Ethan Austin of GiveForward wrote a great blog post about moving to the SF Bay Area and then back to Chicago and all of the issues he and the company were grappling with. It’s a fantastic work/life balance story that is worth a quick read.
VC Asshat Move #1
March 7, 2013 By 19 Comments
Occasionally, I see VCs doing unethical and infuriating things. I have to call out those things when I see them, and my goal is to arm you (startups) with ways to combat these “VC asshat moves”.
Note: Not all VCs are Asshats, I’m not saying that. But I want to help you detect the few that are.
VC Asshat Move #1 is when a VC meetings with a startup that competes directly with another startup that they are planning to fund. In this asshat move, the VC reaches out (usually through an associate or principal) and says they heard about your awesome business. They’re interested in the space and wondering if you can come in for a meeting. You go in so the asshat (or possibly unwitting) associate can see if you’re a complete idiot or not. If not, you then meet with the actual asshat partner VC so they can assess you against the company they’re about to fund.
To you, the startup, this all feels as if they’re just interested in your obviously cool startup. They have brains. It feels good.
Then they say no. Then 30 days later, they fund a competitor. You may never suspect anything because after all, they were interested in the space. You’re bummed they picked them over you.
However, maybe it’s more devious than that. Maybe they already picked them, before they even met with you! They got you to come in and tell them all your secrets, and now they’re invested in the other company. It happens, I’ve seen it.
Many people will say “hey David, call out the VCs who do this.” I want to. Really, I do. But it’s not my place in the cases I’ve seen. Doing so will harm the startups who have already been wronged. So they have to do it, not me. If you had this happen to you, and it’s not sour grapes (we should all recognize that this happens too), then you should talk about it. But I can’t out specific VCs, because I want to help startups and not hurt them. So instead I’m talking about the issue generally because I believe it’s a problem.
Now back to why I’m writing this. I want you to be aware this happens, and I want to tell you how to stop it. First, ask the direct question in the first meeting “Are you talking with any of my competitors?” Most people have a hard time lying when asked a direct question. If they are already talking with your competitors, they’re likely to say yes. If they don’t then they’re very unethical and methodical in their ability to be asshats. If they say yes, ask directly “Are you close to investing in any of them?” and “Are we the leading candidate?” Watch for squirming and avoidance. If you see it, be really careful.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway. Always do your diligence on specific VCs that you’re dealing with (the partners, not the whole firm). Then ask the hard questions to be sure you’re on the same page. The VC, if they’re good, will respect you for asking and won’t view it as an accusation.
Introducing TechStars London
February 20, 2013 By 3 Comments
Today is a big day for TechStars. With the announcement of TechStars London, we are taking a first step outside of the United States.
Thanks to Bright Move Media for taking us all around London! brightmovemedia.com
We’ve always been cautious with our growth, always prioritizing quality over quantity. We have great programs in the US that are well respected, and have built an incredible network of hands-on mentors and alumni. We’ve learned that the most important thing when entering a new location is to ensure that the quality of the person running the program (we call it the Managing Director), their team, and the mentors is exceptionally high. We found that in London in Jon Bradford.
The reality is that we found it some time ago. I first met Jon about three years ago when he was launching The Difference Engine in Newcastle. I went there to help him understand how to build a high quality mentorship-driven accelerator. We spent a few days talking about the philosophy of giving first, and about the powerful motivation of building startup communities. It was immediately obvious that we were culturally and philosophically aligned. Jon put the startups first in every thought he had. Because of this, we kept in touch over the years. We compared notes and tried to help each other. Each time I would come to the UK we’d get together, and it was the same when Jon visited the US.
Fast forward a few years and Jon had moved to London and built Springboard. In London, Jon had more “raw material” in the form of experienced mentors and startup talent. More and more interesting companies started to emerge. Jon continued to give back to startups by co-founding f6s which has since grown into a very large and useful social network for startup founders. After one of Brad Feld’s trips to Springboard, Jon encouraged and contributed to the Mentor Manifesto.
Meanwhile, TechStars in the US had funded some fantastic companies such as Memrise (from London, $6M in venture funding), GrabCAD (Estonia, $12M in venture funding), and DocTrackr (Paris, $2M in venture funding) so we also became more familiar with the great talent that TechStars London could tap into.
Then in September of last year when I visited Jon in London again, it was very clear to me that something had changed there. It just felt different. Better. Google Campus was teeming with startups that were thinking big. The Tech City branding had attracted more talented and provided visibility to what was happening in London. Big companies were starting to help the little companies. The community was showing all of the early signs that form the Boulder Thesis in Brad Feld’s book Startup Communities.
This is when I approached Jon about becoming part of TechStars. He agreed and the story is to be continued as TechStars London.
Education gets schooled by startups at the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator
February 18, 2013 By 1 Comment
I’m excited to announce the Kaplan EdTech Accelerator, powered by TechStars this morning. Kaplan will host ten companies focused on education technology and product innovation for an intensive three-month program in New York City this summer. The program will be housed just a few blocks from our TechStars NYC office in the West Village-SoHo neighborhood from June to September 2013. Mentors include Udemy CEO Eren Bali, Kaplan’s CEO Andy Rosen, Treehouse CEO Ryan Carson, General Assembly CEO Jake Schwartz, Benchprep co-founders Ashish Rangnekar and Ujjwal Gupta, Nick Ducoff (Boundless Learning), Brad Feld (Foundry Group), Sree Sreenivasan (Columbia University), Phil Weiser (Former Senior Advisor for Technology and Innovation to the National Economic Council Director at the White House, Dean of CU Law School), Matthew Greenfield (Managing Director of Rethink Education), myself, and many more industry leaders in the edtech space. Companies will receive $20K in seed funding, introductions to angel investors and VCs and access to Kaplan’s extensive network of resources; schools, students, tools, and research.
Kaplan has been a long-time champion of startups and has been very supportive of the TechStars community generally. We’re looking for teams that support ongoing learning, certifications, continuing education, and, in Kaplan’s words, any startup that harnesses the latest learnings from the fields of science, instructional design, and technology to support the development of highly effective, evidence-based learning products. Teams aren’t limited to traditional classroom education nor K-12. We’re looking for teams that are thinking outside of the box on a big scale. Education needs to be schooled.
Details about the program are available at KaplanEdTechAccelerator.com.
Big Data Meetup at CU on 2/13 @ 6:00
February 7, 2013 By 1 Comment
Are you in Boulder and interested in Big Data? It’s way better than medium data or small data if you ask me.
Are you amazed at how the big data technologies of the last few years have transformed the way you look at data? Are you interested in what the next “big thing” is in big data? If you answered yes then you have to come to the Februrary Boulder / Denver Big Data meetup on 2/13 @ 6:00 PM at CU ( ECCR 265 ) .
Ted Dunning, Chief Architect at MapR Technologies and contributor to the Drill project, will be presenting on Drill. Drill, a technology that has its roots in the Google dremel paper, is an interactive query platform that promises 10x-100x query performance over current Hadoop options. For more information look here. It’s a great group and a really good opportunity to network with others with an interest in big data.
Help Fund the Jessica Ridgeway Memorial Park
February 3, 2013 By Leave a Comment
We all felt the impact of the loss of Jessica Ridgeway. As a celebration of Jessica’s life, there’s an effort going on to renovate her neighborhood park in 2013.
The City of Westminster has collaborated with the family on the design and has committed $200,000 in cash and in-kind services. The total cost of the project is $450,000. Current partners include Jefferson County, Westminster Rotary Club, Heinrich Marketing, and Westminster Public Safety Recognition Foundation.
My wife and I just made a donation. You can also help the community and Jessica’s family heal with a tax deductible donation to a beautiful park in her honor. To do so, just visit the Westminster Legacy Foundation and be sure to note that your donation is intended for the Jessica Ridgeway Memorial Park.
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