socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Disney offered up up to $120K in investment capital, access to entrepreneurs and executives at Disney, and other resources to its startups. disney startup accelerator walt angeles entertainment consumer funding venture capital techstars' in its seed funding round. READ MORE>>.

Class 185

Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

TechCrunch LA

AUGUST 5, 2022

A few minutes away from downtown Atlanta, Collab Studio ATL describes itself as “a tech-based one-stop shop for content creators, HBCU students and young entrepreneurs to achieve their business goals.” A post shared by Collab Studios (@collabstudiosatl). Image Credits: Robiiiworld (Brandy Merriweather via BStarPR).

Platform 210

Platform Social Media Netflix Content 210

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2014

There’s Snapchat that uses photos and then instantly disappears after 10 seconds, and then there’s the up-comer, Emojli , that uses tiny cartoonish icons for engagement. Snap Away with Snapchat. Snapchat, founded by Bobby Murphy and Evan Spiegel, boasts of its massive following among kids and teenagers.

Snapchat 82

Snapchat Social Media Social Network Media 82

socalTECH

MARCH 13, 2017

Los Angeles-based Flyr , a new startup founded by Hassan Uriostegui and Brett O'Brien, the serial entrepreneur behind Viddy and Xdrive, said today that it has launched a new app which lets users create interactive, shareable videos. READ MORE>>.

Social Media 113

Social Media Snapchat Funding Los Angeles 113

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 17, 2017

Or you know the other one — the one where Snapchat lost $2 billion in just one quarter. I often ask entrepreneurs to consider, “What’s your objective? Do you imagine eventually raising VC and trying to build a faster growing company?” They raised $5 million in venture capital to fund growth. Two-f **g-billion!

Startup 227

Startup Venture Capital Sales Course 227

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2016

Frankly, it’s awesome to see a VC articulate a vision for the kind of company they would back in a given category. I think it’s mostly because when I see local companies (Snapchat, Tinder, DSC, Scopely, Honest Company) that I didn’t invest in do great I’m mostly happy for them more than bitter about missing out.

Dollar Shave Club 150

Dollar Shave Club Venture Capital News Snapchat 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2014

Last week displayed the best of LA last week for a gala event of all of Upfront’s portfolio companies + the CEOs of many of LA’s top technology companies + 75 VC firms from LA, SF, NY & Boston + 25 LP Funds + the Chairman of Yahoo! And I’m proud of that, too. Maynard Webb) and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti.

Startup 318

Startup Santa Monica Snapchat Yahoo 318

LATechDigest

MAY 16, 2016

SNAPCHAT Expands into New Offices at Santa Monica Airport ( link ). Upfront VC Defends uBEAM Against Accusations ( link ). Rhubarb Hosted Entrepreneur Journeys. Here’s what’s new in LA’s tech space: Behind the Scenes at SMASHD LABS , Open for Accelerator Submissions ( link ). CARGOMATIC CEO Steps Down ( link ).

Santa Monica 45

Santa Monica Snapchat Pasadena News 45

Tech Zulu Event

AUGUST 27, 2013

17, entrepreneurs, investors, civic leaders and other key players in the tech industry will gather at the historic Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. Their mission: to support a charity, savor the hot SoCal nightlife, and transform Los Angeles into the startup capital of the world.

Los Angeles 101

Los Angeles Angel Startup Venture Capital 101

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 16, 2013

If you are a super young, well-connected, Stanford CS or EE, worked at Facebook early, have a bit o’ dosh and have VCs chasing you … you are exempt. ” Case in point: Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, SnapChat. I know it’s not as sexy as a faster growth rate and a larger round of capital. Your VC is right.

Venture Capital 412

Venture Capital Startup Funding Snapchat 412

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

Evan Spiegel , SnapChat (Los Angeles, mobile app). event socaltech50 awards entrepreneur entrepreneurship feature dfr2013' Getting to this list was not easy: we received over 700 nominations for people to be considered on the list, and it took a lot of work by our selection committee to whittle down the list to the finalists.

Southern California 279

Southern California SoCalTech Dollar Shave Club Santa Monica 279

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2015

Phillipe Browning , SnapChat. The socalTECH 50 is aimed at identifying and highlighting the top 50 people in the technology industry here, who are most likely to create the next big thing, produce the next big exit, or influence the industry in a significant way. Julien Bellanger , Prevoty. Chad Billmeyer , Panjo. Howard Brown , RingDNA.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Lootcrate Southern California Snapchat 100

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 21, 2016

I speak a lot on college campuses and entrepreneur events and amongst the most common things I’m asked to talk about are: What do VCs fund? Do VCs really take risks on ground-breaking ideas any longer or do they just fund businesses once there is proof of traction? How does one come up with the right idea to start a company?

Design 150

Design Ideas Startup Writing 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 18, 2015

I rarely talk to any startup entrepreneur or VC who doesn’t feel it and somehow long for simpler times despite the benefits we all enjoy from increased enthusiasm for our sector. For entrepreneurs there’s too much money sloshing around. We are experiencing a frenetic time. My general advice is to do less.

Software Review 150

Software Review Startup Venture Capital Invest 150

socalTECH

MARCH 16, 2017

Earlier this week, Derek Norton , a long time advisor to the media, Internet, and technology industry in Los Angeles, announced a brand new venture capital fund called Watertower Ventures (www.watertowerventures.com). I hate to put us into the pre-seed and seed area, so I am saying literally, first institutional capital.

Invest 145

Invest Funding Capital Startup 145

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

When you first start your company and raise initial venture capital your board probably consists of 1-3 founders and 1-2 VCs. With small amounts of money invested (sub $3 million) the risks are reasonably low for most VCs and the consequences of bad decisions or decisions a VC has limited say in is tolerable.

Startup 325

Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

socalTECH

AUGUST 29, 2014

For example, if you are watching the World Cup streaming from ESPN or your favorite WB show, you can grab your favorite moments and share them across any medium, whether that''s a chat platform, Snapchat, or anywhere. I personally was a technology VC and digital media investor. Is your product available yet?

Content 113

Content Los Angeles Seed Funding Hollywood 113

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 30, 2016

By now if you follow me on Twitter you probably know that I do near daily “Snapstorms” or a collection of short videos (usually < 5 mins in total) with entrepreneur advice on Snapchat. You can follow me on Snapchat at msuster. Snapchat for my “original run” and I’ll also store each video to be watched later.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Course Media Venture Capital 150

LATechDigest

MAY 13, 2016

In addition to advising the companies on various core business practices and ways to improve their products, SMASHD LABS worked to create experiences that set them apart form other accelerators, in order to enrich its entrepreneurs with different ways to approach their businesses and their products.

Mentor 75

Mentor Venture Capital Draper USC 75

Startup Professionals Musings

OCTOBER 14, 2016

Some of the most well-known include Uber, Airbnb, Snapchat, Xiaomi, and Pinterest. What every entrepreneur is asking me these days, is “How do I get to be a unicorn?” The fact is that valuations are largely set by top venture capital investors and financial firms, and they all have their own proprietary formulas for assigning value.

Company 100

Company Companies Startup Statistics 100

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 16, 2016

Whether you are talking to peers, competitors or investors, you as an active entrepreneur will be judged on your familiarity with today’s startup and funding jargon. In that context, I offer you my latest collection of popular investor-to-entrepreneur terms and concepts. Prime examples include Uber, Airbnb and Snapchat.

Startup 57

Startup Software Review Equity Invest 57

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 9, 2013

The topic of the conference was “The Sharing Economy” and as I read many of the session title descriptions I realized that people would be talking more about “collaborative consumption” (think airbnb, taskrabbit, uber) than about why people are sharing more on Instragram & Snapchat. Will this Trend Last?

Marketing 361

Marketing Course Pricing Networking 361

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

I then got my MBA at University of Chicago so I secretly pull for local entrepreneurs as long as they don’t make me visit in the Winter any more. And consider Snapchat – one of our hometown favorites as they’re based in LA (Venice Beach). Locally we call it “the Snapchat effect.”

Company 369

Company Companies Startup Snapchat 369

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 6, 2017

It’s hard to remember that in 2012 it was still hard for LA VCs to persuade investors into funds that LA was a viable market for great venture capital funds or convince many VCs that LA was a market worth investing dollars into startups. They always ask whether I see this as threatening as Upfront Ventures.

Riot Games 191

Riot Games Los Angeles Technical Review Venture Capital 191

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 8, 2014

Changes in the Software World & in Venture Capital. But notably you had the following changes: Horizontally scalable computing & storage systems, which meant you required less capital up front for hardware. I don’t need to tell you what else is LA … SnapChat, Whisper, Tinder. Venture Capital.

Startup 390

Startup Venture Capital Capital Funding 390

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 14, 2016

I’d like to explain as best I can my opinion on what is going on because most of what I hear from entrepreneurs is not only wrong but is reminiscent of what I heard in 1997-2000. What is the True Sentiment of VCs? It pains me to see the typical (and predictable) responses on Twitter, “VCs want prices to drop!”

Startup 150

Startup Company Companies Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 23, 2015

Crosscut Ventures has just announced their 3rd fund and clocking in at $75 million , which will be focused heavily on Los Angeles – FTW. Like many entrepreneurs, the founders of Crosscut quit their well-paid jobs in the belief that LA’s moment was about to arrive and they spent years on low (sometimes no) salaries to prove it.

News 150

News Funding Venture Capital Dollar Shave Club 150

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 6, 2015

When I counsel startup entrepreneurs I give them my blunt dose of reality, “If you can’t easily identify target leads who have a problem you can solve then hang up your cleats – you’re not going to succeed.” Let me give you another simple example from my experience as a VC at Upfront Ventures.

Sales 150

Sales SaaS Startup Venture Capital 150

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 16, 2016

Computer Vison Startup Nanit If you follow me on Snapchat ( msuster ) you might already know that I’ve been looking at and investing in a number of companies in the computer vision space. His co-founder and COO, Andy Berman , made the smart move from being a young VC to becoming an entrepreneur.

Invest 150

Invest Course Startup CTO Hire 150

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2016

Thus begins Snapchat and why you don’t get it. Snapchat will be used for both like the Internet (and TV) are. I just need to break you of the idea that Snapchat is for one thing – it is not. But since Snapchat uses the frequency above your hearing range it’s nearly impossible to “get” without help.

Snapchat 150

Snapchat Screening Venture Capital Guide 150

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Our social graphs are locked in Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Breakout companies become much harder and this isn’t likely to improve unless we give new companies the tools and capital they need to flourish. In many ways, it could even become a new tool for earlier shareholder liquidity including the exit of some VC money.

Course 280

Course Startup Framework Marketing 280