Sat.Mar 16, 2013 - Fri.Mar 22, 2013

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One of the Biggest Mistakes Enterprise Startups Make

Both Sides of the Table

This article initially appeared on TechCrunch. The era of VCs investing in successful consumer Internet startups such as eBay led to a belief system that seemed to permeate many enterprise software startups that hiring sales or implementation people was a bad thing. “We want low-touch or zero-touch businesses” was the mantra. I believe it’s flawed.

Startup 403
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Hulu Posts Every Episode Of Star Trek, For Free

socalTECH

Star Trek fans--book your weekend. Los Angeles-based Hulu said Friday that it is making every single Star Trek episode , from every Star Trek series available for free, until the end of the month. The move--which is sure to kick off a binge of watching by Trekkies everywhere--puts everything from the original Star Trek to Star Trek Deep Space Nine online.

Hulu 241
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Extracting More Than Cash From Your Angel Investors

InfoChachkie

A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. In order to extract value beyond your Angel investors' cash, you must first assess three important parameters: (i) the relative strength of their personal brand, (ii) their ability to add operational value, and (iii) the amount of care and feeding they will demand from you. Angel investors are often the sole source of funding for startups at the critical pre-launch stage.

Angel 217
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Be a leader!

Berkonomics

This simple statement is not what it seems at first. I quote this from a frequent family exhortation by parent to child in the Kemp clan, going back several generations. The late Jack Kemp, famous as quarterback for the Buffalo Bills and later as US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development then Vice Presidential candidate, told this story about his mom, as he continued the tradition with Jack’s now-grown family.

Email 153
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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 Make Sure Professional Services Don’t Take Over Your Software Company

Both Sides of the Table

This article originally appeared on TechCrunch. I recently wrote a blog post in which I pointed out that many investors & advisors discourage enterprise startups from having a professional services (PS) business and I think this is a big mistake. I think it’s important for enterprise startups to layer in professional services into your revenue stream.

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Mogreet Targets Small Businesses With Self-Serve, Mobile Marketing

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based mobile messaging and marketing firm Mogreet is targeting the small business market with a new, self-serve offering it is calling Mogreet Express, the company announced this morning. According to Mogreet, Mogreet Express allows small- and medium-sized businesses to use text and multimedia to communicate with their customers on mobile devices.

Mogreet 236

More Trending

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Is Crowd-Funding the Answer When Investors Decline?

Startup Professionals Musings

Many entrepreneurs seems to be convinced that the “crowd” of regular people using the Internet will somehow solve their startup funding needs, when they sense a lack of interest from accredited investors. Professionals maintain that there is plenty of money for equity in qualified startups, and funding marginal startups via any source will only make more people unhappy.

Funding 106
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Top Notch Panelists Secured for SMCLA’s “Social Media for B2B”

Tech Zulu Event

It is going to be an informative night at the next Social Media Club L.A. (SMCLA) event at CrossCampus , with some major heavy hitters in the B2B industry dropping social strategy secrets. One that you will not want to miss if your business is selling to other businesses, and you are not sure how to utilize the power of social networks to promote your brand.

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Gigit Looks To Become The Airbnb of Live Music

socalTECH

Can booking live bands and music for your party or event be as easy as it is to find a room to rent via Airbnb? A Los Angeles startup, Gigit --still in early beta--thinks so, and has begun offering up event planners and others a way to tap into a marketplace of bands and other musicians who will play live. Gigit has quietly scored angel funding from such prominent investors as Paige Craig to work on its project.

Sites 229
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Can Best Buy Become Loved? (Part II)

Eric Greenspan

Best Buy has a huge task in front of them, but here’s what I believe they must do to return to favor in the public eye: 1. Make the real decision to become loved by every customer they serve and then live and die by that philosophy; 2. Completely revamp their offerings to the greatest products money can buy at the best price possible; absolutely nothing ever sold that wouldn’t be desired or needed by their customers; 3.

Customer 122
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7 Leadership Behaviors Startups Must Never Tolerate

Startup Professionals Musings

Many professionals in business, from startups to multi-nationals, assume that team leader or executive is an appointed position, and the skills come with the title. In reality, leadership is best demonstrated while not in a position of authority, and is a skill that must be sharpened every day of your life. Most experts agree that leadership, as perceived by people around you, is more about behavior than it is about specific skills or knowledge.

Startup 105
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“Built In L.A.” the New Online Community for Startups

Tech Zulu Event

There is a plethora of tech innovation going on in Los Angeles right now, and not only in Silicon Beach — but all over from downtown to the valleys to everywhere in between. New entrepreneurs are setting up shop and the city is encouraging tech development with exciting initiatives. Keeping track of all the new companies, funding, networking and events going on across town is challenging.

Startup 105
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How Mobile Is Changing Oversee's Business, With Debra Domeyer

socalTECH

How is the changing demographic of web visitors changing how local companies operate? We recently chatted with Debra Domeyer , CEO of Oversee.net (www.oversee.net), a Los Angeles company which provides both domain monetization and runs vertical, consumer lead generation and marketing sites, to hear about the company. Domeyer recently told us how mobile visitors to the web are dramatically changing how Oversee looks at the market, and are pushing the firm to invest more in technology to adapt to

Mobile 224
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Building a Bulletproof Brick and Mortar Business

Eric Greenspan

What distinguishes Target and Costco from the rest. I believe it’s a few key factors: 1. They offer products that we need as consumers to survive (food, sundries), along with those we desire. 2. The treasure hunt. 3. Private label products sold at a discount that are equal quality to many name brands. 4. Services we can’t live without. 5.

Pricing 101
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10 Strategies to Make Startup Work Seem Like Play

Startup Professionals Musings

Every startup and every big business wishes that all their employees were star performers, but wishing doesn’t make it happen. Some coaches and leaders seem to have the magic for bringing out the best in everyone. Research has shown that it isn’t magic, but a focus on engaging people in their work, so that their work triggers the same emotions as play does for you.

Startup 101
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Internap | Faith in LA Tech Brings the Green

Tech Zulu Event

If you’ve been following TechZulu for any determinate amount of time, you know that the LA Tech scene/community has been growing at a fantastically ridiculous pace. Let’s face facts, LA’s Tech Scene is not only growing, it’s established. With new Startups popping up almost daily and the vast amount of Co-Working Spaces becoming ever so increasingly available, the foundation to sustain all the free-flowing wealth of data needs to improve.

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Accelerator/Incubator Trend Spreads To LA Schools

socalTECH

Southern California--and particularly, Los Angeles--has become somewhat of a startup accelerator/incubator hub over the last couple of years, as more than a dozen startup accelerators, incubators, coworking spaces , and more have set up shop in the area. It looks like startup incubation has even extended into a new, pilot middle school at the L.A. Unified School District, which says it is going to teach middle school students how to launch their own businesses.

Incubator 217
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Disrupt the Universe

Alon Schwartz

We just came back from our family retreat, which is part of Orit (my wife) school’s annual program ( NJCHS ). The entire high school, student, faculty, staff, as well as the families are grouped together for three and a half days at a wonderful Kibbutz like place ( Brandeis-Bardin Institute ). During these days, the students, with the help of the faculty are transforming and bonding into a stronger, tighter, more supportive family.

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Startups Must Adapt to New Customer Buying Dynamics

Startup Professionals Musings

Many entrepreneurs think that adapting to the new technologies, like smart phones and Internet commerce, are the key to attracting new customers. In fact, businesses need to adapt just as completely to the changes in the buying and social behavior of consumers. High-technology product startups, without customers, don’t make a business. Today’s customer buying dynamics are all about “user experience,” according to Brian Solis, in his new book “ What’s the Future of Business?

Customer 100
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Etymotic | Part Aid, Part Protection, Two Parts Makes You Feel Like a Bat/Dolphin/Echo-location Enabled Creature

Tech Zulu Event

I can personally say I’m quite familiar with the work Etymotic Research has done with their line of ER20 high-fidelity Earplugs and consider these low profile plugs to be a nightlife staple. To my fellow audiophiles who frequent your fair share of festivals, shows, clubs, and concerts, I’m sure you can share in my spectrum of feelings towards the products that companies like Etymotic Research offer: Pain when you’re half-way through a set at the Palladium and you adventurously decide to step o

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Life Imitates Art Imitates Life As Amazon Films Show At ROC

socalTECH

In one of those "only in Silicon Beach" moments, a pilot show from Amazon Studios--Betas--has apparently been filming its pilot show at Silicon Beach technology hangout Real Office Centers (ROC), off Arizona in Santa Monica. The show-- a comedy about "under-socialized computer geeks" working on their own, Silicon Valley startup--is one of a number of shows being piloted by Amazon for its Amazon Instant Video service.

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SXSW 2013 Highlights: Kurt Daradics & Stephen Wolfram

Daradiction

Everyday fun in Austin, bumping into one of my favorite minds of our time, Stephen Wolfram. Stephen's SXSW keynote was remarkable. You can read it here in 10 mins. His vision for the future ( Principal of Computational Equivalence ) is pretty wild. His ability to articulate his vision, and his body of work is undoubtably impressive. Stephen announced a new programing language called "Wolfram" (.wolf extension), which he's proclaiming as the convergence of the past 30 years of his work.

Tool 64
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10 Entrepreneur Alternatives to Executive Isolation

Startup Professionals Musings

One of the toughest things about running a startup is the feeling of loneliness and isolation. You are on your own and nobody supports you because it’s hard for them to see what you see and feel the excitement that you feel at the critical stages. This is especially true if you run your startup from your garage. The leadership position alone can cause loneliness and disconnectedness, and that sometimes results in self-defeating behaviors.

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$15k Purse Prize to Winner of Friskies Catastic Hackathon

Tech Zulu Event

OMG. It is times like these that I wish I was a developer. This weekend March 23-24, Friskies Cat Food is hosting a “ Games for Cats Hackathon ” with a $15,000 dollar cash prize going to the developer who comes up with the winning app or cat game. Yes, using colors, swipes, animation and a scratch-resistant iPad, there is no telling how many hours of fun can be created for cats.

Venice 95
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Demand Media Expands In Ireland

socalTECH

Demand Media , the online publishing business led by Richard Rosenblatt, has made a major expansion into Ireland, as part of its domain name business, the firm said Wednesday. According to Demand Media, it has opened up what will be its largest, international office in Dublin, Ireland, which will serve as the international headquarters for its domain services business.

Demand 208
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SendGrid At Heart Of Controversy Over Women, Technology Industry

socalTECH

It a position where it can only lose, SendGrid --the email SDK and services firm which has significant operations in Orange County--has become the center of a controversy which has thrown the high tech industry's acceptance of women into stark contrast. SendGrid has fired a developer evangelist, Adria Richards, after a huge controversy over how the technology world treats women.

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FreedomPop Aims At Low Income Families Through Partnership

socalTECH

Can free Internet help low income families? Los Angeles-based free broadband provider FreedomPop hopes so, with a new partnership with a nonprofit called Connect2Compete. According to the two, they are launching a new partnership to deliver free Internet to low income families. Connext2Compete is a nonprofit which looks to bring affordable Internet, computers, and other resources to underserved communities, and is already working with cable Internet providers to offer up low cost high speed inte

Startup 196
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Three Day Rule Plans Expansion To New York, San Francisco

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based Three Day Rule , the Los Angeles startup which is looking to reinvent dating through a subscription, invite-only service, told its users today that it is getting set to launch in New York City and San Francisco in coming months. The company did not provide exact dates and details, but did say it had begun signing up potential members in those cities.

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Leads360 Uses Algorithms To Automate Sales Prioritization

socalTECH

Can an algorithm help improve the conversion rate of leads? Los Angeles based Leads360 , the developer of sales leads management software, thinks so, announcing today that it has launched a new product which uses a fancy algorithm to better assign and drive leads and sales followups. The firm said its new Performance-Based Distribution and Lead Scoring product continually learns and self tunes itself, based on the performance of sales representatives, to improve the chance of converting sales le

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Rexter Gets $1.5M To Put Contact Management On Steroids

socalTECH

Rexter , a brand new, Pasadena startup looking to put business contact management on steroids, said today that it has raised $1.5M in a seed funding round, which included local high profile technology executives Ted Meisel, Gil Elbaz, Sean Moriarty, Jarl Mohn, along with Siemer Ventures. The startup, led by Andy Wilson, said it has created a big-data driven system to analyze a user's professional relationship, and helps organize and syncrhonize contact data, emails, meetings, and phone calls.

eHarmony 193
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ParkMe Tests Monthly Parking Service

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based ParkMe , the developer of mobile parking information applications, has just started a test of a new service to help users automatically find, negotiate, and secure monthly parking spaces. According to the firm, it has begun testing a service which will let users enter the address where they'd like to have a monthly spot--whether that's at home or at work--how many space they need, and they'll get back in two days with a list of the best deals nearby.

Services 190
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Demand Media Expands Into Online Learning, Buys Creativebug

socalTECH

Santa Monica-based Demand Media said this morning it has expanded into the online learning market, and has acquired Creativebug , an online site which provides educational videos around art and carft instruction. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Creativebug operates an online site which provides arts and crafts workshops, teaching people how to sew, knit, make jewelry, and more.

Demand 185
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StoryBots Debuts Three New Apps

socalTECH

StoryBots , the developer of entertaining, fun, and educational application and content, has launched a trio of new applications, the firm said Thursday. The Venice, California-based firm--an offsping of JibJab, the company created by Evan and Gregg Spiradellis--said its new apps include KidQuoter , an iPhone app that lets parents capture funny sayings from their kids and make that into art; Tap & Sing , an iPad application that teaches kids musical concepts like notes, melodies, and tempos;

Education 173
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TestFlight Launches Analytics Service

socalTECH

Want to better understand how people are using your mobile application? Santa Monica-based application testing software developer TestFlight said today that it has launched a new tool, which provides analytics to mobile app developers. According to the firm, its new software, FlightPath , provides mobile analytics on mobile users, letting developers figure out things like who their loyal users are, and who might be a "flight risk" for their app.

Services 170
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j2 Global Buys Metrofax

socalTECH

Los Angeles-based j2 Global , the provider of Internet fax, cloud-based online backup, unified communications, email, and other services--as well as the owner of publisher Ziff Davis--said this morning that it has acquired MetroFax , a provider of Internet faxing services. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. j2 Global said the acquisition is not expected to be material to the company.

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Factual Partners With TripAdvisor To Bolster Restaurant Data

socalTECH

Factual , the Los Angeles-based provider of a massive, cloud-based database of location and other data, said this morning that it has partnered with TripAdvisor , to complement TripAdvisor's dining options and review. According to the two companies, TripAdvisor will also provide Factual with user-generated data to help maintain freshness and accuracy for Factual's Global Places data.