Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 28, 2010
OK, this will be a test of whether using real curse words in your title or post gets all of your stuff blocked by spam filters or from appearing on HackerNews or the like. I thought about trying to spell it differently (like Guy Kawasaki always says Bull Shitake (as in the mushroom, but slightly misspelled) but somehow it lost the same effect that this saying has always had for me.
socalTECH
MARCH 2, 2010
Alec Shankman is CEO of Santa Monica-based Gotcast (www.gotcast.com), an online site focused on casting of actors for television shows, movies, and other productions. The firm is venture and angel backed, and was co-founded by Wil Schroter, who is involved with a number of other startups here, including Affordit. We sat down with Alec the other day to hear more about the company and what it's try to do.
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SoCal CTO
MARCH 18, 2010
More Visible Networking? this time with Vince Thompson. You’ve got a REALLY diverse background. What’s the short version? Vince: I’m an author, speaker and management consultant with a special expertise in online media sales. I started out as screenwriter, went into local television, ran ad sales in the west for AOL and joined Facebook in the companies very early days.
Berkonomics
MARCH 30, 2010
There is a relationship between time and money that is more complex than most managers think. Fixed overhead for salaries, rent, equipment leases and more make up the majority of the “burn rate” (monthly expenses) for most companies. Since this number is budgeted and pre-authorized, managers tend to focus upon other things such as sales, marketing and product development issues.
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.
Eric Greenspan
MARCH 11, 2010
Rob Lowe's first tweet. Long time Make It Work customer and Santa Barbara resident Rob Lowe joined Twitter today. His profile is @robloweprofile. I’ve known Rob for years, both as a customer and a fellow parent at local schools. We did a couple of fundraisers together a few years back and our kids went to school together. I spoke to Rob today guiding him to his very first tweet which he successfully sent about an hour ago.
Tech Coast Venture Network
MARCH 31, 2010
Virginia Lorimor 9 out of 10 businesses fail in the first 5 years, primarily for one reason; the business owner fails to plan. It is not that they lack a good product! So we know that your in business to succeed - what kind of plans do you need: Business Plan. I find a simple working business plan is adequate for most (unless you are seeking outside funding in which case you would want to be more in depth).
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socalTECH
MARCH 3, 2010
Los Angeles-based GotCast.com , the online casting site run by Alec Shankman, said today that it has launched two talent searches for on-camera roles, for The Streamy Award, and HollyScoop, a syndicated TV show and site focused on celebrites, music, and fashion news. GotCast allows users to submit their profiles, photos, and information in hopes of getting casted for entertainment positions.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 2, 2010
In 1933, baseball card collectors were frustrated. For some reason, they found it impossible to complete their Goudy Gum 240-card set. No matter how many packages of cards they purchased, they failed to find card number #106, which featured Napoleon Lajoie. Enterprising collectors who wrote Goudy and voiced their frustrations were rewarded by receiving the Lajoie card in the mail.
Jason Nazar
MARCH 2, 2010
This month’s Startups Uncensored will be on “How to Persuade People”. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation talking about the skills and techniques leaders use to influence others. This month the session will be run by Jason Nazar, in a presentation format. The “How to Persuade People&# presentation will be geared towards startups and entrepreneurs to learn and review the skills that will help them raise money, hire great talent, and land partnerships.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 29, 2010
Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination. I was reading an article written by marketing guru Seth Godin a while back where he mentions that “it takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success”.
Tech Zulu Event
MARCH 20, 2010
Guest post by Graeme Thickins of Tech Surf Blog. At a recent Club Entrepreneur lunch in downtown Minneapolis, I had the opportunity to meet one of the cofounders of a unique startup. The name of that cofounder was Ion Skillrud, shown at right in the photo. The name of his startup is Socurio , which is a new kind of "creative marketplace and community for fine art.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 11, 2010
This is part of my ongoing series on Raising Venture Capital. Recently I’ve been debating with a number of young startup companies that are raising money in the next few months, “what is the right about of capital to raise at a startup?&#. It’s a tricky question with no clear answer. There are trade offs. And it obviously depends on the kind of business you’re building.
socalTECH
MARCH 19, 2010
Four Southern California firms are headed to Palm Springs for the DEMO launch conference next week, according to a list of the presenters released Friday. According to DEMO, Thousand Oaks-based Invested.In , Santa Barbara-based Phone Halo , San Diego-based Tastr , and Los Angeles-based Immitter will all be presenting at the technology launch conference.
SoCal Delicious
MARCH 1, 2010
RSS ); Why You Should Start a Company in. Los Angeles By: Laura Rich February 26, 2010 It used to be, if you were serious about starting a tech company, you went to Silicon Valley. But emerging entrepreneurial hubs around the country are giving startup aspirants options. In this series, we talk to leading figures in those communities about what makes them tick.
Jason Nazar
MARCH 1, 2010
Because of Diet Coke and Matt Cutts I’m going to give to charity every day for the next 30 days… A month and a half ago I made a bet with Sanaz that I’d stay off diet coke for a week if she refrained from coffee for the same period of time. I’ve probably averaged 1-2 diet cokes a day since I was a teenager (for the taste people, clearly not the reduction of calories).
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 4, 2010
I deal often with early-stage startups, and many of these don’t have any customers yet (but wish they did), so it’s not surprising they don’t have a formal customer service program in place. More disturbingly, others do have customers, but the customer service program consists of informal haphazard problem resolution efforts. The right time to put a formal customer service program in place, with measurements, is right now.
Tech Zulu Event
MARCH 26, 2010
Approximately $9,000 was raised for charity by Los Angeles and Orange County tweeps last night at The Roxy Theater as part of a global event known as Twestival , said Paula Gould, a PR rep for the event. The event, which took place in 175 cities, raised a grand total of $311,256 for charity Concern Worldwide, known among tweeps for its Twitter fundraising efforts.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 6, 2010
One of the questions I’m most often asked is, “what’s it like being a VC?&# I’ve been a VC for nearly 3 years now. Since I answer this all the time anyway I thought it might make an interesting blog post. I always start my answer to this question with, “you’d have to be a pretty big baby to complain about being a VC.&# That’s true.
socalTECH
MARCH 2, 2010
Torrance-based LiveOffice , a provider of email archiving services, announced today that the firm is releasing a new product specifically aimed at archiving social media sites, including LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The firm said the new LiveOffice Social Archive software is can capture and retain content from any public web site. LifeOffice said the solution is geared toward addressing recent FINRA regulations on communications by securities firms and brokers on those social networking site
Daradiction
MARCH 27, 2010
Kurt Daradics speaking at Ignite LA March 2010. Click here to view the embedded video.
InfoChachkie
MARCH 16, 2010
In 1987, a representative of Michael Jackson approached the modest Sycamore Valley ranch house and knocked on the door. The owner of the ranch was shocked by the visitor’s message. He told the homeowner that he represented someone who wanted to purchase the ranch at a substantial premium over its current fair market value. He also indicated that the offer was non-negotiable and the home owner had to respond either “Yes” or “No” in a matter of hours.
Startup Professionals Musings
MARCH 6, 2010
The common feedback from investors is that startups must expect a continued squeeze on new funding during the economic recovery. I subscribe to the "glass is half full" wisdom which says that startups with the right stuff can win big in these tough times. The big question is, "What is the right stuff?" Here are some key elements that will always get their attention: Play where you are the expert.
Tech Zulu Event
MARCH 10, 2010
The time has come for us to say goodbye SoCal (temporarily of course) and HELLO Austin! We have a jammed packed schedule while we are out there and you will be able to follow along with this special SXSW calender below. A huge thanks goes out to the Social Media ClubHouse (SMCH3) for helping put this all together. Make sure to checkout the updated SMCH3 site as they have tons of great info.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 22, 2010
File this under both Startup Adivce and Sales & Marketing Advice. I was over at Robert Scoble’s blog Sunday night reading about the “ Death of the Great Startup Launch.&# I’m not 100% sure that I understood his core thesis but I *think* it was that startup events such as Demo force such a zone of secrecy about what you’re working on (with a threat of being kicked out of the event for leaking your story) that they kill the ability for most companies to dazzle people
socalTECH
MARCH 24, 2010
Van Nuys-based Audiolife (www.audiolife.com), a new startup focused on providing e-commerce tools to musicians, recently raised $1M in angel funding. For today's interview, we spoke with Brandon Hance, the firm's founder, about how his startup is helping musicians to sell both digital and physical merchandise on the web. What's the idea behind Audiolife?
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 27, 2010
This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice. OK, hiring is a loooong topic and I couldn’t do it justice in single post. But I thought it might be useful to do a headline view of the key components and then come back and do the individual topics over time if people seem interested. I’ve been recruiting for 20 years so I’ve learned a few things along the way.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 21, 2010
This is part of my ongoing series on Startup Advice. Large companies can be strange sometimes. As startup entrepreneurs we all want to work with them because having their name as reference clients makes it so much easier for marketing, PR, selling to other customers, fund raising and even recruiting. Plus, we’re all allured by the false sense that our contract with BigCo is going to “make us&# because once they start using us it will spread like wildfire and the revenue will flow i
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 10, 2010
File this under entrepreneurial advice. I know that this will sound like a random post topic for startup advice but I promise it’s relevant. You actually need to give advice to nearly every employee whom you offer a job to on how to best quit their job. This is important to improve conversion rates of accepted offers / joiners, shorten the time-to-join ratio and the improve the ability of that employee to maintaing good relations with their former employer.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 17, 2010
Los Angeles. People either love it our hate it. All the stereotypes and caricatures are overblown. And we’re left with a city with idyllic weather, major commerce, the media center of the world, and a great emerging technology scene. We have an abundance of ethnicities, culinary options, music and culture. Randy Newman said it best, “ I love LA &# (Worth a 2 minute watch for pure nostalgia.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 8, 2010
I guess let’s file this under sales & marketing advice. I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog. Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there. I have a very detailed article that covers stuff I won’t cover in detail in this post.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 3, 2010
Many of us in the technology, media and VC world sit on panels at lot. Many of them are painfully boring. It’s a shame since it’s such a golden opportunity for you to build awareness with your audience for who you are and what you do. And it’s a surprisingly great way to meet people in this industry who share the stage with you.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 30, 2010
I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). Burstly, a Santa Monica based company, provides an open and free ad management platform that helps mobile application developers better monetize their inventory.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 18, 2010
Today we announced Launchpad LA V2. Full press release with more details is here. We will be selecting 10 startup companies to participate. There is no cost but you must physically be based in or move to Los Angeles for the 6 months of the program. Applications are due April 6th, 2010, the form is on the website and the Twitter address is @launchpadlad.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 2, 2010
After a few days of controversial blog posts I thought I’d try something more light hearted today. Fred Wilson once wrote about the topic of how to introduce two people who don’t know each other via email. He called it the “ double opt-in introduction. &# He talks about the stuggles of email introductions when you’re dealing at scale.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 5, 2010
I attended the inaugural Open Angel Forum in Los Angeles back in January and wrote about it here. Jason Calacanis started this initiative in response to the pay-to-play network of angel events that he despised. I’m a huge supporter of his initiative to help end this practice. The first event was a big success and brought out many of LA’s angel elite.
Both Sides of the Table
MARCH 8, 2010
I’ve been enjoying using Plancast over the past month or so. I’m not an investor and though I wouldn’t rule it out in the future I’m not currently looking at the company. Just wanted to get that out of the way up front so I won’t look like a vested-interest fanboy. In fact, for the research of this post I just noticed that they announced funding today – congrats.
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