Tag Archives: Preccelerator

You’re Invited to a Preccelerator Workshop: Equity and Alternative Compensation w/ Louis Wharton

“Equity and Alternative Compensation”
Presented by Louis Wharton

For a company founder, it is easy to understand the benefits of providing stock or stock options to employees. It’s a way of compensating employees that doesn’t drain cash from the business. Employees will feel invested in the future success of the company. Join us to get insights and wisdom about maximizing opportunities and minimizing mistakes in creating equity

Tuesday, July 9th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Louis Wharton

Louis A. Wharton is a partner of the firm and president of the Preccelerator Program. Louis’ practice focuses on advising venture capital funds and angel networks, along with early stage, emerging growth, middle market and public companies in corporate finance, securities compliance, mergers and acquisitions and general corporate matters.

He counsels clients in the technology, e-commerce, digital media and entertainment industries, among others.

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: Employment Law w/ Rachael Lavi

“Employment Law”
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, July 2nd, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Rachael S. Lavi, Associate, Littler

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.

You’re Invited to a Preccelerator Workshop: Financial Modeling for Startups w/ Eli Eisenberg

“Financial Modeling for Startups”
Presented by Eli Eisenberg

In this workshop you will learn the following:

The theory and purpose of a financial model in a pitch deck

An approach to financial modeling that resonates with investors

How to build the model

Tuesday, June 18th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Eli Eisenberg

Eli Eisenberg has been a financial executive and consultant for startups and early-stage companies since 1982. In his 45 years of experience, he has learned what works, what doesn’t work and how to build financial models that build confidence and credibility with investors. In this workshop, he will share that knowledge with you.

Founded in 1991, Straight Line Management provides CFO services and financial expertise for High Potential Early-Stage Companies on a part-time basis.

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: The 3-Step Method for Scaling Facebook Ads with Sean Goldfaden

“The 3-Step Method for Scaling Facebook Ads”
Presented by Sean Goldfaden

Regardless of the sector and size of your startup, you can benefit from the newest Targeting options within the Facebook Ad Platform.

Sean will cover the 3-Step Method for Scaling Facebook & Instagram Ads used by CoEfficient Labs to generate millions of dollars in revenue for clients. This method should immediately enhance your advertising efforts and lower your cost per acquisition.

Tuesday, June 4th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Sean Goldfaden

*Growth Hacking, Paid Acquisition, Facebook & Instagram Ads, Leadership, Teambuilder

CoEfficient Labs is a growth hacking agency built for venture-backed startups. We work with startups to lower their cost per acquisition, cost per install, or cost per lead. What makes us unique is our agile ‘weekly sprint’ approach to advertising.

We are a startup built for startups, and I love talking with and mentoring founders in the earliest stages of their journey. As a founder and CEO myself, I am always happy to share my learnings to help you along the journey of entrepreneurship.

We are located right here in Santa Monica and believe strongly in the LA startup ecosystem. #LongLA

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.

The Preccelerator® and SAM Venture Partners Featured In LA Business Journal “Law Firms Find Fit With Venture Capital Funds”

SAM Venture Partners and the Preccelerator were featured this week in an article by the LA Business Journal entitled “Law Firms Find Fit with Venture Capital Funds.”

“Several law firms in Los Angeles have created venture capital outfits that invest in early-stage startups and offer legal advice in exchange for equity stakes in the companies. These offshoots at firms such as Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and Manatt Phelps & Phillips are not necessarily huge revenue generators, lawyers at the firms said. But the venture capital initiatives — as well as accelerator and incubator programs tied to the operations — offer access to a pool of new clients, and relationships formed with executives at startups can lead to a steady billing stream down the line.”

To read the full article, visit here.

For more information about SAM Venture Partners or the Preccelerator contact Heidi Hubbeling at hhubbeling@stubbsalderton.com

You’re Invited to Preccelerator Class 10 Demo Day!

Clear your calendar – It’s going down! The Preccelerator ® Program Class 10 Demo Day kicks off on January 23rd @ 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 6-month 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! Hear from an expert panel of judges about specific feedback for the companies and what it takes to be investor ready in the early-stage startup fundraising process.

_____________________________________

THE COMPANIES

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.

Checkplis was founded by Abner Flores and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

Visit www.checkplis.com

UNOMI is a SaaS for animators and video game developers. UNOMI leverages advanced, patent 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.

UNOMI was founded by Obi Onyejekwe and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

Visit www.getunomi.com

StarMetrics is an entertainment analytics platform and suite of tools designed to make the casting, financing and forecasting process easier for content creators. With StarMetrics, users can easily discover new talent and understand the value of actors, directors and other entertainers across many data points, such as international appeal, social media reach, or box office impact. StarMetrics provides predictive intelligence and analytics that empowers creators, advertisers, investors and other stakeholders to succeed in an increasingly global and complex content marketplace.

StarMetrics was founded by Audrey Delaney and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

Visit www.starmetrics.com

Screen Door Labs created ARescue, a team communication software built for first responders. The virtual command center shows commanders 2D and 3D maps, as well as geotags and video feeds from drone operators and other first responders. Boots on the ground can see virtual markers that lead them to their objectives. Running on tablets, smartphones, and several off-the-shelf AR headsets, ARescue allows first responders to work safer, respond faster, and communicate better as a team.

Screen Door Labs was founded by Kari Wu and Seth Persigehl and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

Visit www.screendoorlabs.com

HaloLoop is the bridge between people seeking spiritual inspiration and spiritual institutions seeking people. They are a live-streaming spiritual marketplace that connects people to live spiritual experiences and spiritual institutions to people. They are solving a major crisis where the Religious Industry is experiencing a dramatic decline in attendance amid an explosive demand for spirituality in society. At HaloLoop they’re solving this crisis by changing the rules on how people and institutions engage each other. HaloLoop is an inspiring inclusive movement and community that is championing a new reality where everyones’ spiritual needs or aspirations to help others, can be met. Their vision is to create a loop where everyone can find their spiritual community.

HaloLoop was founded by Michael Hawthorne and is currently headquartered in Santa Monica, CA.

Visit www.haloloop.com

LOCATION

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

EXPERT PANEL OF INVESTOR JUDGES

Peter Csathy – Preccelerator BOD member. General Partner, SAM CREATV Ventures. Chairman, CREATV Media. Advisor, Strategist, Connector, Dealmaker, Investor, Producer, Writer, and Thought Leader — Entertainment, Digital Media, Media, Tech and Social Impact. Former CEO Manatt Digital Media, CEO Sorenson Media, CEO Sightspeed (acquired by Logitech), President Musicmatch (acquired by Yahoo!), SVP Universal Studios, New Line Cinema.

Scott Alderton – Scott Alderton is a founding partner of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, Managing Partner, and a member of the Firm’s Executive Committee. Scott is the Chairman of the Preccelerator and General Partner of SAM CREATV Ventures. Scott is co-chair of the Firm’s Venture Capital and Emerging Growth Practice Group and chair’s the Firm’s Interactive Entertainment and Video Games Group. Scott advises both public and private clients across a number of industries, including technology, manufacturing and distribution of goods in commerce, finance, the Internet, interactive video games, and new media industry.

Santosh Devati – Angel Investor. Santhosh is a dreamer, problem-solver, serial entrepreneur and a proven leader in the technology industry for past 20+ years. In his professional journey thus far, he has advised and created Business/Data Analytics/Technology Solutions for national brands such as Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, Allergan and many more. In recent years, he has mentored 200+ business owners, startup, entrepreneurs and professionals to succeed in their pursuit. Santhosh is a proud circle member of Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce, SoCal Society of Information Management (SCSIM) and a Certified Business Mentor at SCORE Los Angeles.

Brett Munster – As Principal at Sway Ventures, Brett Munster focuses most of his investment activities on the seed and earlier stages for the fund. In addition to evaluating new investments, Brett’s responsibilities include coordinating the due diligence process across all investment opportunities for the fund, monitoring performance of the fund, modeling portfolio allocation, and working directly with many of Sway’s existing portfolio companies. Brett draws on his experience as a two-time entrepreneur and former operations executive to assist early stage companies in their growth. Prior to joining Sway Ventures, Brett ran day-to-day operations for AMO, a loss mitigation company, where he oversaw a portfolio of distressed assets that grew to over $2 billion. Brett began his career at zAthlete.com, a sports social networking startup that he launched during his final semester at UC Berkeley and sold in 2009. Soon after, Brett launched his second start-up Visual Icon, a platform designed to help bring Hollywood content online. Brett graduated from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley and was an infielder and captain of the baseball team. He also holds an MBA from the University of Southern California where his focus was on entrepreneurship and technology commercialization.

SA&M Preccelerator® Announces Addition of $50,000 Cash and Services Investment to Program Offerings

The Preccelerator® has added a cash component and legal services to its already robust package of offerings for early-stage startups

LOS ANGELES, Calif., November 8th, 2018 (Newswire.com) – The Preccelerator® Program, an early-stage startup accelerator focused on technology and digital media companies, announced today that, with its next class starting in January 2019, it will provide an unrestricted cash investment of $25,000 to each participant company, and will add to the already robust perks package $25,000 in legal services from Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP. The addition of the investment and services demonstrates a continued commitment to the Los Angeles tech community by Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP and the Preccelerator.

The cash investment and additional services will go into effect for Class 11 companies, with the class beginning on January 7th, 2019. The application period has been reopened for any founders interested in submitting their companies for review. The application deadline is December 4, 2018. You may submit your company application at www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

This announcement comes a few months after the expansion to the new Preccelerator office, located at 1316 3rd Street Promenade, which both increased the co-working space for in-house companies and increased event space. The Preccelerator remains strategically in the heart of Santa Monica to provide a technology hub that is close to many valuable educational and networking events, tech culture and other resources to facilitate company growth.

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, curriculum 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 six years, 39 companies have graduated the Program, 27 of which have received funding, totaling over $12.5M in the aggregate.

Scott Alderton, managing Partner of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and Chairman of the Preccelerator commented, “An investment component is a natural outgrowth to the already robust package we offer participating companies in the Preccelerator, and frankly, is long overdue. We continue to evaluate ways we can serve the technology community and obviously a cash investment goes a long way towards the likelihood that participants in the Preccelerator will ultimately raise a significant round and become successful. The success we are seeing in the Program gives us great confidence, so we are doubling down on our commitment.”

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 $450,000 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 100 active strategic mentors providing free office hours and discounted services, and provides over 75-plus 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, and expanded benefits to accepted companies. To apply to the Preccelerator, visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

To read the full press release, click here.

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

Preccelerator Alumni Company Napkin Finance Partnered with JP Morgan Chase Bank

Napkin Finance Congratulations to Preccelerator alumni company founder Tina Hay on their recent partnership with JP Morgan Chase Bank to provide insight into topics like determining your risk tolerance, diversification, and rebalancing your portfolio.

You can check out the financial literacy campaign here.

We’re very proud of your success!

About Napkin FInance
“Everything about money in 30 seconds or less.”™ Napkin Finance is a multimedia company that grew out of their own needs for a better way to learn and understand finance. They developed their platform as a quick and easy resource on everything you need to know about money in 30 seconds or less. Napkin Finance’s mission is to empower their readers to manage their money and understand basic financial concepts in a simple, fun and engaging way.
For more information about Napkin Finance, visit www.napkinfinance.com

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

Screen Door Labs CEO Kari Wu Featured Speaker at Mobile World Congress Americas

Congratulations to Preccelerator company Screen Door Lab’s CEO Kari Wu on her upcoming speaking engagement for Mobile World Congress Americas. Screen Door Labs is a part of class 10 of the Preccelerator and will graduate from the program in January 2019. Mobile World Congress is a production of 4 Years From Now [4YFN.] 4FYN is a startup business platform that enables startups, investors and companies to connect and launch new business ventures together.

To view the speakers and register for the event visit here.

About Screen Door Labs
Screen Door Labs created ARescue, an Augmented Reality team communication software for “boots on the ground”. Built for first responders, the system organizes and displays data onto AR glasses. First responders have access to 2D and 3D maps, as well as geotags and video, feeds from drone operators and other responders. ARescue allows first responders to work safer, respond faster, and communicate better as a team.
Visit www.screendoorlabs.com for more information.

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

SA&M Preccelerator ® Program Announces Milestone Tenth Class of Companies + Location Move!

To accommodate this growth, Stubbs Alderton & Markiles’ accelerator, The Preccelerator, is moving to expand its coworking space for companies in Santa Monica.

LOS ANGELES, Calif., August 6, 2018 (Newswire.com) – The Preccelerator® Program, a Santa Monica, California-based early-stage startup accelerator focused on digital media and technology companies, announced today that it is moving its Santa Monica offices as a result of its growth as it adds its milestone tenth class of companies featuring six innovative startups including AlgoPay, CheckPlis, HaloLoop, Screen Door Labs, Star Metrics and UNOMI.

The new Preccelerator office, located at 1316 3rd Street Promenade Suite 107, both increases the co-working space for the in-house companies and increases event space. The Preccelerator strategically remains in the heart of Santa Monica to provide a technology hub that is close to many valuable educational and networking events, tech culture and other resources to facilitate their growth. The expansion also demonstrates the continued commitment to the Los Angeles tech community that Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP is well known for. To celebrate the tenth class milestone and new office, the Preccelerator will host an open house in September.

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, curriculum 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 six years, 37 companies have graduated the Program, of which 26 have received funding totaling over $11.5M.

Scott Alderton, managing Partner of Stubbs Alderton & Markiles and Chairman of the Preccelerator commented, “When we founded the Preccelerator in 2012, and convinced 3 fledgling startups to move into our space and work with us, we had no idea we could end up where the Preccelerator is today. We conceived this model of offering co-working office space in conjunction with sophisticated startup legal services. We now offer that plus access to over 100 seasoned mentors that actively assist in growth and success, a sophisticated curriculum, access to our network of investors through investment strategy sessions, Meet the VC Luncheons, Demo Day and targeted investor introductions, plus a robust Preccelerator Perks Portfolio with over $450,000 worth of discounted services and benefits to help our cohorts succeed and cut overhead expenses. To say the very least, I’m incredibly proud of what our team has created, and the leadership we demonstrate every day in the Los Angeles tech community.”

Preccelerator® Program Class 10 companies include:

AlgoPay is a borderless e-bank that enables refugees to store and withdraw payments from anywhere. Along with not having access to standard payment systems like PayPal, a majority of refugees also have no place to store their income. On the macro-scale, there’s a borderless population of 67 million unbanked individuals, and on the micro-scale, some of the world’s most vulnerable people are carrying all of their savings in cash with no place to manage funds. AlgoPay operates like both an e-wallet and an ATM. Users can store their income in AlgoPay’s digital wallet, and similar to Western Union, they can withdraw payments at any Algo vendor location— totally bankless. Algo Pay is currently running pilots in Turkey + Jordan and have signed a partnership with UpWork as the first user of Algo’s payment network.

CheckPlis believes people should feel like they are visiting friends when they go out for a meal or drinks. It’s all about the experience. Checkplis is a mobile app integrated into POS systems enabling customers to pay, tip and split the check themselves, all from their phones. Checkplis increases table turnover and efficiency for restaurants and bars and simplifies the checkout experience for consumers.

HaloLoop is a Santa Monica based mobile software company that is reinventing the way people and religious organizations engage with each other. We are a marketplace and live streaming service where people can help others connect to live religious services and donate.
Screen Door Labs created ARescue, an Augmented Reality team communication software for “boots on the ground”. Built for first responders, the system organizes and displays data onto AR glasses. First responders have access to 2D and 3D maps, as well as geotags and video, feeds from drone operators and other responders. ARescue allows first responders to work safer, respond faster, and communicate better as a team.

Star Metrics is an entertainment analytics platform and suite of tools designed to make the casting, financing and forecasting process easier for content creators. With StarMetrics, users can easily discover new talent and understand the value of actors, directors and other entertainers across many data points, such as international appeal, social media reach, or box office impact. StarMetrics provides predictive intelligence and analytics that empowers creators, advertisers, investors and other stakeholders to succeed in an increasingly global and complex content marketplace.

UNOMI is a SaaS for animators and video game developers. UNOMI leverages advanced 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.

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 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, video game, 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 $450,000 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 100 active strategic mentors providing free office hours and discounted services, and provides over 75-plus 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, and expanded benefits to accepted companies. To apply to the Preccelerator, visit www.www.sparkxyz.io/competitions/152.

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