Sat.Jun 05, 2010 - Fri.Jun 11, 2010

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Asking Questions More Effectively

Both Sides of the Table

The ability to ask questions effectively is one of the most important skills in business as is the ability to actively listen. Yet as important as these two skills are they really don’t seem to ever be taught in school. I wonder if more college students ought to take a journalism course for a semester or do an internship at their school newspaper in investigative reporting.

Startup 311
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Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010

SoCal CTO

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. Kathy Sierra at Business of Software 2009 - Business of Software Blog , May 4, 2010 "In the old days, getting customers was easy.

Startup 248
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GotCast Reports User Numbers

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based GotCast , the online casting and talent site run by Alec Shankman, announced Friday that it has reached 400,000 users on its site. The firm said it has now hosted over 6,000 castings on the site. GotCast allows anyone to submit their talent profile to Hollywood producers and others, who are casting television, modeling, and other appearances.

Hollywood 231
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DIY Marketing, Make It Work Style

Eric Greenspan

People often ask me why we’ve built an extensive Media division to support our computer repair company, Make It Work. The answer is simple–no one else could offer us what we wanted, so we did it our way. Make It Work (MEDIA) is not just a radio show! It’s a media bomb…which includes: a 2-hour terrestrial radio show complete with iTunes podcasts. massive engagement on Twitter , Facebook and other forms of Web 2.0 (social media), a one-click embeddable video series called T3:Toda

Web 2.0 156
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Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

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.

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Steven Blank Kills It at Greycroft CEO Summit

Both Sides of the Table

I’m typing this from the lawn of Alan Patricof’s “Greycroft” home in East Hampton – my first time in the Hamptons. Greycroft is Alan’s venture capital firm that recently raised its second fund ($130 million) with offices in both New York and LA. We learned this weekend that it was named after his East Hampton home. We’re here for Greycroft’s CEO Summit – a gathering of the CEO’s of their portfolio companies with guest speakers covering topics including how to build your team, PR, customer deve

Startup 279
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Review regularly and ACT upon results.

Berkonomics

Allowing small problems to escalate into big ones is simple. Just ignore the signs for long enough and the job is done. It takes far more energy to review regularly the key performance indicators you’ve established for each individual and yourself. But a small excursion caught early and corrected saves massive corrective resources later.

Resource 136

More Trending

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Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Ophthalmology and Aerospace

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, June 16, 2010 -- Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Ophthalmology and Aerospace. TiE SoCal. Join TiE SoCal on Wednesday, June 16th for our monthly event in Cerritos. This event will feature Mr. Shreekant Agrawal, a Technical Fellow at the Boeing Research and Technology division, and MK Raheja, the Global Head of Corneal and Implant RandD at Abbott Medical Optics.

Cerritos 100
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Eight Most Underrated Startup Opportunities

Startup Professionals Musings

A few months ago, I was quoted by a Wall Street Journal reporter in an article, the inverse of this one, titled “ The 7 Most Overrated Businesses ” (I said no more traffic-driven social networks, please). Several people suggested that it might be more productive to list some positive opportunities, rather than problems, so it’s time for me to take another look into the crystal ball.

Startup 93
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Digital LA: Games Go Hollywood Live

Tech Zulu Event

This week TechZulu will be streaming Digital LA's Games Go Hollywood panel live June 10, 2010 from 8-9:30pm PST. Join us and Digital LA for a pre-E3 panel on Games Go Hollywood! Prince of Persia is the latest game to go big at the box office. And more and more games like Uncharted 2, Assassin's Creed 2, and Call of Duty are inspired by movies' cinematic angles and storytelling.

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USC Stevens Taps VCs To Spur Spinouts

socalTECH

USC Stevens Institute , the effort at the University of Southern California to spur innovation within the school, has tapped a number of venture capitalists to help guide a new mentorship and funding program, the institute said this morning. According to USC Stevens, it has tapped James Blair of Domain Associates , David Lane of ONSET Ventures , Andy Rappaport of August Capital and the Rappaport Family Foundation, Mark Stevens of Sequoia Capital , and Ken Klein , President of Wind River , as cha

USC 207
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ExecTec on LinkedIn

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 -- ExecTec on LinkedIn. Social Networking is everywhere, and while Facebook and Twitter are tools that should be in your arsenal of networking connectivity and presence self initiatives, Linkedin remains one of the tools with the most potential. See [link] (more).

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Ten Sources to the Best Business Blogs

Startup Professionals Musings

With as many as 400 million blogs (web logs) now active on the Internet, how can you find and read the ones you need to be a leader in your business domain? I’m a speed reader, but that’s a challenge for even the best of us. Yet we know keeping up with the latest trends and techniques can make all the difference in ensuring that your business stands the test of time.

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TEDxAmericanRiviera

Eric Greenspan

[link]. Tags: Eric Greenspan Events.

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PurePhoto Buys PhotographyMentor.com, Launches Photo Site

socalTECH

Westlake Village-based PurePhoto.com , a new startup headed by former NextMedium COO John Ellis, and whose exec team includes prior executives from ReachLocal, ValueClick, and YellowPages.com, said Tuesday that it has acquired the assets of Los Angeles-based PhotographyMentor , an online photography education and social networking site. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

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Distressed Company Sales

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 -- Lessons Learned, Working with Distressed Company Sales What to Look for, What to Stay Away From. Rockey Steve Rockey. What are the signs of a distressed company? What actions can a company in trouble take early on to maximize their chances of success? If you see a distressed company, should you as a vendor or potential buyer stay clear or jump in to benefit and potentially help the unfortunate situation?

Sales 100
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Five-Minute Mentoring for Effective Leadership

Startup Professionals Musings

I’ve always wondered why every executive meeting has to be one hour in length, or longer. That’s probably a tenth of your day spent on one issue. It better be a critical one, because you have a hundred others waiting. I believe you can be much more productive, as well as a more effective leader, if you approach most meetings as mentoring opportunities, and limit them to five minutes.

Mentor 88
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M3 Keynote

Eric Greenspan

[link]. Tags: Eric Greenspan Events.

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DONE Ventures Sues NBC Universal Over Failed Domain Name Sale

socalTECH

DONE! Ventures , the Internet marketing firm headed by BetterPPC's Ben Padnos , has sued NBC Universal over a failed agreement to buy domains Women.com and Women.net from NBC Universal via domain name firm Sedo. According to a complaint filed in Los Angeles Superior Court last Thursday, NBC Universal had agreed to sell Women.com and Women.net for one million dollars to DONE!

PPC 182
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Solving the Puzzle of Reimbursement

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, June 15, 2010 -- CommNexus Presents:Solving the Puzzle of Reimbursement When and How to Implement Reimbursement into Your Business. In this event, the panel will explore various issues with reimbursement that arise with the convergence of health care and wireless technologies. The panel will also explore whether and how to incorporate reimbursement into your business model and if so some high level strategy for obtaining a reimbursement code, some of the background and history related t

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Lead By Front Action, Rather Than Rear Direction

Startup Professionals Musings

True leaders realize that, by definition, the word "leader" places one at the front and not the rear. Yet many, many executives try to lead through fear and intimidation. This isn’t really leading at all. It’s pushing. Those of you with time in the military probably understand this concept well. In startups, leading from the front means that you are not afraid to get your hands dirty, pitching in to get the job done.

News 74
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Convergence 2010 (emcee)

Eric Greenspan

[link]. Tags: Eric Greenspan Events.

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DR Technologies Lands $4.5M More From Private Equity

socalTECH

San Diego-based DR Technologies , a firm which designs, engineers, and manufactures composites for commercial, military, and scientific satellites and other space systems, has raised $4.5M in a follow-on investment. The investment came from Los Angeles private equity firm Nogales Investors. According to Nogales, the investment will go to grow DR Technologies core space market.

Equity 171
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Strategic Implementation - Build the Team and Execute the Plan

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, June 17, 2010 -- Strategic Implementation - Build the Team and Execute the Plan. Association for Strategic Planning presents Carey Ransom, CEO RealPractice as he shares how to deal with the dynamics of a company that needs significant remodeling of its business case. Dinner and networking. See [link] (more).

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Non-Profits Need Angels, But Not Angel Investors

Startup Professionals Musings

Angel investors and venture capitalists don’t invest in non-profits. The simple reason is that it’s impossible to make money for investors when the goal of the company is to not make money. Yet I still get this question on a regular basis, so I’ll try to outline the considerations in common-sense terms. A non-profit organization is generally defined as an organization that does not distribute its surplus funds to owners or shareholders, but instead uses them to help pursue its goals.

Angel 57
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Presence & Peace

Daradiction

Dale Okuno is one of our investors at CitySourced. He’s also one of my mentors and close friends. To give some context, Dale is very level headed and recently sold his company to Ebix, a Nasdaq traded company. He built it from scratch up to nearly 400 employees. Dale and I recently took a road trip up to Mammoth a few weeks ago and in the car on the ride up he started telling me about this book called “The Power of Now&# by Eckart Tolle and how it was one the most profound books he&#

Startup 49
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Report: SpaceX Still Needs $1 Billion To Reach Goals, Despite Successful Launch

socalTECH

A report from the WSJ Monday morning says that Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), the commercial space flight venture of Elon Musk, still needs more than $1 billion in funding over the next year or two, to reach its goal of transporting astronauts to the International Space Station. The firm--which saw a successful launch of its Falcon 9 spacecraft into orbit Friday--apparently has nearly run out of cash a number of times between mid-2007 and mid-2009, the WSJ said, c

SpaceX 171
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SaaS/Software Revenue Workshop

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, June 17, 2010 -- SaaS/Software Revenue Workshop. SDSIC. If you are a Software, Cloud-Computing or technology company and want to grow your revenue predictably and profitably, you should attend our 5 hour Revenue Acceleration Workshop. This Workshop is designed for executives who are looking for a proven and capital efficient way to consistently grow their revenue without costly marketing and sales experimentation.

SaaS 100
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Five Keys to Predictable Startup Success

Startup Professionals Musings

Every startup wants to be a predictable success, yet so few ever achieve this enviable position. In reality, getting there is not a random walk, and requires an understanding of the stages that every business must navigate and the organizational characteristics necessary at each stage. Les McKeown, in his new book “ Predictable Success ” outlines these stages and characteristics for any business.

Startup 52
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DEMO Innovation Tour Coming To Southern California

Tech Zulu Event

For those who may not know of DEMO , it is a jammed packed twice a year 2 day conference filled with 6 minute on stage pitches, a demo pit, networking events, and not to mention one of the longest running emerging tech conferences. They are gearing up for DEMO Fall 2010 which is happening Sept. 13-15 in Silicon Valley. In preparation DEMO is doing a nationwide innovation tour in which they meeting with companies who are considering launching for DEMO Fall.

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Guitar Hero Hits iPhone

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Activision said Monday afternoon that it has just launched music videogame franchise Guitar Hero on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Activision said that the game is now available through Apple's App store, and allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to play tracks from Queen, Rise Against, The Rolling Stones, Vampire Weekend, Weezer and The White Stripes.

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Turning A New Leaf

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, June 17, 2010 -- Turning a New Leaf: The Future of Electric Vehicles and Networked Charging Stations. CommNexus. San Diego Gas and Electric utility, Nissan's LEAF electric vehicles, networked charging stations, smart grid and clean energy merge into the fast lane to help reduce the 40 percent of greenhouse gases attributed to transportation activities in the developed countries.

San Diego 100
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How Much Money To Request For Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Startups ask me “How much money should I ask for?” The simple answer is the absolute minimum amount you need to make your plan work. Some entrepreneurs try to start with a huge number, hoping they can negotiate and close on a smaller one, while others understate their requirements, in hopes of getting their foot in the door with an investor. Neither of these strategies is a good one, as both are likely to damage your credibility with potential investors, even before they look hard at your plan.

Startup 91
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DocStoc Links With New HP Printers

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based DocStoc , the online professional document sharing and marketplace startup headed by Jason Nazar, is one of the web services features on HP's new line of web-enabled printers. HP launched the new printers at the beginning of the week, showing a new device which allows users to directly access web information sites from a touch sensitive display on the front of those printers.

Fandango 165
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Demand Media Highlights Entertainment Personalities

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Demand Media , the online content network headed by Richard Rosenblatt, said today that it has launched a new "Talent and Expert Network," which will highlight entertainment personalities through its site. Demand said it would find "authentic and entertaining" personalities which it will integrate into its original content and articles.

Demand 165
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Mogreet Powers Pretty Little Liars Mobile Campaign

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Mogreet , the mobile marketing and greeting card firm headed by James Citron, said today that the firm was behind a mobile video messaging campaign with ABC Family, for its Pretty Little Liars premier this evening. Details of the win were not disclosed. Mogreet said that it worked with ABC Family to drive tune-in and interaction with viewers through the mobile video messaging campaign for the new original series, helping ABC to build its mobile database.

Mogreet 164
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Inspired Instruments Raises $1.25M For Digital Guitar Controller

socalTECH

Irvine-based Inspired Instruments announced today that it has raised $1.25M in a funding round, for its digital guitar and game controller products. Source of the funding was not disclosed. Inspired Instruments sells the You Rock Guitar, a six-stringed digital game controller and MIDI enabled guitar, which is compatible with the Wii, PS3, Mac, PC, iPod, iPhone, iPad and the popular RockBand and Guitar Hero game titles.