InfoChachkie

JULY 29, 2013

'Easy To Start, Hard To Control. A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Brian Coryat, Founder and CEO of Local Market Launch and former founder of ValueClick (NASDAQ: VCLK) recently spoke as part of UCSB''s Distinguished Lecture Series. His talk was entertaining and informative and contained a number of witty entrepreneurial insights, such as: "Startups are like high school.

Startup 229

Startup Course Entrepreneur Marketing 229

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'In the world of mobile app and Internet startups, it''s not that often that you see companies who touch the hardware side of the world get funding nowadays. One of the companies that has recently is On Ramp Wireless (www.onrampwireless.com), a San Diego company in the M2M market headed by Kevin Hell. The firm recently raised a $15M series C funding, and we caught up with Kevin to learn more about why its customers, and investors, are interested in its technology.

Technical Review 213

Technical Review Software Review Networking Technology 213

Berkonomics

AUGUST 1, 2013

'There are a number of key performance indicators that help new generation company management see more clearly their progress and corporate health. The old measures, including return on investment, percentage of profit against revenue or employee count, and more, obviously are still relevant. But businesses that expose their story to tens of millions of potential customers through the Internet need additional tools.

Acquisition 189

Acquisition Statistics Sales Custom 189

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2013

'The sad truth is that cash flow surprises kill many startups, even though they should have been adequately funded to survive. Overall, 90% of small business failures are caused by poor cash flow, according to the D&B Small Business website. Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so this is not the place for shortcuts and sloppy practices.

Startup 114

Startup Sales Layoffs Slides 114

Advertiser: Aggregage

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.

Company

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 29, 2013

'This month TechZulu is heading to NextSpace Coworking in Culver City! For those unfamiliar, held the last Friday of every month, TechZulu Final Fridays (#TZFF) are a creative blend between mentorship, networking event, startup showcase, and community celebration. Join us as we introduce you to featured faces and spaces across our great city, highlighting the many flavors of innovation that make up the LA tech ecosystem…plus plenty of free food and drinks.

Culver City 110

Culver City Social Media Startup Media 110

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'Los Angeles-based Albumatic , a developer of an iOS photo sharing application, has raised $4.2M in a funding round, the firm disclosed this week. The funding came from RRE Ventures, Thrive Capital, SV Angel, CrunchFund, Highline Venture Partners, Betaworks, and Box Group. Albumatic was founded by Adam Ludwin and Devon Gundry. A regulatory filing indicates the round actually had a first close back in April.

Venture Capital 196

Venture Capital Los Angeles Capital Funding 196

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 27, 2013

'Successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think the most creatively, not only in their initial product or service, but more importantly all through the stages of growth from startup to maturity. But even the best of them can easily slip into some bad decision habits that limit or hurt their business, due to natural human tendencies and the pressures of business challenges.

Metrics 110

Metrics Entrepreneur Statistics Demand 110

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 31, 2013

'Tonight, in my Facebook feed, ( thanks to Micah Baldwin ), I came across the Hello Flo video. It is YouTube marketing at its best. Huffington Post is already calling it the “ Best Tampon Campaign Ad in the History of the World” and the video only went live yesterday. YESTERDAY. From the time I took a screenshot of the view count for this article, to my fingers clicking away typing these words, the video has already shot up over an additional 300,000 views totaling 1,851,189 views in 2 days.

Dollar Shave Club 101

Dollar Shave Club Custom Customer Marketing 101

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'Rancho Cucamonga-based Monoprice , an online retailer selling home theater components, speakers, and related consumer electronics products, has been acquired for $180M in cash by Internet company Bluecora. According to Blucora, Monoprice was founded in 2002, and sells its own, name-brand items on its website. Monoprice had revenues of $131.1M for the twelve months ending June 30, 2013.

Southern California 193

Southern California Acquisition Los Angeles Product 193

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'There''s been a lot of back and forth in the past few months between ridesharing and transportation startups like Uber , Lyft , and Sidecar , and local taxi companies--who are not happy at all that those companies are moving in on their turf. To help those taxi companies, a Los Angeles investor-- Craton Equity Partners --has backed a mobile app developer called Flywheel , which is helping taxi companies arm themselves for the fight against those startups.

Mobile 185

Mobile Help Develop Development 185

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2013

'Los Angeles-based cloud storage provider Infrascale announced this morning that it has connected its enterprise collaboration tool, FileLocker, with Microsoft''s popular SharePoint software. According to InfraScale, its FileLocker tools provides encryption and cloud-based sharing of data to customers in SharePoint, including synchronization tools, in-cloud file editing, cloud access to SharePoint files via iPhone/iPad, Android, and Windows Phone, and more.

Tool 178

Tool Los Angeles Software Custom 178

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2013

'Bottlenose , a brand new startup in social media analytics, has raised $3.6M in a Series A funding round. The company said the funding round was led by ff Venture Capital, and also included Lerer Ventures, Transmedia, Advancit, as well as other leading funds and angel investors. Bottlenose said that its software is helping brands and agencies, including Pepsi, FleishmanHillard, Razorfish, and DigitasLBi, to map and track trends in social networks.

Social Media 174

Social Media Media Social Network Venture Capital 174

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'Irvine-based Zadara Storage , which develops cloud connected, block and file-based storage devices for the enterprise, has raised $3M in a funding round, the company said today. Zadara said the funding came from Toshiba America Electronics Components. Zadara Storage said the funding will go towards sales, support, and engineering. Zadara Storage is split between Irvine and Nesher, Israel, and offers up enterprises and service providers a way to manage and connect their companies into either pub

Venture Capital 173

Venture Capital Sales Funding Networking 173

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'Hollywood-based Quarterly Co. , the startup which delivers a curated set of gifts, via subscription, to customers every quarter, is expanding into the food, health, and fitness category. According to the company, it has added MizzFIT.com founder Bianca Jade, author and star of FitLife.TV Drew Canole and meal kit service HelloFresh as contributors to its service.

Hollywood 170

Hollywood Customer Custom Services 170

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'A new, Los Angeles startup is hoping to make it easier for action sports fans to track their moves on their smartphone and a mobile app--plus a new device--if it can get funding on Kickstarter. According to ActiveReplay , it has launched Trace, a Bluetooth device which uses 9-axis sensors, a GPS, Bluetooth, and an embedded processor to track the movements of skaters, skiiers, snowboarders and surfers.

Mobile 170

Mobile Los Angeles Startup Funding 170

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'Santa Monica-based online advertising firm YieldMetrics has renamed itself Adomic , as part of a rebranding effort, the firm said today. The startup, which is backed by Upfront Ventures (which also just went through a renaming effort, from GRP Partners), did not say exactly why it decided to rename itself. The start is led by Gabe Gottlieb. As part of the rebranding, the company said it has named Stephanie Grossman as SVP, Business Development, Sales and Marketing.

GRP Partners 168

GRP Partners Santa Monica Advertising Startup 168

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'Maker Studios , the Los Angeles-based YouTube network, has launched a brand new network focused on gaming and geek culture, the firm said Thursday. According to Maker Studios, the new network, Polaris , will feature everything from 8-bit nostaliga to e-sports enthusiasts, and such stars as PewDiePie, Yogscast and Dodger Plus. Maker said the new network is focused on videos, culture, movies, comics and all-things-geek.

Networking 164

Networking Content Los Angeles Angel 164

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'In what might easily be the most number of executives announced at once in Southern California, Los Angeles-based online advertising marketplace The Rubicon Project announced ten new executives across engineering, data, administrative and operational strategy, legal, financial and business development. According to the company, it has hired Tim McQuillan as Chief Knowledge Officer; Dr.

Chief Technology Officer 164

Chief Technology Officer ReachLocal Southern California Advertising 164

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2013

'How do you keep up with everything that''s happening with your favorite interests, brands, and personalities on your mobile phone? Right now, that''s a jumble of different social services, websites, and more--which is the problem that Yapert (www.yapert.com) thinks it has solved. Yapert raised a funding round a few weeks ago from the Tech Coast Angels, Desert Angeles, and Pasadena Angels for its mobile apps, which consolidates news and information about your favorite interests.

Mobile 159

Mobile Startup Entertainment Tech Coast Angels 159

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'SlimSurveys , the new startup headed by former TweetPhoto founder Sean Callahan, has just released a new development platform and API, the company is announcing today. The company--which lets developers easily poll their users via their own mobile apps--said that its Developer Program and API lets developers, publishers, and other partners add survey functionality to any web app or mobile platform, including both iOS and Android.

Develop 159

Develop Development Mobile Platform 159

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2013

'San Diego-based advanced battery developer PowerGenix said today that it has signed up French car maker PSA Peugeot Citroen as a customer. According to PowerGenix, Peugeot has signed an "innovation" contract where Peugeot will evaluate the use of PowerGenix'' Nickel-Zinc batteries as a replacement for lead-acid batteries. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Outsource Development 157

Outsource Development San Diego Startup Custom 157

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2013

'In what might be one of the first successful examples of an energy startup company making effective use of taxpayer guarantees, San Diego-based Sapphire Energy , which is developing algae-based crude oil technology, said it has completely paid of a loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Sapphire Energy had been awarded $54.5M in a loan guarantee in December of 2009, to help build an algae-to-crude oil commercial demonstration facility in Columbus, N.M.

San Diego 157

San Diego Equity Examples Funding 157

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2013

'Los Angeles-based NationBuilder , the operator of the online service to help manage political campaigns, nonprofits, government organizations, and business outreach, has bolstered its support for the Mac. The company said over the weekend that it has launched a new Mac app, which helps designers synchronize their templates with the Mac. The company said the new tool , NationBuilder Theme Sync for Mac, helps Mac-based designers edit files on their own machine, rather than using the company''s br

Template 157

Template Tool Design Los Angeles 157

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2013

'Are you a startup founder wishing you could find someone more experience to help meet other entrepeneurs, get some advice, and help you figure out the issues you face? One Los Angeles group, MentorNight , believes it now has the largest mentor network outside of the local accelerators and incubators, and now has over 100 mentors looking to help up and coming entrepreneurs.

CTO Coach 153

CTO Coach Mentor CTO Hire TechEmpower 153

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'Los Angeles-based Lootsie said Thursday that it has launched a new, mobile rewards program aimed ta casual game players, which will provide rewards to iOs and Android game players for in-game achievements. According to Lotsie, the company''s new reward program lets players cash out those points for gift cards, prizes, special offers, and more. Lootsie said the company''s rewards program is aimed at helping advertisers better connect with game players, bypassing banners and pop-ups which are dis

Advertising 153

Advertising Entertainment Content Los Angeles 153

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'Creative Allies , a startup which helps bands crowdsource t-shirts and other merchandise from their fans, said today that it is now reaching over 300 million music fans through its social media efforts. The website lets fans of bands vote for their favorite t-shirts, and enter design contests for their favorite bands, films, and festivals. The site lets designers put their designs up for a vote, providing cash, prizes, and royalties on sales of those t-shirts.

Design 153

Design Social Media Los Angeles Sites 153

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2013

'It looks like the humble front door is the center of a lot of innovation nowadays, as a number of vendors have started to try to figure out how to combine the ubiquitous smartphone with unlocking your front door. The latest in that area comes from a venerable name in locks-- Kwikset , which announced a brand new product called the Kwikset Kevo. According to Spectrum Brands Holdings, which owns the Kwikset brand, it has teamed with Unikey Technologies to launch a smartphone-enabled door lock, wh

Santa Monica 153

Santa Monica Activity Product Technology 153

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2013

'San Diego-based venture investor Domain Associates is reporting today that a fifth company in its portfolio--ReVision Optics--has received funding via its agreement with Rusnano, the Russian state''s investment corporation. Revision optics announced a $55M funding round this morning. Domain inked a deal with Rusnano to create a $760 million co-investment partnership, back in March of last year, as it sought to find a way to more reliably provide late stage capital to its portfolio companies.

Invest 153

Invest Funding San Diego Venture Capital 153

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2013

'One of the newest web standards to emerge in the world of video hosting and streaming is WebRTC, a new open source project specifically aimed at allowing web browser applications to support real time communications. To address that, a new, local startup, XirSys has launched a new infrastructure-as-a-service aimed at hosting WebRTC applications and services.

Web 149

Web Startup Services Develop 149

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2013

'Los Angeles-based Triton Digital said this week that it has partnered with targeting company Semcasting , to expand the targeting capabilities in its streaming audio advertisement exchange. Triton said the partnership allows the company to target listeners on any device, without using cookies. Financial details of the partnership were not announced.

Advertising 147

Advertising Los Angeles Media Angel 147

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2013

'Newport Beach-based PayDivvy , an online service which let groups split bills among each other, has been acquired by Higher One , a provider of student financial services company. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. PayDivvy had allowed users to split up bills--utilities, restaurant bills, other shared expenses--and handled collecting those various split bills between friends, roommates, and others.

Acquisition 147

Acquisition Services Company Companies 147

socalTECH

AUGUST 1, 2013

'Irvine-based PEAR Sports announced this morning that it has launched a new product that uses a heart rate monitor and your smartphone to provide customized coaching and fitness training. The firm announced a system which uses heart rate-based training to customize workouts for users, via their smartphone. The company explains that it lets users "download workouts"--ranging from yoga, to strength training or running--similar to how you download music or movies from iTunes.

Training 147

Training Coach Equity Custom 147

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'San Dimas-based WebMetro , a search marketing and digital marketing agency, has been acquired by TeleTech Holdings , the two said today. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. According to the companies, WebMetro will become part of TeleTech''s Customer Growth Services division, Revana. TeleTech is a large provier of customer service outsourcing to companies.

San Dimas 147

San Dimas Outsource Acquisition Marketing 147

socalTECH

JULY 31, 2013

'Los Angeles-based ZestFinance , a developer of "big data" based software tools for credit scoring and underwriting, has raised $20M in a financing round, led by Peter Thiel. The round also includes Lightspeed Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Kensington Capital Holdings, and Eastward Capital Partners. As part of the funding, Thiel Capital, Peter Thiel''s investment firm, will gain a board observer seat.

Venture Capital 147

Venture Capital Tool Google Capital 147

socalTECH

JULY 30, 2013

'Hawthorne-based commercial space rocket developer Space Exploratoin Technologies said this afternoon that it has been awarded a launch reservation contract to support the Canadian space program. SpaceX said the company will carry three satellites to orbit on a Falcon 9 rocket in 2018, via a contract with MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA).

SpaceX 147

SpaceX Outsource Development Hawthorne Technology 147

socalTECH

JULY 29, 2013

'Irvine-based Local Corporation is abandoning the daily deals market, saying this morning that it has sold its Spreebird daily deals business to nCrowd. Financial terms of the sale were not announced. Local Corporation said that nCrowd has acquired both the Spreebird business and all related assets, as the company has decided to exit from the direct SMB sales market.

Sales 147

Sales Acquisition Marketing Services 147