Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'*. Shervin Pishevar. Many of the articles I’ve read about him over the last several years have a listing of his biggest successes – mostly Uber – and a tinge of cynicism about his close connections with celebrities or self promotion. Not this one. I’m going to write a pure admiration piece. A “hats off” (see what I did there?
InfoChachkie
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. In 1862, Charles Darwin predicted that an insect with an extraordinary tongue must exist by observing an orchid which stores its nectar at bottom of long stem. Darwin surmised the anatomical structure of the phantom insect based on the mechanics required to pollinate the flower. 130-years later, scientists discovered X. morganii praedicta, a moth with a freakishly long tongue which fed on the orchid’s pollen.
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Berkonomics
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'Unless your job is to teach, attempting to tell your direct reports HOW to do the job you’ve asked or ordered them to do will be a disincentive, will remove some of the authority you’ve delegated, and definitely reduce their motivation to act and lead. Think for a moment of sometime in the past where someone directed you to do a job, then launched into a lengthy explanation of how you should do it.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 11, 2015
'Remember Elon Musks''s HyperLoop --the grand idea for transporting people from Los Angeles to San Francisco at 800 mph? A new, Los Angeles startup, Hyperloop Technologies has emerged-- with $8.5M in funding --to bring those dreams to life. Hyperloop Technologies said today that it received that funding round from Sherp a Ventures, Formation 8, Zhen Capital, David Sacks, and Peter Diamandis, as well as former White House deputy chief of staff Jim Messina, and plans to raise another $80M in a fun
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Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'Every so often a promising entrepreneur seems to freeze in the oncoming headlights and gets run over by his competition. Why is it that his idea which seemed so fundable only months ago fails to attract investors today? The team is the same. The company''s market is the same. The only change might be a visible new competitor, or another economy downturn, resulting in investors holding their money, and that makes all the difference.
Tech Coast Venture Network
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
Saturday, November 14th From 4:00PM to 9:00PM at The Beall Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship – UCIrvine.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'Glendale-based energy investor Coronal Group said Thursday that it has acquired HelioSage Energy , a developer of utility scale solar power projects. Financial terms of the asset sale were not announced. Coronal Group said it has created a new company, Coronal Development Services LLC, adding more than 300MW of solar power projects to its portfolio, and another 1.5 GW of projects in development.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'Almost every entrepreneur starts their journey by developing a solution, based on their knowledge of a new technology or required service. Developer skills are necessary, but not sufficient, to build a business. A real business requires leadership – thought leadership to attract customers and mind share, as well as people leadership around a team, partners, and investors.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'*. Phone calls. Millennials are allergic to them. I have this conversation Sofa King often that I’m sure each reader who has met me will think I’m talking specifically about you. I’m not. Well, I am. But not only you. Email is efficient. You can crank out asynchronous thoughts, orders, questions, commands and comments. I email often.
Tech Zulu Event
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'I get questions from startup founders about executive summaries all the time. They range from “what should I include?” to “how long should it be?” to “where can I get help writing one?” I answered some of those questions in a previous post, Crafting Your Executive Summary , so I won’t rehash them here. But I do want to highlight 5 things that are guaranteed to make you stand out — and not in a good way.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'Hawthorne-based SpaceX said yesterday that it successfully "soft" landed its first booster stage for its Falcon rocket in the ocean, landing vertically and within 10 meters of its target. The company--which scrapped plans to land the rocket stage on a platform, due to high seas--said the success in the soft landing suggests a "high probability" of landing the stage on a drone ship in the future.
Startup Professionals Musings
FEBRUARY 7, 2015
'Most technical entrepreneurs focus hard on building an innovative product, but forget that an elegant solution doesn’t automatically translate into a successful business. Businesses require an equally elegant business model, with the right price, messaging and delivery channel to the right target customers to keep the dream alive and growing. Defining the right business model requires the same diligence as designing the right product, but the approach and skills required are different.
Both Sides of the Table
FEBRUARY 8, 2015
'I live in LA and fund startups. So you can imagine that I see a lot of video startups. Most will fail. I repeat the same mantra to every one I see. “You can’t build a large online video company. You have to build a large online tech company that distributes video.” I try to explain this to every team I see and I’m not being flippant.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'Amazon Studios , the original content development arm of Amazon.com--which is based in the LA area--said today that it is bringing back Sigmund and the Sea Monsters , the 1970''s children''s television series, in a deal with Sid and Marty Krofft. Amazon said they will develop a "reimagined pilot" to the show. No other details of the new pilot were released.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'Tired of swiping left and right with people you''re not quite sure about? A new, Los Angeles-based startup, LoveLab , launched Wednesday, saying it is looking to bring a level of trust into the online dating app scene. The new startup--backed by longtime area startup veteran Jon Kraft, and run by TV stars Steven and JoAnn Ward (Master Matchmakers, VH-1)--said it is looking to help online daters gain a level of trust in online profiles, and to help conquer the issue of daters "seriously misrepre
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'Los Angeles-based online advertising technology developer OpenX announced that it exceeded $100M in net revenues in 2014, making the company the latest area company to pass the milestone. The company--which is led by Tim Cadogan--said the growth came from growth of both its OpenX Ad Exchange and OpenX SSP businesses. The company explained that mobile advertising, in particular, grew 100 percent, and is now 25 percent of the company''s inventory.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'It''s the wild, wild west out there when it comes to valet parking, with hundreds of companies, and not much brand reconition. Los Angeles-based CurbStand (www.curbstand.com) is hoping to change that, by offering up a mobile app which connects you with the company''s network of CurbStand valet parking companies, which offers on-demand retrieval of your car, mobil payments, and on the valet parking operator side--lots of business analytics tools and reporting.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'Pasadena-based New Matter , which is developing consumer focused, 3D printers, said today that it has raised $6.5M in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Alsop Louie Partners, and also included Arden Road Investments, Biotechonomy, Dolby Family Ventures, First Round Capital, Idealab and frogVentures. New Matter said it is on the brink of shipping its 3D printer, the MOD-t, this spring.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'Are you in one of those areas where there seem to be an abundance of drones buzzing around your backyard? A new, Los Angeles-area startup, NoFlyZone.org , said it is looking to help keep drones out of your property, with a new online database it is creating with drone manufacturers and operators. NoFlyZone, which is based in El Segundo, said it lets users enter their address into a giant database, which can be used by drone manufacturers to avoid flights into your property.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'San Diego-based Dexcom , a developer of medical devices used to monitor the blood glucose level of diabetes patients, is looking to become the first provider of a glucose monitoring app on the Apple Watch. According to the WSJ, Dexcom hopes to rollout an app to display readings from its diabetes glucose monitors as soon as the FDA relaxes the rules for those kinds of applications, which currently require regulatory approval.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'Looking for improving your score on the SAT? truePrep , a new service from Santa Monica-based ArborBridge , said today that it has launched a new service which matches students with online SAT tutors, who can help students prepare for the SAT through online, video conferencing. truePrep said its service connects students with "elite" tutors, charging $75 per hour for those tutoring services--half what it says typical test prep companies charge. truePrep uses computer-assisted testing and questi
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'Mountain View-based Google confirmed in its quarterly earnings report this week that it was the biggest investor in the recent, $1 billion funding round for Hawthorne-based SpaceX. In it''s 10-K, Google confirmed that it invested $900M in the recent funding round for SpaceX on January 20th, saying the investment goes to help support continued innovation in the areas of space transport, reusability, and satellite manufacturing.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'3D Robotics , the drone maker which has a significant office in San Diego, said today that it has rolled out a new, open source app aimed at drone software developers. The company--which says it is now the largest, consumer drone manufacturer in North America--said its open source Tower flight control app provides an open programming interface, which allows users to build new features into the ap.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'San Diego-based Qualcomm said late Monday that it will pay $975 million to China, to settle China''s claims that the company had violated its anti-monopoly laws. Qualcomm reached the record payment after a resolution with China''s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC). Qualcomm said it would not contest the fine or continue further legal proceedings, and also said it will offer licenses for current 3G and 4G technology separately from its other patents, and limit its royalties for 3
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'Vinny Smith , the former CEO of Orange County''s Quest Software, has backed a developer of web and mobile application development, via his investment firm, Toba Capital. San Francisco-based Sauce Labs said last week that Toba had backed the company in a $15M, Series D funding round, for the company''s testing software, which is aimed at the mobile and web application development market.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'Los Angeles-based Rubicon Project has run another of its online advertising surveys, ahead of Valentine''s Day, and says that it has found that 89% of purchases for the holiday are "last minute"--in the week before the holiday, and 38 percent of people wait until the last 24 hours before purchasing a Valentine Day''s gift. Rubicon Project--which has regularly been studying trends in online shopping an advertising--also found that men are the worse offenders for last minute gifts, with 43 percen
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'Los Angeles-based Maker Studios is helping to power the launch of a new, live television service from Sling TV , the new online-only video service which is owned by DISH Network. According to Sling, content from Maker is a major component of its new service, which offers up ESPN, ESPN2, TNT, TBS, Food Network, HGTV, Cartoon Network, ABC Family and Disney Channel for only $20 a month.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'Mojave-based Virgin Galactic has set up shop in a new location in Long Beach, saying Thursday that it has opened up a new, 150,000 square foot facility at Long Beach Airport, where it intends to fill a significant number of open positions at the company. Virgin Galactic expects the location to work on its LauncherOne effort, its project to launch satellites into space.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 12, 2015
'San Diego-based Adtile Technologies , the developer of mobile advertising technology led by Nils Forsblom, has rolled out a new mobile ad technology that the company says uses multiple sensors on users'' phones to engage with users. The company said its technology takes advantage of the "incredible sensory hardware" already available on phones to help engage with users.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 11, 2015
'Los Angeles-based SpaceX , the space rocket firm run by Elon Musk, successfully launched its latest mission--a delivery of an Air Force satellite into deep space--on Wednesday evening. The launch came on the third try for SpaceX, which had encountered problems with an Air Force radar on Sunday, and high winds on Tuesday. SpaceX--which had planned to again test its landing system for its rocket boosters as part of an effort to make its rockets reusable--said right before launch that it would not
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'Hawthorne-based SpaceX has been forced to scrub the launch of the USAF'' DSCOVR space weather satellite for the second time, due to high winds, and will try a launch on Wednesday. The rocket developer--which had to scrub its first attempt Sunday due to Air Force radar issues--said its next launch window in tomorrow, February 11th, and 6:03pm EST. The mission--aside from launching an Air Force satellite into orbit--is expected to be used to again test the ability to land its booster rocket on a
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 10, 2015
'Online video streaming service Netflix --which has significant operations in Los Angeles--opened up its service in Cuba on Monday, one of the first companies back into the country after President Barack Obama''s move to re-establish diplomatic ties with the Communist country. Netflix will charge $7.99 a month for the service. It''s unclear how many customers Netflix actually hopes to gain in the country, which has an average wage of $20 a month, and where there is extremely limited access , mos
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 9, 2015
'Hawthorne-based SpaceX is planning to retry a launch originally planned for Sunday afternoon today, after a failure of an Air Force radar system forced the company to scrub its original launch time. SpaceX said the earliest next opportunity for its launch of the DSCOVR space weather satellite is today, at 6:07pm ET. SpaceX''s customer for the launch is the US Air Force, NOAA, and NASA.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'Costa Mesa-based Emulex said Thursday that it has named David Williams as the company''s new Vice President of Product Management and Strategy, for the company''s Network Visibility Products (NVP) products. Williams was most recently VP of Strategy at the CTO office at BMC, and also had served at Gartner, AlterPoint, IBM Tivoli, CA, and Digital Equipment.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'Santa Monica-based secure messaging app provider TigerText , which is led by Brad Brooks, said yesterday that its annual sales grew more than 300 percent in 2014, and also doubled the size of its staff. The private held company did not disclose any financials behind those numbers or say how many employees it now has. TigerText did say that more than 500 million messages per month are now being sent using its platform.
socalTECH
FEBRUARY 13, 2015
'Los Angeles-based j2 Global , which runs both a long list of online, cloud-based services as well as owns publisher Ziff Davis and other online publishing businesses, has hit nearly $600M in total revenues, the company said late yesterday. The company also said it reached record annual revenues of $599M, a 15 percent year-over-year increase. j2 Global also said it has added former AOL CEO Jon Miller--now a partner at Advancit Capital--to its board, as well as revealed that it spend $143M in the
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