Tag Archives: Heidi Hubbeling

Introducing the Startup Superhero Video Series! – This Week Featuring Chris Bechtel on “Driving Growth For Early-Stage Startups”

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and the Preccelerator Program are proud to announce the launch of their Startup Superhero Video Series – featuring SA&M Attorneys, Preccelerator Mentors, and entrepreneurs on topics specific to entrepreneurship and lessons learned throughout the journey.

This week we’re featuring Preccelerator Mentor Chris Bechtel of Growth Engine Labs as he chats about “Driving Growth for Early-Stage Startups.” Chris is a growth consultant, start-up advisor, customer acquisition and sales coach, former SaaS CEO, and marketing executive. Chris brings 20 years of sales and marketing expertise, specializing in demand generation, marketing automation, pipeline optimization, content marketing, and sales technologies. Chris has extensive experience in B2B, internet and SaaS technologies working with start-ups, growth stage organizations and brands to maximize the results of their digital marketing, PR and revenue generation activities through the use of content and technology.

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Transcript

Heidi: What do you think is the most important thing for driving growth for early stage companies?

Chris: I think really, the most important thing is really the market. Being in the right section of the market, really focused on customer needs. I think that most start-ups, start with a hypothesis. It usually comes from personal experience, but people often forget there’s many potential buyers of that start-up’s initial idea. There’s a problem, there’s a pain that needs to be solved and think sort of the biggest barrier is not really focusing on the right growth segment within that market. So, I think first and foremost it’s about making sure you’re in a strong market, where the customer’s segments under served. I think then it’s really about that focus. It’s really about focusing on the right section of the market, really understanding who you are marketing to and that’s really going to dictate the value proposition to use and what channels you use to acquire them.

Heidi: Going back to barriers, talk about the most common barrier to early stage success.

Chris: I think really the same it’s about focus. With every entrepreneur, it’s both a blessing and a curse to have that creative mind. To be able to come up with unique solutions to common problems. But, then the barrier often comes from overthinking and questioning all those ideas and then not actually being able to focus because essentially every start-up is a hypothesis and then when it comes to marketing that hypothesis those are also a set of hypotheses. The key is focusing and prioritizing a series of tests.

Heidi: For early stage start-up, how do you find the right people to surround them with to provide attraction and growth.

Chris: I think that’s a great question, and one that often many founders struggle with. In terms, of how do I have a co-founder, who’s my initial founding team? A lot of it starts with what’s the stage that you’re in? What kinds of people? Do you have people, you know, if you’re already at product market fit and you need people to scale? You will need people who have had experience really scaling. In the early days, you needed people who could do many things and are willing to do many things and are able to then also focus on those core things and get us to the next stage of validating product market fit and identifying the actual acquisition channels that are going to help us get to that next stage. Hopefully get some more capital to start scaling.

Heidi: Finally, what’s your favorite thing about being a mentor here at the Preccelerator? What drove you to join us?

Chris: Well, first of all it’s a great community. There’s great people here and I just really love helping people. That’s why I do what I do I think and helping people get clarity. Because people have so much passion, but it’s hard, it’s really, really hard. So, I love the joy in people’s face when they sort of get clarity, at least what I’m supposed to focus on for the next week or two and get unstuck. I think that’s really what I enjoy the most about being here at Stubbs.

Heidi: Yeah, community and that sense of empathy, among advisors, mentors, and other entrepreneurs that are advising. It’s been really important and greatly beneficial. Thank you for being here.

Chris Bechtel
Growth Engine Labs
cbechtel@growthenginelabs.com

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To learn more about the Preccelerator Program, contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@100.26.91.60.

Preccelerator Program COO Heidi Hubbeling Featured in CREATV Media Digital Media Update

SAM Preccelerator Program COO Heidi Hubbeling was featured this week on CREATV Media’s Digital Media Update blog in a “5 Question with…” series. The series focuses on exclusive interviews with key players in the overall media and tech ecosystem.

To read the full interview visit here.

Heidi Hubbeling is the Chief Operating Officer of the Preccelerator Program and Director of Marketing for top Southern California business law firm Stubbs Alderton & Markiles. Heidi’s experience in professional services marketing, relationship building, business development strategy and entrepreneurship spans more than 15 years.

About the Preccelerator® Program
The Preccelerator is a novel platform offered to select start-up companies out of the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP Santa Monica office that provides interim office space, sophisticated legal services, education, networking, mentorship and $250,000 in usable perks from Google Cloud for Startups, Amazon Web Services, and HubSpot among others, with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to funded startup. The program also retains more than 50 active strategic mentors providing free office hours and discounted services, and provides over 50+ educational workshops and networking events each year. The Program expanded in 2017 to accept a greater number of companies in more formalized classes, depending upon where the companies are in their evolutionary growth, expand benefits to accepted companies, and will look to make strategic investments backed by strategic angel investors.

For more about the Preccelerator® Program or to apply, contact Heidi Hubbeling, COO at (310) 746-9803 or hhubbeling@100.26.91.60

In Case You Missed It! Preccelerator Demo Day Class 5 Pitch Video

What an exciting evening it was! 4 talented entrepreneurs gave their 5 minute pitches to a crowd of over 100 people at the May 18, 2017 Preccelerator Demo Day. The evening was topped off by the motivating presentation on “Fearless Media” by SAM CREATV Ventures Partner Peter Csathy. In case you missed it, check out the video!

About the Preccelerator Program
The Preccelerator® Program is a platform offered to select start-up companies out of the Santa Monica office of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP that provides interim office space, sophisticated legal services, mentorship and access to a strategic perks portfolio with the objective of helping you grow your idea from business concept to funded startup. The Preccelerator® Program provides these benefits to as many as 10 promising young startups in separate growth tracks.

For more information about the Preccelerator, contact Heidi Hubbeling, COO at hhubbeling@100.26.91.60.

Preccelerator® Program Announces Its Sixth Class of Companies

SAM accelerator program for early stage companies, The Preccelerator Program, announces its new class of five digital media & tech startups

The Preccelerator Program, a Santa Monica, CA-based accelerator program for early-stage startup companies in the digital media and technology space, announced today that it has added its sixth class of companies featuring five innovative startups.

In 2012 Stubbs Alderton & Markiles launched the first-of-its-kind Preccelerator Program to provide select start-ups with co-working space, mentorship, sophisticated legal services, and access to a strategic perks portfolio with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to a funded company. Over the past five years, 22 companies have graduated the Program, of which 16 have received funding totaling over $8M.

Preccelerator Program Class 6 companies include:

Animate Objects – Animate Objects (AO), an augmented reality and virtual reality development company, is excited to announce the launch of ARGO, the gamiﬁed Augmented Reality (AR) location platform. ARGO adds AR enhanced infotainment, commerce, and analytics that drive engagement and commerce at “Destination Venues” like theme parks, resort, shopping malls, as well as in-the-wild. Guests are engaged and incentivized while site operators use ARGO’s real-time dashboard to manage, monitor and analyze their properties and visitors.

RentSpree – Most apartment searches involve numerous resources, multiple applications, and too many added fees. Rather than spending massive amounts of time and money applying for individual Los Angeles apartment rentals with separate companies, they’ve created a streamlined system. Simply fill out one application, pay an inexpensive application fee, and receive a soft credit check, sparing you unnecessary damage to your budget and credit score. Best of all, their one-stop application allows you to spend more time exploring your favorite listings, and gives our renters a distinct advantage in a competitive market.

Tapp That App – At Tapp That App they’re passionate about finding great apps, but they know it can be difficult. They’ve set out to solve the problem of mobile app discovery by combining social networks with app marketplaces. By doing so, they allow users to satisfy their curiosity and developers to take part in one of the most powerful purchase motivators around: seeing the apps their friends and influencers are using.

Ca$het – CA$Het is a multi-services platform (MSP) that allows users to identify, curate, and monetize products in movies and TV shows. We believe that the entertainment industry creates tremendous value by associating characters and products on screen. The emotional impact created when actors and products interact has been impossible to monetize due to a lack of a suitable mechanism and marketplace. We aim to change that through our platform. CA$Het provides a mechanism to quickly and accurately identify on screen products while simultaneously creating the marketplace where they can be purchased. (Coming Soon!)

Swoppit – With recycled fashion now “white hot”, Swoppit offers Generation Z women 15-24 the perfect social marketplace. Here, they swap fashion with friends. Swoppit provides Gen-Zers a terrific way to both expand their community and gain access to a far wider selection of style. It’s an easy, fun experience that doesn’t pollute the market. For Gen-Zers, looks count, opinions matter and Swoppit offers them the chance to refresh their closet whenever they like. Swoppit has been founded by a 16-year-old Gen-Zer that understands the market and is driven to make it a success. (Coming Soon!)

For more information about the Preccelerator® Program, visit www.preccelerator.com

About Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is a Southern California based business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, entertainment, intellectual property, brand protection and business litigation practice groups focusing on the representation of, among others, venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent a broad range of industries with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. The firm’s mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of the firm. For more information, visit https://preccelerator.com.

About the Preccelerator® Program

The Preccelerator is a novel platform offered to select start-up companies out of the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP Santa Monica office that provides interim office space, sophisticated legal services, education, networking, mentorship and $250,000 in usable perks from Google Cloud for Startups, Amazon Web Services, and HubSpot among others, with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to funded startup. The program also retains more than 50 active strategic mentors providing free office hours and discounted services, and provides over 50+ educational workshops and networking events each year. The Program expanded in 2017 to accept a greater number of companies in more formalized classes, depending upon where the companies are in their evolutionary growth, expand benefits to accepted companies, and will look to make strategic investments backed by strategic angel investors. To apply to the Preccelerator, visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

Contact:
Heidi Hubbeling
Chief Operating Officer, Preccelerator® Program
hhubbeling@100.26.91.60
310-746-9803

Newly Expanded Preccelerator® Program Now Accepting Applications for Digital Media & Tech Companies – Apply Now!

Applications are now open for the Preccelerator® Program, an early-stage start-up accelerator focused on the technology and digital media space! Deadline for applications is March 15, 2017. The newly expanded program will host 10 companies in its Santa Monica-based co-working space. To Apply visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152

Benefits include:

Potential investment in select Preccelerator companies up to $50,000
24/7 access to co-working space and a collaborative environment
a robust strategic perks program worth over $250,000 to early-stage Preccelerator companies and $450,000 for Preccelerator-funded companies
50+ strategic mentors that provide regular office hours and are dedicated to each company’s success
Over 50+ educational and networking events per year
Potential introductions to funding sources
With an emphasis on community and collaboration, the Preccelerator alumni continue to participate, give back and help foster the success of current and future Program participants.
Access to the top Southern California business law firm of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP for legal services and their extensive network and relationships
Access to the business advisement and business development services and network of CREATV Media

The Preccelerator® has had 22 companies go through the Program, with a majority of the companies being accepted into larger accelerator programs and/or getting their seed funding.

To read about the recent expansion of the Preccelerator and partnership with CREATV Media, click here.

For more information about the Preccelerator and its offerings, contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@100.26.91.60 or (310) 746-9803.

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and CREATV Media Featured in L.A Biz Article Regarding Preccelerator Expansion

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and CREATV Media were featured in a L.A. Biz Article outlining the two firms’ strategic alignment to grow the Preccelerator Program and seek out potential investments in promising startup companies in the digital media and technology space.

To view the full article, click here.

For more information about the Preccelerator Program, contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@100.26.91.60 or (310) 746-9803.

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles LLP Expands Preccelerator® and Brings CREATV Media’s Peter Csathy on Board to Oversee Investments

Peter Csathy to join Board of Directors of Preccelerator®, lead its investment strategy, and oversee anticipated investments

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and CREATV Media Announce Strategic Alliance to Provide Comprehensive Service Offering to Digital Media and Technology Companies

SANTA MONICA, CA – JANUARY 24, 2017 – Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP, a leading Southern California business, technology and digital media law firm, today announced that it will expand its successful early stage accelerator, the Preccelerator®, to accept a larger group of digital media and technology companies, significantly expand benefits to incoming startups, and look to make strategic investments in these companies and others. Peter Csathy, Chairman of CREATV Media, a leading digital media strategic advisory and business development firm, will join the Board of Directors of the Preccelerator to lead its investment strategy and oversee anticipated investments.

“By partnering with Peter, we will grow the firm’s industry leading Preccelerator® into a full-service platform that not only mentors young companies, but also provides smart venture capital and paths to strategic business development and consulting via CREATV Media,” said Scott Alderton, Chairman of the Preccelerator and Managing Partner of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP. “While the Preccelerator has seen a lot of success, we want to continue to foster the growth of our early stage companies. By adding more companies, formalizing our class structure, expanding benefits and providing initial seed capital, we will give them a greater shot at success. With Peter’s vast experience and industry leadership, he will lead the investment strategy for these companies.”

To date, the Preccelerator Program has graduated five classes with the majority of the twenty-two companies being accepted into larger accelerator programs and incubators or successfully raising their seed funding round. Stubbs Alderton & Markiles launched the first-of-its kind program to provide select start-ups with co-working space, education, networking, mentorship and sophisticated legal services, with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to a funded company. To apply to the Preccelerator, visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

“Stubbs Alderton’s reputation, entrepreneurial approach and shared vision in growing today’s digital media and technology market, what I call “Media 2.0”, is one of the many reasons we made this happen,” said Peter Csathy, Chairman of CREATV Media. “We deeply believe the growing convergence of content and technology is a worldwide addressable market that requires leading business and legal advisors who think “outside the box”, are deeply connected, move at entrepreneurial speed, and provide access to respected thought leaders and ultimately to smart capital. We aim to bring all of this to our collective client base, and to build CREATV Media and the Preccelerator as launchpad platforms for the world’s next digital media and technology stars.”

The partnership will also look to expand the overall service offering to clients – making available CREATV Media’s deep network of relationships and suite of business development and strategic advisory services and Stubbs Alderton’s deeply-rooted and expanding scope of legal services, led by Greg Akselrud, Chairman of the firm’s Internet, Digital Media and Entertainment practice, and Scott Alderton, Chairman of the Firm’s Venture Capital and Emerging Growth practice.

Stubbs Alderton also announced that Greg Akselrud would join the Board of Directors of the Preccelerator, that Louis Wharton, a law firm partner and current Director of the Preccelerator, would be appointed to President of the Preccelerator, and that Heidi Hubbeling, the law firm’s Director of Marketing and current Director of Operations for the Preccelerator, would be appointed to Chief Operating Officer of the Preccelerator.

About Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP

About the Preccelerator® Program

The Preccelerator® is a novel platform offered to select start-up companies out of the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP Santa Monica office that provides interim office space, sophisticated legal services, education, networking, mentorship and $250,000 in usable perks from Google Cloud for Startups, Amazon Web Services, and HubSpot among others, with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to funded startup. The program also retains more than 50 active strategic mentors providing free office hours and discounted services, and provides over 50+ educational workshops and networking events each year. The expanded program will accept a greater number of companies in more formalized classes, depending upon where the companies are in their evolutionary growth, expand benefits to accepted companies, and will look to make strategic investments backed by strategic angel investors. To apply to the Preccelerator, visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

About CREATV Media

CREATV Media is a leading digital media and technology focused advisory, consulting and business development firm with offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New York City, Austin and Germany. The firm’s clients span the digital media and tech ecosystems – from the most innovative startups, to the most storied media companies and brands. The firm uses proven, proprietary methodologies – together with exclusive insights, access and market intelligence – to accelerate Media 2.0-related opportunities and transformational growth. The firm also frequently works with buyers and sellers to maximize M&A – positioning them to achieve the best possible outcomes, identifying potential targets and connecting them to key decision-makers, helping to structure and diligence potential transactions, and advising them every step of the way both pre and post transaction. The firm also organizes, programs and leads customized workshops, live events, pilot programs and start-up innovation labs and demo days. The firm’s ethos of fearless innovation is best summed up by its slogan “Media. Unboxed.” For more information, visit .

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Contact:

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP
Heidi Hubbeling
(310) 746-9803
hhubbeling@100.26.91.60

CREATV Media
Andrea Nunn
(323) 363-9932
andrea@creatv.media

Preccelerator Program Company Ballerz World’s Version 2.0 is a Slam Dunk

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles’ Preccelerator Program company Ballerz World announced today that it has launched its version 2.0 in the iOS App Store. Founded by Navy veterans Kyle E. Cox and Nicholas Damuth, Ballerz World is the single largest marketplace that is dedicated to all things basketball. They help their worldwide users find basketball courts, as well as connect and play basketball with one another using their geo-location technology and over 12,000 pre-loaded basketball courts in every country, all while providing their users an opportunity to view and share content, in addition to buying discounted basketball gear via the in-app store portal.

During their beta phase, the Ballerz World basketball app received more than 10 awards, including the People’s Choice Award at the CES Mobile Apps Showdown, and the Best GPS-Enabled App at the Mobile App Awards.

Version 2.0 of Ballerz World includes additional aggregated content from top Basketball creators such as trainers, leagues, highlights, news and lifestyle influencers, as well as the expansion and official debut of their in-app store portal.

“Man, I wish I’d had this type of app when I was playing pickup,” Co-Founder Kyle E. Cox stated. The Ballerz World brainstorm came to him while driving around Los Angeles thinking about basketball. “What if there was an app that tells you where the courts are, all around you? That would be so cool!”

To check out and download the Ballerz World App, click here.

For more information about the Preccelerator Program, contact Heidi Hubbeling at (310) 746-9803 or hhubbeling@100.26.91.60.

Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP Announces New Class of Preccelerator® Program Companies

Los Angeles, CA, November 7, 2016 (Newswire.com) – Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is pleased to announce the admission of a new group of companies to join the fifth class of its Preccelerator® Program. The Preccelerator® is a novel platform offered to select start-up companies out of the Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP Santa Monica office that provides interim office space, sophisticated legal services, education, networking, mentorship and access to a strategic perks portfolio worth over $200,000 with the objective of helping grow a founder’s idea from business concept to funded startup.

The new participants include:

Ballerz World is the single largest marketplace that is dedicated to all things basketball. Their worldwide market of 500 million ballerz, and 30 million in the US, can connect and play basketball with one another using our geo-location technology, and their 12,000 pre-loaded courts in every country. They have successfully aggregated the top basketball content on the web allowing our users to share and watch content, in addition to buying discounted basketball gear via the in-app store portal. Ballerz World will feature courts, players, leagues, training, multimedia, and e-commerce all through our digital platform. During its beta phase, the Ballerz World app received more than 10 awards, including the People’s Choice Award at the CES Mobile Apps Showdown, and the Best GPS-Enabled App at the Mobile App Awards. Available in the iOS App Store.

StyleMD is the smartest way to find a fashion stylist that will help you look and feel more confident on any budget. They curate talented stylists from across the country that help you save time and money to achieve your style goals. Whether you’re looking for a simple consultation, an online shopper, or closet assessment StyleMD has got you covered. Available in the iOS App Store.

Virtual Reality represents a creative revolution. Humans have always told stories with words and pictures. Now PlayspaceVR is creating the next generation of graphic storytelling by bringing comic books to Virtual Reality. Their team has domain expertise in VR/AR, media/entertainment, intense work ethic, and a true love for what they do. http://playspacevr.com/

“The Stubbs Alderton & Markiles Preccelerator® Program is committed to continuing to support the Los Angeles technology scene and provide a platform for early stage companies to gain momentum and secure a solid foundation to build their businesses,” says Heidi Hubbeling, Co-Director of the Program.

Led by Stubbs Alderton Partner Louis Wharton and Heidi Hubbeling, the Preccelerator® Program has had great success with its classes, which has resulted in a majority of the companies being accepted into larger accelerator programs and incubators or successfully raising their seed funding round.

About Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP

Stubbs Alderton is a business law firm with robust corporate, public securities, mergers and acquisitions, business litigation and intellectual property practice groups focusing on the representation of venture backed emerging growth companies, middle market public companies, large technology companies, entertainment and digital media companies, investors, venture capital funds, investment bankers and underwriters. The firm’s clients represent the full spectrum of Southern California business with a concentration in the technology, entertainment, videogame, apparel and medical device sectors. Their mission is to provide technically excellent legal services in a consistent, highly-responsive and service-oriented manner with an entrepreneurial and practical business perspective. These principles are the hallmarks of their Firm.

For more information about the Preccelerator® Program and to fill out an application, visit www.preccelerator.com or contact Heidi Hubbeling at (310) 746-9803.

Preccelerator® Program Company Jambo Launches in Android and iOS App Stores

Congratulations to SAM Preccelerator Company Zero Mass Energy (“ZME”) on the launch of their first product Jambo in the Android Google Play and iOS App Stores. Jambo is a chat app that combines social productivity with integrated social gaming. “Jambo’s approach is to allow these games and tools to be utilized right within your chat threads without having to leave the app” says founder and CEO, Carey Chico. While this first version allows the user to play games, send real-time character animation, as well as voice and photos – future releases will add a large number of entertainment and productivity functions.

ZME has also launched their new Jambo Chat Platform, that is a licensable platform to help businesses scale and retain their user base by utilizing a diverse set of social productivity and social play features. Companies that have a large number of apps or sites, can take these fragmented user bases and combine them into a single community promoting engagement and retention. “We see an opportunity to create a pervasive chat platform that goes where you want to go, rather than you having to go to it. There are so many isolated and siloed app experiences that we think could benefit greatly from our technology.”

To learn more about Zero Mass Energy, visit http://www.zeromassenergy.com/

For more information about the Preccelerator Program contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@100.26.91.60 or visit www.preccelerator.com.