Both Sides of the Table

MAY 30, 2015

I’m so tired of seeing young entrepreneurs get screwed by their angel investors on convertible notes and I know I can’t convince you not to do it so I’d like to offer one simple bit of advice to help you avoid getting screwed (at least on one part of your note). When you do a convertible note with a cap that converts into the next round of funding one of the unintended consequences is that if you’re successful and raise at a larger price than your cap the early angels oft

Entrepreneur 304

Entrepreneur Pricing Venture Capital Angel 304

Berkonomics

JUNE 2, 2015

So your business has begun to take off. You’ve figured out your channels of distribution, pricing model and how to support your growing list of customers. Don’t be alarmed by this next statement. That’s relatively easy. You can be the one to develop a product or service, promote it, and support it when you are a small operation. But what if you need to repeat the process of positioning, selling, and supporting your product ten thousand or more times as often as you do today?

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InfoChachkie

JUNE 1, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. It sounds crazy to offer unlimited vacation time to your startup employees. Something to the left of socialism. Yet that is exactly what Richard Branson announced this past Fall. According to Branson, “We should focus on what people get done, not on how many hours or days worked. Just as we don’t have a nine-to-five policy, we don’t need a vacation policy.”.

Startup 192

Startup Netflix Organization Blogging 192

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

New York-based mobile ad platform developer Jun Group is expanding in both Orange County and Los Angeles, saying it is looking to tap into a hotbed of engineering talent in Orange County. The company, which focuses on native, brand-safe video ad placements, serves such clients as Chevrolet, McDonald's, Purina, Microsoft, and others. The company said it will open up a new Orange County office focused on software development, led by Jeremy Ellison, and also including a number of developers.

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Orange County Los Angeles Angel Software Development 191

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

JUNE 5, 2015

Over the years I’ve written extensively about the downsides of convertible notes for startups such as here , here and here. The truth is that I’ve been warning about convertible notes since 2010 it was first declared that “convertible notes have won.” Today I want to talk about how a VC thinks about equity pricing on your round and particularly if you’re coming off of a convertible note.

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Venture Capital Pricing Startup Invest 292

Berkonomics

JUNE 4, 2015

This week, our guest post is by David Steakley, a past President of the Houston Angel Network, and a reformed management consultant. David is an active angel investor, and manages several angel funds in Texas. . I have a positive fetish for recurring revenue. When I hear a company pitch a business model which I believe has the potential to acquire a customer once, and keep the customer paying for a multi-year period without further marketing expense, my ears perk up.

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Acquisition Customer Custom SaaS 188

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2015

Fans of the huge advances being made in robotics will not want to miss the finals of the three year long, DARPA Robotics Challenge , which is happening this weekend at the Pomona Fairplex. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) says it will be running the final competition for $3.5M in prize money, to spur the creation of robots which can assist humans in responding to natural and man made disasters.

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Pomona Competition Google Research 191

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 1, 2015

*. What does it mean to be a leader? It’s relatively easier to answer that question when you’re a founder & CEO and have total control over hiring & firing. If your company is successful and valuable people generally do what you ask. It can sometimes create confusion about whether or not you’re truly a great leader or whether people feel they must just follow your orders.

Startup 268

Startup Course Technical Review Competition 268

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 3, 2015

After wrapping up work for a national professional women’s organization where I spoke to hundreds of women in all industries, in all levels of their profession, in all areas around the country on a daily basis; attended numerous amazing conferences and special events with panels of female tech founders, entertainment professionals and executives at all levels of their business over the past six months; and read about women who have achieved major success in their fields, I have discovered

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Conference Entertainment Startup Digital Hollywood 64

Startup Professionals Musings

JUNE 5, 2015

Entrepreneurs who require funding for their startup have long counted on self-accredited high net worth individuals (“angels”) to fill their needs, after friends and family, and before they qualify for institutional investments (“VCs”). New crowd funding platforms on the Internet, like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo , as well as the Jobs Act of 2012 , are expected by many to ramp up regular people’s ability to fund new opportunities and kill the need for angel groups.

Startup 106

Startup Angel .Net Entrepreneur 106

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2015

Los Angeles-based Boingo (www.boingo.com) is one of longest standing Internet companies. The company recently moved into brand new, 50,000 square foot headquarters in Westwood, so we thought it would be great to catch up with Boingo CEO, Dave Hagan , to learn a little bit more about the company's journey from startup to publicly traded company over the past 14 years.

Startup 178

Startup Networking CitySearch Ticketmaster 178

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2015

Culver City-based DataScience , a provider of data analytics services aimed at enterprises to help make sense of business data, said this morning that it has raised $4.5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Greycroft Partners, and also included Pelion Ventures Partners, Crosscut Ventures and TenOneTen. The startup, led by Ian Swanson, said it works with business teams, to help those customers plug in raw data, ask specific questions about their business, and get answers from the Da

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Culver City Funding Help Customer 166

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2015

Fountain Valley-based memory maker Kingston Technology said this morning that it has sold a Chinese subsidiary it owns, Payton Shenzhen Co., Ltd. , to Shenzhen Kaifa Technology Co., Ltd. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Payton Shenzhen Co. provides back-end wafer processing and supply chain management for Kingston. Kingston said the deal will allow Payton to expand into wider areas of semiconductor test and manufacturing, and attract other local cusotmers for its services.

Technology 152

Technology Services Acquisition 152

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2015

Walt Disney has jumped into the world of connected toys and wearables, saying Tuesday that it has launched a new line of toys out of its Disney Consumer Products (DCP) division. Disney Consumer Products said its new Playmation line of toys allows those toys to synchronize with one another, harnesses motion sensors and wireless technology, and synchronize with the Internet.

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Product Technology Entertainment Content 147

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2015

Concerned about security of your passwords? Los Angeles-based TeleSign , which provides much of the behind-the-scene, two-factor phone authentication services for major Internet services, said today that it has launched a new website to help users ramp up security for over a hundred popular websites. The company--whose two-factor authentication is used by websites to add another layer of verification to user logins--released step-by-step guides for turning on two-factor authentication for Facebo

Guide 142

Guide Los Angeles Services Help 142

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

Los Angeles-based game analytics software developer Ninja Metrics has raised $2.8M of an ongoing, $5M funding round, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing this week. The startup, led by Dmitri Williams, and helps mobile, online, and social game developers better monetize their properties. The round is being led by 37 Ventures. The company's other backers include the Harvard Business School Angels and Tech Coast Angels.

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Metrics Tech Coast Angels Software Development Los Angeles 139

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

San Diego-based Lumedyne Technologies , a developer of MEMs-based, inertial direction sensors, has quietly been acquired by Google , according to multiple reports. The deal reportedly happened in November, and was worth $85M. Neither Google nor Lumedyne Technologies have announced or acknowledged the deal. Lumedyne's sensors are being used for very fine tracking of direction changes, using a method called Time Domain Switched (TDS) sensing.

Google 139

Google Report Technology San Diego 139

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

Tired of going on vacation and just bringing home yet more tourist tchockes and T-shirts? Well, one American vacationer visiting the Bahamas got more than he bargained for, when he ran across the wreckage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket , washed up on the beach. According to Weather.com, Kevin Eichelberger found the wreckage off the coast of their beach house on Friday--complete with two GoPro cameras.

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SpaceX Platform 135

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

Los Angeles-based NantHealth , the personalized medicine effort which is one of the companies run by billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said today that it is deploying its platform in London, with the University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust. The two said they are working together on precision medicine efforts for cancer patients, using NantHealth's software to help manage cancer care.

Los Angeles 135

Los Angeles Platform Report Software 135

socalTECH

JUNE 3, 2015

Sphero , the Disney Accelerator company known for developing smartphone connected, robotic balls, has scored a big funding round--in part thanks to its involvement with the accelerator. Sphero, which was part of the first class of the Los Angeles-based startup accelerator last fall, said Tuesday that it raised $45M in the funding round, which was led by Mercato Partners, and also included The Walt Disney Company and other strategic investors.

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Class Los Angeles Funding Startup 135

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2015

Los Angeles-based web hosting provider DreamHost has announced a big upgrade to the company's managed WordPress hosting service, DreamPress, saying that it has added solid state drives, caching, security, and other features to the service. DreamHost said the upgraded service also includes options to easily migrate installations from shared hosting, DDoS auto-mitigation, and more.

Web 135

Web Los Angeles Services Angel 135

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

San Diego-based content marketing provider Spread Effect has been acquired by fellow performance marketing and outreach company Adduco Media , the two said this week. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced by the two companies. Adduco is based in Utah. Spread Effect is led by Ryan Sandberg. The companies said they will continue to operate independently, and that Spread Effect will remain in San Diego.

Media 131

Media San Diego Content Acquisition 131

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

Diffbot , the developer of artificial intelligence, visual recognition, and natural language processing software for interpreting web pages which is backed by Sky Dayton , has scored $500,000 more in funding, the company said this week. The funding--a continuation of the firm's seed funding--came from Bloomberg Beta. Diffbot's AI software allows developers to tap into an application programming interface (API), to better parse and understand the content on a web page as structured objects, rathe

Artificial Inteligence 131

Artificial Inteligence Funding Seed Funding Web 131

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

Irvine-based Kareo , the developer of cloud-based, medical practice management software led by Dan Rodrigues, said Thursday that it has integrated its software with its newly acquired product, DoctorBase. Kareo acquired DoctorBase, a developer of practice marketing and patient engagement software in March. The addition of DoctorBase adds online scheduling, appointment reminders, and other tools to Kareo's existing medical billing and practice management features.

Tool 131

Tool Software Marketing Product 131

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

West Hollywood-based Orbitera , a developer of a cloud-based software product to help companies the sales of cloud-based software and services, including managing leads, trial subscriptions, billing, and operations, has raised $2M in a seed funding round. The company disclosed the funding Thursday. The funding came from Resolute Ventures. Orbitera is led by Marcin Kurc, who had previously been at Amazon Web Services; the company says it was incubated out of software company Boxador Labs.

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West Hollywood Sales Seed Funding Incubator 131

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

Irvine-based sales and marketing company Advantage Sales & Marketing said late Wednesday that it has acquired Atlas Technology Group >, a technology company which develops applications for helping retailers improve their product sales in stores. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Atlas Technology Group helps retailers and consumer packaged goods (CPG) manufacturers improve their product sales in stores.

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Sales Marketing Technology Help 131

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2015

Los Angeles-based Instantly , which develops automated sampling and market research tools, said Tuesday that it has named Jim Collins as its Executive Vice President of Instantly Audiences. Collins was most recently CEO of Sycamore Canyon Strategies, and also had served as CEO of Affinity, Inc, CEO of Pictage, and CEO of Bizmago. Instantly--which until recently, was known as uSamp--is venture backed by Greycroft, Openview Venture Partners, DFJ Frontier, and DuPont Capital.

Sample 131

Sample Research Los Angeles Tool 131

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2015

Irvine-based Zadara , the developer of enterprise storage-as-a-service hardware, software, and services, has rolled outs its product in Japan, with Objective Ventures. Zadara said that its enterprise cloud storage product is available for private and public cloud users in Tokyo. The two said that Zadara's expanded services are being hosted in Objective Ventures' cloud datacenters.

Services 131

Services Software Product Help 131

socalTECH

JUNE 2, 2015

San Luis Obispo-based Shopatron , which develops software which helps manufacturers direct online orders to local retailers, said it has launched a new product aimed at product search. Shopatron said its new product, Local Product Search, helps customers find products from brands, offering up real time, local product inventory to those customers. Shopatron said the new tool is aimed at replacing "dealer locators", which simply direct customers to local dealers, which the company says is a disapp

Tool 131

Tool Product Pricing Customer 131

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2015

San Diego-based MicroPower , the developer of solar powered, wireless surveillance systems, says has extended its reach in the United Kingdom, via a strategic alliance. Microower said it has a new strategic alliance with TEW Plus, which is a UK-based telecommunications and security technology provider which serves the transportation and commercial sectors.

Tech Coast Angels 131

Tech Coast Angels Technology San Diego Incubator 131

socalTECH

JUNE 1, 2015

Los Angeles--which already has a long list of smartphone driven, ride summoning services like Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar--can add another one to ths list, AsterRIDE. asterRIDE said this morning that it will offer up a ride service app which relies on local taxi and limousine firms, helping licensed drivers provide smartphone driven services ala Uber. asterRIDE said it is debuting in Los Angeles this week, specifically to help users avoid surge pricing in those other ridesharing apps, and tapping in

Beverly Hills 131

Beverly Hills Services Los Angeles Pricing 131

socalTECH

JUNE 5, 2015

Irvine-based Quality Systems, Inc. said late Thursday that its President and CEO, Steven T. Plochocki, is retiring, and will be replaced by Rusty Frantz. Plochocki, who is 63, has been at the company since 2004. Frantz joins the company from CareFusion, most recently serving as Senior Vice President and General Manager of that company's Global Dispensing Division.

Software 125

Software Develop Development Company 125

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

Pasadena-based Calhoun Vision , a company which is developing implantable, light adjusting intraocular lenses used to treat cataract surgery, has raised $69.0M in a funding round, the company said today. The financing was led by Longitude Capital, and also included H.I.G. BioVentures, Balance Point Capital Partners, and RA Capital Management. The company, led by Rick Heinick, says it is developing a light adjustable lens which can be adjusted by physicians following cataract surgery, to adjust t

Pasadena 125

Pasadena Study Equity Capital 125

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

One of Southern California's very, very early technology pioneers, Gordon Marshall , whose name now graces the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business , has passed away at the age of 95 in Pasadena. Marshall founded El Monte-based Marshall Industries , a multi-billion dollar electronics distributor which is now part of Avnet.

Southern California 125

Southern California El Monte USC Technology 125

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

FireText , the UK-based SMS marketing service whici s now owned by Santa Monica--based CallFire, said this week that it has integrated its software for customer support software provider Freshdesk , allowing companies to interact with their customers via texting. FireText said the integration allows companies to add text message to their customer service efforts, letting them update, notify, and stay in touch with customers via SMS.

Santa Monica 125

Santa Monica Customer Custom Software 125

socalTECH

JUNE 4, 2015

Los Angeles-based Mojix , the developer of RFID-based wireless sensors, said it has acquired TierConnect , which develops connected enterprise applications. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. TierConnect was based in Michigan. Mojix said that it will add over 100 software engineers to the company as part of the acquisition, including TierConnect's two founders, Gus Rivera and Terrence Crown.

Software Engineering 125

Software Engineering Acquisition Los Angeles Software 125