Sat.Aug 12, 2017 - Fri.Aug 18, 2017

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Haste makes waste; but to lag is to sag.

Berkonomics

Close. Let’s examine the relationship between time, quality and competitiveness. If you are getting the impression from these many insights that complex relationships cause simple problems, you are right. We have heard the “haste makes waste” ditty since childhood. There is little need to reinforce the obvious. On a larger scale, there are epoch stories of giant companies eating massive losses in a recall of product, often based upon limited testing before release.

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What Do Boards Actually Do?

Both Sides of the Table

There’s a lot of mystique about what happens at board meetings and a lot of imagined board-room drama. I read commentary or Twitter or blogs and realize that there are also strongly held convictions that there are these evil VCs who do terrible things to mostly altruistic founders. The image of boards and of investors vs. founder conflicts has been so at odds with my experiences on dozens of boards over the past 20 years that I thought it was worth sharing what I actually see.

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City of Los Angeles Launches Cyberattack Warning Center

L.A. Business Journal

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti on Tuesday announced the launch of the Los Angeles Cyber Lab, a public-private data-sharing center for alerting local businesses and residents to cyberattacks.

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Silversheet Gets $5M For Medical Credentials

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Silversheet , a startup which is modernizing the process of medical credentialing, said on Monday that it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round. The funding was led by Summation Health Ventures. Silversheet, which was co-founded by Dr. Miles Beckett, Dr. David Rakoff, Pat Cheung, and Steve Seigel, has now raised a total of $10.2M.

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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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An evening with CTO Mixers on a Yacht with Blockchain Luminaries

SoCal Tech Calendar

Wednesday, August 23, 2017 -- An evening with CTO Mixers on a Yacht with Blockchain Luminaries. CTO Mixers. CTO Mixers is a highly curated, invite only event. Geared at C-Level and SVPs in Enterprise and high quality Startup Execs and entrepreneurs.

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11 Quick Tips to Get More Value out of Your Board

Both Sides of the Table

Many board meetings are bored meetings. Management teams whisk through slides trying to get through a presentation to share how great things are going and they are eager to get through the meeting so they can get back to their real jobs. This is a shame since the value that the right board could add is immense if you select the right board members and manage them effectively.

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More Trending

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UCLA Extension Creates New Innovation Lab Program

socalTECH

UCLA Extension , the extension arm of UCLA, said today that it is launching a new, membership program called the Silicon Beach Innovation Lab , where it will look to deliver networking opportunities, hackathons, webinars to entrepreneurs and professionals. According to UCLA Extension, the new membership program--part of its new "Digital Technology Department"--aims to provide access to executives and founders through webinars and special events, as well as real world projects in collaboration wi

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Gartner Catalyst Conference 2017

SoCal Tech Calendar

Monday, August 21, 2017 -- Gartner Catalyst Conference 2017. August 21 - 24, 2017 Built on forward-thinking Gartner for Technical Professionals (GTP) research, Gartner Catalyst Conference gives you hands-on, how-to advice and practical solutions across a broad range of technical topics.

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Dragonfly, eGenesis, Spero & More: Xconomy’s Startup Award Finalists

Xconomy

Startups play a critical role in the innovation economy that we chronicle at Xconomy—transforming new ideas that begin in a lab into the products and companies of tomorrow. No surprise, then, that the startup category in our first-ever Awards program was a particularly competitive one, loaded with private companies (no more than 5 years old) in several biotech hotspots: gene editing, microbiome research, immuno-oncology, regenerative medicine, digital health and more.

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Silicon Beach Report Aug. 15: City of Los Angeles Launches Cyberattack Warning Center

L.A. Business Journal

City of Los Angeles launches cyberattack warning center, US government demands details on visitors to anti-Trump website hosted by DreamHost, and UCLA Extension creates Innovation Lab program.

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Beachbody Snags CIO From Red Bull

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based health and fitness company Beachbody says it has named Bryan Muehlberger as the company's new Chief Information Officer. Muehlberger joins the company from Red Bull North America, where he was Chief Information Officer and Vice President of Information Technology. According to Beachbody, Muehlberger will lead its Enterprise Technology team, reporting to President and COO Robert Gifford.

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Bootstrappers Breakfast - San Diego

SoCal Tech Calendar

Friday, August 18, 2017 -- Bootstrappers Breakfast - San Diego. Join Other Entrepreneurs Who Eat Problems For Breakfast. * Compare Notes * Exchange Ideas * Learn from Others Mistakes * Brainstorm with Peers. See [link].

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Expanding Tissue and Squeezing Cells: Meet Xconomy’s Young Innovator Award Finalists

Xconomy

View the Slideshow The finalists in the Young Innovator category of the 2017 Xconomy Awards show that it’s never too early in life to start a company or invent a new technology. These four individuals (30 years of age or under) share a strong drive, even a restlessness, to build new things that make a difference. Three knew early on that, despite spending time in academic labs, they wanted to hatch a startup and use it to help make that difference.

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Silicon Beach Report Aug. 17: Faraday Future May Cut Electric Car Racing Team to Save Cash

L.A. Business Journal

Faraday Future may cut electric car racing team to save cash, alt-right social media network raises $1 million on StartEngine, and X Prize extends contest to land on the Moon.

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Neo Nazi Website Kicked Off YouTube

socalTECH

The Daily Stormer, the neo-Nazi website which celebrated the death of a counter-protester in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend with a post degrading the victim, has also been kicked off of YouTube --part of a massive reaction against the hate speech site by the tech industry. YouTube, which is owned by Google, booted videos from the site following a similar push out the door by GoDaddy, Google, Sendgrid, Twitter, Zoho, and others.

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XMAS In August

SoCal Tech Calendar

Thursday, August 24, 2017 -- XMAS In August/ Get in front of LA media in one amazing night of demo's at XMAS in August. Early bird registration ends on July 13th.

Media 100
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4 Tools to Help Startups Find Quality Leads

Tech.Co

Finding potential customers continues to be a huge challenge not only for established marketing and sales teams but also for startup executives and solo entrepreneurs. A study in 2013 showed that 61 percent of marketers found it hard to generate high-quality leads. It is not that there is a lack of lead generation tools, particularly for business-to-business (B2B) firms.

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Silicon Beach Report Aug. 16: Tronc and Investor’s Business Daily to Launch Paid Newsletter on Mutual Funds.

L.A. Business Journal

Tronc and Investor’s Business Daily to launch paid newsletter on mutual funds, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak joins Mojiit as advisor and retail inventory software company NuOrder raises $8 million.

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Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, NewCities Dangle $15K To Startups

socalTECH

The Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator (LACI) , and partner NewCities Foundation said on Monday that they will award $15,000, plus other prizes, to a startup developing technology in the zero emissions transportation and shared mobility area. According to the two, they are running a global startup competition as part of an upcoming event in November. The groups said startups that apply to the competition must be less than five years in business with revenues of less than $5 million and have product

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6 Pragmatic Marketing Tips To Ramp-Up Your Business

Startup Professionals Musings

Marketing is everything these days. You can have the best technology, but if customers don’t know you exist, or they don’t know how your technology solves a real problem for them, your startup will fail. Yet I see many technology entrepreneurs that focus on the basics of marketing too little and too late. They skimp on the design of their website, procrastinate on the rollout to make sure the product is perfect, and get so excited about technology features that they forget about creating value f

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Private Equity Investors Have $740 Billion to Spend, Driving Valuations

Xconomy

Private equity investors have more capital at their disposal than at any time in more than a decade, which could boost prices for companies seeking acquisitions. As of Aug. 1, private equity firms in North America and Europe had secured $212.6 billion in new commitments this year, on pace to eclipse the “already stellar” fundraising year they had in 2016, according to a new report and analysis out Thursday from Seattle-based PitchBook.

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Silicon Beach Report Aug. 14: L.A.’s MarketCast Acquires Fizziology

L.A. Business Journal

L.A.’s MarketCast acquires Fizziology, SpaceX launches Falcon 9 rocket with heavy load of scientific experiments, Snapchat debuts Crowd Surf, a video-stitching feature.

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GoFundMe Shuts Down Campaigns For Charlottesville Suspect

socalTECH

In yet another instance of the technology industry taking a firm stand against the racism in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend, San Diego-based GoFundMe has shut down multiple crowdfunding campaigns for suspect James Fields , who is accused of driving his car into protestors over the weekend, killing one. Apparently, white supremacists and their supporters had launched multiple campaigns seeking to fund the legal costs for Fields.

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5 Steps To A Compelling Story For Business Proposals

Startup Professionals Musings

If you are proposing a merger or acquisition, or simply seeking an investor for your business, the process is the same. You have to put together a convincing story of a win-win opportunity for both sides. This may seem intuitively obvious, but as an angel investor, I have heard hundreds of new business pitches that focus heavily on the product, but don’t tell the rest of the story.

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Bio Roundup: Frazier v. Trump, Data Dumps, New York Steps & More

Xconomy

The CEO of a major U.S. pharmaceutical company was in the news this week, but for a change not because of the cost of drugs. Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier (pictured) was the first of what quickly became a line of CEOs to exit President Trump’s manufacturing council, leading to its dissolution altogether. Frazier was widely praised by other life sciences leaders, even as he drew Trump’s ire.

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Silicon Beach Report Aug. 18: NBC's Daily Snapchat Show Reaches 29 Million Views in First Month

L.A. Business Journal

NBC's daily Snapchat show reaches 29 million views in first month, Fisker Emotion to debut at CES 2018, and Q&A with Sophia Amoruso about new startup GirlBoss Media.

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Grindr Launching Digital Magazine, INTO

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based social networking site Grindr , which serves the "gay, bi, curious and queer" market, is launching a new online, digital magazine called INTO today. According to Grindr, the new digital magazine is looking to fill a gap in the media landscape, with content that appeals to young, LGBTQ+ millennials. The magazine said it will provide "fresh, relevant stories and beautiful photography" on the site, which is led by Editor-in-Chief Zach Stafford.

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8 Steps To A Positive Mindset And Business Success

Startup Professionals Musings

Many business executives and entrepreneurs I know are convinced that business success is all about having the right solution for the right price. These are indeed important, but we all know people who have failed, despite having a great solution, or have succeeded with a mediocre solution. Thus most investors I know claim to invest in the person, rather than the product.

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Finding My Tribe — The Upside of the Downcast Year

Both Sides of the Table

It’s been a tough year globally. Many feel the division in our families and societies. It has been heart-breaking to see progress reversed and social & racial tensions exacerbated unnecessarily. Much of the focus on the public discourse has been how social media and the polarization of information sources has worsened the problem. We seem to be stuck on the narrative that our angst is tied to the arguments we’re having on Facebook, Twitter or the Thanksgiving dinner table.

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Birth Date Website Touts Many Happy Returns

L.A. Business Journal

Ever wanted to know which celebrities shared your birthday? Famous Birthdays of Santa Monica has made a business out of indulging that curiosity.

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Dreamhost Fights DoJ Request For Anti-Trump Supporters Names

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based hosting firm Dreamhost is fighting the U.S. Department of Justice, over a request to hand over the names and information of anti-Trump protesters who had visited a website organizing a protest against the inauguration of the current Presidential administration. According to Dreamhost , it has decided to fight a Department of Justice search warrant, requesting information on all of the visitors to the site disruptj20.org.

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10 Key Business Domains With ‘Big Data’ Opportunities

Startup Professionals Musings

Even though ‘big data’ has now been around for several years, the opportunities for startups seem to keep growing, just as the amount of data keeps growing. According to IBM , companies have captured more data in the last two years than in the previous 2000 years. This data comes from sensors, social media posts, digital pictures and videos, purchase transactions, everywhere.

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GoDaddy Boots Neo Nazi Publication Over Charlottesville Posts

socalTECH

Online web hosting site GoDaddy has booted a neo-Nazi publication, the Daily Stormer, from its hosting services, after users pointed out the site's articles celebrating the death of a woman in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend. The site had posted an article disparaging the woman who was murdered by a supporter of the gathering of "alt-right", neo-Nazi, and other white supremacist groups in Charlottesville.

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Impact Health Becomes JOANY

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based JOANY , a local startup which uses big data, machine learning and predictive modeling to recommend insurance to consumers, said on Wednesday that it has renamed itself from its prior brand, Impact Health. The company--which recently raised $13M in a Series A from Techstars Venture Capital and Foundry Group--said the change in name comes to "better align" it with its mission to simplify the health insurance experience.

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Ground Control Aims At Voice Activated Entertainment, Backed By CAA

socalTECH

Los Angeles- and Vancouver-based Ground Control , a new startup led by LA technology veteran Mike Macadaan, said on Wednesday that it has launched with the backing of the Creative Artists Agency. According to the startup, is is developing "voice-activated entertainment experiences" and interactive audio technology, which will tape into well-known personalities across entertainment, sports, politics, music and beyond.

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Qualcomm Rolls Out Depth Sensing Camera Technology

socalTECH

San Diego-based Qualcomm said on Tuesday that it has rolled out new, depth sensing camera technology, which it is specifically aiming at use in Android devices. According to Qualcomm, its Qualcomm Spectra Module Program is specifically aimed at use in photo and video for a broad range of mobile devices and head mounted displays (HMD). The new technology is aimed at the computer vision area, with support for such features as motion tracking, biometric authentication, and signal processing.