Suzan Bond

The latest episode of TechStars shows the entrepreneurs at week six of the program. It seems that most of the teams are settling in. This episode was filled with many great sound bite gems. It was the Fred Wilson and David Tisch show in this regard. My favorite is this one…

"They're about 8 weeks away from having to get a job."

I love this quote by David Tisch because it highlights a real problem for most entrepreneurs: having a short runway money-wise. Many, many teams face this dilemma.

Here are a few others…

"Don't make it too complicated." Fred Wilson (about the product)

"He is mind numbingly frustrating." David Tisch (about OnSwipe CEO)

"Do they have the entrepreneurial DNA to create an interesting and innovative company?" Fred Wilson

"I've been disconnected with his ability to relate with me as a person." David Tisch (again, about the OnSwipe CEO)

The Themes of this Episode

1. Name issues continue
This week three of the teams officially change their names. Homefield became Shelby.tv. Urban Apt transformed to Nestio and Socrated metamorphosed into Veri. Generally better names. The name change of the latter actually made Fred Wilson proclaim that this made them go "from the outhouse to the penthouse." Wiji's name, although not loved, sticks. For now.

2. CEO leadership

This theme showed up all over the show. Particularly questions about whether the CEO's had the right skills to be a great leader. The questions range from whether a CEO can sell, if another one has the ability to connect with people and yet whether another one can really build a business. We'll see the answers to this soon and I suspect at least one or more of these CEO's will pull through.

3. Pivots

According to Bloomberg, 1/3 of TechStars companies pivot during the program. With Homefield and To Vie For looking at pivots it seems this class is on target with this. Some of the mentor's concerns with the Homefield pivot to a web-wide video recommendation site was that it's a crowded category and whether they had false passion for the category. To Vie For was also looking to pivot but to what? That still remains up in the air. As the CEO said, they're having an identity crisis. Looking forward to seeing what happens.

Pivots are common but tough to navigate. And sometimes they're something more akin to what I like to call Startup Schizophrenia under the guise of a pivot. Preparing a post about this. In the meanwhile, pivots are looking very possible for a number of our TechStars companies.

We'll see how this all plays out.

Boulder is an outstanding place to live because of it's an entrepreneurial enclave. Being nestled up right against the Rocky Mountains doesn't suck either. Last night was a big one for my fair city with the premier of the TechStars show on Bloomberg TV.

TechStars feels like my family. Even though I'm not a graduate of the program, some of my clients are and I count many friends among their number. But that's not why it feels that way. There's something special about it that not every company has.

TechStars is more than a company.

It's a movement.

It's a community.

I commend David Cohen, Brad Feld, Jared Polis, Nicole Glaros, Andrew Hyde and the many mentors for creating such a strong community where the attitude is welcoming, generous and always fun where they never take themselves too seriously. Although they had turned down opportunities to film the program before, they finally took Bloomberg TV up on the opportunity during the inaugural NYC class this past winter. The result is a 6 week series.

Techstars hosted a fun night of mayhem at the Boulder Theatre to commemorate the premier. I was lucky enough to be able to attend. It was a lively evening of sound bites and on camera drama. Just before the premier we had a chance to see the hilarious short I'm a VC written by Jason Mendelson featuring the Foundry Group. If you haven't seen it before or are like me and never get tired of seeing Seth eat sushi out of a car window, here it is.

This tongue planted firmly in cheek short film is something I could watch over and over again. Um, and actually have.  If you look closely you can catch cameos by some of Boulder's local entrepreneurs. After that it was on to the first episode of TechStars.

Some of my favorite moments:

- "You're not here because of your ideas. We didn't fund your idea. We funded you." David Cohen and "At the core of what we're doing is picking people. We're betting on people." David Tisch. This is such a key element to the TechStars program and to entrepreneurship. It's also one of the things people are most likely to neglect to consider when forming their startup. Which is a bad idea. People first. Then the idea.

- When one of the companies likened David Cohen to The Oracle in The Matrix. My favorite movie of all time and a pretty apt way to describe him from my experience.

- Mentor whiplash. Not the first time I've heard that term but always makes me smile in recognition when I hear it. I'm hoping they talk more about it this season as learning how to be discerning with all the advice you get to discover patterns that emerge and make decisions to move your business forward is critical for entrepreneurs.

- Any moment when David Tisch is onscreen. That man is the king of the sound bite. I had heard that he is bright and very direct in his assessments. I also learned that he's funny. I can't wait to see more of him this season.

After the show premiered David Cohen and Brad Feld held a Q&A session. Their answers were incredibly insightful and of course, funny. Sadly I missed getting one of the funny moments of the night camera. It's right after the clip below. Let's just say the answer involved something about porn and knowing an entrepreneur when you see one. You had to be there.

Anyway, here's the clip which has some great advice for inspiring entrepreneurs who want to apply to the program. Apologies for the shaky camera work and any ensuing nausea. My arms were getting tired from holding up the camera at that point. Watch it for the advice.

Scene: I'm all dudded up and ready for my date. As soon as I walk into the restaurant I immediately whip out my iPhone so I can begin checking in and recording the evening.

- Check–in on FourSquare to get points. Find out I won (or lost) a mayorship.

- Soundtrack my  new song so I can remember to buy it in iTunes.

- Fork my food on Forkly so the app can make recommendations for me later.

- Hash the three people I ran into on Hashable.

- Take photos of the great decor so I can Instagram it.

- Tweet an OH about the funny thing my date or the person at the next table has said.

Of course, then my phone starts to blow up with people on Forkly who "Want" my delicious drink or people who "Like" my photo of the beautiful bathroom or friends who make follow-on jokes about my OH. This is when I hide my iPhone in my back pocket and sneak it the bathroom so I can reply to those friends or write down a funny tidbit for my next blog post, And, of course, hope I don't drop the phone into the toilet.

In between all this digital activity I try to get to know the person next to me. Which I probably don't do very successfully. Unless they're a geek too and are as socially focused as I am. I'm not complaining about all of these digital distractions. I actually enjoy doing these things. I love the social connection, the creativity of the photos and pithy statements to go with them and of course…those points.

While the digital downpour stops about 1/4 of the way through the date,  it doesn't leave as much time for connecting with my date, who wants to get to know me. I'm guessing he probably doesn't appreciate it nearly as much. It probably feels like he's on a date with 30 people. Um. That's not fun. One date actually complained about this out loud. We weren't a match. But that was because he was Mr. Grabby Hands, not because of our difference in technology. But that's whole other story.

Back to this one. I'm sure other dates haven't loved it but were just too gracious to say something. It's no wonder I have a hard time dating anyone but the most understanding geek.

Yep.  Technology. My use of Technology has doomed my dating life.

Frank Denbow's perceptive post on honesty in startupland and how there needs to be more of it got me thinking about honesty in general. About how critical it is but how it can evade the most important of conversations.

How honest are you with…yourself? Your friends? Your co-workers? Your bosses? (be they investors, ourselves as bosses and the more traditional type)

How often do you say the hard thing? The thing you don't want to say that you know might upset the person? Or get you fired? Or put you on the edge of being fired?

How often do you ask the hard questions? You know–the ones with answers that you really may not like. The ones that elicit responses that might be tough for the person you're asking.

Let me step back and define hard questions and honesty. I'm not talking about the kind where the person ends up in fetal position clutching their throat screaming for mama. We've all been told the "hard truth" by someone who says they're just "trying to be honest." When…they're just unleashing their pent-up self hatred or frustration out on you. Honesty isn't going for someone's jugular just because you see it. That's not honesty. It  might look like it but it's not. That's a power trip, needing control, narcissism, insecurity or about 10 other things that might be classified as some sort of etiology.

What the hell is it then?

Honesty is…
From the heart. There's a tinge of kindness to it. It's real. It aims to serve, not punish or hurt. It's knowing when and how to approach the conversation. It brings the elephant lurking in the room into the light. It provides a path for the person to move forward. It gives information that gives the person a chance to assess their decisions and make different ones if needed.

That's honesty.

What stopping you?
Fear of getting it wrong?

Not wanting to hurt someone's feelings?

Don't want to hear the answer, preferring to live in la-la land?

Do you have to change something and you don't have a flipping idea of how to do that?

Getting around those damn beliefs
I've talked about honesty with my executive clients for many years. There are so many beliefs that get in the way. One of the biggest beliefs is that it will hurt the other person or will hurt the friendship. They're right. It just might. But here's the thing. If we don't tell the truth things get murky. People take actions without all the information available to them. This can lead to bad decisions. Once the truth comes out it often hurts far worse because of the accompanying feelings of betrayal at not being told. This breaks trust which breaks relationships. And this is sad because relationships are the real juice of life. Just because you don't tell the truth doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Let me give you a real-life example
Many years ago, after a particularly disastrous situation I asked a friend what she thought. It turns out she knew all along that it wasn't going to work out. She didn't tell me because she thought I wasn't ready to hear the truth. I might not have been but it would have started me along the path of discovery forcing me to ask myself some hard questions. I'm not blaming her for my situation. That was due to my own lack of honesty with myself. After talking through it we both realized that not having a truthful conversation didn't serve either of us well. So, we made a pact that day to always tell the hard truth. It's made our relationship so much stronger and it's helped us make better decisions.

Time for Action
Life without honesty is just no way to live. So what's stopping you from being honest today with yourself and others? What if you did the hard thing around honesty today? Ask one hard question or tell the difficult truth about something. It's time to put on your big boy or girl pants and be honest. Just cannonball right into it. Sometimes you might just be surprised at how much easier it is than you thought it might be. Or, that something really good comes out of it.  I dare you to cannonball right now.

Go do it. I'll wait. Then come back and tell me about it.

54 intense, action packed hours to create a startup…

from pretty much nothing.

Oh yeah. There are going to be plenty of goofy and even wacky moments. I captured a few of those moments during the latest rendition of Startup Weekend in Boulder and here are some of my favorites. Two of my favorite moments couldn't have been depicted by photos so I'll use their best medium: words.

1st: Eric Marcoullier (OneTrueFan) gave advice that had something to do with having more founders making a better marriage except it's legal–kinda like in Utah. I'm not sure if I got the essence of that message but any time you make a comparison between startups and bigamy I'm going to laugh.

2nd: Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly) ended his round of advice with a bunch of random swear words to make Eric (a liberal swearer from what I understand) more comfortable. And these both were from the first few moments of the event on Friday night.

The rest of the weekend did not disappoint. Here are some of the best visual moments I was able to capture from the weekend. And if you don't find them funny well–I guess you had to be there to truly appreciate them.

The first was from a round of the classic rock, paper, scissors for a highly coveted Startup Weekend jacket. This the final round. The guy in the gray won. It's a pretty darn cool jacket. I almost sidled up to the winner with a "How you doin'?" just to get the chance to wear it. But…I think he's married so, not cool.

The few moments are from that evening. The guy in this photo pitched an idea about crowd sourcing something or other political. The bib was pretty priceless as well as patriotic.

There are all sorts of fun cut-outs around the TechStars bunker. My favorites are Chewbaca (who doesn't love some Chewie?) and the one of Co-organizer Jon Rossi with his new girlfriend. I guess he likes a woman who can kick ass while wearing leather and really, who doesn't? I wouldn't mind being that woman.

During the event I took a bunch of random photos including teams working. When I stopped by the ID Weeds team they immediately struck this pose. It's fitting for their startup (a medical marijuana inventory system). And? Still funny since it's not something I see much in the business world I inhabit.

Apparently, you can buy a BMW during Startup Weekend. And there's even a discount on the price as a participant. Since I wasn't one I wouldn't have gotten the discount but if I had…

I might be rolling around in style today.

And finally, there's always a clean-up crew at events right? Well at Startup Weekend Boulder the organizers mean it when they say that no job is too small at a startup. Here are co-organizers Jon Rossi and Dave Mayer as they clean up while I sit watching them and take pictures of them hard at work.

That's all for this edition of Startup Weekend Boulder. Now go forth and startup!

Organizers Jon Rossi, Dave Mayer and Matt Bernier did an amazing job of assembling a strong group of entrepreneurial folks to serve as mentors and judges during Startup Weekend Boulder 5. Although it was virtually impossible to record every single piece of insightful information these folks offered I tried to capture some of the best below. Good advice for all entrepreneurs and startup dreamers.

Micah Baldwin, Graphic.ly

• As Brad Feld says, there are lots of things you measure but only 2 that really matter. Figure out what they are and make sure everything relates back to them.

Duleepa Wijayawardhana, Empire Avenue

• Don't worry about failure. You'll succeed just because you try. Well, do.

Nicole Glaros, TechStars

• Know your market. Understand the pain points of your market and build around it. If you do, you will be successful.
  

• Be intellectually honest. Listen with unbiased ears. It's hard to do when someone tells you your baby is ugly but if you do this, you will be successful.
  

Eric Marcoullier, One True Fan

• If you have to fix a feature, get rid of it.

Ari Newman, Jive Software

• Simplify your model. As he said to one team, "There's so much I think my head just exploded."
  

• Consider going after a large market because it will be more forgiving when you fail. And you will.

Niel Robertson, Trada

• Make sure you build marketing metrics into the product right up front. Having a data-driven development approach will allow you to scale faster.

Jon Rossi, Startup Weekend Boulder

• Help each other out and keep the momentum going.

Chris Vieville, Snap Engage

• Build social gaming into your product but watch out for being too gimicky.

John Wright, Quick Left

• Find a product that cannot fail and that makes sense.

My own advice
When coming up with a name make sure it's available on all the necessary outlets (URL, Twitter, etc.) and grab it quickly. Make it easy for people to find you.

And finally…

Don't play at it. Play full out and do it for real.

This weekend, at the invitation of Jon Rossi, one of the organizers, I attended the fifth iteration of Startup Weekend in Boulder, my first. The intense, rapid ramp-up version of startup life this event offers was intriguing and because Startup Weekend concept was incubated by Andrew Hyde in Boulder I wanted to see it for myself. I'd heard that Startup Weekend Boulder has evolved since it's earlier more chaotic, less organized days and they were right. The organizers (including Dave Mayer and Matt Bernier) were extremely organized and managed the event well so the only chaos was on the part of the teams, which…is expected given the nature of this kind of event.

The event kicked off Friday night in the TechStars bunker with advice from local entrepreneurs Micah Baldwin (Graphic.ly), Eric Marcoullier (OneTrueFan), Niel Robertson  (Trada), and Chris Vieville (Snap Engage). The event was sold-out with people coming to the attend the event from as far away as South Africa and Nova Scotia. To pay? To create a startup? Over the weekend? Yep. That's dedication. The passion of the participants was clear when more than half the group pitched an idea–some even pitched two. A wide range of ideas were presented from a digital currency to geo-location for baby-friendly bathrooms to crowd sourced life coaching and even a steak toaster. That one had us all salivating for steak but it didn't get picked. In the end, eight were chosen among the 37 original ideas, teams were assembled through an organic self-selection process and the real work began.

On Saturday the chaos that's an inherent part of an event like this bubbled up as some teams changed and at least one nearly pivoted. Here is Tamara of SIMclip talking about her team.

In the end eight teams were ready to present on Sunday to a panel of judges and a crowded room of participants and supporters. Betting on startups is pretty much the only thing I might bet on I came up with a list of my favorites. I was pretty proud that that the judges agreed with 2 of my 3 choices. Here they are the top three teams for Startup Weekend Boulder 5.

1st Place: SIMclip

Solves the problems of not enough money and time by making it easier to use digital coupons. This was one of my picks as well because it's got a specific audience with a pain point AND is expected to be a 44 million industry by 2014. I was also really impressed with how well the team understood the market and came up with a product and future feature sets based on their research. Really well done.

2nd Place: ID Weeds

Helps the medical marijuana industry manage inventory through a web based management system that allows dispensaries to communicate surpluses between peers. This was one of my other picks. Given the nature of their industry they will need to work on impression management but the team and the idea is solid. There are currently 717 dispensaries in Colorado alone and it's projected to be a 100 Billion industry.

Wish You Nu
A site that collects wisdom from people around with the world answering the question “What do you wish you knew when you were 20?” This was not one of my picks even though it's very inspiring and will definitely have impact. The only reason I didn't pick it was that they didn't present a business model and well, as a business person with an eye for the bottom line this is critical in my book. After the event I found out they have some ideas for building revenue so I'll be eager to see what they do.

The rest of the teams included: Bridge My Path, Doody Duty, edyou, Sixth Gear and Snap Games–all really interesting ideas with strong teams. I hope all the participants continue to follow their startup passions whether it's one of these ideas or a new one. I will be keeping my eye out for all this great local talent.

And as for you…

Ever considered having your own startup or have an idea you want to see executed?

Go to Startup Weekend.

Startup Weekend Boulder 5 is going on as I write this. I'm actually blogging from the TechStars Bunker where the event is being held. The din of the 8 teams busily working on designs, demos and pitches surrounds me. For so much intense work going it's actually pretty calm and quiet.

If you don't happen to know, Andrew Hyde created Startup Weekend over a midnight conversation with the intent to get smart entrepreneurial types in together to create a small project over a weekend. It's now grown to over 233 events as a 54 hour high intensity marathon focused on building a web or mobile app that could turn into a viable startup.

I'll be writing more after the event ends. For now you can get a glimpse into some of the teams and watch a mid-event update from Jon Rossi, one of the organizers of Startup Weekend Boulder.

It’s investor day today for TechStars companies. The latest crop of companies from this mentorship-driven seed stage investment program was impressive. That’s Josh Fraser introducing Adstruc who have a pretty brilliant idea that’s sure to have an impact in the outdoor ad industry. Some of the founders for those companies are from Boulder (like Spot Influence) while others came here specifically for the TechStars program (such as Adstruc who are from New York–a billboard & advertising mecca. Which of course, is a natural fit for their company). 

Under30CEO.com just came out with the results for their survey on the best cities for young entrepreneurs. The list included the usual suspects that appear on many “best of” lists.  Chicago, Seattle, New York and the like. While some of the choices are dead on I disagree with some of their choices. And, more importantly. Their methodology.  This got me to thinking about how to choose a city for your startup.

Choose Your Criteria Wisely

The criteria they include on this survey include: resources available, schools, social atmosphere, weather and networking opportunities. While these are good things to think about there are some other things they’re missing. For example: What is the climate like for entrepreneurial ventures? What is the city known for industry-wise?  They’re also missing the boat on what’s going to make an new entrepreneur successful.

Let’s take my former hometown as an example. Chicago may be a very large city with lots of fun things to do. I know. I lived there for 12 years. Is Michigan Avenue with its expensive stores really going to be a draw for a debt-ladden/low or no income entrepreneur? Are they going to be lounging on the shores of Lake Michigan? Somehow I doubt it. This is probably good information for say an under 30 professional but less so for someone who’s running and gunning to get a new business off the ground.

Yes, But What Kind of Startup?

The kind of business you want to start is key in making the “What city should I start my company in?” decision. Let’s go back to the previous example. Chicago is well suited for professionals who like large companies–in fact many have their headquarters there including Kraft, Boeing, Sears and the like. The biggies there are financial services, management consulting and pharma. Now if your startup directly serves those industries by all means–go there. Starting a professional services firm? Yes. A technology startup? Not so much. There just isn’t a large community there for it.  Deanna and Brett, former Chicagoans moved to Boulder to go through the TechStars program with Rent Monitor. And they’re staying.

For the tech startup world I’m gonna go with the Bay area (natch), Austin or my current hometown of Boulder.  Why? They’re magnets for some of the best technical minds in the our country.  You’re more likely to find people with money to spend on these ventures there.  And? They all have great indicators for quality of life: easy access to the outdoors, good weather and a high concentration of smart, educated folks. From the 2010 TechStar class, Boulder’s own RoundPegg is a good example of a company that’s a good fit with a city with a high concentration of tech talent AND all the amenities that attracts good talent.

So…

One size really doesn’t fit all when it comes to making a huge decision like deciding where to found a startup venture. A big city isn’t necessarily better than a small one. Bars, beaches and boutiques probably shouldn’t be a big part of the decision making criteria for an entrepreneur. In order to be truly useful you need to identify the right criteria to get the most pertinent information.

Other things entrepreneurs need to consider in selecting a city:

• Amount of entrepreneurs in the area. (indicates support you may receive from other entrepreneurs and the community)

• Access to venture capital, angel investors and other funding options.

• The presence of incubators and mentorship-driven seed programs like TechStars.

• Where your co-founder is located and wants to be located. (because co-located teams can be difficult in the early stages)

And one that is hard to quantify but incredibly important: Does it feel like a city that I can thrive in?

What do you think makes a city a good choice for an entrepreneur?