Breaking Into Silicon Beach
Another LA Catch-22
True to LA, breaking into the startup scene here is a bit of a Catch-22, much like breaking into Entertainment. You can’t get into it unless you know someone, but you can’t know someone until you’re in it. I’ve been supporting the startup ecosystem in LA forever. I’m talking the OG startup scene from last century. Half the people I know now, I’ve known for nearly 20 years. It’s not a flip-the-switch-you’re-in kind of deal. And generally speaking, our motivation for remaining involved in it year over year is because we truly care about it — we care about entrepreneurs, founders, and nurturing businesses that have the opportunity to do it right from the ground floor. So, assuming you share that passion, and are willing to do the long-haul work to become a part of said ecosystem, here are some tips.
Educate Yourself:
● Great primer on Venture Capital — Venture Deals and AskTheVC is the sister site, which provides additional information..
● A few newsletters you should get:
o Socaltech.com — daily email with deals, events, interviews — Ben Kuo runs it, and he’s been involved in the LA Startup tech scene forever.
o Socalcentral — aggregator of relevant of local tech news — founded by Tony Karrer, who also heads up the LA CTO Forum.
o WeAreLATech — tight community of LA startup peeps — founded by Espree Devora.
● Blogs:
o Robyn Ward is 110% Silicon Beach OG, and one of the first female investors (although now she is an amazing startup founder coach). Read her blog. When I heard her speak the first time, my neck hurt from nodding in agreement so much.
o Mark Suster is the outspoken Managing Director from Upfront Ventures. I’m very #longLA (you need to know what that means and how it relates to Upfront Ventures), and a political and social kindred spirit with him, so pretty much love everything he puts out there.
o Evolution is a top shelf Startup Leadership and Culture company I’m proud to be a Partner with. Startups are unique — their culture, challenges and impact are worthy of understanding.
Network:
Here are some calendars of events, below. If you hate networking, do it anyway — read how here.
● LACI
Specific to Female Founders:
Gotta put a plug in for my gender, right? One of my driving values is leveling the playing field. Here are a few organizations/people to follow that are focused on doing just that in the gender department. All are either based in LA or have an LA presence.
● Women Founders Network & Women Founders Foundation — follow us (I’m on the Board) — we do some good bang for the buck networking events. The foundation is focused on grooming the next generation of female investors, through our Junior Judges program at the annual WFN pitch event.
● SheEO
● SheWorx
● LDR Ventures — #longLA and focused on diversity angel investing.
Volunteer:
● There are many incubators, accelerators, university programs and co-working spaces, that welcome been there/done that for their startups. Even if you don’t have startup experience, it’s worth exploring as a way to establish a startup network.
That should keep you busy for awhile ☺.
Related posts you may want to check out:
· Creating a Great LinkedIn Profile
