TechStars, Lies & Videotape • Hacker News Board

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#71

Post by projectileboy » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 10:33 AM UTC

melanie_io wrote: post #28

snprbob86 wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know the exact details, but you'll notice that there are only 6 companies being profiled in the show. Ten companies went through the NY program in that cycle. My understanding is that each team was given the option of participating in the show, along with appropriate caveats. I doubt anyone from TechStars pressured them to participate, although the folks from BloombergTV may have. In theory, TechStars founder…

Every company was required to participate: the choice was (1) do the show or (2) drop out of TechStars. Bloomberg followed all 11 (not 10) companies throughout the entire program, but focused only on 6 companies because it was impossible to follow 11 different story lines in 6, 22-minute episodes.

Whoa, what? Did you know about this before you took investment money from TechStars?

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#72

Post by forkqueue » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 10:52 AM UTC

curiouskat wrote: post #41

mixmax wrote: post #18

Well, that's showbusiness for you. I have friends in media and showbusiness, so I've seen these things from behind the scenes, and have a good feel for the dynamics. Media is about getting customers just like any other company, and their product is stories. They try to make these stories as appealing as possible, just like any other company tries to make the product their customers want.Truth plays second fiddle to a…

I wonder how much this quest for storylines has seeped into professional sports. It seems like more and more the NBA and NFL are manufacturing/assisting storylines rather than concerning themselves with the purity of competition.

In Formula 1 the FIA (rule-makers and enforcers) often seem to give penalties to ensure the title fight goes to the last race.

Hamilton in Spa 2008 and Alonso in Monza 2006 are examples which come to mind.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#73

Post by apaprocki » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 10:57 AM UTC

veyron wrote: post #61

apaprocki wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you complain? If you're interested, email me (profile).

I don't see an email in your profile ...

Sorry, updated it so it is in about: now.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#74

Post by JonnieCache » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 11:21 AM UTC

Not wishing to be rude to any of the participants, but what were you expecting? You have seen television, right? If you're clever enough to run a startup then the editing tricks and other manipulation should be pretty transparant.

I suppose in that situation the publicity is very hard to turn down.

Hopefully lessons have been learned.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#75

Post by rglover » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 1:01 PM UTC

staunch wrote: post #13

pedalpete wrote: post #6

Do people here think TechStars is somewhat to blame in this? they are the ones who are running the incubator and hosting the companies. Why would they bring in this sort of outside factor into an already challenging environment. If they were unaware of how the show would turn out, I suspect all they needed to do was speak to reality tv producers (other than those who produced this show), and they would have been told…

I'm sure YC has been asked to participate in this kind of thing and they've declined. After watching this show, it's clear that they showed good judgment. I do think there's room to do a quality documentary on YC or TechStars, but the dramatic reality show format is inherently crap.

I agree that a documentary would be cool, but I'd be hesitant to say that it would need to be produced under the guise of a network or other professional organization. If anything, I'd love to see a glued together collection of videos from the founders, pg, and the rest of the team (sort of like pg's post not too long ago of pictures of the early days of YC). It doesn't have to be produced to be entertaining and the story wouldn't need to be written (it would simply be the YC companies going through the experience).

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#76

Post by robjohnson » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 1:07 PM UTC

This is the worst kind of marketing for tech stars. I wonder how many people who held them high esteem are seriously questioning any motivations of attending.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#77

Post by ElevenElOwl » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 1:31 PM UTC

awfycooper wrote: post #43

staunch wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure YC has been asked to participate in this kind of thing and they've declined. After watching this show, it's clear that they showed good judgment. I do think there's room to do a quality documentary on YC or TechStars, but the dramatic reality show format is inherently crap.

This wouldn't work in the YC environment since people don't actually work at YC's offices. The startups just meet every Tuesday for a group dinner then outside of that will only appear at the YC office if they have office hours booked with one of the partners.

I think that YC would be better for something about Startups and less about drama and entertainment. I always liked the importance of space that YC has, and that people don't work in an incubator environment. I would think you could make a quality documentary that doesn't have that reality show flare.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#78

Post by matwood » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 1:41 PM UTC

curiouskat wrote: post #63

protomyth wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the NFL fixed a game then their would be issues in Las Vegas and DC because of the betting. beyond that, the damage done to their reputation would end the league.

You can place bets on professional wrestling ( http://www.covers.com/articles/articles.aspx?theArt=228164 ), and I doubt Vegas would mind. Moreover there have been several politically-beneficial wins in the last 10 years -- the Patriots winning the Super Bowl after 911, the Saints winning it after Katrina, the Jets winning this year's Sunday night opener on the 10th anniversary of 911, in a metaphorical come-from-beh…

I've talked to many current and ex-NFL players at the gym and while the league has problems, fixing games is not one of them. When you're dealing at that level of talent small edges can mean big things. The emotional edge that one team has like in your examples can often push them to be just a bit better than other side. This is even more important when talking about a Super Bowl where both teams are evenly matched talent wise. In general the emotional/mental side of football is often way underrated.

Thing is, you show a couple of examples that are easily coincidences while there are many many counter examples. One big recent one is first super bowl in the new Texas stadium where the Cowboys were picked early season to go there and win. I don't even think they made the playoffs that year.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#79

Post by megamark16 » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:20 PM UTC

When they showed the scene where that one guy admitted to embezzlement I thought "wow, that's intense." Now I know that the participants were told that none of the audio from their private mentor meetings would be used. They thought they were having a private discussion about a team members hardships. Talk about lost trust, sheesh.

Re: TechStars, Lies & Videotape

#80

Post by 0x12 » Thu, Oct 20, 2011, 2:37 PM UTC

reecepacheco wrote: post #37

disclaimer: techstars founder here... while the finished product that Bloomberg aired is not the most amazing piece of journalism i've ever seen, i don't think TechStars is to blame for that. the TechStars ethos is to be open and encourage entrepreneurship. to this end, TechStars asked us if we were ok with putting ourselves out there to the world and we all agreed to it before the program started. at the end of the…

Techstars founder?

You mean 'founder of a business that is funded by techstars' I presume?