socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

During the holiday season, our tradition over the last few years has been to post reflections on the past year and some predictions for 2019 from Southern California's technology industry. Our most recent Demo Day in November 2018 (at Google/Venice on the main stage) was the most well-attended Demo Day in the history of Startup Boost.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 18, 2022

“Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.” Demos never go according to plan, and ones that work go on far too long.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Startup Statistics Social Media 109

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 30, 2014

They demoed the electricity transfer with a physical device that looked like something that would never be allowed on an airplane. The practical uses for uBeam technology is limitless. Did anybody hold patents that would prevent us from using this technology? We hired IP specialists to review prior art. Was it safe?

Technical Review 418

Technical Review Software Review CTO Hire IP 418

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community.     We became the largest accelerator in Southern California with 80 investments in over 30 countries globally. What are you most looking forward to in the technology/startup world in 2021?

Southern California 113

Southern California Technical Review Santa Monica Invest 113

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 21, 2020

“Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.” Demos never go according to plan, and ones that work go on far too long.

Technical Review 124

Technical Review Statistics Startup Social Media 124

socalTECH

AUGUST 23, 2017

LA's technology startup industry has saw a surge in new companies and efforts from its serial entrepreneurs in the last few months. Description: Ground Control is developing "voice-activated entertainment experiences" and interactive audio technology tied into well-known personalities across entertainment, sports, politics, music and beyond.

Entrepreneur 113

Entrepreneur Company Companies Technical Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Working on it. And being ambitious.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. This is no criticism of the investment banking industry (although I’m sure some will read it this way) for which there are very useful purposes. I hustled.

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. This is no criticism of the investment banking industry (although I’m sure some will read it this way) for which there are very useful purposes. I hustled.

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 24, 2014

“Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.” Demos never go according to plan, and ones that work go on far too long.

Entrepreneur 119

Entrepreneur Technical Review Statistics Startup 119

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 8, 2015

“Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.” Demos never go according to plan, and ones that work go on far too long.

Technical Review 109

Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup Statistics 109

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 25, 2015

If they come out on top, Mobile Therapy can expect prizes and support from Tech Wildcatters, 500Startups, Consumer Electronics Association, Crowdfunder, Techstars, American Airlines, and more! However, demonstrating that value to clinicians without a DEMO or a pilot is a challenging aspect of the market adoption.

Competition 122

Competition Mobile Startup Technical Review 122

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 8, 2011

For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. It’s a gathering of friends and tech enthusiasts of all stripes. This Spotlight takes place Thursday, July 14, at The California Institute of Technology (CalTech). RSVP: AGENDA.

CalTech 100

CalTech Technical Review Company Companies 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2018

“Attached is a copy of my full business plan for your review.” I don’t have a business plan, but the technology is disruptive.” Investors invest in the jockey, more than the horse. Let me show you a demo rather than a business plan.” Demos never go according to plan, and ones that work go on far too long.

Funding 62

Funding Technical Review Entrepreneur Startup 62

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2010

Last Friday was the final deadline for all StartupDemo applications to be submitted and we are hard at work selecting the best Startups to Demo during the event. Tech Coast Angels is ever-mindful that some of the world’s greatest companies began with angel investments and we take our commitment to that tradition seriously.

Technical Review 58

Technical Review Software Review Santa Monica Tech Coast Angels 58

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 13, 2011

My initial desire to blog came from something that’s always been my approach to investing – I’m a nerd and I love to play with the technology and part of my approach has really been to understand things both at a user level and at a reasonably deep tentacle level. we are not going to invest. Brad on blogging.

Venture Capital 288

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Software Review 288

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

There’s too much PR and too many tech blogs and too many newsletters and aggregators and Twitter summarizers to even try to catch everything that’s going on and equally there’s so much noise that it becomes harder to be heard. I still plan to keep more normal pace of investment which is 1-2 deals per year.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 28, 2012

He kicked off the fest with his opening keynote, saying LA is a unique city of mash-ups, where tech, startups and entertainment – plus creativity, cultures, and passion – mix with successful results. RT @OEInnovation #SBF why I live in #LA: intersection of #beach #tech #entrepreneur #entertainment. & Women 2.0:

Hollywood 67

Hollywood Technical Review Startup Rustic Canyon 67

TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 22, 2018

[Update: TechCrunch has confirmed Lime’s plans for the store, and that the deal to build it came through Lime’s investor Fifth Wall Ventures that arranges partnerships between tech companies and real estate developers. There will be demos, tutorials, and presentations on how to be safe.”

Santa Monica 221

Santa Monica Startup Technical Review Education 221

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

Most investors wait to see who else is investing. &# Social Proof&# weighs heavily on investors in making their decisions. Paul Graham’s assertion that “any startup founder can tell you the most common question they hear from investors is not about the founders or the product, but “who else is investing?&#

Venture Capital 286

Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review Startup 286

socalTECH

MAY 23, 2017

Our interview this morning is with Jonathan Zweig , the CEO of Los Angeles-based AppOnboard (www.apponboard.com), which has created software which allows mobile app developers--and in particular, mobile game developers--to create demos of those games which can be played without having to download and install those apps. That's number two.

Startup 113

Startup Southern California UCLA Technical Review 113

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 8, 2009

Most of them are telling you that they just need to see a bit of traction before they’d be prepared to invest. Investors are giving you a version of the “soft no,&# which basically means that they’re not prepared to invest now. They get positive product reviews on TechCrunch, GigaOm or Paidcontent.org.

Venture Capital 309

Venture Capital Guide Startup Technical Review 309

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 15, 2014

This was in part due to a tremendously busy 30-day period for me (in which my overall writing has been down) and in part the inevitability of knowing that weighing in just tees me up to take abuse on one anonymous app called Secret. It wasn’t because I’m the target demo for that app – I am certainly not. So so funny.

Technical Review 329

Technical Review Blogging Examples Startup 329

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 8, 2012

CircleUp is an online social marketplace that supports direct equity investments from individual investors to small private consumer and retail companies. We are in a different age now where technology is so important and I wanted to be connected with people along the way.” image EPA/Andrew Gombert. “We Word of mouth travels far.

Startup 104

Startup Technical Review Search Engine Optimization Los Angeles 104

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2009

Well … I have had many late nights and I really didn’t contemplate writing many blog postings this month because I spent November in this interesting venture capital / fund raising dance involving lots of late night sessions reviewing legal documents, rewriting business plans and preparing for pitches. After Office 2.0 It all made sense.

Venture Capital 274

Venture Capital Blogging Startup Slides 274

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 2, 2012

Every serious investor, on the other hand, has a stack of these in their in-basket (email or real plastic) awaiting review, and is looking for the flaw or less-capable entrepreneur in each that predicts failure, allowing them to discard it like another piece of junk mail. Remember, investors invest in people before ideas.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

SoCal Delicious

AUGUST 28, 2012

VentureBeat | News About Tech, Money and Innovation. In a recent Forbes.com article , contributor Tara Brown wrote of her own misapprehension moving from San Francisco to Southern California, saying, “I’m a technologist and moving away from the tech hub of the world to the land of Botox seemed like a really bad career move.

Southern California 57

Southern California PHP Technical Review Orange County 57

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 5, 2011

Every serious investor, on the other hand, has a stack of these in their in-basket (email or real plastic) awaiting review, and is looking for the flaw or less-capable entrepreneur in each that predicts failure, allowing them to discard it like another piece of junk mail. Remember, investors invest in people before ideas.

Summary 97

Summary Technical Review .Net Ideas 97

socalTECH

MAY 27, 2009

We caught up with Peter earlier this week to get the background on Baroda, and to talk a little about the firm's investment goals. Peter Lee: Baroda Ventures is David Bohnett's--the founder of Geocities'--personal investment fund. He then invested in about twenty companies, almost all of them in Los Angeles or Southern California.

Southern California 113

Southern California Venture Capital Startup SoCal 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 4, 2011

Only one guy in the room knew – their tech lead. Once you churn a user due to stability or performance problems it can be hard to get them back. Most people under estimate the challenge of winning “share of mind” the least understood concept with tech entrepreneurs. The biggest limitation we tech consumers have is our time.

Metrics 346

Metrics Startup SEO Customer 346

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 20, 2010

This Panel is filled with investing super stars who will be going over must have content for all the startups and entrepreneurs out there. Stewart Roberts , President of Orange County of Tech Coast Angels. Investment trends in startups that are about or related to social media. What: A Startup Demo event. The Startups.

Social Media 71

Social Media Technical Review Mixergy Tech Coast Angels 71

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 18, 2014

The frantic pace of technology cycles, the amount of tech news, the blogs, the conferences, the demo days, the announcements, the fundings, the IPOs. They want you to attend demo days. start-ups are overvalued… The other thing they say is that they can’t tell on Demo Day which are the good start-ups.

Startup 317

Startup Technical Review Venture Capital Email 317

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2011

I’ve just completed an investment in Ryan Carson’s new company, TreeHouse. I’m investing heavily in Internet video. I know readers of this post aren’t in that demo but that’s what the data says. I know readers of this post aren’t in that demo but that’s what the data says.

Invest 295

Invest Carson Technical Review Education 295

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Partners make investment decisions. Trust doesn’t come from one 45-minute Powerpoint pitch or 30-minute demo. ” In VC terms that means the key questions you need to answer are, is this investor: Geographically focused and have they invested in my geography before? Already invested in one of my key competitors?

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2009

We hired a head of technology, a head of customer service, a head of marketing, a head of strategy (which no startup should ever hire) a CFO and, ugh, 33 developers. From then on I was forced to do detailed sales calls, get intimately involved with product management decisions and even make minute technical operation decisions.

Startup 299

Startup Venture Capital Technical Review Training 299

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 22, 2010

Oh, and Demo charges the startups $18,000. But more broadly it got me thinking to one of the biggest mistakes tech executives get into in the first place. But you’d be surprised how much tech folks either hold journalists too much on a pedestal or disdain them. Robert’s article is worth reading. Total waste.

Tips 307

Tips Startup Press Blogging 307

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2010

10 Ways To Be Your Own Boss - A VC : Venture Capital and Technology , June 18, 2010 The folks at Behance and Cool Hunting asked me to talk at their 99% Conference a couple months ago. People tend to overvalue past investments when making forward-looking investment decisions. The sunk costs trap. And then I took a stand.

Startup 175

Startup Venture Capital Slides Blogging 175