Los Angeles is a ridiculously big town with way too many different industries for me to even begin to mention.  Regardless, being here 5 years, I’ve been around the business block and seen some sights.  Last week I attended two ‘mixers’ that had absolutely nothing to do with each other, yet had lots to do with each other.  I saw a lot of the same faces at both places.  Let me explain…

The LA Tech Crew LA in all it’s glitz and glamour has been and still is the entertainment capitol.  Although technology is clearly a large party of some of the Hollywood blockbusters we all know and love, people wouldn’t necessarily refer to LA as a ‘tech town.’  Well it seems the times…they are a changin.

First, on Thursday, I attended an event at place called Blankspaces.  Blankspaces is a pretty innovative idea for today’s entrepreneur.  Let’s be frank, LA isn’t your typical ‘suit and tie’, ‘slave in an office for 10hrs’ kind of town.  Why?  “Oh the weather outside is weather.” - It’s too damn nice out to be stuck in an office.  Alas, to be a good entrepreneur you must have an office at some point in your work week (there are exceptions of course).  Enter Blankspaces.  For as little as $475 a month, you can “lease” office space at their complex.  That is the basic price, but the maximum price that I saw on their rate page was 1100 for a private office unlimited use for just 1 month.  Obviously if you buy in bulk, your rate is cheaper.  They have day rates as well, so basically, any solution to your office needs.  Pretty nifty idea if you ask me.

Back to the event…It was really quite amazing; the turnout was great and there was free food and drink (always the way to a crowd’s heart).  They had Shira Lazar hosting it (which only strengthens my argument that LA is becoming more of a tech town…afterall, Shira is the ‘hot tech girl’…duh).  Asahi was providing the beer (although I’ll admit I was too hung over from the night before to enjoy any of it), and there was live music and lots of networking going on. 

There are two sponsors I remember, one being a company called the Xbrand Group - another interesting idea.  You’ve seen it with water…take a bottle of water and slap your company logo on it and you got your own brand of water.  Well, take that idea and apply it to energy drink.  Now you can throw your own parties and tell Redbull and Rockstar to f#@% off!!  Actually this is a great idea for events where title sponsors want to own everything…even the energy drink.  I know you event industry people are feeling me on that tip.

TheScene.com was the other sponsor showing off the Hollywood Prom landing page and the technology behind it.  People are starting to get the idea that nightlife can be social.  If you are curious as to what I mean by that…I will explain soon in another blog post.  But for now, just visit: www.hollywoodprom2009.com.

On to the second event…the Tubefilter Meetup.  Before I get into this, take a look at this highlight video so you can get an idea of what I’m about to talk about.

After the Streamy Awards, Tubefilter kept the momentum going by producing this great mixer (what they call a ‘meet-up’) at Avalon in Hollywood.  Here again you see the influence of tech as Tubefilter’s  existence was born with the web television industry and the technology that goes behind it (ok…the art too).  The sponsors on board were a tech company out of Canada that has this cool iPhone app that brings web television shows right to your iPhone.  I’m behind the times because I don’t have a cool smart phone like that (I’m waiting Helio) so I’m not qualified to speak on such technologies.  But it seems as if the iPhone is turning into a portable entertainment center/computer.  Not bad.

So there you have it.  Proof that there is life on Mars..I mean…for the tech biz in Los Angeles.