Sat.Sep 10, 2011 - Fri.Sep 16, 2011

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How to Hunt Programmers for Your Startup - A Field Guide

SoCal CTO

This post is admittedly the outcome of a conversation with a few people over some beers. Some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and certainly we are greatly simplifying things. The people around the table included a bunch of us who would be prey in some situations. So, please take this in the spirit intended. The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?

Guide 349
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Why Your Startup Doesn’t Need a COO

Both Sides of the Table

It’s very common for startup companies to have COO’s. So I know I’m getting myself into a bit of trouble by writing this. But … Startups don’t need – shouldn’t have – COOs. I have this conversation with every startup that comes to see me and has a CEO & a COO. I think usually a COO title at a startup is an ego thing.

Startup 325
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Ten Startup Tips From Amazon Founder, Jeff Bezos

InfoChachkie

In August 2004, FastCompany published an article titled, Inside The Mind Of Jeff Bezos , written by Alan Deutschman. Although the article is informative, it is the accompanying sidebar that has remained with me over the succeeding years. Under the heading, “The Book On Bezos,” the callout lists ten actionable and impactful nuggets of startup advice.

Tips 279
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LA Looks To Prove It's A Social Media Mecca

socalTECH

Los Angeles is looking to prove it is a center of the social media universe next week, with a roster of events for Social Media Week Los Angeles. According to local event organizers, the Los Angeles Social Media Week events--75 in all--are expected to have well more than the 4,000 who participated last year. The week long list of events includes parties, celebrity social media personalities, conferences and panels, and a keynote by Robert Tercek.

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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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How to Hunt Programmers for Your Startup - A Field Guide

SoCal CTO

This post is admittedly the outcome of a conversation with a few people over some beers. Some of it is a bit tongue-in-cheek and certainly we are greatly simplifying things. The people around the table included a bunch of us who would be prey in some situations. So, please take this in the spirit intended. The conversation centered around a founder who's key question is "Where Do I Find a Developer for My Startup?

Guide 296
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VCs with Personalities? Foundry Group FTW!

Both Sides of the Table

I was an entrepreneur for years. I must have pitched 40-50 VCs over the years. Possibly more. As I talked about on many occasions when I was an entrepreneur – and blogged publicly about - I learned a lot about my business and myself in these meetings. It was largely a positive experience. [Make sure to watch the video ]. Still, it was bloody annoying, too.

More Trending

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King.com Debuts Bubble Witch Saga

socalTECH

Los Angeles- and London-based casual gaming developer King.com said Thursday that it has launched a new Facebook game, Bubble Witch Saga. According to King.com, the newest title was launched in the run up to Halloween, and focuses on bursting bubbles around a witch's cauldron. King.com said it now has over 200 games running online, via Facebook, on mobile, and tablets.

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List ten companies that could buy your business.

Berkonomics

This is an exercise I perform with my boards no less than once every several years in planning exercises attended by the board and senior management, sometimes augmented with an industry consultant or expert from the outside. Use a white board visible to the entire group. Draw and label four columns and ten rows. The columns: “Name of candidate acquirer”, “what they want”, “what we want” and “likelihood”.

Company 168
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3D Entertainment Summit

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- 3D Entertainment Summit. The 3D Entertainment Summit brings together thought leaders from around the globe to analyze 3D in all platforms  theatrical, home entertainment, gaming, advertising, and alternative content.

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7 Ways For Entrepreneurs to Build Relationships

Startup Professionals Musings

Investors invest in people, not ideas. Customers buy from people, not companies. Employees rally for a great leader. As an entrepreneur, you need relationships to succeed. That means relationships with team members, investors, customers, and vendors. One of the best ways to build a good relationship with anyone is to make them feel important. One of my favorite authors, Brian Tracy, in his book “ No Excuses!

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Interview with Josh Brooks, Postcard On The Run

socalTECH

In the day and age of digital photos, too often the photos we take end up filed away untouched on your computer, or buried on your iPhone. Unlike the past, when photos were treasured and shown off to friends and family, it seems like photos are almost disposable. However, Los Angeles-based Postcard On The Run (www.postcardontherun.com) is trying to recapture that sense of value of physical photographs, with its new service, which turns digital photos into postcards.

Email 218
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World’s First Mobile 3D Gaming Tournament Hits LA | Your Chance To Compete

Tech Zulu Event

That’s right folks TechZulu has just struck the most amazing loot for all you gaming enthusiast out there. TechZulu is sending 5 lucky gamers to the first mobile 3D gaming tournament being held here in Los Angeles to compete! LG Thrill™ 4G in a partnership with Gameloft™ bring their gaming alive in a larger-than-life 3D gaming tournament and spectacle at Hollywood’s illustrious Hollywood & Highland Center and Rolling Stone LA Lounge on September 20.

Mobile 90
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LA Mobile Entertainment Summit

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- LA Mobile Entertainment Summit. The 2nd Annual LA Mobile Entertainment Summit will host the brightest minds in mobile technology, interactive media and entertainment to examine how content and rapidly evolving technology is dramatically changing the entertainment marketplace.

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Entrepreneurs Must Bridge Several Market Chasms

Startup Professionals Musings

Everyone in the business world has heard of the book by Geoffrey A. Moore titled “ Crossing the Chasm ” (1991), but most entrepreneurs have no idea how it relates to them. In fact, it’s all about the “focus” required to get early stage technology products across the deadly chasm from early adopters to mainstream customers. Most investors and startup professionals expand this concept of focus to apply to key issues of every aspect of strategic and tactical planning in a startup.

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trueRSVP Takes On Online Event Planning

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based trueRSVP , a new startup founded by a trio of University of Southern California students, is launching today, looking to provide better online event planning. The startup, which is backed by OrganicStartup, the venture acceleration effort of angel investor Scott Sangster, said it is looking to provide real estimates of how many people will attend an event, increasing the accuracy of RSVPs. trueRSVP is launching at the DEMO Fall 2011 conference today. trueRSVP uses priority invi

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Marketing The Funniest Site On The Internet With Patrick Starzan of Funny or Die

Tech Zulu Event

TechZulu gets some questions answered for all you marketing folks out there. Patrick Starzan is the Vice President of Marketing and Business development at Funny or Die. He is a marketing professional with over 8 years of extensive online and social media marketing experience. Patrick is the man behind all the marketing aspects of what could be called one of the funniest sites on the web.

Sites 61
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TheGrill

SoCal Tech Calendar

Tuesday, September 20, 2011 -- TheGrill.At a time of unprecedented change and shifting business models, TheGrill is the only high level forum for discussing the transformational forces in our changing entertainment industry under the auspices of knowledgeable journalists who care a whole lot - thats TheWrap.com.

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Don’t Let Paranoia Dampen Your Startup Spirit

Startup Professionals Musings

With the tenth anniversary of 9/11 upon us, and the recent financial woes, there seems to be a growing population out there worried about all the people and companies watching to hurt them. Why is everyone so paranoid these days? My plea to entrepreneurs is to recognize it as an opportunity, and go the extra mile to make people’s life better rather than stoke the fires.

Startup 94
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DealBird.com Takes On Group Buying

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based DealBird.com , a new startup focused on group buying, has launched this week, among the slew of startups clamoring for attention at TechCrunch Disrupt. The firm, whose CEO is Chad Billmyer, said it is looking to help buyers and sellers in enthusiast web communities to start, mangae, and complete group buys. DealBird's suggested that its site is particularly useful for automotive, outdoor, home, school, and fitness enthusiasts, who want to organize group buys or have products t

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Back To School Essential | ZooGue BinderPad [Giveaway]

Tech Zulu Event

The iPad accessory market is extremely competitive. Entrepreneurs like Tim Angel with ZooGue are constantly looking for ways to standout and deliver a product unlike any other in the market. The ZooGue BinderPad is just that type of product. The BinderPad is a made out of durable cloth and is a pouch form factor. What makes the Binderpad a standout is that is made to slip into a 3-ring binder.

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TheGrill

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, September 19, 2011 -- TheGrill.At a time of unprecedented change and shifting business models, TheGrill is the only high level forum for discussing the transformational forces in our changing entertainment industry under the auspices of knowledgeable journalists who care a whole lot - thats TheWrap.com.

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6 Startups Actions to Survive a Volatile Market

Startup Professionals Musings

Change is about the only thing constant in the world of startups. Despite their own focus on changing the world, they often forget that they too have to change rapidly and often as the market evolves. Too many find that out too late, and are left chasing a rabbit that is long gone. The solution is to establish and maintain a culture and processes that don’t view change as a discrete event to be spotted and managed, but as an ongoing opportunity to improve competitiveness.

Startup 94
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HitFix Partners With Entertainment Blog

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based HitFix , the entertainment news site headed by Jennifer Sargent and backed by angel groups the Tech Coast Angels and Golden Seeds, said today that it is in a strategic partnership with film and awards blog In Contention. Exact financial details of the link were not disclosed, however, the two said that InContention will provide its content to HitFix, and that In Content will be "powered by HitFix.

Blogging 186
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The new Berkus SMALL BUSINESS SUCCESS COLLECTION – eBooks and books

Berkonomics

Announcing EIGHT new mini-books and eBooks by Master Entrepreneur, Dave Berkus , just released by The Berkus Press. Covering important business growth subjects, these books are a must-have for you and your associates. As a bonus, the “quick read&# eBook and Kindle editions are priced as “singles&# at only $2.99 each. Featuring a total of 202 of Dave’s insights from BERKONOMICS and ADVANCED BERKONOMICS, these books are easy reading, cover important business issues, and help you

eBook 168
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Jobfair.LA

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, September 22, 2011 -- Tech and Startup Job Fair - Los Angeles. Schmoozd presents JobFair.LA.Looking for greener pastures? Has the Great Recession taken a toll on you? Join us for a technology / startup focused job fair on Sept 22, 2011 at the WOKCANO in Santa Monica. JobFair.LA was founded on the basis that not everything has to be boring!

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Explore Non-Standard Ways to Grow Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

Startups are usually so focused on selling more of their branded product or service to their own customer base (organic growth) that they don’t consider the more indirect methods (non-organic growth) of increasing revenue and market share. Non-organic growth would include OEM relationships, finding strategic partners, “coopetition,” as well as acquisitions.

Startup 93
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Interview with Jonathan Simkin, SwoopThat

socalTECH

As the school year kicks off for college students, one of the big tasks of the year is buying books for their courses. One startup, SwoopThat (www.swoopthat.com)--started by a recent college grad Jonathan Simkin --has made it much easier to buy books for student, by pulling up books based on a student's schedule. We spoke with Jonathan about the advantages of SwoopThat over existing sites.

UCSD 185
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Calacanis: Yahoo Should Buy Mahalo For $150M

socalTECH

How much is Santa Monica-based Mahalo worth? According to Jason Calacanis , in a blog post, $75M to $150M. In a list of 10 acquisitions he suggested Yahoo make "on day one", Calacanis--not one to shy from self promotion--said that Yahoo could acquire Mahalo for $75M to $150M, with a chance of closing a deal at greater than 50%. Calacanis said his firm--plus fellow instructional videos site Howcast--are the "only two brands.really attacking the free education space.

Mahalo 183
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UberMedia Powers App For The Economist Group

socalTECH

Pasadena-based UberMedia , the developer of Twitter client applications, said Thursday that it has partnered with the publisher of The Economist to power a new desktop application and curated channel Idea People Media , The Economist Group's vertical ad network business. UberMedia said that the two will launch a custom desktop application, and a curated "UberChannel" within its UberSocial smartphone app, based on content from the network of Ideas People Media.

Content 176
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MindJolt Sees Boost From Virtual Goods

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based MindJolt , the online and mobile games developer headed by former MySpace founder Chris DeWolfe, reports today that it is now seeing about a third of the company's total revenues coming from the sale of virtual goods. The firm also said that it has released a new game called Bubble Atlantis, a bubble-popping puzzle game set in the underwater world of Atlantis.

Mobile 167
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REGEN Energy Finds Funding, Sets Up San Diego Office

socalTECH

Canadian smart energy management product developer REGEN Energy said today that it has raised $5.5M in a funding round, and set up a U.S. office in San Diego. REGEN, which develops wireless demand management and demand response products for the utility industry, said the funding came from NGEN Partners and BDC Venture Capital, and will go towards rapidly expanding its marketing activities across North America.

San Diego 165
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Oversee Cuts Jobs

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Oversee.net , the operator of domain name and online marketing businesses, reported this morning that it has cut its workforce by 13 percent. According to the firm, the realignment is a part of a plan to address new growth opportunities. Oversee.net did not detail its exact plans. The shift comes as former CEO Jeff Kupietzky departs the firm for Israel, and the firm turned over management to Scott Morrow and Debra Domeyer.

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Verve Opens New York Office, Expands Sales Team

socalTECH

Encinitas-based Verve Wireless , the developer of mobile applications for the local media and newspaper business, is expanding its sales efforts, saying today that it has opened up a New York office, and also dramatically expanded its national sales team. Verve said it opened up a office in Times Square, as well as hired a set of regional VPs--many from Greystripe, the ad firm recently acquired by ValueClick.

Sales 159
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Tech Coast Angels Launches Angel Network

socalTECH

The Tech Coast Angels , the largest angel investment group in Southern California, as well as the United States, said today that it has launched a new network which will syndicate deals between the firm and other angels. The angel group said the new Angel Syndication Network ties together the Tech Coast Angels, Golden Seeds, and the Band of Angels, and will make it easier for entrepreneurs to get funding.

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uSamp Updates Market Research Service

socalTECH

Encino-based uSamp , the provider of online, web-based sampling and polling services, said today that it has enhanced its self service SampleMarket service. According to the firm, the enhanced service allows users to add multiple suppliers of survey respondents to their market research projects, including both SampleMarket-sourced panelists as well as external sources; new toools to remove duplicate, fake, and other low-quality respondents from research samples; and more. uSamp's services are us

Research 157
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TrueCar Names CMO

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based TrueCar , the publisher of real-time automotive pricing information headed by Scott Painter, said yesterday afternoon that it has appointed Todd Daum as Chief Marketing Officer. Daum joins TrueCar from Automoti.com, where he was Chief Operating Officer. Automoti.com was sold to Hertz in 2009. Daum has also served at Overture Services/Yahoo, and also was at American Express.

Truecar 154