SoCal CTO

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

By far the most popular post on this blog is 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. While I’ve updated it a few times, it continues to get at important questions that startup founders need to be asking. million in sales every year for just a 1-second page delay. What do they do? Is SEO important?

Startup 150

Startup SEO CTO Coach Web 150

Both Sides of the Table

JANUARY 21, 2010

If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. Many people start companies arse backwards. I write about some of the lessons in my post on Startup Mistakes.

Startup 318

Startup IP Southern California Entrepreneur 318

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2012

I've recently received several emails from people looking for a technical cofounder for their startup. Make sure you go through the 32 Questions Developers May Have Forgot to Ask a Startup Founder. You should definitely hit up the Startup Weekend events as well. Here's an example of that kind of email.

CTO Hire 211

CTO Hire CTO Coach Startup Equity 211

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2010

We want to give our brightest new startups the connections and interactions they need to help streamline success. We’ll be conducting a series of educational programes covering: fund raising, team building, product development, sales, marketing, business development and how to prioritize your time as a CEO. Watch this space.

Company 276

Company Companies Startup Southern California 276

socalTECH

DECEMBER 28, 2020

Every year, we feature the year end reflections of founders, CEOs, investors, and others in Southern California's high tech community. And we saw a record number of 278 million clicks to local web pages as more consumers looked to connect with businesses locally. We'll be posting these throughout the next two weeks.

Technical Review 140

Technical Review Software Review Organic Search Startup 140

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 9, 2012

popped up consistently in an informal (and highly non-scientific poll) of a number of readers, executive recruiters, and others in the Los Angeles area, who cited growth, brand, profitability, and other factors in their suggestions to us of the top companies. positions on its site, ranging from software, sales, marketing, to finance.

Technical Review 279

Technical Review Company Companies Southern California 279

socalTECH

JANUARY 16, 2013

Lynda.com offers up online education courses on things like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Microsoft Excel, AutoCAD, and much more. Robison reports that the company now has over 400 employees, spread across seven building in a Carpinteria campus, in addition to a web development branch in Calabasas, and sales offices in the UK and Australia.

Funding 178

Funding Santa Barbara ReachLocal Southern California 178

SoCal CTO

MAY 13, 2014

A large part of this conversation is what kinds of advisors startups should be looking for. A little while ago, I suggested that Every Web/Mobile Startup Should Have a Technical Advisor. We both felt that most startups are not taking a very systematic approach to defining with they need in terms of advisors.

CTO Coach 241

CTO Coach Startup CTO Hire Template 241

SoCal CTO

JUNE 9, 2010

Continuing my series of posts that I’ve been collecting that live at the intersection of Startups and being a Startup CTO : Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March here are the top posts from May 2010. Through advertising or direct sales, these sites harvest intent. It is to out friend.

Startup 248

Startup Venture Capital Conference Social Media 248

SoCal CTO

MARCH 12, 2007

skip to main | skip to sidebar SoCal CTO Monday, March 12, 2007 MyShape Article - Analyst Misses the Point The NY Times did a piece today on MyShape, a start-up in Pasadena - Log in Your Measurements, and the Clothes May Fit. He has been the CTO for several start-ups, most notably eHarmony. in Computer Science.

MyShape 150

MyShape CTO Coach Southern California CTO Hire 150

socalTECH

JANUARY 3, 2014

One new, Los Angeles startup-- Laudville (www.laudville.com)--recently launched its service to try to tackle that huge task, of bringing your content together. Phoebe Scott: I started Laudville, because I consume a lot of entertainment of all kinds. So, I started working on it. Is it a challenge to cover so much?

Entertainment 206

Entertainment Startup Southern California Netflix 206

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? You’ll refine your sales and investor pitch.

Startup 211

Startup IP Ideas Patents 211

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 8, 2010

August was a slow month in terms of traffic and I was away for a lot of the month, but there were some really great posts at the intersection of startups, technology, product and being a Startup CTO. He blogs to 10,000 web entrepreneurs at Software by Rob and co-hosts the podcast Startups for the Rest of Us.

Startup 191

Startup Venture Capital Blogging CTO Hire 191

SoCal CTO

JULY 13, 2011

This site aggregates and filters content from thought leaders who talk about topics such as Marketing , Sales , Design , Revenue , Hiring , Social Media , Business Models , Metrics , PR , Venture Capital , Angel Investors , Bootstrapping , Incubators , Agile and many others. Click around on the various topics to find some amazing resources.

Content 175

Content Startup Social Media IP 175

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 15, 2009

Steve Gilison worked as a market researcher and product manager at a startup where my company, TechEmpower , did the software / web development. I have about 11 years in the technology sector including roles doing market research, sales and product development. What keeps you up at night? What are you working on now?

Los Angeles 179

Los Angeles Product Angel Startup 179

socalTECH

JULY 24, 2009

Southern California's high tech news and companies. Backing Southern California's next great technology companies. We Create Demand for California's Technology Companies. Startups Made Simple. SoCal IP Law Group LLP - IP Counselors For Technology Companies. They include: Sponsors. Westlake Village.

SoCalTech 100

SoCalTech Orange County Southern California Westlake Village 100

SoCal CTO

AUGUST 3, 2010

Some great content around the intersection of startups and being a Startup CTO in June this year. This continues my series of posts: Top 30 Startup Posts in June 2010 Top 29 Startup Posts May 2010 Startup CTO Top 30 Posts for April 16 Great Startup Posts from March The following are the top items based on social signals.

Startup 217

Startup Venture Capital Blogging Software Review 217

SoCal CTO

SEPTEMBER 20, 2011

One of the readers asked my opinion around sharing your startup concept: My first question has always been - how do you protect your idea while shopping around for feedback, partners, developers, etc.? Especially if the idea could be whipped-up by a few 24-year olds in a few weeks? You’ll refine your sales and investor pitch.

Startup 198

Startup IP Ideas Patents 198

SoCal CTO

OCTOBER 14, 2009

Cliff Allen is someone I've known for quite a few years and he's a go to person for me when I'm thinking about issues around marketing, sales, technology, startups and networking. Lots of online marketing before that, but we had some great results when we were picked up by a national radio program. What keeps you up at night?

Los Angeles 150

Los Angeles Networking Marketing Startup 150

SoCal Tech Calendar

FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Wednesday, March 2, 2011 -- This months Startups Uncensored will be on Online Subscription Businesses. Panel includes Josh Myers CEO of PeopleMedia and Jeff Tinsley CEO and Founder of MyLife, hosted by Jason Nazar, DocStoc.

MyLife 100

MyLife Startup Web Sales 100

socalTECH

APRIL 16, 2010

One of the types of startups we see most of nowadays, are private sale, limited time bargain, and local group buying startups. One of those startups is Orange County-based DealPerk.com (www.dealperk.com), which is headed by Albert Ko. Albert Ko: At DealPerk, we cater toward Orange County, here in Southern California.

Orange County 170

Orange County Startup Sites Southern California 170

SoCal CTO

MARCH 11, 2010

Instead, give me the details on how you’re going to make your sales, and to whom, on the first day, the first quarter, and the first year. If you’re a Web-based startup, for example, show me how many unique visitors you think you can get in the beginning, and what you’re using for an estimated conversion rate (buyers to browsers).

Metrics 159

Metrics Search Engine Optimization Startup Ideas 159

Both Sides of the Table

MAY 19, 2010

Another topic we debated early in the program was “lean startup” vs. “ fat startup ” where we both took the obvious hedge and said “it depends.” But truthfully both Dana and I are more aligned with the lean startup principles and believe you only go FAT when you’ve really proved out your product / market fit. Time will tell.

Venture Capital 240

Venture Capital Startup Platform Technical Review 240

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 7, 2012

Southern California has had its share of new startup accelerators launch in the last few months, however, few people here have actually experienced an accelerator firsthand. in sales last year, what he learned from his experience at TechStars, and where he's going with Fanmix. After TechStars, how did you end up in LA?

Startup 242

Startup CTO Coach Blogging Social Media 242

socalTECH

MAY 24, 2011

Southern California--and particularly, Los Angeles--has always been a center of the music business, which makes it unsurprising that there are many, music-focused startups which end up starting here. I actually worked in the offline business world until Web 1.0. Vic Caretti: It's rather diverse.

Social Media 241

Social Media Startup Sites Advertising 241

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

My fund – at $200 million – is the largest in Southern California. Look beyond California and you have group purchasing (GroupOn in Chicago, LivingSocial in Washington DC), private sales (Gilt Groupe in NY, HauteLook in LA), artisan marketplaces (Etsy in NY), eCommerce (Amazon in Seattle) and on and on.

Venture Capital 313

Venture Capital Southern California Google Startup 313

socalTECH

MARCH 3, 2011

Last week, we talked with Fouad ElNaggar of Redpoint Ventures about some of the interesting companies in Southern California. We spoke with David Aronchick , the CEO and co-founder of the firm to hear more about what it's up to. David Aronchick: We started about three years ago. What's the story behind Hark?

Redpoint 201

Redpoint Startup Content .Net 201

socalTECH

MAY 23, 2012

How do a bunch of German moviemakers end up in Los Angeles, running a site helping studios to market and promote their films via their venture backed startup? That's the story we got from Tobi Bauckhage , the co-founder and CEO of Moviepilot (www.moviepilot.com), a German firm which is setting up shop in Los Angeles.

Startup 164

Startup Paramount Netflix Entertainment 164

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 30, 2010

I’m very pleased today to announce that I invested, on behalf of GRP Partners, in Burstly alongside Rincon Venture Partners , an early stage VC in Southern California whith whom we love to work (and were our co-investors on RingRevenue ). So what about the ad management business excites me? I like that.

Mobile 282

Mobile Invest Company Companies 282

socalTECH

JUNE 8, 2009

Eric Sikola is CEO of ExpenseBay (www.expensebay.com), a Los Angeles-based, online, software-as-a-service startup which has created an online application which uses Web 2.0 The firm has taken the ease-of-use, interconnectivity, and other features we take granted from modern Web 2.0 So do you sell to employees, or to companies?

Web 2.0 100

Web 2.0 Startup SaaS Report 100

socalTECH

FEBRUARY 21, 2012

Steve Jillings has a long track record of running successful startups in Southern California, ranging from such companies as FrontBridge Technologies (sold to Microsoft in 2005 for over $200M) and Vantage Media (acquired in 2007). To learn more, we caught up with Steve. Every other hand goes down, and ours stays up.

Marina Del Rey 238

Marina Del Rey Startup IP Examples 238

Both Sides of the Table

JULY 23, 2013

I have long advised startup companies that if you don’t control your messaging somebody else will and your potential customers will form impressions of you shaped by somebody else or by nobody at all. My starting salary was $27,000. I can’t make this up. I have published many of these PR Tips before. ” F**k.

Technical Advisors 385

Technical Advisors Marketing Startup Venture Capital 385

Xconomy

OCTOBER 12, 2016

On Monday, nine startups began a 16-week program at Canopy San Diego , a new accelerator program for seed-stage companies developing new technologies, products, and services to support the legal cannabis industry. And in fact, California surpassed France as the world’s sixth-largest economy, based on 2015 economic data.

San Diego 40

San Diego Startup Southern California Invest 40

socalTECH

NOVEMBER 19, 2012

One of the fastest growing startups in Southern California in recent years was Hautelook, which went from just an ideas to a huge, $270M acquisition by Nordstrom only X years later. Hautelook was able to help define--and conquer--the online flash sales category, in record time. Tell us a little bit about your background?

Southern California 200

Southern California Startup Customer Custom 200

socalTECH

SEPTEMBER 14, 2009

This morning's interview is with Billy Fried , co-founder and CEO of Kijubi (www.kijubi.com), a new startup which is looking to help people find travel activities. We've really set out to solve the problem we saw, which is a vast category of travel information which is not aggregated well on the web. It's down in Laguna Beach.

Activity 164

Activity Startup Sites Web 164

socalTECH

JANUARY 25, 2010

Johnson's latest effort is Lunch.com (www.lunch.com), a web site which takes the concepts behind VirtualTourist.com beyond travel, and into lots of other subjects. We spoke with Johnson about his new startup, as well as had him fill us in on the story behind VirtualTourist, how he bootstrapped that firm, and his exit.

Content 204

Content Startup Sites Manhattan Beach 204

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 14, 2009

So if you’re casually reading and don’t really care about angel financing – abort now! Good idea & plan: You must start with a good idea and a PowerPoint deck (my outline is here , scroll down mid way). And a great product starts with the founder. Their name alone is enough to get meetings set up.

Angel 291

Angel Funding Venture Capital Startup 291