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Booted out of Bootup Labs

livejamie.com

121–130 of 170 posts

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#121

That really sucks! But dude, why give up on the idea? you're selling the domain and moving on? Incubators aren't necessary.. keep plugging away and launch anyway.

Hey Brad, I'm just in survival mode at the moment, living on my parent's couch at the moment with negative money in my bank account. I need to sell some things to try to get back on my feet again - that's why I'm seeing if I can sell these domains.

With all due respect Jamie, if you're in it, you're in it.

My suggestion (for what it's worth) is that you put this behind you and find a way to make it happen. If you choose not to, you probably weren't going to make a go of it anyway.

You got a raw deal, and that's clear to anyone. Now get back to work on your startup. This can be a roadblock or a speedbump; you choose.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#122
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't your legal counsel suggest you , you know, don't engage in arguments in public internet forums that could lead to actionable court cases? Should this turn out to not be the truth, even the slightest unintentional misappropriation of funds for a pizza could end up costing your company a great deal.

It won't, because the Canadian justice system is much saner than the US justice system.

It is much saner, and more importantly we're far less litigious as a society - but it still seems like it could bite you in the butt later.

Maybe I've been around the gringos too long.....

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#123
post #96

Danny, one of the bootuplabs founders just posted this comment on the post. ///////////// This is not how it went down Jamie. After everything that we did for you and Steven, I'm shocked at how you have twisted the truth for PR reasons. - you were in our office for 2 months, not 3. - you program is 5%-15% for $150k over 8 months - you received $6k over that 2 months - we received nothing in return. - we paid your leg…

Customer, to Taxi driver: "I'll pay you $40 to take me to the airport." [Taxi driver takes customer 4 miles, throws him out of the cab in a bad neighborhood to pick up a more profitable customer, and drives away. Customer flips off driver as he speeds away.] Driver, yelling out of window: "What are you complaining about? I took you 4 miles and didn't even charge you!!"

Wow what a clean way to explain this crazy matter to my son.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#124
post #38

Bootup Labs has posted their side of the story on their blog: http://blog.bootuplabs.com/2010/04/14/wertz-joins-board-firs...

"Bootup is back on solid ground and ready to continue it’s role as a leading North American Seed Accelerator." VERY bold statement.

[deleted]

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#125

everything happens for a reason, I am sure you will create something create after this.

Not really. Sometime in life shit just happens for no good reason.

And when life gives you shit... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpuFeQZCvOI

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#126
I find the weird part about this is you are selling your domains. I vote no for this move. Find another way to make that cash but keep your domain and your co-founder.

If these guys at bootlab accepted you, there is a high probability that someone else would too.

[who knows post a donation page and see where it goes. I think most of us here knows what survival mode is like, so would be sympathetic to your cause]

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey Brad, I'm just in survival mode at the moment, living on my parent's couch at the moment with negative money in my bank account. I need to sell some things to try to get back on my feet again - that's why I'm seeing if I can sell these domains.

With all due respect Jamie, if you're in it, you're in it. My suggestion (for what it's worth) is that you put this behind you and find a way to make it happen. If you choose not to, you probably weren't going to make a go of it anyway. You got a raw deal, and that's clear to anyone. Now get back to work on your startup. This can be a roadblock or a speedbump; you choose.

I'm curious--why the downvote?

Isn't this just the sort of test we've all faced at some point in our startup efforts?

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#128
post #8
post #2

When I saw this title, my immediate thought was "hmm, I wonder if this is about Bootup Labs?" I've met the people behind Bootup Labs, and I like them. They're smart. They're enthusiastic about what they're doing. But I was never really convinced that they were able to make things work financially. I've seen enough startups that I can usually tell when a startup is running on fumes and spending all their energy on try…

I second this, Vancouver is really sorry and we hope you will come back and visit.

Thirded. It's awful that these two had to go through this, but on top of the awful experience, it happened as a result of moving to what I believe is the most beautiful city in the world. Being so excited for something and having it turn into an unmitigated disaster is depressing.

Believe me when I say the whole tech community here feels awful about this. Don't let it sour you on our city!

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Other accelerators get the same fee as well. There are expenses to operate the accelerator plus an investment in the startup, which is exchanged for % in the startup. Often 5%-6%. If you add this up, effectively, the companies are getting $60k of real money spent on them for 6% of the company. That's a $1M post money value. (note: YC is probably an exception to this math since it has no physical space) But, that's ho…

R&D? at the pub?

Yeah, usually the Irish Heather (http://irishheather.com/).

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#130
post #94

The fact that the Managing Director of Bootup would confront allegations in a public forum does not bode well for his organization. I would hope day to day business decisions at Bootup are not done in the same manner. It is ,at best, completely unprofessional.

Why do you say that? It might open them up to some sort of liability (I don't know either way), but as long as they watch their tongue, I think it reflects well on the company to be so transparent.

I couldn't disagree with you more. Discussions of this sort should be done at the very least on the phone. The airing of dirty laundry, if that may be the case, is best not done on a message board. Comments are taken out of context, misquoted etc ... It is at best ill advised. While transparency is paramount that is not what this is --- banter about such matters on an open forum is to say the least petty and completely unprofessional.
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