Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 8, 2015
A while back when I was reading the press I saw a quote from Randy Komisar, a partner at Kleiner Perkins that was simple, yet profound. He was quoted as saying, “Being a great partner is as important as being smart or being right.”. I liked it so much I wrote it down and tried to think about what it meant to me and I promised myself I would write about that one day.
Berkonomics
OCTOBER 8, 2015
We come to the end of this cycle of insights with a thought about how you might view your successful exit from the company you have spent so much effort to build. You’ve worked hard for years to reach the payoff, and the money sure looks good as you contemplate the wire transfer to come, and then watch your bank account fill to a level you only dreamed of during those rough cash flow years.
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socalTECH
OCTOBER 9, 2015
Earlier this week, the Disney Accelerator held the demo day for its second class. The Disney Accelerator takes ten, startup companies, and pairs them with mentors from The Walt Disney Company and elsewhere, to provide technical assistance, guidance, business advice, and other resources--and also helps those company link up with internal Disney resources that might help those companies succeed.
InfoChachkie
OCTOBER 5, 2015
A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. As a Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship at UC Santa Barbara , students ask me dozens of times each quarter, “What do you think of my idea?” My response is typically, “What I think of your idea is irrelevant. Tell me what you think of it.”. If you haven't already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly JohnGreathouse.com articles!
Advertiser: Aggregage
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.
Both Sides of the Table
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Rental cars. I have never met a person who loved their rental car company or the experience of turning up at an airport, waiting in line, paying a huge fee and then dealing with returns, airport shuttle buses and so forth not to mention half-washed and smelly cars. I think the closest parallel I have is the feeling I had for taxi cabs (inconvenient, smelly, expensive) before Uber.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 3, 2015
Entrepreneurship is all about leading – leading customers to a new product or service, leading a startup team to peak performance, and leading a new business to the market opportunity, while providing maximum return to stakeholders. Most entrepreneurs feel they have innate leadership talents, but struggle with how to nurture these abilities and measure their effectiveness.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 7, 2015
LA’s startup community is so hot, it is spilling over into Santa Clarita. One weekend, teams of newly formed entrepreneurs and who knows what products or big ideas can happen? Santa Clarita Startup Weekend is a grassroots event, organized by five volunteers who currently live in the Santa Clarita Valley. This is a unique opportunity for software engineers, designers, and business-minded entrepreneurs to team up and build several startups in just 54 hours!
Frank Addante
OCTOBER 5, 2015
People often ask me to define my management style. It’s interesting because I would say I wear many hats, but the word that comes to mind is “adaptive.” Whether you are a Founder, CEO, Chairman, or senior executive… you not only have to wear a number of different hats, but you have to become adaptable about constantly changing from one role to the other.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 5, 2015
Even if you work every day in the world of new-venture funding, as I do, the options are confusing, and their meanings seem to change on a regular basis. I challenge any entrepreneur, for example, to define the difference between "seed-stage" and "early-stage" financing. Yet, knowing this distinction is important. Remember, you have only one chance to make a great first impression, so it helps to know the lingo when dealing with investors.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Los Angeles- and Austin-based videogame software tool company GameSalad announced this morning that it has launched a new, standalone HTML5 publishing platform. The new tool lets its developers generate HTML5, server-ready, packaged games, which can easily be embedded in websites and shared on Miniclip, GameJolt, and elsewhere. The first title published using the new standalone HTML5 tool is Code Black, a new videogame from CBS to support its new television show of the same name.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 5, 2015
TZ Tech Crawl is back this month and heading to Downtown Los Angeles as part of Silicon Beach Fest & Los Angeles Innovation Week ! Come take a tour of some of the hottest LA Tech companies located in Downtown LA! So on Friday October 16 why not stop by for a quick beer, game, snack or just say hi at one of the many Downtown LA tech companies from 6pm to 10:00pm?
Frank Addante
OCTOBER 5, 2015
People often ask me to define my management style. It’s interesting because I would say I wear many hats, but the word that comes to mind is “adaptive.” Whether you are a Founder, CEO, Chairman, or senior executive… you not only have to wear a number of different hats, but you have to become adaptable about constantly changing from one role to the other.
Startup Professionals Musings
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Many entrepreneurs fantasize about days longer than 24 hours, convinced that their new venture could change the world, if they just had more time. They don’t realize that a more viable solution is to get more done per existing hour, rather than creating more hours. We all know at least one person who is always “very busy” and works plenty of hours, but generates few significant results.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Los Angeles-based Appetize , a startup which is backed by Guggenheim, the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Francisco 49ers family offices, Marc Geiger of William Morris, and Roar Entertainment, has signed up Live Nation Entertainment as a customer, the company said this week. Appetize said that Live nation will be rolling out the Appetize point-of-sale (POS) payment platform across 32 of the company's U.S. venues.
Tech Zulu Event
OCTOBER 5, 2015
Despite the growing competition, Philips Hue light bulbs are still the kings of all smart, Wi-Fi enabled light bulbs. These color-changing wonders will literally transform your home, and all you need to do is screw in a light bulb. Part of the success of Hue lies in Philips’ early decision to provide a Software Development Kit (SDK), meaning there are now over 200 third-party iOS , Android , and even a few Windows Phone, apps that control your lighting in ways you never dreamed possible.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Lawrence Ng , the former founder of Oversee.net--who is now running an asset management company called LNG Management--has linked up with New York City-based venture capital firm Metamorphic Ventures. According to LNG Management, Ng has become an advisory board member for Metamorphic Ventures. LNG said that Ng is incubating a number of startups and selectively invests in early stage startups and funds.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Ever wonder what people around you are getting paid? A new, Woodland Hills-based startup, WageSpot , said Tuesday that it has launched, offering up a way for people to see what other people are being paid near them on a map, while filtering for things like age, industry, gender, experience, and more. The startup--founded by Raphael Morozov and Marat Galperin--said its app is free and available for download for both iOS and Android.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 5, 2015
Venture lending and specialty finance provider Wellington Financial , which has offices in Santa Monica, said late last week that it has closed on a new, $300M fund. The company said its $300M Fund V goes towards providing growth capital to Canadian and U.S. companies. The company says its team is represented by Eric Speer in Santa Monica, in addition to an office in Silicon Valley.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Los Angeles-baesd online lender ZestFinance said today that it has raised $150M in debt financing, from Fortress Investment Group. ZestFiance said the funding goes towards the company's Bastix loan service, which is aimed at providing loans to people who normally would not be able to qualify for loans from traditional banks. ZestFinance was founded by Douglas Merrill, former CIO of Google; the company is venture backed by Peter Thiel, Matrix Partners, Kensington Capital Holdings, and Eastward Ca
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
The Disney Accelerator , held its Demo Day for its second class on Thursday, showing off ten companies to a theater packed full of venture and angel investors. The event, held at Disney's Burbank Studios, included companies demonstrating 3D, Disney-themed printed prosthetic arms; artificial intelligence which allows you to carry on a private conversation with Miss Piggy over social messaging services; brain monitoring headsets; and much more.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 5, 2015
Los Angeles-based Internet services operator J2 Global has gobbled up nine more companies, the company announced this morning, across five different countries. J2 Global--which has had a ravenous appetite for small Internet-based businesses--said it acquired LiveVault (USA), Axiatel (France), Salesify (USA), VDW (Netherlands), Online Backup Vault (USA), Popfax (France), DSA Technologies (USA), Network Telsys (Canada), and Comtech (Norway).
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
Were you one of those Star Wars fans who had hoped to grab the new Star Wars BB-8 robot on its launch day last month? Apparently, Sphero , the company which developed BB-8 for the Walt Disney Company, sold out its entire, global stock of the product within an hour of launch, according to Sphero CEO Paul Berberian. Berberian, speaking at Disney's Accelerator Demo Day in Burbank on Thursday, said the company's participation in the accelerator ramped up its sales volume by over 500 times what it ha
socalTECH
OCTOBER 7, 2015
If you've ever flown into Los Angeles International Airport�or pretty much any other, major airport--on a busy, holiday weekend, you might be familiar with the sometime hours long lines at rental car counters, horrible customer service, and companies looking to nickel and dime you with all kinds of add on insurance and options. Enter Los Angeles startup Skurt (www.skurtapp.com), which launched yesterday, is hoping to change that experience into something completely different, by applying the on-
socalTECH
OCTOBER 9, 2015
Westlake Village-based ,a href="[link] , which develops facial recognition technology, said Thursday that it has named Tom Melzl as its new Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Melzl joins the company from StackIQ, where he was Vice President of Sales, and also has also served at Inquira. FaceFirst says it is developing facial recognition systems targeted for use by retail clients, international airports, law enforcement, gaming and commercial customers.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Los Angeles-based Hulu has announced an expanded deal with Viacom , adding the exclusive, streaming video-on-demand rights to Inside Amy Shumer, Broad City, Faking It, Drunk History, Finding Carter, as well as a lineup of kids programs from Nickelodeon. According to the two companies, the deal includes streaming rights to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Rabbids Invasion, Sanjay and Craig, Breadwinners, Bella and the Bulldogs, and The Thundermans, as well as the Rugrats and Doug.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 9, 2015
SendGrid , the email infrastructure and delivery provider which has a big development office in Orange County, said Thursday that it has launched a new service that helps marketers send out emails to their customers, based on their activities and actions. The new service, Threads by SendGrid , allows marketers to craft how emails are send to users, based on what websites they view, what features they are using, mobile app activity, and more.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 9, 2015
Thousand Oaks-based Amgen has seen an exit out of its startup investment portfolio, and activities of its Amgen Ventures venture capital arm, at Berkeley-based Adheron Therapeutics this morning. Adheron said that it has been acquired by Roche , in a deal worth $105M upfront and up to $475M in additional milestone payments. Adheron is developing technology that disrupts immune cell adhesion, which is being applied to treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthri
socalTECH
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Venice, California-based Radical.FM , the Internet radio service led by Thomas McAlvey, has launched a new service called RadCasting. According to Radical.FM, the new service lets users tune into other users, or broadcast their own music stations, even while they are mobile. The new service centers on users creating their own, personal "stations", which features a user's own playlist of music.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 6, 2015
Los Angeles-based online electronics and technology retailer Newegg said this morning that it is expanding its efforts in the Canadian market, and has opened up a new, Vancouver area warehouse. According to Newegg, the new warehouse in Richmond, British Columbia, will help reduce shipping costs and provide quicker delivery to its customers in Western Canada.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 9, 2015
San Diego-based crytocurrency and blockchain startup Ciphrex has appointed a new CFO, according to the company. Ciphrex said that Carrie McQueen has joined the company as CFO, having previously served as CFO for such companies as Social Reality, LifeVantage and Mast Therapeutics, and also served at Websense and Qualcomm. Ciphrex is working on Bitcoin wallet software.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
Agoura-based Hixme Insurance Solutions , which is developing a platform to help employers with managing health insurance, disclosed Wednesday that it has raised $10.4M in a Series A funding. The funding came from Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers. The company says it is looking to help compmanies predict and budget for health insurance, save money, and help employees tailor insurance coverage for their needs.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
A number of Southern California angel investors are undoubtedly breaking out the champagne this morning, after the successful IPO of CytomX Therapeutics , a developer of cancer therapeutics which was spun out of UC Santa Barbara. Cytomx priced its IPO at $12.00 per share last night, raising $80M for the company, and had surged as high as $17.02 in morning trading.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
A long list of Los Angeles angel investors has made a foray into the interesting new area of e-sports, saying Wednesday that they have acquired Team 8 , a professional e-sports team, and renamed the team, the Immortals. The professional video game team competes in the League of Legends North American League Championship Series. Investors in the team include Clinton Foy, who is a venture capitalist at Crosscut Ventures; Brian Lee of Honost Co.; Peter Levin of Lionsgate Interactive Ventures; Allen
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
Los Angeles-based Pluto TV , which is developing an online Internet TV platform aimed at curating live TV entertainment for Internet users, said Wednesday afternoon that it has signed up a roster of over 20 new content partners fro the service. The startup--backed by USVP, Sky, United Talent Agency, Terry Semel, Great Oaks Venture Capital, Chicago Ventures, Luminari Capital, and others--said the new content deals include AwesomenessTV, Comedy Time Network, Cracked, DHX Media, EuroArts, The Film
socalTECH
OCTOBER 8, 2015
Los Angeles-based Real Appeal , which is backed by health company UnitedHealth Group, said Wednesday that it has launched a new personalized, interactive online weight loss program which taps into both celebrities and connected fitness devices to help improve the health of employees. According to Real Appeal, it uses personal coaches, a Hollywoodd cast, interactive scales, calorie and weight loss trackers, and much more all combined into a program to help motivate people to lose weight.
socalTECH
OCTOBER 7, 2015
Los Angeles-based Kixer , a advertising technology developer focused on mobile advertising, has been acquired by LAKANA , a developer of content management software based in Minnesota. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Kixer was venture backed by Lowercase Capital, TenOneTen, as well as angels. The company was founded by Keith Bonnici, Omar Nicola, and Jake Moilanen.
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