As part of a very vibrant SoCal tech, media and entertainment community, Twiistup is proud to announce it’s support of GeekOut ‘09.

On Monday, May 11, 2009, join Tubefilter and The Society for Geek Advancement for the first ever GeekOut at the W Los Angeles – Westwood’s Whiskey Blue from 7-10pm. GeekOut is a celebration of the geek in you — and whether you geek out about software development or movie-making, you’re invited to join in the fun.

Hosted by longtime Twiistup friend and hostess Shira Lazar, GeekOut celebrates what it really means to be passionate about the things we do and the people we do them with. Get a chance to sip on tasty Geektinis, and hang out to the mellow vibes of Dublab’s streaming DJ sponsored by Honda. Sponsors include Tubefilter, NerdyShirts, 12seconds, Polite in Public, and Marx&Trotsky.

The best part about the whole evening? They’re raising money to benefit Room To Read, a non-profit organization that is building schools and libraries for children in developing countries the world over.

So, what are you waiting for? Get your tickets to GeekOut now!

Fifty-seven percent of the Southern California start-ups surveyed said the health of the Internet industry in Los Angeles in 2009 will be better than 2008. A significant proportion of respondents, 71%, also said that LA is a better place to build a startup in the Web 2.0 and / or digital media space over the San Francisco / San Jose Bay area.

The major reason for people’s confidence in the LA Internet industry was primarily due to the convergence of media, entertainment and technology, enabling LA companies to better penetrate consumer markets (78%). The other top two reasons centered on increased opportunities to grow a business faster in LA / less barriers to entry / ‘politics’ (49%) and also better talent / easier to hire (25%). Other comments included easier and better access to venture capital funding and a thriving and positive, supportive peer network community.

An overwhelming 84% of respondents said that they were optimistic about their own career and / or their company’s growth in 2009. Half of those questioned come from companies that are profitable, a quarter from companies that are not profitable. The remainder described their organizations as “almost profitable.”

Lastly, nearly 50% of respondents are currently hiring, 43% of which are looking for full time help, 51% need to fill part time or consulting positions and almost half have internship slots open.

“The survey results are very encouraging for the state of the Los Angeles Web 2.0 industry, considering the general economic climate,” said Mike Macadaan, Twiistup founder. “The Internet industry is thriving in Los Angeles, driven by the crossover of entertainment and technology, very talented and creative people and good access to VC funding. Twiistup 5 is about 90% booked right now and we’re looking forward to a very successful, positive and productive event.”

“CyberCoders is seeing a surge of hiring. Currently, we have 3,000 jobs open on our Web site,” said Nitu Gulati-Pauly, director of recruiting for CyberCoders. “Even though the media has reported a lot of doom and gloom, we are seeing companies taking advantage of the current climate by adding top level talent to their staff. Some of the best known names in technology, like MySpace and Google, were built in a tougher economic climate. So, keep your eyes on the SoCal technology market, you never know what might emerge in 2009.”

Twiistup 5 will be held in a private hangar at the Santa Monica Airport in Santa Monica, Calif., at 7:00pm on February 12, 2009. Tickets are on sale now at www.twiistup.com/getin. Sponsors include CyberCoders, Tsavo, Chi.mp, Fit Planet, Whrrl, Intelligentsia Software, Heavybag Media, Marketwire, RockYou, Mail Room Fund, (mt) Media Temple, the Rubicon Project, Scour, Siemer & Assoc., Sun Startup Essentials, Yoono, Zannel and OVGuide.com. A limited amount of passes are available for media and bloggers. Media who would like to be considered should email twiistup@lewispr.com.

About Twiistup

Twiistup is the premier LA technology and media event, attracting the creative elite from all business verticals and horizontals in the area. Thousands of technologists from across the U.S. have turned out for Twiistup events, including: entrepreneurs, investors, media-planners, business development executives and content creators from the web, gaming, film, TV, live-events, music, print and mobile industries. Twiistup has been featured in media including LA Weekly and LA Times, among many others. For more info please visit www.twiistup.com.

Media contacts:

Victoria Yarnish / Andy Oliver
LEWIS PR for Twiistup
Email Contact
310 407 5186

Steph Macadaan
Twiistup
Email Contact
925 408 7412

(via marketwire)

Seems that Rubicon Project [previous sponsor] is having an easy time attracting job seekers – as evident in this video.  Word on the street is that this is the level of effort that people are going through to get a foot in Rubicon’s door.  Don’t blame her – they have a strong business and a great culture.  We’ll see if this little YouTube stunt works.

Our judges reviewed more than 100 companies, the majority early-stage start-ups, all vying for the opportunity to hold one of ten coveted Showoff spots at Twiistup 5.  Here are their picks.

Causecast

Causecast, dubbed “a one stop philanthropy shop” by TechCrunch, is a platform where media, philanthropy, social networking, entertainment and education converge to serve a greater purpose.

Cogi

Cogi set out with a simple goal – give professionals a way to effortlessly recall and track everything in their important conversations through the use of an intuitive, browser-based service that seamlessly transcribes the important parts of conversation – the ‘COGent Ideas’ or Cogi.

eHow

More than 27 million people visit eHow.com each month to search more than 300,000 articles that are professionally written with clear and concise directions on how to do things. It also has a rapidly-growing library of articles created by eHow’s members and a large library of professional instructional videos.

FixYa 

FixYa empowers individuals to repair and improve upon their already-purchased possessions. The company also offers business services to manufacturers and retail businesses through its custom partnership opportunities.

GoGreenSolar

GoGreenSolar is global group of professionals dedicated to improve the distribution of renewable energy products, services and financing for people everywhere.

Meebo  

Meebo is a new communications and media company that’s re-writing the way people have conversations and communicate on the Web.

RoboDynamics

RoboDynamics is built by passionate people who want to use technology to shift the status quo and leverage state-of-the-art technology in robotics to change the way people live and work.

TheScene

The Scene connects individuals to the hottest places, people and events in their area. The Scene’s trendsetting community is on the pulse of nightlife and entertainment in various cities throughout the world.

Viewdle 

Viewdle is a facial-recognition powered digital media platform for indexing, searching and monetizing video assets.

Yammer

Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: ‘What are you working on?’  

Each of these companies will demo their offerings at Twiistup 5 and are eligible for the Fan Favorite and Judge’s Choice awards.

Another huge thanks to our esteemed panel that devoted their time to select this awesome group of Showoffs.

Judges that will attend Twiistup 5:

Sarah Lacy, Jackie Peters, Peter Pham, Andrew Warner, Richard Wolpert, Will Jessup, Frank Gruber, Devlyn Steele and Brian Solis. 

As CEO of BillShrink, Peter drives company expansion and is an advocate for consumer rights and transparency among service providers. He was previously Vice President of Business Development at Photobucket, where he was the fifth employee of a growing startup and was responsible for driving user acquisition, strategic partnerships, and corporate development which lead to an acquisition in 2007 by Fox Interactive Media, a division of News Corporation. When Peter left in 2008, Photobucket had grown to over 61M users making it the #1 photo sharing site and the 38th most visited site in the US. Prior to Photobucket, he was in the enterprise space for over 8 years being involved in multiple startups in areas such as mid-range server computing, software as a service, solid state storage, and mobilization of enterprise software. Peter has had many roles including sales, marketing, reseller channel development, product, and strategy. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences and a minor in Business Management from the University of California, Irvine.

Peter obviously has a knack for identifying unsolved consumer needs and effective solutions.  He’s the perfect person to help choose the Showoffs and ultimately the Judge’s choice.  His contributions to this event are huge!

For Frank, social media is life. Founder of SOMEWHAT FRANK, Frank started blogging the same time as TechCrunch. Frank went on to contribute to TechCrunch as it began to grow into a well-known technology blog. Frank speaks at conferences nationwide and has been featured in multiple national publications about social media, building community and brand. Frank also co-founded TECH cocktail, a community building startup which offers events and community-powered projects open to bloggers, technology enthusiasts, entrepreneurs & professionals interested in technology in under served technology communities. Hosting events in Chicago, D.C., Boulder, Boston and Champaign and more.

Social Media & My Somewhat Obsession With Shiny Objects from Frank Gruber on Vimeo. 

Frank also has a wealth of experience in web technology and product development for AOL, including most recently the product development and strategy for myAOL a personalized start page product rolled out in 24 locales in 19 languages. Prior to AOL, Frank led product development efforts at Tribune, Cars.com and Apartments.com. Additionally, Frank has consulted and advised startups and other Fortune 500 companies across the globe.

Frank was in attendance at the first Twiistup event and is psyched to be headed back again as a judge of the Twiistup 5. You can follow Frank as he journeys to southern California via Twitter: @somewhatfrank.

What Does Social Media Mean? from Frank Gruber on Vimeo.

The people’s choice at Twiistup 4 was the self help social network, ToolsToLife.  To continue with the Twiistup tradition, the founder of the winning startup at the previous Twiistup automatically becomes a judge at the following Twiistup.  This time around, that’s Devlyn Steele.

Founder CEO ToolsToLife.com a Web 2.0 Social Network based around Self Help that uses proprietary software providing an educational platform allowing users a multi media online learning experience while giving each other support. Mr. Steele is an Internationally Recognized authority on Life Coaching and Human Behavior.  The developer of the Self Help Program Tools To Life, he is a speaker, a prolific author of internet articles, he’s a successful public and business consultant, a one-to-one counselor, volunteers with the homeless, hosted two long-standing radio programs, designed and released an online Dating Kit, and has appeared as a guest on over five hundred radio and TV shows.

Mr. Steele is an inspirational guy and we’re all looking forward to his participation in Twiistup 5.

Mr. Wolpert has been a pioneer in the fields of consumer digital media and entertainment for more than 20 years with experience as an entrepreneur, an operating executive, and as an investor.  Mr. Wolpert has been responsible for many firsts in the technology and Internet fields.

Richard is currently the Managing Director of the Mail Room Fund.  The Mail Room Fund is backed by Accel Partners, AT&T, Venrock and the William Morris Agency.  The Mail Room Fund focuses on early state investments in the internet, technology, and digital media areas. In addition to his role as the Managing Director of the Mail Room Fund Richard also serves as a venture advisor to Accel Partners and an Executive Advisor to Rob Glaser, CEO of RealNetworks 

It’s an honor to have Mr. Wolpert on board as a judge for Twiistup 5.

Jackie is the co-founder of Heavybag Media, an interactive marketing firm. She develops marketing strategies that utilize social tools, community platforms, traditional and non-traditional media and cutting edge technology in order to enable brands to engage their audience on a meaningful level.

In addition to her role at Heavybag Media, Jackie is an interim member of the Board of Directors for the Social Media Club and Director of the LA Chapter of the Social Media Club.

(CC) Brian Solis, www.briansolis.com and bub.blicio.us.

At Twiistup 4 Jackie & co. brought a bed to liven up the corporate pitch.  The curiosity is killing us to see how she tops the ‘get in the sack’ message at Twiistup 5.  Oh yeah, and her choice for the top Showoff as well.

Brian Solis is an entrepeneur, renown author, technology thought leader, photographer, and publisher of two top Technorati blogs, PR 2.0 and bub.blicio.us. 

He documents the rapid evolution of products, services and trends and how businesses and consumers can actually use these tools. He is also an active leader in spotlighting and cultivating new tech startups and emerging visionaries.

Brian will be on hand at Twiistup 5 to document the event for his popular publications and to help determine the Judge’s Choice Award.  If you haven’t had the opportunity to connect with Brian yet, you’re in for a treat at Twiistup 5.  He’s a big supporter of all of the great things happening for LA tech and has been involved with Twiistup since the beginning.