
Early today I gave a keynote at the VCJ Venture Alpha conference here in San Francisco. I was asked to speak about the topic of “what is going on in the venture capital world and what is the next big thing after social networking?”. Future of VC Internet – Tough topic, but what the heck? Next week I promised to follow up on PE Hub , one of the main journals VCs read about our industry, with a detail description of some specifics that are happening.
This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I haven’t had too many board meetings lately so I want to get this timely post out now lest somebody think I’m talking about their company or board in particular. This is a post about ALL boards. Back when I ran board meetings as a CEO, the biggest annoyance was Blackberrys. You would always be able to tell what was going on by seeing the unhealthy infatuation board members had with staring at their crotches.
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.
Note: This is the third installment in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE and Part II HERE. When hiring ATM Operators at a Big Dumb Company (BDC), assessing each candidate’s ability to execute predictable tasks is of paramount importance. As such, the recruitment process revolves around applicants’ resumes, which highlight w hat they have previously done in their professional careers.
Santa Monica-based GraphEffect , the provider of Facebook and social media marketing services, said over the weekend that it has hired Stephano Kim as its President and GM, New York. Kim was previously COO and President of [x+1], and was a co-founder of Blackboard. The company said that Kim will manage its newly opened New York and Chicago offices. Kim was also previously an angel investor in GraphEffect itself.
In an unusual move for an otherwise dismal job market, Pasadena-based Idealab is joining the ranks of local companies doing aggressive recruiting of technology talent, saying today that it is running a technology job fair next week for its companies. According to Idealab, it will pitch its various businesses to potential employees at an event on Wednesday, October 12th, in hopes of hiring staff for its startups.
Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the online marketing firm which helps small and medium sized businesses place online ads, has strengthened its ties into Google AdWords today, saying it has been added to the Google AdWords Premier SMB Partner (PSP) Program. Google announced the new program this morning, to help small and medium sized business connect with others to place advertising on AdWords.
San Diego-based ImThera Medical , a developer of medical devices to treat sleep apnea, has raised $16M in an initial funding round from publicly held Cyberonics , plus its other investors Cyberonics said Wednesday. ImThera is developing an implantable, neurostimulation device which can treat obstructive sleep apnea. The Series C funding round includes $12M from Cyberonics, with the remaining $4M from its existing investors.
The City of Los Angeles said this morning that it will be officially launching its Cleantech Incubator tomorrow, as it attempts to create a cluster of clean technology companies downtown. According to Mayor Villaraigosa, the effort is to help develop new businesses and create jobs in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator was created by the Los Angeles Cleantech Alliance, a group created by the Mayor's Office, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Community Redevelopment Agenc
What's the latest craze in startups in Southern Califonia? It looks to be startup accelerators. In just the last few weeks, at least five different incubation/acceleration efforts have booted up in the region. Here's a rundown of the latest (but not all) of the incubation/acceleration efforts in the area: MuckerLab --which just launched this morning, is headed by Erik Rannala (formerly of Silicon Valley venture firm Harrison Metal) and William Hsu (formerly of AT&T Interactive), and is looki
Note: This is Part I in the Startup Advantages series. Startups have few advantages. One of the most significant is the ability to keep your cards close to your vest. A major disadvantage of a public Big Dumb Company (BDC), as well as one that works closely with governmental agencies, is the degree to which they are forced to publicly disclose otherwise confidential information.
Santa Monica-based Docstoc , the online document sharing and marketplace firm headed by Jason Nazar, has just inked a syndication deal with Businessweek. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. On a new, Small Business Resource section--which is live now--Businessweek is offering up small business forms, contracts, worksheets, and more focused on small businesses, all using Docstoc's library of over 10,000 forms and legal contracts.
Venture capital investments in Southern California for Q3 of 2011 are up from last year, but down from last quarter, according to the latest numbers from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association based on data provided by Thomson Reuters. The latest MoneyTree report from the three find that $603.2M was invested in Q 3in Southern California companies, up from the same quarter last year, when only $443.8M was invested in the region.
I recently spoke with Marten Mickos, the former CEO of MySQL and current CEO of Eucalyptus Systems , the leader in private cloud platforms. Eucalyptus’ underlying technology was developed at UC Santa Barbara. Since its origin as an academic research project in 2007, Eucalyptus has become the dominant open source cloud solution, boasting over 25,000 clouds formed.
Think unmanned drones are just something you'd see in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Pakistan? There may soon be unmanned aircraft hovering over your own town. Monrovia-based Aerovironment said Thursday that it has launched a new, small unmanned aircraft system aimed specifically at law enforcement and first responders here in the United States. Aerovironment said it has opened up evaluations of its new Qube portable unmanned aircraft system, aimed at public safety applications, to provide the same kind
Taking a chapter out of the popularity of sites like Chatroulette in connecting up strangers with one another, Los Angeles-based Anybeat , the alternative social networking site run by Dmitri Shapiro, said Friday that it has rolled out a new feature called "Interest Roulette". The new feature automatically connects users to other people on the site, who share interests with your profile.
Irvine-based K5Launch , a new venture accelerator started by angel investors Amir Banafatemi, Ray Chan, David Cheng, and Kai Tao, is looking to spawn the growth of startups in Southern California, saying today that it has launched its efforts in the area. The accelerator said that it is aiming at helping entrepreneurs--particularly in the social and mobile technology space--in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Orange County with pre-seed funding and mentoring.
Los Angeles-based Launchpad LA , the business mentoring and acceleration program which has been spearheaded by Mark Suster and Adam Lilling, looks to be gearing up for its third class. The group--which last ran a program in early 2010--has recently opened up an application page for its 2011 Winter Term, and has been sending out invites for a launch event in early November.
One of Southern California's biggest assets are the number of world class, local universities researching and developing technology and knowledge across a large number of disciplines. Investors and universities are often very eager to figure out how to tap into those universities as a source of new companies, but often find its difficult to move research from the lab to an actual company.
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