4/19/11

4/19/11

Good morning, All,

Ok, so many of you commented that we buried the registration link, so, thought we’d make it easy for you this week. Onward and forward:

We always post deadlines, be they incubators, accelerators, StartupWeekends. We’re there for you and why do we do it? Fact: Nearly 70 companies in the New York area received more than $580 million in funding in Q1, according to CrainsNY: http://bit.ly/dRrhvx. And TechStars showcased their incubated companies last week and according to GigaOm et al (TechStars NYC Class Shines at Demo Day: http://bit.ly/hs0zte) there’s a good chance that all will be funded.

The first step to funding is getting out there and making your presence known and we’re going to do our best to make it that much easier for you and here’s how:

The SOS Gathering is next Tuesday, April 26 (RSVP: http://bit.ly/eCTIfi) and we will be doing videos of your elevator pitches! Simple! Just talk to the camera, tell us what you’re doing and the video is yours to submit and not to worry: we will give you privacy and hoping to film – in an elevator. Nice touch, what, eh? Our thanks to On Digital Media (http://odmcast.com/), the podcast that covers the technology, creation, distribution, consumption and monetization of digital media. They will be on hand to talk with you about your business – and help you with your elevator pitch video. Which is a two-for-one, for those of you who are counting. Your video and audio interviews will be syndicated throughout the interwebs – and available for you to submit for incubators, applications – or an SOS elevator pitch. And our thanks to our sponsor Joe Daniels, who currently represents over 40 startups in the NYC metro area – and is now partner at Loeb & Loeb LLP (http://www.loeb.com/). In fact, your first beer or wine is on him – and feel free to ask him questions and advice. Before you imbibe, of course. Or maybe not. Murat Agtihonaglu will also be there to answer any questions you have about the ER Accelerator program and again, to RSVP: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1553028149

Speaking of which, the deadline for the inaugural ER Accelerator April 30th: http://eranyc.com/ Apply to work with an amazing team of partners, sponsors, interns, resident technologists, resident designers and 150+ mentors including Fred Wilson, Howard Morgan, Esther Dyson, Jeff Stewart, David Pakman, Brian Cohen, John Frankel, Anil Dash and more. You’ll also get startup $$, free office space, hands-on help and more. http://eranyc.com/apply/ Also, Esther Dyson is the guest VC atthe next Entrepreneurs Roundtable, which will be tomorrow, April 20th. Sign up here: http://er35.eventbrite.com/?ref=ecount

And the winner is…There were StartupWeekends all over the country this past weekend. The NYC winner: congrats to OMGplaymob (members receive a mystery box every month filled with 4-5 toys that represent the latest and upcoming must-have trends from the toy industry), and a special thanks to SOS members John Britton, Kelley Boyd and Frank Denbow, who were mentors at the event. John also announced that he and his crew are starting a new service: for $10,000, they’ll build your app over a weekend. That’s 54 hours, and if they don’t complete it, they’ll simply turn the code over to you. Knowing John, it’ll get done, and it’ll get done right. Email us if you’d like to get in touch with him. The next NYstartupweek is June 10th and it fills up fast, so register now: http://nyc.startupweekend.org/

The Founders Lab deadline is tomorrow! 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: http://bit.ly/gcOJF8

A Chance to Audition for Your Own Ted Talk: On May 24, TED is holding the first-ever public audition for TED Talks. It will take place in New York in front of a live audience made up of TED staff and members of the TED community. The audition will be recorded, and the best talks could either be posted on TED.com or win an invitation for a full-on mainstage presentation at TED2012 in California early next year. Make a one-minute video to qualify. Video deadline is April 25. More info here:  http://blog.ted.com/2011/04/15/a-chance-to-audition-your-own-ted-talk/

The first TechStars NYC showcase grabbed a lot of attention andNYC TechStars is doing a summer program. Early application deadline is May 15th. Apply here: http://www.techstars.org/apply/

Finally, Hacking Education: A Contest for Developers and Data Crunchers. Ten years ago, a teacher in the Bronx launched DonorsChoose.org. Since then, more than 165,000 teachers at 43,000 public schools have posted over 300,000 classroom project requests, inspiring $80,000,000 in giving from 400,000 donors. We’ve opened up that data, and invite you to make discoveries and build apps that improve education in America. Help to shape your school system’s budget by revealing what teachers really need. Build the first mobile app for hyper-local education philanthropy. We’ve got a list of suggestions to help get you thinking. We hope to build a community of developers and data crunchers, so we’re launching a contest! Deadline is June 30th, and more information is here: http://www.donorschoose.org/hacking-education

Speaking of deadlines, early registration for Brand Camp ’11 ends tomorrow: http://bcnyc.eventbrite.com/ More information about the event below under ‘Upcoming Events.’

Regarding the other half of our subject line this week:

Google Holds Out Against ‘Do Not Track’ Flag http://bit.ly/dG7pDZ Granted, it’s a complicated issue – and difficult to enforce. Guess we’ll just have to keep an eye on the Kerry-McCain privacy legislation introduced last week that tightens information-sharing rules, and could include a mandate requiring U.S. companies to follow the DNT flag. On it! Personally, we stopped using GOOG search. Not surprisingly, spam count has dropped over 80%. And yes, BING now has an over 30% adoption rate – maybe Because It’s Not Google. Sort of. And remember: Better Ads Coming Soon In Gmail!

Disturbing trend: big brands pimping Facebook “Likes” A disturbing and abhorrent trend has emerged on Facebook, says B.L. Ochman, where big brands force visitors to “Like” their page in return for a gift, coupon, or special access to promotions or contests – while forcing people to give them access to their personal data unless they jump through Facebook’s notoriously complex privacy hoops. Story is here: http://bit.ly/hyLEs8. Then again, there’s no such thing as a free lunch, or a free ride, even on line: (Facebook Uses Profile Info to Target Ads! http://bit.ly/ggzBR5)

And finally, and funnily, courtesy of The Onion News Network: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqggW08BWO0

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More pieces we like this week:

10 Words That Should Never Appear on Your Website. A good, simple list and good advice: use plain language, avoid generalities, and skip the hyperbole. http://bit.ly/gtYNGi

Ok, so we know what you don’t want to do. Here’s what you do next: The Anatomy of a Perfect Landing Page – Ten Key Features That Draw In Users. Simple and to the point: http://bit.ly/evJTcc

From Both Sides of the Table: Brad Feld Drops Knowledge. Here’s What He Said … Are pitch decks going the way of the now-obsolete executive summary? Let’s hope and it seems now investors would rather see product: http://bit.ly/hBP5Q2

Startup Advice You Don’t Want to Hear, But Absolutely Need To. Starting a business is easy.  Anyone can do it. Starting a successful business is hard. Well, that we know. It’s what you don’t know that can hurt you: http://bit.ly/gPEni3

Of course, would the week be complete without an is-this-a-bubble piece, and since one of our favorites chimed in, attention must be paid. From John Frankel, Okay…I Said it: This Time it’s Different, or How The Bubble WILL Come About: http://bit.ly/g1x9nE

This week, we leave you with two chuckles: We do want to wish those of you on the list a Happy Passover and for your amusement, an abbreviated tech version of the Passover story: http://bit.ly/hZZf1d.

Because the royal wedding is next week and some of us are just too busy to make it, a T-Mobile sneak preview of the Wedding Entrance Dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kav0FEhtLug

Enjoy the rest of your week. A very Happy Easter to you and hope to see you at Connolly’s next Tuesday. In the meantime, help is on the way…

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