Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 17, 2011
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Startups. We know the mantra: Team matters. Is this philosophy exaggerated? Overrated? Cliché? No. Team is the only thing that matters. Whatever you’re working on now, the half-life of innovation is so rapid now that your product will soon be out-of-date. Your existence is irrelevant unless you continue rapid innovation.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 21, 2011
I was recently working at my kitchen table while my adolescent son was watching the History Channel’s reality TV show Pawn Stars. The show caught my attention, as a litany of extremely unsophisticated individuals sold their family heirlooms and other.
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socalTECH
MARCH 16, 2011
Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the provider of Internet advertising services to small and medium sized businesses, said Wednesday afternoon that it will participate in Facebook's Deals test in San Diego. Facebook said this week that it would be testing out a Groupon-style deals in San Francisco, San Diego, Dallas, and Austin this week. ReachLocal said it will use its existing presence in San Diego to source deals from local businesses for Facebook.
SoCal CTO
MARCH 3, 2011
I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term.
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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
MARCH 28, 2011
Every entrepreneur has that moment of truth – the one that marks the decision to take the path to entrepreneurship or the path to job security with a larger employer. And down the road a bit, most of us face another when deciding whether or not to go for growth, requiring new investment and increased risks. My moment of self-confrontation came many years ago when deciding whether to leave behind the relative comfort of a good income from my one person operation or hire my first employee to allo
Tech Coast Venture Network
MARCH 9, 2011
'A new study released by the Kauffman Foundation this week shows that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has the highest number of entrepreneurs per 100,000 people, of the top fifteen largest MSAs. According to the study of entrepreneurial activity in the United States, LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana had 620 entrepreneurs for every 100,000 people, beating out such areas as New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (360 per 100,000), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (5
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 31, 2011
Guy Kawasaki’s The Art of the Start, addresses a number of valuable startup issues, including fundraising, partnering, branding and beyond. In addition to these foundational startup issues, Guy also briefly discusses how to properly design a corporate T-shirt. When I.
socalTECH
MARCH 4, 2011
E-commerce giant Amazon.com has told the California Board of Equalization that it would cut ties to its California affiliates, if any of four bills looking to force Internet retailers to collect sales tax are passed. According to Amazon it would be "compelled to end its advertising relationships" with over 10,000 California-based participants in Amazon Associates, its affiliate program, if any of those new tax collection bills are passed.
SoCal CTO
MARCH 3, 2011
I talk to roughly 2 or 3 new startups every week who need advice from an experienced CTO. Many of the founders of these companies are surprised to learn that I'm willing to review what they are doing (maybe an hour) and get on the phone for an hour with them and provide free advice. Generally I can provide quite a bit of help in that brief time. And I try my best to point them to resources that can help them longer term.
Berkonomics
MARCH 21, 2011
This insight is one that is so important to the continued health of a growing company that it cannot be overstated. First, let’s be sure we know what is short in term and what is long in term. Long term debt is taken on for the acquisition of fixed assets such as equipment, cars, facilities and acquisitions of companies or their assets. Short term debt is often composed of accounts payable to the trade or employees for expenses, payroll liabilities, accrued but unpaid vacations, customer dep
SoCal Tech Calendar
MARCH 16, 2011
Tuesday, March 22, 2011 -- The Science of Sports. San Diego Sport Innovators and the San Diego Hall of Champions. Why does the shape of the board make a difference in your surf/skate/snow/water experience? Why do you need so many golf clubs just to hit the ball? Whether it's a surfboard, skateboard, golf club or wakeboard, join SDSI for this free event at the San Diego Hall of Champions and find out!
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 30, 2011
This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. I’m a very big proponent of the “lean startup movement&# as espoused by Steve Blank & Eric Ries. The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 28, 2011
I had lunch earlier yesterday with Mark Suster, General Partner at GRP Partners, blogger extraordinaire and overall cool dude. I am writing this entry at 4:00 AM. Mark’s kindness and insights moved me to roll out of bed, fire up.
socalTECH
MARCH 7, 2011
Recently, we ran into Edo Cohen , CEO of Los Angeles-based Seevolution (www.seevolution.com), a firm developing web site heat map tracking software. We talked with Edo about what his firm is up to. What is Seevolution all about? Edo Cohen: Seevolution is a real time analytics and heat map company for web sites and web applications. It will show you in real time, live, what people are clicking on, what people are looking at, and what they are paying attention to, and how far down a web site peopl
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 27, 2011
This post originally ran on TechCrunch. Blogs. We all read them to get a sense of what is going on in the world, peeling back layers of the old world in which media was too scripted. By definition, you read blogs. But should you actually write one if you’re a startup, an industry figure (lawyer, banker) or VC? Absofuckinglutely. This is a post to help you figure out why you should write and what you should talk about. 1.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 11, 2011
Last night I had the great privilege to interview Bill Gross , one of the Internet’s true pioneers. To say he has had an impact on the web would be an understatement. His impact has even helped a small country gain admission to the United Nations. All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. Summary notes, as always, provide below.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 1, 2011
This is an interview you’re not going to want to miss, I promise. Mike is a no BS guy, has all the attributes I look for in a founder and says things like, openly shares knowledge and opines without a filter including this one, “whoever invented uncapped convertible debt should be spanked!&# Love it. Mike Yavonditte is the founder of the “super hot&# Hashable , a startup out of NYC that has been described as a “ Mint.com for Social Capital ” Mike sold his previous company, Quigo , t
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 22, 2011
The most common questions I’ve gotten over the past week have been a variant of: Was SXSW worth it? Was it just one big party? Should I go next year? Why do your eyes still look so bloodshot? (And I’ve learned a new term, I arrived home with SxSARS). As you may know I outlined my rules for maximum impact at events / conferences before SXSW began.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 6, 2011
I was hanging out the other day with my buddy Jody Sherman, founder & CEO of EcoMom. I was an angel investor in his company, made a bunch of calls on his behalf and then I personally sent it out on AngelList. Through this process he raised $2 million. When I described to people why I initially invested my calls went something like this, “He’s taken kicks to the face for nearly 2 years and is still standing.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 13, 2011
This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. For the next four days if you’re in the tech industry you’re going to hear a non-stop stream of information about SXSW. It’s the time of year when many new startups are struggling to rise above all the noise and be heard. And when everybody is shouting it becomes overwhelming. I’m actually in Austin at the moment.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 7, 2011
I’ve written before about my love for Disqus. I’m not an investor – I just love the product. So now Facebook has a new commenting system. They’ve been around for a while and when they first announced this initiative I knew the day would come when people would start saying, “should I replace Disqus?&# I started telling people privately that I thought Google should buy Disqus for the same reasons Facebook wants to own commenting in the first place.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 2, 2011
After the weekend kerfuffle over AngelList I was reading Brad Feld’s post on Signal vs. Noise. It’s apropos because there is so much noise these days with email, Twitter, Facebook, blogs, web shows, etc. that it’s sometimes hard to know when to pay attention and when to keep your head down. Mostly during the day I’m in meetings or doing work.
socalTECH
MARCH 23, 2011
Are the days of Girls Scouts knocking at your door selling cookies on their way out? Proving that iPhone mobile applications are now fully mainstream, the Girls Scouts of the USA, the organization which oversees Girls Scouts in the US, said today that it has released the Official Girl Scouts of the USA Cookie Finder for the iPhone or iPod touch. The group said that the free app allows users to find their way to the nearest cookie sale nearby, with dates of the start and end of local cookie sales
socalTECH
MARCH 8, 2011
A new study released by the Kauffman Foundation this week shows that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has the highest number of entrepreneurs per 100,000 people, of the top fifteen largest MSAs. According to the study of entrepreneurial activity in the United States, LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana had 620 entrepreneurs for every 100,000 people, beating out such areas as New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (360 per 100,000), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (550
socalTECH
MARCH 2, 2011
Santa Monica-based Cornerstone OnDemand , which develops online learning and talent management software, said Wednesday morning that it expects its IPO to price between $9.00 and $11.00 per share. The firm is looking to list on the NASDAQ Global Market as CSOD. Cornerstone OnDemand is selling 10.5 million shares of its stock, raising around $105M in the offering.
socalTECH
MARCH 7, 2011
Hollywood-based FastCall411 , the developer of pay-per-call technology headed by Richard Rosen, has scored funding from Dave McClure's 500 Startups fund. FastCall411 was one of seven recipients of funding from the Twilio Startup Fund, a fund which looks to invest $250,000 in startups that use Twilio's telephony API. FastCall41 provides lead generation for local search publishers using Twilio.
socalTECH
MARCH 1, 2011
Today, Lunch.com (www.lunch.com), the startup headed by J.R. Johnson, announced a move to allow other sites to host and show content via a new Lunch Network effort. We caught up with J.R. Johnson, founder and CEO of Lunch to better understand the move and what it means, as well as what the firm has learned. J.R.'s last firms were VirtualTourist.com and OneTime.com, which he sold to Expedia.
socalTECH
MARCH 8, 2011
Anthony Batt , the founder and Chief Creative Officer of BUZZmedia , has joined Katalyst , the digital media studio founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. Katalyst said that Batt will lead the Katalyst team as President, and will help create content, recruit talent, and serve its brand clients. Katalyst was founded in 2000 by Goldberg and Kutcher, and includes clients such as Gatorage, Levi's Nikon, and Intel.
socalTECH
MARCH 9, 2011
Not satisfied with creating just another mobile application for the iPhone platform, Santa Monica-based startup, IPPLEX , this week introduced an application to help the visually impaired or blind. According to IPPLEx, it has released a new application called the LookTel Money Reader , a new iPhone application which visually recognizes US currency and will speak the denomination of that bill.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 1, 2011
With a few exceptions at the end of their career, the Beatles did not include songs that had previously been released as a single on their UK albums. According to George Martin, The Beatles’ Producer, “At the time, I didn’t want to shortchange the public. Assuming the fans had bought the single, I figured they wouldn’t want to hear it again on the album.”.
socalTECH
MARCH 8, 2011
Burbank-based Warner Bros. said Monday that it is beginning to test renting movies via Facebook , using Facebook Credits, allowing consumers to watch movies directly from the social networking site. According to Warner, its first title is The Dark Knight, which it will be renting for 30 Facebook Credits, or $3. Warner said it plans to roll out additional titles in the testing of the effort.
socalTECH
MARCH 14, 2011
Los Angeles-based GotCast.com , the online casting startup headed by Alec Shankman, said that it will donate all of its membership fees tomorrow, Tuesday, March 15th, to the Red Cross. According to the firm, it will donate 100 percent of its revenues tomorrow to the Red Cross Earthquake and Tsunami Relief fund. GotCast offers up an online site which helps Hollywood casting agents and producers to find talent; the firm also has been powering interactive casting events for a number of brands.
socalTECH
MARCH 21, 2011
What do children's vitamins and social media have to do with one another? In the case of SmartyPants Vitamins (www.wearesmartypants.com), it's at the core of the company. Gordon Gould , the co-founder of SmartPants, talks about the company and how it's applying what he learned founding ThisNext and from a long experience in the social media market to the consumer products goods area--what he describes as Brands 2.0.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 16, 2011
Messenger: Ryan Rifkin, Co-Founder & VP of Operations, Burstly, Co-Founder & Sr. Director of Partnerships at TagWorld/Flux (sold to Viacom) Value Prop Twitter Style: Burstly is: “A monetization platform for iOS and Android app developers” If you haven’t already subscribed.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 24, 2011
Messenger: Dan Engel, Co-Founder and CEO, SaaSy, Co-Founder and CEO, FastSpring, former Marketing Manager at Google, VP of Market Development at Picasa Value Prop Twitter Style: SaaSy is: “the 1st all-in-one payment & subscription management service designed for SaaS, Web.
socalTECH
MARCH 14, 2011
Los Angeles-based Total Immersion , the developer of augmented reality software, said today that it has launched a new application for the iPad 2, Apple's new tablet computer. Total Immersion said its first app, AR Magic Mirror, allows users to try on virtual hairstyles, glasses, and accessories. The app uses facial recognition to identify users, and to apply virtual 3D enhancements.
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