By Nicole Jordan, LA Correspondent

Hidee ho Bub.blicio.us readers! I can’t believe I’m typing this as I fly to Oregon for some family and turkey time. Where has the year gone? The seven months I’ve been in LA have completely vanished but left a wake of incredible community developments. Lunch 2.0 has seen steady attendance of several hundred each time (more on that later;) Twiistup3 is currently in the selection process for showoffs for the January 16th event; The one and only Debbie Landa is coming down for a visit next month to start working with some industry folks (including yours truly) about DealMaker Media in LA; Girls in Tech is going to get off the ground as well and Bub.blicio.us is developing it’s own following amongst the SoCal peeps.

But I digress. This is about StartupLA. The event took place over two days at UCLA Anderson School of Management. The first day was focused on tracks with guest speakers followed by an evening Fireside-style chat with the one and only Jason Calacanis (that deserves its own post.) The second day was free form, a la BarCamp, with peers posting session topics and leading the discussion. The most heavily attended session had to do with bringing the tech community together in LA. It was heartening to see 50 people crowded around a table out of a desire to accelerate disparate parts joining together.

I missed a few hours of the first day but was able to catch one of the last sessions before the Fireside with Jason. Walking in I saw some familiar faces and a lot of new ones. About 130 people showed up. Many were students, some already entrepreneurs, others aspiring.

Always interested in hearing words of wisdom from entrepreneurs and investors I stopped in on the Success Stories panel. And, couldn’t help but chuckle as I kept hearing the words “So, what do you think about Facebook” whispered behind me as a sort of geek networking ice-breaker.

Speakers included:
Tom McGovern, serial entrepreneur
Mark Kapczynski, entrepreneur
Sean Bonner, Founder of MetroBlogging
Kelly Perdew, Winner of The Apprentice and entrepreneur
Nelson Gayton, VC and entrepreneur

Many pearls of wisdom were tossed out along with some useless info thinly disguised as a way to brag about oneself less than wise words, but I’ll focus on the positive.

Cue highlight reel that I found particularly memorable…starting with the best story of the day…Sean Bonner from Metroblogging (Who, btw, is an all around nice guy. I wish him much luck.)

Metroblogging had humble beginnings, starting as just little ole “blogging.LA” after Sean moved to the area and found the normal avenues of city discovery (newspapers, traditional media) to be lacking in truly representing the area. The best fodder came from blogs so he decided to create one catering to his own need. The site grew organically, attracting people who used to live in the area, still did, or were thinking about moving. It attracted volunteers to start one in lesser-thought-of cities like Milwaukee. Sean figured that they could expand by offering the tools and then letting the natives run with it. It’s now up to 60 cities, with 700+ bloggers and the second most active city is, believe it or not, Karachi, Pakistan. Who would have thought?

Moral: 1) If you find it useful others probably will too, 2) You can’t always plan for who your audience is REALLY going to be, 3) Turn it over to the people who know best and, 4) work with people who are as passionate about your mission as you.

Nicole’s Top 10 Takeaways:

1) It can take 5-6-7 tries to get the home run you’re looking for (a sentiment echoed by Calacanis.) If you give up before you hit it, someone else will gladly take over for you and bring it home.

2) Entrepreneurship is a creative discipline. Being comfortable with a high level of creativity, ambiguity and uncertainty will serve you well.

3) Entrepreneurs spend too much time raising money. The art of bootstrapping takes them to the next level.

4) Be aware when raising money that VC’s have a different agenda than you. They are under the gun to show major returns from the capital that’s been invested into their funds.

5) People focus on business plans but they don’t invest in business plans. Nelson Gayton said, “The best companies are organized, dynamic and housed with people who know the business well enough to know when the business needs to change, and humble enough to recognize they don’t know everything.”

6) You need a strong team that works with a sense of urgency (without rushing or panic-induced decisions which many entrepreneurs are prone to when in the investor pressure cooker.)

7) Set your definition of success by knowing what your low point is. For one panelist it was having $20M liquid for another it was realizing at what level he would still be OK, even if it was working at Circuit City while he figured things out. As long as he didn’t have to move back in with his parents he knew he wasn’t “failing.”

Follow your gut. Check yourself. Have a brain trust to help you keep the blinders from appearing. Know when to cut your losses and fully recognize what’s at stake. One panelist realized that biggest failure points were when he put his faith on someone else’s abilities. If you surround yourself with people who compensate for your limitations it will always go awry.

9) As an entrepreneur leading a team you have to leave your personal life outside the office. It’s key to maintain a motivated spirit. If you’re having trouble mustering it up, dig deep and find the motivation; rely on mentors who have been through it that you can draw energy on. Being a leader is being strong when hungry tired faces are looking at you to set their reactions and actions.

10) As an entrepreneur you are obligated to give back. A lot of people can write checks but giving time and attention is the most valuable.

The wall of attendees.

Cheeky geek humor. My favorite kind.

   Peer led discussion group.

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