Category : New Ventures

Continuing in the contrarian tradition that has gained 37 Signals so many devotees (and detractors), Jason Fried shared his views on failure on the Signal vs. Noise blog yesterday. I agree with Jason, in that, while "failing fast" is a neat little concept, it's just not all that useful. So, in place of "failing fast," I offer up "failing well," or, more accurately: iteration.

What exactly is iteration? Its standard definition is: the act of repeating; a repetition. The mathematics definition, however, does a better job of giving us what we're looking for: Also called successive approximation. A problem-solving or computational method in which a succession of approximations, each building on the one preceding, is used to achieve a desired degree of accuracy (definitions from dictionary.com).

Along with mathematicians, designers should be…

I spent the afternoon at a core discussion / panel called 'Venture Capital for the Long Tail'. The panel focused on the need to develop a fundamentally different, economically viable model for creating and funding micro-businesses. The gist of the panel was that venture capital needs a new model to adapt to declining costs to start businesses, the impact of Generation Y and increased personal and corporate transparency and sharing. The discussion was facilitated by Taylor Davidson of Unstructured Ventures.

During the discussion of emergent venture models, we discussed Gravity Ventures and our approach to deal sourcing, diligence, and funding. It spurred some pretty interesting discussion amongst the group about what is happening, what could be happening, and what should be happening in local investment…

I attended a panel this afternoon that was focused on exploring the various hurdles facing technology and entrepreneurial communities outside Silicon Valley and exploring the various strategies that have worked in building these communities around the country.

Admittedly, I'm pretty biased – the whole notion of couching the conversation in terms of the valley vs. everywhere else, feels strangely arrogant and out of touch with the realities of tech-focused entrepreneurialism in this day and age. There were several people "reping" tier-two cities, like: Indianapolis, Portland, and Pittsburgh and I was amazed by the amount of self-deprecation emminating from the crowd.

We discussed Indianapolis' and Little rock's venture tax credits and I made an argument (of dubious effectiveness) about the importance of government enabling and encouraging investment, rather than making direct capital investments.

One…

The 'Bootstrap Your Start-up' session I attended was facilitated by the gang from BootStrap Austin.

The discussion started with the mandate – Get clear with yourself about what game you want to play, before you begin. The big idea that kept coming up was – Use the very circumstances that are conspiring to derail your business as tools to build it.

Three paths (The three ways of the entrepreneur)

Cookie Cutter
Franchise model: Follow the rules (somebody else's rules)

• Pre-packaged
• Highly-predictable
• Turn-key

Funding-Driven
Venture/external capital model: In this model the real entrepreneur is whoever is investing. The real customer is the fund's investors.

• Make $ as fast as possible
• Accountable to someone other than your customers
• Your business is one of several in a stable of investments
• You get a salary
• Access to more resources

Bootstrap
The road less traveled. The business is built…

We work with a lot of start-ups. By the time they've knocked on our door, they have typically already raised their first or second round of funding. Sometimes however, the entrepreneurs have done it the old fashioned way and have bootstrapped themselves into a real business and are just now looking at outside sources of funding to grow their business. As a result, we have developed a particular competency in helping young businesses prepare their pitches for angel, venture, and institutional investors. Additionally, since we occasionally pursue opportunities to invest in our client's businesses as equity partners, we have become students of "the perfect pitch." Having been on both sides of the table it always amazes me how unstructured this process typically is and how difficult it is for an entrepreneur attempting…