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Happy Holidays, Digital LA peeps! 

We celebrated Top Digital Content of 2014 at our event with award-winning digital content creators and multichannel network presidents and senior executives at our event with the Television Academy Interactive Media Peer Group last week. Content creators and MCNs said that there would be more cross-platform growth, more brand deals with brands that 'get it' and increased international reach in 2015. See our article below for highlights of 2014 and predictions for 2015.


6 Weekend Ideas
Happy Holidays, holiday shopping, Happy Hanukkah and safe travels!

- Wicked @ Pantages Hollywood
- Nutcracker LA @ Royce Hall UCLA, Fri-Sun
- Fishbone @ Toubadour, Fri
- Brian Setzer Christmas Rocks @ Nokia Thtre, Sun

- Movies: Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies - we saw it in IMAX 3D at the Chinese Theatres #HobbitMarathon on Monday. Smaug would love all the dragons at the Chinese (see photo right).
AnnieNight at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb

- Disney on Ice @ Anaheim Honda Center, Fri-Sun

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NEWS

 - TrueX acquired for $200M. LA-based TrueX premium ad tech firm was acquired by 20th Century Fox for $200M.

WSJ article:  http://t.co/kzsMKdlGas


- Upfront Ventures raises $280M fund with half for LA tech, reports SoCalTech article.


- Welcome to LA: Minecraft creator Notch buys record $70M mansion in Beverly Hills Trousdale Estates area, outbidding Beyonc� and Jay Z. He sold his Mojang company to Microsoft a few months ago for $2.5B with a B. That's a lot of mining! We want to do a Digital LA party here. See pics of the views, gym, candy bar, etc. of the 23,000 sq ft house on the mansion's website


- President Obama spoke on the Sony Pictures hack in a press conference today. Extensive coverage of this on several sites from WSJ and CNN to THR and Variety.


- Congrats digital-related women on The Hollywood Reporter's Women in Entertainment Power 100 list

#30 Ann Daly, DreamWorks Animation, President (photo right)
#33 Susan Wojcicki, YouTube CEO
#38 Bonnie Arnold, How To Train Your Dragon, Producer.
#41 Frances Manfredi, NBC Universal TV and New Media Dist.

#50 Jennifer Lee, Frozen writer/director
#54 Kathy Savitt, Yahoo!, CMO and Head of Media
#60 Dawn Taubin, DreamWorks Animation, CMO
 

Full list: The Hollywood Reporter Article


 

- AdRev buys DashGo. AdRev digital rights mgmt for YouTube publishers purchased DashGo, which lets artists prmote and license music across digital retailers.

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 OUR RECENT EVENTS


Top Digital Content:

Creators and MCN Executive discuss highlights of 2014 and Predictions for 2015.


 

LOS ANGELES: Award-winning content creators with combined 30M subscribers joined multichannel network Presidents and senior executives to discuss highlights of the past year and predictions for 2015 at our Top Digital Content event with the Television Academy Interactive Media Peer Group at the Crest Theatre in Westwood.

Talent will continue to grow their audiences across platforms, work on bigger deals with brands who 'get it', and go mainstream, said panelists on the content creators panel, who all won Streamys Awards this year, as well as wins and nominations for both Emmys Interactive awards and PGA awards. The creators panel included: EpicLLOYD of Epic Rap Battles of History (won three Streamys Awards), Freddie Wong and Matt Arnold creators of Video Game High School (won three Streamys Awards), DeStorm, Shira Lazar of What's Trending, and Margaret Dunlap writer on Lizzie Bennet Diaries (won two Streamys and previously won first interactive Emmy), and Cassey Ho of Blogilates. Moderated by Digital LA founder Kevin Winston.

Multichannel networks have received international business attention after Disney's acquisition of Maker Studios. They are growing to do more than aggregate creators, including management, development, analytic tools, marketing, and brand deals, said MCN Presidents and senior execs on the Executive panel. Speakers included Dan Weinstein President of the Collective, Will Keenan President of Endemol Beyond, Larry Shapiro Co-President of Big Frame, Vanessa Del Muro SVP Talent at StyleHaul, Khudor Annous of Fullscreen, and Jorge Granier CEO of Latin Everywhere. Moderated by Seth Shapiro, Co-Governor of the Television Academy Interactive Media Peer Group.

DeStorm described how he started his Vine channel just a year ago, and has grown to more than 4.1M followers and more than 1 billion loops. He recently won the Streamys Award for the new Vine Comedian category. He said that he and other Vine stars are being approached to help record labels and artists create buzz for a song with their combined audiences.

"Vine is the wild west," of the digital space DeStorm said, emphasizing its growing audience.

StyleHaul CEO and Co-Founder Stepanie Horbaczewski gave a keynote Q&A, describing how she founded and grew StyleHaul over the past three years, from starting it to its recently announced a $200M valuation, and large brand deals.

"We've over-delivered on every brand deal," Stephanie said. 

Highlights of 2014. Multi-channel networks and digital creators have had a standout year in 2014. Multichannel networks have proven to be a Silicon Beach success story, with deals including Disney's $500M-$1B acquisition of Maker Studios, Fullscreen's $250M+ acquisition, StyleHaul's $200M valuation, and Hearst's recent investment in Awesomeness TV, giving it at a valuation of $300M. 

Digital content creators had several milestone events as well. Variety featured top YouTubers Shane Dawson and Jenna Marbles on the cover. Variety released a study showing some teens find YouTube stars more popular than traditional Hollywood celebrities. Powerhouse influencers like Michelle Phan are appearing on national mainstream campaigns including TV ads and billboards. 

Predictions for 2015 include bigger brand deals, and continued audience growth of top content creators across both digital platforms (YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook) and other media (TV, film, games, merchandise). 

STYLEHAUL KEYNOTE with Stephanie Horbaczewski, CEO / Co-Founder

StyleHaul CEO and Co-Founder Stepanie Horbaczewski gave a keynote Q&A, describing how she founded and grew StyleHaul over the past three years, from starting it to its recently announced a $200M valuation. Stephanie said she personally approached the first 200+ beauty and fashion content creators to invite them to join her StyleHaul network. She has expanded StyleHaul beyond its Hollywood headquarters, now totaling more than 70 employees worldwide, with offices in New York, Chicago and London.

She has developed brand deals with top cosmetic and fashion companies such as L'Oreal and Maybelline, as well as credit card / commerce / shopping companies. 

Stephanie said a goal for next year and the future, is to continue expanding StyleHaul from more than a beauty / fashion brand, to a women's lifestyle brand. She spearheaded a FremantleMedia deal to develop 10 original web video series over the next two years, and debuted Showtime Networks' 'Web Therapy' starring Lisa Kudrow.

MCN Executive panel

Several MCN heads said their business has evolved to more than channel aggregation. Now they help marketers and manage their talent, as well as develop brand deals. 

"We are more than a MCN. We are a Premium Content Network," said Will Kennan, President of Endemol Beyond, which in the past year has signed top stars in music (Pitbulle), YouTube (Michelle Phan) and Vine (Brittany Furlan) to help manage and grow their brands across digital and other media channels. 

MCNs are having a "Survivor moment," said Dan Weinstein, President of the Collective Digital Studio, which includes Video Game High School, Annoying Orange, and Epic Meal Time.

"The media company's that don't listen to the creators miss the opportunity." said Larry Shapiro, co-president of Big Frame, which is part of Awesomeness TV and works with several high influence content creators. 

Content Creators

Creators will experiment across more platform and brands, and grow internationally, said Shira Lazar, host and co-founder of What's Trending. The online show features interviews with top online stars, integrates user comments, and appears in Virgin America airlines inflight entertainment system. Shira also said What's Trending is also being syndicated in India. 


 

EpicLLOYD of Epic Rap Battles of History screened a recent Ellen vs. Oprah video.  ERB won three Streamy awards and was nominated for four additional categories.


 

Online storytelling will continue to be more responsive to audience comments and feedback. Margaret Laney, writer on Lizzie Bennet Diaries, said that early on, certain standout characters received lots of fan praise, so they were given more scenes and storylines just a few episodes later. 

Video Game High School creators Freddie Wong and Matt Arnold said now they've enjoyed growing their idea for a VFX series about a video game high school, to a worldwide community fanbase with 7M subscribers. The series recently ended, and they are pursuing additional creative projects under their RocketJump Studios.

Blogilates founder Cassey Ho screened one of her fitness videos, and is part of the StyleHaul network. She is looking to more audience growth and new deals in the next year.

YouTube Rewind 

The event kicked off with screening the YouTube Rewind video, which includes top content creators of the year, and was released earlier that day. This year's video includes both US and international YouTube stars.

"It's more international. We filmed in several countries," reflecting YouTube's worldwide audience, said Kai Hasson creative director of Portal A, who introduced the video and answered questions about it. He has directed the YouTube Rewind video both this year and the past few years. 

After the panels, full episodes of Video Game High School and Lizzie Bennet Diaries screened on the Crest's big screen. "Look! @TheAshleyClem and @thatjuliacho are HUGE at#TopDigitalContent!," tweeted Margaret Dunlap @spyscribe, writer on Lizzie Bennet Diaries. 

Emporium Thai hosted our VIP / reception, and announced winners of attendees who posted their Twitter / Instagram photos of the event: Jason Okuma wins a complimentary massage package at its Aqua Thai Spa. All Digital LA members and friends can get a 15% discount at Emporium Thai or its adjacent Aqua Thai spa by mention Digital LA and showing a tweet or Instagram post with @EmporiumThai#EmporiumThai or #AquaThaiSpa with purchase of a dinner or massage services. 

Thanks to our speakers, the Television Academy Interactive Media Peer Group, and Emporium Thai which hosted our VIP / Speaker Reception, and Crest Theatre for hosting.

Thanks to our audience and speakers for amazing tweets!

RT @stylehaulsteph Loved doing the keynote for #TopDigitalContent @digitalla @stylehaul ! So proud of this amazing space

RT @joakimbaage Top MCNs at #TopDigitalContent event agrees that MCN model has evolved to the point that they don't like the term anymore @alistdaily.
 


 

Digital LA - Holiday Party. We had a holiday blast our our annual Digital LA - Holiday Party at the Station at W Hollywood. We kicked off the holiday party season with attendees including startup CEOs, VCs, investor, digital content creators, agencies, social media pros, developers and more. We enjoyed holiday cheer, six musical performances by talent that has appeared on NBC's The Voice, Planet LA artists, and other; and pics with Hunky Santa and Angel Inve$ta. Attendees won candy and other prizes.  Get into the holiday spirit with our holiday pics.
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CONFERENCES 

- TALK NYC's Engage: Digital Storytelling Conference is bringing together the brightest storytelling minds from the worlds of marketing, technology, advertising and digital media to discuss moving beyond engagement in year 2015 on February 3rd, from 1pm to 5pm PST, in the Backstage Theater at the Sony Studios in Culver City. Speakers will cover a wide range of timely topics with an exclusive focus on digital storytelling including: best storytelling campaigns across platforms, interactive storytelling, transmedia, virtual reality and more.

Register here: http://ow.ly/FWnTU

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MORE OF OUR RECENT EVENTS
Veterans Do Startups
DOWNTOWN - We honored veterans on Veterans Day with our event featuring a keynote by LegalZoom president Frank Monestere, panels of veteran entrepreneurs and investors, and a startup showcase pitch at the HUB LA in downtown LA.  PICS. Frank Monestere described how he joined LegalZoom as COO, and helped grow the company from 12 employees to more than 700 currently, based in Glendale. He said his training in the service to organize and get things done is helpful in building and growing a startup. 
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New LA Law Firms invest >$8M in startups. 
SANTA MONICA. Three of LA's new entrepreneurial law firms have invested more than $8M in startups in the past several years, representing a new model for lawyers who love entrepreneurs, said speakers at our Digital LA - Law Firm Investors panel at General Assembly in Santa Monica last night. Speakers from Richardson Patel, Manatt Digital and Stubbs Alderton & Markiles described the types of startup they are investing in, ranges, how they find them. Audience members pitched, and panelists gave feedback on pitches at our event, and some final tips for startups.
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Digital LA -Mental Health Goes Digital

SANTA MONICA - Clinicians, startups and therapists discussed digital tools including apps, sites and games they use to help prevent and treat depression, autism and other disorders at our first Digital LA - Mental Health panel at Conscious Recovery in Santa Monica. Mental health is a $150 billion industry, and front-running digital apps, sites, and tools are helping prevent and treat depression and other illnesses, and save lives. Read more in our blog http://digitalla.net/mentalhealth
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Digital LA - VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy Panel

HOLLYWOOD - Speakers from Marvel and Method Studios described how they made Rocket and Groot, Morag and Xander come to life via more than 2,400 VFX shots and 1,000 people, at our Digital LA - VFX of Guardians of the Galaxy panel at WeWork Hollywood.  Pics: http://tinyurl.com/dlavfxguardians

Our panel celebrated the importance of digital and VFX in filmmaking in Guardians of Galaxy, the #1 movie of 2014, with speakers Stef Ceretti, Marvel Production VFX Supervisor, and Koen Vroeijenstijn, Method Studios CG Supervisor.
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Digital LA - FinTech: Bitcoin and Mobile Payments panel
 
SANTA MONICA - Bitcoin experts, mobile payment CEOs, banks and new Silicon Beach startups showed that finance tech is a force in the LA Tech scene at our fintech summit at General Assembly in Santa Monica. Read Article on our new blog created by Kluge Interactive; see FB PICS. The Bitcoin event featured local Bitcoin leaders including Brock Pierce, and Steve Beauregoard CEO of GoCoin who described his recent deal to be the Bitcoin provider for Paypal.
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President Obama visits tech leaders at Cross Campus in LA 

President Obama talked tech and millenials in a town hall format at Cross Campus in Santa Monica, a landmark event for LA's tech scene and Silicon Beach. About 100 invite-only attendees included the Cross Campus community members and friends, and LA tech community leaders, including LA Mayor Eric Garcetti, LA's CITO Peter Marx and many more.

Watch White House video
Read White House transcript,
- Articles in LA Times, Yahoo!

"And when I come to places like this, it inspires me and reminds me of why I am chronically optimistic about the future of America," Obama said.

Full article in our Digital LA blog
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Digital LA - Entertainment / Consumer Marketing Strategy.  Speakers from Activision, Live Nation, Maker Studios, StyleHaul, Moviepilot and Michelle Phan company shared how social media helps meet overall corporate marketing objectives at our panel at the new Regus Playa Vista.  Speakers said social is integrated thruout consumer marketing.  For example, Activision looks at the social followings of potential celebs and influencers to cast it its viral live-action video game trailers for Call of Duty franchise games.  Live Nation helps bands with their social media strategies.  When StyleHaul works with brands on marketing deals, social activation plays a huge role in the campaigns. Michelle Phan's company integrates social every day by connecting with what fans are feeling, and topics of the day. 

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Digital LA - Startups Go Social. Silicon Beach startups shared how they use social media to increase awareness, build their brands, measure results and optimize, and engage their communities at the Regus Santa Monica. Thanks startups including Loot Crate (subscription pop culture swag in a monthly box, Laurel & Wolf (crowdsource interior design), Famous Birthdays (birthday listings), The Dirt (paleo skin care e-commerce site) and The Crypt (short-video horror app).  Complete write up to follow. 

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Digital LA - Social Media for Social Good  

Tell your story, and communicate via the appropriate social media platforms are key for social good startups, said speakers at our Digitla LA - Social Media for Social Good panel for Social Media Week LA. Our peakers represented six Silicon Beach startup businesses that focus on social good, while also making revenue, at our panel at Regus Santa Monica. PICS. 

 

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Streamys Recap

Streamys recognizes top digital content creators The fourth annual Streamys awards recognized top digital content creators with a fun awards show including top YouTubers and Vine stars as presenters and winners, at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills on Sunday.  See our PICS. 

Online comedians Hannah 

Hart and Grace Helbig hosted the show, which presented awards in 14 categories including best Drama, Action/Sci-Fi, Fashion, Beauty, Gaming, and Original Song. Tyler Oakley won Entertainer of the Year.  
   

After an amazing Streamys awards show at the Beverly Hilton, several Streamys winners, nominees, presenters, performers, sponsors, and friends continued celebrating at our Digital LA - Streamys after-party at a private house in Beverly Hills. See pics: http://tinyurl.com/dlastrafter

Attendees from multiple multichannel networks, indie projects, and others in online video enjoyed dancing, playing ping pong and making s'mores til late in the evening. Different areas of the house were themed to different Streamys awards categories: Food in the kitchen, Dance for the TV room, Beauty for the Master Bathroom, and Sports for ping-pong in the game room.

 

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Silicon Beach Fest 2014 Highlights
SANTA MONICA:  By the numbers: our third Silicon Beach Fest attracted more than 2,000 attendees and featured more than 375 speakers on 65 panels, 25 startup showcase pitches, 10 parties, 5 beach games and 1 pool party over four days in Santa Monica.  Plus we held an impromptu after-pool party at the Viceory (photo right) where we gave out swag including SBF beach balls, towels, shades, right where we held the Demand Media opening party the week before.  

  

Women at Silicon Beach Fest: 1 in 3 speakers were women! Here are some!
 

  

  NEW PRESS
Inside Facebook covered the Big Brands, Startups and Social panel with speakers Jeff Jenkins, Resident Disruptor at Taco Bell / Yum Brands; Mark Wallrapp of Facebook, Tim Sovay of the Audience, and Chris Denson of OMD, moderated by Julie Engles of Tribemint, at General Assembly.

  

- Monocle upscale magazine podcast interview with Kevin Winston and attendees Crystal Rose and more. 

  

- Watch the SBF recap teaser trailer, password "voices", created by our cinematographer NewCineLogic. 

  

- Several Silicon Beach Fest discounts are still good, including the WeWork free month of hot desk coworking, Tiato restaurant discounts, Lyft, Instacart, Humin, and more. 

  

SOCIAL: Attendees tweeted and Instagrammed (see photo right) much love for the fest, saying it was educational, inspiring, and fun. 

  

"Pitching #SBF was a great experience! And we got investor meetings," tweeted Cassie Betts, who pitched District2.Co as one of the 25 startups in the Startup Showcase. 

  

"Such a great time today at @SBFestLA. It feels good to be part of such an awesome, supportive community," tweeted Andrew Lee Schmidt @iamthecommodore.

  

"#SBF is awesome :) thanks for the great t-shirts, great people, & great weather! So happy to be in LA today. #digitalla" tweeted @MollyMaloofMD

  

"WOW! Watching a panel of amazing women talking about their wildly successful businesses. Time to think BIGGER. #SBF" tweeted Rachel Kornak @rkornak.

  

"@GreenerEquity was stoked to sponsor this year's @SBFestLA. The event has been a great time with a ton of great learning and networking. #SBF" tweeted @TrentRead of Greener Equity.

  

Congrats social media influencers who ranked top 3 in the PulsoViral leaderboard, which tracks both number of tweets and Instagram mentions with #SBF and @SBFestLA.  PulsoViral ran the social media wall at various venues, and tracks usage with post-event reports. All influencers win a free SBF T-shirt!

-  Top 3 by number of tweets/Instagrams:  @JasonOkuma, @WilliamVonNoll @EvanGreenberg

  

- Top 3 by estimated reach (number of tweets x followers): @MarshaCollier, @DrMichelleRoss, @jasonokuma

  

Digital Content Fest speakers at VidCon
Several speakers in the SBF Digital Content Fest track spoke at VidCon, the YouTuber fan convention that attracts 18,000 attendees to see their fave YouTubers at the Anaheim Convention Center June 26-28.

  

- Will Keenan, President of Endemol BEYOND, spoke on the post NewFronts panels, with speakers Kim Robinson of Yahoo!, Vanessa DelMuro from StyleHaul, Adam Smith of VEVO, and Terry City of Buzzfeed, moderated by Lori Schwartz.  He spoke on the VidCon - Hollywood panel.

  

- Sarah Penna, co-founder of Big Frame, spoke on the Female Founders panel, and the YouTube Nation panel organized by Weintraub Tobin, with YouTube Nation execs. She spoke on the VidCon Industry Day ballroom panel

  

- Dan Weinstein, President of the Collective Digital Studio, spoke on the Meet the MultiChannel Networks panel with Beatriz Acevedo, President of Mitu Network, Kelly Day of Awesomeness TV, Aaron Mattison of Machinima, Khudor Annous of Fullscreen, Matt Patrick of Defy Media, and Thom Kozik of Omnia Media. He spoke on the VidCon panel Talent panel. 

  

SBF brings community together: "We're excited to get the LA tech community together in the third year of the fest," said Silicon Beach Fest founder Kevin Winston, Digital LA CEO. "This year's speakers included startups, CEOs, VCs, investors, Hollywood studios, digital content creators, city officials, university faculty, social media gurus and more, focusing both on trendy new apps, and businesses that have been cornerstones of the LA tech scene, from Santa Monica to Hollywood, Downtown, and Pasadena." Digital LA pics are posted all in one album. 

  

Thanks Sponsors and supporters: 
- Premiere: Demand Media
- Platinum: City National Bank
- Gold: Media Temple, Business Wire, Richardson Patel, Sheppard Mullin

  

- Gold Organizers: Digital LA, Radix Collective (PR), Kluge Interactive (branding, website, banners), JNB Events (production), Social Envi (social), PromoJam (VIP party), NearWoo (VIP pre-party), Shore Hotel, Viceroy Santa Monica

  

- Bronze: Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, Siemer & Associates, Verizon EdgeCast, Cornerstone OnDemand, Latham & Watkins, Orange, AdColony, Weintraub Tobin, Technical Connections, Greener Equity, CallFire, Conscious Recovery by CLARE, and Open X.

  

Professional Pics. 
- Tag your self in professional photog Fabio Tovar's pics, organized by day. 

  

 - WED: Demand Media Opening Party: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14opening 
 - THU: Thursday Panels: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14thursdaypanels 
 - THU: Thursday Parties: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14thursdayparties 
 - FRI:  Friday Panels: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14fridaypanels 
 - FRI:  Media Temple Closing Party: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14mtclosing 
 - SAT: Beach Games and Pool Party: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14beach 
 - WED: SBF After-Party at Viceroy: http://tinyurl.com/sbf14after 

  

PRESS covered Silicon Beach Fest, from local press to national coverage.  Press is rolling in every day as journalists write their articles. Below is what we've seen so far.  If you write an article or blog, tweet us the link so we can add to this list. 
- Fox 11 News did live coverage from the SBF Gadget Sanbox on Friday. Watch http://tinyurl.com/sbf14fox 
- Red Carpet TV covered the PromoJam Orange Soda VIP party at 41 Ocean
- Neon Tommy of USC wrote articles including an SBF Overview, the YouTuber MCN Digital Content creator panel, and the Social TV Panel 
- The Mix Agency blogged about Day 1 from the panels to Startup Showcase
- Conscious Recovery by CLARE blogged about SBF - thank them for the towels!
- On Quora, Antone J blogged about the Dude: Surf and Skate panel #OnlyAtSBF

  

This year's third summer Silicon Beach Fest featured speakers from both cool new startup apps, and also LA companies that have been leaders in tech for decades. The fest featured several high profile speakers who've built businesses and contributed greatly to the LA tech ecosystem including surgeon-entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong of NANTWORKS, Frank Addante CEO of Rubicon Project which recently IPO'd, and Chet Pipkin founder of Belkin. 

  

Womens Track:  One in three Silicon Beach Fest speakers are women, which some attendees speculated must be a record for a general tech conference.  The women's track featured eight panels of all-women speakers including: Women VCs and Investors, Female Founders, Fundraising from the Female Perspective, Women Developers, Social Media and Politics, How to Get More Women into Tech, Mom Startups, and  PR for Startups.  Kristen Moore headed up the Women's Track with panels organized by from Justine Lassoff, Melinda Moore, Marina Lee, and Josie Roman. Attendees enjoyed the women-focused panels on social media. RT @vee_isabel: A panel of all women entrepreneurs! @demandmedia @CareerSushi @DanceOnNetwork @ThreeDayRule @ecosalon! #SBF.

  

Startup Showcase packed the Cross Campus - Main Stage
 
Startup Showcase: AIO Robotics, a USC Viterbi student accelerator alum, was a breakout success at SBF.  At the Startup Showcase, AIO Robotics beat 25 other startups to win the Silicon Beach Fest 2014 - Startup Showcase title, including a trophy printed by HexLabs, $5K cash prize, Sheppard Mullin legal services, Surf Air flight, one month co-working space at Cross Campus, and a Rockreation rockclimbing package for teambuilding.  AIO Robotics was one of six finalists including five judge-selected finalists including Authorly, Sidevision, Portal Entertainment, Superhuman Technologies, and the Audience Choice winner Daterz, determined by CallFire text-to-vote.  "We had amazing diverse startups this year, from apps to 3D printing to wearables," said Andreas Seckler, producer of the Startup Showcase.  Jens received the SBF Startup Showcase Trophy at the Awards Ceremony at the Media Temple Closing party (photo tweeted by @JasonOkuma). 

  

Gadget Sandbox. While AIO Robotics founder Jens Windau was pitching at the Startup Showcase at Cross Campus, his co-founder Christian Siagian was doing a Fox 11 live news interview at the Gadget Sandbox. Watch the Fox 11 Gadget Sandbox video.  The Gadget Sandbox, at a popup store on Second St,  featured more than a dozen "tech you can touch" companies including the Eco Reco solar powered scooter, Art Science Labs augmented reality, Acrobotic, CareBeacon health tech, and more. TYLT showcased dozens of battery charging backpacks and speakers, many of which were given away to attendees.  The Gadget Sanbox included a 3D printing panel with speakers from AIO Robotics, CADsurf, HexLabs and New Matter discussing the rise of 3D printing.

  

Media Temple Closing Party @ Cross Campus - PICS
The Media Temple Closing Party packed Cross Campus. Guests enjoyed aerialists, dance performances, mirror boxes, a video wall, Sprinkles (mt) and Silicon Beach Fest cupcakes, and a delicious  steak, shrimp, and lobster menu that people kept talking about the rest of the weekend.  Media Temple president Russ Reeder welcomed attendees, and SBF founder Kevin Winston and Andreas Seckler presented the award. See PICS.  

  

 
   

  

Program Highlights

  

Chet Pipkin, Belkin founder shared great tips on leadership in starting a company, and building Belkin, which has been in LA for 30 years on routers and more, perhaps the original silicon of Silicon Beach. RT @leahapolk: Be authentic and genuine...and get ready to work your a** off. Advice from @Belkin's @chetpipkin to future entrepreneurs 

  

- Frank Addante, Rubicon Project CEO, discussed founding Rubicon and building the business to its recent IPO. Frank gave advice on fundraising, saying ""If you don't like the valuation, take little. If you like it, take as much as you can."

  

- Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong showed his new machine vision iPhone app the Looktel Recognizer that lets blind people use their phone to read labels, and a augmented reality app that lets you play basketball with a code on a shoe

  

- Building a Business panel gave useful tips, featuring speakers: Dan Brian, EVP Media from Demand Media; Russ Reeder, President of Media Temple, Chirag Shah of Cornerstone OnDemand, and Robyn Ward of UTA, moderated by David Carter, Amplify LA partner. Russ Reeder of Media Temple said, "Companies are bought, not sold. If you're building to sell, it's probably not going to work out."

  

- LA City and Silicon Beach: Peter Marx LA City's Chief Innovation Technology Officer and city officials Michelle Garakian, and 11th District Councilmember Mike Bonin, and Jennifer Taylor from City of Santa Monica, talked about how LA city, Santa Monica, and the tech community can increase communication.  Peter Marx describe initiatives including Eric Garcetti's inaugural #techLA conference, which featured civic and transportation panels and a hackathon at LA City Town downtown on May 31. 

  

- VCs Investing in Silicon Beach featured VCs and investors describing what sectors and what they are looking for, and types of investments they are making in Silicon Beach companies.  Speakers included Eva Ho of Susa Ventures, Matt McCall of Pritzker Group, David Travers of Rustic Canyon, Gerard Casale of TYLT Lab, organized and moderated by Mark Landry of Dynamic Synergy. 

  

  

- Digital Content Fest featured top MCNs and content companies including Fullscreen, Machinma, MiTu Network, Awesomeness TV, YouTube Nation, and more.  Then content creators including Taryn Southern, Fouseytube,and What's Trending's Shira Lazar and discussed how they create contend, work with brands, and build and grow their audiences on and off YouTube.  "With the Digital Content Fest, we wanted to give content creators a chance to screen and talk about their work," said Ben Stanley, producer of the screening series. 

  

Panel summaries by panel moderators.  If you want to feature a panel, send us a summary at [email protected] with SUMMARY as subject.

  

- Fundraising from the Female Perspective - Our impressive panel of women CEOs gave practical advice and humorous anecdotes. All of the founders have successfully raised capital for their companies - from early angel rounds to $200M+ private equity investments. Speakers shared their insights into a diverse range of fundraising paths, including: crowdsourced funding, angel investments, VC investments, strategic investments from corporate partners, celebrity investors, startup accelerator programs and private equity. Moderated by Kristen Moore. Speakers included:

* Lina Chen, Co-founder & CEO, Nix Hydra, whose passion for her girls mobile game app and knowledge of her all-female market were instrumental in overcoming challenges women face when raising capital.
* Courtney Nichols Gould, CEO & Co-founder, Smarty Pants Vitamins, who took a targeted and disciplined approach to raising only the capital she needed at the time from a crowdfunding platform specifically for consumer products.
* Adriana Herrera, Founder & CEO, ShopParity, who is part of a startup accelerator program that gives her the benefit of mentorship she likens to having "uncles" looking after her business.
* Nanxi Liu, CEO & Co-founder, Enplug, who credits much of her success to carefully selecting people and building those relationships - with her founding team (five of them lived and worked in a 1 bedroom/1 bath apartment in the early days) and her investors.
* Meridith Valiando Rojas, Co-founder & CEO, DigiTour Media, who made key connections during a women's startup competition that led to finding strategic investors.
* Therese Tucker, CEO & Founder, BlackLine Systems, who bootstrapped her company to profitability before eventually finding a private equity investor she could trust as a partner to help her take her business to the next growth stage.   


- Future of Air and Space Startups. The aerospace industry's contributions to California's economy is equal to the agricultural and entertainment industry combined. The aerospace community is pretty close-knit where many people in aerospace start-ups know each other. After commercial space transportation is complete, work will focus on space hotels and faster international travel like the Concord. Challenges: government legislation, areas to test vehicles that are also habitable for family life. Opportunities: Look at software applications for aerospace, where there are still many needs. Speakers: Moderator Norris Tie of UCLA with: Will Pomerantz, VP of Special Projects at Virgin Galactic; PJ King, COO of FireFly Space Systems;  Robert Jacobson, Principal at Space Angels Network;  Dezso Molnar, Inventor; Nelson Paez, Founder and CEO of DreamHammer; Eugene Nemirovsky, Project Engineer at Scaled Composites. Additional resources, and Space Angels blog. 

  

- Entertainment As A Force For Good was a first-of-its-kind discussion about using media, film, news and television for positive social change. Panelists from Omaze, TakePart/Participant Media, Synergy TV Network, TrueSpark, and The Hollywood Journal came together to answer the tough questions about how to make a difference in the world of entertainment. The packed room was interested, engaged, and inspired by their good work happening in Hollywood. Moderated by writer @samarabay.
@Omaze discussed how to create a personal win and a cause-based/charity win on their platform where dreams become a reality
@TakePart covered the importance of statistics, research, and measurement to prove social impact after a film's release
@SynergyTVNet encouraged social good action by asking the audience to share mindful media and uplifting videos to create a larger conscious community
@TrueSparkOrg discussed the power of movies to be used as teaching tools to help students learn character traits and make better life choices
@SouloftheBiz (Hollywood Journal) talked about how news can shine a light on all the good things happening in the world and gives people a platform to share their inspiring story

  

- All Eyes on Beauty panel featured YouTube beauty stars: Julie GKayley Melissa and Eva Gutowski (MyLifeAsEva) alongside Beauty TV CEO/Founder Rob Angelino, former VP at NYX and Calvin Klein Beauty Jeffrey Ten, and Head of Biz Dev for IPSY Corey Weiss. The panel was moderated by executive producer Adam Wescott. In 2013, YouTube boasted over 15B beauty-related videos (that's a lot of smokey eye tutorials!). Plus, platforms like Yahoo!, Pinterest, and more continue to expand their beauty-related offering. The panelists acknowledged the importance of creating content based on viewer/consumer needs and the power of digital influencers to share and promote beauty products. Video recap at http://beautytv.co/1yKbjha 

  

- Building a Business Around Moms panel was packed.  Moderated by Jedd Gold, Co-Founder of Artkive and Tastemaker Mom, the panel featured Kara Nortman - Co-Founder of PSXO, Christine Shimizu - Dir. of Marketing at The Honest Company, Paulette Light - Co-Founder of Momstamp, and television host and lifestyle & family blogger Jill Simonian.  The conversation covered topics including acquiring mom users for your business, how to appropriately do blogger outreach, the importance of mentors, building mom ambassador groups, and more.

  

- 21 Million Hispanics Online - How You Can Reach and Engage with Martha de la Torre, founder of EC Hispanic Media and El Clasificado, Joe Kutchera, head of Hispanic content for Flipboard, Ana Flores, founder of Latina Bloggers Connect, and Frederick Hansen, head of business development for Click Performance Group, also added, "You have to be aware of all segments of the population because nowadays everyone wants to stay connected through their phones." The panel was moderated by Elias Chavando, social media specialist and partner at Applied Marketing Strategies. Read Article.  

  

- LGBT Startups. Damian Pelliccione from New Media Vault and BoysInTech moderated the LGBT STartups panel. Dave O'Brien from WehoLife.org talked about his experience's with working for the city of West Hollywood and the Gay and Lesbian Center to create LA's highly acclaimed and successful webseries InTheMoment.tv, seen on billboards and bus-stops all around Los Angeles. Len Lanzi from LAVA and StartOut discussed the challenges facing any new startup when sourcing seed funding with focus on LGBT startup challenges. "Having the best possible marketing strategy" is what really hooks our VC's said Frank Mastronuzzi also a StartOut board of director and CEO of LGBT long-term dating site OneGoodLove.com. Serge GojKovich formally of Spark PR talked about his experience with Grindr, Jac'd and Mister dating apps. "Creating interesting Stories" was Wadooah Wali discussed as she talk about her experience both as a documentary film maker and head of communications for Fullscreen.

  

- Digital Health. myLAB co-founders Lora Ivanova and Ursula Hessenflow led a conversation with innovative C-level peers Arye Barnehama of Melon, Cavan Canavan of Focus Solutions, and Dr. Molly Maloof of GeneSolve, joined by audience of health innovators and thought leaders. The conversation spanned across legislature changes, tech trends and the future of user-empowered care.

  

  

- How to Win the War for Tech Talent panel, moderated by Marc Cohen - EVP and Co Founder of ConSol Partners, featuring, George Kilroy, Yahoo! Director of Talent Acquisition; Scott Mackinnon, Technical Connections VP, Scott Brown, Media Temple, Head of Engineering; Tino Lucente, Verizon EdgeCast, Recruiting Manager and Mike Prasad. Key Points: There's a real race for talent - this is a global tech challenge.  Need to build long term relationships and networks of talent that you can access in future via developer events/parties/challenges, building relationships with universties, and sponsoring developer hackathons, meetups, and of course Silicon Beach Fest! Once you find IT talent, secure them via your focus on culture (unlimited vacation time/office environment), equity, hours etc.. A good company vision, people, strategy and growth is more far more important than money. Always be looking for talent, always interviewing, always open to hiring. pic by @ideanerd

 

- E-Gov and Mobility. Mobile technology is changing the relationship between citizens and their government. "Being a citizen with a mobile phone in the 21st century lets you push back and hold the government accountable" said Adriel Hampton, VP of Biz Dev for NationBuilder. Tara Roth, President of the Goldhirsh Foundation, pointed out that technology and the sharing economy allow people to crowdsource ideas, and use alternative models for activating citizens and government. Security is the next big challenge for e-government. "There is a massive conflict between security and cost efficiency and functionality in the public sector and e-government." noted Alan Silberberg, Gov20LA and moderator. Lillian Cavalieri, iPrecint Founder and CEO, brought up powerful points on how the digital divide is still an issue of our fragmented socio-economic landscape and generational gaps technological proficiency.

  

Demand Media Opening Party @ Viceroy - PICS

  

  

Opening Party: We enjoyed complimentary Demand Media cupcakes with the letter D for delicious, talked to the friendly TeleSign folks at their booth for comp drink tickets, and enjoyed passed flatbreads thanks to Max CDN content delivery services and Latham & Watkins gave away some swag.  See pro PICS. 

  

We had a blast at the SBF TechZulu Tech Crawl - Venice edition, where 200 attendees hopped to tech companies around Abbott Kinney and Main Street in Venice. We started at Amplify accelerator and NextSpace, then visited OpenMail, Epoxy TV, Omaze, The Bouqs with a grand finale at the new 800 Main special event space, with four stories, a pool and a treehouse.  Thanks to participating companies.  Omaze and The Bouqs founder will be speaking on SBF panels on Friday.  See our Opening Party  PICS

  

  

 

  

  

Beach Games - PICS

  

  

After three intense days of panels and parties, SBF attendees took to the beach on Saturday with our SBF Beach Games to continue networking at Aqua Surf surfing lessons, Vilebrequin volleyball, basketball, our first Bike Ride sponsored by Sheppard Mullin, and advanced surfing. See beach pics. 

  

  

  

  

On Sunday, we relaxed at our SBF cabana pool side at the W Westwood. See PICS. 

 

  

  

Thank you SBF Volunteers! Thank you to our more than 100 friendly SBF volunteers, who have been so helpful, in red American Apparel shirts, helping out at the fest.  We couldn't do this without you! 

  

SBF Discounts: Remember that there are SBF discounts available with your pass, including Tiato restaurant, Instacart, Lyft, and more!  Go to the SBF discounts page at http://siliconbeachfest.com/sbf-discounts 

   

  

THANKS to our Sponsors!

for making Silicon Beach Fest possible and supporting LA's tech scene: 


Thanks Premiere Sponsor:
Demand Media: presented awesome SBF Opening Party and VIP party at the Viceroy, with eight speakers on panels including Dan Brian EVP Media on the Building a Business panel, Content Marketing, Developer Roundtable, Women Developers, Digital Content Fest, Storytelling, Legal Advice, and more.

Thanks Platinum Sponsor:
City National Bank:  speakers on the Entertainment, Mobile Payment, Women VCs / Investors and more. 

Thanks Gold Sponsors: 

Media Temple: Hosted amazing Closing Party at Cross Campus with excellent food, dancers, aerialists, magician, photobooth, and Startup Showcase awards.  Media Temple President Russ Reeder welcomed attendees. Media Temple hosts web sites, including the Silicon Beach Fest and Digital LA web sites.

Richardson Patel LLC:  organized the Crowdfunding panel which Skyped in congressman Patrick McHenry


Business Wire's Serena Ehrlich moderated the PR for Startups panel, plus Business Wire had a table so companies could learn about its press release services. Contact: [email protected]


Sheppard Mullin provided prizing of legal services for the Startup Showcase winner AIO Robotics, plus presented the Beach Games on Saturday, including the Bike Ride organized by Ben Stanley, with beginner to LaGrange riders. 

Thanks Organizing Sponsors:
Radix Collective provided official PR for SBF in its third year. Want a PR firm that gets tech?  Contact [email protected]
Kluge Interactive provided the official web site and banner and signage graphics.  Want a branding firm that can both do your web site that looks good on laptop, mobile, tablet AND can do offline banners, brochures and graphics? Contact [email protected]
Cross Campus - hosted Thur/Fripanels, Startup Showcase and Closing Party. Offers monthly coworking space at open desks or private offices.
General Assembly hosted Friday panels and the Throwback Thursday party
- PromoJam hosted the VIP LA Innovators party at 41 Ocean. Offers social media services to increase engagement. 
JNB Events produced SBF. If u want help organizing a conference, call [email protected]
Social Envi - social media agnecy. if you want help with social, email [email protected]
Shore Hotel hosted our panels on Thursday and Friday
Viceroy Santa Monica hosted our Opening Party

Thanks Bronze sponsors:
Weintraub Tobin presented the YouTube Nation panel

Cornerstone OnDemand - provided Grilled Cheese Truck on Thurs  

Stubbs Alderton Markiles hosted a legal panel and cocktail party at their offices.

 

Thanks to Conscious Recovery by CLARE, which provided the beach towels. Silicon Beach Fest would like to thank Conscious Recovery by CLARE Foundation for their sponsorship in this year's festivities. @CRbyCLARE is a nonprofit, therapeutic treatment and counseling center located in the heart of Santa Monica. Conscious Recovery specializes in help with drug and alcohol, anxiety, depression, relationships and stress...including
stress due to work! Conscious Recovery offers a warm and modern sanctuary
with qualified professionals to help entrepreneurs like us manage our
exhilirating and demanding lives. Conscious Recovery wrote about SBF in its blog. 

Thanks also to: Latham and Watkins, Open X, Max CDN (opening party appetizers), AdColony, Telesign, Greener Equity, CallFire (text-to-vote), Conscious Recovery (beach towels), Time Warner Cable Business Services, WeWork, Orange, Technical Connections (presented Developer track), PulsoViral (social media wall)

Thanks to In-kind sponsors: Surf Air (prizes), olloclip, Santa Monica Convention and Tourism, Quest Nutrition bars, The Bouqs (flowers), Lyft, Instacart, Huberts Lemonade, ON Beverages, Ommegang Brewery, Mrs. Fields cookies, Pretzel Crisps, Deep Eddy Vodka, NeurLabs (official app), Zen Monkey (yogurt). 


If you'd like to sponsor next year's Silicon Beach Fest, June 17-20, 2015, or this fall's Silicon Beach Fest one-day in Hollywood or downtown in Oct or Nov, email [email protected] with SPONSOR as subject.

  

 

  

Thanks to Andy Hampton of the Headspace meditation app in Venice, which donated a SBF surfboard that you can slap your company logos on at the fest (BEFORE SBF photo right).

  

  

_______________________
 
Digital LA - The Digerati List of 2014 


Awardees included individuals from movie studios Warner Bros, Disney Animation (Steve Goldberg photo right) and DreamWorks, digital content creators including Fullscreen, as well as Silicon Beach companies including SHIFT, Snapchat, and Docstoc, which had a $50M exit last year. Check the Digerati List of 2014.

"This is LA's first awards show recogni
zing digital leaders across industry, who both exemplified excellence in digital over the past year, and support LA's tech community," said Digital LA founder Kevin Winston. 

Check out our awards dinner PICS.

The Digearti Awards dinner recognized several leaders on the Digital LA - Digerati List of 2014, recognizing 30 outstanding companies and individuals in digital over the past year.
Digital LA organizes events for professionals in online entertainment, marketing, and advertising. Stop on by for informal casual networking. Join the Digital LA group at http://www.digitalla.net   Attendees work at Sony Pictures, FOX Interactive, MySpace, Google, Yahoo!, Disney, WB, NBC, EA, Vivendi Games, Napster, and other entertainment, studios, ad agencies, and tech companies.