Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 20, 2013
'Most people suck at presenting to big groups. It’s a shame because the ability to nail these presentations at key conferences can be once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to influence journalists, business partners, potential employees, customers and VCs. So I thought I’d write a piece on how not to suck when you give a presentation. 1. Show some energy!
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2013
'Pasadena-based discount event ticketing service Goldstar announced this morning that it has launched a new, iOS app to help its members discover events and purchase event tickets. The company, which was co-founded and is led by Jim McCarthy, also revealed that the company will have over $100 million in sales this year. Goldstar said the new app includes integration with Apple''s Passbook, includes user reviews and event information, search tools, and more.
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Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 19, 2013
'“Scope creep” (or feature creep) is an insidious disease that kills more good startups than any other, especially high-tech ones, and yet most founders (who may be the cause) never even see it happening. This term refers to the penchant to add just one more feature to the product or service before first delivery, just because you can. The instigators are all well-intentioned – executives talk to potential customers who “must have” a few more things; or the technical team edicts some “technicall
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Be Great Partners , a Los Angeles technology incubator, has recently released a report on the startup community in LA and the information shows a positive growth for startups here in LA. Los Angeles is 3 rd in the global startup ecosystem, behind Tel Aviv and Silicon Valley. 94 new startups have launched since January 2013 to June 2013 and the startup ecosystem has raised $500 million in funding in 2013 so far.
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Berkonomics
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'This is the final posting in this cycle. Purchase two years of these insights in a single book, ADVANCED BERKONOMICS, for yourself or as a gift. Here are links to help you find copies: HARD COVER book directly from Berkus.com, signed by Dave (with gift inscription if requested): [link]. SOFT COVER book directly from Berkus.com, signed by Dave (with gift inscription if requested): [link].
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'In today''s mobile world, SMS has widespread, near ubiquitous adoption, which is great for consumers who want to communicate with their friends and family. However, that''s a huge problem for enterprises, who face compliance and data security issues with their data when their employees turn to SMS for business related communications. To solve that issue, Santa Monica-based TigerText (www.tigertext.com) has been developing smartphone applications which replace SMS, and provide companies with the
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Valuation. You know you need one. Annually. What you may not know is that it really does matter who performs your valuation. There are a lot of valuation companies out there, so I know many entrepreneurs are tempted to just shop around until they find the lowest price, but this is a mistake. A valuation is more than just a commodity. All valuations are not created equally; there are better valuations, better processes, and better valuations business partners for your company.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Los Angeles-based mobile app developer Snapchat is in the midst of a new funding round, which values the company at more than $3.6 billion, according to a report Friday. AllThingsD reports that the firm--which just raised $60M in June --is looking for more money, upping its valuation from $800M to $3.6 billion. The deal apparently has not yet closed.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2013
'Los Angeles-based private equity investor Vicente Capital Partners announced MOnday that it has invested in iBwave Solutions , a Canadian company providing in-building wireless design software. Financial details of the investment were not announced. Vicente Capital said that its Growth Equity Fund, jointly with Farol Asset Management, acquired a "significant" equity interest in iBwave, which is based in Montreal, Canada. iBwave said it has over 500 clients worldwide, including all of the tier-1
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'We''re trying to identify the top 100 up-and-coming individuals in Southern California''s technology industry! We''re looking to identify the individuals here in the technology industry, across all sectors, who are most likely to create the next big thing, produce the next big exit or to influence the industry in a significant way--the next generation of entrepreneurs and leaders across all of Southern California.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'One of Southern California''s hottest Hollywood-meets-Internet companies is Maker Studios , the provider of content to YouTube. The company just raised $26M more in venture fund last month. However, all is not well at Maker: the Hollywood Reporter has just published an in-depth look into the lawsuit filed by ousted co-founder Danny Zappin in June--a story that combines everything from drug dealing and prison to a who''s who of Southern California''s venture capitalists.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'San Diego-based Anametrix , which develops marketing analytics software, has signed up a digital marketing agency, R&R Partners. According to the companies, R&R Partners will use the Anametrix marketing analytics platform as part of its service to clients. R&R said its clients include the Las Vegas Visitors and Convention Authority and Western Digital.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'San Diego-based Sorrento Therapeutics , a biopharmaceuticals firm focused on oncology, and therapeutic products for inflammation, metabolic, and infectious diseases, has raised $30M in a public offering, and has been listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market. The firm--which had formerly been OTC traded--said it raised approximately $30M by offering up 4,150,000 shares of its common stock at $7.25 per share.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2013
'San Diego-based advanced battery technology developer PowerGenix said today that it has signed a product evaluation contract with offroad products manufacturer HELLA. According to PowerGenix, HELLA will conduct real-world, vehicle tests to evaluate its Nickel-Zinc (NiZN) batteries, to meet high power requirements of 48-volt, mild hybrid systems. Financial impact of the deal was not announced.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Los Angeles-based Demand Media has juts cut fifteen members of the company''s research and development unit, according to a report from Variety. According to the report , the cuts included Chief Innovation Officer Byron Reese, and were a result of the abrupt resignation of CEO Richard Rosenblatt last week. READ MORE>>.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Calabasas-based network testing equipment and software developer Ixia said late Thursday that the firm''s CEO, Vic Alston, has resigned, after the company''s audit committee determined that Alston had mis-stated his academic credentials. According to Ixia, Alston had incorrectly claimed to have received a B.S. and a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford, and had misstated his age and early employment history.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Santa Barbara-based whole-home, wireless audio systems developer Sonos has just launched a new promotion, which ties music artist Jack Johnson together with the brand, via an outreach at Target. According to Sonos, it will be letting fans of Jack Johnson preview his new album, From Here to Now To You, inside Target stores in the US. Sonos will have kiosks set up with the new SONOS PLAY:1 speaker at Target, where people can listen to the album.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'Los Angeles-based wireless hotspot provider Boingo Wireless reported Thursday that it has won a wireless contract with Memphis International Airport (MEM), via competitive RFP process. According to Boingo, it will design, build, and manage a cellular Distributed Antenna System (DAS) at the airport to help fill in cell phone "dead zones", in addition to providing public Wi-Fi services for the airport.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'Mobile taxi summoning app developer Flywheel is expanding its coverage area in Los Angeles today, saying that it will now provide coverage in Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Culver City as well as the Westside and the South Bay. The software developer--which lets you summon a taxi ride from licensed, regulated taxi companies using your smartphone--said the move comes as it has signed up three of the five taxi owner groups in Los Angeles.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Black Lotus , a provider of services for protecting businesses against distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, said today that it has raised $3.5M in a funding round. The company--which operates its primary data center out of LA''s One Wilshire colocation facility--said the funding came from Industry Capital. Black Lotus is based in San Francisco.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Irvine-based Zadara Storage , a developer of cloud-based, storage software and services, said it has launched a major new release today. According to Zadara, it has added such features as multi-region remote replication, high performance snapshots and clones, thin volume support, and SSD caching to its service. Zadara develops a storage service and software which allows enterprises to tap into the cloud for storage, adding many of the features that companies have come to expect from their own s
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2013
'Los Angeles-based mobile software developer Gumiyo has quietly been acquired by fellow Los Angeles company Talus Labs , a developer of a platform used for selling digital products to local businesses. Financial terms of the buy were not announced. The acquisition actually occurred in Q2 of this year, but was not formally announced. Gumiyo''s team has already been integrated into Talus Labs.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2013
'San Diego-based Arcturus Therapeutics , a developer of RNAi technology, said it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round. According to Arcturus, the funding came from multiple private capital,, high net worth investors from Canada, Japan, and the United States. Names of those capital sources were not announced. The company said the new funding will go towards recruiting a team to expand its operations and to work on its lead clinical candidate.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2013
'Soraa , the LED lighting technolgoy developers which was spun out of U.C. Santa Barbara, reported today that it has been awarded several million dollars in funding from the Department of Energy''s Advanced Research Projects Agency Energy (ARPA-E). According to the company, the funding comes as part of a four year, $3.2M project to develop GaN substrates for use in power switches.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Los Angeles-based RealD , the developer of 3D movie projection technology, said Wednesday that Joe Peixoto, the company''s President, Worldwide Cinema, is retiring in March. The company said it will not replace Peixoto. Peixoto has been in the position since 2005, having previously been President and CEO of United Cinemas International. The company said Peixoto had been at RealD since its first launch with Disney''s Chicken Little.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies said Wednesday that it has signed a contract with The Boeing Company , to develop and supply aircraft data acquisition systems for the Boeing Next-Generation 737 and 737 MAX, along with the new information management system for the 777, Next-Generation 737, 737 MAX and 747-8 production aircraft. Financial details of the contract were not announced.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Los Angeles-based online and mobile advertising technology developer OpenX Technologies has launched a new system it says helps publishers forecast their traffic and manage their advertising inventory. According to OpenX, its new forecasting system--which is part of its OpenX Ad Server--will help publishers predict future web traffic volume, composition, and analyze campaigns before they launch.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2013
'San Diego-based venture investor Avalon Ventures is the lead investor in a round for a developer of cloud-based, business collaboration software today. According to Teambox , which was founded in Barcelona, Spain, and which is setting up headquarters in Redwood City, it raised $5M in a Series A led by Avalon Ventures, and which also included the Data Collective Fund.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2013
'Calabasas-based audio encoding technology provider DTS said today that PowerDVD, the media player from Cyberlink, will support decoding of the DTS-HD format from new UltraViolet Common File Format (CFF) files. CyberLink''s PowerDVD player is used to view DVDs, Blu-Ray, and other media. DTS-HD is an audio encoding scheme for 7.1 channel sound. The companies said that PowerDVD already supports DTS-HD encoded on Blu-ray and DVDs, and the new release adds UltraViolet format decoding support.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2013
'Santa Monica-based BeachMint said Monday that it is expanding its product line via its JewelMint web site, with a new collection of jewelry from designer Richard Chai. The company--which runs JewelMint, StyleMint, ShoeMint and intiMINT--said the new products are part of the "JewelMint Studio Series Collection", where it is providing jewelry collections from award winning designers, at its accessible price points.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 22, 2013
'San Diego-based solar power financing company OneRoof Energy reports this morning that it has received an investment from GDF SUEZ Energy North America. Financial terms of the investment were not announced, hwoever, OneRoof Energy said the deal gives GDF SUEZ a minority position in the company. GDF SUEZ is a major energy company. As part of the deal, OneRoof Energy said it has entered into a joint marketing deal with GSENA, where it will offer its solar leases to homeowners across the country.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2013
'Irvine-based Insightra Medical , the developer of a medical device used for treating hernias, has raised a Series C financing round, the company announced this morning. Size of the round was not announced. The funding was co-led by Baird Capital, and also included Tekla Capital Management. The company said that Michael Liang from Baird Capital and Frank Gentile from Tekla will both join the company''s board as part of the funding.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 23, 2013
'Last week, Savings.com , the online coupon site based in Los Angeles, made a big move into the world of grocery store coupons, from its existing business providing coupon codes and deals for the online world. To hear about how the company decided to expand into the market, we caught up with CEO Loren Bendele to learn more about its new grocery store coupon app, Favado (www.favado.com).
socalTECH
OCTOBER 21, 2013
'Los Angeles-based uSamp said last week that it has named Andy Jolls as its new Senior Vice President of Marketing. According to uSamp, Jolls comes from Zumbox.com, where he was SVP of Consumer Marketing. Jolls also has served as Chief Marketing Officer at Cooking.com, and served at MyFICO.com, Move, Black Sun Interactive, Apple, Hewlett Packard, and Technomic. uSamp is a provider of sampling and polling services and technology, used by marketers for market research.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Santa Monica-based content delivery network provider EdgeCast Networks said Thursday that it is providing its services to publisher Atlantic Media. Financial impact of the deal was not disclosed. EdgeCast said The Atlantic is specifically using EdgeCast due to the ability to quickly replace or update content on its edge servers around the world, due to changing news and breaking stories.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2013
'Aerie Pharmaceuticals , which develops therapies for treating glaucoma and other eye diseases, has priced its IPO, saying this morning that it is offering up 6,720,000 share os its common stock at $10.00 per share. The company said it will begin trading on the NASDAQ Global Market this morning as AERI. Aerie had filed for an IPO last month. The company is venture backed by ACP, Clarus Lifesciences, Sofinnova Venture Partners, and TPG Biotech.
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