Startup One Stop

Good morning, All, and we did suggest you register early – and we will do another one soon enough. Since we hate to see anyone left out – you’re all invited for drinks afterwards.

Details: The Celsius Bar in Bryant Park – 43 West 42^nd across the street and just inside Bryant Park. We should be there by 8.30 or 9, so meet us there!

For those of us who remember, long before The Social Network, there was Startup.com.  From the Oscar-nominated creators of The War Room and Bob Dylan’s Don’t Look Back, this fascinating documentary takes you back to the Internet Gold Rush of the late 1990s to expose the painfully intimate story of one would-be internet empire that goes from dot-com darling to dot-bomb flameout. Read More...

Good morning, All, and yes, back on this side of the pond this week.

So, the smartphone market is now bigger than the PC market; the underdog wins the Superbowl, AOL buys the HuffPo, the whole landscape changes in Egypt – and we won’t even get into the whole Nokia/Microsoft thing. Can’t leave you guys for – yes, we’re going to say it – a New York minute. And if anyone is planning on doing business in London any time soon – or planning a trip over to connect with the Silicon Roundabout, as the London tech community is known, do let us know and we’re happy to make introductions.

Our next Find A Cofounder (http://bit.ly/ftIK71) is next Tuesday, February 22 and early bird ticket sales end tonight! This time we are very excited to partner with Entrepreneurs Roundtable and DMMBA (www.digitalmediamba.com). And you know us – we will go around and make introductions, so if there’s someone you want to meet or are looking for, just let us know.
Schedule:
6:30p – 7:00p: Have a cocktail and meet some of your fellow entrepreneurs
7:00p – 7:45p: What is the best way to get started and find a co-founder?
Q&A and presentations on detailed step-by-step instructions on how to get started and how to find a co-founder.
7:45p – 8:30p: Co-founder “speed meets” and professional networking
8:30p – 10:00p: Cocktail party and more networking
Panelists:
Somak Chattopadhyay, Principal at GSA Venture Partners
Mike Hudak, Co-founder and CEO at blip.tv
Dina Kaplan, Co-founder at blip.tv
Matt Meeker, Co-founder of Meetup.com and Entrepreneur in Residence at Polaris Ventures
Moderator:
Babak (Bo) Yaghmaie, Partner at Cooley LLP
Then we’ll all go off for drinks – and more nextworking – nearby, not to worry. We know that liquids always help – cash bar. RSVP: http://bit.ly/ftIK71 Read More...

Cheers, All, and you so knew that was coming, what, eh?

Yes, still on the other side of the pond and we must say that the British Airways Face to Face program is/was an absolutely stellar event from beginning to end and would highly recommend that, if you’re planning to do business internationally, you enter the competition later this year.  Winners are flown to London on a BA chartered plane, and don’t expect to grab some sleep, as it’s literally non-stop networking – and you haven’t lived until you’ve done a pitch at 30,000 feet. Talk about a captive audience, and you do make a lot of connections – heaven for compulsive networkers like yours truly – not to mention FITs (Friends in Transit). BTW, it’s not just a popularity contest. You can submit either a 2-minute video or an essay and there is an online voting process open to one and all. However, BA does have their own judging panel and choose a certain number of winners based on compelling content. Just FYI. Oh, and did we mention that BA will then fly you on to any destination in the world where the airline flies – business class, and admittedly, does make it difficult to go back to steerage.

Speaking of which – it’s Social Media Week across the world this week – February 7-11, or if you’re in one of the nine participating cities, anyway, including NEW YORK, SAN FRANCISCO, ROME, PARIS, TORONTO, SÃO PAULO, LONDON, HONG KONG, ISTANBUL, plan on attending. I’ll be at Hub, King’s Cross, if you happen to be in London this week. Read More...

Tomorrow is Groundhog Day and let’s hope…

Good morning, All, and yes, we leave for London later this week (weather permitting, of course) and will be participating in Social Media Week there. And no, we will not be spiking the newsletter and tweets with some fake British accent, not to worry. That would be just too bloody pretentious.

Anyway, the good news: Philly-based DreamIt Ventures has come to NYC, and who’s heading up the new NY office? None other than entrepreneur, investor – and SOS member – Mark Wachen. Congratulations, Mark! Mark is truly one of the good guys. We’ve known him forever and his background: he raised $1 million to launch his own company, Optimost, which he ultimately sold for $52 million. Full story is here: http://bit.ly/eZtFkS More good news: Applications are now being accepted for the program, which runs from May to August 2011. Deadline to apply is March 16 (http://dreamitventures.com/apply/ Best for last (ok, so it’s all good): DreamIt is hosting an Alumni Night on February 15 at Solas and you’re all invited to attend, but you must RSVP: http://www.dreamitventures.com/news/events.php). Read More...