3/13/12

3/13/12

Good morning, All,

First, our next SOS+ER+Hubitat breakfast March 15 at Hubitat on 26th Street. Come meet some new people and get first-hand help or advice for your startup – or just come tell us what you’re working on. It’s 8.30 am – 10. $20 with an RSVP or $25 at the door, and hope to see you there! To RSVP: http://erasosbreakfast2.eventbrite.com/

Next, our next SOS 1-1 with an Investor is March 21st, but as we said, this one is different: we have a direct pipeline to a group of super angels whose representative will be at the event, and you must send us your deck in advance. This event is focused on startups who have developed product and are looking to get to the next level, which means, you need the money to get there. That said, it is also a networking opportunity, so all are welcome to come and meet new people/fellow members – but in order to meet with the rep, you must send your deck in advance and we’ll notify you if he has decided to meet with you at the event, so, no, you’re not guaranteed an opportunity to pitch. Just wanted to be clear. Send your deck to hello@startuponestop.com and we will pass it to investors’ rep. And congrats to those of you who’ve already submitted and were notified that he’d like to hear more. We love that and always happy to help – and looking forward to seeing you there! To RSVP: http://bit.ly/yhSveL

If we go to another pitch event and hear yet another panelist/investor ask the presenter/startup if they plan to incorporate a gamefication element, we’re going to scream. Just because it’s the approach du jour, doesn’t mean that gamefication needs to be ubiquitous and trust us, it can get old fast. Does it matter how many connections you have on linkedin?  In our humble opinion, it’s still dashboard over leaderboard, and the value that you’re adding.  Here’s inspiration for you: Harvest, a company that took no outside investment, and succeeded by taking the long road: Harvest Co-Founder: “Solve A Real Pain Point, And Don’t Be Afraid To Charge For It” http://tcrn.ch/yYuXzs At the end of the day, winners aren’t the one who play the game: they’re the ones who move the game. Onward and forward.

Deadlines:

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/

3 Day Startup NYC, deadline March 15th. 3 Day Startup is an entrepreneurship education program designed for university students with an emphasis on learning by doing. The idea is simple: start tech companies over the course of three days. To apply: http://nyc.3daystartup.org/

Applications for the DreamIt NYC Summer 2012 program, final deadline: March 16th
-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/.

NEW Excelerate Labs Chicago, deadline March 16th. The program promises an intensive summer filled with mentorship, company building, and investor pitching. To get the most out of the experience, and to maximize your success, you really need a team. $25k for 6% equity stake. And Demo Day is at the House of Blues. Cool. For more information and to apply: http://exceleratelabs.com/

NEW Grow Labs, deadline March 19th.  GrowLab aims to find the world’s smartest Internet entrepreneurs who are passionate about technology and changing the face of traditional business. GrowLabs’ approach is entrepreneur-centric. Your startup will go through an intense mentorship program embedded in both Canada (10 weeks in Vancouver) and Silicon Valley (two weeks in SF), providing access to resources and an international network that will accelerate your growth exponentially. $25k for 5% equity stake. For more information and to apply: http://www.growlab.ca/the-program

NEW Mobile Merit Awards, deadline for entry: March 26. The Mobile Merit Awards is open to all interested individuals and companies that would like to nominate a product, technology, etc relevant to the mobile sector. All nominations entered should have an impact on today’s global mobile marketplace. For more information and to enter:  http://mobilemeritawards.com

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/

Crain’s New York Business is now accepting nominations for its annual Top Entrepreneurs competition, deadline March 23rd.  It is open to businesses located in the five boroughs of New York City. Businesses must be 3 years old or more to enter and can have revenues up to $100 million. You can enter and get more information here:http://bit.ly/AdFq9t Winners will be featured in the May 29 issue of Crain’s. You can enter yourself or nominate someone else. Contact: Elaine Pofeldt,epofeldt@yahoo.com

Hey Startups: Here’s An Easy Way To Get 75K For Your Company, deadline March 31st. Apply to enter Business Insider’sStartup 2012 business-plan competition.: http://bit.ly/zzaKwm The online form will take about an hour to fill out. (You can save and come back if needed.) A top handful of finalists will compete to take home $75,000 in cash and prizes at the intense, fun Startup 2012 conference on May 3 in New York.
Winners also get to attend the event and hear from amazing speakers like Jason Goldberg, CEO of the world’s fastest-growing startup, Fab.com, and Philip James, CEO of the hit online wine flash retailer Lot18.
Do this now because the form closes on March 31, in 3 short weeks. Note: this is a business-plan competition, primarily. Contestants do not need a polished, whizz-bang, ready-to-market prototype. They should have at least a minimum viable product, and a very sharp, well-articulated business plan. The competition is open to companies that have taken less than $2.5million in outside financing. See more fine print here.
2. After entering, take a call with an active investor.Some of New York’s top VCs — with track records including major wins — will interview top candidates selected by a judging panel. From there, a handful of finalists will be chosen.
3. Attend Startup 2012and present your idea onstage. Then, more grilling from VCs.
4. One winner gets $75,000! That’s $25,000 in cash and $50,000 in prizes.

MassChallenge, deadline April 11th. This is the largest-ever startup accelerator and competition, and the first to support high-impact, early-stage entrepreneurs with no strongs attached.
3 month accelerator program. World-class mentorship and training, free office space, access to funding, media and more.
$1M in cash awards. $4M+ in-kind support.
Open to all. Any startup can enter, from anywhere, in any industry.
No equity taken. No restrictions applied.
$1M in cash awards. $4M+ in-kind support.
Open to all. Any startup can enter, from anywhere, in any industry.
For more information and to apply: http://masschallenge.org/

NEW Wall Street Journal Codethon April 13-15 at NYU Law School, and to attend you must apply and be accepted. We’d love to have a good turnout from the NY developer community. More details, a brief application, etc. are available at our site: http://datatransparency.wsj.com/

NEW 3rd Annual NYC Startup Job Fair, Friday, April 20th, 2012
1:00 – 2:30 pm Engineers/Developers Only
2:30 – 5:00 pm All Candidates
World Trade Center 7 (250 Greenwich St)
Free – Limited Tickets – Registration Required
This is the third annual NYC Startup Job Fair. The companies present are some of NYC’s top startups. Last year’s event held 40 startups and this year we’ve moved to a larger venue so that we can include more startups. It’s a great chance to talk with and learn more about opportunities with NYC startups.

ERA is now accepting applications for Summer 2012! Application deadline: April 29th Yes, it’s here in NYC, with access to world-class mentors, office space, and more. Each company receives $25,000/8% equity. And we’re one of the mentors! For more information and to apply: http://eranyc.com/apply/

NEW Blueprint Health: Transform health & wellnesswith your startup, deadline June 8th. Blueprint Health is a startup accelerator based in New York City that helps entrepreneurs improve the health and wellness industry. We offer an intensive three-month program and provide $20,000 of seed capital, extensive mentorship and a shared work environment to help entrepreneurs go from idea to prototype and provide access to angel and venture capital investors. For more information and to apply: http://www.blueprinthealth.org/

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For you edification this week:

Outsmarting Yourself for Success. Procrastination can be so much fun, and so much easier than working, eh? Here’s a list of tips and tricks on how to get organized and be productive:  http://bit.ly/yGs2c2

Chasing Problems? Surprisingly, founders’ instincts to solve problems can also cause us to fail. Many startups miss success signals because they are too busy solving problems. Best advice: ignore most problems. Seriously: http://bit.ly/zGeABJ

Why You’ll Always Think Your Product is Sh#t. Let’s face it – we’re always our own toughest critics. A great man once said, your product is shit – and maybe you will always think it is. Yet at the same time, it is our creative struggle with what we do that ultimately makes our creations better and better. Keep plugging: http://bit.ly/yHTkYU

It’s been a while since we’ve posted some of these, and here they are, and this time with feeling:
Find an angel anywere in the world: http://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.net/
Complete list of angel investors As always: http://angel.co/
From our friends at chubbybrain.com:NYC Startup Accelerators: A Quick & Dirty Guide. Helpful, too: http://bit.ly/hTNLSN

How The iPad Could Destroy Google’s Lucrative Search Business. Google could end up losing out if the iPad takes over the world, according to two Wall Street analysts. It’s going to take a lot of pieces falling into place for Google’s lucrative search business to fall apart. But, the more successful the iPad becomes, the greater the long term threat. We’ve said it before, we’ll say it again: no one stays on top forever: http://read.bi/w1E6Dd

‘ACTA a lightning rod for web freedom fighters’ Great points here, like the fact that we’re giving government the tools to regulate the internet. Central and Eastern Europe are leading the charge against ACTA, but then, they’ve experienced what it means to have your freedoms taken away. http://youtu.be/urzuHLT3dJU

And don’t forget: General Assembly is launching a free online education platform to teach you all the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, and they really have some amazing speakers. To reserve your spot: http://startmaking.com/

That’s it from us for now, and people at SxSW: please tweet about something other than the food trucks. So far, we feel that the only thing we’ve missed is – lunch.  Until next week, as usual, help is on the way…

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