ceonyc

Sixteen years ago, I wrote that, “Business plan competitions are the air guitar championships of the startup world.”

I meant that you can mimic all the movements of a startup without any of the real risk-taking or building. My criticism then was that we were teaching students to pitch without teaching them to build.

Fifteen years later, that gap matters even more. In a world where AI can help anyone ship a working product in a weekend, and where entry-level jobs are disappearing, the ability to actually build something—even something small—isn't just a nice skill to have.

It might be the whole ballgame—and I’m curious how many universities are thinking this way about their entrepreneurship programs.

Separately, why there isn't a tool used by the mortgage broker to facilitate this, I have no idea. It's a nightmare of documents and tasks that makes the whole process 8 times as long.

Tweak based on feedback is exactly right!

Only problem is that VCs normally don't give any!

They actually weren't "grading" per say. They were answering questions like "Have you seen anything else like this?" and rating teams with multiple choice answers like "This is one of the best teams I've seen." So, they kind of know how a company did, but it's not like they were looking at their own scores at the end.

So psyched for Daniela and Jorge--this is the product they had in mind when they first started the company.

It's so dangerous to look at the exceptions to the rule and extrapolate out strategy. How much money did they raise before revenue? Is it a good strategy to start a business by saying "Step 1, raise $100mm in VC money." That's not realistic for most people, so probably not a good strategy to apply to your business.

Part of the problem is that pitching VCs and investors is a well documented process these days. It feels easier. Plus, you're selling a dream/spin/hope/promise... and that you believe in. Taking money for a product means you believe the product is worth it--and often times entrepreneurs see how bad the product might be in the early stages, and feel hesitant to ask for money for it. They might just assume it's at a state where no one one would actually pay. Also, asking for revenue and getting a no means it's just not working--and that's scarier than asking for investor money, getting a no, and just assuming that guy just "didn't get it".

haha... not the first time I've heard it and it never ceases to be hilarious.

"If you're a nobody, no investor wants to talk to you."

Well, sure if you go in with the pitch that you are, in fact, a nobody, then I'd certainly be less interested. Who wants to talk to someone who isn't confident that what they're doing with their time is awesome? Tell me why you're awesome... and if you're in and around NYC, I'd be happy to make some time.

I did get to meet a lot of entrepreneurs there... but I knew her, so I said hello.

I let the entrepreneur finish b/c I didn't want to interrupt and it was only two min anyway.

First Round Capital (my employer) Floodgate Techstars

Best way to find out the value of each is to talk to people who have worked directly with each.

Because people have no sense of humor? Beats the hell out of me, and I wrote it. They're debating it on the comments of the post itself, too. I thought it was pretty obviously tongue-in-cheek, but maybe I should have suggested that Markus was secretly an alien or something.

It's a joke... You know, like... haha... funny. That kind of a thing.

I don't think Powerset got acquired because of their TC50 appearance. :)

You tell me:

http://www.techcrunch50.com/2007/

How many of those companies do you recognize after a year...

+1

Actually, I used to work for a VC firm (and I wrote the article), so trust me, I more than "vaguely understand" how companies get funding, and they're not through these events. The companies that get funded would have gotten funding anyway and no one with a great product ever lacked for funding just because they couldn't get in front of a VC. We never went to these types of events looking for things to invest in.

BTW... If your bottom line income (i.e. NY local taxes) is what you optimize for, you're probably not going to want to work for a startup anyway. Try a bank. I hear they have some nice cubes there.

"There are some (very social) services that require "critical mass" to be engaging."

The best apps are BETTER with critical mass, but work on their own. del.icio.us works just fine if you're the only user.