Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 11, 2012
Negotiations. We all think we’re good at them. Most people aren’t that good. For many the idea of negotiations is “let’s split the difference 50/50.” In some situations this is the right answer. In many cases it’s not. I learned many of my negotiation techniques through experience. But I did read a couple of books on the topic that were useful: 1.
InfoChachkie
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
Note: This is Part V in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE , Part II HERE , Part III HERE and Part IV HERE. You may not realize it, but your adVenture’s Core Team, the senior executives who make the key decisions which drive the company’s strategic direction, is akin to a primitive tribe. Primitive tribes and your startup both entail a small number of people banded together to battle an uncaring, hostile world.
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socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
Sean Percival, best known for founding Los Angeles tech blog lalawag, in addition to his work as an executive at MySpace, has booted up a new effort--Santa Monica-based Wittlebee , a new, online subscription service for baby supplies. The new effort emerged this week, revealing that it is backed by Science, Inc. , the digital business incubator/studio headed by former MySpace CEO Mike Jones.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- Judy Greenspon, President, NPI Services, Inc. Entrepreneurship Course, 2012 Guest Speaker Lectures, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, UC Irvine. Free and open to the public. This series is part of a course on Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers, but enrollment is not necessary to attend these guest speaker lectures Email goran@uci.edu for details.
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Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Every engineer who has invented some new technology, or is adept at creating solutions, believes that is the hard part, and it should be a short step to take that solution to market as an entrepreneur. In reality, that short business step embodies far more risk, and a poor technology solution is not near the top of most lists of common reasons for business failures.
Tech Zulu Event
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
Yes folks, I’m going there. But don’t worry; this is safe for work. Last month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, TechZulu paused mid-aisle at the convention center with other onlookers mesmerized by LELO. LELO stands for Luxury Erotic Lifestyle Objects , and with a name like that one would assume they set up shop at the wrong show (the Adult Entertainment Convention happens concurrent to CES).
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
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- C. Craig Carlson, Attorney at Law, Stradling Yocca Carlson and Rauth; Jan P. Weir, Attorney at Law, Stradling Yocca Carlson and Rauth. Entrepreneurship Course, 2012 Guest Speaker Lectures, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, UC Irvine. Free and open to the public. This series is part of a course on Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers, but enrollment is not necessary to attend these guest speaker lectures Email goran@uci.edu for details.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Every organization, no matter how small, has one or more people who are quite simply obnoxious, and they drain energy from everyone and can strangle your company. Sometimes they are also intellectually brilliant, or closely related to the boss, so there is no easy way out. In fact, they may even be the boss. So if you find this article taped to your desk, it may be time to look in the mirror.
Tech Zulu Event
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Just like the sky scraping investment banks of Wall Street, the technology industry tends to be a sausage party. A Silicon Valley conference is a room full of suits, with the occasional skirt suite. So when I heard about Women 2.0 pitch and technology competition at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA, I couldn’t help but feel like it might be a hall of crickets with a few passionate women warming the front row.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
Beverly Hills-based > Myspace is claiming growth in its users, saying that it has added over 1 million new signups to the service, after it launched a new Myspace Music Player. The online entertainment site--now owned by Specific Media--has been looking to revamp Myspace into a new, social service which combines music, links to Facebook, and music recommendation engine.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- Current VC market and how to pitch it. The current venture market and how to pitch it - Getting professional tech investment (private, angel, venture, strategic) in these times is not easy. Joey Tamer will review the current state of the venture capital market, including trends, top market sectors, and criteria sought by investors.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 12, 2012
Many professionals in business, from startups to multi-nationals, assume that team leader or executive is an appointed position, and the skills come with the title. In reality, leadership is best demonstrated while not in a position of authority, and is a skill that must be sharpened every day of your life. Most experts agree that leadership, as perceived by people around you, is more about behavior than it is about specific skills or knowledge.
Tech Zulu Event
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
The irony: a sad state that even with the huge number of social network applications we have at our disposal, we’re oftentimes lost, unable to keep up, or still lose touch so easily. But for a second let’s try something different and blame the technology. It’s okay, it’s not your fault. It’s not your fault that we can only be social creatures to a certain extent before brain overload.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Venture capital firm Greycroft Partners , which is fairly active in the Los Angeles area, said today that it has added a new venture partner, who will spend time in both New York and Los Angeles. The firm said it has added Bo Peabody as Venture Partner at the company, focusing on digital media. Peabody was previously a co-founder and Managing General Partner at Village Ventures, heading up investments in Everyday Health, Travora, DigiSynd, HealthGuru, Babble, Pump Audio, Tech Media Network, and
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
Thursday, February 23, 2012 -- Small Business Breakfast Series - Pepperdie Graziadio Alumni Network and SBDC. Starting and managing a small business requires a strong operational foundation. The day-to-day operations of any small business entails the following components: 1) Talent recruitment 2) Marketing and sales 3) Technology 4) Finance and Legal 5) Customer support, and 6) Healthy dosage of organizational culture.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
The dictionary definition of a mentor is “an experienced and trusted advisor,” or “leader, tutor or coach.” The definition of a critic sounds similar, “a person who offers reasoned judgment or analysis.” The big difference, of course, is that a mentor looks ahead to help you, while a critic looks backward to tell you what you did wrong. We can all learn from both of these approaches, but in my view the mentor is far more valuable than a critic.
Tech Zulu Event
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
The swanky little boutique suite on Santa Monica’s Main Street greeted me in a way that I hadn’t expected. Having been invited to a Sony Vita (Playstation Portable successor) VIP party, I was expecting the event venue to be at a) an electronics store with a sterile feel or b) a top 40 boozing event with a double-booked guest list and red carpet entrance fitting for only Hollywood’s most obscure C-Listers (as some of these product release parties can sometimes be like).
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
Santa Monica-based Docstoc , the online small business documents sharing and download site headed by Jason Nazar, said Tuesday that it has now hit more than 80,000 paying subscribers to the service, and over 20 million members. In an update to supporters, Nazar said that it now has over 80,000 people who have become paid users to its Docstoc Premium subscription service, which gives those users access to premium business documents via a monthly subscription, starting at $9.95 per month.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 -- Gravity Summit. Join the 4th Annual Gravity Summit Social Media for Sports and Entertainment! Gravity Summit will bring together Hollywood, Sports, and Social Media to discuss the transformation of television, branding, movies, entertainment, games and sports.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 11, 2012
Due diligence should always be a two-way street. A while back, I published an article on “ Startup Due Diligence Is Not a Mysterious Black Art ,” describing what investors do to validate your startup before they invest. Here is the inverse, sometimes called reverse due diligence, describing what you should do to validate your investor before signing up for an equity partnership.
Frank Addante
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Communication has been streamlined to short messages. Your management should be too. I’m a big fan of short, concise, summarized communication. Twitter’s revolution of 140-character messages inspired me to create a similar management reporting format that I have found to be very effective. Each week, I ask each of my direct reports to provide a weekly report with the following information.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
Los Angeles-based Boingo Wireless , the operator of a network of global Wi-Fi access points, is continuing to expand out its network. The firm said this afternoon that it has inked a deal to manage and operate Wi-FI at ten airports in Portugal, in a deal with ANA- Aeroportos de Portugal, SA. Financial details of the deal were not announced by Boingo.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 -- The End of Business as Usual with Brian Solis. Linked Orange County. Networking Event featuring keynote speaker and marketing expert, Brian Solis. Brian Solis is a principal analyst at Altimeter Group. He is also an award-winning author, prominent blogger, and keynote speaker.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
If you are new to the startup space and Angel investing, you probably don’t realize that some groups of Angel investors charge entrepreneurs a fee to pitch to their groups. This practice has caused a rousing debate among key players, with some calling it a scam, and others defending it as necessary to cover expenses. Jason Calacanis, a well-known entrepreneur and Angel investor, opened the debate a while back in a strongly-worded article on his blog which attacked the practice on ethical grounds
Steve Reich
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
LeisureLink, Inc., was launched with nearly $2mm in Angel funding from the Pasadena Angels and Tech Coast Angels. How did we do it? We had an advocate in each Angel group who aggressively lead the effort. It’s critical to identify a lead investor who is truly excited about your company. Someone has to do the heavy lifting of advocating, organizing, and building enthusiasm about your company within their Angel group.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
A new competition--part of the Startup America effort launched by the Obama Administration, and spearheaded locally by Caltech, USC, and UCLA--said today that it is looking to award $200,000 in prize money to university students with clean energy business ideas. According to First Look West (FLoW), it is offering to $200,000 in prizes, plus access to experience mentors, legal start-up packages, and the opportunity to pitch investors as part of the competition--with the opportunity to access $2M
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Wednesday, February 22, 2012 -- Gravity Summit - Social Media for Sports and Entertainment. Gravity Summit is the premiere social media conference focused on business. Event includes sports teams, studios, technology, mobile, content, gaming.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
The official start date for your startup is the date you incorporate the business. This is obviously important for tax purposes, but may also dramatically influence how potential investors, customers, and competitors look at you. My rule of thumb expectation is that it should take two months to set up the legal entity, six months to finalize the business plan, and by the end of the first year have a prototype product ready for customers.
Steve Reich
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
Wild times in Southern California—VC firms contracting and incubators/accelerators exploding! You can’t turn around in SoCal without running into new incubators. No one even seems to know the exact count, but its somewhere between 20-30, as of last week. Ben Kuo at SoCal Tech did us all a big favor by publishing his Complete Guide to Southern California Incubators.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
Los Angeles-based OpenX , the developer of online advertising serving software, reported today that it has achieved its first full quarter of profitability, and is has exceeded an annual run rate of $100M. OpenX develops online ad serving software, which is used by web publishers to display web advertising. OpenX, which is headed by Tim Cadogan, said it served more than one trillion ad impressions during 2011.
SoCal Tech Calendar
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
Monday, February 20, 2012 -- SCV Startup #4: How I Built a Wildly Successful Gaming Companyby Wingin' It. Guest Speaker: Voldi Way. Last month we heard from the VC side. Now it's time to hear from an entrepreneur. And not just any entrepreneur, he's created one of the most successful gaming companies in the country. Way Forward has created games for all gaming platforms (iOS, Playstation, Wii, XBox, and more) and includes titles such as Centipede, Aliens, and Blood Rayne.
Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 17, 2012
I love this statement from John Tukey, coiner of the word ‘bit’ to describe a single switch of digital micro-data. Tukey was a statistician, one you would expect to describe events in terms reeking with precision. Instead, Tukey implored us to think in terms of relevancy, cause and comparisons to known events. And all this ethereal talk makes me think of how we investors and entrepreneurs are often led to search for instances in which our plan can be wrong, based upon a past measure.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
Amplify , the startup accelerator program being run by Paul Bricault in Venice Beach, has tied with a cloud computing provider, Joyent , the two said this morning. The two said they are in a partnership, where Joyent will provide free cloud computing resources and marketing services to Amplify's portfolio companies. Joyent's cloud services are used by companies such as LinkedIn, TaskRabbit, Kabam, Voxer, ModCloth, and others.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 16, 2012
In recent months, a dozen accelerators and incubators have emerged in the Southern California area, looking to help take the new generation of technology startups to funding and beyond. However, with the proliferation of incubators, the difficulty in figuring out which programs are--and aren't--worth looking at has become very diffcult, if not impossible, for startup entrepreneurs.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 15, 2012
The Tech Coast Angels , the largest organized angel investment group in Southern California--and the nation--said Wednesday that it was part of $45M in funding in companies during last year, with $11M directly invested across 37 companies during 2011. The group said that it was part of more than $45M in total investments in companies during the year, including investments from venture and other investors.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 14, 2012
San Diego-based Borrego Solar Systems , the venture-backed installer of solar photovoltaic power systems, said today that it has closed on a new, $47M financing fund. The new fund comes from U.S> Bank and East West Bank, and will go to finance solar energy projects for its corporate, education, and municipal customers. The fund will go to fund Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs).
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