socalTECH

JANUARY 7, 2019

During the holiday season, our tradition over the last few years has been to post reflections on the past year and some predictions for 2019 from Southern California's technology industry. Our most recent Demo Day in November 2018 (at Google/Venice on the main stage) was the most well-attended Demo Day in the history of Startup Boost.

Technical Review 157

Technical Review Software Review Startup Coach 157

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 10, 2014

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 103

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 103

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 14, 2010

They have marked-up paper gains propped up by an over excited venture capital market that has validated their investments. Logic tells me the following: It is hard to make money angel investing. Too many angel deals just means more to watch and invest in for the ones that do succeed (if the VCs can get in at reasonable prices).

Invest 299

Invest Angel Technical Review Venture Capital 299

Tech.Co

MARCH 8, 2018

Fortunately, for those headed to SXSW, Startup Night SXSW 2018 , presented by the Kauffman Foundation and TechCo, will be filled with investors from a multitude of industries who are looking to discover and fund startups building the latest solutions and tech innovations. Joanne Chen, Partner at Foundation Capital.

Technical Review 70

Technical Review Startup Software Review Entrepreneur 70

TechCrunch LA

JULY 19, 2022

Privacy is important, so inventory owners can choose the restrictions on who can see the liquidation, like competitors, and it doesn’t appear in Google searches, Kaplan explained. Ghost is not alone in developing technology focused on inventory. Last week, Syrup Tech raised $6.3 Syrup Tech bags $6.3M

Product 191

Product Funding Technical Review Equity 191

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 27, 2016

Struggling entrepreneurs are often so happy to get a funding offer that they neglect the recommended reverse due diligence on the investors. Investor due diligence on a startup is not a mysterious black art, but is nothing more than a final integrity check on all aspects of your business model, team, product, customers, and plan.

Technical Review 63

Technical Review Innocal Offshore Entrepreneur 63

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 19, 2011

I’ve just completed an investment in Ryan Carson’s new company, TreeHouse. I’m investing heavily in Internet video. So I invested in Maker Studios , which is now the 3rd largest producer of Internet video on the web. I’m investing in businesses that reinvent education. Americans watch 5.3

Invest 295

Invest Carson Technical Review Education 295

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

There has been much discussion in the past few years of the changing structure of the venture capital industry. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). 15 years ago we were at the peak of Internet hype with the launch of many over-capitalized businesses with a market size & opportunity was limited.

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 3, 2010

We thought today for our interview, that we'd get an update on the angel investment environment here in Southern California from Scott Sangster , the incoming President of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels , the biggest angel investment group in Southern California. I think that's a good sign for startups.

Tech Coast Angels 182

Tech Coast Angels Technical Review Angel Southern California 182

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 21, 2009

On the third Wednesday of every month I co-chair a meeting called the SoCal VCA (venture capital alliance), which represents participants from all of the top venture capital firms in Southern California as well as prominent members of the Tech Coast Angels (TCA). We feature a prominent speaker at every event.

Venture Capital 241

Venture Capital Technical Review Southern California Company 241

socalTECH

MARCH 1, 2017

Next week is the Montgomery Summit (www.montgomerysummit.com), one of the longest running technology conferences held in Los Angeles. The conference is run by Jamie Montgomery , one of the local industry's pioneers in venture capital and investment. What most excites you about the technology industry here today?

Technical Review 100

Technical Review Conference Silver Lake Cornerstone OnDemand 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 15, 2014

Venture Capital is a tricky industry. When the early teams: angels, lowercase capital & first round capital funded Uber they had no idea it would be one of the most revolutionary ideas of our time. ” So other partners at the firm might sling mud at your ideas as you go for approval on an investment. Far from it.

Funding 362

Funding Technical Review Ideas Startup 362

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

The press around the raise & company was fantastic and the promise of their technology – wireless charging that works as easily as WiFi – would positively affect many of our lives. uBeam’s tech does work and I have safely seen it demo’d in the real life many times. Working on it. And being ambitious.

Technical Review 417

Technical Review Startup Software Review Course 417

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 7, 2014

I had dinner this week with a top new customer at one of our enterprise software investments. I wish I did more enterprise software investing because when I attend meetings like this I realize that this is my core DNA – rolling out business software solutions to customers. If they want to invest that’s great.

Customer 341

Customer Custom Venture Capital Software Review 341

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 23, 2015

For some aspiring to be tech entrepreneurs, I often suggest a two-step process, as I argued in this post that “ The First Startup Founder You Need to Invest in Is You.” He or she has worked at some very successful big technology or media companies and went to a great school. She joined Yahoo!

Technical Review 150

Technical Review Startup Venture Capital IP 150

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 29, 2010

If this isn’t you, we’d probably still have a look if you did something truly exception – probably at startup or tech firm. The chosen candidate will probably have worked for a very reputable firm that is either in technology, consulting, investment banking, media or a startup. Are you merging?

Venture Capital 290

Venture Capital Technical Review GRP Partners Email 290

InfoChachkie

NOVEMBER 23, 2015

In the startup world, the former happens when a VC makes a bad investment, and the latter occurs when they miss a great opportunity. In contrast, low-volume, high-conviction investors like Rincon only invests in a handful new companies each year, making it much more costly (in dollars and effort expended) to invest in a loser.

Venture Capital 100

Venture Capital Technical Review Software Review Southern California 100

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 12, 2014

Prorata rights are one of the most important rights of a private market technology investors and yet are seldom fully understood. They often create the biggest tensions between investors who are investing at different stages in the business. Put simply – if you invested early in Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.

Guide 336

Guide Venture Capital Startup Writing 336

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 22, 2012

Growth will slow, partly due to internal limits and partly because the company is starting to bump up against the limits of the markets it serves.” He also nails the reason why venture capital is still necessary to grow large businesses quickly in a world where the costs of running startups have fallen dramatically.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Entrepreneur Technical Review 390

socalTECH

OCTOBER 29, 2015

We sat down with Brett Crosby (who founded Urchin Software, the company which became Google Analytics) and Brew Johnson , the co-founders of the company, to learn more about the company and what it's working on. The easiest way to look at it, from the tech perspective, is that we are very similar to LendingClub. in a funding round.

Southern California 100

Southern California Google Technical Review Manhattan Beach 100

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

It has become so synonymous with Internet companies that the French have invented a disdainful term including Amazon: “les GAFA,” which they refer to as Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon to talk about American dominance of the Internet. It is a household name. Thus Amazon’s market cap is $200 billion. And they have. Innovation.

Ideas 150

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 25, 2015

The law of large numbers, platforms that can make your company blow up unexpectedly and the trendy nature of tech markets can be deceiving. I have many investments with early traction and I the entrepreneurs I work with must tire of my constantly saying, “Are we really making a difference? Success for many is ephemeral.

Product 150

Product Startup Metrics Technical Review 150

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 5, 2011

Seattle should be the envy of any non Silicon Valley tech community in the country. It really wouldn’t take much to turn a great technology ecosystem into a truly electric one. It’s why my investment philosophy is called, “ the entrepreneur thesis.&#. The ingredients are all here.

Venture Capital 317

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Press 317

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 1, 2016

While the epicenter of tech innovation is undeniably Silicon Valley, a tide of new hubs emerging across the globe are gaining recognition. We are very close to the University of Waterloo, and many talented undergraduates have taken internships and permanent positions with tech startups like HiMama. PanTrek connects U.S.

Technical Review 40

Technical Review Startup Incubator Media 40

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2011

The part of the movement that resonates the most with me (in my words) is that entrepreneurs should keep their capital expenditures really low while they’re experimenting with their product and determining whether there is a large market for what they do. I believe that over capitalizing companies too early often favors the VC.

Development Team Review 374

Development Team Review Technical Review Startup Resource 374

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 25, 2010

Rincon is part of the new breed of Seed Stage VCs and with the leadership of Jim Andelman has charted out the most authentic early-stage investment strategy in Southern California. Before booking a hotel I always check out Trip Advisor and read reviews. Nowhere is social proof more prevalent than in angel investing.

Guide 293

Guide Funding Venture Capital Technical Review 293

Xconomy

DECEMBER 18, 2018

The Bristol, UK-based startup, founded in 2016, has now secured a total of more than $300 million in financing from venture capital firms and other investors including Microsoft and the corporate venture arms of BMW and Dell Technologies.

Technical Review 65

Technical Review Product Venture Capital Software Review 65

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source that was always problematic for me – intros from investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage? What price?

Venture Capital 347

Venture Capital Startup Pricing Invest 347

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable. In the Early Days.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 27, 2010

Last week, Santa Monica-based Tecca (www.tecca.com) launched a consumer electronics, consumer information service, backed by Fuse Capital and Best Buy. The service--currently only available on iPhone and Android--allows users to find reviews and information about consumer electronics products.

Incubator 239

Incubator Startup Web Technical Review 239

Tech Zulu Event

DECEMBER 13, 2013

The nuts and bolts of our tech company is that CMS in the middle, the connection engine. When I went full-time, I did not have the full-time support on the tech side I wanted. So, I have no tech support right now. Which I have shown to do, but anybody who invests in tech, invests in team.

Technical Review 87

Technical Review Mobile Startup Los Angeles 87

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 27, 2011

You have to understand whether they’re likely to yield revenue growth in the near term OR whether you have access to cheap enough capital to fund your losses until your investments pay off. Exec Summary: Most companies (98+%) in the world (even tech startups) should be very profit focused. Internet scale.

Startup 418

Startup Venture Capital Sales Technical Review 418

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2011

Responses ranged from, “hey, they’re in a HUGE market&# to “it is an amazing company and their technology rocks.&# It’s like people arguing that there’s a beautiful beach house in 2006 that represents great long-term value due to scarcity of similar property. source: Capital IQ.

Pricing 309

Pricing Marketing Startup Venture Capital 309

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 3, 2012

TechZulu caught up with Nate Redmond managing partner of Rustic Canyon and he tells us what is happening in the LA Tech Scene. Established tech companies are adding offices and expanding in LA (e.g. Google, Zynga). I prefer to call this the LA Tech scene. LA is the capital of middle market companies.

Rustic Canyon 77

Rustic Canyon Technical Review Startup Entrepreneur 77

Startup Professionals Musings

SEPTEMBER 9, 2019

We can all aspire to grow companies like Google, Facebook, and Apple, which have the aura of fun, while still improving your lifestyle and offering the dream of untold riches. Internal corporate processes thwart innovation due to inherent inefficiencies of scale, high overhead, and the risk of impact on the corporate bottom line.

Entrepreneur 87

Entrepreneur Offshore Technical Review Outsource 87

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2013

When I was new at Venture Capital I was trying to figure out the business. I tapped my friends at big tech companies (Salesforce, Google, Oracle). There is one source I never liked and no early-stage VC should – investment bankers. They are venture bankers not investment bankers. What stage? What price?

Startup 361

Startup Venture Capital Pricing Technical Review 361

Both Sides of the Table

DECEMBER 22, 2011

I’m often asked by people what investment areas interest me. I try to invest in things that I know and that I believe I might have better knowledge and relationships than the masses of VCs. But one theme in pervasive in all my thinking about investing in Internet-based companies: Deflationary economics. Here’s what I mean.

Startup 386

Startup Pricing Marketing Product 386