Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 16, 2010
I sit through a lot of presentations. It’s usually people wanting to raise money and/or persuade me of something. Many of these are not as effective as they could be. 1. Understand Personality Types – One of the benefits of working for a big company (Accenture) was that we had lots of speakers come in and train us in topics like leadership, creativity, presentations, strategy, etc.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Shop.com , an online comparison shopping website with operations in Pasadena, has been acquired. Market America , an Internet marketing firm based in Greensboro, N.C., announced the acquisition Wednesday, but did not reveal any financial terms. According to Market America, it will continue to maintain Shop.com's Pasadena offices, along with Shop.com's Monterey headquarters.
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Berkonomics
DECEMBER 17, 2010
This is one that early stage CEO’s are almost universally unaware of. Most every state requires that any company with employees be covered by a policy of insurance against claims by workers for injury on the job, or worker compensation insurance. Many states has privately owned but state-overseen state insurance funds for this purpose, and of course a number of private companies offer such insurance alone or along with business package policies.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 15, 2010
When someone introduces me to an “idea person,” I automatically jump to the down-side conclusion that this person doesn’t do follow-up. Of course there are people who are great at getting things done, but haven’t had an original idea in their life. Great entrepreneurs, like Bill Gates, are great at both. I was with IBM in the early PC days when Bill worked with us to provide PC DOS and other software.
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Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 14, 2010
I was recently speaking with some founders about their fund raising process. They had received a term sheet from a VC and were wondering whether to work with this firm. I personally had three separate data points from entrepreneurs who took money from the firm that said “never again.&# I really try to stay out of the middle of these things so I softly said to the team, “maybe you should contact these companies and see how their experience went?
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
Among one of the fastest growing industries--despite what has been a stagnant economy--is Internet advertising, which has continued to grow strongly over the past two years. One of the firms poised to take advantage of that growth is Pasadena-based OpenX (www.openx.org), which develops one of the most widely used ad serving solutions available. For today's interview, we spoke with Tim Cadogan , CEO of OpenX, to hear more about the firm's growth on the strength of Internet advertising, and what t
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Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 12, 2010
If you think "I better not start a startup now, because the economy is still bad" you will be making a comparable mistake to the people who thought during the dot-com bubble "all I have to do is a startup, and I'll be rich." In reality, what matters more is who you are, not when you do it. Like Paul Graham says, I see startups succeed or fail every day based on the qualities of the founders.
Both Sides of the Table
DECEMBER 13, 2010
One of the wisest people I worked with in my career was Ameet Shah. Ameet always had the quietly reflective view of “why things were&# that always came from a unique angle that I hadn’t considered. He taught me, amongst other things, the benefit of “ top down thinking &# that changed the way I analyzed markets, companies and people.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Santa Monica-based Campus Explorer , which provides an online resource on universities, colleges, student loans, housing, and more to students, has raised $5M in a Series C funding round, according to a source near the firm. The funding came from Vicente Capital Partners, OCA Venture Partners, and Origin Ventures. Klaus Koch led the investment for Vicente Capital.
Tech Zulu Event
DECEMBER 11, 2010
Our special and final guest of the year for TZLive was Kamran Pourzanjani CEO of Bestcovery and former CEO and Co-Founder of Pricegrabber. Visit TechZulu for full story.
Startup Professionals Musings
DECEMBER 13, 2010
If you are new to the startup space and angel investing, you probably don’t realize that some groups of angel investors charge entrepreneurs a fee to pitch to their groups. This practice has caused a rousing debate among key players, with some calling it a scam, and others defending it as necessary to cover expenses. Jason Calacanis, a well-known entrepreneur and angel investor, opened the debate about a year ago in a strongly-worded article on his blog which attacked the practice on ethical gro
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the provider of online marketing services for small and medium sized businesses, said today that it has launched a new product called ReachCast. According to the firm, the new product provides Web presence management to its customers, helping customers to drive their online search discovery, manage their reputation, and also manage social media marketing.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 17, 2010
El Segundo-based Internet Brands said Friday that the acquisition of the firm by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman has closed. The acquisition, which had originally been announced in September, was worth $640M. Internet Brands said that the firm will cease trading on the NASDAQ Global Select Market at close of the market today. JMI Equity also invested in Internet Brands as part of the sale.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Not satisfied with the firm's plans to provide suborbital space tourism flights, Mojave-based Virgin Galactic said Thursday that it is now supporting work by Sierra Nevada Space Systems and Orbital Sciences, on commercial space vehicles to support orbital flights. Virgin Galactic said it is hoping to allow fare-paying passengers to experience safe, orbital space flight.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 17, 2010
Thousand Oaks-based Amgen , via its nonprofit foundation, the Amgen Foundation, said Friday that it is giving $1.8M to the Teach For America effort. According to the two, the funding will go towards increasing the number of math and science graduates who are joining Teach For America's teaching corps by 2013. Teach For America helps advance math and science in America's underserved public schools.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Santa Monica-based GotCast , the online casting site headed by Alec Shankman, said today that it has launched a new social media campaign with Mercedes-Benz. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Mercedes-Benz posted the campaign today, saying it is looking for four teams of "Twitter-savvy" auto enthusiasts, who will race from New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Tampa to the Super Bowl in Dallas, to win a Mercedez Benz 2012 C-Class Coupe.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 14, 2010
Irvine-based semiconductor maker Broadcom said today, among a number of product announcements, that it has rolled out a new platform targeted at the Android smart phone market. Broadcom said it has announced a new, baseband platform providing HSDPA modem connectivity and Android application processing, specifically geared at developing affordable, 3G Android handsets.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 13, 2010
Los Angeles-based CyberDefender , the developer of Internet security software headed by Gary Guseinov, said Monday afternoon that it has scored a $5M line of credit. According to the firm, the loan comes from GR Match, which is an affiliate of Guthy-Renker LLC. The firm said the funding will go towards growing and expanding its direct marketing efforts.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
A new report today released by PwC finds that the market for initial public offerings (IPOs) has jumped significantly in 2010, with volumes exceeding both 2008 and 2009 levels. PwC tallied up 154 IPOs completed this year so far, raising $37.5 billion for companies, which is 123 percent increase in volume and a 49 percent increase in volume compared with numbers last year.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
Los Angeles-based ShoeDazzle , the online personalized shopping site headed by Brian Lee, said today that it has named Hope W. Neiman as Chief Marketing Officer. Neiman was most recently at Beachbody, where she was Vice PResident of Online and eCommerce. Neiman has also served at P90X, Disney, and Right Start. ShoeDazzle offers personalized shoe, handbag, and jewelry recommendations to consumers, and was co-founded by Kim Kardashian.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 13, 2010
Irvine-based game developer Blizzard Entertainment reports this morning that its newest title, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, has sold 3.3 million copies through its first 24 hours of release. The firm said the sales record makes it the fastest-selling PC game of all time, beating its prior record of 2.8 million copies of its November 2008 release of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 14, 2010
Los Angeles-based TekTrak , a developer of an iPhone application to help users locate lost a lost iPhone, said Tuesday that it has received a round of seed funding. Amount of the funding was not announced. The firm said investors in the round included Cyan and Scott Banister, Kima Ventures, Sergey Grishin, Wasabi Ventures, PBWorks, BCITL Ventures, Barney Pell of PowerSet, and Yoni Saban.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 13, 2010
Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the online car pricing site headed by Scott Painter, reports this morning that it has now sold more than 200,000 cars through its online car buying and pricing platform. TrueCar said the number comes less than a year from when it reached an initial, 100,000 car sales, which occurred earlier this year. TrueCar said the sales came via its more than 40 partner-branded Web Siets, which use the car pricing and sales engine powered by Zag.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
Irvine-based Fisker Automotive , the developer of electric vehicles, said today that it has inked a distribution deal for its cars in China. According to the company, it has partnered with China Grand Automotive Group, which is says is the number one passenger car trader in China, to distribute, market, and service its vehicles in the region. Fisker said China Grand Auto has more than 200 retail stores in China, with sales of RMB 50B ($7.5 billion US) in 2010.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Los Angeles-based ScoreBig , an online, members-only service which provides discounts on sports, concert, and theater events, said Thursday that it has raised new funding for the firm. According to the company, the new round brings its total raised to $8.5M. The funding was led by Bain Capital Ventures. ScoreBig is headed by Adam Kanner, who was formerly at the National Basketball Association, along with Joel Milne, who was founder of SeasonTicket.com.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 14, 2010
Los Angeles-based RealD , the provider of 3D movie projection technology, reported today that it has opened up new offices in Hong Kong and Shanghai. The firm said the new offices will handle sales, customer service, and operations for grater China, Southeast Asia, and Korea. RealD said it has named Edman Chan as General Manager of Greater China, Southeast Asia, and Korea to head up the office; Chan has previously served at Eastman Kodak.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
San Diego-based MeLLmo , the developer of the Roambi mobile software which allows users to view their business data from their iPhone or iPad, said today that it has named Kirk Cunningham as its Vice President of MArketing. Cunningham was most recently at Infommersion, and also has served at Estee Lauder, InterPacket Networks, and Crossfield Marketing.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Los Angeles-based MySpace and search engine giant Google announced today that the two have renewed their search and advertising deal. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to the two, Google will continue to power MySpace's search and search advertising, and will also provide additional display advertising services for MySpace. The display ad deal includes participation in Google's Display Network and DoubleClick Ad Exchange.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 14, 2010
Beverly Hills-based Snowball Factory , the startup behind awe.sm , the url shortener and analytics service, tweetpo.st , which updates Facebook from Twitter, and other tools, has raised $500,000 more, according to a recent regulatory filing by the firm. Source of the new funding was not announced by the company, however, Ian Rogers, the CEO of Topspin Media and former GM of Yahoo Music; as well as Mark Suster, a venture capitalist at GRP Partners, both have joined the company's board of director
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
San Diego-based Chumby Industries , the maker of Internet-enabled, application-capable devices, said this week that it has launched a new version of its product for Android. According to the firm, its app--available on the Android Market for $4.99--brings the firm's software to Android 2.2 devices. Chumby's software runs mini apps for viewing stock quotes, weather, video clips, slide show, and other information. ,/p>.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Monrovia-based Ondax , a developer of optical filters and laser sources based on research out of the California Institute of Technology, has raised $2M in a Series E investment. According to the Pasadena Angels, one of the investors in the firm, the round also included the Tech Coast Angels and un-named venture capital firms. The Pasadena Angels said the funding will go towards expanding and growing Ondax's optic solutions.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 16, 2010
Ralph Mayer , most recently the chairman of angel group the Tech Coast Angels , has just been appointed to the Angel Capital Association 's board of directors, the group said Thursday. Mayer heads up the TCA's San Diego network, and also sits on the board of Airsis. Mayer was one of five new board directors added to the ACA's board. The Angel Capital Association is an umbrella group organizing the many individual angel investment groups in the nation; the group has had a long association with th
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
Manhattan Beach-based Morphlabs , the provider of software for managing private and public cloud infrastructure, has raised $1M in funding from a strategic partner, the firm said this week. According to Morphlabs, the investment came from BroadBand Tower, a provider of Internet services, hosting, and other services in Japan. Morphlabs said that BroadBand Tower has been using its platform since late 2009.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 13, 2010
Pasadena-based Evolution Robotics , the robotics technology firm out of Idealab, reports today that its first foray into the commercial market is seeing strong sales demand. The firm said that it has sold out of the firm's newly introduced Mint Automatic Floor Cleaner at some retail locations, and is anticipating limited supplies through the holidays.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
West Hollywood-based Geni , the online family tree and history site, said Wednesday afternoon that it has rolled out a new, application programming interface for the site. According to Geni, the new API is aimed at allowing users to develop third-party tools and application. Geni said the new API will allow those tools to pull data from its profiles and projects, and also includes an example Ruby application for reference.
socalTECH
DECEMBER 15, 2010
Beverly Hills-based Meteor Games , the developer of Facebook games headed by Zac Brandenberg, announced today that it has named Michael Walrath to its board of directors. Walrath is co-founder of WGI Group, and former CEO of Right Media, which he founded and headed until he sold it to Yahoo in July of 2007 for $850M. Walrath also co-founded documentary film firm Atlas Films.
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