Startup One Stop

Good morning, All,

A brief history: Web 1.0 was the age of the information highway. Remember, there was no there there, and that’s what we were building, and bringing eyeballs online. Web 2.0 is the social web, where people connect and interact. The cost of building and hosting websites dropped, and so went barriers to entry. The Lean Movement was born and the concept of the MVP – minimum viable product. Eyeballs were still the currency of the day. Now we’re in the Age of Mobility – face it, we’re all on smartphones and/or tablets and many of us work out of co-working spaces, from home or remotely. The mindset is changing: online, in all of its iterations, is here to stay, but eyeballs will get you just so far. Welcome to the Smart Movement, and isn’t it about time?

Want to build an app? Make sure it’s something people will want to pay for – or at least offer a premium version as well, and make the value add worth paying for. Building something with a recurring revenue stream? Really Smart Movement. Think Gillette razors: the body itself is affordable enough, but the replacement blades - gotcha. Brilliant. You can put up banners and ads – really? Still? If you’re getting no traction with potential investors, it’s because their model has changed, too: they want to invest in a business, so you’d better be building one. An ad revenue model will get you just so far , too – unless you’ve got some new twist on the concept that’s a slam dunk with advertisers. Look at the Mommy Vertical. Mommies are busy and will pay for things that make their lives easier – especially if it saves them time, money, effort, or d) all of the above. Affiliate programs. Recurring revenue streams. Product placement. Subscriptions. Rewards points. All fine, but who knows what else you’ll come up with, that’s particular to what you’re building. Get your mind out of the box: this is still a new industry – come up with a new model. No one has pulled that off yet, but it's time. Whatever you do, build smart. Build with a revenue model in mind from Day 1. You can build lean, but unless you’re also going to build smart, hope you like lean, because you might be facing a lot of lean times ahead. Now, get out there and invent the future. Onward and forward. Read More...

Good morning, All,

Not the usual newsletter this week, as we were greatly disturbed to hear of the passing of Aaron Swartz (RSS feed, Reddit) by his own hand. Most of you have already heard about it. He was 26 and facing criminal charges that might have led to his being incarcerated for more than 30 years, $1 million in fines and exorbitant legal bills to fight the charges, which were deemed outrageous by industry experts. Swartz’s family issued the following statement: "Aaron’s death is not simply a personal tragedy. It is the product of a criminal justice system rife with intimidation and prosecutorial overreach. Decisions made by officials in the Massachusetts U.S. Attorney’s office and at MIT contributed to his death. The US Attorney's office pursued an exceptionally harsh array of charges, to punish an alleged crime that had no victims."

No one was hurt; no damage was done; no money changed hands. In fact, JSTOR, from whom he allegedly stole the more than 4 million articles, never pressed charges against Swartz, yet he potentially faced a prison term stiffer than given to some murderers. While we do not sanction criminal behavior, lest we forget, this country was founded on civil disobedience, and one of the most famous acts took place in Massachusetts itself, the very state where Swartz was facing charges. But Aaron had two strikes against him: he was an advocate of open democracy (demandprogress) and he was facing a federal prosecutor working under a US Attorney with her eye on the governor’s mansion. There is a petition being circulated to Remove United States District Attorney Carmen Ortiz from office for overreach in the case of Aaron Swartz. Punishment should fit the crime, and citizens of the United States should not be terrorized by the very people who we’ve empowered to protect our rights and freedoms. And lest we forget: the only thing necessary for the perpetuation of evil is that good people do nothing. Sign the petition. Onward and forward. Read More...

Good morning, All,

It’s that time when everyone is making prognostications about the new year, and it’s something we tend to studiously avoid. This year, we’re making an exception, given what we’ve been seeing lately:

- Fred Wilson touting the enterprise as the New Black - Fred Wilson pointing out that he’d made no investment in 2012 (his associates did) - The claims that Series A is dead – or at least a lot harder to get to (The Series A Crunch Survivor’s Guide. Just in case: http://bit.ly/WpO5WW) Read More...

Good morning, All,

It’s that time again: the year end round-ups are upon us, when every media outlet puts forth its Top Ten lists of top companies, top apps, top whatever, and their year-end summaries, from the startup ‘darlings’ who hit the airwaves (Startup: Silicon Valley) to the ones who went down the tubes (Zynga, Groupon). Let’s focus on how to move forward.

Since we’ve long been a big proponent of a business model over a business plan, confirmation: Burn Your Business Plan – Before It Burns You. “We need to have a more dynamic methodology for entrepreneurship than static business plans,” Alexander Osterwalder writes in the Wall Street Journal. “The good news is that we’ve now figured out how to replace business plan writing with a more reliable process that produces better results. It’s a process that supports you in your search for a scalable and profitable business model by combining three different methods in a powerful cocktail: Business model design with the Business Model Canvas tool; Business model testing with the Customer Development methodology); Rapid prototyping with the Lean Start-up methodology:” http://on.wsj.com/Tr4uN5 Osterwalder is co-author of Business Model Generation, the best-selling handbook for visionaries, game changers and challengers. There’s a 72-page preview, if you’d like to check it out first: http://bit.ly/lj0MXS Read More...

Good morning, All,

Some of you know that I’m a recruiter by trade and now, our recruiter hat is on. I’ve gotten quite a few calls lately from clients, and inquiries from some of you whom I’ve run into at the numerous events we attend – all wondering why they can’t find midlevel talent. First, a few points of clarifications:

1. No, they’re not in hiding; 2. No, they haven’t been shipped off to a gulag in some unknown part of the world. 3. No, not all of them have gone the entrepreneurial route and are off the job market. Read More...

Good morning, All,

Consider this your annual reminder. We know it’s your year-end crunch and that you need to get your holiday shopping done. Let’s face it, you’re going to be doing the latter online anyway (and here’s a little something for you to make it easier: 5 unconventional places to shop for your holiday gifts: http://tnw.co/TuUznl). This is also the time to get out there and meet people – a mentor, a coach, a potential co-founder and maybe even a technical one: lots of open bars and techies will kick back for a free drink or two, too. Here are the rules, which don’t necessarily apply to just the holiday networking/eggnog circuit season, and we’ve expanded on one or two of them:

Rule #1: Show up! Getting there is easier than you think: just put one foot in front of the other, and go. If networking doesn’t come naturally to you, bring a wingman and work the room together, or divide and conquer. But don’t talk to just each other. That’s not helpful. If having a drink will help to relax you, go for it, but don’t down it: pace yourself. You want to be relaxed, not inebriated. Again, not helpful. To anyone in the room. Read More...

Good morning, All,

Investors care about one thing. Wait: two. Ok, three: your market size, revenue model, and your team – not necessarily in that order. Still, at the end of the day, it still boils down to one thing: money, so we were right: investor care about one thing. And you need to look at your business the way they do. Seriously.

The Wall Street Journal noted that VC funding of consumer web and mobile companies is down 42% in this first nine months of 2012 (versus the first nine months of 2011). And the big falloff was not in seed but rather in follow-on rounds (VCs Still Chasing Web Companies, But With Less Cash: http://on.wsj.com/RaBjPX). What Has Changed (http://bit.ly/Tk5YXj)? That was the title of one of Fred Wilson’s recent blog posts, and he feels that the consumer internet has run its course; and that mobile and enterprise are the new focuses. Howard Lindzen chimed in as well and concluded that “a great product and brilliant use of the tools of the new social trade are still not enough in November 2011 to guarantee success” (The Stock Market, Venture Capital and Angel Investing…All Connected: http://bit.ly/RaHpQn). Actually, it never should have. Read More...

Good morning, All,

Yes, our next gathering is tomorrow, November 14^th. We know that most of you wait till the last minute to register anyway. RSVP here: https://sosoctobermixer.eventbrite.com/# Stop by! We'd love to see you!

Show of hands: how many of you use twitter and facebook as a marketing vehicle? (I just purchased Aluminum Tri Wallet Yellow Red from HuMn on Fab … via @Fab.) When one is selling something or promoting a business – preferably your own – it can be an effective vehicle, especially if it’s a customer who’s selling it for you. Preferably a happy one. (Mia Krautplezer suggested you like Mia Pain Management.) We might like Mia, were she not a figment of our imagination, and happy to do her the favor of liking her endeavor – but employers, insurers, credit department – a whole host of third parties also check FB for information about you, and pain management is not one of our issues, and what kind of message does that send? They’re not looking through our timeline with Mia. They’re looking at the bottom line: theirs. And they’re looking at everything, going to show you, once again, that nothing’s free: How A Simple Gmail Search Could Lead To An Invasion Of Your Privacy: http://read.bi/Zu8tKJ. (My weight: 165.3 lb. My @WiThings scale auto-tweets my weight once a week. It's the future! withings.com. I walked 12.4 miles this week. Company auto-tweets once a week. It’s the future!) How does this move the human race forward or improve life as we know it? It’s often twitterati who include such information, along with where they’re dining or hanging (@AceHotel w/23 others 4sq.com). Is this information that will help someone, with the possible exception of their doctor (whom we are sure is not following them on twitter), insurer (who’s checking), a stalker (no doubt), or is some part of them still stuck in 10^th grade AP English and passing notes around? Only the medium has changed to exposed the guilty. It can be bloody annoying, too. Unfollow. (I’m at Heartland Brewery (New York, NY) 4sq.com). One of our members only tweets when he’s out at a pub. The tweets come days apart, and presumably he wasn’t at that same pub the whole time. He doesn’t work there and well, it could easily send the wrong message, to a potential employer et al and hopefully his mom’s not following him. Read More...

Good morning, All, and happy to see that you weathered the storm!

Last year, Hurricane Irene hit the Eastern Seaboard. New York dodged a bullet on that one, but it was a wake-up call. When Sandy plunged downtown Manhattan into darkness, Goldman Sachs, located at the epicenter of the maelstrom, was fully lit up and functional. They’d obviously heeded the lessons of Irene (actually, they were prepared even before that), while our Mayor Bloomberg, a huge advocate of global warming, turned his attention to – pressing hard for a ban on oversized softdrinks. The New York Times did a piece in September criticizing the mayor for moving too slowly in addressing potential flooding and worse: New York Is Lagging as Seas and Risks Rise, Critics Warn: http://nyti.ms/SIYNbA. “Planning to be flooded” is no replacement for investing in protection. Consequently, lives were lost: let’s not forget that NY is second only to New Orleans in the number of people living less than four feet above high tide. New York was a Tale of Two Cities: uptown, which was not affected by the storm at all, and downtown/the outer boroughs/low lying areas, which were in the dark and parts of which - and still do - looked like downtown Beirut. Moreover, it was a Tale of Two Realities: what we were told by our elected officials, and the reality of the situation/news that was streaming through social media, more specifically, via Facebook and twitter (Disconnect Between What We're Told And Aid People Are Receiving: http://youtu.be/65hk_PoWMwc, while a friend posted: PLEASE HELP AND MAKE CALLS. Island Park was devastated this week. FEMA and the Red Cross have relocated to where there is MEDIA COVERAGE). Most people were turning to social media for help and or/information. Variations on a line from ‘Alien,’ and take note, elected officials: in cyberspace, everyone can hear you scream.

In the midst of all of this, Mayor Bloomberg announced that the NYC Marathon would not be cancelled. After all, we are a resilient bunch, and power was restored to much of Manhattan (note: the race goes through all five boroughs). New York was back to normal, in Mayor Mike's reality. (In New York’s Public Housing, Fear Creeps In With the Dark: http://nyti.ms/X8DXXV; Queens residents arm themselves in the post-storm blackout from looters: Residents feel isolated and some use guns, baseball bats, booby traps — even a bow and arrow — to defend themselves. http://nydn.us/VLkpns). The reality was: the city that never sleeps had become the city that would only sleep with one eye opened. Read More...

Good morning, All,

The threat of a lot of wind and water – aka Hurricane Sandy - came along starting this past weekend and most of the Eastern seaboard was on put on high alert or shut down, including New York City, which came to a grinding halt. True: Halloween Week and NYC turned into a ghost town. In the midst of all this, California had an earthquake - as did Canada and Apple Computer (Massive Shakeup at Apple: http://tnw.co/WWh3mI).

We’re not used to natural disasters in New York City, especially here in Manhattan. The outer boroughs have had tornados here and there, but let’s face it: we’re not in Kansas. Not by a longshot, and with all due respect to Kansas, we mean that as a metaphor. Read More...