Sat.Nov 15, 2014 - Fri.Nov 21, 2014

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Why Entrepreneurs Should Be Respected More Than Loved

Both Sides of the Table

'One of the vivid memories I have from being a startup CEO is the feeling that most people in your company have a look in their eyes that like they can do your job as well as you. How hard could it be? You just assign out tasks to all of us. In the early days the CEO is the jack-of-all-trades, doer-of-all, famously the “chief janitor” or coffee maker.

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CurbStand Takes Valet Parking To The Trails

socalTECH

'In a "that''s so LA" moment, Los Angeles-based on-demand, valet parking app provider CurbStand is taking its valet parking service to the popular Runyon Canyon hiking trail in Hollywood, saying it will let users valet park their autos at the popular hiking/running trail this weekend. Curbstand said it will offer the parking for $5 on both Saturday (November 22nd) and Sunday (November 23rd) between 9am and 4pm, and also set up employees on the trail to strategically make sure hikers'' cars are i

Hollywood 233
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Don’t make assertions that will later prove untrue.

Berkonomics

'Sometimes it is easy for someone at the top of an organization to make a statement that, in the enthusiasm of the moment or to make a point, crosses the line between fact and fiction. Sometimes it seems to you to be just an unimportant little stretch of the facts. An estimate of the number of customers, of the amount of traffic to your website, of the numbers of products sold or hours spent in development – there are thousands of areas where a number sounds better when it is larger.

Customer 189
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Leadership Lessons Obama and McConnell Should Learn

InfoChachkie

'Imagine what it would be like to run your startup like a divided government. Approximately half the company would fervently execute your plans, even when they obviously made no sense. The other half would obstruct your recommendations, including those clearly in the company''s best interest. Sound insane? Welcome to the next two years of American politics.

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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 Optimize Entrepreneurial Learning In School

Startup Professionals Musings

'A popular myth these days is that finishing college only dilutes your entrepreneurial instincts, and the best of the best, including Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg, dropped out early to hasten their success. I agree with Robert E. Litan, former VP of research at the Kauffman Foundation, that these are exceptions to the rule, rather than a model to emulate.

Writing 111
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ventureLab Takes On Startup Incubation

socalTECH

'Los Angeles-based ventureLab Growth Partners said Tuesday afternoon that it has launched a new "startup studio" to invest in and build early stage startups. The new startup studio is led by Mike Prasad. According to ventureLab, it will provide seed funding, along with product, marketing, and opertional support to its companies. The company did not say how much funding it intends to provide to startups. ventureLab is currently targeting companies in the area of advertising technology, social/gam

Incubator 229

More Trending

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The Silent Killer – The Company Your Community Never Created

Both Sides of the Table

'I was at a dinner recently in Chicago and the table discussion was about building great companies outside of Silicon Valley. Of course this can be done and of course I am a big proponent of the rise of startup centers across the country as the Internet has moved from the “infrastructure phase” to the “application phase” dominated by the three C’s: content, communications and commerce.

Company 369
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10 Trust Secrets You Need To Practice In Business

Startup Professionals Musings

'One of the first harsh realities that every entrepreneur has to learn is that most of the things that are critical to startup success are outside of their direct control. Just because you dream it and build it, doesn’t mean they will come – that encompasses not only customers, but also investors, partners, team members, and even your own family. They won’t come if they don’t trust you.

Startup 109
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eBay Launches Local Shopping App In San Diego

socalTECH

'eBay has launched a new, local buying and selling app called Close 5 this week in San Diego, aimed at helping users buy and sell products to other local users. eBay said the app offers up user profiles and is a safer option to traditional, anonymous classifieds. The free app runs on iPhone and Android. Close 5 is initially targeting people looking to clear clutter from their home, and is also running a launch promotion that will award a closet or garage makeover for users who submit a photo of

San Diego 212
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Will hundreds of new domains complicate your online trademarks?

Tech Zulu Event

'Everyone knows what it means to have a “dot-com”, and most people have heard of a “dot-net” and a “dot-org.” But the Internet is growing far beyond these original generic top-level domains (also known as gTLDs.) Over the past few years the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has created a flood of new gTLDs covering a wide variety of concepts, locations and products.

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Soci Gets $1.5M For Social Media Marketing

socalTECH

'San Diego-based Soci , a developer of a social content discovery engine and social media marketing software product, has raised $1.5M in a Series A funding. The company said the round was led by angel Peter Fischer (Shepherd Ventures) and Silicon Valley Growth Syndicate. Soci, led by Afif Khoury, develops a social content discovery and marketing engine.

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Honk Launches On Demand Roadside Help Service, Raises $1.8M

socalTECH

'Have a flat tire, locked yourself out of your car, or need a tow--but not a member of a roadside assistance service? Santa Monica-based Honk has launched a service for you, specifically to let you summon roadside help using your smartphone--without a membership. Honk, which launched this morning, said that it has launched nationwide to help connect drivers with more than 20,000 tow and roadside assistance drivers nationwide.

Help 190
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Slacker Radio Links Into Toyota, Lexus

socalTECH

'San Diego-based Slacker Radio , which operates a streaming radio service, has scored a big win with Toyota and Lexus. Slacker said Thursday that it will offer up a new Slacker Radio app on select Lexus models, and soon on select Toyota model years from 2011 to 2015. The app will be featured on Toyota''s Entune in-dash multimedia systems and the Lexus Enform App Suite.

San Diego 168
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Kwikset Upgrades Kevo Smart Door Lock

socalTECH

'Lake Forest-based lock maker Kwikset has upgraded the company''s smartphone-enabled Kevo door lock, saying this week that it has improved the user experience with the device, started offering up the product internationally, and also launched a new private beta on Android. Among the enhancements are the ability to create "Guest Keys" to allow others access to a home for 24 hours at a time, key scheduling which have day and time constraints, new calibration features to adjust the distance from a

Startup 164
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Disney Inks Digital Video Deal With Walmart's Vudu

socalTECH

'Walt Disney Studios said Monday that it has inked a deal to distribute its movies via Walmart''s Vudu digital video service, via its Disney Movies Anywhere effort. According to Disney, consumers who purcase Disney, Pixar, and Marvel titles in Walmart stores or on VUDU can now access those titles across connected entertainment devices and smart TVs.

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How A Pivot Turned Vantage Media Into A $100M Plus Business

socalTECH

'How do you take what has been a healthy business--but which has stalled out in growth--and put it back onto the growth curve? Patrick Quigley , the CEO of Los Angeles-based Vantage Media (www.vantagemedia.com), tells the story of how he pivoted the company from what had been an online advertising agency, into an online advertising technology provider--and in the process, helped move the company past the $100M in revenues mark, which is a big milestone for companies in the growth area.

Media 162
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Calnetix Buys Vycon

socalTECH

'Cerritos-based Calnetix Technologies said this morning that it has acquired VYCON , the developer off flywheel-based energy storage systems. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Calnetix--which develops and manufactures high-speed permanent magnet motor generators, power electronics and magnetic bearings--said Vycon will become a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.

Cerritos 159
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Blossom Aims To Conquer Drought With Smart Irrigation Gadget

socalTECH

'Can a crowdsourced smart irrigation controller help us get a handle on California''s record breaking drought? Irvine-based Blossom hopes so, and has just raised $31,000 in its Kickstarter campaign to help bring its product to market. Blossom was founded by Manrique Brenes , along with Matt McRae and Kaido Kert. McRae is Vizio''s current CTO and Head of Marketing; Kert was previously a software developer at Skype.

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FastPay Finds $15M

socalTECH

'Los Angeles-based FastPay , which offers up financial products specifically aimed at advertising driven businesses, said this morning that it has raised $15M in a funding round. The company, which is led by Jed Simon, said the funding came from Oak HC/FT. FastPay offers up invoice financing and other related finance products, which helps web publishers, online game develops, mobile app develops and others better manage their cash flow.

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Tagg Rolls Out New Pet Wearable

socalTECH

'San Diego-based Tagg , a developer of wearables for pets, said Tuesday that it has launched a new device, which provides ambient temperature sensing for pets, in addition to providing reports on a pet''s activity levels and location. Tagg''s wearables for pets use GPS and cell phone networks to provide rela time tracking of a pet. Tagg is led by Scott Neuberger.

San Diego 157
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Seriously Adds $5M For Mobile Games Effort

socalTECH

'Santa Monica- and Helsinki-based Seriously , a developer of mobile games, has raised $5M in additional funding, according to the company. The funding came from Upfront Ventures, Sunstone Capital, and Daher Capital. Seriously has its business development and marketing arm in Santa Monica, with game development in Helsinki. The company said it has now raised its total funding to $10M.

Mobile 157
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Lettuce Blocks New Users Accounts After Intuit Buy

socalTECH

'Los Angeles-based Lettuce , the startup headed by Raad Mobrem which was acquired by Intuit in May, is shutting of new accounts to the company''s inventory and order management software. According to the company, it decided to shut access to new accounts in order to "accelerate our progress with QuickBooks Online". The company said existing customers will continue to have access to the software.

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Cal State L.A. Plans Bioscience Incubator

socalTECH

'Cal State LA is planning to launch a bioscience incubator on its campus, after receiving a $3.5M grant from Los Angeles County. According to Cal State LA, the new bioscience incubator-- BioSpace L.A. --will allow start-up businesses to work with students and faculty on cutting-edge bioscience research. The school said the new incubator will have up to 20,000 square feet of lab space for bioscience research projects with start-up businesses.

Incubator 153
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Burner Rolls Out MMS Support, New App

socalTECH

'Los Angeles-based Burner , which develops an anonymous phone number app, has rolled out new MMS capabilities and a new, iOS application this morning, saying that users can now send and receive picture messages with anyone in the US and Canada. Bruner--which allows users to create real "burner" phone numbers on the fly and link them to their cell phone--said it completely redesigned its app for iOS.

Miramar 153
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YapStone Plans Big LA Expansion, Hiring

socalTECH

'Silicon Valley-based payment technology provider Yapstone has big hiring plans in Los Angeles, with plans to double the size of the company''s office from 35 to 70 people in the next year. According to the company, it is hiring across marketing, sales, engineering, and product. The company--which currently has offices at ROC in Santa Monica--says it is in the mist to moving to a new office in Santa Monica in order to accomodate that growth in Q1 of 2015.

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CARD.com Names Technology VP

socalTECH

'Santa Monica-based CARD.com , which offers up branded prepaid cards linked to such brands as The Walking Dead, Star Trek, Sesame Street, and others, has named David Wolfe as the company''s new Senior Vice President of Technology. CARD.com said that Wolfe has previously served as Chief Product and Technology Officer at Mylife.com, and also has served at Brightwire, BuyWithMe.com, Radio One, Reunion.com, aand Napster, where he was CTO.

MyLife 150
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Milk Takes Grocery Coupons Mobile

socalTECH

'Wish you could use your mobile phone to get some savings on your grocery shopping? Milk , a new app developed by Los Angeles-based Honey , is looking to help in that quest, by helping users more easily tap into grocery coupons using their mobile phone. According to Honey, it launched its free Milk grocery coupon app in the App Store Thursday, with the intent to take the hassle out of using grocery coupons.

Mobile 149
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Snapchat Now Alerting Users On Third Party Apps

socalTECH

'After a massive leak of compromising photos due to a third party app using Snapchat''s "unofficial" API, Venice-based Snapchat has been on the defense, trying to dissuade users from using unauthorized, third party apps. Snapchat said last week that it will start notifying Snap users when it detects they may be using third party apps, and ask those users to change the password and stop using those unauthorized apps.

Snapchat 149
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Surf Air Expands To San Diego

socalTECH

'Los Angeles-based all-you-can-fly subscription airline Surf Air made a major expansion this week, saying that it has begun flying out of the San Diego Area--or more specifically, the om McClellan-Palomar Airport (CRQ) in Carlsbad--earlier this week. The new flights give non stop access from Carlsbad to San Caros (SQL) in the Bay Area, and Santa Barbara (SBA).

San Diego 147
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DTS Powers New App From Deepak Chopra

socalTECH

'Calabasas-based audio and sound processing technology developer DTS said this morning that it has helped roll out a new iOS app from Deepak Chopra and ABOVE Technologies. The company said the new app specifically uses its DTS Headphone:X technology. According to DTS and Dr. Chopra, the new app features Chopra narrating poems inspired by 13th century Persian mystic Rumi, to help create an environment for meditation and healing.

Calabasas 147
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eHarmony Completes IT Infrastructure Refresh

socalTECH

'Santa Monica-based eHarmony --which has been in the midst of a major refresh of its externally facing design, apps, and business to cater to the new, mobile user base--said this week that it has also completed a major, IT infrastructure refresh on the back of its services. According to eHarmony, it completed the first phase of a refresh and a new architecture, which it says will help it handle more subscribers, more traffic from mobile users, and more engagement and communications between its m

eHarmony 147
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Flywheel Picks Up $12M, And A New CEO

socalTECH

'Mobile on-demand taxi app developer Flywheel , which has been attempting to leverage the existing taxi and transportation infrastructure in Los Angeles to go head-to-head against Uber, said Thursday that it has raised $12.0M in a Series C funding, and installed a new CEO and executive team. The new funding came from TCW, Rockport Capital, and Shasta Ventures.

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Hush Scores $100K On Kickstarter For Smart Earplugs

socalTECH

'San Diego-based Hush , a startup out of the EvoNexus incubator, has blown past its initial crowdfunding goals, raising more than $105,000 so far in the first five days of the company''s crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Hush is developing "smart earplugs" that block out all sound--but are connected to your smartphone, so that important alarms and notifications can still be heard.

San Diego 147
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Snapchat Launches Payment Service With Square

socalTECH

'Venice-based Snapchat said Monday that it has launched a new feature, which lets users pay their friends using the company''s mobile app. According to Snapchat, it partnered with payment firm Square, which lets you type a dollar sign and amount to send to a friend''s bank account, using a user''s debit card. Snapchat said the feature will be available to users in the United States who have a debit card and are 18 or older.

Snapchat 147
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Allylix Acquired By Evolva

socalTECH

'San Diego-based Alyllix , which produces flavors, fragrances, and other ingredients using yeast fermentation, has been acquired by Swiss company Evolva Holdings SA. Evolva said it will acquire Allylix in return for 46 million shares of the company. As part of the acquisition, Cargill will invest $4M in Evolva shares to support the transaction. Allylix was venture backed by Avrio Ventures, BASF Venture Capital GmbH, Blue Grass Angels, Cultivian Ventures, Life Science Angels, Midpoint Food &

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Enrou: Combining Causes and Commerce To Help Improve The World

socalTECH

'How can you make your shopping during the holidays more than just a gift--but something that might actually improve lives around the world? Los Angeles-based Enrou (www.enrou.co) thinks it has a way--by connecting people with products that also help support international development and causes, via its own online marketplace. We spoke with Ann Wang , co-founder of Enrou, to learn more about how the company wants to help tie together the world of e-commerce and worthy causes to help improve the

Commerce 140