Both Sides of the Table
MAY 16, 2010
Canceling meetings is part of modern day life. I seem to get so over programmed that if I ever want to have a “break-out&# unplanned trip somewhere I seem to have to reschedule meetings. Not fun, but a reality. And people reschedule meetings with me on a regular basis, too. If done correctly I never have any problem with it at all. Done poorly and it really puts a bad taste in my mouth.
socalTECH
MAY 18, 2010
Anyone looking for signs that the economy is turning around, might want to look at what appears to be happening in Southern California's technology jobs market. According to numerous local CEOs, startup executives, and recruiters, the number of open positions for technical--and other-- talent at local companies has surged in recent months, and there's a wild scramble to find the right employees.
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SoCal CTO
MAY 19, 2010
I’m planning on going to a Tech Coast Angels mixer tomorrow and the topic for me is whether there is angel funding out there for startups that don’t meet classic VC models. If there are, then who are they, what are the criteria, what does it typically look like? By way of background for the question, there’s a great post by Bob Aholt, a Pasadena Angel: An Angel Investor’s Thoughts on Valuation.
Berkonomics
MAY 19, 2010
And be generous to your high achievers. . Recently I was asked to review an offer letter for a senior director of business development. The CEO was concerned that he was offering far too much in the form of incentive compensation, with bonuses that could greatly exceed the base salary if all of the bonus items were achieved.
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Both Sides of the Table
MAY 18, 2010
As a startup entrepreneur you’ll have many demands for your time. Especially if you start to have a degree of success or build a high public profile. Everyone will want you to speak at conferences. Service providers will want to get to know you. Potential employees want to “get together.&# VC’s will want to learn about what you’re up to and later stage VCs will have their 23-year-old analysts call you to tell you how interested they are in your company.
socalTECH
MAY 18, 2010
Los Angeles-based Titan Gaming is announcing this morning that it has scored $1M in an angel funding round, from notable local angel investors. According to Titan, it is focused on developing a "complete" gaming platform for skill-based matchmaking, tournaments and points or cash competitions. The list of angel investors--a veritable Who's Who of technology investors in Southern California--included William Quigley and Jim Armstrong of Clearstone Ventures; Brock Pierce; MP3.com's Michael Roberts
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 -- Health Information Technology and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. IEEE EMBS. Pease join us as Dr. Joel Kallich discusses "Health Information Technology and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009". Dr. Kallich will present information on improvements in health information technology as they are part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 which contains several measures designed to encourage the adoption and diffusion of ele
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 15, 2010
I recently wrote a piece about how Entrepreneurs Should be Respected, Not Loved. The premise was that some leaders are too enamored with the approbation of their peers than making the tough decisions in the business that are bound to upset some people. The corollary to this rule is “decision by indecision.&# This is one of my favorite lines to remind entrepreneurs because it is the sort of garden variety mistake that is so common in everyday life.
socalTECH
MAY 17, 2010
Encino-based uSamp , the online survey and paneling firm run by Matt Dusig and Gregg Lavin, reported today that it has hired Steven Sobolevsky as the firm's Chief Technology Officer. Sobolevsky was most recently VP at Technology at RazorGator Intractive. Sobolevsky also has previously served at TicketOS and Outreach Express. uSamp said that Sobolevsky grew RazorGator's team from five to 70 members in three years.
SoCal CTO
MAY 18, 2010
Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups, Startup Development and being a Startup CTO. Here are a couple of the other collections: 16 Great Startup Posts from March , Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April. Some good ones already from May: "Authentic" is dead - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , May 3, 2010 Phrases that should be retired include - “Putting customers first” You Actually Did This?
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 -- How To Raise Venture Capital. Startups Uncensored. This months Startups Uncensored will be on How to Raise Venture Capital. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation where we bring in venture capitalists from the top firms across the country to talk about the process and requirements entrepreneurs need to go through to successfully raise money from venture capitalists.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 19, 2010
Our guest this week on #TWiVC was Dana Settle , partner at Greycroft Partners , a venture capital firm with offices in New York and Los Angeles. It’s always fun debating companies with Dana because she’s always so knowledgeable on deals – particularly those in the digital media, ad-tech and eCommerce spaces. When the show has been processed it will be available here (estimated 8pm PDT).
socalTECH
MAY 21, 2010
Pasadena-based TweetUp , the Twitter advertising startup backed by Idealab and headed by Bill Gross, said Thursday afternoon that the firm has now registered 75,000 keywords, and also inked a deal with Conduit. The firm said those keywords represent users with over 9 million followers, although the firm did not say what that translated into actual users.
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 19, 2010
As a member of the local angel group Selection Committee, I’ve seen a lot of startup presentations to investors, and I’ve never seen one that was too short - maybe short on content, but not short on pages! A perfect round number is ten slides, with the right content, that can be covered in ten minutes. I’ve published these points before, but based on interest, it’s time for an update.
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 -- Southern California Venture Network (SCVN). The Mission of the Southern California Venture Network (SCVN) is to increase the entrepreneurial velocity of both start-up and emerging growth companies. Join us for the LA Monthly Mixer at The vLounge in Santa Monica. See [link] (more).
Tech Zulu Event
MAY 17, 2010
Taking a few pages out of the ChatRoulette book, cleaning it up and giving it an actual purpose and you are presented with Chatfe. Winner of a "Best Viable Business" award from a Microsoft Bizspark competition, Chatfe is a voice platform that allows you to communicate with someone new and talk about common interests you both have. The Web is evolving and more people are looking for ways to communicate with others on a more personal level rather then just status updates.
socalTECH
MAY 17, 2010
Virgin Galactic , the commercial spaceflight firm developing vehicles for delivering tourists into space, said Monday that it has appointed George T. Whitesides -- former Chief of Staff of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as its CEO. Whitesides also has served at the FAA, Orbital Sciences Corporation, Blastoff Corporation, and Zero Gravity Corporation.
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 21, 2010
One of the hot new approaches I have seen around the country for assisting startups looking for funding has been “crowd-sourcing” tools ( ProFounder ) or “crowd-pitching” events ( Funding Universe ). These are variations on a “crowd-funding” theme to raise money for a startup through social networks and voting at public events. Crowd-sourcing tools, usually Internet applications, use the social media to poll for interest, feedback, and ultimately some funding for the startup.
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 -- Strategic Implementation - Build the Team and Execute the Plan. Carey Ransom, CEO of RealPractice shares his experience in dealing with a company in need of significant remodeling of its business case. Dinner and Networking included. See [link] (more).
Tech Zulu Event
MAY 20, 2010
May 31st, 2010 is officially dubbed Quit Facebook Day. Now there is an official website dedicated to that day and cause. For those who don't know the reason behind all this Quitting Facebook ordeal essentially, Facebook is reselling our data to its partners without our permission. Trying to take over the internet by getting websites to add the "Like" button may not be a cash transaction yet, but clearly no one gives something for nothing especially not Facebook.
socalTECH
MAY 21, 2010
In a loss for Southern California's burgeoning electric car industry, Tesla Motors said Thursday evening that it has selected not Downey or Long Beach, but instead, Silicon Valley city Fremont as the location of its manufacturing facility for its Model S sedans. Tesla announced, along with Toyota Motor, that it will take over Toyota's New United Motor Manufacturing Inc (NUMMI) plant in Fremont to manufacture its Model S, selecting that location over Downey and Long Beach.
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 17, 2010
If you are a first-time entrepreneur, I often recommend that you team with a co-founder with experiences, connections, and a skill set that complements, but doesn’t duplicate yours. Even experienced entrepreneurs need a partner to strengthen their position. The question is how to find that elusive perfect-fit partner. First, I will admit there is no magic formula here, just like in real life when trying to find a relationship partner.
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 -- CommNexus Presents: Keynote Presentation - Stan Glasgow, President and COO, Sony Electronics. Stan Glasgow is the president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics Inc. He was appointed to the position in March 2006. Prior to this role he served as president of Sony Electronics Consumer Sales Company where his responsibilities included management of the companys retail and online sales channels, in addition to oversight of the SonyStyle retail store strategy
Tech Zulu Event
MAY 18, 2010
If you are an entrepreneur and you live in Southern California and you want FREE help and feedback for your start-up, then you definitely need to plan for this. Darrell Kong and a few of his other Fenwick West buddies will be hosting an open door session for all LA start-up entrepreneurs on June 3rd, 2010 at Palomar Ventures in Santa Monica. RSVP here and if you want setup a time for your start-up email dkong[at]fenwick[dot]com.
socalTECH
MAY 19, 2010
The Tech Coast Angels , Southern California's largest angel investor group, told its sponsors and members this week that it invested in five follow-on deals in Q1, investing a total of $11.5M, and just made three additional investments in firms in recent weeks. The group said that it boosted its investments in Cyber-Rain , Benchmark Revenue , Allylix , Vigilistics , and H2Scan in Q1, and just closed on $2.9M invested across Amplyx Pharma , Vokle , and MicroPower , with two of those deals just cl
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 18, 2010
Successful entrepreneurs are usually hard-driving, and highly focused on some specific goals, like being the dominant player in a given domain, or the low-priced provider of their product. Yet other entrepreneurs will talk for hours about all their ideas, and how they intend to change the world, but I don’t hear enough specific goals or milestones. Many people are very hesitant to set specific goals, due to lack of self-confidence or whatever.
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010 -- B. Riley and Co. 11th Annual Investor Conference. The conference, scheduled for May 24-26, 2010 at Loews Santa Monica Beach Hotel will feature presentations from more than 125 publicly traded companies. Guests will be treated to a Big Fighters, Big Cause Charity Boxing Event on the evening of May 25th to support the Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation.
Both Sides of the Table
MAY 15, 2010
We just had our sixth episode of #TWiVC and I felt this one was the best. This week was had Jason Calacanis as our guest. It’s always fun chatting with Jason because he’s knowledgeable about the market, quick on topics and pushes me to talk more about VC / entrepreneur issues. We’re staring to get the hang of how to divide the show up into talking about deals but also talking about issues for entrepreneurs during funding.
socalTECH
MAY 18, 2010
For our interview today, we caught up with Al Eisaian , CEO of Pasadena-based IconApps (www.iconapps.com), which is developing mobile applications for the iPhone market. Al is a repeat entrepreneur, who last founded Integrien, and was SVP and GM at LowerMyBills. We caught up with Al recently to hear about his latest startup. What is IconApps all about?
Startup Professionals Musings
MAY 16, 2010
Everyone knows that that startups are risky, but they also expect that the job will be exciting and potentially very lucrative (think early employees at Microsoft and Google). Yet we have all heard stories about the high turnover, unstructured work environment, lower base pay, and unpredictable expectations from the top. Assuming you are lucky enough to get hired, what can you do to survive, and even stand out above the rest in this environment?
SoCal Tech Calendar
MAY 20, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010 -- Cleantech and Renewable Energy Financing: From the Public to the Private and Beyond. CONNECT. Federal, state, and local policy is rapidly becoming more favorable to the nations cleantech industry. Tax credits, incentive programs, and new policies are encouraging a larger movement toward stimulating growth and development in this sector.
socalTECH
MAY 17, 2010
Los Angeles-based SOA Software , which develops service oriented architecture (SOA) management software, reported today that it has signed on the State of California Department of Water Resources (DWR) as a customer. SOA said that the win came in conjunction with Red Hat Enterprise Services, and will be used as part of an IT modernization project at the DWR.
socalTECH
MAY 17, 2010
San Diego-based MP3tunes , the streaming music startup run by former MP3.com founder Michael Robertson, is eyeing former users of streaming music site Lala.com , which said earlier this month that it is shutting down its services. Lala, which was acquired by Apple in December, told its users at the end of April that it would be shutting down its service on May 31st.
socalTECH
MAY 20, 2010
Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , which helps small and local businesses place Internet advertising, was up 15.2 percent after its IPO Thursday, closing at $14.98, up $1.98. The firm sold 4,166,667 shares of stock at $13.00 per share, after pricing below its initial offering range on Wednesday evening, and had traded as high as $15.26 during the day.
socalTECH
MAY 19, 2010
Santa Monica-based electric car manufacturer CODA announced this morning that it has raised another $58M in funding, as part of a Series C investment round. According to the firm, the round was led by Aeris Capital, and also included EDB Investmentes (EDBI); Countyline LLC, owned by Tony Pritzker and J.B. Pritzker; and Lex Wexner, Chairman and CEO of Limited Brands.
socalTECH
MAY 17, 2010
Los Angeles based social networking site MySpace said Monday afternoon that it will be simplifying its user privacy settings, as the public debate over privacy in social networking has heated up. According to MySpace co-president Mike Jones, the firm is planning the launch of a simplified privacy setting for user profiles, allowing users to control whether they want their information to be public, available only to friends, or only public to people 18 and over.
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