Startups

Think about how many images are on the web. Millions, billions, trillions? Yes. The Internet thus far has been monetized by display, video, and in-text advertising — but the one place every user’s eye focuses on first are photos. Photos that are prime real estate and have never been monetized before, until one very ambitious Silicon Beach startup, GumGum, recognized the opportunity and created the first and largest in-image advertising platform, and an entirely new market. Photos…the final frontier.

Ever wondered what else is in the city besides the same old restaurant and typical tourist attraction? Is there something new and unique to explore within the city boundaries? Well, the developers at Crashworks, Inc. thought the same thing and decided to bring the curious individuals an app that gives a unique look in your city. Crash, released for iOS platforms, is the third eye for those looking for something different in their travels.

The biggest culprit to a startup failure is a dysfunctional founding team. Intimidation alone of finding the right team kills many new ventures before they had a chance. The D.C.-based startup CoFoundersLab has addressed this issue by taking the guesswork out of matchmaking by introducing scientific methods, deep research and algorithms that have proven to lead to successful matches. They have partnered with Cross Campus to bring education and offline matchmaking events to Santa Monica quarterly

Over 500 startups applied last quarter to Launchpad LA’s accelerator, but only eight were chosen. Those eight have recently completed the program and are ready to do business.

This is class four for Launchpad LA. Sam Teller, the Managing Director of Launchpad LA hinted that big news would come soon. “The teams have accomplished an incredible amount in the past four months.

ScoreBig, an online marketplace for tickets for live sports, concert and theater events with a guaranteed savings of up to 60 percent for event hosts, February 7 announced Scott O’Neil has joined the company’s advisory board.

The creators of the renowned StartupWeekend — a place where random ad hoc teams work frantically for 54 hours to build a demo of a new business and then complete for fame and fortune — have picked up where StartupWeekend left off and have birthed a new course for entrepreneurs who need to level up called StartupWeekend Next.

Gather all of your creative talents and get to hacking this Friday and Saturday, February 8-9 on what might just be the most viable, essential and disruptive focus of any hackathon…… education. Organized by developer evangelist, Alex Donn of the AT&T Developer Program, in coordination with Real Office Centers and AT&T Aspire, this hackathon invites attendees technical and non-technical to build apps and mobile apps that will disrupt education.

On Saturday February 9, Demo Video Lab is holding a one-day event to teach secrets to successfully launching a crowdfunding campaign. Geared towards artists, entrepreneurs and innovators, crowdfunding is a great way to get any projects off the ground, be it startup, movie, music or invention. It is the most viable way to not only get project funding but more importantly to get customer validation.

Picture your company message on a “Sky Tweet.” With over 100 million viewers, Super Bowl translates to big money for the advertising industry. But how much do you think it would be worth to advertise over the skies of Super Bowl itself?

Today, Los Angeles based PromoJam released their newest product to the world offering marketers something they haven’t had before – full control and insight into social campaigns. With PromoJam 2.0, marketers now have the power to create social media campaigns with no development or design skills required – just drag and drop. The Social Promotion Management Platform is for businesses of all types – small, medium and enterprise.