start.up weekend & seedcamp

the mindmap "start.up finanzierung"/start.up financing has been updated with: startup weekend.

a recent presentation of seedcamp from the web2.0expo berlin, slides can be found @ slideshare.

web2.0 berlin & start.ups

besides all the web2.0 buzz, what´s relevant for founders?
one: use technology offers to bootstrap to the max.
two: use technology to develop consumer enjoyment.

tech
g.ho.st, an web-operating system - they prefer to call them "virtual computer" - extensively uses amazons web services. this allows them to massively reduce their start.up costs & concentrate on their vision and it´s implementation. and not on buying, installing, mantaining, backing up,... expensive hardware.
that´s bootstrapping thanks to technology and a start.up living this essential ingredience for start.up success.

business
jesse garrett in his keynote speech focused strongly on creating products that are "1) beautiful, 2) elegant, 3) solutions that 4) work". strongly pointing to apple´s approach on how to make complex things: lovable, presentable, solving/creating a need you can not live without once you tried it while staying extremely simpel.
is your idea/produkt/website like that?are there rumour sites about what you will do next with your start.up or are you still trying to "bruteforce" community building.


thatmuch for a start from the web2.0 berlin expo, which brings an intersting crowd together. developers, entreprenerus, investors and plenty of speakers.

How NOT to start your StartUp

i prepared the following notes for the oktober barcamp
in vienna. unfortunately a flu was keeping me away. so here are the notes, i am looking fortward to discuss that @ the next barcamp.


SLIDE1

++ 70% of companies fail because of internal reasons
(KSV, 2006 Insolvenzstatistik)

++ Out of 100 applying Start.ups 10 get "aws Seedfinancing" funded,
5 survive the next 10 years

++ --> 7 of the 140 techchrunch40 conf will survive

++ youtube owners made 1,65B$ in 21 month

++ 12 year old co-founder gets 6,5M$ investment (playspan)

++ Full disclosure: i work at www.awsg.at
investment manager ict high-tech startups
quite an portfolio
quite a while


SLIDE 2

++ What you want (maybe)
Stay alive (personally, company)
Keep old & make new friends
Make people happy
Have fun
Change the world with your vision in mind
Do good & talk about
Earn money


++ What you do NOT want (maybe again)
Heart Attack before floating on the stock market
Loose friends
Make people unhappy
Be frustrated
Give up
Keep it secret
You and your friends/family/fools get bankrupt


SLIDE 3

++ "Recommendations"

+++ *Tech Founder*
Cross out Life in life-work balance
live on coke, pizza and sweeties until you overtake "super size me"
friends/family/partner shall only be important if it helps your company
never leave the net/phone/... for more then 1 hour
do not delegate
Insist, believe and act upon:
know everything better then your co-founders and (potential) customers & investors
The customers will come by themselves,
as soon as they realize that you are a genius and
that your product is "the" product


+++ *Marketing/Sales/Finance/Operations/Quality/you name it*
Who needs any of those?
Therefore do NOT build a complete team
so you do not have the problem, that:
someone knows about it
anyone shall ever buy your product/chrossing the chasm
invest in your company + knowing when you run out of cash
actually ever deliver and service your product
have a satisfactory working product
...

+++ *Product*
Leave "under the radar screen" before you have something to show and say
Release first public version before core functionality is there
Do not keep your alpha/beta community interested by
rolling out new functionality every 2 weeks
respecting their feedback and maintaining the forums alive
Announce ambitious release schedules and never keep them
Focus on features, not your on the (product) core (vision) or even customer benefit


SLIDE 4

++ Others
- Never prepare your pitch
regardless of your audience, be it sales guys, techies, any customers, finance people
neither adapt to "their" interest or specific questions on language
nor prepare, as your genius will always bring you through
no presentation under 50 slides
- Use consultants for everything
without selecting them according to their proven (reference calls) success for
your specific requirement
without keeping them under strict control (topic wise, timeline, hours they want you to
sign of) this will help you to keep your cash burn rate high


SLIDE 5

++ Links
Do NOT look at those financing opportunities:
finance mindmap @ http://www.startupict.blogspot.com

Do NOT read any of those:
founders at work, jessica livingston
the art of the start, guy kawasaki
the startup company bible, michael stathis
crossing the chasm, geoffrey a. moore
guerilla marketing, jay c. levinson

And NEVER ever look at this one:
einführung in die allgemeine betriebswirtschaftslehre, lechner/egger/schauer

NOR listen to the podcast:
www.manager-tools.com

For the ones which want/can make the crossover from military strategy to start.up business
do NOT look at:
the art of war, sun tzi

Finally do NOT read this Start.up guide:
The Pmarca Guide to Startups, part 1: Why not to do a startup
(link thanks to brundo haid, www.systemone.at)




++ What would you NOT do?

case study: papermint.at

unter dem titel "the second life experience" bringt net.culture.labs einen 360° blick auf massive online multiplayerwelten. kurzfilme , selbst ausprobieren, rechtl. analyse u.a. stehen an. und ein weiteres beispiel neben second life aus österreich: papermint wird gezeigt.

um nicht gleich in den wachsenden topf der second life clongemeinschaft geworfen zu werden, sei folgendes zur differenzierung dargestellt: klarer fokus, hinsichtlich zielgruppe. optische abgrenzung durch 2d avatare in einer 3d welt. kommunikation als zentrales element und nicht fotorealismus.
wie die nächste evolutionsstufe nach second life stellt sich diese zuckerlfarbene welt dar.

fragen aus start.up sicht gibt es viele: ob die angestrebte zielgruppe groß genug ist, ob sie schnell genug erreicht werden kann, ob sie im spiel bleiben, wie die firma finanziert wird (i5 ist schon dabei), was bringt nachhaltig umsatz,... aber manchmal muss man nicht alle fragen stellen - auch nicht alle beantworten, sondern es vielleicht einfach ausprobieren und spass haben: www.papermint.at.

start.up finanzierung mindmap wächst und wächst

einige updates zur mindmap "start.up finanzierung". die ursprünglich beim juni barcamp in wien entstanden ist und kontinierlich weiterwächst.
es wurde eine neue kategorie eingeführt für "platformen", auf denen man sich "netzkulturmäßig" P2P ohne irgendwelche intermediäre austauschen kann - auch zum thema "wie habe ich meine ideen/startup finanziert".

are YOU venture capital compatible?

5 out of 10 to reasons to invest for venture capitalists are related with the entrepreneurs experience and personality.
this was true in the 80ies when this survey has been done, but still holds when looking at today’s investment scene.

if you want to prepare yourself for funding, take care of the following . * mark personal criteria of the founder. failing more then two criteria gives good chances for not getting financed.

* capable of sustained effort
* knowing your market
5-10 times return for vc possible
* ability to evaluate risk and act accordingly
investment can be sold easily
big market growth
* track record in field of new venture
* ability to express
intellectual property rights protect able

while the analysis was new york focused, expect experienced venture capitalists applying the same in europe. which means: take care of sun zi.


p.s. by the way, why as an entrepreneur not evaluate your potential vc on the same criteria?!

source:
ian c. macmillan, robin siegel, p.n. subbar nar asimha, "criteria used by venture capitalists to evaluate new venture proposals", journal of business ventureing 1, 119-128 (1985) in: venture capital, volume II, edited by mike wright, harry j sapienza, lowell w. busenitz, edward elgar publishing.

seedcamp

die anzahl der initiativen für europäische high tech start.ups wächst weiter.
seedcamp bietet eine neue platform an: 3 monate london boot camp, 10% der anteile, 50k€.
die mindmap wurde upgedatet.