We all have things to cheer for in life. Most times we celebrate to milestone events or showing our affection for people in our lives. But there’s so many things in life that make us happy. The Beach, Chocolate chip cookies stuffed with Oreos (yes these really do exist). Or maybe you local hangout that you’re grateful just exists. The Cheers App allows for us to cheers to the world around.

As the Los Angeles tech scene continues to grow, we “cheers” to another major launch. This week Farhad Mohit, Founder of BizRate.com and Shopzilla, launches Cheers, the first iPhone app built solely to help people express love and appreciation – for anyone, anything, anywhere!

‘Cheers lowers the barrier to expressing love and appreciation, making it fun and easy to do something we all feel, but have never had a dedicated place to openly share before,’ says Mohit.

Mohit, who sold Shopzilla in 2005 for $569m, brought together an all-star team from Google and StumbleUpon, as Cheerful, inc., in order to create socially powerful apps like Cheers. With over 500,000 iPhone apps, until now none of them have focused on celebrating love and appreciation in all its facets – people as well as places and things.

As a private beta user, the ‘like button’ feeling came visually and mentally true to form. It felt great to be able to visually share the things you love in life and seeing others support your love by “cheering” to your loves.

Cheers aims to be the ‘like button’ for the world around you, but more meaningful, because you create, control and give voice to each cheer.

Each time a cheers is posted others are able to cheers to it as well, creating this social effect giving everyone involved the expression celebration. Since I’ve signed up for Cheers, it’s been one of the most used apps on my phone. Heck it’s just fun to say and brings a gleaming smile to the face.

The interface is very intuitive and includes the features of being able to see not only the popular “cheers” but also breaks them down into three categories – people, places, and things. Included in the app is a “cheerfluence” listing of those how are creating and spreading the most positive energy and cheer between you & your friends. It’s super fun and addictive. Cheers is available now for all to download and enjoy.

Try it. Cheers.

Throughout the week I became a “Viddyographer” and played with the Viddy app. I have to say it was fun and I had that feeling again as I did with when I first discovered Instagram. Even the experience of shooting a video, applying unique audio tracks, transitions and innovative visual effects was impressive and simple. Some of the visual effects make for highly entertaining videos such as my recording from the beach. The app allows for the capture, beautify and share of 15-second video clips. This is a godsend since you’ll be uploading this videos afterwards. With HD recordings, that file size gets large quick. Encoding and upload times work well for such large files.

This week Viddy, a Los Angeles based company and the fastest growing mobile social video application, has announced that they have raised $6 million dollars in Series A financing. Bring the total capital raised to $8.2 million dollars. Lead by Battery Ventures along with co-investors Greycroft Ventures and Qualcomm, the additional funding will enable Viddy to accelerate international expansion and bring their App to new devices and platforms, including the iPad and Android Phones and Tablets. Viddy is currently available in the App store for the iPhone.

Viddy’s accelerated growth can be greatly attributed to its celebrity users, who utilize Viddy as a communication platform for engaging and entertain their fans. Notable Viddy users include musicians like Linkin Park, Snoop Dogg, and Incubus, as well as celebrities like TV personality, Giuliana Rancic, NFL greats Warren Sapp and Michael Strahan, and digital influencers like iJustine. Viddy also features premium branded content tie-ins, enabling Viddy fans to download custom video effects and sounds from their favorite artists and movies.

“We continue to be excited by the growth and engagement of the Viddy community, and by the visually entertaining quality of videos created and shared around the world every day,” said Viddy CEO & Co-Founder Brett O’Brien.

To begin our recap of last week’s winter TZ Spotlight, we’d like to say our list of thank yous. Thank you to the supporters who told their colleagues and friends about the event, to our attendees for the attention towards the center of the room, to our supporting sponsors, our Spotlight judges, and to Bill Gross, our inspirational keynote speaker for the evening. Building a strong tech industry to rival that of Silicon Valley is definitely no easy feat, but the overall feeling within Cal Tech’s Baxter Hall at last week’s event certainly bodes well for the year. With a room full of investors, founders, media, and tech enthusiasts; and a hilariously dramatic orchestral soundtrack that would show up from time to time (Cal Tech Symphony practice happening on the first floor), there was definitely a strong air of excitement through our different stages of the evening.

After some pre-game mingling, we began our evening with demos from companies that had been picked from months of company submissions. The intent of our Spotlight events is always simple: to provide a live platform to showcase the very companies that our driving our tech/start up industry, to show our hometown investors a handful of worthwhile companies, and to give other founders some inspiration and innovation for their own companies.

Crowd Seats came up first to give their two minute breakdown of the company. They provide discounted tickets (50-90%) directly to sports fans but with a slight twist from the age-old ticket brokering system. Developing their business directly through partnerships with sports teams, Crowd Seats has the ability to get larger discounts on potentially unused ticket sales to provide value for the fans, teams, and venues.

The next company up was Storitz, operating as an online reservation system for storage units (think Orbitz), the company helps consumers not only search for available listings, but also make reservations with real time feedback on availability and customer reviews. With a scale-able platform ready to expand to different industries (utilities and maintenance services, etc.) and web plug-in capabilities (Yelp), Storitz definitely gave the biggest eye opener of the evening with their revelation that Storage Units is astonishingly, a $20 billion/yr industry.

Next was Mobile Web America‘s ultra impressive display of their patent-pending web application that converts most websites into a mobile friendly format. Bridging the gap (and the high development costs) between web to mobile, MWA’s services allows for an easy conversion (no programming knowledge required) with end users being able to view the reformatted websites on any mobile device platform they choose. Simple, but simply awe-inspiring stuff as they took Cal Tech’s school website, and within a matter of seconds parsed it out into a mobile ready view on their website’s test function. They also gave a quick tour of the dashboard that clients would be using to customize their now mobile ready sites.

Our next company to present was Danger Room Gaming and their Rapid Fire Trivia games. With all games designed and developed in house, they also work with companies and campaigns to develop specific trivia game applications. With a database of millions of questions in stock, they provide entertainment and generate revenue in two manners: by having users  put money on the line to play, or by allowing users to play free with non-obtrusive ads. Their presentation ended in a quick trivia round about science, a category which (of course), the techy audience chose.

Leftronic, our final company to present demo’d their impressive data visualization platform that displays information in real time and within browser windows, meaning, no software to download. Developed with aesthetics and ease of use in mind, the impressive interface and their display of the system’s dashboard functions showed us just how simple it is for their users to customize their own data feeds. Looking for twitter trends on #TZSpotlight? Simple; simply launch a new widget style box with the information you need. Great for looking up Facebook and traffic statistics, Leftronic’s product offering definitely has the Startup client in mind.

To close off the evening we had an especially inspirational super demo from Idealab’s Bill Gross. Bill took us on a narrative journey of his own experiences with stories on both successes and failures along his entrepreneurial path. In addition to serving as director and founder to multiple successful companies, he is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology and of the Art Center College of Design. Bill received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology. Honestly, when someone like Bill gives you advice, you listen. I particularly enjoyed the flow of his demo as he took the captivated audience step by step from his earliest successes as an entrepreneurial minded high school student, to where he is now, with Idealab’s especially long list of successfully incubated companies. Building a strong sense of interest before presenting his lesson, this format really kept the audience engaged as they waited to hear each of his 12 points of success (as follows):

1. Market Power Rules – Utilizing the momentum of a rapidly developing industry to serve as your tail wind to success
2. Master The Demo – Presenting the mission of your company and instilling excitement in potential supporters
3. Pursue Your Passion – The only way to truly stay motivated on the arduous path of an entrepreneur
4. Focus, Focus, Focus – Specializing your product when things get too diluted and unclear
5. Recognize Your Strengths – And utilize the strengths of others to work as a team
6. Don’t Overbuild – Preparing for too much success can easily be as dangerous as not preparing enough
7. Survive Until the Market is Ready – Streamlining your operations and staying true to rough out tough times
8. Test, Test, Test – The importance of feedback on your product
9. Stick With It – The importance of perseverance on especially rough patches
10. Rind Essential Partners – Leveraging the value of others to build something greater than individual sums
11. Harness Your Users’ Passion – The significance of getting users involved and engaged

And finally, the lesson to end the evening

12. “All Truth Passes Through 3 Stages” by Arthur Schopenhauer

1. First, it is ridiculed
2. Second, it is violently opposed
3. Third, it is accepted as being self evident

Some sound advice for a room of people looking to shape LA’s business culture.

Full Spotlight Video

As we turn our ideas for the future into the latest startups and companies of today, there’s always a need for resources to help guide one through the process of it all. As that idea grows into a business there may come a time where the need for outside funding in necessary to further grow and scale. While this time for a business can be exciting one must be prepared with the resources to take the next step.

One of the tools is a valuable slideshow known as a business’s pitch deck. A pitch deck is important whether you are, intend to, or have no desire to raise money. It can help focus the product’s strategy and future direction of the business. Plus it gives something tangible to be shown to potential advertisers, partners, sponsors, etc.

While there are many examples and how-tos on creating a pitch deck around, our very own Los Angeles based accelerator, Amplify, has put together a very detailed and easy to follow guide for those in an early-stage startup. Amplify’s example does a great job running through the each piece to the pitch deck puzzle such as the components of the elevator pitch, what content should be included, and common mistakes entrepreneurs make.

The pitch deck is available online for free here, and on their website at Amplify.LA. 

America’s immigration system proves to be stifling inbound founders, engineers, and graduating foreigners looking to join the tech industry due to complex visa applications and provisions. Strict boundaries and a marathon of hoops to jump through just to submit your documentation as an immigrant, are resulting in less American educated immigrants staying to pursue the process, rather opting to return to their home countries. Even investors and experienced founders are caught in the same net as recently educated graduates looking to build companies.

Take the U.S. category E visa for investors as a prime example of the recent troubles. Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius, an international law firm, recently released a continued learning immigration law webinar to discuss the issue stating E visa provisions; clarifying just how difficult the process of immigration is proving to be. An E visa is meant for foreign investors looking to start a business in the U.S. or purely invest in established U.S. entities. Unfortunately, the visa requires that the entity be majorly owned by U.S. nationals, making it difficult for investing founders to reach requirements, as well an application checklist with no set amount.  USCIS, when checking the application will compare the dollar amount with other investments in the industry in order to disprove marginal amounts. At the same time, if the entity were to raise capital, any dropping share of the company below 50% for US share holders would disqualify the foreign investors from the E visa. Therefore, a founder bringing skills, a business, and perhaps an opportunity for job creation may be denied before the company can even be formed. With this, Silicon Valley has decided to speak out about the stifling affect of immigration law and the impacts that have caused crippling of the American tech industry.

In Silicon Valley’s favor, “U.S. Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) have authored bipartisan legislation aimed at jumpstarting the economy through the creation and growth of new businesses” through the reintroduction of the Start Up Act. Originally introduced by Senator Kerry and Senator Lugar in 2010, the act was reintroduced in late 2011 based on opinion that company creation could be a strong push towards job creation. “The Startup Act outlines a five-prong approach to job creation based on the proven track record of entrepreneurs:

1. Reducing regulatory burdens
2. Attracting business investment
3. Accelerating the commercialization of university research
4. Attracting and retaining entrepreneurial talent
5. Encouraging pro-growth state and local policies,”

According to the official press release on Senator Moran’s blog.

The act is not only to change investment regulations into new businesses but also opened the doors to reforming the Sarbanes-Oaxley Act, which has scared recent foreign investment. On immigration, the Act would create “an Entrepreneur’s Visa for up to 75,000 immigrant entrepreneurs who register a business and employ at least two non-family member employees, and invest in their business within one year of obtaining the visa,” as outlined by Watson Immigration’s summary of the act on their blog (http://moran.senate.gov/). “Current H-1B Visa holders or those who have completed graduate level work in a STEM field would qualify; and encourage successful pro-growth state and local policies by studying state laws that affect new business formation and economic growth.”

But not so fast, as the law is still a proposal and not predicted to be enacted until at least later this year. To speed growth, some companies and venture capitalists, most notoriously Blueseed, feel so strongly about “U.S. immigration law choking the flow of ‘bold and creative’ entrepreneurs into Silicon Valley (Garling, Wired)” that they are building a floating IT fortress. The ship will be a place “where entrepreneurs can be ‘bold and creative’ right next to Silicon Valley without actually setting foot on U.S. soil,” as reported on by Wired Magazine’s Caleb Garling. Yes, it is a floating crusade to be located 12 miles offshore of San Francisco free from immigration regulation. Wired goes on to tell us “this is more than just an idea. Big-name venture capitalist and PayPal founder Peter Thiel just sunk some cash into the Blueseed crusade,” releasing detailed mockups of the plans in December of 2011. Although until this “floating Fortress” becomes an immigration reality we are left to rely on the current visa choices, which don’t bode well for the emerging foreign entrepreneurs looking to found companies on US soil.

Photo of mockups taken from Wired article by Caleb Garling

In fact, “25% of the US science and technology companies founded had CEOs or lead technologists who were foreign born,” going back to MorganLewis’s recent account of the current immigrant statistics. In Silicon Valley, the numbers are among the highest for the amount of companies submitting applications for visas, as well as for the number of immigrants currently working as founding entrepreneurs. With H1B caps at 65,000, plus another 25,000 for individuals with post-graduate degrees from the US, based on employment sponsorship, where are founders to turn for the right to create an entity.

According to MorganLewis it is much harder for owner beneficiaries to get an H1B, restricting founders from being classified as they must prove employment by an external entity. Even the L-A visa created for managers, executives, and specialty talent require an entity abroad that must be held during the entire duration of your visa (up to 7 years) in which, the applicant must have worked at for at east one-year prior. Mark Zuckerberg certainly would not have made the cut for this right to form Facebook, with his beginnings from his college dorm room.

Requires an employer. Slide taken from MorganLewis Immigration presentation.

Although, in the case of Mark Zuckerberg, the opposing side may argue he may never had have a chance if an immigrant would have the flexibility to come in and create the company before he did. A side proving hard to argue “with almost 20% of the newest Fortune 500 companies­—those founded between 1985 and 2010- have an immigrant founder,” employing hundreds of thousands of US nationals, proving that the numbers show a need for reform (more from the Morgan Lewis, immigration webinar, 2012).

The Start Up America initiative will extend this opinion by shedding light on internal policies to make life easier for foreign entrepreneurs.  From the front lines of Silicon valley, the immigrant horror stories could fill up libraries of personal immigration battles out of everywhere from Apple, to young immigrants working at the most renowned venture firms, to highly publicized founders deported and running their companies remotely. For many, myself included, whether the solution be a floating fortress or reform it could not come quicker.

Who is Stephan Paternot, and why is his advice so relevant? Just ask anyone who rose and fell with the Internet bubble. They’ll tell you Paternot was an entrepreneurial whiz kid who co-founded the very first social network in the 90′s called TheGlobe.com. Yes, we’re talking pre-Friendster, MySpace, Facebook…you get the point.

In November of 1998 Paternot and Co Founder Todd Krizelman made history when The Globe achieved the largest first day gain of any IPO. Like Facebook, they were the media darlings, appearing on Charlie Rose, Oprah and everywhere in between. But being in the public eye has its price, and when the bubble burst, The Globe shattered as well.

Is Paternot jaded? Perhaps, but he speaks from raw experience. In the years since, he’s become a successful investor with Actarus Funds, started a production company, and just recently launched Slated, a sort of AngelList for film funding. At the very least, he’s a tangible example of life after an IPO. Only history will decide if his are the words to live by.

Full text of Stephan Paternot’s letter to Mark Zuckerberg: 

Dear Mark Zuckerberg,

Congratulations on filing to go public! Facebook is a tour de force platform, and company, and is vindicating for all of us who believed in the online community business back in the 1.0 days. However, before you pop open the champagne, please read this op-ed I wrote last summer about the death of MySpace, it’ll give you a sense about what you’re in for after you go public.

Per your letter to the public in the S1, I’m pleased to see that you are all about innovation ahead of profits…. I completely agree with you! Only problem is, investors have their own short term agendas and generally tend to get awfully loud when there’s a slight dip in the stock, just ask Yahoo, or me, when I took TheGlobe.com public.

Since you’re proceeding no matter what for the benefit of your employees and shareholders, I’d urge you to read my book on your next holiday, and especially focus on the second half, right after we went public, and prepare for the beginning of the end of truly bold, innovative risk taking.

Granted, Facebook is orders of magnitude bigger and in much better financial shape than my company was when we went public, but either way, you should be prepared to grow really thick skin and ignore everything shareholders, or the media, will be yelling at you from the bleachers when they want to squeeze out more profits out of their investment.

Oh, and I’d suggest you setup a blind trust and sell a meaningful amount of stock on a monthly schedule over the next few years. It’s an insurance policy against any missteps…or G+ succeeding

Yours truly,
Stephan Paternot

Everyone enjoys a good evening out on the town now and then. As we’re out we all like to indulge in our social media accounts with sharing updates, media, and check-ins. But while we’re doing all that, what are the nightlife venues we’re at doing on their side? Is there a potential for a greater evening experience to be achieved based on our social actions?

During this year’s 2012 Consumer Electronic Show (#CES), we were sponsors to the demoing of the new venue management solution from the nightclub and nightlife web application called SocialNightLife.com. SocialNightlife.com provides 360 degree solution for not only consumers but also the venues and their employees as well. By combing location-based, social media, AND a venue management solution SocialNightlife.com offers a centralized location for those looking to gain a premium nightlife experience. While offering businesses and venues the opportunity to offer promotions, run events, and specials, catered to their specific clientele working through their doors.

The platform has strong focus around the customer services of those at various venues, as that was an important piece to the puzzle per Co-Founder, Artin Nazarian. That customer service has continued to be improved as SocialNightlife.com enters the possible last weeks in a private beta. The private beta currently includes nightlife venues from Las Vegas and Los Angeles as test markets. Soon we’ll all be able to experience this premium night experience both on the web and via their upcoming mobile app.

Attending the demo event were some of the current private beta users from the Las Vegas market. After the demo I got a chance to speak to Andrew Huston of Marquee, a user of the application both personally and professionally.

Me: Have you used it and what are your thoughts of the application?

Andrew:“I’ve used it and for our business its probably the most ample platform for forming our guest’s experience and allows us to gain back what the guest has experienced.”

Me: Would you recommend SocialNightlife.com to other venues here in Las Vegas?

Andrew: “Absolutely. I’ve already recommended it to all my friends in the night life industry.”

Join TechZulu as we celebrate LA’s most exciting tech creations of the moment with the brightest digital minds and engineering talents this side of Fresno. There are still a few tickets left for you to be part of what will surely be an amazing night.

This Spotlight takes place Thursday, February 2, at Caltech. The evening will consist of a series of live stage demonstrations guaranteed to impress and inspire new ideas among all in attendance. Followed by a FREE cocktail and apps reception for all attendees.

And now without further ado I present the Spotlight: LA Tech Winter Companies:

Spotlight Companies

Crowd Seats gets you in the crowd for your favorite games with ticket prices 50-90% off face value! Crowd Seats is the only Group Buying/Daily Deals site for sports fans. All it takes is an email address to start receiving our exclusive deals for sports tickets to your favorite teams in your city.

On Storitz, you don’t just make a reservation, you actually select a specific unit from a facility’s available inventory and complete your rental all from the website. This means not having to worry about spending extra time negotiating and collecting superfluous paperwork at the storage facility.  It’s a clutter-free, haggle-free, hassle-free solution to self storage.

Mobile Web America, Inc. has created a simple to use, online application for your business to create a mobile site and secure its mobile presence. We utilize the content of your existing website and create a mobile version on-the-fly. Logos, themes, branding, content, videos, maps and more are automatically transposed to the mobile version with no programming knowledge required. The end user, regardless of the mobile device from which the website is being accessed, will see a mobile version of the your site!

Rapid Fire Trivia is a game owned and operated by Danger Room Gaming.   We write and create our own content for the game.  This way we keep the questions fresh and up to date with current events.

Leftronic is a real-time data visualization platform for startups. We make it trivial to quickly aggregate and monitor your key metrics in real-time! Everything happens in the browser (no software to download) and the finished product looks amazing on large screens!

SuperDemo: Bill Gross

Bill Gross founded Idealab in March 1996 and serves as the company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Bill founded Idealab to create and build successful businesses that capitalize on innovations in areas with significant growth opportunities, including the Internet.

Bill serves on the boards of directors of numerous companies. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology and of the Art Center College of Design. Bill received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Join Us

If you’d like to see some of the best technologies and meet some of the brightest minds in beautiful Southern California, SIGN UP NOW.

Event Details

• When: Thursday, February 2, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Where: Baxter Hall | CalTech 1200 E California Blvd Pasadena, CA 91125
• What: Spotlight Series Event
• Price: $25 (Early Bird)
• RSVP:

AGENDA

7:00 – 7:45pm – check-in
7:45 – 7:55pm – introductory remarks
8:00 – 8:35pm – 5 five-minute demos, followed by brief Q&A for each company
8:35 – 9:00pm – “Superdemo”
9:00 – 10:00pm – cocktail reception and networking

Directions to the Spotlight: LA Tech Winter 2012

For Events at Baxter Lecture Hall:

Traveling west on the 210 freeway or east on the 134/210 freeway, take the Hill Avenue off-ramp and proceed south on Hill. Go to Del Mar Avenue and turn right. Take the next left on Holliston Avenue, into Caltech campus. Park in the Holliston parking structure located at 370 S. Holliston Ave. approximately half-way down the block on the left side of the street. After exiting the parking structure, proceed to Baxter Hall by continuing south on Holliston to the end of the block. Turn right onto the San Pasqual mall, and follow the walkway to the fifth building on your right (there is a pond in front of the building).

From the 110 freeway north, which turns into Arroyo Parkway, take Arroyo Parkway to Del Mar Avenue and turn right. Go approximately 1.5 miles to Holliston Avenue, and turn right. Park in the Holliston parking structure located at 370 S. Holliston Ave., approximately half-way down the block on the left hand side of the street. After exiting the parking structure on Holliston, proceed to Baxter Hall by continuing south on Holliston to the end of the block. Turn right onto the San Pasqual mall, and follow the walkway to the fifth building on your right (there is a pond in front of the building.)

Making Spotlight: LA Tech Winter Possible

Diamond Sponsor

CallFire provides Voice and SMS Solutions to over 40,000 customers including political groups, non-profits, insurance agents, small business owners, and marketers. Headquarted in Santa Monica, CA, CallFire is dedicated to providing high-availability systems, intuitive user interfaces, furious developer support, and unparalleled customer care in order to transform how companies do business.

Gold Sponsor

Start Engine is a rapid accelerator focused on helping Los Angeles-based technology startups build a solid foundation for success in 90 days.  Created by Howard Marks, co-founder of Activision, and Paul Kessler, one of the most prolific investors in Los Angeles, Start Engine will provide local startups with the essential resources and counsel they need to become successful, self-directed businesses.  Start Engine offers a team of mentors who have proven themselves as successful entrepreneurs – not professional investors – ensuring that its startups are guided by the right people for the right reasons. Early-stage companies in the web, mobile and ecommerce space are encouraged to apply for the program which completes four cycles per year, culminating in Demo Days that are attended by the region’s top angel investors and VCs.

Silver Sponsor

Thousands of organizations have turned to TriNet for human resources, benefits, payroll, workers’ compensation, and strategic human capital services. As their trusted HR advisor, TriNet helps these companies contain HR costs, minimize employer-related risk, and relieve the administrative burden of HR.

TriNet also offers a set of Strategic Services that match companies at every point in their lifecycle, including such offerings as Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, and Employee Development. All of TriNet’s services are supported by a team of dedicated human capital consultants and experts, and enabled by best-in-class HR technology from Oracle-PeopleSoft.

ForeignIQ offers interactive learning materials on web and mobile tohelp international travelers learn about the customs and language oftheir destination and have more productive and enjoyable trips.Foreign travel does not need to be foreign!

CitySourced is a real time mobile civic engagement platform. CitySourced provides a free, simple, and intuitive platform empowering residents to identify civic issues (public safety, quality of life, & environmental issues, etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution; an opportunity for government to use technology to save time and money plus improve accountability to those they govern; and a positive, collaborative platform for real action. A picture tells a thousand words and CitySourced makes it snap.

Leftronic is a real-time data visualization platform for startups. We make it trivial to quickly aggregate and monitor your key metrics in real-time! Everything happens in the browser (no software to download) and the finished product looks amazing on large screens!

Co-Host & Venue Sponsor

The Caltech Entrepreneurship Club is the hub for innovators in the Caltech community who want to learn how to make their idea a reality. We leverage our network in the Los Angeles community to provide members with access to potential employees, mentors and investors.

The Caltech/MIT Enterprise forum is a joint venture ofCaltech’s Industrial Relations Center, Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer, the Caltech Alumni Association and the MIT Alumni Association. Its mission is to encourage the growth and success of technology-based entrepreneurial ventures in Southern California.

Community Sponsors

Demeter Interactive is a digital marketing and communications firm based in Los Angeles, California. The firm has a strategy-based approach with a strong focus on technology and high-quality content. Co-Founded by Jesse Bouman and Gaia Dempsey, the company serves technology startups and companies with a focus on sustainability.

Tech Coast Angels is actively seeking great startups to fund. Providing more than just money, TCA brings connections, knowledge, mentoring and operational assistance to bold early-stage entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas.

The Coloft is a space for entrepreneurs, independents, startups, programmers, designers, professionals, and awesome people in general. Because putting all of us together results in amazing things –together we are even more brilliant than we are alone.

Idealab continues to explore a range of technology frontiers. New models for improving the search experience are at the core of several companies currently growing inside of Idealab. Moving beyond the Internet, we have spawned companies with breakthrough technologies in robotics, renewable energy and automotive design and production among others. Idealab also continues to partner with leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies.

Mindshare LA was founded as means to elevate the public discourse and to provide a welcome change from the typical bar scene.
The brand promise is to service curiosity and to help provide a sense of belonging in one of America’s iconic cities.

ProjectFresh was founded in 2002 as a platform to launch projects and companies that have a shared set of goals:

• To galvanize community and to promote cross-pollination.
• To inspire and facilitate personal and cultural growth.
• To explore how new technologies impact society.

We achieve these goals by designing experiences that mix disciplines, such as Mindshare LA; bringing together people with diverse skills to create unique companies like Syyn Labs; or twisting together the unexpected, as in the charitable-meets-public-improv exploits of The Tuxedo Tyrants.

BetterWorks vision is to “Make Work Rewarding!” Technically speaking we’re a business platform where businesses can quickly create better, more rewarding work environments for their employees while saving a ton of time and money. Think of it as “Happiness in the Cloud.” Socially speaking, we’re a group of fun, innovative founders who love entrepreneurship.

Want to Sponsor?

We currently have sponsorship slots open If you would like to be part of this amazing event and show your support for TechZulu.  Contact us at sponsor@techzulu.com.

• Sponsorship Opportunities for Events, and other channels
• Sponsored giveaways and contests
• Custom ad deals and partnerships

Two nights ago we got the opportunity for the first time to hear in depth on what a few of the leaders in the LA incubator/accelerators space foresee coming down the pipe for 2012. Last night we learned who some of those leaders may be. Last night’s LA AppShow at the Edmunds.com offices in Santa Monica, will showcase a handful of this year’s newsworthy and unrecognized applications from around the area. Past pretisipants have gone on to be feature in such outlets as the New York Times, BBC, and the iTunes App Store.

Show Lineup

6:00 Doors Open-  Networking, food, and drinks.

7:00 PM  LA AppShow Opening Remarks

7:10 Introduction of Amanda Coolong

7: 12 PM Amanda interviews App Developers for 7 minutes each.

1) Lokast

2) Edmunds

3) Trippy

4) AppStreet Boys

5) The Honey Badger Don’t Care of MEDL Mobile

6) Vidify

7) Cookbook Cafe of BakeSpace

8:05 PM Closing Remarks & Download-o-meter results?

8:05-9:00 Networking, Drinks and Remaining Food

About LAAppShow

Each month 10 App developers are brought together to demo their newsworthy new apps and  unrecognized app gems to a live audience with an exciting social backdrop.  The Event has travel around the country participating in such areas as San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, and Santa Monica. Events are available in person and also streamed live on the web via Ustream.tv.

SuperDemo: Bill Gross

Bill Gross founded Idealab in March 1996 and serves as the company’s Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer. Bill founded Idealab to create and build successful businesses that capitalize on innovations in areas with significant growth opportunities, including the Internet.

A lifelong entrepreneur, Bill started several companies prior to Idealab. In high school, he founded Solar Devices, a firm that sold plans and kits for solar energy products. In college at the California Institute of Technology, he patented a new loudspeaker design and formed GNP Loudspeakers, Inc. After graduating from college, Bill and his brother Larry started GNP Development, Inc., which made a natural language product for Lotus 1-2-3 called HAL. In 1985, Lotus Development Corporation acquired GNP and Bill became a software entrepreneur at Lotus Development. In 1991, Bill started Knowledge Adventure, an educational software publisher that grew to be the third largest educational software publisher in the world and was eventually sold to Cendant Software and is now a division of Havas Interactive, which is owned by Vivendi.

Bill serves on the boards of directors of numerous companies. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the California Institute of Technology and of the Art Center College of Design. Bill received his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology.

Spotlight Judges:

Alex Maleki, Member of New Venture Group at Idealab

Alex is a member of the New Venture Group at Idealab, headed by Allen Morgan. Alex previously helped lead the Proto Group at Idealab, working to determine the feasibility of new business ideas. Prior to Idealab, Alex led sales and marketing efforts for venture-backed startups focused on enterprise software and services. He holds a BA from the University of California, Santa Barbara, a JD from Southwestern University, and suffers from an addiction to cheeseburgers.

Alex serves on the Board of Directors for Logsdon School, a non-profit school providing educational services to students with special needs.

Chris Dumler, Co-Founder of Los Angeles Startup Foundation

Chris Dumler is an advocate of the Los Angeles startup community and the culture that holds it together. Known as the “coloftologist”, Chris spent the past year connecting and developing the LA startup scene by building on and offline community at Coloft, the most recognized hub for startup activity in Los Angeles. He continues to build that community as the Los Angeles Co-founder of Startup Foundation, a global program for accelerating startup ecosystems around the world.

Dinesh Ravishanker, CEO & Co-Founder at CallFire

Dinesh’s passion is developing VoIP-driven startups and creating unique online growth strategies. He is a recognized leader in the Voice 2.0 space and has focused his career exclusively on VoIP Integration consulting. Dinesh is a highly entrepreneurial executive with a track record of driving sales through innovative biz-dev and online marketing techniques. In the past, Dinesh served as President of Skyy Consulting Inc. and has led business analysis & user interface design projects for the U.S. Navy, Pfizer, & Unisys Corp. Dinesh earned his B.S. in Computer Science and his MBA from UC Irvine.

Howard Marks, Co-Founder at Activision / StartEngine

A 20-year industry veteran, having co-founded juggernaut Activision as well as Acclaim Games. After its acquisition by Playdom, he was most recently head of the Acclaim studio and Sr. VP, Strategic Planning at Disney Interactive Media Group.  Howard is currently the CEO of Gamzee, a social games company that makes game that play everywhere written in HTML5.

Scott Sangster, President of Tech Coast Angels (Los Angeles)/CEO at OrganicStartup

OrangicStartup’s is a company that helps Internet startups start. OrganicStartup incubates and accelerates innovative ventures by providing them with strategic early-stage investment, advisory, and operational assistance. Sangster is a serial entrepreneur and M&A executive with experience both founding and acquiring businesses. He sits on several boards and is involved in the virtual worlds, gaming, mobile, media, and healthcare markets.

Still Time to Submit Your Company!

There is still time to apply so if you have yet to do so APPLY HERE. Spotlight: LA Tech Fall will take place Thursday, February 2, at 7pm.  Entries will be closed for company submissions at midnight of January  22, 2012.

If you’d like to see some of the best technologies and meet some of the brightest minds in beautiful Southern California, SIGN UP NOW.

Event Details

• When: Thursday, February 2, 2012 – 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
• Where: CalTech 1200 E California Blvd Pasadena, CA 91125
• What: Spotlight Series Event
• Price: $25 (Early Bird)
• RSVP:

AGENDA

7:00 – 7:45pm – check-in
7:45 – 7:55pm – introductory remarks
8:00 – 8:35pm – 5 five-minute demos, followed by brief Q&A for each company
8:35 – 9:00pm – “Superdemo”
9:00 – 10:00pm – cocktail reception and networkin

Directions to the Spotlight: LA Tech Winter 2012

For Events at Baxter Lecture Hall:

Traveling west on the 210 freeway or east on the 134/210 freeway, take the Hill Avenue off-ramp and proceed south on Hill. Go to Del Mar Avenue and turn right. Take the next left on Holliston Avenue, into Caltech campus. Park in the Holliston parking structure located at 370 S. Holliston Ave. approximately half-way down the block on the left side of the street. After exiting the parking structure, proceed to Baxter Hall by continuing south on Holliston to the end of the block. Turn right onto the San Pasqual mall, and follow the walkway to the fifth building on your right (there is a pond in front of the building).

From the 110 freeway north, which turns into Arroyo Parkway, take Arroyo Parkway to Del Mar Avenue and turn right. Go approximately 1.5 miles to Holliston Avenue, and turn right. Park in the Holliston parking structure located at 370 S. Holliston Ave., approximately half-way down the block on the left hand side of the street. After exiting the parking structure on Holliston, proceed to Baxter Hall by continuing south on Holliston to the end of the block. Turn right onto the San Pasqual mall, and follow the walkway to the fifth building on your right (there is a pond in front of the building.)

Making Spotlight: LA Tech Winter Possible

Diamond Sponsor

CallFire provides Voice and SMS Solutions to over 40,000 customers including political groups, non-profits, insurance agents, small business owners, and marketers. Headquarted in Santa Monica, CA, CallFire is dedicated to providing high-availability systems, intuitive user interfaces, furious developer support, and unparalleled customer care in order to transform how companies do business.

Gold Sponsor

Start Engine is a rapid accelerator focused on helping Los Angeles-based technology startups build a solid foundation for success in 90 days.  Created by Howard Marks, co-founder of Activision, and Paul Kessler, one of the most prolific investors in Los Angeles, Start Engine will provide local startups with the essential resources and counsel they need to become successful, self-directed businesses.  Start Engine offers a team of mentors who have proven themselves as successful entrepreneurs – not professional investors – ensuring that its startups are guided by the right people for the right reasons. Early-stage companies in the web, mobile and ecommerce space are encouraged to apply for the program which completes four cycles per year, culminating in Demo Days that are attended by the region’s top angel investors and VCs.

Silver Sponsor

Thousands of organizations have turned to TriNet for human resources, benefits, payroll, workers’ compensation, and strategic human capital services. As their trusted HR advisor, TriNet helps these companies contain HR costs, minimize employer-related risk, and relieve the administrative burden of HR.

TriNet also offers a set of Strategic Services that match companies at every point in their lifecycle, including such offerings as Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, and Employee Development. All of TriNet’s services are supported by a team of dedicated human capital consultants and experts, and enabled by best-in-class HR technology from Oracle-PeopleSoft.

ForeignIQ offers interactive learning materials on web and mobile tohelp international travelers learn about the customs and language oftheir destination and have more productive and enjoyable trips.Foreign travel does not need to be foreign!

CitySourced is a real time mobile civic engagement platform. CitySourced provides a free, simple, and intuitive platform empowering residents to identify civic issues (public safety, quality of life, & environmental issues, etc.) and report them to city hall for quick resolution; an opportunity for government to use technology to save time and money plus improve accountability to those they govern; and a positive, collaborative platform for real action. A picture tells a thousand words and CitySourced makes it snap.

Co-Host & Venue Sponsor

The Caltech Entrepreneurship Club is the hub for innovators in the Caltech community who want to learn how to make their idea a reality. We leverage our network in the Los Angeles community to provide members with access to potential employees, mentors and investors.

The Caltech/MIT Enterprise forum is a joint venture ofCaltech’s Industrial Relations Center, Caltech’s Office of Technology Transfer, the Caltech Alumni Association and the MIT Alumni Association. Its mission is to encourage the growth and success of technology-based entrepreneurial ventures in Southern California.

Community Sponsors

Demeter Interactive is a digital marketing and communications firm based in Los Angeles, California. The firm has a strategy-based approach with a strong focus on technology and high-quality content. Co-Founded by Jesse Bouman and Gaia Dempsey, the company serves technology startups and companies with a focus on sustainability.

Tech Coast Angels is actively seeking great startups to fund. Providing more than just money, TCA brings connections, knowledge, mentoring and operational assistance to bold early-stage entrepreneurs with game-changing ideas.

The Coloft is a space for entrepreneurs, independents, startups, programmers, designers, professionals, and awesome people in general. Because putting all of us together results in amazing things –together we are even more brilliant than we are alone.

Idealab continues to explore a range of technology frontiers. New models for improving the search experience are at the core of several companies currently growing inside of Idealab. Moving beyond the Internet, we have spawned companies with breakthrough technologies in robotics, renewable energy and automotive design and production among others. Idealab also continues to partner with leading venture capital firms and other strategic investors to provide the resources to maximize the potential of these companies.

Mindshare LA was founded as means to elevate the public discourse and to provide a welcome change from the typical bar scene.
The brand promise is to service curiosity and to help provide a sense of belonging in one of America’s iconic cities.

ProjectFresh was founded in 2002 as a platform to launch projects and companies that have a shared set of goals:

• To galvanize community and to promote cross-pollination.
• To inspire and facilitate personal and cultural growth.
• To explore how new technologies impact society.

We achieve these goals by designing experiences that mix disciplines, such as Mindshare LA; bringing together people with diverse skills to create unique companies like Syyn Labs; or twisting together the unexpected, as in the charitable-meets-public-improv exploits of The Tuxedo Tyrants.

Want to Sponsor?

We currently have sponsorship slots open If you would like to be part of this amazing event and show your support for TechZulu.  Contact us at sponsor@techzulu.com.

• Sponsorship Opportunities for Events, and other channels
• Sponsored giveaways and contests
• Custom ad deals and partnerships

“The object is to exploit the convergence of people, information, products, services and places with today’s smartphones and tablets, which drive online orders in addition to purchases from brick-and-mortar stores.”

– Paul Breummer, Search Engine Land

In April 2011, the Association of Coupon Professionals held an Industry Conference in Atlanta to address the present and future state of couponing. The industry had seen unprecedented growth in the past decade due to a combination of factors, one of which was the United States’ economic recession. “The rise of couponing in late 2008 coincided with the recession of the late 2000s;” this factor combined with an increased consumer interest in mobile technology and devices led to an unprecedented decline in print media.

Due to the combination of these factors, marketers began to more heavily fund digital platforms.  The coupon industry specifically saw record growth within the digital realm, and by 2010 “49 million people [had] used an online coupon.”

The benefits “digital interactions” have and continue to offer coupon companies are vast. For starters, online couponing allows for great promotion of brands and wider distribution; not to mention it also allows companies to better reach & track consumer preferences and patterns. Precise analytics allow companies to “measure online distribution of coupons by tracking the printing of web pages and page views;” a significant advantage with digital.

What these and other analytics showed was that the digital coupon consumer base was  “young, married, and had disposable income.” Groupon specifically has targeted this demographic, lending digital couponing a social reputation. “Daily deal” couponing continues to be a popular tool among consumers and marketers, and many major companies have implementing their own version of the trend.

Statistics from 2008 show that digital couponing has rapidly grown but has yet to outpace paper coupons. At that time, digital accounted for “less than 1/10 of all coupons distributed.” But subsequent statistics have also shown that “online coupon access [has] increased 92 percent and redemption of Internet deals [has] leapt up 360 percent;” with more growth predicted in 2012. All-in-all one study found that “1 in 5 people who receive an Internet coupon redeemed it;” so clearly digital couponing is more than just “another distribution channel,” as some analysts have previously stated.

Problems Daily Deal Couponing Presented for Business Owners

While intriguing for consumers, daily deal couponing platforms like Groupon have not always been beneficial for business owners who often see a spike in business with little retention of those customers.

“A study conducted by Rice University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business found that 66 percent of the 150 businesses surveyed reported that Groupon promotions [were] profitable. However, more than 40 percent of the organizations said that they wouldn’t run a Groupon offer again.”

But what Groupon (and Living Social’s) platforms have revealed is the social nature of contemporary couponing. For example, Cornell University reported that many Groupon users see themselves as “marketing mavens”… “on the front edge of market trends and price information.” Additionally, users claim they “would not have tried a restaurant [or store] without a coupon offer.” What theses statements reveal is the social branding that has been bestowed upon contemporary couponing thanks in great deal to the popularity of “daily deals.”

Social Leads to Social Sharing

The social, daily deal strategies that Groupon (and Living Social) made popular have certainly spawned many copycat initiatives within the social, digital couponing realm. One such example is SocialTwist, a platform that “allows users to share in order to receive a better bargain.” The basic concept being that consumers can turn a $1 coupon into a $4 coupon simply by sharing it with 4 other people. According to one study this method has proven popular as “SocialTwist’s social coupons receive a 50-80 percent redemption rate.” It has been predicted that this method will continue to increase in popularity in 2012. Evidence of this was seen in late November 2011, when Foursquare announced they will be incorporating a new “social sharing” button on their site.

Getting Mobile-Ready

Given these newer strategies companies are mobilizing their virtual and physical platforms to better reach and retain these social, mobile customers. Most companies are aware now more than ever that their mobile presence has to be dynamic and user friendly. With roughly 91% of the population using mobile devices and 26.3% accessing the Internet, it is important to have a “mobile ready” site for easy mobile reading and utilization.

In addition to this, “Google has reported [that] 95% of smartphone users have searched for local information,” while using their mobile devices- proving that location based, deal searching is another important aspect of mobile coupon use.

“The study also found 38 percent of users would use a mobile device to find a store location, 34 percent to compare prices, 28 percent to research deals and coupons, and 27 percent to find a product review.”

These statistics provide even greater incentive for businesses to have mobile ready sites so that they can engage local users looking for discounted goods and services.

Resolving Mobile Couponing’s Redemption Pitfalls

Mobile couponing, an obvious extension and result of digital distribution, has been popular despite its “mechanical” issues. With the rise of digital coupons, so came a rise in consumers using their mobile devices to reference coupons visually on their smartphones. Unprepared for this development, the redemption process, i.e. the scanning of digital coupons on mobile devices, has proven difficult until recently.

“Mobile coupon redemption has always struggled with ensuring a seamless experience at the point of sale,” contemporary research states. So, business giants like Walgreen’s Drug Store have “retrained salespeople to handle the process [and] equipped stores with hardware that can recognize 2D codes on LCD displays.” This nationwide initiative was just launched and will undergo testing during the 2011 Holiday Season.

“A re-release of the Walgreens app for iOS, BlackBerry and Android included a new coupons section that will issue up to three new deals each week exclusively for customers using the mobile apps. Rich Lesperance, head of digital marketing and merging media, Walgreens, says the program is the largest deployment of in-store mobile coupon scanning of which he is aware.”

Looking Ahead to the “Social-Local-Mobile” Strategy

According to an article published on December 1st, 2011 in Search Engine Land, the “social-local-mobile” trend is the next cutting edge move for digital businesses and a necessary consideration for coupon brands.# Social-local-mobile (SLM) gets specific when it comes to targeting your ideal market and allows your ideal consumer to find you. A win for both parties, as well as the logical next step for consumer activity based on current digital engagement.

An impressive “two-thirds of holiday shoppers would make a purchase from mobile phones if prompted by coupons, discounts, text alerts, gift cards or loyalty points. That’s an increase from the 32 percent that responded positively last year,” claims
a new survey by Sybase 365 and the Mobile Marketing Association. In short, businesses looking to stay on top of the digital couponing trends need to focus on the being strong on three fronts: social, local and mobile. As the combination of the three provide the ultimate benefit.

Submited by GroceryCouponNetwork.com. Credit for the writing and research of this article and content above goes to them as well.