Blume Distillation, a Watsonville based company creating revolutionary biofuels will join November 6th’s Demystified with their plant-powered Ford Focus. Blume is setting a new standard for renewable alcohol-based fuels.

UCSC Slug Tank 2019 drew over 10 contestant teams. The winner of the Creative award was P.E.T.E.R.: a turtle robot that eats plastics and poops good stuff.

Scotts Valley-based Carnot Compression has created an industry-disrupting compressor. Developing new technologies and proprietary processes, Carnot will demystify how they built the most innovative and sustainable compressor on the market at SCW’s Nov. 6th event.

On October 22, 2019, the City Council of the City of Santa Cruz approved a mixed-use development at 190 West Cliff Drive, along with a $500k donation to assist with affordable housing efforts.

David Apgar, with vast experience helping startups and early-stage tech firms grow, is leading Santa Cruz County Bank’s new venture banking division.

Last month, Governor Gavin Newsom signed California AB 5 into law. Ironically, it may hurt AB 5 advocates Uber and Lyft drivers, as well as people of low income who supplement their income with “gig” services.

Congratulations to Frank Bien and Lloyd Tabb, from Looker on being awarded the Men of the Year at the 2019 Santa Cruz County Chamber Awards.

Congratulation to Stephen Blum on being awarded the Community Impact Award at the Monterey Bay Economic Partnership’s 5th Annual State of the Region event on Oct 25th, 2019.

Drew Meyer is almost certainly the only Amazon executive who got his start in tech after being laid low by an illness in the Amazon Rainforest. Here he tells that story, and a better one about the role the seminal Unix company Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) played in bringing him to town.

To view Men of the Year, go to: Men of the Year (sorry for the redirect!)

Over the next 6 weeks, we will produce a series of articles comparing the cost of starting and growing a business in Santa Cruz versus the Silicon Valley, or San Francisco. 

UCSC’s Student Creativity and Entrepreneurial Empowerment aka SCEE was awarded a 5 digit grant from the Board of Opportunity Fund to expand its programs. SCEE was founded by a diverse group of students who are passionate about innovation and entrepreneurship. Their mission is to bring more students into the world of entrepreneurship.

Nina Simon, the long-time Executive Director of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History has been awarded the world renowned Ashoka Fellows Social Innovators Award. This prestigious award goes to a select few social entrepreneurs for their innovative ideas that transform society.

Capital One announced on Tuesday, October 22, new limited-time welcome bonus offers for Capital One® Spark® Cash Credit Card and Capital One® Spark® Miles Credit Card holders. Plus Capital One customers with travel rewards cards can earn elevated rewards on hotel and rental cars booked through Capital One Travel℠.

Thank you to Mayor Martine Watkins for coming to the Santa Cruz Works New Tech: The Impossible Possible event earlier this month.

Thank you to everyone who came out to the Santa Cruz Works Company Spotlight Breakfast at Looker. And thank you to Looker of course for hosting us. What a great morning of networking and connecting the Santa Cruz tech community

Doug Harr will present at the November 6th Santa Cruz Works New Tech: Demystifying the Cloud and Big Data. But wait, Halloween is just around the corner. A special Halloween treat for all.

Among countless software tools that claim to make life easier for businesses, only few are both easy to use and deliver concrete results. Hubspot’s CRM, offered with a SCW Partnership at an unprecedented 90% discount, at $400 opposed to $4000, is true to its claims and enables you, a business owner to optimize your processes and grow your business.

SANTA CRUZ, CA - October 17, 2019 - Today Santa Cruz Works announces a new board member: Tonée Picard. Picard is the EVP/Chief Development Officer at Bay Federal Credit Union. She has been involved in the Santa Cruz community for over 30-years, including a long stint in the technology industry. Picard has direct responsibility for the credit union’s strategic planning, information technology, marketing, human resources, and facilities business units.

On October 2, Marc Randolph (1st CEO of Netflix) came to our Santa Cruz Works New Tech: The Impossible Possible event to talk about his new book - That Will Never Work: The Birth of Netflix and the Amazing Life of an Idea. This fireside chat was hosted by Drew Myer from Amazon.

U.S. antitrust enforcers have started an in-depth review of Google’s $2.6 billion planned acquisition of a data analytics company, a further sign of greater scrutiny on big technology companies, according to people familiar with the situation.