2/7/12

2/7/12

Good morning, All,

First, next week is Social Media Week and SOS, ER and Hubitat are hosting a Startup Breakfast on Thursday, February 16th. Hopefully, some of you will be in from out of town, so join us and introduce yourselves. $15 includes breakfast, and be prepared to tell us what you need, what you’re doing, or how you can help! It’ll be at Hubitat – and many of you have been curious to see the offices, so come! 31 West 26th Street. RSVP here, and it’s $20 at the door: http://erasosbreakfast1.eventbrite.com/ And our thanks to everyone who attended our Find A Cofounder last night. Great event and we will schedule another one soon, not to worry!

There certainly have been more IPO’s of late than we’ve seen in recent years. Facebook’s has been a long time coming, but forest through the trees: the company’s S-1 filing was announced almost in the same breath as director James Cameron’s leaving the US and moving to a farm in New Zealand (ok, he’ll be filming Avatar 2 as well), and it gives one pause: he’s not the only one percenter whose leaving (Cameron Feeling America To Escape Collapse? http://bit.ly/A8PDkF) As the article says, growing concern that economic stagnation could lead to widespread civil unrest, allied to crippling tax hikes, is causing many members of the super-rich to abandon the US – or purchase land in more remote areas – and in record numbers, in pursuit of more stable countries with friendlier financial conditions for those with wealth. Hmmm.

Back to our story: Zuckerberg stated that FB is going public “for no real reason.” Well, Zuck doesn’t do anything for no real reason. Facebook is certainly decelerating (Here’s The Real Problem For Facebook’s Stock Valuation http://read.bi/z73WT2), and why not git while the gitting’s good?  Timeline. Likes. Subscribes. And a growing online advertising market. With Google’s big push into social, the war for eyeballs – and ad dollars – is on and FB needs a war chest to build up its advertising infrastruction. Interestingly, Steve Case, AOL founder and yes, an early Living Social investor, says that we’re only at the early stages of the social ecommerce revolution (LivingSocial lost $558M in 2011: http://bit.ly/wxc7hE) Facebook seems to be following the path of online advertising, which certainly is a growing segment, last quarter aside, when revenues were way down. The company has the data to go in either direction – or both. Social ecommerce is still the relative new kid on the block and we well remember web 1.0, when promising to build revenue through online advertising was pretty much a non-starter to investors, so don’t discount social ecommerce yet. If we are in a bubble (bubble, meltdown, tomato, tomahto) and FB is going public while the going’s good, well, like last time, there will be those who survive and those who will not. Bottom line always is: is this something I can’t live without? Amazon, eBay and the then-nascent Google are still with us, and twitter would be no doubt be fine after a bubble 2.0. Facebook certainly has challenges ahead of them and it’s still early days in the evolution of social platforms: they weren’t the first and they no doubt won’t be the last. Again, time will tell. And timeline? Why not just rename it Scrapbook? Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

Hacker School is a three-month, full-time school in New York for becoming a better programmer. We’re free as in beer, and provide space, a little structure, time to focus, and a friendly community of smart builders dedicated to self-improvement. We value free software, beautiful code, personal growth, and shipping. The third batch will take place from February 13th to May 3rd. For more information and to apply: http://www.hackerschool.com/

businessweek is looking for America’s most promising social entrepreneurs, deadline February 9th. The idea is to find and report on business ventures that advance a social or environmental mission and aim to turn a profit. For more information and to apply: http://buswk.co/zWbf20

Startup Bootcamp Amsterdam, deadline February 12th. We provide seed investment, 6-months of office space, 99 mentors, daily coaching by serial entrepreneurs in residence and a 3-week road-trip to Silicon Valley. Teams receive a maximum of €17,000 per team and 6 months of free office space in return for 8 percent of equity. The accelerator program operates for 3 months. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/vWpBqW

NXTP LABS/TechStars Argentina deadline 13 de Febrero – and that’s the extent of our Spanish. For more information and to apply: http://bit.ly/rYcDfN

NEW youngStartup Ventures will be hosting VC Outlook NYC|2012on February 16th, an exclusive cocktail reception which will be a gathering of cutting edge startups with active VCs, Private Investors, Corporate VCs and Strategic Service Firms. This unique forum will feature Entrepreneur & Investor Face 2 Face “speed pitch” meetings, a VC panel discussion as well as high-level networking opportunities. And the investor world is pretty well represented here. For more information and to register: http://www.youngstartup.com/VCO12/overview.php

NEW Heads up, Australia and NZ:UK Trade and Investment Go UK business competition with over 100k in prizes, deadline February 17th. For more information: http://bit.ly/w3rBWk. To enter: http://bit.ly/AvYVfZ

DEMO Spring 2012, application deadline February 17th.  DEMO Spring 2012, the launchpad for emerging technology and trends, is returning to Silicon Valley April 17-19, 2012 and we have many exciting new reasons to attend and launch!  www.demo.com
DEMO Innovation Tour- Announcing Dates/Locations:
DEMO comes to Palo Alto, Boulder, Boston and Austin in February and March in search of the best innovation to showcase at DEMO Spring 2012, April 17-19, Hyatt Regency Silicon Valley. Apply today for a meeting spot and you or your client will have an opportunity to meet with Matt Marshall, DEMO Executive Producer, members from the DEMO and VCs to get candid feedback on your pitch and make investment connections.
DEMO and Foundry Group – February 8, 2012- Boulder, CO
DEMO Meet-up- February 8, 2012 in Boulder, CO at T-Zero Lounge, 6-8 p.m.
DEMO and Kleiner Perkins- February 9, 2012- Palo Alto, CA
DEMO and Atlas Venture- February 14, 2012- Boston, MA
DEMO and SXSW- March 11, 2012- Austin, TX

DEMO Innovation Tour- www.demo.com/innovationtour
No Barrier to Entry: Apply to Launch or Pitch at DEMO Spring 2012 and take advantage of our new pricing and scholarship program opportunities. Application Deadline: February 17, 2012.Over the next few months, we’ll be in touch with conference updates, speakers and more! To apply to Launch or Register to Attend: www.demo.com

Vimeo Festival and Awards, deadline February 20th. Category Prizes: $5,000 (there are quite a few). Grand Prize: $25,000. For more information and to enter: https://vimeo.com/awards

DreamIt Israel, deadline February 22nd. DreamIt is only interested in ideas that can turn into a product in three months. DreamIt Ventures will take a 6% passive equity stake in the companies in exchange for up to $25,000 in funding, mentorship, and access to early-stage capital. For more information and to apply:  http://www.dreamitventures.com/apply/ There’s also a piece on the program in the press section below.

Win a VIP Trip to SXSW, deadline February 24th. Yeah, thought you’d like this one: http://bit.ly/wTXVdT

NEW LeanStartupMachine, February 22-24th, SOS discount 10offpartner. For more information and to register: http://bit.ly/xdwuf7

NEW The Cartier Women’s Initiative Awards, deadline March 13th. It’s an international business plan competition for women entrepreneurs who are in the initial stages of development, in any country, of any nationality and operating in any industry. Since its inception five years ago, it has provided support, visibility and coaching to 76 women heading businesses in countries across the globe. There’s mentorship, $20k US and a trip to France for the presentation Finale. For more information and to apply: http://www.cartierwomensinitiative.com/

Applications for the DreamIt NYC Summer 2012 program are now open.  Final deadline: March 16th, but note: there is a definite advantage to applying early, as it results in the application getting  more attention (and possibly early admittance).
-the program runs from May-August 2012 in NYC
-accepted companies get seed money (typically $20-25,000), office space, free legal and accounting services, and access to a who’s who list of advisors and mentors (http://www.dreamitventures.com/team/advisors.php)
For more information and to apply: http://www.dreamitventures.com/apply/.

The Appy Awards – enter once and you could win twice. Deadline March 21, 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:

Companies that would do best without venture capital. If you want to build a profitable company, forget the VCs. Sounds counter-intuitive? Can you say ‘twitter’ and read on: http://bit.ly/ynME9F

Mark Zuckerberg’s 6 Ingredients For Success. Ambition is important, and #1 on the list. Mark launched Facebook (yes, we know all about the Winklevoss twins) to level the playing field at Harvard and to succeed at getting girls. The list is good, but frankly, we’d put motivation/strong motivator right up there: http://tcrn.ch/xOn3YV

Facebook: Here Are the 35 Things That Could Kill Our Company. Linkedin listed 42 risk factors, Zynga 44 and Groupon 55. Mashable bolded that ones that were particularly troubling to them. We might have highlighted a few more: http://on.mash.to/xroyrM

For fun: Facebook IPO Filing Reveals Its Stunning Size: A Private Jet, $1 Billion In Profits, And More http://huff.to/yjzghM

1,258 CEOs Share What’s Keeping Them Up At Night. Like Europe’s sovereign debt crisis. But wait! There’s more! http://read.bi/AiHn7X
On the Value of Partnerships. Most accelerators like it when there are two cofounders. Always good to have someone to bounce ideas off – and who hopefully has your back: http://bit.ly/yGlNz2

Not to rub it in, but from our friends at Chubby Brain: NY’s Tech Venture Capital Lead Over Boston Accelerates. If it makes you feel any better, “San Francisco suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Giants this football post-season as well.” But the west coast needn’t worry quite yet. Well, not when it comes to venture investing: http://bit.ly/ACFXlS

Early to bed… Why Morning People Rule the World. Morning people are more proactive – and therefore more successful in their professional lives — according to new research. And admittedly, we’re up by 6 every morning:  http://bit.ly/w4Wqp1

14 Incredible Women To Watch In Silicon Valley. Note to self: pay attention to what the solo-founder women are doing. Airbnb, taskrabbit. Finding pain points and sticking to what the gender knows best. Want to change the ratio? Change the attitude: http://read.bi/wMOGHC

That’s it from us for now and hope to see you next week at our Social Media Week Startup Breakfast. Until then, as always, help is on the way…

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