Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 25, 2015

Like many of you I read in awe last week about the accomplishments of the Washington Post since Jeff Bezos acquired the company two years ago. The killer chart is below: In the article it raved particularly about the WaPo’s amazing mobile app and how Bezos personally intervened to get the team to improve loading times – whatever the short-term costs. “His focus on customer experience has become a near mandate within the news operation.

News 184

News Mobile Custom Customer 184

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 31, 2015

We think of media advertising as either paid or free – placed by paying a fee or by a PR firm or by you at no placement cost, especially when you provide editorial content beneficial to the publisher. But this new era of Internet advertising has given rise to two more forms you should know and use in addition to the two traditional types above. Owned media comes from the databases you own, such as your company’s web site, email.

Social Media 176

Social Media Newsletter Advertising Media 176

Tech.Co

DECEMBER 7, 2015

We talk a lot about college entrepreneurs here at Tech.Co, but what about the younger generations? That’s right, I’m referring to high school students. Specifically, two high school seniors in LA, Dillon Rosenblatt and Tyler Makhani, recently built out an app called Tutors , a platform for on demand tutoring. During the first marking period of their senior year this fall, the app officially went live so that students and parents might find a tutor at roughly 70 to 90 percent cheaper and faster t

Demand 128

Demand Technical Review Los Angeles Platform 128

socalTECH

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Los Angeles-based video story app developer Flipagram said Wednesday that it added more than 1,000 signed, musical artists to its "Flipagram Verified" platform, letting those artists make their music available to Flipagram's users. Flipagram--which develops an app which lets users create musical slideshows using mainstream, popular music acts as their soundtrack--said over 800 of those artists joined in the second half of the year.

Flipagram 130

Flipagram Platform Entertainment Los Angeles 130

Advertiser: Aggregage

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.

Company

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 28, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared Forbes. One of the reasons I know way more about online sales taxes than I ever thought I would is due to Rincon Venture Partners’ investment in TaxJar , one of the leaders in this emerging space. Taxes may not be fun, but I am proud to be affiliated with a company that takes much of the pain out of the process.

Sales 122

Sales Entrepreneur Startup Technical Review 122

Eric Greenspan

DECEMBER 27, 2015

Every morning when you wake up, treat it like it’s your first day, and like it’s your last day, on earth. Forget all that’s happened badly. Remember all you’ve learned, but remember only what lifted you and helps drive your passion. Take the day on like it might be your last and you want to complete as much as possible before your eyes slam shut.

Help 111

Help Entrepreneur 111

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 24, 2015

If we never advertised, we’d never sell anything. Right? Perhaps right, but there are three major types of advertising, some requiring large outlays of cash, some not. First, you can advertise your brand so that people recognize it when they see it in later materials. Second, you can make a call to action, using an ad to bring people to your place of offer, buy your services or product, or take advantage of a special incentive.

Advertising 146

Advertising Statistics Pricing Email 146

TechCrunch LA

DECEMBER 8, 2015

You know the drill. Once a city has spoken with Google about bringing Fiber into their hood, there’s a process for the city to go through. A lengthy one. Checklists. The whole nine yards. Two new cities are exploring Fiber with Google and they are Chicago and Los Angeles. Yes, San Francisco has been skipped again and I’m going to go cry into my slow internet from Comcast.… Read More.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Google Angel Media 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2015

All this week, we're featuring reflections on the past year from movers and shakers in the community. Today, we have the thoughts of Jeb Spencer of TVC Capital (www.tvccapital.com), a software focused growth equity fund which just raised a new fund, and has had some great success in the market. TVC Capital has also been a big supporter of socaltech over the years.

Capital 122

Capital Beverly Hills Artificial Inteligence Equity 122

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 15, 2015

Photo courtesy of Santa Barbara Independent’s recent Techtopia Issue. A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Serial entrepreneurs agree that it is best to communicate with investors on an eighth grade level. To illustrate this point, former DoubleClick Founder and current CEO of Graphiq Kevin O’Connor often begins his talks to entrepreneurial students by asking the following question.

Santa Barbara 146

Santa Barbara Writing Tips Product 146

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 11, 2015

As an angel investor, I hear many entrepreneurs making negative comments about competitors or asserting they don’t have any competitors. They don’t realize that knocking competitors is assessed as a weakness and denying that you have any competition suggests there is no market for your solution. The smart approach is to find competitors to highlight your strengths.

Capital 63

Capital Competition Case Study Patents 63

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 31, 2015

Launching a new business is exciting, but it doesn’t come with any guarantees. The good news is we know what attributes successful startups tend to have in common: they produce a product or service that meets a specific need, they thrive on the uncertainly of startup culture, and they don’t run out of cash. We can’t give you a recipe for success, but here are 10 ways to lower your startup’s expenses and free up capital in 2016.

Startup 43

Startup Cloud Computing Tool Pricing 43

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 17, 2015

Years ago I led a deal and invested in a company that looked like it had lots of promise to disrupt the women’s clothing industry with special algorithms and an online store. But something had bothered me from the very start – unsalable inventory.you trusted the data. You see, women’s clothing is subject to fashion changes so frequently that inventory becomes obsolete quickly.

Design 166

Design Blogging Course Email 166

Jason Nazar

DECEMBER 1, 2015

How do we make the right business decisions? There are 4 factors to consider whenever we have opportunity cost. 1.) Potential Upside 2.) Likelihood of Success 3.) Effort Involved 4.) Strategic Value.

Slides 40

Slides 40

socalTECH

DECEMBER 30, 2015

Sidecar , which was attempting to compete against Uber and Lyft in the Los Angeles area, and recently switched over to focus on on-demand delivery services, is shutting down, according to the company's CEO. According to Sunil Paul, CEO of Sidecar, it will cease both ride and delivery operations at 2PM Pacific Time on December 31st. Reason for the shutdown was not given by Paul.

Los Angeles 109

Los Angeles Demand Angel Funding 109

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 7, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Who makes more money, entrepreneurs or venture capitalists? I recently came across an interesting Quora response from a friend and one of my favorite co-investors, Jason Lemkin. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles! The Answer: “Yes and No”.

Venture Capital 122

Venture Capital Capital .Net Entrepreneur 122

Startup Professionals Musings

DECEMBER 25, 2015

Today’s customers demand more than a good product; they expect a great customer experience. A few companies are leading the way, including Apple with their iPad and iPhone, offering irresistible stores with friendly experts, elegant packaging, and customer service that never ends. People love Apple’s whole customer experience, and willingly pay a premium for the product.

Design 61

Design Product Custom Customer 61

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 29, 2015

Technology is constantly evolving and maturing. It moves from a nascent, undefined entity to one that is widely accepted and becomes so commonplace that we wonder how we ever functioned without it. Mobile and cloud are two prominent examples of such a journey. From businesses to individual consumers, everyone is connected to everyone, everywhere, all the time.

Technology 40

Technology IBM IBM Networking 40

Berkonomics

DECEMBER 10, 2015

“Broadcast the message and they will come!” “Segment my broadcast and I will have better response.” Both of these time–honored methods of reaching our customers have worked for as long as there was print and radio–TV to get the message out. And both have become increasingly obsolete as new channels of reach have evolved, allowing direct and personal contact with our potential customers, and better yet, free and near–free forms of marketing just for the asking.

Custom 139

Custom Customer Marketing Email 139

socalTECH

DECEMBER 29, 2015

As is the tradition at socaltech, over the holidays we publish contributions from some of the movers and shakers in the community, with their reflections on the past year and their thoughts on the upcoming year. Today's thoughts are from Lawrence Ng , who founded Oversee.net, and just launched the OnRamp Fund (onrampfund.com). What was the biggest news for you or your firm this year?

Funding 141

Funding Oversee.net SoCalTech Incubator 141

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2015

Los Angeles-based Surf Air says it has now reached a total of 2,500 members at the subscription airline, double the number of members it had last year. The startup also said it now has a total of 80 daily flights between its 12 California destinations. Surf Air charges $1,750 per month for its most basic subscription, although it is planning to increase its subscription cost on January 1st.

High Tech 133

High Tech San Diego Los Angeles Email 133

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2015

San Diego-based Qualcomm announced this morning that it is in a patent licensing deal with Chinese company QiKu Internet Network Scientific (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. According to Qualcomm, the licensing deal allows QiKu to develop, manufacture and sell 3G WCDMA and CDMA2000, and 4G LTE subscriber units for use in China. Financial deatils of the license were not announced.

Patents 109

Patents San Diego Networking Develop 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2015

As is a tradition for socaltech, we feature reflections on the past year from those in the community all during the last week of the year. For today's contribution, we have the thoughts of Arteen Arabshahi , a venture capitalist at Karlin Ventures (www.karlinvc.com). What was the biggest news for you or your firm this year? Arteen Arabshahi: While Karlin Ventures has had an excellent first few years as a firm seeing over 6 exits and making 40+ investments within 3 years, what was most exciting i

SoCalTech 160

SoCalTech Venture Capital Invest News 160

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2015

Los Angeles-based OpenX said Tuesday that it has signed a Canadian telecommunications and media company, Quebecor , has a customer. OpenX said Quebecor Media is using its Ad Server technology platform, to manage and monetize its digital advertising inventory. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Quebecor's properties include Canoe.ca, Elle Canada, and Elle Quebec.

OpenX 100

OpenX Customer Custom Advertising 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 23, 2015

Editor's note: Over the holidays we publish contributions from some of the movers and shakers in the community, with their reflections on the past year and their thoughts on the upcoming year. We'll be publishing these between now and the new year. For today's thoughts, we have Lief Morin , founder and CEO of KeyInfo (www.keyinfo.com), a regional systems integrator which provides compute, storage and networking solutions and professional services for advanced software-defined data centers.

San Fernando 109

San Fernando Ventura Southern California SoCalTech 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 22, 2015

As is the tradition at socaltech, over the holidays we publish contributions from some of the movers and shakers in the community, with their reflections on the past year and their thoughts on the upcoming year. We'll be publishing these between now and the new year. Our first for this year is from Richard Wolpert , founder of HelloTech (www.hellotech.com), an in-home, technology and IT support service.

Southern California 122

Southern California SoCalTech News Technology 122

socalTECH

DECEMBER 22, 2015

San Diego-based AVACEN Medical , a developer of medical devices for treating fibromyalgia, said this morning that it has retained investment banker Objective Capital Partners, and is looking to sell the company. AVACEN Medical is led by Thomas G. Muehlbauer. The company said the attempt to sell the company came after the company decided it was in the "best interest of its shareholders" to offer itself up as an acquisition target.

Invest 109

Invest San Diego Acquisition Capital 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 22, 2015

San Diego-based eFFECTOR Therapeutics , a biopharmaceuticals startup focused on treatment of cancer, announced this morning that it has raised $40M in a Series B funding. The funding was led by Altitude Life Science Ventures and also included AbbVie Biotech Ventures, BioMed Ventures, Abingworth, Novartis Venture Fund, SR One, The Column Group, US Venture Partners, Astellas Ventures, Osage University Partners and Mission Bay Capital. eFFECTOR is led by Steve Worland, and is targeting treatment of

San Diego 116

San Diego Funding Capital Startup 116

socalTECH

DECEMBER 22, 2015

Irvine-based Ingram Micro , the technology product distribution giant, has wrapped up two acquisition, including the acquisition of Latin American value added distributor Grupo ACAO , as well as the Odin Service Automation platform from Parallels Holdings Ltd. Both acquisition had recently been announced. Grupo ACAO is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is a provider of value added IT products.

Acquisition 109

Acquisition Platform Services Product 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 22, 2015

As is the tradition at socaltech, over the holidays we publish contributions from some of the movers and shakers in the community, with their reflections on the past year and their thoughts on the upcoming year. We'll be publishing these between now and the new year. Our first for this year is from Richard Wolpert , founder of HelloTech (www.hellotech.com), an in-home, technology and IT support service.

Southern California 126

Southern California SoCalTech News Technology 126

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2015

In a triumphant return to space for Hawthorne-based SpaceX , the commercial rocket firm successfully launched its first mission to space on Monday evening since a catastrophic failure in June. The rocket, which was launched at 5:29PM PST, successfully delivered 11 satellites to space for ORBCOMM. Even more impressively, the company successfully landed the first stage of its rocket in Florida, the first successful landing for the company of that stage--a key part of reusability efforts by the com

SpaceX 109

SpaceX Hawthorne Company Companies 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2015

Los Angeles-based Wi-Fi network operator Boingo Wireless announced this morning that it has boosted speeds at a number of its U.S. airport locations, providing up to 20Mbps of speed at Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI), Boston � Logan International (BOS), Chicago � Midway International (MDW), Chicago � O'Hare International (ORD), New York � John F.

Los Angeles 109

Los Angeles Networking Angel Company 109

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2015

Los Angeles-based Neural Analytics , which is developing medical devices to help first responders and other medical professionals to diagnose and assess Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), announced today that it has raised $10M in a Series A funding round. The funding came from JSR Limited and Taiyu Capital. The company said the funding brings its total raised to $13M.

Los Angeles 122

Los Angeles Funding Capital Help 122

socalTECH

DECEMBER 21, 2015

San Diego-based Cubic Corporation announced this morning that it has agreed to acquire TeraLogics , a provider of ll motion video products for the Department of Defense, and GATR Technologies , a manufacturer of satellite communication terminal. Cubic said it will pay $39M, including $9M in contingent consideration for TeraLogics, and will pay $232.5 million, including $7.5 million of contingent consideration for GATR.

Company 100

Company Companies San Diego Technology 100

socalTECH

DECEMBER 18, 2015

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incuabtor (LACI) said this week that it has been ranked third on the 2015 University Business Incubator list, an annual ranking of top university-associated incubators. LACI said it also received the 2015 High Impact Incubation Programs in North America award by UBI Global, the group behind the rankings. LACI, led by Fred Walti, focuses on cleantech startups,and ays so far it has helped over 40 companies who have raised over $60M, and created over 700 jobs.

Incubator 122

Incubator Los Angeles Angel Help 122

socalTECH

DECEMBER 18, 2015

Los Angeles-based CapLinked , the secure, document sharing service aimed at corporate transactions and due diligence documents, has been selected by Lending Club for institutional investor due diligence. CapLinked said its software will be used as the secure portfol for providing due diligence materials to those investors. FInancial impact of the win was not announced.

Software Review 109

Software Review Los Angeles Software Angel 109