3/8/11
Good morning, All, and speaking of carnivals, yes, SXSW does start this week and wondering what you to do, if you’re not Austin-bound? NxNYC! It’s the Third Annual, and not only does it take place in the Empire Room in the Empire State Building – you also have a much better shot at grabbing the new iPad, since almost all of the other early adopters will be in Austin, tweeting, drunk and looking like ridiculous in cowboy boots. It happens Tuesday, March 15, 7 pm – 10. Free appetizers, drink specials. http://nxnyc2011.eventbrite.com/
For those of you who are going: Top 10 questions (and answers) on how Startups should navigate SXSW: http://on.mash.to/ihNUjh And an Austinpreneur’s Guide for you: http://bit.ly/h1wsIQ For the rest of us, from Doctor Disruptive, The Top 10 Reasons I’m NOT Going to SXSW http://bit.ly/frKans
If you want to wait a couple of weeks and head a bit farther North: AccelerateMTL (yes, that’s Montreal) on bringing together C100, iNovia Capital, Real Ventures and BDC Venture Capital, not to mention Brad Feld, Dave McClure, Howard Lindzon on March 31st – with skiing to follow on April 1st. Really. http://bit.ly/fGjMR3 And it is drivable. Done it. More than once.
Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator Program has officially launched and you can apply today for the summer program. Deadline: April 30th. Get a $25k investment for your startup; 3 months of free collaborative office space; access to 140+ mentors, including Fred Wilson, Esther Dyson, Brian Cohen, David Pakman, Jeff Stewart and Howard Morgan; one-on-one hands on support and free legal services and support from ERA partners. Good work and congratulations, Murat, and for more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/eB43sg
Lean Startup Machine is back, where you’ll learn how to figure out what customers really want. In 48 hours, you’ll form a team with other participants and work on a new startup while competing for cash, mentorship, and glory. Lean Startup Machine is limited to 50 participants. You apply as an individual. Deadline: Saturday, March 19th at 11:59pm and participants will be notified by March 20th. The conference is April 1st. $250 and includes food, software and books. There are a limited number of $150 early bird tickets, and last minute tickets are $300. http://nyc.theleanstartupmachine.com/
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This week’s congrats: honestlynow.com for the techlicious write-up (How Do I Look in this Dress? Finally Honest Answers http://bit.ly/glyQin), and to openinvo.com for garnering the most thumbs up/votes at last week’s Stamford Tech Meetup.
This week’s reading, (and note that there’s a press op in today’s posts below):
Big issue: how to decide how much equity to give a new employee or partner, especially when a company is young. Jason Cohen takes on the rather thorny topic and even provides guidelines in How To Think About Cash vs Equity Compensation: http://bit.ly/gGTbke
Another thorny issue: Angels getting diluted when VC’s step in to invest. This one from Roger Ehrenberg, angel and VC, and kudos to Roger for saying what needed to be said long ago: Bad VC behavior: Chucking the angel pre-emptive right. http://bit.ly/hfjfdE
Marketing tips from Fred Wilson and remember: 4square launched at SXSW, and no, they were not finalists. Just showed up and let it fly. http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/02/marketing.html
And from Social Media Week London (and London-based SOS member Luis Carranza), Ten Ways to Suck at Social Media (And Five Ways Not To) : http://slidesha.re/eWIszI
Finally, 60 Inconvenient Personal Development Truths. Sometimes we look for success in the wrong places or we try to achieve it in the wrong ways. Long list. Good stuff: http://bit.ly/f8pkqh
We do try to leave you with a chuckle, and admittedly, the hat won us over on this one. Deadline March 11th: http://bit.ly/hMnIJ4. In the meantime, wherever you happen to be this week and/or wherever you happen to be heading – or applying yourself – have a safe one and for now, as always, help is on the way…