barcamp salzburg 2008

looking forward to visit the barcamp salzburg 2008.

PR add-on to the start.up resources bonanza

interesting add-on for the start.up resource bonanza about pr secrets. with a nice controversial discussion about the article. found under pr @ start.up resource resource bonanza post.

start.up resources bonanza

starting a high tech business is an outstanding challenge. the amount of internet start.up ressources can be overwhelming for novices. while one type of entrepreneur prefers to jump in the cold water, some try to avoid common mistakes. books are an alternative. they are structured, but can take some time to get through.

googling "start up rules" on the other hand gives some 9.300.000 results. separating the relevant "signals" out of this noise is time consuming. scanning the steady stream of blogposts of the start.up blog blogroll resulted in the following qualified linklist:

financing

half-assed startup: how do i start my company and keep my day job

how to save money running a start up

hot to get a vc: greg msadoo, partner at sequoia capital (podcast)

general

how not to start your start.up

10 rules for startups

sequoia elements of sustainable companies & writing a business plan

lessons of ycombinator: things i´d do differently after 2 startups

sales

hot to ask for the order

four words: make big promises; over-deliver

vc

what´s the best material for the pre-pitch introduction to a vc

what not to wear, when you see the vc (not so serious link)

management

management trinity one on ones (podcast)

how to fire someone (well, almost) (podcast)

personal

17 tips to help you get leaner and fitter

a guide to cutting back when you feel overwhelmed

pr
pr secrets for startups

get ready to challange your ideas, encore!

the seedcamp competition 2008 is coming up again. applications will be up around the mai/june timeframe on their website. expect to hand in the applications during july/august. more details @ their website. and there will be opportunities to meet the seedcamp staff at paris, zagreb, berlin and @ various other locations, more details found here.

besides the already numerous opportunities to pitch one´s start.up idea, another one opened: start.up 2.0. the start.up mindmap got updated accordingly. registration ends today (30.4.08)!

challenge your start.up idea before pitching investors

venture and business angels money for web start.ups is scare around vienna. thus, when approaching them, there is just this "one" first chance to leave a good impression. meeting other entrepreneurs and discussing your start.up idea before can be crucial therefore. there are three different approaches to that. work up from step three to one.

one, compete and challenge on an international or european level.
participipate at seedcamp, pitch at library house or apply for the upcoming demo in munich (if you can afford so). find more on those competitions on the start.up mindmap. this international exposure gives a good indicator on the competitiveness of the start.up sector.
there are plenty of good ideas, smart brains and enthusiastic people out there, all fighting for investments, staff, customers and media attention. fearing to compete against them is no different then to hide one´s head in the sand. like last years bootcamp finalist, zemanta, funding can get a lot easier.

two, go out an present at the national level. look out for the barcamps around. there are plenty around. spending 30 minutes to present and discuss your start.up in from of a smart bunch can not only be challenging, but as well inspiring. do not mind to present more then once, showing your progress every time. there you can expect to get feedback from hardcore tech topics, user interface desing to grafical ideas, depending on the crowd present. barcamps are no one way story though. just trying to "get" something will not work. share your insights, give opinions and trying to help out others with what you already learned is an imperative.

three, again one scale smaller, visit even more casual community events. visit webmontag or open coffe club. for the webmontag @ werkzeugH or metalab in vienna, be prepared for a five minute pitch, no more. open coffe club is more casual. just sit down and talk with people. at the 6th open coffe club vienna for example, there were around 20 people. star.ups in every stage, bloggers, people which just came back from international engagements or just moved from london to vienna. willingness to share information is required, such that events like these work.

this three steps require little in funds but a lot in willingess to take feedback and give it back tho the community. they can substantially increase the likelyness to succeed.

ten more financing sources for start.ups

ecva, avco, bkv, web mission, plugg, leweb, web2.0 expo, demo, fit-it and impulsprogramm are now @ the start.up mindmap.

evca, the european venture capital association gives an up to date overview about the european venture capital players. on the national level, the austrian venture capital association (avco) and the german equivalent, the "bvk" provide good starting points for a vc-longist.

another international start.up competition, the "web mission" also found its way on the start.up mindmap. while mainly for uk startups, it’s always good to scan new ventures.

there are launchpads/conferences like plugg, le web, web2.0 epxo and demo as well. furthermore the public subsidy programs fit-it and impulsprogramm were added, which provide subsidies/grants from areas like semantic systems to design.

applied guerrilla marketing apple style

call it permission marketing seth godin style. or call it guerrilla marketing the conrad levinson way. the effect is the same.

the stories that your customers tell about your product are worth more then (often expensive) classic pr/marketing campaigns. and they are free.

see here, here and here.

considering the regularity of their appearance since the launch of apple’s macbook air, this might as well be just part of their regular promotion. if so, it’s well done