socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 15, 2008

Southern California's top startups showed up in force Friday at the Westin South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa, for the Technology Council of Southern California's annual VentureNet conference. David Sacks, one of the co-founders of PayPal, pitched Geni.com, an online site focused on both family trees and social networking.

Southern California 100

Southern California Conference SoCal Startup 100

Steve Reich

MARCH 30, 2012

They did it entirely through social networking. Many, many thanks to Jim Armstrong of Clearstone who insisted that I needed visit an incubator or two. “I told you so” doesn’t begin to cover it. TripTrotting recruited thousands of local travel guides for their site. No wonder they just raised $1mm.

Incubator 91

Incubator Web Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 91

socalTECH

DECEMBER 3, 2008

The firm's technology--which creates a 3D, virtual avatar from digital photos--was originally developed at the University of Southern California for the CIA, and was spun out into a venture funded company targeting the consumer market. We see this as a way to let them represent themselves in the digital realm.

Entertainment 100

Entertainment Clearstone Venture Capital Media 100