Finding a cofounder can be a daunting experience. Many successful entrepreneurs have compared a cofounder relationship to a marital relationship and as such have advised aspiring founders to not take searching for business partners lightly. Traditionally, first time entrepreneurs start their search in finding cofounders with friends and family. However, this search often leaves you with little options at best or stuck with an unqualified founder at worst.
Entrepreneurship
My interest was piqued last year during a phone call with Nick Allen, a member of my CALinnovates Advisory Board. Nick told me that he was in the process of winding down his fund at Spring Ventures, which would allow him to focus his energy on a new business he founded with Sunil Paul. The new venture, called SideCar, launched in San Francisco last June.
It is getting hot in here. So hot. USC has just thrown their hat into the ring of the flurry of startup activity happening in SoCal with the introduction of a new accelerator, the Viterbi Startup Garage. Viterbi, the engineering school at USC, has teamed up with United Talent Agency, and Silicon Valley VC firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Beyers to support new ventures by USC students and alumni.
There is a plethora of tech innovation going on in Los Angeles right now, and not only in Silicon Beach — but all over from downtown to the valleys to everywhere in between. New entrepreneurs are setting up shop and the city is encouraging tech development with exciting initiatives. Keeping track of all the new companies, funding, networking and events going on across town is challenging.
For a long time now, startup founders who couldn’t raise round of funding had to boot strap it all the way or simply give up on their ventures for lack of a better exit option. A new platform dubbed Exitround, has launched which claims is “a private, anonymous marketplace for founders to discreetly explore strategic acquisition opportunities.”
For the first time in SXSW history, young group of entrepreneurs are being celebrated for their accomplishments and have been invited to be on a panel to discuss and share their insight on problem solving, social consciousness, and making the world a better place. The panel will take place on Saturday, March 9th at the Hilton Garden Inn at 1:30pm. Organized by Blacks in Tech (BiT), a coalition of targeted technology organizations and industry thought leaders and in collaboration with fabricatedby.me, SXSW welcomes five intelligent kids with stories of remarkable success.