4/24/12

Good morning, All,

First, yes, it’s finally happened: we’ve built out the StartupOneStop website, and all of the past newsletters are there – sans posts, as we respect your privacy and wouldn’t want to be responsible for you being spammed by the world at large. Happy to hear your feedback/suggestions and our thanks to our developer – an SOS member who built it in a day. Seriously! If you’d like to get in touch with him, let us know (hello@startuponestop.com) and happy to make the introduction. Also, our thanks to those of you who utilized our new ‘donate’ button and showed your appreciation. Thank you so much and donations – and sponsorships, now that the website’s more robust – are always appreciated!

Our first SOS bbq of the season will be on May 3rd on it will be in NYC, not Chicago (eventbrite glitch and sorry about that). rain date: May 10th), sponsored once again by our friends at 1099partners.com (http://www.1099partners.com/). Come and have some BBQ, talk to the 1099 people and enjoy the great outdoors in a lovely garden! $15 in advance; $20 at the door. To RSVP: http://sosbbq20121.eventbrite.com/

Our next SOS 1-on-1 with an investor will be in a couple of weeks and we have a direct pipeline to a group of serious angels whose representative will be at the event. Caveat: you must send us your deck in advance, and you can submit from anywhere in the world. The focus is on startups who have developed product and are looking to get to the next level, which means, you need the money to get there, and they’re not focusing on any particular vertical. To clarify: You do not have to be at the event, but if you are in the NYC area, it’s recommended that you come and have face time, if they’ve asked to meet with you after having seen your deck. For every one else, well, there’s VOIP, so do feel free to send your deck to hello@startuponestop.com and we will pass it to investors’ rep. Good luck, And looking forward to seeing them!

Next, an exclusive SOS Member Offer: Complimentary Admission to NY XPO for Business. Because of our long standing support of the NY XPO for Business we are thrilled to offer YOU COMPLIMENTARY ADMISSION ($15 Value). This offer is not available anywhere else. FREE 1-DAY XPO PASS INCLUDES UNLIMITED NETWORKING & 2 SEMINARS
Date: May 2 – 3 2012
Location: Javits Center Hall 1A – 655 West, 34th Street, New York, NY 10001
For more information and to register: http://bit.ly/PQPDb
Discount code: COMP1

It’s not easy landing a domain name these days and as a result, startups come up with some – let’s be kind and say – ‘inventive’ names. Remember: your name is your brand. Instagram. Great name. Tells you what it is and they did rather well with the name and the company they built with it. How important is a name? 12 Apps That Will Help You Quit Instagram Forever Hipstamatic? Seriously? Does it tell you what they’re doing, and in what space? http://read.bi/HYGWLM From former entrepreneur/current VC Mark Suster (and his aptly named Both Sides of the Table), “when you think about a brand you need to create a name that will represent the kind of organization or community you want to build. You can either have a functional name (i.e. Instagram) or a nonsense name that doesn’t paint you into any particular corner (Twitter). (Some Thoughts on Branding Startups and Communities: http://bit.ly/I3CRVE). Speaking of names, why should any place outside of Silicon Valley be ‘silicon’ anything? Once you’re derivative, you set ourself up for comparison and have only yourself to blame. Come up with a name that differentiates you. It can be simple: Apple. Orange. But careful about phrases associated with it. You notice there’s no Banana. Who’d want to be referred to by some press wag as a ‘second banana.’ Stay away from bananas. As many of you know, we’re a recruiter by trade and years ago, after one of my associates placed their VP of Engineering, a SV-based startup called asking for their next hire – their head of business development. So, we called a BD/Marketing candidate we knew. “They’re going after a space that their lead competitor totally owns, and the first thing I intend to tell them is that they need to change the company name. We decided against submitting him, and here’s a lesson in keeping your own council and not to necessarily listen to the marketing guy. And Google it is, to this day. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

ERA Summer 2012 Application deadline: April 29th Yes, it’s here in NYC, with access to world-class mentors, office space, and more. Each company receives $25,000/8% equity. And we’re one of the mentors! For more information and to apply: http://eranyc.com/apply/

NEW TechCrunch Disrupt Early Bird ticket extended to April 30^th. Yes, it’s pricey, so if anyone has a ticket for me, do let me know! http://tcrn.ch/I3XzEX

The Second Annual User Experience Awards are here! Submission deadline May 1^st. The User Experience Awards aim to honor and celebrate outstanding UX projects and practitioners. The UX Awards are produced in partnership with IXDA NY, NYC Chapter of the UPA and NYC-CHI and culminate with an Awards Ceremony on June 12 in NYC. We’re actively seeking submissions from UX professionals for this year’s Awards! If you think you’ve worked on a project in the last two years that shows great user experience in terms of the final product or the process you followed, please submit your project, app, software, website, or even strategy to UserExperienceAwards.com by May 1 2012! Enter to win cash prizes, press, PR and community recognition! Full details of the submission process can be found on http://userexperienceawards.com/

NEW IBM SmartCamp Kick Start New York, deadline May 4^th. SmartCamp is an exclusive global program bringing together entrepreneurs, investors and experienced mentors who want to build a Smarter Planet. SmartCamp provides access to world-class advisors plus a direct route to seed and venture capital. Selected companies work with our global mentor network consisting of world-class entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts. 0 equity taken. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/IbI6n9

Hacker School: Summer 2012 Applications Open, deadline May 7^th: http://bit.ly/Inm9fo. It will run from June 4 to August 25. The batch will be hosted at Etsy, which is also sponsoring $50,000 worth of scholarships for female programmers (Hacker School remains free for all students; the scholarship money is for living expenses). We’re trying to make this batch at least 50% women. For more information: http://bit.ly/Ilm8fm

NEW Seedcamp Berlin, deadline May 15^th. Seedcamp is an early stage mentoring and investment program that engages startups through our monthly Seedcamp Events, where entrepreneurs present their companies, network, receive mentoring, and compete for investment by Seedcamp. Yearly, we invest in about 20 companies. For more information and to apply: http://www.seedcamp.com/ Seedcamp NYC is coming up in June. Watch for it.

Blueprint Health: Transform health & wellnesswith your startup, deadline June 8^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. For more information and to apply: http://www.blueprinthealth.org/

Speaking of Goog, If only they’d use their powers for good… Sergey Brin’s dilemma. There’s lots Google could do that would protect all Internet users from being harmed by dangerous elements within any government, or any other organized group: http://zd.net/JgSFqh

Speaking of marketers…Are we entering another bubble? A lot of activity going on in the market with +$1bil. valuations for companies with relatively low revenues or in Instagram’s case, none whatsoever. According to the author, the cloud is a game changer, like the Internet was in the 90′s and its going to completely disrupt the way consumer services are launched (if it hasn’t already). Yes, we do remember when it was called ‘networked computing’ and in this case, hats off to the marketer who changed the name to deceive the clueless: http://bit.ly/HS7ppz

Having a cofounder is a blessing and a curse at the same time. You will always have someone to rely on and get advice from. Things will get done faster. There will be arguments. Some you win, some you lose. Everything is manageable with a cofounder if you both have the same vision. If that changes it’s better to move on. http://bit.ly/IZmSTX

In its 3^rd year, Kickstarter successfully raises over $119 million, taking home $6 million in commissions. Interesting statistics here, including the most popular categories for investment, and yes, $1 is tech: http://tnw.co/JiHDMr

The ugly side of Kickstarter. Not all Kickstarter projects will succeed. It’s inevitable that some will fail. Some lessons – and caveats – on how to pitch on kickstarter : http://bit.ly/Ih43PP

And the winners are…Demo took place this past week, and good stuff always comes out of it. Here are this year’s Demo gods: http://bit.ly/Ji2RfQ

It can be done – How Niche Content Sites Can Build And Keep Audiences. http://tcrn.ch/JjmZ3o

NY Tech Meetup’s rising voice. We were personally an early member of the NYTech meetup, back in 2004 and there certainly weren’t 800 people in the room. Not even close. Now its becoming a force to be reckoned with. Which doesn’t make it any easier to get a ticket, but still: http://bit.ly/JikYSY

That’s it from us this week, and hope you have an opportunity to check out the new and improved SOS website (http://startuponestop.com/). We also welcome your feedback, and if there’s anything we’ve missed, do let us know! Also, lots of member news today, and please do keep us in the loop on good news that you’d like to share! And now, as always, help is on the way…

4/17/12

Good morning, All,

Our first SOS bbq of the season will be on May 3rd (rain date: May 10th), sponsored once again by our friends at 1099partners.com. Come and have some BBQ, talk to the 1099 people and enjoy the great outdoors in a lovely garden! $15 in advance; $20 at the door. To RSVP: http://sosbbq20121.eventbrite.com/

We’re an industry that loves free stuff. Twitter, facebook, instagram, email, rewards for check-ins. The list goes on. We’ve not only made a habit/lifestyle of it: we’ve made it a business, too, and as we well know, the buck always stops somewhere, whether they’re gathering information about you to sell to a third party, or well, gathering information about you to sell to a third party. Let’s face it: it’s a tough economy and the bucks have stopped in a lot of areas. Opting for premium/freemium is an option, but that only gets you so far in some quarters (How I lost access to my Google account today http://bit.ly/IGwo2C). But remember: If you are not paying for it, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold. So, sell and if you want to go big, think big, meaning think global, and that was one of the lessons of the TheBizDen 2012 Business Summit that took place two weeks ago at NYIT, organized by – a student. Arjun Rai, in fact. If you missed it, here’s a great article, filled with points you need to hear (Instagram Dreams? Wake Up. VCs Still Want to See the Money: http://bit.ly/J0bT0n) Lest we forget: Instagram is the exception to almost all rules except aqu/hiring. If the money isn’t rolling in from outside parties, rethink how you plan to monetize.
Lessons from the BizDen Summit, elsewhere and well, just common sense:
1.     Keep your day job. Good advice from the bizden panel: Investors will often encourage entrepreneurs who are employed to stay that way. Many startups don’t earn a profit for one to two years or more, you may need that money in the end. And closing a round takes time, and the panel also suggested…
2.     Have passion.  Truly care about what you’re doing. “I always tell young entrepreneurs to expect a five-year slog,” says Michael Yavonditte, an angel investor and venture partner at ff Venture Capital in New York. And the only way to do that, he says is to be passionate about your business.
3.     Always think outside of the box. From The Economist: Air for shares. Meaning ad space for equity. In Europe, a handful of companies are helping struggling start-ups with an unusual model: investing advertising space in them instead of money. There are caveats here, you’re supposedly plucky entrepreneurs, dammit! Pluck may work where luck may fail you: http://econ.st/HigTzE
4.     Revenue is important. Recurring revenue is even better. It’s called ‘proof of concept’ when you have a loyal following. Make sure that your passion is one that instills passion – and loyalty – in your (dare we say it) clientele. Big time.
5.     Many entrepreneurs undervalue their product or service and we find that that’s especially true in many a New York based startup. Stop that! Now! Eyeballs are important. Revenue is better and more compelling. Have a basic product – and a value-add, just in case you’re not instagram.
6.     Press isn’t success. One of the panelists observed that he noticed a correlation between the number of mentions in TechCrunch and the success of a company: the more TC mentions, the more likely that company was to fail. Our takeaway: if you’re product is getting press, make sure it works. Well.
7. Don’t do what everyone else is doing. They’re already doing it. You might have a better product: they may be better connected, and that counts for a lot. Do what no one else has thought to do yet.
8.     The lesson of Instagram. Instagram came along and focused in two hot areas simultaneously: iPhone & social media (integrating with both twitter and facebook). They also had a beautifully designed product that put its users’ needs front and center. Yes, it was free: it was also a perfect storm.
9.     Is Direct Selling The Next Driver Of Startup Commerce Companies? Mulitlevel Marketing has gotten a bad rep, and for good reason. But what if you had a real product to sell. Suddenly, all of those FB friends mean something and can be monetized in a real way. Likes are nice. Commerce is far more meaningful: http://tcrn.ch/IJR8qc
10.     Make sure you know all the right people. The instagram founder did (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter: Everyone’s connected in Silicon Valley: http://bit.ly/HUgm4k),
If you want to have a successful company, anywhere, it helps to know the people who can help you along the way. You don’t have to be in Silicon Valley, but you do need to go where the people you need to get to know will be. Network. Email. Follow up. And build a product people need and/or will use. Having a path to monetization doesn’t hurt, either, just in case. Like they say: always bet on black. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

New York Entrepreneur Week starts April 16^thAre you an entrepreneur in practice or at heart? There’s only on place to be this April 16-20. New York Entrepreneur Week. You owe it to yourself to recharge, refuel and refocus your purpose. Use code: StartupOneStop for 15% off
Make sure to come to the Entrepreneurs Walk that will raise funds to support entrepreneurs. That’s 4/18
Walk alongside 650+ other aspiring and accomplished business owners
Where: West Side Highway Path (meeting street sent 48hrs before the event)
Time: 4/18 at 5pm EST
Sign-up:www.EntrepreneurWalk.com

3rd Annual NYC Startup Job Fair, Friday, April 20^th, 2012
1:00 – 2:30 pm Engineers/Developers Only
2:30 – 5:00 pm All Candidates
World Trade Center 7 (250 Greenwich St)
Free – Limited Tickets – Registration Required
This is the third annual NYC Startup Job Fair. The companies present are some of NYC’s top startups. Last year’s event held 40 startups and this year we’ve moved to a larger venue so that we can include more startups. It’s a great chance to talk with and learn more about opportunities with NYC startups.

Founders Institute Israel, deadline April 22^nd. It’s the world’s largest idea-stage incubator, founded by our friend Adeo Ressi. Through its four month idea-stage incubator program, you can launch your dream company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs, while not being required to quit your day job. To apply: http://bit.ly/zoHyNa

Wayra UK Startup Accelerator, deadline, April 22^nd. Telefónica has announced the UK launch of its technology accelerator programme. Wayra is inviting technology startups to apply to receive up to €50,000 (£42,000) investment and access to a new shared workspace in Tottenham Court Road. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/xeugnmThinking about applying to ERA Summer 2012 class? Application deadline: April 29th! To apply to join the the ER Accelerator summer class: http://eranyc.com/apply/

ERA is now accepting applications for Summer 2012! Application deadline: April 29th Yes, it’s here in NYC, with access to world-class mentors, office space, and more. Each company receives $25,000/8% equity. And we’re one of the mentors! For more information and to apply: http://eranyc.com/apply/

As we were saying…Ten Rules for Web Startups. Great list and quite inclusive: http://bit.ly/WuqdX

Don’t Try to Pull an Instagram. Here’s Why. We’re all still a bit heady with Instagram’s seeming Instasuccess. Mark Suster weighs in with a bit of perspective: http://bit.ly/HKj79g

Will This Platform Change Startup Funding Forever? Ah, David B. Lerner, a breath of fresh air: Wefunder splits from the aforementioned platforms in two key ways: It actually does allow businesses to use the platform, and potential funders are also offered a stake of equity in the company, and became active under the JOBS act. http://bit.ly/IkVQs5

Speaking of doing something new, This citizen journalism app lets you create the news and decide which story matters. It’s called Signal, it came out of Arab Spring (created in Lebanon, no less) and according to its creator, it takes up with twitter leaves off – an app that shows you the top stories of any country of the world, completely created and voted by the users in a systematic decentralized way: http://tnw.co/IMqnz3

Finding Early Customers When You Aren’t Internet Famous. Always a tough – and important – one, so here’s some advice for you: http://bit.ly/IN26LK

The Tragedy of Calling Things Silicon Blah. Says Brad Feld, “in the late 90′s a wave of “Silicon Blah” appeared. Silicon Alley, Silicon Mountain, Silicon Prairie, Silicon Slopes, Silicon Gulch, Silicon Bayou, and on, and on, and on. The rallying cry was “we are going to be the next Silicon Valley.” Whatever. At the time, my opinion as someone who disliked generic marketing was that this was the worst branding ever. I feel even more strongly about this today.” Agreed! http://bit.ly/JfEFH0

New Draft Of CISPA Announced: Some Progress, Still Big Problems The House Intelligence Committee has published a new draft of CISPA (pdf and embedded below), which includes the two amendments that were already approved, plus several other additions and changes. In some areas, there is genuine progress—in others, things actually seem to have gotten worse. Unfortunately, some of the biggest problems with the bill remain. http://bit.ly/Iw7gfO Oh, and just for the record, Mark Zuckerberg supports CISPA, too, and this new bill will obliterate online privacy, give the military crazy new abilities to spy on the Internet, and potentially let ISPs block sites and cut off users accused of piracy. (Facebook partially supports CISPA, but is talking with “key lawmakers” about changes: http://tnw.co/HIFdHI)

We did add something new this week: a ‘donate’ button in the SOS footer. The newsletter is free and we plan to keep it that way. If we’ve been of help to you, hey, donations are always appreciated and thank you! That’s it from us this week. Hope to see you at some NYEW events – especially for the Entrepreneurs Walk tomorrow. And now, as always, help is on the way…

4/10/12

ood morning, All,

Our next ERA + SOS Startup Breakfast is April 12th, and for those of you who missed the ER Accelerator Happy Hour last week, Murat will be there and happy to answer any questions you might have about applying and the upcoming session. Breakfast will include famous Fairway bagels, our own fat-free muffins, coffee, tea, juice – and yes, we do know it’s Passover and we will have food on hand to accommodate our members who are observing. . There’s inspiration for you! $15 in advance and $20 at the door. To register: http://bit.ly/GRXHrA and hope to see you there, bright and early. And don’t forget that New York Entrepreneur Week. starts Monday!

What a Monday, eh? A tech spending spree that had FB shelling out $1 billion for instagram, MSFT shelling out as much for 800 AOL patents, and Cerberus took Yellow Pages business off AT&T’s hands for the bargain price of the day – $950 million. Careful, FB: we remember when Yahoo went on a spending spree back in the day, too. Question is: was it a strategic move, a defensive one, or a very expensive way to aqu-hire talent? 13 employees, no revenue, a million downloads the first day the android app is released (not to mention 5 million in 6 days:http://tnw.co/HxRKx9) . Did Facebook panic? http://bit.ly/Ibbg6v Big winner of the day (besides the 13 Instagram employees and their investors): AOL, whose stock shot up $43.

Speaking of Yahoo, the beleaguered company recently laid off 14% of its work force – about 2,000 people, with reports of more to come. Yahoo began as “a globally-branded Internet navigational service that is among the most widely-used guides to information and discovery on the Web,” according to the company itself, back in the day. Yahoo now calls itself a media company (Yahoo Then and Now: Diagnosing a Sad Decline: http://on.mash.to/HQ7AHl), and former upstart Google leads in search. Google also wants to track your every move, and know where you are, both online and off. Yes, they’re in the search business, but that’s just a bridge too far. Remember Orkut? Friendster? Upstart Facebook came along and became the social network, and one of the largest countries, in terms of population, on the planet. Now they wants to know all about you and everyone you know. With the introduction of timeline, social became secondary and they, too, are losing their way (Selling You on Facebook: http://on.wsj.com/HlHSVz). Amazon started out as an online store. Now it’s – the world’s largest online store. Yes, there’s a lesson in here for you:
The Basic Rules of Successful Entrepreneurship:
1.     Don’t lose sight of your vision and the original impetus that drove you to what you needed to do
2.     Pivoting is ok and usually your users will steer you towards what they want. It might be something you yourself didn’t see initially. Listen and learn
3.     If you’ve captured a loyal and growing market, product refinement is fine, but don’t do a 180. When you change the game, you also risk losing your audience but not to worry – another company will come along and fill that need and we’ve no doubt that there are already several next generation FBs in the works. Yahoo was once #1 and seemingly unbeatable in search. Too.
4.     Feature v bug. Having a Phase 2 and/or 3 in the wings is fine. Make sure it’s a logical progression of Phase 1. Your users are there for a reason: make sure you add something that really is a feature rather than something that’s sure to bug – them.
5.     Everything in its time. Don’t do more, faster. Do more, better – and do it the right way. (Groupon: You Must Have Fallen From The Sky: http://bit.ly/HhkucO
6.     And from Lawrence Lenihan: Ethics and Integrity, and remember: reputation is everything – http://bit.ly/HCVRJl
Entrepreneurs start companies because we see a need and it’s usually something we ourselves need. That’s when passion takes over and drives us to defy the time/space continuum and somehow fit 36 hours into a 24 hour day. We build; we refine; we add, we innovate. Sometimes we create an Instagram, but that’s the exception. We personally used to have google as our home page and at least a couple of facebook sessions open at any given time. Now we rarely use google and facebook is there for friends’ events. Amazon hasn’t changed its look much since day one, yet it is still the go-to destination for online shopping. When he started the company, Jeff Bezos said it would take five years for Amazon to become profitable. At the time, he was literally the laughingstock of technology for daring to go up against Barnes & Noble. Five years later…True, he doesn’t get headlines unless he happens to find a space ship engine on the ocean floor. But he built a great product, and the right way: slowly and steadily and eye on the prize. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

MassChallenge, deadline April 11^th. This is the largest-ever startup accelerator and competition, and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strongs attached.
3 month accelerator program. World-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, media and more.
$1M in cash awards. $4M+ in-kind support.
Open to all. Any startup can enter, from anywhere, in any industry.
No equity taken. No restrictions applied.
$1M in cash awards. $4M+ in-kind support.
For more information and to apply: http://masschallenge.org/

NEW GE/OMD 2012 Incubator, deadline April 12^th Free mentorship and workspace, $4000 stipend, no equity taken, and a chance to win $10,000. For more information and to apply: http://geomdincubator.com/2012program

Wall Street Journal Codethon April 13-15 at NYU Law School, and to attend you must apply and be accepted. We’d love to have a good turnout from the NY developer community. More details, a brief application, etc. are available at our site: http://datatransparency.wsj.com/

Turnstone is giving away $25K worth of office furniture, deadline April 15th. Pretty amazing opportunity for a small company. Additional details of the contest can be found here: http://myturnstone.com/contest/. This contest is national. The video should be about why you want a great space to work in and what this makeover would do for you and your company – and this contest is national!

NEW The AT&T and Baruch College Fast Pitch Competition, deadline extended to April 16^th. To enter the competition, visit http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/attpitch and receive a promo code for free access to developer API’s from AT&T. More information under: I Can Help

NEW Founders Institute Israel, deadline April 22^nd. It’s the world’s largest idea-stage incubator, founded by our friend Adeo Ressi. Through its four month idea-stage incubator program, you can launch your dream company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs, while not being required to quit your day job. To apply: http://bit.ly/zoHyNa

NEW Hacker School: Summer 2012 Applications Open, deadline May 7^th: http://bit.ly/Inm9fo. It will run from June 4 to August 25. The batch will be hosted at Etsy, which is also sponsoring $50,000 worth of scholarships for female programmers (Hacker School remains free for all students; the scholarship money is for living expenses). We’re trying to make this batch at least 50% women. For more information: http://bit.ly/Ilm8fm

Speaking of Yahoo layoffs - Sh*t major tech companies say, when they lay off thousands of employees. It’s not that management screwed up or wrong decisions were made. The companies are merely taking a step towards a better future. http://tnw.co/IhrC7Z

Ideas are just a multiplier of execution. How much equity is an idea worth? Ideas are a multiplier. An execution can be worth millions. Here’s a simple formula for you: http://sivers.org/multiply

Fall in Love with Your Business, Not Your Business Plan. According to the author, business plans are completely useless, just mostly so. And sometimes, they’re even dangerous. Here’s why: http://bit.ly/HsQlcK

Universal Startup Pitch Deck. You get 5 seconds per slide. Just finish the end of the sentence. GO: http://bit.ly/Hs7iAO

The Perfect (Elevator) Pitch. Oldie but goodie. You have 118 seconds. Learn to use them wisely: http://buswk.co/2cFUg9

Things To Consider Before Saying “I Do” To Investors. Investors do their due diligence before saying yes. Entrepreneurs need to do the same: http://tcrn.ch/HpWzvL

The internet is under attack by government again. Be vigilant:
Save the Internet from the US. Right now, the US Congress is sneaking in a new law that gives them big brother spy powers over the entire web, the world over — and they’re hoping the world won’t notice. We helped stop their Net attack last time, let’s do it again. http://bit.ly/HoK8kk
And yes, SOPA is back, thanks to ultimate Washington insider, former Senator and consummate lobbyist Chris Dodd still a lobbyist? http://bit.ly/HAd2rE

Five Great Things About Procrastination. Your procrastinating is telling you something. Read, listen and learn: http://tcrn.ch/HmGM0t

How VCs Can Accelerate Portfolio Company Returns. There’s a survey here, for both investors and entrepreneurs. Take a few minutes to respond. It may help us all in the long run: http://bit.ly/GYgsqw

We leave you with this interesting bit of trivia. Taxes are due April 17^th this year, which coincidentally is Tax Freedom Day, which means every day Americans worked so far this year — the first 107 days of 2012 – went to paying federal, state, and local taxes. That’s four days later than it was last year, btw. And now, as always, help is on the way…

4/3/12

Good morning, All,

Our next ERA + SOS Startup Breakfast is April 12th at SOS Headquarters, in a lovely backyard on the UWS. Breakfast will include famous Fairway bagels, our own fat-free muffins, coffee, tea, juice – and good conversation and hopefully some help, if that’s what you need. $15 in advance and $20 at the door. To register: http://bit.ly/GRXHrA and hope to see you there, bright and early.

Larry and Sergei were just out of Stanford when they launched Google. Zuck left Harvard to focus on Facebook. Let’s face it: we’ve never seen a generation who’ve achieved this level of fame/wealth/power when they were barely old enough to shave. And who have managed to wield a great deal power before they’ve had a chance to develop an understanding of the long-term repercussions of their technologies/actions. We really have no idea what consequences this will have down the road, either for them personally, or for the world at large. Although it is interesting to see what’s happening to Google now that the founders are no longer twentysomethings, and FB is poised to be one of the largest IPOs in history. Which may help to explain why GOOG is chasing Apple on the smartphone front, and FB on social – and seemingly losing their direction (Forget Evil. When’s The Last Time Google Blew You Away? http://read.bi/GVDPUb). That has to be one of the pitfalls of so much success so fast/young: the frustration/desperation that comes with not having experienced not being #1, and believing that you can crush the competition because you’re, well, you. Being knocked out of the top spot at Apple, and returning later, older and more seasoned, certainly didn’t hurt Steve Jobs. Youth has its place, but so does experience outside of the little bubble in which you’ve been secluded, probably literally since birth. With FB cataloguing our lives and Google tracking our every move, we the people are surrendering a great deal of personal information – willingly – to these kids which, had the government required that we do so, we’d have been up in arms. And what is Google’s next move? Google wants to serve you ads based on the background noise of your phone calls: http://tnw.co/GDvAIV). Weren’t they slapped down not too long ago on geolocation issues? The Google response: We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t. Prospective product announcements should not necessarily be inferred from our patent applications. Guys, you’re not above the law; you’re not kids anymore and the idea is to live and learn, and – heaven forfend – develop a moral code, not to try to figure out some other way around law in the pursuit of more profits. Grow up: it’s certainly not endearing you to us and frankly, well, like you, your shenanigans are getting old fast, too. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

New York Entrepreneur Week starts April 16^th, early bird discount ends April 5^thAre you an entrepreneur in practice or at heart? There’s only on place to be this April 16-20. New York Entrepreneur Week. Early-bird tix end this Thursday for what will be NY’s most epic event for entrepreneurs. You owe it to yourself to recharge, refuel and refocus your purpose. Use code: StartupOneStop for 15% off

NEW Thinking about applying to ERA Summer 2012 class? Application deadline: April 29th and please join us for a Happy Hour on April 5th! To RSVP: http://era3happyhour.eventbrite.com/. To apply to join the the ER Accelerator summer class: http://eranyc.com/apply/

NEW Wayra UK Startup Accelerator, deadline, April 22^nd. Telefónica has announced the UK launch of its technology accelerator programme. Wayra is inviting technology startups to apply to receive up to €50,000 (£42,000) investment and access to a new shared workspace in Tottenham Court Road. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/xeugnm

A Field Guide on How To Create an Innovator. Are people born innovators, or can they learn to become that way? “Creating Innovators: The Making of Young People Who Will Change the World,” by Tony Wagner, a member of Harvard’s Technology and Entrepreneurship Center, explores this question in detail. According to RWW, it is a must-read for anyone who is thinking of taking the lonely road toward starting one’s own venture: http://rww.to/HxbRhm

Do you really need a full-time hire for that? The author directs this post at startups that have not yet reached product/market fit. Until you get to that point, they’re called contractors: http://bit.ly/GQuzQf

Other side of the coin: Riding the Elephant. With the surge in demand for technical co-founders, many startups have no choice but to contract with dev shops to build their idea. Most of these early “partnerships” never work, regardless of how the startup compensates the dev shop: http://bit.ly/GJzjbJ

Three Steps to Getting Funded. Mark MacLeod is a Partner at Real Ventures, Canada’s largest seed VC fund, and according to him, it just takes three steps and actually, two out of three will get you there as well: http://bit.ly/HEX0BL

How to Prioritize When Everything is a Priority: 5 Tips. It’s easy to be overwhelmed when the to-do list gets too long. Here’s how to cut things down to size. http://bit.ly/zzWSJT

Why Working More Than 40 Hours a Week is Useless. Research shows that consistently working more than 40 hours a week is simply unproductive: http://bit.ly/GLa8E2

Startup Tools – from Steve Blank and a keeper: http://bit.ly/hlUDMc

A start-up founder should… Short piece on all of the things that you should be able to do: http://bit.ly/Hgua5A

Yes, Easter is coming and some of you asked about our low-fat, low-carb, zero cholesterol cookies and truffles and muffins to take to your families and happy to accommodate you. Products are here: http://bonniefoods.com/ and just let us know what you need and when and thank you so much for supporting a fellow entrepreneur. We appreciate it! That’s it from us for now. Looking forward to seeing you at our next breakfast. Have a wonderful and safe Easter and Passover and now, as usual, help is on the way…

Start Up One Stop

For Startups, By Startups

Monthly Archives: April 2012