12/13/11

12/13/11

Good morning, All,

It’s the holidays, and one of our members turned us on to some free resources for entrepreneurs at our last SOS+EW+ ER ROOTT breakfast. Our next one is January 10th, just for the record, and we do limit the number of attendees, so do sign up early. And who can turn down coffee, tea and – free. Advice, that is. $25 includes breakfast and it’s $30 at the door. To RSVP: http://roottbreakfast3.eventbrite.com/

The shot heard round the twitterverse. Last week, Twitter took aim at Facebook and Google+. (Twitter Just Fired A Cannonball At Facebook And Google+: http://read.bi/tYpnCB). Facebook may have 800+ million members, but Twitter wants all 7 billion on the planet. Heads up, Twitter and note to self: if you’re going to make changes, make sure it’s at least somewhat seamless/easy for your users to take on the world with you, but nooo and of course there was a backlash. Especially from iPhone users, which was good news for third party developers. Tapbots responded by putting Tweetbot, normally $2.99, on sale for a limited time. For your .99 download: http://bit.ly/kJnTTi Think Twitter will be making another acquisition soon, and just for fun, Five Things You Didn’t Know About Twitter: http://read.bi/uv4bMq. And one they missed: Library of Congress to collect Twitter data: http://bit.ly/tWP2i4 For a guide to what’s what with the new, new twitter: The New, New Twitter and What It Means to You and Your Business. Leave it to Brian Solis to explain it all for you: http://bit.ly/vl6Xr0 Onward and forward.

Christmas present: Free Resource, NYC!
NYC Business Solutions is a font of free services and information: http://on.nyc.gov/3eWk5V
For a catalog of free courses: http://on.nyc.gov/v0jNAz
FastTrac GrowthVentures helps you to grow your existing business, offers free classes on finance and quickbooks and HR laws and…they also have lawyers who will look at contracts for you and assist you through the process of getting a loan… http://on.nyc.gov/s0CK3A
There’s also the Columbia Business School’s Small Business Consulting Program.  Deadline for the Spring session is January 10th. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/vr7gSf.
Our thanks to Kathryn for sharing all of this, and always feel free to send us programs you find, no matter where in the world that happens to be.

Deadlines:

The 2011 New England Venture Summit is tomorrow, December 14th, at the Hilton in Boston Dedham. If you’d like to meet over 450 of the top VCs, Corporate VCs Angels Investors, Investment Bankers and CEOs of early stage and emerging growth companies, all under one roof, then don’t miss the 2011 New England Venture Summit – attend!  Whether you’re a savvy investor seeking new dealsor an innovative startup seeking funding, The 2011 New England Venture Summit is one event you can’t afford to miss! TO REGISTER NOW & SECURE YOUR PLACE  http://bit.ly/poOfHn Discount code: SOS

Aetna Foundation Challenge deadline December 15th The Aetna Foundation invites health services researchers, software developers, designers, clinicians and others to participate in an exciting project designed to make important data about obesity and related data sets available and accessible to health services researchers, public health officials, policy makers and similar stakeholders. The Challenge involves the creation of an interactive browser-based application with, at the developer’s discretion, additional platform capabilities that will take data and facilitate the following:
Basic data visualization
Predictive modeling and scenario analysis
Comparisons across various parameters
Output of key data/analyses into presentation formats such as, but not limited to, PowerPoint
Social networking, bookmarking and sharing
To apply: http://bit.ly/uvv43O

NEW NDRC Launchpad- Ireland’s first accelerator program – deadline December 16th, focused on supporting the next generation of digital entrepreneurs to accelerate good ideas to sound start-ups. Location is Dublin and the program runs for 3 months. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/jhQQVR

AI Challenge, sponsored by Google, deadline December 18th. The AI Challenge is all about creating artificial intelligence, whether you are a beginning programmer or an expert. Using one of the easy-to-use starter kits, you will create a computer program (in any language) that controls a colony of ants which fight against other colonies for domination. It only takes 5 minutes to submit one of the starter kits to the website and watch your ant colony fight for domination against colonies created by other people from around the world. From there check out the tutorials on how to locally run your bot and begin programming! To participate: http://aichallenge.org/

NEW Health Care Innovation Challenge, Letter of Intent Deadline December 19th. Application deadline: January 27th. The Health Care Innovation Challenge will award up $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new ideas to deliver better health, improved care and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, particularly those with the highest health care needs. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/swdSTU

Thiel Fellowship, Deadline December 31st. Yes, it’s Peter Thiel. An ideal candidate is 19 years old or younger as of December 31, 2011 and has ideas that simply cannot wait. She or he wants to change the world and has already started to do it in some fashion. We want fellows who dream big and have clear plans, who take risks and learn from mistakes, who think long-term and like to tinker. Inspire us. To apply: http://bit.ly/sf9t4p

NEW In SF: DEMO Enterprise Disruption: An Evening of Innovation & Change, January 5, 2012, DEMO and Fusion-io (DEMO alum) are joining forces to create a memorable event featuring enterprise product demonstrations; special Fusion-io demonstration featuring Fusion-io Chief Scientist Steve Wozniak and a New Year’s party open to the entire tech community of entrepreneurs, developers, press, investors and DEMO alumni. For more information: http://bit.ly/sos8Rt

  • Apply to demonstrate at the Enterprise Disruption event: Applications are currently being accepted for three student-run companies focused on the enterprise and three DEMO alumni with new enterprise products, to give product demonstrations at DEMO Enterprise.  Apply today!  (If accepted to demo at this event, fees are waived thanks to scholarship support from Fusion-io) To apply: http://bit.ly/tSD8AA
  • DEMO Enterprise Disruption Party: Join Fusion-io, DEMO and VentureBeat at Temple Nightclub on January 5 to welcome in the New Year with a rockin’ party for the entire Bay Area Tech Ecosystem! Complimentary Event! To attend: http://demopartysf2012.eventbrite.com/

Mini Seedcamp London January 2012 is a one day event aiming to connect the 20 best web-tech, mobile and software talent with some of the leading entrepreneurs, developers, and experts from all across Europe and all over the world. Date to be announced soon. For more information: http://bit.ly/rqgVQm

TechStars NYC, early appliction deadline: January 10th. Final deadline: January 23rd. Time for the Spring session. To apply: http://apply.techstars.com/ For more information: http://www.techstars.com/

NYC Big App Awards – New York City is challenging software developers to create apps that use city data to make NYC better. $50k in cash and prizes! You have from now until January 25th to enter. For more information and to apply: http://2011.nycbigapps.com/

The Appy Awards – enter once and you could win twice. Deadline March 21, 2012 but any entry you submit today may also be selected as our “Featured App of the Week“, scoring you some seriously instant gratification. And we doesn’t love that? For more information and to enter – any time – http://appyawards.net/

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For you edification this week

Your SOLUTION is Not My PROBLEM, or How to Pitch to Investors. Remember folks: pitch the PROBLEM first, connect with your audience emotionally around the problem, and then — and ONLY then — offer your solution as the remedy to that problem. Oldie but goodie from Dave McClure: http://bit.ly/dtO29

Selling out: What Obligation (if any) Is Owed. Yes, Eric Wiesen (RRE) wrote this in light of the Gowalla acquisition, which was just the latest in a series of a company being bought for its team rather than what they built. Some  good guidelines here for you and go, cows!  http://wiesen.tumblr.com/

FAQ: What startups should know about the U.S. crowdfunding bill. It’s now in the Senate and changes are being made.  ProFounder has already run into some problems. Here’s the latest. So far: http://bit.ly/smARep

The fox guarding the chicken coop: Shockingly Unshocking: Two Congressional Staffers Who Helped Write SOPA/PIPA Become Entertainment Industry Lobbyists Two high level Congressional staffers who have been instrumental in creating or moving forward both PROTECT IP (PIPA) and SOPA have taken jobs with two of the biggest entertainment industry lobbyists, who are working very hard to convince Congress to pass the legislation they just helped write. And people wonder why the American public looks on DC as being corrupt. http://bit.ly/uREG17 Then again, your tax dollars at work: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHiicN0Kg10

Twelve Steps to Sucking Less
. What we do is not easy, and we all have those times when we doubt ourselves. Finally, guidelines for those times: http://bit.ly/v0uLPF

Speaking of which: Why I’d Rather Err on the Side of Direct Feedback Than Pleasantries. Some of the pearls from Mark Suster: Don’t give people a free pass on feedback. Take the harder track. Have a point-of-view. State it. Defend it. Push your colleagues (or your boss!) to produce higher quality work by challenging assumptions. http://bit.ly/sBbCzr

7 Keys to Startup Survival in Today’s Now Economy. Changing the culture and mindset in an existing businesses is difficult and slow, so this becomes another “opportunity” for smart entrepreneurs and startups to excel. John M. Bernard does a great job outlining seven key steps to success today in his new book, “Business at the Speed of Now.” They apply to any business, but every startup better lead with these: http://bit.ly/uQNRNu

And from SOS member Frank Denbow: On Honesty in Startupland. “The issue of honesty does come up frequently in these discussions with New York tech entrepreneurs. Are we giving each other honest feedback on the projects and ideas we are working on? I’m worried that we aren’t. “ With you on that one, Frank: http://bit.ly/nKfy8H

How To Choose A Board Member . Entrepreneur Elad Gil spells out what board members do, what to look for – and, equally importantly, what to watch out for: http://bit.ly/u86WZh

The web is there for many things and many reason. Some things you just can’t make up – and someone did! http://youtu.be/WoxKaaWY9Y4 It is kind of cat-chy, though. And on that note, now, as always, help is on the way…

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