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Most people suck at presenting to big groups. It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. This was evident at the Twiistup pre-event company pitch last week at UCLA. Francisco Dao came up with the idea of letting 10 companies that weren’t selected for Twiistup to do a presentation the night before to a group of people and l
One of the topics that came up in my post Mobile Internet Apple Facebook was around open vs. closed platforms. This issue comes up at the start of almost every new startup company in a variety of forms. I’m constantly struggling with trying to figure out the best way to pull together solutions, especially with how fast things move. In this post, I want to look at just the question of when it makes sense to use Facebook Connect, Twitter Oauth, OpenID, Yahoo Browser-Based Authentication, Google Fr
Los Angeles-based Fandango , the online movie information and ticketing firm now owned by Comcast Interactive Media, has rolled out two mobile applications this week at CES. According to Fandango, it launched a new movie information, showtime, and ticketing app for BlackBerry phones, which is available for free for the BlackBerry Tour, Bold, Storm, Curve, and 8800.
During the late 1800’s, American author Horatio Alger wrote 129 novels, most of which recount the deeds of impoverished young people who overcome their modest means to establish independent lives as self-sufficient, middle class citizens. Years after Alger created this new genre, it was derisively (and incorrectly) termed “rags to riches.” A common critique is that Mr.
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.
Time to clear this up. I’m Eric Greenspan, not Eric Greenspan (or Eric Greenspan). Eric Greenspan's The Foundry on Melrose. I’m not the chef Eric Greenspan. He owns the Foundry on Melrose. He was up for the Next Iron Chef on the Food Network but lost to grasshoppers. He is the master of the grilled cheese amongst other culinary delights.
This post will be perhaps a bit longer than usual, but certainly of great interest for those with interest in or have need for more capital… This stage is critical to many businesses and a passing option to others, depending upon the capital efficiency of the enterprise. Some businesses require very little capital and the founder is able to self-finance the enterprise and retain 100% of its ownership and control from ignition through liquidity event (startup through sale).
Chris Dixon wrote a blog post last week titled, “ Techies and Normals &# in which he defined “Techies&# as people who are not just “early adopters&# but also have more of a geeky, technical, product bent. Normals (or “Muggles&# as Catarina Fake called them) are people who, unlike Techies, don’t just use products simply because they’re infatuated with them and with showing the world how cool it is that they’re using the latest tech product.
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Chris Dixon wrote a blog post last week titled, “ Techies and Normals &# in which he defined “Techies&# as people who are not just “early adopters&# but also have more of a geeky, technical, product bent. Normals (or “Muggles&# as Catarina Fake called them) are people who, unlike Techies, don’t just use products simply because they’re infatuated with them and with showing the world how cool it is that they’re using the latest tech product.
I’ve been having discussions with several people recently about the role of the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) in very early stage companies. In December 2007, I described how I commonly take on an Acting CTO Role in a Start-up. I used an image from Roger Smith that describes the varying roles of a CTO as the company matures. However, I’ve now begun questioning how and what an early-stage / startup CTO should be.
Yesterday, Los Angeles-based Biddees (www.biddees.com) launched a new web site, which combines gift cards, a reverse auction system, and microdonations to nonprofits. We spoke with CEO Steve Adler , and Vice President of Marketing Danielle Mead , about the firm and what it's hoping to do. What is the site all about? Steve Adler: It's a reverse auction site that exclusively sells prepaid cards.
Saturday, February 6, 2010 -- New Media Revenue Models: Growing Greenbacks in the Digital Ecosystem. Caltech/MIT Enterprise Forum. The New Media ecosystem is growing rapidly with content distribution networks, mobile devices and social networks connecting and interconnecting consumers like never before. Navigating the digital landscape is more complex than ever but more profitable as well.
Social networking at it’s finest… I’m sitting at a local brewery watching football with my wife and friends a month back and I get an email from someone who had just visited my Meetup.com site. I created the site to make new friends and to learn things. I never imagined the Food Network would find me there. Anyhow, I called the producer back and she told me, “We are looking for a meetup group to appear on the Food Network’s new show Private Chefs of Beverly Hills as
Taking in angel or venture money requires a setting of an entrepreneur’s expectations that may come as a shock at least at first. From the moment such an investor looks seriously at your company, the investor or VC partner is thinking of the end game, the ultimate sale of the company or even of an eventual initial public offering. There is no middle ground.
I’m writing this post as part of my series with Advice on Raising Venture Capital but will file it under Sales Tips as well since it applies equally to both scenarios. Congratulations. You’ve found a VC partner or principal who has invited you to the Monday partners’ meeting. Or on a sales campaign you’ve finally gotten your project sponsor to take you to the “executive committee&# where decisions are made and budgets are agreed.
The analysts at Morgan Stanley have produced a report that’s quite good reading on some of the major trends concerning mobile web. The report consists of: The Mobile Internet Report Summary Slides – a 92-slide presentation that provides highlights on the key themes The Mobile Internet Report Key Themes – a 659-slide presentation that drills down a bit more The Mobile Internet Report – a 424 page report which explores 8 major themes in depth and includes the two aforementioned slide presentations
J.R. Johnson , founder of Lunch.com, is an experience entrepreneur, who sold his last firm, VirtualTourist.com , to Expedia. Johnson's latest effort is Lunch.com (www.lunch.com), a web site which takes the concepts behind VirtualTourist.com beyond travel, and into lots of other subjects. We spoke with Johnson about his new startup, as well as had him fill us in on the story behind VirtualTourist, how he bootstrapped that firm, and his exit.
Thursday, February 4, 2010 -- GDP Talk Trends 2010. Come listen to some of LA's great minds (inc. Fast Company reporter Greg Ferenstein, CitySourced's founder Kurt Daradics and Adam Mefford of MindShare LA) present ideas about trends and realities facing today's world from education and finance to the blending of the personal and professional in the social media world.
I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers &# written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). I know that people have an allergy to lawyers out of fear of being screwed. Much of this is unfounded – some is not. If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have.
TechCrunch ran my article yesterday as a guest post but I wanted to have a copy here for anybody who missed it and for future readers of this blog. This is a slightly longer version and also has an update at the end. TechCrunch Europe ran an article in November of last year that European startups need to work as hard as those in Silicon Valley and I echoed the sentiment in my post about the need for entrepreneurs to be maniacal about their businesses if one wants to work in the hyper competitiv
This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts , Ability to Pivot , Resiliency , Inspiration , Perspiration , Willingness to Take Risks and Detail Orientation.
A couple of years ago I read the popular book, “The Four Hour Workweek &# by Tim Ferriss. It was recommended to me by my friend, Net Jacobsson , who was trying to do some basic Life Hacking. If you’re not familiar with the term it’s basically trying to help all of us who are deluged with technology to find ways to cope with the masses of information without having it ruin our lives.
This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts , Ability to Pivot , Resiliency , Inspiration and Perspiration.
This is part of my series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. The full list is now posted there if you want a sneak preview. I’ll try to add a few extra comments in my posts to keep in interesting. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity.
I recently wrote a post about avoiding the “ Deferred Life Plan &# and some related thoughts about personal productivity that came from Tim Ferriss’s book, The Four Hour Workweek. I would love to say that I’m the productivity guru. Unfortunately my wife reads my blog and she’d log in and add comments to dispel this rumor (she keeps me honest.
Bill Gates once famously said that people tend to overestimate the impact of technology in the 1-year timeframe and underestimate its impact in the 10-year timeframe. That’s always stuck with me. I tend not to go into heat when I hear the latest buzz on the tech blogs about the latest gadgets. But when I read thoughtful pieces on the future of technology I start to imagine where our lives will be in 10 years.
Last night I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum event started by Jason Calacanis , a fellow LA resident. Jason started the Open Angel Forum in response to his frustration that entrepreneurs were being charged by some angel organizations to present at their events. He wrote an excellent blog post on this topic. As a former entrepreneur, I’m a big supporter of Jason’s goals.
Hollywood-based Taltopia.com , an online social networking site for artists, said today that it is launching a new tool which aggregates casting calls and job postings in the entertainment and arts industry. The firm said the new service pulls together casting calls from around the web, as well as listing of real-time feeds of jobs and auditions. The firm said its service will allow members to search for jobs by area code or talent category.
On Thursday, the City of Ventura is formally launching a new incubator, the Ventura Ventures Technology Center (www.v2tc.com), targeted at high tech businesses. The incubator so far includes startups Lottay , Geodelic , and a number of other Internet and other technology firms. We spoke with Alex Schneider, who is managing the effort, about what the incubator is and what it hopes to accomplish.
The Founder Institute , the business incubation and mentoring program started by TheFunded's Adeo Ressi , is expanding into the Los Angeles area, and is accepting applications for entrepreneurs for a Spring session, the group said late last week. The Los Angeles effort is being headed by Ken Rutkowski. In an invite to an information session on the incubation program, Rutkowski said that mentors in the Los Angeles program include Alan Friel, Bill Woodward, Brock Pierce, Dan Gould, Elon Musk, Eric
Carlsbad-based Epics3 , a new startup focused on photo sharing through Twitter, Facebook, and other web sites, said today that it has launched its services. The new company, headed by Joe Moreno, said it will allow users to post photos to the web, and that it will share advertising revenue with users when people view their photos. Epics3 also allows users to serve up photos using their own domain names, and can link photos stored in the service with Amazon S3.
Aliso Viejo-based Evolver , the online avatar software site developed by Darwin Dimensions, said Thursday that it has launched a new web site that allows end users to create avatars for social media sites like Facebook and MySpace. According to Darwin Dimensions, the new site, Avatara.com , allows social media enthusiasts to easily create and upload customized, animated avatars for their social media accounts.
Los Angeles-based Mogreet , the mobile video marketing firm run by James Citron, said earlier this week that it has powered a mobile marketing campaign for Hotel Casa del Mar in Santa Monica. The firm--which recently expanded its offerings from video greeting cards to also include mobile video marketing services--did not disclose the financial impact of the deal.
Los Angeles-based MySpace is in a deal with SoundExchange , which collects music royalties, to help deliver unclaimed royalties to artists, MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta said over the weekend at the MIDEM conference in Cannes. According to Van Natta, SoundExchange has placed $14M of unclaimed royalties in escrow, and will help the social networking site find the 25,000 artists owed those royalties.
Santa Monica-based The Search Agency joins a number of privately held, Southern California firms this week reporting strong growth in 2009. According to the company, which provides search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and other related online marketing services, it had revenue growth of 37% in 2009, and hired more than 40 additional employees.
Irvine-based VIZIO announced this morning that it has tapped Beyonce Knowles as the spokesperson for the firm, and will launch a Super Bowl spot featuring the artist during Super Bowl XLIV. According to VIZIO, a major manufacturer of high definition TVs, the firm's Super Bowl ad will run during CBS in-game coverage of the game, and that it will also be the exclusive HD sponsor of the CBS Super Bowl Pre-Game Show.
Southwest Airlines said Friday afternoon that it is officially rolling Wi-Fi out to all of its airplanes, in what is a major win for Westlake Village-based Row 44. According to Southwest, it has ended testing of Row 44's equipment, and signed an equipment purchase contract with Row 44 for all of its aircraft. Southwest said it will begin installing equipment in the second quarter of the year, installing about 15 aircraft per month.
Los Angeles-based social networking site MySpace has launched a beta of a new social playlist service, My Music 2.0 , the firm said Tuesday. According to MySpace, the music playlist hub will allow users to build and manage their own social playlists from its music catalog. Among features of My Music 2.0 is the ability to include playlists on MySpace profiles, plus social discovery tools which allows users to see what recent music their friends and favorite artists have listened to recently.
The University of Southern California is reporting today that spinouts out of the school have raised $148m in the last two calendar years (2008-2009), and that there are now at least 24 USC spinouts currently in business. The school--which has been actively encouraging startup activity based on its research in recent years--said that 16 USC startups raised $148M, in a combination of new startup funding and additional rounds of financing for those companies.
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