Sat.Jun 15, 2013 - Fri.Jun 21, 2013

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Lessons I Learned from My Dad

Both Sides of the Table

'My mom seems to sneak into my blog from time-to-time. My dad less so. Mom was an entrepreneur and a civic leader. She was (is) a bit of a ball buster. And a negotiator. And a go getter. So she naturally fills my story arcs more easily. But of course we’re all a product of both of our parents – if we were fortunate enough to be raised by two individuals.

Course 407
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A Conversation with Ben Satterfield, Burstly

socalTECH

'Ben Satterfield is the co-founder of TestFlight, an immensely popular piece of software for iOS (and now Android) which lets developers distribute beta copies of their apps to their users. TestFlight recently joined forces with Burstly (www.burstly.com) to create a suite of apps for mobile developers and publishers. We spoke with Ben about how Burstly is now creating a company to help mobile developers create, develop, distribute, and monetize their apps.

Startup 262
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Disaster Recovery and other happy subjects.

Berkonomics

'Have you ever lost all of your data on your smartphone, laptop, or desktop PC? If not, it is probably only a matter of time until you do. Those of us who have experienced this heart-stopping event now regularly back up our data and many of us create images of our entire hard drives often, ready this time to address an effective recovery. But what about the shock of a fire, a major natural disaster, or even the loss of an important company top executive?

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From Near Death To YouTube Stardom, An Entrepreneur’s Story

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Mike Falzone nearly died twice in a two-week period, during which he was also fired from his job. On the way home from the hospital, he vowed that he would never work for anyone again. Since that day, Mike has written a successful book and toured nationally as a musician and comedian. With nearly 70,000 subscribers to his BestFriendmenship YouTube channel and 6 million video views, Mike is an emerging YouTube star.

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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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Identifying Pain in the First Step in a Sales Process – Here’s How

Both Sides of the Table

'This article initially appeared on Inc. If you haven’t already followed me on Twitter, that’s the fastest way to get blog updates. Click here. In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA. This post is about the “P” or pain. The point of PUCCKA was to develop a common methodology to make sure our whole team approaches sales with the same mindset and to give us a language to talk with each other about our prospects, as in, “have y

Sales 367
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How Dealstruck Is Using Crowdfunding To Power Loans For Small Businesses

socalTECH

'Earlier this month, Dealstruck (www.dealstruck.com) debuted a new, crowdfunding marketplace with an interesting twist. Instead of equity, the company is aimed at profiting profitable small businesses with business debt funding from investors, to help those businesses grow and get to the next level. The San Diego firm is headed by Ethan Senturia , who sat down with us to tell us how Dealstruck is trying to help build small businesses and jobs--and also tells us a bit about what it''s like to com

Startup 247

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From Near Death To YouTube Stardom, A Startup Story

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Mike Falzone nearly died twice in a two-week period, during which he was also fired from his job. On the way home from the hospital, he vowed that he would never work for anyone again. Since that day, Mike has written a successful book and toured nationally as a musician and comedian. With nearly 70,000 subscribers to his BestFriendmenship YouTube channel and 6 million video views, Mike is an emerging YouTube star.

Startup 133
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To Sell Anything You Need to Know What Makes You Unique

Both Sides of the Table

'In my first enterprise software company we developed a methodology for sales that we called PUCCKA , which I wrote about previously. Having a good sales methodology can help you ensure your company runs more disciplined campaigns and focuses scarce resources on your best opportunities. The first post covered the topic of “P” or pain. Simply, this is identifying a customer need which has economic value to them if they can solve it.

Sales 336
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Goldstar Partners With Google

socalTECH

'Goldstar , the online service which helps connect people with special deals on live entertainment, has tied with Google on support of Google Now. The Pasadena-based company said it has integrated with Google Now, to provide consumers with information about live entertainment in their area. The integration provides reminders of events they''ve purchased in Goldstar, weather forecasts, traffic updates, turn-by-turn directions, and more.

Google 240
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Up Your Nose With a Rubber Plug

Eric Greenspan

'When I was a kid, a friend once woke up with a crayon lodged so far in his nose they had to surgically remove it. He had his older brother to thank for it, who thought it was funny to put the crayon in his nose while he was sleeping. About 6 months ago my son Jackson, who was fascinated with coins, began choking during a diaper change. I immediately turned him over and did a mini Heimlich maneuver.

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7 Ways to Stop Treating Your Business Like a Hobby

Startup Professionals Musings

'We’ve all heard the old joke “In a bacon-and-egg breakfast, the chicken is involved, but the pig is committed.” This quote epitomizes the true essence of commitment. We all know at least one self-professed entrepreneur who claims to committed, but seems to treat it like a part-time hobby, won’t put any personal skin in the game, and is quick to give up when things are tough.

Startup 105
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7 Startup Lessons from NBA Finals

Tech Zulu Event

'As the NBA playoffs closes to an end in a grueling road to Game 7 between Miami Heats and San Antonio Spurs, it would behoove every startup founder to learn from key elements and strategies of both teams, as lessons from the sport of basketball can directly translate to the success of a startup company. Below are 7 lessons that we can learn from Spurs and Heat alike that brought them to where they are today–Battling for the NBA championship title in Game 7. 1) Identifying Team Chemistry

Startup 94
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OpenAirplane Targets Los Angeles With Airplane Rental Service

socalTECH

'Tech-savvy users who like services like Zipcar, Uber, RelayRides, and Car2Go are used to being able to now rent and find cars by the hour or day in areas like Los Angeles. So it''s no surprise that airplane pilots are getting their own version of those services, targeted at letting pilots rent airplanes by smmartphone, tablet, or computer. OpenAirplane said Monday that it has launched in Los Angeles, letting pilots join and rent aircraft, and aircraft operators to list their aircraft, starting

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Draftpedia Aims At NFL, NBA Fans

socalTECH

'Are you a fan of the NFL or NBA--and wish you had an easy reference to the players and picks in the draft for those two sports leagues? A new, Santa Monica-based startup has created a new iTunes application, Draftpedia , aimed at providing a comprehensive source for NBA and NFL Draft history, player stats, and team rosters. The app--which is free--is the brainchild of David Rabie and Joe Sarafian, two Santa Monica entrepreneurs who were born and raised in Los Angeles.

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Silicon Beach Fest Kicks Off Today

socalTECH

'It''s all Silicon Beach, all the time, for all of the rest of the week--starting today--as Silicon Beach Fest , the combination conference, networking session, party started by Kevin Winston, kicks off at noon. The event is harnessing the startup energy in Santa Monica, and features all across town, at ROC , Cross Campus , the Viceroy , Santa Monica Place , and elsewhere.

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Silicon Beach's Hidden Advantage: More Talent?

socalTECH

'There''s been a perpetual complaint and worry in Southern California for years: how difficult it is to find good talent, particularly in engineering and software, for early stage startups. However, the word out of this week''s Silicon Beach Fest --which kicked off Wednesday and runs through Saturday--is it''s actually much down here than it is Silicon Valley.

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Banyan Biomarkers Gets $6M For Detecting Traumatic Brain Injury

socalTECH

'Carlsbad, California- and Alachua, Florida-based Banyan Biomarkers has raised $6M in a Series A funding, to go towards development of a diagnostic test for traumatic brain injury (TBI). Source of the funding was not disclosed. Banyan Biomarkers said it is developing a blood test which can be used to diagnose traumatic brain injury in patients. The firm said it is currently in the midst of a 2,000 patient, clinical trail funded via a $26.3M contract with the United States Department of Defense.

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ThousandEyes, Spawned At UCLA, Raises Funding From Sequoia

socalTECH

'A new startup, which was created at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), has just raised a first funding round from Sequoia Capital. ThousandEyes , created by two UCLA computer science Ph.D.''s, said it raised $5.5M today for its software for monitoring cloud-based applications in enterprises. ThousandEyes was founded by Mohit Lad, who received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA; his co-founder is Ricardo Oliveira, who also received his Ph.D. in Computer Science from UCLA.

UCLA 203
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Google's AdSense, Developed In LA, Earned More than $7 Billion Last Year

socalTECH

'One of Southern California''s most successful--and unheralded--inventions for the Internet world earned online publishers more than $7 billion alone last year, Google said this morning. Google announced today that Google Adsense --which it acquired when it bought Santa Monica-based Applied Semantics back in 2003--just turned 10 years old, and now has more than 2 million publishers.

Google 198
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Oculus VR Gets $16M For Virtual Reality Gaming Headset

socalTECH

'Irvine-based Oculus VR , a developer of a virtual reality headset for gaming enthusiasts, said Monday that it has raised $16M in nan investment round. The round includes Spark Capital and Matrix Partners. Oculus VR is headed by Brendan Iribe, the former Chief Product Officer at Gaikai; the firm''s founder is Palmer Luckey, who got his start developing virtual reality systems at USC''s Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) in the Mixed Reality lab.

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Fullscreen Gets Funding For YouTube Network

socalTECH

'Fullscreen , the online entertainment video site headed by George Strompolos, announced this morning that it has raised a round of Series A funding. Size of the funding was not announced. The round came from The Chernin Group along with Comcast Ventures and WPP. According to FullScreen, the new funding will go towards domestic and intentional expansion, in the areas of technology, audience development and sales.

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ReachLocal Targets Healthcare, Wellness Providers

socalTECH

'Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the provider of online marketing services aimed at small and medium sized businesses, said late last night that it has launched a new, dedicated team aimed at healthcare and wellness providers. ReachLocal said its new team is aimed at helping those providers attract new patients, offering up tailored online marketing strategies for that segment.

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Fab.com Investment, Faith In Team, Pays Off For Baroda

socalTECH

'Being a seed investor is a tough job--being early to a company doesn''t necessarily mean you''ll see a return--and it''s usually a long road to see any reward. But, it looks like being a seed investor has paid off for at least one local investor, Baroda Ventures , the venture capital investment fund owned by GeoCities founder David Bohnett. Baroda was a very early investor in Fab.com , which just today raised $150M in funding at a $1 billion valuation.

Invest 170
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FindTheCompany Launches Online Business Research Tool

socalTECH

'FindTheCompany , a new business research site started by DoubleClick co-founder Kevin O''Connor, launched out of beta today, saying that it has created an online resource to let users check on the reputation of a business before buying products and services, and to learn more about companies such as balance sheets, income statements, and more. The new service is a sister site to Santa Barbara-based FindTheBest , the online product research site also started by O''Connor.

Research 170
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Fisker Automotive Burnt Through $1.4 Billion

socalTECH

'Anaheim-based Fisker Automotive , the troubled electric car maker, has now burnt through $1.4 billion dollars in private and public funds, according to Reuters. The amount of capital invested in Fisker makes the company the highest profile flameout ever in Southern California''s startup history, far surpassing the mere $375M in venture capital raised of of prior record holder Amp''d Mobile from back in 2007.

Layoffs 170
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SendGrid Extends Into Email Marketing

socalTECH

'Anaheim- and Boulder, Colorado-based SendGrid , which develops email delivery services and software, is making a big expansion today, into email marketing. SendGrid said it has launched a brand new, email marketing service which is aimed at marketers looking to reliably send high volumes of mail. The move is the company''s first beyond providing the "back-end" transactional email delivery it provides to software and Internet service providers, who have grown to rely on the company for helping t

Email 168
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BitAngels Gets Quick Start, Funds First Deal

socalTECH

'BitAngels , the brand new angel investment group co-founded by Michael Terpin, has just made its first investment--and is gearing up for more, the firm said Thursday. BitAngels said it just invested $100,000 into BlueSeed , a firm incubating international companies in the Bitcoin area who specifically are not subject to regulation by the United States.

Incubator 164
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Leads360 Becomes Velocify

socalTECH

'Sales automation software developer Leads360 said Wednesday that it has renamed the firm to Velocify , saying the new name better reflects its focus on "high-velocity" sales environments. The firm, which is headed by Nick Hedges, develops cloud-bsaed, sales automation and lead scoring sytsems, used to help sales organizations better prioritize leads in an automated manner.

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ViaSat Ties With Boeing On High Speed Wireless

socalTECH

'Carlsbad-based Viasat , the satellite communications operator which is deploying high speed, in-flight wireless Internet in planes, has inked a deal with Boeing , the firm announced this morning. ViaSat the deal with Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) will make its in-flight, Ka-band satellite Internet a new option for Boeing''s commercial aircraft.

Services 159
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Aviir Finds $10M In Financing For Heart Risk Testing

socalTECH

'Irvine-based Aviir has raised $10M more as part of a financing round, as part of a third tranche of funding. The firm develops heart risk testing technology, to help prevent cardiovascular disease. The firm said the funding came from Partners & Partners, along with its current investor growth. The firm had launched its current round of funding in December of 2011.

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SlimSurveys, Developed By TweetPhoto Team, Takes On Surveys

socalTECH

'If you''re a marketer, business, or developer wishing you could run a quick survey of your users, it can be an involved process. However, a new startup, SlimSurveys --created by the same team behind TweetPhoto--thinks it has a better way. The startup, headed by Sean Callahan, says its new service lets users create quick, 7-question surveys which can be answered on a desktop, mobile, or on a user''s website.

Develop 154
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Timing Is Everything With MakerBot Buy

socalTECH

'In a demonstration that timing is everything, the huge, $604M acquisition of 3D printing maker MakerBot Wednesday probably has those who were involved in Southern California 3D printing startup Desktop Factory shaking their heads. MakerBot was developing low cost, 3-D printers for hobbyists to create their own, 3D printed objects--precisely the market that Desktop Factory had been pursuing.

Idealab 153
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Gobbler Gains $500,000 More

socalTECH

'Los Angeles-based Gobbler , the operator of an online backup and file storage service for creative projects, has raised $500,000 in a new round of funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm today. Details on the funding have not yet been announced by the company. Gobbler is led by Chris Kantrowitz, and had raised $1.5M in a funding round in January.

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DreamHost Launches Conference, DreamCon

socalTECH

'It''s a rite of passage for most technology companies--getting to the size where you have enough users, revenues, and market presence that you can launch your own conference. Los Angeles-based hosting provider DreamHost is the latest local company to hit that milestone, telling its users last night that it has just booted up its own, user conference, DreamCon , where it will provide presentations to software developers, entrepreneurs, and more.

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Media Temple Debuts Premium Support, Managed Hosting Services

socalTECH

'Media Temple , the web hosting provider headed by Demian Sellfors, is already well known for its customer service and premium hosting services. However, the firm is looking to further differentiate itself in a crowded hosting market through its services. The Los Angeles company said Tuesday that it has launched two offerings, CloudTech Premium Support, and upgraded its DV Managed service.

Media 153
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Esri Powers uKnow.com's Family Locator Service

socalTECH

'Redlands-based Esri is continuing to make inroads into the Internet startup market, and has been tapped to power the family location services of. uKnow said today that it is partnering with Esri to use that company''s geographical information systems technology in a new, family locator service called uKnowLocate. Esri has been working to supply its mapping technology to a wide range of startups, expanding its market beyond its core business in the government and large business market.

Services 149