Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 5, 2014
'Last week a company we enthusiastically backed, uBeam , led by a very special entrepreneur, 25-year-old Meredith Perry , announced a $10 million round of financing. 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.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 7, 2014
'This is our second year of creating our list of the top 50 people to watch in Southern California''s technology industry, and it was NOT an easy task. As we found last year, it''s a tough, unforgiving task to narrow down a list of the folks in Southern California''s technology industry to just fifty to watch. There were many, many people who are not on the list who indeed deserve to be on this list -- in fact, we had so many names from readers and our nominating committee, we were forced into t
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InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 24, 2014
'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. A number of my UC Santa Barbara entrepreneurial students have asked my opinion of Robert Greene''s The 48 Laws Of Power , prompting me to check it out. Given the book''s commercial success, I had high hopes. Sadly, I was disappointed by Greene''s Machiavellian cynicism. When I later learned that Mr.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 20, 2014
'Sometimes it is easy for someone at the top of an organization to make a statement that, in the enthusiasm of the moment or to make a point, crosses the line between fact and fiction. Sometimes it seems to you to be just an unimportant little stretch of the facts. An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger.
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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.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 24, 2014
'Helpers do what you say, while good help does what you need, without you saying anything. People who can help you the most are actually smarter than you, at least in their domain. Top entrepreneurs spend more time putting the right team in place to accomplish their objectives than they spend on any other components of their job. Some entrepreneurs are so in love with themselves (narcissistic) that they insist on answering every question, and making every decision.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 24, 2014
'If you are a musician I’m sure you have heard of Ultimate Ears. If you are not, but have been to any concerts lately and happen to notice some perfectly fitted headphones that never fall out of the performers ears during his/her performance no matter how much they move around. Then you’ve probably seen the Ultimate Ears Pro. Ultimate Ears Pro have been making in-ear monitors for over 20 years now.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2014
'In a "that''s so LA" moment, Los Angeles-based on-demand, valet parking app provider CurbStand is taking its valet parking service to the popular Runyon Canyon hiking trail in Hollywood, saying it will let users valet park their autos at the popular hiking/running trail this weekend. Curbstand said it will offer the parking for $5 on both Saturday (November 22nd) and Sunday (November 23rd) between 9am and 4pm, and also set up employees on the trail to strategically make sure hikers'' cars are i
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 3, 2014
'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. It is no secret that Pinterest and other social commerce sites have begun to dial in the commerce equation. These sites (so far) have managed to balance facilitating product discovery and purchase capabilities with users'' desires to entertain and educate themselves without feeling like they are in a marketplace.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
'While we are revisiting the issues raised by my (newly revised) book, Extending the Runway , we should examine the challenges to a CEO in making use of enterprise time, one of its most valuable and often misused assets. Enterprise time, as opposed to personal time management, is defined as the sum total of resources available to a company expressed in terms of time – time to develop, to debug, to produce, to deploy, to respond to issues, and to make changes in plans that are not working.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 29, 2014
'Isn’t it amazing that some people you know always seem to be working hard, but never seem to get anything done? As an entrepreneur, you need to avoid partnering with these people, or hiring them into your startup. The challenge is to find people who get things done, as well as work hard. LinkedIn profiles and resumes still focus too much on responsibilities rather than results.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 14, 2014
'TechZulu is stoked to be partnering with TechWeek LA from November 17 – 23! For those who may be unfamiliar Techweek hosts a 7-day series of events with a 2-day technology conference and expo to bring together a mixture of entrepreneurs, visionaries, and thought leaders. This weeklong celebration of technology and innovation brings the local community together and we then shine a large global spotlight on the exciting developments in that community.Below is a series of events that will b
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 29, 2014
'This week I wrote about obsessive and competitive founders and how this forms the basis of what I look for when I invest. I had been thinking a lot about this recently because I’m often asked the question of “what I look for in an entrepreneur when I want to invest?” I look for a lot of things, actually: Persistence (above all else), resiliency, leadership, humility, attention-to-detail, street smarts, transparency and both obsession with one’s company and a burning desi
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
'David Carter and Allen Hurff are two startup veterans, who believe they have a new formula to help create early stage, technology companies, through their new "startup studio", Zuma Ventures (www.zumavc.com). Carter was a co-founder/partner at Amplify.LA, and also was founder of Vertical Technologies, Thoughtstar, and S5 Wireless'' Hurff was formerly the EVP of Engineering at MySpace, and also was an EIR at Science Inc.
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 10, 2014
'A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. "People have always tended to segregate themselves by age, teenagers hanging around with teenagers, old people with old people.". Tom Wolfe, The Pump House Gang. The secret to feeling young is to avoid age segregation and hang out with people both younger and older than yourself. To this end, I have been partaking in weekly bike rides with three gentlemen, all of whom are a generation older than me.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 26, 2014
'There are two reasons to consider reordering your priorities to attack your most critical issues first, before the easiest ones to knock off the list. First, you are fresher at the start of a day, and your best efforts should come when you are best prepared to address these issues. Remember how easy it is to put off those final decisions at the end of a tiring and long day?
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 15, 2014
'A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. I agree with Robert E. Litan, former VP of research at the Kauffman Foundation, that these are exceptions to the rule, rather than a model to emulate.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 12, 2014
'In the past drones have been used mostly for military use in the United States, but with the cost of making them dropping in recent years it has commercial users more interested in utilizing the drones in their business. Minds have been racing with the possibilities ever since the CEO of Amazon announced the company plans to start deliveries by way of drone like “octocopters”.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
'Let me start with the news that I’m excited to share with you. After years of trying to persuade Kara Nortman to become a partner at Upfront Ventures I can officially announce now that she’s joined us effective immediately. I have known Kara for 7 years and knew almost immediately after meeting her that I wanted to work with her one day in some capacity.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 19, 2014
'Los Angeles-based ventureLab Growth Partners said Tuesday afternoon that it has launched a new "startup studio" to invest in and build early stage startups. The new startup studio is led by Mike Prasad. According to ventureLab, it will provide seed funding, along with product, marketing, and opertional support to its companies. The company did not say how much funding it intends to provide to startups. ventureLab is currently targeting companies in the area of advertising technology, social/gam
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 17, 2014
'Imagine what it would be like to run your startup like a divided government. Approximately half the company would fervently execute your plans, even when they obviously made no sense. The other half would obstruct your recommendations, including those clearly in the company''s best interest. Sound insane? Welcome to the next two years of American politics.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 13, 2014
'No matter what your size, if you intend to grow your business into more than just a lifestyle workplace, you should create a board of directors. If you take money from knowledgeable investors, you will be required to create a board as a part of the investment process. Boards perform two important types of task. They protect the company by overseeing the expenditure of company money for expansion, acquisitions, purchases of large assets, hiring of senior management and more.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 3, 2014
'When someone asks me for the best way to fund a startup, I always say bootstrap it, meaning fund it yourself and grow organically. Bootstrapping avoids all the cost, pain, and distractions of finding angels or VCs, and allows you to keep control and all your hard-earned equity for yourself. Despite all the focus you hear on external investors, over 90% of startups today are self-funded.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 18, 2014
'Wearable World, Inc. , the San Francisco-based technology incubator and ventures company, announced today the inaugural IoT for Cities Summit and Challenge with the City of San Francisco Mayor’s Office of Civic Innovation (MOCI) to design, create and build Internet of Things (IoT) and wearables applications for improving city life for residents and visitors in cities around the world.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 25, 2014
'Obsession. The drive to succeed at all costs. When second place isn’t good enough because we live in winner-take-most markets. The desire to be better than anybody else in one’s field. This blog started from a series of conversations I found myself having over and over again with founders and eventually decided I should just start writing them.It would often make my colleagues laugh because they’d hear me like a broken record and then the next week read my ramblings in a post.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
'Santa Barbara-based ShipHawk , which offers up an online service and marketplace to help businesses and individuals to arrange for packing and shipping of items via shipping carriers, has rolled out a new API to let users tap into real time status of their shipments. The startup, led by Jeremy Bodenhamer, said the API offers up pickup notifications, weather updates, and other shipping data.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 16, 2014
'One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. How hard could it be? You just assign out tasks to all of us. In the early days the CEO is the jack-of-all-trades, doer-of-all, famously the “chief janitor” or coffee maker.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 9, 2014
'We all know that funding markets have changed for startups. The trends are well understood: more angels, more seed funds, more crowdsourcing and so forth. We all can intuit the benefits to founders of these trends so there’s little reason to elaborate. What is less understood are the consequences of these changes. I have blogged about some of the downside consequences of the changes and the private information I have says the consequences are much worse than is reported in the press since
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 24, 2014
'Operations over at Culver City-based Sony Pictures have apparently been completely shut down by a hacker, who apparently hacked into and disabled the company''s corporate network. According to reports, a hacker is apparently holding the company''s data hostage, giving the company a deadline of 11pm tonight to meet unspecified demands. Sony Pictures employees are apparently unable to access their corporate email or any computers.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
'Los Angeles-based FloQast has raised $1.3M in a funding round, according to the company. Source of the funding was not disclosed. According to FloQast, it is developing closing software aimed at helping accountants close their books faster, and which integrates with Intacct and NetSuite. The company was founded by Michael Whitmire, Cullen Zandstra and Chris Sluty.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2014
'eBay has launched a new, local buying and selling app called Close 5 this week in San Diego, aimed at helping users buy and sell products to other local users. eBay said the app offers up user profiles and is a safer option to traditional, anonymous classifieds. The free app runs on iPhone and Android. Close 5 is initially targeting people looking to clear clutter from their home, and is also running a launch promotion that will award a closet or garage makeover for users who submit a photo of
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 7, 2014
'Jason Thanh La , the co-founder and CEO of payment processing company Merchant Services Group , said this week that he has committed to personally fund $1M to early stage companies in Southern California. La said he is specifically seeking early stage companies who are developing better payment processing technology. La said he is looking at payment processing, data analytics, and mobile payments companies.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 17, 2014
'San Diego-based Soci , a developer of a social content discovery engine and social media marketing software product, has raised $1.5M in a Series A funding. The company said the round was led by angel Peter Fischer (Shepherd Ventures) and Silicon Valley Growth Syndicate. Soci, led by Afif Khoury, develops a social content discovery and marketing engine.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 19, 2014
'Have a flat tire, locked yourself out of your car, or need a tow--but not a member of a roadside assistance service? Santa Monica-based Honk has launched a service for you, specifically to let you summon roadside help using your smartphone--without a membership. Honk, which launched this morning, said that it has launched nationwide to help connect drivers with more than 20,000 tow and roadside assistance drivers nationwide.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 4, 2014
'Irvine-based home automation systems provider Insteon reported this morning that it is rolling out its products at Walmart. The company said its connected home products will be available at more than 1,500 Walmart stores nationwide just ahead of the holidays. The home automation products include motion sensors, a leak sensor, dimmer switch, door and window sensor, and much more.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 6, 2014
'Fisker Automotive , one of Southern California''s biggest technology startup flameouts in the past decade, appears to getting set to be relaunched as a brand by Chinese automotive maker Wanxiang. Wanxiang has launched a new website featuring the Fisker auto brand, and Lake Forest-based Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies said earlier this week that it has entered into an agreement with Fisker Automotive and Technologies Group LLC--the new owner of Fisker--to provide its plug-in hybrid control sof
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 10, 2014
'Anaheim-based videogame developer Blizzard announced plans for its next big videogame late Friday, saying its new title, Overwatch , will be a first person shooter revolving around a team of heroes set in an technologically advanced, stylized future earth. Blizzard said it intends to begin beta testing of the game in 2015. Blizzard apparently had a playable version of the game running on a network of 600 PCs at its BlizzCon conference this weekend.
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