4 ms·

Ask: What's The Startup Scene Like In Southern California?

13 points by stevenj 15y ago

I'll be in Southern Cal (L.A. and San Diego) next week and was wondering what the startup scene (both tech and non-tech) is like there.

ilaksh 15y ago
Not an expert on any scenes or sure what you mean exactly, but I have been to a few meetup events for the San Diego JavaScript Meetup.com group, and they are definitely mentioning this "startup scene" thing as though they are part of it. There is some overlap with the SD Ruby meetup.com group people. They have a meeting on Tuesday http://www.meetup.com/sandiegojs/events/41414182/ http://www.meetup.com/sandiegojs/events/41414182/ Meets at 3rd Space http://3rdspace.co/ http://3rdspace.co/. Besides 3rd Space there are also places like Co-Merge http://co-merge.com/ http://co-merge.com/ and the Hive http://www.hivehaus.net/ http://www.hivehaus.net/ where some startupy types are sometimes. There is also an HTML5 meetup.com group.
- stevenj 15y ago
  Cool, thanks. I was mainly wondering if there are notable startups that are based there and/or if there is a strong community of people working the startup life.
  - donuts 15y ago
    Grubwithus.com is based in Venice beach
  - ilaksh 15y ago
    http://sandiego.startupweekend.org/2011/10/21/swsd3-wrapup/ http://sandiego.startupweekend.org/2011/10/21/swsd3-wrapup/
  - davidhansen 15y ago
    We're not at all "notable" amongst the startup scenesters, but Ties.com/Scarves.com is located in north Orange County.
  - caseya 15y ago
    Yeah, there are quite a few notable startups and a strong community that is growing very quickly. Just had Startup Weekend in Orange County with another planned for March and one in LA in January. Some solid Tech Meetups: - OC: http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/ http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/ - LA: http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/ http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/ - SD: http://www.meetup.com/SanDiego-Tech-Founders/ http://www.meetup.com/SanDiego-Tech-Founders/ I'm down in Orange County so I'm more involved in the community here with startups such as Mavenlink, Catchfree, and Drumbi. If you're going through LA, I strongly suggest stopping by Coloft. If you have more questions or anything, let me know.
hendrix 15y ago
How does it compare to seattle or boston?
irunbackwards 15y ago
My startup is kind of detatched from either of those hubs, we're rooted in Palm Desert. (Palm Springs) Thriving, though!
rprasad 15y ago
Check out the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CoLoft (14th Street in Santa Monica), Hulu (Olympic and Bundy?, Santa Monica), and Indie Desk (Downtown Los Angeles). If you have the time to fight traffic (or if you take the Gold Line metro from Downtown), check out Pasadena, which has numerous technology (not software) startups. Due south of Santa Monia, in Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey, you'll find gaming giants (like EA and Activision) and gaming indies. On your way down to SD, you can stop by Irvine, which is pretty famous for its biotech scene. Throughout SoCal, you'll come across food trucks. They did not actually originate in SoCal, but they did take off here. Sites like Foodtrux and Truxmaps can help you track down nearby trucks. Consider using Meetup to see if there are any tech-related meetups happening during your trip. There's usually at least one or two each week. Also, the Miliken Institute has a startup-related panel every month.
singalongwithme 15y ago
Hey Stevenj! Sorry for the late response. I'm a part of a startup based in the OC, called drumbi. We were at disrupt and demo day, and we've successfully built a grassroots community via meetup.com called the OCtechstartup (http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/ http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/). As far as LA goes, I know the LeanLA group is doing some cool things (http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/ http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/). They also work closely with Coloft (mentioned above). Feel free to stop by Irvine if you get a chance!
abbasmehdi 15y ago
LA Hacker News meetup group is pretty awesome as well!
jmm 15y ago
I'm doing a project looking at startup hubs, and some of the related factors. Here's a map of LA startups with some neighborhood outlines: http://imgur.com/hiG3Y http://imgur.com/hiG3Y . The data is a crawl from crunchbase, so it's not perfect, but it provides a rough indicator or where startups have popped up over the last 5 years. The raster underlay is a function of point density within a set radius.
zubr1768 15y ago
I am moving back to SD next week after a ~10yr hiatus. Any anecdotal info I could offer regarding my experience there is outdated, though I can remember many good experiences working with web development circa 97-2002. Very interested in finding groupings of web-oriented startups, designers, developers and entrepreneurs to plug into. Please keep the links coming and thanks... Looking forward to it! :D

13 points by stevenj 15y ago

I'll be in Southern Cal (L.A. and San Diego) next week and was wondering what the startup scene (both tech and non-tech) is like there.

ilaksh 15y ago

Not an expert on any scenes or sure what you mean exactly, but I have been to a few meetup events for the San Diego JavaScript Meetup.com group, and they are definitely mentioning this "startup scene" thing as though they are part of it. There is some overlap with the SD Ruby meetup.com group people. They have a meeting on Tuesday http://www.meetup.com/sandiegojs/events/41414182/ http://www.meetup.com/sandiegojs/events/41414182/ Meets at 3rd Space http://3rdspace.co/ http://3rdspace.co/. Besides 3rd Space there are also places like Co-Merge http://co-merge.com/ http://co-merge.com/ and the Hive http://www.hivehaus.net/ http://www.hivehaus.net/ where some startupy types are sometimes. There is also an HTML5 meetup.com group.

stevenj 15y ago
Cool, thanks. I was mainly wondering if there are notable startups that are based there and/or if there is a strong community of people working the startup life.
- donuts 15y ago
  Grubwithus.com is based in Venice beach
- ilaksh 15y ago
  http://sandiego.startupweekend.org/2011/10/21/swsd3-wrapup/ http://sandiego.startupweekend.org/2011/10/21/swsd3-wrapup/
- davidhansen 15y ago
  We're not at all "notable" amongst the startup scenesters, but Ties.com/Scarves.com is located in north Orange County.
- caseya 15y ago
  Yeah, there are quite a few notable startups and a strong community that is growing very quickly. Just had Startup Weekend in Orange County with another planned for March and one in LA in January. Some solid Tech Meetups: - OC: http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/ http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/ - LA: http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/ http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/ - SD: http://www.meetup.com/SanDiego-Tech-Founders/ http://www.meetup.com/SanDiego-Tech-Founders/ I'm down in Orange County so I'm more involved in the community here with startups such as Mavenlink, Catchfree, and Drumbi. If you're going through LA, I strongly suggest stopping by Coloft. If you have more questions or anything, let me know.

hendrix 15y ago

How does it compare to seattle or boston?

irunbackwards 15y ago

My startup is kind of detatched from either of those hubs, we're rooted in Palm Desert. (Palm Springs) Thriving, though!

rprasad 15y ago

Check out the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CoLoft (14th Street in Santa Monica), Hulu (Olympic and Bundy?, Santa Monica), and Indie Desk (Downtown Los Angeles). If you have the time to fight traffic (or if you take the Gold Line metro from Downtown), check out Pasadena, which has numerous technology (not software) startups. Due south of Santa Monia, in Playa Del Rey and Marina Del Rey, you'll find gaming giants (like EA and Activision) and gaming indies. On your way down to SD, you can stop by Irvine, which is pretty famous for its biotech scene. Throughout SoCal, you'll come across food trucks. They did not actually originate in SoCal, but they did take off here. Sites like Foodtrux and Truxmaps can help you track down nearby trucks. Consider using Meetup to see if there are any tech-related meetups happening during your trip. There's usually at least one or two each week. Also, the Miliken Institute has a startup-related panel every month.

singalongwithme 15y ago

Hey Stevenj! Sorry for the late response. I'm a part of a startup based in the OC, called drumbi. We were at disrupt and demo day, and we've successfully built a grassroots community via meetup.com called the OCtechstartup (http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/ http://www.meetup.com/OC-Tech-Startup/). As far as LA goes, I know the LeanLA group is doing some cool things (http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/ http://www.meetup.com/Los-Angeles-Lean-Startup-Circle/). They also work closely with Coloft (mentioned above). Feel free to stop by Irvine if you get a chance!

abbasmehdi 15y ago

LA Hacker News meetup group is pretty awesome as well!

jmm 15y ago

I'm doing a project looking at startup hubs, and some of the related factors. Here's a map of LA startups with some neighborhood outlines: http://imgur.com/hiG3Y http://imgur.com/hiG3Y . The data is a crawl from crunchbase, so it's not perfect, but it provides a rough indicator or where startups have popped up over the last 5 years. The raster underlay is a function of point density within a set radius.

zubr1768 15y ago

I am moving back to SD next week after a ~10yr hiatus. Any anecdotal info I could offer regarding my experience there is outdated, though I can remember many good experiences working with web development circa 97-2002. Very interested in finding groupings of web-oriented startups, designers, developers and entrepreneurs to plug into. Please keep the links coming and thanks... Looking forward to it! :D