Here’s a cool new start-up to check out: LikeOurselves…
All around us there are millions of connections just waiting to be made. At Dealmaker Media, we believe in “Growth through Connections,” and here is a new start-up that, like us, is hoping to help facilitate these valuable face-to-face connections.
LikeOurselves is a new UK-based start-up that is hoping to help users answer this question: “How do we find the people we want to hang out with – without planning, right now, right here?”
Here’s how it works: Users go to LikeOurselves using their mobile phones and select what type of connection they are looking for… i.e. Someone to play tennis with, people to talk business, Venture Capitalists, Yale graduates, wine connoisseurs, single parents, a casual date, or anything else under the sun.
Then, users share their location, and see who is around them that they might want to meet up with. You might see that there is a Yale Graduate at a nearby cafe, and a Venture Capitalist at the bar across the street. Cool, huh? LikeOurselves says sharing your personal details is optional since privacy is important to them.
This service is LinkedIn in real life (and maybe a great company for LinkedIn to someday aquire!) It gives us connections at our fingertips, for fun, for business, for advice, for anything.
I want to plan a trip to Bali (why not go to paradise on this fictional vacation?) with three of my closest friends. Normally, we would send strings of emails with links to various hotels, locations, and activities to get the ball rolling. Inevitably links get lost in the shuffle, decisions get put off until last minute, and one person ends up having to take responsibility for the whole trip. Travelstormer aims at changing that. Launching just over a month ago, Travelstormer provides a service where friends, family, or travel companions can login, and start brainstorming a vacation together in an organized and structured manner.
So, back to my Bali trip. To start, I sign up for free account with Travelstormer and creates a new trip… I’ll call it: “Bali: The Pipe Dream.” Then, I send the invite to my three friends and the brainstorming begins. My friends sign-in, click on the trip, and start conversations on whatever they want. We can start a brainstorm about travel dates, locations, activities, accommodations, transportation, etc. If for example my friends and I need to find dates where we can all travel, I can even start a brainstorm where we all put dates into a calendar and Travelstormer shows us when we are all available.
The Expenses tab is especially useful. Travelers can input what they’ve spent, and everyone can remain updated about who owes money still, how much, and to whom. The Expenses tab shows who owes what, and we can use a service like WePay to collect payments from eachother if needed.
How many of us out there have half-finished journals? I may have just lost half my audience with that question but oh well, continuing on: If you’re like me, you have a dozen beautiful journals that you’ve been given or bought, that you’ve written in religiously for anywhere from 3-days to a month.
While I may not be particularly good at journaling, I am excellent at responding to email. Can you see where I’m going with this yet? New start-up OhLife has started a service of online journaling. Every night OhLife send users an email asking, “How was your day?” Users then respond to that email with whatever they want and the emails are privately achieved and saved. The site was started by Reman Child and Shawn Gupta and launched less than a month ago. While its brand new, I think there is some major potential here for growth and exciting partnerships.
Imagine if OhLife partnered with Blurb and allowed you to turn your archived journal entries into a printed book with photos? It would be the benefits of a physical journal, with the ease of a string of emails. What do you think OhLife? Can I get a cut for my idea?
When I told my friend about OhLife she responded by Gmail Chat with:
ha that is an awesome idea! totally sounds like the perfect way to journal it’s funny because i definitely do use emails as my journal now… i look back at my responses to my friends and use them as a way to chronicle big events or situations i’m dealing with or to vent about how i feel about a situation. that’s cool there’s a place people can do that now.
So… despite the cheesy name, I think OhLife will get me to try journaling once again. We’ll keep you updated on how long it lasts this time.
Milolaunched in 2007 and somehow I have only just discovered it. In case you are still in the dark like I was until alarmingly recently, here’s how it works: Milo users type in their zip code and what they’re looking for, and get an instant list of retailers currently carrying the item and corresponding costs.
Example: I want an iPod Touch and I want it today. I don’t want to go to the Apple Store since it is a zoo with people getting their new iPads and iPhone 4s. I don’t want to run around town shopping for the best deal. I don’t want to call a bunch of places to get salesclerks to check stock and price for me. I want real time results and I want them now. My answer? I go online to Milo.com, type in “iPod touch 3rd Generation 64GB” and my zip code, and poof:
Some results: RadioShack in San Francisco has it in stock for $399.99, Target in Colma has it in stock for $354.99, and ToysRUs in San Leandro has it for $395.95. In short, I’m off to Colma. I am saving $50, and getting my iPod Touch today!
So… are you gonna use Milo the next time you’re looking for something? Are you convinced, or do you want to stick with window shopping and buying online? Does it help that Milo.com is named after the cute dog shown below?
fizwoz, Inc. is a San Francisco-based start-up that provides an online marketplace where individuals can sell photos they’ve taken on their cell phones. So, the next time you see Brad and Angelina strolling the streets with their gaggle, you can snap the photo, load it online, and probably get some money for it.
fizwoz is easy to use, has a great team behind it, and is a fun and easy way to make some money for users. You can download the app and be up and running right away. ChipChick writes: “Every picture is worth at least one thousand words, but maybe you have one worth one thousand dollars.” Wooohooo! We like the sound of that!
Ian Smith, Founder and Chief Marketing Officer:
Ian has over 20 years’ experience in developing and delivering consumer-focused branded products, programs, and services across multiple industries. Ian has helped multiple brands manage the move from mass marketing to more targeted, relationship and social-based marketing programs. Ian was Managing Director of Route 15 Media, and held marketing leadership roles at Kraft Foods, Inc. Ian holds a B.S. (Hons) in Industrial Chemistry from The City University, London.
Two weeks ago, I started working with DealmakerMedia and before arriving in the office that first day I stopped in at SightGlass to try the much raved about coffee. I was impressed by the brew, but even more impressed by the way they accepted my payment. When I handed over my credit card, the woman swiped it through a small plastic square plugged into the audio input jack at the top of an iPad. She then rotated the iPad towards me and asked me to sign. I signed the iPad with the tip of my finger and watched as my signature filled the virtual page. It was the first time I had seen anything like that, and later that day, while I researched companies online, “Square” came up with an image of SightGlass using their new technology. What a small, small world!
Square is a new company, only officially launched in December of 2009, but their success is already undeniable. Their product enables us to take/make mobile payments from any mobile device with an audio input jack (i.e. your iPhone, iTouch, iPad, etc). After customers sign-up, they are sent a free card reader to get their business rolling. Square makes it so we can lose the paper and instead have receipts emailed or even texted to us.
I think we are going to start seeing Square’s product and service pop-up in more and more places as it has so many useful possibilities. I am thinking: Farmer’s Markets, lemonade stands, dealers, garage salers, and just about anyone else who might need a cash register or an easy way to take credit card payments.
So… have you seen Square in action yet? Tell us about it if you have!
DudaMobile is making it so no one has an excuse for having a website that isn’t mobile friendly. DudaMobile’s product makes it easy for people to customize their web pages and make them stream-lined and easy to use with any mobile device.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could all get on this train?
Start-up company MyHomePage is going to save us a lot of frustration and time. Instead of trying to remember all of our possible logins and passwords at various sites, MyHomePage have given us a single login and password to remember, and they will take care of the rest. I am guessing we all have some security concerns, but they seem to have that all figured out. Check it out and let us know what you think!
Funding is back, a new cloud startup is launching every week, but is it what the buyers want? We’ve seen everything from Cloud infrastructure to platforms to apps to monitoring tools – what’s left, where are the white spaces?
Before you slap the word cloud on your next startup innovation, hear from early adopter CIOs/CTOs and heads of IT about what problems they wish startups would solve and how you can get your startup on their radar.
Next week we’re hosting one of our regular Strategy Series events. This time, we’ll be hosted by the team at Mayfield Fund. Robin Vasan, Managing Director will moderate the conversation, probing into what some of tech’s leading executives wish startups would build, and what they wish startups would stop building (’technology for technology’s sake, anyone?).
Want to join the conversation? We have a few seats left for startups HERE.
WHAT WE’LL DISCUSS:
- Where’s the demand? What are CTOs, CIOs and IT managers looking for?
- Which layers in the stack are still available for new companies to emerge? Where is innovation needed?
- Partnering with giants – how to partner and sell to enterprise IT executives.
- Trusting Open Source – What are enterprises’ views on startups based on open source code?
- What are the benefits and opportunities?
The following is an entertaining and oh-so-true guest post by Ivan Gaviria – friend and startup lawyer exraordinaire. Ivan is a partner at Gunderson Dettmer’s Silicon Valley office, practicing in the Corporate and Securities Group. He has extensive experience working with startup and emerging growth companies through their entire lifecycle as well as representing venture capital, private equity and other investors.
Oh, and warning: harsh language below – nothing new to you Valley-types…
Ten Classic Valley Clichés
by Ivan Gaviria
As a partner in a startup law firm I have spent countless hours in board meetings over the years. This front row seat has led me to conclude that one of the Valley’s underappreciated contributions to society is the wealth of catchphrases, clichés and buzzwords that permeate the culture. Ignoring the industry specific hacker and technical slang and the trendier offerings, there are a number of phrases that seem particularly unique to world of venture backed startups and have stood the test of time. The following are a couple of my favorites:
“Open the Kimono” – Basically means to reveal sensitive or confidential information; usually in the negotiation context. Example: “It’s going to come out in diligence and we don’t have the time to play games so we just need to open the kimono and take our chances.” I’m frankly amazed that this one is still in heavy circulation with the politically incorrect overtones, but I think I hear it at least once a week. Extra points when it’s accompanied by an illustrative hand gesture from a middle aged guy with a BMI of 30+.
“Agree to Disagree” – This is essentially just a polite version of “fuck you”; it functions as a segue to allow the negotiation or conversation to move on after hitting an impasse and where an actual “fuck you” would be unproductive. Example: “I think we just need to agree to disagree on this and move on.”
“We are in violent agreement” — Sort of a cousin to “agree to disagree” this is also a segue to move the conversation forward, but without the “fuck you” element – it’s more of an acknowledgment that people are missing each others’ points and don’t really disagree but are getting spun up.
“Spun Up” – Essentially, to get upset, irate, etc. In my experience, used predominately as a threat, i.e., “I could bring that point up with our side, but people are going to get spun up.” Can be used in tandem with various head related hyperboles such as “he’s so spun up his head is going to explode/pop off his shoulders/lift off” etc.
“It Is What It Is” – This is a handy phrase for the moment of resignation when it’s clear something can’t be changed. The issue has been fought, the other side won’t concede and you’ve got to accept the point and move on. “It is what it is.” Depending on your perspective it’s either a super trite cliché or a koan with real existential implications. Lastly, with the right intonation, it can also mean “fuck you.”
“At The End of The Day” – This phrase means something like “when all is said and done” and precedes some conclusion about an open discussion point. Example “At the end of the day, this is a small risk and shouldn’t stop us from doing the deal.” It can be used interchangeably with “the bottom line” or in a cliché combo such as “at the end of the day, it is what it is.”
“Is it the Horse or the Jockey” - The first time I heard this one was during a discussion of whether a high priced, highly recruited sales guy was getting the job done. After the discussion, one of the VC’s leaned in and said “We need to sort through these product issues before we can discover if the problem is the horse or the jockey.” I’m not sure if it’s the Woodside thing but equine metaphors in general are pretty popular in the valley.
“Horse Trade” – A “horse trade” is distinguishable from a reasoned negotiation point and typically made in some non linear fashion often at the tail end of a negotiation. A rational negotiation point might be a founder arguing for a smaller option pool increase because her hiring plan calls for only a modest headcount increase. A “horse trade” would be something like “Ok, we’ll drop the post money pool to 15% but we’re going to increase our participation cap from 2X to 3X.” One could say that a good horse trade is also a variation of “fuck you.”
“Sleeves Off Your Vest” – This one’s presumably been around since before the days of business casual. Giving someone the sleeves off your vest is a concession that doesn’t actually cost you anything. Its corollary among sartorial metaphors is the “belt and suspenders” – a purposely redundant addition to an agreement made to satisfy a paranoid party.
“Reach Out/Ping/Circle Back” – No one around here can just call someone. You have to “reach out” or “ping” them, etc. I’m not sure why this is the case but … it is what it is.
If you have the bandwidth, and I can get your mindshare – I’d love to hear other people’s favorites. Comment below!
Mobile Monday today announced their top 20 finalists for the Mobile Premier Innovation Awards. We’re stoked to see that many of them are past Under the Radar: mobile presenters. Woo hooo!
Check out the list of the top 20 mobile startups as determined by the mobile community. The final winners will be announced on February 15 in Barcelona.
MobileMonday Austria – Mobilizy
MobileMonday Barcelona – fonYou
MobileMonday Berlin – spendino
MobileMonday Bogota – RedSalvavidas
MobileMonday Chennai – mobiSiteGalore
MobileMonday Copenhagen – Cepa Mobility
MobileMonday Edinburgh – Mobile Acuity
MobileMonday Estonia – TaxiPal
MobileMonday Lithuania – SendFlow
MobileMonday London – Audioboo
MobileMonday Milan – Soundtrckr
MobileMonday Munich – Aloqa
MobileMonday New Delhi – Voicetap Technologies
MobileMonday New York – PercentMobile
MobileMonday Oslo – Bipper Communication
MobileMonday Rest of EMEA – Layar
MobileMonday Silicon Valley – CloudMade
MobileMonday Slovenia – Visionect
MobileMonday Stockholm – MoSync
MobileMonday Tel Aviv – waze
Freemium is not a business model. It’s an effective go to market strategy. And for any SaaS startup filling their pipeline and setting revenue goals for 2010 — it’s imperative this is drilled into your marketing and sales teams’ DNA.
If you’re in Silicon Valley on Feb 18, join us for a Strategy Series Round Table event with SaaS sales veterans talking about new metrics to measure sales success. REGISTER!
Some excerpts from Lincoln’s paper:
“As part of a business model, Freemium has fundamental flaws. The most obvious flaw is that supporting a large base of nonpaying users that will never convert to paying customers can bleed an early stage startup of precious financial resources. In addition, these users can draw on the limited time and attention of the team, taking those resources away from development and support of the premium product that will sustain and grow the company.
While it is the “free” versions of software that get picked up in the blogosphere and social media (for a few minutes, at least), it is also the free products that get lampooned by those very same outlets, and the users, when problems occur. A small base of paying customers can keep both the overhead in check, but also the scale of the venture which the young startup must support.”
….
“Investment in lieu of revenue seems to be on many founders’ minds even when investment dollars have been harder to come by. Many startup founders seem to feel like it is easier to pitch investors than to go out and make sales. When this mindset is considered, it is easy to see how Freemium also became so popular with startups; especially those founded by technologists. It takes the pressure off of technical founders who just want to build a product and not worry about “selling.”
To ensure that a Freemium strategy is successful, and that the motivation to adopt the strategy is aligned with the vendor’s goals, a deep look at the market, the products, and the company is required.
Critical questions for SaaS vendors to ask themselves are:
• First the big one: If no one is willing to pay for our product right away, are we sure there is a market for it?
• Second big question: What is the quid pro quo? What is in this for us? Why should we let them use our system for free?
• Do we sign-up for free versions of applications and then stop using them or do we always move onto the premium version? Why?
• How can we monetize users even if they never “convert” to customers?
• How can the users of our system benefit our customers?
• Are our customers just those that pay to use the “premium” version of the system or might they be stand-alone consumers of the byproduct of system usage?
• Can we glean actionable market intelligence from both free users and customers?
• Can we aggregate the network effect data and monetize directly?
• Can we benefit from the “nothing attracts a crowd like a crowd” notion of having a large
number of users?
The following is a guest blog post by Matt Mickiewicz, co-founder of 99designs – a multi-million dollar design marketplace, and Flippa. Want to build a business on the cheap, and grow it to multi-millions in revenue? Matt is a jedi-master, so take heed….Below are some of his fave tools.
7 ESSENTIAL TOOLS FOR YOUR STARTUP COMPANY
Running a lean start-up is all about efficiency, and making the best use of low-cost or free tools available. Below I’ve highlighted some of my favourite “must bookmark” services that should be in every entrepreneurs toolbox.
1. Google Website Optimizer
You don’t know what you don’t know. Google Website Optimizer simplifies the process of testing your theories and hypotheses against real users using your site or service. Each new day brings new data and knowledge that you can employ to incrementally improve your business. You can also check out my friend Tim Ash’s book, Landing Page Optimizationfor tips on improving your site.
2. Mockingbird
Face it, you’re no designer. But as the founder or CEO of a startup, your role in product development is super-important. GoMockingbird.com is an intuitive, easy-to-use tool you can utilize to create wireframes and clickable prototypes, which you can then pass onto your designer.
3. UserTesting.com
You need feedback, and you need it pronto. Running a lean startup is all about moving quickly, and UserTesting.com allows you to run your website and apps against real users for just $29 per test. Furthermore, you receive feedback in as little as 24 hours. Use it!
4. UserVoice
Are you seeing a pattern yet? Successful startups are built on customer feedback. UserVoice is a great service that allows your customers to make suggestions and then vote on them. The strongest ideas rise to the top, ready for you to implement. Some of the best ideas at 99designs.com have come from our users — and best of all, implementing these ideas has lead to real bottom-line growth in our revenue.
5. Amazon Web Services and RightScale
Unless you already have racks of servers, you’re going to need to be able to scale your business quickly. After all, you never know when you’re going to land on the front page of the New York Times or Wall Street Journal! AWS and RightScale are super low-cost services that allow you to rent servers by the hour and data storage by the gigabyte. Without them, 99designs would be unable to archive over two million designs created by our design community. Check out Host Your Web Site in the Cloud — available for purchase on Amazon.com from January 2010.
6. DropBox
There is no easier way to share documents and files, period. Dropbox replaces your thumb drive and makes it easy to sync folders across computers and mobile devices. It’s much easier than emailing files back and forth as well. Three million users and counting attests to this!
7. AdWords
This is where most startups begin their media buying, because it’s cheap, easy to start with, and quick to optimize. AdWords allows you to quickly gain targeted traffic to your website while you work on your organic SEO. This enables you to start learning through Google Website Optimizer about what works and what doesn’t with actual site visitors. Best of all, by testing different ad copy, you can quickly determine which value propositions resonate the most with your prospects. You can then roll these into your landing pages, email marketing, PR efforts, and other channels.
Every entrepreneur wants to change the world. Why Silicon Valley is a hub for innovative startups is due in part because the Valley’s DNA is coded to inspire people to solve real problems though solutions never heard of before…
So, with “Company X Wants to Change the World” being the opening slide on so (sooooo) many pitch decks, who’s actually accomplishing it?
The World Economic Forum this week announced its picks for companies around the globe who are – in fact – changing our world.
I’m also happy to note that we know and support some of them!
World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneers 2010: amiando – online event registration and management Amobee Inc. – mobile ad platform CollabNet – platform for distributed/collaborative platform development Dilithium Networks mobile content delivery platform Innovid – interactive in-video advertising Obopay – mobile payments http://Playfish.com – social games (acquired by Electronic Arts) RingCentral – business phone service in the cloud StreamBase –
Twitter (was this because Oprah got on Twitter in 2009?) Ushahidi – crowdsourcing information/ updates from within communities during crisis
Naval from VentureHacks today posted a great outline of how to pick a co-founder.
Now – this doesn’t mean there’s an ocean full of great potential co-founders swimming you can bait and hook. Finding a true Partner in Crime (in life, and in business) is hard. It takes a bit of serendipity and you need to be open while keeping your standards high.
As my Mom always said, “don’t settle for just anyone.” So true in Startupville, too.
Some soundbites: “Picking a co-founder is your most important decision. It’s more important than your product, market, and investors.
The ideal founding team is two individuals, with a history of working together, of similar age and financial standing, with mutual respect. One is good at building products and the other is good at selling them.”
The power of two: Two is the right number — avoid the three-body problem.
Pick someone you have history with. You wouldn’t marry someone you’d just met. Date first.
One builds, one sells.
Make sure your motives are aligned.
The magic combo: Look for intelligence, energy, and integrity.
Don’t settle.
Pick “nice” guys. Look for someone “irrationally ethical” (note: I love this – nice call, Naval.)
What you don’t know. Do they fill that gap?
Breakups are hard… End them quickly.
Check out VentureHacks here. If it’s not on your “must read” list. Add it – now.
Last week at Web 2.0 in San Francisco, Morgan Stanley mobile analyst Mary Meeker delivered a 68-slide bombshell.
The tech industry has replaced the financial sector as the most capitalized portion of our economy.
But Meeker doesn’t just believe mobile is an adjunct to the web 3.0 craze… She predicts the mobile web will be 10x LARGER than the desktop internet sector when it first started.
And who’s leading the charge? Apple. With the cleanly designed, app-fabulous iPhone and iPod touch,
Apple created, literally, from nothing, an entirely new market for entrepreneurs.
Why should you be paying attention? Who should you be paying attention to?
The answers lie at Under the Radar on November 19th. REGISTER HERE.
Under the Radar Grad Circle company Tungle is a web application that tackles a core problem – finding a time to meet despite the multiplicity of calendars holding your availability hostage.
After kicking the tires on Tungle’s iphone app, here are a few things I like:
1. I can suggest multiple meeting times (brilliant!)
2. I can let colleagues see ‘free/busy’ blocks, which means I don’t have to justify 2 hours going for a run along the Embarcadero – I can just block off the time as ‘busy.’
3. Tungle works to untangle the mess of calendars where I store info – including MS Exchange, 2 Google/gmail accounts with separate calendars, and my laptop Apple iCal.
Get ready to see the company onstage November 19th – click here to take a quick video tour of how Tungle lets you sync your schedule across online calendars.
Under the Radar grad uTest, a network which outsources software testing using a global network of pros’ time and talent, today announced hitting 20,000+ testers in 157 countries. That’s a lot of testers, amigos.
uTest Homepage Screenshot
Developers and founders – If you don’t have the funds to hire a dedicated QA team, uTest may be a nifty solution to test your web, mobile, gaming and desktop applications.
Engineers, developers and app lovers (AKA uber early adopters) – If you’re interested in making some extra dough, consider signing up as a tester for uTest. Get the goods here.
Click here to read more, or watch the uTest pitch at Under the Radar here. it’s always nice to see a UTR alum growing!
In passionate pursuit of what’s happening in mobile tech, Twitter helps many of us act as ‘first responders.’
Over the last 3 months, the Dealmaker Media team has hacked through hundreds of mobile companies preparing for Under the Radar.
140 characters may not seem like a lot to work with, but tweets are an effective way to connect innovators with companies solving big problems on small screens.
Getting ready for #utr, we figured it’s time to share the goods. Here’s a short list of the people on Dealmaker’s Twitter radar…
Some are companies, some are individuals, some are developer programs, some are folks employed by organizations, some are analysts, some are bloggers, some are enthusiasts, some are Twitter arms of new media outlets, but all use their Twitter power for providing content value.
Here’s the list, with corresponding follower headcounts (current as of 3pm PDT today – follower counts may have changed since publication).
A quick disclaimer: Review the numbers with a grain of salt – I don’t consider follower numbers the primary indicator of a valuable Tweet. It’s more about what you tweet than how many people follow you…
Plusmo (Santa Clara, CA) an Under the Radar grad that built an easy to use multi-device mobile widgets development platform, has had a busy year. The company won top honors at multiple dev challenges, including the Nokia Developer Summit and the Nokia Hackathon.
Multi-platform Widgets Pay Off Big Time for Plusmo
Seems like the M&A situation may be heating up…AT&T snapped up Plusmo for an undisclosed amount, and will fold the tech into its Interactive division (which includes wireless dev efforts and will allow the firm to roll out apps like YPmobile – a mobile version of YELLOWPAGES.COM – across multiple handsets).
Looks like AT&T wanted an in house dev shop to reduce development time/$, and allow quick updates when new features are ready to roll. Perhaps most interesting is AT&Ts drive to be first with app and widget integration across mobile, TV, and web.
Check out the press release here. More at TechMeme here. Congrats to Aydin Senkut, the rest of Plusmo’s angel board, and the entire Plusmo team.
Hang with AT&T at Under the Radar this year – seems like carriers may be on the prowl for additional tech and talent acquisitions. It’s a good time to go mobile…
Kurt Daradics is a good friend of ours here at Dealmaker Media – and he’s certainly one of the best champions of the LA tech startup and social media scene. Waaayyyy back in the early part of this year he launched “Digital Family Reunion” a mixer event that toasted the who’s who in LA’s startup community.
And he’s at it again! If you’re in Los Angeles this Wednesday, join Kurt and all the members of the growing “digital family” as he calls it for a summit on community management. Use the Promo Code: DFR16 for a VIP price of $30.
DIGITAL FAMILY SUMMIT
Wednesday, September 23
Wokcano Restaurant, Santa Monica REGISTER for a VIP pass ($20 off) with promo code DFR16
You can find out more about the agenda and speakers here.
Brought to you by the team who produces the Under the Radar conference, Startonomics and Dealmaker LA, this hands-on “workshop-style” event will allow entrepreneurs to drill down on the key issues we face when laying the foundation to build and fund their company.
Seating is extremely limited (only 100 tickets available) as this is a hands-on event. Entrepreneurs will spend the day with the following VCs, startup lawyers and serial entrepreneurs. APPLY TO ATTEND.
Mike Jones at Startonomics LA. Feb 2009.
WORKSHOP MENTORS:
* Charles Halloran, Attorney, KPPB
* Dan Gould, VP Technology, Fox Interactive Media
* Dave McClure, Founders Fund
* Daniel C. Burnham, Partner, Strategic Law Partners
* Frank Addante, CEO, Rubicon Project
* Jason Nazar, CEO, DocStoc
* John Babcock, Partner, Rustic Canyon Partners
* John Suh, CEO, Legal Zoom
* Kent Goldman, Principal, First Round Capital
* Jeff Tinsley, CEO, Mylife
* Mark Suster, Partner, GRP Partners
* Richard Wolpert, Partner, The Mailroom Fund
* Seth Sternberg, CEO, meebo
* William Quigley, Partner, Clearstone Ventures
* I know the first time I saw a term sheet was the first time I received a term sheet. The Workshop is your chance to get your hands on actual cap charts and term sheets. Ask questions, get answers. Here’s your chance to gain valuable insight that’ll help you set your startup up for funding successfully.
Bring your co-founders! You’ll want to divide and conquer… The Workshop will run 2 tracks featuring perspectives and advice from entrepreneurs, VCs and lawyers.
SESSIONS:
Romancing the Deal: Getting to “I do” And Getting What You Want Only fools rush in to venture money, and for good reason – underestimate the bargaining power of your target investor, and you may just end up with a broken heart. Before you jump in, you need to understand the strategies and tactics of negotiating a funding round and it starts with the first date. Get tips from successful founders, lawyers, and VC’s on the moves that lead to “Mr. or Mrs. Right Money”.
Determining Need vs. Greed We’ve all heard the horror stories of taking too much funding and diluting your value. This session will help you determine how much financing you actually need, explore alternative financing options every entrepreneur should consider, understand the investor’s math, and protect your (ass)ets along the way.
Equity Structure Equity structure is one of the most important and most misunderstood factors of starting a company. With numerous legal, investment, and strategic impacts, implementing a solid equity structure is a prerequisite to success. How should you divide equity among employees, and even more importantly, how can your equity structure affect your legal rights, venture outlook and exit?
Team, Board, & Advisor Compensation How can you determine the right combination and levels of compensation plans for your team, board and advisers? What are the legal landmines and loopholes you should know about? How have VCs’ successful portfolio companies structured compensation packages? We’ll help you understand the ins and outs of incentive plans and choose the right mix for your start-up.
Term Sheet Negotiation Think you’ve mastered the term sheet? Think again. In this session you’ll get to walk through an actual term sheet with a VC, entrepreneur, and lawyer to find the quick sand and learn how to get around it.
Working with Investors, Advisors & your Board: What to Watch Out For In the beginning, everything is happy-go-lucky…until something goes wrong. What could you have done in the beginning to protect against explosions, and how much leeway to you really have? We’ll discuss how to structure investor and adviser relationships so you have maximum control, as well as how to effectively manage your investors and advisors in the good times, and bad.
Under the Radar alumni, RunMyProcess (which presented at the Cloud-focused Under the Radar in April 2009) today announced they’ve been given the official thumbs up by Google.
“As of today RunMyProcess is officially a Google Enterprise Partner, providing the best workflow and integration solution for Google Apps and cloud based solutions in general.”
Matthieu Hug, CEO of RunMyProcess presented in front of a panel of judges at Under the Radar. Judges at the event included Matthew Glotzbach, Director of Product Management for Google Enterprise.
On Tuesday night three of the most prominent angel and seed-stage investors gathered in a boardroom errr, make shift living room, in San Francisco to discuss the state of angel investing today, from recent deals to what it’ll take to lay down a term sheet in the future.
The investors in the spotlight included Aydin Senkut, Founder and President of Felicis Ventures; Jeff Clavier, Softtech VC and Rob Hayes, Partner at First Round Capital – who despite the economy this past year still continue to invest.
In fact, Jeff Clavier delivered two term sheets that day alone. Seems creativity loves constraints; and the tight economy has weeded out the “me-too” entrepreneur wanna-be’s and left a crop of compelling, driven founders standing.
Hayes got the conversation rolling with a general observation. “This economy sucks!” Despite the downturn, he said, the three panelists, who frequently invest together, have been active. Hayes had 6 investments in the last quarter, Senkut had five with three follow-ons, and Jeff, with a kiddish smile, noted he had none in the past 28 days, but had put down two term sheets that day.
The good news is that the downturn has made selection easier. A year ago, most pitches were uninteresting derivative ideas (me-too Twitter knock offs). “All that’s left is nut crazy ideas,” Hayes exclaimed with satisfaction. The only entrepreneurs left seeking capital were the ones who believed in their ideas, regardless of the economy.
So what are they looking for? All generally invest in consumer Internet companies and have recently emphasized on personalized medicine and cloud-based ideas. The three invested together in a bio-informatics company not long ago. Senkut, who was an early customer in 23andMe, was the most emphatic about health–not pharmaceuticals, but things like electronic health records–and education.
Hayes noted the founder’s character and history was key. He was struck by the bio-informatics CEO’s ability to synthesize complex problems into simple stories that the three could grasp–and believed that ability would help drive the company’s success.
Read more here.
See you at the next Strategy Series (hosted by Mayfield Fund) on October 14.
I just received one of the cutest emails (did I ever think I’d say “cute” when referring to starting startups?).
Drue Kataoka is getting hitched this weekend, and instead of dooming guests to the aisles of Bed Bath and Beyond, they’ve asked for help funding their startup, Aboomba, through a startup registry.
Items include feeding developers, taking Tim Draper for lunch and oodles of Red Bull. Check it out.
Here’s the email and a video of the happy couple explaining their mission:
My fiance and I are launching a stealth-mode startup– and also getting married in five days at Stanford. So we created the world’s first “Startup Wedding Registry.” No crystal, flatware, or blenders here. Instead, we’ve invited our guests to feed an engineer for a day ($273), feed a VC lunch ($291) or provide lattes for a week ($129).
We created a tongue-in-cheek (but truthful) look at the toils of starting a Silicon Valley company, refracted through the prism of a wedding. We hope that it will involve and entertain not only our guests, but a larger web audience. We want to be open– anybody (not only our guests) is invited to suggest an item to add to the registry (through posting a comment).
The top 3 funniest (but real) suggestions will receive a 750 ml wine bottles of Au Bon Climat Pinot Noir (our wedding favor, which is custom-designed for the wedding), and will be specially featured.
…Now I just have to chime in here, Drue. Skip the lattes, girl. Go for drip coffee. Way cheaper and your future VC will appreciate the thriftiness!
it’s funny because i definitely do use emails as my journal now… i look back at my responses to my friends and use them as a way to chronicle big events or situations i’m dealing with or to vent about how i feel about a situation. that’s cool there’s a place people can do that now.
