Water, globalism, entrepreneurship, branding and other interesting stuff
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Best Term Sheet Reference Tool On The Net
For any of those aspiring entrepreneurs out there. I wanted to post this term sheet reference link up.
It was co-authored by Colorado’s own Brad Feld. Refreshingly straight forward, jargon light and cards-on-the-table style - the way I wish all VC relationships could be consummated.
Enjoy.
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Groupon actually has a business model
I thought, given the recent announcement of twitter raising money at a 7 Billion dollar valuation, I’d pick the scab on this social start-up revenue model discussion.
I still don’t see facebook or twitter making 10B in their entire (pessimistically short) 10 year heyday. Yes, they could and probably will pivot to match consumer tastes/needs - let’s face it, the smartest engineers in the world work at these places, but. But. Groupon. Groupon is built on the premise of making money. What a concept?
I like these guys at npost. I won’t steal their thunder. READ THIS.
And if you don’t do that at least think about this.
Not only am I talking about serious cash here, but let’s talk about cash flow distribution and relative allocation diversity. If I bet on social media, I bet on Groupon making 10B first (in revenue, not fundraising). Even if Andrew Mason’s humor continues to be lost on the populous at large, and even if every me too in the world starts coming after their spartan revenue split and deal gouging concepts (ouch mandatory 40% discount!). They are still going to be profitable. They are still going to make money. Facebook lost 169 million active users last month. What happens when the riot mentality about social media value dries up? What happens when user eyeballs plateau and click throughs mature and social becomes another advertising channel like billboards or cable… I’ve got a hint for you, revenue comes….. down.
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Cool idea to scaffold Startup visibility.
Check this.
What an interesting idea. Getting real time feedback from whomever (Advisors, friends, mentors). Yes it is informal, but it can also be meaningful.
Stay tuned at http://www.leanlaunchlab.com/ -
Real Startups do… what exactly?
Some of you must know people that love to talk about how they just raised their (insert letter or number here) round of financing.
Especially in SF or in the Boston area these conversations happen frequently at startup socials, entrepreneurial happy hours and numerous other events. Those of us (others) who have or are working away at making products/services that matter and really have no interest in raising money unless we absolutely have to (read: credit cards are maxed out, bikes are sold, even cable tv is a thing of the past), think that is a stupid idea.
See recent post on Eric Reis.
This is a phenomenon happening with many young folks these days.
Oft occuring conversation:
me: What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?
startup friend (who currently has a quasi-menial job at some giant company: I’ll start a company or two, I’ve got some big ideas. I just need to get squared away
(THIS CONVERSATION HAPPENS EVERY DAY).
Please see this post, and think about Michael Scott, whenever you have that conversation with yourself.
My generation now has terrible role models (Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, Biz Stone, Sergey Brin, Andrew Mason). Yes, the ascencion from college nerd to billionaire happens. And the prevalence as doubled (Wow 200%!!!) in the past 2 decades from .000001% of the population to .000002% of the population or from .001% of entrepreneurs to .002% of entrepreneurs. The fact remains folks, this is not a common occurrence, by any twist of the statistics, controlling for the ease of media access to these astoundingly wealthy individuals.
My point is: Everyone else that makes anywhere from $50,000 a year at their flower shop to $100MM on the next big lean/2.0/social/ultra-cool/green innovation has to work their asses off, just like the guys above did (and they also got lucky). Sorry, but everything that is good in life takes an amazing amount of work. There are very few shortcuts to the top.
We’ll shove off with one of my favorite quotes from a ball player I have never heard of (sorry Branch Rickey)
‘Luck is the residue of design and desire’
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Options… uggh
I saw the news about Skype options for past employees imploding last week and almost evacuated my bowels.
Beyond the fact that, wow, I’m kind of insulted by the Skype founders for working this language into the employment and options agreements with the employees of their startup, this raises an interesting question about startupland:
As a CEO/founder/what-have-you, who has time to ensure the spirit of the company culture is embodied in said employment agreements, corporate perks, compensation packages etc. Especially at an early stage when even legal fees are a stretch, not to mention HR consulting or (*bleck*) an HR manager/director.
There are two solutions that I have seen:
1. Boiler plate agreements that cover most details, but generally show preference to the employer (not always the ideal). Which can be modified, but who can think of all the edge cases to solve for - when you are just trying to get a product out the door.
2. Hire a startup lawyer to help you - and invariably get tied up in every possible eventual outcome and writing language for that fact. = wasting time and money.
This is precisely why it pays to talk to folks in the industry that you respect and know the culture at their startup well.
The conversation goes like this: me: “hey, were about to hire another couple of folks but are up a creek with the options agreement, I know you spent some time on yours, could you send me a copy of one so I can get the language right?” startup guru/ninja/mentor: “Sure, no problem”
Wow, that is easy.
