The Lean Startup Conference

If you are looking for a way to improve your chances as an entrepreneur, you should make it a point to attend The Lean Startup Conference, which will be held in San Francisco on December 8 through 12, 2014. The  conference will be held at The Fairmont Hotel, in the Nob Hill district of San Francisco at 950 Mason Street.

Sponsors include Pivotal Labs, O'Reilly Media, EventBrite, and WeWork. There are already 15 speakers identified, and the workshops include:

• Startup Metrics: The Data That Will Make or Break Your Business
• Lean Startup 101
• Introducing Lean Startup in Your Corporation
• Lean Impact
• Innovation Accounting

For more information and to register, go here.

Upcoming Startup Events

The following are some of the upcoming startup events for the month of July. Tickets are available through EventBrite.

IoT Meetup
July 17, 6pm
Sunnyvale, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/iot-meetup-tickets-12129261949?aff=es2&rank=1

Live and Interactive Startup Valuation
July 17, 3pm
San Jose, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/11793475603?aff=es2&rank=6

Social Media Marketing Workshop
July 17, 5:30pm
Santa Clara, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/12211090701?aff=es2&rank=9

Today's Funding Ideas for Startups
July 23, 11:30am
San Jose, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/12030287915?aff=es2&rank=7

Silicon Valley TGIF Business and Social Networking
July 25, 8pm
Santa Clara, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/12309852099?aff=es2&rank=5

Hooked: How to Build Habit Forming Products
July 30, 6pm
Sunnyvale, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/12218163857?aff=es2&rank=8

Free Pitching, Networking and Refreshments
July 30, 6pm
Sunnyvale, CA
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/8675367257?aff=es2&rank=3

LinkedIn Bought Startup Newsle

LinkedIn Corp. (LNKD) made a major purchase today. It bought the San Francisco startup Newsle, a news alert company.

Newsle provides instant emails to users on news items relating to their social network connections, using machine learning algorithms.

LinkedIn closed up 3.12 today, reaching a high of the day of 162.74.

How Your Startup Can Get Money from the US Government

The United States Small Business Association (SBA) has a program called Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) to help startups with research. According to the SBIR website, "Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the nation's R&D arena, high-tech innovation is stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it meets its specific research and development needs."

Three Phases

There are three phases with this program:

1. Phase I. The objective of Phase I is to establish the technical merit, feasibility, and commercial potential of the proposed R/R&D efforts and to determine the quality of performance of the small business awardee organization prior to providing further Federal support in Phase II. SBIR Phase I awards normally do not exceed $150,000 total costs for 6 months.
2. Phase II. The objective of Phase II is to continue the R/R&D efforts initiated in Phase I. Funding is based on the results achieved in Phase I and the scientific and technical merit and commercial potential of the project proposed in Phase II. Only Phase I awardees are eligible for a Phase II award. SBIR Phase II awards normally do not exceed $1,000,000 total costs for 2 years.
3. Phase III. The objective of Phase III, where appropriate, is for the small business to pursue commercialization objectives resulting from the Phase I/II R/R&D activities. The SBIR program does not fund Phase III. Some Federal agencies, Phase III may involve follow-on non-SBIR funded R&D or production contracts for products, processes or services intended for use by the U.S. Government.

 Determine if You are Eligible

Of course, you must be a business based in the United State. Here are the primary rules of eligibility:

1. Organized for profit, with a place of business located in the United States;
2. More than 50 percent owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States, or by another for-profit business concern that is more than 50% owned and controlled by one or more individuals who are citizens of, or permanent resident aliens in, the United States; and
3. No more than 500 employees, including affiliates
4. For awards from agencies using the authority under 15 U.S.C. 638(dd)(1), an awardee may be owned and controlled by more than one VC, hedge fund, or private equity firm so long as no one such firm owns a majority of the stock.
5. Phase I awardees with multiple prior awards must meet the benchmark requirements for progress toward commercialization. 

 Recipients

Some of the companies that were recipients recently include:
Actuated Medical, Inc. – Bellefonte, PA
Adventium Enterprises, LLC dba Adventium Labs – Minneapolis, MN
ChemImage Sensor Systems (CISS) – Pittsburgh, PA
Corvid Technologies – Mooresville, NC
Eldertide LLC – Dresden, ME
Exquadrum, Inc. – Adelanto, CA
Geocent, LLC – New Orleans, LA
HemoShear, LLC – Charlottesville, VA
Inrad Optics – Northvale, NJ
IRIS Media, Inc., dba IRIS Educational Media – Eugene, OR
Mainstream Engineering – Rockledge, FL
NanoMech, Inc. – Springdale, AR
Novan, Inc. – Durham, NC
Pacific Biosciences of California, Inc. (dba as Pacific Biosciences) – Menlo Park, CA
Pacific Engineering, Inc. – Roca, NE
Parion Sciences – Durham, NC
QorTek, Inc. – Williamsport, PA
Realtime Technologies, Inc. – Royal Oak, MI
Robotic Research, LLC – Gaithersburg, MD
Sentient Corporation – Buffalo, NY
STAR Cryoelectronics, LLC – Santa Fe, NM
Structural Composites, Inc.  – W Melbourne, FL
Tactus Technologies – Akron, NY

For more information, you can go to the SBIR website. 

$100 Million Startup Aereo Loses Court Case: May Go Out of Business

Aereo, a New York City based company that received about $100 million in venture capital, is in the business of providing television network broadcasts through the Internet. Subscribers can view the normally over-the-air TV shows live or later.

However, the U. S. Supreme Court ruled today that against Aereo in a 6 to 3 decision that the company violated copyright laws. The suit was brought by the broadcast networks.

The company has stated that if the ruling was against them, it could drive the company out of business.

Cool Tech Stuff from Startups on Indiegogo

Startups raising money on Indiegogo.com are providing a very diverse and interesting group of products. One of the nice features about this crowdfunding service is that if you donate enough, you can be the first person on your block to get one of these cool tech items.

TrackR has created the TrackR bravo in conjunction with the UC Santa Barbara Technology Management Department. This is the thinnest item tracking device ever. Their goal was to raise $20,000, yet they have raised an incredible $319,839, which is 1599% of their goal. Talk about a hot item. And what's amazing is that they still have 30 more days to go in their fundraising.

I am seriously considering getting an Anywhere Fridge. It is a portable, collapsible, solar powered refridgerator-freezer and warmer, all in one. Talk about an incredible money raising success! They had a goal of only raising $1,000 and have so far raised $57,549, with still 24 days to go.

What will they think of next. The CreoPop, the world's first 3-D pen. And what's really interesting is that the ink can come out in different colors in one pen stroke, and ink that glows in the dark, and ink that changes color ased on the temperature.  Still 26 days to go.

 It never ceases to amaze me the incredible and amazing stuff that startups are coming out with.

San Francisco City Attorney Goes After Parking Space App

In San Francisco, there is a very popular mobile app called Monkey Parking. It allows the user to auction off their parking spot, a scarce commodity in this city. 

The San Francisco city attorney has given the Italian based company until July 11 to cease and desist. The city said that it is a violation, and wants to charge a $300 fine for people that use the app, according to an article by Associated Press.

The city attorney is also going after a couple of other similar high tech startups according to the story, Sweetch and ParkModo. He also wants the apps removed from the Apple store.