7/31/12

7/31/12

Good morning, All,
First, our next SOS gathering is coming up on August 20th. Yes, it’s still three weeks away, but early bird rate is available now, and we always look forward to seeing you: http://sosaugust2012-zvents.eventbrite.com/

There’s a movement afoot that if you’re a NY-based company, you should put a ‘Made in New York’ imprimatur on your website. We do have our own CTO of the city; plans are in the work for a new $2 billion tech campus. And there is a lot of the technology coming from New York-based startups – many of whom incorporate their companies in Delaware. Or Nevada. We realize that incorportion is a state matter, but while our mayor doesn’t hesitate to opine on national matters, the city might be better served if he focused his energies on coordinating with the Governor to make New York incorporation more attractive to companies.  Both the mayor and the governor seem to be interested in bringing business to New York. Kudos to Startup Chile, a program of the Chilean Government to attract world-class early stage entrepreneurs from any where in the world to start their businesses in Chile (http://startupchile.org/). We’ve already cited Five Reasons Britain May Be The Best Place To Start A Company In 2012, and yes, government initiatives are part of it: http://onforb.es/LEgmui (This newsletter is global: if you know of programs anywhere in the world, please do share and we’re happy to spread the word.) Yet in New York City, where we have a mayor who is a businessman, many businesses have left the city since he took office, although Bloomberg LLP has certainly fared well under his reign (Citizen Bloomberg – How Our New York Mayor has Given Us the Business: http://bit.ly/NDYUmY). Aside from the aforementioned tax payer-funded initiatives, he has done little to foster entrepreneurial growth in New York. Tax incentives might be a good start. Affordable housing for entrepreneurs who bring their businesses – and potentially, jobs – to the city is another. We belong to many New York-based listservs and it’s not infrequent that the question comes up: where to incorporate. New York is neither at the top of the list nor ringingly endorsed. Yet we see ‘Made in New York’ banners popping up more and more. We’re all entrepreneurs: we know the importance of seizing any opportunity that may present itself and all of you NY-based Delaware corporations out there – don’t pass this one up. It may well be time to send a message, and to tell the whole story. After all, many of us live in New York, New York – named twice, in case you didn’t hear us the first time. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:
The list of Startup Weekend Upcoming Events
Oxygen Accelerator, Birmingham, England, deadline July 31st. A 13-week intensive mentor led bootcamp, followed by 13-weeks of incubation that culminates with a series of investor days where we will help you pitch to a large, carefully selected group of Angel investors, VCs and Private Equity groups for next stage funding. Up to €40,000 per team in exchange for 8%-10% equity, and much more, including relocation allowance:  http://www.oxygenaccelerator.com/ The Guardian Small Business Awards, 1st deadline (Winning New Business) August 3rd. All entries that meet the criteria will appear on the Small Business Network’s best practice exchange and the winning entries will be written up as a feature in the Guardian. For more information and to enter: http://bit.ly/QaTcw4
NEW  Design for Education with Udemy, deadline August 5th. For its next social media project, Udemy is inviting YOU to submit your most DARING artwork on the themes of “Education” and “Lifelong Learning”. Grand prize: $1000, a framed copy of the design, 100 T-shirts featuring their design, feature in all of Udemy’s social media channels, $100 worth of Udemy courses, and more. For more information and to enter: http://bit.ly/Oy3CDY
NEW  Launchpad LA, deadline August 6th. This startup accelerator and mentorship program combines the best VCs in Southern California, many experienced CEOs and a very select group of service providers who are committed to working with early-stage companies. It’s a 4-month Santa Monica-based program, giving $50k to companies in exchange for 6% equity. http://launchpad.la/apply NEW  Thrillist/Samsung Speed Dating for Startups, deadline August 6th. Think you’ve got the perfect start-up idea on your hands? All entrepreneur’d up with nowhere to…entrepreneur? Then upload a 30-second video describing your brilliant start-up idea. Grand prize: the ultimate business launch package that’ll get your start-up all started up, including the chance to be showcased on Thrillist. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/NZkx2F NEW  VictorySpark, Milwaukee, WI, deadline August 22nd. This is an exclusive program designed for innovative, high-growth, Veteran-initiated startups. $20K given for 6% equity: http://www.victoryspark.com/
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 more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/K56mbS
NEW  WIBO 1st Annual Executive Summary Competition, deadline September 7th. A well developed Executive Summary can open the door and a great Pitch can help you seal the deal.  The purpose of this competition is to guide you through the process of getting your thoughts about your business out of your head and on to paper! http://bit.ly/OC9Oe0 THE NEW ENGLAND VENTURE SUMMIT Call for Top Innovators, early deadline September 12th. If you are a Startup seeking capital and/or partnerships, submit your plan for the opportunity to present at The 7th Annual New England Venture Summit, 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 Venture Capitalists, Private Investors, Investment Bankers, Corporate Investors, and Strategic Partners. To apply to present: e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for 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. Early bird registration is now available. For more information: http://bit.ly/LjlttK
Battle of the Apps: become the Kick Apps Champion by creating software that helps small businesses. Contest now opened, deadline: December 31st. Infusionsoft is offering$20,000 in cash and prizes for the best apps to help small business customers. Use the Infusionsoft API to create an app, integration, or plug-in that helps Infusionsoft customers grow their business! 1st through 4th place winners will receive ongoing marketing, plus stage time at InfusionCon 2013. 10 runners-up will receive InfusionCon boothspace and 2 tickets to the conference. Register to enter.
Follow us on twitter powered by Movable Ink For you edification this week:
12 Business Incubators Changing the World. Yes, article in Forbes – research from SOS members Chubby Brain: http://onforb.es/OaaGXQ Divorcing Your Cofounder: Sooner or later you are going to face the truth; the team you start with is not the team you end up with for the long haul.  Most founders tend to accept this fact when it comes to employees, but what if it happens to be the very person(s) you launched your startup with? http://bit.ly/MKiu0f Tech Reporter Contact List. From Brad Feld, and it includes the top tech blogs, tech blog reporter, top 100 newspapers (and reporters at those papers), and more: http://bit.ly/OBZuTw Growth Capitalism: How Accelerators Are Transforming the Start-Up Environment in Latin America. And if any of you have questions about the value of accelerators, read on: http://bit.ly/O0EFAI The perils of aiming too big too early. Niche to win, baby: http://bit.ly/N7K5ag
Pitch the future, build for now. You know how it works – one step at a time: http://bit.ly/NJNC2L Building All Star Teams. Putting together an A+ great team is worth 100x more than any “rockstar” individual, or as Kayak founder Paul English put it, The difference between an A team and an A+ team is the difference between a million in revenue and a billion in revenue: http://bit.ly/M2S0bR You for Sale: Mapping, and Sharing, the Consumer Genome. It knows who you are. It knows where you live. It knows what you do. It peers deeper into American life than does the F.B.I. or the I.R.S., or those prying digital eyes at Facebook and Google. And it’s a database marketing company: http://nyti.ms/L0DQ60
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!
Free work space for SOS members worldwide, from our friends at loosecubes: Loosecubes is a private workspace sharing community where you can find and book a free place to work for the day in over 40 countries around the world. This week we transitioned to an invite-only model, whereby all ‘cubes (1,000+ worldwide & over 150 in NYC) are completely free to book by our members on a daily basis. And any SOS member can get immediate access as a subscriber to Startup One Stop with this link:  https://www.loosecubes.com/startuponestop. When they join via our link, you’ll be able to sign up immediately and find a place to work. SOS member Ilana Eberson was Nominated for the 2012 Small Business Influencer Awards in Experts. Make sure to vote for her, she’s awesome: http://bit.ly/M4Y9k1
That’s it from us this week. Your turn and now, as always, help is on the way…

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