Sat.Feb 23, 2013 - Fri.Mar 01, 2013

article thumbnail

Why Entrepreneurs Hate (Most) MBAs

InfoChachkie

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. Someone on Quora recently asked me to answer the following question: Why Do Digital Entrepreneurs Hate MBAs? As I stated in my Quora answer, "hate" is the wrong word. Tech entrepreneurs' consternation with MBAs does not rise to the level of loathing. Rather, entrepreneurs' frustrations are often due to an incongruence between an MBA's expectations versus the value they can deliver to a startup.

article thumbnail

Silicon Beach Lines Up Big Group For SXSW Event

socalTECH

A big group of local, Silicon Beach startups and established tech companies have signed up to showcase the Los Angeles high technology world, according to a list released today by Silicon Beach Sunday. The group said its event, being held on March 10th in Austin, will celebrate the diversity of technology companies in Silicon Beach and Los Angeles, and feature a sample of companies from the region showing off their products.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

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

article thumbnail

What We Should Be Saying On Facebook

Eric Greenspan

While we post about articles we like, food we love, people we care about and things that matter or don’t, sometimes we ought to just say “I love Subway.” The idea here is Subway is listening and if not, they should be and most likely will be soon. Social networks have changed the way we communicate and share ideas. But they are soon to changed they way we buy goods and services.

article thumbnail

Avoid the recruiting boomerang.

Berkonomics

It has happened to all of us who have been leaders in business long enough. One of your employees is approached by an employee of a customer or of a supplier, stating that “It sure would be great to work in your company.” And without a policy or sometimes without thinking, your employee responds with a “Let me help,” or worse yet, “I have a position open.”.

Innocal 120
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

7 Principles That Predict What Steve Jobs Would Do

Startup Professionals Musings

Steve Jobs was one of those entrepreneurs who seemed universally either loved or hated, but not many will argue with his ability to innovate in the technology product arena over the years. He was instrumental in creating Apple, which has pioneered a dazzling array of new products, and even surpassed Microsoft, to become the world’s most valuable technology company.

Ideas 120
article thumbnail

How FilmBreak Is Bringing Data and Analytics To Hollywood, with Darren Marble

socalTECH

Hollywood's an old industry, used to doing business in traditional ways. However, there's a new generation of technology driven startups who are looking to apply software and technology in a way that will change how movies are made, and marketed. One of those is Hollywood-based FilmBreak (www.filmbreak.com), which is applying the world of social networking, media, and the Internet to help film-makers gain access to the analytics and insights they need to better market their films.

Hollywood 256

More Trending

article thumbnail

EdgeCast Doubles Revenues, Tops 225 Employees

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based content delivery network (CDN) provider EdgeCast said this morning that it doubled its revenues in 2012, and now has more than 225 employees. The privately held firm did not disclose its revenues, however, the firm has previously been reported to have had revenues of between $50-100M in revenues in 2011, and $15-20M in revenues in 2009.

article thumbnail

How Focus@Will Uses Music To Help You Concentrate Better

socalTECH

Can music help you concentrate (on school, work, or other tasks) better? That's the idea behind Focus@Will (www.focusatwill.com), a new Los Angeles music startup headed by Will Henshall. We caught up with Will to learn more about the company and how it hopes its service and music can help people improve their concentration. Explain what Focus@will is all about?

Help 219
article thumbnail

How ReachLocal Wants To Own The Consumer Transaction

socalTECH

ReachLocal (www.reachlocal.com) was born in the age of Internet search marketing, and helped define Internet marketing from local service providers--letting people know about your local business via the Internet. However, the Woodland Hills-based firm isn't satisfied with stopping there--it now wants to own the entire transaction--from finding a local service provider, to booking an appointment with that provider, to presenting estimates, invoices, and collecting payments, and has launched a who

article thumbnail

DataPop Launches New Semantic Advertising Product

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based online advertising technology provider DataPop , the startup led by Jason Lehmbeck, announced this morning that it has launched a new semantic advertising product specifically aimed at Google Product Listing Ads (PLA). Google's Product Listing Ads are Google's ad option which lets companies include product images, pricing, and other details in online ads.

article thumbnail

Earbits' New Service Trades On-Demand Music Access For Social Actions

socalTECH

Earbits , the online radio and music marketing startup headed by Joey Flores, announced today a brand new service, which lets fans of musicians access their favorite music from artists on-demand, and for free, in exchange for social actions. The Los Angeles startup said that it has launched Groovies, a social currency which rewards users with unlimited music and rewards for social sharing and other actions.

Demand 187
article thumbnail

Esri Expands Map Data

socalTECH

Redlands-based GIS software maker Esri announced a deal Monday to expand the amount of aerial imagery available for the firm's ArcGIS software, via a deal with satellite imagery firm DigitalGlobe. Esri said the deal adds more than 10 million square kilometers of high resolution, aerial viewing to its free ArcGIS World IMagery map service. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

Software 183
article thumbnail

Conexant Systems Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

socalTECH

Newport Beach-based semiconductor developer Conexant said this morning that it has filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, and is in a financial restructuring, which it says will significantly reduce its debt and improve its capital structure. The firm said the deal with its equity sponsors and secured lender, QP SFM Capital Holdings Limited (managed by Soros Fund Management), will exchange $195M of secured debt into equity.

Equity 180
article thumbnail

ReachLocal Launches Trio Of Products, Targets Home Services

socalTECH

Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal said today that it has launched three, brand new services today, including a new website focused on the booking of home services. The new products are part of a push by the company to expand the services it offers to small and medium sized businesses, beyond its roots in helping those firms advertise their businesses online.

article thumbnail

Tapiture Shows Growth Numbers, Engagement Metrics

socalTECH

Tapiture , the visual, social discovery site aimed at males (which has been billed "Pinterest for men"), says it is showing early traction and engagement monetum, and released some growth and engagement numbers today. The firm, which is led by John Ellis, said that it has just passed one million "taps" of content on its site. The site says it had 8.6 million visits and 78 million page views, from 4.1M unique visitors in Q4 of 2012.

Metrics 178
article thumbnail

Webalo Partners For Mobile Analytics For Salesforce

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Webalo , which develops software which allows enterprise customers to make their data available on mobile phones, said today that it has partnered with AppExtremes , which makes document creation and reporting products for Salesforce. According to Webalo, the deal will hel proivde a way for Salesforce users to access reports from AppExtremes on any smartphone or tablet.

Mobile 178
article thumbnail

Fandango Ties With Telemundo On Hispanic Movie Hub

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based movie ticketing and information site Fandango has tied with Spanish language broadcaster Telemundo , to launch a new online site aimed at Hispanic movie fans, Fandango Cine , the two announced Monday. The companies said the new site will offer up movie-related content in Spanish, movie show times, ticketing, and other information across telemundo.com, mun2.tv, and fandango.com.

Fandango 174
article thumbnail

TrueCar Dealer Sales Pass 700,000 Vehicles

socalTECH

In a sign of how large of an effect Santa Monica-based TrueCar has had on the automotive industry, the company said Tuesday afternoon that its dealer partners have just surpassed 700,000 new and used vehicles sold using its sites. TrueCar--which offers up automotive pricing information and automotive configuration and quoting software--said the sales came from more than 5,500 dealer partners.

Truecar 174
article thumbnail

Insights: Why You Should Bootstrap Your Startup

socalTECH

It's one of the questions every startup entrepreneur faces: should I start hitting the venture capital circuit for my company, or just bootstrap my company and get on with building my company? For our Insights and Opinions section this morning, David Ehrenberg argues that you should skip venture capital, and go ahead and bootstrap your company. To self-fund or to raise funds?

article thumbnail

SpaceX Falcon Lifts Off Successfully In Second Resupply Mission

socalTECH

Chalk up another successful launch for SpaceX , the commercial rocket firm founded by technology mogul Elon Musk. SpaceX's latest mission--a resupply mission to the International Space Station--took off successfully from Cape Canaveral Friday morning, the second, official resupply mission for the company. The SpaceX CRS-2 mission took off at 10:10AM EST from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch complex, on a mission to deliver 1,200 pounds of supplies to the ISS.

SpaceX 170
article thumbnail

Tech Coast Angels Looks To Shorten Funding Cycle

socalTECH

The Tech Coast Angels , Southern California's most active , organized angel investment group, has a goal: cut down the time it takes to fund a startup presenting to the organization. The angel group--which in the past, has been criticized for taking a long time to make an investment decision in a company--said this week that it has launched a program called Screening2Deal to shortcut investment decisions in startups in Los Angeles, to 30 days or less.

article thumbnail

DogVacay Tallies Up Doggie Sleepovers

socalTECH

DogVacay , the online, peer-to-peer marketplace which connects dog owners with other owners and dog sitters, has tallied up the number of nights over the last year, and says that there were over 80,000 nights of stays driven through the site since the startup opened its doors. The startup--led by Aaron Hirschhorn--also said that it has grown to 24 employees, up from only 5 when the company started exactly a year ago.

Startup 168
article thumbnail

LaunchpadLA Adds Gobbler's Kantrowitz To Team

socalTECH

Launchpad LA , the startup accelerator based in Santa Monica, is bolstering its team today, saying it has added Jamie Kantrowitz as an additional partner at the accelerator. Katrowitz was previously co-founder at Gobbler, and also served as VP of Marketing at MySpace. LaunchpadLA is managed by Sam Teller, and has incubated and mentored dozens of local startups.

article thumbnail

Robotoki Nabs Funding For Zombie Apocalyse Game

socalTECH

Robotoki , a Los Angeles-based game developer headed by Robert Bowling, formerly working on Call of Duty, has raised a funding round from NEXON Co., Nexon said today. Financial details of the investment were not announced. Bowling is the former Creative Strategist for Call of Duty. Nexon said the investment will go towards developing games based on Robotoki's multi-screen, cross-platform games.

Funding 164
article thumbnail

Kofax Buys Business Intelligence Software Developer Altosoft

socalTECH

Irvine-based document capture software firm Kofax announced this morning that it has acquired business intelligence and analytics software developer Altosoft. Kofax said it paid $13.5M in cash for Altosoft, which was headquartered in Media, Pennsylvania. According to Kofax, Altosoft had unaudited, 2012 revenues of $3.4M. Altosoft becomes a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

article thumbnail

X PRIZE Foundation Launches New Prize Around Literacy

socalTECH

The X PRIZE Foundation , the group which has been putting together large, multi-million dollar purses to spur innovation in a number of important areas of benefit to humankind, has announced a new award, this time around literacy. The group said Thursday that it has launched a new, $10M Global Literacy X PRIZE, which will look to help educate what the group says are over 60 million children who are not receiving primary education.

Education 164
article thumbnail

Selectable Media Expands To LA

socalTECH

Selectable Media , a digital advertising firm which lets users unlock digital content in exchange for interacting with brand advertising, said today that it has expanded to Los Angeles, as part of a growth in its footprint. The expansion came alongside the opening of a new office in Chicago. Selectable Media said it hired a Western Sales Director, Pete Riherd, based here in LA; Riherd was previously at Entertainment Weekly.

Media 164
article thumbnail

Scopely Signs Five Independent Mobile Game Studios

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Scopely , the mobile monetization service headed by Walter Driver, has signed on five mobile games developers today, saying it has added Double Fine Productions, Big Cave Games, High Line Games, Rocket Jump Games, and Zupcat Games to its new Developer Network. Scopely's Developer Network was announced in December, and helps independent game developers leverage Scopely's infrastructure to gain distribution and monetization for their games.

Mobile 159
article thumbnail

Kurion Snags Exec From DOE

socalTECH

Irvine-based nuclear waste processing technology developer Kurion announced today that it has named David Brockman as its Deputy Chief Operating Officer. According to Kurion, Brockman will lead operations at its Technology Development Center in Richland, Washington, which is working on vitrification technology for encapsulating nuclear waste. Brockman joins from the Department of Energy, where he had been responsible for the clean up at Hanford, the contaminated former nuclear bomb and reactor s

Sites 159
article thumbnail

Viddy Extends Videos, Adds Effects In New iOS Release

socalTECH

Viddy , the developer of the mobile, social video sharing application of the same name, said Wednesday that it has launched version 2.0 of the firm's application for iOS. The app adds such features as longer videos--now up to 30 seconds long--as well as a host of Instagram-like video effects, which change and modify a user's video. Viddy also added new music tracks, better brightness/contrast controls, and more.

Venice 159
article thumbnail

Anametrix Debuts Mobile App

socalTECH

Anametrix , the developer of marketing analytics software based in San Diego, and started by the team behind WebSideStory, said today that it has released its mobile app for iOS, Android, and BlackBerry. Anametrix said the new mobile app gives marketers access to their analytics data, on any tablet or smartphone. Anametrix develops software which is used by companies to report and understand their marketing efforts.

Mobile 159
article thumbnail

Viddy Chops Staff

socalTECH

Venice-based mobile video app developer Viddy has cut one third of its staff, the firm said Monday. The cuts of 12 employees come shortly after the company's board parted ways with its co-founder and CEO, Brett O'Brien. According to Viddy, in a statement, the move came to "streamline costs" and now gives it the "right team" to execute on moving forward.

Venice 159
article thumbnail

OpenX Adds Japanese Investor

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based OpenX Software has a new investor, the firm said today, Japanese company cyber communications, inc. According to OpenX, cyber communications, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dentsu Inc., joined in providing additional financing in the company's Series E round. OpenX said it has now raised more than $75M in funding. OpenX announced the initial close of its Series E funding in January.

OpenX 159
article thumbnail

Be Great Partners Launches New Incubator/Accelerator

socalTECH

It seems like there are almost nearly as many startup incubators and accelerators launching in the Los Angeles area as startups. The newest? Be Great Partners said Monday that it has launched a new technology incubator and accelerator, in the Variety Building at 5900 Wilshire Blvd. Be Great Partners said its flagship company it has been incubating is Scambook , an online service which helps people complain about businesses and help get those issues resolved.

Incubator 159
article thumbnail

SpaceX Runs Into Thruster Glitch On Mission

socalTECH

Uh oh. All did not go well in the launch this morning by Hawthorne-based SpaceX , in its second official mission to the International Space Station. According to NASA, the SpaceX Dragon achieved orbit, but ran into an issue with a propellant valve, with only one thruster pod running. SpaceX is now apparently briging up the remaining three to get the spacecraft to the International Space Station.

SpaceX 157
article thumbnail

SpaceX Clears Glitches, Heads Towards ISS

socalTECH

Things are looking a little less stressful for SpaceX , the commercial rocket and spacecraft developer founded by Elon Musk, after the company cleared up a glitch which had taken three of its thruster pods on its Dragon spacecraft out of service earlier today, after a successful launch from Cape Canaveral. According to a status update from Musk, all of its thruster pods are now operating nominally, with the spacecraft preparing to raise its orbit as it heads towards the ISS.

SpaceX 157