The SoCal Tech Group is dedicated to empowering the Southern California technical entrepreneur.

We do this by helping folks network and learn from each other, both offline and online. Going beyond the current entrepreneurial base, STG provides outreach to both industry and local universities, with the goal of educating anyone with an interest in entrepreneurship and technology.

The group operates without membership dues, but rather is funded by providing a number of services to industry through the hard work of its consulting members.

Why Southern California?

Southern California graduates a huge amount of technical talent from local universities. UCLA, USC, UCSD, UCI, UCR, Cal Poly, Cal Tech are just a few of the esteemed universities in the area. With over 1 million actively enrolled students at the university level, southern California represents a huge talent pool.
In addition, the Los Angeles area has a large amount of both financial and creative capital, being the home of some of the largest media and entertainment companies.

But there has not been a rich, entrepreneurial, networking culture that ties the two together.

How is the SoCal Tech Group different?

There are scores of individuals working in Southern California industry or academics with little exposure to venture-backed startups. Well, we believe in “rattling the cage” a bit, by reaching out to these folks and helping them gain exposure to early stage companies and the investors who back them. This exposure comes by attending one of our informal gatherings, the 8by8 dinner series, and other future events.

How does the group make money?

Consulting members can contract with the group to find short duration (1 to 5 day), technical advisory jobs in the startup community. This revenue is split with the group in order to fund group functions. All funding received is used towards group activities, or paid back out to those who have worked on projects. Oh, and there is no cost to become a consulting member.

Who can join?

The group is free to join, and open to everybody! Just join our group on either LinkedIn or Facebook. Consulting memberships are given to those interested folks who can provide a high level of technical expertise to the group. For more information on consulting memberships, please contact us.