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. Here’s a recent one I did on Fund Raising in tough markets. You can follow me on Snapchat at msuster. Snapchat is similar.

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Snapchat Course Media Venture Capital 218

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

A new lawsuit, targeting Venice, California-based Snapchat --the hottest company to emerge out of the area''s high tech startup cluster in recent years--says that the company''s founders stole the idea for the company from him after forcing him out of the company early on in its history. snapchat legal lawsuit social networking mobile'

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Snapchat Social Network High Tech Venice 170

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2013

Snapchat , the Venice Beach-based startup which has been taking the mobile world by storm with its "self destructing" mobile photos, has just officially launched video into its Android app, just days after announcing a Series A funding round. SnapChat announced $13.5M

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Snapchat Venice Mobile Funding 153

socalTECH

OCTOBER 28, 2013

How much is Los Angeles-based Snapchat really worth? The report last week that Snapchat is raising a new funding round at $3.5 snapchat valuation venture capital mobile social teenager startup' READ MORE>>.

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Snapchat Venture Capital Los Angeles Mobile 147

socalTECH

JANUARY 29, 2016

Los Angeles-based Naritiv , a new startup developing a network of content creators for Snapchat, has raised $3M in a funding round, the company said Thursday. The startup--founded by Dan Altmann and Eric Posen--says it is enabling the creation of mobile-first content for Snapchat and other social network platforms.

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Snapchat Content Social Network Class 140

Both Sides of the Table

NOVEMBER 15, 2014

For example, Lookout is a mobile security company that was founded by three talented graduates of USC. A few years later they announced $150 million in a funding round at $1 billion+ valuation and are ramping up jobs to secure their market-leading position. Locally we call it “the Snapchat effect.” It’s true.

Company 369

Company Companies Startup Snapchat 369

TechCrunch LA

FEBRUARY 19, 2020

SketchAR — this Lithuanian company is developing an AI-based mobile app for teaching drawing using augmented reality. and to raise bigger rounds of funding (like the voiceover video production toolkit, MuzeTV, and the animation studio Toonstar).

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Artificial Inteligence Social Network Los Angeles Snapchat 331

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 29, 2014

It had an influence on the people who fund our industry in a negative way as many asset managers who fund our industry read this flawed report. Think DropBox, Airbnb, Pinterest, Maker Studios, SnapChat, Tinder). Now they are funding & holding. ” The most recent was 18 months ago or so called The Kauffman Report.

Venture Capital 362

Venture Capital Capital Startup Writing 362

socalTECH

MAY 29, 2015

Venice-based Snapchat has raised $537.6M more--part of an ongoing $650M funding round--as the instant messaging app developer continues to break Southern California records in both total funding and valuation. Snapchat has now raised north of $1.15‎ billion. billion raised), and much more successful SpaceX ($1.2

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Snapchat Southern California Funding Venice 100

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 11, 2014

In fact, many people know I grew up in NorCal and still have a 650 area code on my mobile phone. 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!

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Startup Santa Monica Snapchat Yahoo 318

socalTECH

APRIL 15, 2020

Los Angeles-based mobile streaming video startup Quibi will not be launching a series about Venice, Californi-based Snapchat , according to a report from Variety. Quibi raised a huge, $350M funding round back in January for the streaming service. Variety did not say why Quibi decided to drop its plans for the series.

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Snapchat Report Venice Los Angeles 113

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 2, 2017

the parent firm behind Snapchat , has joined up with R/GA Marketing --which helps run the Dodgers Accelerator in Los Angeles--to launched a new startup accelerator, the R/GA Marketing Tech Venture Studio with IPG. Venice, California-based Snap Inc. , READ MORE>>.

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Snapchat Startup Venice Advertising 113

socalTECH

OCTOBER 14, 2016

in funding, according to the latest numbers from the PricewaterhouseCoopers MoneyTree report, based on data from Thomson Reuters. in funding in Q3, down from the much larger, $2.5 billion in funding received in the region in Q2. Q2 fundings in Southern California were much higher, due to a giant $1.27 READ MORE>>.

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Southern California Orange County Report Santa Barbara 208

Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Over the past 4 years LA’s tech fundings have growing at a 30% compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) which is > 4 times the US average VC CAGR (7%). billion 2013 figure) have been massive financings at Honest Company ($70mm), JustFab ($85mm), ZipRecruiter ($63mm) and lord only knows how much SnapChat has actually accumulated.

Entrepreneur 378

Entrepreneur Snapchat Startup Google 378

socalTECH

OCTOBER 15, 2014

Among the announcements at the demo day were the funding of smartphone toy company SnowShoe , and an acquisition of Smart Toy , a developer of an interactive toy. in its seed funding round. in its seed funding round. disney startup accelerator walt angeles entertainment consumer funding venture capital techstars'

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Class Startup Seed Funding Entertainment 185

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 5, 2019

Santa Monica-based venture investor March Capital Partners (www.marchcp.com) announced last week that it has raised a second fund, worth $300M. To learn about the new fund, we sat down with Jamie Montgomery , one of the fund's co-founders, to hear about March Capital's strategy and the new fund.

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Funding Capital Artificial Inteligence Startup 160

L.A. Business Journal

NOVEMBER 14, 2018

Netflix tries mobile-only subscription; Snapchat drops prices for AR ads; ServiceTitan brings total funding to $326 million

Netflix 113

Netflix Snapchat Report Pricing 113

Tech Zulu Event

JULY 28, 2014

billion active mobile users monthly as of March 31, 2014, while Twitter has 255 million active users. And this gives way for mobile messaging apps. 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.

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Snapchat Social Media Social Network Media 82

TechCrunch LA

JANUARY 14, 2019

. “We saw the impact that the rise of mobile was having on linear. “We looked at mobile and we saw the massive animation gap. ” For Attanasio and Huang, those timelines were too slow to take advantage of the mobile content revolution. Its show, the Danogs, has 4.5 Lil Miquela and fellow brud avatar Blawko22.

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Social Media Content Media Artificial Inteligence 261

socalTECH

MAY 24, 2016

Los Angeles-based mobile app startup Chatter said today that it is about to launch an app, which will let fans hold one-on-one, five minute chats with their favorite stars--and, at the same time, help raise money for charities. The company says it has raised seed funding from Innovation Factory. The app runs on iOS and Android.

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Seed Funding Snapchat Mobile Los Angeles 113

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 22, 2014

I had an enjoyable conversation this morning with a young team straight out of college this morning and they were calling to ask advice on how to approach fund raising (angels vs. VCs, how to select a VC, etc.) Think of web vs. mobile. It’s a bit of all of these. Traditional software vs. SaaS. SEO marketing vs. social marketing.

Venture Capital 364

Venture Capital Coach Writing SaaS 364

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 5, 2016

It can’t be funded. And of course SnapChat is relevant for younger video consumers. But ignoring SnapChat for video is a mistake. This is dumb because you really are nothing more than a temporary ad network if you do this and usually one who delivers almost no value. YouTube aggregation isn’t a business.

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Content Snapchat Platform SEO 193

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 6, 2014

Planning and dealing with extra-ordinary events: M&A, fund raising, crises. Unless you’re SnapChat, Instagram or similar this is probably 3-5 years into your existence. Offering a sparring-partner function on strategic decisions. Reviewing financial & operational performance. Mentorship. As You Start to Mature.

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Startup Sales Technical Review Software Review 325

socalTECH

MARCH 2, 2016

The people who we our content and videos in are essentially connected, mobile, have their phone with them all the time. million in funding, but ended up burning through it. Everyone carries their phone around, and 70 to 75 percent of the traffic on our site is all mobile. They raised something between $2.5

Media 140

Media Content News SEO 140

Both Sides of the Table

JUNE 22, 2015

If a company wanted to distribute software on a mobile device it need to sell via a “portal” (US term) or a “deck” (UK term) of a mobile carrier. I have often asked for funding for this accelerated development.

Outsource Development 329

Outsource Development Startup Customer Custom 329

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2015

Los Angeles-based Flipagram (www.flipagram.com) has created a potent and wildly viral mobile app, which combines photos, music, and video to create addictive, engaging mini slideshows of your life. We basically closed our $70M round of funding in February of 2014, which is what we actually announced yesterday.

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Flipagram Social Network Networking Blogging 223

socalTECH

MARCH 10, 2017

funding led by Level Equity. What that means, is for companies that have a physical presence in the real world, stores and the like, interaction with consumers today on mobile is now primarily through things that represent their stores, rather than directly with their brands. It's been quite a few years since we spoke with the company.

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Google Paid Search Mobile Activity 127

socalTECH

JULY 20, 2015

Los Angeles-based Flipagram (www.flipagram.com) has created a potent and wildly viral mobile app, which combines photos, music, and video to create addictive, engaging mini slideshows of your life. We basically closed our $70M round of funding in February of 2014, which is what we actually announced yesterday.

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Flipagram Social Network Networking Blogging 202

LATechDigest

OCTOBER 26, 2016

Speakers included Mayor Eric Garcetti , Snapchat influencer Jake Paul (fresh off his 60 Minutes appearance), Loot Crate cofounder Chris Davis (whose company just topped the Inc 5000), and early Snapchat & Riot Games / SF-based investor Peter Lasky. — LATech Digest (@LATechDigest) October 25, 2016.

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Snapchat Lootcrate Riot Games Downey 66

LATechDigest

MAY 30, 2016

Mobile App Hackathon (-6/4). Here’s what’s new in LA’s tech space: SNAPCHAT Raises $1.8B MARCH CAPITAL Opens LA Shop with $240M Fund ( link ). LA Datatech Monthly MixR. Accelerating IoT. Friday June 3. Innovate Pasadena. Saturday June 4. JPL Open House SignUp. Women & Girls in Tech. **. Series F ( link ).

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Belkin UCLA Funding Pasadena 45

Startup Professionals Musings

MARCH 6, 2017

In the entrepreneur world, most of the energy I see is focused on the current opportunity bubbles, now including anything mobile, the new sharing economy (Uber, Airbnb), or yet another social media app (Snapchat, WhatsApp).

Ideas 55

Ideas Snapchat Social Media Entrepreneur 55

LATechDigest

MAY 13, 2016

SMASHD’s first Cohort brought four early-stage + one mature company into the fold: Sidestep : Mobile platform for live events that allows fans to order merchandise before, during and after an event for VIP pickup and delivery, who has relationships in place with Ticketmaster, and is a merch partner on Beyonce’s latest tour.

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Mentor Venture Capital Draper USC 75

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2014

The rise of “micro VCs” or seed-stage funds. The rise of alternative sources of capital (crowd funding and the like). Always-on connectivity of mobile (164m US smartphone users). Lower costs to start a business (95% reduction), many more companies created & funded by angels / seed. Where are we today?

Venture Capital 398

Venture Capital Technical Review Startup Seed Funding 398

Both Sides of the Table

SEPTEMBER 17, 2017

Currencies only began in earnest about 2,500 years ago and ever since have been a great enabler of democracy and social mobility, not the other way around. For example, distribution to find new apps in a mobile Internet is tightly locked down by the oligopoly of Apple and Google.

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Course Startup Framework Marketing 281

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.

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Snapchat Screening Venture Capital Guide 279

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 26, 2015

Understanding your vulnerability and understanding the power of those with whom you must do business is a very important part of figuring out as a startup how to fit into the broader ecosystem and the art of statecraft is tremendously important in knowing when and how to project power in sales, recruiting, negotiations, fund raising, etc.

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Startup Google Software Review Snapchat 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 13, 2016

And also why today Mitu attracted $27 million in funding from AwesomenessTV (DreamWorks/Hearst), WPP, Verizon and Upfront Ventures. And this brings our total funding to $43 million to solidify our market position as the leading Latino digital media company. Of course anybody can produce Hispanic content.

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Company Companies Netflix Content 251