Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 28, 2012

Fred Wilson wrote two posts in 2010 that were very influential with the startup community. The titles were: Mobile First, Web Second. Mobile First, Web Second (continued). If you’re in the minority that never read them – you should. I know that they really impacted an entire cohort of startups because every company that was coming to pitch me businesses was (is) saying, “I’m a ‘mobile first’ company.” Part of the beauty of blogging that in two sittings F

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Web Mobile Startup Software Review 334

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 9, 2012

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. 1. Pressure Helps You Break Through Your Breakdowns. "Mickey Mouse popped out of my mind onto a drawing pad 20 years ago on a train ride from Manhattan to Hollywood at a time when business fortunes of my brother Roy and myself were at lowest ebb and disaster seemed right around the corner." If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free we

Tips 277

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Entertainment 277

socalTECH

JANUARY 24, 2012

Santa Monica-based GraphEffect , the venture-backed developer of social marketing software, said today that it has hired both a Sales and Marketing VP. The firm said it has appointed David Pollet as Vice President of Sales, and named Jennifer Cooley as Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. Pollet joins from [x+1], and also served at Bankrate.com and Andover.net, along with Bank of America and LendingTree.com.

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Sales Marketing Santa Monica Media 213

SoCal CTO

JANUARY 5, 2012

Aggregage , the platform that powers StartupRoar has added a powerful personalization engine. That means that the site now allows users to sign-up and have their content personalized based on their interests. You can sign-up via the "Personalize Your Content" button on the right side of the interface shown to the right of the red arrow below.

CTO Hire 175

CTO Hire Newsletter Content Sites 175

Advertiser: Aggregage

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.

Company

Berkonomics

JANUARY 27, 2012

What if you are the seller of a previous business or shares amounting to more than an insignificant percentage of a previous business? Certainly the buyer’s asset purchase documents included a non-compete clause, usually valid for two years from the date of the closing. And because there was consideration paid to you in the sale, that clause is binding upon you and is effective almost everywhere.

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Patents Sales Email Product 159

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 13, 2012

Thursday, January 19, 2012 -- MongoLA. Mongo Los Angeles is an annual one-day conference in Los Angeles, CA dedicated to the open source, non-relational database MongoDB.

Conference 124

Conference Los Angeles Angel 124

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 18, 2012

As part of UC Santa Barbara’s Distinguished Lecture Series, serial entrepreneur and noted venture capitalist Mark Suster recently shared his advice with a large crowd of emerging entrepreneurs. Mark is a Partner at GRP Partners and authors one of the most widely read startup blogs, BothSidesOfTheTable. Mark framed his comments around the major mistakes he made during his early ventures.

Entrepreneur 272

Entrepreneur Startup Conference Santa Barbara 272

socalTECH

JANUARY 10, 2012

Los Angeles-based Phorus , the startup headed by former PhatNoise founder Dannie Lau, has unveiled its first products at CES, a new, wireless audio streaming speaker which ties directly into Android devices. Phorus said its PlayCast product connects to Android phones or tablets, and allows users to stream lossless audio-quality music over Wi-Fi. The new product--aiming at the popularity of similar systems from Sonos--can be linked together to stream audio to multiple rooms.

Los Angeles 211

Los Angeles Product Funding Startup 211

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 26, 2012

An "elevator pitch" is a concise, well-practiced description of your startup and your plan, delivered with conviction and enthusiasm, that your mother should be able to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator. Everybody knows about these, but few people seem to deliver a good one. A good elevator pitch is not just for an elevator discussion.

Startup 113

Startup Patents Template Competition 113

Berkonomics

JANUARY 12, 2012

Professional investors want to live by this rule. With the first round of funding, there should be milestones to be achieved. If they are not achieved within the expected time, the reasons must be analyzed and acted upon to avoid loss of capital beyond plan or expectation. And if the vision of the entrepreneur is flawed, or the product impossible to create within cost and time expectations, or the demand impossible to quantify, or revenues never close to plan, then it is time to rethink the pla

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Incubator Venture Capital Invest Entrepreneur 149

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 27, 2012

Thursday, February 2, 2012 -- Business and Financial Outlook 2012. GABA, German American Business Association. The German American Business Association (GABA) invites you to our Annual Business and Financial Outlook Event to discuss the current state and the 2012 outlook of the economy, financial markets, trade, funding climate and real estate market both in the US and Europe.

Clearstone 113

Clearstone Venture Capital Invest Marketing 113

Jason Nazar

JANUARY 9, 2012

Don’t take for granted your life, even if you think it’s filled with strife. Don’t take for granted your health, it can’t be replaced any amount of wealth. Don’t take for granted your friends, they may be all you have in the end. Don’t take for granted your kin, for they love you in spite of your sins. Don’t take for granted your dad, he may get mad when you’re bad but his love is no fad.

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InfoChachkie

JANUARY 23, 2012

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs , Richard Branson , Walt Disney and Michael Dell. 1) Get A Mentor. "I started the site when I was 19. I didn't know much about business back then." [Tweet this quote]. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Startup 268

Startup Tips CTO Coach Technical Review 268

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2012

California Institute of Technology in Pasadena said over the weekend that Elon Musk , the technology mogul who founded SpaceX and Tesla Motors, and co-founded PayPal, will deliver this year's commencement address in June. Caltech said Musk will deliver the commencement address for the school on June 15th at its campus in Pasadena. The school said that Musk will talk about how "brilliant, big ideas can and will have a positive impact in the world.

CalTech 209

CalTech SpaceX Pasadena Ideas 209

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 16, 2012

Entrepreneurs are all about firsts, and the most important is you making a great first impression – on investors, customers, new team members, and strategic partners. Poor first impressions can be avoided, but I’m amazed at the number of unnecessary mistakes I see at those critical first introductions, presentations, and meetings. The key message here is “preparation.

.Net 107

.Net Entrepreneur Google Research 107

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 30, 2012

The time has finally arrived! 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. For those who still might be wondering what Spotlight: LA Tech is all about, It’s a screening room for new technology homegrown in our region. It’s a gallery of great entrepreneurship.

CalTech 91

CalTech Company Companies Idealab 91

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 27, 2012

Thursday, February 2, 2012 -- DOMAINfest Global. DOMAINfest is a conference series that brings domain industry and Internet professionals together to learn, network, and do business. Attendees include online advertising experts, domain publishers, domain monetization experts, SEO and SEM specialists, website developers, online marketers, ad or affiliate network suppliers, search advertising providers, venture capitalists, bankers and trademark/legal advisors.

SEM 113

SEM SEO Web Development Advertising 113

Jason Nazar

JANUARY 20, 2012

I recently gave a speech at the MBA program at Pepperdine University on “How to Break Out of the Pack” It was a talk to a large group of budding entrepreneurs who were looking for some advice on what exceptional business leaders do to distinguish themselves from everyone else. The follow presentation is a set of 10 lessons I’ve learned.

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Pepperdine Entrepreneur 67

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 3, 2012

Seth Epstein, Founder and CEO SocialStay , former Founder and CEO of FUEL (acquired by Razorfish) and Emmy Award winner for his work on the X-Games, recently spoke at UC Santa Barbara as part of the Technology Management Program’s Distinguished Lecture Series. His talk was especially intriguing, as he attended UCSB, but dropped out to start a clothing design company.

Ideas 266

Ideas Guide Startup Santa Barbara 266

socalTECH

JANUARY 9, 2012

What do you do when a new industry, which serves the same customers as you do, suddenly appears and starts to grow astronomically? In the case of Los Angeles-based SkuLoop (www.skuloop.com), what you do is you shift your focus to that new industry--in this case, flash sales and daily deals--and figure out how to apply your technical know-how to that rapidly growing market.

Startup 208

Startup Custom Customer Commerce 208

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 11, 2012

Most successful entrepreneurs will tell you that their primary motivation is to “change the world” and to build something lasting, not to make a lot of money. But the conventional wisdom is that employees work for money, above all else. Yet my own experience, and a recent McKinsey survey , leads me to believe that non-cash motivators may be more effective in the long term than financial incentives.

Organization 100

Organization Guide Entrepreneur Mentor 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 19, 2012

“The object is to exploit the convergence of people, information, products, services and places with today’s smartphones and tablets, which drive online orders in addition to purchases from brick-and-mortar stores.”. – Paul Breummer, Search Engine Land. In April 2011, the Association of Coupon Professionals held an Industry Conference in Atlanta to address the present and future state of couponing.

Mobile 85

Mobile Software Review Statistics Technical Review 85

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 26, 2012

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 -- DOMAINfest Global. DOMAINfest is a conference series that brings domain industry and Internet professionals together to learn, network, and do business. Attendees include online advertising experts, domain publishers, domain monetization experts, SEO and SEM specialists, website developers, online marketers, ad or affiliate network suppliers, search advertising providers, venture capitalists, bankers and trademark/legal advisors.

SEM 113

SEM SEO Web Development Advertising 113

Jason Nazar

JANUARY 4, 2012

I recently went back to the University of California at Santa Barbara to give a leadership talk to about 250 students. I put together a presentation (embeded below from Docstoc ) on the 21 Golden Rules of Entrepreneurship. Its a collection of life & business lessons that the most successful entrepreneurs have applied to achieve amazing feats. I wrap these lessons in my own personal journey (so far).

Entrepreneur 50

Entrepreneur Santa Barbara Examples 50

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 30, 2012

Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs , Richard Branson , Walt Disney and Mark Zuckerberg. 1. Degree? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Degrees. "As important as school was, I found that it could be very disruptive to a steady income." [Tweet this quote]. According to a January 2012 article in Forbes Magazine , nearly 16% of the 400 most affluent Americans do not have a college degree.

Tips 247

Tips Startup Entrepreneur Santa Barbara 247

socalTECH

JANUARY 17, 2012

Santa Monica-based Convertro , the venture backed, advertising analytics and optimization firm run by Jeff Zwelling, said today that it has hired Armen Avedissian as its Chief Operating Officer. Avedissian was most recently Chief Revenue Officer at MyLife. Zwelling said that Avedissian is "the biggest hitter" in the area of attribution and media optimization.

MyLife 205

MyLife eHarmony Santa Monica Advertising 205

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 13, 2012

Whether it’s a business or personal interaction, multiple studies show that as much as 50-65% of the communication is nonverbal. That means that people who are addicted to text messaging and email may be sending only half the message, and receivers often misinterpret even that half. Yet the use of text messaging for business purposes continues to grow, in concert with more of Gen-Y entering the workplace, and a continuing increase in the global rate of texting by everyone.

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Layoffs Statistics Email Tool 100

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 20, 2012

I know you all have been dying to know who the Spotlight: LA Tech Winter SuperDemo is going to be. We have been holding off on this announcement for quite a bit and now we can officially announce Bill Gross of Idealab as our SuperDemo presenter. Always looking to provide the very best for our community so that you may learn and grow as a startup or entrepreneur, Bill Gross is one of the best experts we could provide.

Idealab 84

Idealab Tech Coast Angels CalTech Startup 84

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 25, 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 -- The Digital Data Revolution. TCOSC. The amount of data available to businesses has been increasing exponentially. Data mining and analyzing large data sets-so-called big data-is becoming a competitive advantage, creating productivity growth, innovation, and consumer value in both B2B and B2C worlds. In addition, there are more places to mine data-- think of the millions of consumers using social networks--and increasingly sophisticated tools for doing so.

Technology Council 113

Technology Council TCOSC Social Network Competition 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 16, 2012

Raising money is hard. And when you’re relatively new to the process it’s easy to be confused by the process. There is all sorts of advice on the Internet about how to raise capital. Of course much of it is conflicting. I’ve raised money as a “hot company” and I’ve raised capital when no one would return my phone calls.

Develop 366

Develop Development Funding Venture Capital 366

InfoChachkie

JANUARY 12, 2012

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Steve Blank, author of Four Steps To The Epiphany , Stanford Professor and noted entrepreneur. Steve was very generous with his time, allowing us to cover a variety of topics during our Skype conversation. The subject discussed in the video below is Steve’s belief that Venture Capitalists should begin their careers as operational entrepreneurs.

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Venture Capital Startup Entrepreneur SaaS 239

socalTECH

JANUARY 25, 2012

The love affair between Los Angeles startups combining e-commerce and celebrity continues unbated today, as a new, Santa Monica-based startup headed by actress Jessica Alba --and backed by Brian Lee , the founder of LegalZoom and ShoeDazzle--unveiled itself to the world. The Honest Company says that it will provide eco-friendly products such as diapers, bath and skin products, and household cleaning products to subscribers via a monthly subscription, following the popular model pioneered by Shoe

Product 204

Product Legalzoom Santa Monica Commerce 204

Startup Professionals Musings

JANUARY 25, 2012

One of the toughest things about running a business is the feeling of loneliness and isolation. You are on your own and nobody supports you because it’s hard for them to see what you see and feel the excitement that you feel at the critical stages. This is especially true if you run your small business from home. The leadership position alone can cause loneliness and disconnectedness, and that sometimes results in self-defeating behaviors.

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Startup Satisfaction Organization Mentor 97

Tech Zulu Event

JANUARY 17, 2012

Wrapping up an amazing trip at the Consumer Electronic Shows (#CES), we find ourselves in the North Hall. Taking us through all things auto, audio, and digital health. To set the stage for you, imagine being at the Detroit Auto Show, then hopping in your slick ride with the subs kicking on your way to DJing at the city’s hottest club. This was our day in North Hall.

Startup 75

Startup Technology Press Product 75

SoCal Tech Calendar

JANUARY 25, 2012

Tuesday, January 31, 2012 -- Getting to YES, by Getting to KNOW: Overcoming Obstacles to Revenue. SDSIC. This event is intended for anyone whose compensation depends on sales commissions  e.g., sales people, sales managers, commissioned sales support staff, and business development professionals. Getting to YES is something every sales and business development professional wants to accomplish.

Sales 113

Sales Develop Development 113

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. One of the most important articles I read during the entire year was David Brook’s op-ed article on “ The Haimish Line.” In it Brooks talks about his recent trip to Africa with his 12-year-old son.

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Startup Organization Entrepreneur Conference 319