Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 27, 2011
There are very few people in Silicon Valley who have such a precise grasp on what defines success of early-stage startup companies than Eric Ries. And there are very few people who so consistently exceed my expectations when I hear them speak. I find myself nodding – even when the topic is one I don’t expect to agree with such as “fail fast.” This week was no exception.
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 28, 2011
Note: This is Part IV in the Startup Team Building series. Read Part I HERE , Part II HERE and Part III HERE. A Fortune 500 CEO once told me that I was a Bank Robber. Initially, I was offended. However, once he explained what he meant, I was flattered. Entrepreneurs are law-abiding Bank Robbers. They enjoy the hours spent plotting and scheming and pulling together a team of skilled specialists to accomplish the heist.
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socalTECH
NOVEMBER 9, 2011
Los Angeles-based Yowie , the online video chat site headed by Jay Snider, which allows Internet users to interact with celebrities, bands, and others, looks to be playing a bigger role in the campaign of U.S. presidential candidate Gary Johnson. Yowie said today that, due to the success of a "town hall" with Johnson last week, Johnson is holding another town hall on the service, this time with FairTax.org's Phil Hinson.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 26, 2011
There is nothing quite as thrilling in business as igniting a startup and watching it blossom. Especially when starting a company with personal savings or money from relatives and friends, early signs of success are intoxicating. Each new customer, each mention in the press or online adds to the feeling of early accomplishment. And it is more satisfying because it is yours, from idea to execution.
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.
SoCal Tech Calendar
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
Tuesday, November 29, 2011 -- Tablets: The New Media Platform. How will we use tablets next? How will they evolve? How will carriers need to adapt? What will the evolution of apps look like? Will next-generation processors spawn super tablets? Find out the answers to these questions and more by joining us in a panel discussion with key industry players, Rob Chandhok of Qualcomm, Christy Wyatt of Motorola Mobility, Diana Zaccardi of Verizon Wireless, and moderated by Lucy Hood of USC, for a livel
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 14, 2011
Many budding entrepreneurs struggle mightily with that first step – out of their comfort zone and into the unknown. They keep asking people like me whether the time is right, and the truth is that there’s never an ideal time to start your own business. It’s like starting a personal relationship, if you wait for exactly the right time, you’ll never do it.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 7, 2011
Nearly one year ago, I published my first infoChachkie interview, with Kevin O’Connor , Co-Founder of FindTheBest. At that time, I was not utilizing video. Thus, I was very excited when Kevin graciously agreed to make an encore appearance via Skype. If you care to review my prior discussion with Kevin, you can do so HERE. Before starting FindTheBest, Kevin was the Co-Founder and CEO DoubleClick (sold to Google, $3.1B and a seed investor ISS (sold to IBM, $1.3B).
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 2, 2011
In an interesting diversion from our usual interviews with startup entrepreneurs and investors, we had the chance to sit down earlier with Republican Presidential Candidate Gary Johnson , the former Governor of New Mexico, to talk about his online town hall with Los Angeles-based Yowie later today (at 5pm PST). Johnson spoke to us about his online outreach efforts, and how he's hoping those efforts will bring some visibility to his campaign.
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 19, 2011
This week, for the first time, we republish an earlier post. With readership up three-fold since that posting in April, 2011, and with many great reader comments then, it is only natural to send you to the original post with those reader comments attached, rather than republish it here. So press this link to go right to that original posting. And thanks for your many comments and emails after last week’s final posting in the first cycle of BERKONOMICS.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 16, 2011
So you have a startup idea, perhaps some level of execution or traction, but you or your co-founders are doing it blind; you trudge along with a little advice or knowledge you’ve picked up in torrented audio books after finally having made that decision to quit the 9-5. You continue to build your venture as lean as possible and hit a personal make it or break it point with a couple of unsuccessful investor meetings and very little guidance.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 24, 2011
Everyone can recognize a great manager a mile away, so why is it so hard to find one? We all remember a few that are “legends in their own mind”, but that doesn’t do it. In fact, the clue here is that the view in your mind is the only one that matters, rather than the other way around. Almost every one of us in business can remember that one special manager in their career who exemplifies the norm, who commanded our respect, and treated us like a friend, even in the toughest of personal or busin
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
I will be giving a speech today on The Future of Television at the PaidContent conference in LA. I will write way more details about this in the coming months but I thought I’d give you a sneak peak at my presentation for today. Future of TV. Feel free to leave comments and we can have a discussion about the topic in the Disqus comments section.
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
“Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “If it was so, it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”. Lewis Carroll, from Through The Looking Glass. Entrepreneurs often must take counter-intuitive, contrarian positions in order to succeed. As noted in Entrepreneurship Is A Compulsion , entrepreneurs often view the world from a slightly different vantage point, rejecting the oxymoronic term Conventional Wisdom. .
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
Highlighting the continued growth in demand for technical talent, a group of ten San Diego startup is banding together to attract job seekers to their companies, According to San Diego's SweetLabs , the software developer behind Pokki and OpenCandy, it and another nine startups will run an event December 1st called 10 Startups, $100 Million in Funding, 100 New Jobs.
Jason Nazar
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Our next Startups Uncensored event is going to be very special. I’ll be doing a one-on-one interview with Michael Arrington, founder of TechCrunch and the new CrunchFund. Michael is an incredible serial entrepreneur who, in 2008, was listed as one of Time Magazine ‘s most influential people. We’ll also have some very special guests in attendance – Yossi Vardi (co-founder of ICQ) will be coming with leaders from 15 companies from Israel.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 23, 2011
Klout, PeerIndex, Kred, and even Empire Avenue need to go away. These metrics-application rely on our need to know our “value” and will only continue to perpetuate the dilution of online engagement. This is an open call to the people that use these services, or are simply indexed by them, to opt-out and delete your presence on Klout, Kred, PeerIndex and Empire Avenue.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 10, 2011
By definition, most entrepreneurs are thought leaders. They have the ability to recognize a market need, the skills to design and implement a solution, and the drive to start a business from that solution. It all comes from within themselves. A business leader does the same thing and more through the people around them. Most entrepreneurs are not both.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
Launchpad LA today announces it will accept applications for its third class of Los Angeles-based tech startups. We have significant VC commitments (listed below) – every entering company will get $50,000 in funding, mentorship from top VCs and successful entrepreneurs plus free office space. For any company interested in applying please visit the website.
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 17, 2011
Len Short is truly an online marketing pioneer, heading up marketing at Charles Schwab, AOL and then (PRODUCT)RED. He is now leading Chug , a car buying search engine, as its Founder and CEO. Before his career moved online, Len worked on major marketing campaigns for credit card companies and rolled out MCI’s highly successful “Friends and Family” marketing campaign.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 15, 2011
Santa Monica-based Unsubscribe.com , the startup headed by James Siminoff, which helped consumers unsubscribe from unwanted email, has been acquired by TrustedID. TrustedID, which provides credit and identity protection services, announced the acquisition on Tuesday afternoon, but did not disclose financial terms of the buy. Unsubscribe.com was venture backed by Charles River Ventures, First Round Capital, DFJ Frontier, and angel investors.
Frank Addante
NOVEMBER 12, 2011
Make decisions. Wrong or right, making quick, informed decisions is far better than not making a decision at all. Not making decisions is what kills companies. I've learned to pick up on interesting patterns from the five companies I started prior to Rubicon Project. In general, when my companies are feeling stressed or headed in the wrong direction, it's usually because the decision-making.
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 20, 2011
As you all know TechZulu is a huge supporter of Startup Weekend, and when we had the chance to be part of the very first Orange County (my home town) Startup Weekend we jumped on board. We are going to do what we do best and bring you all the awesome presentation action live tonight at 5PM PST. Tonights Startup Weekend presentations are being judged by the following: Maneesh Goyal.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 4, 2011
Every new startup I know dreams of being funded by an angel investor. Yet according to the latest data from Gust (formerly AngelSoft), only about 3 out of 100 companies who initiate the formal request process actually get funded. The Gust Deal Funnel from the last 12 months indicates is that 70% of the interested companies never make it past the initial screening process.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
The tech market is filled with many stories of early-stage funding. It’s even more exciting when you can report an exit of a company that is a major win. That’s why I’m proud to announce today that HealthDataInsights (founded by Victor Chaltiel), where GRP Partners was a 30% owner, has been acquired for $400 million. It maps to several themes about “solving bigger problems,” “taking more meaningful ownership positions” and “women in entrepreneurs
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 15, 2011
Article first published as Why Selling To The Government Can Downgrade Your Startup on Technorati. First Greece, now Spain and Italy. Across Europe, historically solvent sovereign governments are suffering from an acute case of systemic deficits. Now, more than ever, government agencies in the US and abroad are lousy startup customers. I am not a government contracting expert.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 17, 2011
Los Angeles-based Postcard on the Run , the startup headed by Josh Brooks, announced this morning that it has raised $750,000 in an angel round, which included actress Selena Gomez, Crosscut Ventures, Mike Jones, Yves Sisteron, Chris DeWolfe, Aber Whitcomb, Brian Fitzgerald, Ryan Steelberg, Colin Digario, Brian Lee, and Jarl Mohn. The firm--which develops iOS and Android apps which easily allow mobile users to take pictures and turn them into real, physical postcards mailed to their friends and
Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 12, 2011
As I look back over more than fifty years as an entrepreneur, I can think of the financial focus of my three entrepreneurial businesses as a prime driver in my life during the early stage of each. And yet, as I recall the greatest thrills, the memorable events, the best of memories, almost none are about the money. The stories of people rising to the occasion, victories in the form of great sale successes, great continuing relationships, occasional awards from valued indus
Tech Zulu Event
NOVEMBER 21, 2011
I was reading an article by Robert Scoble earlier today about how amazing Spotify and some other news app are on Facebook, and how awesome frictionless sharing is for the Internet. I openly can’t stand OpenGraph. It’s the one feature that stuck with me the most from the F8 conference this past September. What is OpenGraph? It’s a way for you, the loyal Facebook user, to update your status and apps on Facebook, without you actually posting to Facebook.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 18, 2011
If you have a unique creation or invention, and you are not selling it around the world on the Internet, now is the time to start. The cost of entry has never been lower. Anyone can be an entrepreneur today, without a huge investment, bank loans, venture capitalists, or Angels. In the early days (20 years ago), most new e-commerce sites cost a million dollars to set up.
Both Sides of the Table
NOVEMBER 14, 2011
I recently gave a talk about the Future of Television. I’m still planning to write some in depth pieces on the topic but I thought, “given that this is about how video will consume the Internet over the next 5 years, what better way to exemplify this than with a 10-minute video.” Here’s a link to watch it or click the image below.
InfoChachkie
NOVEMBER 3, 2011
As an Instructor of entrepreneurship at UC Santa Barbara, I welcomed the chance to read Brad Feld & Jason Mendelson’s Venture Deals: Be Smarter Than Your Lawyer And Venture Capitalist. As the authors make clear in the book’s preface, their goal is to create a “definitive guide to venture capital deals” and “demystify the venture capital financing process.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 8, 2011
Adconion Media Group , the European advertising network firm which as significant operations in Los Angeles, said today that it has acquired smartclip , a European digital video advertising firm. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Adconion said that the acquisition will "significantly strengthen" its position in online video. Smartclip adds around 500 new publisher sites to Adconion's network.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 15, 2011
In an unprecedented surge in startup support activity in Los Angeles this morning, another venture startup accelerator, Start Engine , formally launched this morning, applying the accelerator model to startup in the Los Angeles area. Start Engine, started by Activision co-founder Howard Marks and investor Paul Kessler, said today that it is looking to provide mentorship, funding, and other resources to startups in the area, starting with a first class in January.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 9, 2011
It looks like Los Angeles is set to get access to peer-to-peer car sharing service Zipcar , as it plans to open an office in Hollywood tomorrow. Zipcar has been inviting the press to an event tomorrow with L.A. City Council President Eric Garcetti, to mark its entry into Los Angeles, the 16th market covered by the company. The introduction of Zipcar to the Los Angeles market would be a first for the mainline, peer-to-peer car sharing movement, which allows car owners to rent out their cars on an
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 1, 2011
Adobe Systems said today that it has acquired Auditude , a provider of video ad management and monetization technology. Auditude, although now based in Palo Alto, had originally been developed for a UCLA MBA business plan competition, by Nicholas Seet. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Seet founded Auditude for the KNAPP competition at UCLA, while he was at the UCLA Anderson School of Management at its fully employed MBA program.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 15, 2011
(Editor's note: Los Angeles has always had strong ties to business in the UK, and the UK government has been very active in reaching out to Los Angeles technology firms in recent years. On the invitation of UK Trade and Investment, socalTECH Contributing Editor Travis Oberlander has traveled this week to London for us, to compare and contrast the efforts in the UK to establish their own technology center with our own efforts in Southern California.).
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