January, 2011

article thumbnail

Should You Really be a Startup Entrepreneur?

Both Sides of the Table

This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. One of the most common questions that entrepreneurs who meet me for the first time like to ask is, “Do you miss being an entrepreneur? Aren’t you ever tempted to go back and do it again?”. The obvious answer is yes. When it’s in your blood, it’s in your blood. I guess it’s kind of like crack (not that I know from experience).

article thumbnail

Freebinar Looks To Fill Webcasting Hole Left By DimDim

socalTECH

Huntington Beach-based Freebinar , a provider of free, web conferencing services, is looking to fill the new hole left by free web conferencing service Dimdim , with its own ad-supported service. Freebinar told socalTECH today that it is looking to help users of Dimdim, which was just acquired by Salesforce.com and stopped allowing new user signups this week.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

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

article thumbnail

Interview: Kevin O’Connor of FindTheBest

InfoChachkie

Company : FindTheBest. Messenger : Kevin O’Connor , Co-Founder of FindTheBest, former Co-Founder and CEO DoubleClick (sold to Google, $3.1B, seed investor ISS (sold to IBM, $1.3B), co-founder ICC (sold to DCA $25mm). Pull Quote: “If you are smart, competitive, hard working and passionate about what you do you will have the best experience of your life.

article thumbnail

State of the Capital Markets

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, January 5, 2011 -- State of the Capital Markets. ACG 101. The economic upheaval of the past several years had made it difficult for companies of all sizes to find the capital needed for growth and shareholder liquidity. As the economy is moving towards recovery and the capital markets showing even stronger signs of improvement, what can we expect from the capital markets in 2011?

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

Dilbert on Cloud Computing

SoCal CTO

Some days it does feel this way:

article thumbnail

11 New Year’s Resolutions to Work Happy in 2011

Startup Professionals Musings

Welcome to the New Year 2011! You’ve probably already made your resolutions, but if not, I suggest a renewed commitment to finding happiness and satisfaction in your work. After all, most of us spend more hours in this role than any other, and life is too short to spend most of your life unhappy. If you haven’t tried it, one way to be happier at work is to be an entrepreneur, according to a recent survey in the UK , and an older one in the US.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Betterworks Raises $1.5M

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based BetterWorks , a stealth mode startup headed by well known angel investor Paige Craig, has raised around $1.5M in a funding round. The funding actually occurred in late December, over the holidays. BetterWorks said that it is focused on allowing business owners to "create rewarding work environments quickly, easily and affordably".

Yammer 242
article thumbnail

Interview: Kevin O’Connor of FindTheBest

InfoChachkie

Messenger : Kevin O’Connor , Co-Founder of FindTheBest , former Co-Founder and CEO DoubleClick (sold to Google, $3.1B, seed investor ISS (sold to IBM, $1.3B), Co-Founder ICC (sold to DCA $25mm). Value Prop Twitter Style : FindTheBest is: “An objective, socially curated comparison engine that allows you to find a topic, compare your options and decide what’s best for you.”.

Blogging 219
article thumbnail

Curebit | Social Shopping, Virtually!

Tech Zulu Event

The question, why can’t you replicate this for e-commerce sites? This is the fundamental problem Curebit.com is trying to solve. Create conversations about products you love and get rewarded. This will increase traffic and revenue for the underlying e-commerce site. Visit TechZulu for full story.

Commerce 105
article thumbnail

Predicting Product Adoption in Large-Scale Social Networks

SoCal Delicious

socalcto

article thumbnail

Ten Golden Insights From Successful Entrepreneurs

Startup Professionals Musings

Entrepreneurs are a notoriously stubborn (some say confident) group of people, so I see many of them making the same mistakes that predecessors have made. Thus I’m convinced that it’s useful for all of you to step back from time to time, and listen to some sage advice from people who have been there and enjoyed success. Recently, as I was perusing a new book by Robert Jordan, titled “ How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights ” I saw some wisdom and inspiration that made sense.

article thumbnail

How Twitter Got Me into The White House & Saved My Son’s Birthday

Both Sides of the Table

It’s clear that if you use Twitter wisely it can have an impact on how you physically experience your world. You have to put effort into building meaningful connections and contributing back but if you do the rewards can be handsome. Here’s my story. Every year I spend the December holidays in Annapolis with my in-laws. My second son Andy’s birthday is December 28th so we spend his birthday Back East every year.

Startup 299
article thumbnail

Invested.in Launches Affiliate Program

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Invested.in , the startup developing software for crowd-funding projects, said last week that it has rolled out a new API and affiliate program. Invested.in provides both an online site for finding funding for projects and ideas, as well as a related white label software platform to create your own crowd-funding site. The company is headed by Alon Goren.

Sites 239
article thumbnail

Interview: Ian Siegel of ZipRecruiter

InfoChachkie

Messenger : Ian Siegel , Co-Founder |CEO ZipRecruiter , Former Executive Product and Technology roles at: MyLife, CitySearch, Stamps.com, Rent.com and Pictage. Value Prop Twitter Style : ZipRecruiter enables employers to post to multiple free job boards with one submission – the fastest way to get a job online across the web. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

MyLife 160
article thumbnail

Seth Godin Is Coming Back To SoCal | And Your Chance to Win A VIP Ticket

Tech Zulu Event

Bryan Elliot is at is again and bringing one of the marketing and new media industry leaders Seth Godin back to Orange County. Last year Bryan hosted an amazing event with Seth Godin where he gave a lecture about “How to be Indispensable” based on his book, “Linchpin: Are You Indispensable.” This time around Seth Godin will be giving a talk based around the best-of from his best selling books.

article thumbnail

Contractors must really be independent!

Berkonomics

How many of us have “hired” independent contractors over the years, a bit worried over the gray area between employee and contractor as defined by the IRS? I’ve experienced the results of a wrong decision, and the IRS and state agencies are not forgiving in their pursuit of penalties, interest and most damaging, assessing a company with both the employer and employee taxes when reclassifying the person as an employee.

Tool 204
article thumbnail

Eight Types of Intelligence Make the Entrepreneur

Startup Professionals Musings

I’ve long believed that entrepreneurs are different. We all know successful entrepreneurs who dropped out of school, and people with high IQs that cannot manage a business. I used to call this “street smarts,” but recently I found a better explanation, called multiple intelligences. Successful entrepreneurs always seem to have several good intelligences.

article thumbnail

How to Handle a VC Presentation with No Deck

Both Sides of the Table

I recently filmed a show for This Week in Venture Capital in which I talked about how to prepare for a VC meeting: whom you’ll meet, who should attend from your side, what materials you should bring and how you should run the meeting. I wrote the summary notes in this blog post. That notes only told part of the story. Bijan Sabet – investor & board member in some small companies you might have heard of like Twitter, Tumblr, Boxee & OMGPOP – took issue with the whole n

article thumbnail

Interview with Wes Nichols, MarketShare

socalTECH

For our Friday interview, we thought we'd catch up with Los Angeles-based MarketShare , the Elevation Partners-backed software provider, to hear where the firm is nowadays. MarketShare recently launched a rebranding effort for the company, and is in the midst of a major hiring and expansion phase. We spoke with Wes Nichols , the firm's co-founder and CEO.

article thumbnail

Interview: Ian Siegel of ZipRecruiter

InfoChachkie

Messenger : Ian Siegel , Co-Founder |CEO ZipRecruiter , Former Executive Product and Technology roles at: MyLife, CitySearch, Stamps.com, Rent.com and Pictage. Value Prop Twitter Style : ZipRecruiter enables employers to post to multiple free job boards with one submission – the fastest way to get a job online across the web. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

MyLife 157
article thumbnail

TechZulu Presents: Biggest Legal Mistakes Startups Make

Tech Zulu Event

TechZulu and Walker Corporate Law Group have come together to bring you the must know legal mistakes you could be making when building your startup. Visit TechZulu for full story.

Startup 98
article thumbnail

Top 120 Startup Posts for 2010

SoCal CTO

Some really great stuff in 2010 that aims to help startups around product, technology, business models, etc. You can find some of the monthly ones in the following: Top 57 Online Startups Meets Technology Meets Product Posts for November 2010 Top 30 Startup Technology and Product Posts for September 2010 Top 40 Startup Posts for August 2010 Top 30 Startup Posts for July 2010 Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts

Startup 378
article thumbnail

Great Entrepreneurs Master Reflective Thinking

Startup Professionals Musings

Startups and entrepreneurs are drowning in the information overload, where the volume of data created is like a new Library of Congress every 15 minutes. That creates a huge gap between data and meaning, and makes quick decisions and action ever more difficult. We all need to take a little more time to think. On the other end of the spectrum, some people “over-think” things to the point of inaction.

article thumbnail

How I Use Visualization to Drive Creativity

Both Sides of the Table

Creativity. I’ve always believed it’s been one of the most important attributes of business success yet something very few business leaders talk about. So I thought I’d write a post about how I drive my personal creativity. (A slightly shorter version of this post originally appeared on TechCrunch ). As a practitioner of creativity rather than as an instructor of it I’m certain that there are many ways to get the creative juices flowing and how to release more creativit

Writing 356
article thumbnail

Julie Schoenfeld On Perfect Market's New Funding

socalTECH

This morning, Pasadena-based Perfect Market (www.perfectmarket.com) announced a new, $9M round of funding for the firm's technology, which is used to help publishers monetize their content. We caught up with Julie Schoenfeld , the firm's CEO, to hear about how the firm's offerings have evolved, an interesting comparison of the firm's software to what Demand Media is doing, and what this new funding will go towards.

Marketing 232
article thumbnail

Do Not Seek Your Fortune, Create It: How The Three Little Pigs, Illiterate Miners and Pink Floyd Guided One Entrepreneur’s Journey

InfoChachkie

As discussed in Nature Or Nurture , I believe that entrepreneurs are born rather than created by their environment. However, one’s environment clearly has an impact on a person’s ultimate career path. In looking back on my childhood, three unlikely environmental influences nudged me in the direction of entrepreneurship. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for. free weekly Infochachkie articles!

Guide 145
article thumbnail

Let’s Take a Walk Down Memolane [Invites]

Tech Zulu Event

Memolane, a startup Founded by Eric Lagier, is a product of Startup Weekend that is now in private beta and already has raised $2 million in funding. Memolane sets out to “Keep your memories alive” by allowing you to “Capture photos, music, tweets, posts, and view and share your entire online life in one place.”. Visit TechZulu for full story.

Startup 97
article thumbnail

President Obama To Honor USC Professor With Math, Science Award

socalTECH

A University of Southern California professor with a specialty in robotics is one of eleven individuals being honored by President Obama next week, as part of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring. According to the White House, Obama will be awarding Maja J. Mataric , who is a Professor of Professor of Computer Science, Neuroscience, and Pediatrics at the University of Southern California, at a ceremony at the White House next week.

USC 223
article thumbnail

Interview with Matthias Galica, ShareSquare

socalTECH

For this morning's company profile, we thought we'd connect with ShareSquare (www.getsharesquare.com), a newly funded Los Angeles startup focused on QR barcodes -- 3D barcodes -- focused on musicians and entertainers. ShareSquare recently received a $150,000 seed round of funding form angel investors Paige Craig, John Frankel of ff Assett Management, and Hacker Angels' Jeff Miller and Roy Rodenstein, among others.

Startup 220
article thumbnail

Buy.com Launches Wine Store

socalTECH

Aliso Viejo-based e-commerce retailer Buy.com is expanding into wine sales, the firm said today, via a partnership with Wine.com. According to Buy.com, the new online wine shop will include hundreds of wines from all regions and varietals, offering nearly 1,500 listings in the new wine store. Details on the partnership between Buy.com and Wine.com were not announced.

Commerce 219
article thumbnail

Interview with Loren Bendele, Savings.com

socalTECH

It's been a very busy for coupon and deal sites over the past few months, with a giant, $950M round of funding for Groupon, and the acquisition of at least three locally headquartered coupon and deal sites--LogicBuy.com, NextCoupons.com, and DealPerk--in the last month. For some perspective on the industry, as well as to learn more about the company, we spoke with Loren Bendele , CEO of Los Angeles-based Savings.com (www.savings.com).

Sites 217
article thumbnail

Interview with Jamie Siminoff, Unsubscribe.com

socalTECH

To start off the year, we are publishing our first interview for the season with Jamie Siminoff , the CEO of Los Angeles-based Unsubscribe.com , an online service which helps you unsubscribe from unwanted newsletters and email lists. Jamie tells us the interesting story behind how the company started plus how the company managed to quickly land investor interest.

article thumbnail

President Obama Highlights Caltech Energy Research

socalTECH

In last night's State of the Union Address , President Obama plugged an effort at Pasadena's California Institute of Technology to develop a way to convert solar energy, carbon dioxide, and water into fuel. The reference, which Obama described as "a way to turn sunlight and water into fuel for our cars," appears to be a reference to research just announced this month from Dr.

CalTech 214
article thumbnail

Green Jobs Growth Surges In California, Says Report

socalTECH

New jobs data released today by nonpartisan research foundation Next 10 , finds that green job growth surged in California over the lsat few years, despite the economic crisis. According to data released by the group, job employment in the green sector grew three times faster than total employment in California, accounting for 174,000 jobs. The report, based on data from January 2008 to 2009, found the Los Angeles Area had 23 percent of green employment in the state, and 22 percent of green busi

Report 212
article thumbnail

uSamp, Kiplinger Tie On Market Research Panel

socalTECH

Encino-based uSamp , the online surveying, sample, and panel firm headed by Gregg Lavin and Matt Dusig, has scored a major win with Kiplinger, the firm revealed this morning. uSamp said the Kiplinger organization has chosen the firm to power a custom, online market research panel under the Kiplinger brand. Financial details of the win were not disclosed.

Research 207
article thumbnail

Paige Craig Backs Klout In New Round

socalTECH

Los Angeles angel investor Paige Craig is part of a new round of funding for Internet web influence tracker Klout. Klout said today that it had raised $8.5M in a funding round, led by Kleiner Perkins' sFund, which also included Greycroft Partners, as well as prior investors Paige Craig, ff Asset Management, Tom McInerney, Bobby Yazdani and Howard Lindzon.