Startup One Stop

Good morning, All,

We know the next few weeks will be hectic, what with July 4^th weekend, Canada Day and summer vacations so heads up: We are planning a barbeque for those of you who will be in town over the July 4^th holiday weekend. Come join us and feel free to bring friends. RSVP: http://bit.ly/kIgxae Our next Find A Cofounder is also coming up and we’re planning it for mid-July. Really, and we hope to get all of the details finalized by next week. And make sure you read ‘Upcoming Events’ this week: You could win up to 50 roundtrip tickets on American Airlines for your company at the next Entrepreneurs Roundtable. Details below.

Europe had its first ever Digital Agenda Assembly this past week (http://bit.ly/fDbhwl) in Brussels to help thrash out information and communication technologies’ role in Europe’s future. From all reports, there was a shortage of entrepreneurs present/invited (not surprising) but it was a start. Not that entrepreneurship was the main thrust of the Assembly, but rather, the importance of a neutral internet, among other topics. Still, it might have been helpful to get the perspective of people who actually work in the industry. Full story is here: http://tnw.co/lxrGHy. The Silicon Alley Talent Fair was also last week and there was an enormous turnout of both startups and people looking to work for startups. At the end of the day – literally -, Rachel Sterne, NYC’s Chief Digital Officer, announced that New York may well become the first city in the world with its own domain – .nyc – not just for the prestige but of course also for the revenues that it will generate for our fair town. All well and good, but heads up, NYC government: while we were happy to see that you supporting the job fair, how about supporting entrepreneurship in a truly meaningful way, and we don’t mean by announcing a new way to collect revenues from us via the TLD. How about tax breaks for entrepreneurs? Or – heaven forfend! – less regulation/lower barrier to entry? There’s a reason why incorporating in Delaware or Nevada as opposed to NY is a frequent discussion on many a NY tech-based listserv. New York does not make it easy, or affordable, to set up shop here and pretty much buries one in bureaucratic paperwork on a regular basis. Just thought we’d throw that out there as ideas to consider, presuming that the goal is to potentially create more jobs – and even more revenue – for the city. Yes, we know: you, too, would love to see the forest, too, but all those bloody trees are in the way. Onward and forward. Read More...

Good morning, All, and no, we’re not talking about silly walks but instead, domain name registration. Yes, the Name Game.

We went to the kickoff mixer for StartupWeekendNYC and it occurred to us: all of those people there to launch startups – how the hell do you name the damn thing? Takes some people more than 54 hours just to come up with a name for their new company – and the website, of course. So we sat there thinking about website names and their relevance to the site itself – and does it matter? Example: Google. Apple. Facebook. Myspace – ok, never mind that one, but we never said that a name is necessarily an indicator of the long-term success of a site. Zaarly came out of the last StartupWeekendLA and they’ve even raised a round of funding. The site helps you buy and sell with people around you. Don’t tell me that one of the zaarly team members didn’t show up to the LA StartupWeekend looking a bit, um, off, when another member of the team said, ‘go home, get some sleep and don’t forget to shower and shave before you come back here. You’re looking a bit zaarly.’ A name was born. As a former copywriter, moi could even venture a guess as to how the name Cialis came about. A few creatives sitting there, tasked with coming up with a name for the product, and they were coming up with bupkis. It was getting late; everyone wanted to call it a day, or a night, more likely, until one guy said, “Who would use this stuff? My grandfather. The guy has a girlfriend. And he’s in his 70s! See, this is the stuff my grandpa would take when he’s going to see Alice.” Done!

CNN reported nearly a year ago that we’re running out of IP addresses (http://bit.ly/jQDSnT). How long before we run out of decent dot com names, too? Creative spellings (kohorts) and -.ly have become very popular lately. Bit.ly. Comp.ly. There are a plethora of them and we’re surprised -.it hasn’t caught on. Why go for an adjective/adverb when you can go for a call to action? It’s a thought. Not that bit.it portends that anything good might come out of the site, but just an extension you might want to keep in mind, whilst attempting to come up with a name for your next venture. Gofor.it! Onward and forward. Read More...

Good morning, All,

Yes, we were having an Alice in Wonderland moment, and we’re not the only ones, it seems. IPO fever seems to be on again, and now all eyes are on Groupon, but a moment, please, and eyes on the bottom line: Groupon is no Linkedin – which happens to have a very profitable bottom line and has had for some time now. Groupon, on the other hand, is shelling out $1.43 cost-per-acquisition for every $1 it makes. Did we mention that it’s a 2-1/2 year old company with 7,000 employees? Yes, we do remember Web 1.0 and the New Economy. The math didn’t work then; doesn’t work now. Want a great read on the topic? Groupon IPO: Pass on this Deal: http://bit.ly/j1ONlH From the yipit blog Groupon S-1 Reveals Business Model Deteriorating in Oldest Markets: http://bit.ly/migJUl. And for those of us who remember way back to the end of 2010: Groupon Turns Down Google’s $6 Billion Offer: http://on.mash.to/f4iCQd. Hmmm. Someone will make money in the groupon IPO, no doubt, and between this and the MSFT purchase of Skype, well, it’s all just so much fodder for the doom-and-gloomers. But as witnessed in the articles above, not everyone’s jumping on the bandwagon, as happened back in the days of Web 1.0. Been there; done that – burned the tee shirt. We are admittedly a cockeyed optimist and see this as a blip, rather than a trend.  Eye on the prize: some of us are here to build an industry and won’t be led lemming-like over the precipice again. Hopefully, cooler heads rather than greed will prevail this time around and we’re not looking at another bubble but rather another proliferation of bubbleheads. As Vivek Wadhwa tweeted – “Problem: after Groupon crashes, it will wreck chances of more worthy companies going public. Wreck innovation system again like dot coms did.” Our sentiments exactly and let us not be led down the rabbit hole again. Onward and forward.

Deadlines: Read More...

Good morning, All,

TechCrunch Disrupt was in town last week and there were a lot of grumblings about the fact that a lot of it was about – apps. We understand the irritation: they do call it ‘Disrupt’ after all, and how disruptive is yet another app for your iPhone/android/iPad/insert-name-of-mobile-device here?

Makes sense to us: apps are to mobile what websites were to web 1.0. The devices are not just for phone calls anymore (and hasn’t the iPhone proven that, thank you so much, AT&T). The platform is being built out and it’s apps that are answering at least the initial call, pun intended. Read More...

Good morning, All, and you knew that was coming.

Ok, it may seem like semi-old news by now, especially with TechCrunch Disrupt going on. Still, attention must be paid. Linkedin IPO is the first so-called social media company to go public – and the biggest internet site to go public since Google – which naysayers also claimed, at the time, was overvalued. And the bubble talk is bubbling up once again.

There are huge differences between Linkedin and the sites that went public during the ‘90s bubble. First, Linkedin grew organically, rather than paying a fortune in advertising to acquire users. Next, Linkedin is a site one returns to time and again, and where one expands one’s own personal network in order to bring more value to the experience – and to Linkedin itself. In fact, between November 2010 and March 2011, the number of Linkedin users literally doubled. Next, Linkedin is profitable and has been since about a year or so after its launch – and has multiple profitable revenue streams: Paid job postings, advertising and a subscription model (CHART OF THE DAY: Where LinkedIn’s Revenue Comes From http://read.bi/kXIEQg) Read More...

Good morning, All,

There’s a battle on for the business desktop. Microsoft bought Skype for $8.5 billion, which many believe was about $4 billion too much, and that got a lot of attention. Meanwhile, the Google Chromebook is coming out mid next month and the giant is aiming squarely at the business desktop market, which Microsoft has had a lock on for quite some time now. For your edification: Five Reasons why Google’s Linux Chromebook is a Windows Killer http://zd.net/kTrXbV Five Reasons Why Skype Will Be An Office Hit: http://rww.to/kWu0Kg For fun: Why Google Does Not Own Skype: http://bit.ly/j2sbpL Google has been quietly minting money on the enterprise side for a while, and what can we say?  Maybe they figured it’s time they got off their ads went full throttle.

Onward and forward. Read More...

Good morning, All,

And yes, we mean theonion. So, there’s a new startup out there that has been getting a lot of buzz from the press and in the twitterverse and what they do is…well, we can’t tell you. In fact, no one knows what they’re all about, with the possible exception of the founders and their investors – and there are a lot of them – and they’ve raised quite a bit of money, too (Stealth NYC Startup Kohort Raises $3 Million Seed Round From IA Ventures, RRE, And More, http://tcrn.ch/gzSqs0)  Mashable covered them, too (How To Sign Up Users Even Before You Launch Your Startup http://on.mash.to/j3vMpe), although, there are step to this success story that were excluded.  For all we know, they may be launching the next google, but in the meantime, you may need to know these missing steps if you hope to follow this model:
1.     Make sure one of your founders is former VC
2.     Make sure all or a lot of your friends are VCs/investors with large twitter followings
3.     Send out early invitations to these people, and make sure to include a twitter share button
Curious to see what they’re all about, and as Mashable reminds us: buzz is great, but substance matters more. Cuil? Onward and forward.

Speaking of the press, we are reminded once again that it’s not always a good idea to piss them off and yes, every now and again, they do eat their young. Everyone’s got an agenda – The Tech Press: Screw Them All: http://tcrn.ch/mhrDHI Read More...

Good morning, All,

Since we’re often asked if we focus exclusively on New York (answer: no, or at least not intentially), we went and took a look at the SOS readership statistics. Well, it’s true that we’re based here, but it seems we have members who are regularly following the newsletter – and everyone’s progress – from: Norway, Germany, Greece, Italy, Japan, China, Egypt, Israel, Viet Nam, Thailand, Costa Rica, Turkey, India, United Arab Emirates, Australia, Argentina, Chile, Spain, Morocco, Portugal, Canada, the United Kingdom, Denmark, France, Switzerland, the US, and New York, which let’s face it, is basically its own planet.  We are gobsmacked – and humbled – and would love to hear from some of you to get your points of view on what’s going on in technology in your part of the world – literally. We also wanted to take a moment to say danke, dorro arigato, thank you, merci – and we’ve just exhausted our knowledge of the major food groups. Apologies if we’ve left you out. And since you’re all here, wherever you are, you might want to look into: http://www.angelinvestmentnetwork.net/ – they’re global. And hope this helps!

Don’t know what the final numbers were regarding the masses who watched the Royal Wedding on Friday  – on line or on the tube. We saw reports of from 275 million to 2 billion. Which is a pretty big spread, and two comments on this subject:
1.     A nod to old media: no matter how far technology has come to date, and yes between facebook friends and twitter, it was an exponentially larger and a much more immediate shared experience than the last RW, and no matter on which screen you were watching – terrestrial television or online – remember: it was being delivered to you via broadcast television. Game not over yet.
2.     In terms of viewership, don’t know where they got those numbers from, but in light of all that came out last week about privacy and tracking wouldn’t it have been a lot easier – and more exact – had it been tracked by GOOG or Apple or some combination of the two? End of line. Read More...

Good morning, All, and hope to see you tonight and it’s high time we were together in the same room, so to make sure you’re in the room, RSVP here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/1553028149.

Or just show up! We do have a few things planned for the evening – or just come network, socialize and meet some people:

On Digital Media (http://odmcast.com/) will be there doing videos of your elevator pitches – or whatever you’d like. Want to do a short video for your website/beta launch? Go for it! Just talk to the camera, tell us what you’re doing and the video is yours to have or to submit or post wherever you’d like. Read More...

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. Read More...