southern-california
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Bala Balkrishna had already built a bank. Then he started again.
From a Bank of America teller’s window to two Southern California bank launches, K. P. Bala Balkrishna has kept returning to a simple promise: answer the customer.
Howard Schwimmer has a use for the buildings you overlook
He spent four decades finding opportunity in Southern California’s industrial streets. After co-founding Rexford and helping take it public, Howard Schwimmer is starting another chapter with S5 Industrial Realty.
Gaurav Kumar plays the long game
A conference badge, a stack of business cards and a job nobody wanted helped shape Beyond Codes. Its founder has since found another classroom for selling: the golf course.
Deepak Chopra’s other plan involved tacos
Before he founded OSI Systems, Deepak Chopra considered going into fast food. His return to electronics led to decades of building, buying and learning when to hand over the controls.
Daniel Kim and the price of a wasted hour
An auditor’s long search for better tools became AuditBoard. The story runs through a childhood friendship, thousands of testing hours, and the decision to let someone else take the CEO’s chair.
Sara Costin Mockus and the question of who gets heard
She left Washington on April Fool’s Day and built a second career around public participation. At Costin Public Outreach Group, Sara Costin Mockus brings campaign experience to the places where construction plans meet everyday life.
Rahul Alim Got His First Customer Before He Left the Parking Lot
The founder of Custom Creatives learned to sell before he learned to delegate. Two decades later, his work in agency coaching and voice AI keeps returning to the same question: who will actually get the job done?
Ronald A. Kolar and the art of staying in one place
Ronald A. Kolar built L’Abri Management in Downey. Over five decades, the apartment business became intertwined with volleyball teams, old friends and a YMCA carrying his family’s name.
Genoveva Arellano and the power of staying in the room
A Rolodex helped her start a business. Three decades of public meetings, freeway construction and rail projects reveal what Genoveva Arellano built from those first introductions.
Mania Persekian and the work before the keys
Before a home changes hands, someone has to untangle the details. For Mania Persekian, a construction background and a focus on probate and trust sales put that work at the center of the deal.
Eric Mear and the trouble with an ordinary T-shirt
A complaint about black T-shirts sent Eric Mear into the apparel business. Ten years after founding BYLT, his next challenge is taking a company born online into the places people actually shop.
Robert Stone and the three-year job that lasted thirty
He arrived at City of Hope as a lawyer with a three-year plan. Thirty years later, Robert Stone is still working out how an institution can grow without losing the habits that made him stay.
Karen Walker Johnson Learned to Listen at the Bedside. Now She Does It at Scale.
A pediatric nurse became a lawyer, an operator and, eventually, a chief executive. Across every reinvention, Karen Walker Johnson kept the same instrument close: the discipline of listening before designing the answer.
Johan Engman Bet Three Years on Breakfast
A teenage dishwasher opened a café into the teeth of a recession, kept it alive with outside jobs, then dreamed up a breakfast republic in a Borneo rainstorm. The stubborn part was only the beginning.
Noah Chillingworth Knows the Menu Is a Memory Machine
After 32 years marketing food people eat in their cars, Noah Chillingworth has learned that value is emotional, nostalgia is operational, and useful restaurant ideas begin by listening closely.
Mark Suster
Mark Suster is a Managing Partner at Upfront Ventures, the largest early-stage VC firm in Southern California, and the author of the influential blog Both Sides of the Table. A serial entrepreneur who built and sold two companies before switching to investing, Suster brings a rare founder's perspective to venture capital. Known for coining 'fauxmentum,' championing the LA tech ecosystem, and advocating openly about ADHD, he manages hundreds of millions in capital while hosting the Upfront Summit — one of America's premier LP and VC conferences.