November, 2022

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How to avoid “death by meeting.”

Berkonomics

Zoom, Teams, phone, or in person? Imagine yourself with a calendar requiring you to be in six meetings in a day. Day after day. It doesn’t matter whether you’re required to be there in person or virtually, you get worn out after a few of these. Your attention span sorely reduces to nil, and your quality of input and insights fall as the long day progresses.

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TrueCar Awards Vehicle To Marine Veteran

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based online car marketplace TrueCar said it has awarded a new, retrofitted vehicle to a Marine Corps Vietnam veteran, as part of its DrivenToDrive initiative. The initiative connects disabled American veterans with vehicles. According to TrueCar, the brand new, retrofitted Chevy Traverse was awarded to Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Leonard "Len" Johnson of Philadelphia.

Truecar 202
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Movio wants to make your marketing videos with generative AI

TechCrunch LA

Generative AI is suddenly everywhere. Over the past year, you’ve probably seen people showcasing impressive AI-generated artworks, thanks to progress in text-to-image algorithms introduced by groups like OpenAI and Stability AI. A proliferation of startups is now trying to devise applications for this new class of language model , where the machine is capable of creating new text, images and videos based on simple human input.

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TikTok Hopes Startups Can Breathe Life Into Its Shopping Struggles

Tech.Co

TikTok is struggling to make a dent in the world of US and European ecommerce , and has now enlisted the help of a number of startups to try and reverse that trend and bring the Live Shopping craze sweeping Asia to other markets. Currently, TikTok relies heavily on digital advertising to bring in revenue, although this has not been as reliable of a profit stream in recent months as it has previously and is forcing the company to look for alternative ways to make money.

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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.

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7 Principles For Success As An Owner Or Team Member

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the realities of being an entrepreneur is that you have to keep learning and changing to survive. Everyone on the startup team knows there is no buffer, and no personal isolation from impact based on your job description that can save you. Thus everyone has to make sure they are focusing on what is important, and making leadership decisions to save the business.

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Vistim Labs Wins Startup Pitch Competition and $10,000 Grant Sponsored by Aleph One

Startup San Diego

The post Vistim Labs Wins Startup Pitch Competition and $10,000 Grant Sponsored by Aleph One appeared first on Startup San Diego.

More Trending

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SleepScore Labs Expands into Germany

socalTECH

Carlsbad-based SleepScore Labs said today that it has expanded into Germany. The company said its digital sleep improvement program has been certified as 100 percent reimbursable in Germany. The company said the expansion comes as result of a partnership between the company's unit in Dublin, Ireland, and ResMed Germany.

Company 140
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“Wow, That Was an Exciting Conference!”

Steve Reich

Now tell the truth, have you ever said that after a Banking/FinTech conference? But I heard a banker say it at the 2022 FedFis Roundup. The Roundup is a different event–limited to 200 or so, and completely focused on intimate, round table conversations, rather than vendor booths and canned speeches to mass audiences. What made it so exciting? The focus on BaaS banks.

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What Should Your Business Do In The Event Of A Data Disaster?

AllTopStartups

A data disaster is any event that results in the loss or corruption of your company’s data. Natural disasters, human error, hardware malfunctions, malicious attacks, and other cyberattacks may cause… The post <strong>What Should Your Business Do In The Event Of A Data Disaster?</strong> appeared first on AllTopStartups.

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5 Preconditions for Success in Spawning a New Venture

Startup Professionals Musings

After many years in business, working in large companies as well as startups, I’m no longer surprised at why mature and successful companies struggle with introducing innovative new ventures as the market and environment changes. Their track record is dire, with only twelve percent of the companies in the Fortune 500 from fifty years ago still even in business today.

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5 Ways to Support Startup San Diego for #GivingTuesday 2022

Startup San Diego

The post 5 Ways to Support Startup San Diego for #GivingTuesday 2022 appeared first on Startup San Diego.

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What do you wish you’d known yesterday?

Berkonomics

Here’s the question: Wouldn’t it be great if there were no more digital or printed reports to tell us what happened in the past? I know. We need financial data for comparison, and to a degree – for planning. But we should be thinking of finding ways to make data available to us much earlier when it would be more meaningful and actionable. Let’s give it a name.

Report 156
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Midnight Lights Up With $7.5M

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based gaming startup Midnight announced this morning that it has raised $7.5M in its seed funding round. The funding came from Shima Capital, blockchain platform Forte, gaming community SNACKCLUB, guild and mod platform Overwolf, plus the founders of gaming companies Illuvium and investors Woodstock Fund, FJ Labs, Bixin Ventures, among others.

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Your eye of the needle: Do you worry over bottlenecks?

Berkonomics

Here’s your question to ponder…. Think for a minute whether there is any process or person that could be classed as the eye of the needle in your organization. Is there anything, process or person, that stalls the flow of work from start to finish? A CEO once told me that she was the eye of the needle in her organization, purposely controlling quality of service and making sure all of her direct reports let her know of each decision and action they undertook.

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Greycroft Backs FrankieOne

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based venture investor Greycroft Ventures is backing a Melbourne, Australia-based startup, FrankieOne. According to FrankieOne, it has raised $15.4M (US) in its Series A+ round, which was led by Greycroft and AirTree Ventures, and also included Reinventure, Tidal Ventures, Apex Capital Partners, Binance Labs and Kraken Ventures. The company develops an API platform for identity verification and fraud detection.

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Pogo Health Aims At Chronic Pain

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Pogo Health said today that it is aiming to address chronic pain through a new virtual healthcare service. According to the company, it has begun offering up three different programs to help people manage chronic pain, by providing virtual health coaches, pain physicians, and mental health therapists. The company is led by CEO Dr. Hunter Vincent.

Coach 113
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6 Reasons That Managers Still Add Value In Business

Startup Professionals Musings

As a business consultant with experience in large companies as well as startups, I often hear about dysfunctional management hierarchies, as well as the value provided by exceptional ones. We have all heard about the successes of flattened management organizations in the last decade at Facebook, Valve, Zappos, and others. Individual team members all dream of being unleashed.

Outsource 133
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LAUSD Ransomware Attack A Wake Up Call, Says Report

socalTECH

A ransomware attack earlier this year at the Los Angeles Unified School District is a wake-up call about threats to the nation from cyberattacks, according to a story today from VentureBeat. The attack affected more than 650,000 students and 75,000 employees earlier this year.

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Autonomy Dangles Cyber Monday Deals On Tesla Subscriptions

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based electric vehicle subscription company Autonomy said today that it is dangling up a "limited-time offer" to get people to subscribe to its Tesla Model 3's. According to the company, it will let people pay $3,000 down and $450 a month for the first 12 months for the Tesla EV, in its "Cyber Monday" sale. It's unusual to see a car offered up in those online sales.

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Hyperion Motors Aims At Hydrogen Fuel Cell Refueling

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Hyperion Motors says it is taking aim at the hydrogen fuel cell refueling market, with the launch of a product to provide both hydrogen refueling and battery charging. According to the company, it has developed something called the Hyper:Fuel Mobile Station, a mobile station for providing refueling and recharging infrastructure. The company said it expects to start rollout of those products in 2023.

Mobile 113
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Airgain Gets Win With EV Charging Company

socalTECH

San Diego-based wireless products maker Airgain said it has scored a win with an un-named manufacturer of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Financial impact of the win were not announced. The company said the EV charger ompany will use its NimbeLink embedded modems for its nationwide network.

Company 113
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Performio Expands In London, Germany

socalTECH

Irvine-based Performio, a developer of software used for incentive compensation management, said today that it has opened up a new office in London, and a new data center in Germany. According to the company, the new office in London will support its customers in Europe and the Middle East, with its solution being run in a hosted datacenter in Frankfurt.

Sales 113
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Bird Overstated Revenue For More Than Two Years

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Bird said last week that it had overstated its revenues for more than two years, by recognizing unpaid customer rides as revenue. According to Bird, its financial reports from the first quarter of 2020 through the second quarter of 2022 should "no longer be relied upon". Bird said its systems "recorded revenue for uncollected balances following the completion of certain Rides that should not have been recorded.

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Former SpaceX Employees File Complaint With NLRB

socalTECH

Eight, former employees of Torrance-based SpaceX have filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, saying they were fired for drafting a letter complaining about Elon Musk. According to the New York Times, the workers are "most likely protected under the National Labor Relations Act, which gives them the right to self-organize and band together for collective bargaining" and "mutual aid and protection.

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GoFreight Connects With $23M

socalTECH

Los Angeles- and Taipei-based GoFreight, a startup which provides freight forwarding software and shipping management software, has raised $23M in a funding round. The funding came from Flex Capital, Headline, plus LFX Venture Partners, Palm Drive Capital and returning investors Mucker Capital, Cornerstone Ventures and Red Building Capital. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Trenton Chen.

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Virtualitics Ties Into Air Force

socalTECH

Pasadena-based artificial intelligence software developer Virtualitics says it is now working with the Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC), a part of the United States Air Force, to deliver AI-enabled software for the group. Financial details of the win were not announced. The company said its AI software is helping to provide predictive maintenance, inventory management, supply chain optimization, and manpower resource allocation for the USAF.

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Prologis Ramps EV Charging In Southern California

socalTECH

Prologis, a major provider of third party logistics facilities, said it is making a major installation of electric charging infrastructure in Southern California. According to the company, it has rolled out two, electric truck charging installations in Santa Fe Springs and Commerce, which it says can simultaneously charge up to 38 Volvo VNR Electric Class 8 battery-electric trucks.

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CardieX Acquires Blumio

socalTECH

Irvine-based CardieX, a health technology company focused on cardiovascular disease, said today that it has acquired the assets of Blumio, a developer of algorithms for cardiovascular sensors. Financial details of the asset buy were not announced. The company said that Blumio CEO and Co-founder Catherine Liao has become Chief Strategy Officer of CardieX, and Blumio's Head of Product & Operations Steve Braaten has joined CardieX as Operations Director.

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Platform Science Wins Driving Fleet

socalTECH

San Diego-based connected vehicle platform developer Platform Science said it has scored a win with truckload carrier and brokerages services provider Paper Transport. Financial details of the win were not announced. Platform Science said Paper Transport's entire fleet will be covered by its technology. Platform Science is venture backed by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Chimera, 8VC, Daimler, Prologis, NextPlay, and Four More Capital.

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Luckmon Raises $1.3M For Casual Games

socalTECH

Irvine-based startup Luckmon said today that it has raised $1.3M in a pre-seed fundraising round. The company said the funding came from angel investors, including Chang Kim (CEO of Tapas Media), Thor Chan (CEO of AAX), Changsu Lee (CEO of Allganize), Jay Lee (CEO of the Korean American Chamber of Commerce), K2G Tech Fund, and Primer Sazze Venture Capital Partners.

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Nature's Generator Launches Home Wind Turbine

socalTECH

Oxnard-based Nature's Generator said this morning that it has launched a new product, a wind turbine aimed at the home market. According to the company, the Nature's Generator Powerhouse includes a 120-240v/7200 watt pure sine wave inverter, and should be enough to power a whole house. The turbine starts at $999.99. The company did not say what minimum and maximum speeds of wind are required for its wind turbine to work.

Marketing 113
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Musk Ends Remote Work At Twitter, Demands 40 Plus Hours At Office

socalTECH

In more continuing turmoil at Twitter, new owner Elon Musk is reportedly ending the ability to work remotely at the social media company, and is demanding employees put in "at least" 40 hours in person at the office each week. The report--from Bloomberg--said that the new rules kick in immediately. It's unclear what percentage of Twitter's remaining employee base is working remotely, however, during the pandemic, significant percentages of employees across technology companies scattered to remot

Demand 113
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eTailPet Launches New Features

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based eTailPet, a developer of point-of-sale software for the pet retail market, said it has launched new features for its software. According to the company, it has added text messaging and subscriptoin features for its POS platform. The company said those features include the ability to use text messaging to send appointment reminders for grooming or other services, promote new products, send order confirmations and shipping updates, and more. eTailPet is led by founder and preside

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XPRIZE Awards $8M In Avatar Competition

socalTECH

XPRIZE, the Los Angeles-based organization which organizes prize-based competitions to advance technology in the areas of "humanity's greatest challenges", said it has named a winner of its four-year ANA Avatar XPRIZE. According to the group, it awarded $5M in a grand prize to NimbRo of Bonn, Germany, with $2M going to Pollen Robotics of Bordeaux, France and $1M to Team Northeastern, based in Boston.

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Virtual Dental Care Signs Cigna

socalTECH

Irvine-based Virtual Dental Care, a developer of virtual dental services, said it has teamed up with Cigna to provide dental referrals via video, text, chat, and email. The company said it offers up 24/7 video consultation for urgent situations such as pain, infection, and swelling, offering up prescriptions and referrals to local ,in-network providers for appointments.

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Autonomy Expands EV Subscriptions To Florida

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Autonomy, the electric vehicle subscription service run by longtime auto and tech veteran Scott Painter, says it is expanding its services beyond California. The company said it has debuted its service in Florida, allowing its users to subscribe to Tesla Model 3 and Tesla Model Y vehicles. Autonomy's service allows users to access electric vehicles without a long term lease or need for a loan.