6/5/12
Good morning, All,
First, yes we are planning another SOS event – July 9th, to be exact, and it’s special because it also happens to be my birthday! So hope you can join us for a night of drinks and networking with business owners and entrepreneurs. Details are here and thank you, DoItInPerson, for making it happen. To RSVP for the early bird rate: http://bit.ly/LnJuAT Gifts not necessary. Donations always happily accepted.
Every now and again, that question rears its head in some industry publication or other: are we in a bubble? We’re not going to comment yea or nay on the techonomy, but there is a definite bubble out there, and not to cast aspersions at millenials at large – there are many Gen Ms with their feet planted firmly on the ground – and maybe it’s because we reside in a tech hub – NYC – that we encounter so many of what we call the bubble boys. Not sure that there are hard and fast rules on how to spot them, but you’ll know them when you see them:
1. They may or may not have a stable place to live. Reasoning: the industry and the world at large, should support an entrepreneur because, well, they’re entrepreneurs and that’s the rule. End of discussion.
2. They don’t need jobs – many have never had or at least held one for very long, because they’re Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurs have to keep their eyes on their visions and not be distracted with such mundane considerations as how to support themselves, or how a business runs. Eye on the prize and as soon as they get to their MVP stage, they will be millionaires in quick shrift.
3. It may seem oxymoronic that they don’t care about money but intend to be millionaires, if not billionaires. It’s not: their eyes are on the forest, not the trees.
4. They don’t need a resume, an investor deck – that’s sooo ’90s, and they are, after all, the ones who move the industry forward.*
5. *Yes, we know this needs further explanation: from their point of view, their crew are the early adopters and once you have them – and of course they will – game over. Think FB v MySpace. Monetization model? More investors. The industry will support them. It’s the Too Big to Fail paradigm.
6. They believe that having a dot com qualifies them as being a CEO of a company. Seriously.
7. They don’t listen. They seem to be listening, but they’re not: what they’re doing is devising arguments against anything you’re saying. They are of singular mind, and nothing penetrates the bubble.
8. The rules of economics have been revised to suit them, and they will reinvent history – tech history – to fit their arguments. Never mind that it’s a glaring separate reality that bears no resemblance to the world as we know it. And if you try to argue with them and try to teach them something about actual history, well, won’t work. See #6.
9. They Zuck themselves, meaning, they subscribe chapter and verse to the Mark Zuckerberg playbook: Start a dot com, go viral, drop out of school, become a billionaire. No experience or adult supervision necessary.
10. They are connectors. They are supremely confident and will go out and meet everyone – and anyone who is anyone. And they’re always happy to make an introduction. We admire their confidence and there’s a lesson for you: their confidence opens doors – many of them – and moves them forever forward. And they’re happy to help you, too. Yes, there’s always an upside
We all know them. We’ve all encountered them, or if you go to enough networking events, you will. They’re actually throwbacks to the days of web 1.0, where the rule was: the industry should support a startup, whether they had a roadmap to profitability/what they were doing made any sense at all or not. Then, as now, there were many an investor listening to them, somehow believing that the web 1.0 bubble boys knew something about tech and the New Economy that the rest of us just weren’t/aren’t seeing. Which is what led to the first tech bubble. These bubble boys weren’t in the industry then so whatever happened then does not apply to them (See #6, and the ancillary Any History that Predates them Doesn’t Count). Which doesn’t change the fact that what man cannot remember he is doomed to repeat, so let’s be careful out there. One final note: they do come on like a house on fire, and that can be seductive. But remember: a slow burn trumps a flame out. Always. Onward and forward.
Deadlines:
Blueprint Health: Transform health & wellnesswith your startup, deadline June 8th. 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/
Who are the top New York City tech influencers? VentureBeat wants to know. Get your nominations in now! Deadline to submit nominations: June 7th, 5 pm. For more information/ to submit your nomination: http://bit.ly/LC9B8V
New York Venture Summit Call for Top Innovators. If you are a Startup seeking capital and/or partnerships submit your plan for the opportunity to present at The 2012 New York Venture Summit, the premier venue connecting emerging growth companies with active Venture capitalists, Angel investors, Corporate VCs and Investment Firms. Presented by youngStartup Ventures, The 2012 New York Venture Summit provides an unparalleled opportunity for startups to meet, network and showcase their innovative investment opportunities to a leading group of investors. To apply to present please e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for an application.
TechStars Seattle, deadline June 16; TechStars Boston, deadline June 20. You know the drill: a 3-month program; $18k + $100k convertible debt note, with 6% equity taken. TS provides seed funding from over 75 top venture capital firms and angel investors who are vested in the success of your startup, as well as intense mentorship from hundreds of the best entrepreneurs in the world. To apply: http://apply.techstars.com/
NEW StartupBootcamp, Berlin. Deadline: June 17th. Get seed funding, join a co-working space with other startups in the program and get a dedicated mentorship plan that will excel you from wherever you are in the development cycle to the next. Then at the end of the program, get a chance to pitch to top angel investors and venture capitalists for funding. Fact: Over 50% of our program graduates have gone on to receive funding for their projects. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/GCAVPh
NEW Call to international entrepreneurs: LaunchHouse Accelerator Program Takes Off, deadline July 1st. Over the past three years, LaunchHouse has succeeded in seeding, mentoring, and helping 30 companies to obtain follow-on funding. It plans to enhance those efforts with a new group of software and web-based tech entrepreneurs participating in the progra The LH Accelerator kicks off September 3. The application deadline is July 1. LaunchHouse will invest a total of $25,000 in each of 10 entrepreneurial teams (consisting of two or more co-founders) in software and web-based technology. Based in NE Ohio, but you can enter from anywhere in the world: http://bit.ly/Jy3D5o
Women 2.0 PITCH comes to NYC, deadline August 31st. We are now accepting applications for PITCH NYC from early-stage ventures around the world with at least one female founder to apply to the startup competition. PITCH NYC 2012 will provide entrepreneurs with a chance for fame and fortune: finalists present onstage at the conference, and prizes include $25k cash from L’Oreal, $24k worth of free hosting from Rackspace and a finalist interview with TechStars! Stay tuned for more awesome prizes to be announced. Early-stage ventures with under a million in funding and a product in the market (prototype OK) are invited to apply. We are looking to identify, recognize and reward the most disruptive women-led ventures globally – and invite them to pitch onstage for the PITCH NYC conference in November for top prize. Got a startup idea but no team, or got an idea but don’t know how to build it? You have at least THREE MONTHS starting today to emblazen the deadline of August 31 into your head and make it happen. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/K56mbS
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For you edification this week:
Have your say on Facebook privacy policy. You only have until this Friday! You get a vote on whether to accept Facebook’s revised policies, thanks to the efforts of a European activist. So you’ve got until Friday to register your vote. To vote, you click here. There’s a bit of a catch, though. As stated above, the vote is binding only if more than 30% of all active registered users vote. If there’s less than that, the vote will only be “advisory.” So, if my math is correct, that means about 270,000,000 users need to vote for it to stick. This is the second time users have gotten to vote on Facebook policy. Of course, this could be the last time, if you read between the lines. Make it count. And spread the word: http://lat.ms/KH3n8t
Why You Want Your Competition To Succeed. According to Mark Peter Davis, you should try to beat your competition at the same time that you cheer them on. (Who said life isn’t complicated?) Here’s why: http://bit.ly/McT5LT
From Headhunter to Startup Founder: One Woman’s Journey. In order to change the ratio, you have to start by changing the attitude. Yours, people with double X chromosomes. You go, Perri! :http://tnw.co/LWcApy
The 5 most common mistakes startups make with VCs. You’re always at a disadvantage when dealing with the venture capital community, since their experience almost certainly outweighs yours. But there are ways to can go into the negotiations prepared. Here are five quick things that startup owners often get wrong: http://bit.ly/KKQFWq
Shockingly honest thoughts from a filthy rich bastard. Whatever qualities the rich may have, they can be acquired by anyone with the tenacity to become rich. The key is confidence. Confidence and an unshakable belief it can be done and that you are the one to do it. Does being a bit of a somma bitch help? You betchum! http://bit.ly/LaEQtp
Ok, Mary Meeker is back with her Internet Trends, as delivered at the AllThingsD Conference: http://scr.bi/KxfdlL
San Francisco vs Silicon Valley as a tech destination. Tech certainly revitalized the valley. It may do the same for the city as well, but not everyone’s happy about it: http://bit.ly/M1jbmG
The Monty Python Guide to Running a Business Because a little humor never hurts: 10 Monty Python quotes every business owner should know… and use!
http://bit.ly/KY0pew
Cops Nab Brooklyn Burglars After Friending Them on Facebook. Or, Why friending is a verb and a friend is something totally different. Officer Michael Rodrigues, who works the Crown Heights beat, needed evidence on a gang that was burglarizing homes with seeming impunity. So he simply friended them on Facebook, and watched as they confessed to crimes on their walls: http://on.mash.to/Le782K
That’s it from us this week and hope to see you next weekend at The Seed: A Vegan Experience – June 16th and 17th, (for tickets: http://bit.ly/JJzLnZ) and yes, bonniefoods will be there! But that’s then and now, as always, help is on the way…