Sat.Jan 11, 2014 - Fri.Jan 17, 2014

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Why The Haters are Wrong About Growth Hacking

Both Sides of the Table

'There’s an article making the rounds in tech circles titled “ Growth Hacking is Bull ” written by Muhammad Saleem. I’d like to make the case that the article is wrong. I’d strongly encourage you to read it. I actually really enjoyed many of the points Muhammad made about marketing in general and I found myself nodding through the entirety of the article except for it’s core premise.

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Southern California Startups Raise More Than $598.4M In VC In Q4

socalTECH

'Southern California''s venture capital investments totaled a little more than $598.4M in the fourth quarter, according to the latest number from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, in its MoneyTree report. The investments were a drop from Q4 of 2012, $711.8M was invested in the region. There were 84 venture capital deals for the quarter.

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Told She Would Never Walk, This Entrepreneur Danced

InfoChachkie

'Tracy DiNunzio, Founder and CEO of Tradesy , recently shared her insights as part of UC Santa Barbara''s Distinguished Lecture Series. Her story is especially inspiring, as she was told as a child that she would never walk, due to a birth defect. (Note: I am an investor in Tradesy via Rincon Venture Partners.). If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles!

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Facebook Doesn’t Seem to Care

Eric Greenspan

'I’ve spent tens of thousands on Facebook ads for my companies and for clients’ I have built and manage many pages. I often have issues that need Facebook’s attention. They have the worst customer service of any company I deal with. Facebook doesn’t seem to care. If you have an issue renaming or merging a page, you get an email that says “denied.” Can you appeal or even respond?

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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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Understanding the Underbelly of Online Marketing & Why You’ll Lose if You Don’t

Both Sides of the Table

'Yesterday I wrote a post about “ growth hacking ” and why I thought it was wrong that people were hating on the term unnecessarily. It’s worth a quick read. My argument is pretty simple. If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. But being best-in-class at online marketing is also a sine qua non to standout from your peer group.

Marketing 379
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Amplify.LA Raises $8M More For Incubator Investments

socalTECH

'Venice, California-based startup incubator Amplify LA , the startup accelerator headed by Paul Bricault and Richard Wolpert, disclosed today that it has raised $8M in a second investment fund for its companies. The funding came from such companies as Accel, Greycroft, Siemer Ventures, Karlin Ventures, Deep Fork Capital, and others. READ MORE>>.

Incubator 231

More Trending

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Should Our Schools Teach Latin or HTML?

Eric Greenspan

'Schools in the U.S.A. require the teaching of a foreign language. I took four years of French. I read Les Miserables in French and I’ve seen the theater production over 20 times. I’ve learned much about French history as a result. This is wonderful, but I can’t say its helped me in my career much. I didn’t take a single course on computer programming in school.

HTML 139
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Why Most of Your Assumptions About Phone Calls are Wrong

Both Sides of the Table

'If you follow the tech media you would be subject to a lot of narrative biases that are completely off base – and this includes the value of email and phone calls. TL;DR. Tech news keeps proclaiming “phone calls are dead,” which is useful except that the data suggests the exact opposite. Calls are changing but not dying. All the data actually suggests with the growth of mobile, inbound sales calls will double from 30 billion to 60 billion in 3 years (source: Kelsey).

Email 339
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Invoca Gets $20 Million For Call Marketing Automation

socalTECH

'Santa Barbara-based Invoca -- better known here by its prior name, RingRevenue -- said this morning that it has raised $20M in a Series C financing round. The startup, led by Jason Spievak, said the new funding was led by Accel Partners, and also included prior investors Upfront Ventures and Rincon Venture Partners. Invoca said the new funds will go towards scaling operations and increasing its revenue growth.

Marketing 212
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How Entrepreneurs Get Out Of Their Comfort Zone

Startup Professionals Musings

'Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Despite their own focus on changing the world, they often forget that they too have to change rapidly and often as the market evolves. Too many find that out too late, and are left chasing a rabbit that is long gone. The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness.

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Should Our Schools Teach Latin or HTML?

Eric Greenspan

'Schools in the U.S.A. require the teaching of a foreign language. I took four years of French. I read Les Miserables in French and I’ve seen the theater production over 20 times. I’ve learned much about French history as a result. This is wonderful, but I can’t say its helped me in my career much. I didn’t take a single course on computer programming in school.

HTML 100
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Why Am I So Lucky?

Both Sides of the Table

'I’m a cynic by nature. And I think it pays to be so. I sometimes wish I were an unbridled, happy-go-lucky, assume-the-best-in-everybody sort of chappy. Sadly, I’m not. You know the old Groucho Marx saying, “I would never join a club that would accept me as a member.” I always loved that line. So whenever I get a deal sent my way that is from out of town and seems amazing but seems almost too good to be true, my first thought is always, “Why am I so lucky?

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Houzz In Big International Expansion

socalTECH

'Houzz , the online home remodeling and design app which has a significant presence in Orange County, said Wednesday that it is in a big international expansion. The company said it has opened office and hired local manager in the UK, Germany, and Australia, as part of a big global expansion by the company. The startup offers up an app which provides information about home improvement, remodeling, and design, and helps connect homeowners with home improvement professionals.

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Paying It Forward: Amanda Bensol of Karma Wi-Fi

Tech Zulu Event

'One simple idea: “Getting online should not be that difficult.” Last year, I was introduced to Karma’s company and services from a friend. It was Thursday morning and we were on a 150 mile route from NYC to Albany. He’d needed to do some work and brought out the Karma hotspot. Immediately the smooth white surface and boldly abstract orange logo prompted attention to the little device. “What’s that?

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Should Our Schools Teach Latin or HTML?

Eric Greenspan

'Schools in the U.S.A. require the teaching of a foreign language. I took four years of French. I read Les Miserables in French and I’ve seen the theater production over 20 times. I’ve learned much about French history as a result. This is wonderful, but I can’t say its helped me in my career much. I didn’t take a single course on computer programming in school.

HTML 100
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A Valid Business Model Requires Real Customer Sales

Startup Professionals Musings

'“Will the dogs eat the dog food?” This rather crude expression weighs heavily on the mind of all good startup founders, no matter how confident they appear. We all know the products they give away, and the ones purchased by family and friends don’t count. The real milestone, proving the business model, is that first product sold for full price to a total stranger, leaving him happy.

Sales 99
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Qualcomm Ventures Kicks Off Startup Competition

socalTECH

'San Diego-based Qualcomm Ventures , the venture investment arm of Qualcomm, has kicked off its annual venture competition, the QPrize , dangling seven $100,000 regional prizes and a $150,000 grand prize. Qualcomm''s competition looks to identify the most promising, early-stage technology companies relevant to its business from across the globe. This year, Qualcomm said it will award $100,000 each to the top companies in China, Europe, India, Israel, Korea, Latin America and North America, with

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Innovation Crush | How an Investor Thinks Through Innovation

Tech Zulu Event

'Every day, 1000’s of new bright-eyed and bushy tailed companies sprout from depths of start-up soil. Some are formed in incubators, and some are the results of a few cocktails and some ink on a napkin. Others come from angry laid-off executives, and even some stem from the optimistic naiveté of college and high school students. Like a song on the radio, we never quite know how some blow up and become chart topping billion-dollar organizations while others – even crowd favorites – simp

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Facebook Doesn’t Seem to Care

Eric Greenspan

'I’ve spent tens of thousands on Facebook ads for my companies and for clients’ I have built and manage many pages. I often have issues that need Facebook’s attention. They have the worst customer service of any company I deal with. Facebook doesn’t seem to care. If you have an issue renaming or merging a page, you get an email that says “denied.” Can you appeal or even respond?

Email 100
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How To Balance Business Risk Versus Opportunity

Startup Professionals Musings

'There is no real business opportunity without risk. Serious entrepreneurs know that, but too many “wannabes” still fall for that elusive dream of a get-rich-quick scheme with no risk. As an active Angel investor, I still hear entrepreneurs asserting large opportunities with minimal risk or no competition. My conclusion either way is that there is no market, or they haven’t looked.

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MRV Wins Data Center Operator

socalTECH

'Chatsworth-based MRV Communications , which provides optical networking equipment, reported a win with a Sabey Data Centers this week. MRV said that Sabey has selected its optical transport platform for a data center in New York City. Financial impact of the win was not announced. MRV said that Sabey is using its OptiDriver products to connect a new data center with two other data centers it owns in New York.

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Google Wants to Disrupt Home Automation with $3.2 Billion Nest Acquisition

Tech Zulu Event

'Google has acquired smart home appliance company, Nest Labs for $3.2 billion in cash. It’s a move that will see the giant search engine retain amazing talent and potentially achieve its target of reinventing the “home of the future” using the Internet. With over $100 million from its investors including Kleiner Perkins, Google Ventures, Shasta Ventures, and Lightspeed Venture Partners, among others, Nest is reported to have been on the verge of another $150 million raise in a

Google 86
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Facebook Doesn’t Seem to Care

Eric Greenspan

'I’ve spent tens of thousands on Facebook ads for my companies and for clients’ I have built and manage many pages. I often have issues that need Facebook’s attention. They have the worst customer service of any company I deal with. Facebook doesn’t seem to care. If you have an issue renaming or merging a page, you get an email that says “denied.” Can you appeal or even respond?

Email 100
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How to make a business partnership a success

Berkonomics

'By JJ Richa. Dave’s note: Our guest insight this week is from JJ Richa. JJ is a successful entrepreneur and technologist giving back to the entrepreneurial. community in many ways, including his weekly Internet TV program on entrepreneurism, and participation in several mentoring programs. . Business partnerships have their advantages and disadvantages.

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ecoATM: Two Million Devices Recycled

socalTECH

'San Diego-based cell phone recycling kiosk maker ecoATM -- which was recently sold to Outerwall -- reports that it has now reached more than two million phones and devices recycled in its four year history. The number of phones and devices recycled by the company via its interactive kiosks has seen quite an uptick, as the company only just announced it had reached the one million devices recycled mark in April of 2013. ecoATM was acquired for $350M in July of 2013 by Outerwall (formerly known a

San Diego 168
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Parkopedia Partners with Ford to Introduce Voice-Enabled Parking Search

Tech Zulu Event

'Finding a parking space is not an easy task but Parkopedia is looking to solve this headache that plagues the masses. The world’s leading parking information provider, Parkopedia pairs millions of drivers with 28 million parking spaces in 40 countries around the world. In a move to further enhance its service, Parkopedia has integrated its parking information with Ford in the Ford SYNC ® AppLink, an in-car connectivity system.

Mobile 81
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Digital Tools May Soon Make Business Cards Obsolete

Startup Professionals Musings

'In a second, with Google, I can find a phone number that was assigned to you ten years ago, but it takes me an hour to find your phone number on that business card you gave me last week. That’s just wrong. We need instant access to the most important of all resources: current contact info. Too many of us have piles of business cards scattered around the office and home, as well as additional contacts on your smartphone, iPad, Outlook, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

Tool 92
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Washio Gets $2.25M For Laundry Pickup, Delivery

socalTECH

'Los Angeles looks to be the center of the mobile-phone enabled, personal services market, as Wash.io --a new startup--announced today that it has raised $2.25M in a seed funding round. Wash.io offers up a smartphone app-driven service which schedules laundry pickup and delivery ala Uber. The funding came from Sherpa Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, Three Six Zero Group, Ashton Kutcher, Guy Oseary, and a long list of other angel investors.

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SpaceX Gets Japanese Satellite Launch Contract

socalTECH

'Hawthorne-based SpaceX said late last week that it has been awarded a contract from Japanese satellite operator SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation. According to SpaceX, it will launch SKY''s JCSAT-14 communications satellite to a geostationary transfer orbit on its Falcon 9, in the second half of 2015. SpaceX did not say how much the contract is worth. SpaceX recently completed the first two GTO missions with its Falcon 9, a move which opens up a significant amount of satellite launch business to the

SpaceX 164
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Masimo Backs Medical Device Incubator

socalTECH

'Irvine-based patient monitoring products developer Masimo is backing an effort at medical device incubator Edison National Medical , to drive developer interest in its platform, Masimo Root, the company announced today. Masimo said it has tied with Edison Nation Medical--a medical device incubator based in Charlotte, North Carolina--to find new medical technologies to expand its patient monitoring and connectivity platform.

Incubator 164
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Maker Studios Taps AOL Vet As New International President

socalTECH

'Los Angeles- based Maker Studios said Thursday that it has hired Rene Rechtman, a former AOL executive, as its new President of international operations. As part of the appointment, Maker also said that Rechtman has made an investment in the company. Size of that investment was not announced. The company said that Rechtman will head up partnership efforts abroad for the content network.

Content 159
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Velocify Snags Former Microsoft GM For Engineering VP

socalTECH

'Los Angelees-based Velocify , the cloud-based sales automation software developer headed by Nick Hedges, said this morning that it has snagged former Microsoft General Manager Chandra Shekaran as its new Senior Vice President of Engineering. According to Velocify, Shekaran was most recently General Manager of Microsoft''s Search Technology Center, working on Microsoft''s Bing search engine.

Sales 159
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Ivantis Raises $46.5M For Glaucoma Treatments

socalTECH

'Irvine-based Ivantis , a developer of stents used to lower eye pressure for glaucoma patients, said this morning that it has now raised $46.5M in its Series B funding round, with the addition of an additional $14.0M close in the funding. According to the company, the final close of its round came from Vertex Ventures and GBS Ventures. The Series B funding''s other investors included Ascension Ventures, Vertex Ventures, GBS Ventures, EDBI, MemorialCare Innovation Fund, New Enterprise Associates,

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Fullscreen Buys Viddy

socalTECH

'Culver City-based YouTube network Fullscreen said late Wednesday that it has acquired Supernova , the company which was formerly known as Viddy. Financial terms of the buy were not announced, however, several publications have placed the deal at around $15.0M. According to Fullscreen, the buy will help it add products, infrastructure, and a team to its efforts.

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Local Corporation Loses CEO In Major Shakeup

socalTECH

'Irvine-based Local Corporation announced late Monday afternoon that its CEO and Chairman, Heath Clarke, has resigned, and the company is now seeking a new CEO. According to the company, Clarke resigned for "personal reasons". Clarke had been CEO of Local.com since 2001, when it was known as Interchange. Local Corporation said it intends to appoint an interim CEO in the very near term, and that it has named Fred Thiel as Chairman of the company.

OCTANE 153
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Retention Science Adds New Segmenting Tools

socalTECH

'Retention Science , the developer of big data marketing and analytics tools, has rolled out a new product focused on online retailers. According to the Los Angeles startup, its new SmartSegments products is aimed at online retailers, helping them to more effective personalize their retention marketing campaigns. The new product helps group customers into specific market segments, by figuring out likelihood of conversion, predicted order value, and other elements derived through the company''s b

Tool 153