Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

'When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. It was a fun period for me because everything was new and I was curious. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price? With which other investors? Should I focus on geographies or industries? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2013

'Los Angeles-based venture capital investment firm DFJ Frontier has significantly bolstered the company''s team, saying Tuesday that it has added Merrill Brown --former founder of MSNBC--as a Venture Partner. DFJ Frontier said that Brown will be based in New York, and will work both on the East Coast and the Northwest. Brown was most recently at the Montclair State University School of Communication and Media, but prior to that also had served at Journalism Online (acquired by RR Donnelley); Rea

Media 260

Media Journal Venture Capital Los Angeles 260

InfoChachkie

MAY 6, 2013

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Jim Andelman, my Partner at Rincon Venture Partners , aptly describes the genesis of the Series A crunch, stating that: "Over the next 12-to-18 months, a lot of good companies that have been Seed financed are going to have a tough time raising a Series . A from a new outside lead. This is due to a fundamental disconnect between the increased activity of high-volume seed investors (that fill out lots of Seed rounds) and the relatively smal

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Venture Capital Technical Review Capital 246

Berkonomics

MAY 9, 2013

'Great executives and managers seem to intuitively know what they don’t know. But it is not at all uncommon to not even know what questions to ask. How do you avoid being sideswiped by the new product you never saw coming, or by the “black swan” event no-one ever thought of – that might threaten your business? Speaking with a roundtable group of fellow associates, most all of them CEOs, we addressed this question and spent an hour brainstorming how to protect against just such a lack of

Email 199

Email Report Technology Customer 199

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

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

'When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. It was a fun period for me because everything was new and I was curious. What kind of deals should I be doing? What stage? What price? With which other investors? Should I focus on geographies or industries? Should I trust my instincts for founders and products or should I be more focused on the market size or business plan?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2013

'Tired of fighting for that extension cord in the parking lot? Carpinteria-based Lynda.com , the online video learning and instruction company, has added a new perk for its employees: the addition of an electric car charging station at its office. According to Lynda.com, it has become a partner in the Department of Energy''s Workplace Charging Challenge, an effort to increase the number of employes who offer charging for plug-in electric vehicles.

Company 238

Company Companies 238

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2013

'In sports, mental toughness is defined as the ability to focus on and execute solutions, especially in the face of adversity. If anyone in business ever needed mental toughness, it’s an entrepreneur. Investors tell me that startup success is all about execution, all while facing determined competitors and overcoming customers’ resistance to change.

Entrepreneur 121

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Training 121

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 7, 2013

'Anyone who reads this blog frequently will know that I am a big believer in low-cost video content and specifically the power of YouTube as a content creation & distribution platform. Our industry just took one big step towards legitimacy with the hiring of renowned media exec Ynon Kreiz to run Maker Studios. The industry finally has one of their own at the helm of the largest YouTube network.

Media 320

Media CTO Coach CTO Hire Los Angeles 320

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2013

'Four years ago, Los Angeles-based Adly (www.adly.com) launched to much fanfare as one of the first local startups to tie into the brand-new, Twitter micro messaging platform. We caught up with CEO Walter Delph to hear how the promise of social media advertising has measured up to reality, and what that means for brands and marketers today trying to leverage the new reality of social conversations.

Social Media 237

Social Media Advertising Media Metrics 237

Eric Greenspan

MAY 7, 2013

'Mommy bloggers are one of the most influential social networking resources that lead to increased awareness and sales. Their stamp of approval can put the spotlight on any product or service and can open doors to new markets and opportunities. Their influence is strongest in the area of child education, products aimed at children or parents, parenting, and many other family oriented industries.

IBM 154

IBM IBM Email Research 154

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 4, 2013

'Did you ever wonder why some entrepreneurs always seem to have all the luck and success, while others never seem to catch a break? As an Angel investor, I quickly learned that luck has very little to do with it, and I now look for some personal characteristics and leadership styles that separate the potential winners from the losers. These differences are the reason that investors say that they invest in people, rather than ideas.

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Tips Startup Technical Review 111

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2013

'Yesterday I wrote a post about “ proprietary dealflow for VCs.” In the article I discussed the downside of raising capital at a too high of a price and referred people to a previous article I had written encouraging founders to raise “ At the Top end of Normal ” as opposed to stratospheric prices. In the comments section Siqi Chen wrote a great question. “Whenever I hear advice about pricing a round too high for the next round, I can’t help but think: well, i

Pricing 302

Pricing Seed Funding Invest Venture Capital 302

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

'Santa Monica-based testing software developer TestFlight said today that it has opened up its private beta for Android to all users. The company--which has been running the private beta for the last 45 days--lets users upload apps, and helps developers track everything from distribution of those apps, user feedback, and beta testing efforts. TestFlight said it will also be rolling out crash reporting and an Android SDK as early as next week.

Santa Monica 199

Santa Monica Software Development Mobile Software 199

Eric Greenspan

MAY 9, 2013

'So often I find myself coaching others on how they behave on social networks. So I figured I’d share my thoughts publicly: 1. When a new friend adds you and subsequently posts on your wall/timeline moments later, this is a no no. 2. When an old friend posts on your timeline, it better not be an ad for free Southwest tickets. 3. If you are new friend, perhaps give it some time before inviting me to like your page.

Social Media 117

Social Media Media IBM IBM 117

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 9, 2013

'Not just a new film, “The Cosmonaut” is a labor of love four years in the making, crowdsourced and created with a plan to test the boundaries of transmedia content distribution worldwide. The project was started by a group of young Spanish digerati called Riot Cinema Collective. Using the power of the Internet’s connected tools they are proposing a new film model from financing, distribution, production and user participation by fostering a hardcore community under a Share-alike Creative Common

Screening 111

Screening Media Content Startup 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 5, 2013

'If you are an entrepreneur these days, or trying to grow an existing business, everyone is telling you that you need to use social media. There are many ‘experts’ out there telling you how to do it, or even offering their services. But very few are talking about how to measure your results, and the right metrics for optimizing your marketing environment.

Social Media 102

Social Media Media Entrepreneur Metrics 102

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2013

'BLANKSPACES , one of the original coworking spaces in the Los Angeles area, told its supporters today that it is looking to open up a new space in downtown LA--if it can raise enough money through a crowdsourcing effort. BLANKSPACES, in a crowdfunding effort posted on Crowdfunder , said it is looking to raise at least $35,000 to bring coworking to downtown Los Angeles.

Los Angeles 199

Los Angeles Startup Angel Funding 199

Eric Greenspan

MAY 9, 2013

'There’s great ideas everywhere. Here’s a couple of mine: 1. Edible Landscaping. Why do we spend countless dollars beautifying our yards and yet we can’t grow our own organic food? My idea is to never plant anything you can’t eat. There are many beautiful edible landscape options. Fruits and vegetables come from flowers, last longer and well, you can eat them.

Ideas 117

Ideas Screening IBM IBM 117

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 6, 2013

'The TZ Tech Crawl is heading back to Santa Monica for the first time in 2013! For those of you who may have missed out you can checkout what Mediapost and D&B had to say about it: TZ Tech Crawl Takes Participants on a Tour of Silicon Beach. 2012 TechZulu Tech Crawl – Technically Awesome. A tour of some of the hottest Silicon Beach companies. Why not stop by for a quick beer, game, snack or just say hi at one of the many Silicon Beach tech companies from 6pm to 11pm?

Santa Monica 111

Santa Monica Email Networking Entrepreneur 111

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 7, 2013

'Entrepreneurs inherently understand that they have to be the initial leader of their startup, but often they don’t have the experience or the training to know where their leadership competencies lie, or how to build a leadership team. For new entrepreneurs, leadership development efforts may be more valuable for achieving startup success than business skills development.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Entertainment Coach 100

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

'Monrovia, California-based electric vehicle charging developer Aerovironment has added a big new customer for its charging station installation service today: Ford Motor Company. According to AeroVironment, it will be the preferred installation partner and authorized charging station supplier for the Ford Focus Electric, C-MAX Energi and Fusion Energi plug-in electric vehicles.

Southern California 198

Southern California Monrovia Customer Custom 198

Eric Greenspan

MAY 10, 2013

'I have a toddler, he’s 3. He’s smart; I mean really smart. He has an iPad at both my house and at his mom’s. He can move icons, group them in folders, delete and luckily, he doesn’t know my password or he’d be buying apps daily! I love the iPad. He plays with it instead of TV. I select the content and mostly it’s educational.

Netflix 115

Netflix IBM IBM Startup 115

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 10, 2013

'To quote the great philosopher, Ferris Bueller, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”. As fast as life moves, technology moves even faster. It only took Facebook eight years to land a billion users. Twitter hit the five hundred million mark in just six years. Apple’s App Store launched in 2008 and is already closing in on 50 billion downloads.

Technical Review 105

Technical Review Software Review CIO Web Design 105

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2013

'How many times have investors heard startups start their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” What entrepreneurs forget or don’t realize is that most customers are initially wary of any technology, that educating the market on new technology is expensive, takes a long time, and people buy problem solutions rather than technology anyway.

Startup 99

Startup Technology Social Media Entrepreneur 99

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2013

'Los Angeles-based Inktank , the developer of the open source, massively parallel, distributed file system Ceph , has added $13.4M into its coffers, according to a regulatory filing by the firm Friday. The filing says the funding--in the form of a debt round--came from four investors. Details on the investment have not yet been announced by the company.

Technology 196

Technology Venture Capital Los Angeles Capital 196

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

'San Diego-based music streaming service Slacker has a message for the industry: you can run a digital music service, and make money. Slacker, which has been in the midst of a big relaunch since February, announced today that it has added six million new listeners to the service since its relaunch , and is gross margin profitable on every user of the service.

San Diego 191

San Diego .Net Content Mobile 191

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

'Is there anything you can''t connect nowadays to your smartphone? A new, Pasadena-based startup, Pintofeed , has just raised over $50,00 in crowdfunding for its smartphone-connected pet feeder, which connects to your iPhone, Android, or Windows 8 device. Pintofeed said that its intelligent pet feeder will let users control the feeding of their pets--even if they''re across the world, via its smartphone application.

Pasadena 190

Pasadena Software Startup Company 190

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2013

'Are you a company looking to find and promote user-generated videos around your brand? A new, Los Angeles startup, SendUs , launched its services to help brands manage user-generated video content this morning, saying that its platform helps companies leverage that user-generated content and turn it into videos for companies. According to SendUs, brands and companies can use its video platform to request specific videos from their audiences, and promote that through social networks.

Platform 190

Platform Social Network Content Los Angeles 190

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2013

'In the latest Silicon-Valley-tech-mogul-buys-into-SoCal story, it looks like Oracle founder Larry Ellison has been making some big investments in Southern California--in the real estate area. The LA Times said this weekend that Ellison has spent an estimated $200M to $250M acquiring at least nine properties in Malibu. It''s unclear what Ellison plans to do with property.

Malibu 190

Malibu Oracle Southern California Invest 190

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2013

'Forbes Magazine has released its latest Midas List , its listing of the top venture capitalists, and--once again--Southern California''s venture capitalists have been shut out of the list. However, two, Southern California firms drove the inclusion of two other, venture capital investors on the list--Miachel Moritz of Sequoia Capital (for his investment in Monrovia-based Green Dot ), and Byron Deeter of Bessemer Venture Partners (for his investment in Los Angeles-based Cornerstone OnDemand ).

Cornerstone OnDemand 185

Cornerstone OnDemand Southern California Monrovia Help 185

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2013

'Santa Monica-based online digital media publisher Demand Media keeps on getting bigger and bigger. The firm reported its latest quarterly results Tuesday, reporting $100.6M in total revenues, its second $100M plus quarter. The company also reported net income of $0.7M for its quarter, which ended March 31, 2013. The company said the growth in revenues came from "strong growth" on its owned & operated content and media properties, plus its acquisition of Creativebug, the arts and crafts inst

Demand 183

Demand Media Santa Monica .Net 183

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

'Los Angeles-based social promotions software developer PromoJam has rolled out a brand new tool today, a new visual social marketing product called Promotion Builder and DIY Visual Editor. According to PromoJam, the new tool lets users easily build promotions for Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest, via a visual design editor and drag-and-drop image tools.

Tool 178

Tool Template Design Los Angeles 178

socalTECH

MAY 9, 2013

'Los Angeles-based business transactions and dealroom service CapLinked has rounded up some new investors today, saying that it has added additional investors in its Series A funding. The firm said it has brought its Series A up to $2.1M, and added new investors Conversion Capital, Inflection Ventures, The Artesian Group, Chris Harris (software engineering manager at Google), and Lee Essener (founder of AccessDNA).

Draper 178

Draper Software Engineering Platform Google 178

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2013

'Chromatik , the music software company which is revolutionizing sheet music, has raised $5.7M in funding, part of an ongoing $8.8M fundraising effort by the company, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. The Santa Monica startup, which is led by Matt Sandler, develops iPad applications which replace paper sheet music, and which has been rapidly been adopted by musicians.

Software 178

Software Santa Monica Venture Capital Capital 178

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2013

'San Diego-based Qualcomm said late Monday that it has added a Silicon Valley veteran, Jonathan Rubinstein, to its board of directors. Rubinstein was most recently SVP of Product Innovation for Hewlett-Packard, and headed up HP''s Palm Global Business Unit; Rubinstein was Exec Chairman at Palm, Inc., until it was acquired by HP, and he also ran Apple''s iPod division.

San Diego 174

San Diego Product 174

socalTECH

MAY 10, 2013

'uParts has a mission: revolutionize the auto parts procurement business. The Irvine-based startup also now has $2M in the bank to help it with that goal, announcing this morning that it has raised a Series A funding from GRP Partners, Fraser McCombs Capital, along with others. uParts said it is developing electronic parts procurement systems for the collision repair industry, which streamlines the identification, location, and procurement of auto parts. uParts said that auto repair facilities a

GRP Partners 173

GRP Partners Capital Software Funding 173