If you’re a startup and you don’t have a close relationship with a few law firms you’re really missing one of the most important relationships that any entrepreneur can have. When to get a lawyer - If you plan to be a venture or angel backed technology company (what I mostly write about) the best time to start meeting and getting to know lawyers is long before you ever start your company.  I recently read a post over on VentureHacks titled, “ Top Ten Reasons Entrepreneurs Hate Lawyers ” written by Scott Walker (who blogs on legal issues for entrepreneurs ). 

When I drill down on that term, you can see why with posts like: Hollis-Eden Pharmaceuticals Lops A Third Of Company THQ Lays Off 100 Employees, Closes San Diego Office Citrix Cuts 10 Percent; Santa Barbara Hit And it's also interesting to see what geographies are being associated with "Layoffs" more often than others: Layoffs Woodland Hills Layoffs San Diego Layoffs Santa Monica Layoffs Los Angeles I guess this is a sign of the times. The Scott Sanfilippo Interview Media Optimization Firms Are Red Hot In Southern California in 2009

EI Solutions, the solar integration startup backed by Pasadena-based Idealab, has scored a win in the City of Santa Barbara. According to Tioga Energy, a renewable energy services provider, and EI Solutions, the two are building and funding a 384 kW DC solar electric system for Santa Barbara. The firms said the system will be installed on roof space on the City of Santa Barbara's corporation yard at Garden and Laguna streets. Tioga will be responsible for operation and maintenance of the system, with EI Solutions responsible for the installation. EI Solutions

" In this year’s University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) Technology Management Program New Venture Competition at the end of May $25,000 was distributed between five winners in different categories. Winning $10,000 and $5,000 in the ‘Most Fundable Idea’ and ‘Dow Materials Use’ categories, respectively, was the startup Nitride Solutions of Santa Barbara, CA, USA. " quot; Nitride Solutions is dedicated to commercializing a process developed in UCSB’s engineering labs for the manufacture of high-quality aluminum nitride (AlN) substrates, enabling the fabrication of low-cost, high-efficiency and long-life ultraviolet LEDs (used for sterilizing medical devices or biological detection) and electronic devices that are currently not commercially available. [semiconductorToday] MOR

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 -- The MIT Enterprise Forum of the Central Coast Presents: Technology Space - The Final Frontier for Growth of Companies in Santa Barbara? Have you ever come up against a wall when trying to find "technology space" in the Santa Barbara region? Are you thinking about starting a company and want to know about facilities in the area? Do you have out-of-the-box thoughts on how to resolve our technology space issue? The October 15th program brings together a start-up out of UCSB, CytomX; a mid-size company, Allergan Medical, that purchased a Santa Barbara company, Inamed; and an insider in the process of learning what it takes to get technology space from the "wish" stage to actual development.

I recently got together with Aaron Shechet and an early stage startup to discuss the direction the company might want to take. It was a great conversation and I thought it would be a good idea to do some visible networking with Aaron to get to know him better. Tell me a bit about your background. I grew up in Los Angeles and went to undergrad at UC Santa Barbara, graduating in 2003 with Honors in Economics. While at UC I then went to Pepperdine University School of Law and graduated in 2006 with a Certificate from the Geoffrey H.

He’s done several startups and is a board member of the Technology Council of Southern California (which is where I met him originally). A great opportunity for more visible networking . I roughly know about MakeItWork, but tell me a bit about where you spend your time day-to-day. A typical day starts with email, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Yammer checks/updates. In between it all, I'm dropping off/picking up my son, I’ve recently had a chance to reconnect with Eric David Greenspan ( LinkedIn , Twitter ) He’s the CEO of Make It Work a high quality, personal, high touch technology service provider for homes and small businesses.

However, in the world of startups, relationships that go beyond a casual acquaintance can provide your adVenture with a significant competitive advantage. The difference between the relationships established by members of a startup and those pursued by employees of a BDC is analogous to the contrast between the teacher / student relationship at private and public elementary schools. However, at your startup, This is a reposting of a ‘classic’ popular post. Bro – abbreviation of “Brother”, meaning friend or dude.

So here's the Hot List for 1/1/2009 - 1/15/2009 Top 5 Posts The 7 Ways to Get Traffic on the Web Why You Need To Lead A Tribe - Seth Godin LA Gets Dugg, Hammered, Screwed How To Get The World Excited About Your Business –The James Siminoff Interview Viral analytics and metrics - go viral young startup Top 20 Keywords SEO Metrics Marketing Social Media Alelo Google Yahoo Mahalo MySpace Tech Coast Angels Idealab Mission Ventures Clearstone Hollywood Santa Barbara Venice San Diego Santa Monica Twiistup

Some first-time entrepreneurs mistakenly believe that they are not entrepreneurs because they have never invented anything nor have they come up with a novel idea upon which a company could be built. Dreaming is great, but if you never wake up and act upon your dreams you might as well stay in bed. For instance, when you were growing up, did you partake in any of the following This is a reposting of a ‘classic’ popular post. “You You are forty, out of a job, a newlywed, your wife is expecting a baby, you don’t own your own home, you have no specialized qualifications,