We had fun at our Digital LA - VidCon Cocktails with attendees including startups, YouTubers, and even some fangirls (photo right).  The annual VidCon convention attracted 18,000 digital content creators, including Jeff Katzenberg who keynoted, multichannel network execs, top YouTuber talent, and 18,000 fans eager to the Anaheim Convention Center to see their fave stars, including Tyler Oakley, Grace Helbig, Hannah Hart, Nash Grier, and more.  Check our VidCon PICS of industry day, the show floor, zorbing, some teen fangirl stampedes and swarms, and industry only parties including the Maker Studios and Defy Media parties.

 

- Digital LA - July 4 Digital Drinks - Huntington Beach @ Shorebreak Hotel. We'll casually meet up at the hotel's Zimzala bar on July 4, 6-7p, after the morning parade. Look for Kevin in the red shirt. Cash bar. No guest list, just show up to Zimzala 6-7p and look for Kevin in the red Captain America shirt. After, watch the fireworks over Huntington Beach Pier at 9p. The PCH is usually closed to traffic so u can stand there to watch the show with music. 

Fourth of July
- Hollywood Bowl July 4 Fireworks Spectacular with Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, July 2-4
- Marina Del Rey Fireworks, July 4, 9p
- Grand Park Block Party, dtwn LA, July 4, 4-9p 
- Santa Monica July 4 Parade, Main St 9:30a
- AmericaFest @ Pasadena Rose Bowl, July 4
- Disneyland fireworks, July 4
- Huntington Beach - July 4 parade at 10a, fireworks 9p. Pier Plaza Festival July 4-6
- LAist list of more July 4 events

- Anime Expo: >50,000 anime fans and cosplay at LA Conv Ctr with screenings, signings, masquerade, karaoke, concert and more. July 3-6. We'll be live-tweeting via @DigitalLA and taking pics of mostly red cosplay (photo right).

Movies:

- Transformers: Age of Extinction opened with $100M last wknd. Congrats LA VFX companies which worked on it: Method Studios and Prime Foucs (in addition to ILM).  Fun to watch Chicago get destroyed again, Hong Kong too, and the dinobots. 
- Earth to Echo, Deliver Us From Evil, Tammy, America

 - Queen @ The Forum, 7/3

- Joan Baez and Indigo Girls @ The Greek, 7/3

- Big Bad Voodoo Daddy @ Irvine Amp. 7/4

- Kiss and Def Leppard @ Irvine Amp, 7/5
- Ghost the Musical @ Pantages

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- Digital LA - Startup Showcase, 7/8 @ WeWork Hollywood.  After 25 startups pitched at our Silicon Beach Fest last month, we continue our monthly Startup Showcase with 5 more startups including JTS TV, Upaji (which pitched at SBF, photo right), plus you can pitch your startup for 30 seconds to be selected as the audience choice pitch.  The audience will pick the winning pitch via CallFire text-to-vote. Winner gets a $200 Amazon gift card and co-working at WeWork.  Register. 

- Digital LA'loha Digital Drinks @ Beach Bar, Waikiki, 7/10, 6p. We're headed for our first event in Hawaii to talk Silicon Beach and Silicon Paradise, the nickname for Hawaii's growing tech and startup scene. We'll tech tech at the Beach Bar at the Moana Surfrider hotel, with amazing views of the beach, tropical cocktails like mai-tais and pina coladas, banyan tree, and music at 6p. FREE to attend, cash bar, look for Kevin in the red Hawaiian shirt. Tell your tech friends in Waikiki! We are looking for local Hawaii tech peeps to be featured speakers. Email info@dgitalla.net with ALOHA as the subject. 

- Digital LA - Superheroes Go Digital / Social panel, Mon 7/21 @ WeWork Hollywood.  Join speakers including Heath Corson (writer on DC's Justice League War), and Joelle Sellner (writer on Lion Forge digital comics) for our sixth annual pre-Comic-Con panel in LA, the Monday before Comic-Con. We are looking for panelists who do digital comics, digital marketing for comic-based movies, or game / apps / transmedia based on superhero/comic characters. Looking for peeps from studios (DC, Marvel) and a few indie projects with awesome projects in the past year. Email info@digitalla.net with SUPERHERO as the subject.  

- Digital LA - Comic-Con Party, Sat 7/26. Join us for our sixth annual party during San Diego Comic-Con.  Two years ago, we invited seven superheroes (photo right), the only Comic-Con party to actually have superheroes! This year, we plan to invite HexLabs 3D printing company to do 3D body scans of attendees in their best superhero poses, to be mailed their 3-inch 3D printed action figure after the event. FREE RSVP.  

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- Wearable Tech LA, 7/17: Digital LA peeps get 30% off the Wearable Tech LA conference on 7/17 in Pasadena. Just use code DigitalLA4WTLA when u register here.  

 

- V2V: If you're going to V2V Vegas, we're thinking of doing a Digital LA cocktails at Hyde Bellagio on July 13 or 14. Tweet us @DigitalLA which day you prefer!

Silicon Beach startups raised more than $450M in the past two weeks, as reported by SoCalTech.com. Many startups participated at our Silicon Beach Fest a few weeks ago:

- AdColony acquired for $350M (estimated) by Opera. AdColony's Nikao Yang spoke on our Silicon Beach Fest - How I Built My Mobile Tech Company in LA panel (photo right). 

- TeleSign raises $40M round from Telestra.  TeleSign offered complimentary drinks to attendees who stopped by its cabana at the Silicon Beach Fest - Opening Party.

- Tastemade gets $25M for food videos. Tastemade's Oren Katzeff spoke on our Silicon Beach Fest - Building an MCN Vertical. 

- Mitu Network gets $10M, round led by Upfront Ventures. The latino-focused multi-channel network's president Beatriz Acevedo spoke on our Silicon Beach Fest - Meet the Multichannel Networks panel. 

- The Bouqs raises $6M for farm-to-direct flower delivery.  The Bouqs founder John Tabis spoke on our SBF - E-Commerce panel.  The Bouqs provided amazing flowers on display thurout Silicon Beach Fest (photo right). 

- Epoxy raises $6M.  The Epoxy social video site was part of the SBF TechZulu Tech Crawl - Venice Edition on Tuesday before SBF. 

- At The Pool relaunches as Yeti, which lets travelers engage in local messaging about events in cities they visit. Founder Alex Capecelatro spoke at our SBF - Developer / CTO / CEO panel. 

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.  

  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 short filmmaker.  

 

- 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

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.

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 info@digitalla.net 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 G, Kayley 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!

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: Garrett.henricksen@businesswire.com

- 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 nicole@radixcollective.com
- 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 arturo@klugeinteractive.com
- 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 jo@jnbevents.com
- Social Envi - social media agnecy. if you want help with social, email jason@socialenvi.com
- 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 info@digitalla.net 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).