Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Highlights by Stanford University | Stanford / Entrepreneurship.
via Entrepreneurial Thought Leader Highlights by Stanford University | Stanford / Entrepreneurship.
1. The Executive Summary
I often get inquiries about getting involved in early stage companies here and around the country.
The beginning point to discussing a startup the Executive Summary of the company, which lays out the key facts about a startup in 1-2 pages. But I’ve noticed that in L.A. it’s the exception rather than the norm, people want to meet first. Real investors don’t usually work that way.
The Executive Summary is CRITICAL to getting prospective investors excited. Without it you have little chance of getting the next step – a meeting to discuss the project and funding, more team members, more ecosystem. It’s a key qualifier as a serious player in the startup world. You hardly ever see a Silicon Valley startup without one, no matter how early stage.
The pitch deck has replaced it lately, but that takes more time to read and it’s harder to find the key info quickly. (One exception to this is the deck Hank Cho sent me; one of the best I’ve seen in a while.)
So google “Executive Summary”, look at several and put one one together. Send it to me and I’ll critique it for you. Make it less words, more impact, numbers, facts, the team.
It will also show where your holes are.
1. Let’s Loosen Up
The current startup scene combined with our poor economic/job situation is causing many people to panic a bit. It’s understandable, but if it transfers to your persona as a startuper, it won’t help. Many people I meet are very rigid, look a little scared but fake a smile, unable to open themselves to criticism. This doesn’t get investors excited.
Sometimes a 20-30% change or add to your business can make a major difference. Not a complete pivot, that implies 90-180 degree change, but be open to suggestions by those who’ve been there before. Maybe change your name, change your graphics(!), merge/acquire/acq-hire, drop yours for another better one.
Let go of your ego, let go of some equity.
The goal is to build long term sustainable businesses and revenue streams. Add smart people to your circle for the bigger good of the company. Loosen up, smile, have fun. But make some money for everyone involved. Be better.
@tomnora
About a year ago, during a speech I was giving for a Hacker News group, someone in the audience brought up the notion that “Failure Is Good”, i.e. Fail Fast, Fail Often. This is a major change in thinking from the past, due to many factors, and it makes a lot of sense. Rapid prototyping of web apps and mobile apps now means rapid prototyping of startups.
Since everything in life is becoming an app and MVP is good enough to actually attract revenue and/or funding, you can actually try something and throw it away within a few weeks. The cost for this is from $0 to $5,ooo.
The problem is when someone tries this over and over with the same result – junking it. I see a lot of this in my circles There is a price for doing this; you wer yourself out, lose credibility, waste peoples money and time, lose friends, etc.
A better option is to vastly improve your odds each time by getting smarter, refining, capitalizing on mistakes, getting help in the areas where you’re weak, have less ego and more focus on not accepting failure.
If you add up all the attempts to launch startups over the past 2-3 years by all participants, there are probably at least a million failures. Many of these were stepping stones to better things and/or a quite valuable learning process, maturity, personal growth. But over half were probably unnecessary ego bursts and fleeting ideas where deep down inside the founder knows it ain’t gonna happen but keeps going for many reasons.
Most people are very good at one thing at a time, not five so pick ONE and try that role and let as many others as possible help prevent failure number one million and one. @tomnora
Are you a southern California angel (or do you know one) who’d like to be on our list?
Jason Calacanis (Los Angeles)
http://www.twitter.com/jason
http://www.facebook.com/jcalacanis
Sample Investments:
http://www.twitter.com/backupify
http://www.twitter.com/gdgt
http://www.twitter.com/blippy
http://www.twitter.com/rapportive
http://www.twitter.com/gowalla
http://www.twitter.com/challengepost
http://www.twitter.com/chartbeat
Matt Coffin (Los Angeles)
http://www.twitter.com/mattcoffin
Sample Investments:
Tweets by answers
http://www.twitter.com/demandmedia
http://www.twitter.com/rubiconproject
http://www.twitter.com/docstoc
http://www.twitter.com/ebureau
http://www.twitter.com/cyberrain
http://www.twitter.com/inadco
http://www.twitter.com/unsubscribeme
http://www.twitter.com/adlyads
http://www.twitter.com/hautelook
Paige Craig (Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/paigecraig
http://www.facebook.com/paigecraig
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/betterworks
http://twitter.com/dealquad
http://twitter.com/backtype
http://twitter.com/kiip
http://twitter.com/mobileroadie
http://twitter.com/contextlogic
http://twitter.com/styleseat
http://twitter.com/plancast
http://twitter.com/klout
http://twitter.com/postling
http://twitter.com/takelessons
http://twitter.com/metricly
http://twitter.com/livematrix
http://twitter.com/ecomom
http://twitter.com/indinero
http://twitter.com/socialrewards
John Greathouse (Santa Barbara)
http://twitter.com/johngreathouse
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/rightscale
http://twitter.com/appfolio
http://twitter.com/frontiertech
Sean Jacobsohn (Santa Monica)
http://twitter.com/sjacobsohn
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/linkedin
http://twitter.com/offermatic
http://twitter.com/strongtech
Paul Kedrosky (La Jolla)
http://twitter.com/pkedrosky
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/mozes
http://twitter.com/firstrain
http://twitter.com/xpenser
http://twitter.com/stocktwits
http://twitter.com/weathertrends
Clark Landry (Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/clandry
http://www.facebook.com/clarkwlandry
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/edgecast_cdn
http://twitter.com/burstly
http://twitter.com/ecomom
http://twitter.com/citymommy
http://twitter.com/310labs
Beau Laskey (Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/beaulaskey
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1039099299
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/playdom
http://twitter.com/photobucket
Peter Lee (Los Angeles)
(Baroda Ventures)
http://twitter.com/ptlee
http://www.facebook.com/ptlee
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/steelhousemedia
http://twitter.com/gamecrush
Howard Lindzon (Coronado)
http://twitter.com/howardlindzon
http://www.facebook.com/howardlindzon
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/tweetdeck
Tweets by blogtalkradio
http://twitter.com/betaworks
http://twitter.com/bitly
Tweets by foodzie
http://twitter.com/stocktwits
http://twitter.com/zentact
http://twitter.com/mytrade
http://twitter.com/limosdotcom
http://twitter.com/buddymedia
Thomas McInerney (Los Angeles & San Francisco)
http://twitter.com/tgmtgm
http://www.facebook.com/tgmtgm
Sample Investments:
Tweets by klout
http://twitter.com/mochimedia
http://twitter.com/blockchalk
http://twitter.com/gamesalad
http://twitter.com/cyberrain
http://twitter.com/shopflick
http://twitter.com/socialpicks
http://twitter.com/postling
http://twitter.com/burstly
http://twitter.com/mogotix
http://twitter.com/flingotv
Farhad Mohit (Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/farhad667
http://www.facebook.com/farhad667
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/bizrate
http://twitter.com/shopzilla
Brian Norgard (Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/briannorgard
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/adlyads
http://twitter.com/q_angellist
http://twitter.com/flowtown
http://twitter.com/grockit
Talmadge O’Neill (Prague & Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/talmadgeorion
http://www.facebook.com/talmadge.oneill
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/pollenware
http://twitter.com/bluebeam
http://twitter.com/kijubi
http://twitter.com/linkedin
http://twitter.com/chegg
http://twitter.com/eharmony
http://twitter.com/teslamotors
Michael Parekh (NYC & Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/mparekh
http://www.facebook.com/mparekh
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/stocktwits
http://twitter.com/eqal
http://twitter.com/seesmic
http://twitter.com/scanscout
http://twitter.com/dogster
http://twitter.com/loomia
Mark Suster (Los Angeles)
http://twitter.com/msuster
http://www.facebook.com/msuster
Sample Investments:
http://twitter.com/ecomom
http://twitter.com/gendaigame
http://twitter.com/laughstub
A few things have happened recently to cause me to look a little closer at NY for the next amazing companies in Internet technology. First, a friend announced that they were moving their startup geo-lo based company from L.A. to New York; Second, I caught the recent live stream of the Disrupt NYC Hackathon; Third, A New York Times article about how NYC’s “allure” is increasing.
I know, it’s a very expensive place to live and do business, lots of traffic, etc. I’ve done it before. But if a Tipping Point could be created there it could over come the costs. Here are some of the factors:
(1) Amazing Engineering Skills – Let’s just start with the big one. There is a highly under-known fact in the software engineering world – many of the best developers and architects are not in Silicon Valley, but in the New York metro area. Between AT&T, the Financial houses and all the great local engineering schools they’re not only the best but there are a lot of them. C++ and Object Oriented design were invented at AT&T, and there are many more examples. New York developers have less attitude, more performance. They’re expensive , but a very large and strong group.
(2) Long Term Scalability – See #4 below – Over time, s a comapny tries to get into a rhythm of continuous growth, they need to develop a reliable growth model. To do this you need human resources beyond techo-nerds – sales, marketing, strategy, bus dev. These people abound in New York. You also need infrastructure and friendly government. Again, New York blows California away here.
(3) Mentor Network – Retired Fortune 500 executives, Harvard/Princeton/Yale scholars, Financial Industry experts, many successful entrepreneurs.
(4) Respect for BUSINESS – Sales, Marketing, Advertising, Strategy were all practically invented in NYC.
(5) Diversified Portfolio of Industries – The best startups draw from several disparate industries around them to be able to grow and learn and diversify. New York is the Fashion, Financial, Art, … (fill in the blank) capital of the world.
(6) Spirit – Nobody has has the same type of spirit as New Yorkers; you know this if you’ve ever been there, especially if you’ve done business there. It has some kind of magic in the air.
(7) Night Life – Many budding high technology centers aren’t the best in terms of top cultural options and the best restaurants. Well, New York… no need to explain.
I could go on, but the combination above is plenty for a startup tipping point. Just watch the Disrupt videos, they’ll give you a glimpse. I’vealways loved New York and doing business there, even though I’m a born and bred Californian. Now they’re heading toward my niche, very exciting. Maybe Zuckerberg should’ve put Facebook there instead of Silicon Valley. Maybe FB stock would be going up instead of down right now.
[Facebook Stock Could Fall Twice as Far Before It Hits Bottom]
@tomnora