Both Sides of the Table
APRIL 25, 2011
This post originally appeared on TechCrunch. There’s a line of thinking in Silicon Valley that you should build product businesses rather than services businesses. This thinking is largely driven by the venture capital industry (and subsequently Wall Street) who are in search of high margin, highly scalable businesses. It’s nearly impossible to get a services company financed by VCs.
SoCal CTO
APRIL 27, 2011
Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. The first thing I do is suggest they explore if they really need to hire a full-time CTO for their startup and if so, what kind of CTO they need. There's a lot on my blog already around this topic.
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InfoChachkie
APRIL 25, 2011
As I noted in Why Most Business Books (Still) Suck , I am generally not a fan of business books. Although many are entertaining, most fail to provide entrepreneurs with a sufficient return on their time investment. If you are a leader at a startup and you are reading a business book, you are not closing customers, raising capital, improving your product, or spending time with your loved ones.
socalTECH
APRIL 26, 2011
Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the provider of local online marketing services to small and medium sized businesses, said Tuesday that it has become a global premier Google AdWords partner. The firm said the strategic partnership with Google will "accelerate the delivery" of Google's AdWords advertising to local businesses. Details of how the partnership works between the firms were not disclosed.
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
APRIL 23, 2011
I’ve just finished a week away from the office for Spring Break, which was much needed. I’m now back & ready for action. I took the opportunity this past week to publish summary notes of some of the VCs and entrepreneurs I had interviewed on This Week in VC. Back to regular writing this week so check back in. One of my goals in doing the show was not only to educate entrepreneurs but also to put a human face on many of the VCs in our industry as VCs can be hard to get to know.
SoCal CTO
APRIL 27, 2011
Several people have recently come to me to help them source and/or hire full-time CTOs for their startup having found me through my post that looks at: Startup CTO Salary and Equity Data. The first thing I do is suggest they explore if they really need to hire a full-time CTO for their startup and if so, what kind of CTO they need. There's a lot on my blog already around this topic.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
socalTECH
APRIL 25, 2011
Woodland Hills-based Nevolution said today that it has raised $450,000 in an angel investment round, for the development of its Windows App Store. Nevolution said the round was led by Don Walerstein, founding partner of entertainment law firm Rohner & Walerstein, and also included Bradley Maryman, founder and president of international security and technical consulting firm Maryman & Associates.
Berkonomics
APRIL 25, 2011
A. Accumulate or acquire (product line, breadth of services). M. Marketing or merchandising (expert and diligent use of resources). D. Distribution (adding channels and reinforcing relationships). Let me credit CEO Erik Hovanec ( www.leisurelink.com ) for this one, whether he originated it or recast it from his past. As his chairman, I have watched him masterfully focus his employees all toward a common theme aligned with the company’s goals.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 28, 2011
Wednesday, May 4, 2011 -- Alternative Clean Transportation Expo. Launching in Southern Californiaa region with twenty five years of groundbreaking alternative fuel vehicle technology successACT Expo provides a sharp focus on the world of Alternative Clean Transportation. Plan to attend for the latest information on funding opportunities, regulatory policies, and inside details on new and emerging technologies.
Eric Greenspan
APRIL 25, 2011
It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy with a new baby, a challenging economy and now a divorce. Divorce is difficult, even if you want it to happen. My wife and I have 10 years of memories that I hope to cherish once again when I’m over the pain and challenges of the process, a process I’m sadly already familiar with.
socalTECH
APRIL 28, 2011
Earlier this month, Fullerton-based HipGeo (www.hipgeo.com) announced a $500,000 funding round from Morado Venture Partners, the seed fund of ex-Yahoo executives Ash Patel and Michael Marquez, eHarmony's Galen Buckwalter, and San Diego angel investor Bob Bingham. Rich Rygg is a co-founder of the company, who explains to us what exactly HipGeo is, and what they're hoping to do.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 26, 2011
I don’t have an MBA. I used to fear that this would put me at a disadvantage in starting my own company, but now I’m convinced that it may be the other way around. In some recent surveys, as many as two-thirds of entrepreneurs felt that their entrepreneurial spirit was more ingrained than learned, so a specific education level is at least irrelevant.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 29, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011 -- Alternative Clean Transportation Expo. Launching in Southern Californiaa region with twenty five years of groundbreaking alternative fuel vehicle technology successACT Expo provides a sharp focus on the world of Alternative Clean Transportation. Plan to attend for the latest information on funding opportunities, regulatory policies, and inside details on new and emerging technologies.
Eric Greenspan
APRIL 25, 2011
It’s been a while since my last post. I’ve been busy with a new baby, a challenging economy and now a divorce. Divorce is difficult, even if you want it to happen. My wife and I have 10 years of memories that I hope to cherish once again when I’m over the pain and challenges of the process, a process I’m sadly already familiar with.
socalTECH
APRIL 26, 2011
Los Angeles area entrepreneurs, investors, and startups have gotten to know Paige Craig fairly well over the last few years, as he's made many investments in the local ecosystem. Craig has recently uncloaked his stealth startup, BetterWorks (www.betterworks.com), focused on helping companies to manage and offer fringe benefits to their employees. We sat down with Paige to get more details on what exactly BetterWorks is doing, and why--plus why he's focused in on the B2B area.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 29, 2011
The average length of a funding pitch to angel investors is ten minutes. Even if you have booked an hour with a VC, you should plan to talk only for the first fifteen minutes. The biggest complaint I hear from investors is that startup founders often talk way too long, and neglect to cover the most relevant points. Or they get sidetracked by a technical glitch due to poor preparation.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 27, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 -- Investment in Digital Media. Panel discussion exploring current investment trends in digital media. Sponsored by DLA Piper and Silicon Valley Bank. PANELISTS: Jon Funk, Managing Director, Ocean Road Partners (former Managing Partner, Allegis Capital) Stephen Hughes, Senior Relationship Manager, Silicon Valley Bank Stephen Royer, President and CEO, Shamrock Capital David Travers, Partner, Rustic Canyon Partners David Young, Head of Southern California Corporate and Finance
Tech Zulu Event
APRIL 25, 2011
Join us tonight live at 8pm PST from UCLA Korn Hall for Digital LA’s Branded Entertainment panel right here on TechZulu. They’ll discuss how content creators and brands work together to create, develop, and market digital branded entertainment. Scheduled speakers include. David Beebe, ABC Digital Studio. Director, oversees creative development and physical production of derivative webisodes (Grey’s Anatomy, Cougar Town, Ugly Betty, etc.), original series (EMHE Life With Confide
socalTECH
APRIL 29, 2011
Santa Monica-based Boingo Wireless , the Wi-Fi network provider, is expected to debut next week in its IPO, according to the NASDAQ's upcoming IPO calendar. Boingo is expected to debut on Wednesday. Boingo has indicated that it will sell 5,770,000 shares of its stock at between $12.00 and $14.00 per share, trading on the NASDAQ Global Market as WIFI.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 23, 2011
A term I’m hearing more and more these days is “social entrepreneur.” In the simplest of terms, these are people who seek to generate “social value”, rather than profits, and use traditional business principles to create and manage a venture to make social change. On the surface, this sounds like entrepreneurs who want to build a non-profit organization.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 26, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011 -- Gartner BI Summit provides the insights, frameworks and best practices to implement BI, analytics and performance management initiatives that drive better decision-making and business performance across the organization. Through a unique mix of analyst and peer interaction, it helps you make the case, drive adoption, create and sustain successful BI strategies.
Tech Zulu Event
APRIL 27, 2011
TechZulu and Walker Corporate Law Group have come together to bring you the must know legal mistakes you could be making when building your startup. Topics of Discussion: 83(b) elections. employment issues. protecting your IP. stock option plans. diligencing your investors. and more…. This is part two of a two-part series. The presentation will last 30 minutes and then there will be 30 minutes for Q&A.
socalTECH
APRIL 29, 2011
Santa Barbara-based RingRevenue , the developer of pay-per-call technology for the affiliate marketing industry, told its customers Friday that it has moved into a new space on East Figueroa Street in Santa Barbara. The firm said the move comes as it needed to accommodate new team members. The firm said it added four new team members so far this month, and has a number of other positions open at the company.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 24, 2011
I just read the Q1 2011 report from CB Insights , which shows venture capital is back. Overall, investors put $7.5 billion to work across 738 financing deals with U.S. startups. That represents a $1.5 billion jump in funding over the same quarter of 2010 with a similar number of deals, so it clearly shows a trend to larger deal sizes for fewer startups.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 29, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011 -- 2011 California Clean Innovation Conference. The 5th annual California Clean Innovation (CACI) Conference is a forum for investors, entrepreneurs, managers, and students to review the current clean technology trends and commercially viable innovations. The 2011 CACI Conference will be held at the Price Center at UC San Diego, one of the most sustainable universities in the country.
Jason Nazar
APRIL 28, 2011
One of the most common themes I talk about is starting a new business, and among that topic answering the question of Why. A lot of us naturally ask things in the beginning like “what should I do&# or “how do I do that&# , but those aren’t the most important questions to ask. Here is my explanation of why WHY is the most important questions when starting out.
socalTECH
APRIL 25, 2011
Scott Lahman is co-founder of Los Angeles-based GOGII (www.gogii.com), the developer of group text messaging application textPlus. Lahman is also one of the co-founders of JAMDAT Mobile, the immensely successful developer of mobile games, which had an IPO in 2004, and eventually became part of Electronic Arts in 2006. We spoke with Scott about GOGII and textPlus, the shifting mobile market, and also what lessons he's applied to his new startup.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 25, 2011
Potential startup founders are always looking for ideas to implement, when they should be looking for problems to solve. Customers pay for solutions, but there is no market for ideas. I’m often approached by people with a “million dollar idea,” but I haven’t seen anyone pay that for one yet. Equally often, I see startups who are on the road to implementing an idea, but haven’t figured out what problem it solves – the business plan waxes on eloquently for 20 pages about how great this product and
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 29, 2011
Thursday, May 5, 2011 -- LA CEOs, an education and support group for CEOs presents: The Game Layer. Apply gamification expertise to all those areas of your business where you could use more engagement, commitment and fun? The practice has ramifications for education, civic life, health care, and industry. Our featured speaker is Thom Kozik. A veteran of the online and free-to-play game segments.
Tech Zulu Event
APRIL 25, 2011
At Techzulu we get the amazing opportunity to attend and participate in events that focus on building and exploring new business opportunities. With ImTech ’s “Era of Experience” night, the focus was on the building of not just businesses and projects, but the expansion of a whole new industry. The term Immersive technology refers to technologies that bridge the gap between the physical and digital world.
socalTECH
APRIL 27, 2011
Woodland Hills-based Music Reports , a provider of music royalty tracking and reporting services, said today that it has linked with cloud music provider Omnifone. The comapny said it will manage mechanical licensing and royalty reporting for Omnifone's MusicStation Platform in the United States. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Omnifone provides cloud music services to consumer electronics, ISP, mobile, and automotive firms.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 28, 2011
If your startup is looking for an angel investor, does it makes sense to present your plan to flocks of angels, and assume that at least one will swoop down and scoop you up? In reality, hitting large numbers of angels in multiple locations with a generic pitch is one of the least productive approaches. Here are five key things you need to know to quickly find the right angel for your startup: Angels invest in people, more often than they invest in ideas.
SoCal Tech Calendar
APRIL 28, 2011
Tuesday, May 3, 2011 -- Bio Science Alliance Event. Effective resource support and collaboration is necessary for the the growth and progress of the bio/life/science industry. The Bio Science Alliance, formerly The BioTech Forum is happy to continue this effort. DR. CHUNCHANG FANG (formerly with FDA). Dr. Fang will discuss ways in which life science companies can effectively navigate their overseas realtionships.
Tech Zulu Event
APRIL 26, 2011
If you use Yelp, Twitter, Foursquare, Gowalla, GPS navigation, movie searches or anything like those on your mobile device, then you use Location based apps. The Where 2.0 conference , and Wherecamp are largely set around location, hence the word Where in the names. Since the days of Star Trek, it was the dream of many to have portable communicators.
socalTECH
APRIL 27, 2011
San Diego-based Qualcomm has released a platform for developing augmented reality (AR) software for Android, the firm announced this morning. The firm said the software, available via its beta program, allows users to build, market, and distribute applications based on its Qualcomm AR platform. Qualcomm's software allows users to build interactive, 3D experiences which interact with real world images on printed media, such as books, magazines, tickets, signs, and product packaging.
Startup Professionals Musings
APRIL 27, 2011
Blogging has come a long way in the past few years, from a social release for narcissists, to today’s required vehicle for promoting your consulting business and gaining valuable online exposure. Even with product businesses, it’s the ultimate way to build your brand credibility, bring in customer leads, and get feedback from your target market. Let me be clear – a product or consulting startup today without a blog, even with a static website, risks not being competitive in cost and time to reac
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