Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 7, 2011

I’ve written before about my love for Disqus. I’m not an investor – I just love the product. So now Facebook has a new commenting system. They’ve been around for a while and when they first announced this initiative I knew the day would come when people would start saying, “should I replace Disqus?&# I started telling people privately that I thought Google should buy Disqus for the same reasons Facebook wants to own commenting in the first place.

Blogging 287

Blogging Social Network Google Startup 287

socalTECH

MARCH 7, 2011

Recently, we ran into Edo Cohen , CEO of Los Angeles-based Seevolution (www.seevolution.com), a firm developing web site heat map tracking software. We talked with Edo about what his firm is up to. What is Seevolution all about? Edo Cohen: Seevolution is a real time analytics and heat map company for web sites and web applications. It will show you in real time, live, what people are clicking on, what people are looking at, and what they are paying attention to, and how far down a web site peopl

Web 255

Web Sites Startup Software 255

InfoChachkie

MARCH 10, 2011

Messenger: Clark Landry, Co-Founder, GraphEffect, Co-Founder, TagWorld (sold to Viacom) Co-Founder, Top Level Domain Holdings (AIM TLDH), Seed Investor Adconion and Traffic Marketplace (sold to Vivendi). Value Prop Twitter Style: GraphEffect is: “A product that helps clients advertise more effectively.

Advertising 174

Advertising Help Product Entrepreneur 174

Berkonomics

MARCH 7, 2011

Many companies have made the mistake of using the forecast to plan and executive hiring of new employees so that they could be trained and up to speed when the demand arrives. Although such a practice does add to overhead by bringing employees aboard before they become economic contributors to the bottom line, there is much to be said about service quality by having trained employees on the front line when the customers want and need them.

Training 159

Training Layoffs Demand Resource 159

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.

Company

Tech Coast Venture Network

MARCH 9, 2011

'A new study released by the Kauffman Foundation this week shows that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has the highest number of entrepreneurs per 100,000 people, of the top fifteen largest MSAs. According to the study of entrepreneurial activity in the United States, LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana had 620 entrepreneurs for every 100,000 people, beating out such areas as New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (360 per 100,000), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (5

Entrepreneur 147

Entrepreneur Long Beach Report Statistics 147

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2011

A new study released by the Kauffman Foundation this week shows that the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) has the highest number of entrepreneurs per 100,000 people, of the top fifteen largest MSAs. According to the study of entrepreneurial activity in the United States, LA-Long Beach-Santa Ana had 620 entrepreneurs for every 100,000 people, beating out such areas as New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (360 per 100,000), San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont (550

Entrepreneur 246

Entrepreneur Report Long Beach Statistics 246

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 9, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 -- Innovating a Traditional B2B Company. San Diego MIT Forum. Innovate or die is a common motto of business  especially when the market has matured to a point where the services are seen as a commodity and annual competitive bids are standard practice. So how does a well-established company release new solutions that are not intuitive to their current client base or sales team and make it a robust part of their service offering?

Company 124

Company Companies San Diego Competition 124

Tech Coast Venture Network

MARCH 6, 2011

'Wally Eater, one of our esteemed and longtime Executive Committee members, brought this Wall Street Journal article to my attention. It presents some excellent sites for entrepreneurs and is well worth a look. [link].

Sites 113

Sites Entrepreneur Journal Resource 113

socalTECH

MARCH 7, 2011

Hollywood-based FastCall411 , the developer of pay-per-call technology headed by Richard Rosen, has scored funding from Dave McClure's 500 Startups fund. FastCall411 was one of seven recipients of funding from the Twilio Startup Fund, a fund which looks to invest $250,000 in startups that use Twilio's telephony API. FastCall41 provides lead generation for local search publishers using Twilio.

Funding 242

Funding Hollywood Invest Startup 242

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 7, 2011

Based on my own experience and feedback from friends, every investor is approached by at least ten entrepreneurs with a “hot idea” for a new business, for every one who has a real “plan” for a new business. That’s why I often say that ideas are worth nothing, until they are put in the context of a business plan and real people committed to executing the plan.

Ideas 104

Ideas Entrepreneur Summary Startup 104

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 11, 2011

Thursday, March 17, 2011 -- India Rising. TiE SoCal in conjunction with Asia Society. A conversation with Studio Heads Andy Bird and Michael Grindon; Andy Bird, Chairman of Walt Disney International Chairman; Michael Grindon, former President of Sony International. Moderated by Navneet Chugh. Panel also includes Craig Dehemel, VP of Sales and Strategic Planning, Fox International; Venkatesh Roddam, CEO, VenSat; Jeffrey Brown, Jaya International; Sonia Bhalla, Assistant Director for Outsourced; C

SoCal 113

SoCal Southern California Outsource Entertainment 113

Tech Coast Venture Network

MARCH 9, 2011

'Investors and entrepreneurs who won at the fundraising game during and after the Great Recession offer advice on landing equity money. By Monica Mehta. After years of cloudy skies in Startupland, the sun is peeking out, and investors are tipping their toes back into the wading pool. Last year, venture capitalists and angels who co-invested with them placed $7 billion into seed and early-stage deals, an 11 percent increase from 2009, according to the most recent PricewaterhouseCoopers/National V

Tips 100

Tips Capital Tech Coast Angels Screening 100

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2011

Anthony Batt , the founder and Chief Creative Officer of BUZZmedia , has joined Katalyst , the digital media studio founded by Ashton Kutcher and Jason Goldberg. Katalyst said that Batt will lead the Katalyst team as President, and will help create content, recruit talent, and serve its brand clients. Katalyst was founded in 2000 by Goldberg and Kutcher, and includes clients such as Gatorage, Levi's Nikon, and Intel.

Buzznet 240

Buzznet Blogging Web Content 240

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 10, 2011

People who can’t manage their own lives don’t make good entrepreneurs. Small businesses require multi-tasking, work prioritization, and decision-making, with no entourage of assistants and specialists. That’s why Fortune 500 executives usually don’t survive as startup CEOs. First you have to learn to accept total responsibility for things that happen to your business, just like you are responsible for everything in your personal life.

Entrepreneur 99

Entrepreneur Startup Networking Customer 99

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 11, 2011

Thursday, March 17, 2011 -- OCTANe Building Blocks - Websites: Reloaded. A successful website can make or break a small business. Popping up first or second when a user is searching for a specific service (or product) can net more business than a word-of-mouth recommendation or expensive marketing campaign. However, you cant take advantage of the World Wide Web by simply buying a domain name and attaching some content to it.

OCTANE 113

OCTANE .Net Startup Web 113

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 7, 2011

Spotlight: LA Tech was a huge success as Efren posted last week. For those that missed it, there is a full rebroadcast on Techzulu.com. Each startup did a great job pitching their dreams an vision, but we want to dig a little deeper. This segment we will call the TZ Startup Hot Seat and first to get grilled is Cliff Elion with You Rock Guitar. Visit TechZulu for full story.

Startup 85

Startup 85

socalTECH

MARCH 9, 2011

Not satisfied with creating just another mobile application for the iPhone platform, Santa Monica-based startup, IPPLEX , this week introduced an application to help the visually impaired or blind. According to IPPLEx, it has released a new application called the LookTel Money Reader , a new iPhone application which visually recognizes US currency and will speak the denomination of that bill.

Help 238

Help Startup Santa Monica Mobile 238

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2011

Starting a business is a lot like starting a marriage. At first, all parties are in dreamland, with a vision of changing the world, having lots of fun, and raking in the profits. But all too soon, reality sets in. Product development is stuck at that 90% mark, a key person leaves, and customers are talking but not buying. In his book Reality Check , Guy Kawasaki summarizes some of the key issues.

Startup 98

Startup Press Design Sales 98

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 9, 2011

Tuesday, March 15, 2011 -- Preparing for Investment. In the current start-up environment, executives need to take steps to prepare their company for receiving outside investment long before approaching potential investors. In this workshop, Charles Bair, Patrick Loofbourrow and Ken Rollins at Cooley LLP will discuss capital investment issues for emerging companies and how best to structure your company in advance of funding considerations.

Invest 113

Invest Startup Capital Funding 113

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 7, 2011

The TZ Startup Hot Seat continues with Alex Backer from Qless. Can he handle our questions, or will the Hot Seat get the best of him? Visit TechZulu for full story.

Startup 82

Startup 82

socalTECH

MARCH 8, 2011

Burbank-based Warner Bros. said Monday that it is beginning to test renting movies via Facebook , using Facebook Credits, allowing consumers to watch movies directly from the social networking site. According to Warner, its first title is The Dark Knight, which it will be renting for 30 Facebook Credits, or $3. Warner said it plans to roll out additional titles in the testing of the effort.

Burbank 232

Burbank Social Network Screening Networking 232

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 8, 2011

Where did this pervasive sense of entitlement in our culture come from? I’ve written about this before, but I was surprised again recently at a conference for startups when a couple of entrepreneurs started berating investors for their low rate of funding for early-stage startups. It sounded a bit like other special interest groups crying for their entitled government programs.

Funding 96

Funding Startup Satisfaction Customer 96

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 11, 2011

Thursday, March 17, 2011 -- Is Your Head in the Clouds? Your Infrastructure's Future Is! TechAmerica. Don't build your infrastructure one server at a time.use the Cloud to leverage pooled resources, maximize efficiency and lower overall operating costs. In this timely presentation, we'll take a closer look at companies that have successfully incorporated cloud computing into their growth strategy, and how you can follow their lead to make it work for you!

Cloud Computing 100

Cloud Computing Resource Company Companies 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 9, 2011

The third installment of TZ Startup Hot Seat features Michael Schneider of Mobile Roadie. Michael is a man of few words however his platform speaks volumes to businesses and consumers that want to make inexpensive apps. Let's take a look at Michael's answer. Visit TechZulu for full story.

Mobile 71

Mobile Startup Platform 71

socalTECH

MARCH 11, 2011

A battle in the war against online retailers has been lost in Illinois, after Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed a bill yesterday taxing online retailers with affiliates in that state. The bill is the latest to target online retailers--in particular, Amazon.com--who use affiliate marketing to drive customers to their sites. Illinois, which follows states such as Colorado, North Carolina, and Rhode Island to pass similar laws, is hoping to bolster the state's balance sheet by forcing Internet ret

High Tech 203

High Tech Sites Marketing Sales 203

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 9, 2011

Continuous innovation is required to survive in all businesses, beginning with your startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. Technologists often insist that new things can’t be invented on a schedule, but successful companies seem to be able to do it on a regular basis. Many people have tried to define a process for innovation, but most are too abstract for me.

Coach 93

Coach Ideas IP Sales 93

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 10, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 -- Ready for Financing. TechBizConnect. Were not in the Bubble of the late 90s, nor are we in the early 2000s when the Bubble had burst. Were past the economic recovery of the middle 2000s, and many economic indicators seem to suggest that we are just now coming out of the Great Recession of the late 2000s. So, what does all of this mean for a technology company that is considering obtaining outside financing, whether to develop and launch a new product or

Funding 100

Funding Invest Marketing Technology 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 11, 2011

Company Name VigLink Information Release Date 3/10/2011 Transaction Type Venture Equity Amount $5,400,000 Round Series B Proceeds Purpose The financing will be used to accelerate VigLink’s hiring in support of product development and expansion into new content verticals and geographies. VentureDeal.com. Visit TechZulu for full story.

Funding 40

Funding Equity Content Product 40

socalTECH

MARCH 7, 2011

Los Angeles-based DONE! Ventures , the Internet marketing firm headed by Ben Padnos , the former founder of BetterPPC, said today that it has received a trial date in its lawsuit against NBC Universal. DONE! had sued NBC over a failed domain name sale back in May of 2010, after it said NBC Universal agreed to sell the company Women.com and Women.net in via domain name broker Sedo.

Tsavo 203

Tsavo Sales Email Los Angeles 203

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 5, 2011

I deal often with early-stage startups, and many of these don’t have any customers yet (but wish they did), so it’s not surprising they still don’t think of customers as their friends. More disturbingly, others do have customers, but the customer service program consists of an informal focus on “problems,” rather than a proactive effort to establish a positive relationship with friends.

Customer 90

Customer Custom Startup Training 90

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 10, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 -- MIT Forum: More With Less: Energy Efficiency Tomorrow and Today. Central Coast MIT Forum. An energy crisis looms. Along with developing renewable energy sources and energy efficiency both by academia and the private sector, the cutting edge technology that will make a difference is being developed right here on the South Coast.

Entrepreneur 100

Entrepreneur Technology Develop Development 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 11, 2011

Company Name RadiumOne Information Release Date 3/10/2011 Transaction Type Venture Equity Amount $21,000,000 Round Series B Proceeds Purpose The Company, which reached profitability in Q4, will use its existing and new capital for potential acquisitions designed to give the company additional resources and tools to effectively scale. VentureDeal.com.

Equity 40

Equity Resource Design Tool 40

socalTECH

MARCH 11, 2011

For Friday's interview, we thought we'd hear the pitch from Matthew Smith, the CEO of Los Angeles-based Nevolution (www.nevolution.com), a very early startup developing an "app store" for PCs. What is Nevolution all about? Matthew Smith: Our company, Nevolution, has spent the last 18 months developing our first product Avennu, which is essentially an app store for PCs.

USC 199

USC Startup Software Los Angeles 199

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2011

Last night I had the great privilege to interview Bill Gross , one of the Internet’s true pioneers. To say he has had an impact on the web would be an understatement. His impact has even helped a small country gain admission to the United Nations. All of that are in this week’s episode of This Week in VC. Summary notes, as always, provide below.

Competition 350

Competition Idealab Product CitySearch 350

SoCal Tech Calendar

MARCH 10, 2011

Wednesday, March 16, 2011 -- Paving The Path To Defeat Cancer. Broads Circle. Speaker: Carla Mann Woods, Vice President, Strategic Planning and Program Development, Alfred E. Mann Foundation for Biomedical Engineering.

Develop 100

Develop Development 100

Tech Zulu Event

MARCH 10, 2011

Company Name Astute Medical Information Release Date 3/8/2011 Transaction Type Venture Equity Amount $13,000,000 Round Series B Proceeds Purpose Astute will use the funding to advance research and development aimed at the identification and validation of protein biomarkers with the goal of commercializing high potential diagnostic products. VentureDeal.com.

Funding 40

Funding Equity Research Product 40