Berkonomics
NOVEMBER 23, 2017
Close. Avoid long-term commitments. It is statistically true that at least half of the young companies funded by angel or venture investors will not survive three years from funding to demise, and more than that percentage will die with two years if not well financed. The greatest burden of either a growing company or one needing to retract and reduce expenses is the office lease.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
Los Angeles-based HopSkipDrive , the ridesharing service which helps deliver kids to and from school, after-school activities, and home, said this morning that it has raised $7.4M in a new funding round. The funding came from Student Transportation Inc. (STI), a company in the school transportation, safety, and fleet services market. FirstMark Capital, Upfront Ventures, as well as new investors Skyview Capital and Halogen Ventures also participated in the funding.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
L.A. Business Journal
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Ten franchise teams for ‘League of Legends’ North American e-sports league unveiled, SpaceX launch of secret Zuma mission on hold until after Thanksgiving and Maglev transportation company Arrivo welcomes regulations.
SoCal Tech Calendar
NOVEMBER 23, 2017
Wednesday, November 29, 2017 -- Silicon Beach Networking Mixer At Wurstkuche in Venice. Join the fastest growing startup and tech community in Los Angeles! Meet new people and participate in lively discussions with outstanding names in the Silicon Beach community. Register immediately for an early bird ticket.
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.
Tech.Co
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
WeWork’s success is pretty undeniable at this point. Whether it’s their huge valuation or the fact that a new office pops up every five minutes, the coworking company has made a huge impact on the business world from coast to coast. And now, they’ve decided to pay it forward with a few education initiatives that could really make a difference.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
Los Angeles-based Evite is launching an effort to help raise money for charities, with a "Make More Merry" campaign powered by Venice, California-based Pledgeling , the company said Monday. According to Evite, the campaign will launch next Tuesday as part of GivingTuesday. Evite said it will encourage event planners and user hosts to offer guests charitable donations as part of their events, through its Evite Donations service.
Southern California Tech Central brings together the best content for technical professionals in Southern California from the widest variety of industry thought leaders.
Tech.Co
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
Tacoma, Washington is a city between the booming Seattle and Portland ecosystem. But why are startups taking up residence in this city versus the nearby ones? In this interview series of #StartupsEverywhere , we talked with Lee Reeves, cofounder of Startup253, and Shadrach White, founder and CEO of cloudPWR, to talk about the differences between the cities, the uptick in the business sector and emerging startups.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Eric Garcetti , the mayor of Los Angeles--and major booster of the region's growing high tech ecosystem-- is considering a possible run for President in 2020 , according to an in-depth interview with Garcetti by the New York Times, published Monday. Garcetti recently launched a new nonprofit , Accelerator for America, which is patterned on the success of "Silicon Beach" over the last decade or so in becoming a technology startup leader.
L.A. Business Journal
NOVEMBER 24, 2017
Spotting a 200-watt light bulb in the middle of the Pacific Ocean from outer space requires more than 20/20 vision and strained squinting.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Every entrepreneur can learn from a mentor, no matter how confident or successful they have been to date. Most people don’t know that billionaire Mark Zuckerberg , for example, gives real credit to the inspiring mentorship of Steve Jobs for Mark’s Facebook success. Yet most entrepreneurs simply don’t know how to work with a mentor. It is not as simple as one person giving the other all the right answers.
Xconomy
NOVEMBER 19, 2017
ScoreStream, a five-year-old startup that created a social media platform for crowd-sourcing local sports scores, has raised $3.7 million in a Series A round that includes Intel Capital as an investor. According to a recent ScoreStream statement , San Diego’s Avalon Ventures, a longtime ScoreStream investor, led the round, and was joined by Sinclair Broadcasting, Verizon Ventures, and R/GA Ventures, the investment arm of the advertising agency R/GA.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Los Angeles-based accounting software developer BlackLine has donated seven, semi-trucks full of clothing to help provide clothing to the homeless in Los Angeles, the company said today, as part of its philanthropic initiatives. BlackLine said it is working with Shelter Partnership , a loca lorganization which is working to solve the issues behind homelessness, on the effort.
L.A. Business Journal
NOVEMBER 24, 2017
Raytheon's New Sensor Array; Snap's Latest Approach on Immersive; Black Eyed Peas Add AR for Graphic Novel
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 19, 2017
Success in any business these days requires a constant flow of new and innovative solutions, to keep up with changes in the market, competition, and to attract new customers. Yet in my role as a small business advisor, I still see a singular focus on achieving repeatable processes and “cookie-cutter” manufacturing. I don’t believe these two objectives have to be mutually exclusive.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
The Boring Company , the startup founded by tech mogul Elon Musk to develop the technology to dig transportation tunnels underneath Los Angeles and other cities, has so far raised over $300K from selling hats with the company's logo on it, according to Musk. The Boring Company had started selling the hats only a little bit over a month ago. Musk, on Twitter, jokingly called the sales its "Initial Hat Offering".
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Los Angeles-based Divergent 3D , a developer of 3D metal printing technology for the manufacturing industry, has raised $65M more, with an option of an additional $40M in investment, the company said late Tuesday. The funding is being led by O Luxe Holdings Limited, and also includes Horizons Ventures, Shanghai Alliance Investment Limited and Altran Technologies.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
Calabasas-based audio processing technology provider DTS is powering new surround sound capability for Denon and Marantz A/V receivers, according to DTS. According to DTS, select Denon and Marantz A/V receivers can be upgraded to support the DTS Virtual:X immersive audio technology via a firmware upgrade. The DTS technology provides an immersive sound experience even when consumers only have basic stereo, 5.1 or 7.1 speakers on their receiver, and who have not raised up their speakers or install
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Los Angeles-based advertising technology developer The Trade Desk said today that it has named Susan Vobejda as its new Chief Marketing Officer. Vobejda joins The Trade Desk from fashion brand Tory Burch, where she had served as EVP and Chief Marketing Officer. Vobejda also had served as GM of Bloomberg's Media Distribution division, and had been at Yahoo, Gap Inc., and Walmart.com.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Santa Monica-based automotive information site Edmunds has named a new Editor-in-Chief for its content, the company said on Tuesday. According to Edmunds, Alistair Weaver has been named Vice President of Editorial and Editor-in-Chief, to lead a team of over 30 content producers for Edmunds site and social platforms. The company said Weaver has more than 20 years of experience in the automotive, men's lifestyle, and broadcast areas, and founded television documentaries, branded content, and event
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
San Diego-based lifesciences equipment maker Illumina said late Tuesday that it has won a patent infringemnt it filed against Premaitha Health plc and Ariosa Diagnostics. Illumina said the favorable judgement was issued in the High Court of Justice, Chancery Division, Patents Court in the United Kingdom. Illumina said it is seeking damages, injunctive relief, and attorney fees in the infringement lawsuit, which covers the use of genetic sequencing in the area of non-invasive prenatal testing (NI
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Los Angeles-based Cinedigm , which distributes movies and other content to iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon, and others, said the majority investment deal from Bison Entertainment Investment Limited has been approved by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). According to Cinedigm, the CFIUS said it will not take action to prevent, unwind, or require any modifications to the deal, which was announced on June 29th.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
Carlsbad-based satellite broadband provider ViaSat says it has added its first, value-added reseller for its high speed, Ka-band inflight Internet service today. ViaSat said Satcom Direct (SD), will offer up its in flight systems to large and mid-cabin business jets. Satcom Direct already had been reselling ViaSat's KU-band service. ViaSat's new Ka-band service offers up 16Mbps in-flight Internet speeds, and also has an IPTV downlink option and ability to use the Ku-band network if needed.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
Los Angeles-based educational robot developer UBTECH Robotics has launched an Alexa-powered, humanoid robot called the Lynx, the company said late Monday evening. UBTECH Robotics said its new Lynx humanoid robot can interact with users, and features voice, facial and presence recognition, plus an "avatar" mode which lets users control the robot remotely from an app.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 21, 2017
The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) and ridesharing service operator Via are in a new effort to use Via's ridesharing service to provide "last mile" service to users to get them to the Metro's biggest stations, according to the two. Via and the LA Metro said that a $1.35 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration is funding the effort, which will let passengers book a seat on a shared, "dynamically-routed" vehicle which will deliver passengers to three
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Los Angeles-based Flo Technologies , a new startup in the water monitoring and conservation area, said on Monday that it has launched a new device and system which uses artificial intelligence and a special sensor to monitor what going on with a home's water system. According to Flo Technologies, its new device is able to sense water pressure, flow rate and temperature, to learn a homeowner's usage patterns--as well as identify leaks and other issues, automatically shutting off a water supply if
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Irvine-based Kia Motors America/a> , which runs the US operators of Kia Motors, said today that it has launch a new, artificial-intelligence-driven "virtual assistant" to help people shop for its vehicles. The "bot" is built on an earlier, Facebook chatbot the car company launched in June called "Noribot". According to Kia, its new bot, named "Kian", operates through its Facebook Messenger page, and will soon also be available on its website.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
The United Launch Alliance sent a payload into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base early Sunday morning, on a Delta II rocket. According to the ULA, it sent the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) for NASA and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into space at 1:47 a.m. PST on Saturday morning, from Space Launch Complex-2. the launch also carried five CubeSats carrying a number of space research and education projects.
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
Irvine-based Cirrus Insight , which develops software for helping aid in sales followups, email marketing, and customer relationship management, has acquired Attach.io , a developer of real time document tracking software. Financial terms of the buy were not announced. Attach.io's software is used to track when attachments such as PDFs, Word documents, and other files are opened by potential customers from their email, down to the level of which links within a document were clicked and what page
socalTECH
NOVEMBER 20, 2017
The United Launch Alliance sent a payload into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base early Sunday morning, on a Delta II rocket. According to the ULA, it sent the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1) for NASA and National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) into space at 1:47 a.m. PST on Saturday morning, from Space Launch Complex-2. the launch also carried five CubeSats carrying a number of space research and education projects.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 22, 2017
Perhaps sparked by the now forgotten recession, I’m seeing a new era of the entrepreneur, with startups springing up all around. Based on my own mentoring and investing experience, the best entrepreneurs are pragmatic problem solvers. They have an uncanny ability to find elegant, easy, and fast solutions to pain points in the marketplace, as well as their own challenges.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 19, 2017
News and notes for independent professionals and their clients. This is the November 20, 2017 edition.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 18, 2017
A perfect storm is an expression that describes an event where a rare combination of circumstances aggravates an environment drastically. In the entrepreneur world, I feel we are in such a situation now for new startups, with the confluence of business transformations, the explosion of new digital technologies, and the political turmoil around the world.
Startup Professionals Musings
NOVEMBER 24, 2017
In my role as advisor to small businesses, I often hear first-hand the challenges and failures of retail store owners who fear the advantages of online and feel the exodus to eCommerce, led by Amazon and Ebay. Ironically, the most common desire I hear from entrepreneurs selling wholly online, is the need for their entry into retail, as the next step in their growth strategy.
Expert insights. Personalized for you.
243 
Let's personalize your content