Sat.Dec 29, 2018 - Fri.Jan 04, 2019

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Missed Expectations and The Eighty Percent Acquisition Rule

Berkonomics

Eighty percent of all businesses purchased by another company or by a new investor-operator fail to meet the stated expectations of the buyer after one year. As with the fifty percent rule discussed last week (fifty percent of startups fail within two years), this rule is hard to find an author willing to be quoted as the source. But it is within the range of experience by many of us professional investors, and with those who have acted as brokers, serial purchasers or consultants for acquisiti

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City of Los Angeles Sues The Weather Channel Over Collecting User Data

socalTECH

Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer has sued The Weather Channel , saying in a lawsuit that the company's mobile app, the Weather Channel App, is fraudulently and deceptively collecting user geolocation data, and selling that to third parties. The lawsuit was filed in the Los Angeles Superior Court. According to the lawsuit, the company's app is not using its users geolocation data for personalized local weather data, but instead collecting and selling that information to third parties.

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In a Huge Biopharma Shakeup, Bristol-Myers to Buy Celgene For $74B

Xconomy

Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to acquire Celgene in a deal that would create one of the largest biopharma organizations in the world and send ripples throughout the life sciences sector. Bristol (NYSE: [[BMY]]) on Thursday morning inked a deal to buy Celgene (NASDAQ: CELG ) in a deal that values the Summit, NJ, drugmaker at $74 billion, or $102.43 per share.

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Westwood Satellite Data Storage Outfit Raises $100 Million

L.A. Business Journal

Cloud Constellation Corp., based in Westwood, finalized a $100 million Series B equity round Dec. 20, led by HCH Group Company Ltd., a subsidiary of Chinese consumer electronics conglomerate Haier Group.

Equity 113
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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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Missed Expectations and The Eighty Percent Acquisition Rule

Berkonomics

Eighty percent of all businesses purchased by another company or by a new investor-operator fail to meet the stated expectations of the buyer after one year. As with the fifty percent rule discussed last week (fifty percent of startups fail within two years), this rule is hard to find an author willing to be quoted as the source. But it is within the range of experience by many of us professional investors, and with those who have acted as brokers, serial purchasers or consultants for acquisiti

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Reflections on 2018: Mike Panesis, Center for Entrepreneurship at CLU

socalTECH

Editor's note: As we head into the new year, we've been featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here. Here's Mike Panesis , Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at California Lutheran University (CLU).

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Flo Technologies Announces $28 Million Series B

L.A. Business Journal

Flo Technologies Inc., based in Culver City, completed a Series B fundraising round worth $28 million Jan. 4, bringing the home water monitoring system developer’s total funding to an estimated $39.3 million.

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New Year to Bring New Data Security Threats, Cyber Investor Warns

Xconomy

Bob Ackerman is one of the venture capitalists whose funding has long fed the growth of the burgeoning cybersecurity industry. So, you might imagine that his outlook on data protection for 2019 would be more optimistic than in past years, because businesses now take advantage of a broad choice of security services to protect themselves. Ackerman (pictured) is founder and managing director of San Francisco-based VC firm AllegisCyber , and co-founder of Fulton, MD-based DataTribe , which helps lau

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Reflections on 2018: Alon Goren, 805 Startups and Crypto Invest Summit

socalTECH

Editor's note: As we head into the new year, we've been featuring reflections on 2018 from notable investors, entrepreneurs, and others from Southern California's technology community. You'll be able to browse all of those contributions here. Here's Alon Goren , founder of 805 Startups and the Crypto Invest Summit. What was the biggest lesson you learned this year?

Invest 154
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L.A. Tech 2019 Kickoff

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, January 9, 2019 -- L.A. Tech 2019 Kickoff. Startup Coil. Kick off 2019 with Startup Coil and L.A. Tech Happy Hour at the beautiful Waterfront Venice.

Venice 100
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Silicon Beach Report Jan. 3: $100 Million for SpaceBelt Data Storage

L.A. Business Journal

AT&T earthquake app available for download; LA Times malware ID’d; Westwood data storage firm raises $100 million.

Report 113
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For CAR-T Cancer Fighters in the Real World, Two Roads Diverge

Xconomy

A generation ago, cancer treatments made from a patient’s own living immune cells would have been science fiction. Now they’re here. The first two products, approved in 2017 and known in shorthand as CAR-T, have brought some people with otherwise untreatable blood cancers back from the brink of death. “Often these patients have survival measured in weeks to months,” says David Maloney, medical director of the Bezos Family Immunotherapy Clinic in Seattle, which at any give

Product 108
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uBeam Dangles Promise Of First Demo At CES

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based uBeam , the controversial wireless charging startup backed by Upfront Ventures, says its is about to unveil its "ultrasonic wireless power system" at the CES 2019 show in Las Vegas next week, the first demonstration of the company's technology. The company, which has its CEO step aside last year , had gained a lot of unwanted attention from doubters of the company's technology credibility, when the company's former VP of Engineering called the company's product "a sham". uBeam

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5 Strategies For Business Growth Many People Forget

Startup Professionals Musings

In this age of constant market evolution and new technology, there is no such thing as a static business that is self-sustaining. The traditional approach of implementing stable and repeatable processes, so that your business can run itself, no longer works. Just ask former big brand companies, like Blockbuster, Kodak, Lehman Brothers, and Sears, what happened to them.

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Silicon Beach Report Jan. 2: Activision Appoints New CFO

L.A. Business Journal

Blizzard tweaks e-sports chats; Disney and Verizon sign deal; Durkin replaces Neumann at Activision Blizzard.

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From Immigration to Taxes, Execs Talk Trump Effect on Innovation

Xconomy

When it comes to developing and promoting innovation, external factors beyond the control of company founders, investors, and other business leaders can also determine whether a startup succeeds or fails. In 2018, geopolitical events—in particular, President Donald Trump’s hard-line stances on trade and immigration, and the repeal of net neutrality rules—were top of mind for several business executives we interviewed recently.

San Diego 102
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Qualcomm Backs 5G Startup Baicells

socalTECH

San Diego-based Qualcomm is the lead investor in a new startup, developing 5G "small cell" technology, called B>Baicells. According to Baicells over the holidays, it raised $14.55M in a funding round, which came from Qualcomm Ventures LLC. The company says it is develping 5G technology based on "modularized architecture, virtualized technology and fog computing".

Startup 133
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How The Best Entrepreneurs Do Better Than Anyone Else

Startup Professionals Musings

At some point in their life, hopefully everyone strives to be the best in their chosen profession. Most people think that being the best requires more intelligence, more training, and more experience. In reality, in business or even in sports, the evidence is conclusive that it is as much about how you think, as what you do. I saw this illustrated a while back in the classic sports book, “ Training Camp: What the Best Do Better Than Everyone Else ”, by Jon Gordon.

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Silicon Beach Report Dec. 31: Caltech scientists play games with DNA

L.A. Business Journal

Caltech scientists experiment with DNA; Netflix abandons iTunes payment; L.A.

CalTech 100
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NY’s Research Institutions Must Keep Working Together in ‘19

Xconomy

[ Editor’s Note: Euan Robertson, the Director of Strategic Planning & Special Projects at Columbia Technology Ventures, co-wrote this article.] It is a commonly held belief that academic research institutions, including those in New York City, are fierce competitors. In some ways, that may be true: Universities battle with each other to matriculate the best students, attract and retain the world’s leading faculty, and win the most research grants from the National Institutes of Health,

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Medsphere Buys Healthline Solutions

socalTECH

Carlsbad-based healthcare information technology developer Medsphere Systems Corporation said this morning that it has acquired Texas-based HealthLine Solutions , a developer of applications which are used by hospitals to manage their supply chain inventory. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. According to Medsphere, the Healthline's core assets include applications that use bar coding and RFID technology used for healthcare supply chain inventory management.

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5 Phases of Leadership Growth Lead To Company Success

Startup Professionals Musings

Most of you aspiring entrepreneurs have no idea how dramatically your own role has to evolve as you develop a solution, start a business, and expect it to scale into a successful self-managed company. You may have a strong product development background, but typically have minimal experience in hiring and leading team members and groups, or managing financials.

Company 99
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MADIA Tech Launch Event

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, January 9, 2019 --.

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Three Ways 5G Is More Than Just Fast Video Streaming

Xconomy

In 2019, we will finally see commercial deployment of the much-anticipated 5G (fifth-generation) wireless network. 5G brings us closer to the possibility and promise of ubiquitous, un-tethered connection between every device and every entity. The projected exponential increase in bandwidth, low latency, ultra-reliable connections, and highly configurable network solutions enabled by 5G will go beyond improving mobile broadband to dramatically remaking existing markets and opening entirely new on

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Cubic Buys GRIDSMART For $87M

socalTECH

San Diego-based Cubic Corporation said on Wednesday that it has acquired GRIDSMART Technologies , a developer of video tracking technology for the traffic management market. The deal was worth $87M in cash. GRIDSMART develops video detection technology, which uses image processing, computer vision modeling, and machine learning to track the movement of both people and traffic through street intersections.

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4 Keys To Consciously Making Your Team More Creative

Startup Professionals Musings

Most entrepreneurs I know are individually very innovative, but a successful startup can’t be a one-man show (for long). That means they need to build an innovative team, which is not a skill that most people are born with. In fact, some very innovative individuals, known as ‘idea people’ or inventors, often end up creating the most dysfunctional teams.

Ideas 97
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Preccelerator Workshop

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, January 8, 2019 --.

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4 San Diego Startups Ring in New Year With New Venture Dollars

Xconomy

Heads of some local tech startups—or at least their lawyers—stayed busy over the winter holiday. Four reported raising $10 million or more within days of the New Year, according to recent filings with securities regulators. While the softening stock market may have ruined a few holiday breaks, these San Diego software companies were undoubtedly raising a glass in celebration of their successful fundraising efforts. —LeadCrunch raised about $17.5 million in two financing rounds,

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San Diego Venture Investor Barbara Bry Takes Aim At Mayor's Seat

socalTECH

San Diego venture investor and entrepreneur Barbara Bry , who co-founded Proflowers.com and several other local technology companies, said on Wednesday that she is running for Mayor of San Diego , in a move to further extend her experience in the technology industry into politics. Bry--who currently is on the San Diego City Council--said that she is hoping to expand access to the "innovation economy" and also help improve access to Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math opportunities in

San Diego 133
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Silicon Beach Report Jan. 4: Los Angeles Sues Weather Channel App

L.A. Business Journal

Warner Bros.

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Opinion: Nvidia’s Business As Usual Strategy Can Cost Them Dearly

Inverted Software

Nvidia was recently hit with multiple class action lawsuits following this year’s cryptocurrency crash. Nvidia, if you didn’t know is the largest maker of GPUs (Graphics Processing Unit). GPUs are designed for graphics and image processing and are extremely good at math calculations, in fact, their highly parallel structure makes them more efficient than general-purpose CPUs for algorithms that process large blocks of data in parallel.

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Poseida Therapeutics Prepares for IPO to Advance CAR-T Treatments

Xconomy

Poseida Therapeutics, which is testing CAR-T cell therapies for blood-borne and solid tumor cancers, has laid the groundwork for an initial public offering. In documents filed with securities regulators Friday, the San Diego company set a preliminary IPO target of $115 million. The company has applied for a listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol “PSTX.

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AmpliPhi Biosciences, C3J Therapeutics In Merger Deal

socalTECH

San Diego-based AmpliPhi Biosciences and Los Angeles-based C3J Therapeutics said this morning that the two have agreed to merge, in an all-stock deal, to focus on precisely targeted bacteriophage therapeutics. As part of the deal, the companies said C3J's existing shareholders will invest $10M in the merged company. AmpliPhi Biosciences is currently listed on the NYSE American as APHB.

San Diego 113
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Carrier Network Infrastructure: How to Find Local Vendors to Expand Your Capacity

Southern California Edison Blog

The telecom industry is rapidly transforming. Customers are demanding denser coverage and higher speeds in expanding areas. To keep pace, carriers are making strategic infrastructure investments to expand and improve coverage. T-Mobile and Sprint, for example, invested billions of dollars in 2017 to bring 5G service to customers in the US by 2019.¹.

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An Old Style Of Leadership Is Winning In New Ventures

Startup Professionals Musings

Startups provide leadership in the market. Entrepreneurs provide leadership to their startup. There are many styles of leadership, like dictatorial, laissez-faire, and democratic. One that I hear discussed more these days, in this age of relationships, is called “servant” leadership. What is servant leadership? The servant leader serves the people they lead through mentoring, direct assistance, listening, and acting on their employees input.

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Copps: Key Ingredient As A.I. Permeates Daily Life is Building Trust

Xconomy

The promise, and pitfalls, of artificial intelligence became more apparent in the last year, and for Dave Copps, founder of A.I. companies such as Brainspace and Hypergiant Sensory Sciences, the pace of adoption will only accelerate in 2019. What can help to smooth the transition to our new machine learning-enabled future is an effort on the part of technologists to build trust between ourselves and these tools.