TechCrunch LA

OCTOBER 17, 2018

“We are the preferred prescription provider of Snapchat Spectacles,” says Lensabl chief executive Andrew Bilinsky. “[And] we are already talking to and partnering with a variety of brands to start and scale their prescription operations [and] really scale our direct to consumer lens business.”

Snapchat 179

Snapchat Los Angeles Pricing Startup 179

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2017

had a huge debut on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on Thursday, as it started trading as SNAP, surging above $25.00 per share in early morning trading--up more than 43%. The company--which priced at $17.00 per share, and was heading up with only a few minutes on the trading day. Venice-based Snap Inc. billion each.

Southern California 100

Southern California Snapchat High Tech Venice 100

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

There is much discussion online and also in small, private groups, about why the price of technology companies – public and private – are falling. Most are sitting on large portfolios of private companies that are raising money now or will need to do so in the future and they know that they’re up against some headwinds.

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 16, 2017

Every tech or major news journal in the country is preparing to write their Snap, Inc (creators of Snapchat, Spectacles, etc) stories and many of them seem to want a “How does it feel to have missed this investment story.” We did know about Snapchat as early as anybody. If you swing at every pitch you’ll end up with a lot more losers.

Snapchat 214

Snapchat Invest Technical Review Dollar Shave Club 214

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2022

A question that I still hear debated often is whether a new online platform startup growth strategy should focus on user count or profits. Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?”

Platform 118

Platform Snapchat Startup Course 118

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2018

How do you get top tier venture capitalists interested in your startup? Our interview this morning is with Lidia Yan , the founder of NEXT Trucking (www.nexttrucking.com), a venture-backed startup which operates an online marketplace for freight shipping. How did the company start? That's when we came up with NEXT Trucking.

Startup 173

Startup Pricing Marketing Entrepreneur 173

TechCrunch LA

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

TechCrunch is heading to UCLA on October 18 and we’ve assembled some of the AR/VR industry’s most prescient founders, investors and executives to chat about the startups and trends driving virtual and augmented reality in 2018. Startups are working to centralize the experience but it’s going to look a lot different.

UCLA 185

UCLA Startup Snapchat Los Angeles 185

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Let me start with the obvious baseline that most people probably know instinctively: Los Angeles is the 3rd largest technology startup ecosystem in the US. Given how efficient markets are when a large market like LA starts to blossom it attracts capital pretty quickly. LA By The Numbers. But even this is changing.

Entrepreneur 376

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 376

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. But it still takes VC to scale a business (thus large capital into industry winners like Uber, Airbnb, SnapChat, etc). Seed funds now represent 67% of all funds being created now, which is up 100% from 6 years ago.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

Meet the next generation of startup success stories at Be Great Fest in Los Angeles. Their mission: to support a charity, savor the hot SoCal nightlife, and transform Los Angeles into the startup capital of the world. Although the Startup Genome Project named Los Angeles the No. 3 startup ecosystem in the world, with L.A.

Los Angeles 101

Los Angeles Angel Startup Venture Capital 101

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 17, 2019

Image via Max Pixel A question that I still hear debated often is whether a new startup growth strategy should focus on user count or profits. Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?”

Snapchat 74

Snapchat Startup Course Yahoo 74

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 12, 2014

If you’re a technology startup you need to excel at product, of course. The starting point of product IS marketing, which is what a lot of young entrepreneurs that never studied business don’t realize. The start of marketing is figuring out a market need and a way to solve that need better than anybody else.

Marketing 379

Marketing Startup SEM SEO 379

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

From Los Angeles to Silicon Valley , a trend emerged among social media influencers and startup founders alike: move into a mansion with 10 or so collaborators, work day and night together to build fame and wealth, and hope that your new roommates do their dishes. Image Credits: Robiiiworld (Brandy Merriweather via BStarPR).

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 10, 2019

Image via Pixabay After a frustrating meeting with a small business client recently who didn’t “have time” for social media, I was surprised to find evidence on the Internet that up to one quarter of small business owners are still hesitant to invest time, money, and effort into a social media strategy. Do your homework before you begin.

Social Media 99

Social Media Media Tool Startup 99

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

I work with a lot of startups. I start to notice when bad behavior creeps into the system as a whole. The minute you try to monetize now they have metrics with which to beat you up and say you’re business has limitations.” ” Case in point: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, SnapChat. Again, all true.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2016

Some of the most well-known include Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat, Xiaomi, and Pinterest. Based on some good estimates of how many new ventures have been started in the last five years, the statistical odds of any individual startup making it to this level are less than one in a million. Active interest by a multitude of investors.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

Although the carriers made a lot of money initially by selling dial-up Internet services, customers never took their software because, well, it sucked. So the value on the Internet went “up the stack” to portals such as Yahoo!, Excite, MSN and eventually Google.

Outsource Development 150

Outsource Development Startup Custom Customer 150

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 15, 2017

A question that I still hear debated often is whether a new startup growth strategy should focus on user count or profits. Most startups and investors I know don’t have unlimited funds, so the first question they should ask and do ask today, is “When is your company going to be profitable (self-sustaining)?” So let’s take a look.

Snapchat 55

Snapchat Startup Course Yahoo 55

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 22, 2016

Less than a month ago, Snapchat opened custom on-demand geofilters to everyone. Industry news was excited, but for how amazing of a product they are, custom Snapchat geofilters have remained stunningly under the radar. Geofilters first started appearing a little less than a year ago , and they’ve taken off from there.

Custom 40

Custom Customer Snapchat Design 40

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 9, 2013

The topic of the conference was “The Sharing Economy” and as I read many of the session title descriptions I realized that people would be talking more about “collaborative consumption” (think airbnb, taskrabbit, uber) than about why people are sharing more on Instragram & Snapchat. Prices down. Network Up.

Marketing 361

Marketing Course Pricing Networking 361

Tech.Co

SEPTEMBER 26, 2017

With the addition of wireless charging you’d simply place your phone on a charging pad and it would start to charge, and some even support fast charging. With the cover on your phone, you press it to the Omnia wireless car charger, and it starts to charge. Priced well. Price: $60 + $60 for the required case.

Technical Review 101

Technical Review Design Snapchat Pricing 101

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Our social graphs are locked in Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. In a world where perhaps foreign governments start propagating false information to influence our society, guaranteeing authenticity would become a very big deal. Distribution of media is tightly controlled by YouTube, Netflix, Facebook, Amazon and a handful of others.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280

socalTECH

AUGUST 17, 2020

We have a couple of thousand retailers and a product catalog of 80 million products, and every day, people are posting their photos and videos to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. That's where I first started getting the idea to create what is now Indi. Retailers will pay them for those recommendations.

Help 113

Help Commerce Platform Orange County 113

Startup Professionals Musings

FEBRUARY 24, 2017

Most of the guidance you see for entrepreneurs is aimed at those who are selling a product (Apple, Tesla, Xiaomi), or selling a service (Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat). Many are reluctant to really “market” themselves, and have trouble differentiating their offerings to clients, except by price. Set pricing to assure both revenue and profit.

Social Media 56

Social Media Pricing Technical Review Demand 56

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

Many people are too cautious in sales processes and as a result when they present their solutions they end up sounding milquetoast and undifferentiated from anybody else in the market. We knew that all buyers would be concerned about security, privacy, back-ups, data protection and so forth. Why Buy Anything ? Why Buy Me? Why Buy Now?

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150