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Tracy DiNunzio isn’t your typical Silicon Valley startup founder. She’s a painter and a self-proclaimed Bohemian. She did her first tech startup after the age of 30. And she didn’t start her company in Northern California. Tracy built her company, Recycled Media , out of necessity. She hasn’t raised any venture capital. She drove her company to profitability before paying herself a modest salary.
As part of UC Santa Barbara’s Distinguished Lecture Series, Jason Nazar, Co-Founder and CEO of Docstoc , recently shared ten lessons that emerging entrepreneurs can learn from superheroes. Jason’s inspiration for this 6 ½ minute talk was a blog entry he wrote in 2008, which went viral within the startup community. You can check out Jason’s original entry HERE.
In recent months, a dozen accelerators and incubators have emerged in the Southern California area, looking to help take the new generation of technology startups to funding and beyond. However, with the proliferation of incubators, the difficulty in figuring out. which programs are--and aren't--worth looking at has become very difficult, if not impossible, for startup entrepreneurs.
Early stage investors have been arguing over this for years. Do they bet on the entrepreneur (jockey) or the business idea and plan (the horse)? This is serious stuff. If you are looking for money, this question will certainly come up in one form or another when you approach professional or organized angel or VC investors. My answer always varies as I examine each deal, sometimes deferring and passing on an investment because of an uneasy feeling about the ent
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.
Thursday, March 1, 2012 -- Please join PwC, the Los Angeles Venture Association, and a distinguished panel of venture capitalists and industry experts for their insight into results of the MoneyTree Report. The MoneyTree Report is a quarterly study of venture capital investment activity in the United States. As a collaboration between PwC and the National Venture Capital Association, based upon data from Thomson Reuters, it is the only industry-endorsed research of its kind.
Amidst the media frenzy surrounding Facebook’s S1 filing to go public, some people took pause today to reflect on what the IPO could mean for the social networking giant. Among them, Stephan Paternot shared an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg – through his Facebook profile no less – urging the young billionaire to “prepare for the beginning of the end of truly bold, innovative risk taking.” Who is Stephan Paternot, and why is his advice so relevant?
My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner.
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My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner.
Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs , Mark Cuban , Richard Branson , Walt Disney , Mark Zuckerberg , Michael Dell and Larry Ellison. For more than 30-years, Bill Gates has been at the pinnacle of the software industry. Like Steve Jobs, Michael Dell and Larry Ellison, he is one of the few startup Founders who remained at the helm of their respective companies throughout their entire maturation process.
Southern California has had its share of new startup accelerators launch in the last few months, however, few people here have actually experienced an accelerator firsthand. One of the few who has is Alex Benzer ,the co-founder of Silverlake-based SocialEngine (www.socialengine.net) and Fanmix (www.fanmix.com). We heard form Alex to learn how SocialEngine was bootstrapped to $1.4M in sales last year, what he learned from his experience at TechStars, and where he's going with Fanmix.
From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to the present day, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers. As we enter the business world, we negotiate with our bosses and our subordinates. We negotiate with our suppliers, customers, investors, and even our auditors.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012 -- The Startup Ideation Bootcamp provides expert advice with real-world practice. The evening begins with talks by leading startup Founders designed to teach you the components of good and bad startup ideas. For example, is your market big enough, is there organic growth potential, and a clear path to profitability? Then, attendees can share their ideas with both experts and peers to receive constructive feedback.
Most aspiring entrepreneurs believe their initial idea and inspiration requires the most important creative thinking. Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. There is a tough balance here to achieve, since a large portion of starting and running a business requires analytical, logical thinking.
Negotiations. We all think we’re good at them. Most people aren’t that good. For many the idea of negotiations is “let’s split the difference 50/50.” In some situations this is the right answer. In many cases it’s not. I learned many of my negotiation techniques through experience. But I did read a couple of books on the topic that were useful: 1.
Note: This is Part V in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE , Part II HERE , Part III HERE and Part IV HERE. You may not realize it, but your adVenture’s Core Team, the senior executives who make the key decisions which drive the company’s strategic direction, is akin to a primitive tribe. Primitive tribes and your startup both entail a small number of people banded together to battle an uncaring, hostile world.
Steve Jillings has a long track record of running successful startups in Southern California, ranging from such companies as FrontBridge Technologies (sold to Microsoft in 2005 for over $200M) and Vantage Media (acquired in 2007). Steve is now in charge of Marina Del Rey-based TeleSign (www.telesign.com), which has quietly become a huge force in providing authentication services to nearly every major Internet service out there.
I cannot tell you how many times I have seen executive summaries of business plans in which the entrepreneur seeks $5,000,000 to build the business. First, few startups can use that much money today with all of the virtual services available and increasingly inexpensive methods of development, prototyping and marketing. Second, almost no professional investor will consider putting that much into a startup until there is proof of market demand, product viability or some other mitigation of failur
Friday, March 2, 2012 -- The Doctor is In! How to X-Ray Your Organization. A doctors X-ray is a snapshot to see if everything is working the way it should and is in the right place. An X-ray of an organization is a look inside to see what is working, what is not and/or what is missing that should be there. Learn how to utilize new tools and techniques to X-ray your organization at this interactive, participant-driven program with consultant and trainer Daniel Feiman, MBA, CMC.
The days when you locked and loaded your career in school, and then blasted away down that same narrow path the rest of your life, are gone, never to return. Career survival today requires thinking and acting like an entrepreneur starting a business, staying nimble and resilient, willing to pivot, and supersensitive to the market realities of supply and demand.
I recently wrote a post about negotiating with suppliers called “ The End of the Mexican Road.” The post talked about how to find the lowest acceptable price & terms in a deal through testing. In the post I made clear that I believe that all negotiations should seek to find fair deals where both parties can feel good about the outcomes.
A new study released Tuesday from Ernst & Young finds that the State of California led the nation in terms of its attractiveness to renewable energy investments in 2011. According to the report, which ranked U.S. states for investments in wind, solar energy, geothermal energy, California led the nation in energy projects. The report said California's favorable regulatory environment, offtake prices, and incentives ranked the state first in wind energy and installation of solar energy project
Sean Percival, best known for founding Los Angeles tech blog lalawag, in addition to his work as an executive at MySpace, has booted up a new effort--Santa Monica-based Wittlebee , a new, online subscription service for baby supplies. The new effort emerged this week, revealing that it is backed by Science, Inc. , the digital business incubator/studio headed by former MySpace CEO Mike Jones.
How do you come up with a compelling, mobile videogame title? Jonathan LaCour , founder of Playzon , decided that he'd tap into the collective genius of students looking to get into the videogame industry, and is taking the top student-developed gaming titles from one videogame school and turning them into mobile games for the iPhone, Android, and Facebook.
The Los Angeles area is fast becoming the content hub for online video site YouTube , a position that takes advantage of both the LA region's long history in the entertainment business, and the rise of a slew of startups producing content specifically aimed at the YouTube audience. According to a property developer in Playa Vista, YouTube has signed an 11-year lease for a 41,000 square foot office building in the location.
A couple of weeks ago, twelve companies moved into the new downtown San Diego, EvoNexus incubator--which is run by CommNexus. Running that effort is Kevin Hell , the founder of DivX, who we caught up with to learn more about EvoNexus and how the group is trying to help grow technology startups in San Dieog. We'd love to learn about EvoNexus and what you are doing - can you talk about the program a little bit?
Los Angeles-based Total Immersion , the developer of augmented reality technology, is looking to apply its technology to the game development market, the firm said Monday. According to the firm, it is enabling game developers using game tools from Unity Technologies to use its augmented reality platform on both Apple iOS and Windows. The beta release of D-Fusion for Unity is aimed at allowing game developers to allow users to interact with real-world objects, to incorporate them into games.
Los Angeles companies are looking to help get the word out next week about their companies--and the area--at SXSW , the annual technology and music festival held in Austin, Texas, a group of companies said Wednesday. In an effort to help brand the growing Los Angeles technology scene, a number of local companies said they are organizing a Silicon Beach Showcase , where local LA startup will be showing off their products and introducing people to companies.
Ever wish you had a better way of sharing your favorite recipes with family and friends? Wish that cookbook for your church, school, or club could enter the modern age? Los Angeles-based BakeSpace.com , the online social networking and recipe site, has a new product for you. The company, which is headed by Babette Pepaj, is launching a new, cookbook publishing tool which allows users to create their own, native iPad cookbooks, which can either be given away for free, and sold online or through t
Camarillo-based Cool Planet BioFuels , the developer of technology to convert biomass to gasoline, is claiming a "major breakthrough" in its technology. The company said it has been able to produce 4,000 gallons of acre biomass-to-gasoline conversion in its pilot testing, which it says is about twelve times the yield than current, corn ethanol production levels.
Los Angeles-based FlowTab , the developer of a smartphone application which allows users to order food and drink from their smartphone, has scored the top position in a competition hosted by Glendale-based startup incubator/office space Voivoda Labs. Voivoda Labs said that Flowtab was judged the top startup out of 15 companies which pitched their firms to investors and judges on Tuesday evening.
In November, Michael Jones, the former CEO of MySpace, announced his plans for Science Inc. (www.science-inc.com), a new technology studio aimed at building new businesses in Los Angeles. This week, the firm launched two companies--EventUp (www.eventup.com) and MeUndies (www.meundies.com)--the first companies to come out of the group. We spoke with Michael about those companies he is launching as part of Science, and how they came about.
Pasadena-based Guidance Software , which develops digital forensics and e-discovery software, said Tuesday afternoon that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire CaseCentral , a developer of electronic discovery software. Guidance Software said it will pay $17.1M for CaseCentral, with up to $33M in earn out. The deal is split between $8.3M in cash and $8.3M in Guidance Software common stock.
Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based MeUndies , debuted its subscription, e-commerce service for underwear and other basics. The firm is one of the companies which has recently emerged from Science, Inc., the digital studio/accelerator headed by former MySpace CEO Mike Jones. We caught up with Jonathan Shokrian and Barak Diskin, the founders of MeUndies, to hear more about what they're up to: What is MeUndies?
A new startup incubator and coworking space in the Los Angeles area-- Voivoda Labs --said this week that it is looking to looking to vet new startups in the area to join its newly built incubator in Glendale. Voivoda Labs--headed by Val Babajov, the former CEO of WebMessenger--said it is looking to vet around 15 startups via a pitch event later this month, to help secure investment for the winner.
Santa Monica-based social marketing firm GraphEffect said this morning that it has opned up new offices in both New York City and Chicago, as the company continues to expand its staff. The venture-backed firm, which is venture backed by Lerer Ventures, Thrive Capital, Founder Collective, Rincon Venture Partners, CrossCut Ventures and Baroda Ventures, said it has appointed three new directors in the locations, as well as added a over a half dozen other staffers in recent weeks.
Beverly Hills-based > Myspace is claiming growth in its users, saying that it has added over 1 million new signups to the service, after it launched a new Myspace Music Player. The online entertainment site--now owned by Specific Media--has been looking to revamp Myspace into a new, social service which combines music, links to Facebook, and music recommendation engine.
Venture capital firm Greycroft Partners , which is fairly active in the Los Angeles area, said today that it has added a new venture partner, who will spend time in both New York and Los Angeles. The firm said it has added Bo Peabody as Venture Partner at the company, focusing on digital media. Peabody was previously a co-founder and Managing General Partner at Village Ventures, heading up investments in Everyday Health, Travora, DigiSynd, HealthGuru, Babble, Pump Audio, Tech Media Network, and
Los Angeles-based CitySourced , the developer of mobile software used to help citizens to communicate with cities and local government, has rolled out in Honolulu, Hawaii. The City and County of Honolulu announced Tuesday that it has launched its smartphone reporting system, "Honolulu 311", which is powered by CitySourced, to allow citizens to report things like abandoned vehicles, graffiti, potholes, and other issues.
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