February, 2018

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Three Bitcoin Billionaires Share Their Story of How They Moved Early into the Asset Class

Both Sides of the Table

At the recent Upfront Summit my partner Stuart Lander had the opportunity to show some California Love and interview three of the wealthiest Bitcoin owners, each of whom were some of the earliest owners in the asset class and who haven’t sold any of their holdings. It’s an extraordinary story ranging from Jaime who studies cryptography in college to Bryan who was early in selling products on Silk Road to Steven owns 179,000 Bitcoin worth more than $2 billion.

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Meet Lumi, the Los Angeles startup that just raised $9 million for a packaging business

TechCrunch LA

Alongside co-founder and longtime partner Stephan Ango, Jesse Genet has built a business with Lumi that’s already been profitable, and has just raised $9 million in venture funding to boost its growth. Read More.

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Framework Benchmarks Round 15

TechEmpower

What better day than Valentine's Day to renew one's vow to create high-performance web applications? Respecting the time of your users is a sure way to earn their love and loyalty. And the perfect start is selecting high-performance platforms and frameworks. Results from Round 15 of the Web Framework Benchmarks project are now available! Round 15 includes results from the physical hardware environment at Server Central.

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Hire a consultant; ignore the advice.

Berkonomics

At one time or another, most all businesses use consultants to fill the gaps in knowledge or to provide guidance for management. Consultants are good in that you can sample their work with short projects, change to other consultants quickly, and stop using them when a project is completed. I have a partner in a consulting practice that specializes in the travel industry.

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Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

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.

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Silicon Beach Report Feb. 2: Science Closes $75 Million Fund

L.A. Business Journal

Science closes $75 million fund; Elon Musk’s Boring Co. sells all its flamethrowers; and Snapchat is selling hats and sweatshirts inside its app.

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Pavemint Literally Makes Parking In LA A Musical

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based parking marketplace Pavemint wants to make parking in Los Angeles like a musical--quite literally. In a promotion for the service, which connects people with parking spaces with LA residents needing a space, Pavemint has rolled out a new music video featuring such film and TV stars as HGTV's Property Brothers Drew and Jonathan Scott, KTLA's Libert Chan, and Cool Runnings' Rawle D.

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Sports stars, franchises and Hollywood agencies are betting $38 million on an esports revolution

TechCrunch LA

What started with an esports team is now quickly becoming an esports empire, backed by some of the biggest names in sports and money managers for entertainment family dynasties and Hollywood power brokers. Vision Esports LP, the esports conglomerate launched by Stratton Sclavos, Rick Fox and Amit Raizada has just closed on a $38 million […].

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The Life This Wearable Saves Might Be Yours

InfoChachkie

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Have you ever had a couple of drinks, started to feel a mild buzz and wondered if you’re over the legal limit? If you’ve had drinks in a public setting, the answer is likely “Heck yes.”. A Santa Barbara based company, Milo Sensors, is tackling this problem via a wearable that constantly alerts your smartphone of your blood alcohol level.

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Bankers: love ’em or hate ’em. They may affect your future.

Berkonomics

Let’s get right down to it. Your banking relationship can be like a great marriage or a bad trip to the DMV. In most cases it is strictly your choice. But the results of that choice will reverberate for what could be years. For a start…. How did you open your first bank account? Did you just walk into a branch, fill out the forms, take your first ten checks from your newly-opened account and leave?

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Amazon to Acquire Ring for Estimated $1 Billion

L.A. Business Journal

In a deal expected to be worth at least $1 billion, Amazon will acquire Ring, a Santa Monica-based startup that makes security cameras and doorbells operated through smartphones.

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TS2 Holdings Acquires Three Companies, Including Neohire South, Hero.jobs

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based TS2 Holdings , a strategic business development firm focused on the technology industry, said on Friday morning that it has acquired three companies, including Neohire South , RockIT Recruiting , and Hero.jobs. Neohire South is a recruiting company with offices in Santa Monica and Tarzana, RockIT Recruiting is a tech recruiting company based in San Francisco, and Hero.jobs is a recuiting software company based in Santa Monica.

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Why Female Founder Office Hours is So Important

Both Sides of the Table

If you haven’t yet heard about Female Founder Office Hours it is an initiative you should be aware of whether you’re male, female or any other gender identify. The idea is simple enough: several female VC partners at top funds will hold 1-hour meetings with 40 promising female entrepreneurs looking to get advice on their business and pitch in a friendly, non-judgmental, safe environment.

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Meet Lumi, the Los Angeles startup that just raised $9 million for a packaging business

TechCrunch LA

Alongside co-founder and longtime partner Stephan Ango, Jesse Genet has built a business with Lumi that's already been profitable, and has just raised $9 million in venture funding to boost its growth. .

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Silicon Beach Networking Mixer at The Room In Santa Monica (Limited Free Drinks)

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 -- Silicon Beach Networking Mixer at The Room In Santa Monica (Limited Free Drinks). Wednesday, February 21st Starting at 6pm! Meet new people and participate in lively discussions with outstanding names in the Silicon Beach community. Make sure to bring your business cards and be ready to make awesome connections with people across all industries.

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Take only “smart money” investments

Berkonomics

Close. This statement could be considered controversial. We have previously made the case that professional investors demand more in the form of restrictive covenants and lower valuations. Now we explore the other side of that coin. Professional investors usually bring “smart money” to the table, defined as money that comes along with good advice and great relationships for corporate growth.

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Billionaire Peter Thiel Moving to Los Angeles

L.A. Business Journal

Billionaire investor Peter Thiel is reportedly moving his residence, as well as his venture capital firm and non-profit, to Los Angeles after expressing frustration with what he sees as Silicon Valley’s overwhelming liberal politics and diminishing opportunities for tech investing.

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Next SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch, Saturday, Should Be Visible Across SoCal

socalTECH

Anyone who someone managed to completely miss the last SpaceX launch in Southern California--the UFO-report-spurring, traffic-stopping launch of a set of satellites in December --might want to get up a little early on Saturday morning, and look to the North and West. SpaceX's launch of a satellite for Spanish satellite firm Hisdesat, as well as a secondary payload containing SpaceX's prototypes for its own Internet communications network, is expected to launch at 6:17 a.m.

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The Breakthrough Presentation that Stole the Upfront Summit

Both Sides of the Table

If a picture is worth a thousand words then you already know that Chamillionaire is having a great time with his new startup Convoz. He’s here on stage with Snoop Dogg and they had just dialed in Shaq to record a live video for his platform. It was just announced today on TechCrunch. We’ve known each other for nearly a decade and he’s been a friend, a co-investor in startups and a mentor to many startups with whom I’ve worked.

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Change The Way You Negotiate

InfoChachkie

A version of this article previously appeared Forbes. Entrepreneurs have to be wily in all of their transactions, especially long-term commitments, such as property leases. In speaking with Steve Bermudez, former senior executive at Citrix, I was surprised that he was able to make money on some of his leases, by baking into his agreements the ability for Citrix to share in the upside realized by its landlord upon a sale of the property.

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IEEE Buenaventura EMBS Talk

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, February 28, 2018 -- IEEE Buenaventura EMBS Talk. Understanding Signal Transduction Pathways. Cancer cells are notorious for uncontrolled growth and invasiveness. Within the human cell, proteins "talk" to each other and practice checks and balances to ensure that communication is tightly regulated. Speaker: Dr. Nitika Parmar received her PhD in Molecular Biology from UCLA and subsequently completed a Post-Doctoral fellowship at UCLA after which she was appointed as an Assistant Projec

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How to cheat legally on your tax return.

Berkonomics

Close. When do you cross the line between honesty and dishonesty in tax planning? Is it ethical to allocate income between periods to take advantage of tax breaks? Can expenses be put off until the next period to increase income, or accelerated into this period by prepayment to decrease net income? Where do you draw the line, assuming no intent to defraud?

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California Facing Competition for Video Game Industry

L.A. Business Journal

California is facing increasing competition from states and national governments for its video game industry, according to a report scheduled to be released on Feb. 13 by the Milken Institute.

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Esri Acquires ClearTerra

socalTECH

Redland-based GIS software giant Esri announced on Friday morning that it has acquired ClearTerra , a developer of data extraction technology, from ClearShark, LLC. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. ClearTerra's technology helps extract unstructured data from emails, briefings, and reports, and automatically extracts geographic coordinates from that information.

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How Tech Leaders & Venture Capitalists Can Get Out of Our “Man Box”

Both Sides of the Table

If I had just one wish for VCs it would be that they would preview the Ted Bunch “Man Box” talk at the Upfront Summit at their Monday Partner Meetings. I would love it if startup leadership teams would preview it to their executive leadership. We need to learn from women and listen to them. We also need to start having a conversation amongst men about how men talk and behave and about the silence that leads to consent if we’re going to make necessary changes.

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6 Pain Points Any Fast-Scaling Startup Needs to Know

Tech.Co

So you’ve finally got your startup up and running. Endless market research, late nights, more than one launch, bottomless coffee pots, and a grueling seed round have led to this. But as you have probably realized at this point in your startup journey, the learning process is constantly changing as your startup reaches new stages. The next stage after a successful seed round is to start proving that your business model can scale.

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Digital LA - International Startup Cities Pitch and Olympics Viewing Party

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, February 21, 2018 -- Digital LA - International Startup Cities Pitch and Olympics Viewing Party. Join us for our first International Startup Cities Pitch and Olympics Viewing Party at CTRL Collective DTLA. Representatives from different countries will give a 10 minute overview of their startup tech scenes and connections to LA, followed by startup pitches from startups from each country.

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8 Smart Tips To Soliciting Friends And Family Funding

Startup Professionals Musings

It’s great to start with a big dream as you contemplate a new business, but finding the money you need takes more than dreaming. As an advisor to young entrepreneurs, I find that many are a bit naïve about how the investment process really works. For example, I just read an otherwise impressive business plan last week from a first-timer who asked for $10 million to get started.

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Online Retailer Hollar Inc. Adds InVia Robots to Its Workforce

L.A. Business Journal

City of Commerce-based Hollar Inc., operators of an online discount store, recently announced that it had deployed 100 “picker robots” to help with automating fulfillment services at its warehouse.

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Bitvore Brings Latest Funding Round To $14.2M

socalTECH

Irvine-based Bitvore , the big data, artificial intelligence, and data analytics startup, has upped its latest funding round to $14.2M, as part of what appears to be an ongoing $17.75M funding effort. According to a regulatory filing by Bitvore, the funding comes as part of an round which kicked off in December of 2016, and so far includes 36 investors.

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FDA OKs Banyan Diagnostic, the First Blood Test for Concussions

Xconomy

The FDA has approved the first blood test to help diagnose concussions, clearing a path to the market for a diagnostic that could reduce the use of expensive brain imaging technologies that expose patients to radiation. The approval goes to San Diego diagnostics developer Banyan Biomarkers. The company’s test, called Banyan BTI (short for brain trauma indicator), measures the levels of two proteins that the brain releases into the blood in the hours following a head injury.

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Breaking Down Barriers to Entrepreneurship Starts with Messaging

Tech.Co

With the rise in startup activity around the country, more local organizations are emerging to help provide resources, training, education, and funding to support underserved communities and their dreams to build a business. At Techstars Startup Week Phoenix 2018 powered by Chase for Business , leaders from Phoenix-based organizations discussed how they help break down barriers to entry for entrepreneurs.

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Beverly Hills Blockchain Meeting

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, February 28, 2018 -- Beverly Hills Blockchain Meeting.

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7 Myths That Kill Many Businesses Before They Start

Startup Professionals Musings

You don’t have to be a new venture advisor like me to hear all the excuses for not starting your own business. I’m sure all of you have friends who are not happy in their employee roles, and are not shy about complaining, but never seem to get around to doing anything about it. They can cite all the myths about being too old to change, not having the money, or no business degree.

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Silicon Beach Report Feb. 5: Fair Raises $50 Million and Acquires Rental Car Delivery Service Skurt

L.A. Business Journal

Fair raises $50 million and acquires rental car delivery service Skurt; Global Eagle submits overdue SEC filings; and Hulu says Super Bowl live-streaming outage was caused by program-extension glitch.

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LA's Blockchain Moguls Flock To Puerto Rico

socalTECH

There's a huge amount of newly minted Bitcoin and Blockchain wealth in Southern California--and in particular, Los Angeles--which is now setting down a new base of operations in Puerto Rico , according to a new report from the New York Times, published Friday. The report details how such LA Blockchain moguls as Brock Pierce--director of the Bitcoin foundation--have been looking to remake Puerto Rico into a Bitcoin paradise.

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XRC Labs Chief Anthos: Retailers Must Adopt “Test and Learn” Culture

Xconomy

As college undergraduates, my roommate and I had what we called a “monowardrobe.” That’s how we described the contents of the closet that lined a wall in our dorm room. We each organized our own clothing on either side, but since we both wore the same size in clothing and shoes, we “shopped” for outfits in either section. “Sharing a closet, that metaphor … describes a peer-to-peer marketplace, an Uber kind of platform for clothing, where there is an endless supply,” says Pano Anthos, managing di