Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “ Top deal maker in Los Angeles in Venture Capital.” Numero uno. I was nowhere to be found. And that’s a true reflection of just how successful and prolific Greg has been in LA. In a world that is hyper competitive – even amongst VCs – I can honestly say that not only is the media recognition accurate but it is amongst the proudest days I’ve had in dev

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APRIL 15, 2016

How do you help online brand owners both reduce the abandonment of a shopping cart by online shoppers�and also get the word out about their brands? Los Angeles-based Gatsby (www.thinkgatsby.com) has come up with a way to combine both ways to promote social sharing, as well as reduce shopping cart abandonment, via discounts which change depending on your social influence and sharing activity.

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Social Media Social Network Examples Startup 155

InfoChachkie

APRIL 14, 2016

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. We’ve all met them. The world’s out to get them. Every boss, coworker and subordinate is scheming to assure their demise. Setbacks are never their fault. They are a victim. Victims are bad enough in our personal lives, but they can be especially disastrous at a startup because a small company’s culture can be disproportionately poisoned by a single bad hire.

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Sales Marketing Startup Resource 148

Berkonomics

APRIL 14, 2016

As a leader, you set the goals, establish the strategies and tactics to get there (with help from others of course) and sell the dream to all of your stakeholders. And that includes potential customers as well as executives and employees. Sometimes growth happens without a leader envisioning it, living it daily, evangelizing it to anyone who will listen.

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Education Metrics Course Resource 139

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

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 10, 2016

My partner Greg Bettinelli (worth following on Twitter) was recently named by The LA Business Journal as the “Top deal maker in Los Angeles… Continue reading on Medium »

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Journal Venture Capital Los Angeles Angel 152

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2016

Santa Monica-based Demand Media has sold Cracked , its online humor site, to the E.W. Scripps Company , in a deal worth $39M in cash, the companies said late Tuesday. According to Demand Media, the move will give it a "more focused portfolio of businesses", and also "significantly" strengthen its balance sheet. Demand Media acquired Cracked in 2007.

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Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 14, 2016

With over 150,000 people drawn to Austin in this year’s SXSW only one was crowned as one of the most photographed woman in the festival. Nope it wasn’t selfie queen Kim K. West, it wasn’t even the first lady, Michelle Obama, who graced the stage as a keynote speaker, actually it wasn’t even a human being. The title goes to Sophia, the beautiful and brilliant humanoid robot created by Hanson Robotics.

Artificial Inteligence 50

Artificial Inteligence Snapchat Design Hollywood 50

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2016

Like many immigrant families and many Jewish families I grew up around a kitchen table, often outside my house and experiencing food… Continue reading on Medium »

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APRIL 13, 2016

Pasadena-based engineering firm Jacobs Engineering Group said Tuesday that it has acquired The Van Dyke Technology Group , a 180-person cybersecurity firm. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. The Van Dyke Technology Group is based in Maryland, and provides its cybersecurity services for the U.S. Intelligence Community and for classified government networks.

Technology 116

Technology Pasadena Acquisition Networking 116

Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 9, 2016

Technical entrepreneurs love to compare the number of features in their product to competitors, and they love to keep adding features -- just because they can. Unfortunately, this approach often turns off mainstream customers, who find the result hard to use. Even worse, this “feature creep” often makes the final product late to market, sluggish and more expensive than competition.

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Product Competition Customer Custom 61

Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 15, 2016

Where do you go if you want to buy a bumper pack of Fujifilm Instant Film, a latex sports girdle, or party game Cards Against Humanity? These are, in fact, some of the best sellers on the world’s leading e-commerce site, Amazon. While this might reveal some concerning societal shopping habits, you can’t deny that Amazon offers a huge number of products and some of the best discounts around.

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Pricing Commerce Sites Startup 40

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 11, 2016

Like many immigrant families and many Jewish families I grew up around a kitchen table, often outside my house and experiencing food, culture, life and other people through meals. I remember fondly my dad (from Colombia) wanting to eat out of the house and experience the best multi-cultural foods one could actually find in middle-class, suburban Sacramento in the 70s & 80s.

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socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2016

West Hollywood-based Ticketmaster is getting set to start selling tickets directly within Facebook by the end of the month, according to reports. The company said the move will provide a more seamless purchase experience , and ultimately sell more tickets, particularly around events. READ MORE>>.

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Startup Professionals Musings

APRIL 13, 2016

It’s still popular these days for startup founders to operate in stealth mode, meaning no details about the idea or progress are shared with anyone until the big reveal and rollout. The common reason given is that this prevents any competitor from stealing their idea and beating them to market. In my view, this paranoid approach costs them much more than the risk of being open.

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Tech Zulu Event

APRIL 10, 2016

techzulu posted a photo: via Instagram bit.ly/1NjolHo.

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APRIL 11, 2016

Los Angeles-based Velocify , the developer of leads management and sales software, has rolled out a new tool call SalesCaddy. According to Velocify, the new tool uses social and professional networks to help its users discover and convert potential buyers. Velocify said the tool includes two features--implemented as browser plugins--SocialCaddy and MailCaddy.

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socalTECH

APRIL 11, 2016

The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft has successfully mated to the International Space Station's Harmony module on Sunday, at 9:57 a.m. EDT, after a successful launch into space of the SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday. According to NASA, the Dragon is delivering around 7,000 pounds of material for science and research investigations for its Expedition 47 mission, including a new, inflatable activity module from Bigelow Aerospace.

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socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2016

Los Angeles-based Ponder , a new startup backed by Tinder founders Sean Rad and Justin Mateen, along with Mark Cuban and Greylock Partners, has launched a new photo and video sharing app. The new app applies the swipe left-and-right ethos of Tinder to photos and videos, letting users "push" or "pass" on any photo and video to match users up to other people with similar tastes.

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APRIL 15, 2016

Beacon , the new, all-you-can fly startup led by former Surf Air founder Wade Eyerly, has shut down, after burning through all of its cash--and never getting off the ground. According to a report from TechCrunch, Beacon apparently was unable to cover all of its expenses as it ramped up its operations, having relied on "pre-selling" spots on its all-you-can-fly service--but finding that most of those people who had paid a deposit to reserve a spot on the airline were unwilling to sign up for its

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socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2016

Los Angeles-based cybersecurity software developer LIeberman Software said this week that it has partnered with FireEye , to better respond to data breaches and threats. According to the company, its new integration triggers rapid, real time credential rotation for systems, whenever a cyber threat is identified, making it more difficult for attackers to gain access to systems.

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socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2016

Laguna Hills-based medical device developer Glaukos Corporation reported late Thursday that co-founder Olav Bergheim is retiring from its board of directors. Bergheim has been a member of the company's board of directors since he co-founded Glaukos in 1998. Glaukos said Bergheim will remain on the board for the remainder of his term, which runs until June 2nd.

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socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2016

Los Angeles-based native advertising technology developer Nativo said this week that it has named Eugene Cherny, a former Google executive, as its new Vice President of Product. Nativo said that Cherny was previously manger of Google's TrueView In-display product, a native ad unit used on YouTube and Google. Nativo is led by Justin Choi, and venture backed by Greycroft Partners, Signia Ventures, Bertelsmann Digital Media Investment, and e.ventures.

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APRIL 15, 2016

Torrance-based Sysrepublic , a developer of analytics software used by retailers to reduce shrinkage and returns fraud, has been acquired by Kentucky-based Appriss. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Appriss said it will merge Sysrepublic into its retail division, The Retail Equation, focused on retail exception-based reporting and return fraud solutions.

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Torrance Acquisition Report Software 109

socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2016

San Diego-based life sciences equipment maker Illumina has created a new, $100M venture capital fund, the company said Thursday afternoon, which will focus on investments in early stage companies that are pioneering new applications of nucleic acid sequencing, developing products that will expand the genomics ecosystem, and utilizing genomics to improve human health.

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APRIL 14, 2016

Los Angeles-based Faraday Future , the stealthy electric automobile company backed by a Chinese billionaire, broke ground on what it said will be a $1 billion facility in North Las Vegas on Wednesday, which it says it will use to build its yet-to-be-announced production vehicles. In an echo of Tesla Motors, the company said it will be using solar, wind, and geo-thermal energy to power its "environmentally conscious endeavor", and that it will use "sustainably sourced parts" to build its producti

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socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2016

Santa Monica-based customer relationship management and contact management software developer Nimble said today that it has connected into Google Apps for Work, via the Google for Work Partner Program. According to Nimble, the company said it has bundled Google Apps for Work with Nimble , automatically using information from Gmail, Contacts, Calendar, and Drie to helps support sales and marketing efforts for companies.

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socalTECH

APRIL 14, 2016

Los Angeles-based cloud software developer BeBop Technology , which provides software for the media and entertainment industry, said today that it has expanded its operations in both Canada and Europe. The company said it has opened up a sales and support office in Vancouver, California; opened up a data center in Ireland; and tied with a British company, BASE Media Cloud, in London.

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Technology Entertainment Sales Software Development 109

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APRIL 13, 2016

Los Angeles-based mPulse Mobile , which develops mobile healthcare software, has upped its recent funding round to $13M. The company--which announced the first tranche of a Series A in January, worth $10M--said the new funding came from Cambia Health Solutions and Rincon Venture Partners. The first tranche came from HLM Venture Partners, OCA Ventures, Merrick Ventures and Jumpstart Ventures. mPulse Mobile is led by Chris Nicholson, and develops software to help remind people about appointments,

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Mobile Funding Los Angeles Software 109

socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2016

Orange, California-based LRES , a provider of real estate appraisal management and property valuation services and technology, said Wednesday that it has acquired InsideValuation , a company providing commercial and residential property evalutaions. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. InsideValuatio nwas based in Reno, Nevada. READ MORE>>.

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socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2016

Irvine-based property information provider CoreLogic has named a new CFO, saying that it has appointed James L. Balas to its top finance position. Balas had been serving as Senior Vice President Finance, Controller, and Principal Accounting Officer at CoreLogic since 2012, and had been at the company since March of 2011. Balas replaces former CFO Frank Martell, who had been CFO since August of 2011.

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socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2016

Experian said Tuesday afternoon that it is expanding in San Diego, and has opened up a new data and innovation lab in the city to help focused on advanced data analysis processes, research and development. According to Experian, San Diego has become a "hot bed for data scientists", and that it "couldn't find a better place" in the United States for an environment for its data scientists.

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socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2016

San Diego-based Maxwell Technologies has sold off its microelectronics product line, in a deal worth $21M in cash, the company said Tuesday. Maxwell said it is selling its microelectronics product line to Data Device Corporation, a subsidiary of ILC Industries; the deal includes all assets and certain liabities related to that line of products. Maxwell Technologies is a developer of energy storage devices based on ultracapacitors.

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socalTECH

APRIL 13, 2016

Thousand Oaks-based Teledyne Technologies announced this morning that it has acquired the assets of Quantum Data , a provider of electronic test and measurement instrumentation, particularly in the area of video protocol analysis. Financial details of the transaction were not announced. Quantum Data is base in Elgin, Illinois, and will join Teledyne's test and measurement subsidiary, Teledyne LeCroy.

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socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2016

Los Angeles-based movie ticketing site Fandango has jumped on the Facebook bot bandwagon, saying Tuesday at Facebook's F8 conference that it will be launching its own, Fandango bot, which will book movie tickets via Facebook Messenger. Fandango said its bot will provide access to movie information, trailers, show times, advance ticketing, and more from mobile devices.

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APRIL 12, 2016

Los Angeles-based XPRIZE Foundation , which has been running a series of grand challenges aimed at spurring solutions to some of the world's toughest problems, said today that it has named Marcus Shingles as its new Chief Executive Officer. Former CEO and founder Peter Diamandis remains as Chairman of the company. Shingles was most recently part of Deloitte Consulting's Innovation Group, and also previously served at Kellogg Company, Ernst & Young LLP, and as a startup founder.

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IBM IBM Google Competition 109

socalTECH

APRIL 12, 2016

Pasadena-based Green Dot says it has named three, new, independent directors to its board of directors late Monday. According to Green Dot, it has named J. Chris Brewster, Rajeev V. Date and William I. Jacobs, with non-independent director Samuel Altman--president of Y Combinator--stepping down from the board. Green Dot says it now has ten directors of the company, with nine independent directors.

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