Culture

We’re a long ways off from actualizing the future, but there’s definitely a lot of work being put into getting us there safely. It’s a huge eco-system of automotive, tech, and regulations; and with anything industry-concept in nature, we understand that it’s tough to give concrete examples of projects in the pipeline.

We live in a generation of startups. The time is ripe for innovation. There was a time my company could not meet payroll the next day and was about to go out of business. Luckily I met with Steve Jobs, who offered to sell my product. It was a success and we made payroll. The difference between success and failure is hair thin.

Imagine it. You’re flipping through Vevo and watching a music video. But first, 30 seconds of commercial. You stare blankly wondering “what’s this a commercial of?” while watching the screen and registering nothing.

Ad/Banner blindness, a talent which we’ve developed rather well as a society: The ability to subconsciously block out commercials WHILE physically watching.

Great news for aspiring hackers, programmers, and entrepreneurs. Startup enablers and Silicon Beach hubs General Assembly, Cross Campus, Launchpad LA, and LAVA have teamed up to provide five $2,000 scholarships to General Assembly’s 12 -week Web Development Immersive Program.

Los Angeles-based cloud-based talent management software solutions firm with over 13 million users, Cornerstone OnDemand has launched Cornerstone Innovation Fund, to invest in disruptive LA-based cloud startups building cutting-edge solutions for organizations.

Empathy, breath, communication : focus | Making ideas reality : dependency | Innovate user experience: deploy | Move the needle: data | Whole vision: status quo
Seemingly unrelated but they do sound good, don’t they? Something from a motivational panel, discussing Biz Dev strategies or maybe how to launch a lean start up. Rather, these were the words given in response to the opening question to a panel of product managers to “describe their occupation” in 3 words or less, + an additional word on what their biggest challenge was.

Bottom line is that you’re in business to make money. If your customers aren’t paying you, that’s a serious cash flow problem. If they’re slow to pay, that’s a problem as well. While late invoices are fairly common for many businesses, that doesn’t mean you can’t fight it. The key is process.

Silicon Valley may still be the capital of technology with a mix of new (Google, Facebook) and old (Apple, HP) sprinkling the landscape. However, Silicon Valley isn’t the only place to grow technology innovators from the ground up. Los Angeles has seen its own startup scene develop with Silicon Beach, which stretches between Santa Monica and Playa Vista.

The U.S. Senate on May 6 passed the third version of Senate Bill 743, otherwise known as the Marketplace Fairness Act, which requires consumers to pay sales tax on all Internet purchases. How does this affect the growing crowdfunding industry? Initially, it affects reward-based crowdfunding because the moment anyone takes money in exchange for an item, the transaction becomes subject to sales tax.

Silicon Valley-based an entrepreneur and VC, Karl Mehta has launched Code For India (CFI) to empower the country’s citizens to actively participate in improving their communities. Themed “Think Local, Hack Global”, Code For India based in Mountain View, CA and Bangalore, India and wants to inspire millions of techies to volunteer their time and talent to give back to their communities and to the developing world.