My Response to “The dirty secret behind the incubator boom” in #VentureBeat

by | May 1, 2012 | Angel Investor, Business Development, CEO Succession, early stage, founder, Launch, Revenue Growth, Scalability, startup, startup CEO, venture

This is great! Congrats to Mr. Dao for stepping up to this. Thx @lieslchang for forwarding. I was at that same pitch fest. This is what I call “Harvesting Youth”.

I think MVP is usually MVBS. There are so many things wrong with the current climate. I’ve written about this many times in my blog, often being called a spoil-sport. Many “mentors” are teaching young entrepreneurs the wrong things, in order to cherry pick them for their own projects. They’re being taught to recite stupid sayings like “Killing It” and “Pivot” and “Seed Round” when they’re doing none of those.

A $50K seed round? $25K?

As someone in the startup world for over 20 years it’s sad to watch what the word startup has become, sunk to. A startup is inventing, it’s UNIQUE technology, UNIQUE idea, UNIQUE deployment. A shoe store is not a startup. A startup is something to be nurtured, built, caressed, enhanced.

For the L.A. vs. Silicon Valley comparison, these mini-launches aren’t helping L.A.s reputation. There are some incredible companies growing in L.A., but way too many fake startups.

The other crazy thing going on? Now everyone says “I’m gonna learn to code”. Ridiculous.

@tomnora

 

The dirty secret behind the incubator boom

The Stanford University + Palo Alto Ecosystem

The Stanford University + Palo Alto Ecosystem

by | Apr 30, 2012 | startup CEO

I often refer to this phenomenon in my blog and my Startup Workshops presentations as my favorite case study – “Stanford Love”. Now the New Yorker has picked up on the trend. “Is Stanford Too Close to Silicon Valley?”    @tomnora  #StartupWorkshopsLA

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2012/04/30/120430fa_fact_auletta?currentPage=all