Sat.May 21, 2016 - Fri.May 27, 2016

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How I Invest

Both Sides of the Table

I was speaking recently to the team at NuOrder , an LA-based company we’re an investor in about “realism in startups” — an impromptu talk I have given to any of our portfolio companies who ask. During the Q&A I was asked about how I make investment decisions in early-stage businesses. I was asked again in an LP meeting later in the week and then again at a founder breakfast gathering we hosted yesterday.

Invest 254
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Tipalti Takes On Accounts Payable

socalTECH

Tipalti , a startup with offices in Agoura Hills, said it has launched a new platform which automates the entire, accounts payable workflow for businesses. The company said its cloud-based product helps companies handle invoice collection and approval, plus also managed supplier payment operations, tax compliance, global payment remittance, and payment reconciliation with ERP systems.

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Should Millennial Entrepreneurs Skip College?

InfoChachkie

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Should millennial entrepreneurs go to college? Given the stellar startup careers of non-college graduates like Zuckerberg, Ellison, Disney, Gates, Jobs, Branson and Dell, the answer to this question might surprise you. In sports, outliers generate headlines. Basketball stars LeBrone James and Kobe Bryant achieved immediate success in the NBA as 18-yr old high school graduates.

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Blankspaces Targets New Location In Hollywood

SoCal Tech Calendar

Coworking space operator Blankspaces says it is planning a big expansion in mid-June, and plans to open up a new location in Hollywood. According to the company, the new space will have 14,500 feet, and will be its biggest location so far. Blankspaces currently has two other locations, one in the Mid-Wilshire district, and the other in downtown LA. The new location is located at 6600 Sunset Boulevard, and is aiming at everyone from solo entrepreneurs to small teams, with per-hour rates on workst

Hollywood 150
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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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A Letter to My Son on Becoming Independent

Both Sides of the Table

L’dor Vador Jacob. May 21st 2016. It is the day that you mark an important occasion, your Bar Mitzvah. And I want to stop on that thought — “mark an occasion.” My first-cousin Sam, who came from Dallas said it best. “I made sure to be here even though it’s easier to just skip travel because there are so few occasions in life where the whole family gets together and I wanted to be a part of that.

Course 231
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Startup Accelerator, Backed by LA Investors, Targets VR, AR

socalTECH

The Green Screen Institute , a startup accelerator which is looking to create innovation in the virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) areas, says that it is getting close to closing applications for its first, startup accelerator program. The accelerator--backed by a long list of Los Angeles investors and startup veterans, including Scott Lenet of Touchdown VC, Adam Rockmore (VP Marketing, Fandango), David Fields (Tornante Company), Robyn Ward (Head of New Media Ventures at United Tale

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Universal Music Acquires Digital Marketer Fame House

L.A. Business Journal

In a push to further diversify its business, Universal Music Group has acquired Fame House, a digital-marketing agency with musician clients such as Eminem and Pearl Jam. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Marketing 140
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Introducing Snapstorms.com. Why, oh, why Snapchat?

Both Sides of the Table

For the past few months I’ve been doing nearly daily “Snapstorms” or short videos with startup advice released on Snapchat. Today I’ve made all of them available on Snapstorms.com. Among the most comical things to me in the past few years is just how much it annoys some people that I use Snapchat. Not since the initial popularity of Twitter in 2007 has a product so befuddled people.

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March Capital Partners Launches $240M Venture Fund

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based March Capital Partners , the venture capital investment firm founded by venture investment veterans Jim Armstrong, Sumant Mandal, Gregory Milken and Jamie Montgomery, said this morning that it has had a final close on its first fund, at $240M. Armstrong and Mandal previously led Clearstone Venture Partners and idealab Capital Partners, Montgomery was the founder and CEO of Montgomery & Co., as well as the Montgomery Summit, and Milken was the founder and COO of AltEgo and

Capital 172
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SpaceX Successfully Launches Thaicom 8 Into Space

SoCal Tech Calendar

Hawthorne-based SpaceX has successfully launched another spacecraft into space, with a mission to launch a satellite payload for Thaicom into orbit on Friday. The company's Falcon 9 launched at 5:39pm ET from Cape Canaveral. SpaceX was expecting to attempt another landing of Falcon 9's first stage on its landing barge. The satellite being launched by SpaceX was built to Orbital ATK as an addition to Thaicom's existing satellite constellation, and will be launching into geostationary transfer orb

SpaceX 140
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Silicon Beach Launch List: May 27

L.A. Business Journal

A weekly roundup of L.A. tech company and product launches.

Product 150
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360fly Raises $40M, Launches 360 Live Stream 4K Camera

Tech.Co

This year is a big one for virtual reality and those who are creating content for it. This month, 360fly announced two major milestones for the hardware vendor: the successful close of a $40 million Series C round and the launch of their newest 4K live streaming 360 camera. WIth so much focus on nextgen headsets like Oculus and Vive, the lack of content is one of the largest pain points for the industry.

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Amazon Opening Another New Warehouse In Inland Empire

socalTECH

Amazon.com said today that it is expanding its operations in California, with two new "fulfillment centers", including one in the Inland Empire. Amazon.com said it is opening up a fulfillment center in Eastvale--which is just west of Riverside along with another center in Northern California, in Tracy. The company said the two centers will create more than 1,500 new full time jobs.

Riverside 150
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Western Digital Bumps Guidance

SoCal Tech Calendar

Irvine-based Western Digital has bumped its guidance for its fourth, fiscal quarter, saying it now expects fourth quarter revenues of between $3.35 billion to $3.45 billion, up from an earlier forecast of $2.6 billion to $2.7 billion. The upped guidance comes due to the company's acquisition of San Disk. Western Digital closed its $19 billion acquisition of SanDisk earlier this month.

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Silicon Beach Deal Flow: May 27

L.A. Business Journal

A weekly roundup of must-read L.A. tech investments and acquisitions.

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Cameron Kashani Launches COACCEL, The Human Accelerator

LATechDigest

CAMERON KASHANI is the Godmother of Silicon Beach, having cofounded LA’s first coworking space, Coloft, in 2010. Coloft has been home to over 1400 alumni, including Uber LA, Instacart, and Fullscreen. After a prolonged divorce from her husband and business partner, Kashani has since gone on to work with 4000+ Entrepreneurs and 650+ startups, and is an advisor to Bixel Exchange, as well as an International Speaker with US State Department.

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RealtyMogul Hits $200M In Projects

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based online real estate marketplace RealtyMogul.com said this morning that it has just hit $200M in total funding for projects on the site, and returned $40M to its investors. The crowdfunding site--which is led by Jilliene Helman--said it now has over 80,000 members across all 50 states, who have invested in more than 350 properties through its marketplace.

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Ixia Adds QualiTest

SoCal Tech Calendar

Calabasas-based networking testing products developer Ixia said earlier this week that it has added software testing and quality assurance company QualiTest as part of its partnership program. Ixia said QualiTest is now part of its Global Solution Provider Program, which helps deliver its network test products to enterprises and service providers around the world.

Calabasas 124
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International dialing – Four cheap long-distance call options

Tech Zulu Event

In this modern day of international business, phone calls spanning different countries or continents are becoming derigeur. Traditionally pretty expensive – a known truth by anyone who has ever accidentally made an international call on vacation – there are now a range of cheap options your business should be taking advantage of. Skype.

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6 Principles For Overcoming Entrepreneurial Adversity

Startup Professionals Musings

Every entrepreneur knows what it’s like to face adversity. It comes with the territory, and includes cash-flow challenges, fickle customers, belligerent investors and unpredictable economic downturns. The best entrepreneurs tackle these one at a time without losing their stride or their passion and many secretly get their highest satisfaction from overcoming an impossible problem.

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Kelly Slater Wave Company Acquired By World Surf League

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based WSL Holdings , the parent company of the World Surf League (WSL), said this morning that it has acquired the Kelly Slater Wave Company --the entity behind the "perfect wave" generating machine that has caused ripples across the surfing community. Slater caused a stir in the surfing industry with his secretive project to create wave machine to create what has been billed as best man made wave ever at a location at the San Joaquin valley.

Company 140
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Linksys Ships Speedy MU-MIMO Wireless Networking Products

SoCal Tech Calendar

Playa Vista-based networking equipment maker Linksys has shipped a trio of devices that implement the new MU-MIMO standard, including a router, range extender, and USB adapter. According to the company, its MU-MIMO AC5400 Tri-Band Wireless Router, AC1900 Range Extender and USB Adapter support Wi-Fi 802.11ac Wave 2 technology, with the router supporting 8 antennas and a combined speed of up to 5.3Gbps.

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EXPERT DOJO Investor Festival Brings Together Startups, VCs

LATechDigest

EXPERT DOJO is launching its Q2 Investor Festival this Thursday and Friday, in which member startups gain a live audience with area Angels, Accelerators, and Venture Firms. Day One begins with Expert DOJO founder Brian Mac Mahon conducting a pitch training session, followed by live pitches to famed accelerator Techstars for consideration in their next program.

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8 Ways To Prevent Burnout While Running A Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

New entrepreneurs routinely jump into a startup with a full charge of passion and energy, but often find themselves drained of both after a few months by the workload and challenges. As a result, burnout and loss of passion are consistently listed among the top causes of startup failure, according to many studies. The challenge is find ways to continually recharge along the way.

Startup 58
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GumGum Expands In-Image Ad Deal With Publisher

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based image advertising technology developer GumGum is in a deal, which will bring its in-image ads to publications In Touch Weekly, Life&Style, J-14, Closer Weekly, Woman�s World, Twist, and M Magazine, according to the company. The deal is part of an expanded partnership with publisher Bauer Xcel Media. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

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Uniregistry Rolls Out.game Domain

SoCal Tech Calendar

Newport Beach-based domain name registration service Uniregistry said this morning that it has launched a new, global top level domain,game. The company said that it already has pre-registered a large number of.game domains from major brands, including.game domains for all of Blizzard Entertainment's games (Warcraft, Starcraft, Hearthstone, Diablo, etc)., Activision (Call of Duty), Take-Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto), and many others.

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Ranking The Top 4 High Tech Car Features

Tech Zulu Event

There was a time when cars didn’t come standard with seat belts. That seems like a ludicrous statement, but they just weren’t deemed necessary in the early days of the automobile. It’s hard to imagine a time when cars didn’t come equipped with things like gas gauges, seat belts, or speedometers. The automobile industry has seen a lot of changes in recent years when it comes to the technology that comes standard in vehicles.

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7 Entrepreneur Attributes You Need To Lead The Market

Startup Professionals Musings

There are a few entrepreneurs who seem to always be ahead of the rest, and are able to sense where the market is going tomorrow. Investors reverently call this the ability to “see around the next technology corner,” and fight for a place in line to put their money down. Everyone wants to support the entrepreneur with the courage to make bold decisions, and can make it happen.

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Report: Snapchat Looks For $200M At $20 Billion Valuation

socalTECH

A report published this week--which heavily relies on third party assumptions, back calculations, and analysis of regulatory filings--says that Venice, California-based Snapchat is out looking for $200M in funding again, this time valuing the company around $20 billion. The report says the additional funding is an expansion of an earlier, Series F funding of $175M.

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Victorious Gets $25M For YouTube Celebrity Apps

SoCal Tech Calendar

Santa Monica-based Victoroius , which develops mobile apps focused on YouTube creators and celebrities, has raised $25M in a funding round, the company disclosed on Wednesday. The funding came from Marker Ventures, Dentsu Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, and Redpoint Ventures. Victoroius is led by Sam Rogoway, and develops apps specifically for Internet celebrities and creators.

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Four great apps for learning ‘hard’ languages

Tech Zulu Event

Learning any language can be hard, but some – including Mandarin, Arabic, and Korean – have a reputation for being more difficult than others. With the popularity of apps, however, there has never been an easier time to pick up a new language – even if that includes learning a new alphabet. The apps below are a great way of learning new languages that might appear to be too much of a challenge.

Study 40
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Find Your Sweet Spot To Excel As An Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

Finding your sweet spot as an entrepreneur needs to start with a meaningful personal purpose that is also a business opportunity. Some people are so passionate about a cause that they forget to consider the lack of business potential, while others are so enamored with profit that they jeopardize their ethics. Both ends of this spectrum fail to bring long-term satisfaction or success.

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Nestigator Rolls Out New Tool For Real Estate Agents

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Nestigator.com , an online, collaborative home search site which allows real estate agents, home seekers, and other collaborate to help find homes, has rolled out a new marketing tool for real estate agents. Nestigator--led by startup veteran Jerry Slavonia--said its new ZipPro tool helps real estate agents reserve ads in their preferred ZIP codes, giving them guaranteed ad placements on active listings within the ZIP codes they subscribe to.

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BridgeWave Gets Win In Iraq

SoCal Tech Calendar

San Diego-based BridgeWave , a developer of wireless backhaul systems, reports that it has deployed its systems in Iraq, for the Iraq Ministry of Transportation. The company said the agency has installed a mix of its 60GHz and 24GHz microwave wireless links in Iraq, to help connect its headquarters and 12 remote branches. Financial impact of the win was not announced.

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Best Apps to Make Home Buying Easier

Tech Zulu Event

It’s time to go house hunting. Where do you begin? How do you find what’s available, what the area is like, which schools are nearby? Well, there’s an app for that! Many apps, actually, but we’ve narrowed them down to the best apps that actually make home buying easier. #1. Zillow. A quick zip through the Zillow app will yield listings in your desired neighborhood, price range.

Pricing 40
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7 Team Attributes That Can Make Any Idea Come Alive

Startup Professionals Musings

There is an old saying in the startup investor community, “Smart investors invest in the team, not the idea.” As an angel investor, I’ve learned to believe in this approach, since I have seen great ideas go astray, due to poor execution and I have seen apparently marginal ideas make millions, managed by a savvy entrepreneur. Giving the wrong people money doesn’t help at the idea level.

Ideas 53