So, What's a "Pain Point in the Market"?

This is part of my ongoing series on Entrepreneurial Culture.

So what's this mythical pain point every startup needs to have that everyone's always referring to? The easy answer, (to quote Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart), is "you know it when you see it". Perhaps, but I think this concept might best be illustrated by the following short case-study of a company I backed called Updater. 

Let's begin with a few questions for you. Have you moved recently? What was that experience like? Take a few seconds to reflect on it. Are you frowning yet? I certainly am. Last year my family moved and, even though it was literally from one apartment to another *in the same building*, it was still massively disruptive and stressful- and I still haven't updated all the services, friends and companies in our lives with our correct new address. To compound this, whenever the regular mailman is away, most of our mail still goes to our old place. The previous tenant probably has thrown out more of our mail than he's handed over to the doorman. I know for certain he tossed my car registration- I have a few tickets to show for it. Painful indeed.

So let's take a very quick snapshot of the "moving" landscape:

- 40+ million people in the US move every year and have a change of address event - The average person moves ~12X in their lifetime - Moving is the third most stressful event in a person’s life, trumped only by death and divorce (according to a Employee Relocation Council survey)

I've moved many times in my life (as I am sure you have)- and everytime was a huge pain for multiple reasons. That's why when I first met the folks at Updater I already understood the profundity of the "pain in the market" deeply. I was delighted thus to learn that they could help with all of the following pain points:

• No need to wait in line at Post Office to get your mail forwarded to your new address (avg wait time in NY's POs are 2-3X that of all other POs in the US). 

• Forwarding mail does not mean the senders know you actually moved! This is a massive problem. How many dozens of hours would it take to update everyone and every company in your "network"? Updater provides an easy, online way to send updates of your new address to all your accounts and subscriptions such as:
  • magazines & newspapers
  • banks & credit cards
  • schools
  • catalogs
  • loyalty programs
  • charities & public service
  • professional organizations
  • political organizations
  • social organizations

• They also allow you to easily create a very cool interactive map of your move to notify friends and family via social-sharing and email. 

• Updater gets me access to tons of exclusive deals I can save money on. The average professional household move costs $12,230 (Worldwide ERC report)

Updater is just one example of a team that identified a huge pain in the market and is now delivering huge value to their customers. If you're testing the viability of a potential business, the best way to do this is to identify the customers in the market ahead of time(!) and talk to tons of them using a rigorous customer development approach. Keep in mind that you might have multi-sided markets- in other words there might be tons of businesses who you could partner with that help you acquire customers. You need to talk to them as well and continually refine your value proposition. 

My main point is this: if you're going to "go-for-it" as an entrepreneur, why not try to solve a huge, painful problem? So many folks are carelessly launching me-too businesses that are commoditized and "nice-t0-haves". Why not put in some heavy-duty customer development effort and emerge with a product that's a "must-have"?

Startup Genome Launches Global Mission

Our Startup Genome project got some excellent coverage recently in the Silicon Prarie News. I've appended the text below. It captures what we're trying to accomplish for entrepreneurs and others in the startup ecosystem worldwide.

We've got a burgeoning group of remarkable city and state curators all around the world and we're honored to have Brad Feld of Foundry Group and Startup Revolution join us recently as curator of Colorado. Exciting stuff for sure and more to come soon with new releases.

Feel free to check out Startup Genome to learn more about our mission.

Startup Genome takes local approach categorizing, visualizing ecosystems

OMAHA AUGUST 22, 2012 by SARAH BINDER

Dave Lerner created maps of the startup ecosystems of New York City (partially shown above, click for full) and Boston. Inspired, Shane Reiser reached out. Today, the two are working to take Startup Genome global. 

Ever wished you had a directory of all the startups in your city? All the investors who were interested in technology? Or just the right person to join your team?

Startup Genome, an effort by Shane Reiser of Omaha (far left) and Dave Lerner of New York (near left), aims to put all that information on a map, for every startup hub in the world.

Of course, this isn't a new idea. Startup enthusiasts around the globe have data tucked away in spreadsheets or mapped out on whiteboards. The best-known tools for organizing that sort of information include CrunchBase and AngelList.

Reiser, who also works full time with Kohort, noticed while traveling to different cities organizing Startup Weekend events that homegrown directories weren't easy to share, weren't interconnected, usually weren't up to date and were almost never very visual or interactive.

When he saw that Lerner, an entrepreneur, investor and professor, was making maps of New York City andBoston, Reiser reached out.

The goal, Reiser said: "One place where entrepreneurs can find everything they're looking for in their local community."

Use of local curation is what sets Startup Genome (which is not to be confused with the unrelated Startup Compass tool, the Startup Genome Compass) apart from other databases. While anyone can add to Startup Genome, a team of local curators will monitor and edit the information for their community. For instance, the organizers of StartupIowa announced on Monday that they will curate the Iowa Startup and Entrepreneur Directory.

Reiser's belief in the need for local curation was reaffirmed as he edited Startup Genome data for Omaha. After importing data from CrunchBase, Reiser ended up deleting nearly 60 percent of it — including fake companies, dead companies, individuals who had moved on and companies and individuals who weren't really related to startups. Reiser said Startup Genome started with a list of nearly 150,000 companies nationwide, but that has since been edited down to about 80,000.

Reiser said it will be just as important to keep the wrong information out as it will to get the right information in. Initially, startups, founders, investors and resources will be featured while consultants and service providers will be stripped away. Reiser said those auxiliary services might be added back later.

While Reiser and Lerner started discussing the project months ago, Startup Genome has only been in development for eight weeks. Reiser said the site is currently a minimum viable product. The basics are there — including profiles for people and companies, the ability to search by location and filter results (left) — but a lot of functionality, including AngelList integration and a publicly-available API, is still in the works.

The Startup Genome team also hopes that adding visualizations can make the data more useful and aesthetically pleasing. The first will be a Google Maps layer. The second will be a mind map, which is a type of graph that shows the relationships between data points. For example, if you selected a company on the mind map, you might see employees on one side, investors and mentors on another, and all the companies those people are connected to beyond that. Once the API is available, users will be able to build their own visualizations, too.

Startup Genome is a bootstrapped side project for Reiser and Lerner. While the mission is global, they're keeping an eye on the local.

"We care a lot about the city-based startup community," Reiser said. "We want the city to really own their Startup Genome page, and do what they want with it."

Lerner explains Startup Genome in the video below. For more information, visit the blog. 

What Not To Do During A Serious Meeting

This is part of my Series on Entrepreneurial Culture

I was in a serious meeting recently. Some heavy-duty decisions were being made. Faces were grave, people were addressing each other in quiet and measured tones. The tension was palpable.

Suddenly, a loud crunching noise broke through the charged atmosphere. At first I had no idea what it was and I turned slightly toward the direction of this noise and to my amazement noted that it was the sound of a person chewing on a piece of celery.

He was oblivious and continued to chew loudly. This was not a lunch meeting, I assure you. Others shifted uncomfortably in their seats and exchanged eye-rolls and yet he persisted until he finished eating the vegetable. The conversation, which had slowed while he chewed, continued from there. 

People let it slide on the surface, but make no mistake- his behavior spoke volumes about his mindset, his character, his commitment and his attitude.

So whether it's checking your iPhone constantly while someone's talking, interrupting people while they're making a point, or chomping on a stick of celery- be cognizant of the impression this might leave on others.

John Walker of Echoing Green on Seed Money for Social Entrepreneurs

We sat down recently with John Walker, (aka "Johnnie Walker Black Label" as I call him), who is the finance director of Echoing Green, a seed-funding foundation that has disseminated $31 million to ambitious social entrepreneurs.

John's an expert in this space and tells us the story of Echoing Green, which was launched in 1987, named after a William Blake poem about creating a better world. In 2002, Echoing Green was recast as a global non-profit by one of its alumni fellows.

Echoing Green has funded the ideas of more than 500 fellows. “We’re looking for people who have the maximum potential to create social change,” says Walker. “It really is about that single individual person.”

If you need subtitles to understand my friend John's great Scottish brogue let me know. 

Enjoy

Will This Platform Change Startup Funding Forever?

We sat down recently with Mike Norman, co-founder of Boston-based WeFunder.

Wefunder’s platform seeks to offer an alternative to the traditional funding rounds a startup normally has to go through by marrying it with the popular crowdfunding techniques found on websites like Kickstarter and IndieGoGo. Wefunder splits from the aforementioned platforms in two key ways: It actually does allow businesses to use the platform, and potential funders are also offered a stake of equity in the company. 

It’s innovative — and was nearly legal at the time of filming. Wefunder became active upon the subsequent passage of the recently congress-approved Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act, which centered on a provision that allows small and medium-sized companies acquire traditional business funding through crowdfunding methods. It could be huge win for Wefunder and the startups interested in using the platform.

Do you believe this is the startup pathway of the future? Let us know in the comments.

Note: This video was produced before the passage of the JOBS Act on March 27.

How a Harvard Dropout Raised $24 Million in a Recession

Since Alexa von Tobel dropped out of Harvard Business School to create LearnVest in late 2009, her personal finance startup has attracted more than 100,000 users and raised $24.5 million in funding.

Von Tobel stopped by Venture Studio to talk about her story, as well as shed light on LearnVest’s latest feature, Career Bootcamp, which teaches users how to negotiate a salary and to how to make sure they’re in the right job. She also spoke about her inspiration for LearnVest, why she dropped out of Harvard in the middle of a recession and what advice she’d give to those who are just starting their own businesses.

The whole interview is on Venture Studio, just click on the photo to check it out.

Venture Studio (27): Sachin Kamdar, CEO Parse.ly

I met with Sachin Kamdar recently, CEO of Parse.ly. In essence the company allows online publishers to optimize their existing content through personalization. Users get to visit their favorite news sites, but with Parse.ly those sites now understand the tastes of their readers and can deliver more relevant content to them. Their products have already driven millions of clickthroughs for their customers and their newest product, Dash, now tracks over 500 million pageviews a month and is growing rapidly. 

Sachin and his co-founder Andrew Montalenti have a great story- and they way they've stuck together through thick and thin, their inventiveness, willingness to adapt to the needs of the market is simply awesome.

My favorite line was: "... get product market fit, gain the domain expertise, be persistent and eventually you get there..."

Enjoy

00:10 What is Parse.ly?

00:23 Their new analytics system: Parse.ly Dash (capturing >300 million page views per month)

00:56 The origins of the company, how the cofounders literally worked nightly to figure out what they should do (while holding down day jobs), and eventually got into DreamIT Ventures accelerator

2:23:  Their funding story (Blumberg Capital, ff Ventures, Scott Becker and other angels)

3:25:  The challenges they encountered prior to receiving funding, ie. doing consulting on the side to help bootstrap the company, etc! What qualities Sachin thinks it takes to succeed

Venture Studio (26): John Frankel, Founding Partner, ff Venture Capital

I recently had the pleasure of visiting with John Frankel, founding partner of ff Venture Capital, at their beautiful new NYC headquarters.

Originally from England and with 21 years at Goldman Sachs under his belt John brings an unconventional background to the table as a venture capitalist. Yet his approach is not what one might expect upon hearing this singular detail.  I learned, for example, that he's been actively investing in early stage startups (such as Quigo (sold to AOL) and Cornerstone onDemand (now CSOD on NASDAQ) for well over a decade before finally deciding to leave GS and starting his own fund full-time. I also learned that he has a unique (and refreshing) sense of the notion of "risk" in the realm of early-stage investing. Lastly, I learned that he's immensely thoughtful about the macro trends and forces at play in and around the tech space- not surprising from a guy who studied philosophy at Oxford.

Anyway- my favorite line was when he said in a tongue & cheek way that during all those years at the bank he was asking himself what he wanted to do "when he grew up". Looking at ff's formidable portfolio and the amount of fun he's having working with great entrepreneurs who want to change the world- it seems that he's found his calling.

Enjoy!

00:05    Coming to VC from  a so-called non-traditional background

01:32     Transitioning from angel investing to full-time venture investing

02:23     John's great and original take on the notion of early-stage investing being "risky"!

03:21     What motivates him as an investor? (Some great stuff here) "A better education than he received at Oxford"... "Working with great entrepreneurs who   want to change the world"

04:19     John's take on where things are going and all the "bubble talk" these days

05:50    "We continue to see an unbelievable number of amazing companies"

06:22     On getting in touch with @ffventure  (warm intros please!)

For the full interview click on the image of John just below: 

Venture Studio (24): Paul Gollash, CEO of Voxy

 

Hope you enjoy my recent interview with Paul Gollash, CEO of Voxy- a language learning company with a uniquely practical, mobile & real-world model. Paul recently closed on a Series A round of $2.8million from Seavest, Countour Ventures and FF Venture Capital- and he's hiring!

00:11   Paul describes what Voxy is

00:29  How does the service work?

00:58  Some examples/use-cases

01:48  Where they are in the fundraising process?

02:45   What are the big challenges for him as an entrepreneur?

03:52   What's next for Voxy? (They are hiring!)

For the full interview click on the image of Paul just below:

Venture Studio (19): Lee Hoffman, CEO of Veri

A few weekends ago I sat down with Lee Hoffman, CEO of Veri at TechStarsNYC headquarters during a gathering they were having for the outgoing crop of TechStars companies. (That’s what all the noise is in the background). Many thanks to Dave Tisch and his terrific team for setting this all up and accommodating us.

Lee is a very talented guy who is a both a developer and designer and I jokingly like to say that he and Reece Pacheco are part of a burgeoning “Brown University Mafia” that has descended in NYC of late. I not only learned a lot about Lee’s trajectory as an entrepreneur and about his extraordinary vision for Veri but unwittingly he ended up giving us all a master class on entrepreneurship through the telling of various stories of startups he was involved with, mistakes that were made and many of the ups and downs he's encountered.

You'll find the whole interview here at: Venture Studio

Pop Quiz on the Airbnb Debacle

If you missed the whole Airbnb affair- (now referred to as #ransackgate), you should probably consider yourself lucky and should stop reading here. You probably don't rent your house out to perfect strangers too often so this piece of news passed you by somehow. Perhaps you were more focused on how the Syrian government just wiped-out 70+ civilians last night or how a nutjob in Norway savaged a similar number of people in a national tragedy. Maybe you're one of those people that knows there is a famine going on in Somalia even though it's not getting too much press.

Still here? Well- then you probably heard that a meth addict used an alias on Airbnb recently to rent a person named EJ's house while she was travelling and then proceeded to violate, steal, defile, destroy the victim's home. What happened to EJ's home is horrific and criminal. Anyone who's had something stolen from them has some sense of the outrage and sense of violation and pain that comes with this territory. The alleged offender is apparently in custody now and will hopefully be tried. If she is indeed found guilty- I hope she'll be convicted and jailed to the full extent of the law.

But we haven't heard much about this "alleged" low-life. Media coverage of the crime has instead focused either on Airbnb's alleged complicity in EJ's misfortune and/or their poor handling of the P/R aspects. The alleged felon who committed this odious crime is hardly mentioned. This is not surprising. Airbnb's success and billion dollar valuation make it a perfect target for this sort of criticism. 

Could and should the founders have handled the P/R aspects a lot better? Definitely! But who are we kidding- did they really have a chance?  The headlines here are simply tailor-made for generating eyeballs. I am not making these up:

Airbnb Pillage Victim Says Company Tried to Keep Her Quiet

A Billion Dollars Isn't Cool. You Know What's Cool? Basic Human Decency

The Airbnb Horror Story Continues

You read these headlines and it sounds like Airbnb is some kind of rich serial murderer on the loose- pillaging and laying waste to scores of innocent and kindly citizens in its path.

Much like the Craigslist imbroglio of past years, this entire Airbnb affair has again brought to the fore questions about where a company's responsibility (legal and ethical) to its customers' safety begins and ends. Rather than presenting a long opinion on the matter I've instead decided to ask some admittedly facetious questions. For the sake of brevity I've made them multiple choice.

When a car-maker manufactures a car what scenarios do they need to anticipate? For example, is it morally or ethically obligated to protect its customers against:

a) car-jacking attacks

b) hitch-hiking meth addicts that drivers pickup on the road and invite into their car 

c) damage caused by strangers to whom drivers lend or rent their car to for free or for a fee

d) none of the above (muttered under one's breath)

Should the car-maker be obligated to place disclaimers on the driving wheel of the car warning people that inviting strangers into their car out of the goodness of their hearts or for a fee comes w/certain risks?

a) yes- people are not intelligent enough to know this and need to be treated like children

b) yes- car-makers are greedy and want to save money. They should be monitoring all their drivers via video cameras and be able to intervene via installed speakerphones when their customers are making dubious choices

c) yes- we need to legislate this. I am calling my congressman

d) none of the above (accompanied by possible expletive)

Oh wait, carmakers are brick and mortar businesses. They don't count. What about if someone uses a fake LinkedIn Profile on the internet and invites me to become a connection with them because we share two business groups in common? Then that person wants to have coffee and they seem cool and I let them stay at my house while I am vacationing and they trash my house. Shouldn't LinkedIn vet these people? Wait- what if instead of trashing my house that person partners with me in a new business and then steals all the cash I put in the business bank account?

a) yes, LinkedIn sucks! They are too greedy and don't bother to vet people on their network.

b) yes, LinkedIn should actually pay for the damage to my house. Their business model doesn't really protect me enough. I thought this person was legit! I'm calling my lawyer. 

c) this is an outrage- the LinkedIn founders don't care about their customers. They've gone IPO and cashed out. I'm calling my congressman.

d) you know it by now :)

For Part 32 in in this Series, click here

Venture Studio (18): Mike Brown, Jr., Partner & Founder AOL Ventures

Recently I sat down with the terrific Mike Brown, Jr., one of the Founders and a Partner at AOL Ventures, the VC arm of AOL which focuses on Seed and Series A non-strategic investing in tech-oriented consumer internet companies.

Mike comes to AOL Ventures from the Virgin Group's investment arm and talked with us about the history, vision and approach of the AOL fund- which you'll learn is definitely not your typical corporate venture arm. He recently moved the operation to the venerable Brooks Brothers building on Broadway and Bond in NOHO and absolutely did wonders with the space- check the video below for footage. In 1874 the New York Times effused as follows concerning the place: “Externally it is an ornament to the street, and its internal arrangements are of the most perfect kind.” I can state unequivocally that this description still fits the bill and that all AOL Ventures portfolio companies headquartered or being incubated there are enjoying one of the best workspaces I've encountered in NYC.

Learn about how AOL Ventures' approaches investing in the very early-stage sector of a startup's lifecycle in our conversation below:

You'll find the whole interview here at: Venture Studio

 

Venture Studio (17): Kevin Prentiss, CEO RedRover

I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Kevin Prentiss, CEO of Red Rover, at Tech Stars NYC headquarters. Here’s another entrepreneur who “put it all on red” at one critical point in his company’s lifecycle. He’s got a great story- is on his fourth startup, and is an alumnus of TechStars NYC’s inaugural crop of companies. He also has the great distinction of being the only person I’ve spoken to who consciously teed-up his fourth startup by launching his third. That’s some high-level chess. Intrigued? I was too… Enjoy.

You'll find the full interview here at Venture Studio

Venture Studio (13): Jeff Clavier, Founder SoftTech VC (or, "A Well-Tempered Clavier")

This is Episode (13) of Venture Studio

I sat down recently to speak with with angel investor turned MicroVC, Jeff Clavier, @jeff, founder of SoftTechVC I, II & III on a recent visit of his to NYC. (My thanks to the great people at Polaris Ventures' DogPatch Labs down in Greenwhich Village for hosting our talk.)

Jeff is a fascinating guy who saw a special opportunity in 2004 to invest in capital-efficient Web 2.0-type companies and got into angel investing in a big way, investing his own money in 20+ companies. He turned out to be enormously gifted at it. Hearkening back to my recent Series on Angel Investing, he most certainly skipped the "Mug" phase that Mark Suster and I have joked about. 

He then had the opportunity to raise a small fund and thus became what the press like to call a "Super-Angel"- but what really is more aptly-named, a MicroVC. After 65 investments in this Fund (SoftTech VC II), he has now launched SoftTechVC III, (aka "the real-deal"as he jokingly called it) which will still be a "small" fund, but certainly considerably larger than II.

It was great to hear Jeff's perspective on early-stage investing, the market segments that interest him these days and how he has evolved over the years as an investor. Enjoy.

:26  -  A little background on @jeff & how he first got into angel investing

1:19 -  Raising his first micro-fund in 2004, which was $15M in size

1:43 - The pioneers in the MicroVC space, including Josh Kopelman

2:23 - On making 65 investments in SoftTechVC II w/10 exits already(!)

3:05 - Launching SoftTechVC III & venture partner Charles Hudson

4:14 - What types of companies/sectors will III be investing in? (See Matrix)  Listen carefully here about Jeff's approach to various sectors

6:02 - After 99 investments & reaching this level- what changes in your approach?

7:21 - Epic Line: "In our business there's no pride- we basically do whatever it takes to help our companies"

7:31 - Jeff's perspective on acquisitions (of which he's had 17!) and how he works w/his portfolio company entrepreneurs in this regard

9:01 -  Has he noticed network effects amongst his portfolio companies?

9:55 - Jeff invests in a bunch of NYC companies- what are his thoughts on NYC?

11:11 - What are the biggest challenges for him?

12:47 - What's an average day like for Jeff?

SOFTTECH VC III (so far)

                  

               

Venture Studio (10): Ben Lerer, CEO of Thrillist

This is Episode (10) of Venture Studio

Welcome to this week's conversation with Ben Lerer, CEO of Thrillist, which he started five years ago in NYC as a daily email/city guide chock full of product and experiential recommendations for a very underserved market- urban-dwelling guys.  Since then, Ben and his team have scaled the company to over three million subcribers, 90+ employees and into approximately 20 cities around the country. They have also just made their first acquisition: JackThreads and have launched a Rewards program.

I would say that "evolution" was definitely one of the major themes of our talk. Ben talks not only about the evolution of his business but also of his own from a "do everything kind of entrepreneur" to a guy who now oversees a large and growing business with talented people in important roles. It's a transition that any startup entrepreneur should aspire to make one day.

We also discuss Lerer Ventures, (the seed investment fund he and his father operate). Here too we talk about his evolution as a seed investor.  Enjoy.

:20  -  What is the story of Thrillist and how it got started?

2:10 -  On getting funded by AOL veteran Bob Pittman of the Pilot Group

3:34 -  What's an average day like for Ben lately?

4:04 - "Thrillist is definitely hiring!"

4:35 - How has Ben's role at Thrillist evolved as the company has scaled?

5:13 - What's with the Bowie Knife? (ok, ok, it's plastic....) 

8:19 - Biggest lessons learned... (it's that focus thing again!)

10:04 - All about the JackThreads acquisition

11:40 -  Lerer Ventures & their evolution as seed-stage investors

14:24 - What are they looking for in terms of entrepreneurs they back?

15:02 - What is the Rewards Program and what's next for Thrillist?

Click Here for Venture Studio (11) w/ Jonathan Glick from Sulia

                  

               

Venture Studio (5): Vinicius Vacanti, CEO of Yipit (Part II)

This is Episode (5) of Venture Studio

Welcome to Part II of this in-depth conversation with the extraordinary Vinny Vacanti, CEO of Yipit. 

In this second part of the conversation we cover topics such as the importance of engaging your fellow entrepreneurs in the tech community, his take on the right way engage with investors, the importance of getting real, honest and at times brutal feedback about your business, and Vinny's description of his team, his business model and what's coming next for Yipit.

Below is a short table of contents (with corresponding minutes) of Part II of our conversation.

:oo         What are the founders doing to engage the NYV tech community?

:54         Who the people are that really end up helping you. 

1:51        The mindset required to be a successful tech entrepreneur 

3:15       How to think about getting to know investors

4:19       Investors as part of the community & "investing in the curve" (!)

6:05      "The most brutal feedback we got.... was the most helpful..."

6:45      "It was like getting punched in the face"

7:05       Their meeting with Eric Paley of Founders Collective

9:05      "Traction is King"... Getting Funded

10:43    "I taught myself all the back-end development, but I am not CTO"

11:27      The Team

12:32     The Business Model

15:06     What is Next for Yipit?

16:50     Vinny's awesome blog:  www.vacanti.me

Click Here: For Episode 6 of Venture Studio w/Trevor Owens

                  

               

Venture Studio (4): Vinicius Vacanti, CEO of Yipit (Part 1)

This is Episode (4) of Venture Studio

Welcome to Part I of this in-depth conversation with the extraordinary Vinny Vacanti, CEO of Yipit. 

Vinny treats us to an immensely insighful and transparent account of his ongoing entrepreneurial odyssey. We cover topics such as his decision to abandon the primrose path of a thriving career in finance,  his sudden leap into the world of startups and the challenges of launching a tech company as a first-time entrepreneur. His insights and learnings, including the account of the fateful decision he and his co-founder made to actually learn how to code themselves are a literal treasure trove for any entrepreneur. 

Below is a short table of contents (with corresponding minutes) of Part I of our conversation.

:20        Harvard freshman in '99, the tech bubble, investment banking

2:20     The "kernel of entrepreneurship" could not be ignored

3:15      Post bubble epiphany at a conference: "That's who I want to be"

4:12     Early Days of Yipit, Summer '07, "no idea what we were doing"

5:22     No safety net, no more primrose path: big realizations!

6:47     The leap of faith: Learning how to Code....

8:00     The reaction of his colleagues/family

9:30     Building the early prototpes of Yipit

11:23     The equivalent of steroids for an entrepreneur

11:50    Becoming a deal-aggregator in NY; Groupon launhces

13:57   The Lightbulb Moment: "just aggregating daily deals!"

15:04   The Big Pivot: Building this version in 3 days... first-to-market

16:30    Finance/Corporate World vs. Startup World: different mentality required

Part II of our conversation with Vinny

                  

               

Venture Studio (3): Mark Loranger of Square 1 Bank

This is Episode (3) of Venture Studio

Get to know Mark Loranger, who runs the Square Roots Program @ Square 1 Bank. Square Roots is completely dedicated to serving the banking needs of promising startups so if you are a tech entrepreneur you'll learn all about what services Mark's program provides for their clients.

In this conversation we explore such topics as:

:43       What the heck is a venture bank?

2:25     What is the Square Roots Program?

3:40     What services do they provide for their clients? 

4:35     What types of companies they work with

6:03     What is their portfolio like?

7:10      Costs, etc... why it's pretty much free, etc.

8:42     Discussion of Startup Genome Project

10:20   Trends Square 1 is seeing in Angel/VC investing

11:40   Convergence of Seed Rounds and Series A in 2010

13:40   How this convergence resembles pro-wrestling!? :)

16:09   Bubble(s) Forming? What's happening in 2011?

16:27    Ron Conway/Yuri Milner/Y combinator           

Click For Venture Studio (4) w/ Vinny Vacanti, CEO of Yipit

                  

               

Angel Profiling (4): The Wild and Wooly (and Expanding) Angel Universe

 This is part of my Series on Angel Investing.

In the first post of this mini-series I pointed out that the landscape of angel investing is quite sprawling and diverse with many constituents. In fact, many are calling 2010 the "Year of the Angel", although this is often uttered ironically by those who believe we are witnessing (and participating in) a seed-stage bubble these days with requisite inflated valuations. During my recent interview with him, Mark Suster made the classic remark that "everyone is an angel today" and it's true. The Venture Hacks Angel List seems to be adding new angel investors by the hour!

So bubble or not, as promised, below is an infographic that illustrates this rapidly expanding and overlapping angel universe in a tongue-and-cheek manner. The entire wild and wooly cast of characters are represented below including the aforementioned "Susterian Mugs", the ubiquitous Friends and Family investors, the two varieties of Maniacs, the Celebs and of course, the so called "Pro-leaguers" or nearly extinct "SuperAngels" (most of whom are now running their own micro-funds).

The full dramatis personae are as follows:

Friends and Family supporting "our own": The largest contingent of all pumping $60B/year into startups

"Mugs" who don't know what the heck they are getting into and don't realize it (me circa 2001)! 

Maniacs Tilting at Windmills who don't know what they're doing, realize it, and don't care

Maniacal Wisemen Tilting at Windmills Although these guys are maniacs, there is a method to their madness. They are trying to fund companies that will make a massive and positive difference in the world and solve important problems and carry their checkbooks with them. Paige Craig is one such dude.

"Weekend Warriors" of varying skills and motivations, (this includes participants in Angel Groups)

Entrepreneurs Giving Back and supporting the younger generation

Celeb Angels Ashton Kutcher, Will.i.am, etc.

VC Angels VC's who do some angel investing on the side

Professional Angels (the pro-leaguers or "super-angels" who more and more are becoming micro-VC's)

What I call "Dark Angels" These characters are not often seen in the light of day. They are elusive, shun the spotlight, and yet appear somehow through various corporate vehicles on the cap tables of many of the top-tier funded companies out there. The further I've descended into the rabbit hole of angel investing the more I run into these figures. It's amazing really as the few I've met are serious bad-asses with deep domain expertise that just like to keep a low profile for whatever reason. The last "dark angel" I met showed up at an evening meeting the CEO had arranged a few weeks ago wearing darkly- tinted glasses and hardly said a word. To me this is the most fascinating category of all.

Some Reflections and Best Wishes for the New Year: Here Comes 2011!

As we officially launch the New Year today, a few thoughts occur to me that bear mentioning:

1) I would first like to thank all the readers of this blog for your kind encouragement, support, comments, valuable time and insights shared over the course of this past year. I wish you all the best for 2011 in both your entrepreneurial pursuits and personally. It has been terrific getting to know and learning from so many of you. Here's to another great year!

2) If you want to receive this blog via email in 2011 to make things easier, just click here. I'll also be sending out invites for readers to receive email updates within the next few days.

3) This year I'm looking forward to continuing my work on the following projects and activities:

• For those of you launching new businesses I'll definitely be continuing my Zero to One Series here.
• I'll continue to develop the crowdsourceable entrepreneur/venture maps which are part of what we're calling the Startup Genome Project. The goal of this project is to provide a powerful and rich resource for any entrepreneur in the world who wants to familiarize himself/herself with their entrepreneurial ecosystem and beyond. 
• I'll also be accelerating the Venture Studio Series with video interviews of the various dramatis personae of our incredible American entrepreneurial ecosystem.
• I'm really looking forward to working together with my newly elected colleague on the NY Tech Meetup Board, Evan Korth, to increase connections between our universities and the tech community here in NYC.
• Psyched to keep putting on great entrepreneurship events (and Happy Hours of course!) with the New York Venture Community.
• Working with the burgeoning entrepreneurial community at Columbia University through our ongoing Entrepreneur-Office-Hours, with Columbia Venture Community, and of course spinning-off excellent faculty spinoffs through my work at Columbia Tech Ventures.

4) Lastly, if you're looking for a dose of inspiration as you kick-off your year, see this video below in which Hans Rosling shows how the quality of life of humans worldwide has evolved/transformed and accelerated over the course of the past two centuries.

It occurred to me that Rosling's story is in many ways the story of entrepreneurship and innovation. We have and will continue to change the world for the better. That's certainly something to shoot for as the New Year arrives.