Our Mission

by Spencer Rascoff, Co-Founder

Four years ago, I moved back to Los Angeles, my hometown. I'd spent the previous 15 years running a startup in Seattle (Zillow) and the five years before that at my prior startup in San Francisco (Hotwire). After almost 20 years away, it was time to come home.

Both San Francisco and Seattle have well-deserved, global reputations for innovation. Their tech scenes are robust, and I was proud to have played an active role in each of them as a founder, angel investor, mentor to other startups, and tech exec. But L.A.?

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Our Team
Sam N. Adams
Co-founder, CEO
Sam Adams serves as chief executive of dot.LA. A former financial journalist for Bloomberg and Reuters, Adams moved to the business side of media as a strategy consultant at Activate, helping legacy companies develop new digital strategies. Adams holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and an MBA from the University of Southern California. A Santa Monica native, he can most often be found at Bay Cities deli with a Godmother sub or at McCabe's with a 12-string guitar. His favorite colors are Dodger blue and Lakers gold.
Drew Grant
Drew Grant
Sr. Editor
Drew Grant has over 15 years experience covering entertainment and local journalism. During her tenure at The New York Observer, she founded one of their most popular verticals, tvDownload, and transitioned from generalist to senior editor of entertainment and culture, overseeing a freelance contributor network and ushering in the paper’s redesign. More recently, she was senior editor of special projects at Collider, a writer for RottenTomatoes streaming series on Peacock and a consulting editor at RealClearLife, Ranker and GritDaily. You can find her across all social media platforms as @Videodrew and send tips to drew@dot.la.
Eric Zassenhaus
Managing Editor, Platforms & Audience
Eric Zassenhaus is dot.LA's managing editor for platforms and audience. He works to put dot.LA stories in front of the broadest audience in the best possible way. Prior to joining dot.LA, he served as an editorial and product lead at Pacific Standard magazine and at NPR affiliate KPCC in Los Angeles. He has also worked as a news producer, editor and art director. Follow him on Twitter for random thoughts on publishing and L.A. culture.
Sharmineh O'Farrill Lewis
Sharmineh O'Farrill Lewis
Business Development Manager
Sharmineh Lewis serves as the Business Development for dot.LA. She brings her extensive knowledge about building communities and strategic partnerships. In addition, she brings years of sales experience and customer success management working with luxury brands such as Equinox and the AllBright Collective. She is passionate about innovation and is excited to connect startups, VCs and the tech community.
David Shultz
Reporter
David Shultz reports on clean technology and electric vehicles, among other industries, for dot.LA. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, Outside, Nautilus and many other publications.
Andria Moore
Engagement Editor
Andria Moore is dot.LA's Engagement Editor. She previously covered internet trends and pop culture for BuzzFeed, and has written for Insider, The Washington Post and the Motion Picture Association. She obtained her bachelor's in journalism from Auburn University and an M.S. in digital audience strategy from Arizona State University. In her free time, Andria can be found roaming L.A.'s incredible food scene or lounging at the beach.
Samson Amore, dot.LA
Samson Amore
Reporter
Samson Amore is a reporter for dot.LA. He previously covered technology and entertainment for TheWrap and reported on the SoCal startup scene for the Los Angeles Business Journal. Samson is also a proud member of the Transgender Journalists Association. Send tips or pitches to samsonamore@dot.la and find him on Twitter at @Samsonamore. Pronouns: he/him

Editorial Independence

dot.LA maintains a firewall between our news coverage decisions and all sources of revenue. This separation ensures that financial support does not present a conflict of interest for our journalism or compromise our editorial independence.

Investments, grants, and sponsorships from individuals and organizations help to fund our journalism, but our news judgments are made independently and not on the basis of funding support. Acceptance of investment does not constitute implied or actual endorsement of investors or their positions.

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Ethics Guidelines

dot.LA aims to shine a light on the tech and startup scene in Los Angeles. In pursuit of providing fair and accurate coverage of this burgeoning scene, every editorial member of the organization is expected to uphold dot.LA's journalistic integrity avoiding perceived or real conflicts of interests and refusing pay or influence in exchange for coverage.

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Contact Us

dot.LA editors, reporters and executives always appreciate feedback and input on our stories and editorial objectives. We encourage sources to reach out with tips and story ideas and readers to get in touch with feedback and ideas of how we can improve.

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Advertise With Us

Interested in working with dot.LA? Learn more about the platform, audience and offerings here.

In The News

L.A.'s booming tech scene gets its own publication to cover it,

with all-star investors On Thursday, Rascoff announced the launch of dot.LA, a new company that will focus on covering the tech milieu in Southern California and hosting local events.

Former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff launches dot.LA, a news site for Southern California tech:

Nearly a year after stepping down as CEO of Seattle-based Zillow Group, Spencer Rascoff has turned his focus to the tech and startup scene in his hometown of Los Angeles, leading the launch of a news and events company to cover it all: dot.LA.

dot.LA Seeks Audience for Tinseltown’s Startup Boom:

The tech industry in the City of Angels is booming and Dot.La, a new digital media startup, wants to tell its story.

New tech-focused journalism site, dot.LA, takes off:

2019 was a tough year for the media landscape. An estimated 7,000 jobs were lost, and many publications went dark. The OC Weekly and Pacific Standard Magazine both closed their doors last year.

This just in: Zillow co-founder launches LA-focused tech industry news site:

Spencer Rascoff's new venture closed $4M seed round with investors that include Fifth Wall's Brendan Wallace and Tinder co-founder Sean Rad

​Former Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff Launches dot.LA to Cover LA Tech and Startup Scene

The site, led by L.A. Times veteran Joe Bel Bruno as editor-in-chief, has a reporting staff of seven with experience at the Wall Street Journal, the Associated Press and other outlets.

Here Are the Five Journalists Launching Tech News Site dot.LA:

Tech news site dot.LA will have a staff of five to cover technology news in and around Los Angeles when it launches on Jan. 27.

Uranga helps kick off new online pub dot.LA

Rachel Uranga has joined the founding editorial team of a new online that launches today. dot.LA focuses on L.A.'s startup and tech community.

Big Names Back a Los Angeles News Start-up:

dot.LA, a news media outlet dedicated to covering Los Angeles's tech and start-up scene, will announce today that it is beginning operations with a $4 million round of seed financing. Its list of backers reads like a who's who of the California investment community.