LA’s tech scene gets a shot in the arm from Science, the newest incubator

The hustling Los Angeles tech scene is revolving around a new center these days: an incubator called Science. It started just a couple months ago and is the work of former MySpace CEO Mike Jones and Color co-founder Peter Pham.

We took some time over the past couple of weeks to talk with Pham and Jones, as well as at least one entrepreneur who’s working with the Science team on a new startup.

As a longtime veteran of the LA startup world, your correspondent sensed a distinctly new energy during these conversations. There’s more organization, more optimism, and more stability than ever before from the tech scene to the south.

“Science is bringing infrastructure to LA that hasn’t been there before, including access to capital,” said Tony Adam in a recent trip to VentureBeat’s San Francisco office. Adam is head of Eventup, the first Science startup to reach a public launch.

Science, still a small outfit with a $10 million fund, is launching a string of startups this year, and each one has solid revenue potential. It could be the start of a new era for Los Angeles tech — and a new opportunity for NorCal investors to take the area a bit more seriously.

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From MySpace’s ashes

The Los Angeles community is replete with former MySpacers, and Science itself is built from a tight-knit cadre of onetime MySpace executives still loyal to Jones. Adam is among that group, as are Science partners Mike Macadaan and Sean Percival.

But this isn’t just croneyism at work; MySpace accounted for a lot of the LA-based tech talent pool. And as the larger community evolves past MySpace, former MySpacers are taking on new roles, building new companies, and continuing to push the area forward into the technology fray.

“These are guys that I fell in love with,” said Jones in a phone conversation with VentureBeat. “I’ve worked with them for years. Coming out of MySpace … these are the guys I love to work with.”

“The alumni network [from MySpace] is actually pretty large,” said Pham, one of a few Science affiliates who wasn’t involved in the social network. “Those folks are re-participating in the community.”

Jones emphasized that the painful experience of taking a once-strong company through layoffs and a fire sale was a trial by fire for all parties involved, but that it made the core team of his confidants stronger.

“These guys understand the landscape,” he said. “They’ve been through the ups and they’ve been through the downs … and they can build the next generation of fantastic businesses.”

Money talks, empty tech walks

Noting that yes, of course, San Francisco still trumps LA when it comes to the sheer size of its talent pool, Jones countered, “In LA, there’s not that many large tech companies, so there’s not too many opportunities to build out your team. But there’s more opportunity to build out your revenue … People here want to build real businesses with profit.”