April, 2019

article thumbnail

The Truth About the Scooter Economy?—?An Insider’s Perspective

Both Sides of the Table

The Truth About the Scooter Economy?—?An Insider’s Perspective “Bird Zero” that are custom designed by the company There is a story arc of the electric scooter market that took the world by storm in 2018, was second-guessed late in the year and has quietly re-emerged as a powerful force of growth where few really appreciate the speed and scale of what has happened.

article thumbnail

Beyond Meat prices its public offering

TechCrunch LA

Beyond Meat , the meat replacement company whose packages of Beyond Burgers line grocery store aisles across America, has priced its initial public offering. The company is looking to raise roughly $200 million in the stock sale for its portfolio of burger, chicken and sausage replacements, selling 8.75 million shares of common stock at an upper limit of $21 per share that would value Beyond Meat at more than $1 billion.

Pricing 236
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

How Rolebot Wants To Eliminate The Resume, With Shane Bernstein

socalTECH

Anyone who hires anyone, or has ever looked for a jobs knows how important a resume is. However, in the technical arena--as a programmer, developer, or software engineer--it's hard to tell from a resume how good you really are. Plus, it's often difficult to find that technical talent, which might not be looking for a job. That's where Los Angeles-based Rolebot (www.rolebot.net) comes in.

Sites 240
article thumbnail

Which Circle Do You Want To Be In…The Blue One (NHL) or the Red One (TED)?

Eric Greenspan

The NHL centre ice circle is blue. The TED carpet that speakers stand on is a red circle. Both are highly desired places to stand, speak or skate. But the best way to get to either is to focus on what will get you there, not on getting there. Focus on the work, development, the achievements and the ride, and maybe, although unlikely, you’ll stand in one of those circles one day.

Writing 179
article thumbnail

Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

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.

article thumbnail

Your core competency and why not to stray

Berkonomics

Consider your core. It is the one skill, process or advantage you have over your competition. Then think of all the things you do to surround that core with people and assets that complete your company and allow you to release your product or perform your service. Which of your IP assets is your core? Now consider how many of those surrounding assets and services are really necessary for you to perform in order to protect and grow your core.

Resource 120
article thumbnail

Study: 17% of Tech Workers Are High on the Job

Tech.Co

Nearly 17 percent of tech workers admit to being under the influence of marijuana while at work at some point in their careers, according to a new study. Not only that, but the number is on the rise: Either a steadily increasing number of people are getting high at work, or they’re just increasingly willing to admit it. Here’s a look at the phenomenon, along with a few educated guesses as to the reasons behind the the growth of the stoned working class.

Study 120

More Trending

article thumbnail

Snap is channeling Asia’s messaging giants with its move into gaming

TechCrunch LA

Snap is taking a leaf out of the Asian messaging app playbook as its social messaging service enters a new era. The company unveiled a series of new strategies that are aimed at breathing fresh life into the service which has been ruthlessly cloned by Facebook across Instagram, WhatsApp, and even its primary social network. The result? Snap has consistently lost users since going public in 2017.

article thumbnail

eTailPet Finds $800K Seed Funding

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based eTailPet , a new startup which helps pet store owners create online e-commerce sites, has received a round of seed funding, the company said this week. The seed funding was worth $800K, and led by Moonshots Capital, and also included individual angels from the pet industry. eTailPet lets pet stores create their own websites, post their catalog, accept orders for in store pickup or delivery, and more, offering up a number of templates, mobile optimization, and outsource customer

article thumbnail

To Help Boost Female-led Startups, More Women Join Investor Ranks

Xconomy

Houston —Men have long leveraged their networks to succeed in business, and the tech industry has been no exception. Women, finding themselves outside of the club, are now creating their own networks to do the same. Katelyn O’Shaughnessy already had a solid track record, selling TripScope , a travel startup she co-founded in 2013, to Travefy two years ago.

Help 111
article thumbnail

The four “P’s” to help you build a great business

Berkonomics

How do you manage a great business, as opposed to be a survivor? Well, here are the four areas you should focus upon every day. Now, some of us remember things better when given a catchy phrase or rhyme. So, here’s one to help you with squeezing the most out of your own available resources. In this new reality in our business world, there is certainly little room for mistakes and no room for bloat within our companies.

Help 120
article thumbnail

5 Startup Cost Realities Most Founders Underestimate

Startup Professionals Musings

Image via Flickr by Phil Gyford Starting a new venture still costs real money, even though the entry price has come down dramatically in last few decades. For example, I come from a software background, and back in the early PC days, it could easily cost half a million dollars for a team of professionals to produce a commercial product. Now, with powerful high-level tools and open source software, winning smartphone apps can be built by a good hacker for a few thousand dollars.

Startup 105
article thumbnail

Recurring Revenue Conference

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, May 1, 2019 -- Recurring Revenue Conference - April 30 to May 1st - Marina Del Rey. Welcome to the 5th annual Recurring Revenue Conference: Scaling SaaS and Subscription Businesses presented by Sutton Capital Partners. Join 700+ entrepreneurs, executives and leading investors to discuss the Subscription Economy. Hear from companies including Zenefits, Mavenlink, Dollar Shave Club, ipsy, Sage Intacct, ProfitWell, Headspace, Winc and many more.

article thumbnail

The team behind Baidu’s first smart speaker is now using AI to make films

TechCrunch LA

The HBO sci-fi blockbuster Westworld has been an inspiring look into what humanlike robots can do for us in the meatspace. While current technologies are not quite advanced enough to make Westworld a reality, startups are attempting to replicate the sort of human-robot interaction it presents in virtual space. Rct studio , which just graduated from Y Combinator and ranked among TechCrunch’s nine favorite picks from the batch, is one of them.

Startup 235
article thumbnail

j2 Global Buys Four More Companies

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based j2 Global , the parent company of such companies as IGN, Mashable, eFax, and eVoice, has gobbled up four more companies, saying this morning that it has acquired Armada Cloud , a provider of cloud-based backup services; iContact , a provider of marketing cloud services; SafeSend AS , a Norwegian company in the cloud security business; and Telsys AS , a cloud backup service also based in Norway.

Company 173
article thumbnail

How an Ohio Kids’ Hospital Quietly Became Ground Zero for Gene Therapy

Xconomy

If a once-modest regional hospital and its new biotech allies have their way, the capital of Ohio could one day rival America’s other biomedical hubs. “Our goal is to make Columbus the center of the universe for gene therapy,” says Doug Ingram, CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics. Sarepta (NASDAQ: SRPT ) is based in Cambridge, MA, as you might expect from a high-flying biotech company.

Capital 111
article thumbnail

Here’s how NOT to define your competition

Berkonomics

We investors see this all the time. An entrepreneur pitches using a deck with no slide for competition. When asked (as we always do,) the response is “This is new. We have no competition.”. Niet! No! Unh unh. Professional investors laugh when they hear an entrepreneur come out with that one. That statement has killed more investment deals than almost any other.

article thumbnail

Why It Pays To Focus Your Business On A Narrow Niche

Startup Professionals Musings

Image via Picpedia Everyone in the business world has heard of the old bestseller by Geoffrey A. Moore titled “ Crossing the Chasm ,” but most entrepreneurs have no idea how it relates to them. In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Most investors and startup professionals expand this concept of focus to apply to key issues of every aspect of strategic and tactical planning in a star

article thumbnail

Recurring Revenue Conference

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 -- Recurring Revenue Conference - April 30 to May 1st - Marina Del Rey. Welcome to the 5th annual Recurring Revenue Conference: Scaling SaaS and Subscription Businesses presented by Sutton Capital Partners. Join 700+ entrepreneurs, executives and leading investors to discuss the Subscription Economy. Hear from companies including Zenefits, Mavenlink, Dollar Shave Club, ipsy, Sage Intacct, ProfitWell, Headspace, Winc and many more.

article thumbnail

Canoo, the electric vehicle startup formed from Faraday Future’s ashes, seeks $200 million

TechCrunch LA

Less than a month after rebranding as Canoo , the startup electric vehicle company formerly known as Evelozcity is on the hunt for $200 million in new capital. The startup, which is backed by a clutch of private individuals and family offices hailing from China, Germany, and Taiwan, is hoping to line up the new capital from some more recognizable names as it finalizes supply deals with vendors, according to a person with knowledge of the company’s plans.

article thumbnail

Enevate Gets Funding Injection From Thai Energy Giant

socalTECH

Irvine-based battery charging technology developer Enevate , which is aiming its technology at the electric vehicle (EV) market, announced this morning that it has received a round of funding from Bangchak , a Thai energy company. Enevate said the funding came via the Bangchak Initiative and Innovation Center (BiiC). Financial details and terms of the deal were not announced by the company.

Funding 166
article thumbnail

VC Trends in 2019: More Money, Fewer Deals But Women Still Get Less

Xconomy

If you’ve been following venture capital trends, what you expected to happen in the first quarter of 2019 did: More money is being invested in fewer deals, and women founders still are getting less of it than men. Venture firms sent $32.6 billion into startups nationally during the first three months of 2019, the second largest amount for any quarter since at least 2006, according to data released overnight by PitchBook and the National Venture Capital Association.

article thumbnail

Bonus – Check for Duplicate Files with This Free Utility from Inverted Software

Inverted Software

If you ever wanted to free up space and wandered if you have any duplicate backed up files on your computer, or a network drive you can safely erase, here is a free utility to help you check just that and just because it’s a Wednesday, we at Inverted Software are giving it away along with a complete source code. Just unzip the installer folder and double click the setup file.

article thumbnail

6 Tips to Boost Workforce Engagement and Motivation

Startup Professionals Musings

Image via Wikipedia The challenge for all of us in business is to improve competitiveness by improving employee productivity and reducing costs. According to Gartner , one of the biggest drags on productivity is employee engagement, still hovering around 30 percent, and costing our businesses over $450 billion per year. I believe the only way to improve engagement is to make work more satisfying.

Tips 96
article thumbnail

Diversity Innovation Forum

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 -- Diversity Innovation Forum. Join us for a discussion on how diversity of ideas, talent, and perspectives fuels innovation. We will explore the key areas where diversity and inclusion are crucial for a vibrant innovation ecosystem.

Ideas 100
article thumbnail

Kindbody raises $15M, will open a ‘Fertility Bus’ with mobile testing & assessments

TechCrunch LA

Kindbody , a startup that lures millennial women into its pop-up fertility clinics with feminist messaging and attractive branding, has raised a $15 million Series A in a round co-led by RRE Ventures and Perceptive Advisors. The New York-based company was founded last year by Gina Bartasi, a fertility industry vet who previously launched Progyny, a fertility benefit solution for employers, and FertilityAuthority.com, an information platform and social network for people struggling with fertility

Mobile 167
article thumbnail

Karma Automotive Taps BMW For Engine Technology

socalTECH

Irvine-based Karma Automotive , the revived, startup auto maker, says it has inked an agreement with BMW AG , to use BMW's engine technology in its automobiles. According to Karma Automotive, its vehicle, the 2020 Revero luxury car, will use a BMW TwinPower Turbo three-cylinder in-line engine. The company said the engine will be used to power an on-board electric generatorand to enhance overall vehicle performance.

article thumbnail

AACR 2019 Roundup: Notes from a Weekend of Early Stage Cancer Results

Xconomy

[ Editor’s note: Alex Lash co-authored this report ] The American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting is wrapping up in Atlanta today. The conference typically focuses on early research and clinical work, not the big trials that can change the way doctors practice medicine and that compete for headline space at conferences like the American Society for Clinical Oncology.

article thumbnail

Startup Spotlight: SOUL MUCH

Startup San Diego

Written by: Karla Amador, Brian Pitts, and Hayley Brooks Interview by: Karla Amador When you’re dining out at a restaurant, have you ever wondered what happens to the grains left unused at the end of the day? While working behind the scenes in the food industry, Reyanne Mustafa got to see first-hand as, day after […]. The post Startup Spotlight: SOUL MUCH appeared first on Startup San Diego.

Startup 40
article thumbnail

7 Steps To A Winning Social Media Marketing Campaign

Startup Professionals Musings

Image via Pixabay Most startups, and many big businesses, still don’t have a clue on how to use social media productively for marketing their business. They randomly churn for hours a day on a couple of their favorite social media platforms, with little thought given to goals, objectives, or metrics; and ultimately give up and fall back to traditional marketing approaches.

article thumbnail

Paramount and Broken Road Productions brunchwork

SoCal Tech Calendar

Saturday, April 27, 2019 -- Paramount and Broken Road Productions brunchwork, You're invited to an unforgettable brunch with Paramount TV President Nicole Clemens and Broken Road Productions Head Todd Garner (Former Disney Producer). Enjoy a fireside chat with Nicole and Todd, curated connections, and a business challenge and pitch off. over a seasonal, locally-sourced meal.

Paramount 100
article thumbnail

DroneBase raises capital and partners with FLIR Systems to train pilots on thermal imaging tech

TechCrunch LA

Publicly traded sensor technology developer, FLIR Systems , is investing in a strategic round of funding for the outsourced drone imaging company, DroneBase. The two companies are also partnering to provide FLIR’s thermal imaging technology and training services to DroneBase’s stable of pilots. Terms of the investment were not disclosed. “Our investment in DroneBase helps expand the adoption of FLIR thermal imaging technology by putting it in the hands of more pilots who fly dr

Training 147
article thumbnail

CitySourced Merges With Rock Solid Technologies

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based CitySourced , which develops mobile apps to help cities communicate with their constituents, has merged with Rock Solid Technologies , a provider of software to the government. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. Rock Solid is owned by private equity investor Strattam Capital. CitySourced was founded in 2009, and is led by CEO Jason Kiesel.

article thumbnail

Can We Afford to be Cured? A Conversation with ICER’s Steve Pearson

Xconomy

New cell and gene therapies bring the possibility of cures once hardly imaginable. But the potential cures could also cost millions of dollars, like Novartis (NYSE: NVS ), the owner of the gene therapy Zolgensma, has suggested in advance of an imminent FDA approval decision. As public backlash against high drug prices shows no signs of waning, a private nonprofit in Boston, the Institute for Clinical Economic Review (ICER), has emerged as the country’s top drug-pricing watchdog.

Pricing 104
article thumbnail

Startup Spotlight: SOUL MUCH

Startup San Diego

Written by: Karla Amador, Brian Pitts, and Hayley Brooks Interview by: Karla Amador When you’re dining out at a restaurant, have you ever wondered what happens to the grains left unused at the end of the day? While working behind the scenes in the food industry, Reyanne Mustafa got to see first-hand as, day after […]. The post Startup Spotlight: SOUL MUCH appeared first on Startup San Diego.

Startup 40
article thumbnail

How To Be A Leader When Machines Are Smarter Than You

Startup Professionals Musings

Image via Pixabay The majority of business professionals I meet these days accept that we are now deep in the digital age, where mountains of data are gathered on everything we do, online and offline. Yet most executives are struggling with how to harness this data with artificial intelligence and machine learning, and use it to hone their intuition and improve their business leadership.

article thumbnail

TCVN Execution Program #4: Scaling

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, April 25, 2019 -- TCVN Event on Growth and Scaling. CEO Bill Van Vleet shares some of his growth hacks with TCVN attendee on April 25th. Bill has done it over and over again and is willing to share his amazing growth strategies.William Van Vleet is a talented and seasoned executive with over 35 years of experience in technology product development for commercial and defense markets.

TCVN 100