Connecting the dots ...
Now is a Great Time to Join or Found a Startup –says Bob Warfield, friend and fellow Enterprise Irregular. Now what? Who is right? And the debate does not stop here, it sparked a pretty good discussion in the Enterprise Irregulars group. I think both sides are correct. It’s a Great Time and It’s a Terrible Time… read my take on CloudAve.
Too bad I am not. Which is why I don’t qualify for this all expenses paid trip to Boulder:
And the pitch:
Boulder Needs More Kickass Developers
Want a FREE trip to beautiful Boulder, Colorado? The Boulder tech scene is growing like crazy. Twenty of our top tech startups (you can see a few in the sidebar) have banded together to fly in one hundred top software developers, programmers and engineers from across the country, all expenses paid. You can apply to be one of the hundred.
So here we go, getting our daily dose of layoff news, while Boulder startups are in shortage of talent. Good developers are still worth gold … somewhere. (They mine gold in Colorado
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Developers. Not Management, Marketing, Sales – not the MBA’s. And that’s the clue to understanding a lot of the differences between the startup world we have today and during the late 90’s bubble.
Back then startups got VC-funded and part of the deal was bringing in “pro” management teams: the MBA-types and former corporate Executives who flooded the Valley in the hope of IPO-riches. Founders found themselves in VP / Director positions, or got pushed out, if not, they were left wondering how their little baby got to hundreds of employees so fast and just what all these new managers were doing with their company. Then the bubble burst, and the imported Exec’s rushed back to the safety of the corporate world leaving the wreckage behind.
Today most Web 2.0 startups are run by the original Founder, often a developer him/herself. This is now the age of the technologist, not the business manager. The roles are reversed. These CEO’s, Founders, team members won’t jump ship – the ship is theirs, and there’s nowhere to run back anyway. One more reason to be optimistic about their survival.
In the meantime, here’s a preview of what it’s like to work in Colorado, also home of TechStars and Defrag (use discount code zoli1 to get $300 off @Defrag)
(Originally posted @ CloudAve. To stay up-to-date on SaaS, Cloud Computing and Business, grab the CloudAve Feed here)
Lot’s of noise today, RIP Good Times, IT’S OVER! POP GOES THE BUBBLE, Sorry, Startups: Party’s Over etc. I think the panic is overdone.
Sure, a lot of startups will fall – and some of them would have done so without a recession anyway. Times are officially tough, but the truly strong businesses will survive, and some of the Web 2.0 whiz-kid baby-CEOs will come out of this as battle-hardened Entrepreneurs.
Talk about Executives… some can wreck the business on their own, they don’t need a crisis: see Entellium wrecked by fraud.
Finally some startups think they can keep on re-architecting forever – see NetBooks, ViewPath (the latter just came out with a new product though.) Good luck to them… wonder if their market runs away…
These are some of the thoughts I’m discussing on CloudAve today – read more here. Even better, grab the feed here.
Update: Want to get off the “Sky is falling” treadmill? Need inspiration? Find it here.
Even better, get really inspired at Defrag. Use discount code zoli1 to get $300 off.
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Fincancial crisis or not, VC investments did not entirely disappear, it’s just getting increasingly difficult to get funded. But VCs are still on the lookout, and as proof I’ll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting this Thursday, October 2nd in San Francisco.
As usual, it’s an informal round-table where up to 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. We’ve had VC’s from Draper Fisher, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital …etc. This time we’ll welcome Peter Morrissey, Managing Director, Hambrecht Geneva Ventures.
These breakfast meetings are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since I’ve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:
Here’s the event info page, and please remember to register the next three Entrepreneurs get in free, contact me here.
See you in San Francisco!
After all, those greedy Partners who stole this deal from their Limited Partners made a coupla millions each.
What do you mean they didn’t steal it? Oh, their firm, Insight Venture Partners only does late-stage deals and Photobucket did not qualify? Hm.. small detail, who cares? It’s still guaranteed profit, I want in on such deals.
What? Not guaranteed? Are you crazy? Oh, you mean this is what Venture Capital is all about.. you take a risk and invest in a company that could actually be a dud? Oh, boy, now where do I make my safe millions?
And what’s all this fuss about? 
Wall Street Journal, CNET News.com, Silicon Alley Insider, A VC, Valleywag, PE Hub Blog, Technology Live , Startup Chatter, paidcontent.org.
Yes, I like LinkedIN, and am one of the very early users, from the early days before social networks become trendy. Simply because, unlike some of the more fashionable networks, I actually found it useful for business.
But is it worth One Billion Dollars? Apparently it is – if you ask Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Bessemer Ventures, who just invested a whopping $53M with the even more whopping $1B valuation. $53 million is a decent exit for some startups – but LinkedIN has about $100M in annual revenues. Still, I really wonder what kind of stratospheric exit (IPO) valuation the current investors expect.
Or perhaps Kara Swisher is right:
Why go public when you can just pretend?
Exactly. 
Update (6/18): In celebration of entering the Billion-Dollar Club, LinkedIn is down.
Venture capitalists have been pouring money into “clean technology” companies – $2.2 billion in 2007, an increase of 46% over 2006. Why are VCs making so many long-term, capital-intensive bets? Which technologies will be world-changing, and which will be duds?
In living proof that there is life outside the Palo Alto / Menlo Park proximity, SVASE will host a VC Panel on investing in Green Tech tomorrow at the Crow Canyon Country Club, in Danville, CA. (A very green venue for a Green Event).
The panelists are:
Agenda:
6-6:30 pm: Networking and Hors D’oeuvres
6:30-8 pm: Panel discussion and Q/A
For details see the SVASE site, or head straight to registration.
See you there!
I’ve pretty much said everything there is to say about Launch: Silicon Valley 2008, a joint event of SVASE and Garage Technology Ventures.
The presenting startup applications are in, being evaluated, and thirty of them will debut on June 10th @ the Microsoft Mountain View Campus.
There is another important deadline now: Monday is the last day you can register at the Early Bird rate, which represents a $50 discount.
See you there in June! 
This year’s TechCrunch 50 Conference is planned to coincide with DemoFall, the (other) premium startup Launch event.
VentureBeat attempts to (well, sort of) explain it with scheduling, but make no mistake, this is a fairly open move against DemoFall, to establish TechCrunch50 as the premier startup launch event. There’s no question that TechCrunch can pull in just about the entire VC community – in fact given the audience pricing, $2000 early bird, and $3000 regular, it’s hard to believe anyone but VCs can afford to attend. Well, VCs and students, as those with a student ID can get in for $149.
The presenting companies will not be charged – that’s a huge differentiate vs. Demo. As I said before, you almost have to be already funded to be able to afford Demo’s fees. I leave it to you to decide which one is more startup-friendly.
Of course they want a real launch show, so the one hard condition is that your product /service will have to be new (unseen) at the Conference. Several commenters are already complaining that they are launching before September, which automatically disqualifies them.
I have a solution for you “early birds”: come join us at Launch: Silicon Valley 2008 jointly presented by SVASE and Garage Technology Ventures. Five of last year’s 29 presenters received venture funding, in aggregate of $30M. That’s not $140M, but not too shabby, either
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How to participate? If by June 10th, 2008 (the day of the event) you will have a product or service available, but have not been out in the marketplace for more than a few months, then send an Executive Summary of no more than 2 pages to Launchsv@svase.org. Submission deadline: May 9th, 2008. (Garage Technology offers a useful Writing a Compelling Executive Summary guide.) Last year’s 30 (actually, 29) presenting startups were selected from 170 submissions. For details – and attendee registration – check out http://www.launchsiliconvalley.org/.
See you there!
Related posts: bub.blicio.us, Valleywag, Jason Calacanis, SheGeeks, ValleyWag, News.com, Silicon Alley Insider, : WinExtra, CenterNetworks, mathewingram.com/work, BoomTown, The Drama 2.0 Show, Geek Gestalt, /Message
After a long break I’ll be moderating another SVASE VC Breakfast Club meeting next Thursday, April 3rd in San Francisco. As usual, it’s an informal round-table where 10 entrepreneurs get to deliver a pitch, then answer questions and get critiqued by a VC Partner. We’ve had VC’s from Draper Fisher, Kleiner Perkins, Mayfield, Mohr Davidow, Emergence Capital …etc. This time we”ll have the honor of welcoming Ann Winblad, Partner, co-Founder of the first exclusively software-focused venture firm, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.
These breakfast meetings are a valuable opportunity for Entrepreneurs, most of whom would probably have a hard time getting through the door to VC Partners. Since I’ve been through quite a few of these sessions, both as Entrepreneur and Moderator, let me share a few thoughts:
Here’s the event info page, and remember to register – the previous event with Hummer Winblad sold out in advance.
See you in San Francisco!
Publisher / Editor of CloudAve and Enterprise Irregulars.
I do most of my business blogging there, with occasional asides here. More...
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