BAM Ventures, the early-stage, consumer-focused fund co-founded by corporate lawyer-turned-L.A. serial entrepreneur-turned-venture capitalist Brian Lee, has filed paperwork with the SEC indicating that it is in the process of raising a third fund with $50 million in dry power.
<p>Lee and Shamin Rostami Walsh, BAM's managing director, declined to comment on the offering. Companies are barred by SEC regulations from <a href="https://thestartuplawblog.com/general-solicitation-can-i-generally-solicit-my-offering/" target="_blank">"general solicitation"</a> while they are raising capital, which includes speaking to the media. </p><p>The $50 million fund would be a considerable step up from BAM's $20 Fund II and $6 million Fund I, which provided early backing for buzzy consumer startups such as the video game maker Scopely and the trendy luggage direct-to-consumer company, Away. </p><p>But no investment has been more profitable than <a href="https://pulse2.com/bam-45-million-150k-honey/" target="_blank">the firm's reported $150,000 pre-seed check to Honey,</a> which turned into $45 million after the coupon startup was bought by Paypal for $4 billion last year. It is the sort of return VCs dream about and Honey's founders were turned down many times until they met Lee, <a href="https://dot.la/brian-lee-los-angeles-venture-capital-2645125301.html" target="_blank">who told dot.LA earlier this year </a>that he invested after getting a "vibe" from co-founders George Ruan and Ryan Hudson at a panel where they were speaking.<br/></p><p>"They knew exactly what they were building, and how they were going to get there," Lee said. "It gave us a lot of confidence to back them. Every time we met with them the numbers were growing, and we knew the future was very bright for Honey very early on."</p><p>Lee co-founded LegalZoom in 2001 and went on to team with celebrities to launch consumer brands, such as Shoedazzle with Kim Kardashian in 2009 and The Honest Company with Jessica Alba in 2011. Lee is also <a href="https://dot.la/st/about" target="_blank">an investor in dot.LA</a>. </p>
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Jamie Montgomery couldn't sleep for several nights as he weighed whether to move ahead with his annual two-day venture capital-fest in Santa Monica. This week's conference is billed as an all-star lineup of business leaders that includes the likes of bond king Michael Milken.
But, Montgomery — the founder and managing director of Los Angeles-based March Capital Partners — found himself slammed by reports of other major conferences shuttering due to concerns about coronavirus. Facebook yanked its annual F8 developer meeting in May, the Game Developers Conference scheduled in San Francisco for later this month was canceled, and the YPO Edge summit planned for March was dropped.
Ultimately, he gave it a green light.
<p>The annual convention that draws a thousand attendees from venture capitalists to entrepreneurs is on. "There's been a lot of anxiety around this," Montgomery told dot.LA. "We made the right decision for us."</p><p>The influential summit will be. held at the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows in Santa Monica, where 140 private companies will pitch their startups attracts at an event attended by more than 1,000 founders, top-flight investors, entrepreneurs, and executives.<br/></p><p>A meeting Montgomery held with a health expert on Saturday — he wouldn't say. who he met with — solidified his decision. Among the factors is a view among some that coronaviruses as a group are considered cold-weather viruses, and that only 5% of the attendees were coming from overseas – where the bulk of outbreaks have been. Montgomery has also been consulting with local health officials.</p><p>So far, there are about 90,000 novel coronavirus cases worldwide. More than 100 of them have been reported in the U.S. and there have been nine deaths recorded as of Tuesday. To slow the spread of COVID-19, the Center for Disease Control said schools, events and business may have to be interrupted.</p><p>But in Los Angeles, considered the U.S. gateway to Asia, there's been no known outbreak and health officials have said the risk is still low. Big venues such as the city's convention center haven't had any major cancellations.</p><p>"We really respect everyone's decision as to whether to attend," Montgomery said. "I am not going to encourage you, whether it's you or your staff. It's a personal decision. You may have family concerns about a loved one or someone that's in a health state."</p><p>To offset any potential spread of the virus, conference planners are placing hand sanitizer in every room and the cleaning staff will be wiping down common surfaces with antiseptic wipes hourly. Attendees are encouraged to wash their hands frequently and to refrain from shaking hands. There will also be a physician on hand. Anyone showing symptoms of a cold or flu will be asked to leave the summit and those exhibiting signs of COVID-19, which include a fever and difficulty breathing, will be isolated and tested further at a medical facility.</p><p>"What they have proposed makes a lot of sense," said Jeffrey Klausner, an infectious disease expert at UCLA's Fielding School of Public Health.</p><p>Klausner added that while social gatherings pose a risk in increasing transmission, there's no evidence that this is the case when attendees practice good hygiene. He said there's no evidence of ongoing transmission in Southern California. That could change; COVID-19 symptoms take up to two weeks to appear.</p><p>Unlike airborne influenza, which spreads quickly and can infect individuals multiple times, Klausner said people build an immunity to coronavirus, which is spread through respiratory droplets. All that tends to make outbreaks more localized. When cases do appear, Klausner said, most people will be either asymptomatic or exhibit mild symptoms. Less than 20% of confirmed cases have been severe, and just 2% have been fatal.</p><p>"The overall risk to the general U.S. population is still very low," he said.</p><p>Peter Pham, co-founder of venture capital firm Science Inc. isn't too worried.</p><p>"I'm an optimistic person and I also follow data," Pham said. "As of last (Sunday) night, the risk for younger folks is really, really low," he said.</p><p>Pham holds an exclusive dinner at Gjelina in Venice during the conference for some of the biggest names in Los Angeles' venture capital. Every year, you can count on at least one high-profile attendee. This year, it's Honey, who recently notched LA.'s biggest exit, with a $4 billion sale to Paypal. Dinner talk, he expects, will be much more focused on the city's next newsmaker rather than fears of the virus, as attendees focus on connecting with big money investors.</p><p>Hopefully, he said, someone will score a big check. In the meantime, "I will remind everyone to wash their hands, we are in a post-handshake world. Let's go with the elbow bumps and fist bumps."</p><p>At the conference, Montgomery said he won't be shying away from the topic. "Coronavirus is top of mind," he said. "We have a session on that on day two to talk about its public health and the economic impact this year."</p><div class="horizontal-rule"></div><p><em><strong>Editor's note</strong>: Shortly after this story was published, Kaiser Permanente confirmed that they were treating a new case of coronavirus in Los Angeles County. The patient is in in self-isolation and being treated on an outpatient basis. </em></p>
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From the moment the Silicon Beach moniker first appeared, it has been disliked and even despised by those in the place it's supposed to describe as too derivative, too playful, and too limiting for a tech scene that now stretches well beyond the sand and rarely involves silicon.
Just as Los Angeles writ large is still mocked as a vapid wasteland of botox, juice cleanses, and influencers, Silicon Beach conjures up images of flip flop-wearing tech bros playing ping pong at The Bungalow and bronzing at the Little Beach House Malibu.
<p>In reality, during the past decade the area's tech scene – propelled by multi billion dollar acquisitions like Honey and IPO's like Snap – has matured considerably. Venture investment in the greater L.A. area skyrocketed from $1.6 billion in 2010 to $7.8 billion last year, according to data from PWC. </p><p>But Silicon Beach can't manage to shake its childhood nickname.</p><p>"I do feel really strongly that using that term is really not doing a service to L.A. and is misleading and we should aspire to do better," said Kara Nortman, partner at Upfront Ventures. "The word 'beach' evokes a particular image which is fun and happy and playful but does not represent a majority of what L.A. has become. I think we're so much more than the beach."</p><p>Despite a revulsion for the name, it has endured because if not Silicon Beach, what should L.A.'s tech scene be called? No one has managed to come up with anything better even though this is an industry brimming with marketing talent that has to invent catchy new names and slogans everyday. </p><p>And it is not as if the phrase is only now facing a backlash. It has been reviled for years, likened to a "poor man's Silicon Valley" as early as 2011. </p><p>When Mark Suster, managing partner at Upfront Ventures, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/6/10/11627758/party-boys-and-fighting-words-the-battle-over-silicon-beach" target="_blank">was asked by a Recode reporter about Silicon Beach in 2014</a> he did not respond kindly. "If you even publish those words, it will make me scream and pull out my hair and scratch my fingers on the chalkboard," he said. "No serious professional — no serious professional in L.A. — talks about 'Silicon Beach.' There are a bunch of early-stage young inexperienced party-boy-type people who promoted the nickname. And let me say this to you: The most successful L.A. startups have all been founded east of the 405 freeway."</p>
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://dot.la/media-library/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMjgxODgxNC9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzQyMzIwMH0.gpCvi3et3grRVprfsvf0DViAvydyEm8P5qhV3Ic_JLc/image.jpg?width=980" id="f7b9e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="30fbef2e8c6b371e5185c864f501507b" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="The Bungalow" />
<p>Suster's outburst was prompted by a meeting he was invited to of prominent VCs and founders in Culver City organized by the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation. The sole purpose of the gathering was to abolish the phrase Silicon Beach.<br/></p><p>The effort was remarkably unsuccessful. Today there is Silicon Beach Fest, Silicon Beach Professionals, Silicon Beach Talent, Silicon Beach Homes, Silicon Beach Magazine, and when it all gets to be too much there's even a <a href="https://siliconbeachtx.com/" target="_blank">Silicon Beach Treatment Center.</a> When The New York Times or The Wall Street Journal describe L.A. tech, the preferred moniker is Silicon Beach. Fortune Magazine <a href="https://fortune.com/2016/03/06/silicon-beach-surfers-club/" target="_blank">writes about the "Silicon Beach Surfers." </a></p><p><strong>Where did 'Silicon Beach' Come From?</strong> </p><p>What few people realize is that Silicon Beach has only been used to describe the Santa Monica/Venice/Marina del Rey area relatively recently in its transitory lifespan. </p><p>The name initially described an area in South Florida in the early 1980s where IBM Corp. launched its personal computer in 1981. A quick Lexis-Nexis search reveals the first time it appeared in print referring to Southern California was in a San Diego Union-Tribune article about a San Diego computer expo trade show in 1985 with this lede: "The city with the fourth-highest concentration of high-tech firms in the nation — was well represented at the sixth annual COMDEX. Our version of Silicon Valley (Silicon Beach, perhaps?)"</p><p>The article included this improvident quote from Edward Savarese, president of Personal Computer Products Inc, who said the computer market had grown oversaturated: "Venture capital for high-tech start-ups is gone, it's history."</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
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</p><p>Three years later, civic boosters in Irvine started to adopt the phrase to attract more tech companies to Orange County. By the 1990s, Santa Barbara co opted the term. Some in L.A. wanted it for themselves, but they discovered the name was already taken, much to the amusement of techies up North.<br/></p><p>"As L.A. drives into the Information Age, what it really seeks is a nickname with the cachet and punch of a term like 'Silicon Valley,' sneered the San Jose Mercury News in 1998. "Unfortunately, that's been taken. As has pretty much Silicon Everything-Else. And that's the problem that has stumped a committee of industry leaders and city officials, chaired by L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan. The committee is trying to come up with a nickname that would advertise the city's growing number of high-tech companies."</p><p>Much like the 2014 Culver City meeting, Riordan's committee never came up with anything better. More than a decade later – as the South Florida, San Diego, Irvine, and Santa Barbara tech scenes were eclipsed – Silicon Beach took hold again, this time in its current iteration.</p><p>"The city is earning a wholly different nickname as startups like Hooky, and social networking and other tech firms vie for the city's sunlit offices and creative campuses, wrote the Los Angeles Business Journal in 2011. "That new nickname? Silicon Beach."</p><p><strong>In search of a better name</strong></p><p>Silicon Beach's usage seems to have peaked some time ago. </p><p>"There was a bit of a movement five to seven years ago when it got used a bunch but I don't hear it much anymore," said Dustin Rosen, managing partner at Wonder Ventures. </p><p>When the phrase is uttered, it's more often said by those from out of town.</p><p class="shortcode-media shortcode-media-rebelmouse-proxy-image">
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGd2lraXBlZGlhJTJGY29tbW9ucyUyRjYlMkY2NyUyRlNuYXBjaGF0X1ZlbmRpbmdfbWFjaGluZV9pbl9CZXJsaW5faW5fSnVuZV8yMDE3XzAxXyUyOGNyb3BwZWQlMjkuanBnJmhvPWh0dHBzJTNBJTJGJTJGdXBsb2FkLndpa2ltZWRpYS5vcmcmcz05NiZoPWU0ODhhMzA3YzM0NWMwYjE1ZDU5ZDMyZTc1YTIwYTUwMTc3NGUwMjA4YWE3YWU2MmI4OGY2M2JjZWUxZjBiY2Imc2l6ZT05ODB4JmM9MTgzNDQ0NjExOCIsImV4cGlyZXNfYXQiOjE2MTg2Mjk4OTV9.TG8l3VV9IpegYSq33ejkEk_pG2dasseX3qH0MPaUOaw/img.jpg" id="8a3d7" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="a4d58af12802780afa859b13dcc64c1c" alt="Snapchat Spectacles Vending Machine" />
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</p><p>"You'll hear Silicon Beach from people from the Bay Area talking about L.A. but people from L.A. rarely refer to themselves as Silicon Beach," said Amanda Groves, partner at PLUS Capital.<br/></p><p>But if not Silicon Beach, what should L.A.'s tech community be called? </p><p>"L.A. tech works for me," said Nortman, who also uses #LongLA, which she prefers because it connotes someone who is not just a carpetbagger. "It's come to mean you're investing in the long term of L.A. and you believe in it."</p><p>Rosen says he uses "L.A. tech ecosystem" or "L.A. tech community." </p><p>Then, a few minutes later he lowers his voice and makes a grave confession: He still uses Silicon Beach occasionally.</p><p>"I start from a place that if people are referring to tech activity in L.A. in a positive light then I'm not going to judge what terminology they're using," he said. </p>From Your Site Articles
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