Countdown to Destruction Credits
Todd Courtnage as “Todd”
Bob Clark as “Bob”
Cameron Falkenhagen as “Captain”
Gordon McDowell as “Keyboard Operator Alpha”
Blaise Kolodychuk as “Engineer Kolodychuk”
Sarah Blue as “Doctor Blue”
Romulax Admiral Kathyxon Bletarrax Marf as himself
Sound and music by Cameron Falkenhagen
Written by Blaise Kolodychuk and Gordon McDowell
Beyond Silicon Valley, the American startup hub shortlist starts with New York, Boston and Seattle. What would a Canadian list look like?
From what I can tell — and I can’t claim to have done an exhaustive survey by any means — Toronto, Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal have fairly active startup communities, judging by the number of DemoCamps and StartupCamps and so on.
Obviously the West has some activity as well, as StumbleUpon and others (including Cambrian House of course) prove, but I think it’s more fragmented in places like Calgary and Edmonton and Regina and so on. And one of the benefits of Web-based businesses is that they can pop up just about anywhere, with teams of people who may not even live in the same physical area working on them.
Thank you for listing Regina after Calgary! So how can someone launch outside of a startup hub?
Although it’s true that Web businesses can start and effectively be run from just about anywhere, it’s also true that people are people, and they need human contact — and startups in particular thrive on the energy of other entrepreneurs, people who are also struggling with launching a company, or have done so in the past; that’s why StartupCamp and DemoCamp and other social events are so powerful, and I think that’s one of the main benefits of something like mesh or meshU — just the chance to bump into or hear from smart people who are trying to save some of the same problems that you are.
The American recession (officially described by the White House as “tough times”) is looking rather ominous. Do you have any survival tips?
I think the best advice is just to be as lean as possible. Focus on the things that matter, not the Aeron chairs and foosball tables and so on, and if you don’t have to get financing then don’t — the best way to get financing is to not need it. And I think it is true that the economy has had less impact on startup activity in this cycle than the last, if only because companies can do so much more with so much less now, thanks to Web services such as Amazon’s S3 and EC2 and Simple DB and so on.
Hot on the heels of Cambrian House community member EpiPenner’s “BeeGone” (the beehive mismanagement software suite) comes Scoobie’s proposal for yet another beekeeping app. But the goal of this software is to keep the bees healthy.
Crazy?
I thought so too, until I discovered a whole subculture of “beekeepers”. Instead of screaming and running at the sight of a honeybee, these fools actually allow bees to form “colonies” in hives. Why? Well it is their belief that under the proper conditions, bees will produce the golden substance which we all know as honey.
Well you and I both know honey comes from a supermarket, not a magical “beehive”. But before you completely shut the door on this madness, consider these facts:
Hobbyist beekeeping is becoming more and more popular. By the year 2037, it is predicted to have more practicing members than Scientology!
Beekeepers must keep their hive healthy, or the hive will attack in anger! In the worst case, the queen itself will emerge from the hive and battle the beekeeper to the death.
The cost of supporting software sold to a stung-to-death beekeeper is zero dollars.
Scoobie says the existing beekeeping software doesn’t meet his expectations. Existing software is either too expensive, out of date, or no longer supported. This is an opportunity created by Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a recent phenomenon where bee colonies suddenly disappear.
Unpollenated crops and unmet demand for honey are the immediate impact of CCD. Because beehives (on average) operate less efficiently due to CCD, there is a need for more hives and so more beekeepers.
If you’re interested in helping identify or prioritize features, assist writing a design document or get your hands dirty doing good old software development, then offer to join Scoobie’s Beekeeping Software project!
But on the other hand, do you really want someone nosing about your business while you’re trying to get some real work done?
< awkward pause />
Yes you do. There are only upsides to tight investor proximity. If the thought of your potential VC popping by unexpectedly to see how things are going gives you pause, then either you should find another investor, or share that concern with them to make sure you’re both on the same page.
Proximity is less important as your business becomes self sustainable, but while nascent the (often quoted) rule of thumb is still one hour’s walking distance.
“In the beginning of your firm, it’s all risk. It’s this baby in the emergency room. You don’t want your doctor talking through a screen, asking people what is going on.” - MJ
So unless you live in a town filled with venture capital, what are your options? Look for angel funding, move, or bootstrap it yourself. If you’re bootstrapping, look to leverage modern trends like crowdsourcing, open source software and public APIs to keep your costs down.
“Silicon Valley dominates, then Boston, then Seattle, Austin, Denver, and New York. After that there’s not much. Even in New York the number of startups per capita is probably a 20th of what it is in Silicon Valley. In towns like Houston and Chicago and Detroit it’s too small to measure.” -Paul Graham
Did you know paper receipts are responsible for more rain forest destruction and CO2 emissions than the entire coffee and mining industries combined? It is truly staggering!
“I had no idea!” you say.
“That’s a lot of destruction…” you ponder.
“Is that even true?” you ask.
No, it isn’t true. But it sounds plausible. Especially if you read it really quickly and move on.
Beyond that, paper receipts are filling our nations wallets with space that could be occupied by cold, hard, cash! And then… when you finally need to expense those receipts you’ve been carrying around… they’re vanished! The Receipt Fairy’s expense account knows no bounds.
Rather than hunting down and exterminating The Receipt Fairy, Interviewables proposes bypassing paper receipts entirely. A central database would be populated via updates from enhanced POS terminals. Certainly once the receipt line items were centralized, all manner of mutually beneficial services could be provided to both customers and marketers.
Inverviewables sees creation of the receipt line item tracking service as the first step towards adoption.
A merchant isn’t going to want this on his own. There will need to be a need from the consumer to push this.
Identifying the chicken-and-egg challenges, and mapping out incentives for each party will be key to upgrading such a significant chunk of infrastructure. Certainly if there is a compelling reason for customers, merchants and POS vendors to participate before the system is widely adopted, eventually the system will be widely adopted.
To help Interviewables build the tracking service, implement a 3rd party POS module, or even help map out how each party in a sales transaction can be encouraged to participate, head on over to No More Paper Receipts and chime in!
Rock Band, front row seats, cute little kittens… and good ideas! (Also, Blue likes cheese. But for the purpose of this blog entry, we’ll focus on ideas.)
An easy to install, aftermarket car audio system that includes either an integrated LCD or AV Outputs that would allow you to connect it to an in-vehicle LCD display.
Blue believes this is intended for car passengers, as it would be unsafe to drive while reading lyrics. Gord believes so long as an air-guitar is not incorporated into game play, the game would have acceptable survival rates.
With all the bloggers, photographers and design artists available on the web something truly amazing could be created, something to rival traditional magazines. A real paper magazine. Something I could show to people and say I had a part in this, instead of some cryptic web address they probably wont ever visit.
Think only homeless people and prostitutes stand around on sidewalks? Not true! Video bloggers are often known to “hang out” on sidewalks when a conference call occupies their orange couch.
The truth is, stalking is the least effective use of your time. Any indication of disinterest means the conversation from that point forward will be strictly educational in nature…
Unless your idea is crap, or you stop looking for money, you will eventually find someone who will consider investing. And its extremely important that you look fundable at that moment. While you might consider yourself a person pitching a piece of technology or concept (and ultimately it is you who is being invested in), it is your company which serves as the interface for the investment.
You’re not going to have an investor wait while you customize a private equity investment template are you? That would be a pretty poor interface.
You are at your family’s annual family gathering. Your sister brought “Alan”, another strange guy in her history of strange guys. Before dinner, you blather on about a great business idea you’ve been pursuing. Blah blah blah… you’re quite the little chatterbox!
After, as the turkey and potatoes start dulling your mental reflexes… Alan approaches you with a check book and says “I like it. I just came into a little money from selling my company. What size stake would I be able to get?” You just stare at him like a deer in the headlights. Alan’s an Angel Investor, and you are about to miss a great opportunity.
If you were put on the spot for financing for your idea, how would you answer?
A little bit of stumbling might be understandable if you got asked out of the blue through pure serendipity. But what if you went to an investor forum and you didn’t know about pre-money valuation and share price? You don’t think this ever happens?
Here is the part that is so frustrating as an investor:
Everyone is asking for money and I am asking, how much money do you want? For how much of the company? And no one can answer that question. In fact not one person answered that question.
Perhaps they didn’t know, or perhaps they have been coached to not set a valuation too early as MJ suggests. The idea being you don’t want to sell yourself short and undervalue yourself. But the reality is that…
When you are a startup, the way that you are valuing your company, it is not like it is anything real, it is completely made up. I don’t know why anyone doesn’t say that out loud, but it just is.
It is is about how much money you need to get to next definitive risk reduction point.
Your pre-money valuation then can be easily determined based on what you need. Investors aren’t going to invest for less than 20% and no one should probably be investing more that 40%. This gives you a clear range to to set your pre-money valuation.
So what does this mean to you? If you need money from investors, you need to have your ducks in a row.
Start with answers to the following questions
What is the next definitive risk reduction point?
How much money will it take to get there?
How much of the business are you willing to give up? (20%-40%)
No idea how to answer these questions? Head on over to the Cambrian House Forums to ask the Cambrian House community.
Friend-of-a-friend possibilities broaden the range of finding MVS5 buyers or sellers. And it could work for so much more than just Miami Vice season 5! There’s season 4… and even non-Miami Vice related products to consider.
FilmNotion will allow users to sign up and post any movie ideas they had as well attach a promo video much like the Cambrian House website except the ideas would be for movie pitches.
Blue maintains Kairaspo maintains the idea is too similar to FilmRiot and Kairaspo would make the most progress collaborating with Don and Andy.
Youtube powered Internet streaming radio site. Use Youtube as the source of free music to broadcast. We’ll provide internet radio (with video), without incurring costs of a traditional radio or streaming music sites.
And tragically, like a baby denied crucial omega-3 fatty acids, Cubans may never recover from their lack of pop-cultural references during key developmental stages. These poor people don’t even understand the cultural significance of Chuck Norris. Yet despite this, all Cubans have access to free health care! Growing up without pop-cultural references… they’re gonna need it.
Such deep insights, commentary on Cambrian House community’s ideas, and non-stop action can be found in our latest IdeaWarz video!
Aren’t sure where the Dali’s displayed? Having problems placing a Picasso? Want to know where the Van Gogh goes? Well, bad puns aside, Invertebra wants to help build a community of people that are happy to tell you.
The basic idea behind ‘Art-a-Track’ is to be a social network in which people could search for a specific artwork and learn where it is being displayed right now, for how long and where is it going next.
Much discussion has been happening and Invertebra is still interested in your feedback. From the curious to the collectors, if you can lend a hand with this project, go check out Art-a-Track.
This weeks post is coming in a little later than expected for crashtacular reasons that I’m not even going to blog about. Many a fist was shaken.
This week we also welcome back Todd from Thailand and Gord from Cuba. I’ve been doing my best to keep their hats and seats warm while they’re gone, it’s been an absolute blast. I’ve been glad to help, but really looking forward to ‘finding my own’ here at CH.
In the mean time, check out this weeks reconstituted IdeaWarz, I’m going to go read about this feature built into most software called “Saving”. Gah.
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