Abilene Entrepreneurs

TechCrunch founder (now no longer with the company) who now runs Uncrunched.com wrote a great post that will speak directly to those of you working hard and long hours on that brilliant idea that you have. From the article:

If you work at a startup and you think you’re working too hard and sacrificing too much, find a job somewhere else that will cater to your needs.

But if deep down you know that you’re part of history, that the things you are building will be written about and thought about forever, then maybe after that good cry after a short sleep under your desk you’ll pull yourself together and remember. That you are a person in the Arena. APirate. That you are here to make a dent in the universe.

Full article: http://uncrunched.com/2011/11/27/startups-are-hard-so-work-more-cry-less-and-quit-all-the-whining/

I ran across this article from a retweet by Jason Fried of 37 Signals. For those of you who have tried to sell something online, you know you need to use one of the many payment gateways out there. The way this usually works is the payment gateways charge you a flat rate per transaction and a percentage of the overall transaction (2%-4%). This adds up quick. The reason this is the way it is, is that all of these payment gateways sit on top of the major credit card companies’ platforms (Visa, Mastercard, etc.). The payment gateways rely on the credit card companies to actually take the money from a consumer and put it into your backing account.

A game-changing company, Dwolla, is trying to change all of this. They don’t want to become another PayPal or even another credit card company. They are aiming to sidestep all of that and create a brand new payment layer that connects a business or consumer directly to your company’s banking account. Because of the highly regulated nature of moving money, they’ve run into several roadblocks along the way, but have managed to find loopholes and overcome the obstacles.

I encourage you to read the full interview here: http://www.businessinsider.com/this-28-year-old-is-making-sure-credit-cards-wont-exist-in-the-next-few-years-2011-11?op=1

On Twitter yesterday, a friend of mine announced a new philanthropic venture he’s pursuing, 1% of Nothing. The premise of the idea is that 99% of the time your startup company is worth close to nothing when you first start out, so why not go ahead and commit 1% of your startup to a philanthropic cause? It’s a straight-forward process to get signed up. Pick a cause you’d like to support and fill out the form to say you’re pledging 1% to. If and when you’re startup is acquired, that 1% turns into cash for your cause.

For a few months now, Kevin Rose has created a series of videos called Foundation. Kevin is a serial entrepreneur who has seen a lot of success with ventures like Digg, Diggnation and his latest, Oink. The video series consists of Kevin interviewing the founders of successful internet startups. He asks them about their past, how they came up with their ideas, what it took to develop their ideas, etc. etc. New videos are released every couple weeks and each of the videos are 45ish minutes long. In the latest video, Kevin interviews John Ham, founder of Ustream. The video is a bit slow in the beginning, but gets better as it goes along as John explains what it took to scale out the idea from a financial and technological perspective.

As an entrepreneur, there is a lot of value in being a generalist. Knowing just enough about a subject to be dangerous is pretty powerful. If you have a great idea but it requires some sort of software to be created (website, app, etc.), you should try to wrap your head around what the basic technologies your ideas will require to make it a reality. Don’t rely on your one programmer friend’s opinion. You don’t have to necessarily learn to code, but you need to learn enough to speak intelligently about what you need to create your idea when looking for developers. [As a side note, I think everyone should learn to code. Learning a programming language is the most valuable second language you can learn in today's world. I could probably write another blog post on that subject.] So… You can learn about technology related to your idea in many different ways. To name a few: 1) Talk to those you know to be the “computer nerds” 2) Find local developer meetups and 3) Just start reading on the web. Don’t be afraid to share your idea, get feedback and learn what you’ll need to execute your idea.

Having rambled for a bit, the main reason I write this post is to share some new technology that Yahoo announced yesterday, Yahoo Manhattan and Cocktails. Since the modern web has been around, the code that runs in your web browser (referred to as client-side languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript) and the code that runs on a web server (referred to as server-side languages: php, ruby, python, etc.) have been written in different programming languages. In the past 12-24 months, a new server-side language has become very popular, Javascript via Node.js. For the careful readers, you’ll notice that Javascript is listed with the client-side languages. So… what this means for web developers is that it’s possible to write code in Javascript for the client and the server. Cool stuff. Node.js has been around for several months and has grown to be very popular. Yahoo’s new tools take advantage of server-side Javascript to make multi-platform (browser, ios, android, etc.) app development and deployment easier.

I share this just so you put it on your radar. This isn’t something you should jump ship on what you’ve already created or fully commit to this new framework (frameworks pop up everyday and they all come and go), it is just something you need to read about, have an opinion on and get back to work. Here’s the article explaining Yahoo’s new tools: http://developer.yahoo.com/blogs/ydn/posts/2011/11/yahoo-announces-cocktails-%E2%80%93-shaken-not-stirred/

Gabriel Weinburg, co-founder of a new(er) search engine DuckDuckGo, recently posted his lessons learned from 4 months of raising money. It’s a long post, but he provides some great insights. A few take-aways I took from reading the article: fund-raising takes a lot of time, find investors who provide more than just $$, find mentors who have experience raising money and that traction trumps everything.

Read the full article here: http://www.gabrielweinberg.com/blog/2011/10/what-i-learned-from-raising-venture-capital.html

ACU’s Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship and Philanthropy is hosting a two-day, intensive training event just for you! The ACU Entrepreneur Bootcamp is an exciting new program for Big Country entrepreneurs.

The program is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs who:

• Are still looking for the right idea
• Have an idea and want help to increase their likelihood of success
• Have recently launched a venture and need assistance with their new business
• Presenters and Material

Presenters will include ACU faculty, successful entrepreneurs and expert professionals from the region.

The bootcamp will include hands-on training for those in attendance. Specific topics will include:

• Attributes of Successful Entrepreneurs
• Assessing Your Readiness to be an Entrepreneur
• Recognizing and Evaluating Opportunities
• Strategies for Your Business
• Legal Concerns for Start-up Companies
• Understanding Your Customers
• Marketing Strategies
• Tips for Success from Local Entrepreneurs and Investors
• Knowing the Numbers
• Finding Investors and Making the Pitch
• Building the Right Team
• Managing Change
• Additional Benefits

Participants will also receive:

• Free, individual consulting session following bootcamp to create an action plan for moving forward
• Free entry to ACU’s 2012 Springboard Ideas Challenge
• Eligibility to participate in new Mentor Program managed by the West Texas Innovation Network

Date and Time

• Friday and Saturday, November 4-5, 2011
• Friday from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
• Saturday from 9:00 am to 3:30 pm

Location
Hunter Welcome Center on ACU’s campus.

Cost
Only $99 per person for individuals who register by November 1, 2011.
The registration fee following November 1, 2011 is $249.

Visit acu.edu/entrepreneur-bootcamp for more information and to register today! You can also visit the West Texas Innovation Network’s website for additional information.

Tonight, Terry Johnson, a local social entrepreneur, will be speaking about some cool new things he’s working at this month’s ReInvent Abilene. ReInvent Abilene is a free event that features local thought-leaders and people who are working on cool things. They usually provide food and cold beverages, so there’s no reason to not go, really. Read more about the speaker and this month’s event here: http://reinventabilene.posterous.com/reinvent-abilene-reminder-46743

Since I’ve been in Abilene (going on 8 years), I’ve seen several changes in peoples’ attitudes towards technology startups. A lot of people would like to see Abilene have a stronger entrepreneurial community. Places like the Abilene Small Business Development Center, the Griggs Center for Entrepreneurship & Philanthropy, and the West Texas Innovation Network and events like ReInvent Abilene and Build Guild and others are all great and support the cause for strengthening the Abilene entrepreneurial community.

Brad Feld is a technology VC, a co-founder of TechStars and one of the catalysts responsible for developing Boulder, CO into the entrepreneurial hub it is today. On his blog, he posted some great notes and a video talking about the important pieces in creating entrepreneurial communities. I think this is a post that everyone who cares about the Abilene entrepreneurial community should read and watch. Read the full post here: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2011/10/entrepreneurial-communities-must-be-led-by-entrepreneurs.html

I’m still really new to the raising money game. I’ve read and researched a lot about it, but just now getting into actually doing it. There’s so much to learn and know about it, it’s refreshing to run across blog posts that clearly explain the core pieces to some deals. Martin Kleppmann does exactly that with convertible notes and valuation caps here: http://martin.kleppmann.com/2010/05/05/valuation-caps-on-convertible-notes-explained-with-graphs.html