Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.

Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 22

1. Featured Companies—Stella Service and

2. Featured Passenger—

3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC Company: STELLAService

STELLAService is dedicated to customer service – helping consumers find it and helping businesses achieve it. They are the first and only independent provider of customer service ratings for online retailers. How does STELLAService collect this data? They go shopping every day.

Through a process audited by global accounting and auditing firm KPMG, STELLAService analysts measure and rate the end-to-end service experience across support channels including phone, email, chat and Twitter as well as shipping, returns and refunds. The service metrics they collect include a mix of speed and quality, such as total time to reach a live representative on the phone, product and policy knowledge and packaging quality.

STELLAService operates a syndicated data platform called STELLA Metrics for monitoring and benchmarking customer service performance across hundreds of metrics. With around 700 online retailers displaying their seal, STELLAService is worth taking a peak!

Featured LA Company: Swagbucks

Swagbucks is the premier loyalty program on the web. We reward you with Swag Bucks, the global Reward currency, just like credit card loyalty points. Through our online loyalty programs, you’ll earn Swag Bucks for activities that you already do online every day. Members love us because they can work from home, all the while earning more Swag Bucks. We reward you for answering surveys, playing games, watching videos, discovering offers, and searching the web. Most of all, We reward online shopping. With great online coupons, you can get double swag bucks for the purchases you make from your favorite online shopping sites.

Featured Passenger: H Alan Scott, Comedian and Writer

What’s your historical LA and New York connection?

I moved to New York on vacation. For a short while I worked in politics before transitioning into non-profit event planning while trying to make comedy happen. Eventually I got a job that allowed me to split my time between New York and LA, which helped establish my credibility within the comedy communities of both cities.

Describe your experience in LA.

LA is like kale juice. At first you’re like, “Get that away from me.” But then you’re like, “Everyone is drinking this stuff, what do they see in it?” Then you learn more about, its secrets, and that most people sweeten it. Finally you’re like, “More kale juice please!” It took years for me to get into LA, I felt out of place (cars! no seasons! last call at 2AM!). But people seemed to like it, so I jumped in, got to know the scene, figured out some secrets. Like NYC, it’s an industry town based on connections. Once I recognized that in order to actually like the place I needed to explore it (especially the comedy scene), and that figuring out the secret to LA life is just showing up and making myself available (and my knowledge of the New York comedy scene and vic versa for LA) to the people I’m meeting, then eventually I grew to love LA (and kale juice).

 

What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA?

This is a boring answer, but the car was a big adjustment for me. But also the amount of down time I have in LA. I’d easily go all day without stopping by home in NYC, but rarely does that ever happen in LA.

How can NYC and LA best engage with each other?

By recognizing that they are two totally different types of cities that draw very talented people to them. It’s the talent we should be engaging, not endlessly comparing each other with “20 Reasons Why NYC Is Better Than LA” lists (looking at you Buzzfeed!). For example, I produce a comedy show in both New York and LA called SRSLY LOL. By doing this, I was able to establish that I get both comedy scenes and that I’m able to successfully interact with them. This helped me establish professional legitimacy that allowed me to interact and collaborate with top talent in both cities.

Favorite NYC secret spot

The Strand bathroom. It’s the most comfortable, clean public bathroom in the city. Plus there’s plenty of reading material.

Favorite LA secret spot

Cafe 101 at the Holiday Inn in Hollywood. Great diner, I hold all my work meetings there. Cheap, classically LA, and they have parking (big LA bonus).

If you were not doing comedy and writing, what would you be doing?

I’d be a tour guide at the Harry S Truman Presidential Library in Independence, Missouri. Ask me why I didn’t put a period after the “S” in his name, it’s a great story!

I wanna go! Events not to miss

NYC:

UNCUBED NYC: Friday May 17th, 10am-9:30pm, Metropolitan Pavillion, 125 W 18th

Come to the best tech job and training fair we know and love.  The skills track will be in the morning, with the main event and conference in the afternoon, closing with an after party.

http://nyc.getuncubed.com/

Internet Week NYC: Monday May 20th-Friday May 24th, all around NYC

Bigger than ever before, Internet Week is the closest thing NYC has to SXSW.  Join talented folks across business, culture and tech for panels and parties!

https://internetweekny.com/

Audience.io Launch party: Monday May 20th, 6:30-8:30pm, Chelsea

Join our co-curator on 3460 Miles, London and NYC’s newsletter, CBM as she launches her new company helping to develop audiences for startups in both London and NYC!

http://audienceiolaunchparty.splashthat.com/

The Adventure Project Spring Gala: Monday, May 20th, 7-10 pm, Gansevoort, 420 Park S

Join Becky Straw and her incredible nonprofit focusing on adding venture capital and entrepreneurial ingenuity to infuse and create create jobs and solutions in developing countries including Haiti, India, Kenya and Uganda.

http://tapgala.splashthat.com/

Wall Street Journal’s Tech Cafe: Wednesday May 22, 8am-8pm Think Coffee, 73 8th Ave

Come enjoy free coffee, tea and pastries from WSJ as entrepreneurs and investors chat about the intersection of business and technology.

http://wsjtechcafe.eventbrite.com/

The Webby’s: Wednesday, May 22nd, 6-10pm, online livestream

Watch the web’s wittiest awards show, The Webby’s, award this year’s honorees, who include Frank Ocean, Jerry Seinfeld, Grimes, Obama for America, and Kevin Spacey.

http://webbyawards.com

LA:

Go Big or Go Home: Corporate Partnerships for Tech Start-ups: Wed. May 15th, 11:30am LA Athletic Club.

Corporate partnerships can yield tremendous value for both technology start-ups and big business alike. Yet the success of these partnerships depends on a variety of different bureaucratic and technical roadblocks. Before you network your way into big meetings with your charming personality, it is important to first build a compelling business case that appeals to corporate executives.

http://www.lachamber.com/event/2013/05/15/public-policy/emerging-tech-salon-corporate-technology-partnerships/

Developing a Vision for Your Startup Idea with Adeo Ressi: Wed. May 15th, 7pm, Culver City

You are passionate about a business idea, but don’t know what to do next? How do you develop your idea into a larger vision and start building? At this exclusive event, Adeo Ressi, Founder & CEO of the Founder Institute, will visit from Silicon Valley to teach aspiring entrepreneurs the components of good and bad startup ideas, discuss what it takes to develop a rough idea into a solid vision, and provide guidance on how to accelerate that vision into a sustainable company.

http://fi.co/courses/3054

Fashion Digital Los Angeles: Thursday May 16th, 8am, West Hollywood

Fashion Digital LA is the first and only conference dedicated exclusively to apparel and fashion e-commerce. The event provides a unique opportunity for online retailers to hear industry leaders share best practices and strategies for addressing the opportunities and challenges specific to fashion e-commerce. With so many digital executives from leading fashion brands in one place, Fashion Digital LA provides unparalleled networking and information-sharing.

http://lafashiondigital.com/

Startups Uncensored #37 w/ Babak Nivi of AngelList and Venture Hacks: Wed. May 22th, 6pm, Santa Monica

This month’s Startups Uncensored will be a fireside chat with AngelList and Venture Hacks co-founder Babak Nivi hosted by Docstoc CEO, Jason Nazar. Babak Nivi is the co-founder and President of AngelList. He has worked at VC firms including Bessemer and worked with startups that are backed by Sequoia and Benchmark. He has 2 patents and is a graduate of MIT.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6216428505

Flight 22 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this twenty second installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!

Thanks,

Your curators

-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)

-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.

 

Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 21

1. Featured Companies: KLINE and Arbor Bridge

2. Featured Passenger: Malcolm Ong

3. Featured Events in NYC and LA
 

Featured NYC Company: Featured NYC Company: KLINE

KLINE is a new analog sketchbook and journal that features vellum, stock, and/or watercolor paper co-layered into a single hardbound cotton covered book.  Recently launched via Kickstarter (and having achieved its goal in exactly 7 days), their unique lineup of layered sketchbooks and journals are designed to raise your creative potential for the 21st century.

Creative work is taking an idea and adding layers; built through conversations, testing, reworking, changing context, and adding insight, layers are crucial to a successful idea. This creative process offers anyone the opportunity to express and understand his or her world. Call us old fashioned, but we believe the journey is just as important as the destination.   KLINE sketchbooks and journals give you the freedom to layer and develop your ideas, no wi-fi required. 

 

KLINE are the only line of sketchbooks and journals to be covered with cotton, a renewable material.  Cotton hardcover has a proven durability with heavy use and will give you an unparalleled ability to customize (paint, sketch, print) your cover.  Only on KLINE canvas can your creativity be expressed on the cover of your journal, as well as contained within. In full disclosure, our co-curator and founder Erica @GoodBerger is helping the team run the media campaign during the Kickstarter.  She’s obsessed with these notebooks—check them out and order yours here!

Feature LA Company: ArborBridge

ArborBridge prepares students for US college admissions success by guiding them to higher SAT scores and better grades. Our tutors connect seamlessly with students, one-on-one, using cutting-edge online tutoring technology.

Featured Passenger: Malcolm Ong

What’s your historical Los Angeles and New York connection?

I grew up in LA (specifically OC) before going to college in Pittsburgh. After college, I lived in Austin for a couple years before moving to New York, where I’ve been for over 5 years now, settling in Williamsburg. I’ve always called both LA and, recently, NYC my homes, so I’m in both cities often.

Describe your experience in NYC.

I love NYC for its fast pace and diversity. There’s always something new to experience in the city, whether you’re into music, food, art, etc. And NYC is a place where you’ll meet folks with all sorts of different backgrounds, passions, and skills.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from LA to NYC?

Adapting to the change in lifestyle. Everything from the weather (I still loathe the winters) to transportation (I miss driving) to the things people do in their free time to even your wardrobe. Whenever I travel back-and-forth, I sometimes feel like I’m living two separate lives.

How can NYC and LA best engage with each other?

Through more communication, knowledge sharing, awareness, and collaboration. NYC and LA are both large hubs for global commerce, especially with a diverse population of entrepreneurs and creatives hailing from all over the world. Each city has its own strengths and weaknesses in terms of the type of expertise or industries that they breed, and surely both cities have a lot to learn from each other.

Favorite LA secret spot

The Varnish downtown. It’s a speakeasy bar inside another bar, started by the folks behind 213 and NYC’s Milk & Honey (speaking of LA + NYC collaboration). Great cocktails and live jazz.

Favorite NYC secret spot

Not exactly a secret, but I love 675 Bar in the Meatpacking District. It’s a semi-hidden, subterranean bar & lounge with great cocktails, cozy game rooms, and dance-your-pants-off music from great DJs. (disclaimer: I’ve DJ’d there before)

If you were not working, what would you be doing?

Two of my passions in life are music and traveling. Thus, I would be producing music and touring, bringing joy to people all around the world.This is a Text Block. Use this to provide text…

I wanna go! Events not to miss

NYC:

TechCocktail NYC Mixer: Thursday May 2nd, 6:30-9pm, Projective Space LES

We love Jen and Frank’s ability to fill a room with amazing startups, good people, and good drinks. It’s rare that they are in NYC, so go hang with them for what will be a fun evening!

http://techcocktailnycmay2013.eventbrite.com/

The Get Down: Thursday May 2nd, 6-10pm, Cielo nightclub

Join 2 of our favorite DJs Natasha Blank and Sascha Lewis (flavorpill) for a party with lots of social good folks and people who know how to have fun. The best part? It’s a weeknight, but you can still get your dance party workout on AND get to bed early. 50% of profits go to BEAT NYC, which creates art + music programs for underserved communities and the underprivileged, overlooked students that live in them.

http://www.ticketfly.com/event/257489

New York Ideas Festival: Tuesday May 7th, 9-5pm, New York Historical Society

Join The Atlantic and The Aspen Institute for their 2nd ever NYC Ideas Festival.  With incredible speakers across technology, policy, governance, and business, we think it’s worth the price: FREE!

http://events.theatlantic.com/new-york-ideas/2013/

Social Good for Profit Meetup: Tuesday May 7th, 6:30-8pm, Center for Social Innovation

Join fellow socent folks to check out ElectNext, PSGive, and The Phat Startup (we love the name but we’re confused) to have drinks and meet other good people in the space. $5.

http://www.meetup.com/SocialGoodForProfit/events/114834292/

LA:

Women in Green Forum fireside chat: Wednesday, May 1, 6-8:30pm, Border Grill

Join Women in Green Forum Founder Jaime Nack at the Border Grill in Downtown LA where Pipeline Fellowship Founder & CEO Natalia Oberti Noguera will discuss how her organization’s changing the face of angel investing and she will interview Pipeline Fellowship Mentor Eva Helene Yazhari on her efforts to increase diversity in the impact investing and social entrepreneurship communities.

http://pfinfolawomeningreenforum.eventbrite.com/

Company Culture Design for Startups, Wednesday, May 1, 7:00pm, Santa Monica

The phrase “company culture” is getting thrown around a lot these days, usually followed by words like “Google,” “Zappos,” “ping-pong table,” “organic employee cafeteria” and “20% time.” But what if culture isn’t REALLY about “perks,” but is actually something much more powerful — something that can be designed like an architect would design a building or a landscaper would craft a beautiful backyard?

http://startupculture.eventbrite.com/

Zero Waste Summit, Thursday, May 2, 8:30am, USC

Join Pegasus Capital Advisors and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in collaboration with the USC Schwarzenegger Institute to discuss the challenges, opportunities, and investment potential in moving forward to a Zero Waste future.

http://www.pcalp.com/pdf/2013ZeroWasteSaveTheDate.pdf

10 Mistakes Every Startup Makes, Friday, May 3, 3:30pm, Santa Monica

Launching a product and a new company is fraught with challenges. The good news is that you are not alone. The best way to avoid making mistakes is to learn from other entrepreneurs’ past experiences. From building the user experience to knowing who and when to hire, the instructor will go over the most common slipups that startups make.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/6290981495

Special announcement! Want to go to NYC for Internet Week? Enter to win a trip courtesy of @GA_LA for you and a friend: http://ow.ly/k0k3t
 

Flight 21 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this twenty first installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!

Thanks,

Your curators

-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)

-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.

Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.
 

Flight 19

1. Featured Companies

2. Featured Passenger

3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC company: GoodPoint Co

Good Point PR & Consulting supports the growth of businesses that deeply consider their impact on the environment, employees, consumers and neighbors. Founder Jessica Saba and her team help thought leaders tell their stories to become public figures with the hopes of inspiring others to improve their choices            

 

Our clients strive to continuously improve their product, service and supply chain. We dream of improving industry standards through collaboration, knowledge sharing, partnerships & consumer education. We are currently working with the NYC Rally.org team to tell stories of people digitally raising money for causes that matter.

Featured LA company: Instacanvas

Featured Passenger: Matthew Owens, General Assembly

What’s your historical Los Angeles and New York connection?

I moved originally to New York and recently to LA in order to help build the first General Assembly educational programs in these cities - courses in design, tech, and business disciplines where we get practitioners to teach their field to those who want to transition their careers. The campus here in LA is actually at a similar early stage to how NY was when I moved there in October 2011.

I am really a relative newcomer to both cities. Going to school in Philly I had visited NYC fairly often for weekends before moving there two years ago, but I had never been to LA before moving here three weeks ago.

Describe your experience in NYC.

I didn’t expect to end up in NYC, but once there I loved it and came to consider the city home. Working with GA I was immersed in the tech and startup community, but NY also made it easy to discover completely unrelated activities and groups of people ranging from midnight running groups to reconnecting with synthetic biology researchers I had worked years ago. I liked being in a place that never shuts down and where a work hard play hard mentality was the norm.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA?

I haven’t needed to drive for years and so it is an adjustment to be in a city where biking and public transit don’t quite get you everywhere. That being said this is pretty easily balanced out by the weather and easy accessibility of some amazing hiking.

How can NYC and LA best engage with each other?

NYC and LA are both the epicenters of entire industries and in the startup communities this leads to insight and connections that wouldn’t be possible in other cities. It is a self-serving answer, but I am currently working to provide through GA more opportunities for individuals who teach for us in LA and NYC to travel to the other city to give their perspective and encourage collaborative development of professional communities around emerging disciplines ranging from user acquisition marketing to data science.

Favorite LA secret spot

I’m still very new here but so far my favorite spot has been walking along the Temescal Canyon Loop at the end of the day.

Favorite NYC secret spot

Not very secret I suppose but my favorite NYC routine was running up the west side highway and cutting into the city to circle central park in the mornings.

If you were not at GA, what would you be doing?

GA is still changing and growing fast so even here I haven’t worn the same hat for very long, but if I wasn’t with GA I would probably start to think about transitioning to product design or finding another early stage venture in need of a technical generalist to help them get off the ground. I might also consider revisiting projects I worked on previously through Engineers Without Borders in the realms of access to water and mobile data collection.

Events not to miss

NYC:

Social Content Summit: Thursday, April 4th, noon-6pm, The Bowery Hotel

Join Contently as they host the first ever social content summit, featuring conversations with some top brands, ad agencies, and publishers. This looks to be a great opportunity for deep conversations around branded content with meaningful networking time as well.

http://socialcontentsummit.com/

Unleashing the power of data: Thursday, April 4th, 6-9pm, AlleyNYC

How can we unleash data to change the world?  Come participate in a discussion with Foursquare, CartoDB, and Public Lab along with New York Technology Council to talk about citizen science and how data like checking in can help inform research and social change.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5891637045/es2005/

5th Annual Shorty Awards: Monday, April 8th, 6:30-10:30pm, New York TimesCenter

With hilarious and important categories like “Keep good going” aka best #mom and #dad in social media, Animated GIF of the year, and Best Charity in social media, The Shorty Awards are a great night to mingle with techies and the digerati in NYC.

http://shortyawards.com/

VC basics with Lerer Ventures: Friday, April 12th, 3-4pm, livestream via GA

Learn from Lerer’s Managing Director Jordan Cooper who has built and sold his own company (to Groupon) and been at Lerer Ventures investing in some top startups over the last few years.  This is a free livestream, and Jordan is highly entertaining!

https://generalassemb.ly/education/speaking-from-experience-jordan-cooper-online-class/online/1306

LA:

Aging2.0 | Los Angeles, Thursday April 4th, 6pm, USC

Aging2.0 is a global network of innovators working in the 50+ market. Our events bring a diverse collection of people together informally over snacks, drinks and good discussions to grow the “connective tissue” that supports an ecosystem of innovation. Our events generally start off with some ‘big picture’ perspectives from researchers, novel thinkers or industry veterans, which are followed by pitches from startup companies.

http://aging2usc.eventbrite.com/

TECHNORI PITCH LA, Tuesday April 9th, 6pm, Santa Monica

Technori Pitch is a showcase of Southern California’s most innovative startups, pitching their latest technologies. Impassioned entrepreneurs, developers, designers, tech companies, investors and general tech enthusiasts gather to watch startups launch and present their newest products. Whether you’re deeply immersed in the Silicon Beach scene, or an onlooker ready to jump in, Technori Pitch is the premier event to see firsthand what’s cooking up in our great city.

http://technorilaapril.eventbrite.com/

Flight 19 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this nineteenth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!

Thanks,

Your curators

-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)

-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.

Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Special announcement: event TONIGHT in NYC!

In NYC on Tuesday March 19th? Join The Causemopolitan (Sloane Davidson) and 2462miles ( with our own Erica @GoodBerger Berger) for an NYC/LA meetup at Houston Hall!  We’ll be hanging out at one of our favorite spots from 6-9 talking bicoastal living, tech, design, and social good.  Sign up here: bicoastalsbetter.splashthat.com
 

Flight 18

1. Featured Companies

2. Featured Passenger

3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC company: Backspaces

                    

Backspaces is a free iPhone app that lets you tell stories with photos and text. Browse interesting topics like #history or #travel, follow other great storytellers and add your own story. Join more than 60,000 storytellers from all over the world. From the Street Banditos of Indonesia to amazing iphoneographers to the Imam of Kuwait’s Grand Mosque, Backspaces is a pretty neat place (and got a lot of traction when Instagram changed its TOS). Download it here.

Featured LA company: Launch Education

          

Launch Education Group provides premium in-home academic tutoring and test preparation to students in Los Angeles and New York City, always with the same objective: to help students achieve their full potential.

Featured passenger: Ron Goldin, Founder, Studio Akko

What’s your historical Los Angeles and New York connection?

I was born in New York to 2nd generation Eastern European Jews who wanted some sunshine and frankly at the age of 3, I was ready for Hollywood, so we moved West. I’ve been back and forth twice - once for grad school (NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program) and once to found a company (http://studioakko.com) and my family still lives in West LA.

Describe your experience in NYC.

Like a Californian, I look forward to summers by the pool, try to eat healthy, go cycling on the weekends, and host dinner parties (the first time I suggested that to some Manhattan friends, they said: “Where? In your apartment?”). I also try to spend a night in once in awhile. I never had such severe FoMo (Fear Of Missing Out) like I do in New York but if you want to be a creative here, sometimes you just have to order take out and pretend like there’s nothing to do out there.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from LA to NYC?

Living space. When I moved for college, I had a series of random, probably illegal sublets. My favorite was a “3 bedroom convertible” (~400 sq ft studio shared w/ three guys) on Thompson and Bleecker, and the woman I rented from had a life-sized black and white photograph of Jeff Buckley holding a glass of wine and making a pouty face which I couldn’t hide anywhere because there were no closets. Luckily I didn’t have much time to date in school.

How can NYC and LA best engage with each other?

In terms of the work my studio does do in product design and tech, the two are perfect polar opposites when it comes to understanding audiences and opportunities. Density vs. Sprawl. Taxis vs. Convertibles. What seems like a good idea in NYC may seem like a dumb idea in LA, and vice versa. If you’re trying to make products for the nation and you haven’t spent considerable time in both places, you’re probably only seeing a part of the picture.

                    

Favorite LA secret spot

Reel Inn on the Pacific Coast Highway. The smell of the ocean, Mahi Mahi, a Corona.

Favorite NYC secret spot

The Manhattan Sailing Club, more specifically, the honorable William Wall - a floating barge between NYC and Jersey. Spectacular views and you can order Seamless by speedboat.

If you were not at AKKO, what would you be doing?

I’d be spending more time working on some of my music projects, such as the Mandolin Man Band or a Jewish R&B/soul collective.

Events not to miss

NYC:

Made in NY Happy Hour: Thursday March 21, 6:30-8:30, GreenSpaces, 394 Broadway

Join Be Social Change and NYC’s premier eco co-working space Green Spaces for a happy hour with fellow social entrepreneurs and change makers.  GOOD, The Future Project, White Roof Project, Acumen, Catchafire and Reboot will all be there (and they are HIRING)!

http://madeinnyhappyhour.eventbrite.com/

Digital Media Innovators, Investors forum: Thursday March 21, 5-9, NASDAQ, 4 Times Square

Join leaders of the digital media transformation as they discuss how and why new content trends and investments are creating the next wave of innovation.  There are some pretty heavy hitters in this room, it might be worth your dime friends!

https://www.eventbrite.com/event/5118240796

Party supporting Ladies Trekking: Thursday March 28th, 8-11, The Griffin, 50 Gansevoort St

Join the one and only Caroline McCarthy @caro, and Cheryl Yeoh of reclip.it after their epic trek up Kilimanjaro for a party to help support girls education. For a limited time till 3/20, tickets are $45 (donation) for a 1 hour open bar, safari auction, and photos from their trip.

http://hostcommittee.com/event/benefit-cocktails-celebrating-ladiesontop/details#icebreaker

American Made Revisited: Thursday March 28th, 6:30-8:30, 155 Water St, Brooklyn

Come learn about the “new age of manufacturing” with folks from Makers Row at this month’s dd. We love DigitalDumbo (which takes place in Brooklyn each month), and this event will have drinks, a photo booth, an awesome conversation, AND an after party!

http://ddsocialmakersrow.eventbrite.com/

How to pitch to a VC: Online live stream, Friday March 29th, 6-7pm (est), the interwebz

Come learn from 2 of the top VCs (Phin Barnes, First Round Capital, and Brad Burnham, Union Square Ventures) on how to make your best and most memorable, effective pitch. It’s free!

https://generalassemb.ly/education/736/how-to-pitch-to-a-vc-firm-online-class/1255

LA:

LA Chamber’s Emerging Commerce Council Technology Salon: Wednesday March 20th, 9am, Downtown, LA

Join us as we unlock the secrets of a new financing tool that allows existing small businesses and high-growth startups alike to leverage this tool to develop a clear competitive advantage.

The Jobs Act of 2012 will for the first time allow businesses of all shapes, sizes and industries to access angel investment in return for equity to fuel their ventures while harnessing new online platforms for marketing, communicating and fundraising.

https://www.facebook.com/events/324618397655530/

Startup Showcase: Entertainment + Investor Panel: Wednesday March 20th, 7pm, Santa Monica

Startups pitch Hollywood at this month’s Digital LA - Entertainment Startup Showcase. Our showcase features an investor panel of speakers from Disney, Warner Bros’ new Media Camp accelerator and Scopely giving feedback on pitches from startups FilmBreak (movies), VuePlus (video), Bramo (music), and Fans.lu (games) and one Audience Choice.  Startups will pitch for 5 minutes with 5 min of audience and panelist questions. The panelists will select a winner to pitch at our Silicon Beach Fest - Startup Showcase in June.

http://dlaent.eventbrite.com/

GETTING STARTED WITH GITHUB: Friday March 22nd, 7pm. Online

Not familiar with GitHub? No problem. This livestream will cover the basics of setting you up on GitHub and walk you through the process of checking your code into a repository. You’ll also learn how to make feature branches so you can check in-progress code without affecting code you’re developing.

https://generalassemb.ly/education/496/getting-started-with-github-online-class/

’20 ANGELS’ Pitching & Funding Conference: Saturday March 23rd, 8am, 11301 West Olympic Boulevard

Our conference will connect the Top 20 Angel Investors in Los Angeles with a group of Entrepreneurs who will pitch their ideas or projects to get them funded. (Just like the TV Show, “Shark Tank”)

http://www.thehubla.com/event/20-angels-pitching-funding-conference/

Flight 18 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this eighteenth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!

Thanks,

Your curators

-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)

-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.
Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 17—SXSW edition!

1. Featured Companies
2. Featured Passenger
3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC Company: Shelby TV and their awesome SXSW product
Although still in private beta, Shelby.tv is quietly building the best place to discover and share video.  To show off some of their take on a lean-back video experience, they’ve launched http://sxsw.shelby.tv for the folks who can and especially for those who can’t make it to this year’s SXSW.  The goal of the project is to show the most shared videos about SXSW Interactive, Film, and Music.



Tired of hearing about SXSW?  If tech and VC is more your thing, check out http://FredWilson.tv, again, powered by Shelby. Like what they’re up to and looking for work? Shelby’s hiring for a Mobile Designer and a Director of Content & Community.http://shelby.tv/blog/hiring. Tell them that Erica and 2462 sent you!

Featured LA Company: BigFrame



Big Frame is a leading media company in the YouTube entertainment space. Sarah Penna and her team are focused on building sustainable media brands around YouTube’s most influential channels, and connecting advertisers with their highly engaged audiences.

Featured passenger: Tim Urban

What’s your historical connection to Los Angeles and New York? (when did you move where)

After growing up in Boston and going to college in Boston and hearing 22 straight years of Boston accents, I needed to get the hell away from the East Coast.  LA was a different planet, so that fit the bill nicely.  After five years in LA, I needed to get the hell away from the West Coast, and moved to New York, which fit the bill nicely.

Describe your experience in NYC (or LA).

New York is the best.  It’s some combination of a giant yuppie playground and hell.  It’s the most vibrant place on Earth and also the most depressing.  It’s like the height of the Roman Empire in a terrible mood.  I love knowing that every restaurant I could fathom, every type of person I could meet, and nearly every professional opportunity I could ask for is somewhere within five miles of my apartment.  As a lazy person, I love how convenient everything is here—I can walk out of my apartment and get basically anything I want within a short walk, 24 hours a day.  As a socially insecure person who hates “missing out” on things, I love how it feels like I’m in the center of everything—it feels like the most relevant place on Earth.  

What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA (or vice versa)?

Most people who move from LA to NYC probably cite the weather to answer this question.  Not me.  I’m a pasty Jew and don’t really like being outside anyway—and being inside is less depressing when the weather sucks.  

And I would say I miss driving, because I do, but given that my main safety technique as a driver was “assuming that the other cars around me are all defensive drivers” and I came close many times to perishing on the road, that part is a plus too.  

No, the biggest challenge for me is the rent.  I’m a 31-year-old man living in a hapless, undignified apartment smaller than the one I was in when I was 23.  I recently bought an iron, and after circulating the apartment four times, it was clear that I wouldn’t be able to fit my iron anywhere that was hidden, so now it’s just sitting out on the table.  The price of rent almost makes all the positives of NYC not worth it.  Almost.


How can NYC and LA engage with each other?

The finance world in NYC and the entertainment industry in LA make the two cities appear to have little in common professionally, but that’s far from the truth.  In the worlds of both business and the arts, NYC and LA are meccas, and you almost need to have a network in both places to be relevant.  My network certainly spans both cities, and it’s rare to go two months without an LA contact visiting NYC or a visit to LA on my part, so it’s not a challenge to maintain strong, in-person relationships with my LA contacts.  Having a business that functions in both cities is ideal and means that in addition to NYC and LA, San Francisco, San Diego, Las Vegas, Boston, Philadelphia, and DC are all within day trip distance of one of our employees.

Favorite LA secret spot

Sushi King on 14th and Wilshire.  Tiny hole-in-the-wall sushi place that is better than the fanciest NYC sushi restaurant.

Favorite NYC secret spot

Mission Chinese on Orchard and Rivington.  If you like waiting two hours to sit and then eating painfully spicy food that makes your experience feel like difficult manual labor, this is your place.  I’ve been about 14 times, each time worse than the last.  

If you were not at Launch Education, what would you be doing?

I’d probably be working on building some kind of app—maybe education-related, maybe something else.  Mobile software is such an exciting and still relatively new industry.  Andrew (my business partner) and I have built a mobile app before, and I think we’d like to try it again at some point down the road.  

Events Not to Miss:

NYC:

NYC and LA folks! In NYC on Tuesday March 19th? Join The Causemopolitan(Sloane Davidson) and 2462miles (our own Erica Berger) for an NYC/LA meetup at Houston Hall!  We’ll be hanging out at one of our favorite spots from 6-9 talking bicoastal living, tech, design, and social good.  Email bergerworks@gmail.com for more info, or sign up here: bicoastalsbetter.splashthat.com

South by Southside: Thursday March 7th, 9-midnight, Southside, 2 Cleveland place
Can’t make it to SXSW this year but still want to party with other startup folk?  Hit this for a good time and good networking.
http://www.hostcommittee.com/event/young-startup-party/details

Women 2.0 Founder Friday: Friday March 8th, 6-9pm, Google NYC, 111 8th ave
Come hang out with some amazing women (founders and aspiring) at Google New York.
http://founderfridaynyc030813-es2004.eventbrite.com/

Intro to the NYC Startup Community: Friday March 15th, 5:30-6:30pm, GA
New to NYC or in town visiting and keen to get an explainer on the NYC startup and tech community?  Look no further than this dependably awesome intro.
https://generalassemb.ly/education/45/introduction-to-the-nyc-startup-community/941

Austin:

OMG LA based Tonx and GE are being awesome in Austin. From Startup Digest, “GE invites you to the Tonx coffee trucks @ SXSW featuring Barista Bots that will sketch your face into your latte. Find the trucks via hashtag #BrilliantBrew 3/8-3/1”

Made in NY in Austin: Saturday March 9th, afternoon and evening events
This was really fun last year, and will be even more dynamic and awesome this year so it seems! http://www.madeinnyaustin.com/

LA:

Screening of The Startup Kids Documentary: Thursday, March 7, 7pm
There is an unbelievable high that comes with being an entrepreneur and building your own empire. The gratification that comes from owning something that millions of people around the world uses is unparalleled. If only other people can share this incredible feeling with us! Of course, we won’t pretend that this journey is all rainbows and unicorns. It is filled with the intermittent nightmare. This applies to anything ever worth having in life.
http://www.meetup.com/TechChic/events/100606882/

Startup Breakfast: Caltech Entrepreneurs Forum with 6 Hot SoCal Startups: Saturday, March 9, 8:00 AM, Santa Monica
Southern California is now one of the top 5 destinations to launch a tech-startup. The companies being incubated, accelerated, launched and funded are aiming to disrupt markets across a broad spectrum: from e-commerce and financial services to Big Data, advertising, and social media. Where did these companies come from? Who started them? What inspired them? What have they learned from their experiences? We have assembled a panel of six founder/CEOs from some of the first companies to emerge from local area accelerators.
http://cc-caltech-breakfast.eventbrite.com/

Digital Artist Entrepreneur: How to Build Your Online Brand: Saturday, March 16th, 11am DTLA
Whether you’re an actor, musician, filmmaker, writer, dancer, or animator — the digital world is an exciting new space to expose your projects and retain ownership of them. CreatorUp focuses on helping new creators learn how to break into digital. Our first live workshop will highlight successful strategies of digital content creators who have gained grassroots exposure to build their personal brands online. We’ll cover branding, production, marketing, and the business of digital video on YouTube.
https://harvardwood.site-ym.com/events/register.asp?id=304389

Flight 17 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this seventeenth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!
Thanks,

Your curators
-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)
-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.
Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 16

1. Featured Companies
2. Featured Passenger
3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC Company: Flockd

To scale community, Marissa, a co-founder of Green Spaces in NYC and her friend Janice launched Flockd, an analog product for connectivity and productivity, inspired by the coworking movement and social concerns. It’s Marissa’s dream to create a new way for people to connect offline. It is Janice’s dream for everyone to live ‘on purpose’ which requires, among other things (such as knowing your purpose) a combination of creating genuine relationships and productivity.


Flockd is a new low-tech product for your tabletop powering connectivity and productivity for a better world.  You can use Flockd for connecting and collaborating, creating open-conversation zones, building an in-person following, being productive & staying in flow, sharing knowledge & ideas, signaling needs, resources & topics, branding & promotion.

Featured LA Company: Here on Biz


Here On Biz mission is simple: ensure professionals never miss an opportunity. Whether that is alerting you when a potentially great connection is nearby when you’re traveling on business, allowing you to better connect and communicate at a conference, or letting you know when an old colleague is passing through town. Here On Biz is the app that travels with you and makes the most of your time, automatically connecting you with nearby opportunities that matter.


Featured Passenger: Erica Berger, Director of Partner & Product Development, Storyful (and full disclosure, she’s one of your curators)

What’s your historical connection to Los Angeles and New York?

Growing up in Chicago, I had family living in Palm Springs, and ended up going to marine biology camp on Catalina Island in my teens. When the time for college came around, I fell in love with USC and decided to give LA a try. I spent my extra free time exploring different neighborhoods in LA (especially when I needed a break from school). Summer between my junior and senior year of college, i interned in NYC and fell in love with Williamsburg, which reminded me of Silver Lake.  I moved to Brooklyn 6 months after I graduated and haven’t looked back, especially since my mom moved to LA in 2010 and I get to go home there. I started this newsletter to keep my and my friends and client’s fingers on the pulse (both for business and for fun) of my 2 favorite cities.

Describe your experience in NYC (or LA).

What do I love about New York? The people and the setting in which I get to live with them.  I love being able to think about what person I want to hang out and then about new things in their neighborhood we want to explore.  I’m a very spatially oriented person.  I feel the same way about LA, but LA is so wonderful because I’m much more holistically relaxed there—the sunshine, the availability of healthy food and habits, the outdoors, and smiling strangers makes a real difference. But I couldn’t pick one over the other if someone made me.  I’m happy in Brooklyn at the moment though.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from LA to NYC?

Wardrobe. It was great to get rid of my car, but having to buy warm clothes…oh, and leaving my friends of course.

How can NYC and LA engage with each other?

I think LA and NYC are unique in that many of the industries overlap (media, art, urban development), and that especially in tech, many startups are solving challenges for businesses in these industries.  Silicon Valley is great at coming up with new products and services and disrupting culture which is good for them, but LA and NYC are great at facilitating solutions to problems that have been rampant in the industries that power their economies.  Many of us are also creative types, so we have lots in common not only in business but in life preferences.  A large amount of my friends here in NYC have lived and/or would love to live in LA and vic versa.



Favorite LA secret spot

It’s a tie between Monterey Hills, which has some of the more amazing views of the city and is right near downtown (but hidden of sorts), and the Bradbury Building downtown, which has some really great architecture and history.  

Favorite NYC secret spot

West street in Greenpoint, and the newly updated Transmitter Park. The views of Manhattan are tremendous, and the park feels a bit rustic, raw, and wild.

If you were not at Storyful, what would you be doing?
I joined Storyful to continue help shaping the future of the news industry, while also helping companies like Google and YouTube better document issues like human rights and internet censorship. It was the combination of news and storytelling, an innovative startup and product, and a social good mission that drew me to the company. Whatever I do after Storyful still needs to have that storytelling, smart product and social good combination. I’d love to start my own project, or join another team that feels the same way about solving big challenges while also inspiring people and communities.


Events not to miss:

NYC:

Social Media Week: Events throughout February 19-22 8am-10pm, all over NYC
Join thousands of people in media, tech, social issues, business, entrepreneurship and more for a fantastic targeted week of programming.  We know the guys who run Social Media Week and this one is looking to be the best one yet! (Disclaimer: Erica is moderating and running 2 panels herself).
http://socialmediaweek.org/newyork/schedule

Introduction to HTML and CSS weekend: Saturday and Sunday February 23rd and 24th, 11am-5 pm, GA (10 E. 21st st, 4th floor location)
As our friends over at GA say, “Tackle the barebones of how to quickly develop a web site, and get it live on the Web in only one weekend.” Added bonus: continental breakfast and mimosas will be served. Sold.
https://generalassemb.ly/education/145/introduction-to-html-css-weekend-workshop/1055

How to Build a Community One Customer at a Time: Founders@Fail panel, Monday March 4th 6:30-8:30, GA (902 Broadway, 4th fl location)
How do you create a community of passionate, loyal evangelists?  Hear from some of our favorite startup founders and heads of social including Kathryn Minshew of The Muse and Jen Rubio of Warby Parker.
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5509653522/0218nyc


LA:

Startup Legal: Monday February 25th 7pm, Santa Monica
This Business Legal Issues seminar is a 2-hour, interactive survey course designed to provide you with the basics of the law as applicable to starting or operating a small business. We’ll discuss forming a business entity, the use of contracts, employment issues, real estate issues, tort lawsuits, hiring an attorney, dispute resolution and other topics raised by participants. It will be impossible to cover in depth all of the topics relevant to operating a business in the time allotted, and there can be no substitute for hiring your own lawyer.
http://startup_legal.eventbrite.com/

Startup Accounting - Essentials every founder should know: Tuesday February 26th 7pm, Santa Monica.
In this class we will cover the necessary tools and measures startups must take to manage their finances. Taught by startup finance veteran David Ehrenberg, we will be covering the following: Accounting prior and post funding, Taxes, Accounting systems and software, Accounts Payable, Collecting, Payroll, and Financial projections.
http://startup-accounting-ca.eventbrite.com/

LaunchFEST LA: Media, Entertainment, Tech, Social Impact, Health Ventures: Wednesday, February 27 3pm, Santa Monica.
Join this EXCLUSIVE venture forum where we feature FOUR sessions in different categories. Each session involves a panel discussion by investors, followed by venture pitch from startups. There is no fee to apply to pitch, you only need to purchase a ticket once accepted.
http://launchfestla.eventbrite.com/

Flight 16 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this sixteenth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!
Thanks,

Your curators
-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)
-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.
Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 15

1. Featured Companies
2. Featured Passenger
3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC Company: Supertouch Group

Supertouch was founded in 2007 as a collaboration between the experiential marketing company, Interference Inc., and technical artists, Lit Studios. This combination of interactive marketing layered with technology was an experiment focused on building more accessible and engaging environments than had previously been created. We asked ourselves, what do creators want to do with tech (as opposed to what tech was made to do) that users may like. This reverse engineering of experience led to high profile prototypes that, along with community and corporate interest, launched us from research into development and execution. Our focus is in creating technological experiences that generate wonder, participation, and maximize the sharing potential in our connected world.  

Our work since has spanned multiple industries – from Consumer Electronics to CPG, from Film & Television to Pharmaceuticals and Healthcare, all with the combined goal of getting users more involved with content and data in ways that would not have been possible just a few years ago. Clients include AT&T, The Mill Touch, Novartis, charity:water, Gawker Media, Ted Med, Top of the Rock, and more.

Featured LA Company: Tuition.io

Tuition.io is a website dedicated to helping you manage your student loan portfolio and optimize it for your own unique situation. With Tuition.io, you can load all of your student loans into one site, get detailed information on your loans (like identifying your servicer, your monthly payment, how much you owe, when you’ll be paid off, how much you’ll pay over the life of your loan, etc.), see helpful graphical representations of your debt load via desktop or mobile, figure out which repayment programs you are eligible for, and file for those programs via our simple-to-use EasyOptimize™ process.

Featured Passenger: Asi Lang, Founder, Alliance The Game

What’s your historical connection to Los Angeles and New York?

I grew up in Los Angeles and lived there till the age of 18 when I moved to Boston for school.  But NY always held my heart and I spent as much of my Boston career as possible down in NYC.  I pretty much knew from the age of three I wanted to be here!

Describe your experience in NYC (or LA).

NY is the city of why-not, I like to say.  Ten times a day, walking the streets, you’re likely to find some art installation, some public works project, some business initiative that required of its creators the simple mindset: “Why not??”  I’ve never seen a city and a government so willing to indulge in these flights of grown-up fancy.  Walk in Grand Central, see a huge acrylic cube in which the Williams sisters are playing squash?  Yep, why not!  That’s one of the things I love most about this city.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA (or vice versa)?

I’ve really had no challenge.  I love both bergs deeply.  They are very, very different but each encompasses an ideal of its own style very well.  LA is the land of comfort.  I always tell this to people heading out there- LA is *not* a destination city, like Paris or NY or Tokyo.  You do not head out to LA seeking out specific destinations or landmarks.  You can, but you’ll be sorely disappointed.  LA is too young a city for that.  Instead, you treat LA like a day spa in the desert.  You go to enjoy life- for ultra comfortable living -the weather, the beaches, the food, the homes, the cars, the shopping, the vacation destinations that are under a day’s drive away- these are the reasons to go to LA.  When you go with that mentality you enjoy it a lot more.  And NY?  Ahh, the 10 million watt power plug that you can’t wait to hook into.  They’re worlds apart, but both flesh out the spectrum of living quite nicely!

How can NYC and LA engage with each other?

I think plenty already happens.  Show me one even semi-noteworthy celebrity who doesn’t split his or her time between LA and NY!  I think the cities are in a very comfortable place in their relationship right now.

Favorite LA secret spot

That would have to be LA96C, a decommissioned Cold War-era missile lookout site that sits atop one of the best ridges in LA.  On a clear day you can see the whole Valley, most of Hollywood, Downtown, the Burbank mountains, Long Beach, plenty of the ocean, Century City, etc., all in one panorama.  It’s absolutely amazing:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotonomous/sets/72157604921404184/

Favorite NYC secret spot

The Architecture and Design building on 58th St. between 3rd and Lex.  I love it for two reasons.  First off, it captures one of the best traits of NYC- the universe of universes model.  I’ve always said that this city is a collection of mini universes, many of which you may never even find, though they might be right under your nose.  You could go to a jazz club in a basement floor, a few stories beneath some avant garde mid century-inspired graphic design exhibit, a few stories beneath some diplomats having an Eyes Wide Shut bacchanal before they’re called back home from their consulate.  And the nights you find all three tend to be the best!  Anyway, the A&D building is this temple of modern design located in an otherwise nondescript block in the UES.  Inside lies the second reason I love it- there are nine floors exhibiting some of the best European design houses on the planet.  Kitchens, bedrooms, shower designs, all out of the pages of the best design magazines on the racks.  If you’re into that sort of thing, and want to see what $20,000 buys you in sleek Norwegian cabinetry, that’s the spot.   

If you were not at Alliance the Game, what would you be doing?

Probably filmmaking.  Either that or food writing :).  I own a company that makes video games and the skillset required to make a good game is almost identical to that required for a good film.  I actually started in filmmaking as a kid but decided to go into video game development for the time being.  But I fully intend to return, and so even though it’s not a wide step away, I’d pick that as an alternate activity.    

Events not to miss:

NYC:

Content Strategy: How to get grassroots growth, Wednesday February 6, 8-9:30, GA
Come learn from Fast Company writer and author Chris Dannen about how to use creativity to publish the best content and get your startup real traction sans PR.
https://generalassemb.ly/education/62/content-strategy-how-to-get-grassroots-growth/831

NY VC and Angel Showcase: Thursday February 7, 6-9pm
Meet 36 of NYC’s top venture capital firms and angel investors as they exhibit their firms during a great cocktail party setting. Each Fund will have their own table setup for the sole purpose of meeting great new companies.
http://www.fundingpost.com/breakfast/reg1.asp?event=221

One of a Kind charity event and party: Wednesday February 13, 8-late, 1Oak nightclub
Join Startup Threads for a night of fun with 200+ members of the NYC tech community! We are taking in your old startup tshirts and donating them to charity. Make sure to come early to take advantage of the open bar from 8 - 9pm. Supported by Bonobos, AlleyNYC, Amicus and Queens Tech Meetup.
http://www.hostcommittee.com/event/one-of-a-kind/details?user_id=502315f4523ca04347000042

Info Session on 500 Startups: Thursday February 14, 9-10:30am, 386 Park Ave S
Come learn from Shai Goldman, Venture Partner, about one of the leading accelerators based in Mountain View, CA.  They are accepting applications for the program now till March 1st.  The info session is to answer any questions you have about the program.
http://www.skillshare.com/Info-Session-About-500-Startups-Accelerator/1090138646/412392075/

LA

How Companies with a Higher Purpose Win: Thursday February 7th, 11:30am, DTLA
Is it enough for a company to just hit benchmarks and deliver profits? How important are learning and development in corporate culture? How do companies unlock their potential to be truly exceptional? Punit Renjen, Chairman of the Board, Deloitte LLP will discuss how companies can be valued by customers, admired by communities and celebrated by employees in his speech, “How Companies with a Higher Purpose Win.”
http://www.townhall-la.org/civicrm/event/info?reset=1&id=982

Meet the Streamy Awards Nominees Panel: Monday February 11th, 7pm, Santa Monica
Meet experts in digital content at our first Meet the Streamy Awards Nominees panel!  Nominee experts will discuss writing, directing and acting in online content, and describe their work on their Streamys-nominated shows, including show development, distribution, marketing and social media.  The third annual Streamy Awards is Sunday February 17.
http://dlameet.eventbrite.com/

Building Your MVP as a Non-Technical Founder: Tuesday February 12th, 7:30pm, Santa Monica
Are you a founder who’s got a great concept and needs to get the product built? In this class, Tony Karrer, a well known CTO for early-stage startups including eHarmony, will take you through the keys to successfully getting your mobile/web product built.
http://buildyourmvp.eventbrite.com/


Flight 15 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this fifteenth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!
Thanks,

Your curators
-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)
-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Happy Inauguration weekend and we hope that you all had a lovely MLK day. Yeah, America!

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.
Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 14

1. Featured Companies
2. Featured Passenger
3. Featured Events in NYC and LA


Featured NYC Company: Sherpaa
Sherpaa was founded by Dr. Jay Parkinson and Cheryl Swirnow when the need of a real change in healthcare became all too evident. Though so many great companies and individuals were working to make health accessible, we knew going above and beyond meant making everything work together. The solution: a centralized and real-time command center for your health needs.

Sherpaa helps companies optimize health coverage plans and then provides them with around the clock email and phone access to their network of friendly, tech-savvy doctors.  Since launching in NYC this past year, they’ve saved companies from Tumblr to Skillshare thousands
in unnecessary health fees, optimizing their insurance plans and advising on healthcare usage to ensure dollars are spent wisely. Companies that use Sherpaa pay a minimal monthly fee and end up saving many times that in health costs, creating for a service that pays for itself. Innovation in healthcare has come at last.

Featured LA Company: Factual
Factual provides access to definitive global data for powering web and mobile apps, mobile advertising, and enterprise solutions. Our focus is on making data more accessible (i.e. cheaper, higher quality, less encumbered) for machines and developers, to drive and accelerate innovation in an unprecedented way. We take on the dirty work of data management and data curation, letting developers focus on higher value and more productive tasks.


Featured Passenger: Brian Hurewitz, Partner at Brook&Lyn

What’s your historical connection to Los Angeles and New York?
In 2000, I was offered my first job right out of college at a boutique agency in NY. For a kid who grew up in South Florida, it was a no brainer to make the move. The city was great, but my wife hates apartment living and we were not about to move to Jersey, so we went a little further and landed in LA.

Describe your experience in NYC (or LA).
LA has afforded us space and the ability to discover new mediums. I built a wood shop and started creating furniture and objects. And Mimi, best known as the designer behind Brook&Lyn, has been creating large scale weavings. Her weavings and one of our object collaborations have been sold at Creatures of Comfort and Mohawk General, two of our favorite stores in LA.


What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA (or vice versa)?
Moving from NYC to LA:  Getting my “oversized dog” certified as a “therapy dog” for our flight.

How can NYC and LA engage with each other?
Instagram.

LA secret spot
Monterey Doughnuts in Highland Park. Don’t let the walls littered with lottery tickets fool you, the doughnuts are amazing.

We just finished creating an unorthodox, digital guide to LA with Su Wu from the blog I’m Revolting. The five LA spots we focused on are pretty unique and take some effort to find. But they’re all worth it, especially Time Tunnels in Topanga. Check out the guide here:http://brookandlyn.com/fieldtrip

NYC secret spot
Spicy hot dogs at Espositos butcher in Carroll Gardens, limited quantity only available between 9 and 12 on Saturdays.

If you were not at (current place of work), what would you be doing?
I spend the majority of my day—whether in our wood shop or behind the computer or camera—working with my wife and creative partner on self-initiated projects. After 12 years of working 80 hours a week in ad agency, I can finally say I’m doing exactly what I want to be doing.


Events not to miss:

NYC:

Fresh Year Friday: Women in Tech Happy Hour, Friday January 25th, 6:30-8:30pm, GA, 902 Broadway, 4th floor
Join NYTechWomen and General Assembly for a festive happy hour to usher in the New Year and celebrate women in tech. Supporters of women in tech are also welcome to join.  Drinks and snacks will be provided. It costs $10.
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5150717936/299e87fe11e759b49cbb3dcd3d08a71e

NYC Startup Weekend Mobile: January 25th-27th, WeWork Soho, 154 Grand St
Join some of NYC’s top development, design and business talent to hack for a weekend on mobile oriented projects.  We’re really impressed with the speakers and judges this time around, and it should be a great weekend and opportunity to dive in with fellow NYC techies.
http://nycmobile.startupweekend.org/

Cool as a Cucumber: How to master public speaking: Wednesday January 30th, 6:30-8:15 pm, Grind, 419 Park Ave S
Come learn how to speak publicly and conquer your fear along with a few other folks in this intimate, hands-on workshop with Holly, a well-known speaker (recently with Creative Mornings). Bring a 1-2 minute older pitch that you could rework.
http://www.skillshare.com/Cool-As-a-Cucumber-How-to-Master-Public-Speaking/94772338/1871990263?refId=9279775

Restaurant Week NYC: Through January 28th, all around NYC
Well—maybe this is unrelated to our themes of tech, design, and social good—but we all need to eat, and we love good food right? Take advantage of some of these great deals if you’re in town.
http://www.nycgo.com/restaurantweek

LA:

2013 Startup Forecast, January 24th, 7:00pm, Santa Monica.                                         
TechZulu is excited to invite you to the 2013 Startup and Entrepreneurial Forecast taking place on Thursday Jan. 24 7pm at The ROC in Santa Monica. We have a line up of amazing speakers who will share their insights and forecast for startup trends in 2013. Topics of discussion will be Saas, Cloud, Mobile, Gaming, Social Markets, what surprises are coming for 2013, creating value with your company, hiring problem solvers, and building sensible businesses.
http://startupforecast2013.eventbrite.com/?discount=sdigest

PandoMonthly with Sophia Amoruso, NastyGal Founder: January 31st, 6pm, Venice Beach
Fireside chat with NastyGal Founder and Chief Troublemaker at ZEFR.
http://pandodaily.com/events/

UNCUBED LA: The best startup job fair, January 31st, 1-7pm, Annenberg Community House
Hit the “most entertaining” startup job fair out there.  Seriously, we went to UNCUBED in NYC and it was a blast. Great speakers, drinks, music, and jobs—what more could you want? Use code 2462 for 30% off of your tickets.
http://la.getuncubed.com/


Flight 14 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this fourteenth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles) and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!
Thanks,

Your curators
-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)
-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.

Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Important note—the events of Newtown, Connecticut last week shattered the nation. Check out Demand A Plan, an innovative platform with citizens and mayors from around the country telling Congress and the President that we want a better plan to end gun violence.

Additionally, in this week’s #humblebrag, one of our curators, Erica, was featured in Forbes’ 30 Under 30 Media list! See the full article here.

Flight 12—Holiday Edition!

1. Featured Companies

2. Featured Passenger

3. Featured Events in NYC and LA

Featured NYC company: WeWork
Starting just three years ago, WeWork has grown from a concept in late 2009 to ten buildings and over 3500 members in 2013. WeWork provides boutique office space, coworking, shared workspace, shared desks, collaborative work space and unique services to the startup community of small businesses and entrepreneurs.

WeWork is a platform that empowers small businesses to succeed by making them more connected with each other and providing them with services that allow them to focus their energy on what they do best. Their people, workspace & technology are all dedicated to inspiring creativity, productivity and innovation. WeWork constantly strives to make meeting new people and having interesting conversations seem obvious, natural and effortless.  Even better: WeWork has offices both in LA and NYC!


Featured LA company: PictureHealing

If you’re like most of the nonprofits we work with you’re busy, understaffed, underfunded and still finding ways to bootstrap and take your organization’s mission to the next level! While having a mobile app is on your agenda, it’s probably not your top priority.  You may not know where to begin, you may not have the resources to build your own app, and you probably don’t have access to the experts you need to accomplish the task. Thats where PwrdBy PictureHealing ©  come in!


Featured Passenger: Aaron Davis, Developer at Seso, Founder of Kickstand Global

What’s your historical Los Angeles and New York connections?

I was born in New York City, and I spent the first 8 years of my life on the Upper West
Side. My dad is a “business man”, and my mom owned a tiny second floor knitting shop. With busy parents, I had a nanny and would sleep in piles of yarn at my mom’s shop until I was old enough to go to school. New York will always feel like home to me.

Describe your experience in LA (or NYC).

Los Angeles was pretty low on the list of places I saw myself living. There is an energy
in New York that’s hard to explain, the city is constantly re-inventing itself. You see
it walking around, riding the subway, around every dirty corner. You’re constantly
surrounded by people and creativity. LA is spread out, and you have to track down
things that interest you, it rarely finds you. However, LA isn’t all bad news. After being
here for almost a year I’m starting to understand some of the attractions. There is a laid
back sense of life that I’m enjoying, and the people who are motivated to make things
happen here are able to make a larger footprint. And the scenery is nice.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA?

My girlfriend and I only gave ourselves a few weeks to get packed up and shipped
out. Moving together made it much easier. She has all her family here, and we had
a place to stay until we found an apartment. I was busy trying to figure out how to re-
locate a small business I had started with a couple friends in New York to Los Angeles.
Kickstand started as a mobile coffee cart, towed by bicycle, that we set up at farmers
markets and other local New York events. After much success with the cart, we
launched a “take home” bottled cold brewed coffee concentrate and that sparked a lot
of noise. With potential prospects of opening a coffee shop and brewing a RTD (ready
to drink) coffee products in Los Angeles, I decided to make the move. But not all things
bloom the way you anticipate. The biggest challenge was realizing that I had left all my
friends and was starting a new life in Los Angeles.

How can NYC and LA best engage with each other?

I’m a big music fan, there’s a lot of different music happenings in LA and NYC, but there
isn’t much of a dialogue between the two cities. For the most part, the music scene is
pretty disconnected. I could see a collaboration of music makers doing good things if
someone built a bridge for that conversation.

Favorite LA secret spot

Din tai fung

Cue!

Favorite NYC secret spot

Momo sushi shack

Glasslands

If you were not at Seso, what would you be doing?

I would still be working on Kickstand, potentially talking to other investors, distributors,
door to door sales, etc. But I was ready to get back into a creative position with normal
hours and harness my developer skills again. Seso was a perfect match, I don’t think I
could’ve asked for a better position.

Events not to miss:

NYC:

No Office Holiday party? No problem! Thursday December 21, 8-11pm, 622 Degraw, Brooklyn
Join blogs Brooklyn Based, the skint, FIPS, and Brokelyn for inarguably the BEST holiday party of the year. Wyatt Cenac of The Daily Show will be there, and there will be tacos and karaoke.
http://www.facebook.com/events/231546270309074/

Brooklyn Craft Central Holiday Market: Weekend December 22-23, 22 Degraw, Brooklyn
Late on your gift planning for the holidays? Don’t worry, this FREE craft fair has got you seriously covered. Hit Littlefield (the same spot holding the no office holiday party) all weekend to make yourself look like a gift giving rockstar.
http://www.littlefieldnyc.com/event/166301/

LA:

GoSolar.LA at LA Cleantech Incubator: Thursday December 20, 12:30pm, Downtown
Representatives of Open Neighborhood and the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator will be hosting a free webcast to discuss GoSolar.LA and the LA Cleantech Incubator.
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/5056008658/es2/?rank=2

Angel Launch Holiday Party: Friday December 21, 6:00pm, Venice
Angel Launch, produce dinners, venture forums, and seminars for entertainment, Web, Internet, mobile and tech ventures and startups. We connect entrepreneurs to investors over networking with demos and offer educational venture forums and panels to further deal making opportunities.
http://angellaunch21-es2.eventbrite.com/?rank=4


Only a few events?! Take some time off folks, read all that’s in your favorite lists on Twitter, your google reader, or if you’re like me, your Pocket (previously Read it Later), and enjoy Christmas and New Years Eve!  Be safe and we’ll see you party people in 2013.

Flight 12 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this twelth installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter(https://twitter.com/2462miles)and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!

Thanks,

Your curators

-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)

-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)

Welcome to 2462(miles), the exact distance between Los Angeles and New York City as the carrier pigeon flies. The goal of 2462 is to digitally and eventually physically connect creative, passionate individuals who live, work and travel between NYC & LA. We feature select events, people, and companies from each city who might be off the mainstream radar but are nevertheless doing amazing work and creating powerful impact.

Join us on our twice a month digital adventure.

Flight 11

1. Featured Companies

2. Featured Passenger

3. Featured Events in NYC and LA


Featured NYC Company: The New Media Advocacy Project
The New Media Advocacy Project (N-Map) advances human rights and social justice by using digital video and other media to strengthen legal advocacy in courts, legislatures, and communities. N-Map’s lawyers and media professionals help advocates integrate new technology directly into their legal strategies, enabling them to win their cases and achieve their clients’ goals effectively and efficiently. We also work with filmmakers to develop legal strategies to enhance the power of film to impact human rights.
                         

N-Map was founded upon the idea that the combination of excellent legal advocacy with the visual and social power of new media can be a potent force for advancing human rights. The social and political landscapes in which human rights advocates work are changing rapidly—mobile technology, social media, and video have become central to social justice movements around the world. N-Map is working to harness the many new opportunities created by social media and technology to enhance the traditional tools of advocacy.  By ensuring that the voices of victims are front and center in the fight for change, we help advocates throughout the world tell their stories in more compelling and powerful ways—to tip the balance in the toughest cases and campaigns.

Featured LA Company: Mindshare LA

Mindshare LA holds monthly workshops, salons and movie screenings that gather hundreds of Angelenos for evenings of inspiration and interaction. Our main, monthly salon event includes a curated program of short, eclectic presentations.

Featured Passenger: Alisa Gould-Simon, co-founder, Pose

What’s your historical Los Angeles and New York connection?
I moved to NYC at the age of 18 to start my freshman year at NYU. I studied journalism and cinema studies and started working as a writer when I finished school. I stayed in NYC 8 years before moving to LA at the end of 2009. At the time, I was desperate to try a new city and both my parents and a a new boyfriend living in Southern California. The same year I moved west, my mother became the president of Brooklyn College and my parents moved to Prospect Park South. I’ve been based in LA and spending a week a month in NYC for work (and back living with mom and dad again) ever since.

Describe your experience in LA
I’ve been the co-founder of a start-up for the last 2 years so my days are pretty packed. That said, I try to take advantage of the amazing weather as often as possible so I’ll opt to eat at restaurants with outdoor seating most of the year and pack in as many hikes or pool visits on the weekend as possible.

What was the biggest challenge of moving from NYC to LA?
The obvious: getting used to driving and finding different ways to diffuse stress when you’re stuck in rush hour gridlock. Public radio and Spotify premium have both been lifesavers.

                                  

photo credit: Christopher Brown, based in LA

How can NYC and LA best engage with each other?
By maintaining an open dialogue. So many people I know are consistently hopping back and forth between the two cities, be them entrepreneurs, filmmakers or fashion designers or marketers. They are the perfect counter-balance to one another. Nowhere can you be more productive or more inspired than NYC, while LA also offers the space and the unconventionality to think outside the box and slow down while still being very much in the mix.

Favorite LA secret spot

Venice Beach Wines. This wine shop houses a tiny patio that’s puppy friendly (essential for my new rescue, Howard) and they serve a ton of tasty treats to go along with your wine. It’s also 10 minute drive from my office, so it’s one of my favorite places to meet friends and celebrate the end of a long day.

Favorite NYC secret spot

My parents’ neighborhood is relatively undiscovered still and houses one of my favorite bars - Sycamore. It’s a flower shop by day and a bar by night. So, you can get a bouquet and a beer for $10 or indulge in one of their fantastic $5 whiskey of the month. Mimi’s - a restaurant and gourmet shop - across the street is also a Cortelyou Road favorite.

If you were not at Pose, what would you be doing?

Traveling for an extended period of time outside of the US before launching another start-up.

Events
NYC
Creativity is Good Business: How to Earn a Living with your Mad Talent,Tuesday December 4th, 7-9pm, Wix Lounge, 10 W 18th st, 2nd fl
Come hear the fabulous founder of mediabistro Laurel Touby, in conversation with 2 other founders Nora Abousteit and Anastasia Goodstein talk about their startup success stories, organized by the DIY Business Association.
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4818828245/es2/

TheAlley NYC’s holiday party benefit: Thursday December 6, 8pm-11:30, 500 7th ave
Join some of NYC’s coolest entrepreneurs and techies for a night of an open bar, drinking, date auctions (and the normal kind too), and dancing to benefit 501 c3 Lively Productions.
http://getsnowedin-es2.eventbrite.com/#m_1_100

Hack//Meat: Friday December 7th, 6 pm-Sunday December 9th 8 pm, Grind, 419 Park Ave S
Reimagine, prototype, and design the future of meat with Food Tech Connect entrepreneur Danielle Gould and folks from Grace communications and Applegate. Design Gym and GigaOm are also sponsors. This looks to be one of the best structured hackathons we’ve seen in awhile!
http://hackmeat-es2.eventbrite.com/?rank=11

NYC Holiday Soiree benefiting NYCares: Tuesday December 11, 8-11 pm, The Hill, 416 3rd Ave
Come join 2462(miles) creator Erica (@GoodBerger) with some of her friends for their holiday soiree benefiting NYCares efforts in Hurricane Sandy relief. 15% of the bar will be donated, and there will be donation opps at the door, as well as an auction. #DoMoreGood
http://nycholidaysoiree.eventbrite.com/

Introduction to the NY Startup community: Friday December 14th 5:30-6:30 pm, GA, 902 Broadway, 4th floor
Come learn from one of NYC’s top entrepreneurs Jordan of GA about who’s who and what you need to know to enter, join, and create value in the NYC startup and tech community. It’s free!
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/4933425007/es2/


LA
TechCocktail’s Startup Showcase: Thursday December 6th, 5:30pm, Santa Monica 
Tech Cocktail is SoCal-bound to mingle with LA’s finest over a couple of cocktails, while surveying the region’s startup scene.  The last Mixer was bananas; we expect more of the same on December 6th.
http://tclosangeles2012.eventbrite.com/

Assembled Capital: A Founder’s Guide to Fundraising Saturday December 8th,9:30am Santa Monica.
Join us for a full day of talks, panels, and networking at General Assembly, bringing together founders and investors for an intelligent dialogue about fundraising strategies for early-stage startups, common misconceptions and best practices in fundraising, the future of crowdfunding, honest stories from entrepreneurs on successful (and less than successful) capital raises, negotiating a term sheet, and more. Breakfast, lunch & drinks will be served.
http://assembledcapla-1203la.eventbrite.com/

Foodprint LA: Sunday December 9th, 12:30pm LACMA.
Foodprint LA is the fourth in a series of international conversations about food and the city. Los Angeles is a city of reinvention, and its foodscape is no different. Until the 1950s, Los Angeles County was the top agricultural county in the United States; now, it has one of the highest childhood obesity rates in the nation. With the Los Angeles Food Policy Council approaching its second birthday, the timing is perfect for a truly cross-disciplinary discussion that explores the past, present, and future of food and the city.
http://www.foodprintproject.com/la/

#SocEnt.LA Holiday Reception Wenesday, Decemeber 12, 6:30pm Culver City
Social Enterprise Los Angeles Community Holiday Cocktail Reception
http://www.socent.la/featured/socent-la-holiday-reception-dirtt-12-12-12/

Flight 11 has landed.  Ciao for now!

We hope you’ve enjoyed this eleventh installment of 2462(miles). Feel free to follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/2426miles)and Tumblr(http://2462miles.com/).  Please send us your feedback so that we can curate the best content to digitally connect LA and NYC!

We know you have a choice when traveling, so if you enjoyed spread the love!

Thanks,

Your curators

-Joe Magee @KJMagee (Los Angeles)

-Erica Berger @GoodBerger (New York City)