jbrasunas

When it comes to trying to predict if a start-up is going to succeed or not, there's no shortage of opinions on what are the key factors that point to success.  Passion of the founders, adequate capital, market focus, protected intellectual property, catching the current trends, well-written business plan, and experienced management are just some of the more popular elements that are named.   Trouble is, it's not too hard to find exceptions, and point to successful companies that lacked one or more of those elements and still made it.   

So, what the hell, I've come up with my own list, based upon what I've seen and experienced.   And I've made it a really short list so it's easy to remember.   I truly think that if a company embodies both of these things, they're going to find success.   So here they are:  Demand and Execution.   Customer Demand for the company's product or service, and Execution meaning meeting that demand consistently and with excellence.   The greatest widget that no one wants, the compelling app that people yawn at, or a service that misses the mark.........try building a company around any of those and you'll fail.  On the other hand, if you've got a widget that a lot of people want but you can't deliver it, or service it, or find a channel to market for it......well, that's a big problem too.

The faster a company can prove that there is market demand and the faster the company can figure out how it can satisfy that demand, the sooner all of the other good things start to happen.  Find a way to get a prototype built and into the hands of who you think will get excited by having it so you can find out beyond a doubt if they are or not.  It's much better spending your time getting that done than spending precious hours doing another iteration of your business plan.  If you find the demand just isn't there, then move on!  Change your product, change your company or change your career.  It's much better to fail sooner than to fail later.  Valuable lessons from failure will serve you well in your next endeavor.   

All of that other stuff, like customer service, financial projections, valuation consideration, marketing plans, etc. are all very important when their time has come.   But it's all make-believe until you really begin delivering value to customers.    Create a very focused plan for yourself that has one objective: getting your product into the hands of a few would-be customers as soon as you can.   Execute that plan and then listen.  Listen to what your first few customers have to say about what you've given them.  They'll tell you how much they'll pay for it, they'll tell you how you can make it better, and they'll tell their friends about it.  That's the quickest way to know whether or not your start-up has a chance or not.  And then you've got a real story to build a business plan around...........and just maybe a real success on your hands.

Tags: Director

davidstrom

Welcome back from the holidays everyone. I hope you all had a restful and enjoyable break and are ready to get back to work.

In the ten years since Real Simple Syndication (RSS) has been invented, it has been one of the most significant technologies that Rodney Dangerfield would say "got no respect." Providing the connective glue behind most social media, linking various Web sites for automatically posting content, being able to Webify various other protocols -- RSS is the tech that most of us now take for granted.

I am not a big fan of the best of the decade type of stories (especially as the decade isn't really yet over for another year). But as I was thinking about how far we have come in the past ten years, I thought I would take a moment of appreciation for RSS and all that it has done. It is one of those stories of unintended consequences. And what is ironic is how many of us use it every day without realizing it, or even knowing what it does to help better our online lives.

Back at the end of 1999, a few computer scientists at Netscape (talk about underappreciated companies, at least for those of us that weren't part of their stratospheric IPO), Apple and Microsoft put together the beginnings of the protocol. Aided and abetted by pundit and programmer Dave Winer, RSS began to show up in a variety of odd places, including early Web server software. The early days of RSS spawned a series of specialty software tools called RSS readers that enabled some of us to keep track of new content that was added to our favorite Web sites without having to cycle through them in our
browsers one by one. And that is where things stood for most of the time, until the blogosphere and the social Web took off.

Well, those RSS readers were probably the biggest pile of mostly unused software. A few geeks used them, but mostly they were oddities. I recall giving a presentation in 2007 at the New Communications Forum to explain RSS to public relations people, and some of the things that I mentioned then still apply to the technology, such as a way to quickly scan information, be the first on your cubicle block to find out something, and supplement email as a way to send information to a
lot of folks quickly. I will post these slides to Slideshare.net/davidstrom so you can take a look for yourself if you are interested.

Just as a side note: the site Slideshare.net is an interesting outgrowth of RSS itself: you can notify various people on your
LinkedIn and other sites when you put up new content such as this slide deck.

I still have my collection of RSS feeds somewhere on my hard drive, and I stopped looking at them a few years ago when I realized that I could Google just about anything that actually showed up in these feeds.

The early blogging tools had one big thing going for them: they automatically generated their RSS feeds without any additional software. This made it easy to integrate their content into a wide variety of places, and before you knew it, RSS feeds were an intrinsic part of online software.

Indeed, it became easier to just review my Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter accounts and see what people have posted there than mess with RSS directly. So we can thank RSS first all for making the concept of a data feed popular in these social networking sites.  Now most everyone knows what "post to my Wall" means or "take a look at my feed" – terms that became popular from Facebook but owe their origins to how RSS was constructed.

Thanks to RSS, I can post my content to my Wordpress blog, and within a few minutes (or hours, depending on how things are going out on the Interwebs), that content will magically appear in my Twitter feed, my Facebook profile, on LinkedIn status, and more. I have tools such as Pixelpipe.com and TubeMogul.com that can send out content to dozens of different places. While with many of these tools there are other programming interfaces that are going on to enable all of this fun and
fascinating connectivity, it really got started with RSS and its series of very minimal standards to publish and subscribe its data
feeds.

So let's start off 2010 with thanks to those early RSS pioneers!

To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter:
http://list.webinformant.tv/mailman/listinfo/webinformant_list.webinformant.
tv

To view a few of my presentations and to find out more about my speaking
business, click here:
http://strom.com/

To subscribe to my Twitter feed:  dstrom @ twitter

To read other blog postings about technology: http://strominator.com

To watch my innovative series of video product reviews:
http://webinformant.tv

David Strom, david@strom.com, 310 857-6867, St. Louis MO

Tags:

davidstrom

Since most of the TV shows are on what appears to be a three-month vacation, now might be a good time to seek Internet alternatives. I got the idea from a story last week in the New York Times about how one of its reporters has gone completely cold-turkey on their cable TV consumption.

It got me thinking about two guys that I know in their 20s that have taken completely different approaches to their digital entertainment consumption. Their approaches illustrate what we have to do to get our TV these days.

J. is single and a DirecTV subscriber, at $95 a month. C. is engaged but doesn’t pay for his TV programming. Like the NYT reporter, he uses his computer to send video to his TV from various Internet sources, using a HDMI to DVI cable. Both are relatively computer savvy guys. Both bought their TVs earlier this spring – this is C.’s first TV since his college days, and did so because he wanted to make it easier for him and his girl friend to watch shows both separately and together. J. has a second TV in his bedroom, and a bigger plasma display in his living room. Both guys have 10 MB cable connections for their Internet service.

C. watches a combination of shows from various Web video sites, such as Hulu and Boxee and some on air TV too. He works in the financial industry, where he has Bloomberg TV streaming to his desktop PC as part of his job. J. works in sales and has some downtime during the work day, where he also watches TV on his PC, but only those Web stations that aren’t blocked by his employer. SpikeTV is his favorite. C. likes the Netflix streaming option, J. hates it – “if I wanted to watch ten-year old movies, I would just find them for free online.”

J. is a big computer gamer and has an Xbox and connects other gaming consoles when his friends bring them by. “The Xbox was difficult to setup to find my digital media,” he told me, much worse the Playstation 3, which easily found and played the majority of his video files that he has downloaded to his PC. It is ironic that a Microsoft gaming console connecting to a Microsoft Windows PC is more difficult to configure than a Sony console connecting to a Windows PC. C. runs on a Mac.

Curiously, the two guys also differ on how they watch movies. J. hasn’t been in a movie theater since 1996, and is proud about that record. Instead, he has downloaded hundreds of movies illegally from a file sharing service, and makes copies of the videos for all of his friends. C. goes to the theaters once every two months but says that it can get expensive, especially at big-city ticket prices.

C. has about 30 GB of music on his PC, most of it illegally downloaded. His last CD was purchased from a store about nine years ago. J. bought his last CD in 1996., and also has several gigabytes of stolen music on his computer. “There is no point in downloading a clip from a legal site,” he told me. “In the time it would take me to listen to the commercial and the first 15 or so seconds, I can find the entire MP3 song online and have it on my hard drive.”

So what can we learn from these two guys? First, going completely free-TV isn’t easy. Some shows aren’t readily available on the Internet. For example, HGTV has exactly 12 shows on Hulu at the moment, which is a very poor sample. Yes, you can find some old shows (C.’s current fave is the vintage Adam 12 series), but your mileage may vary. Yes, they are adding shows all the time, and in some cases you can find the shows on the networks’ own Web sites. I watched a few episodes of FlashFoward on ABC.com, but I had to watch short commercials and click on a button to continue playing the show when the commercials were done.

Second, the system isn’t spousal friendly, at least not for my generation. When I checked to see about my wife’s favorite local TV station, they didn’t have any stream that I could watch from their Web site. HGTV’s Web site is also miserable, making finding a show more of an Easter Egg hunt, and I mean that not in any good way. I know free-TV isn’t ready for my wife yet. C.’s fiancée is happy with their free-TV setup, but it has taken her a while to get used to the arrangement.

Third, while the TV producers and networks are trying mightily to avoid another Napsterization of video, they have yet to succeed. They have experimented with copy protection and that seems to be on the wane, and now concentrated on streaming. Some episodes are available for sale on iTunes.

One thing that is clear is that broadcast networks “must-see TV” is so over. Both guys don’t watch much in the way of sports or news programming. Both watch shows on their schedule, not the networks’.

Finally, the number of add-on devices and gotchas is still mind numbing if you want to deal with the Internet channel. For ABC’s shows, you need to download a player and not use Safari. Netflix has the best and widest streaming support but you’ll need a computer, a supported Blu-Ray DVD player, Xbox or PS3, or their Roku device. Some current shows don’t show up for days or weeks online. Others only have excerpted clips.

Speaking of Roku, I bought mine a month ago and unlike J., am happy with the Netflix choice of those older movies, especially the ones that have been upconverted to HD status. There is little interruption in the video streams, even with a Wifi connection to my network. And Roku continues to add other services, such as Pandora roll-your-own music channels, to make it easier to get content to my living room.

We certainly have come far with free TV — it wasn’t all that long ago that we were using videotapes and buying DVDs, both things that seem so quaint now. Streaming video gets better and better as our Internet pipes improve.

But we still have a long way to go before the Internet can replace the cable DVR. Certainly, Hulu is worth taking a look at and seeing if you can find your favorites and queue them up to watch on your computer. And as Netbooks and used Mac Minis are around $300, there isn’t much friction in having one of them connected to one of your TV outputs. The big remaining issue is having to deal with the various software pieces to try to play the videos.

Tags: Mentor

davidstrom

We all know about outsourcing, the ability to farm out work to people, often overseas, that will work for less, and sometimes for a lot less. But a not-so-new trend is changing the way that outsourcing happens, called crowdsourcing.

The idea is to take a job and divide it into small enough pieces that someone can do it quickly in their spare time. Think about transcribing an audio recording. Or Photoshopping a series of photographs. The difference between regular outsourcing and crowdsourcing is that you don’t necessarily know your contractors, and they mostly are here in the good ole U S of A. Think of it as stimulus package for our troubled times, but based entirely on the private sector.

The idea isn’t all that new, but is catching on due to some important trends. First off, there is a critical mass of people who are willing to do the work, and probably more people are going to be interested because of high unemployment over the past year. Second, the Internet-based tools that are used to farm out jobs and track completions and manage the crowds is getting better all the time. Broadband penetration helps: now most people don’t do dial-up, which is great if you are going to be online for hours at a time working the crowd-based tasks. Finally, many crowds have developed a solid track record, so it is more compelling for project managers looking for workers.

As a result, crowdsourcing is big business. There are several dozen firms that help organize the crowds of people that offer up their services, and some of them are making millions of dollars a year in fees that they collect from being brokers between buyer and provider. Amazon’s Mechanical Turk and eLance.com are two of the more well-known ones, and if you want to find out others I suggest you first listen to my podcast with my partner Paul Gillin and Brent Frei, the author of one of the first industry reports on crowdsourcing. You can find the links to his report and our podcast if you go to: http://MediaBlather.com/103.html

Frei runs a company that provides crowdsourcing, so it isn’t too difficult to see his self-interest. But the report opened my eyes to see the power and the promise behind the idea. For example, you can leverage your own billable time by farming out tedious tasks to someone else that would gladly do it for a lot less than your rates. Or compiling a list of vendors by doing online research of their Web sites. With a $10/hour intern, this project would have taken 12 hours or $120 to complete the task. By divvying it up among a crowd, Frei was able to get it done for about $18 total.

Now, I know what you are going to say. How can you ensure quality of the crowd-based researchers? What about the time and cost to manage them? There are ways to build in redundancy and have the results cross-checked, and with the right kind of project management, you can piece things apart in such a way that makes sense for your crowd.

Paul and I have been doing our MediaBlather podcasts for several years, and always on the lookout for someone interesting to interview, particularly on social media and new marketing tools. If you are interested in being on our show, let us know.

Tags: Mentor

rpatershuk

Especially in technical fields, the locus of the startup universe is NOT in St Louis. That’s not to say that you should move or that the environment does not exist here. iTen is doing plenty to change that, and is making some headway.

There are ways to connect with other startups to get valuable input. The benefit here is by virtualization. While face-to-face networking is considered the best way to ensure the start of a trusting relationship; you, as a startup in St Louis, can tap into what others are doing in other parts of the country and the world. Here are a few sites and blogs that can help.

www.TheFunded.com – Membership is restricted to founders and C-Level executives of startup companies. A simple application process ensures that only entrepreneurs are admitted can be candid about their comments regarding VC’s, Angels, and service providers. The ability to ask others for advice is a great feature.

www.PaulGraham.com – Paul Graham writes on being part of the first internet bubble. He was one of the inventors of the virtual shopping cart and now invests in early stage startups via YCombinator – an incubator in Silicon Valley.

www.VentureHacks.com – Lots of fodder her for ideas on business structure, business models, strategy, unendorsed legal advice, and where to get it. Any issue that you’ll encounter will most likely be here.

Going through these sites will get the neophyte exposed to other sites as well as resources and advice by those who have been there done that. Moreover, They’re mostly focused on IT and technical startup companies. They’re a great place for research.

Enjoy

Tags: Entrepreneur

jbrasunas

Now that it's December of ITEN's first full year of operation, we've got a lot to be thankful for and a lot more that we can and will do.   Having over 100 companies involved in ITEN is quite an accomplishment, and one we can all be proud of.   70 volunteer mentors are active in ITEN, bringing a very high level of quality advice and insight to the ventures they work with.   We've staged some cool events; the Investor Speed Dating in November was probably the most innovative and one that we'll do again next year.   That event marked a rite of passage so to speak, in that it marked the beginning of our inclusion of investors into the Network in a formal way.  Investors are the third necessary "ingredient" after mentors and start-ups, for creating the kind of network that can really help bring up the level of entrepreneurial activity in our region.  I don't think I'll surprise anyone by saying we don't have a huge number of early-stage investors here in the region that are actively investing in IT/internet/software companies; so we'll be working to bring out of town investors into ITEN via the website.   Among other things, investors registered on the site can connect with the graduates from our Mock Angel Training Program.  We've got 5 graduates from the program now, and all 5 are making significant progress getting their ventures off and running.

We've got some major enhancements to the program that will be made in 2010.   The first one, which is just now available for use, is a new option for companies to select mentors.   When a company selects "Mentor Match," they will have the option of requesting help from a volunteer team by selecting **Help Me Choose**.   Companies will get advice on which mentors the volunteer team thinks would be a great fit for the company requesting a mentor.  **Help Me Choose** will be an available option for any requested expertise chosen in Mentor Match.   Jeff Zimmerman is leading this new initiative, that also includes  Francis Chmelir, Tom Dopheide and Jing Wang.  They're beginning to make the rounds to meet the mentors they don't personally know in order to help companies make great mentor selections.

The next addition to the Network is going to be enabling C-Level candidates to have a formal way of joining the Network.  These will be people who, because of their training and experience are candidates for becoming the CEO, COO, CFO, Board Chairman, etc., of a start up company.  Many ITEN companies need such expertise in their companies, so the C-Level interface, coming soon to the website, will be a way companies and investors can connect with these experienced individuals.  Besides a separate portal into the website, C-Level candidates will be pre-screened by ITEN in a way that will be clarified soon.

We've begun the early work on a new program that will complement our Mock Angel Training and our Beta Program.   This will be a B2C program, designed to directly help ITEN companies that need to reach segments of the consumer market.  We will be assembling a great group of mentors who have significant expertise in advertising, search engine optimization, marketing strategy and other skills that are critical for success in the consumer marketplace.   We hope to roll out this program in Q1.

After we've got those enhancements stabilized, probably sometime in the second half of the year, we'll create a new portal that will enable access into the website for universities and corporations who have developed intellectual property that they'd like to see a company formed around.   Exactly how and when this will be enabled is still to be determined, but we see this as a logical extension of the development of the website and of the ITEN Network.

We're proud of what we've accomplished so far, and as you can see, the fun is not about to stop anytime soon!  We'll keep at it, assuming resources are made available, remaking the image of St. Louis into one that is a vibrant center of technology entrepreneurship, and one that is the envy of many.   Thanks for being a part of the Network, and for your continuing participation and support!!   I believe 2010 will be a break-out year for ITEN and for a number of our ventures.

Tags: Director

jbrasunas

     We've got more good stuff coming to ITEN, and I'll start with the growing interest on the part of service providers to get involved.   I encourage everyone who is connected with ITEN, and particularly our start-ups, to check out our Preferred Service Providers when you're looking for help.   If you need legal advice, office space for your growing company, your website built or any other services, please check out who's listed on the ITEN website under the green Service Provider bar.   The service providers listed support ITEN, have great references, and offer discounted prices if you are a part of ITEN.

     I'm getting positive feedback on results from companies that have posted their job openings on the site.   An ITEN start-up can find the "post a job opening" submenu item under the blue Start Up bar.   It'll take a day or two for us to post it after we receive your posting request.   Even though there are a lot of great folks out there looking for opportunities, give yourself plenty of time to find the person with the right fit for your company.  It's a good idea to be doing occasional informational interviews before the immediate need to bring someone on forces you to settle for "best available" instead of the ideal fit.

     As mentioned in my last blog, we've got a great line-up of events coming up, starting with Strange Loop the third week of October.   It's being pulled together by Alex Miller, of Lambda Lounge and Pure Danger fame (see "Links").  ITEN is a co-sponsor of the event and we encourage everyone to check it out.   I'm putting together a panel for a discussion on entrepreneurship that will be sometime around the noon hour on the 23rd.   Tom Niermann, David Karandish and Bob Lozano will join me on stage for what should be a great discussion with plenty of audience interaction.

     On November 17, we'll be having our 3rd Start-Up Connection.   If you haven't been to one of these yet, you're really missing a lot of fun and great networking.  The first one in January focused primarily on connecting recently laid-off technology workers with start-up tech companies looking for management talent, and that's still a major theme of the event.  But we've gone on to add elevator pitch competition, panel discussions and a unique "Innovation Cafe."   Expect the November edition to be well worth your while.  The Start-Up Connection is free and open to the public.

     Planning is proceeding well on two other events that have not yet been officially scheduled:  Investor Speed Dating and a Seminar/Workshop on Web Globalization.   Speed dating will enable selected ITEN companies to interface one-on-one with local early stage investors in an informational and informal setting.   Web Globalization will explore many important aspects of successfully generating a world-wide reach for your enterprise.   It's a well-known shortcoming that most Americans only know one language, but there's more to international website success than just translation.   This event will tell you what you need to do to be successful.

     To register for these and future ITEN events, go to the "Events" tab on the ITEN website.

Tags: Director

saburkett

As a small business owner with little money for marketing, getting PR is the next best thing (ok, as long as it is GOOD PR)!  My downfall is creating press releases though.  I struggle with discovering what is interesting and creating a story worth telling.  Then I found out about PITCHRATE.com.  It is a site that connects journalist with experts.  I monitor the site for requests that fit my expertise and make the pitch.  I was skepitcal at first, but I just received an email for WE Magazine for Women that they used my interview!

The interview is at http://wemagazineforwomen.com/this-business-woman-helps-clients-solve-everyday-technology-challenges/.

I then used ping.fm to update all of my social networking status' (one update and boom, they are done) to share the news!

Tags: Mentor

jbrasunas

Just wanting to let everyone know what we're working on and will be working on for the remainder of the summer and into the fall.  Now that the website is getting closer to fulfilling its mission, and we're seeing a continuing growth in traffic and stickiness, I'm going to be turning my attention more and more on other important aspects of ITEN.

We're in the process of rolling out an enhancement to the Mongel Training program that focuses on the requirements and steps for a company to achieve graduation from Mongel Training.   New information on this will be posted on the site in the next few days.   We've also begun work on exciting enhancements to the Beta Program.   There are already three companies enrolled in the Beta Program, and all three feel they're getting a lot of benefits from it.   We're using their experiences to devise a more detailed program which you will also soon be able to see posted on the site.

We've got a couple of upcoming events already scheduled:  Strange Loop in October and our third Start Up Connection in November.   You can check out "Events" to get more info on both of those.   Beyond that, I've begun working on a more or less private event for ITEN companies and mentors that we'll probably schedule for late September or early October.  This event will connect ITEN companies with local investors looking for IT deals.   If you're looking to get access to other people's money, you'll want to make sure to attend.   

There is also the possibility of an event before the end of the year or early in 2010 centered on the topic of global web marketing.   It turns out we've got a world-class university program in web globalization right here in town and we want to make these resources more widely known and available to ITEN.  If you can't wait, ITEN companies can do a Mentor Match on "web globalization" in the Marketing section of the search menu and find a couple of new ITEN mentors who are part of this program.

Finally, I'd like to recognize a few of our mentors and volunteers who have stepped forward to fill roles that are desperately needed and appreciated, and done so with no expectation of compensation.  Gokhan Lus has volunteered as our new Beta Program Coordinator; Tom Dopheide will play the same role for the Mongel Training; Sheila Burkett continues to do incredible things for ITEN as the Project Manager for the website.   By recognizing their contributions, I don't want to in any way ignore the wonderful contributions being made each day by the volunteer mentors, the Mongel team and everyone giving their input to the program.  This week, we say good-bye to Kenneth Leu, who's been our summer intern from Washington U.   He's made a lot of important changes and clean-up on the website and has provided great value for our very modest investment for his time and energy.

Times are difficult, and programs depending on contributions and government support are facing cutbacks all over.  ITEN continues to grow and provide significant benefits to the community.   We hope and trust that the value we are creating in the form of an emerging entrepreneurial community and exciting new ventures will justify the continuing support of our State and our region. 

Tags: Director

saburkett

Creating a connection on the ITEN website can be done a couple of ways depending on the type of user you are on the site (Start-up, Mentor, Investor) and why you are creating a connection.  Hopefully this will help you use the site, but also help us identify other ways to make it easier!

Start-up connecting with a Mentor

One of the key features of the website is to allow a Start-up company search for the right mentor.  Start-up companies have access to a section called MENTOR MATCHING (accessed from START-UP>Mentor Matching link).  The Start-up user can select the types of experience they are looking for in a mentor.  After selecting the criteria and clicking MATCH, the user is given a page that lists mentors with that experience.  The user can view the profile of the mentor.  Once they have found the right person, they will click REQUEST ME!.  The request will be sent to the mentor along with some of your key company profile information.

Creating a Connection

To see a list of users registered on the site, select the FIND OTHERS link in the top right-hand corner of the screen.  When you find someone you are working with or know, click their user-name link.  You will be allowed to view their profile.  Above the profile picture you will find several links:  Community, Edit, View, Messages, Connections, Moderation.  When you hover over CONNECTIONS, you will see an option REQUEST CONNECTION.  There is an option to add a message to the connection request.

Why Connect?

This is a great way to manage your ITEN relationships, especially those between a company and a mentor.  It also makes it easier to see who is online and not, so that you can send them a quick message.

Thanks to everyone who has registered, logged in and started using the site.  If you are a start-up company and haven't requested a mentor, please try it out!

Tags: Mentor

jbrasunas

Well, the Start-Up Connection, version Deux, has come and gone; we've released this website to the world; Sierra Ventures has visited and liked what they saw; we continue to get more and more interest in what ITEN is all about, and new companies keep coming out of the woodwork (no offense), so maybe it's time to sit back for a moment and look at the bigger picture of what ITEN can be and how we might get there.   First a confession:  my modest hope for the ITEN website is that it will become the absolute go-to place for anything and everything for start up IT companies in the region.   And to continue with the modesty, ITEN will be the leader in the turn-around of the St. Louis economy and our collective self-image (assuming cities can have a self-image).   To do this, we need to get our best young ventures funded, and funded well, and launched towards success.   We also need one or two of the more advanced IT start-ups here that are already into their B, C and D rounds of funding to have an exciting liquidity event.   There are 4 of them right off the top of my head that are candidates for that success, and hopefully soon.

We've got a lot of chicken and egg dilemmas to deal with in the start-up world, and one of them is early stage investors putting money into local early stage deals.   There's plenty of money in this town, and a lot of it is invested elsewhere.   That's not a knock......money goes where it thinks it can multiply.  If we get a few deals here to spin off some millionaires among the brave folks who have options because they joined the company instead of opting for a corporate gig, or who invested in common stock or the A-round of an early deal, then more will follow.   We can't shame each other into creating a buzz around the IT entrepreneur community here, we have to create it.......the hard way.   Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was Silicon Valley, or RTP or Route 128 (now called I-495 I think).

So how do we do that and what's in going to take?   Here are a few ideas I'm working on; let's hear some of yours:

• Full contact mentoring of inexperienced entrepreneurs.   We have mentors (in ITEN) that have done it and been successful, and then we have a lot of first-time entrepreneurs.   Investors don't like to see their money going into on-the-job-training if they can help it.  Take advantage of experienced mentors, admit they know more than you do, and beg them to get as involved as possible into your deal.   Your management team needs to have a lot of credibility.  If it does, it will attract investors much faster than any whiz-bang idea (but you do need the whiz bang, too!).
• Broaden the exposure of our best new deals.  Expose our Mongel Training graduates to investors from across the region and the country.   This is going to be a priority for ITEN during the next 6 months.   I've been building relationships with investors locally and beyond, and in spite of the economy, I'm finding an appetite for good deals.   We're marketing ourselves as a region of surprising deal flow, offering valuations that are likely better (for investors (sorry!)) than what they'd find on the coasts.
• Keep at it.   St. Louis will become a happening kind of place where deals are done, and you'll be bragging about these days and how you were there at the exciting beginnings of things.  No way is it going to happen overnight......but it will happen, oh yes, it will happen.

Tags: Director

saburkett

I am asked on a regular basis why I am a mentor.  Many people have difficulty understanding what motivates people to give their time to others.  Those who mentor understand the reward of helping others.  Below are just a few of the reasons why I mentor.

As a leader, I enjoy helping people achieve their goals.  One of the greatest rewards in my life is to help someone learn something new, accomplish the impossible or see a situation from a different perspective.  This is why I enjoy teaching.  It is so fun watching someone who has little confidence in themselves build a website and put it out for the whole world to see.  That single accomplishment allows my students to overcome that fear that technology is too difficult to understand.

I believe when I give to others, I get so much back in return.  In many ways, this is how I build my network.  It is amazing how much easier it is to ask someone something when you know that you have given them answers in the past.  I treasure those I work with and keep their interest at heart.  The become wonderful referral sources, communication networks and support when you need to ask for guidance.  

As someone who enjoys learning, I find when I mentor, I am able to learn so much.  Maybe it is my desire to "be in the know" all of the time.  It is so interesting hearing the innovative approaches being used, new technologies being discovered and new ways to solve old problems.

vI guess my final reason for being an ITEN mentor is that I am so excited about the start-up companies in St. Louis, especially those with innovative technology ideas.  As someone who LOVES St. Louis and wants everyone to make St. Louis (city & county) one of the best places to live and work, we need these companies to be successful.  If I can be a part of making that happen, what a great contribution to this community.  

Sheila Burkett

Tuxedo Park Management, LLC
sheila@tuxedoparkmgmt.com

Tags: Mentor

admin

Welcome early visitors and early users of the ITEN site.

My hopes for ITEN are unbounded, and launching this website is a big step forward for the program. I hope this launch will be looked back upon as contributing to a great flowering of technology entrepreneurship in St. Louis.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be unveiling more and more of the pieces of the ITEN site. Eventually not only will mentors and companies seeking their expertise be able to meet, but also investors looking for deals, service providers providing advantages and benefits, along with sponsors wanting to support and encourage what we're doing: all will find usefulness and value here.

So don't be hesitant with your comments and suggestions, and let us know what you like and what you don't like.

Most of all, thanks for your consideration and your support.

Jim Brasunas, Director

Tags: Director

admin

The topic is: What are your hopes for the new ITEN website?

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