This week the 9th Circuit unanimously upheld the city of Santa Monica’s Home Sharing Ordinance against a legal challenge from Airbnb and HomeAway. HomeAway.com, Inc. v. City of Santa Monica, No. 18-55367 (9th Cir. Mar. 13, 2019). For those unfamiliar with Santa Monica, California, as explained succinctly in the opening sentences of the 9th Circuit’s…
In 2015, the City of Santa Monica adopted an ordinance that prohibited rentals of residential property for thirty (30) days or less unless the owner had a business license and remained on the property during the rental. The Ordinance also prohibited “Housing Platforms” like Airbnb and HomeAway from “advertis[ing]” or “facilitat[ing]” rentals that violated the…
I am the Assistant Group Leader and Program Chair of Provisors’ Silicon Beach 2 group. Provisors is a networking organization of trusted advisers that has regional and industry tailored groups across California and elsewhere. The Silicon Beach 2 group is made up of service providers focused on serving technology companies particularly in Silicon Beach. Meetings are…
What is Snapchat? Snapchat History Snapchat begain in 2011 when co-founder Evan Spiegel floated the idea as a final project for a product design class at Stanford University. In its first blog post, Siegel explained Snapchat isn’t about capturing the traditional Kodak moment. It’s about communicating with the full range of human emotion—not just what…
More than 300 Silicon Beach business leaders have signed a letter to President Trump urging him to rescind his controversial executive order temporarily barring entry to travelers from seven predominately Muslim countries. The letter was initiated by a group of female entrepreneurs in Los Angeles including VCs Dana Settle, co-founder and partner at Greycroft Partners,…
Exodus From Silicon Valley? A report from the Silicon Valley Leadership Group on Silicon Valley competitiveness has caused quite a stir despite a number of positive findings for the region: Innovation industry jobs increased by 7 percent in 2014, with Silicon Valley leading the way as 25 percent of its total jobs are in innovation industries – the…
Business Insider Lists Hot LA, SF and NY Startups Business Insider recently published its list of Hot Startups in Silicon Beach (LA), Silicon Valley (SF) and Silicon Alley (New York). I was glad to see that the list include Tapiture whose CEO John Ellis is a former colleague of mine from ValueClick. Among the Startups were: Acorns…
April 20, 2015 A Dozen Things in Tech You Need to Know Happy Patriot’s Day! Patriot’s Day commemorates that Battle of Lexington and Concord and the “shot heard ’round the world” that began the American Revolution. It is a holiday in Maine and Massachachusetts and celebrated by, among other things, the running of the Boston…
Silicon LBC? Mayor Garcia’s Vision of a Tech Hub Faces Challenges, But Could Give Overlooked City Attention Thursday’s Los Angeles Times contained a feature discussing the vision of new Long Beach, California mayor Robert Garcia to make “LBC” the next tech hub. In earlier decades, the city’s character was easier to define. It was an oil…
Silicon Beach is Booming and Shifting to Playa Vista Things are looking bright for Silicon Beach. Entrepreneur Magazine reports that according to the L.A. Economic Development Council, the city has more people employed in high-tech jobs (368,500) than any other metro region in the U.S. In addition, according to the Kaufman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity the city claimed…
The Los Angeles Business Journal has included Bennet Kelley in its 2014 list of Most Influential Lawyers: Digital Media and E-Commerce Law.
Highlights from Silicon Beach Congressional Debate May 22, 2014 (Link) Four of the leading candidates to replace the retiring Henry Waxman in California’s 33rd Congressional District discussed their views on tech issues with me on Cyber Law and Business Report: (i) Elan Carr (R) – a gang prosecutor with the LA County District Attorney’s Office; …
Silicon Beach Debate Gaining Traction In Henry Waxman’s first term, Microsoft and Apple were founded and the Internet was just a research project. As the legendary Congressman steps down, his district is now home to the third-largest technological hub in the nation known as Silicon Beach.Historically, the tech community has had little interest in the political…
Cyber Report 