Join me at Open Coffee tomorrow ...and on most Tuesday mornings at Louisa's cafe!

After taking a year off, I've started attending weekly open coffee at Louisa's Cafe again.  I missed the ritual and the pleasure of sharing coffee with other entrepreneurs....

What is open coffee? Every week entrepreneurs and investors meet to chat about their startup experiences, feel free to come discuss your new startup ideas and meet some cool people. We are usually sitting at the big tables in the middle, event starts at 8:30AM and ends at 10AM. I'm there frequently -- but not always.  John Secrest has generously picked up and kept the tradition going so he's there frequently too. 

For more info on the meetup click here.

Hope to see you there!

3 reasons why should you apply to TechStars Seattle

It’s that time of year again! I’m thrilled to announce that we have opened applications for our 4th TechStars program here in Seattle! 2012 was a great success for the entrepreneurs and the entire Seattle community and we’re really excited about making the class of 2013 even better.

3 reasons why should you apply to TechStars Seattle?

1. The Mentor Network is awesome.TechStars introduces you to a group of Seattle’s high-quality mentors, investors, and resources, you will be immediately plugged into a massive network of like-minded people ready to help.

2. You’ll work with a high quality group of other entrepreneurs! You’ll be surrounded by other companies who are sympathetic confidants, and be able to share this experience and learn from one another, plus you’ll have someone to try all those microbrews with.

3.  You'll belong to a lifelong entrepreneur club.You’ll form a collection of alums, mentors and friends that you will have access to for the rest of your personal and professional life. Once you’re in TechStars, you’ll be a member for life.

Still not convinced why you should apply to TechStars Seattle? Click here to read about 4 more reasons why you should apply to TechStars Seattle. This year we’re expecting lots of applications – making competition tough -- so be sure to apply early! (i.e. now)

We’re looking for smart, cohesive teams that can iterate quickly and execute.  If you are one of these people then join forces with TechStars Seattle and see what three months of top-notch mentorship could mean to your startup.

Apply now!

Early application deadline is May 3rd and final deadline is May 31st. TechStars Seattle 2013 applications are now open!

Microsoft Accelerator kicked off yesterday!

The Microsoft Accelerator for Azure kicked off yesterday! I had my first round of office hours with the founders and I have to say this is a super solid class, really excited for the next 3 months. If you haven't checked out the teams take a look at them here.  I thought I'd enclose a picture of our office for all of you who want to SEE what's going on :-) 

Top 4 mistakes when blogging

This is really a personal list of my top mistakes.  And unfortunately, it's all too easy of a post to write! My mistakes in order of importance are:

1. Uninteresting titles - Hands down this is one of my more common and big mistakes.  Over and over again I learn the lesson that readers are attracted to content based upon the title first and the content second. 
2. Spelling fubar -- I frequiently (intentional error there) write my posts quickly and will not give them the appropriate review before pushing publish. This makes my blogs and me seem unprofessional and messy. 
3. Infrequent consistency -- I've gone in cycles of being prolific and being radio silent. Better to write fewer consistent posts so your readers know what to count on you then to be erratic.  That said, I've given myself permission to write whenever I want and on whatever topic I want -- this has helped my enjoyment of blogging. 
4. Unfocused posts -- I'll sometimes write posts and try to make too many points at once and end up making no point.  

How to take advantage of TechStars?

I met with a Seattle native who has recently been accepted to TechStars NY. He was asking what he should do to take advantage of the experience. This particular entrepreneur was very clear about his product direction. 

I told him the value of Techstars is in the relationships and feedback you receive very quickly that previously was not available to you. With this in mind, I told him he should do the following:

• Get a list of mentors and investors in NYC and put them in 3 buckets. 1. I have to meet them 2. Would be Nice to meet them 3. I don't think I need to meet them.  
• Write down your objectives for your 90 days at TechStars. Ask for feedback on the objectives.
• Start adding mentors to your weekly company updates.  Be religious about sending these out and put time into them. 
• Be organized.  Do what you're going to do in terms of follow up.
• Develop 1 or 2 relationships with alumni from that program. They can help guide you through the mentor and investors in the area.   
• Spend time on LinkedIn preparing for meetings with mentors and investors. There's lots of info out there and so few people actually do any homework. 

Oh, and this is a post about TechStars. Seattle applications are open. Apply here

What to do when your first entrepreneurial venture fails or goes sideways?

I recently had coffee with an entrepreneur whose first company did not succeed. He was a bit down in the dumps...understandably.  My advice to him was as follows:

• Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.  And do it relatively quickly. 
• Decide what you're going to do. 
• If you need a job, determine that fact and start looking.  If you want to try another startup, you're probalby more likely to succeed. Step up and start taking the steps to building a company. 
• Navel gazing does not move you forward. 
• Depression does not move you forwad. 
• Be sure to exercise regularly .
• Get a consulting gig : it buys you time, pays you and gives you current market knowledge (of some market).  

Who knew that ping pong balls were the best schwag?

I've long been interested in schwag.  Below are three photos of schwag from a recent event I went to.  Uniqueness and food are the winners when it comes to schwag.  I'd choose the ping pong balls but you got hand it to Liquid Planner candy bar folks (below)

I forget whose t-shirts these are....and you can't read the name so I'm not sure how useful they are as schwag. 

White Pages in Seattle produced this ingenous schwag and associated it with the company ping pong tournement (a good recruiting tool). 

Liquid Planner used the tried and true M&M and pen combo. Not very creative but effective!

Code.org message of growing more engineers is #1 on you tube!!

The work that Hadi and Ali are doing at Code.org is amazing. The wrote to me today and said" It’s been an exhilarating ride since Code.org launched two weeks ago:

• Our video reached #1 on YouTube!
• 12mm views on YouTube (and countless more on Facebook)
• We reached 500,000 teachers to play our short film in class
• 560,000 petitions signed

Amazing!  I've been particularly interested in what Code.org is doing because Code Fellows is working on the same meme and market, i.e. teaching people to program and code languages of all kinds like Ruby on Rails, IOS, Python. Moreover, I've become friendly with the Hadi Partovi over the last few years and want to support his work.   

This Pepsi ad video of Jeff Gordon duping a car salesman had me in hysterics this morning! Totally worth watching http://bit.ly/Wldx4a

These cute cars2go have invaded South Lake Union

You can't walk anywhere in the neighborhood without seeing one of these cars2go.  They started appearing about 90 days ago and now they're on almost every block.  I'm told that the company is funded by Mercedes and that users can rent the car for $0.38 per  minute (or slightly less if you rent by the 15 minutes or the hour).  You operate the car with a member card.  Great for simple commuting.   Makes me want to try it!  Awesome example of technology enabled innovation plus major cuteness. 

Come to Seattle Tech Meetup on March 19!

We are very excited about being a community sponsor of Seattle Tech Meetup!  The mission of Seattle Tech Meetup is to be a monthly event for Seattle that will be known as the key event to attend to have fun and connect into our big and small Seattle tech and entrepreneurial communities.  It's a tight 1 hour event with 5 short interesting tech demo presentations of something the audience can add value to, and networking before and after the event.

The next event is March 19th and we would love to see you there.  REGISTER NOW, before tickets sell out.

Code Fellows first Ruby on Rails boot camp off to a great start!

It was a great first day at Code Fellows yesterday.  I managed to sit in on the kick off orientation in the morning. The energy in the room was high and i thought the instructors did a great job.  I'm really excited to see how this company evolves over the next few months. There's lots to be done!  I've been describing the company in the following way.... codefellows is bootcamp for engineers.  The comapny is a combination of hands on programming instruction, mentoring, community and networking to cool jobs.   

What are the top 3 goals for a CEO of a startup?

I've been having having breakfast with Aaron Bird, CEO of Bizible pretty regularly since TechStars.  His company raised 1.7MM in capital in November 2012.  The company has historically been focused on he calls, "closed loop marketing" for the SMB marketplace.  Closed loop marketing connects leads from different sources of marketing to sales so you have much more effective marketing spend than you would otherwise.  At breakfast today, he stated that his goal was to get cash flow break even on the money he raised.  I think it's possible that Aaron and team might be able to achieve this goal. However, after listening to him for a while, I suggested to him that his focus as founding CEO should not be on getting to break even -- rather he should focus on the following in this order:

1. Nailing product market fit in a big fast moving market  
2. Nailing the unit economics of his business 
3. Getting to cash flow break even

It's important to note that these goals are not mutually exclusive. Rather, solving one often leads to the second and third. But, ranking these priorities in this way has the founding CEO focused on the thing that requires the most psychic attention and testing. 

Why you should care about Apple becoming the largest manufacturer of cameras?

Did you know -- Apple has single handedly become the largest manufacturer of cameras in the world.  The camera in the iPhone and the iPad is (more than) sufficient for most consumer uses of camera and video.    Apple didn't set out to dominate and transform the camera market.

I'd argue Apple's dominance in the camera market is a direct result of the introduction of the iPod in 2001.  There was no camera on the device.  In my opinion, it was the introduction of the iPod in 2001 that led to the rapid adoption of the iPod as a music platform in the minds of consumers, that provided the product and consumer adoption foundation for the introduction of the iPhone in June 29, 2007 and the subsequent introduction of the iPad on April 3, 2010.  

Canon and Minolta are the reasons why you should care about innovation at your company. The evolution of Apple's camera dominance makes me wonder what the executives at Canon and Minolta thought about when they first saw the iPod. Did they think that this music device would lead to the elimination of their business' revenue?  And what did they think about when they saw their first iPhone? And what do they think about their situation now?  I'm sure both camera  companies had smart and competent managers that just didn't see, couldn't believe that they were under such a serious threat by Apple.  And even if they did see the threat, what could they have done? 

These are awesome questions that if I had time, I'd want to go and interview the management and board of directors of each company.  I think this kind of market evolution will increasingly happen in the next decade or two as technology companies like Apple disrupt traditional markets.  And moreover, I think the rate of speed of the transformation of markets makes it more imperative for companies like Canon and Minolta to prioritize the search for innovation.

When one thinks about the implications of this market dominance from a business strategy perspective they are profound. 

Another rough week at the office

My 1 year anniversary of cancer diagnosis...and I'm cancer free

I just read about Rob Glazer's father passing away on Facebook.  In his Facebook post, he posted a link to this article about the top 5 regrets of the dieing. I think I've posted the link before -- I love the article and since having cancer am trying to live my remaining time by avoiding these simple regrets. I'm in a perfect spot to be celebrating my anniversary.  The sun is out, the sky is blue, I'm taking a few days off and so should you :-)  Pictures to follow. 

You've got issues

I had coffee with a friend.  It's a trueism. We've all got issues.  Best to get a grip on your own before you starting pointing the finger at everyone else. 

As I've grown into my 40's, I am increasingly aware at just how massively flawed a human being I am.  I think I'll have humble pie for breakfast. 

When it's time for an entrepreneur to ....phone an entrepreneur

I received a call on Friday from an entrepreneur I've known for a 7 years.  He's a few years younger than me and has a company backed by venture capitalists.  He's raised approximately 6MM dollars and has been trying to strike lighting -- professionally speaking -- for about 3 years.  He started the call by saying, I've got a situation and thought I'd phone a friend. 

He proceeded to tell me that he had already pivotted the company once about 1 year ago.  He's since come to the conclusion that the path he's put the company on is a losing one. He's torn between two choices:

1. Pivot again -- to something bold and he isn't exactly sure what that is
2. Return capital -- Of the original 6MM raised, he still had 1.5MM

I empathized with his predicament....and his instinct to phone an entrepreneur (friend).

It was approximately 6 years ago that I made a similar call to a entrepreneur friend of mine name Tom Higley.  I remember it vividly. It was a Friday night. I was CEO of Judy's Book at the time. We had pivoted once and had not caught lightning in a bottle.  On that call, Tom asked me what my gut was.  I told him I thought that I should shut the company down and return $0.50 on the dollar to my investors.  By Tuesday of the following week, that's exactly what I did. 

I did two things on the call with my friend.  First, I asked this entrepreneur the same question that Tom asked me.  I asked him what his gut thought he should do. Like most of entrepreneurship, there's no right answer to situations like this.  Second, I told him the story of Judy's Book, what I did and what I learned with the benefit of hindsight.  I told him I was glad I was decisive and acted on my guy but if I had a re-do I wish I had persevered.   I think the fear of failing is worse than actually failing and in the situation with Judy's Book many things happened in the market after we sold the assets that would have totally changed my perspective.  The iphone  and twitter became phenomena providing the market context for Judy's Book and local search to take off.  I could never have known these market externalities in advance. Ahhh....hindsight is 20-20 :-) 

It was a fun call. I don't knwo what my entrepreneurial friend is going to do. I gave him some shared experience that I am sure he'll consider as he weighs his gut and his options.  It's moments like this that make entrepreneurship so exciting and profound of a choice.  There is no right answer and he's a meaningful player in determining a positive or negative outcome.  He's on the field of life and business!  

Hack Things Heitz Things

Well, it's really just a "hack things" meetup sponsored and organized by one of the great entrepreneurs in Seattle and better human beings :-) Joe Heitzeberg.  It's a meetup of Hacker + Startup friends: if you're interested in how connected devices like the Fitbit are actually made, please come here Jon speak at the inaugural "Hack Things" meetup in on Feb 21st in Seattle - http://www.hackthings.com/meetup.   This should be very cool. I wish I could make it...I'll be at the next one. 

Great birthday weekend skiing in Vail, Co

A picture from on top of Vail mountain!