Tuesday, July 23, 2013Insights and Opinions: Why You Need to Ring the Freaking Cash Register
Think that the only metric that matters nowdays is the number of users you have or downloads of your mobile app? Mark Suster, venture capitalist at Upfront Ventures, and a widely followed blogger, disagrees, in our latest Insights and Opinions post--where he argues that you still need to make money as a startup.
I work with a lot of startups. I start to notice when bad behavior creeps into the system as a whole. I have seen much of that behavior over the past 2 years get worse.
Nobod (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2013(Full story)
Factual Extends Restaurant Dataset In The UKSanta Monica-based data startup Factual has extended out the depth of its data again, saying today that it has added additional data from the United Kingdom to its massive storehouse of global data on companies and places. The company said it has extended the Restaurants data--adding information on whether restaurants offer take out, are kid friendly, and more than forty other data points--to the entire UK. The extended data has only previously been available for U.S. restaurants, even though Fa (More info...)
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Resignation Media Leaves LA For AustinOnline publisher Resignation Media, the publisher of the humor site TheChive is leaving Los Angeles, and is moving its operations to Austin, according to a report Tuesday. The publisher, which also runs a number of other, is moving 35 employees to Austin, which it says it was attracted to due to its lower cost of living and better business climate, according to the Austin American Statesman. Texas has been very active in trying to siphon away businesses from California, with Gov. Rick Perry rece (More info...)
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Want To Meet Someone New? How Tinder Is Catching Fire, With Justin MateenWhat's one of the hottest, fastest growing mobile apps out there out of a Southern California startup? No, not Snapchat--it's Tinder--a mobile app and service which lets users rate people nearby them, and if the feeling is mutual, connect them. The app has been extremely popular for dating, but co-founder and CMO Justin Mateen says it's more than dating, it's about meeting all sorts of new people. We caught up with Justin to learn more on why Tinder is taking off so quickly, and the company's go (More info...)
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Panjo Raises $1.6M For Marketplace SoftwareSanta Monica-based Panjo, which develops online marketplaces for automotive, sports, and hobby enthusiasts, announced it has raised $1.6M in a funding round this morning, led by Spark Capital. The funding also included Bertelsmann Digital Media Investments, Lerer Ventures and Mesa. Panjo, which was founded by Chad Billmyer, Juan Vasconez, and Tom Gerken, was part of the MuckerLab accelerator.
Panjo lets enthusiasts of all types create their own online marketplaces, handling all of the issues (More info...)
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Acacia Research Names New VP In AsiaNewport Beach-based patent and IP licensing firm Acacia Research announced this morning that it has named a new VP to to head up its efforts in Asia. According to Acacia, it has named Hiro Seki as its new Senior Vice President, to head up business development and related work in Asia. Seki was most recently Chief IP Officer and General Manager, Intellectual Property Division for Renesas Electronics. He also had served at Hitachi Ltd. working on IP licensing, litigation, patent acquisitions and b (More info...)
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MaxLinear Begins Shipping Chips To SamsungCarlsbad-based radio frequency semiconductor developer MaxLinear said this morning that it has begun shipping its hybrid TV tuner chips to Samsung. According to MaxLinear, Samsung is using its MxL6xx family of software-programmable, hybrid television tuners in its line of televisions. Shipment volumes and financial impact of the usage by Samsung have not been announced by MaxLinear. MaxLinear develops a range of radio frequency (RF) and mixed signal integrated circuits. The company said its CMOS (More info...)
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Edmunds.com Debuts Car Appraisal Tool For Dealer WebsitesSanta Monica-based automotive information site Edmunds.com has rolled out a new online tool, aimed at auto dealerships, to help visitors gets trade-in values directly from those auto dealer sites. According to Edmunds.com, it is making its True Market Value tool for auto trade-in values available as a widget, which can be incorporated into dealer web sites. Edmunds.com said the addition of the widget is part of its efforts to help create a "bridge of trust" between car shoppers and dealers. Edmu (More info...)
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SolarReserve Names VPSanta Monica-based SolarReserve, the developer of utility-scale solar power projects, has named a new VP. The company said that it has named Michael DuBois as its new Vice President, Project Management and Construction. DuBoise was previously at J-POWER USA, managing engineering and construction activities for utility-scale power plants. He also served at Project Performance Group, Insight Energy, Indeck Energy, and other power industry firms. SolarReserve said DuBois will head up construction o (More info...)
posted on Tuesday, July 23, 2013(Full story)