Both Sides of the Table

MAY 2, 2015

What I love about my job is getting to see teams of super-early-stage companies develop ideas that while raw have potential to make an impact on the market. I love the enthusiasm, the boundless energy and the sense of possibility that comes from having an idea that hasn’t yet been beat up in the marketplace of competing ideas, customer contracts, VC skepticism, jaded journalists or fickle consumers who are on the The New, New Thing.

Outsource Development 275

Outsource Development Metrics Startup Sales 275

Berkonomics

MAY 7, 2015

This is like a Hans Christian Anderson parable, but aimed at you and your business… There are big fish and small fish, potential customers, all swimming in the sea that is your potential marketplace. You, the lonely fisherman, have to weave a net to catch your fish. Should your net be large and bulky, requiring more effort and expense to weave? Or should it be small and delicate, to catch those fish that would otherwise fall through the net?

.Net 196

.Net Research Marketing Entrepreneur 196

InfoChachkie

MAY 4, 2015

A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. Young Al Kooper did not miss his Bob Dylan moment. When Al was invited by Producer Tom Wilson to sit in on Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, Mr. Wilson made it clear to Al that he was a backup guitarist. He told him to sit quietly in the control booth and be ready to play if Dylan wanted to explore an arrangement that required two guitars.

Entrepreneur 186

Entrepreneur Organization Mentor Training 186

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

In a world awash with on-demand startups, Los Angeles-based Serviz (www.serviz.com) stands out--not because of the market segment it is tackling, but because it was founded by two, very experienced serial entrepreneurs-- Zorik Gordon and Michael Kline. Both Zorik and Michael very successfully took ReachLocal from just a small startup to a large, public company.

Services 147

Services ReachLocal Demand Startup 147

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

MAY 6, 2015

As an active investor in the Los Angeles technology market we’re always seeking to better understand the data and trends of why our market has grown so rapidly since 2009. We look for pockets of excellence where we may have skills that aren’t native in other markets or where our home town may have some unique skills or talents. Everybody now knows that LA produced SnapChat, Tinder and Maker Studios.

Marketing 254

Marketing Newsletter Venture Capital Blogging 254

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 8, 2015

The pervasive ability and need to communicate constantly and globally through the Internet and smartphones is incenting everyone to get more out of their own assets and time, and capitalize on the idle resources of others. This new sharing economy is rapidly becoming the new business of sharing, with major winners already including Airbnb (rooms), Uber (rides), and Chegg (books).

Entrepreneur 111

Entrepreneur Commerce Social Media Platform 111

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

San Diego-based cybersecurity software developer EdgeWave has named a former Kaspersky executive to the board, the company said Wednesday. EdgeWave said it has named Steve Orenberg, most recently the President of Kaspersky Labs, to the position. Orenberg had been President at Kaspersky for the last 10 years, having founded the company's North American operations.

San Diego 146

San Diego Software Development Software Capital 146

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 4, 2015

Amazon. It is a household name. It has become so synonymous with Internet companies that the French have invented a disdainful term including Amazon: “les GAFA,” which they refer to as Google-Apple-Facebook-Amazon to talk about American dominance of the Internet. Try to imagine if you *didn’t* already know Amazon and the company walking into VC meetings telling people they were going to disrupt the selling of all goods starting with books but then extending into electronics, ap

Ideas 293

Ideas Startup Technical Review Pricing 293

Startup Professionals Musings

MAY 6, 2015

Perhaps sparked by the recession recovery, 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.

Mentor 105

Mentor Entrepreneur Technical Review Satisfaction 105

socalTECH

MAY 4, 2015

La Jolla-based NeuroVigil , a developer of brain monitoring tools and technology, said it has received a second financing round. Size of the funding was not disclosed. According to the company, the round was led by Howard Morgan, and also included Elon Musk, Tim Draper, and Draper Fisher Jurvetson and Zone Ventures. The startup is led by Dr. Philip Low, who founded NeuroVigil based on research he did as a graduate student at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

Draper 139

Draper Funding Zone Ventures Seed Funding 139

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

Los Angeles-based startup studio and incubator Science said late Wednesday that it has seen its first exit, and has sold Playhaven to RockYou. Financial terms of the sale were not disclosed. Playhaven is a mobile ad network, which Science had acquired in September of 2014. RockYou said it will use the acquisition to "turbocharge" its expansion into mobile.

Incubator 138

Incubator Mobile Acquisition Los Angeles 138

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2015

Fountain Valley-based D-Link reports today that it has rolled out three of its Wi-Fi cameras at Walmart. D-Link said its product is now available in over 1,000 Walmart stores. D-Link said its three cameras--which are aimed at the do-it-yourself (DIY) home and small business security market--let users view a live video surveillance feed from their smartphone, tablet, or PC.

Report 138

Report Marketing Product 138

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

Santa Barbara-based ShipHawk , the online marketplace for packing and shipping, said today that it has appointed Erica Deas to its sales team. Deas was previously Senior Director of Mid-Market Sales at Tapjoy. ShipHawk said Deas will take over the daily operations and development of its SaaS sales team. ShipHawk's service lets users find and compare packing and shipping rates; the company is venture backed by DN Capital, Karlin Ventures, Rothenberg Ventures, and Wavemaker Partners.

Sales 135

Sales Santa Barbara SaaS Capital 135

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

Hawthorne-based SpaceX launched a test early Wednesday morning, to help test an astronaut safety system intended to deliver astronauts safely in the case of an aborted launchpad liftoff. SpaceX has not yet reported on the results of that test, however, SpaceX founder Elon Musk said the company's Dragon capsule reached a top speed of 345 mph, going from 0 to 100 mph in 1.2 seconds.

SpaceX 135

SpaceX Hawthorne Report Help 135

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

Irvine-based Oculus VR said this morning that it has set the shipping date for the Oculus Rift virtual reality systems, in Q1 of 2016. According to Oculus, it will begin taking pre-orders later this year. Oculus--first raised funding for the Rift on Kickstarter back in August of 2012, and since then has only been delivering units to developers, despite a huge $2 billion acquisition of the company by Facebook in 2014.

Acquisition 132

Acquisition Funding Develop Development 132

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

Carlsbad-based satellite communications firm ViaSat reported a win in the country of Turkey on Thursday, saying that it has linked with Aydin Yazilim ve Elektronik San. A.S. (AYESAS), a supplier of software to the Turkish Armed Forces. Financial details of the win were not disclosed. ViaSat said it signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cover exploration of and cooperation with AYESAS, focused on manufacturing of components, software and hardware development and testing, and maintenance a

Report 131

Report Software Outsource Development Services 131

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

Los Angeles-based restaurant ordering and marketing software developer Tillster and Gimbal said yesterday they are in a partnership over mobile location-based guest services. According to the two, Tillster will use Gimbal's geofencing and Bluetooth Smart proximity beacons, to help deliver customer location services to Tillsters' clients. Financial details of the link were not announced.

Mobile 131

Mobile Software Development Los Angeles Software 131

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

Los Angeles-based parking app developer ParkMe has launched its app in the city of Orlando, Florida, the company said this week, after the City of Orlando installed smart parking meters downtown. ParkMe said that users of its iOS, Android, and Windows Phone apps can access both real time parking availability and mobile payment in downtown Orlando and the areas surrounding Orlando Health.

Los Angeles 131

Los Angeles Mobile Angel Develop 131

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2015

Los Angeles- and Malmo, Sweden-based Incentive , a developer of enterprise social collaboration software, announced this morning that it has raised $1.7M in a seed funding round. Source of that seed funding was not disclosed. Incentive said those funds specifically go towards its U.S.-based expansion, marketing, sales, and product development efforts.

Software 131

Software Seed Funding Los Angeles Sales 131

socalTECH

MAY 4, 2015

In a big outreach to a new generation of fans, The Muppets are in the midst of launching a number of collaborative projects with YouTube celebrities, featuring such characters as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Rizzo the Rat and many others. According to Disney-owned The Muppets Studio and LA's YouTube Space, they are releasing a number of collaborative videos out of YouTube's Marina Del Rey studio, with such YouTube celebrities as Jake Roper, Mike Tompkins, Matthew Santoro, Lindsey Stirling

Marina Del Rey 131

Marina Del Rey Angel Content 131

socalTECH

MAY 4, 2015

San Diego-based iTECH , a manufacturer of lithium ion batteries, chargers, docking stations, cradles, and other products, has been acquired by Texas-based Universal Power Group. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Universal Power Group said the acquisition will help it bolsters its products and open new markets for the company. iTECH's products are used in the medical, safety and security, communications and handheld markets.

San Diego 131

San Diego Acquisition Product Marketing 131

socalTECH

MAY 4, 2015

David Goldberg , who had founded LA's Launch Media, has passed away suddenly, while on vacation. Goldberg was 47. Goldberg had been serving as CEO of SurveyMonkey in Silicon Valley, and was married to Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg. Goldberg had also served as President of Yahoo Music in Los Angeles. Yahoo acquireed Launch Media back in 2001, eventually renaming the site to become Yahoo Music.

Media 131

Media Yahoo Los Angeles Sites 131

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

Irvine-based medical office software provider Kareo and electronic health records software developer Medicfusion said Thursday taht the two are in a new, strategic partnership, covering the chiropractic market. According to the two, Medifusion's electronic health records (EHR) software for the chiropractic market will integrate with Kareo's billing, practice management, and marketing tools, specifically for chiropractic offices.

Software Development 125

Software Development Tool Software Marketing 125

socalTECH

MAY 8, 2015

Santa Barbara-based Sonos , the developer of whole-home music streaming systems, has declared victory in a patent infringement suit, which had been filed against the firm in 2012. Sonos said it has declared victory in a case filed by a "patent troll" in 2012, in what it says was a "major victory" for the company in helping the company and others fight back against "baseless assertions" by patent assertion entities (PAE).

Patents 125

Patents Santa Barbara Media Help 125

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

Santa Monica-based MamaBear >, the developer of a mobile app which helps mothers keep track of and manage their families, said it will offer up a free premium services to users who sign up for the service during May. MamaBear--which is led by Suzanne Horton--said the offer is part of a marketing effort it is running alongside TeamSnap, Hot Moms Club and FlipBelt.

Services 125

Services Santa Monica Social Media Mobile 125

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

San Diego-based biotech developer aTyr Pharma is debuting in its IPO this morning, after pricing its IPO at $14.00 per share last night. the company will trade as LIFE on the NASDAQ Global Market starting this morning. The company raised $75M in the offering. aTyr Pharma was venture backed by Fidelity Investments, Domain Associate, Polaris Partners, Alta Partners, Cardinal Partners, Sofinnova Ventures, and others.

San Diego 125

San Diego Pricing Invest Marketing 125

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

Irvine-based Linksys , the wireless networking unit of Belkin, said today that it has rolled out a new MU-MIMO enabled wireless router. The new Linksys Max-Stream AC2600 MU-MIMO Gigabit Router supports the new 802.11ac Wave 2 MU-MIMO (Multi-User, Multiple-Input, Multiple Output) technology from Qualcomm. That standard provides dedicated wireless connections to devices, which Linksys can provide up to 3x faster speeds than current Wi-Fi.

Belkin 125

Belkin Networking Technology 125

socalTECH

MAY 7, 2015

Venice-based Snapchat --which has been including Snapchat branded QR-codes in its apps since January--said this week that it has rolled out a new program that allows users to personalize their own Snapcodes, with downloadable vector files and branding guidelines. Snapchat has been allowing its users to add friends on the apps by simply pointing their smartphone camera at those codes and taking a picture.

Snapchat 125

Snapchat Venice Advertising Marketing 125

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

San Clemente-based auto dealership software developer DealerSocket has acquired fellow automotive dealer management software company AutoStar Solutions , according to the company. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. AutoStar Solutions says it develops dealer management software for the "Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH)" market. The software is used for finance, wholesale, and leasing management.

Equity 125

Equity Software Software Development Marketing 125

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

Los Angeles-based MCN a href="[link] > has acquired social media studio McBeard , the two coampanies said earlier this week. McBeard, which is also based in Los Angeles, provides custom content production and distribution to such clients as Coca-Cola, 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures, Mary Kay, NBC Universal, Warner Bros., Mattel, Netflix, and AT&T.

Netflix 125

Netflix Social Media Los Angeles Acquisition 125

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

Woodland Hills-based ReachLocal , the publicly held, online marketing provider for small and local businesses, said Tuesday that it has raised $25M in a term loan. The funding came from Herculus Technology Growth Capital, and comes as the company reported sharper losses and a significant dropoff in revenues. ReachLocal said it lost $12.7M on revenues of $99.56M for the first quarter of 2015, compared with a loss of $6.3M on revenues of $124.7M in Q1 of the prior year.

ReachLocal 125

ReachLocal Woodland Hills Report Marketing 125

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

Aliso Viejo-based Microsemi > reported it has won a $6.1M, defense contract from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD). No other details on the contract were released. According to Microsemi, the deal goes towards manufacturing of highly secure receivers for GPS-guided munitions. Microsemi is a developer of a wide range of semiconductors. READ MORE>>.

Outsource Development 125

Outsource Development Guide Report Develop 125

socalTECH

MAY 6, 2015

San Diego-based Qualcomm is leading an investment in an Irish developer of machine-to-machine (M2M) tools, as one of the two major investors in the latest investment round in Cubic Telecom. Cubic Telecom said it raised EUR18 in a round from Audi Electronics Venture GmbH and Qualcomm Incorporated. Cubic said this is the fourth investment by Qualcomm into Cubic, whose other investors include Sierra Wireless, ACT Venture Capital, TPS Investment Limited and Enterprise Ireland.

Invest 125

Invest San Diego Venture Capital Tool 125

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2015

San Diego-based cancer therapeutics developer Tocagen said this morning that it has added David R. Parkinson, M.D., a venture partner at New Enterprise Associates, to its board of directors. Parkinson has also previously been at Amgen and Novargtis, and was chief of the Investigational Drug Branch at the National Cancer Institute. Parkinson also is on the boards of Threshold Pharmaceuticals and Cerulean Pharma Inc. and had previously been on the boards of Facet Biotech and Ambit Biosciences Corp

San Diego 125

San Diego Develop Development Company 125

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2015

San Diego-based software developer Tealium , which develops software used to manage enterprise "tags", those snippets of codes used for tracking advertising, marketing, analytics, and other efforts, said today that it had 100% growth in the first quarter of 2015. The company did not disclose any actual revenue numbers. The company said it saw 100 percent organic sales growth, and a customer renewal rate of 127 percent.

Report 125

Report San Diego Advertising Software Development 125

socalTECH

MAY 5, 2015

Los Angeles-based CurbStand , the developer of mobile, valet parking apps which is led by Serge Gojkovich, said this morning that it has launched its app on Android. CurbStand--which lets users find, pay, and tip for valet parking all via their mobile phone-- said that it will offer its first time Android app users free parking as part of the launch, with the promo code Android.

Tips 125

Tips Mobile Los Angeles Angel 125