Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 12, 2010

Spark Capital is relatively new to VC (founded in 2005) yet has become one of the hottest new VCs having invested in Twitter, Tumblr, AdMeld, Boxee, KickApps and many more companies. Company grew by more than “400% each year” for past few years [assume growth metric = revenues]. Social network app developer and ad network.

Venture Capital 217

Venture Capital Capital Metrics Competition 217

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

So with the metoric rise of Twitter now forecast at 45 million as of August 3rd, 2009 (and rising fast), has Twitter Killed the Blogger Star? I have started blogging again having taken a hiatus since 2007 (actually, I was initially embargoed by Salesforce.com who didn’t want me blogging after they acquired my company).

Blogging 219

Blogging Venture Capital Startup Social Media 219

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2011

He says that you should never consider a public offering unless you are confident that the company will deliver increasing profits and revenue after the offering, so that the public buyer can anticipate a gain. If the company is growing like crazy and has only a modest income stream, the answer is probably yes. How’s the timing?

Social Media 89

Social Media Media Draper Startup 89

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 16, 2013

There’s no single pattern or sign that sparks startup culture; it doesn’t necessarily depend on history or one giant company pushing through. “As corny as it sounds, Tony Hsieh is a seller of dreams,” said Sarah Evans, founder of PR firm Sevans Strategy and social media venture FAVES + CO. “So

Social Network 111

Social Network Social Media Press Technical Review 111

socalTECH

JULY 21, 2011

Los Angeles-based MomentFeed (www.momentfeed.com) is looking to sort through that data to help marketers better tap into location based, social networking. It combines all of the approaches, from a market point of view, that companies like Starbucks, McDonald's, or Walmart would be interested in. How did the company come about?

Social Media 248

Social Media Zumbox Media Startup 248

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 1, 2009

In my previous post, The VC Ice Age is Thawing (for now) I wrote about the reasons why the VC market came to a screeching halt in September 2008 and remained largely shut until at least April 2009. As of near the end of September 2009, we’re up 46% since the March 9th nadir (yes, I need to find a way to use one of my SAT words ; – ).

Venture Capital 255

Venture Capital Marketing Startup Social Network 255

SoCal CTO

MARCH 5, 2007

However, Elgg could power 100,000 networks and it would make no difference - there is no revenue stream as we give everything away under a GPL license. However, there are lots of companies that are making money from open source and freemium models. One of his companies - Gluecode - was sold to IBM for a pretty good price.

Southern California 150

Southern California CTO Coach CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

JUNE 18, 2009

Our interview today is with Santa Monica-based OneCubicle (www.onecubicle.com), a new startup we ran across recently, which is looking to provide a more professional social networking site for younger people. Gregg Champion: OneCubicle.com is a social business network for people on their first, second, and third jobs.

Social Network 100

Social Network Entertainment Startup CTO Coach 100

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy. Now, thanks to social media, you don't have to outspend. " In fact, 3 of the 10 selected companies from the past two years has followed this business model. You could just outspend.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

As companies figure out a way to monetize social media, one of the areas which has been lacking is a way to measure the impact and effectiveness of social media advertising. Ian Swanson: Sometrics is a social analytics and advertising company. We're the first company to close the loop on ads.

Social Media 113

Social Media Advertising Social Network Userplane 113

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 9, 2009

Among them was Stribe , a company TechZulu originally interviewed at the TechCrunch50 conference earlier this year. Stribe offers a plug and play service for instantly creating a social network on any Web site. The company's main target is e-commerce sites with rich media.

Incubator 40

Incubator Develop Development Social Network 40

SoCal CTO

MARCH 22, 2007

Its also been interesting to see the interaction of tools involved - Social Networking, Blogging and a Discussion Group. The level of resumes we get through our LinkedIn networks is top notch. Weve also found that other social networks such as FaceBook and MySpace to have almost no results when it comes to recruitment.

Blogging 150

Blogging CTO Coach CTO Hire Southern California 150

SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 17, 2007

When I recently was looking to find people who had experience with using social networks to reach people for what might be considered guerilla marketing efforts, again LinkedIn worked great. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles. Los Angeles Social Media Starters What is Visible Networking?

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 23, 2008

As companies figure out a way to monetize social media, one of the areas which has been lacking is a way to measure the impact and effectiveness of social media advertising. Ian Swanson: Sometrics is a social analytics and advertising company. We're the first company to close the loop on ads.

Social Media 100

Social Media Advertising Social Network Userplane 100

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 7, 2010

These are what you might consider traditional, Facebook casual social games. Zac Brandenberg: The company was founded in late 2007 by Adam and Donna Powell. So, we refocused in late 2008 and early 2009, and launched Island Paradise in August of that year. What's the business model you have for social games?

Beverly Hills 182

Beverly Hills Advertising Design Activity 182

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

I invested in LA-based Gogii , one of the fastest growing, most exciting mobile social networking companies you’ve never heard of and maker of a product called textPlus. To put things into perspective, the company has 7.7 Gogii came in my office in 2009 with three of the most talented founders I had seen.

Gogii 310

Gogii Invest Blogging Startup 310

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2012

In the Kauffman Foundation Survey of nearly 5,000 companies that began in 2004, nearly two-thirds of the founders are now between the ages of 35 and 54. Half of the Internet users aged 50-64 use social media now, an 88 percent growth from the previous year. These trends seem likely to persist.

Startup 112

Startup Technical Review Technical Support Study 112

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 15, 2010

I asked some of the participating VCs, and they told me their attorneys had figured out a way to keep their stealth-mode companies stealthy.Yes, this strategy is not for every company. Often times when companies raise “bridge” financing (this is money from internal investors. We spoke briefly about why. Short answer: no.

Venture Capital 285

Venture Capital Startup Advertising Redpoint 285

SoCal CTO

MARCH 16, 2007

And in fact all our globally-connecting-social-networking tools are making face-to-face more, not less desirable. Mobile Internet Apple Facebook ► 2009 (32) ► December (3) Startup Software Developers Startup Software Development – Do Your Homework Be. Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles.

CTO Coach 150

CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire Social Media 150

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 18, 2015

Come take a tour of some of the hottest LA Tech companies and Co-Working spaces filled with Startups & Entrepreneurs located in Hollywood! Why not stop by for a quick beer, game, snack or just say hi at one of the many Hollywood tech companies from 6pm to 10:30pm? TZ Tech Crawl is back this month and heading to Hollywood!

Hollywood 40

Hollywood Startup Social Network Entrepreneur 40

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2011

Scott Saunders, the CEO and co-founder, of the company is hoping to change that, by providing tools to consumers to help pay off their debt and achieve their life goals. To do that, the firm has combined the world of social networking and personal finance with its newly launched service. 500 company.

Startup 197

Startup Ideas Southern California Social Network 197

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2012

That's something that typically only large companies with large ERP budgets, like Amazon or eBay, have been able to do, something which has not been available to local businesses. I called up the CEO of a company, MusicNet one day, because I am a big music fan and musician myself, and saw what they were doing. We sold that to IAC.

Southern California 245

Southern California Idealab Startup Custom 245

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts for July 2010 Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March Here they are: How to Minimize Politics in Your Company - Ben's Blog , August 24, 2010 “Who the f@#k you think you f$&kin’ with.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

socalTECH

MARCH 24, 2010

We allow them to have virtual store fronts, portable stores, which they can place on their social networking profiles, on their own dot com, on their blogs, and so forth--anywhere fans already interact with the artist. There's a convergence between the paradigm of the music business, and the business of social media.

Van Nuys 191

Van Nuys Tech Coast Angels Startup Web 191

SoCal Delicious

JANUARY 20, 2010

On CBS MoneyWatch: Why Debit Cards Are Dangerous BNET Business Network: BNET TechRepublic ZDNet ZDNet Members login Newsletters Site Assistance RSS Feeds Home News & Blogs Videos White Papers Downloads Reviews Popular Enterprise Web 2.0 This is the same with competing activity streams in various social networks.

Web 29

Web Technical Review Web 2.0 Social Media 29

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

Features like this, as well as our daily interviews wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support of our sponsor eMinutes – a law firm here in Los Angeles that focuses on helping entrepreneurs structure their companies. We believe there are awesome entrepreneurs everywhere, not just in the places constantly covered by the media.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

In 2009, when the platform was just under three years old, Nielsen put out a report stating that Twitter had grown 1,382% year-over-year. In fact, Twitter was one of the first mobile social media platforms. My agency, VaynerMedia , used it heavily as a community management tool in 2009 and 2010. Yes, I sold my shares.

Platform 40

Platform Startup News Content 40

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 10, 2012

The company has experienced substantial user growth since their launch early this year. Ed Park was one of the first 100k users of Instagram back in early 2009. “I found it to be the best social network, connecting people on a deeper level. It’s almost a subconscious connection vs. all other media sites.

Startup 98

Startup Custom Customer Pricing 98

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

Great companies are built by having great products. One great company, AppFolio , filmed all of this user interaction and made the DVD available to me. They are people who built and sold companies and have a bit of money. It helps that my first company was actually founded in Ireland! Go research it.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 28, 2012

In 2009, after their first round of investment, they launched internationally. The service can be accessed by computer, mobile phone ( iPhone , Android ) or social network ( Facebook ). Daimler AG and European VC firm Earlybird are strategic investors in our company. Company fast facts can be accessed here.

Training 82

Training Marketing Competition Platform 82

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 11, 2011

His idea and subsequent business plan won the Wharton Venture Award in 2009 and was a finalist for the Wharton Business Plan Competition. The social layer PayDivvy adds to a fragmented personal bill pay industry is really its secret sauce. The best example the company uses is Mike’s real-life tale in college.

Conference 96

Conference Orange County Technical Review Software Review 96

socalTECH

APRIL 28, 2010

We raised funding in September of 2009, about six months ago, raising $500,000 from private angel investors. My co-founder, Michael Steuer and myself both came from Twistbox, which was later acquired by Mandalay Media. I was one of the early folks there that came on and was there as the company grew.

Email 185

Email Startup Mobile Ideas 185

SoCal CTO

DECEMBER 1, 2010

aka: An Open Letter to the Next Big Social Network) - 500 Hats , November 1, 2010 I've held off writing this post for a long time, because I couldn't quite get my head around all the issues. Who better to answer than the company's engineering lead. How to Take Down Facebook -- Hint: It Ain't Twitter. But I don’t think so.

Technical Review 175

Technical Review Startup Product Technology 175

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 2, 2012

With consumption of online video up “400% with the release of the Iphone 3G back in 2009” (MacRumors, Eric Slivka) and the numbers ever growing, it would be tough to testify that we aren’t as a globe, obsessed with online video. Camera companies have figured out how to record your adventures.

Startup 65

Startup Content Design Organization 65

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 31, 2011

Several teams disassembled themselves, joining other teams as well as one new company surfaced off in the corner with no one seeming to notice. I’d personally heard of Startup Weekend back when it got started in 2007 out in Boulder but only attended my first Startup Weekend in late 2009.

Los Angeles 73

Los Angeles Startup Angel Tech Coast Angels 73

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 13, 2010

SXSWi is five days of presentations and panel discussions from some of the biggest thought leaders in Interactive digital media space. After starting three companies, I've found that some widely accepted advice lead me to failure while. You work in (or run) a services company. A Bootstrapped Geek Sifts Through the Bullshit.

Guide 69

Guide Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur 69

AeA Los Angeles Council

JULY 7, 2008

In fiscal year 2009 (FY09) the proposed effort will amount to a roughly 15% increase of $12 billion. and "new media" to connect with audiences. The Department of Defense has similar programs; in fact, one of the offices I interviewed with when I came to Washington runs exactly these kinds of programs.

Education 45

Education Technical Review Research Web 2.0 45