FreelanceCTO.com

Greetings,

Tony Karrer and I have been discussing ways in which we can get the community more engaged with the rest of Los Angeles. As part of that effort, I have put together a list of suggested networking events and why they might be of interest to you. This list is by no means complete, and has a definite Los Angeles slant to it, so please point out any interesting events that we may have missed

Here is the list of interesting technology-related events in Los Angeles for the month of April:

Digital LA – Digital Drinks @ La Vida – 4/6/2010 (Tuesday)
7-10pm Hollywood
If you are into video and entertainment, this could be good. Digital LA has a rep for being more marketing oriented, so be prepared.

LA Tech April Meetup – 4/6/2010 (1st Tuesday of month)
7pm Location TBD
It’s like a miniature, regular TechCrunch50 or Twiistup.

http://newtech.meetup.com/25/calendar/12765900/

Thursday Lunch on the Promenade – 4/8/2010
12-1:30pm Santa Monica
This is a fantastic meetup. Informal gathering of some super smart people. Highly recommended.

OCTANe/FIRSTY – OC Networking Event – 4/8/2010 (Thursday)
5:30 – 7:30pm Aliso Viejo
OC members, don’t miss it! Though I’ve never been…this event sounds great…especially as this is the big kick-off for the merger of 2 big OC networking groups.

http://www.octaneoc.org/calendar/view_event.asp?CalendarID=659

DigitalLA – Digital Music Panel: Artists Go Social – 4/12/2010 (Monday)
7-10pm Beverly Center
If you or your company are into music and social media, this looks to be good.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=377946387339

Los Angeles High Scalability Group April Meetup – 4/13/2010 (Tuesday)
7pm in Santa Monica
Also known as “the hadoop meetup”. High signal to noise ratio. Highly recommended.

http://www.meetup.com/scalela/

Los Angeles PHP Developers – 4/13/2010
7pm @ CoLoft in Santa Monica
Check out the new co-working space at CoLoft. I haven’t been, but Oleg is a new member to the group, and I have heard good things. Recommended.

Social Media Club LA – 4/14/2010 (Wednesday)
Left, Right and Twitter: Social Media and Its Impact on Politics
7-9pm Santa Monica
Network with the Social Media crowd. Be warned: saying you are a technologist is like throwing chum in shark infested waters. I like this event, have gotten work out of it, but you have to have some good people filters to make it a good use of time.

http://www.socialmediaclub.la/

Copyrights and Design Patents – Filling the Gaps in Your IP Strategy – 4/13/2010 (Tuesday)
7:30-9:30am San Diego
Purely educational.

http://www.commnexus.org/programs/special-interest-groups/event_20100315.php

Mindshare – 4/15/2010 (Thursday)
7pm+
Where art meets science. I still haven’t been…but this is #1 on my list of new events to attend.

http://www.mindshare.la/

CalTech/MIT Enterprise Forum – 4/17/2010 (Friday)
8am – noon Pasadena
The Business of Social Attraction and Aggregation – How Do Fast Growth and Fads Become Successful Ventures?
Still haven’t been yet (Pasadena, eh?), but the CalTech/MIT forum is great.

http://www.entforum.caltech.edu/

LAMPsig – 4/17/2010 (Saturday)
1-3pm mid-Wilshire
Haven’t been. Any feedback from the group?

http://lampsig.org/new/

LA C# – 4/20/2010 (Tuesday)
7-9pm Manhattan Beach
Haven’t been. Any feedback from the group?

http://lacsharp.org/

Los Angeles Web Application Developers – 4/20/2010 (Tuesday)
7pm Location TBD
Will Jessup’s meetup. Very popular. Haven’t been yet, but will check it out soon. Any feedback from the group?

http://web.meetup.com/34/

From CTO to CEO – 4/22/2010 (Tuesday)
Irvine
Self-explanatory!

http://www.tcvn.org

StartUp Venture Summit – 4/22/2010 (Thursday)
9-5pm Los Angeles
For Entrepreneurs and Investors to Grow a Successful Venture. Tech Supper Club/Tech Cost Angels – $195

http://techsupperclub.com/Startup_Venture_Home.html

LA Flash Users Group – 4/22/2010 (Tuesday)
7-9pm
Haven’t been. Any feedback from the group?

http://laflash.org

LA Games Conference – 4/29/2010 (Thursday)
9-5pm Hollywood
A conference on gaming…pretty obvious choice for gaming companies and technologists. I may be there.

http://www.lagamesconference.com/

LA CTO Forum – 4/9/2010 (Friday)
8-10am Santa Monica
Content Categorization

http://lactoforum.org/

The Israel Conference – 6/3/2010 (Thursday)
9-5pm Los Angeles
This is a couple months away, but I went last year and it was a great event. Currently $180, soon to $210 ($295 at door)

http://www.theisraelconference.org/

Here are a couple other events with no confirmed dates for April or May. These are fantastic events that I look forward to going back to.

Startups Uncensored – http://www.jasonnazar.com/
Dorkbot – http://dorkbot.org/
LA Web/Mobile Software Entrepreneurs – http://lawebmo.com

Happy networking!

-=John

The Social Media Club panel on Google Analytics event that I participated in is now online. I had a great time speaking with Erica Fourette and the other panelists. I hope that everybody who attended (both offline and online) got at least one or two good bits of knowledge or science out of the discussion. 150+ people were in attendance at Mahalo. SMCLA also had a very large online viewing turnout, too. At one point before the event, I realized that I was trying to do 3 things at the same time: a) talking to Efren (TechZulu) about how he broadcasts the event b) setting up pizza and beverages and c) meeting my fellow panelists (I only knew the moderator) before panelizing together. I went with c), but I made sure to buy (later that week) the same Canopus encoder that Efren has for our own efforts and grab a slice and a soda on my way to the panelists meetup. The whole event was a most enjoyable – well done, SMCLA!

Here is TechZulu’s recording of the event:

REGARD Ventures Solutions start-up portfolio company KooDooZ.com has an immediate opening for KDZ Project Manager. Candidate must first and foremost have a passion for youth and entrepreneurship!

The primary job responsible will be to fully understand the off-line requirements of the business and assure the online product planning functionally supports the business model from the website. Further, execution throughout the product lifecycle, including: gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, capturing and defining the product vision, managing offshore development of the product, and working
closely with engineering, sales, marketing and support to ensure revenue and customer satisfaction goals are met. Testing and regression testing of requirements against delivery from offshore team will be critical to the
success of this position and the KooDooZ business as a whole!

The Project Manager’s job also includes ensuring that the product supportsthe company’s overall strategy and goals.

The Project Manager is expected to:

1. Along with the CEO, to define the product strategy and roadmap.
2. Deliver simple PRDs with prioritized features and corresponding justification
3. Manage offshore development team in India via corresponding Project Manager in India
4. Manage the feature specification process
5. Manage the quality of the offshore team’s deliverables
6. Manage User Acceptance Testing
7. Stay abreast of company competition
8. Take the vision and be a leader within the company

Required experience and knowledge

1. Minimum of 2 years experience as a Project Manager
2. Must have offshore/remote group management experience.
3. Demonstrated success defining and launching excellent products
4. Demonstrated understanding of SEO tactic and the ability to leverage those skills with available tools
5. 2+ years of experience in a job in the technology market
6. Excellent written and verbal communication skills
7. Bachelor’s degree (MBA preferred)
8. Technical background, with experience in Microsoft, web and/or mobile technologies
9. Excellent teamwork skills
10. Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without formal authority
11. Examples and at least one sample of an effective document delivered in the past
12. Solid references

KooDooZ.com is a youth empowerment website designed as a “virtual meets
virtuous world” to gives kids a safe place online to channel their passions
into actions for social change.

Our mission is two-fold:

1. Empower kids (ages 9 thru 15) to couple their passions with service learning, volunteerism and personal growth opportunities.
2. Enable non-profits and brands to engage families through collaborative real-world events and social impact campaigns for the purpose of driving higher awareness to the causes they support and the communities they serve.

In consideration of the first goal, KooDooZ became a Certifying Organization for President Obama’s Volunteer Service Award, a national program recognizing Americans who have demonstrated a sustained commitment to volunteer service. Additionally, KooDooZ debuted a program of youth social-entrepreneurship, teaching students ways to address issues in their local and global communities.

For the benefit of our non-profit and corporate partners, KooDooZ serves as strategists, co-creating and co-marketing signature cause programs (and KDZ challenges) to nurture new engagements and build brand trust in local and national markets.

At a time when most youth properties dumb-it down with cartoon caricatures, KooDooZ empowers kids to build character, have fun and get rewarded for turning everyday challenges into real-world achievements.

I just met up with Eric Hammond, Ken Weiner, and more for Thursday Lunch on the Third Street Promenade. If you haven’t been, I highly recommend it. I’m not sure how the crowd normally is, but it was pretty tech/developer heavy this time – and I loved it!

I just came across a compelling position – Vice President of Digital and Social Development/Networking. After learning more about the opportunity, a more accurate title for this position might be  Chief Strategist, Web Presence.

Sears Holdings Company (SHC) is seeking a qualified executive (visionary) to lead in the development of a company wide strategy in the digital and social development.

This is a newly created role and grounded in the following:

1. SHC’s transformation away from being a primary brick and mortar retailer to a significantly larger E-Retailer (* currently nearly $2 billion in online sales revenue in 2009)
2. SHC’s  strategy – over “X” number of years, we will divert historical media budgets (print & TV advertising) toward creation and management of content on the web – focusing on attracting and developing the online customer and customer relationships
3. Introduce SHC to a younger and demographic
4. Continued and more effective branding, product placement, brand awareness strategies – what do we need to be doing 3, 5 10 yrs from now, where do we need to be (in an electronic sense)
5. The further development and branding of Delver.com (social search engine),  MyGofer.com, Marketplace at Sears.com and ServiceLive.com
6. Sears has multiple groups /resources developing digital and social media strategies, we working with several agencies with a significant budget

Ideal profile should have the following characteristics and experiences:

• a strong understanding of the technical aspects of digital and social networking/advertising/ content management/ e-Commerce
• demonstrated ability to create such strategies and launch successful programs (digital/social)
• part visionary/ evangelist/ technologist —- but grounded in sound business principals and able deliver real world results
• retail experience is fantastic/ e-Commerce experience preferred, if not required
• academic and professional pedigree

This position will report to the Chief Marketing Office for Sears Holdings and work directly in collaboration with the CMO’s of the Sears and Kmart platforms (as well as those business units) and the SVP/President of Sears Online-Business unit. This position will also have a great deal of exposure and collaboration (to some extent) with the Chairman of the Board at Sears Holdings Co. – Edward (Eddie) Lampert. **  The interest level that Mr Lampert has in the scope and responsibilities of this role can not be understated – AND – It is my understanding that this position, as much as any position in SHC, will drive the continued transformation of Sears Holdings over the next 3-5 yrs.

Contact me if you are interested, and I’ll connect you with the recruiter, Tim Thennes.

Mark Suster has a great perspective on the use of social networks to connect with potential partners, peers, friends, and more. I must admit that I’m lazier than I should be, using the default network greetings. I’ll change! I swear it!