Join Us in Supporting Technology Start-Ups

by Gary Toebben

Last year, Start Up Genome ranked Los Angeles as the third best startup ecosystem in the world, just after Silicon Valley and Tel Aviv. Our assets are many including a strong base of universities, creative talent and a Hollywood-fueled edge in digital media. 

Tech accelerators are popping up all over Los Angeles (19 at the latest count). From upstarts like Snapchat and Viddy to tech titans like Google and Microsoft, we’ve seen a surge of new companies in Los Angeles. But there’s a lot more to be done. 

L.A. tech startups face the same challenges as startups everywhere: developing product, hiring talent, finding customers and, perhaps most importantly, raising capital. To overcome these challenges, we need to forge closer ties between our world-class universities and the technology community and provide mentors and support services for entrepreneurs. We also need to create partnerships between tech entrepreneurs and larger companies.

To address these needs, the Chamber has launched Bixel Exchange, a partnership with the U.S. Small Business Administration (through its Small Business Development Center program) to support L.A.’s tech entrepreneurs.

We wanted to focus on what the Chamber does well: linking entrepreneurs to mentors and advisers who have built technology companies from scratch … who have created a platform to connect startups to talent, capital and new markets. We also want to advocate for small technology entrepreneurs with local government, in Sacramento and in Washington, D.C.

Simply put, we want to fill the gaps in L.A.’s tech ecosystem. Where others are already doing the job, we will support them, not duplicate them. Where there are gaps, we’ll work with partners to fill them.

Here are some of our partners: Hub L.A., Tech Zulu, Silicon Beach L.A. and the L.A. Cleantech Incubator. We collaborate with the University of California, Los Angeles and University of Southern California to help entrepreneurs who are commercializing university technologies. And we bring players like Warner Bros. Entertainment, NBCUniversal, the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power and Microsoft Corporation into the mix too.  

As a 125-year-old organization, the Chamber has helped a myriad of new industry groups create jobs in the Los Angeles area over the years. This is one more opportunity. Join us.

And that's The Business Perspective.