From The Trenches

When Billie Eilish uploaded her song ‘Ocean Eyes’ to SoundCloud at the ripe old age of 13, she had no idea it would ignite her career. Now, she sits atop the charts and is considered music royalty.  But as Jeff Ponchick, VP and Head of Repost at SoundCloud will tell you, the service is more than just another uploading platform. With a mission to help artists quit their day jobs...

Summer 2020 is going to be different for most of us and, most importantly, our kids. Most IRL (in real life) activities are canceled or have gone virtual. Your kids won’t be hitting up the public pool, going to the library, or packing their bags for summer camp. Instead, they will be camping in your backyard, shooting hoops in the driveaway, and, hopefully, not spending every waking moment on their...

Erik Huberman is sick of your bullshit. If you’re one of those guys taking selfies in front of a Bentley, or posing on the beach somewhere, he doesn’t want to hear it. Because, chances are, you’re not going to last.  What lasts is providing value. Day in and day out. Year after year. Through dips in the market, changes in innovation, even through global pandemics. Because if you provide value,...

Don’t be a sucker for dumb money. Dumb money will eat your startup alive.  What is dumb money? Dumb money tends to be solely transactional. You provide equity, and the dumb money provides the cash. The deal is done.  Smart money is relational. Smart money provides value beyond just the dollars and cents. You want to find a venture partner that will provide a cash investment, of course. But you...

All companies face challenges. But when your company is built upon the premise of putting large groups of people together in small spaces, the challenges become even greater in the age of COVID-19.  But Ruben Schultz, co-founder of Swoop, appears more than up for the challenge. Swoop is an online platform for group transportation.  For vehicle operators, which are mainly small mom and pop shops, Swoop makes it easy to...

Slickdeals has the audacious mission of ‘Helping Shoppers Win Everywhere’. The company describes itself as the largest and most trusted deal-sharing community on the planet, and with over 25 million users, who can argue?  Founded in 1999 by VanTrac, Slickdeals has helped members save almost $7 billion dollars to date. That’s an impressive number and the company has seen tremendous growth in the last decade. But challenges remain: how do...

For the better part of the last decade, through the rise of wearable devices, genetic testing, and data-driven technologies, individuals now have more information than ever about their own health, encouraging health education and literacy. This can translate to better decision making and ultimately improved well-being. Health startups are at the forefront of developing innovative solutions for promoting measurable lifestyle actions that correlate how lifestyle, diet and nutrition choices affect...

Recently, LA Startups had the opportunity to sit down with Josh Powe, the lead advisor for Pubbly, a division of Curriculum Concepts International (CCI), to discuss how the Pubbly team put to work its $1 million Global Learning XPRIZE award and what its plans are for the future. First a bit of background; Pubbly is a digital learning platform startup whose mission is to improve access to education through innovative...