InfoChachkie
OCTOBER 8, 2012
Nearly every entrepreneur has heard the refrain, "Get back to me when you have some traction,” while seeking funding. From an unsophisticated investor, this response might be a non-confrontational way of saying "No." However, when uttered by most Venture Capitalists (VCs) it conveys a desire to obtain validation of your venture's value proposition from dispassionate, objective third parties.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 31, 2012
Hoping to help foreign students better prepare themselves to get into U.S. colleges, a new, Santa Monica startup, ArborBridge , has recently begun to ramp up its online tutoring service for the standardized SAT and ACT tests. Arborbridge, founded by Tim Urban and Andrew Finn, connects those foreign students with one-on-one, live online SAT and ACT test preparation help from tutors.
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Berkonomics
OCTOBER 11, 2012
More and more today, shareholder organizations recommend that the positions of chairman and president (or CEO) be split, so there are checks and balances at the board level in the leadership. This recommendation is true for all companies with outside investors who are active and have or seek board representation. If we examine the blowups that have been so public these past years in public company leaders exceeding their reasonable authority or exercising dictatorial authority to the ultimate d
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 16, 2012
When I started mentoring entrepreneurs and startups a few years ago, I anticipated that I would get mostly tough technical questions, but instead I more often hear things like “Where do I start?” I find that the basics are actually the hardest to answer, just like your parents found out when they first tried to fill you in on the “facts of life” a long time ago.
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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.
Frank Addante
OCTOBER 24, 2012
1. Sanebox (Email Organization) : Service that uses algorithms to organize your email into what’s important and what’s not. I was skeptical and had a lot of issues with giving up control of my inbox, but I’m hooked now. It works amazing well. Tips: Trust it. Check @SaneLater twice a day, @SaneBulk whenever you feel like reading newsletters, promotions, etc. and use @SaneBlackHole for all of your junk that you never want to see again.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 23, 2012
The Tech Crawl is back and in full swing heading to the Hollywood Tech Scene! This time around we are partnering up with Silicon Beach Fest to make it that much more awesome! For those of you who may have missed out you can checkout what Mediapost and D&B had to say about it: TZ Tech Crawl Takes Participants on a Tour of Silicon Beach. 2012 TechZulu Tech Crawl – Technically Awesome.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 18, 2012
Sports fans: how do you prove you're the master of sports knowledge and sports predictions? What's the best way to claim your position among your friends as tops in the world of everything sports? How about an online game? We spoke with Jon Knarreborg , co-founder of Bragstr (www.bragstr.com), a new Los Angeles startup, about how the company's new social game lets you prove your sports knowledge and prediction skills by challenging your friends in a virtual fantasy league, revolving around wager
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 4, 2012
Boards of directors have a number of important functions, both legal and structural. Boards provide or see to it that there are resources for the company (especially money) to operate. The board selects, monitors, helps, and oversees compensation for the CEO. The board can replace an underperforming CEO. The board is responsible for approval of all deferred compensation for all employees at all levels, such as stock option grants, and is responsible for the vision and strategies for growth a
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 1, 2012
Based on my experience as a mentor and an entrepreneur, if you fail on your first startup, you are about average. That’s not bad, but who wants to be average? Every young entrepreneur knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Statistics show that the failure rate for new startups within the first 5 years is as high as 50 percent. How can you improve your odds?
Frank Addante
OCTOBER 1, 2012
When it comes to top hires, the questions people ask tell you far more than the answers they give. When I interview, I don’t ask many questions. Instead, I simply open with, ”What can I tell you about the company?” It forces candidates to think of questions to ask me , rather than inviting them to recite canned, rehearsed responses about their background and goals.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 3, 2012
Hours after the panelists debated the future of content distribution at the Silicon Beach @ USC conference, across campus at the Annenberg Innovation Lab a remarkable product demo was taking place by Coincident.TV. A technology that will surely revolutionize how viewers interact with content and television in the very near future. Coincident has created a platform that will allow storytellers and producers to create robust second screen stories on the fly that incorporate video, images and othe
InfoChachkie
OCTOBER 29, 2012
From a venture capitalist’s point of view, there are no “trick” questions. However, certain questions can be tricky for an entrepreneur to answer. Below are five common questions an entrepreneur will encounter when seeking venture funding. These questions, which manifest themselves in numerous forms, all share a common underlying objective: to divine your motivations, expectations and desires.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2012
If you're a woman with unwanted--but fashionable--clothing in your closet, which you wish you could sell, what's the easiest way to sell it? It might just be Tradesy (www.tradesy.com), a brand new service which lets women sell their unwanted clothing via a mobile app or website--and even takes care of dealing with shipping and returns. The site is the brainchild of Tracy DiNunzio , who took her experience running RecycledBride.com and is now applying the same concept to women's clothing.
Steve Reich
OCTOBER 9, 2012
There are days when I feel like we’ve gotten a bit carried away with social media. You get bombarded with Facebook requests–P&G wants me to “like” their consumer products, as if Tide is my best pal. You can’t go to a website without getting hit with requests to do something on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, ad nauseum.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 20, 2012
Many startups fail before reaching that magic “cash-flow positive” position they have been striving for, despite seemingly reasonable financial projections. A closer analysis often indicates the cause to be a lack of diligence in handling common business finances. These mistakes are usually masked by excuses, like the economy turned on me, or my competitors played dirty.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 6, 2012
It all started in 2010 with Klout. I wasn’t a believer. I had always liked and respected CEO Joe Fernandez but could never get my head around the fact that the Klout was putting up charts showing who influenced me and it didn’t map to the reality I knew in my head. I had been trading emails & Tweets with venture capitalist John Frankel and we were to meet in person in March 2011 at SxSW to talk about Klout and other investments he had made.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 5, 2012
Music Prodigy , a Los Angeles based music education technology firm serious on improving the way people learn, play and interact with music beat over 70 startups with their app Rock Prodigy to win the Silicon Beach Awards. Rock Prodigy is Music Prodigy’s pioneer product and is a revolutionary interactive music app powered by patent-pending polyphonic pitch-recognition technology that allows musicians of all skill levels to use any instrument and provide instant performance feedback to ac
InfoChachkie
OCTOBER 15, 2012
A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. One the most frequent questions asked of me by entrepreneurs is, "How can I become a Venture Capitalist?" The inquiry is common because being a VC is (to an entrepreneur, at least) a sexy job. You control substantial amounts of capital, have tremendous autonomy, a flexible work schedule and you get to play Santa by bestowing financial gifts upon worthy entrepreneurs.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 16, 2012
textPlus , the maker of the popular texting application by the same name, said today that it has raised $18M in a new funding round, led by The Raine Group. Prior investors Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, Matrix Partners and GRP Partners also participated in the funding. In addition to the new funding, the company also said it has acquired Los Angeles-based Jarvus , which develops an app to people capture and share experiences, events and moments together. textPlus, which is based in Marina Del
Steve Reich
OCTOBER 30, 2012
Every startup has an elevator pitch, but what comes next? Do potential investors’ eyes glaze over when you get beyond the quick, punchy one liner and try to REALLY describe your company? Successful fundraisers tell a complete, engaging story and close the deal. Last week, the WSJ ran a great article (add link) on the value of college humanities courses, and used comments from a successful entrepreneur to make their case.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 31, 2012
Most of the time, I’m all about providing encouragement and inspiration to entrepreneurs. They need it and they deserve it, because entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of our economy. But every so often, I try to give them a reality check, just to keep their feet on the ground and their nose to the grindstone. Many years ago, I enjoyed one of Guy Kawasaki’s first books, “ Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition.
SoCal Delicious
OCTOBER 8, 2012
WSJ. WSJ. Facebook. Twitter. WSJ Live. WSJ Live. MarketWatch. MarketWatch. Barrons. Barrons. AllThingsDigital. AllThingsDigital. Factiva. Factiva. Risk. Risk. More. BigCharts. Financial News. Professor Journal. SmartMoney. Student Journal. Virtual Stock Exchange. WSJ Classifieds. WSJ Classroom. WSJ Radio. WSJ Wine. SEARCH. headline. gold man. Companies.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 10, 2012
“Great presentation. It was good to see someone else who actively thinks about the world from the user’s perspective.” -Testimonial from an attendee at the L.A. UX Meetup featuring Eric Reiss. If you’ve never witnessed Eric Reiss speak at an event, this weekend is your chance to do so! Reiss is a world-renowned usability expert.
InfoChachkie
OCTOBER 1, 2012
I was shocked by the headline: "71% Of President Barack Obama's Twitter Followers Are Fake." By this measure, of the President's nearly 19 million followers, 13.5 million are bogus. Irrespective of your political affiliation, one must admit that nearly three-fourths is an extremely high percentage of phony followers, suggesting that some shenanigans were employed to bolster the President's social status.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 29, 2012
One of the major growth areas along Silicon Beach has been in the whole area of creating content for digital platforms. But, how do you figure out what actual content will resonate with online consumers? And in particular, if you're developing comedy and humor content -- which is a big segment of the content being created--how to do you help people find the content which will resonate with them.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 2, 2012
It looks like the annual TCVN Survivor event is heating up this year, as the group said it will be offering up a new $25,000 cash investment for startups looking to pitch their company in front of an audience. TCVN has been running its Survivor events for a number of years, with the last event being held in 2010. This year's event looks to have slightly changed the format of the event, requiring prospective entrepreneurs to fill out an application to present, and send a quick pitch video to the
socalTECH
OCTOBER 9, 2012
A new deal by Los Angeles-based Hulu this morning will add content from Nickelodeon to Hulu's premium service, Hulu Plus. The Nickelodeon deal brings titles such as "iCarly," "Big Time Rush," "VICTORiOUS," "How to Rock," "Supah Ninjas," "SpongeBob Squarepants," "Kung Fu Panda," "Penguins of Madagascar," "Winx Club," "Robot & Monster," "The Legend of Korra," "T.U.F.F.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 31, 2012
There's been a sudden surge in accelerator in Southern California, looking to help get startups off the ground and funded. But, do they really help? For ThinkNear , it looks like the whole process paid off in less than two years, after the Los Angeles company went from the TechStars accelerator just last June, to a healthy acquisition by TeleNav earlier this month for $22.5M.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 16, 2012
Users of Apple's new iPhone 5 and iOS 6 have another vendor supporting Apple's new wallet feature, Passbook today, as Goldstar , the Pasadena-based provider of half price live entertainment tickets announced integration with the feature. Goldstar, which offers last-minute bargains on live events like concerts, theater, comedy, sports, and other entertainment, said that Goldstar's mobile website and "will call" purchase confirmations are now Passbook compatible.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2012
A new, Los Angeles startup, Appetize , is looking to make it easier for sports and other event fans. Appetize said Wednesday that it has released a new version of its app, which lets fans at venues order from a menu and have food delivered right to their seat. The app--which runs on both iPhone and Android--is currently live at a number of concert and sporting venues in California, according to the company, including at the Valley View Casino Center, which is hosting Thursday's Laker's pre-seaso
socalTECH
OCTOBER 25, 2012
El Segundo-based integrated circuit maker International Rectifier said this morning that it has raised $100M in four year, senior unsecured credit facility. The funding came from a group of lenders led by Wells Fargo Bank, National Association, along with JP Morgan Chase Bank NA, HSBC Bank USA, National Association and Bank of the West. The company said the facility will go towards working capital, acquisition, stock repurchases, and other general corporate use.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 17, 2012
The option deals are coming fast and furious at Amazon Studios , the effort being run here in Los Angeles to develop content for Amazon Prime and other platforms. Amazon Studios said this week that it has optioned two new comedy series, including Support, centered around a band's life on the road, and The Face and The Heel, focused on the world of wrestling.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 10, 2012
In the latest cuts among Silicon Beach's high tech community, CityGrid , which runs Citysearch, Insider Pages, and Urbanspoon--has laid off a chunk of its staff, including a significant number of Los Angeles employees. Initial news of the cuts, which were made in the last couple of days, came through recruiters and others close to the company. Citygrid did not respond to emails for comment yesterday from socalTECH, however, TechCrunch is placing the size of the cuts at 15 percent of the company.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 3, 2012
Anyone with the slightest interest in the world of social Internet services nowadays has by now heard of Pinterest , the online site which allows users to "pin" and comments on their favorite photos from across the web. Pinterest is one of the latest services to sweep the Internet world in terms of popularity, particularly with women. However, how about similar services aimed at the male demographic?
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2012
World of Warcraft , the massively multiplayer online game run by Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment, suffered an in-game hack which resulted in a mass (virtual) bloodbath, where thousand and thousands of players and characters were slaughtered over the weekend. The hack--which apparently was quickly fixed by the firm--resulted in piles and piles of skeletons across the game due to a "kill hack".
socalTECH
OCTOBER 24, 2012
Venice, California-based comedy startup Laffster said this morning that it has raised $750,000 in a funding round, which came from Greylock Partners, Howard Lindzon, Adam Nash (LinkedIn), Chris Williams (Maker Studios), Samer Hamadeh (Vault.com), Christopher Grey (CapLinked), Sonny Singh (Jumio), and The Paradigm Agency, along with others. The company--one of the startups out of Santa Monica's MuckerLab--helps users find funny videos, articles, and more.
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