Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 7, 2009
Business Etiquette Tips for dealing with VCs and Corporates at Conferences. This is part of my ongoing series with Startup Advice. With the LeWeb conference about to start in Paris I thought the timing of this post would be appropriate. Right after Techcrunch50 Michael Arrington wrote this great post on how to interact at business events and conferences.
SoCal CTO
DECEMBER 9, 2009
I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. I always take a very different approach in early conversations. If I’m being asked to do startup software development, I’m going to push fairly hard on key questions that the startup needs to have answered before
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socalTECH
DECEMBER 14, 2009
Santa Monica-based LIVESTRONG.COM , the online health site run by Demand Media in conjunction with the Lance Armstrong Foundation, announced this morning that it has launched a new online tool it is calling MyPlate D, for online nutrition tracking. The site is targeted at people with diabetes, to help them control the disease. According to the site, the new product allows users to track calories, fat, protein, and carbohydrates for more than 625,000 food items.
Eric Greenspan
DECEMBER 5, 2009
I’ve been engaged with social networking for some time now, starting with Myspace and Facebook and just recently (within the last 30 days), Twitter. I’ve jumped on the bandwagon, big time! I have vanity urls setup at just about every site on the web. I love Namechk.com for this. It’s been an amazing experience so far, but the best part are the relationships I’ve built since getting started.
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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.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 9, 2009
There’s a big difference between your vision for your company, your mission and your goal. Your vision tells the world what you want to be as you contemplate in advance how you will change the world for the better. Your mission merely states who you are and what you do. It is used to limit and sift your opportunities to keep you from using resources for projects outside of your core, your mission.
InfoChachkie
DECEMBER 2, 2009
“I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.” John Wanamaker. If Mr. Wanamaker had access to the Internet, his oft-repeated quote, would have never been uttered. In the “good old days”, pre- 1999, advertising dollars were largely gambled away. As noted in Pour and Stir Part I , the key to the successful execution of this strategy is managing the following equation: The cost to acquire a customer < lifetime value of a customer.
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SoCal CTO
DECEMBER 14, 2009
Just saw a great post by Mark Geller - Developers wanted… in Los Angeles, U.S.A. (you can get to know Mark a bit more in my post Product Manager Entrepreneur Mark Geller ). Mark tells us: there is a lot of demand for developers right here in L.A. If you have solid web skills and a few years experience, either with a commercial company or running your own legit projects, there are dozens of companies in L.A. who would love to talk with you.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 14, 2009
Hollywood-based Friendgiftr , an angel funded startup developing Facebook applications, said today that it has launched a new Facebook application which allows users to send real gift cards to friends, family, and others. The startup said it is now offering over 120 U.S. merchants through its app, which allows users to send both physical and digital gift cards via the popular Facebook social networking site.
Eric Greenspan
DECEMBER 5, 2009
I’ve been engaged with social networking for some time now, starting with Myspace and Facebook and just recently (within the last 30 days), Twitter. I’ve jumped on the bandwagon, big time! I have vanity urls setup at just about every site on the web. I love Namechk.com for this. It’s been an amazing experience so far, but the best part are the relationships I’ve built since getting started.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 23, 2009
Now we’re getting organized. There are many ways to express the roadmap for your enterprise. One of the most popular was used by the U.S. Army late in World War II, and adopted by a number of high profile businesses such as Texas Instruments after the War. The structure combined the listing of the goal with a series of strategies and then tactics, each designed to support each other, each measurable and made public throughout the organization.
SoCal Tech Calendar
DECEMBER 30, 2009
Tuesday, January 5, 2010 -- ExecTec Networking Dinner. An event for executives in the Entertainment, Media, Technology and related business fields to come together and network and share ideas. See [link] (more).
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 17, 2009
This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute: Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts. 3. Ability to Pivot – I don’t like to invest in people that I’ve never met before who come through my office wanting to have a term sheet within 30
SoCal CTO
DECEMBER 7, 2009
I talk to a lot of founders of startups. My initial conversations normally focus on the core of the business, important Startup Metrics , probably marketing strategy (ex. SEO for Startups and Negative Customer Acquisition Costs ) and, of course, the product itself. Normally the product is defined as a web site. Most founders are fairly passionate about the features and functions of the web site, iPhone application, Facebook application, or whatever web application represents the product.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 10, 2009
One of the industries which has seen a lot of activity lately in Southern California is clean technology, with a large amount of investment activity and new company formation. We recently ran into Nikhil Jain , CEO of Clean Green Guy (www.cleangreenguy.com), a newly launched online marketplace for green tech deals. We spoke with Nikhil, to hear why he thinks the site is important for green technology companies and investors, as well as how the effort is related to his own incubation firm, Artili
Eric Greenspan
DECEMBER 13, 2009
Yesterday, Make It Work got together at our partner South Bay Mini’s offices to discuss our achievements, our challenges and our future. It was an amazing day! The team was energized. We ate great food, we chatted, we listened to Jeremy Anticouni’s 38th broadcast of CBS/KNX Tech News (powered by Make It Work) and I presented to the team.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 2, 2009
I have a business friend, an experienced manager and teacher with a Harvard MBA, whose creativity and intelligence are admired by many. But he dilutes his effectiveness with wordy PowerPoint presentations. It has become a long running joke between us, as I often remind him that most of us have a very limited attention span and ability to recall important points from a presentation.
SoCal Tech Calendar
DECEMBER 14, 2009
Sunday, December 20, 2009 -- Medical Device Communications Symposium: Enabling your Medical Device for Wireless Communications. Join Texas Instruments, Telit, LSR, 7 Layers, and Wyless for this exciting event hosted by Arrow Electronics. Technical presentations and demonstrations showcasing Low Energy Bluetooth - Zigbee - ISM Band Solutions - Cellular.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 21, 2009
This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts , Ability to Pivot , Resiliency and Inspiration.
Daradiction
DECEMBER 31, 2009
Folks over estimate what they can do in a year and under estimate what they can do in ten. No doubt you’d agree how quickly this past decade has flown by. My one regret is that I wasn’t nearly as intentional about the effects I wanted to create. I didn’t find my North Star (community empowerment) until quite recently. As I reflect upon the past decade and get clear about my vision for my life by 2020 there are a few stories that I would like to share with you: Petunia Pickle
socalTECH
DECEMBER 11, 2009
Santa Barbara-based FastSpring , a firm which provides e-commerce services and payment processing for online software sellers, claims that the firm had 500% growth in its revenues in 2009. According to CEO Dan Engel, the growth was driven by new clients such as AteBits (makers of Tweetie), Mailplane, BreezeTree Software, and Moonrug (makers of Moonrug Mobile for Android).
Eric Greenspan
DECEMBER 13, 2009
Yesterday, Make It Work got together at our partner South Bay Mini’s offices to discuss our achievements, our challenges and our future…we called it “Launch to the Moon, 2010.&# There were 50+ Minis parked in a row , that was cool! It was an amazing day. The team was energized. We ate great food, we chatted, we listened to Jeremy Anticouni’s 38th broadcast of CBS/KNX Tech News (powered by Make It Work) and I presented to the team.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 30, 2009
In past insights, we explored the need for a tangible goal and strategies that are measurable as steps toward achievement of the goal. This insight calls to account tactics to accompany each strategy, and even suggests a number for each. . Tactics support strategies and allow your individual managers and departments to contribute to strategies in measurable ways that are more short term and procedural than are the strategies they support.
SoCal Tech Calendar
DECEMBER 14, 2009
Wednesday, December 16, 2009 -- Tech Entrepreneur Happy Hour. Let's get together for drinks at Copa d'Oro in Santa Monica to catch up and talk tech before the holidays. There are lots of exciting things happening in LA software right now. Tons of great new startups, lots of higher level acquisitions. See [link] (more).
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 1, 2009
This is part of my ongoing series on Startup Advice. I was reading one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs, VentureHacks, this weekend and noticed that they are running a long piece on how to pick a co-founder. If you’ve read my blog for a while you’ll know that I’m a fan of starting businesses in a non-traditional way. I recommend that you start a company by yourself and own 100% of it.
Tech Zulu Event
DECEMBER 29, 2009
TechZulu is very pleased to announce that we are partnering with Sony during CES. We are going to be streaming 'Live' From the Sony tower on January 7, 2010 from 4pm-5pm PST (possibly until 6pm). We already have a huge list of amazing products we are going to be covering, but we want to know what you are interested in. This is your chance to let us know what you want us to cover and get to interact with the creators themselves.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 17, 2009
Los Angeles-based Twitter advertising startup Ad.ly has just launched a new Twitter analytics product, the firm said Thursday afternoon, which allows Twitter users to see statistics on their account. According to Ad.ly, the new Ad.ly Analytics services allows users to see how many engaged followers a user has, audience gender, location, and other information.
Eric Greenspan
DECEMBER 8, 2009
Have a listen to my chat with Marsha Collier and Marc Cohen on wsRadio. We talked about Must Haves, Farmville, Make It Work, Sonos, Lululemon and more. Tags: eric david greenspan.
Berkonomics
DECEMBER 16, 2009
It’s time to speak of some sort of business plan. As a professional investor in early stage companies, I have long discounted long, detailed business plans in favor of a concise “executive summary” followed by a believable spreadsheet-based financial forecast projecting three to five years into the future. . Yes, everything does change between drafting that plan and its successful execution.
SoCal Tech Calendar
DECEMBER 11, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009 -- South Bay Tech Group Happy Hour. Strengthen your "Starbucks network" close to home by getting to know neighbors who are involved in the technology and media industry in the South Bay. Join us for a very casual free networking group for technology entrepreneurs and executives who live and/or work in El Segundo, Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, Redondo Beach, Torrance and Palos Verdes area.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 19, 2009
This is part of my new series on what makes an entrepreneur successful. I originally posted it on VentureHacks , one of my favorite websites for entrepreneurs. If you haven’t spent time over there you should. I started the series talking about what I consider the most important attribute of an entrepreneur : Tenacity. I then covered Street Smarts , Ability to Pivot and Resiliency.
Tech Zulu Event
DECEMBER 2, 2009
This coming weekend December 5 and 6 TechZulu will be live streaming the Humanity+ Summit. The H+ Summit (Organized by Humanity + ) is a two day, interactive event that will explore how humanity will be radically changed by technology in the future. Over 30 visionary speakers will explore how to enhance your body, mind, life, and world. What is going to be like to be a human in this next phase of technological progress?
socalTECH
DECEMBER 21, 2009
Los Angeles-based Passenger , a developer of online, private communities for brands, said today that it has linked its service with Facebook and Twitter. The firm said community members can now share activities within its communities on those two social networking services. Passenger operates online communities being used by brands to collect consumer feedback and information.
Eric Greenspan
DECEMBER 8, 2009
Have a listen to my chat with Marsha Collier and Marc Cohen on wsRadio. We talked about Must Haves , Farmville, Make It Work, Sonos, Lululemon and more. Tags: Eric Greenspan farmville lululemon make it work marsha collier radio sonos.
Daradiction
DECEMBER 30, 2009
Written by Jolie O’Dell. By the way, our RoadTwip panel just got selected by SxSW Interactive. Ever since two friends and I staged a two-week jaunt around the Midwest to attend a great new conference earlier this year, I’ve been more and more aware of a growing trend: the social media road trip. While on the road this year, I’ve come upon long-term social media road warriors such as Mark Simonds of the Twitter Road Trip , brand ambassadors such as Sara Lopez and conference-hopp
SoCal Tech Calendar
DECEMBER 10, 2009
Friday, December 11, 2009 -- This Week in Startups/DNAMail Meetup. Come join Jason, George Naspo (CEO of Ikano Communications) and the whole TWiST gang for a special live episode and meetup at the Mahalo.com offices. We'll be starting with the live episode, featuring George Naspo, at 4:30pm and following that immediately with a reception at 6:00pm. Come by to watch the episode with other TWiST fans and then stick around for some great networking.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 9, 2009
I sometimes think that certain advice is BGO (blinding glimpse of the obvious) and doesn’t warrant mentioning. But then people’s actions tell me otherwise. I wrote recently about etiquette when you meet people at conferences or events so now that I have this done I feel I need to say some words about connecting on social networks. Let’s start with a discussion of existing social networks and then how to approach people on them.
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