Sat.Feb 25, 2012 - Fri.Mar 02, 2012

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Find Egg-breakers: People With Influence & Authority and Are Unafraid to Use Them

Both Sides of the Table

My friend and fellow SoCal venture capitalist Peter Lee wrote a post about the different roles within a VC and spent much time on the role of an associate. VC’s keep different titles but the most common that I’ve come across that are investment professionals are (in ascending order of seniority): analyst, associate, principal and partner.

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Five Startup Tips From The Beatles

InfoChachkie

Article first published as Five Business Tips From The Beatles on Technorati. This part one of a two part series; you can access part two HERE. Note: This is an installment in the Iconic Advice series. Other installments include: Jeff Bezos , Steve Jobs , Mark Cuban , Richard Branson , Walt Disney , Mark Zuckerberg , Michael Dell and Larry Ellison. As any long-time reader of this humble blog knows, I am an ardent Beatles fan.

Tips 259
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Interview with Holden Steinberg and Jason Crilly, PageWoo

socalTECH

Have you every clicked on a mobile ad on your iPhone or Android phone, and found that the ad you clicked into wasn't usable on your mobile phone? It's not an uncommon experience, and one which drove Holden Steinberg and Jason Crilly to start PageWoo (www.pagewoo.com), a service which is aimed at helping businesses create mobile-friendly landing pages for their advertisements.

Mobile 249
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Personal Guarantees are a fact of life for many entrepreneurs.

Berkonomics

Starting and running a small or growing business can be a challenge to the most confident and optimistic entrepreneur. And the process of borrowing money or financing asset purchases can be an eye-opener for those who are not used to today’s lender and seller aversion to granting easy credit. Most any entrepreneur with a clean credit record can obtain a bank card with a $50,000 limit, if s/he is willing to give a personal guarantee and has enough assets to back the promise it contains.

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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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Everybody Wants Their Pound of Flesh (Negotiating with Buyers)

Both Sides of the Table

I recently wrote a post about negotiating with suppliers called “ The End of the Mexican Road.” The post talked about how to find the lowest acceptable price & terms in a deal through testing. In the post I made clear that I believe that all negotiations should seek to find fair deals where both parties can feel good about the outcomes.

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TriTech Freestyle Forum

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, March 8, 2012 -- TriTech Freestyle Forum. Learn about the best loans that are available for your business today from industry experts. Small Business Loans are a great resource for start-up, existing or for the acquisition of a business. Explore your lending options and learn what you need in order to get approved. See [link].

Startup 113

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Entrepreneurs Need Creative Thinking After the Idea

Startup Professionals Musings

Most aspiring entrepreneurs believe their initial idea and inspiration requires the most important creative thinking. Experienced entrepreneurs will tell you that the initial idea is the easy part, and it’s the later implementation, and the competitive business marketing that are the real creative challenges. There is a tough balance here to achieve, since a large portion of starting and running a business requires analytical, logical thinking.

Ideas 109
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Jumping into the App Game | Making Apps The Market Wants!

Tech Zulu Event

Apps are quickly becoming a ubiquitous part of life. From the phone in your pocket to the television hanging on your wall, apps have penetrated technology and they aren’t going anywhere. Smart technology doesn’t work without clever software to make it useful. But where do you start? Do you need to wait until you have an idea that’s never been done before?

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UCI Entrepreneurship: Frank Peters, Tech Coast Angels

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, March 8, 2012 -- Frank Peters, Host, "The Frank Peters Show" and Chairman Emeritus, Tech Coast Angels. Entrepreneurship Course, 2012 Guest Speaker Lectures, Henry Samueli School of Engineering, UC Irvine. Free and open to the public. This series is part of a course on Entrepreneurship for Scientists and Engineers, but enrollment is not necessary to attend these guest speaker lectures Email goran@uci.edu for details.

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California Leads In Renewable Energy Attractiveness

socalTECH

A new study released Tuesday from Ernst & Young finds that the State of California led the nation in terms of its attractiveness to renewable energy investments in 2011. According to the report, which ranked U.S. states for investments in wind, solar energy, geothermal energy, California led the nation in energy projects. The report said California's favorable regulatory environment, offtake prices, and incentives ranked the state first in wind energy and installation of solar energy project

Study 227
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5 Ways to Bungle the Step from Corporate to Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Many people, especially those who have spent years struggling up the corporate ladder, dream of jumping ship and becoming an entrepreneur. But every job move is fraught with risk, and the move from employee to entrepreneur is on the high end of the risk curve. This is a big jump, especially in an unstable economy, so do your homework first on this one.

Startup 98
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TechZulu LIVE from SXSWi | Join Us In Alcatel-Lucent’s Trend Lounge

Tech Zulu Event

It’s often referred to as Spring Break for Geeks, and for good reason. I’m talking, of course, about South by Southwest (SXSW), Austin’s annual film and music festival that in recent years added an interactive component. It’s the place where geeks go to cut loose, share their knowledge, test new concepts and network like crazy.

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Los Angeles Startup Ideation Bootcamp

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, March 6, 2012 -- The Startup Ideation Bootcamp provides expert advice with real-world practice. The evening begins with talks by leading startup Founders designed to teach you the components of good and bad startup ideas. For example, is your market big enough, is there organic growth potential, and a clear path to profitability? Then, attendees can share their ideas with both experts and peers to receive constructive feedback.

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Total Immersion Targets Game Developers

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Total Immersion , the developer of augmented reality technology, is looking to apply its technology to the game development market, the firm said Monday. According to the firm, it is enabling game developers using game tools from Unity Technologies to use its augmented reality platform on both Apple iOS and Windows. The beta release of D-Fusion for Unity is aimed at allowing game developers to allow users to interact with real-world objects, to incorporate them into games.

Develop 209
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10 Ways for Startups to Expand Their Reach in 2012

Startup Professionals Musings

As entrepreneurs, you always need to be on the lookout for ways to expand your current business, and always on the lookout for your next big thing. The competition never stands still, and new opportunities are evolving, based on culture changes in your customers, new technologies, and new problems in the world which need to be solved. Steven Schussler, in his latest book “ It’s a Jungle In There ” characterized this well in relation to his own success by recommending to all entrepreneurs that yo

Startup 98
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Q Manning of Rocksauce Studios | Founder Interview

Tech Zulu Event

As we know the mobile industry is accelorating at high speeds with no chances of slowing down anytime soon. With this fast pace industry the elegant design we see if websites, is sometimes lost in translation. Q Manning of Rocksauce, is out to change that. He and his company, Rocksauce, make sure to add high quality design back into each of the apps they create.

Design 94
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The Doctor is In! How to X-Ray Your Organization

SoCal Tech Calendar

Friday, March 2, 2012 -- The Doctor is In! How to X-Ray Your Organization. A doctors X-ray is a snapshot to see if everything is working the way it should and is in the right place. An X-ray of an organization is a look inside to see what is working, what is not and/or what is missing that should be there. Learn how to utilize new tools and techniques to X-ray your organization at this interactive, participant-driven program with consultant and trainer Daniel Feiman, MBA, CMC.

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Silicon Beach Heads To SXSW

socalTECH

Los Angeles companies are looking to help get the word out next week about their companies--and the area--at SXSW , the annual technology and music festival held in Austin, Texas, a group of companies said Wednesday. In an effort to help brand the growing Los Angeles technology scene, a number of local companies said they are organizing a Silicon Beach Showcase , where local LA startup will be showing off their products and introducing people to companies.

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Your Entrepreneur World Changes When You Take Money

Startup Professionals Musings

The naïve entrepreneur thinks he can relax, after he finally cashes the check from a professional investor, but in reality that’s when the work and the pressure starts. His first reality reset is that now, maybe for the first time, he really has a boss, or several bosses, and often very demanding ones at that. Angel and venture capital investors rarely just give you the cash, and stand back to wait for you to spend it the way you want.

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Your Little Black Book | Mobile App

Tech Zulu Event

There was that one night…or was it another night? You just remember you met someone nice and had a great time with. But you can’t seem to remember the details. Wouldn’t it be great if there was an app for that? I mean it’s tough to carry a black leather book in todays “fashionable” tight jeans. So good news there is an app out there!

Mobile 82
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How to Raise a Series A Round of Funding

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, February 27, 2012 -- How to Raise a Series A Round of Funding. Tech Coast Angels. Join us as we chat with Chris Hawkins, CEO and Founder of SignNow, about his journey from starting up to raising $2 million in a Series A round of funding. How did he do it? What did he learn? What do you need to prepare for your raise? Have your questions ready!

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Interview with Jonathan Shokrian and Barak Diskin, MeUndies

socalTECH

Earlier this month, Los Angeles-based MeUndies , debuted its subscription, e-commerce service for underwear and other basics. The firm is one of the companies which has recently emerged from Science, Inc., the digital studio/accelerator headed by former MySpace CEO Mike Jones. We caught up with Jonathan Shokrian and Barak Diskin, the founders of MeUndies, to hear more about what they're up to: What is MeUndies?

Commerce 201
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CHNL Boosts Board

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based CHNL , a new, pre-launch startup which is focusing on social content and content curation, said this week that it has named Rod Perth to its board of directors. Perth is a television executive, who has worked on projects for CBS Television, the USA and SyFy Channels, and Jim Henson Studios. He also co-founded cable network ReelzChannel, and runs consulting firm RHP Media Consulting.

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Punchcard Raises $1M

socalTECH

Pasadena-based Punchcard , the newly launched startup developing mobile, loyalty programs for retailers, said this morning that it has raised $1M from Idealab. Punchcard, which is headed by Andy Steuer, offers up iPhone and Android apps which reward users for visiting local businesses. The firm has initially launched in Southern California, saying it is providing local visitors with rewards for visiting more than 147,000 local businesses in the region.

Idealab 179
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Nirvanix: Use Our Storage, Avoid Disk Drive Shortage

socalTECH

San Diego-based Nirvanix , the provider of cloud-based data storage services, is looking to address a shortage of disk drive storage on the market--by pointing enterprise users toward the firm's own, cloud-based storage services. Nirvanix is looking to take advantage of a disk drive shortage, the result of last year's widespread and devastating floods in Thailand, which managed to take out a significant percentage of the world's disk drive manufacturing capacity.

San Diego 168
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Blizzard Entertainment Chops 600

socalTECH

Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment , the developer of the popular World of Warcraft, massively-multiplayer online game, said this morning that it has cut 600 jobs. The firm said approximately 90 percent of the cuts would come from departments not related to game development. The firm said it had to make "difficult decisions" as the industry has evolved.

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Report: Machinima Seeking $50M In Funding

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based online content producer Machinima , which produces videogame related content for YouTube, is reportedly seeking $50M in funding, at a $200M to $250M valuation, according to reports today. The firm, which is led by Allen DeBevoise, publishes videos online related to video games, video game news, and entertainment. Report of the fundraising was leaked by PandoDaily, in a scathing post criticizing the quality of Machinima's content.

Report 162
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iRise Takes On iPhone Apps

socalTECH

El Segundo-based iRise , the developer of enterprise application prototyping tools, is taking on the iPhone app market, saying today that it has launched a new visualization product called iRise Studio MX, which allows users to create iPhone app prototypes. The firm said the new app allows customers to design and build prototypes of applications, without requirements for coding or scripting of any kind. iRise's products are used by companies to mock up screen layouts and inputs for actual applic

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GraphEffect Revs Facebook Ad Management Platform

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based GraphEffect , the developer of social marketing software which helps advertiser manage their advertising on Facebook, said this morning that it has launched a significant update to its platform. The firm--which is headed by James Borow--said its new, GraphEffect 2.0 software includes features to help brands identify "engaging and valuable content" on Facebook, turning that content into paid ads; tools to help determine how to make ads more viral; and a feature for recommending

Platform 159
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DreamHost Planning Software Spinout

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based hosting provider DreamHost , the provider of web hosting and managed hosting services, is planning a new, open source software spinout, the firm revealed this week, as it looks to leverage its work on the Ceph open source project for distributed storage. The Ceph open source project is a distributed storage software package which was originally created by Dreamhost co-founder Sage Weil for his doctoral dissertation at UC Santa Cruz.

Software 157
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Demand Media Launches New Social Ad Units

socalTECH

Looking to enhance the advertising units on its network of sites, Santa Monica-based Demand Media said today that it has launched a new set of "social feed ads" to its advertisers. Demand Media said its new Social Feed ad management tools allow its advertisers to deliver customized, social media content via live rich media ads. Demand Media said the new tools integrate custom, real-time social feeds into rich media ads featuring video, audio, Flash, and HTML5.

Demand 157
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Report: LegalZoom Nears IPO

socalTECH

Glendale-based LegalZoom , the online legal documents site which was co-founded by Brian Lee and lawyer Robert Shapiro, is reportedly about to file for its IPO, according to a report today. Reuters, citing sources close to the firm, said the filing is expected in coming weeks. According to industry sources, LegalZoom has been prepping its IPO since at least 2010; local industry insiders have predicting an IPO filing for the company since mid 2010.

Legalzoom 154
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Luxtera Adds $21.7M

socalTECH

Carlsbad-based Luxtera , which develops silicon CMOS photonic semiconductors, announced this morning that it has raised $21.7M in a Series C funding round. The round came from current investors NEA, August Capital, Sevin Rosen, Funds, and Lux Capital, along with new investor Tokyo Electron. The firm said the funding will go towards supporting design win opportunities for the company.

Design 154
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NantWorks Buys Boston Life Labs

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Nantworks , the new business incubator run by billionaire Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, said today that it has acquired another company, Boston Life Labs. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. NantWorks said it will rename the Boston Life Labs, a developer of systems for remote monitoring of patient biometric data, as NantCare.

Incubator 153
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Cyber Rain Finds New CEO

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Cyber Rain , the venture backed developer of smart irrigation controllers, has tapped an entrepreneur known for making waterless urinals ubiquitous in the US and around the world, as its new CEO. The firm has named James Krug, former founder and CEO of Falcon Waterfree Technologies, to head up the company's smart irrigation controller business.

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Oversee.net Names Domeyer As CEO As Morrow Departs

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Oversee.net said Friday that it has named Debra Domeyer as its CEO. Domeyer, who was Co-CEO, takes over the position after fellow Co-CEO Scott Morrow leaves the firm. According to Oversee.net, Morrow is leaving to "pursue other interests". Domeyer and Morrow had both been named to the co-CEO positions in January. Domeyer was previously CTO at Internet Brands, and also has served at firms such as Pacific Gas & Electric Energy Services and the Times Mirror Company.