Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 28, 2012
When you work inside a startup with lots of clever and motivated staff you’re never short of good ideas that you can implement. It’s tempting to take on new projects, new features, new geographies, new speaking opportunities, whatever. Each one incrementally sounds like a good idea, yet collectively they end up punishing undisciplined teams.
SoCal CTO
APRIL 18, 2012
Todd Gitlin of Safire Partners - a go to resource here in LA for recruiting C-level positions at startups - was nice enough to compile some data again this year (see last year's Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data ). Even better, my good friend and data visualization guru Steve Wexler of Data Revelations was able to create visualizations of the data.
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InfoChachkie
APRIL 24, 2012
Article first published as Why A Prominent Start-up Executive Wants You to Get Fired and Fail on Technorati. Kim Kovaks, Founder and CEO OptionEase , recently spoke to a class of emerging entrepreneurs at UC Santa Barbara. With over 700 customers, OptionEase has become the leading enterprise class SaaS solution for stock option and equity compensation tracking and compliance.
socalTECH
APRIL 3, 2012
Laguna Hills-based Ayannah , a developer of mobile payment products for emerging markets, has scored a round of funding, according to investor Siemer Ventures. Size of the round, and details of other investors, was not announced. Ayannah also has offices in the Philippines and Hong Kong, and offers a number of mobile payment services operating in the Philippines.
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
APRIL 14, 2012
There is a natural fear of giving too much information to investors after the initial investment is received. CEO’s worry that investors will not keep the information confidential and that financial data will find its way into competitors’ hands. Others worry that investors will latch onto individual line items within financial data and engage in inquisitions regarding telephone bills, marketing costs and other tactical line items in detailed financial statements.
Technology Council
APRIL 20, 2012
By Bill Swanson, CEO Decisions Revenue is down and so is profit. You listened to your customers, assessed the competitors, enlisted the brightest of your team, and sifted through the brains of the best external experts. You’re feeling good about your decision to signed-off on that five hundred thousand dollar Sales Improvement Program; you locked [.].
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
SoCal CTO
APRIL 2, 2012
Using my StartupRoar as a radar, I came across a great post by Gabriel Weinberg Do you really need a full-time hire for that? Hiring seems to be the preferred use of seed funds (by investors and founders), whereas I'd prefer a focus on customer acquisition. The problem is you don't yet have product/market fit, and until you do, you don't really know what to build.
InfoChachkie
APRIL 30, 2012
In his book Enchantment , Guy Kawasaki encourages entrepreneurs to immerse their audience in their “cause”, in order to enchant them. One of the immersion techniques Guy promotes is to offer a hands-on trial, in which the prospective customer can touch, feel and experience your product before purchasing it. If you care to learn more about the enchantment process, you may want to watch my interview with Guy HERE , in which he provides a number of enchanting tips and tricks.
socalTECH
APRIL 6, 2012
Are you a small business looking to help drum up some business? Los Angeles-based Couponler , a new website launched this week, is hoping to make it easier for small businesses to create online, printable-coupons, and share them via Facebook, Twitter, or a website. The new site was created by Baron Miller, Ian Kilpatrick, and Jason Eastwood. According to the site, its customer so far include frozen yogurt chain Golden Spoon, which posted a coupon from Couponler to its 37,000 fans on Facebook.
Berkonomics
APRIL 6, 2012
Some businesses just can’t fit within the angel capital or friends and family model for raising funds. Sooner or later these businesses will have to seek venture capital and accommodate the needs of the venture community in negotiating the terms of an investment. First, VC’s in general cannot invest in ‘S’ corporations or limited liability companies (LLC’s).
Technology Council
APRIL 10, 2012
By Jeffrey M. Kaplan As a follow-up to Greg Sikes’ blogpost entitled, “Deep Analytics Become More Relevant In Daily Life”, on March 21, I’d like to suggest that the pervasive nature of today’s powerful new forms of analytics can be found everywhere in our day-to-day lives, ranging from fantasy sports teams to smartphone apps which [.].
Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 17, 2012
Brad Feld visited Los Angeles this past week. I always enjoy spending time with Brad as the antidote to the eco chamber. He is a unique human being with original thoughts & ideas and very limited concern for having to fit into other people’s narratives. And I’ve always remembered a quote from high school, “Non Conformity is the Highest Form of Social Attainment.” That always stuck with me.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 8, 2012
Did you ever wonder why some entrepreneurs always seem to have all the luck and success, while others never seem to catch a break? As an Angel investor, I quickly learned that luck has very little to do with it, and I now look for some personal characteristics and leadership styles that separate the potential winners from the losers. These differences are the reason that investors say that they invest in people, rather than ideas.
InfoChachkie
APRIL 9, 2012
This entry originally appeared at Live Your Legend. “It is difficult to see the picture when you are inside the frame.”. Eugene Kleiner, Co-founder Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. A small percentage of people in each free-market society generate the jobs for everyone else. These entrepreneurs do not risk everything, work outrageous hours and put themselves under extreme pressure because they want to.
socalTECH
APRIL 9, 2012
Santa Monica-based Kuapay , a new startup aiming at the mobile payments and loyalty markets, has scored $2M in funding, the firm has disclosed. The startup is headed by Joaquin Ayuso de Paul, one of the angel investors in Border Stylo and co-founder of Spanish social network Tuenti.com (acquired by Telefonica). According to Kuapay, the firm's mobile apps run on iPhone, Android, and Blackberry, and allow users to make credit card purchases with their smartphone, by linking with existing point of
Berkonomics
APRIL 19, 2012
Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur state, “We have no competition.” That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other. It is a failed litmus test for the entrepreneur, even if the plan is for a totally new device or service that could take the world by storm. Well, come to think of it, this is especially true in such an instance.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 30, 2012
Sunday, May 6, 2012 -- Electric Vehicle Symposium. More than 100 exhibitors, 200 presenters, and approximately 3,000 electric drive industry leaders, government representatives and energy officials will participate in the 26th International Electric Vehicle Symposium in Los Angeles. More than 100 global companies will display electric vehicle technologies on the show floor, including: Coda, Coulomb Technologies, Dow Energy Materials, GM, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Southern California Edison, and Toyota
Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 27, 2012
When you work inside a startup with lots of clever and motivated staff you’re never short of good ideas that you can implement.
socalTECH
APRIL 27, 2012
Six companies started by students at the University of Southern California's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at USC Marshall have been awarded a total of $50,000 in seed funding, after competing in the center's New Venture Seed Competition held this week. According to USC Marshall, it awarded $15,000 in seed funding for two first place winners, and four $5,000 seed prizes to companies.
socalTECH
APRIL 10, 2012
One of the most original, subscription startups to come out of Southern California's tech accelerator boom emerged last week, looking to disrupt not just another retail sector or e-commerce category, but something else entirely: the airline industry. Surf Air (www.surfair.com), launching out of the Muckerlab startup accelerator in Santa Monica, is looking to create a new way of flying, taking aviation and combining it with the subscription model.
socalTECH
APRIL 5, 2012
If you're a music artist or band, and you want to create your own fan app for the iPhone, Android, or iPad, you're looking at hiring an app development firm, spending six months, and $100,000--right? Actually, no thanks to Santa Monica-based Mobile Roadie. Mobile Roadie, headed by Michael Schneider , develops tools that make easy for non-programmers to create their own mobile apps.
socalTECH
APRIL 30, 2012
El Segundo-based NanoH2O the developer of high efficiency, reverse osmosis membranes for seawater desalination, announced this morning that it has raised a total of $60M in equity and debt funding. According to the firm, it raised $40M in equity and $20.5M in credit facilities. The equity round was led by BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Total Energy Ventures International and Keytone Ventures, and also included Khosla Ventures, Oak Investment Partners, CalPERS Clean Energy & Technology Fund repre
socalTECH
APRIL 12, 2012
A new report this week from the Startup Genome Project has ranked Los Angeles as number six in a list of the world's most active startup ecosystems. The report, which used data from the Startup Genome's benchmarking tool to rank startup performance, found that Silicon Valley topped the list, followed by New York City, London, Toronto, and Tel Aviv. Los Angeles beat other startup hubs such as Seattle, Boston, and Mumbai in the rankings.
InfoChachkie
APRIL 16, 2012
Article first published as Steve Blank Discusses Origin And Future Of Lean Startup Movement on Technorati. I recently spoke with Steve Blank, author of the new book The Startup Owner’s Manual. Steve is also a Stanford Professor and noted marketing entrepreneur. He is credited with pioneering the Lean Startup Movement in 2005 via the publication of his bestselling, Four Steps To The Epiphany.
socalTECH
APRIL 5, 2012
Tired of being herded like cattle on your regular trip between Los Angeles and Palo Alto? Los Angeles-based Surf Air just launched today, emerging out of the MuckerLab accelerator, saying that it is looking to turn the airline industry on its head with a subscription-based, all you can fly airline initially targeting commuters between Silicon Valley and Los Angeles.
socalTECH
APRIL 16, 2012
Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com , the online auto information web site, said this morning that it has enhanced its site, adding a new online chat feature on the site. Edmunds.com said the online chat allows participating dealers on the site to answer questions about inventory, pricing, and to gain other information about new and used vehicles. Edmunds.com said it is tapping Contact At Once!
socalTECH
APRIL 11, 2012
Los Angeles-based Postcard on the Run , the mobile app startup which allows users to take a photo on their smartphone and turn that into a real, physical postcard, has inked a partnership with a hotel and resort operator. According to the Viceroy Hotel Group , which operates hotels and resorts in Abu Dhabi, Anguilla, Beverly Hills, Miami, New York, Palm Springs, Riviera Maya, Santa Monica, Snowmass, St.
socalTECH
APRIL 27, 2012
Hawthorne-based commercial spacecraft developer SpaceX said Friday that it will be webcasting its test firing of its Falcon 9 rocket, as it prepared for its upcoming launch to dock with the International Space Station (ISS). SpaceX said it will be conducting a static fire test of the Falcon 9 on Monday, April 30th, at 2:30 P.M. The entire test will be webcast on the SpaceX site.
socalTECH
APRIL 19, 2012
The latest numbers from the MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, The National Venture Capital Association, and Thomson Reuters have tallied up just under a billion dollars in venture capital investments in the Southern California region in Q1 of this year, a very significant uptick from Q2 of 2011. Southern California's investment totals bucked a downward national trend in venture capital investing.
socalTECH
APRIL 26, 2012
Los Angeles-based startup accelerator MuckerLab is booting up its first Demo Day later this afternoon, debuting nine new startups out of its incubator focused on Internet software, services, and media. The accelerator--which is headed by Erik Rannala--had earlier announced Surf Air , an airline-travel-by-subscription startup, and Lifecrowd , a startup which helps people find local social activities.
InfoChachkie
APRIL 3, 2012
Note: This is Part IV in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE , Part II HERE and Part III HERE. This article originally appeared at Inc.com HERE. They smile, they laugh on cue and they have a rehearsed response for every conventional interview question. They profess to be entrepreneurs, but are they actually Wantrepreneurs? A Wantrepreneur is a well-intentioned person who wants to be an entrepreneur, but does not have the skills, personality and or risk profile to be successful.
socalTECH
APRIL 3, 2012
What does it take to take a social gaming firm to the next level? For San Diego-based Mob Science (www.mobscience.com), an injection of cash, some key advisors--and a deal with Zynga. Last week, the firm announced a funding round and a couple of key advisors, as the company looks to ramp its social gaming efforts and leverage a deal with Zynga. We spoke with CEO Michael Witz about the company.
socalTECH
APRIL 23, 2012
How do you find the best and brightest engineers and web developers? Santa Monica-based BetterWorks , the developer of software and services to help companies manage their fringe benefits for employees, has an interesting one: have those software developers compete to build the best, LEGO. creations. BetterWorks said it would hold a Silicon Beach LEGO Challenge --open to only 60 software and web developers--to compete for prizes.
socalTECH
APRIL 4, 2012
Los Angeles-based Mogreet , the provider of mobile video marketing services which is run by James Citron, said this morning that it has raised $4.1M in a strategic investment round. The round was led by Black Diamond Ventures, and also included DFJ Frontier, Ascend Ventures, Bryant Park Ventures and Draper Associates. The company said the new round brings its total raised to $14.1M.
socalTECH
APRIL 12, 2012
It's been almost two years since Aliso Viejo-based Buy.com was acquired by Japanese ecommerce giant Rakuten. How has that affected the company--both in culture, as well as a business? We caught up with Neel Grover , CEO and President of the firm, to hear a bit more about life and changes under Rakuten. How has life under Rakuten been? Neel Grover: It's been great.
socalTECH
APRIL 11, 2012
Pasadena-based Punchcard , the Idealab startup developing mobile apps to encourage customer loyalty at retail businesses, announced today that it has launched a new product, Punchcard for Business. The firm said the new software helps local merchants gain insights into customer purchasing behavior, and the ability to push offers to consumers' smart phones via its app.
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