Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. By now many of you know the Harlem Shake but what you may not appreciate is the broader trend behind the video and it has mirrored my general views on how TV will work in the future. Harlem Shake is a YouTube phenomenon that in just 2 weeks has gone from nothing to on air on both Jon Stewart & Stephen Colbert and collectively the Harlem Shake has been viewed around 200 million times.

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FEBRUARY 22, 2013

There's a new, startup incubator in town in West Los Angeles--this time, launching out of Loyola Marymount University and its College of Business. According to the school, it has launched the The LMU CBA Business Incubator , a brand new startup incubator focused on companies in the technology and consumer products area. The incubator--which is being managed by Dr.

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InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

A version of this article previously appeared on Inc. Someone on Quora recently asked me to answer the following question: How can I avoid repeating the big job disappointments of my past? This caused me to ponder some of my career choices. As I thought about my past career missteps, I had to admit to myself that in each case there were clear warning signs that I chose to either discount or ignore entirely.

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Berkonomics

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

So, we’ve discussed why it is important to build consensus in an organization in most every major decision. To do so, a CEO must be able to relinquish some degree of power, overriding decisions made by consensus only with some thought and certainly with an explanation to those involved. A manager secure in the position should never fear empowering direct reports to make decisions that fall within the resources allocated to them and within the budget agreed to with them.

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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.

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Technology Council

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

By Peachtree Capital Advisors Economic Backdrop – It was not the best of times, it was not the worst of times…2012. Not since the great depression has a sluggish economy and a stubborn unemployment number represented pretty good economic conditions for companies to chart their strategic courses. In 2012, the US economy experienced modest growth with real GDP growing 2.7% […].

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Are you tired of the same old tourist guidebooks, and wish you could really find those unique, local attractions in a city? Newly launched Crash is hoping to help solve that problem, by surfacing "photo-worthy" locations around you in its mobile app--sourced from its users. We spoke with Erick Laubach , the founder of Crash--which is backed by famed startup incubator Idealab--to hear about how the company is hoping to tap the power of the crowd to help others find interesting, local attractions.

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Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

For 5 years, BIL has been a boon for those of us who enjoy learning, socializing with likeminded individuals and playing fun science games without paying a $6000 entrance fee ala TED. In case you haven’t heard, BIL is the tech oriented, community based non-origination that throws an Ad-HOC conference that runs concurrently with TED (March 1-3) every year.

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Technology Council

FEBRUARY 19, 2013

By Peachtree Capital Advisors Economic Backdrop – It was not the best of times, it was not the worst of times…2012. Not since the great depression has a sluggish economy and a stubborn unemployment number represented pretty good economic conditions for companies to chart their strategic courses. In 2012, the US economy experienced modest growth with real GDP growing 2.7% [.].

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Spreeify.com , a brand new, Los Angeles startup, said last week that it has launched a brand new, social shopping site, centered around free giveaways and shopping deals. The startup, led by Ruben Dua, said it combines product giveaways with social shopping, to help merchants gain customers. The firm lets users browse for and shop for women and men's apparel, accessories, home decor, and gadgets.

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Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 16, 2013

Entrepreneurship is all about leading – leading customers to a new product or service, leading a startup team to peak performance, and leading a new business to the market opportunity, while providing maximum return to stakeholders. Most entrepreneurs feel they have innate leadership talents, but struggle with how to nurture these abilities and measure their effectiveness.

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Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

Think about how many images are on the web. Millions, billions, trillions? Yes. The Internet thus far has been monetized by display, video, and in-text advertising — but the one place every user’s eye focuses on first are photos. Photos that are prime real estate and have never been monetized before, until one very ambitious Silicon Beach startup, GumGum , recognized the opportunity and created the first and largest in-image advertising platform, and an entirely new market.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

BLANKSPACES , one of the original, coworking facilities in Los Angeles, is returning to Santa Monica's 2nd Street, according to CEO Jerome Chang. Chang said that its 2nd St. location will again be operating as BLANKSPACES. As part of the relaunch, Chang said that it has partnered with a new, $500K investment fund focused on mobile apps and games to help provide money to members (via Vak Sambath); will be launching a series of office hours to help with in-person, one-on-one discussions (with John

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FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Looking to inspire girls to joint he video game industry, Sony Online Entertainment said today that it has begun accepting applications for its annual $10,000 scholarship which encourages women to join the video game industry. Sony said it will award $10,000 towards tuition or other educational expenses as part of its 2013 G.I.R.L. Game Design competition.

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Crowdfunder , the Los Angeles startup led by CHance Barnett, has launched another crowdfunding event aimed at the local industry, saying Wednesday that it has launched CROWDIMPACT LA , a pitching competition which will award $20,000 in a top prize to a winning social enterprise company. The event is similar to CROWDSTART LA, a pitching competition the company launched last year.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

For our Insights and Opinions section today, Sean Callahan--who co-founded Plixi, and is now working on SlimSurveys --gives thirteen tips for tech startup founders. Sean is also author of Startup Field Guide, Mistakes To Avoid, Tips to Get Ahead , documenting what he's learned over his time in the startup world. Building a successful tech startup in Southern California isn't easy, but it's sure a beautiful place to start your next venture.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

One of the biggest issues facing mobile application developers today, is finding new users among a gigantic sea of applications. A Los Angeles-based startup, PaeDae , is looking to change that with a new platform it is calling BARTR , which it says will let mobile app developers exchange traffic and users. The new service harkens back to the "link exchanges" and "link networks" that grew during the beginning of the Internet age, where different websites would barter credits (earned from traffic)

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FEBRUARY 22, 2013

MeUndies , one of the subscription-based companies out of Science, Inc. , the startup incubator of former MySpace CEO Mike Jones, has just branched out into t-shirts and socks, with the relaunch of its site Friday. It also looks to be taking a clue from fellow Science, Inc., startup--and looks like it's been ramping up its viral outreach efforts with a couple of sexy videos on YouTube.

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Santa Monica-based ParkMe , the startup which is developing parking information services and apps, reported today that it has entered into a partnership with ABM Parking Services, and will launch and power ABM's mobile app. Financial impact of the win were not disclosed. ParkMe said that the new app will provide parking information, including real-time occupancy and reates, for bnearly 2,000 ABM parking facilities.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

In a surprise move, Santa Monica-based Demand Media said Tuesday afternoon that it plans to explore separating its domain name and content businesses into two, independent, publicly traded companies. According to Demand, its board has has authorized a plan to spin Demand Media into a "pure play" media company focused on content creation; and a separate, pure-play domain services company providing registry services and related, aftermarket services.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

The Investment Group of Santa Barbara is the primary backer of a developer of online training software for corporations, which announced a funding round Thursday. Mindflash , a Silicon Valley-based developer of online software for learning management and developing corporate training, said it raised $3.5M during 2012 from the Investment Group of Santa Barbara.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Newport Beach-based Jeda Networks , a new startup in the storage networking arena, said today that it has unveiled its technology, with the backing of U.S. Venture Partners and Miramar Venture Partners. The firm said it is developing software defined, storage networking techniques aimed at solving complexity, cost and scalability issues with current storage networks.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Hypemarks , the social link sharing startup started by Tim Sae Koo, has failed and pivoted itself into a new service, Tint , and moved to San Francisco. According to Sae Koo, Tint is now focused on helping brands create social hubs on their website, letting companies display social media feeds on their website. Sae Koo said the pivot came due to slow growth in a crowded space and customers asking for the new product.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

There's been a lot of talk about the boom in Southern California's startup world. Driven by success in the sector, accelerators, serial entrepreneurs, and more, there are more startups starting and relocating here than ever. However, local startups still tell us that it can be difficult to find an investor for their company, particularly beyond the seed and Series A rounds.

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

For our Insights and Opinions section this morning, we have a contribution from Ron McElroy , the CEO and founder of Real Office Centers , which has rapidly become of the gathering places for the growing Silicon Beach startup community. Silicon Beach, as the white-hot start up market in Santa Monica is referred to, is exploding with activity. Albeit the second fiddle to its well known uncle up north, Silicon Valley with a number of high-tech success stories to lay claim such as Google, Paypal, a

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Xirrus , the wireless hardware provider based in Thousand Oaks, has just raised $10.1M in a funding round, part of an ongoing $11.0M funding, according to a regulatory filing by the company. Details on the funding have not yet been announced by the company. Xirrus, which is backed by August Capital, Canaan Partners, InterWest Partners, QuestMark Partners, and US Venture Partners, last announced a funding round back in September.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Boingo Wireless , the Wi-Fi network operator based in Los Angeles, has expanded its presence in Japan, saying it has inked a deal with NTT Broadband Platform, Inc. to manage and operate the Wi-Fi services at five major airports in the country. Boingo said it will manage Wi-Fi services at Haneda Airport (Tokyo International Airport) (HND), Narita International Airport, Tokyo (NRT), New Chitose Airport, Sapporo (CTS), Fukuoka Airport (FUK), and Chubu Airport, Nagoya (NGO).

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Santa Monica-based virtual server and cloud computing provider Infinitely Virtual is bragging today that it has seen a revenue jump of 70 percent in 2012, due to interest from small and midsized businesses in its services. The firm--which didn't disclose any actual revenues--said it now expects to grow more than 50 percent in the current year. Infinitely Virtual is led by Adam Stern, and offers up cloud-based versions like QuickBooks and Microsoft Office.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Punchcard , the mobile, consumer loyalty application developer backed by Idealab, has swizzled its model significantly today, with the release of a new version of its mobile app for iPhone and Android. According to Punchcard, it is now letting users of the consumer loyalty app enter to instantly win prizes every time they take a picture of a receipt using the app--instead of earning rewards for filling out a virtual punchcard.

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Los Angeles-based FastPay , which provides specialized line of credit to online publishers, e-commerce companies, videogame companies, and other digital media companies, reports this morning that it has placed over $100M in funding to over 100 customers since its launch in 2010. The company, which is headed by Jed Simon, offers up short term credit lines to web publishers and other digital businesses who typically face 60 day or longer payment cycles.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

Has troubled, Anaheim-based automaker Fisker Automotive found a buyer yet? News over the weekend from Bloomberg said that Chinese car company Dongfeng Motor Group has offered $350M for an 85 percent in Fisker, and that Chinese auto firm Geely also has put in a bid for the company. Fisker--which said in January that it hoped to find a buyer for the company by the end of this month--apparently has stopped buildling cars, after its battery supplier, A123 Systems, went bankrupt and was just bought b

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FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Valencia-based Sanguine Biosciences , a startup developing a service around blood sample collection for research and development, said Thursday that it has closed on a seed financing round. Size of the round was not announced. The funding was led by INVENT Ventures and Heliant Ventures. Sanguine says that it uses social media and non-profit advocacy to collect blood, which is processed into DNA, RNA, cells, plasma, and serum, to be used in biomedical research.

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FEBRUARY 19, 2013

DriveCam , the San Diego-based developer of driver monitoring systems, announced today that it has scored a win with bus operator Greyhound Lines. According to DriveCam, Greyhound LInes will deploy its driver risk management and fleet management products across its entire fleet, as part of a five year service contract. Financial impact of the win was not disclosed.

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FEBRUARY 22, 2013

Los Angeles-based Wi-Fi network operator Boingo is having a big week for airport expansion, saying Thursday that it has also added three airports in Germany. Boingo said it has signed agreements to manage and operate Wi-Fi services in Berlin-Tegel (TXL), Nuremberg (NUE), and Stuttgart (STR). Financial details of the agreements were not announced by the company.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Snapchat , the Venice Beach-based startup which has been taking the mobile world by storm with its "self destructing" mobile photos, has just officially launched video into its Android app, just days after announcing a Series A funding round. SnapChat, which has been offering up its Android application for the last four months for photos, said it has now added video on the software, letting users send video snapshots to their friends via the app.

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Irvine-based Broadcom has announced a brand new, geolocation chip, which supports the GPS, GLONASS, QZSS and SBAS satellite systems, and also features new geofencing capabilities, the company said today. The company said its Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) chip is aimed at use in always-on, location-aware applications such as social networking, place-based mobile commerce and local merchant advertising.

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FEBRUARY 20, 2013

Mission Viejo-based Lifescript , which operates an online women's health site, claimed that it saw strong growth in 2012. The firm says it now has more than 28 million registered users, and saw a 38 percent increase in advertising and sponsorship revenue from 2011 to 2012. Actual financial details were not released by the company. Lifescript, which is led by Ron Caporale, says it now sees 11.5 million unique visitors a month.

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