There’s no other way to put it – free time is getting harder to come by. In a down economy and a competitive job market, there is no such thing as a forty-hour work week anymore. Because of this, our daily tasks have become more difficult to squeeze into our daily schedule. No where is…
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Though you may be more familiar with Kayak, Priceline, Travelocity, and Expedia, Calabasas-based CheapAir.com has been around longer – since 1989 – and after talking to founder and CEO Jeff Klee, I think they’re better than the competition. Despite being in a crowded marketplace, they are constantly looking for ways to innovate – and that…
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What’s the bottleneck in your laundry operation? This may seem like a silly question, but for entrepreneurs, whose time equals serious money, mundane tasks like doing laundry can either eat into your bottom line or spare time. One is valuable, the other invaluable. Chances are, the answer to the above question is likely socks or…
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Eventup, the first startup from Science Inc., the technology studio founded by ex-MySpace CEO Mike Jones, launched earlier today. Anyone who’s been to a Tech Cocktail mixer knows first hand that the quality of a venue makes plays a major role in the quality of experience. We pride ourselves in digging through your city’s top…
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Yesterday I wrote about a company that gets it, when it comes to rewarding customers for doing some of the marketing legwork for them. Social Rewards is another clued-in startup that realizes a simple “thank you” – in the form of rewards, of course – can go a long way in building brand loyalty and…
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Did you recently move to a new city? Looking to meet some new people? Or perhaps you’re looking to pick up a new skill but aren’t totally sure what to add to your repertoire? LifeCrowd is your solution. This Santa Monica-based startup is looking to “make the quest to discovering and experiencing new activities an exciting…
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With cash-strapped governments and businesses spending less on R&D in the wake of the economic crisis, innovation may be in jeopardy. Meanwhile, some capital-intensive startups struggle to borrow from friends and family or secure investment from VCs. This was true for entrepreneur Dan Gutierrez, who was building a cloud-based database service called HostedDatabase.com in 2000….
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Userplane, an LA based company founded by Mike Jones, was acquired by AOL in 2006. But as you walk into their office in Santa Monica and look at the way they’ve re-invented themselves over the past couple of years, you wouldn’t think they’re part of a big company. Matt Turner, Tech Director for Userplane, is…
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CitySourced, the Los Angeles-based real-time mobile civic engagement platform, has recently announced the closing of a $1.33 million Series A funding round. “Having attained profitability earlier this year, we weren’t actively seeking capital investment. But when the opportunity to work with our current investor presented itself, the strategic potential it brought to the table was too…
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Between crowded meter spots and overpriced garages, trying to find parking in a busy city district can be a major headache. Luckily, now we have Parking in Motion (PIM) – the new parking app that lets you find and compare parking wherever you may be. PIM brings real-time parking information and services to consumers through…
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If you are an obsessive social media user with a sense of adventure, LA-based startup Chatterpop, which demo’d at our Tech Cocktail Los Angeles mixer last week, has developed an easy-to-use video app with a social learning underpinning. The vision behind Chatterpop is to create a new way to make, share, and experience the world…
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Earlier this year, Nik Bauman was trying to figure out what to do next. He had cofounded artisan food marketplace Foodzie and been named one of Businessweek’s best young tech entrepreneurs of 2009. Should he get a job as a developer or consultant or plunge into another startup? “I look at business like a craft,”…
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In the 2nd stop on our West Coast swing, we are hosting the Tech Cocktail Los Angeles mixer tonight, where you can meet the founders behind 11 exciting new startups. Proving that social discovery is a hot trend, we have a few startups capitalizing on that concept with their own unique twist, as well as…
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Saving the world ain’t easy, just ask anyone who plays Half-Life. Neither is destroying it, as anyone who plays Grand Theft Auto can attest. Whether you’re vowing your efforts for the side of good or evil, one fact remains constant: serious, all-night gaming requires serious, all-night energy. That’s why GamerFood has created an array of…
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Whether you are gay or straight, the dating scene can veer from ridiculous to scary. Everyone has a horror story to share, that’s for sure. While I am as straight as they come, I have heard firsthand from gay friends about the sometimes truly strange world of dating in the gay community. Compounded by the…
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Think of the last concert or major sporting event you attended – did you check in via Facebook, or maybe Foursquare? Tweet about it? Post a clip to YouTube? Chances are good that you did. And if you didn’t, guaranteed there were people who did. A lot of them. That shared content has become an…
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There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More
Coming off of one of our biggest Tech Cocktail mixer events in Chicago this past week, which showcased 14 early-stage start-ups, we thought it would... Read More