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'Round 10 of the Framework Benchmarks project is now available! It has been a little less than a year since the previous round and in that time, approximately 133 contributors have made 2,835 git commits. These contributions have improved the project''s toolset and added many new framework test implementations. We retired our in-house i7-2600K hardware environment for Round 10, and we changed our Amazon EC2 environment to c3.large instances.
'Why do we do all that we do? Is it for the money? The recognition? Is work a part of life and life a part of work? Is it just the next rung in the ladder after we finish college and join the next grouping of people we’re tied to for a brief period in time? These aren’t generally the thoughts of 20-year-olds. That is the age where you do more than think. “Of course I work!
What a title. Of course money motivates. But there is more to it then this. Salaries or hourly wages must be within reasonable limits set by the industry and matched by the competition, both regionally and for the same job classification. But more difficult is the sticky issue of employee incentive compensation. I find that this is an area much more often the subject of a CEO phone call, a roundtable discussion, or a board compensation committee meeting.
'A version of this article previously appeared in the Wall Street Journal. Avoid a simple pricing mistake which could sink your startup. The “D” word - Discounts. I buy my cars in December. Why? Because I am cheap and I know that car dealers are incentivized by the manufacturer to hit quarterly and annual sales goals. The rewards are in the form of co-marketing dollars and commission spiffs.
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.
'Is the world ready for another event management software provider? San Diego''s Events.com (www.events.com) thinks so, saying it is prepared to create a new platformbuilt in the social and mobile agedesigned to help manage all kinds of events, in a way which has been completely overlooked by the incumbent event registration and management providers.
This past weekend I bought a new car for my gal to drive and as a family car. I was one week out from my discharge of a chapter 7 bankruptcy. That story is here. Today, a couple of days later I bought another car. Let me explain. Three years ago my company collapsed. I was left with nothing and a ton of debt as I secured the company’s loans of over $500,000.
'You have to be extra tough mentally to be an entrepreneur. While thinking about it, I realized that it’s really not that different from the toughness required and trained into America’s elite military force of Navy SEALs, who are known to be cool under fire, able to sense danger before it’s too late, and never give up on achieving their objective. I learned some good lessons along these lines from a recent book “ The Way of the SEAL ,” by Mark Divine.
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'You have to be extra tough mentally to be an entrepreneur. While thinking about it, I realized that it’s really not that different from the toughness required and trained into America’s elite military force of Navy SEALs, who are known to be cool under fire, able to sense danger before it’s too late, and never give up on achieving their objective. I learned some good lessons along these lines from a recent book “ The Way of the SEAL ,” by Mark Divine.
We recently released the video sharing app Ferris and announced that Upfront Ventures led the funding in the company in our seed round of $2 million and I personally joined the board. We hit the top spot recommended on Apple’s iOS App Store on the day of the launch, which is a testament to the team and all of their hard work. I wanted to spend the rest of the blog post telling you why we decided to fund the company, how we settled on the final product design and our unique way of launching
'Reward failure? That may be a difficult concept for an executive. And there are limits of course. We wouldn’t reward a failure to follow laws, or protect lives, or deliberate endangerment of the company or its people. But should we reward a research team that fails for the fourth time to find the solution to a nagging problem – on the way to a new product?
'A version of this article previously appeared in the Wall Street Journal. You have been planning to ask your long-time partner to marry you for months and the big day has finally arrived. In order to reduce your risk of failure, you ask your roommate, who has proposed to several times previously, to pop the question on your behalf. Sound crazy? This is the approach many startups take when they communicate their story to the market.
'Irvine-based medical practice management software developer Kareo , led by Dan Rodrigues, said Tuesday that it has launched the next generation of its cloud-based software for outsourced billing. The company said its Kareo Medical Billing now supports both web and mobile applications, adds customized reports, includes secure messaging, and many other features.
'I’ve written about not being Eric Greenspan (the famous attorney) or Eric Greenspan (the famous chef) but this one is my favorite. I work with Seth David. We’re partners at schoolofbookkeeping.com and we recently attended an event. We had a small budget so we made three t-shirts. If I had a dollar for everyone that came up to talk to us or ask to take our picture, I’d have about $500.
'Social media is so pervasive in today’s world that every entrepreneur believes instinctively that they know how to use it for their startup. Many soon find that what you do in a personal context doesn’t necessarily translate to your business, and measuring business value is quite different from measuring personal satisfaction. When it comes to social media for your business, expect a high learning curve, but rest assured it’s not rocket science.
'Many of you will know that Twitter unexpectedly cancelled it’s contract to allow DataSift to resell Twitter data to 3rd parties. I read the declarations by industry analysts on Twitter that this was “proof that you can’t build a business on somebody else’s platform” and perhaps DataSift should have known better. This misunderstands the situation so I want to clarify things a bit.
Here’s one for debate around a cup of coffee or a glass of wine. Most innovation occurs when creative people are relaxed and thinking about other things. We all can picture the corporate R&D lab with tens of scientists working at white boards, or over computer models, or with prototypes. And we picture programmers working at their workstations or on their portable notebooks creating great new code.
While the atmosphere outside the store was generally similar to previous launches, a glaring difference was the fact that I wasn’t waiting outside of an Apple Store. I was sitting on the sidewalk outside of the upscale fashion boutique Maxfield, on trendy Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles. Read More.
'Carpinteria-based Lynda.com , the online learning site founded by Lynda Weinman and Bruce Heavin, has been acquired by LinkedIn in a $1.5 billion deal this morning. LinkedIn said it has agreed to buy lynda.com, for approximately $1.5 billion, split between 52 percent in cash and approximately 48 percent in stock. The companies said that most of the members of lynda.com''s team are expected to join LinkedIn as part of the deal.
'TZ Tech Crawl is back this month and heading to Culver City! I mean, how can we not do it with such amazing weather!! Come take a tour of some of the hottest LA Tech companies located in Culver City! Starting Point. Swing by Jukin Media to pickup your name tags. The first wave of crawlers will begin promptly at 6pm. Jukin Media 6pm (5764 W. Jefferson Blvd).
'How do you convince investors that your business model will really work, before you have a revenue stream that exceeds your expenses? Even if you are bootstrapping your business, and you are the only investor, you should be asking yourself the same question. Too many founders have learned that passion and free beta products do not imply a sustainable business.
'We built MakeSpace’s logistics systems and customer applications (to see all of your items in storage in beautiful photography) in the first year. Then we launched our service in NYC and in just one year captured 2% of all new storage customers in our target demo in just one year with almost no marketing budget. How did we achieve these initial results?
'How many times have you heard someone say “Let’s do it now and ask permission later?” It’s a common practice in companies where there is a barrier between levels in the chain of command, or lack of communication between contemporaries. The statement represents a failing at some point in the delegation or communication chain by a higher level of management, and should be taken as a warning that there is a problem greater than the issue handled at the moment.
'San Diego-based Dexcom , the manufaturer of continuous glucose monitoring devices for patients with diabetes, is jumping onto the Apple Watch bandwagon, saying that it will be shipping an app which connects directly to Apple''s new device on April 24th. Dexcom said its apps will enable users to monitor their glucose level directly from the Apple Watch.
'He’s back. Media mogul John Battelle, famous for spinning up new media concepts into standards, has been quietly perfecting a new conference model he is branding NewCo , a “festival of innovation.” Tired of ballrooms, this tech conference veteran wants us to “get out to get in” by creating highly curated un-conferences that showcase companies in their native habitat.
'Real innovation in the business world is still rare. As I’ve said before, everyone talks about innovation, but the majority of new business plans I see still reflect linear thinking – one more social network with more features, another smartphone app for marketing, or one more platform for faster e-commerce. Historic changes and great successes don’t come from linear thinking.
On May 5th, the Los Angeles Tech Community is heading to The Detour Bistro Bar for a night of networking, socializing and sharing. Join the Los Angeles Tech Happy Hour and The Detour Bistro Bar for an extended happy hour (6pm – 9pm) and specials all night long. For more information about The Detour Bistro Bar head over to www.thedetourbistrobar.com – Additional info on Los Angeles Tech Happy Hour can be found at [link] #BestDetourEver.
As your company grows, you will probably have to make conclusions about traveling employees, and travel for yourself. There are vast opportunities internationally that require careful planning to execute well. One of the most critical decisions is how to enter a new country or region. Most companies early in to the process do not have the resources to place people on the ground in foreign countries, so they make new relationships with distributors or dealers to represent them in the new areas
In just a few weeks, Shyp co-founder and CEO Kevin Gibbon will join us at Disrupt to chat about the evolution of on-demand services and the impact easier returns could have on e-commerce as a whole. Read More.
'Southern California saw a staggering $1.9 billion in investments in Q1 of 2015, according to the latest numbers from the PricewaterhouseCoopers/National Venture Capital Association. MoneyTree report, which was released this evening, The quarter was the biggest, investment quarter for Southern California since the dot com era. The last quarter to ever reach the same investment heights was more than fourteen years ago, in fourth quarter of 2000, when $1.95 billion was invested in the region at th
'We have received several reports of a new type of cybercrime gaining steam over the Internet involving LinkedIn , mystery shopping scammers and university professors. The way it works is thieves are hacking into the LinkedIn accounts of respected university professors and targeting their colleagues and former students with a proposition to earn easy extra cash for market research.
'New entrepreneurs who want to survive, and optimize the growth of their startups, need to think globally, and act locally, from day one. This approach, popularly known as glocalization , means you have to design and deliver global solutions that have total relevance to every local market in which you operate. Recognizing this is as much about culture as about language, ensures an understanding of regional motivators, cultural taboos and local customs – so that your solutions are ideally designe
The SME’s Sillicon Valley chapter is pleased to announce the 10th Annual SME SV Conference held in conjuction with the Design 2 Part Show. Explore how the Bay Area continues to innovate and respond to global competition in the following areas: Discover the latest robotic trends in medical devices. Enjoy 3D printing, laser, and robotics demonstrations.
'Five community banks and credit unions will immediately launch Malauzai Apple Watch Apps, joined by some less notable financial institutions/platforms such as Citibank, Fidelity, and Mint.com. Why are small institutions taking the lead with the Apple watch? This is an opportunity to make a statement- we can not only keep up in technology, we can lead. .
Every day, it seems there are new headlines on the strained relationship between technology and entertainment. Variety’s recent “Broken Hollywood” story was essentially a battle cry from entertainment heavyweights sounding off on the biggest challenges they’re facing in an industry undergoing a great deal of turmoil. In 2015, when we’ll see an estimated one… Read More.
'Santa Monica-based DogVacay , the online marketplace for pet sitting services led by Aaron Hirschhorn, said Tuesday that it is expanding into the doggie daycare market. DogVacay said it will let pet owners find daytime pet watching services, to help care for pets when owners are at work, school, or away fro home for an extended period of time during the day.
'Straight outta Austin, MakerSquare has teamed up with coding school collective, Hack Reactor , to open a new campus in LA to help fill the tech talent gap and to provide the area with the necessary talent pool to continue the Los Angeles tech expansion (as a call to action for President Obama’s TechHire initiative). With the growing need for Software Engineers at technology, entertainment and media companies in the Los Angeles area, Hack Reactor, which has three founders who are Univ
'Some people are not cut out to be entrepreneurs. This is a good thing, or the business world would be chaos, with everyone trying to do their own thing. So what about you? How do you know if you should be running your own company, or concentrating on that queue of work that someone else has built for you? I’ve hit this before, but I still hear from too many unhappy entrepreneurs.
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