Tag Archives: Startups

Preccelerator U Presents: Pre-Seed Funding w/ Barbara Bickham

Please join us in this illuminating webinar where Barbara Bickham guides us through the essentials of pre-seed funding.

Tuesday, June 15th, 2021
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Barbara Bickham

Barbara Bickham, Founder & Managing Director of Women’s Innovation Fund Accelerator, an opportunity zone venture fund, growing and scaling emerging tech companies by using a mix of acceleration and sustainability while requiring companies to have a gender-balanced C-suite. Founder & CTO at Trailyn Ventures, helping investors and companies understand emerging technology. Host of Female VC Lab Podcast, insightful conversations with Female VCs, Investors, GPs and LPs.

Preccelerator® U:Venture Storytelling w/ Jonathan Tavss

Join Jonathan Tavss for this highlights-only version of Kaleidoko’s 2½ day intensive Venture Storytelling Workshops exploring the positioning of any venture for multiple audiences. Whether an entrepreneur or an executive, a creative or numbers person, creating simple content or designing killer gadgets, this workshop guides disparate professionals in the keys to conveying compelling stories that engage the many different audience needs across diverse platforms.

Storytelling is more than skin deep and should be directed by an entity’s Brand. Unfortunately, too many companies lack a true understanding of what Brand really entails and how a well-considered and developed one can strengthen any venture’s storytelling and resonance – regardless of audience.

Join us to learn:

– Numerous ways to amplify opportunities, starting with the foundation of any pitch: the story.

– How the considered development of your brand provides super powers for effective engagement while consistently addressing evolution and change.

– Key considerations for adapting story (or Spin) to absolutely reach your intended audience – consumers, investors, strategic partners, workforce and more.

Tuesday, May 11th , 2021
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Jonathan Tavss

Co-Founder and Director of Kaleidoko, Jonathan Tavss is an award-winning futurist, entrepreneur, marketer and strategist with a knack for breaking down the highly complex – or even the mundane – into simple terms that trigger new ideas and fresh, easy to activate theories and practices. Jonathan specializes in marrying business strategy, consumer insight and technology; all with humanity at the core.

Over the decades, Jonathan has been an executive for, or served client ventures including 21st Century Fox, Warner Bros., Disney, MGM, ABC, Cogsdill International, ABS-CBN, Real Medicine Foundation, Altar Furniture and Empact Change Foundation. In addition to being a frequent speaker at media, entertainment, museum and retail conferences, he has held an Adjunct Professor position within Boston University’s Graduate Media Ventures Program. Jonathan is also a Fellow of The RSA, Co-Founder of the Augmented Society Network and a Stubbs Alderton Preccelerator mentor.

Preccelerator® U: Metrics that Matter w/ Jeremy Wall of GoalMakers

As business owners and operators, we have usually got dozens (if not hundreds) of things on our plate—however, we often lose sight of the most important piece of your sustained success, having our financials in order. To build further on the Preccelerator’s Financial Awareness month mentor presentations, Jeremy Wall co-founder of GoalMakers will help highlight a few of the most important metrics you need to be aware of through some simple, yet financial calculations for your business. The goal will be to share 15 formulas that every business should be able to calculate, only needing your income statement and balance sheet. These standardized metrics will help you monitor and measure trends in your business over time as well as to your competitors across the industry.

Tuesday, April 27th, 2021
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Jeremy Wall

CEO of GoalMakers

Jeremy Wall is both a Preccelerator alumni and mentor, his first company Lumenus was a IoT startup that recently had a Taiwanese partner come in and take forward. In his search for his next opportunity Wall had the pleasure to meet John Cioffi, esteemed business coach and published author, by attending Cioffi’s seminar “The 5-Day MBA” an intensive weeklong business training program—Wall was immediately enamored with the material. As someone who had real-life experience in the trenches of entrepreneurship but not a formal business degree, the curriculum focused in both business financial literacy and management training were skills that he needed. John Cioffi knew that his in-person teachings were limited in their access, so Cioffi partnered with Jeremy Wall on launching a digital version of this program now called the GoalMakers 90-Day MBA.

Preccelerator® U: Startup Guide to Financial Modeling w/ Mark Wald

Raising money? Investors want to maximize their return and minimize their risk, so you need to demonstrate to investors that you understand business and your business model, that you know how to make money, and that you can be trusted. Learn how to build and understand your financial model so you can demonstrate credibility by presenting it to investors and win their confidence in you.

Tuesday, April 13th, 2021
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Mark Wald

Managing Director

Supporting Strategies – Santa Monica

Mark is an innovative problem solver who values simplicity, efficiency, and collaboration between people and organizations, with strong experience in financial modeling and data analytics to inform and support quick decisions on complex issues. Specific experience developing, deploying, and supporting new technologies to thousands of retail locations using 3rd party logistics and service providers. Professional specialties: Financial strategy & fundraising, sourcing business opportunities, conserving resources, enabling people, satisfying customers, analyzing complex data.

Supporting Strategies is your complete outsourced Accounting & Finance Department, with Enterprise-level people, processes, and controls to meet the evolving accounting and operational support needs of both early-stage companies and fast-growing organizations. We employ grownups, not amateurs—our most junior staff have 15 years of experience working in an industry for the very same type of businesses that our clients operate and on average 20+ years of experience. We assign a dedicated team of resources to each client business to provide Enterprise-level ownership and competency of all accounting and finance functions which enables our entrepreneurial client companies to quickly and efficiently scale while relying on sophisticated insights and business intelligence.

Preccelerator® U Presents: Networking for Capital with Len Lanzi

On October 27, 2020 from 12:00-1:30 pm, Preccelerator® U Presents: “Networking for Capital” with Len Lanzi, Managing Director of the Preccelerator® Program

“Networking for Capital”

This session will focus on techniques and ways to network in the VC and Angel Community. We will interact and share best practices on business development and promoting your start-up.

We will explore the different natural networks we have individually and build a personal action plan for you to use to build your network.

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

12:00-1:30 pm

Zoom Seminar

About Len Lanzi

LEN LANZI, Managing Director, Preccelerator® Program

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.

Preccelerator Workshop: Employment Contracts & Alternative Compensation for Startups

“Employment Contracts & Alternative Compensation for Startups”
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 compensation.

Tuesday, December 10th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

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.

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.

Preccelerator Workshop: Building a Growth Engine for Your Startup w/ Chris Bechtel

“Building a Growth Engine for Your Startup”
Presented by Chris Bechtel

Learn how to attract, convert and retain users/customers to validate your business model, grow revenue and demonstrate traction for your start-up. Get a proven framework and practical advice during this engaging talk from Chris Bechtel the Managing Partner at Growth Engine Labs, a growth services firm.

Tuesday, October 15th, 2019
12:00PM – 1:30PM

Featuring:

Chris Bechtel

Chris Bechtel is a growth consultant, start-up advisor, former SaaS CEO, and marketing executive.

Chris brings 20 years of sales and marketing expertise, specializing in demand generation, customer acquisition, and revenue growth. Chris has extensive experience in B2B SaaS, and enterprise software, as well as mobile apps and B2C eCommerce. He works primarily with Seed and Series A start-ups and enjoys helping founders make their visions come to life. He is currently actively driving growth for Boost AI, an enterprise-class conversational AI platform for banking, insurance, telecom, and government.

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.

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 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, 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 http://stubbsalderton.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.

To read the full press release, click here.

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

You’re Invited to Preccelerator® Program Class 6 Demo Day + 5-Year Anniversary Party!

The Deal

Clear your calendar – It’s going down! The Preccelerator® Program Class 6 Demo Day kicks off on September 13th @ 5:30pm, and you’re invited to take part in the festivities. SAM Preccelerator® Program is our meeting spot to showcase the Preccelerator®’s current class of all-star companies to investors and the start-up community. Followed by an endless summer party and networking on our outdoor patio to celebrate the Preccelerator’s 5-year anniversary!

Appetizers and drinks on us!

The Location

1453 3rd Street Promenade, Suite 300
Santa Monica, 90401 CA

The SAM Preccelerator® is located in the heart of Silicon Beach. Off of 3rd Street Promenade, it has the ease of parking at both the Santa Monica Main Place Mall and Parking Structure #5 on the corner of 4th Street and Broadway.

The Participants

Tapp That App is passionate about finding great apps, but they know it can be difficult. So 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.

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.

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.

Animate Objects is 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.

The Lineup

5:30pm-Registration & Networking

6:00pm-Opening Remarks
Heidi Hubbeling, Chief Operating Officer- Preccelerator Program

6:15pm-Preccelerator Demos: 8 minute presentations / 5 minute Q&A

7:30pm-Networking + Preccelerator Anniversary Party on the Patio