9/10/13

9/10/13

Good morning, All,

We all know what happened after the TechCrunch Disrupt hackathon. It disrupted, all right. First there was Titstare, an app that lets you stare at tits, then show your reaction. Followed soon on the heels by  Circle(Jerk)Shake, a game app where you see how many times you can shake your phone in 10 seconds, demonstrated by simulated masturbation. Audio/visuals were made for the teams. Someone knew what was being presented, but, let’s face it: a name like TItstare is just sooo open to interpretation.

Disrupt is a world stage, and even though the founders said that their creation was a joke, it wasn’t a funny one, although people did laugh. Ok, there was a hue and cry in the press for a hot minute. Nothing like the backlash Peter Shih suffered when he posted his 10 Things I Hate About You – San Francisco Edition. As someone who has spent a fair amount of time in San Francisco, he’s pretty accurate, although he said he wrote it as a joke. A friend in SF informed us that signs were posted on street corners, urging him, in no uncertain terms, to go back to NYC. Just a reminder, SF: you pride yourself on your tolerance. Being able to take criticism, and allowing for difference of opinion – these two concepts fall under ‘tolerance,’ just for the record. Many people took deference to Shih’s comparing the SF weather to a woman who’s always PMSing. We found this response to Shih’s post in ValleyWag (Douchebags Like You Are Ruining San Francisco), and if nothing else, catch the visual. Entrepreneurship as a young woman in bunny ears.

There’s a bro code in tech and we all know it, whether it’s in your face or seemingly more subtle. The editors of TechCrunch did issue their apologies, post mortem, and too little, too late. Still, it is Silicon Valley, tech’s equivalent to Mount Olympus, where many fortunes are made, and isn’t that always the bottom  line. So remember: Follow the rules, whether they’re obvious or not. And above all, tread carefully. Valley, chasm, Tomato, tomahto.  Onward and forward.

 Housekeeping:

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Deadlines:

New England Venture Summit, early deadline to pitch your company, September 12th. The 8th annual New England Venture Summit, presented by youngStartup Ventures, is the premier industry gathering connecting venture capitalists, corporate VCs, angel investors, technology transfer professionals, senior executives of early stage and emerging growth companies, university researchers, incubators and premier service providers. Whether you are an investor seeking access to new early stage deals, or a CEO or Founder of a new venture looking for funding, visibility and growth, the New England Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. Early bird rate to attend is now available. Save 50%.

NEW  Flatiron School’s Web Development Fellowship Program, deadline September 15th. School starts October 2nd,  so if you want to be a web developer, the course is free.

NEW  Queens Economic Development Corporation intensive 10 week business plan course for entrepreneurs. Program starts October 1st, so apply now.

NEW  SlideShare Contest: What’s Your Startup Story? Deadline September 30th. Ok, so you win a SlideShare Pro account, but judges include Dave McClure and Guy Kawasaki – not a bad thing to be on their radar.

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.

R/GA (and TechStars) Connected Devices Accelerator, deadline October 11th. Three months, ten companies, up to $120 in funding. This one is focused on any technology-powered startup from around the world with an innovative idea for a product or service in the connected devices space. Your product can be hardware or software, but it should help bring together the physical with digital. Go for it!

The New York Expo and Conference is back – the real one! Free Early Bird registration now available.
The largest business show on the East Coast is now open for FREE early bird registration. 40+ Seminars. 250+ Exhibitors. Unlimited networking. And yes, that is Brian Solis on the home page. He’ll be keynoting and that’s always worth the price of admission. Register here.
Date: October 17th
Venue: Javits Center, NYC

NEW Daily News Innovation Lab, deadline October 31st (applications being accepted starting October 1st). The Daily News Innovation Lab is powerfully positioned to help grow and launch early-stage companies targeting a known digital-media need by offering unique access to the Daily News in-house team, robust technical infrastructure (hosting, servers, storage) and a massive national audience. Through the Innovation Lab’s Program Service Partners, participating companies will have access to external professional services and receive post-graduation office space. A slate of entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and professionals will offer advice, mentorship and support to the companies. The goal is for graduates to leave with a viable product that has been proven in the market, well positioned to launch a successful business

NEW ER Accelerator Winter Session, deadline November 15th.  $40k in funding and working with amazing mentors – including yours truly. Don’t wait till the last minute!

For you edification this week:

Yahoo announced their new logo, and love it or hate it, so it goes. Marissa Tumblr bog explained the new logo, if you’re curious. They’re not the only company that’s gone through a facelift lately. Here are a few more and did you catch the subliminal in the Wendy’s logo?

Samsung announced the next small thing. It’s Galaxy Gear smart watch. Would Dick Tracy have approved?

Speaking of pitch season – How to Present and Answer Questions in a Team Presentation or VC Pitch. Investors love teams. They want to see a strong CEO / Leader who is in charge but they also want to see that you can lead talented people. Make sure everyone talks and more good advice from Mark Suster.

A scientific guide to posting Tweets, Facebook posts, Emails and Blog posts at the best times. Yes, it does make a difference.

Try to Kill Your Startup Before You Start. if you have done everything you could have done to kill your startup, and were unsuccessful in doing so, then you are truly on to something that is defensible and worth building. Doesn’t hurt to try. Here’s how.

Don¹t Let Founder¹s Syndrome Kill Your Next Venture. Founders almost always cite a lack of money as the reason for failure, but if you look deeper, the reason is more often about dysfunctional people and poor leadership.

3 Reasons Why No Initial Capital is Good for Your Startup. Startup money is great, but it also makes you think in sloppy ways. A shortage of available cash, on the other hand, forces you to think creatively to achieve your business goals and helps you navigate around pitfalls, which stand between you and success.

VC Math. Old one, but just in case you wondered how they crunch the numbers.

Now You Can Make Your Tweets Self-Destruct. Guess it’s for one of those ‘You didn’t hear it hear, but…’ moments.

Chuckle of the Week – Amusing Media Exec Twitter Bios.

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!

One of our members is doing a Freestyle Fashion Conference on September 28th and offering members a discount. Code: sos.

While we’re on the subject, we’re also doing two events this month:
Find A CoFounder event on September 23rd, and our SOS September networking event, as promised, will be on September 30th and of course we’ll bring our healthy truffles and samples of our new power bars, no worries. Hope to see you at both!

It’s Primary Day in NYC – don’t forget to vote! That’s it from us this week. We’ve already planned next month’s Happy Hour. It’ll be Monday, September 30th at Pioneer’s Bar – conveniently located on West 29th Street. Register now for the early bird rate and of course we’ll be on hand to do introduction. Just ask! Meanwhile, our next Find A CoFounder event will be on September 23rd so if you’re looking for a cofounder, that’s the place!

And now, as always, help is on the way.

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