Good morning, All,

We’ve heard it ad nauseam: the VC model is broken. There is certainly no shortage of posts on the subject. At TechCrunch Disrupt, Fred Wilson called the VCs sheep, saying they all wait, then jump into a deal together, usually when it’s too late. Most VCs, said Fred, are not forward looking. Question: do they really know the industry?

Investors are usually:
1. Entrepreneurs who made good
2. Entrepreneurs who got lucky (right company at the right time – early hires as opposed to key players: we know a junior project manager who went to a startup. It was her second job out of school; eighteen months later, the company was acquired and she was a multimillionaire before her 25^th birthday)
3. Investors who invested well or again, were in the right place at the right time.
4. Those born with lucky sperm; no experience required.

Investing is about what you know and/or whom you know. Most firms hire young associates who do much of the legwork. They’re the boots on the ground, who are looking at newco’s and who are they really? They’re usually newly-minted MBAs from the top schools who (usually) have no entrepreneurial experience; little or no industry experience; and little or no real world experience. They’re probably in their first apartments and don’t even know the first thing about organizing/cleaning them (getmaid.com, and you’re welcome). Yet they are the gatekeepers, so is it any wonder? Still, these young associates do have their place in the zeitgeist.

What missing are missing are talent scouts, to take a page from professional sports, where the concept has been working forever. People who follow the industry. Who really do go to the networking event, pitch events, mingle with founders, and who know the DNA of the industry, of founders – known or as-yet-undiscovered – and who are even aware of your as-yet-unknown competitors. Think reporters (case in point: MG Siegler). Recruiters (not the johnny-come-latelies who can’t find a job: the lifers who know who’s real and who has failed upwards – we always know the story; we check the references you never gave us).

Therein lies the disconnect.

We were at a networking event recently, seated next to an investor who asked our pick of the company most likely to. We told him, and our pick happened to be in a vertical with which he was very familiar. He disagreed, pointing out the company’s Achilles Heel. In our opinion, that so-called Achilles Heel was the very pain point the company was addressing, and their differentiator. He was surprised at our naiveté. We knew the company’s CTO and marketing director – and told him as much: our money was on this unknown team. Two weeks later, the company announced that they’d raised funding (that investor was not in on the round) – a multimillion dollar seed round from well-known investors. A few days later, we ran into that same investor again. He informed us that he was now planning on hiring a young associate, and once this person was chosen, would we bring him/her with us to events and point out potential investments to him/her? Seriously???

We used to organize summer houses in the Hamptons. Multiple adults under one roof who somehow had to survive the sixteen weeks of summer together, hopefully without incident. All share houses have rules. We had one: Don’t be a jerk. We felt that that pretty much covered it, until an early member insisted that we needed at least one more rule – that one was insufficient – and we complied.
Rule #1: Don’t be a jerk
Rule #2: See Rule #1.

To that investor we say (and he was not the first to ask us to provide this service, free of charge): Do you not understand where the model is broken? You need the young associate – and the more experienced talent scout. Happy to oblige, but expertise is worth something: don’t be a jerk. In case that is unclear to you, see Rule #1. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

The list of Startup Weekend Upcoming Events

NEW Digital Catalyst Fund Summer Boot Camp, starts in June; companies are accepted on a rolling basis. No technical cofounder required and you’ll spend the summer in Bucharest – the Paris of Eastern Europe! Apply here. Applications are now being accepted for Digital Catalyst Fund’s 10-week Summer Boot Camp. This one-of-its-kind accelerator is seeking entrepreneurs with early stage ideas that can impact the new media/digital marketing space. Accepted entrepreneurs will be provided with up to $20,000 cash and cash equivalent services, as well as $30,000 in technical development resources. You’ll be living (in a converted mansion; chef included) and working with our technical teams in Bucharest, Romania. We’ll also provide mentors and a Demo Day, back here in NYC. For the informational webinar happening this week, go here. https://angel.co/digital-catalyst-fund Also for more information, there is a story on them in AlleyWatch.

New York Venture Summit: Apply to present/early bird registration ends May 22. The 13th annual New York 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, New York Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. To be considered for one of the Top Innovator slots, please e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for an application.

LaunchHouse Accelerator Accepting Applications, Cleveland, Ohio, and all are welcome to apply. Deadline unknown. Program starts in August. For more information, see below under ‘I Can Help.’ To apply, go here. Also, just for your information, they do encourage people from anywwhere to apply – and even provide housing!

Fourth BigApps Competition, deadline June 7^th. $150k in prizes, and there’s a NYC BigApps 2013 Expo and Hackathon Weekend at eBay’s New York offices the weekend of April 6^th. More information about the BigApps competition is on the NYCBigApps website.

Blueprint Health Accelerator, deadline June 8^th. They just had their demo day, and getting ready for the next session. The foundation of the program is a community of over 150 healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives that are committed to helping you build and grow your business. It’s the largest network of mentors with healthcare expertise of any accelerator, which can provide you with warm introductions and the strategic and tactile advice you need. Plus $20,000 in cash, over $50,000 in perks, office space at our SoHo office, and a community that is dedicated to seeing you succeed.

Matchpoint | East, June 30^th. This is an exclusive opportunity for selected health technology entrepreneurs and large stakeholders to meet in designated 15-20 minute meetings. Meetings are arranged based on selected criteria by industry leaders and investors, leading to high-yield discussions with innovative companies! During these meetings, innovators have the opportunity to demo their innovations with potential partners and investors. Hundreds of applications are reviewed by our team and host companies to select companies to participate in exclusive round table discussions and demos. Traditionally, over 500+ applications are reviewed to identify 10-15 innovative companies per host sponsor. Apply here.

Take the H.E.L.M., deadline July 15^th. To encourage the continued growth of Lower Manhattan, Take the HELM will award four $250,000 cash grants and four $50,000 cash grants to companies seeking to open an office or expand in Lower Manhattan.

Global Apps To Empower, deadline July 26^th. 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.

For you edification this week:

Donald Trump gets into crowdfunding. With Learning Annex founder Bill Zanker. As for FundAnything’s business model, expect the commissions to be just the start, according to the article. The site is called FundAnything.com. We like Alan Brody’s take on it: Trump Puts the Clown in Crowdfunding.

Pitching and Why You Want to Stop Your Audience From Thinking. Research has consistently proven that people make decisions based on emotions, and then justify them with fact. Although we may like to think of ourselves as rational, cognitive human beings first and foremost, research data says otherwise. Newsflash: we’re not rational.

How VCs think: Is your startup a feature, a product or a business? Written by SOS member (and VC) Eugenia Koo.

11 Tips for Women Pitching Investors for the First Time. What’s the one thing (or 11) you need to know.

Why Online Video Just Took One More Big Step to Legitimacy. Our industry just took one big step towards legitimacy with the hiring of renowned media exec Ynon Kreiz to run Maker Studios. The industry finally has one of their own at the helm of the largest YouTube network.

If you have a Klout Score of 55 or higher, you can gain access to American Airlines’ Admirals Club. You don’t even have to be an American Airlines passenger to be eligible for this perk. Although, the link on the klout blog didn’t take you to aa, when last we checked.

How is Bloomberg’s snooping different from News Corp.’s phone hacks? Bloomberg reporters have been using Bloomberg terminals to snoop on customers. For the record, these customers pay roughly $20,000 a year per terminal. Oh, and next time you’re up at Bloomberg for a meeting or a panel discussion, stay off the wifi – each person who enters the building gets their own unique code and her/her every keystroke is being monitored.

How You Get Hacked at Starbucks; Here’s a look at what to keep your eyes peeled for when cozying into a coffee shop near you. Hmmm, maybe today’s newsletter should be the beware-of-your privacy edition.

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!

Congratulations to DreamIt Venture’s latest class of entrepreneurs. The startups participating in the summer session was just announced. Full list is here.

Justworks.com launched today, and congrats to co-founder Iris Ramos. The site automates your HR, and if you’re a small company – which a lot of you are –Justworks steps in right at the get-go, creating a cost-effective HR and payroll platform which new companies can build on. Beyond its employee database, the company ensures that a startup’s people are paid, its state and federal taxes are filed and it’s fully covered with all mandatory employer insurance. Following companies from their inception to growth, Justworks strips out fees and helps startups launch compliantly and legally – literally in a matter of minutes.

There’s an Angel Hack Pre-Hackathon NYC Workshop, May 22^nd (drinks included) to allow people to get a head start on the competition. This is the ideal place to meet teammates, learn tools, and get prepared for the big weekend ahead.
Join AngelHack and Animoto for a fun night of hacking. The fiesta goes from 7-9pm. Come armed with questions for our partners, we’ll come armed with beers and pizza. Looking for a Co-founder? You’re in luck! Check out CoFoundersLab and build your dream team before you hack. And don’t forget to register for Angel Hack with your 50% SOS discount code: hack50.

For your amusement this week: CNN Anchors Pretend They’re Not Having A Satellite Interview In The Same Parking Lot. Ok, Reddit might get it wrong at times, but guess no one’s perfect. That’s it from us, and now, as always, help is on the way…

Good morning, All,

Is it OK for multimillionaires like Zach Braff to panhandle for money on Kickstarter? “Crowdfunding has helped countless creative projects get off the ground, but if we continue to allow it to be hijacked by the rich and famous there will be no chance left for the little guy,” the piece begins. Remember: donors get nothing; if the film is successful, the producers get yet another opportunity to show up at a restaurant and take that table that you’d been waiting an hour for. Braff already had a financing deal in place. But he felt it was more important to take the $25 from that kid in Brooklyn. He’s disrupting the Hollywood system. We understand that. He’s also disrupting a system that might otherwise produce the next Stanley Kubrick – someone whose vision is so far afield, it’s way beyond the scope of the traditional Hollywood financing clique. How long will it take before a Shawn Fanning or an Evan Williams decide to launch their next startup through kickstarter? Would that not diminish the chances of an unknown with a possible groundbreaking technology?

Speaking of disrupting systems, we attended TechCrunch Disrupt this past week, and saw a number of companies exhibiting who had gotten their start through kickstarter programs. Meanwhile, investors on the panels seven floors north of them were complaining that there were no more big ideas. We did note that, after the investors finished their panels, they disappeared. We didn’t see them mingling among the startups. Hard to notice something that starts as a speck on the landscape, from an ivory tower. They’re looking for the next Jack Dorsey or Evan Williams, meaning, they’re waiting to see what Jack Dorsey or Evan Williams come up with next and honestly, how many groundbreaking ideas can one person or two people come up with, after all? Cuil and Color had A teams. Yet Cuil lost millions – not Cuil, and Color disappeared before ever really launching, leaving many an investor (they raised $41m) in the red on that deal. Which, in all fairness, is a Color, too.

Did TechCrunch Disrupt, disrupt? On a scale of 1-10, no. But they usually seem to miss the forest through the trees. They talked about Amazon – a big idea – which investors initially dismissed. It took six years for the company to hit profitability and now it’s an – Amazon. The next Amazon is out there, and the kernel of it was present, seven floors below the investors. It’s 3-D printing. How many parts in your refrigerator are made of plastic? Pipes and tubing? Shoes? It’s just beginning and shows the promise of being more disruptive than even Amazon, which disrupted retail bigtime. What do you think is going to disrupt online retail? The future is already being downloaded. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

The list of Startup Weekend Upcoming Events

Digital Catalyst Fund Summer Boot Camp, starts in June; companies are accepted on a rolling basis. Apply here. Applications are now being accepted for Digital Catalyst Fund’s 10-week Summer Boot Camp. This one-of-its-kind accelerator is seeking entrepreneurs with early stage ideas that can impact the new media/digital marketing space. Accepted entrepreneurs will be provided with up to $20,000 cash and cash equivalent services, as well as $30,000 in technical development resources – which can be accessed by living and working with our teams in Bucharest, Romania. For the informational webinar happening this week, go here. https://angel.co/digital-catalyst-fund

New York Venture Summit: Apply to present/early bird registration now open. The 13th annual New York 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, New York Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. To be considered for one of the Top Innovator slots, please e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for an application.

Gates Foundation offers $100k for ‘next-gen condom,’ deadline May 7^th. You can’t make these things up.

Hack Summer Stage App Challenge (a program of City Parks Foundation), deadline May 8^th. SummerStage is looking for the app which best reflects the mission outlined above and uses the SummerStage content to engage the 280,000+ attendees to SummerStage’s annual summer-long festival. Apps that creatively utilize both the SummerStage API and other provided APIs to offer a beneficial and positive experience to festival-goers, and reflect the fact that SummerStage extends to 16 parks beyond Central Park, will be judged higher. is looking for the app to engage its 280,000+ attendees at the annual summer-long festival. OK, you don’t win cash, but you do get VIP seating at the event, and more!

LaunchHouse Accelerator Accepting Applications, Cleveland, Ohio, and all are welcome to apply. Deadline unknown. Program starts in August. For more information, see below under ‘I Can Help.’ To apply, go here. Also, just for your information, they do encourage people from anywwhere to apply – and even provide housing!

HackSummerStage, deadline May 8^th. SummerStage is looking for the app which best reflects the mission outlined above and uses the SummerStage content to engage the 280,000+ attendees to SummerStage’s annual summer-long festival. Apps that creatively utilize both the SummerStage API and other provided APIs to offer a beneficial and positive experience to festival-goers, and reflect the fact that SummerStage extends to 16 parks beyond Central Park, will be judged higher.

L’ORÉAL NEXT GENERATION AWARDS, deadline May 10^th. The three winners will be able to execute pilots across L’Oreal brands executed by the end of 2014. The winners will have the opportunity to meet with Venture Capital firms, L’Oréal executives, partners, and the press. L’Oréal will provide airfare and accommodations to attend the event. Winners will also be provided press opportunities with major consumer and trade publications. Winners will be recognized on the , on the L’Oréal Women in Digital website and invited on an ongoing basis to attend all L’Oréal Women in Digital meet-ups in local markets and internally to provide mentorship.

Fourth BigApps Competition, deadline June 7^th. $150k in prizes, and there’s a NYC BigApps 2013 Expo and Hackathon Weekend at eBay’s New York offices the weekend of April 6^th. More information about the BigApps competition is on the NYCBigApps website.

Blueprint Health Accelerator, deadline June 8^th. They just had their demo day, and getting ready for the next session. The foundation of the program is a community of over 150 healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives that are committed to helping you build and grow your business. It’s the largest network of mentors with healthcare expertise of any accelerator, which can provide you with warm introductions and the strategic and tactile advice you need. Plus $20,000 in cash, over $50,000 in perks, office space at our SoHo office, and a community that is dedicated to seeing you succeed.

Matchpoint | East, June 30^th. This is an exclusive opportunity for selected health technology entrepreneurs and large stakeholders to meet in designated 15-20 minute meetings. Meetings are arranged based on selected criteria by industry leaders and investors, leading to high-yield discussions with innovative companies! During these meetings, innovators have the opportunity to demo their innovations with potential partners and investors. Hundreds of applications are reviewed by our team and host companies to select companies to participate in exclusive round table discussions and demos. Traditionally, over 500+ applications are reviewed to identify 10-15 innovative companies per host sponsor. Apply here.

NEW Take the H.E.L.M., deadline July 15^th. To encourage the continued growth of Lower Manhattan, Take the HELM will award four $250,000 cash grants and four $50,000 cash grants to companies seeking to open an office or expand in Lower Manhattan.

NEW Global Apps To Empower, deadline July 26^th. 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.

powered by Movable Ink
For you edification this week:

“Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.” -Howard Aiken

LinkedIn Crushes Estimates But The Stock Falls Off A Cliff On Weak Guidance. The professional social network derived the lion’s share of its sales from talent solutions, which was also the fastest growing channel, up 80% to $184.3 million. Yet the stock lost 10% of its value and what were we saying, just last week? Core competancy..

Brain, Interrupted. Can you really multitask effectively?

The Damaging Psychology of Down Rounds. A down round sends a signal that something is wrong with your company. Something didn’t go to plan. And no amount of explanations, “we raised in a frothy market. We know that. You’re getting a great deal when we’ve made huge progress.” or whatever simply won’t erase the “something is wrong” psychology.

European startups: Here’s how to (not) raise capital in the US. Going to San Francisco to network, meet interesting people, get advice on your company is a great learning opportunity and the cost is well worth it. But don’t expect to go back with a check.

Entrepreneurs: Who are they? Where do they come from and what are they up against? Who do you think is more likely to start a business? Is it the 20-something with nothing to lose or the 40-year-old settled down with kids? Interesting infographic.

No, I Don’t Want a Ticket for the Women’s Luncheon. The most important part of who you are in your career is not your gender, so stop categorizing yourself as “women in technology.” That label does nothing for your salary, it does nothing for your job title, and it does nothing to prove that you are an equal. Only your work and your passion can do that.

Twelve Memorable Quotes from TechCrunch Disrupt 2013. Full disclosure: I wrote this, but it pretty much sums up Disrupt…

How to Choose the Right Business Model for Your Start-up. There are only four model. Pick one. But make sure to pick one.

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!

Blueprint Health’s summer program starts on July 8 is accepting applications for healthcare start-ups. Just for the record – the class that just graduated already raised $4 million from investors. Blueprint Health is a healthcare focused accelerator program based in NYC that helps early stage healthcare companies get started by providing access to a community of mentors, customers, and capital. All three classes included, companies have raised over $10 million in seed capital from some of the most well-known and respected healthcare VCs and angels. Companies and floating founders can apply by visiting www.blueprinthealth.org. Go for it!

Mother’s Day is Sunday and we have a BonnieFoods Truffle Special – 25% more for free. They’re low calorie, low fat, sugar and dairy free – and all natural. Place your order at bonniefoods, and in special instructions, make sure to tell us that you’re an SOS member. Due to time considerations, tri-state area only. And thank you!

For your amusement this weel: SNL’s take on Google Glass. That’s it from us for now, and don’t forget that Sunday is Mother’s Day1Call, visit, send flowers – or bonnie foods truffles! And now, as always, help is on the way…

Good morning, All,

Above you’ll notice that we have our first sponsored ad. If you find the service useful (they can help build your Minimum Viable Product), please do support a fellow SOS members and thank you so much!

We personally do not own a tablet/iPad. We do consider them from time to time: they’re infinitely portable – we spend a lot of time on the move. But they do not offer the most important functions we need available on a computer, so came to the conclusion that it’s a half computer – pass, and claims of the death of the computer are wholly premature.

Last week, we had an opportunity to test an early-stage Google Glass competitor. Beautiful design. Teeny tiny screen just above your left eye’s line of vision. (Remember when your parents told you not to sit too close to the television? ) It’s too close and very distracting, and since we live in a world where most people can’t effectively walk and chew gum at the same time, the current mass market-unfriendly $1500 price tag on GGlass may be a small mercy. According to Robert Scoble, who has been testing the product for the past two weeks and shared his review, the price will come down considerable. Google is betting on fiber and cars and head mounted ‘computers,’ and just for the record, narrowly missed their earnings call last week. But are we missing the forest through the trees? Google Wallet. Google shopping. Supposedly, once browsing is enabled, GGlass will be ad-free. Considering that advertising is part of the company’s revenue model, is Google moving towards commerce, much the same way LinkedIn is moving towards becoming more of a news site, and here in lies the caveat: we personally don’t turn to linkedin for news, any more than we would to Google in the automobile space. We know that linkedin is doing well. Stock is fine and profits are up. For now. If you’re a paying customer and have undertaken a linkedin search recently, you might have noticed that features that were previously part of your basic paid service are now only available if you upgrade. Further. Specifically: formerly, you could designate if you were open to career opportunities, new venture, getting back in touch, etc., and those designations were formerly searchable as well. But they were removed a while back, so why pay more for an option that no longer exist? We’ve said it before: linkedin is ripe for disruption. They’ve lost sight of their paying customers – and their core product – to the point where we are personally about to downgrade rather than upgrade.

Privacy will be another thorny issue with any wearable computer and Google/privacy has always been something of an oxymoron. Time will tell if Google Glass will catch on, or be this tech cycle’s version of the segue. As for GGlass and us personally: we have a friend who has it and wears it everywhere. Frankly, when we see him coming, it does remind us of the Borg. Is resistance futile? Got them in our sights. Not sure if we want them in our line of vision. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

The list of Startup Weekend Upcoming Events

Digital Catalyst Fund Summer Boot Camp, starts in June; companies are accepted on a rolling basis. Apply here. Applications are now being accepted for Digital Catalyst Fund’s 10-week Summer Boot Camp. This one-of-its-kind accelerator is seeking entrepreneurs with early stage ideas that can impact the new media/digital marketing space. Accepted entrepreneurs will be provided with up to $20,000 cash and cash equivalent services, as well as $30,000 in technical development resources – which can be accessed by living and working with our teams in Bucharest, Romania. For the informational webinar happening this week, go here. https://angel.co/digital-catalyst-fund

The Co.Labs And Target $75,000 Retail Accelerator, deadline April 30^th. The winner stands to make $75,000, and gets a chance to work with one of the leading innovators in the retail space. Seven finalists will also be awarded $10,000 each to turn their proposal into a prototype. The goal: To build a mobile shopping experience that caters to customers who visit Target’s 1,778 stores. When the dust settles, the Co.Labs & Target Retail Accelerator will show the industry just what kind of magic the future of retail has in store.

Global Apps to Empower Competition Seeks Apps to Educate and Empower Women Everywhere, deadline April 30th. Applications that best satisfy the competition criteria will receive cash prizes and the opportunity to have their apps featured on Datawind’s $40 Ubislate educational tablet. That’s potentially a lot of computers – and a big win for the winning app! The UN is involved and the winning apps will be receive cash prizes, recognition (judges for the contest include Joanne Wilson, Vivek Wadhwa, Geena Davis. For more information and to apply: http://appstoempower.org/

New York Venture Summit: Apply to present/early bird registration now open. The 13th annual New York 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, New York Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. To be considered for one of the Top Innovator slots, please e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for an application.

The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge, deadline May 1^st. The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge is a competition held by Sikorsky Innovations to identify and support emerging, revolutionary technology in the rotorcraft market. The challenge provides an opportunity for entrepreneurial companies to understand some of the toughest issues facing the vertical flight community and identify their technology as relevant to one of more of these issues. See ‘I Can Help’ for more information.

Innovate Health Tech NYC, deadline May 2^nd. $50,000 in cash & prizes, coaching sessions for finalists, and the opportunity to pitch your solution to health tech investors & entrepreneurs.

Startup Institute, deadline May 5^th. SI works with professionals, career changers, and dynamic individuals to equip them with the skills needed to have an immediate impact on the startup company they join. The primary objective is to align passion with profession, and usher students into a life they love. This is a full-time, immersive, eight-week experience that will catapult you into your city’s technology ecosystem in the areas of web development, product & design, technical marketing, or sales & business development. Apply here and heads up: apply now: as soon as the class is full, applications close, too.

NYC SeedStart’s 3rd accelerator class, deadline May 5^th. The class starts in July and will be focused exclusively on enterprise software. They’re partnering with local VCs (RRE, Starvest, Contour, Safeguard) and large enterprise partners (SAP, CA, Deutsche Telekom, Amazon). You also get $20k in funding, free office space, mentors, etc.

NEW The Innovation By Design Awards recognize the design world’s most inspired, impactful work, deadline May 6. Brought to you by Co.Design and Fast Company, submit your most award-worthy project from the past year in one of the categories listed; judges will select the projects with the greatest business impact!
Finalists will be featured in the October 2013 issue of Fast Company. The competition spans virtually every design discipline.

Gates Foundation offers $100k for ‘next-gen condom,’ deadline May 7^th. You can’t make these things up.

NEW Hack Summer Stage App Challenge (a program of City Parks Foundation), deadline May 8^th. SummerStage is looking for the app which best reflects the mission outlined above and uses the SummerStage content to engage the 280,000+ attendees to SummerStage’s annual summer-long festival. Apps that creatively utilize both the SummerStage API and other provided APIs to offer a beneficial and positive experience to festival-goers, and reflect the fact that SummerStage extends to 16 parks beyond Central Park, will be judged higher. is looking for the app to engage its 280,000+ attendees at the annual summer-long festival. OK, you don’t win cash, but you do get VIP seating at the event, and more!

LaunchHouse Accelerator Accepting Applications, Cleveland, Ohio, and all are welcome to apply. Deadline unknown. Program starts in August. For more information, see below under ‘I Can Help.’ To apply, go here. Also, just for your information, they do encourage people from anywwhere to apply – and even provide housing!

HackSummerStage, deadline May 8^th. SummerStage is looking for the app which best reflects the mission outlined above and uses the SummerStage content to engage the 280,000+ attendees to SummerStage’s annual summer-long festival. Apps that creatively utilize both the SummerStage API and other provided APIs to offer a beneficial and positive experience to festival-goers, and reflect the fact that SummerStage extends to 16 parks beyond Central Park, will be judged higher.

L’ORÉAL NEXT GENERATION AWARDS, deadline May 10^th. The three winners will be able to execute pilots across L’Oreal brands executed by the end of 2014. The winners will have the opportunity to meet with Venture Capital firms, L’Oréal executives, partners, and the press. L’Oréal will provide airfare and accommodations to attend the event. Winners will also be provided press opportunities with major consumer and trade publications. Winners will be recognized on the , on the L’Oréal Women in Digital website and invited on an ongoing basis to attend all L’Oréal Women in Digital meet-ups in local markets and internally to provide mentorship.

Fourth BigApps Competition, deadline June 7^th. $150k in prizes, and there’s a NYC BigApps 2013 Expo and Hackathon Weekend at eBay’s New York offices the weekend of April 6^th. More information about the BigApps competition is on the NYCBigApps website.

Blueprint Health Accelerator, deadline June 8^th. They just had their demo day, and getting ready for the next session. The foundation of the program is a community of over 150 healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives that are committed to helping you build and grow your business. It’s the largest network of mentors with healthcare expertise of any accelerator, which can provide you with warm introductions and the strategic and tactile advice you need. Plus $20,000 in cash, over $50,000 in perks, office space at our SoHo office, and a community that is dedicated to seeing you succeed.

Matchpoint | East, June 30^th. This is an exclusive opportunity for selected health technology entrepreneurs and large stakeholders to meet in designated 15-20 minute meetings. Meetings are arranged based on selected criteria by industry leaders and investors, leading to high-yield discussions with innovative companies! During these meetings, innovators have the opportunity to demo their innovations with potential partners and investors. Hundreds of applications are reviewed by our team and host companies to select companies to participate in exclusive round table discussions and demos. Traditionally, over 500+ applications are reviewed to identify 10-15 innovative companies per host sponsor. Apply here.

powered by Movable Ink
For you edification this week:

Variations on a theme – Don’t Listen To What Your Customers Say, Look At What They Do. House said it: everyone lies.

Google’s Schmidt says talking to glasses can be weird, inappropriate. Just saying. Wait, the Chairman of Google is saying…

10 Myths of Raising Money. Must-read slideshare.

The 5 values that drive 500 Startups. Yes, that 500Startups, as in Dave McClure.

Amazon Getting Set To Pimp Authors! The news is out, Amazon is getting ready to pimp your copyright for your book. This will affect many authors and publishers alike. They are planning, as it is reported, to sell used versions of your electronic works. How will they differentiate what is new or what is used to begin with?

How to Screen Venture Capitalists. A definitive list of things a venture investor should offer you, before you take money from them.

How to Raise Money When You’re Not in a Major VC Market. Tips from Mark Suster, if you don’t live in a major VC zone.

Michael Wolfe‘s answer to: What are some of the most ridiculous startup ideas that eventually became successful? Ask yourself, if you were a venture capitalist pitched one of these ideas, what would your reaction have been? Worth a read!

Last week, New York Mayor Bloomberg declared that the US Constitution needs reinterpreting. We do realize that coming from an elected official, such a statement borders on being considered an act of treason, but we will remind you instead of what founding father Benjamin Franklin said: “They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” As always and thank heavens, the FF’s took the long view…and the Constitution is there and has served us well for this long, for a reason.

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!

Gambita has launched! Finally petite ladies like you and me will have a friendly place to shop!

Congratulations to all of the ERA companies from the Winter 2013 session! Demo Day was last week and good job, Murat and crew! Read about it here.

That’s it from us for now, and if you’re at TechCrunch Disrupt this week – say hello! And now, as always, help is on the way…

Good morning, All,

First, you’ll notice that we have our first sponsored ad – it’s one our SOS members! So, if you’ve been looking forever for a technical cofounder to help you build your MVP, click on the banner above, get it done, and support a fellow member and this newsletter! And thank you so much!

We are aware that we do spend a lot of time here talking about the importance of revenue models, so we shelved it for a bit. The big news in New York tech recently was that Foursquare raised a $41m round and released a new version of its iOS app as well. The round was mostly a loan to keep the company afloat. The release of the new version of the app was meant to deflect the less-than-stellar funding announcement.

Dennis Crowley is infinitely mediagenic. He’s young. He’s cool. He looks good in GAP ads. Not sure he’s a businessman. Since this still is a relatively nascent industry with an amazing trajectory, where Internet Time can be better measured in dog years, maybe it’s time ‘founder’ and ‘CEO’ became two distinctly different jobs, where one doesn’t necessarily detract from the other: the founder maintains/focuses on the vision; the CEO takes care of the business – or makes sure the company is creating a viable one. He/she would be responsible for executing, which, it seems, many companies fail or neglect to do, on the business side. Google did it when Eric Schmidt became CEO and turned the company into a business. Even Steve Jobs had to step aside (ok, so it wasn’t voluntary) from Apple for a bit. The company turned around upon his return. And he learned something in the interim. Many a founder in our industry knows tech and they know how to disrupt a vertical. But that’s just a starting point.

We often wonder if that’s why there is a sudden proliferation of accelerators around the world. As a mentor at one of them, we will tell you: there is a huge difference in the companies, from the time they enter to demo day, some twelve weeks later. They become businesses. We can’t say that that’s true of all accelerators, but there is something to be said for being mentored by people who have real world experience in your space – and who can make introductions to partners or potential investors and/or help you turn your vision into a viable business. This is not meant to be a plug for any accelerator in particular: it’s a warning shot, much as was/is Foursquare’s difficulties in raising their latest round. Still, don’t count Foursquare out just yet, and since they are the current jewel in the crown among NY startups, we are certainly rooting for them. At the same time, nor should you forget that investors want to see a pathway to profitability – yours. Getting funded is neither the endgame nor is it a free lunch. Sooner or later, the waiter does come around with the check. And there is a point where even good press and good intentions just won’t cut the mustard any longer. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

The list of Startup Weekend Upcoming Events

Digital Catalyst Fund Summer Boot Camp, starts in June; companies are accepted on a rolling basis. Apply here. Applications are now being accepted for Digital Catalyst Fund’s 10-week Summer Boot Camp. This one-of-its-kind accelerator is seeking entrepreneurs with early stage ideas that can impact the new media/digital marketing space. Accepted entrepreneurs will be provided with up to $20,000 cash and cash equivalent services, as well as $30,000 in technical development resources – which can be accessed by living and working with our teams in Bucharest, Romania. For the informational webinar happening this week, go here. https://angel.co/digital-catalyst-fund

NEW The Co.Labs And Target $75,000 Retail Accelerator, deadline April 30^th. The winner stands to make $75,000, and gets a chance to work with one of the leading innovators in the retail space. Seven finalists will also be awarded $10,000 each to turn their proposal into a prototype. The goal: To build a mobile shopping experience that caters to customers who visit Target’s 1,778 stores. When the dust settles, the Co.Labs & Target Retail Accelerator will show the industry just what kind of magic the future of retail has in store.

Global Apps to Empower Competition Seeks Apps to Educate and Empower Women Everywhere, deadline April 30th. Applications that best satisfy the competition criteria will receive cash prizes and the opportunity to have their apps featured on Datawind’s $40 Ubislate educational tablet. That’s potentially a lot of computers – and a big win for the winning app! The UN is involved and the winning apps will be receive cash prizes, recognition (judges for the contest include Joanne Wilson, Vivek Wadhwa, Geena Davis. For more information and to apply: http://appstoempower.org/

New York Venture Summit: Apply to present/early bird registration now open. The 13th annual New York 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, New York Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. To be considered for one of the Top Innovator slots, please e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for an application.

The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge, deadline May 1^st. The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge is a competition held by Sikorsky Innovations to identify and support emerging, revolutionary technology in the rotorcraft market. The challenge provides an opportunity for entrepreneurial companies to understand some of the toughest issues facing the vertical flight community and identify their technology as relevant to one of more of these issues. See ‘I Can Help’ for more information.

Innovate Health Tech NYC, deadline May 2^nd. $50,000 in cash & prizes, coaching sessions for finalists, and the opportunity to pitch your solution to health tech investors & entrepreneurs.

Startup Institute, deadline May 5^th. SI works with professionals, career changers, and dynamic individuals to equip them with the skills needed to have an immediate impact on the startup company they join. The primary objective is to align passion with profession, and usher students into a life they love. This is a full-time, immersive, eight-week experience that will catapult you into your city’s technology ecosystem in the areas of web development, product & design, technical marketing, or sales & business development. Apply here and heads up: apply now: as soon as the class is full, applications close, too.

NYC SeedStart’s 3rd accelerator class, deadline May 5^th. The class starts in July and will be focused exclusively on enterprise software. They’re partnering with local VCs (RRE, Starvest, Contour, Safeguard) and large enterprise partners (SAP, CA, Deutsche Telekom, Amazon). If you plan to apply, make sure to attend the info session on April 29^th.

Gates Foundation offers $100k for ‘next-gen condom,’ deadline May 7^th. You can’t make these things up.

LaunchHouse Accelerator Accepting Applications, Cleveland, Ohio, and all are welcome to apply. Deadline unknown. Program starts in August. For more information, see below under ‘I Can Help.’ To apply, go here. Also, just for your information, they do encourage people from anywwhere to apply – and even provide housing!

HackSummerStage, deadline May 8^th. SummerStage is looking for the app which best reflects the mission outlined above and uses the SummerStage content to engage the 280,000+ attendees to SummerStage’s annual summer-long festival. Apps that creatively utilize both the SummerStage API and other provided APIs to offer a beneficial and positive experience to festival-goers, and reflect the fact that SummerStage extends to 16 parks beyond Central Park, will be judged higher.

L’ORÉAL NEXT GENERATION AWARDS, deadline May 10^th. The three winners will be able to execute pilots across L’Oreal brands executed by the end of 2014. The winners will have the opportunity to meet with Venture Capital firms, L’Oréal executives, partners, and the press. L’Oréal will provide airfare and accommodations to attend the event. Winners will also be provided press opportunities with major consumer and trade publications. Winners will be recognized on the , on the L’Oréal Women in Digital website and invited on an ongoing basis to attend all L’Oréal Women in Digital meet-ups in local markets and internally to provide mentorship.

Fourth BigApps Competition, deadline June 7^th. $150k in prizes, and there’s a NYC BigApps 2013 Expo and Hackathon Weekend at eBay’s New York offices the weekend of April 6^th. More information about the BigApps competition is on the NYCBigApps website.

Blueprint Health Accelerator, deadline June 8^th. They just had their demo day, and getting ready for the next session. The foundation of the program is a community of over 150 healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives that are committed to helping you build and grow your business. It’s the largest network of mentors with healthcare expertise of any accelerator, which can provide you with warm introductions and the strategic and tactile advice you need. Plus $20,000 in cash, over $50,000 in perks, office space at our SoHo office, and a community that is dedicated to seeing you succeed.

NEW Matchpoint | East, June 30^th. This is an exclusive opportunity for selected health technology entrepreneurs and large stakeholders to meet in designated 15-20 minute meetings. Meetings are arranged based on selected criteria by industry leaders and investors, leading to high-yield discussions with innovative companies! During these meetings, innovators have the opportunity to demo their innovations with potential partners and investors. Hundreds of applications are reviewed by our team and host companies to select companies to participate in exclusive round table discussions and demos. Traditionally, over 500+ applications are reviewed to identify 10-15 innovative companies per host sponsor. Apply here.

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For you edification this week:

3 Biggest Mistakes When Choosing a Cofounder.

Stop Looking For a Co-Founder. According to David Lerner, you’re on a fool’s mission.

Three Reasons Entrepreneurs Fail BIG TIME and how to avoid failing! You need the right team, the right market and the right idea, of course. Of course, there’s more to it then that…

Catalyst VCs VC’s love to be first to be second. It does make sense, don’t worry.

How to Screen Venture Capitalists. Not all cash is the same shade of green.

Things Entrepreneurs Never Confess To Their VCs. This is intended be a light-hearted piece that hits just close enough on some counts to (hopefully) be funny. Some of them really are.

My Favorite Entrepreneur Story in a Long Time, from Mark Suster. “If you don’t like it hot, use less,” he said. “We don’t make mayonnaise here.” Sriracha sauce can be quite hot and so is the company.

Apple confirms it keeps Siri data for up to two years (update: Google too). Just yet another way to track you.

Samsung is Working on Mind-Control for Tablets. There’s a video and link, for more information.
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!
That’s it from us for now, and now, as always, help is on the way…

Good morning, All,

We wrote a different editorial, before yesterday’s Boston bombings. It feels inappropriate to post it today. As someone who lives in a city that also suffered an attacked, I know how difficult it is and how incomprehensible it feels. Our hearts go out to the city of Boston and to those who were affected by the violence of yesterday’s events. Here is the link to Google’s Boston person finder and we sincerely hope that you and yours are safe. What struck us is that, amid the horror and the mayhem of yesterday’s bombings, and despite the uncertainty of not knowing whether more bombs would go off (several more were later found, undetonated), people ran towards the screams to help their fellow man. Nothing justifies an act of such wanton violence, and in the horror of such sudden devastation, one would think that the first reaction would be to flee. That did not happen yesterday in Copley Square.

It was the day of the Boston Marathon: Patriot’s Day, commemorating the start of the American Revolution, and a day when strangers come together to cheer on strangers. Yesterday, strangers came together to help strangers. Doctors who were there to treat dehydration treated wounds and performed triage. Marathon runners changed course and ran towards hospitals to donate blood. In a civilized society, humanity prevails. And we will hopefully go onward and forward, taking steps to ensure that this does not happen again to more people and to other families.

Deadlines:

The list of Startup Weekend Upcoming Events

ER Accelerator deadline: April 19^th. $40,000 investment 4-month program. Follow-on investment in future rounds. 200+ awesome mentors, including yours truly. Apply now. There’s also an ERA Summer 2013 Happy Hour at Connolly’s this Wednesday, March 27^th. Come and learn more about the program, and talk to members of the present class, alums and mentors – like me!

NEW Digital Catalyst Fund Summer Boot Camp, starts in June; companies are accepted on a rolling basis. Apply here. Applications are now being accepted for Digital Catalyst Fund’s 10-week Summer Boot Camp. This one-of-its-kind accelerator is seeking entrepreneurs with early stage ideas that can impact the new media/digital marketing space. Accepted entrepreneurs will be provided with up to $20,000 cash and cash equivalent services, as well as $30,000 in technical development resources – which can be accessed by living and working with our teams in Bucharest, Romania. For the informational webinar happening this week, go here. https://angel.co/digital-catalyst-fund

Global Apps to Empower Competition Seeks Apps to Educate and Empower Women Everywhere, deadline April 30th. Applications that best satisfy the competition criteria will receive cash prizes and the opportunity to have their apps featured on Datawind’s $40 Ubislate educational tablet. That’s potentially a lot of computers – and a big win for the winning app! The UN is involved and the winning apps will be receive cash prizes, recognition (judges for the contest include Joanne Wilson, Vivek Wadhwa, Geena Davis. For more information and to apply: http://appstoempower.org/

New York Venture Summit: Apply to present/early bird registration now open. The 13th annual New York 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, New York Venture Summit is one event you won’t want to miss. To be considered for one of the Top Innovator slots, please e-mail iwant2present@youngstartup.com for an application.

NEW The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge, deadline May 1^st. The Sikorsky Entrepreneurial Challenge is a competition held by Sikorsky Innovations to identify and support emerging, revolutionary technology in the rotorcraft market. The challenge provides an opportunity for entrepreneurial companies to understand some of the toughest issues facing the vertical flight community and identify their technology as relevant to one of more of these issues. See ‘I Can Help’ for more information.

Innovate Health Tech NYC, deadline May 2^nd. $50,000 in cash & prizes, coaching sessions for finalists, and the opportunity to pitch your solution to health tech investors & entrepreneurs.

Startup Institute, deadline May 5^th. SI works with professionals, career changers, and dynamic individuals to equip them with the skills needed to have an immediate impact on the startup company they join. The primary objective is to align passion with profession, and usher students into a life they love. This is a full-time, immersive, eight-week experience that will catapult you into your city’s technology ecosystem in the areas of web development, product & design, technical marketing, or sales & business development. Apply here and heads up: apply now: as soon as the class is full, applications close, too.

NEW NYC SeedStart’s 3rd accelerator class, deadline May 5^th. The class starts in July and will be focused exclusively on enterprise software. They’re partnering with local VCs (RRE, Starvest, Contour, Safeguard) and large enterprise partners (SAP, CA, Deutsche Telekom, Amazon). If you plan to apply, make sure to attend the info session on April 29^th.

Gates Foundation offers $100k for ‘next-gen condom,’ deadline May 7^th. You can’t make these things up.

LaunchHouse Accelerator Accepting Applications, Cleveland, Ohio, and all are welcome to apply. Deadline unknown. Program starts in August. For more information, see below under ‘I Can Help.’ To apply, go here. Also, just for your information, they do encourage people from anywwhere to apply – and even provide housing!

HackSummerStage, deadline May 8^th. SummerStage is looking for the app which best reflects the mission outlined above and uses the SummerStage content to engage the 280,000+ attendees to SummerStage’s annual summer-long festival. Apps that creatively utilize both the SummerStage API and other provided APIs to offer a beneficial and positive experience to festival-goers, and reflect the fact that SummerStage extends to 16 parks beyond Central Park, will be judged higher.

L’ORÉAL NEXT GENERATION AWARDS, deadline May 10^th. The three winners will be able to execute pilots across L’Oreal brands executed by the end of 2014. The winners will have the opportunity to meet with Venture Capital firms, L’Oréal executives, partners, and the press. L’Oréal will provide airfare and accommodations to attend the event. Winners will also be provided press opportunities with major consumer and trade publications. Winners will be recognized on the , on the L’Oréal Women in Digital website and invited on an ongoing basis to attend all L’Oréal Women in Digital meet-ups in local markets and internally to provide mentorship.

Fourth BigApps Competition, deadline June 7^th. $150k in prizes, and there’s a NYC BigApps 2013 Expo and Hackathon Weekend at eBay’s New York offices the weekend of April 6^th. More information about the BigApps competition is on the NYCBigApps website.

Blueprint Health Accelerator, deadline June 8^th. They just had their demo day, and getting ready for the next session. The foundation of the program is a community of over 150 healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and industry executives that are committed to helping you build and grow your business. It’s the largest network of mentors with healthcare expertise of any accelerator, which can provide you with warm introductions and the strategic and tactile advice you need. Plus $20,000 in cash, over $50,000 in perks, office space at our SoHo office, and a community that is dedicated to seeing you succeed.

powered by Movable Ink
For you edification this week:

There were problems at Tumblr this week, too. Besides the Storyboard layoffs, said one staffer, “Karp (26) seems to treat Tumblr like a junior high lunch room–he sits with his five favorite people of the moment, and treats everyone else like a reject.”

, What Is A Good Venture Return? This from Fred Wilson, who happens to be an investor in FS.

From Don Dodge (who is now at GOOG Ventures, we believe): Why VCs look for 10X returns – What you need to know when pitching a VC firm.

I Raised Capital, Now What? Good piece and it even tells you the best days to make your funding announcement. Yes, it makes a difference. Do you know what a press embargo is?

Why Entrepreneurs Need Charisma and Six Easy Ways to Project it. Charisma is a powerful asset that is free, can be developed easily and will dramatically accelerate an entrepreneur’s journey to success.

Stop Congress From Making a Bad Computer Law Worse. They never give up. We must stay vigilant.

Cable Companies Can Now Force You to Rent Set-Top Boxes. Here Are Your Alternatives. Aereo, currently only available in New York, is also mentioned and there’s a story that’s blowing up fast, to the point where CBS and Fox are considering switching to a subscription-only model.

Heads up, Cali: Even Checking Maps on Phone While Driving Not Okay. You’ve been warned.

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!

That’s it from us for now, and now, as always, help is on the way…