Inappropriate Use of Email

Financing is top of mind here at the TechStars offices. Not surprising...10 of 10 teams are raising capital. I'm happy that most of the companies already have commitments and are actively looking for angels/vcs to close out their round. At today's all-hands meetings, I was asked questions about financing. Here's a quick peek into how the conversation went today...

ME: "Don't discuss terms or ask for money over email. It may seem more efficient but deals don't get done over email. And worse, emails can be misinterpreted. The process of raising money is relationship management. And if you're managing a relationship...it's gotta be verbal...I mean telephone or in person. 

It's like trying to manage your girlfriend, your spouse or mother via email...can't be done. You gotta talk to her."

SMART ASS QUESTION FROM TECHSTAR: "But what if you have multiple girlfriends?" 

MY SMART ASS RESPONSE: "Well, then YOU certainly don't want your answers in writing." 

Full steam ahead...Demo day is 2 weeks from Thursday!

p.s. Are you an investor or member of the press and want to come to Demo Day on November 3rd? Email kayla@techstars.com for an invite.

Adding Rocketfuel: TechStars Seattle Demo Day partners with Seattle Interactive Conference

Seattle is brewing.

Killer, world class Startups, born and bred in the Pacific Northwest.

And im telling you, it's only going to get better. TechStars and Seattle Interactive Conference are on a mission to invigorate the Seattle ecosystem and showcase the talent of the Pacific Northwest! Consider this the North by Northwest event you don’t want to miss!

TechStars Seattle Demo Day – November 3^rd, 2 – 6pm. 

We are proud to present the 2011 class of TechStars Seattle to the investment community on November 3rd at the Showbox Sodo.  Join hundreds of angel investors and venture capitalists from all over the country as TechStars take the stage to pitch – in a quick and fun way - their business and investment opportunity. After presentations, we invite you to stay for a dinner buffet and networking.  Followed by a great after party! http://demodayseattle2011.eventbrite.com/ For angel investors and venture capitalists only, email kayla@techstars.org if you would like an invite! 

Seattle Interactive Conference - November 2nd & 3rd.

This event is bringing together industry leaders from tech, entertainment and the arts. Its a spectacle of merging cultures fueling the internet and changing the way we think and live. Its a celebration of disruption and the people, ideas, and technologies that fuel that disruption. World class, provocative, and delivered in a distinctly Seattle manner.  And TechStars Seattle is getting in on the action!

This is an exciting partnership between TechStars and the Seattle Interactive Conference. (Peep all the goodness here.) We are thrilled to co-produce this event. We continue to be humbled by the volume and depth of support this city has shown us. Thanks for the love Seattle!

We got it all here folks. Traction, growth, and the determination to make this city one of the best place to build a startup in the world.

Thanks for proving just how much this city takes care of it's own. We won't let you down.

Now go get your tickets! We're going to be way oversubscribed.

BigDoor acquires One True Fan -- and the crowd goes wild ...at least I do!

I’ve been joking with the BigDoor folks for a while now about how quiet it is in their new office space. I often come down on Friday afternoons and everyone’s working, heads down….it’s as quiet as a college library. The dedication from the team is remarkable and quite frankly a little bit scary but I think a lot of that dedication is starting to pay off.

For one thing the company has been working diligently on a private beta of their truly innovative solution they call the Engagement Economy, which is a new program that will impact how the digital world engages and monetizes their audiences.  That alone is exciting stuff but today BigDoor announced they have acquired San Francisco-basedweb services company OneTrueFan.

BigDoor provides a gamified loyalty platform and since they launched two years ago they have more than 300 partners. Recently the market demand has been outpacing their ability to keep up, so they turned to OneTrueFan as a means of accelerating their product development and overall growth. The demand has been so great they have turned to the OTFguys – Co-founders Eric and Todd and team to help accelerate their product development and growth.  Eric and Todd are pioneers in the game and social networking space (Co-founders of MyBlogLog ,acquired by Yahoo in ’07, as well as IGN.com, Gnip and Cloudspace). By joining forces, this acquisitionfurther cements BigDoor’s role as the largest provider of gamified loyalty solutions (OTF has 1,000s ofpublishers currently using their site). This also gives BigDoor a presence in Silicon Valley.

The former OneTrueFan team will be primarily focused on building and running a BigDoor branded rewards program that is targeted to long tail and medium size web publishers. When they launch BigDoor Rewards next month, it will carry with it many of the same characteristics publishers loved from OneTrueFan; brain-dead simple to implement, great analytics, increased content sharing, and far more user engagement. Shortly thereafter BigDoor will be taking the wraps off of their Engagement Economy private beta, and making it publicly available to larger publishers and online communities. 

I guess the college library atmosphere is working -- these guys are kicking ass!
Congrats to Keith, Ring, Jeff, Matt, Todd and Eric and team!

TechStars Leak and Launch Party Tickets!

1. Who’s in TechStars Seattle? 

Usually we test your patience and make you wait for Demo Day (November 3rd), but here’s a sneak peek at some of the companies and what they’re up to…

Beamit Mobile - Most convenient and cost effective way to transfer money overseas.

Bluebox Now - Creating an engaging loyalty platform with real rewards so companies can delight their customers.

Fireplace - Building the world’s best online page builder.

Flexminder - Unlocking 6 billion dollars from Flexible Spending Accounts.

Piratebird - Quora for dating.

Romotive - We make simple, universal, and affordable robotic platforms that interact with people in meaningful ways.

Vizify: helps people get hired by turning their resumes into beautiful, interactive infographics. 

2. Tickets to our Launch Party- TechStars is coming to Bloomberg TV!  

September 13th kicks off the TechStars reality TV show series.  We’re throwing a big launch party to celebrate! I'd really like to thank the Seattle tech start-up scene for helping TechStars support our local tech start-ups and invite you to come and join us! Space is limited, so the first 20 people to respond will receive tickets (full details below).  Those who come celebrate with us can expect to hang out with TechStars Founders from the 2011 and 2010 Seattle programs, our TechStars mentors and the movers and shakers in the Seattle tech scene.  

Take a sneak peak at what's in store: TechStars Trailer

For tickets, @ me on Twitter using #techstarslaunchparty and shoot me an email.  First come, first serve!

Am I a crazy or a smart investor? or both?

Response on Lighter Capital’s “explosive” promotion has been somewhere between “that’s totally awesome” and “that’s totally crazy” – which is exactly what I had wanted.

I want to give some insight to how we came onto this idea, and why people should expect more of the same from lighter capital soon.

Compared to more traditional funding sources like banks and venture capitalists, Lighter Capital's funding process is faster, our capital is less expensive, and we’re (hopefully) a lot more fun to interact and work with. So what's the best way to market that?

We’re fast, but not out-of-control fast

We were planning our new site and coming up with ideas for how we could showcase ourselves, and we thought we’d emphasize how “fast” we are. We thought – let’s fund a company in a week and have a daily-deal-like counter to add some time pressure to us and the applicant. Turns out, there are a lot of people who claim this. A search for “fast money” gets all these ads:

We may never be as fast as some of these guys, nor do we want to be like these guys -- Lighter Capital is a LOT more legitimate than these options –  we won’t break people’s knee-caps if they don’t pay. Maybe we’ll take an extra week to make a loan, but the terms should be a lot better for the borrower.

We’re definitely crazier

If the speed story wasn’t going to work, we know we’re a bit willing to admit that we are crazier than main-stream funding sources. “Let’s fund something nobody else would fund.” Dirty companies, messy companies, loud companies, stuff like that. we decided August would be the month to fund an EXPLOSIVE company – it’s good, has some mixed connotations so it raises eyebrows. We ultimately toned it down to focus on a company with explosive growth, but we’re still holding out hope that a company that sells or uses explosives may still apply. Call me crazy.

My accidental SEO strategy

Somewhat inspired by Rand's SEO talk on Wednesday - I checked out the google analytics on asack.typepad.com (i'm thinking of moving to a wordpress blog, but want to keep linkjuice, ANY ADVICE?) and was shocked to discover that I'm getting ~10 visits/month from people searching for "i ate a grape and i" (a quote from an snl sketch I referenced). Turns out I rank #1 on google's results - try it yourself. Not exactly an intentional SEO effort on my part, but nice to be #1 at something!

BOOM! goes the dynamite

... and Lighter Capital's new funding promotion. Today Lighter Capital announced that in sync with our new site launch and rebranding, we're starting a countdown until the end of August and we're going to fund at least one EXPLOSIVE company that applies between now and then!

We've gotten some awesome press on Geekwire Techcrunch and others and feedback has been great. I'm really jazzed about the energy we're getting going - please tweet and spread the word about the promotion and what we're up to.

Hope you especially enjoy the semi-intentionally awkward promo video from Drew and Randall.

Lighter Capital's new site

(UPDATED: With functioning link to Lighter Capital)

We have a new site up at Lighter Capital, and I think it's a night and day difference. The team's been absolutely incredible getting this up and running, and I'm really excited to have a new look to show to the world.

Check it out - give us feedback - apply for a RevenueLoan. Expect more exciting news soon.

Bank websites are painful

We at Lighter Capital are using technology to disrupt small business lending - I was reminded how ripe banks are for disruption after spending 20+ minutes trying to use our own bank's website to transfer funds to a company we're lending to. 

Hear Randall and my contrasting views (rants) on our bank's website:

It's 1:04AM and I'm reviewing techstars applications

There's a team of 5 of us here. It's early AM. Meeting with a group of the selection committee tomorrow. Trying to narrow the applications.  It's exciting!

Feeling overwhelmed by the quality level of the applications. Aviel just said, "pass the whiskey. I just want to get out of here before Dick's burgers close.". I guess we're getting a bit punchy!

I'm worried about what we're going to say to the really good teams that don't get selected!  

A funny line from today

He needed to raise money to prove his penis size. Strange but true. I couldn't that shit up.

Are you too old or too late stage for TechStars? The most common TechStars misperception debunked

I know a number of you are far along in your businesses already -- and you may think you or your company are too "old" or "mature" for TechStars.  You may already have a couple startups under your belt already and think you know what you're doing so you don't need TechStars.

Au contraire. I don't think this is true at all.

In fact, I want you all to know that I think you should consider applying for TechStars -- I think the program is awesome ....and an awesome value for companies that are past the initial step of building a company. In my opinion, it's the multiple time CEOs that are some of the people that can see the benefit and get the most out of the TechStars program. 

TechStars is an accelerator and I've seen instances where the acceleration part of TechStars actually helps existing companies as much if not more than raw startups.  In NYC TechStars, for instance, there were companies that already had 1MM in funding and already had greater than 1MM in revenue. These "mature" companies really rocked coming out of the program. If you want to read about one such company you can read about the company RedRover here and here. The articles give a good articulation of the value that a little later stage company can get from TechStars....and the CEO thought process for putting his company into TechStars.  

The trade off of equity to dilution and the benefits you get from being in TechStars are a huge win for almost any company that gets in. I think TechStars can really help you narrow your focus, open doors, get people to care about your startup, get funding, get publicity and accelerate in a 3 month period. I'd put my own company in the program without hesitation. If you want to discuss whether it's a fit for you -- let me know. Email me.

I should mention that there are over 600 applications this year so this plug is not because we're in need of more applications and it will be more competitive than ever to get in -- I just want those companies and CEOs to make an informed decision about who can really benefit from TechStars. 

10 Days Left to Apply to TechStars Seattle

This is just a simple reminder for anyone who is out there and considering applying to TechStars Seattle. It's time to get off the fence and submit your application. Applications are due June 1. 

Things I love about Founder's Co-op and Our Makeshift Receptionist

I love housing 22 startups under one roof. 

I love witnessing (and participating in) the birth of new ideas. 

I love having 80 people to vote on my new company name. 

I love that we share snacks. I love that we share best business practices. 

I love that people are willing to clean out the fridge every once in a while. 

I love that we celebrate victories and get each other through hard times. 

I love that our kickball team is on a 3 game winning streak.

I love that there are career opportunities sometimes 30 feet away.

I even love the nerf gun wars that my desk is perfectly in the middle of.

But here's full disclosure...fostering an environment of activity, brainstorming, and collaboration comes with a price: It can get noisy. There is a delicate balance (we haven't mastered it yet) of letting all this magic happen while also maintaining a noise level that others can work through (head phones recommended).

One interesting phenomenon is that some of the best seats in the house (near the windows, plenty of natural light, good access to the bathroom and kitchen) are avoided like the plague because they're too near the front entrance. Nobody wants to be mistaken for the receptionist. (Which we don't have.)  With 22 companies, 5 conference rooms, and a speakeasy throughout our 2 floors, guests need to be pointed in the right direction. The problem is that on busy days that could easily mean 15+ interruptions...not ideal for productivity.

Here's our office's solution to not having a receptionist.

Top of mind is how can we help people find who they're looking for without constantly asking these guys...(note how the bike gets the sunniest, brightest view in the office)

Change happening at RevenueLoan

The first 9 months of RevenueLoan has been great. We've made a good number of investments into some great companies and more importantly, learned a lot. Today, I'm thinking about putting into writing our corporate values. This is a first draft. I have not run these by my team yet and plan to do so before putting them into cement. I thougth I'd share my first draft with you at the same time as them:

• Fun - We believe that if you have fun together at our company, we'll create a better outcome and have a better time doing it.  
• Swift - Swift is both fast and flexible. We strive to be both. We think speed is a competitive advantage. 
• Listening - We value feedback A LOT. We strive to listen to our customers, employees, and investors as the key indicators as to how we are doing. 
• Innovative - We are creating something special and new. We plan on winning through innovating. We don't take the way the world as the way the world ought to be. 

What do you think? Any feedback? I'm listening and likely to adapt swiftly ;-) 

Fun weekend at LindzonPalooza

I am sitting at the airport on my way back from a weekend with friends, entrepreneurs, and fellow tech investors in San Diego.  The weekend is hosted by Howard Lindzon, CEO of stocktwits. It's an annual event and I'm definately going to go again next year.  There's a lot to be said for hanging out in San Diego with good people. 

Another Great Night at Seattle Open Angel Forum

Last Wednesday in the Easy, we hosted the 2nd ever Seattle Open Angel Forum.  Myself, my partner Chris DeVore and about 20 other active Seattle-area angels heard pitches from 5 startups.  OAF's format looks like this: Each team only has 5 minutes to present - basically just enough time to demo their product. Then we open the floor for Q&A and feedback. The feedback element is particularly valuable and pretty unique.  I like it because it's rare that entrepreneurs get constructive criticism from their audience of angels. Investors can help entrepreneurs in more ways than just the obvious (writing checks), e.g. making introductions and giving feedback. OAF was successful and valuable to both entrepreneurs and angels alike. I'll definitely be hosting OAF again. If you're an angel or an entrepreneur, mark November 2nd on your calendars.

We heard from these 5 startups. They did a great job.

1) Appitude - social book-reading platform aimed at increasing publisher's sales and making book reading more social.

2) Deal Springer - Twitter for Deals, enabling anyone to promote deals instantly.

3) GreenLine Legal - could-based software to summarize, compare, and analyze legal agreement

4) iSheet Music - sheet music store for iPhone/iPad.

5) Venpop - providing technology to retailers to merchandise products in social networks.

Returning from Jamaica ....no problem man

I've been out for about 2 weeks. I went to NYC for TechStars demoday and was blown away and inspired by the good works of my colleagues David Tisch and David Cohen. The event was super! Then I went on a week long cruise in the Carribean. I was fortunate to go with my entire immediate family. All 18 of us. We visited Haiti, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Mexico. Hilights were no communications at all and watching the cousins play together and lowlight was slipping on the wet deck and falling on my back. 

Happy to be back. Re-engaging in all my digital life. Still have Jamaican language ringing in my head. 

Seattle Welcomes Back Open Angel Forum!

Last November I hosted Seattle's first-ever Open Angel Forum in Seattle.  The event was great for invigorating the Seattle startup ecosystem, as evidence by the... 

• Deals - it connected highly active angels to quality investment opportunities
• Community - Bringing Seattle's angel investors together for a night of drinks and networking
• Breakout poker game initiated by the one and only Mr. Jason Calacanis 

And all of this was accomplished at NO cost to the entrepreneur.  With such a great inaugural event, I am excited to announce that OAF is returning to Seattle April 27th at 7pm.  We'll have food and drinks while hearing 5 minute pitches from 6 start up companies.  Register online and take part in the fun: Angels, Presenters, Service Providers

Startups & Whiskey...

It's no secret that we occasionally drink Makers Mark at our office -- we even have a monthly meeting of entrepreneurs called the "whiskey meeting". I've often thought that we are a walking advertisement for Maker's Mark and that I give them way too much word of mouth publicity for free. At the Whiskey meetings, the TechStars teams and I even joked that we should make a user generated commercial in the hopes of getting some sponsorship from Maker's Mark. Well that dream might become reality! Kayla Roark, my partner in crime at TechStars, just got a call from the diplomat for Maker's Mark in Seattle. She reached out to them proposing some fun ideas for collaboration and marketing -- and they're open to talking. I can already see the speak "easy" downstairs stocked with quality bourbons and whiskeys for all the tech entrepreneurs in Seattle. Alright maybe I'm getting ahead of myself....but you never know... Startups + whiskey...this could lead to some interesting things....stay tuned!