Alec Shankman is CEO of Santa Monica-based Gotcast (www.gotcast.com), an online site focused on casting of actors for television shows, movies, and other productions. Our company is interesting because we've found a way to create a service benefits people in the Hollywood business, using technology, and in turn we're able to loop in all sorts of interesting people from the technology sector, to help with things like lead gen, SEO, and what not, which Hollywood people would have no idea about--creating a service extremely helpful to Hollywood. The firm is venture and angel backed, and was co-founded by Wil Schroter, who is involved with a number of other startups here, including Affordit.

Santa Monica-based The Search Agency joins a number of privately held, Southern California firms this week reporting strong growth in 2009. According to the company, which provides search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM), and other related online marketing services, it had revenue growth of 37% in 2009, and hired more than 40 additional employees. The firm said the growth came as a result of increasing demand for the firm's online marketing services. The Search Agency said it now has also opened offices in London and Bangalore.

then worked as a product manager at NetZero/United Online in the VOIP group, and then most recently at Google as a product manager on the Picasa/Photos team based in Santa Monica. What are you working on now? I'll be interested to see what it turns into. On the SEO side of things, I'll definitely want to get your feedback on Browse My Stuff . And what do you think about the controversy about stealth vs. Visible networking is turning into a really great opportunity to get to know people better, get to meet new people, and have some interesting conversations.