It's been too long since my last post. I've just been swamped with TechStars, RevenueLoan, and Founder's Co-op to come up for air and write a post. I finally have moment this morning. I've used the entire morning to make appointments: dentist, doctor, hair cut....maybe a pedicure too?
Excited to see the light at the end of the TechStars tunnel. DemoDay is next week. I suspect my blog will get more attention then.
Only 10% of tickets remain for TechStars Investor Day on November 11th. In 13 days the inaugural class of TechStars Seattle will unveil their companies and demo products. If you're an interested investor and haven't registered yet, email kayla@techstars.org to rsvp before we sell out. Hope to see you there - it's going to be a great event!
I thought I'd share this from an inbound email inquiring about the possibility of a RevenueLoan:
"We are not interested in dilution at this time, we have no venture and would prefer to keep it that way. Hence, flexible financing against our future subscription payments is very attractive. We have a major product launch (product is entering beta) at the end of this year and this will require additional funding upfront."
On the surface, this sounds like there may be a fit....look forward to talking to this entrepreneur!
As many of you know, I'm busy trying to cultivate the start up scene in Seattle! Thus, my endeavors -- Founder's Co-op, RevenueLoan, and TechStars. I am deeply passionate about helping entrepreneurs and early stage companies get capital to grow!
About a year ago, I became aware of an initiative run by Jason Calacanis called Open Angel Forum (OAF). The program tries to marry high quality angels with high quality angel investment opportunities at NO cost to the entrepreneur. This kind of event resonated with me a lot - I attended OAF in Boulder and thought it was great! I've known Jason since the 90's and I recently agreed to host Open Angel Forum the night before TechStars DemoDay in an effort to attract more angels to the Seattle event.
So it's my pleasure to announce -- two exciting angel events for investment opportunities in Seattle – ever! Hosted back-to-back on purpose, this is going to be a two days of angel and entrepreneur events in Seattle! These events are invite only so follow instructions below!
I) November 10th – Open Angel Forum, 7pm.
Join Jason Calacanis, myself and many other angel investors for the first meeting of the Seattle chapter of the Open Angel Forum! We'll have food and drinks while hearing 5 minute pitches from 6 start up companies. We're planning for plenty of fun and time for networking - even a poker game after! Register online here: Angels, Entrepreneurs, Service Providers.
II) November 11th – TechStars Investor Day, 9am.
Ten exciting new companies from the TechStars class of 2010 in Seattle will give short eight minute presentations highlighting the business and investment opportunity. The style is fun and entertaining, it's a different kind of pitch event that includes amazing opportunities for networking as well. This event is invitation only and registration is required. Please email kayla@techstars.org if you’d like to attend or if you have any questions.
I never have believed press about me in the past...however, I have to share these three articles that came out with mention of me in the last 24 hours:
i) Michael Douglas as me in TechStars: the movie
ii) Andy Sack : man on a mission
iii) TechStars video
Wow. I loved that movie as a teen. Now we're all looking old -- and I have glasses too.
Below is a very smart job posting written by comrade Randall Lucas for RevenueLoan. I'm sharing it with you all so you can of course refer candidates...but more importantly I think it's a great example of how to attract quality candidates to your startup. You have to stand out and be creative from the get go!
Holy ***, you're good!!
You are a smart and aggressive jack-of-many-trades (but Marketing particularly tickles your fancy).
We are a small startup arrogant enough to think we are a threat to the $96.4 TRILLION dollar global banking industry.
(Yes, it's a long-shot. But we're the good guys, and Goliath loses in the end. In the meantime, David needs a posse, and you need a challenge.)
We should talk.
NON-NEGOTIABLE JOB REQUIREMENTS. You:
... must not possess a top-tier MBA.
... never worked at a big company (or hated it if you did).
... got A's in classes you liked, and C'd in ones you didn't even show up for.
... have a Mac laptop.
... speak French, Russian, Esperanto, and Pig Latin.
... hate typos and prefer the Oxford comma.
... are amazing at finding info with Google.
... are amazing at getting info from strangers on the phone.
... could land a 737 if the pilot and co-pilot both order the fish (oops).
... can sweet-talk your way into getting discounts for your employer.
... once took 2nd place in a Karaoke contest.
... can tell when to ignore "requirements" and fake it 'till you make it.
(You're also smart enough to know that most startups are broke. However, we're more handsome and charming than most startups, so we've banked a round of financing from top-tier investors. Don't worry, we can pay you, but reluctantly and not very much, and only as a part-time contractor right now.)
Scared off yet? Wait till you hear about the work environment. You'll work with our team of three in the middle of a basketball-court sized shared space, along with 15 other companies. (And/or from home, if you/we want.) It's noisy and chaotic. But that means you'll be schmoozing, boozing, and/or
flirting with 15 CEOs, including ours, which you think is pretty cool.
You thrive on challenge and ambiguity. Improvise and expedite. Perfect is the enemy of the good. Real artists ship, and all that. We're lovers, not fighters (respect to the fighters). But we gotta give it up for how Eldridge's squadmates answered his questions on dealing with ambiguous
situations:
"well, handle it ... it's your call, buddy."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_8dlK4rLmU#t=8m35s
"be smart, make a good decision."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQv6GJyE8YM#t=3m52s
If you can put up with this much weirdness, then you're probably strange
enough to come be overworked helping us do:
- marketing communications
- Web site content
- Web analytics, keywords, SEO, etc. etc.
- finding and setting up conferences, events, speaking engagements
- beautiful print and Web collateral
Oh my God, I'm already excited for you. You're going to have so much
fun and learn so much. Email quick!
T.A. McCann of Gist fame spoke with the TechStars founders today and shared some solid ideas about building products with the customer in mind. One key takeaway that I felt was especially relevant as the founders dig into the product development phase was:
Your elevator pitch should follow a simple "ad-lib": We focus on ______ (target customer) who need _________ (market need), so we provide _________ (feature set) and we charge them ______ (business model). This standardized elevator pitch actually simplifies some of the challenge that the founders have been facing in explaining their business to mentors. His idea is to adjust the answers to the blanks until the statement feels exciting and feels like it accurately describes what you do. I couldn't agree more and hope the founders take this to heart as they hone their business plans.
Thanks to T.A. for coming by!
You can call it aggressive, cheap, crazy....but you should also call it effective.
I got the following email from Neil Patel ....one of the TechStars in Seattle mentors: As you guys are probably seeing, mentors are spending less time with the companies. It isn't that we don't care, it's that we are just busy. One smart thing that one of your techstar CEO's did with me, Phil, is that he started taking me to the airport and picking me up. Which for me is almost once a week. The reason I think this is smart is that he gets 30 minutes of advice each way (dropping and picking). I save a few bucks by not taking the train and I save time as it takes roughly an hour when you take the train. You guys should encourage your other students to do the same thing as well. I know they will love the advice... I already have Andy Liu on board and I will be connecting him with a few CEOs who would love his advice. When I mentioned this to a few of the TechStar CEOs, they loved the idea. You guys should try to create some sort of board of something in which this process can be streamlined. I bet you that a lot of mentors travel a lot. And that your students want more advice from the mentors.
In the land of startups, bad news happens. And it happens a lot. Hiding from the bad news is not the right answer -- it almost never is. I endorse identifying the bad news....asking the hard questions and sharing. Put the bad news out there with your co-founders, your customers, and your investors. Don't hide from it.
I learned that Bill Lovely Sr. died this past week. Made me sad. I will remember him fondly.
During the summer of my freshman and sophomore year at Brown University, I received an internship from on of my parents friends -- Bill Lovely Sr. He was one of the managers at a brokerage house in Boston, MA named Kidder Peabody. I was into the stock market and wanted to learn more. I don't remember much from the internship other than the commute from S. Easton to Boston in the morning and at the end of the day. Bill was a charming, charismatic Irishman who could bend a tale about the history of Boston, the banking industry, and politics with the best of them. Each morning he drove me to and fro work -- and would talk about life. I was bushy taled and hung on every word. I'll never forget he used to tell me that "you'll lose your liberalism when you lose your baby fat". Hasn't happened yet and my baby fat is long gon -- but I loved the quote. At route, I always felt like Bill Lovely Sr. liked me -- and that meant a lot to me. I'm not sure why he liked me but the approval of an elder man other than my father was important personally and professionally. Thanks Bill. Rest in peace.
Not sure if you saw the news but TechStars is expanding to NYC in January. This means the program will be year round and there are no plans to add more cities. Response in NYC was very strong! You can read about it here or on techcrunch here. Super excited about this!
This morning I was recapping with the TechStars founders about their first 2 weeks and preparing them for what to expect in the next 11 weeks and beyond. One question raised is how to deal with raising funding. In addition to some other advice I offered, I made a strange analogy: A key part of getting financing is managing your reputation: gaining traction and momentum in the technology and venture community is like....becoming the popular kid at school. In high school, I learned (the hard way) that if Jane tells Cindy that Tommy is "hot," it influences Cindy's view of Tommy and after this occurs a few times....guess what.... Tommy becomes the most popular (i.e. hottest) kid in the class. This high school process of "who is the hottest" is pretty similar to what occurs amongst investors with startup companies. In addition to developing a great product that customers want to use, having a business plan, and being able to pitch well etc., it is equally important to generate strong buzz about your company among the venture and technology community. Sometimes an off-handed remark at a cocktail party from one angel to another saying "have you seen what XYZ company has been up to? It looks cool (i.e. hot) to me" is all you need to get your company some traction with investors.
Every now and then you go to a great spot that you know you want to return to....the Sleeping Lady resort outside of Leavenworth, WA is such a spot. It was awesome. It's rare when a place is able to cater to both kids and to adults successfully. But this place managed to do just that. From an adult perspective, the food is great, the accommodations comfortable (cozy even), and the setting romantic. From a kids perspective, there's a pool with a place to jump off rocks into the pool, a hot tub, a game room, a popcorn machine, and wenatchee river nearby to go inner tubing! I can't speak about this place enough -- we're already talking about when to return and with whom. Supposedly in the winter it's a great cross country ski and snow shoeing spot!
I'm sitting in the TechStars first 5 minute pitch practice. As a first start to TechStars presentations, the teams are doing a good job. That said, the teams need to follow the basic rules of business presentations :
i) Rule 1 of presenting: Tell them (the audience) what you're going to tell them
Tell them
Tell them what you told them
ii) Rule 2 of presenting:
Show don't tell - a picture is worth a thousand words
iii) Rule 3 of presenting:
Tell a story about their company that illustrates the problem that ou're solving. Real stories allow audiences to understand and engage.
In the last month or so, I've had the good fortune of witnessing high level employees quit from 2 startup companies. In both cases, the employees were well meaning honest folk who did a poor job of communicating to the management of the start up.
if you find yourself in the position of management at a startup (or for that matter any company) and wanting to quit, I would encourage you to notify the management as soon as possible that you are thinking about leaving the company and some of the life factors that are making you consider leaving.
This early warning step is the one that people screw up most -- and often has the most negative effects on the entire process. It often makes employers feel burned when they don't have fair warning or opportunity to correct bad employment circumstances. Why is this so important? Two reasons: first, because startups need to be able to plan for effective transition and second, managers want to feel like they have an opportunity to communicate or respond to market dynamics with a counter offer. Without adequate warning, managers end up feeling burned and can take defensive or punitive actions in response. These only aggravate bad communication and bad feeling between employee and mangement left at the company.
This photo made the national news -- it was in the New York Times, Seattle Times, SF Gate, and many other newspapers. Kind of a big deal in my house!
At TechStars, we've already had 2 pitch practices. These are exercises where everyone gives the 30 second company pitch and then gets feedback. It's simple -- and yet not many people do it. We do it dozens of times at TechStars! I already witnessed significant improvement amongst the teams in the clarity and confidence of the pitches. If you're an entrepreneur make this a regular practice!
Hi, I'm Andy Sack!
This is my bag o' thoughts about entrepreneur-ship, venture capital, parenthood, and the world in general.
Co-Founder, Managing Partner
Executive Director, Seattle
Chairman