TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 20, 2019

Start writing down predictions about people, companies, and markets. We get at least a dozen at the TC offices every week, which is why we write about books so often around here these days. How can you practice timing? Check in with the companies you talked with a few years ago — how are they doing? Ditto people you met a while back.

Venture Capital 202

Venture Capital Startup Technical Review Invest 202

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 14, 2013

.” Here’s what I mean … Let’s start with what it takes for a journalist to want to write a story. Do I have an “angle” from which to write the story (first company to do X, company does biggest X, consumer behavior is doing X)? Think about Luma Partners.

Marketing 389

Marketing Press Blogging Startup 389

Eric Greenspan

MAY 19, 2016

I wrote a one page business plan and create this logo: My business idea was simple, I wanted to help people “make it work” in their business using technology and building operational software solutions. Next, came MIW II…but before we get to that part, let me explain why I’m writing this post.

IBM 136

IBM IBM Writing Networking 136

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 18, 2017

Recently the firms two founding partners (and also Managing Partners) —  Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham  — decided to transition management of the firm to Andy Weissman (who joined in 2012) and Albert Wenger (joined in 2008 and writes one of the most thoughtful blogs in our industry ).

Venture Capital 161

Venture Capital Funding Capital Startup 161

socalTECH

DECEMBER 17, 2008

Anne Walls and John Singleton are co-founders of WordHustler (www.wordhustler.com), a local Hollywood startup looking to help writers connect with publishers. In their case, people write their scripts on a web site, and when they're done, they can submit them to contests with a single click. What's the whole idea behind WordHustler?

Writing 209

Writing Hollywood Startup Sites 209

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 15, 2016

On September 10th of this year I spent an entire day in California State Prison with people who had committed felonies and worked with them on business plans to help them create legal enterprise upon their release as part of Defy Ventures 6-month training program. I am committed to finding ways to help graduates get jobs.

Writing 150

Writing Startup Design Training 150

Eric Greenspan

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

After my latest company collapsed in June of 2012, I went into a bit of a depression. I’ll also admit that I went to see a doctor for the first time in years and when she told me I needed help with my depression, I figured why not. I’m no longer afraid to admit it and quite frankly, it made me stronger…much stronger.

Startup 167

Startup Entrepreneur Writing Customer 167

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 1, 2012

Occasionally on this blog I break away from industry commentary and write more broadly. The first day of 2012 seems the perfect day to do so. It is this reminder that helps me form my internal compass and not hide behind a fortress. And as I said to my close friend Adam Lilling who helps run Launchpad LA. Holding dinners.

Startup 319

Startup Organization Entrepreneur Blogging 319

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

2011 was an incredibly huge year for us, and 2012 will be the same way. What we do, is we help companies identify who is accessing their sites, and registering for their services. You found the team behind TeleSign, and have helped bring together a team to scale out the business. Steve Jillings: We have been doing super well.

Marina Del Rey 238

Marina Del Rey Startup IP Examples 238

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2013

Having a methodology instead of just going on random sales visits helped force a bit of rigor and honesty amongst team members about how well or not we thought we were doing. Take for example the years 2010-2012 where every brand out there seemed to be buying Facebook “Likes.” It’s just human nature.

Sales 367

Sales Slides Startup Customer 367

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2010

In the latter cases many companies (Flickr, Delicious, Blogger, Writely in 05-08 and lately Invite Media, Aardvark, Dodgeball, etc.) If 2011 & 2012 look like 2010 then the current crop of angel investments will look great. And being populist helps that. Let’s call these cards 1996-99, 2005-08 and 2010+. It’s hard to say.

Invest 284

Invest Angel Venture Capital Startup 284

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 20, 2012

Sam is the managing director of Launchpad LA and we were about to pick our 2012 class of entrepreneurs. Tracy is knowledgeable enough to talk tech and swap design & product stories with other founders, but she realized early that networking amongst this group and reading and writing in their journals would not bring her more customers.

Startup 363

Startup Entrepreneur SEO Venture Capital 363

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 13, 2013

The current iteration of what we are doing now has been around since 2012. Reading what people have to say about us like how we changed their lives and helped them find a job is a rewarding experience. So if you send out cover letters with typos and resumes that are misaligned, that will definitely not help you.

Mobile 86

Mobile Marketing Writing Startup 86

socalTECH

MARCH 12, 2013

The company--which is in the business of operating a content delivery network (CDN) to accelerate the delivery of web graphics, multimedia, applications, and more to end users-- recently disclosed it more than doubled its revenues in 2012, and has grown to over 230 employees--all due to a huge amount of demand for CDN services by its customers.

CTO Hire 248

CTO Hire Content Networking Web 248

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 15, 2014

As one of the young company’s first employees (founded in January 2012 with their first hotspot product launch in 2012) she provides a great inside look at the inspiration that drives the company’s work and shares her own insights on how/why she ended up at one of the wireless data industry’s fastest growing innovators.

Outsource Development 108

Outsource Development Startup Incubator Press 108

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 8, 2013

According to the most recent study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, there were approximately 514,000 new businesses created per month in the US in 2012. Be visible online and to traditional media, volunteer to lead, write guest posts for others, be responsive, give stuff away, and provide many ways to communicate.

Platform 105

Platform Entrepreneur Startup Social Media 105

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 21, 2012

I mean they just had their formal product launch in April 2012 and was a runner-up in NBC’s Education Nation Innovation Challenge in October 2012, which hails in comparison to the recent contractual partnerships they are forming with education pillars.

Education 63

Education Web 2.0 Course Platform 63

InfoChachkie

APRIL 21, 2013

What I really liked was serving people, I really liked helping people, and in my little seven-year-old mind, that meant being a waitress. Now my company is 28-employees, we closed a round of three million dollars in May (2012). helps you get up in the morning and know. A Foundation Of Honorable Service. month-to-month.

Networking 214

Networking Startup Santa Barbara RSS 214

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 6, 2012

DreamSwapp is an Android-based mobile application to help users record their dreams and share dreams with friends using social media. Our team was founded in May 2012 and we released our app on October 8 th , Chicago, IL. We have a configurable alarm that reminds people to write down their dream when they wake up. Competition?

Template 82

Template Social Media Media Research 82

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

I recommend that you start by writing down the attributes you would want people to think about when they think about your brand. Home of JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), which helps put rockets into space. or www.bsott.com by the way) but I figured having the name in full would help people to remember how I wanted to be positioned.

Startup 304

Startup Venture Capital Los Angeles Woodland Hills 304

InfoChachkie

JULY 30, 2012

Thus, I was inspired when I heard about the impact collaboration-in-the-cloud innovator Central Desktop made at the April 2012 San Francisco ad:tech conference. In this case, the collaboration angel humorously described how the company’s platform could help just about anyone connect, share and work better in the cloud.

Marketing 209

Marketing Conference RSS Angel 209

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 17, 2017

Ryan Blair: As you know, I sold ViSalus back in 2012, but ended up buying it back in 2014, and then we sold the company to a public company. I don't know if you've read my book, but I started my career writing trading systems in a software company. Tell us a bit of the story on how you started HashtagOne? Execution is everything.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review Software Review 100

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

Some quick data that I pulled from EmailisNotDead.com (mid 2012). Only naive people believe that but for inexperienced entrepreneurs you can be fooled into the narrative by the press who sometimes write stories without the actual data. There are 2.9 billion email accounts. This figure is predicted to reach 3.8 billion by 2014.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 28, 2013

Alex was instrumental in helping HostPro grow into one of the largest web hosting companies in the industry, with over 70,000 customers worldwide and operations in Los Angeles; Seattle; Boise, Idaho, and Boca Raton, Florida. As the CTO of SOA Software Alistair is helping to shape and mature the enterprise API and SOA industry.

SaaS 92

SaaS Cloud Computing CIO Web 92

socalTECH

MAY 14, 2013

So, at the beginning of 2012, we picked a website that we owned, to make it awesome. We work with Google to help monetize our traffic, and we''re also working with a variety of other networks. That might be good if you''re writing a book report, but people love quick facts. If users are coming to you directly, that''s better.

Google 236

Google Sites Startup Web 236

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 1, 2012

Write down the “ what” of your vision, but let go of “ how” it will be achieved; you can’t control the precise manner, form, or timing. Focus on practices that help you stay open and have faith, but don’t force it. Marty Zwilling First published on Young Entrepreneur on 10/25/2012. Don’t be afraid to take test drives.

Entrepreneur 86

Entrepreneur Coach Satisfaction Mentor 86

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 26, 2012

Groesche got me intrigued with Miselu’s grand vision so I couldn’t help but ask him for a quick interview on the product: Tell us about presenting the product early at SXSW? The feedback we got will help us iterate and next time we show, we will have an even bigger impact and better product. What are your next moves?

Press 100

Press Ideas Product Activity 100

InfoChachkie

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

Rather than panhandling for spare change, HandUp, with the help of its partners, allows people in need to create a video which tells their story. I first got the idea on a cold night during the winter of 2012 in San Francisco when I walked passed a homeless woman sleeping on the street. This is a game changer for the homeless.

Platform 100

Platform Startup Tips Help 100

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 5, 2013

My job is to help you not get a job,” Marks announced. LA is up and coming and is a great place to be because everybody is helping each other out. It was the morning of June 26th, 2012. As a young entrepreneur, you get introduced to mentors and successful entrepreneurs on a daily basis who want to help you.

Startup 107

Startup Los Angeles USC Southern California 107

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 18, 2012

I’ve been on the road much of 2012 and part of 2011. I plan to write about it early next year when we’re all through. But you realize that you can be more helpful as a coach. I didn’t sleep much back then. I was on the road much and I internalized much of the stress so that others didn’t have to.

Blogging 420

Blogging Press Entrepreneur Venture Capital 420

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

Months of submissions and the amazing help from our judges , the Spotlight is shinning down on awesome companies that were born right out of Southern California. We write and create our own content for the game. When: Thursday, February 2, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. Directions to the Spotlight: LA Tech Winter 2012. Event Details.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

There were only 22% women who invested in 2012. Natalia Oberti Noguera is on a mission to help change the demographic of investment with her Pipeline Fellowship. Pipeline Fellowship teaches women to become angel investors and become a more powerful and helpful voice in the investment world. What is Pipeline Fellowship about?

Mentor 84

Mentor Invest Entrepreneur Startup 84

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Features like this, as well as our daily interviews wouldn’t be possible without the amazing support of our sponsor eMinutes – a law firm here in Los Angeles that focuses on helping entrepreneurs structure their companies. Subscribe to RSS.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 24, 2012

The Digital Detox Retreat September 13-16, 2012. We wanted to help prevent burn-out and inspire others to take time for themselves. As technologists living online in real time all the time, it is easy to lose perspective on life. It’s transformational on all levels; we promise you’ll walk away with new perspective.

Pricing 86

Pricing Coach Email Startup 86

Tech Zulu Event

MAY 20, 2014

Just 20 years old and a recent Harvard University dropout, Olenka provided insight into her transition to Los Angeles, life as an entrepreneur, and how she’s passionate about helping non-English speakers see American movies in their own native language. Explain to our readers why you started your company, and why you created your app myLINGO.

Startup 91

Startup Entertainment CTO Coach Screening 91

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 28, 2012

The first-ever Silicon Beach Fest attracted more than 2,000 attendees from LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Barbara, New York, Toronto, and London to celebrate LA startups and entertainment with panels, parties, pitch fests, hackathon, and beach games: volleyball, basketball and surfing lessons in Santa Monica and Venice on June 21-23, 2012.

Hollywood 67

Hollywood Technical Review Startup Rustic Canyon 67

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 5, 2012

In fact, most early investor work hard to help their startups get to the next level so it makes no sense for the angel investor and founders to be at odds. So if I write you a $500,000 check into a convertible note with a $4.5 million cap I am assuming when I write the check that I will own 10% of your company.

Startup 354

Startup Pricing Equity Venture Capital 354