Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 23, 2011

I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know. Thank you. (if 1:00 – 3:40).

Capital 265

Capital Venture Capital Veoh Startup 265

socalTECH

MARCH 28, 2014

Los Angeles-based mobile advertising company Airpush has quietly grown to around $100M in annual revenues, according to a recent ranking from Forbes--a big surprise, as the company was completely bootstrapped by founder Asher Delug , who eschewed the usual use of venture capital and private equity to build a company to those revenue levels.

Startup 196

Startup Mobile Advertising Organization 196

socalTECH

DECEMBER 16, 2009

So, it was interesting to speak with Sean Rad , founder of Twitter advertising firm Ad.ly (www.ad.ly), on how his firm is looking to help users make money from the service, even if Twitter isn't. With Ad.ly, any Twitter user--ranging from your average Joe to a celebrity, can send a tweet on behalf of an advertiser, and get paid for doing so.

Advertising 189

Advertising Content Startup Social Network 189

InfoChachkie

SEPTEMBER 3, 2013

Entrepreneurs seeking funding should emulate Addie''s efficient and focused pursuit of perfection. When securing funding, entrepreneurs must balance the desire for perfection with the urgent need to ensure the process is efficient. I asked Chris which of these categories he felt most consistently grabbed investors'' attention.

Product 208

Product Yammer Technical Review Google 208

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 9, 2015

One of the quickest ways to become an entrepreneur these days is to develop and publish a smartphone app. We don’t hear about the remaining three million apps that are mostly free, and garnering only trivial revenue through advertising. The price of entry can be less than $10,000, so the competition is huge and growing rapidly.

Startup 98

Startup Platform Pricing Netflix 98

socalTECH

AUGUST 8, 2018

Is there a way you can make direct mail perform more like digital advertising channels? We spoke with Dave Fink , CEO and co-founder of Posite, and Jonathan Neddenriep , co-founder and CTO of the company, to learn more. Companies are looking at diminishing returns, and were finding it more challenging to scale on Facebook.

CTO Hire 100

CTO Hire Artificial Inteligence Technical Review Marketing 100

socalTECH

AUGUST 7, 2009

Thanks to all of the sponsors and advertisers, who allow us to keep you updated on Southern California's high tech news and companies. Backing Southern California's next great technology companies. Helping entrepreneurs succeed. An on-line community for entrepreneurs. Advertisers. They include: Sponsors.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Orange County Southern California IP 100

socalTECH

JULY 24, 2009

Thanks to all of the sponsors and advertisers, who allow us to keep you updated on. Southern California's high tech news and companies. Backing Southern California's next great technology companies. Helping entrepreneurs succeed. We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Advertisers.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Orange County Southern California Westlake Village 100

socalTECH

JULY 23, 2010

Matt Edelman: The last company I ran and co-founded PeopleJam, which was a social media business for people interested in self improvement. Matt Edelman: Before I started, the company had acquired a company called StyleHive, which also owns MyStyleDiary. Those, ultimately, still drive the creation of content across the category.

Newsletter 165

Newsletter Sites Content Advertising 165

Tech Zulu Event

FEBRUARY 18, 2013

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. Tanz has been featured in Entrepreneur Magazine “Young Millionaires of 2011 Special Report.” The old media companies were resistant to change. He decided to pivot.

Advertising 98

Advertising Santa Monica Startup Content 98

socalTECH

OCTOBER 28, 2016

I think that the thought was, if we want to apply to an accelerator in LA, we should have a company has that as relevant focus there. Those were companies like Maker Studios, disrupting the traditional production of content. We have had a relatively consistent pattern of successfully raising follow on funding for our companies.

Startup 100

Startup Entrepreneur Funding Incubator 100

Startup Professionals Musings

NOVEMBER 21, 2016

Others, like Guy Kawasaki , have irreverently called some of these “entrepreneur lies,” but I prefer to think of them as innocent enhancements or omissions that can kill your deal. It takes a huge upfront investment to attract users, before advertisers are interested. Entrepreneurs in this category are usually dreamers.

Funding 98

Funding Startup Innocal Entrepreneur 98

socalTECH

JANUARY 5, 2011

The firm is now run by Derrick Oien , who an experience entrepreneur, who was the founder of Intercasting Corporation, and a member of the management team which sold MP3.com To better understand what the Chumby is, and what the company is up to, we sat down with Derrick to talk about the company. com to Vivendi Universal.

Startup 159

Startup Google San Diego Content 159

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

We caught up with Mickie Rosen , the firm's CEO, about the company, its links to Best Buy, and how it was incubated out of Fuse Capital. One of the concepts we came up with, and bounced around with Best Buy, was a whole new, independent company to help consumers with technology. Are there any links between Best Buy and the service?

Incubator 239

Incubator Startup Web Technical Review 239

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 1, 2010

Many firms do it in a way that can be more detrimental to entrepreneurs. There are positive benefits to the right VCs being involved early – especially if your company or the economy hits bumps in the road. How this works: I try to set a price that feels like a fair balance between GRP and the company.

Seed Funding 298

Seed Funding Funding Venture Capital GRP Partners 298

SoCal Delicious

MAY 6, 2012

where entrepreneurs share their stories. 63 Los Angeles Entrepreneurs To Be Proud Of By mario on May 2, 2012 in Features , grid. Free Corporations For First-Time Entrepreneurs. Right now they’re setting up 500 free corporations for first time entrepreneurs. Here are 62 63 Los Angeles entrepreneurs we can be proud of.

Los Angeles 78

Los Angeles Entrepreneur Angel Fractional CTO 78

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 17, 2016

Even the best technology can’t read your mind, which is why a simple Google search often gives frustrating and irrelevant results, and online advertisers bombard you with opportunities of no interest. These are willing to share data with a variety of companies if there is a perceived beneficial effect to the consumer behind the sharing.

Social Media 53

Social Media Tool Anthem Google 53

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 24, 2010

That's why we exist, and why we are a company, to help consumers figure out that fundamental question. That realization set forth our current business strategy, which is to create a portfolio of vertical shopping sites which allow consumers to discover and be passionate about categories they are interested in.

Content 165

Content Demand Sites Media 165

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 14, 2014

It’s why the first company I ever invested in as a VC – Invoca – just announced a $20 million funding by Accel Partners. It’s why opt-in marketing databases can be so incredibly valuable for companies like Gilt Groupe, One King’s Lane and AdoreMe. Much more data in the full post. PHONE CALLS.

Email 339

Email SaaS Venture Capital Google 339

SoCal Delicious

SEPTEMBER 19, 2012

Ten Tech Entrepreneurs Who Are Putting LA on the Map. Tech startup accelerators dot the landscape, feeding investments into the waiting arms of the nation’s most intelligent and driven entrepreneurs. Founder and CEO since starting the company back in 1999, Miller has led Cornerstone through 11 years of consecutive growth.

Technical Review 75

Technical Review Entrepreneur Riot Games Southern California 75

socalTECH

DECEMBER 11, 2017

Scott tells us how the company--backed by St. Cloud Capital--has managed to coax those equipment rental yards into the digital age, and how the company has tackled other challenges in focusing its business. Scott Cannon: We are an online marketplace for companies in the rental construction equipment space. What is BigRentz?

Startup 174

Startup Metrics Customer Custom 174

Tech Zulu Event

SEPTEMBER 18, 2012

Heir to the largest mall in America, and an empire started by his grandfather that now includes banks and manufacturing companies, Mark Ghermezian joined the family business but left the family empire last year to jump on the tech startup bandwagon. In other words, when did you get “bitten” by the entrepreneur bug?

Startup 82

Startup Mobile Platform Ideas 82

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

This is going to be fairly specific to the company. Since I fall into the expert category, my belief is that you should be pretty open with me. "We are doing something in mobile advertising." I also will point out that in the The 15 Mistakes of First Time Entrepreneurs : 9. How Stealthy Should You Be?

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JULY 31, 2019

After working in business at all levels, and consulting to entrepreneurs for years, I’m still surprised to see so many situations where things that should be easy are painful to customers, and lead to customers hating your business. For example, I recently picked up my phone to call a well-advertised local company for a TV repair.

Customer 83

Customer Custom Demand Examples 83

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

This is going to be fairly specific to the company. Since I fall into the expert category, my belief is that you should be pretty open with me. "We are doing something in mobile advertising." I also will point out that in the The 15 Mistakes of First Time Entrepreneurs : 9. How Stealthy Should You Be?

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

socalTECH

JUNE 27, 2011

Scott Saunders, the CEO and co-founder, of the company is hoping to change that, by providing tools to consumers to help pay off their debt and achieve their life goals. I built up the company, the Walz Group, with partners. 500 company. The company is doing great, and now has more than $30 million in revenues.

Startup 197

Startup Ideas Southern California Social Network 197

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 28, 2011

We spoke with Bill Kelley, COO and Partner of the firm, about what the company is up to. Bill Kelley: AutoStream is a relatively new company. The company was formed originally to use video as a conversational essence in the social media world. we can expand to other categories. What's Autostream?

Content 214

Content Startup Tool Advertising 214

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Why Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers. Facebook is about to try to dominate display ads the way Google dominates text ads - Chris Dixon , May 15, 2010 It is customary to divide online advertising into two categories: direct response and brand advertising. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

InfoChachkie

DECEMBER 2, 2009

“I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.” In the “good old days”, pre- 1999, advertising dollars were largely gambled away. As Marketing Guru Guy Gabriel of Idea Engineering points out in Max Brand , viral marketing has made many an entrepreneur terminally ill.

Customer 164

Customer Custom Advertising SEM 164

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2010

It was especially fun for me because we got the chance to talk about the VC industry and how entrepreneurs should think about the VC industry in addition to discussing deals. We talked about how the metaphor for finding information might be changing and why large companies such as HP and Microsoft are betting so big on this industry.

Clearstone 236

Clearstone Venture Capital ReachLocal Google 236

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 25, 2012

The diligence and tireless effort paid off and as a result came a hand-selected class 75 future entrepreneurs eager to begin their next adventure in life and to eventually join on with a local startup. Something a “corporate” job would not do.) great jobs.

Education 86

Education Startup Software Review Technical Review 86

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

” I mention journalists here because they perpetuate the myth that focusing on profits is ALWAYS the right answer and then I hear many entrepreneurs (and certainly many “normals”) repeating the same mantra. Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 12, 2008

Matthew spoke to us to give us a better idea of what the company offers and why it was started. What's your background, and how did you decide to start the company? It was the third week of December 2006, and I was involved with a biodiesel company. Who are you targeting with this -- buyers at companies?

SEO 100

SEO Advertising Gogii Tech Coast Angels 100

socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2010

Lolita Carrico: After I sold ModernMom last year to Demand Media and Richard Rosenblatt, which they merged into Brook Burke's company, BabooshBaby.com, I stayed with them through the transition. Those are our three biggest categories as far as sponsorship and readership. Lolita Carrico: I think so. READ MORE>>.

Networking 230

Networking Social Media Startup Search Engine Optimization 230

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

So, we created a site which not just aggregates, but also organizes activities by type, category--land, sea, air--and things like competition, family, culture, adrenaline--to really narrow down the possibilities for what you're looking for. Bill Fried: I'm a serial entrepreneur. How is the company funded?

Activity 164

Activity Startup Sites Web 164

Tech Zulu Event

JUNE 11, 2013

This second annual fest brings together technology leaders, startup CEOs, investors, Hollywood studio executives, entrepreneurs, developers, students and more to celebrate LA’s dynamic technology industries with panels, workshops, hackathon, mixers, and a start-up showcase spotlighting 40 local startups. and launching at Silicon Beach Fest.

GRP Partners 88

GRP Partners MyLife Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 88

Tech Zulu Event

NOVEMBER 12, 2013

Hale Boggs: Think of Manatt Digital Media as a one-stop shopping for digital media companies. On the legal side, my practice in North California and we have an advertising and media group in New York City. We have represented and continue to represent companies internationally. We hired Peter Csathy in May of this year.

Los Angeles 84

Los Angeles Media Invest Startup 84