August, 2009

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Most Common Early Start-up Mistakes

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series “Start-up Lessons.&# If you want to subscribe to my RSS feed please click here or to get my blog by email click here. In the Beginning … This is a very important post to me because I find myself giving this advice all the time and if you don’t follow [.]. Tags: Start-up Advice startup.

Startup 365
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Google Gets Into Ad Optimization, Takes On Rubicon Project

socalTECH

In what might be some new competition for Santa Monica-based Rubicon Project , the high profile ad optimization firm headed by Frank Addante, search engine giant Google told its advertisers late Wednesday that it will begin to offer similar capabilities in its AdSense program. Google said it will open its door to third party advertising networks, allowing the ads in those networks to compete with AdWords advertisers for ad space on publishers.

Google 191
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Firsty Networking

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, September 3, 2009 -- Firsty Networking Event. OCTANe. Join the OCTANe community the first Thursday of every month for happy hour networking. They're called "Firsties" (first + Thursday + thirsty), and OC finally has a watering hole. See [link] (more).

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Legal Advice for Startups - Startups Uncensored #10

Jason Nazar

This month’s “Startups Uncensored” will be on “Legal Advice for Startups”. It will be an open and frank town-hall conversation talking about the legal questions that face start-ups and issues like incorporation, stock options, hiring employees, and much more. We are joined this month by David Young a Partner at DLA Piper. Mr. Young’s venture capital financing experience includes representation of companies and investors in well over 100 financings, constituting over $1 billion in aggregate pro

Startup 86
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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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David Kralik – A World that Works

Daradiction

My pal David Kralik has a vison of a world that works, and offers practical, common sense ‘trans-party’ solutions. This is part of the “Google Talks&# Series that’s interesting to follow. David is lots of fun to hang out with too. He’s a man on a mission. Worth the hour. Click here to view the embedded video.

Google 59
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How To Apply For A Free CEOFlow Coaching Session (Five Available)

CEO Flow

Know any women CEOs juggling life, business and the world? I have a great opportunity for both you and the person that refers them to me…keep reading… CEOFlow is my coaching program for CEOs. I saw, from being a CEO, working with them and knowing many of them, that it’s easy to create a business that traps you rather than works for you.

Coach 45

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Interview with Babette Pepaj, BakeSpace

socalTECH

Our interview this morning is with Babette Pepaj , CEO and founder of BakeSpace (www.bakespace.com), a local Los Angeles startup focused on social networking around food. We caught up with Babette to get the story behind the site, and how the site helped her escape from the world of reality television. What is BakeSpace? Babette Pepaj: BakeSpace is a food social network and recipe swap.

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Media Leaders

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 -- Media Leaders networking event. Join us as we forget about the state of the economy and enjoy beach weather while mingling with the south bay's hippest professionals in marketing, advertising, tech and media. See [link] (more).

Media 100
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DocStore - the Online Marketplace to Buy and Sell Professional Documents

Jason Nazar

Today at Docstoc we announced the Launch of our DocStore , the premium marketplace to buy and sell professional content. Think of DocStore as the iTunes of Documents. We’ve launched with a number of amazing partners, including Legal Zoom. They’ve added all their Forms to our DocStore as our premium launch partner. Some notable points: * we offer a 100% money back guarantee on all documents in the DocStore. * the DocStore is showcasing our new Document Viewer (many more updates coming

Press 40
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Do you have any examples of where any sort of civic engagement outreach/campaigns affected legislation?

Daradiction

Hey gang- Huge BIG favor that might be really easy for you. Do you have any examples of where any sort of civic engagement outreach/campaign affected legislation? I’m looking for more granular examples than a response like “the civil rights movement&# , but more so examples of specific petitions or letter writing campaigns that might have contributed to getting some sort of legislation passed.

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Start-ups are all Naked in the Mirror

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Startup Lessons. Building companies is hard work. I started my first company in 1999 in London at the height of the dot com craze. We also had facilities in Dublin, Ireland where our company was initially founded. We went through the euphoria of massive exposure at the time of our launch due to an article that ran in the Financial Times.

Startup 331
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WTF is Traction? A 6-Step Relationship Guide to VC

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Everybody seems to like you but nobody seems to be getting out their checkbooks. Most of them are telling you that they just need to see a bit of traction before they’d be prepared to [.]. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

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WTF is Traction? A 6-Step Relationship Guide to VC

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC&# – the outline is here. You’ve pitched several angels and VC’s. Everybody seems to like you but nobody seems to be getting out their checkbooks. Most of them are telling you that they just need to see a bit of traction before they’d be prepared to invest. Your friends and advisers tell you that this means you need revenue because in this economy VC’s will only fund businesses with revenue.

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Angel Funding Advice

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Last night I attended a DealMaker Media (whom I love because they always host such great discussions) panel on raising angel money moderated by Dan Gould and with panelists Rob Hayes (First Round Capital, more seed or A round than angel), Scot Sangster (with OrganicStartup and [.]. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice.

Angel 299
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The Best VC Meetings are Debates not Sales

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my blog series “Pitching a VC.&#. I’ve sat through a lot of VC pitches and having been CEO of an enterprise software firm for many years I’ve also sat through many customer meetings with sales teams. There is one classic mistake that I see across both types of meetings – “the tell & [.]. Tags: Pitching VCs Start-up Advice startup technology vc venture capital.

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Angel Funding Advice

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series Pitching a VC. Last night I attended a DealMaker Media (whom I love because they always host such great discussions) panel on raising angel money moderated by Dan Gould and with panelists Rob Hayes (First Round Capital, more seed or A round than angel), Scot Sangster (with OrganicStartup and the best spokesperson for Tech Coast Angels that I have met to date), Tom McInerney (TGM) and Jarl Mohn (who invests on his own “account&# and whose track record is tr

Angel 291
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6 Tips for Using the @ sign in Twitter

Both Sides of the Table

There is much confusion on how to use the Twitter @ sign – even amongst daily Twitter users. So as part of my ongoing series Twitter Insights , I wanted to cover how the @ actually works (even experienced users may be surprised by some of the points). The basics: 1. When you use the @username (e.g. @msuster for me) the message you write appears in my @msuster inbox on Twitter.com and on any of the desktop or mobile clients.

Tips 291
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Founders, Ownership and Prenuptials

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series, “Startup Lessons.&#. Yesterday I wrote a blog post (here) in which I urged people to not have too many founders. Best case scenario in my mind is just 1, but at most I recommend 2. I knew this topic would be controversial because when I tell people this [.]. Tags: Start-up Advice.

Startup 268
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Embrace Losing

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series on Start-up Lessons that I learned from founding two companies. I HATE LOSING. I hate it. I really, really, really hate it. It chaps my hide. It rips at my core. I don’t get over it easily. I lose sleep. I fucking hate losing. It’s not so much the [.]. Tags: Start-up Advice.

Startup 264
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First Round Funding Terms and Founder Vesting

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series “Pitching a VC“ There’s a great meme developing this morning on the need to simplify funding terms and documents. The meme was kicked off by Chris Dixon with this post saying that term sheets need to be simplified and align investor / founder interests. That prompted Fred Wilson’s blog [.].

Funding 252
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Founders, Ownership and Prenuptials

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series, “ Startup Lessons.&#. Yesterday I wrote a blog post ( here ) in which I urged people to not have too many founders. Best case scenario in my mind is just 1, but at most I recommend 2. I knew this topic would be controversial because when I tell people this in person it always elicits shock. To be clear – it is not about being stingy with or hoarding equity – it is about having a prenuptial agreement.

Startup 251
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Businesses Must Manage the Twitter Conversation

Both Sides of the Table

This post is part of my ongoing series Twitter 101 for all those that still “don’t get” Twitter. I’m now moving from the 101 basics into the business applications. I think we all know by now that a conversation is happening on Twitter and that this extends to talking about brands. Twitter is the new CRM (customer relationship management) channel. The volume of Tweets is enormous and growing at a rapid pace so tools are emerging to help brands manage this information.

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Twiistup 6 Highlights

Both Sides of the Table

ExpenseBay Wins Showoff. Twiistup 6 has come to an end. It proved to be a great transitional year. Out is the “cocktail only&# Twiistup and in is the new format of a conference that should take its rightful place on the national technology calendar. I believe that Twiistup is now a platform from which to grow and highlight what is uniquely LA.

Twiistup 228
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1 Twitter Tip You Can Fix Straight Away

Both Sides of the Table

How do your friends, colleagues or admirers find you on Twitter? One of the obvious ways is to click on “Find People&# on Twitter and search for your name. But one of the oversights for many people is that they list their Twitter handle as their name making them very hard to find in Twitter [.]. Tags: Social Media social networking Twitter.

Tips 225
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1 Twitter Tip You Can Fix Straight Away

Both Sides of the Table

How do your friends, colleagues or admirers find you on Twitter? One of the obvious ways is to click on “Find People&# on Twitter and search for your name. . But one of the oversights for many people is that they list their Twitter handle as their name making them very hard to find in Twitter Search. (e.g. if I listed msuster as my name rather than Mark Suster).

Tips 216
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Is VC Right for You?

Both Sides of the Table

I recently appeared on Fox Business News covering the topic of raising Venture Capital. If you’re in the market or thinking about VC in the future the following video may be of interest to you – click here to view. Video is about 7 minutes. If you want to learn more about “Pitching a VC&# make sure to check out the entire series here.

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What We Must Learn from Asia

Both Sides of the Table

I run a monthly meeting called the VCA that represents the majority of Southern California venture capital firms. My goal is to bring in informative speakers who stretch our collectively thinking on topics that will influence our investment strategies and use it as a way for us to share our experiences in ways that I [.]. Tags: SoCal Stuff Start-up Advice VC Industry.

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Embrace Losing

Both Sides of the Table

This is part of my ongoing series on Start-up Lessons that I learned from founding two companies. I HATE LOSING. I hate it. I really, really, really hate it. It chaps my hide. It rips at my core. I don’t get over it easily. I lose sleep. I fucking hate losing. I think about it for months, often years. But I embrace losing. It is how I learn.

Startup 151
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The Search Agency Ties With CyberDefender

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based The Search Agency , a provider of search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and other related online marketing services, has signed on Los Angeles antivirus software company CyberDefender as a customer. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. According to CyberDefender, The Search Agency will manage the company's search marketing campaigns, including search engine marketing and search engine optimization.

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Edmunds.com: GM eBay Cars Not Such A Great Deal

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Edmunds.com , which offers an online site for automotive information and analysis, has taken a close look at GM's new online eBay store for its autos, and concludes that buyers will be better off making an offer than accepting the "Buy It Now" price on the site. Edmunds.com estimates that "Buy It Now" prices are, on average, two percent higher than the average market price on vehicles purchase on the market.

Edmunds 167
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Covario Launches Services Arm

socalTECH

San Diego-based Covario , a provider of search engine marketing and SEO automation software, said Tuesday that the firm has launched a new services arm, focused on agency services. The firm said that it has created its own, SEO delivery team to compliment the firm's technology offerings. Covario's software automates much of the SEO work that traditional agencies have provided.

Services 167
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The Active Network Jumps On Green Racing Effort

socalTECH

San Diego-based The Active Network , which operates a network of web sites and related products for community service and sports organizations, said today that it has launched a new program focused on "eco-friendly" practices in endurance racing. The company said the effort, which looks to encourage environmentally friendly practices with race organizations, is being launched in conjunction with Athletes for a Fit Planet.

Activity 165
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Interview with Michael Barton, Startup Exchange

socalTECH

One of the continuing problems in the startup and venture market today is the issue of exit opportunities for companies, and in particular the problem of liquidity for founders. One company, Startup Exchange (www.startupexchange.com) is taking an interesting angle on the problem, with a financial fund which allows startup founders to put some of their stock into a pool of other companies--providing them with more opportunities for some liquidity, and a little bit of diversification.

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RealGifts Links Into Facebook Expansion

socalTECH

A new effort by Facebook to expand their "Gift Shop" application to third party developers has roped in San Diego-based RealGifts as one of its first partners, according to reports this week. Facebook is apparently expanding its "Gift Shop" application--which allowed users on the social network to buy each other virtual gifts--to include products from American Greetings Interactive, GreetBeatz, Someecards, and Real Gifts.

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Interview with Hamet Watt, True Ventures

socalTECH

For today's interview, we thought we'd catch up with Hamet Watt , who was most recently founder of NextMedium , and is now an EIR at True Ventures (www.trueventures.com). Hamet is now helping True Ventures look at investments in Southern California, and we thought it would be worthwhile to talk to him about the firm's new interest here, his role, plus his insights into where the advertising industry is now.

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mobileStorm Simplifies Offerings

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based mobileStorm , the email marketing and digital marketing provider headed by Jared Reitzin, has revamped the company's offerings. The firm said that it now will offer two different product packages for its customers, including "Go", targeted at marketers looking for mobile, email, and SMS marketing tools, and "Pro", with marketing tools aimed at large businesses.

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