A Sack of Seattle

Playing "hot or not" with investors

This morning I was recapping with the TechStars founders about their first 2 weeks and preparing them for what to expect in the next 11 weeks and beyond.  One question raised is how to deal with raising funding.  In addition to some other advice I offered, I made a strange analogy:

 

A key part of getting financing is managing your reputation: gaining traction and momentum in the technology and venture community is like....becoming the popular kid at school. 

In high school, I learned (the hard way) that if Jane tells Cindy that Tommy is "hot," it influences Cindy's view of Tommy and after this occurs a few times....guess what.... Tommy becomes the most popular (i.e. hottest) kid in the class.  This high school process of "who is the hottest" is pretty similar to what occurs amongst investors with startup companies.

 

In addition to developing a great product that customers want to use, having a business plan, and being able to pitch well etc., it is equally important to generate strong buzz about your company among the venture and technology community.  Sometimes an off-handed remark at a cocktail party from one angel to another saying "have you seen what XYZ company has been up to? It looks cool (i.e. hot) to me" is all you need to get your company some traction with investors.

Great weekend with the family at Sleeping Lady resort

Every now and then you go to a great spot that you know you want to return to....the Sleeping Lady resort outside of Leavenworth, WA is such a spot. It was awesome. It's rare when a place is able to cater to both kids and to adults successfully. But this place managed to do just that. From an adult perspective, the food is great, the accommodations comfortable (cozy even), and the setting romantic. From a kids perspective, there's a pool with a place to jump off rocks into the pool, a hot tub, a game room, a popcorn machine, and wenatchee river nearby to go inner tubing!  I can't speak about this place enough -- we're already talking about when to return and with whom. Supposedly in the winter it's a great cross country ski and snow shoeing spot!

I'm sitting in the TechStars first 5 minute pitch practice. As a first start to TechStars presentations, the teams are doing a good job. That said, the teams need to follow the basic rules of business presentations :
i) Rule 1 of presenting: Tell them (the audience) what you're going to tell them
Tell them
Tell them what you told them

ii) Rule 2 of presenting:
Show don't tell - a picture is worth a thousand words

iii) Rule 3 of presenting:
Tell a story about their company that illustrates the problem that ou're solving. Real stories allow audiences to understand and engage.

How to quit your job at a startup?

In the last month or so, I've had the good fortune of witnessing high level employees quit from 2 startup companies. In both cases, the employees were well meaning honest folk who did a poor job of communicating to the management of the start up. 

if you find yourself in the position of management at a startup (or for that matter any company) and wanting to quit, I would encourage you to notify the management as soon as possible that you are thinking about leaving the company and some of the life factors that are making you consider leaving. 

This early warning step is the one that people screw up most -- and often has the most negative effects on the entire process. It often makes employers feel burned when they don't have fair warning or opportunity to correct bad employment circumstances. Why is this so important? Two reasons: first, because startups need to be able to plan for effective transition and second, managers want to feel like they have an opportunity to communicate or respond to market dynamics with a counter offer.  Without adequate warning, managers end up feeling burned and can take defensive or punitive actions in response. These only aggravate bad communication and bad feeling between employee and mangement left at the company. 

Obama hugs my wife

This photo made the national news -- it was in the New York Times, Seattle Times, SF Gate, and many other newspapers.  Kind of a big deal in my house!

Practice and feedback make for great pitches

At TechStars, we've already had 2 pitch practices. These are exercises where everyone gives the 30 second company pitch and then gets feedback. It's simple -- and yet not many people do it. We do it dozens of times at TechStars!  I already witnessed significant improvement amongst the teams in the clarity and confidence of the pitches. If you're an entrepreneur make this a regular practice!

Top 5 things heard at TechStars in Seattle on Day 1

• It's your company. 
• Be aggressive -- about all aspects of your business.
• We chose you ....not your idea. 
• TechStars is an opportunity for massive entrepreneurial acceleration
• Be intellectually honest 

Having just left the office -- I gotta say...the day was long but really exciting.  Nothing quite like being at the starting line of 10 companies filled with hope, dreams, and idealism to change the world one bit at a time. 

Idea Paint is a great start up product

The folks at IdeaPaint were kind enough to contribute some IdeaPaint to TechStars in Seattle.  We installed the special paint which makes walls into instant whiteboards. The product is very, very cool.  We've painted a bunch of walls with it and people really like the creativity and fun of writing and drawing on the wall.  Sure whiteboards are great -- but IdeaPaint is in a whole new league of product.  Ideapaint is the iPhone of creativity surfaces!  Good stuff. Thanks to Jeff and the whole team at ideaPain!

Twitter's new "follow" feature may be overdue....but it's well implemented and I expect it to be super useful. A little nervous because the number of people I follow just increased 30%! (at least)

Top 5 tips for a company offsite or retreat

1. Have a sit down company dinner.  Cooking, eating and cleaning are good community activities especially when the food is "community" or "family" style.  Italian food goes well. 
2. The majority of the agenda should be no agenda. Give people lots of free time to just chat and connect.
3. Have alcohol available for those that want to consume. You never want to run out of beer. 
4. Poker is a nice add to any offsite. 
5. A community game -- get people to play something so they get to know each other out of the professional context.