Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 8, 2018

Upfront Ventures has a deep-seated commitment to equality in funding & building diverse teams across all ethnicities, nationalities and genders. We do this not just because it’s the right thing to do but also we believe it will help drive large and differentiated returns. In 2017 we began inserting an “Inclusion Clause” into our term sheets because we believe that the culture one establishes at the earliest stages of one’s business will set out the course of how it will grow and develop.

Venture Capital 284

Venture Capital Coach Ideas Startup 284

socalTECH

MARCH 15, 2018

Westlake Village-based Pray.com , which develops social networking applications for religious communities, has raised $14M in a Series A funding, the company said this week. The funding was led by TPG Growth, and also included Science Inc. and Greylock Partners. The startup, led by CEO Steve Gatena, has been based at California Lutheran University's Hub101 Incubator, and received a stealth seed funding round last year from Science and Greylock, which had not previously been announced.

Social Network 302

Social Network Westlake Village Networking Seed Funding 302

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 9, 2018

“It feels like investing in Uber when it first launched.” That’s what one investor said of the hot new Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup, Bird — an electric scooter company that’s now in the process of raising as much as $100 million on a $300 million valuation, according to several people with knowledge of the company’s […].

Santa Monica 279

Santa Monica Invest Startup Yammer 279

Berkonomics

MARCH 8, 2018

Give one percent equity to each outside board member vesting over four years of service. Many early stage CEOs and board members have asked for some guidance regarding pay and time commitments for board members. Here is my best advice, based upon many boards and many years. Pay early stage board members of companies that are not lifestyle businesses one percent of the fully diluted equity in the form of an option that vests over four years of service.

Venture Capital 256

Venture Capital Equity Sales Invest 256

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

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 20, 2018

UpKeep, a Los Angeles-based facilities maintenance company, announced $10 million in Series A funding, led by Emergence Capital. As part of the deal, Kevin Spain, a partner at Emergence, will join UpKeep’s board.

Los Angeles 210

Los Angeles Capital Funding Angel 210

InfoChachkie

MARCH 6, 2018

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. One of my former students, Sieva Kozinsky, Co-Founder & CEO of StudySoup recently shared his startup insights with my UC Santa Barbara students. He offered my students a litany of compelling suggestions. However, the one that stood out to me was the importance of curating their peer groups in advance of graduating and starting an entrepreneurial career.

Santa Barbara 113

Santa Barbara Ideas Entertainment Education 113

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2018

West Hollywood-based Casa Verde Capital said this week that it has raised $45M in its debut, investment fund, which will specifically invest in the "ancillary cannabis" industry. The venture capital firm--whose founders include Calvin Broadus (aka Snoop Dogg)--said it will specifically invest in agtech, health & wellness, financial services, technology, media, compliance and laboratory technology related to the legal cannabis industry.

West Hollywood 210

West Hollywood Invest Capital Funding 210

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 9, 2018

“It feels like investing in Uber when it first launched.” That’s what one investor said of the hot new Santa Monica, Calif.-based startup, Bird — an electric scooter company that’s now in the process of raising as much as $100 million on a $300 million valuation, according to several people with knowledge of the company’s plans.

Santa Monica 279

Santa Monica Invest Startup Los Angeles 279

Berkonomics

MARCH 29, 2018

Close. Ever get bad advice? Sure. We all have in our past. Ever take that advice without question because the person giving it was an investor, a superior in rank, the chairperson of your board? I’ll bet you have at least one story of bad advice taken and being bitten as a result. As one illustration among many I can recall, let me tell you the story of the first investment made by a newly organized formal group of angel investors.

Startup 243

Startup Entrepreneur Invest Angel 243

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 30, 2018

Female-focused venture fund raises $10.4 million; Los Angeles tech workers data released; SpaceX gets approval to build satellite-powered broadband network.

Funding 187

Funding SpaceX Los Angeles Report 187

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 29, 2018

Wednesday, April 4, 2018 -- FundingPost Los Angeles VCs, Angels, Crypto and ICOs Event. At our next event the panel of investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing and a fireside chat about ICO basics: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! We will be discussing trends in Early-Stage Investing, hot sectors, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an Investment, the

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Angel Writing Course 100

Tech.Co

MARCH 1, 2018

Everything is bigger in Texas. And while that cliché has been said about everything in the Lone Star state for years, it rings particularly true for the hottest startups showcasing their big innovations at SXSW Startup Night 2018 presented by the Kauffman Foundation and TechCo. It is here that 25 of the most diverse startups from around the world will showcase their latest technology and compete for prizes and a chance to be fast tracked as one of the Startup of the Year semifinalists at Innovat

Startup 80

Startup Mentor Platform Help 80

socalTECH

MARCH 22, 2018

If you run a restaurant, it turns out the move towards online ordering is a recipe for chaos--with multiple online order services and apps, all with their own way of getting orders to your restaurant. Santa Monica-based Ordermark (www.getordermark.com) is looking to tame that chaos with a system which takes all of those online orders, and feeds them into a single printer at a restaurant.

Startup 189

Startup Santa Monica Services Social Media 189

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 27, 2018

The smash dockless scooter rental startup, Bird , is expanding beyond its Southern California nest with a new rollout in San Francisco, San Jose, Calif. and Washington, DC, the company said today. And as his company makes its migration across the country, Bird chief executive Travis VanderZanden is determined not to make the same mistakes that bedeviled his former bosses at Uber.

Santa Monica 262

Santa Monica Southern California San Diego Los Angeles 262

Berkonomics

MARCH 17, 2018

Close. I’ve been sued as a board member too many times over the past twenty-five years of board service. Five times. Does that shock you? It does me. Entrepreneurs blaming their board for failures of a fragile, early stage company. Shareholders unhappy over the same loss, reaching out to sue every name available. Employees reaching out to anyone above to redress grievances.

Resource 243

Resource Email Services Entrepreneur 243

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 27, 2018

Bird, the Santa Monica-based electric scooter ride-sharing company, announced it has opened operations in San Francisco, San Jose and Washington, D.C. on the heels of a March 13 Series B round that raised $100 million.

Santa Monica 157

Santa Monica Marketing Company Companies 157

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 28, 2018

Tuesday, April 3, 2018 -- Orange County VCs, Angels, Crypto and ICOs Event. At our next event the panel of investors will focus on Early-Stage Venture Investing and a fireside chat about ICO basics: How to meet investors, pitch them, and what it really takes to get them to write you a check! We will be discussing trends in Early-Stage Investing, hot sectors, sectors that these Angels and VCs look at, things that are most important to them when they are considering an Investment, the best and wor

Orange County 100

Orange County Angel Writing Course 100

Xconomy

MARCH 21, 2018

Big Food is getting serious about innovation. Many top food companies are increasingly pumping money into supporting young, innovative startups, according to a recent analysis by CB Insights. The firms include stalwarts like Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC ) , which has an incubator and accelerator program called Springboard , and relative newcomers like the Greek-style yogurt maker Chobani , which operates an incubator that makes $25,000 investments in startups with no equity stake.

Incubator 91

Incubator Startup Equity Organization 91

socalTECH

MARCH 14, 2018

This year, we're sponsoring the Recurring Revenue Conference (www.recurringrevenueconference.com), presented by Sutton Capital Partners. As part of our sponsor relationship with the conference, we're running a series of interviews with speakers from the conference about their experience in the area of recurring revenues, customer service, and similar topics.

Customer 166

Customer Custom Conference Social Media 166

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 6, 2018

WHOOP, the company behind the Tesla of health tracking and sports performance wearables, has raised a whopping $25 million in a new round of funding. The round was comprised of a slew of prominent investment firms and individual investors including the Durant Company, the National Football League Players Association, former NBA commissioner David Stern, Twitter […].

Invest 256

Invest Funding Company Companies 256

Berkonomics

MARCH 15, 2018

Expect a board member to give a meeting a month, emails and phone calls between. Urgent issues require more of all. Board members are usually busy people, often running other companies or serving on multiple boards. Early stage boards usually meet once a month for two to a maximum of four hours, enough to ruin the rest of a day for those who travel even short distances.

Email 243

Email Services Company Companies 243

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 21, 2018

Elon Musk’s new Tesla Inc. compensation package received the approval of 73 percent of company voting shares, according to a March 21 Securities Exchange and Commission filing made hours after a company shareholder meeting at its Fremont headquarters.

Company 127

Company Companies 127

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 27, 2018

Thursday, March 29, 2018 -- Los Angeles Ad Pros Mix Mingle Network. With technology, the advertising industry is going under massive disruptions right now. Mix, mingle, and network with other advertising professionals. Find partners with advertisers, ad agencies, publishers, and ad tech companies.

Los Angeles 100

Los Angeles Networking Angel Advertising 100

Xconomy

MARCH 19, 2018

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which administers the federal Medicare insurance program, will begin covering FDA-approved diagnostic tests that scan tumors for a range of genetic mutations. The news is a boost for companies like Foundation Medicine and Thermo Fisher Scientific, who are among the few firms with such tests on the market.

News 85

News Services Marketing Technology 85

socalTECH

MARCH 6, 2018

Do you have a startup idea, and a team, but no seed funding, and are even too early for an early stage startup accelerator? A new program in Los Angeles, Startup Boost / Los Angeles , says it is launching a "pre-accelerator" program which aims to help bridge the gap between a team with an "evolved" idea and seed investors and accelerator programs. The program--which is taking applications here in Los Angeles until March 22nd--said it is looking for eight startups to include in a six week mentors

Los Angeles 157

Los Angeles Angel Seed Funding Startup 157

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 1, 2018

This is an excerpt from Ryan Holiday’s new book Conspiracy: Peter Thiel, Hulk Hogan, Gawker, and the Anatomy of Intrigue, available now. Peter Thiel’s vague idea to do something about Gawker, the site that had outed him as gay in 2007, was concretized into conspiracy on April 6, 2011. It began unremarkably, when Thiel traveled […].

Ideas 252

Ideas Sites Los Angeles Social Network 252

Berkonomics

MARCH 1, 2018

Many of us have someone who reports directly to us and who supervises others in return. If that fits, well then, this one is for you. And it is one of the most important lessons you can learn as a manager or board member of a company or a non-profit enterprise. I first heard this expression in a governance seminar for a non-profit higher educational board upon which I sit, years ago.

Report 226

Report Metrics Organization Education 226

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 23, 2018

ServiceTitan, a Glendale-based software app for service professionals, announced $62 million in Series C funding. The funding round was led by Battery Ventures and will be used to expand the company from 400 to 500 employees by the end of the year, as well as for product enhancement and partnership expansion.

Glendale 124

Glendale Funding Software Services 124

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 26, 2018

Tuesday, March 27, 2018 -- Women in the Global Markets! WITI. Governments in 119 economies carried out 264 business reforms in the past year to create jobs, attract investment and become more competitive, says the World Bank Group's latest Doing Business 2018. Women must influence followers' attitudes and behaviors in a global context in order to achieve a common vision and goal.

WITI 100

WITI Marketing Competition Invest 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 2, 2018

One of the lessons I have learned over the years as a business executive, and now as a mentor to entrepreneurs, is that if you really want employees who enthusiastically take ownership of their work, you have to start treating them like owners, not renters. Owners feel they have skin in the game, and benefit from improved effort and results, rather than just getting blamed for problems.

Mentor 72

Mentor Coach Startup Activity 72

socalTECH

MARCH 5, 2018

Pasadena-based robot developer Miso Robotics says it has officially launched its burger flipping robot, "Flippy", at CaliBurger's Pasadena location--and, separately, has inked a partnership to bring its robotics technology to the sports and entertainment venue market. Miso's robot flips burger patties and cooks them to order, removing them from the grill when ready.

Artificial Inteligence 157

Artificial Inteligence Pasadena Entertainment Research 157

TechCrunch LA

MARCH 22, 2018

Recognizing the tens of billions of dollars that the Southern Californian region leaves on the table, because it hasn’t taken its rightful place in the American technology industry, a new group called the Alliance for Southern California Innovation has just released a report to analyze how SoCal can work to assume its pole position. Through interviews with 100 leaders of the technology ecosystem and an analysis of venture capital funding for the region, the organization has concluded (

Southern California 224

Southern California Dollar Shave Club SoCal Develop 224

Xconomy

MARCH 19, 2018

Advances in robotics and artificial intelligence technologies have stoked fears that machines are coming for humans’ jobs in a variety of industries. Some executives of robotics companies have tried to allay those concerns, arguing that in many cases, people’s roles will evolve, but technology won’t eliminate their jobs completely. A report by The New York Times indicates that’s how things seem to be playing out in the warehouse and logistics sector, at least for now.

Artificial Inteligence 83

Artificial Inteligence Report Technology San Diego 83

L.A. Business Journal

MARCH 27, 2018

Foxconn, the Taiwanese manufacturing company that makes iPhones, announced the acquisition of Playa Vista-based Belkin for $866 million. The cash deal includes Belkin’s associated brands Linksys, Wemo and Phyn.

Belkin 113

Belkin Acquisition Company Companies 113

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 27, 2018

Wednesday, March 28, 2018 -- Facebook Marketing Exclusive MASTERMIND Seminar (12 person limit) This event is hosted at WeWork in Playa Vista.

Marketing 100

Marketing 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2018

As a startup advisor, I see many aspiring entrepreneurs whose primary motivation seems to be to work part time, or get rich quick, or avoid anyone else telling them what to do. Let me assure you, from personal experience, and from helping many successful as well as struggling entrepreneurs, that starting a business is hard work, and doesn’t come with any of the benefits mentioned.

Entrepreneur 66

Entrepreneur Organization Customer Custom 66