Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 30, 2014

'Everybody has a blog these days and there is much advice to be had. Many startups now go through accelerators and have mentors passing through each day with advice – usually it’s conflicting. WTF? There are bootcamps, startup classes, video interviews – the sources are now endless. What is a founder to do? There are some smart if not somewhat cerebral bloggers I read who say that you shouldn’t take any startup advice at all because it’s too generalized to be useful

Startup 407

Startup Framework CTO Coach Sales 407

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 11, 2014

'A version of this article previously appeared in The Wall Street Journal. Balance is one of the most important aspects of skiing. A solid foundation formed by two strong legs is key, especially at a competative level. Balance is also an extremely important factor among a founding startup team. Although it is difficult, balance can be achieved on one leg.

Startup 257

Startup Santa Barbara Competition Journal 257

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

'In the Los Angeles startup world, there are lots of high profile, buzzy companies which have lots of attention and funding--but which haven''t earned a dime of revenue. However, this town is also full of very profitable, growing, and revenue generating companies-- which have for the most part been below the radar. We spoke with one of those companies-- El Segundo-based ConsumerTrack (www.consumertrack.com)--which is a $30M, bootstrapped an online marketing company which is driving millions of c

Startup 239

Startup El Segundo Marketing Media 239

Berkonomics

AUGUST 21, 2014

'Sean Ellis, the marketing guru behind DropBox and other successes, advises clients that “The most important question on a survey is, ‘How would you feel if you could no longer use this product?’” He goes on to quantify the response. If more than forty percent of the respondents say they would be “very disappointed,” the product should go viral and be a great success.

Customer 228

Customer Custom Case Study Email 228

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.

Company

Eric Greenspan

AUGUST 13, 2014

'We all want to save money. Here’s some clever methods to do so: When signing up for a trial or a demo, NEVER buy right away. Wait for the email that says “Join today and save with this coupon” or “We miss you. Come back…” Sign up and quit. You’ll almost be guaranteed a “come back and try us for half off” email.

Email 128

Email Social Media Pricing Media 128

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 31, 2014

'One of the toughest decisions for a startup is how to price their product or service. The alternatives range from giving it away for free, to pricing based on costs, to charging what the market will bear (premium pricing). The implications of the decision you make are huge, defining your brand image, your funding requirements, and your long-term business viability.

Startup 114

Startup Pricing Customer Custom 114

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 25, 2014

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Amazon''s Founder, Jeff Bezos has had an incredible entrepreneurial career. He has gone from simply selling books online to offering consumers tens of thousands of products. Not satisfied with conquering the online retail world, Amazon then productized access to its infrastructure, ushering in the era of the public cloud.

Tips 239

Tips Startup Customer Custom 239

socalTECH

AUGUST 7, 2014

'Los Angeles has been in the midst of a technology boom over the last few years, with many of high profile startups growing in the area. However, one of the biggest beneficiaries of that boom-- TaskUs (www.taskus.com) has been far lower profile--but has grown from only five employees three years ago, to over a thousand employees today who are helping behind the scenes to power those startups.

Startup 231

Startup Technology Outsource Santa Monica 231

Berkonomics

AUGUST 14, 2014

'Over the years, as I managed my several computer companies as CEO or executive chairman, I made the decision to go to market with a brand new product that had never before been exposed to my customer’s marketplace. In each case, after overwhelming publicity, certainly noticed by a great number of potential decision makers, and after record-breaking sessions at industry trade shows to introduce these to the potential buyers, the products failed in the marketplace.

Artificial Inteligence 197

Artificial Inteligence Marketing Press Education 197

Eric Greenspan

AUGUST 5, 2014

'Over the years, I’ve built several larger companies. Each has had its share of success. After my last company hit its peak and inevitably came to an end, I’ve decided to no longer put all my eggs in a single basket. As a result, I now am involved in several ventures. At first, I formed 7DFour Marketing. We help companies find customers and revenue.

Resource 103

Resource Marketing Entrepreneur Help 103

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 27, 2014

'There is an old saying that good lawyers run away from risk, while good businessmen run towards risk. Entrepreneurs see “no risk” as meaning “no reward.” In reality, all risks are not the same. Many risks can be managed or calculated to improve growth or provide a competitive edge, while others, like skipping quality checks to save money, are recipes for failure.

Startup 113

Startup Resource Metrics Entrepreneur 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 17, 2014

'Just back from vacation and also some work travel and want to get back to blogging so expect a few posts over the next couple weeks. During my absence I posted a couple new episodes of Bothsides TV recently. I’ll try to get write-ups shortly but for now here is an overview of my interview with Nanea Reeves – President and COO of textPlus.

Technical Review 315

Technical Review Blogging RSS Organization 315

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 18, 2014

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Bill Grundfest, Founder of the Comedy Cellar, Golden Globe winner and three time Emmy nominee, recently spoke to an audience of entrepreneurial students as part of UC Santa Barbara''s Distinguished Lecture Series. Mr. Grundfest has a nose for comedic talent, discovering and the launching the career of many notable comedians, including Steven Wright, Bill Maher, Ray Romano and Jon Stewart.

Startup 187

Startup Ideas Class Santa Barbara 187

socalTECH

AUGUST 22, 2014

'For our profile today, we had a chat with Jonathan David , the CEO of Los Angeles-based Tapstone (www.tapstone.com), a company providing media buying and optimization. We spoke with Jonathan about the company and where it fits into the advertising market. What is Tapstone all about? Jonathan David: We''re essentially a media buying and optimization platform.

Advertising 230

Advertising Santa Monica Startup Media 230

Berkonomics

AUGUST 7, 2014

'Let’s focus not upon the process of marketing and positioning, but on you. How should you become the best marketer you can be, even if you are a first time entrepreneur or a seasoned CEO? There’s an answer for that. The title of this insight helps us find a formula: LALA. Berkonomics books available at www.berkus.com. Listen! The first rule of marketing and positioning is to listen to the marketplace.

Marketing 176

Marketing Metrics Education Resource 176

Eric Greenspan

AUGUST 13, 2014

'We all want to save money. Here’s some clever methods to do so: When signing up for a trial or a demo, NEVER buy right away. Wait for the email that says “Join today and save with this coupon” or “We miss you. Come back…” Sign up and quit. You’ll almost be guaranteed a “come back and try us for half off” email.

Email 100

Email Social Media Pricing Media 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 25, 2014

'We all know at least one entrepreneur who always gets things done, and appears unstoppable in his quest. All of you probably know many others who talk incessantly about their great ideas, but never seem to even get started, or they give up at the first obstacle. What are the attributes that make an entrepreneur unstoppable, and is it possible for people to learn to be unstoppable?

Startup 113

Startup Entrepreneur Ideas Activity 113

Frank Addante

AUGUST 6, 2014

'A month ago I spoke at the Silicon Beach Fest in Santa Monica in front of LA’s community of emerging entrepreneurs, innovators and disrupters. In speaking with Michael Carney, the West Coast editor of PandoDaily, who hosted my fireside chat, two things emerged—a strategy for how to build a company: the ‘find out’ and the ‘roll out’. THE ‘FIND OUT’ When you’re looking to disrupt any industry—advertising, yogurt, VoIP technology, or whatever—begin with learning everything you can.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Startup Santa Monica Ideas 111

InfoChachkie

AUGUST 4, 2014

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Kurt Kutay, Founder and CEO of Wildland Adventures , believes that "luxury adventure travel" does not have to be an oxymoron. In fact, for the past 27-years, he has specialized in bringing exotic travel destinations to those of us who are healthy and active but whose competitive sporting days are long behind us.

Entrepreneur 187

Entrepreneur Startup Social Media Advertising 187

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2014

'If you run a distributed, restaurant or hospitality business, how do you manage your business? It turns out, it''s not so easy. However, Redondo Beach-based StaffRanker (www.staffranker.com) has rolled out a system to help those companies better manage what is a notoriously difficult segment of the labor market, which has a lot of turnover and which just doesn''t match existing, corporate performance management systems.

Help 223

Help Hermosa Beach Technical Review Redondo Beach 223

Berkonomics

AUGUST 28, 2014

'Ninety percent of all traffic on the Internet is in video form. Yes, most of that is from NetFlix and YouTube and others delivering entertainment content. But an increasing amount is now coming from web sites and YouTube videos created by companies looking for an edge in their marketing efforts. The average time spent on a static website, one without videos linked to the home page, is under a minute.

Netflix 166

Netflix Sites Content Entertainment 166

Eric Greenspan

AUGUST 5, 2014

'Over the years, I’ve built several larger companies. Each has had its share of success. After my last company hit its peak and inevitably came to an end, I’ve decided to no longer put all my eggs in a single basket. As a result, I now am involved in several ventures. At first, I formed 7DFour Marketing. We help companies find customers and revenue.

Resource 100

Resource Marketing Entrepreneur Help 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2014

'People are always asking me for an inside tip on Internet sites that will be “the next big thing.” Those are hard, since someone has to invent something innovative, but I do have some views on other ideas whose time has come and gone. In some cases, these are concepts that have already been done too many times, and the space is crowded. In others, the concept has been tried too many times, or no one has yet succeeded in making any money.

Ideas 110

Ideas Entrepreneur Sites Yahoo 110

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 21, 2014

'The word, “Hacker” automatically instills a sense of fear and mistrust in most people. You might imagine some dark, shadowy nefarious character in a black hat, trenchcoat and possibly donning a Guy Fawkes mask. Or there’s always the popular mid-90s flick featuring phreaks on roller-blades rampaging through metropolitan New York. Whatever your perception may be, an estimated 15,000 attendees showed up for this year’s DefCon 22 , an annual event with talks, contests, vendo

Technical Advisors 107

Technical Advisors Press Examples Training 107

Daradiction

AUGUST 17, 2014

'Hearing the news about Robin Wililams' death this past week hit me like a dump truck. It felt like losing a family member. I grew up watching "Mork & Mindy" and remember as a kid being so amused by his "nanu nanu's", and inspired by other characters that he played over the years like Good Morning Vietnam, Dead Poet's Society, and Good Will Hunting.

San Fernando 76

San Fernando News Ventura Pasadena 76

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2014

'In the latest, venture-backed startup to expand its services to Los Angeles, Fresh Nation , a startup offering up delivery services from local farmers markets, has opened up shop here. According to the startup--which is venture backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Lerer Ventures--it will begin delivering food from local farmers markets six days a week in the Los Angeles area.

Marketing 221

Marketing Los Angeles Training Angel 221

Tech Coast Venture Network

AUGUST 31, 2014

100

100

socalTECH

AUGUST 27, 2014

'The surge of technology, advertising, and media companies flocking to Silicon Beach has meant a huge win for real estate investors, particularly in Playa Vista, according to a report today. Early investors in transforming Playa Vist--which is now home to operations of YouTube, Google, 72AndSunny, Microsoft, and many others--into a center for the technology, advertising and media industry, have apparently been rewarded handsomely, according to the WSJ.

Santa Monica 213

Santa Monica Los Angeles Advertising Media 213

socalTECH

AUGUST 25, 2014

'Santa Monica-based GoCoin , the Bitcoin payment software developer headed by Steve Beauregard, said last week that it has added a new feature which lets merchants bill customers via email and SMS. GoCoin said the new feature makes it easier for merchants to accept digital currency payments from customers. The new feature allows merchants to request BitCoin and other digital currency payments via either an email or text, directly from a dashboard or an API.

Email 210

Email Santa Monica Commerce Software Development 210

socalTECH

AUGUST 11, 2014

'El Segundo-based technology catalog retailer PCM said late last week that it has sold the land to its retail store in Santa Monica to the Regents of the University of California, for $20.2M. According to PCM, the deal includes two parcels of land, including a 32,5000 square foot portion of land and another adjacent 9,750 square foot property. The two properties are currently being used as the retail storefront for MacMall.

Santa Monica 209

Santa Monica El Segundo Sales Marketing 209

socalTECH

AUGUST 11, 2014

'Los Angeles-based Wi-Fi and small cell network provider Boingo Wireless reports that it has been selected fro the new, World Trade Center in New York City. According to Boingo, it has just signed an agreement with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (Port Authority) to design, install, and operate a cellular and Wi-Fi network system in the new World Trade Center.

Networking 207

Networking Los Angeles Design Report 207

socalTECH

AUGUST 11, 2014

'Santa MOnica-based Demand Media made a surprise move this morning, saying it has appointed former Ticketmaster CEO Sean Moriarty as its new CEO--and also acquiring Moriarty''s startup, Saatchi Art. According to Demand Media, it paid $17M for Saatchi Art, in a mix of cash and stock, in a deal which will add revenues of $0.5M to $1M per quarter to the company.

Demand 204

Demand Ticketmaster Media CitySearch 204

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2014

'One of the hottest segments in Silicon Valley over the last few months has been restaurant delivery services, which are delivering gourmet and other meals to local startups, companies, and homes all over the Bay Area. Now, one of those Bay Area startups-- Eat Club --is taking that concept to Los Angeles, with the launch of its meal delivery service to Silicon Beach companies.

Dollar Shave Club 202

Dollar Shave Club Startup Los Angeles Venture Capital 202

socalTECH

AUGUST 26, 2014

'Los Angeles-based The Honest Company , the online, family products retailer led by serial entrepreneur Brian Lee, and which was co-founded by Jessica Alba, has raised $70M in a funding round, according to the company Tuesday. The funding was led by Wellingtom Management Company, and also included un-named, public market institutional investors, along with prior investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, General Catalyst Partners and ICONIQ Capital.

Company 200

Company Companies Venture Capital Los Angeles 200

socalTECH

AUGUST 19, 2014

'Flywheel , the venture backed startup offering up an Uber-like experience for users--except via licensed taxi and transportation services--is rolling out advanced booking to Los Angeles users this week. According to Flywheel, the new service lets customers pre-book a ride to the airport, via either its iOS or Android apps. The company had been offering up pre-booking over the last month for the San Francisco area.

Los Angeles 200

Los Angeles Services Customer Custom 200

socalTECH

AUGUST 20, 2014

'Does the entertainment industry need its own social networking site? Los Angeles-based Stage 32 thinks so--and so far, has 325,000 members for its online social networking site, which it says ties together film, television, and theater creatives. According to the site, it has been around since 2011, and can be described as "Lynda meets Linkedin" for creatives.

Social Network 198

Social Network Networking Hollywood Entertainment 198