7/23/13

7/23/13

Good morning, All,

We all go to meetings all over town, all the time. It’s exhausting, to be sure, and invariably, upon arrival, we’re asked if we’d like a beverage: coffee, tea, water, soda. Since many a meetings are morning meetings, and since this is New York, one of the undisputed caffeine capitals of the world, and since we work in tech, where caffeine is de rigueur, many of us request coffee and some of us like it white. Or beige, to be precise.

When did a staple like whole milk hit the no fly list? We went to at least half a dozen meetings this past week where we were offered coffee with our choice of almond, soy, hemp, fat free, 2% fat or skim milk, or half and half or fat free half and half.

If whole foods are healthier/less processed than their fat-reduced alternatives, why whole milk demonized? We are aware that people are trying to have healthier lifestyles these days, but as you’re sitting there sipping your fat-free chai latte, and working on yet another version of your deck/website/executive brief because you don’t seem to be getting traction, ask yourself what other assumptions you’ve made without testing/researching/verifying.

Just for the record: As for the protein, calcium and vitamins found in milk: to be absorbed by the body, fat must be present. Glycosphingolipids are a milk fat that help to keep the immune system healthy and aid in cell metabolism. The two main vitamins are A and D; both are fat-soluble. If you drink fat-free or low-fat milk, the vitamin A and D won’t do you any good.

Keep it simple. Don’t forget the basics: as we know, the Cosmic Muffin is in the details. And you can take that walking. Onward and forward.

 Housekeeping:

Advertise with us. Have a special announcement or ad you’d like to place, front and center? Email us at hello@startuponestop.com for rates and more information.

Deadlines:

Global Apps To Empower, deadline July 26th. We invite you to think out of the box and create apps that inform, educate and empower women everywhere. Compete for $10,000 in prizes. Have your app pre-loaded onto thousands of devices for global distribution on the Ubislate series of tablet and at the BluWorld portal. Receive up to 20 tablets for user testing and app development. Receive global recognition from partners and sponsors including publication of your app deployment story.

NEW  Taiwanese American Professionals New York (TAP-NY) Entrepreneurship Competition, deadline July 31st.
– First round submissions (proposals must be in English and cannot be more than 15 pages) are due by July 31st at 11:59 p.m.
– Eight teams will be chosen as finalists. Each of these teams will be paired with  a mentor (an experienced Taiwanese business professional) and will present in front of a panel of judges in September.
– Last year, we gave out $10,000 in prize money, and this year the prize pool will be even larger, and include separate categories for non-profit and for-profit businesses.
– At least one member of the team must be Taiwanese American or Taiwanese, or the company must directly benefit Taiwan.

NEW  Miller Lite Tap the Future, deadline August 1st. It’s the business plan competition that pits like-minded groups of entrepreneurs against each other to claim their slice of a $400K prize pool. Along the way, you’ll receive sweet advice and mentorship from some of the sharpest business minds out there. Submit your business idea here. You’ll be pitching it to a panel of experts, including entrepreneur-extraordinaire Daymond John from ABC’s Shark Tank.

NEW  Blue Button Co-Design Challenge, deadline August 5th. $55k in prizes. For more information, follow the link.

MTA AppQuest, deadline August 20th.  Change the way 8.5 million people commute every day — create the transit app of the future. New/existing mobile apps running on any platform accepted.  For more information and to apply, go here.

Define the second screen experience — win $50,000 for the best TV companion apps. Deadline: August 22nd. Use the Viggle API to create responsive apps that enhance the TV-watching experience. Apps must be built with HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript and integrate with Viggle’s native iOS and Android apps. Need an idea for an app? Check out the 100+ ideas that have already been proposed by the public. You can build anything from a static content experience to a fully immersive game. Use your imagination!

The Booksmash Challenge, deadline September 6th. HarperCollins is issuing a call to developers to create excellent, functioning software and proof of concept apps utilizing the HarperCollins OpenBook API, and in doing so turn opportunities into reality. Use imagination and technology to build software that goes beyond the traditional ways we read and discover books. Grand prize: $15,000

Clinical Trial Visualization Redesign, deadline October 2nd. Eli Lilly, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, invites designers and developers to re-imagine clinical trial information in a patient-centric way. As part of Lilly’s Clinical Open Innovation initiative, which calls on open innovation to help transform clinical research and development, challenge participants are now being asked to focus on the ideas and possibilities for envisioning clinical trial protocols from a patient’s point of view. Clinical trial information can often be dense and difficult to digest from a patient’s perspective. Patients may have questions surrounding the risks and benefits of their participation in the trial, logistics, the role of their personal doctor, and much more.  The goal for this challenge is to redesign that information in a way that highlights key aspects in a visually appealing and user-friendly way. $75,000 in prizes in all. Grand Prize: $35k.

For you edification this week:

Do Things That Don’t Scale. Great post from Paul Graham.

10 Tips on Making a Memorable Investor Pitch. Investors are more interested in your solution and your business rather than your technology. Here are some tips on the right approach and the right points to hit.

Don’t Give Away Your Board Seats. From Steve Blank and take heed: there are boards of directors and boards of advisors – you date advisors and marry the directors, so careful.

5 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Bootstrap. Caution: The advice given is not for the weak.

Product Strategy is About Saying NO. Not ‘maybe’ or ‘later’. The only word is No.

Learn to Pitch BEFORE You Start Raising Capital. You put a lot of time into building your startup and business plan. Feets, don’t fail me now…

Seven marketing mistakes most startups make. Whether you’re managing a startup, managing marketing for a startup, or even consulting for a startup, here are seven common mistakes to avoid.

Your Computer May Already be Hacked – NSA Inside? In Russia, President Putin’s office just stopped using PC’s and switched to typewriters.  What do they know that we don’t?

9 insider tips for promoting your app. Smart developers employ a host of ‘old school’ web promotion techniques

Your Computer May Already be Hacked – NSA Inside? In Russia, President Putin’s office just stopped using PC’s and switched to typewriters.  What do they know that we don’t?

Elevator Pitch/Member News
Hint, hint: Feel free to tell us what you’re working on, or if you’ve been featured in the press…Share, and we will, too!

Big congrats to our friend Chinedu Echeruo, founder of HopStop, which was purchased by Apple on Friday for an undisclosed amount.

Congrats also go to our buds at Deposit a Gift, who have re-launched, adding an innovative new fundraising/crowdfunding platform, which now makes it the only site able to serve both the fundraising and registry markets. Deposit a Gift is now uniquely positioned to serve anyone who wants to raise money online – whether they are a nonprofit looking to get into crowdsourced fundraising or an engaged couple registering for their honeymoon or first home. Click here for key features and samples. Full story is here.

It’s Restaurant Week, which runs through August 16th, so we have no idea why it’s called RW, although originally, it did run for only a week. That’s it from us this week, although we are planning a networking event soon, and a long-overdue find-a-cofounder event, too, so stay tuned. And now, as always, help is on the way…

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