Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

There has been much discussion about VCs doing seed funding in the past year. I’ve written about it myself (Is VC Seed Funding Dead?) and (Is There Really a Signaling Problem with VC Seed Funding?). Short summary of my posts: 1. There is a structural reason that VCs are investing at early stages, 2. Many (Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, True Ventures, GRP Partners, Mike Hirshland at Polaris Ventures) do it the right way – we treat it as a normal investment and we don’t h

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2010

San Diego-based NextWave Wireless announced late Sunday evening that it is in an agreement with NTT DOCOMO , to sell the remaining 65 percent equity interest in subsidiary PacketVideo. The deal is worth $111.6M. NextWave and DOCOMO have been partners in PacketVideo since July of last year, when DOCOMO acquired about 35 percent of PacketVideo. PacketVideo develops mobile phone software used for providing multimedia services from mobile operators.

San Diego 216

San Diego Mobile Equity Acquisition 216

Berkonomics

AUGUST 2, 2010

Many of us belong to industry associations and find ourselves at conferences and trade shows with time to spend with competitors. Some of these are old friends; some even former associates. It is natural to want to associate with these people for many reasons, certainly socially. Most CEOs want to obtain information about their competitors in the most subtle and non-obvious ways.

Guide 120

Guide Conference Course Email 120

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 5, 2010

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 -- Assoc for Women in Technology Fundraiser. AWT event features live music, tasting/dinner, networking, silent auction/drawings to raise scholarships for women pursuing tech/science education. See [link] (more).

AWT 100

AWT Technology Education Networking 100

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

AUGUST 3, 2010

There is a telltale sign of an inexperienced startup entrepreneur. They get premature merge elation. You know, they get so excited about doing deals all the time instead of doing the hard work of figuring out their businesses. I understand this. I was a premature merge elater once. Here’s what I learned: 1. As a startup you shouldn’t focus on buying other companies until you’ve figured out your own business.

Technical Review 276

Technical Review Startup Press Pricing 276

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2010

John Dilts , founder of angel group the Maverick Angels and co-founder of the BioTech Forum, a group promoting biotechnology industry development in Ventura County, has died. No details of Dilts' death was given, however, the Maverick Angels said that Dilts passed away on the morning of August 2nd. The group said that Dilts viewing is Thursday. Tags: john dilts maverick angels investor.

Angel 203

Angel Ventura Develop Development 203

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 4, 2010

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 -- LAVA's Annual VC Breakfast. Meet the top VCs who are investing in Southern California. Find out what they are looking to invest in. Find out what does it take to secure Venture Capital for your company. Learn about the hottest trends and the mistakes NOT to make. Moderators: Stephen Hughes, Senior Relationship Manager, Silicon Valley Bank; Scott Alderton, Partner, Stubbs Alderton, and Markiles LLP.

LAVA 100

LAVA Venture Capital GRP Partners Palomar 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 1, 2010

Even when your startup is a one-man show, you will soon find that you are “out of control,” unless you start organizing and writing down how and when key things need to get done. Like it or not, you are now entering the dreaded realm of “formal business processes.” The right question is “What is the minimum that I need?” The simple answer is that you need to implement one process at a time, starting with those things that are most critical to your business, until you feel a relief that things ar

Startup 95

Startup Outsource Development Writing Training 95

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2010

Santa Monica-based Demand Media announced Thursday that it has launched a new product, called Content Channels. According to Demand, the new product is aimed at online publishers, and will provide them with original content focused on attracting readers. According to Demand, it is providing the service to both Hearst and USA Today. The new offering takes Demand's sometime controversial process of tailoring web content based on search and other interest of web users, and creating low-cost article

Demand 171

Demand Content Media Journal 171

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 4, 2010

This week our special guest is Micki Krimmel of NeighborGoods.net on TechZulu Live. NeighborGoods, it's an online community where you can save and earn money by sharing stuff with your friends. NeighborGoods is quickly on the rise and we wanted to sit down to have a chat with Micki about how she has grown the company, as well as how she has grown as an entrepreneur.

Entrepreneur 65

Entrepreneur Company Companies 65

SoCal Tech Calendar

AUGUST 5, 2010

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 -- AWT Networking Event. Please join us for a summer evening of smooth jazz, professional networking, and more. See [link] (more).

AWT 100

AWT Networking 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 2, 2010

Business incubators for sharing services were all the rage back in the days of the dot-com bubble (700 for profit, many more non-profit). About that time the bubble burst, causing more than 80% of them to disappear. Now they are coming back, and the best even provide networking, technical leadership, and seed funding, as well as shared facilities and space.

Incubator 93

Incubator Startup Seed Funding Mentor 93

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2010

Los Angeles-based Bccthis , the email software startup developing an application which helps users provide additional information to email recipients through Microsoft Outlook, is announcing today that it has renamed its Subtextual. The firm, which was founded by Dave Waldman and Michael Steuer, said the name change will "better reflect the value of what the company does" for email.

Email 162

Email Software Los Angeles Help 162

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 3, 2010

Startup Waffles LA hosted by the Startup Digest folks at Santa Monica based co-working space Coloft was a hit this morning. Held at 8am over 100 startups and entrepreneurs showed up to mingle and have breakfast served to them by none other then the CEO of Startup Digest himself Chris McCann. Startup Waffles first started out in an apartment building in Palo Alto, where they were just expecting a few people to stop by and ended up having over 80 show up.

Startup 60

Startup Santa Monica Venture Capital Entrepreneur 60

SoCal Tech Calendar

JULY 31, 2010

Friday, August 6, 2010 -- OCAMA Kickoff Party. Orange County Chapter American Marketing Association. See [link] (more).

Orange County 100

Orange County Marketing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 5, 2010

Too many entrepreneurs confuse motion with momentum. We all know someone who repeatedly tells us how “busy” they are, when it’s hard to see what they get done. Momentum is moving things forward (mass x velocity). Founders or employees in constant motion, but with no momentum, will kill any startup. It is true that motion in any direction is often better than no motion at all.

Startup 90

Startup Outsource Entrepreneur Research 90

socalTECH

AUGUST 5, 2010

Calabasas-based DTS , which develops surround sound and other audio technology, announced this morning that it hass partnered with ONKYO to include its technology in a desktop PC system. DTS said that ONKYO will include DTS audio technology in its all-in-one desktop PC systems. Financial terms of the deal between the firms was not disclosed. Tags: onkyo personal computer electronics audio.

Calabasas 157

Calabasas Product Technology Develop 157

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 2, 2010

Local Southern California Startup City Sourced expands their civic issue reporter application to Android and Blackberry users today. For those who may not know about city sourced, they are a real time mobile civic engagement platform. City Sourced provides a free platform empowering residents to identify civic issues (public safety, quality of life, & environmental issues, etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution.

Southern California 56

Southern California Report Platform Mobile 56

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 6, 2010

I don’t generally blog about politics. It’s not my thing. I’m a socially liberal, fiscally conservative, non-party libertarian at heart. Most issues are really nuanced. I accept that on many issues there is no “right&# answer and rational people can disagree. Proposition 8 was passed in California by a margin of 52-48. It defines marriage as being between a man and a woman.

Blogging 343

Blogging Startup Class Education 343

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 3, 2010

I’m a strong believer that investors invest in people, before they invest in a business plan, or an idea. But until now, I’ve never seen a study of exactly how that plays out for startup founders for current venture-backed companies, specifically: race, age, experience and the number of founders per company. A new study, just published by CB Insights, titled Venture Capital Human Capital Report , summarizes these three characteristics for private early-stage Internet ventures funded in the US du

Venture Capital 88

Venture Capital Capital Startup Study 88

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2010

Westlake Village-based ValueClick announced this morning that it has acquired Investopedia.com , an online site focused on financial information and education. The deal was worth $42M in cash. Investopedia was previously owned by Forbes, Inc. According to ValueClick, it expects Investopedia to generate approximately $10M in revenue and $5M in adjusted EBITDA.

Westlake Village 157

Westlake Village Education Content Acquisition 157

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 6, 2010

TechZulu Live Episode 3. In this episode of TechZulu Live we had special guest Micki Krimmel of NeighborGoods.net. NeighborGoods is an online community where you can save and earn money by sharing stuff with your friends. Born out of a need for backpack for a trip to Thailand, NeighborGoods started out regionally here in Los Angeles and have recently gone national giving everyone across the U.S. the opportunity to share and rent their stuff.

News 49

News Los Angeles Ideas Help 49

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March The following are the top items based on social signals. 5 Lessons from 150 startup pitches - A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks , July 11, 2010 I just reviewed several hundred startup pitches for Capital Factory.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

Startup Professionals Musings

AUGUST 4, 2010

Most entrepreneurs who start a company alone soon come to the conclusion that two heads are better than one – someone to share the workload, the hard decisions, and the costs. In a moment of crisis, you may be tempted to take on the first person expressing interest. This would be a mistake, and could easily cost you your startup. If you think about it, you should realize that not everyone is ‘ideal partner material.

Startup 82

Startup Entrepreneur Satisfaction Writing 82

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2010

It's been about a year since Santa Monica-based SharesPost (www.sharepost.com) stepped into the market last year with a way for owners of privately held, venture backed companies to gain some liquidity, as well as diversify their holdings. As the M&A and IPO market has started to heat up, we thought it would be worth revisiting how the firm is doing, so we spoke to COO and co-founder Sam Hayes , to hear more about how things are going and if the revived exit market has affected how the firm

Acquisition 154

Acquisition Class Startup Marketing 154

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 2, 2010

Comedic startup site Funny or Die has announced a new design that adds new content and features to the site. The updated design gives fans more comedy, and more kinds of content including themed photo galleries, top 10 lists, and special guest blogs. The redesign also gives advertisers a larger presence on the homepage and more in-video opportunities across the site.

Design 49

Design Paramount Advertising Content 49

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2010

A new analysis released today b y Ernst & Young, based on data from Dow Jones VentureSource, finds that U.S. venture capital investment in the clean technology sector was up in Q2. According to the study, US VC investments in cleantech hit $1.5 billion, spread across 65 financing rounds. The study said that is a 63.8 percent increase in the amount of capital, and 4.6 percent increase in number of deals compared with Q2 of last year.

Invest 154

Invest Venture Capital Southern California Study 154

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2010

Reports this morning say that news magazine Newsweek apparently is being sold to Dr. Sidney Harman, the founder of Southern California's Harman International , which now owns the Harmon/Kardon, Infinity, JBL, and other audio equipment brands. Harmon--who is married to congresswoman Jane Harman--apparently is paying $1.00 for Newsweek, in exchange for assuming the magazine's substantial financial liabilities.

Southern California 154

Southern California Report News Content 154

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2010

Newport Beach-based Mindspeed Technologies , a developer of semiconductor products, announced today that it has rolled out a version of its Comcerto processors specifically geared towards voice-over-IP processing. According to the firm, the Comcerto 300xv family of voice-over-IP processing products includes both hardware and software for signaling and control processing for next-generation network, IP multimedia, and IP-PBX equipment.

IP 154

IP Sample Design Networking 154

socalTECH

AUGUST 6, 2010

West Hollywood-based Geni said this week that it has added a new feature which allows users to undo deletions. Geni said the addition has been a "long requested" feature and allow users to find profiles users have delete, who deleted them, and allow those profiles to be undeleted. The change came along with a number of other minor upgrades to the service, including controls over family discussions and the ability to control the privacy of close relatives.

Geni 150

Geni West Hollywood Hollywood Services 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 5, 2010

Los Angeles-based AECOM Technology Corporation , which provides technical and management services and other professional consulting to the government and others, said today that it has acquired David Langdon , a project management firm, in a deal worth $324M. David Langdon serves clients in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East and the United States, and has 2,800 employees.

Acquisition 150

Acquisition Los Angeles Services Technology 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2010

Camarillo-based Vitesse Semiconductor announced Wednesday that it has named Steve M. Perna as the firm's new VP of Product Marketing. Perna joins the firm from Wiquest Communications, and has also served at PMC-Sierra and Texas Instruments. The firm said that Perna is now responsible for execution of the firm's market strategy for all of its product lines.

Marketing 150

Marketing Networking Product Develop 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 3, 2010

San Diego-based Althea Technologies , a provider of contract development and manufacturing for the life sciences market, has raised $17M in debt funding, according to financing provider Hercules Technology Growth Capital. Use for the funding was not disclosed. HTGC is a provider of both venture debt and equity to VC and private-equity backed firms. Althea is venture backed by Telegraph Hill Partners.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Technology San Diego Venture Capital 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2010

One of the portfolio firms of San Diego venture capital firm Enterprise Partners is heading towards an IPO, according to a S-1 filing Friday. According to Silicon Valley firm Complete Genomics , a provider of human genome sequencing services, it has filed for an $86.25M IPO on the Nasdaq as GNOM. The IPO is being underwritten by UBS Investment Bank, Jefferies & Company, Baird, and Cowen and Company.

Enterprise Partners 150

Enterprise Partners Venture Capital San Diego Acquisition 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 2, 2010

San Diego-based Trius Therapautics has slashed its IPO offering price, saying today in a filing with the SEC that it will offer 10,000,000 shares of its common stock at $5.00 per share. The firm, which will list on the Nasdaq Global Market as TSRX, had initially said it would sell 6,000,000 shares of its stock at between $12.00 and $14.00 per share.

Pricing 150

Pricing San Diego Acquisition Marketing 150

socalTECH

AUGUST 4, 2010

Last week, Pasadena-based Rockoco announced that it had raised $1.5M in funding from the Pasadena Angels, for its technology which applies semiconductor processing to diamonds to create more brilliant and super-polished stones. It turns out that the firm--a spinout of Caltech--came out of the exact same lab as Helixis, the molecular diagnostics firm acquired for a healthy $105M by Illumina last week.

CalTech 149

CalTech Startup Pasadena Angels Pasadena 149