4/12/11

4/12/11

Good morning, All,

OK, so Larry Page took over the reigns at Google last week and the story that got the industry up in arms was his announcement that employee bonuses would be tied to GOOG’s success in social (Dear Google: You Can’t Threaten People Into Being Social http://bit.ly/e18aup) Did we miss the forest through the trees? Google also announced that they’re planning a $100 million overhaul of YouTube, which will include 20 premium channels (YouTube Recasts for New Viewers http://on.wsj.com/fBdOKS). Between that and Netflix and Hulu ordering original programming, are we seeing the convergence of the web and the small screen? Or is television simply surrendering the space? Do we care who’s dancing with the stars?  The Firm was rebroadcast, ad nauseam, on Starz last week. The Firm? Really, pay cable? Newsflash: Tom Cruise isn’t even firm anymore! During web 1.0 the matra was: Content Is King. Of course, content was free and the king couldn’t afford the price of admission. How things have changed and who the hell has been making decisions on the broadcast side for the last few years? The bean counters, of course, and television seems to be going the way of the music business, where it was the same scenario. Just our .02, and Eric Hippeau, who just left The HuffPo to return to the VC world, mentioned last night at the Digital Media MBA event that one of his focuses for investment is the video space. Note: he mentioned that first, and he’s not alone, so head’s up, entrepreneurs and remember: both film and televison got their starts in – New York.

The hour doth draw on apace – Deadlines!

First off and at long last: Yes, we’re doing another StartupOneStop gathering, Tuesday, April 26th at Connelly’s on 45th Street. Startups – get your pitch on. On Digital Media, the aptly named podcast about the technology, creation, distribution, consumption and monetization of digital media, will be on hand to talk with you about your business. Speaking of content, video and audio interviews will be syndicated throughout the interwebs – and available for you to submit for incubators, applications – or an SOS elevator pitch (hint hint). Learn more at http://odmcast.com. And our thanks to Joe Daniels for his generous sponsorship. Joe regularly represents companies from start-ups to mature public companies, private equity and venture capital funds, and investment banks involved in high-growth sectors, such as digital media, software and cleantech. He currently represents more than 40 startups in the NYC metro area. He recently joined Loeb & Loeb LLP, 2010 winner of the Chambers Award for Excellence in Media.  For more information please visit www.loeb.com. RSVP here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1553028149

The deadline for the inaugural ER Accelerator is around the corner: http://eranyc.com Apply to work with an amazing team of partners, sponsors, interns, resident technologists, resident designers and 150+ mentors including Fred Wilson (and USV was just named The Top VC In The World http://tnw.co/gjhpZW), Howard Morgan, Esther Dyson, Jeff Stewart, David Pakman, Brian Cohen, John Frankel, Anil Dash and more. Application deadline is April 30th: http://eranyc.com/apply/ Also, the next Entrepreneurs Roundtable, which will be on April 20th. Guest VC: Esther Dyson, so sign up now: http://er35.eventbrite.com/?ref=ecount

Next, Startup Weekend NYC is back, this time on April 15th-17th at General Assembly and yes, we know it’s sold out. If it makes you feel any better, as of last week, even Fred Wilson couldn’t get a ticket. BUT – if you happen to be in San Jose, there’s a surprise SanJose Startup Weekend also happening April 15-17 (discount code: TRIKRO) and there’s still space available! Go to http://sanjose.startupweekend.org/ and Cali-based students on the list: email us and we can get your ticket sponsored, if you get to us quickly enough! And don’t forget, NYC: check http://nyc.startupweekend.org/ on April 18th to grab your ticket for the June 10th NYC Startup Weekend.

The Founders Lab comes to New York City! They will select about 15 hackers and engineers, designers, product and marketing mavens to begin to develop high-growth mobile ventures in NYC. You may apply individually (most common scenario) however, pairs or teams who want to work together and are open to change, may also apply. Founder Labs builds fresh founding teams and validates ideas. Application deadline: April 20th. For more information: http://bit.ly/gcOJF8

Last but not least: NYC Techstars is doing a summer program and applications are now being accepted. Early application deadline is May 15th. Reminder: Seattle members, your deadline is April 25th. To apply to either: http://www.techstars.org/apply/

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Pieces we liked this week:

You can call yourself an Entrepreneur when… as James Altucher says, Its not really such a great thing to be an entrepreneur – yet here we are and go know. What are the telltale signs? Go here for the full list: http://bit.ly/fAb1JQ

The New Information Age, or Imagine what happens once Google has access to our DNA information. No, we’re not singling the behemoth out, but with Steven Levy’s In The Plex (How Google Thinks, Works and Shapes Our Lives) coming out this week, they just seem to be under scrutiny and getting a lot of ink:http://tcrn.ch/hzztIS

OK, since it’s Google week, also from James Altucher: 10 Unusual Things I Didn’t Know About Google (also: the worst venture capital decision in history). Did you know that the original name for Google was Backrub? We knew that, thanks to a trivia contest at an O’Reilly Summit. But wait! There’s more! http://bit.ly/eQ6QIy

A taste of things to come? The 10 most watched YouTube videos of 2010, and who just can’t wait for the YouTube Network and the Kute Kitty Channel! http://tnw.co/gjhpZW

Finally, this is just fun: The History of the World in 100 seconds and worth your taking a minute or so and hope you enjoy: http://vimeo.com/19088241. Looking forward to seeing you on April 26th and until then, as always, help is on the way…

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