blogging…

Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net

Dec 6

Posted by GP in English, Language, Life Style | No Comments

Starting your first company

Nov 5

A great mini-guide by chris Dixon. You can find the original here http://post.ly/19xRU

Things you should do when you are just starting up:

- make sure you have the right team. if you are doing a consumer web startup, you *need* someone on the team who is native web product person. if you are doing real tech, you need someone who is true native

- hire a good startup law firm (i like gunderson) and get standardized incorporation, vesting etc docs. it’s worth it. (but try to only pay $5K or so with promise to pay more later when you get funding etc).

- talk to everyone you can about your idea. collect feedback, criticism, maybe garner some allies along the way (even advisors which can help build your credibility).

- if you don’t already, read all tech blogs everyday. Techcrunch, gigaom, business insider, mashable, rww, etc. read vc blogs like fred wilson, mark suster, and eric reis. go back and read back articles

- start blogging & tweeting if you don’t already. don’t over think this. your blog posts don’t need to be shakespeare – just do minimal viable blogging. document your startup adventures, thoughts on tech, respond to others blogging/tweeting – whatever. just get out there and write.

- go to all good startup events and talk to

- how googleable are you? if you aren’t winning the first page of google when you type in your name, that means you aren’t doing a good job building your web

- try to work out of an office with other early stage startups. good energy.

- apply to ycombinator, techstars etc. no brainer to at least apply.

- if you don’t code, don’t try to teach yourself and code for your startup. partner with someone who is great at it. programming is an art & science and takes years to get good at.

- if you really want to do a startup, be ready to spend the next 5 years of your life doing it. if you aren’t ready for that level of commitment, don’t do it.

Tags: startup vc

bunga bunga

Oct 31

Posted by GP in Italian, Language, Life Style | No Comments

Superangels.. the new funding landscape

Oct 21

Posted by GP in Business, English, Language, VC | No Comments

There is an interesting essay from the Paul Graham, about what’s changing in the funding market and startup environment. LINK

Here some extracts:

[...]

For decades there were just those two types of investors, but now a third type has appeared halfway between them: the so-called super-angels. [1] And VCs have been provoked by their arrival into making a lot of angel-style investments themselves. So the previously sharp line between angels and VCs has become hopelessly blurred.

There used to be a no man’s land between angels and VCs. Angels would invest $20k to $50k apiece, and VCs usually a million or more. So an angel round meant a collection of angel investments that combined to maybe $200k, and a VC round meant a series A round in which a single VC fund (or occasionally two) invested $1-5 million.

[...]

The no man’s land between angels and VCs was a very inconvenient one for startups, because it coincided with the amount many wanted to raise. Most startups coming out of Demo Day wanted to raise around $400k. But it was a pain to stitch together that much out of angel investments, and most VCs weren’t interested in investments so small. That’s the fundamental reason the super-angels have appeared. They’re responding to the market.

The arrival of a new type of investor is big news for startups, because there used to be only two and they rarely competed with one another. Super-angels compete with both angels and VCs. That’s going to change the rules about how to raise money. I don’t know yet what the new rules will be, but it looks like most of the changes will be for the better.

A super-angel has some of the qualities of an angel, and some of the qualities of a VC. They’re usually individuals, like angels. In fact many of the current super-angels were initially angels of the classic type. But like VCs, they invest other people’s money. This allows them to invest larger amounts than angels: a typical super-angel investment is currently about $100k. They make investment decisions quickly, like angels. And they make a lot more investments per partner than VCs—up to 10 times as many.

The fact that super-angels invest other people’s money makes them doubly alarming to VCs. They don’t just compete for startups; they also compete for investors. What super-angels really are is a new form of fast-moving, lightweight VC fund. And those of us in the technology world know what usually happens when something comes along that can be described in terms like that. Usually it’s the replacement.