Sat.Mar 11, 2017 - Fri.Mar 17, 2017

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Which is more important: Management quality or a better plan?

Berkonomics

So, what do you think is more important? The quality of your management team, or the plan you execute toward success? Checking with professional investors from angels to VC’s, the answer appears to be near unanimous: the quality of the proposed or actual management team comes in a strong first, before the attractiveness of the business plan itself. The quest for a great management team is not a fluke, but rather a result of backward looks at the failure rate from past investments by those same

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Embark Ventures Raising $50M Venture Capital Fund

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Embark Ventures , a new venture capital fund led by Yipeng Zhao and venture capitalist Peter Lee, is raising a $50M venture capital fund, according to a recent SEC filing by the firm. The filing says the firm has so far raised $45M out of a $50M target in the fund, from six limited partners. Embark's website says it is focused on pre-seed and seed stage investments in Internet and software companies.

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ServiceTitan Raises $80 Million Series B.

L.A. Business Journal

ServiceTitan, a Glendale-based provider of business software for home service businesses, announced Wednesday it closed an $80 million Series B funding round.

Glendale 147
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Venice Beach Tech Networking Mixer

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 -- Venice Beach Tech Networking Mixer. Join the fastest growing tech startup community in Los Angeles! Meet new people and participate in lively discussions with outstanding names in the Silicon Beach community. Register immediately for an Early Bird Ticket.

Venice 100
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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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With New Data, Amgen Promises Refund If Cholesterol Drug Doesn’t Work

Xconomy

Stung by slow sales of its next-generation anti-cholesterol drug, Amgen hopes new clinical data, released this morning, will spur doctors to boost prescriptions and—perhaps more important—drive insurers to loosen their restrictions. The data, from a massive study of more than 27,000 patients, come at a time when drug and healthcare prices are a top U.S. political issue, and pricey new cholesterol drugs have been a key battleground.

Study 87
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Interview with Derek Norton, Watertower Ventures

socalTECH

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). We sat down with Derek to learn more about the new $5M fund and what it's all about. Tell us about the new fund? Derek Norton: I just closed on a new fund, worth $5M, which I raised from a group of high net worth, high profile LPs.

Invest 145

More Trending

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MAKE IT Monthly - From Prototype to Scale: How to Partner with Contract Manufacturers

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 -- MAKE IT Monthly - From Prototype to Scale: How to Partner with Contract Manufacturers. You have a prototype, but now what? Whether you’ve designed a garment or an electronic device, you can work with contract manufacturers (CMs) to get your product manufactured; find out how. Durolabs founder Michael Corr will provide practical advice for getting your product off the ground.

Design 100
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Possible Cures. Mystery Deaths. Daunting Costs. Can CAR-T Be Tamed?

Xconomy

It’s a struggle that comic-book fans know well. Ordinary people, bestowed with super powers from a spider bite or gamma rays, struggle to harness their own abilities. T cells, key soldiers of the immune system, are wrestling with new-found super powers, too. Certain T cells hunt down invasive viruses, bacteria, and the body’s own bad seeds—the early signs of cancer.

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WebPurify Launches Image Moderation Service

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based WebPurify , which provides online content moderation services, said it has launched a new, automated image moderation service to help screen user generated content for nudity. According to WebPurify, its automated intelligent moderation (AIM) service uses machine learning and computer vision for real-time automated moderation of images for its clients, and is in addition to its existing human moderation services.

Services 140
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Rubicon Project CEO Steps Down Following Rough Year

L.A. Business Journal

Rubicon Project Founder Frank Addante has stepped down from his role as chief executive following an exodus of senior executives at the company over the last month and lowered revenue forecast in the company’s fourth quarter filing released after the market closed on Tuesday.

Marketing 124
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The 14th Annual LAVA Venture Awards Dinner

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 -- The 14th Annual LAVA Venture Awards Dinner. LAVA 14th Annual Venture Awards Dinner. Celebrating 30+ years of service to the Los Angeles Entrepreneurial Community. Featuring Frank Mottek, KNX1070 Business Hour Host as Master of Ceremonies. The Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA) will hold its 14th Annual Venture Awards Dinner to recognize Southern California’s best venture-backed companies, and to celebrate the induction of a special guest into the LAVA Hall of Fam

LAVA 100
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CRISPR Organs? eGenesis Raises $38M For Pig-To-Human Transplants

Xconomy

One of the companies trying to revive the once-failed notion of xenotransplantation has raised a significant round of cash. The $38 million Series A round announced by Cambridge, MA-based firm eGenesis comes as the field of human-compatible organs grown in animals, while still years from real products, is back in play because of advances in new biological modification techniques including the genome editing tool CRISPR-Cas9.

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SoCal's Big New Crop Of Venture Investors And Funds

socalTECH

Are you an entrepreneur, looking for capital here in Southern California? It's turning out to be a great time for entrepreneurs looking for funding in the region, with not only high profile exits of such companies as Snap Inc., but a bunch of new, early stage investors looking to seed or fund the next big tech success story. Here's a rundown of some of the venture capital investors who have set up shop in Southern California, plus those with big new funds, which have been announced so far since

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Silicon Beach Report March 13: SpaceX Plans to Launch Commercial Satellite Tuesday Morning

L.A. Business Journal

SpaceX plans to launch a commercial satellite Tuesday morning, Snap Inc. hires former Apple News head to lead its Discover portal, and Snap Inc. building sales team in Germany.

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3 Keys to Successful New Products

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, March 22, 2017 -- Join us at the Pepperdine West Los Angeles Graduate Campus and learn invaluable information about what it means to be an entrepreneur. Breakfast provided. Are you looking to expand your knowledge of new product innovation and commercialization? If the answer is yes then this session is definitely for you! This session breaks down the chaotic product innovation process into three simple sections.

Product 100
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Human Longevity Offers Genome Sequencing Through MassMutual

Xconomy

Human Longevity Inc., founded in 2014 by the gene pioneer J. Craig Venter to create a database for interpreting the human genome (and to make healthcare more proactive instead of reactive) said it has signed a partnership deal with MassMutual. Beginning today, San Diego-based Human Longevity plans to offer its whole genome sequencing service to customers, employees, and affiliated financial professionals of the Springfield, MA-based insurer formally known as the Massachusetts Mutual Life Insuran

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Watertower Ventures Raises $5M Investment Fund

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Watertower Ventures has raised a new, $5M investment fund, which will focus on companies in the Internet infrastructure, next-generation e-commerce, digital media, gaming, augmented reality and artificial intelligenec, and consumer Internet areas. The fund, led by longtime technology advisor Derek Norton , is backed by a long list of local LPs from the digital media, entertainment, and technology areas.

Invest 138
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Silicon Beach Report March 16: Honest Co.’s CEO Brian Lee Steps Down.

L.A. Business Journal

Honest Co.’s CEO Brian Lee steps down, venture capital firm Blockchain Capital plans to raise funds by selling digital currency, and SpaceX successfully launches EchoStar satellite.

SpaceX 113
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LA Drone Summit

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, March 20, 2017 -- LA’s Drone Summit. Join the TechCouncil of Southern California, Starburst Accelerator and Make it In LA for an evening with drone industry experts and thought leaders. Meet the rising stars of the UAV universe as we discuss the trends, innovations and predict how UAVs are changing the way we live. Enjoy good food and drinks with frontier-pushing leaders and entrepreneurs.

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9 Keys To Measuring Your Social Media Campaign ROI

Startup Professionals Musings

If you are an entrepreneur these days, or trying to grow an existing business, everyone is telling you that you need to use social media. There are many ‘experts’ out there telling you how to do it, or even offering their services. But very few are talking about how to measure your results and return on investment (ROI), and the right metrics for optimizing your marketing environment.

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Qualcomm Backs Borqs International

socalTECH

Beijing- and Bangalore-based Borqs International Holdings , a developer of Android devices, announced this morning that it has receive a strategic investment from San Diego-based Qualcomm Ventures. Size of the funding was not announced. According to Borqs, Qualcomm joins existing investors Intel Capital, Norwest Venture Partners, SK Telecom China Fund, Keytone Ventures and GSR Ventures in backing the company.

San Diego 138
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Silicon Beach Report March 14: Rubicon Project CEO Steps Down Following Rough Year

L.A. Business Journal

Rubicon Project chief executive steps down following rough year, Softbank invests in artificial intelligence startup Oben, and Vice Media to produce original Snapchat shows.

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Steering Company Culture During Growth

SoCal Tech Calendar

Saturday, March 18, 2017 -- "Steering Company Culture During Growth" with Sue Funkhouser by Preccelerator Program. Join the Preccelerator Program. for this exclusive event! According to Inc. Magazine, 75% of the CEOs of privately held, high-growth companies that they surveyed, they said the hardest thing about managing a growing workforce is "maintaining company culture.

Company 100
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Machine Learning 201: Exploring the Market for New Business

Xconomy

2016 will be remembered for many things, not least as the year that AI and machine learning stepped into the technological and cultural spotlight. Advances in applied machine learning fueled our enthusiasm for smarter, more talkative devices. It impacted how we learned about and processed the news—and fake news—of the national elections.

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Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator Aims At Diversity, Inclusion With New Effort

socalTECH

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI), the nonprofit incubator which helps to support clean technology startups in Los Angeles, is making a push to increase diversity and inclusion in the cleantech sector, the incubator said Tuesday. LACI said it has launched a new Diversity in Entrepreneurship Advisory Council, specifically aimed at bringing women, people of color, and other underrepresented groups into the cleantech sector.

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Silicon Beach Report March 15: ServiceTitan Raises $80 Million

L.A. Business Journal

ServiceTitan raises $80 million, ProducePay raises $77 million in debt and equity, and Soylent signs lease on 29,000-square-foot property.

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7 Business Realities That You Don’t Learn In School

Startup Professionals Musings

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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Airlines Must Improve IT Infrastructure Now or Pay Later  

Xconomy

At the tail end of this past holiday season—on one of the busiest travel days of the year—thousands of arriving international passengers found themselves stuck for hours in the line at customs, waiting to be processed. It wasn’t a terror alert, mechanical failure, or nefarious cyberattack that caused long lines and huge delays for travelers on January 2nd.

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OpenX Rolls New Page Analysis Tool

socalTECH

Online advertising exchange operator and ad technology developer OpenX has rolled out a new, page analysis tool for Google Chrome, called Ad Footprint by OpenX Labs , the company said on Wednesday. The new extension helps online publishers explore the load of advertising tags on their pages, helping them figure out how long it takes pages and advertising to load, and how to optimize user experience and page speed.

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Silicon Beach Report March 17: Kite Pharma Names UCLA Researcher to Board.

L.A. Business Journal

Kite Pharma names UCLA researcher to board of directors, Embark Ventures looks to raise $50 million venture capital fund.

UCLA 100
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6 Keys To Hiring The Best Team For Your New Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Startup investors tell me they invest in a new venture with a higher caliber of people, rather than the product or service, and I agree. In my role as a business advisor, I see successful businesses most often emerging from great teams rather than great products. Yet I find the people building teams are usually product experts, often with no experience in team building.

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Tax Reform and Choice of Business Entity

Xconomy

Choice of entity—how an entrepreneur decides to conduct the business—is a key decision with critical tax and non-tax implications. In the coming months, the White House is expected to release a detailed tax reform plan which, among other things, may include a significant reduction in corporate tax rates. If the anticipated changes are adopted, should entrepreneurs be more willing to organize their business as a C-Corporation, rather than an entity that is taxed on a pass-through basi

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Zadara Storage Links With Tech Data For Channel Efforts

socalTECH

Irvine-based storage-as-a-service provider Zadara Storage said on Monday that it has inked an agreement with technology distributor Tech Data Corporation. According to Zadara, Tech Data will offer up its services to its channel partners worldwide, through its Avnet Cloud Marketplace. Zadara's storage-as-a-service offering lets users connect to both cloud, on-premise, or hybrid storage setups using such protocols as FC, iSCSI, iSER, NFS, CIFS, S3, Swift.

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Robot Gears Up as Cook

L.A. Business Journal

Miso’s patty-cooking robotic arm, “Flippy,” is giving CaliBurger a hand in the kitchen.

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6 Keys to Becoming an Influencer for More Business

Startup Professionals Musings

The most powerful way to grow your business and your career these days is to become a visible influencer in your domain. People follow influencers on social media to find what they buy, who they vote for, and which social causes they support. You don’t have to be the smartest person in the room to be an influencer, but you do have to understand and practice some key techniques.

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Doing “Defense the Silicon Valley Way” Pays for Daylight Solutions

Xconomy

Startups that develop advanced military technologies often never come to light. But San Diego’s Daylight Solutions has managed to openly thrive in two very different markets. The company has advanced its specialized solid-state laser technology for customers in both the defense industry and commercial sector. Paul Larson, who co-founded Daylight Solutions with CEO Tim Day in 2005, said they followed a path that was very different from a classic defense contractor, but not too different from a ty