Startup One Stop

Good morning, All,

First, a big thank you to Sumeet Shah, Senior Associate at Brand Foundry, who was the guest investor at last week’s Breakfast. And who shared two awesome slide decks on investing and what funds look for, with our attendees. Pays to show up!

Our next Breakfast with an Investor will be Wednesday, February 18^th and our guest investor will be Alicia Syrett, Founder and CEO of Pantegrion Capital, an angel investment firm that focuses on seed and early stage investments, and a member of several angel networks, including Golden Seeds and NY Angels. She’s a very active investor and startup advisor – and she’s currently looking for NYC-based early stage investments. For the record, because we keep the group small, every investor who has spoken at one of our breakfasts so far has made him or herself available to attendees afterwards, meaning private consultation. RSVP here and hope to see you there! Read More...

Good morning, All,

First, our January Breakfast with an Investor is this Thursday, January 22, and it’s a bit different this time, as Sumeet Shah is the Senior Associate at this very active investment firm, and it’s the first time we’re hosting a gatekeeper. Yup, it’s the Senior Associates who vet the deals first, so it will be interesting to hear that perspective on what investors look for, and yes, Brand Foundry Ventures are early stage investors.

Sumeet is responsible for sourcing, executing, and monitoring new opportunities at Brand Foundry Ventures. In other words, he’s the boots on the ground, out there looking for the next investment. So make sure you’re there to hear what he has to say. You will have one-on-one time with him, and we always leave time for networking. RSVP here. Read More...

Good morning, All,

CES was last week and everyone was abuzz about the Internet of Things. We came across an article and we have to agree: Stop calling it the ‘Internet of Things’. The name is just dumb. Almost as dumb as was the term ‘New Media,’ which was ubiquitous in the 90s, in the nascent days of the consumer web. It was a term that got old fast. The writer of the article suggested we call it SmartTech, or Smartech, which we personally believe is just as amorphous. How about Connected Devices? We do realize that they’re not all devices, but we would suggest separating hardware from other internet’s other ‘things.’

It’s too bad there’s such a disconnected between tech and advertising. In advertising, on balance, they know how to name things, or used to, at least. We were an advertisig copywriter at one point in our illustrious career, and part of our job was to name products. True story: back in the day and around the time that the name 'New Media’ was coming into its own, an art director we had once worked with had to come up with a name for a new software. The client meeting was Monday. He had squat and we had tickets to Cirque du Soleil on Saturday. Our friend was worried about the presentation and didn’t particularly want to be pried out of his offic, but we can be very convincing and promised that he could return to work after the show and who couldn’t spare two hours over a weekend, just to take a break and maybe come back with a fresh perspective? The two of us went. The circus did inspire him and we did have dinner afterwards, because during the show, the name for the product had suddenly struck him. Read More...

Good morning, All, and happy New Year!

Dana Brunetti @DanaBrunetti · Dec 24 Just watched The Interview and a studio got money from me they wouldn't have otherwise. VOD is the future. 0 replies 18 retweets 64 favorites

Dana Brunetti is not only the president of Tigger Street Productions. He’s also the guy who produced the most successful show not on television: House of Cards, which streams on Netflix, for those out there who haven’t yet cut the cord. Back in November, we heard Brunetti speak at the Dublin Web Summit. Read More...