Both Sides of the Table

OCTOBER 8, 2014

Many people don’t realize that the majority of the monetization of the Internet originated in Los Angeles but was perfected in Silicon Valley. He built & sold iMall in Internet 1.0 But the “monetization heart of the Internet” doesn’t stop at Overture, Applied Semantics and MySpace.

Los Angeles 376

Los Angeles Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Seattle 376

Mucker Lab

AUGUST 27, 2014

As an entrepreneur himself, founding and operating printed circuit board factories in Taiwan, my father was debating between two places to immigrate to and build his next new venture: Los Angeles (“The Valley” aka San Fernando Valley) and Santa Clara (“Silicon Valley”).

Los Angeles 138

Los Angeles Southern California Silicon Valley Technical Review 138

Steve Blank

AUGUST 13, 2009

It took me 8 startups and 21 years to get it right, (and one can argue success was due to the Internet bubble rather then any brilliance.) No internet, no blogs, no books on startups, no entrepreneurship departments in universities, etc. Steve Blanks 30 years of Silicon Valley startup advice. Order Here. Now In Print!

Silicon Valley 179

Silicon Valley RSS Technical Review Lean 179

Both Sides of the Table

MARCH 17, 2010

First, I’d like to quote (paraphrase) Brad Feld speaking at Twiistup in LA in 2009, “I keep hearing people in LA talking with a chip on their shoulders about building a tech business here relative to Silicon Valley. But LA is not Silicon Valley and we don’t need to aspire to be so.

Silicon Valley 290

Silicon Valley Technology Los Angeles Southern California 290

Both Sides of the Table

APRIL 17, 2012

The birthplace of sponsored search (Overture), semantic search (Applied Semantics which became Google AdSense), comparison shopping (ShopZilla, PriceGrabber) and many others. Home to the Internet’s first true “accelerator,” Idealab led by Bill Gross. World-class education including Caltech, USC and UCLA.

Community 304

Community Los Angeles Startup Silicon Valley 304

Both Sides of the Table

AUGUST 3, 2009

LA not only produced the obvious – MySpace – but also created the whole category of sponsored search (Overture), AdSense (Applied Semantics), Local Search (City Search), comparison shopping (PriceGrabber, Shopzilla) and lead generation (LowerMyBills). Mark Suster, QD3, Brian Solis, Chamillionaire, Ian Rogers, Brian Zisk.

Silicon Valley 228

Silicon Valley Cofounder Hawaii Semantic 228

Both Sides of the Table

FEBRUARY 15, 2011

Last year I was on Sand Hill Road in Silicon Valley meeting with one of the most prominent venture capital firms in the country. And this Silicon Valley bias isn’t limited to any single meeting – it has been a recurring theme in my time as a VC. Funding is different outside of Silicon Valley.

Silicon Valley 313

Silicon Valley Southern California Los Angeles Semantic 313