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Booted out of Bootup Labs

livejamie.com

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Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#111

Post by megamark16 »

realitycheques wrote: post #102
livejamie wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My response which I posted: Hey Danny. I apologize that you feel like I'm twisting the truth. It was the last week in January until the end of last Month. While we were there 3 months of the year, you are correct 2 months would be more accurate, I was just getting the $100k off of the Bootup website, I understood that we got $150k, but that $50k went back to Bootup, is that not what the original terms were? You did p…

why are you apologizing? Seems like it should be the other way around... Soory you guys have had ahard time, Hope this experience doesn't scare too many other people off doing startups in vancouver or coming here to start a business

I'd like to think that most people ballsy enough to start a startup in the first place will take it as lessons learned and still see Vancouver as a great opportunity. I know I would, if given the opportunity. I'd just be a little more careful now, having read about Statusly's ups and downs.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#112

Post by rdl »

9oliYQjP wrote: post #92
rdl wrote: post #35

How hard is it to set up a Vancouver startup independently, if you have 2-3 US citizens who want to relocate? Assume you have $100-200k of your own funding. Gaming the tax credits seems like it takes a bit of effort, but lowers the effective tax rate substantially below even Nevada.

Starting a company in Canada among 2 or 3 people is easy. I should know because I did it when I was a teenager. It cost me $15 for some incorporation templates, $150 for a name search report showing potentially similar company names to the one I wanted to start, and $350 or so in government fees. This got me a company incorporated provincially. You can do it federally too but it's a bit more complex. If you have as m…

I like accelerators for two reasons: 1) Having a same-time-founded cohort of companies. Moral support, entertainment, and when ~80% of them fail, you can pick and choose assets (great developers) having great visibility into them.

2) I like the idea of accelerators for people with $0 and just out of college or high school, or who need structure. If I could give 5% of my company to give an accelerator a win (both in money upside and reputation), I'd do it, especially if I were in a third-tier city like Vancouver which deserves a second tier startup population.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#113

Post by megamark16 »

Confusion wrote: post #77
dedward wrote: 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.

Lucky.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#114

Post by hga »

bmann wrote: post #86
chris11 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So would that imply that the founders could try to collect part of the $50k from Bootup Labs? It sounded like when they got kicked out of the program, Bootup Labs only covered the previous months rent, when Statusly should have already paid for rent and services for the entire length of the program. Now if Statusly was only in the program for 2 out of the 8 months, then it seems like the founders could be owed around…

You guys are getting confused with the "rent" word. We paid Statuslys out of pocket expenses (i.e. their apartment and food) because they had no money.

As I understand it, they had no money in part because you didn't keep your side of the agreement.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#115

Post by JeremyChase »

livejamie wrote: post #81

This has been written about on RWW now: How to Burn Bridges with Bootup Labs and Other Investors http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/04/how-to-burn-bridge...

That article was written simply to be link-bait. She is simply saying the opposite of everyone else to get people to look. Ignore it.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#116

Post by hga »

DanBlake wrote: post #20

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…

"After everything that we did for you and Steven..."

You know, there are any number of people in the city I live in who are quite willing and able waste a few months of my life, drain my bank balances and crush my spirit without asking me to move to another city in another country.

In the long term the introductions might be useful but they are they only upside I see in this whole situation.

Agreed with DanBlake: "Wow".

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#117

Post by edw519 »

DanBlake wrote: post #20

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…

Out of everything said here, this sticks out like a sore thumb:

we received nothing in return.

Isn't the whole point of these programs to enable founders to do their thing in an environment they can't find anywhere else?

If you're expected to manage a project and provide deliverables over a timeline, why not just go out and find a customer? You get to keep all their money and all your equity. And you still get to advance your product.

If, on the other hand, you want to develop a game changer, uncontrained by customer demands, you save up or take investment and go to your lab. Your are no longer a developer; you are an inventor. Sure, everyone wants to show progress, but not at the expense of pursuing the breakthroughs you will need to hit the home run desired by your investor(s).

Investors, if you want a home run from your founders, you may just have to wait a while for the baby to gestate. Expecting "something in return" in the first 2 months of a 10 month program is an unreasonable expectation IMO. Just do your share and get out of the way.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#118

Post by dagw »

dedward wrote: post #41

Can I just say that the fact that either party here is duking this out in a public forum is just..... unprofessional? Especially from the VC firm itself? I suppose I'm a newcomer to this "VC/incubator/startup" community - but in any other life situation, when I decide to pack up and move somewhere far away, I make sure I have stuff in writing, and cash in the bank, and all my i's dotted and t's crossed before I quit…

Sometimes you have to take risks to win big. If an opportunity arises you sometimes have to choose between jumping at it and risk falling or watching it slip away.

Honestly, if I where in their situation I probably would have done the same thing, not because I'm dumb or naive or unaware of the risks, but simply because, fuck it, life is too short to always do the dull and sensible thing. And who knows, it might end up being awesome.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#119

Post by gjm11 »

JeremyChase wrote: post #115
livejamie wrote: post #81

This has been written about on RWW now: How to Burn Bridges with Bootup Labs and Other Investors http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/04/how-to-burn-bridge...

That article was written simply to be link-bait. She is simply saying the opposite of everyone else to get people to look. Ignore it.

Linkbait? On ReadWriteWeb? You astonish me.

Re: Booted out of Bootup Labs

#120

Post by gyardley »

jamesshamenski wrote: post #47

Boo the VC's in this one! The investors of BootupLabs did not have confidence in 57% of their latest pool of startups. i wonder why they invested at all if they dont fully back their judgement? Here's what probably happened, I bet the investors squeezed Boris and Danny with the alternative option being closing their doors early on all 7 companies. Sometimes VC's do evil things to extract more ownership in last minute…

I can't speak for every investor in this incubator but Boris Wertz of W Media Ventures has money in my own startup and I've always found him to be an upstanding, helpful guy - First Round Capital introduced him to me and I've always been grateful for that. I wouldn't particularly call Boris a VC, though - more of a large angel, investing the money he made from the startup he founded himself.

It's a bad idea to slight individuals you don't know anything about just because you think they belong to a generic 'VC' category.

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