Sat.Oct 10, 2009 - Fri.Oct 16, 2009

article thumbnail

Should Your Startup Have an Advisory Board?

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. Many startup companies hire advisory boards. It’s very tempting. It’s mostly done by first-time entrepreneurs who want to persuade (bribe?) prominent industry luminaries to be closely associated with the company. It’s done partly in hopes of gaining their wisdom but it’s also done to portray the company in a positive light through association.

Startup 306
article thumbnail

Sales Kids With Grit – Web 2.0 Paper Routes

InfoChachkie

What do Warren Buffet, Martin Luther King, John Wayne, Walt Disney, Harry Truman and Wayne Gretzky all have in common? In addition to all of them reaching the pinnacle of their chosen professions, they also all started their careers performing the same job. All of these extremely successful individuals were paperboys*. At its peak circulation in 1969, the weekly newspaper Grit had a circulation in excess of 1.5 million.

Web 2.0 222
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

Product Management for Startups in Los Angeles – Steve Gilison

SoCal CTO

It was great to hear from a long, lost colleague the other day. Steve Gilison worked as a market researcher and product manager at a startup where my company, TechEmpower , did the software / web development. Of course, I immediately gave him the whole spiel on Visible Networking and Steve was totally game to make our networking visible. Remind me about your background Steve?

article thumbnail

THQ Launches New Disney/Pixar Game

socalTECH

Agoura Hills-based game developer THQ has launched another video game today based on Disney/Pixar's Cars movie, Cars Race-O-Rama. The firm said the videogame, for the Wii, Nintendo DS, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PSP, is its third installment of video games based on the Cars movie. The new title retails for $39.99 on the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation3, $29.99 for the PSP and DS,and $19.99 for the PlayStation 2.

THQ 177
article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

Why I Don’t Like Board Observers

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. I wrote recently about the role of Advisory Boards in startups , which I expected to be a bit controversial. People love their advisers and I don’t blame them. It’s just that many companies waste equity on advisory boards, pick the wrong advisers or set up advisory boards with the wrong expectations.

Startup 215
article thumbnail

Growth Capital Conference

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, October 22, 2009 -- Growth Capital Conference. Network with capital sources, advisors, deal makers and 50 entrepreneurs seeking capital and counsel. See [link] (more).

More Trending

article thumbnail

Applied Semantics' Elbaz Launches Data Mashup Startup

socalTECH

Gil Elbaz , one of the co-founders of Applied Semantics --the firm that developed the technology behind Google's AdSense--has launched a new startup, Factual. According to the Los Angeles-based firm, it is developing an online platform which allows anyone to share and mash open data. The new site--driven by an application programming interface the firm has named the Factual API--allows developers to connect their data with data from others.

Startup 157
article thumbnail

Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs with Jason Calacanis - Startups Uncensored #12

Jason Nazar

This month’s Startups Uncensored will be on the “Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneurs”. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation talking about what it takes to build a successful business and how to distinguish yourself as an entrepreneur. We are joined this month by Jason Calacanis the CEO of Mahalo , co-founder of Weblogs Inc and publisher of Sillcon Alley Reporter.

article thumbnail

Messaging. from the Ridiculous to the Sublime!

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, October 22, 2009 -- Messaging. from the Ridiculous to the Sublime! Messaging now comes in many forms. On October 22nd, the CTC will examine Twitter, a pop culture phenomenon with significant business potential, and Everbridge's Emergency Notification Product, an enterprise scale structured messaging system. Twitter Teaser. At this session we'll unveil The Amazing Sentimeter Project, a tool for tracking sentiment on social networks.

CTC 100
article thumbnail

Tags not Folders - LinkedIn Saved Profiles

SoCal CTO

I'm a big fan of LinkedIn and think that there's incredible value in the site. And I'm happy that they now have the concept of Saved Profiles and that they provide the ability to organize your saved profiles. When you add this to some of the other CRM type capabilities they are adding, it begins to make LinkedIn even more powerful. But I'm a bit surprised that they decided to use a folder metaphor as opposed to tags.

Google 150
article thumbnail

Sendio Targets Small Business

socalTECH

Newport Beach-based Sendio , a provider of email and spam protection appliances, has rolled out a new system focused on small businesses, the firm said Monday afternoon. The firm--which is backed by Athenian Venture Partners, Vicente Capital Partners, Shepherd Ventures and Momentum Venture Management--said its new hardware/software bundles are designed for companies with 5 to 150 email accounts.

Email 154
article thumbnail

Daniel Lanois

Daradiction

So one of my all time musical heros is the producer from Montreal named Dan Lanois. Come to find out, Dan and I share same birthday (Sept 19th), which will be even more of a trip by the time you finish reading this post I presume. Dan has produced some of my favorite records, for example: The Unforgettable Fire – U2 , 1984. So – Peter Gabriel , 1986.

Startup 49
article thumbnail

Getting Buy-In During Challenging Times

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, October 22, 2009 -- Getting Buy-In During Challenging Times. IEEE San Fernando Valley Section. Being right isnt everything. Even the best ideas need to be sold. One of the biggest mistakes technical experts make is focusing 1000n the idea and the details, without considering how to get the buy-in of key decision influencers. This can make the most brilliant proposal hit a brick wall.

article thumbnail

Marketing, Startups and Networking in Los Angeles – Cliff Allen

SoCal CTO

Cliff Allen is someone I've known for quite a few years and he's a go to person for me when I'm thinking about issues around marketing, sales, technology, startups and networking. Of course, when I started thinking about Visible Networking , I immediately went to Cliff to check in to see how he's doing and to get his feedback, thoughts and ideas on the concept.

article thumbnail

VC Fundraising Down Drastically In Q3

socalTECH

A new report on the venture capital market was released Monday from Thomson Reuters and the National Venture Capital association, and finds that venture capital fundraising has dropped to $1.6 billion in Q3, with only 17 venture capital funds raising money. The NVCA and Thomson Reuters said that the results are the smallest number of venture capital fund raising money in a single quarter, since the third quarter of 1994.

article thumbnail

Lakers 2009-10 Schedule

Jason Nazar

Lakers 2010 Schedule -

40
article thumbnail

Using what others know

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, October 22, 2009 -- Using what others know. Association for Strategic Planning event with Charles Plott, Cal Tech Professor of Economics and Political Science who reveals how to "read the system" and how to harness this ability and apply it to managerial problems. See [link] (more).

100
100
article thumbnail

Visible Networking

SoCal CTO

This past week has had an interesting confluence of events that's led me to conclude that I want to start doing a lot of visible networking among the tech / web crowd here in Los Angeles. I want to take you through a bit of what brought me here, because I think it will help explain what I mean by visible networking. Networking Events – Questionable Return on Your Time Last week I posted about Networking Events in Los Angeles and Southern California and received back some interesting comments, so

article thumbnail

Pathology Inc. Gets Series A

socalTECH

Torrance-based Pathology, Inc. , a provider of pathology and molecular diagnostics services, has received a Series A investment, according to lead investor ABS Capital Partners. ABS said that Pathology, Inc. will use the funding to retire founding shareholders, as well as for growth and and investment in new technologies. As part of the investment, Vicki DiFrancesco has been named CEO, and Steve Pierece was named CFO.

Torrance 145
article thumbnail

Startup Founders Should Flip Burgers

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Advice. This is a story of one of the risks of venture capital. When you’re an early-stage startup that hasn’t raised any institutional money you end up doing almost every job function of the company yourself. But some companies have entrepreneurs that seem talented on paper, are in a space that seems interesting to investors and are able to raise venture capital early in the company’s existence.

Startup 299
article thumbnail

Survivor 5

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, October 22, 2009 -- Survivor 5. TCVN. Who will SURVIVE all three rounds with our investors and win a bundle of prizes? Heres your chance to compete for serious investor attention and valuable prizes. EVERY company in attendance will have the opportunity to make its 30-second pitch to our panel of investors. 10 companies will then be invited back as sub-finalists to return to the podium to make a 3 minute pitch.

TCVN 100
article thumbnail

WD Announces New Media Player

socalTECH

Lake Forest-based storage firm WD has announced a new, media player product, which the firm said will provide 1080p, HD video stored on USB and network hard drives. The firm said its new WD TV Live HD media player is the second generation of players from the firm, and can stream or transfer movies from a PC, Mac, or network storage device to any HD television.

Media 145
article thumbnail

Bestcovery.com Rolls Out Web Widget

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Bestcovery.com , an online expert review and ranking site headed by former Pricegrabber.com co-founder and CEO, Kamran Pourzanjani, said today that it has rolled out a new widget which will allow web publishers to display its content. The new widget ties its expert reviews alongside content from Pricegrabber, which recommends those products based on the expert's pick.

Web 140
article thumbnail

Zumbox Sued By Pitney Bowes

socalTECH

Westlake Village-based Zumbox , a startup developing a system to deliver electronic communications to people using just their postal address, has been sued by Pitney Bowes. Pitney Bowes said Tuesday that Zumbox's system infringes on the firm's patents. Pitney Bowes said it is seeking to enjoin Zumbox from further infringement of three patents held by the firm, U.S. patents: #7,478,140, "A System and Method for Sending Electronic Mail and Parcel Delivery Notification Using Recipient's Identificat

Zumbox 140
article thumbnail

Sonos Adds iPhone Support

socalTECH

Santa Barbara-based Sonos , a maker of multi-room, digital music systems, has just rolled out a new product targeted at iPhone users, the firm said Tuesday. According to the company, it will soon be rolling out the Sonos ZonePlayer S5, a $399 player which connects directly to the iPhone. The new device uses the iPhone as a controller for the whole home music system, and also allows users to stream their music from their iTunes library.

article thumbnail

Materia, BASF In Technology Licensing Deal

socalTECH

Pasadena-based Materia , the advanced chemical technology firm spun out of Caltech, said Tuesday that it has licensed its metathesis technology to specialty chemical firm BASF. Financial terms of the license were not disclosed. According to Materia, BASF will use the technology in research and development of certain specialty chemicals. Materia's olefin metathesis catalyst technology has a very wide range of uses in the chemistry industry, and is based on reserach from Professor Robert Grubbs at

CalTech 140
article thumbnail

TrueCar Rolls Out New Dealer Cost Tool

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the online automobile pricing firm headed by Scott Painter, has rolled out a new tool that the firm says gives the actual dealer cost structure for new automobiles. The firm said its new TrueCost service allows consumers to see the actual cost structure for new vehicles, and get an exact breakdown of the cost to dealers for those vehicles.

Truecar 140
article thumbnail

Calacanis/Keiretsu Tiff Heats Up With Lawsuit

socalTECH

A personal campaign by Santa Monica-based Mahalo.com 's CEO, Jason Calacanis, to put pressure on for-profit angel investment firms to stop charging entrepreneurs to pitch, has ramped up, as Calacanis said Tuesday that he has been informed that Keiretsu Forum is filing a lawsuit against him. No details on the lawsuit have been released by either of the parties.

Keiretsu 140
article thumbnail

Report: Gizmo5 In Acquisition Talks With Skype

socalTECH

Voice-over-IP service Skype is in the midst of negotiations to buy San Diego-based Gizmo5 , according to a report in TechCrunch. According to the report, Skype is looking to pay around $50M for Gizmo5, which develops voice-over-IP based, Internet calling software based on the SIP standard. Gizmo5 was founded by Michael Robertson, the founder of MP3.com.

article thumbnail

Sophoi Acquired By Oracle

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Sophoi , a developer of media IP mananagement software, has been acquired by Oracle, Oracle said Monday. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Oracle said that Sophoi's products will become available as Oracle Media Intellectual Property Management. Sophoi's product was used for intellectual property management at media and entertainment companies.

Oracle 140
article thumbnail

Lantronix Gets Delisting Notice

socalTECH

Irvine-based electronics firm Lantronix reported Wednesday that it has received a delisting notice from the NASDAQ, saying that the firm has not complied with requirements for the minimum bid price of its common stock. According to Lantronix, the firm--which staved off an earlier delisting warning in June--the Nasdaq has now determined to delist the firm as of October 19th.

Pricing 133
article thumbnail

Semtek Funding Worth $6.7M

socalTECH

San Diego-based Semtek , which develops technology for checking for credit card fraud at retail terminals, has raised $6.7M out of an $8.0M round, according to a filing from the firm earlier this week. Semtek had announced its round last week, saying the Series B funding came from VeriFone, Venrock, and RRE Ventures, but did not disclose any financial details of the funding.

Funding 133
article thumbnail

AudioMicro Adds 13,000 Tracks

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based AudioMicro.com , a startup providing stock audio tracks and music, said Tuesday that it has added just over 13,000 record label owned, production music tracks to the service. The firm said the new tracks are being made available as part of its new offering, "The Premium Collection". Pricing on the new tracks will cost around $3 per minute, with packages available for $9 per month.

Design 133
article thumbnail

EdgeCast Partners With Turkish Firm

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based EdgeCast Networks , a provider of content delivery network (CDN) services, reports today that it has signed on a Turkish provider of telecommunications services, Dogan Telekom. EdgeCast said that Dogan is offerings its content delivery services to customers in that country. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. EdgeCast said Dogan's customers can now stream their content from its centers in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, rather than relying on its servers

Content 133
article thumbnail

Epicor Gets Win At Styles For Less

socalTECH

Irvine-based Epicor said Monday that it has signed retailer Styles For Less as a customer. The firm said that Styles For Less selected the firm's Epicor Retail software suite, to support chain expansion, streamline operations, and strengthen the firm's processes. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. Epicor said Styles For Less will pilot the project this month, with rollout beginning in January 2010 to its corporate headquarters and all 120 of the chain's store locations.

Software 133
article thumbnail

Blackline Names Support Head

socalTECH

Calabasas-based BlackLine Systems , the developer of financial close and account conciliation services headed by Therese Tucker, said today that it has named Kelly Darren as its Director of Support Services. The firm said that Darren has served at Chrysler, Takata, Armstrong-White, and Deloitte & Touche, LLP. The firm said that Darren will replace Donna McCollum, who previously headed up the firm's customer support.

Calabasas 133