Sam Mollaei, Esq., business lawyer on how to start a business in LA, covering topics including: planning the company structure, creating a business plan, business registration with Secretary of State, EIN application, business permit and license acquisition.
Category Archives: new businesses
LA Getting More Jobs
Twenty-five people in Los Angeles were recently hired by Anomaly – the US-based marketing company launched over 12 years ago. There are an additional 15 vacancies remaining. According to Carl Johnson, CEO the reason the LA office was opened was the result of the firm’s “long-term strategy,” which seeks to “access the depth and breadth of amazing talent that LA offers.”
Anomaly is also impressive since it beat other agencies from Beats by Dre’s search for an agency to use for its global expansion under Jason White – Marketing VP’s – guidance. It was also reported at the beginning of this year that Anomaly’s Budweiser’s final puppy spot became the Super Bowl’s “most shared ad across social media,” and was ranked as Number 4 on Ad-Age’s 2016 Agency A-List. So for LA-ers, it is a great place to work.
Meanwhile over in the construction industry, two firms (Tuner Construction Co. and AECOM) were recently named to supervise building of the planned LA Rams’ 70,000 seat stadium in Inglewood, located at the former Hollywood Park Racetrack site. The two companies will set up a joint venture to manage construction of the stadium at an estimated $1.9 billion. According to Hollywood Park Land Co. President, Terry Fancher, these two were selected as together they were seen as “the best team…offer[ing] a well-developed plan for meeting Hollywood Park’s commitment to provide substantial employment opportunities for local Inglewood residents and meaningful economic participation in the stadium construction process for minority-owned business enterprises.”
These are just two examples of job openings in two industries – outside of entertainment – currently available in Los Angeles.
Finding a Business Strategic Partner
For all those in LA trying to expand a business, business coach Christine Perakis Esq. of Christine Perakis Global gives her opinion on finding the right strategic business partner to do just that. Choosing the right person can seem like an overwhelming decision, but she claims it does not have to be with the right guidance.
Experience Costa Rica in LA
For people in Los Angeles who have always dreamed of experiencing more than the coffee of Costa Rica, Rubin Stahl may just be able to help out. He is building a sanctuary that will be home to a huge greenhouse for bees, hummingbirds and more than 8,000 butterflies. He is also building the country’s largest jellyfish aquarium.
Stahl was inspired by the landscape and wildlife in Costa Rica to make what this Butterfly Palladium into “one of the natural wonders of the world.” At a cost of $25 million, this Buena Park entertain attraction will measure 53,000 square feet and will open in 2017, on 7711 Beach Boulevard. Stahl was recruited by the city of Buena Park for this project and the land it was using (that in the past was home to the Movieland Wax Museum) was sold at a price of $2.5 m to him.
It is possible the LA-Costa Rica love affair goes both ways. On August 2 every year, Costa Ricans enjoy their largest religious holiday by marching on foot (or knees) toward Cartago’s Los Angeles Basilica as a homage to Le Negrita and ask for a wish to be granted to them.
LA: The Business of Dogs
LA is a very pet-friendly city. In 
fact, latest news is having veterinarians in the city even push medical marijuana to ease any pain encountered by their four-legged friends. Dr. Tim Shu was behind the creation of VETCBD (that uses cannabidiol, a non-psychoactive extract of marijuana, so pets get relief but not high) and even before that, Southern California Collective’s retail manager, Dre Arriola, was a big proponent of the CBD-infused dog and cat biscuits from Gem Stonz Botanicals; in particular their “Woof It” and “Me Ow It” CBD treats.
In other words if you have the money, anything is possible. And that extends to other amenities too. Indeed, the first sentence of Kavita Dawsani’s recent article in The Los Angeles Times read “Downtown [LA] has gone to the dogs.” But this was said with a positive connotation. Dawsani went on to explain how:
“Apartments and condos in the heart of Los Angeles are boasting amenities for pets that would make most humans drool: free treats, spas, concierge services and dog-friendly on-site parks and rooftop decks.”
More testament to how “money buys love” for pets anyway, at least in LA. New things propping up include: a dog park with bathing and grooming facilities, tunnels for play, a dog den (featuring a dog wash with drying station, gated rooftop area for socialization for dogs and owners, water bowls and treats).
And now there is the first dog café, just opened in Silver Lake. Owner Sarah Wolfgang initially launched it as a pop-up in downtown LA but now – the Dog Cafe – has a permanent home at its own storefront. For $10 people can come in and play with dogs (from the South LA Animal Shelter and are up for adoption) for 55 minutes and at the same time get a beverage from the café that is attached next door. Wolfgang is hoping that this will give potential dog owners an opportunity to get to know the “true selves” of the dogs.
And then of course there are the pet-friendly hotels in LA that offer doggy beds and/or pet sitting services, treats and great amenities such as: the Fairmont Miramar (in Santa Monica), Le Meridien Delfina, Le Merigot, Marina del Rey’s Ritz-Carlton and The Standard Downtown LA, the Sheraton Universal, Warner Center Marriott Hotel, Beverly Hills Hotel and Bungalows (offering engraved treats, pink tennis balls and more) and the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Suites These include: the Culver City Dog Park, Hermon Dog Park, Lake Hollywood Park, Laurel Canyon Dog Park, Redondo Beach Park, Sepulveda Basin Off-Leash Dog Park, Silverlake Recreation Ara and Dog Park, Westminster Off-Leash Dog Park and the Westridge Canyonback Park.
So, perhaps in LA there is no business like dog business.
Business Transactions
Navinet. Inc. was just purchased by NantWorks. Nantworks is a “health care technology holding company,” and this purchase – according to CEO Patrick Soon-Shiong – is the culmination of the firm’s “10-year vision at NantWorks and NantHealth to integrate and coordinate [its] complex health care ecosystem from the knowledge domain, to the care delivery domain and now to the payer domain, as a single sign-on, seamless, cloud-based, secure adaptive learning system for patients, payers, and providers.”
The transaction of the sale of Unify – purchased by the Gores Group – was just completed too. This is “the number three world leader of integrated communication solutions.” Unify offers “end-to-end communications software and services enhancing social collaboration, digital transformation, and business performance, through vertical specialized solutions.”
A new partnership was reached between BehavioSec and TeleSign. It is hoped that this cooperative “will bring additional capabilities to TeleSign’s mobile identity solutions for securing end-user accounts, preventing fraud and delivering continuous user verification and assurance.”
Los Angeles: The Business of Law Firms
How are law firms doing in Los Angeles these days? It seems there is evidence to suggest both positive and negative sides of the spectrum. Starting with positive, according to the Los Angeles Business Journal the international legal service provider, Elevate Services, was recently named the fourth fastest growing private firm in the annual top 100 rankings. This ranking is based on the last three years of revenue and Elevate encountered a growth figure of 2,388 percent, rendering it “the highest ranked professional services company” on the LA Business Journal’s 2015 List.
Meanwhile, at Two California Plaza, Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP has signed a long term lease, renting out 150,500 square feet of space from building owner CIM Group. They will be getting five floors and part of a sixth at the 355 S. Grand Avenue location. The firm has regularly ranked on The American Lawyer’s A-List. That’s also indicative of positive news for law firms in Los Angeles.
However, there is some not great news for LA law firms. According to one principal at Altman Weil, Ward Bower, “the largest U.S. law firms are looking outside of the U.S. for opportunities to grow. As they shake off the last effects of the recession, they are ready to make big deals again.”
Still, as we move into the new year, we can look at bonuses LA law firms gave their employees at the year end and see that they have actually been “surpassing last year’s impressive paydays in an attempt to retain top talent in an increasingly competitive associate market.” This sentiment was echoed by Hanover Legal Personnel Services Inc. founder and president, Jack Zaremski who pointed out that, “given that this is such a competitive environment, the firms that are the strongest — and the increasingly smaller group of leading firms — are going to continue to make every effort to put more distance between them and the rest of the pack.”
TigerText Privacy Platform Raises Additional $50 Million
The Santa Monica-based TigerText secure messaging app developer has raised $50 million in a new round of Series C funding. To date the company has accrued $81.1 million since its founding in 2010.
TigerText is an app for mobile phones, Apple Watches and for desktop computers which allows health care professionals to text medical information concerning their patients without violating privacy laws. The app accomplishes this using such features as self-destructing messages, message recall and secure file transfer.
“We are opening up and allowing third parties to take the (software development kits) for iOS, Android and JavaScript and we allow them to drop those into their own applications, so they have secure messaging,” said Chief Executive Brad Brooks. “There’s a lot of need for messaging in general and in particular there is a lot of need for secure messaging.”
TigerText is not only a solution for medical professionals controlling privacy while sharing information. Several financial companies have also purchased the messaging software in order to comply with finance industry rules regulating privacy, including those stipulated by Sarbanes-Oxley.
The company plans to use a portion of its new funding to market TigerText to new users through expansion of advertising. The money will also be used to improve TigerText software. Dr. Robert Mittendorff, a principal at Norwest Venture Partners, was also named as a new member of the board of directors as part of the funding round.
Ablaze with the Love of Pizza
If you’ve written at Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza in Los Angeles, then you know how delicious it is. And clearly many agree. They are now bringing their ovens to Canada, opening two locations in Calgary in January. Last month they opened a location in Toronto, which was Blaze’s first location outside the US.
With the additional locations, Blaze will have 95 stores including almost a dozen in LA. They first opened in 2012, and are today on the Business Journal’s list of 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies.
Look for other store locations coming in the future as well. These will include at the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston and at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida.
The co-founder Rick Wetzel also created Wetzel’s Pretzels. As Wetzel told the Business Journal, “It was going to have to shift from getting it figured out, to going very fast.”
Blaze generated more than $32 million in revenues last year.