11–20 of 46 posts
Nice article, though I'm a bit confused by what your startup does. You may want to make the benefits/problem you're trying to solve a bit more obvious on the main page.
One thing you need to understand is that VC is a networking game, not a capital allocation game. You will get nowhere without access to a couple of trusted connections. Your idea, team, market, traction, revenue, and earnings mean absolutely nothing without "knowing a guy who knows a guy".
I think this feeling is a staple of all involved in "longer-term" creative efforts that have to compete for the same mindshare. I'm sure PhD/grad students have the same horror when one of their Google alerts pops up with a conference paper abstract that reads just like what they've been slaving on for three months :o !!
One minor thing I'd pick out of this rant is your exasperation at the fact that VCs did not respond favorably to being cold-pitched. One thing you need to understand is that VC is a networking game, not a capital allocation game. You will get nowhere without access to a couple of trusted connections. Your idea, team, market, traction, revenue, and earnings mean absolutely nothing without "knowing a guy who knows a gu…
Looking at your "twenty people" website, greeting me with a big "Warning: You are using Opera. This browser is not supported" text on the top, maybe explains a bit that this thing is failing. There are about 30 - 40 million opera users out there. If the main website of your project starts with that attitute, I'm wondering if it goes on like that.
As an Opera user I find it a bit annoying as well but I think it's just a silly warning that doesn't impact functionality.
What we've learned from this post is that when the author was at Microsoft talking and interviewing startups and people in new, innovative spaces, they had absolutely no clue what so ever of what startup founders go through. Yes starting a company it is of course one of the most difficult things you can do -- especially if you waste time trying to raise money rather than say staying focusing on making money.
Your idea doesn't seem like one where first-move takes all (whether it's customers, hype, media press, etc). I recommend just going all in with the enterprise market, and marketing it as a tool for employers to keep track of the skills their employees have. Sort of like a poor man's SuccessFactors.
What we've learned from this post is that when the author was at Microsoft talking and interviewing startups and people in new, innovative spaces, they had absolutely no clue what so ever of what startup founders go through. Yes starting a company it is of course one of the most difficult things you can do -- especially if you waste time trying to raise money rather than say staying focusing on making money.
well i've always been sort of self-employed before, projects here, projects there, wrote a book, just had jobs on and off - but it was never a thing i did as 100% like now - which is a hell lot scarier
But I will say that it's hard to imagine that a startup will be successful unless you are emotionally all in, and that quote failure is not an option unquote. Doing stuff on the side never really made sense to me, other than as a bootstrapping strategy. The anxiety and stress, if you are able to channel them productively, are amazing sources of energy and focus. Good luck!