Eric Greenspan
JULY 3, 2012
11 years and 8 months of commitment, my life savings, every available dollar on every credit card, line and loan, and a promise to my children of a future, gone. The real story behind Make It Work’s demise isn’t exciting. It’s simply about a team of dedicated individuals that failed. We failed because the industry we were in changed over the years.
Berkonomics
JUNE 30, 2012
We have grown more than a bit weary of most advertising, no matter in what form. We are constantly bombarded by ads in multiple types of media, to the extent that we most often tune them out unless particularly entertaining from the first moment. Dave’s book: Positioning. In my keynotes on trends in technology, I often lead into one of the trends with the proposition that we have left the information age and are solidly within the age of recommendation , pointing to the fact that 69 perce
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socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
Calabasas-based Ixia , the developer of network testing equipment and software, announced this morning that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire BreakingPoint Systems , a developer of security testing tools. The deal is worth $160M in cash. Ixia, which is led by Vic Alston, said the deal will enable it to provide an end-to-end solution for monitoring, testing, and optimizing converged networks.
InfoChachkie
JULY 2, 2012
Some People Are Indispensable, But No One Is Irreplaceable. Reginald Martinez Jackson was also often referred to as a “hotdog” for his self-promotional antics and lackadaisical on-field play. In addition to his reputation as a showoff, Reggie was renowned for deriding his teammates in the press and initiating clubhouse fights. While it is not uncommon for losing teams to squabble, Mr.
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.
SoCal Tech Calendar
JULY 6, 2012
Thursday, July 12, 2012 -- LA CEOs. LA CEOs, an education and support group for CEOs presents: Crowdfunding For Businesses What will crowdfunding for businesses look like after the SEC Rulings? How will crowdfund raises fit into the existing investment eco-system? What are the opportunities and risks for founders and investors? Find out this and more about crowdfunding from Chance Barnett, co-founder and CEO of crowdfunder.
Berkonomics
JULY 6, 2012
If only newspaper publishers, book publishers, record companies, and movie producers would have had the vision to see their future as we now see it, we might have become a digital society with much less disruption and loss of jobs than we have experienced these past years and continue to experience. Did the proprietor of the neighborhood bookstore or national rental chain not see this coming?
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
InfoChachkie
JULY 5, 2012
Coull Entrepreneurs Get More Customers. Coull Offers Advertisers Video Skimlinks. <JG change the link in first sentence to the infoChachkie post> As noted in YouTube Scores A Solid Return On Its Video Development Fund , many YouTube personalities are sensitive to the nature of the ads associated with their content. Some reject pre-roll ads because they increase the viewer abandonment rate.
SoCal Tech Calendar
JULY 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 -- SUMMER TECH SUPER MIXER. Join CTC for loads of fun, games, great food and drinks at the famous Tipsy Goat Irish Pub. Meet Entrepreneurs, Start-Ups, Inventors, Angel and VC Investors, Joint Venture Partners, Deal Makers, Small Business Advisors, Marketing and Legal Professionals.
Startup Professionals Musings
JUNE 30, 2012
Many entrepreneurs work hard on the proof of concept (technical), but skip any proof of the business model (revenue flow). In other words, once they are convinced that the product works, they assume their price, sales channel, and marketing will bring in the customers. These days, the technical side may be the easy part. Proving the business model requires a different approach than proving the technical concept.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Actor Leonardo DiCaprio and Irvine-based electric autombile maker Fisker Automotive revealed this week that the actor is an equity investor in the company, and is also linking with the firm to help promote "Global Sustainability." According to the two, DiCaprio will work with the auto manufacturer to help advance sustainable, responsible vehicles, including working on marketing and promotional initiatives.
Tech Zulu Event
JULY 2, 2012
Twitter , the 140 character social site is popular with a whopping worldwide estimated user base of around 140 million active monthly users with 400 million tweets daily according to CEO Dick Costolo, but two new startups launched late last month to seek and battle out Twitter at its own game. Twitter’s outage on June 21 st could be one of the factors.
SoCal Tech Calendar
JULY 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 -- Private Equity Industry Orange County Update. OCTANe. Necessity is the mother of invention. While going public is an increasingly difficult option for start-up companies, going private is an increasingly attractive possibility ? that is, the opportunities associated with private equity financing. Did you know that more OC companies have gone private in the last few years than have gone public?
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 2, 2012
Face reality. As an entrepreneur, you should assume none of your customers is like you, yet I find that most entrepreneurs assume just the opposite. Customers don’t have your technical base, the passion, and interest in your solution. In fact, even if they did, they couldn’t find you in the clutter. An underrated portion of every startup effort must be about communication and marketing.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Los Angeles-based Invested.in , the online crowdfunding service headed by Alon Goren, is shifting its focus towards helping companies raise money from accredited investors. The firm is launching BoostFunder , an online startup marketplace, with Adam Draper, which will allow startups to raise up to a million dollars from accredited investors. The new site also comes as Invested.in has revamped its web site, and now is showcasing its various products more clearly, including its services which help
Tech Zulu Event
JULY 3, 2012
TechZulu is all for a great cause and AT&T is doing their part by donating $2 for every view on the video above. Help them reach their goal of $50,000! For many soldiers, one of the most challenging hardships of war is being away from their loved ones. It’s missing the birth of a child, not being there for important milestones or just the long stretches of time without hearing the voices of family members.
SoCal Tech Calendar
JULY 4, 2012
Tuesday, July 10, 2012 -- CROWDSTART LA. Live pitch event. Crowdfunders, Angels and VC's vote and rate companies 10 startups finalists pitch to investors at our live event for a chance to win funding. Keynote by Peter Diamandis - Chairman, X PRIZE Foundation.
Startup Professionals Musings
JULY 1, 2012
Every entrepreneur wishes that he could predict whether his idea could be the “next big thing,” before he spent his life savings and years of energy on it. Investors, on the other hand, typically don’t even look very hard at the product or service, but prefer to evaluate first the entrepreneur, and secondly the business plan. I define these products and services as “solutions” (customers buy solutions to a problem), but Guy Kawasaki more generically calls them causes, meaning any new idea, compa
socalTECH
JULY 3, 2012
Travelers out on the road over the next few days around the July 4th holiday who are flying Southwest Airlines might notice a new perk in some of the carrier's aircraft: live television, part of a preview of a service Southwest is working on expanding into 20 aircraft by mid-month. The new service is powered by Westlake Village-based startup Row 44 , headed by John LaValle, which has added live television to its in-flight, wireless services.
socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
Aliso Viejo-based Gaikai has been acquired by Sony , in a deal worth $380M, Sony announced early Monday morning. According to Sony, the deal, which was signed June 30th, help SCE establish a cloud service and expand its network business. Gaikai was founded in 2008, and had raised around $45M in funding. The firm's backers included Benchmark Capital, Intel Capital, Limelight Networks, New Enterprise Associates, Qualcomm Ventures, Rustic Canyon Partners, and TriplePoint Capital.
socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software is in a deal to be acquired by Dell , for $2.4 billion, or $28.00 per share in cash, the two firms said this morning. The deal, which was reached after a long, drawn out bidding war between Insight Venture Partners and Dell. Quest had originally reached a deal to go private with Insight in March. Dell said the acquisition would help bolster its software efforts.
socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
Beats Electronic , the maker of the Beats By Dr. Dre headphones, is acquiring online music service MOG , the two firms said over the weekend. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. MOG, which was based in Berkeley, California, provided an online, streaming radio and music services which competes against such sites as Pandora and Slacker.
socalTECH
JULY 3, 2012
San Diego-based Qualcomm is backing a developer of mobile apps marketing products, Fisku , via its Qualcomm Ventures investment arm, Fisku said this morning. Fisku said it has raised $10M in a Series B financing, led by Qualcomm and Charles River Ventures. Fisku's flagship product is used by brands to help promote iOS and Android mobile apps to users.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Costa Mesa-based Emulex , the developer of high speed networking technology for the server and storage market, and Irvine-based Broadcom said Thursday afternoon that they have reached a partial settlement and worldwide patent license agreement. The deal calls for Emulex to pay Broadcom a release and license fee of $58M in cash. The two said the deal covers use of Broadcom's patents number U.S.
socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
Los Angeles-based YourEvent.com , a startup developing a service to help users share photos of their events, has raised a round of angel funding. The funding came from the Billiken Angels Network, an angel group based in Saint Louis. Financial details of the round were not announced, although a recent regulatory filing indicates the firm recently raised around $240,000 in a funding round.
socalTECH
JULY 6, 2012
Los Angeles-based subscription commerce service Quarterly has raised $1.25M in a Series A funding round, which was led by True Ventures, SV Angel, Initialized Capital, Collaborative Fund, according to VentureWire Friday. Former Redbox president Mitch Lowe is joining the firm's board with the funding. The funding had already been uncovered by socalTECH in March.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Manhattan Beach-based YBUY , which is developing a monthly subscription service to help users try products before buying them, has raised $1M in a funding round, the firm disclosed Thursday. The round was led by TomorrowVentures, the personal investment fund of Google Chairman Eric Schmidt, and also included David Hanna (CompuCredit) and Jim Patterson (Yammer).
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
A report Thursday says that Hulu 's Jason Kilar , and interim Yahoo chief Ross Levinsohn are considered the top prospects for a permanent replacement for troubled Internet portal Yahoo. According to AllThingsD, the firm is expected to make a decision soon on who to select to run the firm, which has already gone through two CEOs since last fall, Carol Bartz and Scott Thompson.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Santa Monica-based Activision Blizzard said Tuesday that it has reached a deal with Chinese gaming giant Tencent Holdings Limited , to bring Call of Duty Online to the Chinese game market. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Activision said that Tencent will gain a two year, exclusive license to operate Call of Duty Online in mainland China.
socalTECH
JULY 3, 2012
San Diego-based Qualcomm is backing a developer of mobile apps marketing products, Fiksu , via its Qualcomm Ventures investment arm, Fiksu said this morning. Fiksu said it has raised $10M in a Series B financing, led by Qualcomm and Charles River Ventures. Fiksu 's flagship product is used by brands to help promote iOS and Android mobile apps to users.
socalTECH
JULY 3, 2012
Santa Barbara-based Yardi , the developer of real estate and property management software, looks to have scored a win in a patent lawsuit against RealPage , a developer of cloud-based software for the rental housing industry. RealPage said yesterday that it has entered into a comprehensive settlement with Yardi over a set of lawsuits first filed in January of 2011.
socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
It was a rough weekend for the cloud, with an outage over at Amazon Web Services disrupting access to such popular services as LinkedIn, Instagram, and many others. Not to mention, a leap second bug throwing off sites like Reddit and others Sunday. So, for our Insights and Opinions section this morning, we're sharing an editorial from Steve Zivanic, at San Diego's Nirvanix.
socalTECH
JULY 2, 2012
Culver City-based Maker Studios , the startup which is one of the biggest producers of content for YouTube, said Friday that it has inked a content development deal with hip-hop star Snoop Dogg. Maker said that the two will develop a slate of exclusive programming for Snoop Dog's YouTube channel, WestFestTV. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.
socalTECH
JULY 6, 2012
Thousand Oaks-based biotech giant Amgen said Thursday that it has completed its acquisition of KAI Pharmaceuticals , the South San Francisco-based developer of treatments for treating secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with chronic kidney disease who are on dialysis. The deal, which had been announced in April, was worth $315M in cash. READ MORE>>.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Irvine-based YouMail , the enhanced voicemail provider headed by Alex Quilici, has updated its iPhone app, adding new features such as making it easier to assign specific personalized greetings to callers. The YouMail update is now available in the App Store. The updates reflect similar updates the firm made in its Android app in June. READ MORE>>.
socalTECH
JULY 5, 2012
Los Angeles-based Beats Electronics , the maker of the Beats By Dr. Dre headphones, appears to have picked up online streaming music service MOG for a song. According to a regulatory filing by HTC, first uncovered by Unwired View, the deal for MOG was worth a mere $14M. READ MORE>>.
socalTECH
JULY 3, 2012
Los Angeles-based Fandango said this morning that it has seen its best quarter in its company's history, with a 28 percent, year-over-year growth in its second quarter ticket sales. The firm, which did not disclose financial numbers, said the growth was driven by mobile purchases, which were up 107 percent year-over-year. Fandango has been reporting growing ticket sales in the last few months, and most recently said its May sales broke its sales records.
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