10/25/11

Good morning, All,

We suffered the untimely death of a much-loved family member last week, and our brain isn’t quite functioning properly yet, so we do ask for your indulgence this week. And apologies that I had to miss the Rock Out at the Empire State Building, but I will be at the next one. Mark your calendars: November 15^th, and again, we’ll be on the 60^th floor of the Empire State Building. Early bird rate is available, so make sure to register now: http://terraceparty5-auto.eventbrite.com/ And our thanks to our ESB host and sponsor: Corporate Tax Network is a national accounting and consulting firm catering exclusively to the entrepreneurial, start-up, and SMB business communities. Due to our niche in the start-up community, we understand the issues that new organizations face, and we consult with these firms in order to facilitate growth. In addition to our tax services, CTN also provides incorporation assistance, bookkeeping, payroll, business planning services, and wealth management services. SOS members have an opportunity to sign up for a free for the “intro to business taxes” webinar. Or feel free to contact Ryan directly: email him at rcain@corporatetaxnetwork.com, and make sure to mention SOS.

When did Groupon become the gift that keeps on giving? – no pun intended. The Chicago-based startup announced that their long-awaited/previously postponed IPO is back on and let the chips fall where they may (HEY, GROUPON HATERS, ANALYZE THIS: Groupon Breaks Even In Q3 http://read.bi/oIrIQ4; ‘Groupon Is A Disaster’ http://read.bi/qGmrQU). Forest through the trees: There are serious VCs invested in Groupon, and BI’s Henry Bodgett (who wrote the first article cited) is not only a former Wall Street analyst rather than a reporter: he has also taken quite a bit of venture money for his publication (Business Insider raises $7 million from investors http://bit.ly/njQBxC) and some it came courtesy of the very same investors who backed Groupon. And yet BI was among the first/loudest to cry ‘conflict of interest’ when Michael Arrington announced his new VC fund not too long ago. We don’t know if Groupon is going to be the biggest IPO in internet history (doubtful) or if they’ll even be around in five years. It would be refreshing – and inspire a bit more confidence – if Blodgett considered taking a page from the playbook he threw at Arrington and disclosed that BI and Groupon – or whatever other company on which he may be reporting – share investors so that online journalistic integrity doesn’t continue to devolve into being just another oxymoron – right up there with Facebook IPO. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

Anna Curran is the New York Co-Founder of The Startup Foundation (a Kauffman Foundation project). It takes a lot for a startup to get noticed in this town. Lack of visibility is one of the many a major challenges facing an entrepreneur who is on the path to growing and scaling their businesses. To answer the call, the Startup Foundation NYC will be hosting press events where journalists will have the opportunity connect with several startups curated by theme. The goal is to reveal early stage startups to journalists and help them gain traction. If you’d like a shot at some great press for your startup, here’s a start: http://bit.ly/qsyWz4 Winners will be notified November 2^nd.

ER Accelerator is now accepting applications for its winter session: Deadine November 19th. You don’t have to be NYC based, but you will have to move here during the program – and it is worth your while: each company gets $25,000 in seed funding and three months of:
Free collaborative office space in the heart of New York City
Best-of-class one-on-one mentoring from 140+ of industry’s best experts (both during and after the three month session)
Access to experienced technologists, UI gurus and other product experts
Free legal and other services
Hands-on help from inSITE business interns and engineering interns
Exposure to dozens of leading seed investors and VCs during the Accelerator
At the end of the session, startups will pitch to hundreds of angel investors and venture capitalists and continue to utilize the ER Accelerator network indefinitely! So get those applications in. http://eranyc.com/apply/

NEW Startup Colorado to launch in November. Silicon Flatirons, a program of the University of Colorado Law School, announced Thursday the creation of Startup Colorado, a program that will attempt to expand the breadth and depth of entrepreneurial networks throughout the state. Program kicks off November 9^th. For more information: http://bit.ly/qTjkc4

6^th Annual New England Venture Summit – Call for Top Innovators and an SOS discount! The early deadline for presenting company applications is October 26^thIf you are a Startup seeking capital and/or partnerships, submit your plan for the opportunity to present at the premier venue connecting emerging growth companies with active Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, Corporate VCs and Investment Firms. A select group of 50 Top Innovators from the technology, life sciences and Clean-tech sectors will be chosen to present their breakthrough investment opportunities to an exclusive audience of investors.. E-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for more details and an application. To nominate a company please forward: company name, main contact at firm, contact details and why you think they should present to nominations@youngstartup.com. The event happens December 14^th; 50% off if you register by November 9^th: http://bit.ly/nCkYN6For a further discount, the code is: sos.

NEW Finishweekend, Holland, MI November 12-13. Starting isn’t difficult, but finishing certainly is and we LOVE this concept. Members in Michigan, lucky you. Organizers elsewhere, take note: http://finishweekend.com/
Women 2.0 Startup Weekend in SF, November 18^th- 20^th. We provide the co-working space and brain fuel, and you bring the energy and innovation to build something big over the weekend. Both men and women are invited to get your ticket for Women 2.0 Startup Weekend now! To register: http://w2.startupweekend.org/tickets/

NEW Blueprint Health, Deadline November 13^th. Blueprint Health is a startup accelerator based in New York City that helps entrepreneurs improve the health and wellness industry. We offer an intensive three-month program and provide $20,000 of seed capital, extensive mentorship and a shared work environment to help entrepreneurs go from idea to prototype and provide access to angel and venture capital investors. To apply: http://bit.ly/qzwW7K

Samsung’s $100k Challenge to Developers, deadline November 29^th. Samsung is offering $225,000 in cash and prizes for the most innovative converged apps that enable an interactive home entertainment experience between Samsung TVs and other devices. The 2011 Samsung Free the TV Challenge invites software developers to create compelling converged apps that offer seamless user interaction between a Samsung Smart TV and at least one other screen, such as a phone, tablet or computer. Last year, we released the first-ever Samsung TV App SDK and launched the 2010 Free the TV Challenge to develop native apps on our line of Smart TVs and Blu-ray devices. This year we take another leap forward to free the TV with “converged apps” — multi-screen apps that offer immersive, interactive home entertainment experiences. For more information and to apply: http://www.freethetvchallenge.com/

The 5th Annual PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup Competition, deadline November 30^th. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/pVlwCg The competition is open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in web to mobile, from cleantech to gaming. Applying companies must have a female in the founding team, be in beta stage, and have received less than 3 million in funding.

NYC Big App Awards – New York City is challenging software developers to create apps that use city data to make NYC better. $50k in cash and prizes! You have from now until January 25^th to enter. For more information and to apply: http://2011.nycbigapps.com/

The Appy Awards – enter once and you could win twice. Deadline March 21, 2012 but any entry you submit today may also be selected as our “Featured App of the Week“, scoring you some seriously instant gratification. And we doesn’t love that? For more information and to enter – any time – http://appyawards.net/

Lead, Follow or Get the Fuck Out of the Way. Mark Suster writes, “Throughout life I’ve realized that many people are back benchers. “That will never work” is their motto. They “know” what’s wrong but they never do anything about it. They never lead. Yet they don’t follow. When you spot people like that in your company you shoot them. Read on: http://bit.ly/pGYO8D and it’s right up there with the…

Startup Mantra: Hire Fast, Fire Fast, again from Mark Suster: I have often said that what separates real entrepreneurs from pundits and bystanders is a bias towards getting things done versus over analyzing things. My credo has always been JFDI. http://bit.ly/mhSdAL

Why We Prefer Founding CEOs. The conventional wisdom says a startup CEO should make way for a professional CEO once the company has achieved product-market fit. In this post, I describe why we prefer to fund companies whose founder will run the company as its CEO. An oldie but goodie from Ben Horowitz of Andreesen Horowitz, and note that, like all VCs, they do leave themselves an escape clause: http://bit.ly/90rDY5

Why Startup Weekends Don’t Work. We don’t happen to agree with the blogger. Startup weekends have their place and are expanding globally. Heads up, NYC: NYC startupweekend is November 18^th. Registration opens next week. See ‘upcoming events.’ http://bit.ly/nmxEnd

The Spread of Start-Up America and the Rise of the High-Tech South. The geography of start-up America is spreading, slowly and gradually, but inexorably. And some of the hottest spots are popping up in the South, but it’s definitely a world for self-starters, wherever you are: http://bit.ly/pZJDWz

Why should I join your start-up? Finding good people to work for you is key. This sef-described militant tech recruiter tells you how to attract the right people and more importantly, keep the right people working for you. http://bit.ly/nR9BQy

Speaking of which…5 ways to keep your rockstar employees happy. We’re not talking about free meals and drycleaners on premises. We said ‘happy,’ not ‘tethered.’ http://bit.ly/nd3AGz

It takes three years to build a business. We live in a world of immediate gratification. That’s now exactly how to build a sustainable business: http://bit.ly/rtCHql

MC Hammer announced at the Web 2.0 Summit that he’s launching his own search engine –WIREDoo: (http://cnet.co/qaoqHp). OK, so maybe you can’t turn it into a verb, but he did a compelling demo. Google may be all-powerful in search at the moment, but for your enjoyment this week, we leave you with this musical warning (?) to Larry and Sergei, from MC Hammer himself: http://youtu.be/WIHAkqCls4A. That’s it from us. Hope to see you at the ERA Halloween bash on Wednesday. Unti then, as always, help is on the way…

10/18/11

Good morning, All,

Yes, EW+SOS+ER Rock Out is tonight and we will have investors and potential cofounders there for you to meet. This time, it’ll be taking place at the Empire State Building, and the view is – again – spectacular so don’t miss it! http://bit.ly/mY5QED

Special help for you and a word from our sponsor: Corporate Tax Network is a national accounting and consulting firm catering exclusively to the entrepreneurial, start-up, and SMB business communities. Since our founding nearly ten years ago, we have supported thousands of clients both nationally and internationally from a wide range of industries with their tax planning and preparation needs. Due to our niche in the start-up community, we understand the issues that new organizations face, and we consult with these firms in order to facilitate growth. In addition to our tax services, CTN also provides incorporation assistance, bookkeeping, payroll, business planning services, and wealth management services. They’re also hosting our EW+SOS+ER event at the Empire State Building – and offering SOS members an opportunity to sign up for a free “intro to business taxes” webinar. If you’d like to pass ‘Go’ and contact Ryan directly, email him at rcain@corporatetaxnetwork.com, and make sure to mention SOS.

Technology and the herd and we refer to the proliferation of accelerators and semi-incubators (by which we mean the General Assemblies and New Work Cities of the world: spaces where entrepreneurs gather to work, and hang and exchange ideas with other entrepreneurs). As for accelerators, Y Combinator might have been first (but don’t quote us) and TechStars might call themselves #1, but neither is the only game in any town, and the list is growing. Globally (Help for Startups! – A semi-complete list of – global – startup accelerator programs http://bit.ly/aSjtsh while closer to home, Mark Birch offers his (growing) list of NYC tech incubators and workspaces http://bit.ly/ntoNzb). Being a mentor in one (ERA) and after having attended demo days for several more, while the equity you surrender upfront might seem steep to some, there is strength in those numbers: the help that is offered, be it mentoring, legal, office space; they attract a fair amount of next-stage investors come demo day; and the energy of having that many startups in a fairly confined space for an intense three-month period – well, whether you sink or swim, you are prepared come demo day. There are a number of accelerator deadlines coming up – and more to come, we’re sure, and if you’re considering one, here are 7 Common Mistakes Startups Make on Accelerator Program Applications. To help you get an edge, here are the most common pitfalls and what you can do to hack those startup accelerator applications. http://on.mash.to/er9xJQ. Now – and once you’ve gone through a program, it’s up to you to fly on your own petard, but always good to at least take that first step.

Speaking of which, we heard that Last the NYC Mayor Bloomberg showed up at the New York Tech Meetup and announced a new council on technology and innovation, and the 3^rd Big Apps Awards. The council, to be chaired by the deputy mayor, is made up of venture capitalists and entrepreneurs to explore ways Bloomberg’s administration can foster growth in the local technology community. “We can’t sit here and let Silicon Valley be bigger than us in anything,” Bloomberg said, perhaps reacting to Paul Graham’s declaration that he was not bringing a Y Combinator to NYC, and what are the startup costs for that? Is another committee really going to help foster technology and innovation? Is throwing $100 million in tax payer dollars (for a new tech college campus) of an already strapped city really going to make a huge difference to the entrepreneurial landscape? Bloomberg did recall his early days as an entrepreneur in the city – and we do wish he’d recalled things like tax burdens; the endless paperwork of incorporating/regulations involved in setting up a business in New York as opposed to Delaware or Nevada or any number of other East Coast states that our budding entrepreneurs tend to gravitate to. And of course there are more regulations now than when he first started his business. If politicians can’t remember everything about their roots, we wish that they’d consider their grassroots – at least occasionally.Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

NEW Silicon Alley Gets Its Own TEDx Conference, betabeat reported (http://bit.ly/reF16b) and tickets are going fast. Mark Thursday, October 27th on your calendar, because GREY Advertising will be open up its Fifth Avenue space to a host of speakers from the city’s booming tech scene. Buy your ticket here. Now: http://tedxsiliconalley.eventbrite.com/ And kudos to SOS members Chris Grayson and Kelly Haldous for putting it together!

NEW Anna Curran is the New York Co-Founder of The Startup Foundation (a Kauffman Foundation project). It takes a lot for a startup to get noticed in this town. Lack of visibility is one of the many a major challenges facing an entrepreneur who is on the path to growing and scaling their businesses. To answer the call, the Startup Foundation NYC will be hosting press events where journalists will have the opportunity connect with several startups curated by theme. The goal is to reveal early stage startups to journalists and help them gain traction. If you’d like a shot at some great press for your startup, here’s a start: http://bit.ly/qsyWz4 Winners will be notified November 2^nd.

ER Accelerator is now accepting applications for its winter session. You don’t have to be NYC based, but you will have to move here during the program – and it is worth your while: each company gets $25,000 in seed funding and three months of:
Free collaborative office space in the heart of New York City
Best-of-class one-on-one mentoring from 140+ of industry’s best experts (both during and after the three month session)
Access to experienced technologists, UI gurus and other product experts
Free legal and other services
Hands-on help from inSITE business interns and engineering interns
Exposure to dozens of leading seed investors and VCs during the Accelerator
At the end of the session, startups will pitch to hundreds of angel investors and venture capitalists and continue to utilize the ER Accelerator network indefinitely! So get those applications in. Deadline: November 19^th: http://eranyc.com/apply/

NEW 100th Roundtable Recap, and we thank Mark Peter Davis for sharing: The 1M/1M program aims to help a million entrepreneurs globally reach $1 million in revenue (and beyond), thereby building the foundation of a robust, distributed and sustainable economic value creation that would add up to $1 trillion dollars in global GDP. It would also result in creating at least 10 million jobs around the world. And today, we have a group of early adopter premium members who are making good use of the program. In over 100 roundtables, the founder has personally coached more than 400 early-stage entrepreneurs. And between the free and premium programs, as well as the blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, we have a community of more than 200,000 people engaged in the initiative at various levels. Deadlines coming up: Thursday, October 20, Register Here; Thursday, October 27, Register Here.

We mentioned Hubitat last week, and do check it out: it features excellent amenities, associated corporate services – and its backed by a team of mentors, including serial entrepreneurs and angel investors to help members where and when they need it. We’re excited about the model and will keep you posted on the series of launch events, and you can also track them on facebook & twitter @hubitat. They will be opening anon, and it seems to us a cross between an accelerator and an incubator/shared office space, with mentors in residence. The best of both worlds, so stay tuned.

NEW Women 2.0 Startup Weekend in SF, November 18^th- 20^th. We provide the co-working space and brain fuel, and you bring the energy and innovation to build something big over the weekend. Both men and women are invited to get your ticket for Women 2.0 Startup Weekend now! To register: http://w2.startupweekend.org/tickets/

NEW NYC Big App Awards – New York City is challenging software developers to create apps that use city data to make NYC better. $50k in cash and prizes! You have from now until January 25^th to enter. For more information and to apply: http://2011.nycbigapps.com/

Understanding How Dilution Affects You at a Startup. Always a thorny issue, So here is Mark Suster’s crack at explaining the world of dilution to you. Let us know what you think. And if you want more goodness like this don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter and follow Jess on Twitter. We’ll bring you some more goodness again. Let us know what topics you want us to break down for ya. Complete with infographics – and a haircut: http://bit.ly/oXyQcf

Steve Jobs and the Seven Rules of Success. Over the years, I’ve become a student of sorts of Jobs’ career and life, the writer offers. Here’s my take on the rules and values underpinning his success. Any of us can adopt them to unleash our “inner Steve Jobs.” From Entrepreneur: http://bit.ly/oh6c6m

Founders And VCs Reveal 21 Books Every Entrepreneur Should Read. There are some surprises – and some you should have already read in high school. http://read.bi/oyhCrr

Fletcher’s angry list of startup rules. Mark Fletcher was the creator of Bloglines and Onelist (which, after merging with eGroups, sold to Yahoo and became Yahoo Groups).His advice is spot-on for a lot of the web 2.0 companies being launched now and his list is a little edgier than a lot of the smile-faced spin you see on VC blogs. Note that Mark himself seems to start companies during down-cycles, and sell them when the market gets hot. Then he goes on vacation for a year or two and waits for the next down-cycle. Listen and learn: http://bit.ly/ExlcZ

Internal Google Memo on Platfroms. This was never supposed to go live, but oops, there you have it. Or, here you have it and great stuff, in case you missed it: http://bit.ly/oUIwSN

Occupying My Mind. Fred Wilson, who wrote this #OWS post, is very much part of the 1% and not the 99. He makes good points, and certainly touched off a fire storm in the comments section. http://bit.ly/mX8V7T

For your amusement this week, Siri says some weird things, but you’ve got to admit: Siri has personality. And maybe a few things you’d have never thought of. It’s a definite chuckls: http://bit.ly/ns294v

That’s it from us and as some of you know, it’s been a rough week for me, personally, so we do hope you come out to the Empire State Building tonight and whether you make it on not, no worries. As always, help is on the way…

10/11/11

Good morning, All,

It’s a short week, so just one – somewhat abbreviated – newsletter and remember, our next EW+SOS+ER Rock out… will be taking place October 18^th, and yes, we will have investors and potential cofounders there for you to meet. This time, it’ll be taking place at the Empire State Building. To register: http://bit.ly/mY5QED

Manhattan will get a new addition to the entrepreneur ecosystem this month as Hubitat opens the doors to its new townhouse co-working space in Flatiron. We’ve had a discreet preview of the multi-floor complex to see its work in progress and happy to note that there’s excellent provision for amenities, associated corporate services – and its backed by a team of mentors, including serial entrepreneurs and angel investors. We’re excited about the model and will keep you posted on the series of launch events, and you can also track them on facebook & twitter @hubitat. Cool beans!

Much has been written about Steve Jobs this past week. Guy Kawasaki, who survived having worked for him twice, spoke at Silicon Valley Bank’s CEO Summit last week, and shared the 12 Lessons of Steve Jobs that you can apply as entrepreneurs to your companies (http://bit.ly/r7X5Yp). If you don’t want to watch the whole video, he also blogged the substance of it: How to Change the World: What I Learned from Steve Jobs: http://bit.ly/ocq9u9
This is what Jobs lived by.
1) Experts are clueless. Figure stuff out by yourselves. The experts listened to Steve Jobs
2) Customers cannot tell you what you need – you need to propose them something new and useful
3) Present big challenges to your employees
4) Design counts (not only price or functionality)
5) Big Graphics and Big Fonts – the 8 pt font is out. Make a statement
6) Jump Curves. Do things 10x better, not 10% better. If you want to change the world, you can’t do it on the curve your on. The real innovation happens on the next curve.
7) Either it works or it doesn’t: Apple reversed itself by allowing 3^rd party apps. It was a game-changer. Again.
8) Price isn’t Value. Most people care about price: be unique and valuable.
9) A-players hire A-players. B-players hire C-players, and so on…) The moment you lower your standards, the Bozo Explosion starts, because you’re hiring Bozos. Hire people better than you.
10) Real CEOs can demo. Real CEOs can actually use their product
11) Real entrepreneurs SHIP, not SLIP. Don’t worry – be crappy: no need for perfectionism – take the next step. Don’t ship a piece of crap – ship something that has jumped curves, even if it has elements of crappiness to it
12) Some things need to be seen to be believed. You need to believe in something before seeing it
Our favorite came during the Q&A: How do you start a company? Start with ‘wouldn’t it be cool if (there was something that could…).” Take heed, entrepreneurs: that’s how you invent the future. Steve Jobs once said that we’re here to put a dent in the universe. His death certainly created a disturbance in the force. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

NEW ER Accelerator is now accepting applications for its winter session. Open house October 13^th: http://era2happyhour.eventbrite.com/ Come meet some of the mentors and companies that went through the inaugural program and remember: each company gets $25,000 in seed funding and three months of:
Free collaborative office space in the heart of New York City
Best-of-class one-on-one mentoring from 140+ of industry’s best experts (both during and after the three month session)
Access to experienced technologists, UI gurus and other product experts
Free legal and other services
Hands-on help from inSITE business interns and engineering interns
Exposure to dozens of leading seed investors and VCs during the Accelerator
At the end of the session, startups will pitch to hundreds of angel investors and venture capitalists and continue to utilize the ER Accelerator network indefinitely! So get those applications in. Deadline: November 19^th: http://eranyc.com/apply/

Y Combinator now accepting applications for Winter 2012. Deadline: October 10^th. The ideal company would have two or three founders. We’ll consider those with four or five. We’re reluctant to accept one-person companies, though we have funded a couple. For those of you interested in applying now or finding out more about the process: http://bit.ly/nUYxNY

AXE App Day 2011 – The First Major Brand-Sponsored Developer Conference will be held on October 11, 2011 at the Standard Hotel in New York City, but you must request an invitation. Shelly Palmer will be your host for this, invitation-only, unique business opportunity created by the AXE Master Brand at Unilever – the first brand-sponsored one-day hybrid developer conference, training seminar and networking day designed by Unilever to engender communication, collaboration and ideation around the AXE/Deo Master Brand (AXE) of personal care products. To request an invitation please visit http://www.theaxeeffect.com/appday/register. You may submit formal presentations of app ideas at any time before the event, at the event or up to midnight, November 10. What’s in it for you? A year’s worth of bus dev in 8 hours. You will be in front of Unilever and the AXE Master Brand and they will give you the information and tools you need to create engaging, AXE-sponsored, apps for mobile platforms, social networks, game consoles, connected TV’s or any other popular platform that tickles your fancy. You can present your ideas at the event or up to a month afterwards. The good news is that after attending AXE App Day 2011, you will have a personal relationship with the brand. For more information: http://www.theaxeeffect.com/appday,

NEW The 5th Annual PITCH: Women 2.0 Startup Competition, deadline November 30^th. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/pVlwCg The competition is open to early-stage ventures around the world, from high growth business ventures in web to mobile, from cleantech to gaming. Applying companies must have a female in the founding team, be in beta stage, and have received less than 3 million in funding.

Notes From the MIT Startup Bootcamp 2011. According to attendee Jason Morrison, Startup Bootcamp brought an inspiring and thoughful collection of speakers who have had a variety of startup successes. For a few gems of solid advice, grounded in experience, read on: http://bit.ly/mSBWR7

Five Questions Your Business Plan Must Answer. Business plans don’t have to be a lengthy ordeal. But you’re more likely to get off to a good start if you think through critical questions about how you’ll make money and run the show. http://bit.ly/nm2dRt

Conferences are expensive and who has $3Gs to shell out every time BI decides to drool over yet another 20something? Yes, there’s another conference coming up – isn’t there always? – and here are 43 Pithy Quips On The Business of Software (which is yet another conference) but some good tweets here and one of our faves – Great ideas are fragile at birth because they are indistinguishable from crazy stupid ideas. And thank you, Dan, for sharing this with us: http://bit.ly/nYDIW1

An Insider’s Take on Attracting Angel Investment. For early stage companies, angel investment can be an attractive funding option, says James Hunt, angel investor and adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business. Hunt specializes in early stage funding and has holdings in about two dozen companies. Here, he shares the secrets to getting a blessing–and funding–from an angel. http://bit.ly/ncCYi1

52% of Consumers Sick Of Daily Deals. Merchants are Burnt Out. Are Daily Deals Businesses Dying? Have you ever opened up your inbox and found at least 5 to 10 different daily deal offers? Yes, it’s deal-of-the-day fatigue. However, according to research firm BIA/Kelsey, “consumer spending on deals in the U.S. will hit $2 billion, up from its previous forecast of $1.2 billion. http://bit.ly/pVseO2 But wait! There’s a lot more! Groupon’s Hidden Influence on Reputation A Groupon deal might boost sales but, it can also lower a merchant’s reputation as measured by Yelp ratings, say computer scientists who have analyzed the link between daily deals and online reviews. Welcome (back) to the slippery slope: http://bit.ly/p5F2LP

Why Aren’t You Building Your Startup for Early Adopter. Twitter was originally a tight community of geeky early adopters that were staying in touch with each other in real-time. It crossed the chasm when it became a popular way to follow celebrities or news such as CNN and Oprah. And now it’s approaching a near ubiquitous form of real-time communication, celebrity-folllowing, link-sharing, media distribution, etc. http://bit.ly/rek9Wn

That’s it from us and chuckle of the week: speaking of the Bozo Explosion (see above), when asked who hires D players, Kawasaki replied, “Boards of Directors, which is code for VCs.” And now, as always, help is on the way,..

10/6/11

Good morning, All,

We prepared this newsletter before the news hit last night that Steve Jobs had died, and although we did work with him in the mid 90s, in the days when he was out of favor at Apple, rather than add yet another eulogy, we give you the word of Jobs himself before proceeding with our regularly schedule program:

“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backwards. So you have to trust that the dots will somehow connect in your future,” he told Stanford University graduates during a commencement speech in 2005. “You have to trust in something: your gut, destiny, life, karma, whatever. This approach has never let me down, and has made all the difference in my life.”

Apple introduced the new iPhone 4S and the big new feature is Siri, the voice-activated personal assistant (Take A Look At Siri, The iPhone’s New Voice-Powered Personal Assistant http://read.bi/rhiPrK. Yes, you will have to wait for the iPhone5 for all of the cool new features Apple has been promising.: http://read.bi/rgrTas

For the New Yorkers who waited in lines around the corner last week at the Metropolitan Pavilion to hear when Paul Graham would be bringing Y Combinator to this coast, well, you’ll no doubt have your iPhone 5S long before that happens. Paul Graham will not be opening a Y Combinator incubator in NYC. He made that abundantly clear as he pretty slammed the city, basically contending that we’re focused on money, first and foremost, and would never be anything more than second-best to the Valley. (Full disclosure: we were not there, but we did have boots on the ground, taking copious notes and thank you, N.) Oh, and at least New York has surpassed the formerly second-best Boston, he noted. Huh?

Is it a contest? And was all of that really necessary? More importantly, why did he bother coming, if the main point was to insult us? Well, he’s looking for the next Y Combinator class of startups, and yes, you are allowed to return to New York, or wherever you may happen to hail from afterwards. Whew!

Let’s talk about money-grubbing. When was the last time you did a Goog search, where the top few results were not advertiser-based? And let’s not even go into Facebook and their recent move to suck up what they can of the web. He went on to say that New York is more about social media and Silicon Valley platform companies like Google and Facebook, that can be worth hundreds of billions of dollars – and where they dictate terms of service and don’t seem to bother themselves with anything so mundane as privacy, which we try to respect on this coast and in much of the free world.

Graham also took swipes at Gilt Groupe, one of the New York’s great success stories, and Fred Wilson, who turned down Airbnb when they were first looking for investors. Yes, he slammed the weather, too, joking about having a “damp philtrum” (the area between the upper lip and nose) – which he pretty much had turned up in the air all evening – from all of the east coast humidity. Interesting to see the TechCrunch California spin on the evening (YC NYC: Paul Graham Shares The Antidote To Startup Poison http://tcrn.ch/nuNhQS), as opposed to BI and TNW (Paul Graham on why New York City won’t beat Silicon Valley http://tnw.co/pQmdPa and Embraced By New Yorkers With Open Arms, Y-Combinator’s Paul Graham Tells Them New York Is Second-Rate http://bit.ly/obNHhY, respectively).

We don’t completely disagree with Mr. Graham, btw, when it comes to SV v NY based investors. The West Coast investors are more willing to take chances on unknown quantities and we do hope that at least some of the local investors in the room took heed. And interesting to note that Cali-based investors have been opening offices on the East Coast and new incubators and accelerator are springing up all the time to help foster entrepreneurs. Paul Graham’s Y Combinator alums have had success, but the British-born, East Coast-educated former New Yorker’s incubator isn’t the only game in town. He himself pointed out that he had his first success in New York, and you can, too. Or in Boston, London, Chili or Uganda and if all else fails, remember: think globally; act locally, and damn the torpedos, no matter where in the world you happen to be. Onward and forward.

For you edification this week

And speaking of privacy issues: HowTo: Setup secure and private Facebook browsing. This will take you through securing your Facebook account, enable settings for improved privacy, disabling features where your Facebook information can be shared with third-party sites, and finally setting up your browser for private sharing: http://bit.ly/nHJSCq

…and more privacy issues: The sneaky rascals: LinkedIn ignores its members. Again. LinkedIn has changed its security settings to allow third-party
advertising, which includes allowing LinkedIn to use profile information,
names and photos. What?! Not to worry. Help is on the way. Piece includes
links to shut out the spammers: http://bit.ly/pZAHQ1

Competitive Research 101 for Startups. Whenever I get pitched by a startup, I always look to see it they’ve properly identified the competition, writes Ben Yoskowitz, founding partner at Year One Labs in Canada. For starters, I can guarantee you that someone is already working on the same idea. It’s a universal truth. But more importantly than that, competitive research and analysis is one of those areas that is often horribly lacking from any pitch. There are a few reasons for this: http://bit.ly/q7FGxE

Reflecting on my Summer at 500Startups There are a number of accelerators and incubators out there – deadlines are coming up – and we thought you might appreciate some insight into what it’s like being part of one, from one entrepreneur’s point of view: http://bit.ly/oQZgLf

How to Estimate Startup Costs. You can calculate starting costs by making three simple lists, a few educated guesses and then adding them all up. And yes, the piece does include a worksheet: http://bit.ly/prdtKI

For your amusement: More Ridiculously Annoying Startup Memes. Yes, our friend Mark Birch is at it again with twelve MORE annoying startups memes, and he’s spot on. Yet again: http://bit.ly/p9EbZZ

Something we stumbled up, and it looks interesting, so we thought we’d share. Any thoughts/opinions/feedback would be welcomed and as far as we can tell, there are no particular deadlines: Advise.me – We take your business to the next level by pairing you with some of the brightest and most successful minds in the industry. We provide or find you funding from some of the best angels and VCs and leverage our incredible network to put your company in the spotlight. Currently in New York and San Francisco, we are global. Apply here: http://advise.me/gsi-apply/

10/4/11

Good morning, All,

Yes, we know the newsletters have gotten a bit long, so we’ll be sending out two this week, and let us know what you think:

The first will include deadlines, events and member queries – we figured you’d want them and the sooner the better. The second will be more focused on news from around the industry for your edification; member news and good stuff that is helpful to startups. And away we go:

First, our next EW+SOS+ER Rock out on the Terrace will be taking place October 18^th, and yes, we will have investors there for you to meet, and we will tag potential technical cofounders and people who are looking for cofounders. This time, it’ll be taking place at the Empire State Building. Register now for the early bird rate: http://bit.ly/mY5QED

Deadlines!

iEvening Pitch Event – October 6^th – It’s not too late submit your business plan. For more information: http://ibreakfast.com/ To apply to pitch: http://bit.ly/eoQ50u

BetaBeat is looking for startups to star in a new web series – $10k cash prize/$100k investment. Betabeat is launching our first web series, Elevator Pitch. We will be profiling ten NYC startups and giving each one the chance to pitch Lerer Ventures in person. There will be a $10,000 cash prize and a $100,000 (or more) investment as possible outcomes for the winners. Unlike Mr. Arrington, we don’t influence the decision, that all comes from Lerer. If you are interested in participating, please send over a brief bio of you and your team, a short summary of what your company does and a brief explanation of why it would make sense for a VC to fund. Any other assets like video/pitch deck/website are welcome. To respond: popper.b@gmail.com and good luck!

NYU Entrepreneurs Challenge – Deadline October 5^th Discover what it really takes to launch a startup. Enter the $200K Entrepreneurs Challenge, the premier platform for identifying, nurturing and showcasing emerging entrepreneurs at NYU. At stake in our three competitions is a combined up to $200,000 in startup money plus pro bono services and technical assistance to help your venture succeed. All NYU students and alumni are welcome to compete. No prior business courses or experience are necessary. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/pqfwz7, and if you’re not an NYU student or alum – good time to befriend one!
Y Combinator now accepting applications for Winter 2012. Deadline: October 10^th. The ideal company would have two or three founders. We’ll consider those with four or five. We’re reluctant to accept one-person companies, though we have funded a couple. For those of you interested in applying now or finding out more about the process: http://bit.ly/nUYxNY
AXE App Day 2011 – The First Major Brand-Sponsored Developer Conference will be held on October 11, 2011 at the Standard Hotel in New York City, but you must request an invitation. Shelly Palmer will be your host for this, invitation-only, unique business opportunity created by the AXE Master Brand at Unilever – the first brand-sponsored one-day hybrid developer conference, training seminar and networking day designed by Unilever to engender communication, collaboration and ideation around the AXE/Deo Master Brand (AXE) of personal care products. To request an invitation please visit http://www.theaxeeffect.com/appday/register. You may submit formal presentations of app ideas at any time before the event, at the event or up to midnight, November 10, 2011. At their sole discretion, AXE will pick apps for development and potential deployment. What’s in it for you? A year’s worth of bus dev in 8 hours. You will be in front of Unilever and the AXE Master Brand and they will give you the information and tools you need to create engaging, AXE-sponsored, apps for mobile platforms, social networks, game consoles, connected TV’s or any other popular platform that tickles your fancy. You can present your ideas at the event or up to a month afterwards. The good news is that after attending AXE App Day 2011, you will have a personal relationship with the brand. For more information: http://www.theaxeeffect.com/appday,

6^th Annual New England Venture Summit – Call for Top Innovators and an SOS discount! The early deadline for presenting company applications is October 26^thIf you are a Startup seeking capital and/or partnerships, submit your plan for the opportunity to present at the premier venue connecting emerging growth companies with active Venture Capitalists, Angel Investors, Corporate VCs and Investment Firms. A select group of 50 Top Innovators from the technology, life sciences and Clean-tech sectors will be chosen to present their breakthrough investment opportunities to an exclusive audience of investors.. E-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for more details and an application. To nominate a company please forward: company name, main contact at firm, contact details and why you think they should present to nominations@youngstartup.com. The event happens December 14^th; 50% off if you register by November 9^th: http://bit.ly/nCkYN6 For a further discount, the code is: sos.

ER Accelerator is now accepting applications for its winter session. Deadline: November 19: http://eranyc.com/apply/
Each company will receive $25,000 in seed funding and three months of:
Free collaborative office space in the heart of New York City
Best-of-class one-on-one mentoring from 140+ of industry’s best experts (both during and after the three month session)
Access to experienced technologists, UI gurus and other product experts
Free legal and other services
Hands-on help from inSITE business interns and engineering interns
Exposure to dozens of leading seed investors and VCs during the Accelerator
At the end of the session, startups will pitch to hundreds of angel investors and venture capitalists and continue to utilize the ER Accelerator network indefinitely! So get those applications in: http://eranyc.com/apply/

It’s NYU Startup Week (http://techatnyu.org/startupweek/) so a busy one and lots of events on. Of course, we’ll still leave you with a chuckle, and this week, it’s a twitter joke, in under 140 characters: Man walks into a doctor’s and says: “I think I’m addicted to Twitter.” Doctor replies: “Sorry, I don’t follow you.” (via @NesrineMalik). And now, as always, help is on the way…

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Monthly Archives: October 2011