Tag Archives: Preccelerator

Preccelerator Webinar: Elevate Your Brand with Laurel Mintz

Looking for a gateway into your brand’s marketing future? This enlightening mind map session will show you how to market your brand like a pro. We’ll outline multiple areas of opportunity so that you can skillfully represent your brand across all online and offline platforms. Get ready to elevate your brand!

If you did not have a chance to attend this workshop on branding with Laurel Mintz, the entire webinar can be found here.

To view our other webinar events, please visit our events page. 

 

With a J.D/M.B.A from Rutgers University, Laurel’s background has uniquely prepared her to run a successful agency. Inspired by the innovative consulting work she executed early in her career with prestigious brands like Le Bec Fin, Public House Restaurant Group, Bassett Furniture, and Julie Hewett Cosmetics, Laurel knew she wanted to play bigger. A decade later, Laurel has created an agency family, Elevate Your Brand, serving both startups and blue-chip global brands like Facebook, Verizon Digital Media Group, PAW Patrol, and Zendesk. Laurel’s favorite saying is FIOGID. Figure it out, get it done. And that’s exactly what’s brought the agency top talent and accolades since 2009.

Laurel sits on the Board of Directors for NFTE (Network for Teaching Leadership), the Women Founders Network, and the UCLA Restaurant Conference. She is a mentor for The Women’s Global Leaders Initiative and advises LAVA (Los Angeles Venture Association). Laurel wrote a weekly Inc. Magazine column appropriately entitled “On Brand” for three years. Her published work can be found in Entrepreneur, USA Today, The American Marketing Association and C-Suite Quarterly Magazine. Laurel and the agency have recently won the W3 Silver Award for the PAW Patrol Road Patrol Campaign, the 2017 Patrick Soon-Shiong Innovation Award, the LABJ Women in Business Award, Comerica and LA Lakers’ Women’s Business Award, amongst others. When she’s not wowing clients with amazing creative, you can find Laurel with her husband cuddling their furry kids Miso and Twizzler (food obsessed much?), or testing out a new recipe in the kitchen with a good glass of wine, of course.

Preccelerator Program Class 13 Demo Day + Angel Investor Panel

Preccelerator ® Program Class 13 Demo Day + Angel Investor Panel – Cohort companies get a chance to pitch to investors + fellow founders.

Clear your calendar – It’s going down!

The Preccelerator ® Program Class 13 Demo Day kicks off on February 26th @ 6:00 pm, and you’re invited to take part in the festivities.

Preccelerator cohort companies are early stage, and we work hand in hand with them throughout their term to know their market and users, foster their leadership skills, build and test their product, avoid legal pitfalls, ensure the defensibility of their products, acquire users and partnerships and prepare them for the fundraising process. Now it’s time to showcase their efforts.

Class 13 Company Pitches

As people become more passionate about a hobby or activity, the related items they want become more customized, expensive, or harder to find. Auxxit is an innovative mobile marketplace platform that brings together communities of like-minded people and provides them with peer-to-peer commerce tools that make it easier and more fun to discuss, buy, and sell their passion-based items. Our solution provides hobbyists with easier access to reasonably priced goods and quick cash to make upgraded purchases. Visit https://www.auxxit.com/

UNOMI is a SaaS for animators and video game developers. UNOMI leverages advanced, patent-pending voice recognition and motion capture technology that automates a lot of the most time-consuming aspects of animation production. Our voice recognition software understands human speech in multiple languages. This allows animators to easily create the speech of multiple 2D and 3D animated characters and for some, UNOMI gives them the ability to create content on a daily basis. UNOMI’s motion capture software will give content creators the ability to easily track human movement within their home or studio, which will eliminate the need to rent expensive motion capture studio space and equipment. Large-scale animation studios will be able to drastically reduce costs allowing them to create more content in a significantly shorter amount of time. UNOMI will also be releasing an Augmented Reality and VR, 3D object plugin for Adobe software which will allow users to easily implement and animate 3D objects quickly and easily. Each UNOMI software will be intuitive, which will eliminate a learning curve for most users. Visit www.getunomi.com

 

Investor Panel

Investors will be joining us from Tech Coast Angels, Pasadena Angels, and Women Founders Network.

More details to follow!

Preccelerator Managing Director Len Lanzi Featured on Biz Journal’s “People on the Move”

The Preccelerator’s new Managing Director, Len Lanzi was featured on LA Biz Journals People on the Move. Len leads the day to day program management, investor relationships, and investment screening of the Preccelerator Program. The Los Angeles Business Journal is a weekly newspaper and online news source that provides coverage of local business news.

To view the full post visit here.

About Len Lanzi

Leonard M. Lanzi has over 30 years of organization management and fund development experience. He has been serving as the Executive Director of the Los Angeles Venture Association since 2007. In his capacity at LAVA, Len works with the LAVA board of directors to direct the strategic plan and organize educational and informational programs within the venture-funded startup ecosystem in the greater Los Angeles region.

Len brings a well-rounded knowledge from such diverse human service organizations as the Community Kitchen of Santa Barbara, Court Appointed Special Advocates, Junior Achievement of Southern California and the Boy Scouts of America.

Leonard graduated from the University of Rochester with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He has professional certification from Pepperdine University on Private Capital Markets. He is an active member of the Rotary Club of Santa Monica where he served on its Board of Directors as VP Programs. Leonard also serves as Board Chair for Meals on Wheels West, as a director for Rotarians for Family Health and AIDS Prevention, Board Treasurer for the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Governors for StartOut, a nationwide entrepreneurial organization for the LGBT community.

About the Preccelerator
The Preccelerator® Program is an accelerator for early-stage startups offered to select companies out of the Santa Monica office of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP that provides initial capital, sophisticated legal services, interim office space, mentorship, a targeted curriculum, investment strategy counseling and access to a strategic perks portfolio with the objective of helping grow founders’ ideas from business concept to funded startup.

 

Preccelerator Workshop: Employment Law for Startups with Rachael Lavi

“Employment Law for Startups”
Presented by Rachel Lavi

Rachael Lavi, an Attorney specializing in Labor and Employment matters in California, will be speaking on the top employment law risks for startup companies in California, including: (1) best practices for hiring employees; (2) independent contractors and misclassification issues; (3) how to utilize interns; and other significant legal risks.

Tuesday, November 5th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring

Rachael S. Lavi, Associate, Littler Mendelson

Rachael S. Lavi advises and represents employers in all matters of labor and employment law, including discrimination, harassment, wrongful termination, and wage and hour claims. Rachael has vast experience representing clients in litigation in both California state and and federal court, as well as before state and federal agencies, such as the Department of Fair Employment and Housing, the Department of Labor Standards Enforcement, the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, the Public Employment Relations Board, and the National Labor Relations Board.

In addition to managing a diverse litigation docket, Rachael also provides clients with direct advice and counsel to help her clients come to the best legal and business decisions regarding compliance with state and federal employment and labor laws, including wage and hour requirements, leaves of absence, paid sick leave, handbooks and written employment policies, best practices for hiring, disciplining, and terminating employees.

During law school, Rachael was a judicial extern for the Hon. Andrew Wistrich of the U. S. District Court, Central District of California and was a volunteer law clerk for the Cancer Legal Resource Center. She was a lead articles editor on the Pepperdine Law Review, a teaching assistant, and a magister of the legal honor society, Phi Delta Phi. As an undergraduate, she was an intern for Hagen Resources International in Switzerland and U. S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

SAM Preccelerator
1316 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401

We hope to see you there!

*You must register with your name & email to attend this event.

Save the Date – Preccelerator Class 12 Demo Day

Clear your calendar – It’s going down!

 

The Preccelerator ® Program Class 12 Demo Day kicks off on November 13th @ 6:00 pm, and you’re invited to take part in the festivities.

What a wild ride it has been! Preccelerator cohort companies are early stage, and we work hand in hand with them throughout their term to know their market and users, foster their leadership skills, build and test their product, avoid legal pitfalls, ensure the defensibility of their products, acquire users and partnerships and prepare them for the fundraising process. Now it’s time to showcase their efforts!

 

CLASS 12 COMPANY PITCHES

 

Expy Health is a digital health platform designed to optimize orthopedic recovery. The platform helps patients prepare for & recover from orthopedic surgery while improving clinical efficiency through remote monitoring. By tracking real-time data, they are able to provide health analytics and insights that lead to increased patient engagement and better health outcomes. Working with healthcare providers, they deliver the tools to educate and support patients during at-home rehabilitation which expedites recovery and reduces costs.

Visit https://expyhealth.com/

ALUMNI COMPANY PITCHES

 

nēdl (as in, “the haystack”) is a free app that converts audio into text so radio listeners can search live content as easily as they search the web— by keywords (being said at this moment!), and songs & artists (being played right now!)— and, then discover what comes next on over 120,000 live radio stations worldwide.

Users can even add their own voices to the live search results of premium live news, sports, talk to become searchable by the words they say. It’s as simple as tapping the microphone button in the app to go live – no signup necessary.

Visit www.nedl.com/

Checkplis believes people should feel like they are visiting friends when they go out for a meal or drinks with their friends. It’s all about the experience. They are solving the last mile problem of the hospitality industry service. Whether a solo lunch, a brunch with girlfriends or a table with friends at a club, paying the check can ruin what otherwise would be a great experience after an amazing meal or drinks with friends.

Checkplis is a mobile app integrated into POS systems so customers can pay, tip and split the check themselves, all from their phones. They are strategic partners and experience creators for restaurant, bar and nightclub industry leaders.

Visit www.checkplis.com

Trufl is an on-demand seating platform that allows guests to wait less at busy restaurants by bidding on the next available table. The total amount bid may be used as a credit towards their food and beverage dining experience. The Trufl platform includes a guest profile CRM system that allows restaurants to create a more personalized hospitality experience. Trufl also allows restaurants to managed their waitlist, seated guests, and floor plan.

Visit www.truflapp.com

LOCATION

1316 3rd Street Promenade
Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401

Preccelerator Chairman and Board Member Scott Alderton Featured on SoCalTech

socaltechPreccelerator Chairman and Board Member and Stubbs Alderton & Markiles’ Managing Partner, Scott Alderton, was featured this month on SocalTech Interviews series. In his interview with Ben Kuo, founder and editor of SoCalTech.com, Scott discusses the Preccelerator Program and its offerings, as well as his top pieces of advice for startup entrepreneurs.

Scott Alderton is a Founding Partner of the Firm, Managing Partner, and a member of the Firm’s executive committee.  Scott is co-chair of the Firm’s Venture Capital and Emerging Growth practice group. Scott is also Chairman and a Board Member of the Preccelerator.

Scott advises clients across a number of industries, including software, technology, digital media, interactive entertainment and video games, cyber security and life sciences.

Scott’s practice focuses on advising early stage to middle-market technology and emerging growth companies in all aspects of capital formation, venture capital and finance, corporate and securities laws, mergers and acquisitions, high technology, intellectual property, licensing, interactive entertainment and video games, the internet,digital media, manufacturing and distribution of goods in commerce and commercial contracts. Scott also regularly advises senior executive officers with respect to employment, compensation and equity incentives.  Scott is frequently referenced as one of the top “start-up” lawyers in Southern California, and with over thirty years of experience working with technology and emerging growth companies at all stages along their evolutionary path, is sought out for his business as well as legal advice.

Scott is a frequent speaker on matters relating to technology, intellectual property, capital formation, capital raising transactions and emerging growth companies, and was formerly an adjunct professor of law at Loyola Law school, teaching securities regulation.

To learn more about our Venture Capital & Emerging Growth practice, contact Scott Alderton at (818) 444-4500 or salderton@stubbsalderton.com

Preccelerator Workshop: UX Primer for Entrepreneurs w/ Rich Abronson

“UX Primer for Entrepreneurs”
Presented by Rich Abronson

User experience design is much more than creating “clean” interfaces or deciding where to place buttons. In actuality, the UX design process is key to knowing your target users, defining core features, and uncovering your minimally valuable product (MVP). From the start-up perspective, this session will introduce entrepreneurs to the concepts, expectations, and techniques for bringing the user experience design process into the mix. This session will discuss:

  • What UX is (and isn’t) and why it’s important
  • UX costs and how to incorporate it into your strategy
  • The UX process including brainstorming, feature prioritization, and usability testing

Tuesday, August 20th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Rich AbronsonRich Abronson
Founder and User Experience Designer – Zero 2 Eleven

Zero 2 Eleven was founded by Rich Abronson, a veteran Internet professional and entrepreneur with an extensive, multidisciplinary background leading online product development, marketing, and user-experience design. Rich began his career as a Web designer in 1995, and has been engaged in shaping, defining, and communicating the online experience ever since.

Rich is an entrepeneur, and he created Zero 2 Eleven for entrepreneurs. In 2006, he co-founded a profitable mobile publishing platform company, Gumiyo, that was successfully sold in 2013. As a co-founder, Rich was immersed in many aspects of the tech start-up world including product and business development, fund-raising, and marketing. Rich continues to be involved in the Los Angeles tech start-up community, a.k.a. Silicon Beach, as a general partner for Accordance Ventures and board member of the Los Angeles Venture Association (LAVA).

As a result of this experience, Rich understands the mindset to create something from nothing, and he empathizes with the tension that exists between boundless creativity and scarce resources. With that, Zero 2 Eleven seeks to help the small business or online startup conceptualize and realize web and mobile projects in a manner that balances this tension.

Zero 2 Eleven encourages active collaboration with clients who want to solve problems, fill market needs, and build cool stuff. With that, Rich becomes part of the team, and invests himself in the results.

richabronson@gmail.com

LinkedIn | Website

*User-experience design, online marketing, product development, business development, fund-raising

SAM Preccelerator
1316 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401

We hope to see you there!

*You must register with your name & email to attend this event.

You’re Invited to a Preccelerator Workshop: Strategic Partnerships with Jonathan Tavss

“Strategic Partnerships”
Presented by Jonathan Tavss

Strategic Partnerships: Everything is a Dance. Care to Join?

 

Strategic partnerships are integral to businesses both big and small. Unfortunately, most partnerships are not created equal and outcomes can be deeply affected when not giving deliberate consideration to who should be teamed up with and why.

Consider how the venture should regard partnerships – what they should be looking for in a partnership – and what those partners are actually looking for in return.

Put a simpler way: everything is a partnership. What are investors, collaborators, employees, vendors, and conferences looking for from you? With this understanding, better sourcing, agreements, communication, and outcomes can be had.

Tuesday, August 27th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Jonathan Tavss
Co-Founder and Director – Kaleidoko

Operating as a world-renowned guide to organizations and individuals globally who wish to understand discourse on exponential technological growth and its connection to cultural change, Jonathan Tavss triggers springboards for business realignment to drive impact and results. At his core, he is a connector – literally and figuratively – between the realities of today and the sustainable possibilities of tomorrow. Jonathan is sought out by companies ranging from Fortune 100 to start-ups – including international entertainment studios, media firms, CPG brands and service corporations – to advise in business strategy, product development, content creation, distribution, change management and global positioning.

In 2017, Jonathan launched the global venture, Kaleidoko, bringing transformation and shifted perspectives to its clients as they optimize productivity, expand audiences and more deftly handle inevitable change. Kaleidoko prods corporations, organizations and individuals to see things differently in order to achieve true potential through consulting, multi-modal training and inspirational keynotes.

Over the decades, Jonathan has planned and directed operational transformations, content initiatives, product development, integrated marketing campaigns or advised companies including 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, MGM, ABC, OwnZones Media, ABS-CBN International, ALTAR Furniture, Real Medicine Foundation, PromaxBDA, and Sporcle.

Based in the heart of Silicon Beach, Jonathan is also a professor and advisor for Boston University’s Graduate Program in Media Ventures, a Fellow of The Royal Society of the Arts and a mentor with the Stubbs Alderton Preccellerator and Accellerator programs. Jonathan’s insatiable thirst for knowledge drives him to constantly dig deeper – leading to his ability to provoke and inspire others for the mindful betterment of society.

Tavss is a frequent speaker at media, entertainment, business transformation, museum and retail conferences. Past engagements include GoaFest, Leaders in Islamabad, Ad:Tech, Cynopsis, Digital Hollywood, AdAsia, San Diego Comic-Con and the Southeastern Museum Conference.

Twitter: @JTavss
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathantavss

SAM Preccelerator
1316 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401

We hope to see you there!

*You must register with your name & email to attend this event.

You’re Invited to a Preccelerator Workshop: Priced to Grow – Build Pricing for Sustainable Growth with Ed Lee

“Priced to Grow – Build Pricing for Sustainable Growth with Ed Lee”
Presented by Ed Lee

Pricing is one of the most powerful growth tools in an entrepreneur’s toolkit, but also one of the most misunderstood and underutilized by startups and companies. In fact, in a study of more than 1,000 companies, poor pricing is cited as a top 5 reason why new ventures fail.

Being able to build an effective pricing strategy is a critical success factor for an organization. For a company with average economics, an 1% improvement in price has up to 5X the impact on the bottom-line compared to an 1% increase in volume.

Join our session to challenge perceptions of pricing – what it is and is not – and begin laying the groundwork to integrate pricing into your company’s growth strategy that drives sustainable business goals

Tuesday, August 13th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

 

Featuring:

Ed Lee

Ed Lee is a pricing and go-to-market specialist and trusted advisor to leading companies and brands. He is the founder of HelloAdvisr, a growth consultancy helping companies and leadership teams use pricing and monetization to build high-impact profit growth strategies.

Previously, Ed held leadership roles with LG Electronics and Simon-Kucher & Partners, a global management consulting firm and the world’s leading expert in pricing.

Ed is regularly invited to teach and speak at leading institutions including UCLA, USC, UC, San Diego, Techstars, and the LA Cleantech Incubator.

Ed received his MBA from Oxford University, MSc from the London School of Economics, and B.A. from UCSD.

HelloAdvisr has launched a new eBook “How To Design A High-Impact Pricing Strategy”. The eBook guides entrepreneurs and businesses to design a pricing strategy geared toward business goals, success factors to help get the most out of your pricing strategy, case studies and more. Download the free eBook here.

SAM Preccelerator
1316 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401

We hope to see you there!

*You must register with your name & email to attend this event.

You’re Invited to a Preccelerator Workshop: Fundraising Essentials: Term Sheets 101 w/ Caroline Cherkassky & Kelly Laffey

“Fundraising Essentials: Term Sheets 101”
Presented by Caroline Cherkassky and Kelly Laffey

Topics that will be covered include:

  • Type of financing: convertible notes vs SAFEs vs priced equity rounds
  • Convertible notes and SAFEs: caps, discounts, and other key terms
  • Priced equity rounds: economic provisions, voting rights, and other key terms

Tuesday, July 23rd, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Caroline Cherkassky

Caroline Cherkassky is a partner of the firm.

Caroline’s practice focuses on advising emerging growth, development stage, and middle market companies on a variety of matters, including venture capital and other financings, employee compensation, securities laws compliance, technology transactions, mergers and acquisitions, stockholder agreements, equity incentive plans, corporate governance, and other general corporate matters, including serving as outside general counsel to early-stage companies. She also advises the funds and other investors that invest in these types of companies.

Kelly Laffey

Kelly Siobhan Laffey is an associate of the firm and the Director of Business Affairs at the Preccelerator.

Kelly’s practice focuses on advising emerging growth and middle market companies in the technology, digital, internet, interactive media (i.e., AR and VR), and entertainment industries. Kelly counsels clients on issues related to corporate governance and formation, venture capital and other financing, joint ventures, employee compensation, complex stockholder and operating agreements, securities law regulation and other general corporate matters. Kelly also advises investors and funds in connection with venture capital and other financing.

Kelly also counsels clients in connection with mergers and acquisitions matters, including asset and equity acquisitions and dispositions, cross-border transactions, spin-off transactions, secured lending transactions, financing restructurings, and corporate reorganizations.

Drawing on her diverse work experience in the entertainment arena, including time spent with talent agencies, and music and television production companies, Kelly also assists on matters related to licensing, marketing, and exploitation of intellectual property rights.

SAM Preccelerator
1316 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 107
Santa Monica, CA 90401

We hope to see you there!

*You must register with your name & email to attend this event.