Sat.Jan 28, 2012 - Fri.Feb 03, 2012

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Web Second, Mobile First

Both Sides of the Table

Fred Wilson wrote two posts in 2010 that were very influential with the startup community. The titles were: Mobile First, Web Second. Mobile First, Web Second (continued). If you’re in the minority that never read them – you should. I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” Part of the beauty of blogging that in two sittings F

Web 334
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Nine Startup Tips From Michael Dell

InfoChachkie

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs , Richard Branson , Walt Disney and Mark Zuckerberg. 1. Degree? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Degrees. "As important as school was, I found that it could be very disruptive to a steady income." [Tweet this quote]. According to a January 2012 article in Forbes Magazine , nearly 16% of the 400 most affluent Americans do not have a college degree.

Tips 247
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Learn the science – practice the art of negotiation.

Berkonomics

From the time we learn to manipulate our parents from the crib to the present day, we learn to negotiate to obtain our wants and needs. As we grow, we negotiate constantly with our parents, then with our peers. As we enter the business world, we negotiate with our bosses and our subordinates. We negotiate with our suppliers, customers, investors, and even our auditors.

Pricing 214
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Interview with Jonathan LaCour, Playzon

socalTECH

How do you come up with a compelling, mobile videogame title? Jonathan LaCour , founder of Playzon , decided that he'd tap into the collective genius of students looking to get into the videogame industry, and is taking the top student-developed gaming titles from one videogame school and turning them into mobile games for the iPhone, Android, and Facebook.

Startup 217
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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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Chat with Yellow Thunder Media CEO and YouTube guru Tony Chen

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, February 6, 2012 -- Chat with Yellow Thunder Media CEO and YouTube guru Tony Chen. Tech Coast Angels. ony is the CEO of Yellow Thunder Media, a digital media agency specializing in video seeding and optimization on the YouTube platform to guarantee targeted, organic views and make videos go viral.

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Stephan Paternot shares open letter to Facebook’s Zuckerberg

Tech Zulu Event

Amidst the media frenzy surrounding Facebook’s S1 filing to go public, some people took pause today to reflect on what the IPO could mean for the social networking giant. Among them, Stephan Paternot shared an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg – through his Facebook profile no less – urging the young billionaire to “prepare for the beginning of the end of truly bold, innovative risk taking.” Who is Stephan Paternot, and why is his advice so relevant?

More Trending

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CitySourced Heads To Hawaii

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based CitySourced , the developer of mobile software used to help citizens to communicate with cities and local government, has rolled out in Honolulu, Hawaii. The City and County of Honolulu announced Tuesday that it has launched its smartphone reporting system, "Honolulu 311", which is powered by CitySourced, to allow citizens to report things like abandoned vehicles, graffiti, potholes, and other issues.

IBM 187
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The Employee-Ownership Alternative

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, February 9, 2012 -- The Employee-Ownership Alternative: Building the Company You Want. CONNECT. Entrepreneurs have choices about the kind of company they want to create. The VC routegiving up control over your destiny in exchange for fundingis well-known, but entrepreneurs should also be aware of the choices that employee ownership can provide.

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Congrats To The Spotlight: LA Tech Winter Presenting Companies at Caltech

Tech Zulu Event

The time has finally arrived! Months of submissions and the amazing help from our judges , the Spotlight is shinning down on awesome companies that were born right out of Southern California. For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. It’s a gallery of great entrepreneurship.

CalTech 91
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8 Key Elements Make Your Business Transformative

Startup Professionals Musings

Every entrepreneur has an idea for transforming a market with innovative new technology, or transforming society with a new process. But unfortunately, most of these ideas fail at the execution level, or are not truly innovative. Entrepreneurs who have been really transformative, like Steve Jobs and Walt Disney, seemed to know how to deal with all the right elements.

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Fandango To Debut Super Bowl Ad

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Fandango is getting a spot in its first SuperBowl ad this weekend, the firm said Friday, as part of a promotion for Universal Pictures' new action movie, Battleship. Fandango said that the SuperBowl advertisment will feature a tag which links viewers to its mobile apps. Fandango said the push will include both the Super Bowl advertising spot, social media outreach on Facebook and Twitter, as well as promotion across its site and apps.

Fandango 176
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UCI Entrepreneurship:Jacqueline Patterson, J.L. Patterson and Associates

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, February 9, 2012 -- Jacqueline L. Patterson, P.E., President, J.L. Patterson and Associates, 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.

UCI 100
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SocialNightlife.com | An App for Venues

Tech Zulu Event

Everyone enjoys a good evening out on the town now and then. As we’re out we all like to indulge in our social media accounts with sharing updates, media, and check-ins. But while we’re doing all that, what are the nightlife venues we’re at doing on their side? Is there a potential for a greater evening experience to be achieved based on our social actions?

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Social Media is a Boon to Startups Who Do It Right

Startup Professionals Musings

If your startup can’t be bothered with social media, or has no plan to take advantage of it, then you are definitely at risk these days. But simply jumping in is not enough. Before you start spending money and time being a user, you need to understand how it can help you and your business. Using it randomly or incorrectly is a waste of your precious time.

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SAIL Venture Partners Extends To Canada

socalTECH

Costa Mesa-based SAIL Capital Partners , the clean technology investor, said today that it has created a joint venture in Canada, to invest in early stage cleantech companies. SAIL said that the move comes as part of a joint venture with a Canadian subsidiary of Stifel Financial Corp. The new joint venture will be located in Toronto, and invest in early stage cleantech companies.

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Advanced Affiliate Marketing with ShoeMoney

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, February 9, 2012 -- Advanced Affiliate Marketing with ShoeMoney. Startups Uncensored #24. Join us for our next Startups Uncensored event on February 9th - Advanced Affiliate Marketing with Jeremy Schoemaker! Schoemaker (widely known by his nickname of ShoeMoney) is an important player in the search engine marketing world, and his knowledge and expertise make him one of the top go-to guys for PPC, arbitrage, SEM, branding, and online income optimization.

PPC 100
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American Immigration: The Invisible Wall to Innovation

Tech Zulu Event

A look around technology industry, perhaps the heart of the global revolution, shows a happily working international community all pushing for the common goal of innovation. The reality, however, of the coexistence between immigrants and their American peers is proving to be a one-sided pursuit, with qualified immigrants struggling to stay in the country to join the companies that they have co-founded.

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Scaling a Business by Cloning Yourself is Tough

Startup Professionals Musings

Many writers have outlined the critical success factors for product companies, like sell every unit at a profit, patent the design, and continuous product improvement. But recently I was asked about success factors for services startups, and I quickly realized that there is very little published to help the thousands of startups that fall in this category.

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MomentFeed Partners With Foursquare

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based MomentFeed , the location analytics and marketing software development firm headed by Rob Reed, said today that it has partnered with location check-in company Foursquare. According to the two companies, the partnership will allow Foursquare to claim venues on behalf o its its clients, providing an interface to manage hundreds or thousands of locations.

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Learn about the new LA incubators/accelerators

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 -- Learn about the new LA incubators/accelerators. Lean LA. Miss us? We missed you too. So much so that we are going to start 2012 with a big bang with the LeanLA incubator/accelerator event. I don't know if you guys noticed but incubators have been popping up in LA like mushrooms after a rainstorm in the last few months. We've rounded them up and we're gonna have an honest and open discussion about them because you guys need to find out why you should let any of them i

Incubator 100
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Why L.A.'s Start-up Scene Beats All Others

Frank Addante

(my first article of a weekly column that I'm writing for Inc Magazine) A five-time entrepreneur makes the case for launching a company in Silicon Beach. He's not the only fan. Los Angeles is the capital of small business in the United States, according to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Ramon Villaraigosa, at a reception earlier this month for Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalists.

Startup 45
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Good Business Writing is Not a Mark Twain Novel

Startup Professionals Musings

In the world of business, you only get one chance for a great first impression. The stakes are high – you are asking an investor for money, a customer for an order, or another executive for a partnership. Badly written letters, long rambling or emotional emails, or an obvious lack of spell checking will brand you as a poor business risk before the message is even considered.

Writing 89
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Shopatron Signs Bosch Appliances

socalTECH

San Luis Obispo-based Shopatron , the provider of e-commerce software for brands, reported Tuesday that it has signed a partnership with appliance firm Bosch Home Appliances. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Shopatron said it is providing Bosch with a new home appliances website, where shoppers can browse appliances such as ranges, cooktops, hoods, dishwashers, refrigerators and washer/dryer combinations.

Commerce 173
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UCI Entrepreneurship: Daryl Pelc, Boeing Phantom Works

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 -- Daryl G. Pelc, Vice President, Engineering and Technology, Phantom Works, The Boeing Company. 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.

UCI 100
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TigerText Pounces On $8.2M

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based TigerText , a startup providing secure mobile messaging services for healthcare companies, announced today that it has raised $8.2M in a second round of funding. The round was led by Easton Capital and New Science Ventures. TigerText said it will use the funding to accelerate development of its products, which provides HIPAA-compliant text messaging to doctors, nurses, and others in hospitals an dclinics.

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Social Rewards Gets $600K

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Social Rewards , which operates an online, loyalty program which rewards users for social media activity for brands, has raised $600,000 in a seed funding round. The round came from the Tech Coast Angels, as well as Jeff Lapin (Starwood Hotels), Stuard Larkins (Performics), Kelly Perdew, Mi Ventures, and K5 Venture Partners. Social Rewards was founded by Joseph Morin and Mike Uesugi.

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Topspin Launches Social Analytics Service

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Topspin Media , which develops tools to help musicians market themselves online, has released a new set of analytics tools today, called Topspin Sharealytics. According to Topspin, the new set of features comes via a collaboration with social analytics firm Awe.sm. Topspin said the new set of features will allow artists to track the spread of their marketing widgets on Facebook and Twitter, track signups, and more.

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EdgeCast Doubles Revenues, Headcount

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based EdgeCast Networks , the content delivery network (CDN) provider headed by Alex Kazerani, said today that it doubled its annual revenues and headcount in 2011, over its 2010 numbers. The privately held firm--which did not disclose actual revenue numbers--said the growth came as a result of its strategy of offering both direct sales and white-labeled CDN services.

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Goodreads Decouples From Amazon

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Goodreads , the online community for book readers headed by Otis Chandler, said today that it has separated itself from its former reliance on Amazon.com's book information, and is now gathering its data from Ingram, the largest wholesaler of books in the U.S. According to Goodreads, it is also working with other open data sources for book information on the site.

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Leads360 Gets $15M For Sales Lead Software

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Leads360 , the developer of leads management software headed by Nick Hedges, said this morning that it has raised $15M in new funding. The round was led by Volition Capital, and also included Rustic Canyon Partners. According to the company, the new funding will go towards product offerings, strategic partnerships, and awareness of its platform.

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Ceres Expected To Hit Market Feb 9th

socalTECH

Thousand Oaks-based Ceres , which develops specialized seeds for the biofuels industry, is planning to hit the market on February 9th, according to the NASDAQ IPO calendar. Ceres recently estimated its IPO pricing at between $21.00 and $23.00 per share. If successful, the offering will raise $132.25M for the company. Ceres has applied to list as CERE on the NASDAQ Global Market.

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TextPower Signs Electric Utility

socalTECH

San Juan Capistrano-based TextPower , which provides software and text messaging (SMS) gateway services, said today that it has signed on electric utility Blue Grass Energy. TextPower did not disclose the financial impact of the win, but said that Blue Grass Energy is using the firm to provide text messaging alerts to its customers. The utility sends text messages out to users as part of a "Beat the Peak" program to help encourage users to shut off unnecessary lights and equipment during times o

Platform 150
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Slacker Expands Latin Music Channels

socalTECH

San Diego-based streaming radio service Slacker said yesterday that it has expanded its Spanish language offerings. The company said it has added four Latin stations to the service: Memorias, Puro Norte, Romantica and Salsa. Slacker is tapping a team of radio veterans to help select tracks for the various stations. READ MORE>>.

San Diego 150
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Central Desktop Claims Growth In Staff, Customers

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based CEntral Desktop , the developer of online project and collaboration software which is headed by Isaac Garcia, claimed yesterday that it has seen growth in both its employees and customers last year. The company said it grew its staff by 43 percent in 2011, and increased its enterprise customer base by 41 percent. The company did not disclose any employment numbers or actual finances.

Customer 150
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Platinum Equity Sells Portfolio Firm Canvas Systems

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based private equity firm Platinum Equity has sold one of its portfolio companies, Canvas Systems , a supplier of refurbished IT hardware and services. Canvas Systems was sold to electronics distributor Avnet. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Platinum Equity had acquired Canvas Systems in April of 2009. READ MORE>>.

Equity 150
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InTouch Health Gains $6M From iRobot

socalTECH

Santa Barbara-based InTouch Health , a developer of remote presence technology and robotics for the healthcare market, has scored a $6M investment from iRobot. iRobot said the investment gives it a minority position in InTouch, and is an expansion of a joint development and licensing agreement between the two companies. The two are working on combining iRobot's platforms with healthcare applications.