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Month: September 2011

9/27/11

9/27/11

Good morning, All,

Yes, we are getting ready for our next Terrace event, and – fingers crossed – we may be doing it at the Empire State Building. Cool!  October 18th is the date; more details coming soon and register now for the early bird rate: http://bit.ly/mY5QED

ER Accelerator had its Demo Day this past Friday for its first graduating class and kudos to Murat and his team – and the startups themselves, some of who have already received angel and VC investment. The packed room included representatives from Union Square Ventures, TechStars, Founder Collective, Greycroft, Bessemer Ventures, New York Angels, Penny Black and Bloomberg Ventures. ERA is one of the few New York City-grown accelerators and heads up: since this is the city that never sleeps, they’re already gearing up for the winter session. Deadline is November 19th. So get those applications in: http://eranyc.com/apply/
Press from Demo Day:
Meet the 10 awesome teams at ER Accelerator’s first Demo Day in NYC http://tnw.co/qErVTP
Knights of the Roundtable: ER Accelerator Demos Long, But Compelling http://bit.ly/nuJBH0 Read More...

9/20/11

9/20/11

Good morning, All,

First, this is the week to Do It In Person, and we have a 50% discount when you use the code SOS. Hope to see you there, and register here: www.doitinperson.eventbrite.com And yes, we are getting ready for our next Terrace event, although it won’t be in the usual venue. Tomorrow is Autumn after all, and we don’t want to chance it with the weather. October 18th is the date; venue TBD and register now for the early bird rate: http://bit.ly/mY5QED

The Groupon IPO is back on (for now) and Michael Arrington is really out at TechCrunch. Barry Diller had some interesting observations/opinions on the latter
(Barry Diller Skewers AOL For Firing Michael Arrington From TechCrunch http://tcrn.ch/rcE4Vh and while we’re on the subject, let us not forget that The New York Times also has holdings in technology, advertising and media companies (including GigaOm, which competes with TechCrunch), as well as a VC fund that invests in tech startups (http://bit.ly/oDPAPx). Read More...

9/13/11

9/13/11

Good morning, All,

First, our thanks to all who attended our last Terrace event last night. A special thank you to our volunteers and to the investors who took the time to come and talk to you all. We’ll be planning another Find A Cofounder and SOS 1-1 with an  Investor soon. In the meantime, don’t forget that you can www.doitinperson.eventbrite.com – and get a 50% discount with the code SOS. Hope to see you there!

During the days of web 1.0, content providers insisted that content was king. They seemed to be a voice in the wilderness, and the technology itself held sway. This week it was announced that Carol Bartz is out at Yahoo (Yahoo’s Board “F***ed Me Overhttp://yhoo.it/rs2HHr). Oh, and yes, Michael Arrington is out at AOL. Or so it stood , when last we left our hero (Entire staff of TechCrunch now threatening to commit mass suicide unless Michael Arrington gets his way, on everything, forever http://bit.ly/oLW5pC, and yes, that was him in the Unpaid Blogger tee onstage at Disrupt). It was also announced that Google bought Zagat to beef up its local content (Google Acquires Zagat To Flesh Out Local Reviews http://tcrn.ch/nEWuhg). What’s interesting in all of this is that what distinguished Yahoo at the onset and what drew eyeballs – yes, they were the only search engine out there at the time – but they offered content. Outstanding content, and maybe that’s why every now and then that old standby rumor emerges: the Yahoo/AOL merger talks. Back to our story: then Yahoo made a slew of expensive acquisitions, in every direction, which did very little to improve the brand (http://bit.ly/aZQMDC) Au contraire, Yahoo lost its focus. Google has also made acquisitions that they later killed, and with this year’s announcement from Larry Page that the company needs to focus on social (enter GOOG+), well, yes, we do remember dodgeball, one of the first mobile social services (which google purchased in 2005), which died off and founder Dennis Crowley went on to launch – oh, don’t even make me say it. Google needs to remember to focus, too, and with the Zagat purchase, it seems they’re may well be following in the path of the early Yahoo. For its own reasons, to be sure, lest we forget what drives GOOG profits. What strikes us is that we had it right the first time and we’re going to just come out and say it: Technology is awesome, entrepreneurs out there, but all dressed up and nowhere to go: content is – and always was – king. And Yahoo should refocus on what they’ve always done best. Onward and forward. Read More...

9/6/11

9/6/11

Good morning, All,

Our thanks to everyone who came for our Labor Day Barbeque and always happy to see you – and we knew it wouldn’t rain. That was sooo barbeque. And, well, this week. We know. We’ll try to schedule one more, as long as the warm weather holds.

Our final EW+SOS+ER Rocking Out on the Terrace of the season is next Monday – September 12th  and we’ll have investors on hand who’ll introduce themselves at 6.30, then will make themselves available to you. To register: http://terraceparty3.eventbrite.com/
The list of investors who’ve RSVP’d so far:
– Jay Levy, Zelkova Ventures
– Matt Turck, Bloomberg Ventures
– John Frankel, ff Venture Capital
– Edlyn Yuen, StarVest Partners
– Nathan Suh, Comcast Capital
– Charlie O’ Donnell, First Round Capital
– Aaron Price, DFJGotham Read More...