Beers with Brad (Feld, that is)
February 4, 2010
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KGNU is having a Beers with Brad (Feld) event, a benefit for KGNU at the Twisted Pine brewery (in the brewery itself, not the tasting room!) on Feb. 18th – 6-8 pm. It’s the first BWB event in Boulder in a very long time. If you like beer, and you like Brad, you should go.
The details are available at http://beerswithbrad.eventbrite.com/, or twitter @beerswithbrad.
Help! The proposed “software tax” stinks
January 27, 2010
You may have heard by now that Governor Ritter is rushing a new tax on software through legislation at an unprecedented rate, with an effective date of March 1, if passed. The bill proposes a new tax on any software purchased or installed in Colorado. Yes, a tax on software. Wait, it’s worse.
It’s unclear that this new tax is even constitutional as none of us will be given the chance to vote on the issue!
We’re making huge progress in making sure Colorado is known as a great place to build software companies. Colorado is now on the map as a friendly place for software companies to build and sell their products. We’re seeing software company M&A activity and employee growth here when most states are not. Now the Governor wants to undermine our efforts without even asking the voters what they think? We all need to react and talk some sense into them, and fast.
Let’s look at some specific impacts that a tax like this would have:
- Comcast estimates an increase in cost of nearly $1.5 million per year to its Colorado operations.
- Qwest estimates an increase in cost of nearly $700,000 per year to its Colorado operations.
- Leading companies like IBM, Qwest, HP and Comcast have major operations in other states. With this new tax, they’d be smart to divert capital and jobs to more business-friendly states like Utah and Wyoming. That means fewer new jobs here.
Governor Ritter: We’re trying to create jobs here by funding innovative companies. We want them to come here. And they’re coming here, because we’re so supportive of them. Please don’t undermine our efforts to make Colorado an amazing place to build software companies. Trust me, they’re going to stop coming here. And that means people like me (and area VCs) are going to invest less here. That is so unbelievably disappointing at a time when we’re making fantastic progress and so many good things are starting to happen.
We don’t have much time. Take these actions TODAY. Not tomorrow – now.
- Call Governor Ritter’s office (303-866-2471) to voice your opposition to HB 1192. (If your call is received by someone who says they don’t know what you are referring to, please tell them it is HB 1192, and that it IS a new tax on software not only to our industry but every single business who uses software or employes people who use software in our state. This bill will cause jobs and professionals to move out of Colorado.)
- Call and email the House Appropriations Committee Members especially Reps. Kathleen Curry and John Kafalas to voice your opposition to HB 1192.
- Post on Rep. John Kafalas’ Facebook page in opposition of HB 1192.
- Tweet from your personal and corporate Twitter accounts in opposition of HB 1192. Ensure all tweets include the hashtag #noCOsoftwaretax.
- Update your Facebook and LinkedIn status’ with one of the sample status updates or your own status update in opposition of HB 1192.
- Post on your personal or professional blog in opposition of HB 1192.
- Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper TODAY in opposition of HB 1192.
- Encourage all of your employees/colleagues to take these same steps.
- Forward this blog post your network about HB 1192 and encourage them to voice their opposition.
Thanks for your help, and to the CSIA (more there) for leading the charge on this. Let’s let our legislators know that this won’t have the intended effect and that’s it’s a stupid idea that will set our innovation economy back significantly.
How I use Plancast
January 26, 2010
I’m loving Plancast. It’s a very powerful social discovery tool. Here’s a quick overview of how I use it.
I put in any events that I’m attending that are “significant” that I think my friends might like to know about. I love how easy it is to put in a future plan. It’s just 3 fields (what, when, where), and takes 3 seconds. People that subscribe to my plans then know about those events and can easily “join me” with a single click. Try it here.
At first I found all the email notifications a little annoying. Every time someone that I follow creates a plan, I get an email. You can turn that off, which I’ve now done. But the key is to grab the iCal feed. It’s hidden in the upper right hand corner. Grab that link, and create a live calendar subscription that refreshes once an hour. Then what you have is pure AWESOME.
plancast ical feed
I usually leave the PlanCast calendar turned off, but this is particularly handy when I have some free time and want to see what’s going on, or when I’m traveling. The only thing that would make this better would be the ability to filter the iCal feed – e.g. only those events in the Bay area in one calendar, and Boulder events in another one.
Plancast is still really new, but it’s showing great potential. It does one thing extremely well, and it does it with real simplicity in terms of the experience.
Startup2Student at CU
January 17, 2010
If you’re a Colorado company looking to hire interns or full time, check out Startup2Student on March 11th, 2010. This was a great event last year, and I expect that Ben Limmer who’s organizing it will make sure it’s even better this year.
The event is held on campus, and it’s an easy way for students to engage with startups. Part of the original mission here was simply to expose students to entrepreneurial companies. I know that this led to several direct hires last year, but perhaps more importantly it built awareness on campus about the lively startup scene in Boulder. And that’s never a bad thing.
If you’re a student looking for work or internship, or a Colorado based software/tech company, head here to learn more.
Open Angel Forum – Colorado bound!
January 15, 2010
By now, I’m sure most of you have read about the ongoing debate about charging entrepreneurs to pitch. I’ve tried to put together a chronology of links about this, but I’m sure I’ve missed some great ones. You had:
- An angel group that makes me vomit – Brad Feld (97 comments)
- Jason Jihad: Keiretsu Forum Must Be Stopped – Jason Calacanis (14 comments)
- Why startups shouldn’t have to pay to pitch angel investors – Jason Calacanis (174 comments)
- It’s ridiculous startups have to pay to pitch – Scobelizer (37 comments)
- Paying to Pitch – Fred Wilson (125 comments)
- An offer to Funding Universe – yours truly (28 comments)
- Why it’s ok to pay to pitch – Andrew Hyde (18 comments)
As with many things, it’s easy to bitch. So when I heard that Jason Calacanis was attempting to actually do something about it, my ears perked up. I started following his new concept, the Open Angel Forum. By email, I somehow got myself invited and I flew to LA yesterday for the inaugural Open Angel Forum. It was held at a beautiful home with one of the angels playing host (thanks Matt!). It was a great event and both the angels and entrepreneurs seemed to really love it.
Jason describes the Open Angel Forum this way: “The Open Angel Forum (OAF) is dedicated to providing entrepreneurs with free and open access to the angel investors that they need. We are firmly committed to fighting against “pay-to-pitch” schemes.” You can read the full mission and rules here.
While it’s hugely important that OAF is free to entrepreneurs, there are a few other things that strongly attracted me to the format of the Open Angel Forum. First, each chapter was to be organized by a well-connected angel investor and was to be limited to about 15-20 angels in attendance. Every one of those angels had to qualify as someone who has made at least four angel investments “of note” in the last 12 months. Because of this, the turnout in LA was truly stellar. It wasn’t just locals – many others had flown in like I had. Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, Shervin Pishevar and many more joined an awesome local crew including Mark Suster, Matt Coffin, and many more. Jason did a good job of sticking to his guns, turning down a bunch of late requests by angels to attend. Because of that, it was a manageable but top notch crowd of about 20 very active angels. Frankly, I was pretty blown away and honored to even be there.
Next, rather than some artificial process for selecting companies to pitch, the local OAF chapter just collaborates to invite companies that they’re seriously considering funding. Essentially, all the presenting companies are sponsored by one of the angels in attendance. This stops the angel group meeting from being the typical “watch and snicker” event which is not helpful to anyone. Rather, every single one of the companies presenting is a legitimate investment opportunity. Certainly, I think there’s a place for “unknown” companies to present at angel groups, but I’ve always said that if you can’t impress just one member of the group, perhaps you really shouldn’t be there. Pitching to a room full of strangers is also generally not helpful. In fact, this is one of the core things we teach at TechStars about the fundraising process.
But then came a moment at the Open Angel Forum last night where I knew this was a fantastic event that had to be replicated. I think it was the founder of Backupify, who, right in the middle of his pitch took a swig from his beer. I remember thinking to myself “I’ve never seen THAT at an angel event before.” Trivial right? I don’t think so – this was the first angel event that I’ve ever attended where the entrepreneurs who were presenting actually seemed comfortable. Relaxed even. I think it was a tribute to the atmosphere. Sipping your beer while presenting sort of became an instant tradition at OAF.
I’m proud to announce that Jason has asked me to run the Colorado chapter of Open Angel Forum. I instantly jumped at the chance to try this in Colorado, and I fully intend to transplant the “sip of beer” tradition here. I’m announcing today that the first Open Angel Forum Colorado (OAFCO) event will be held on February 3rd in Boulder. Jason Calacanis will be attending in order to help us kick it off right, and I’ve also talked him into talking about the Open Angel Forum and why startups should avoid paying to pitch at the February 2nd New Tech Meetup.
At the first OAFCO event on the evening of February 3rd, we expect a similar format: 10-15 angels and 5 companies. If you’d like to attend as an angel investor, please let me know. Likewise, if you’d like to present your company at the first OAFCO event, please fill out this form. Note that presenting companies and angels don’t have to be from Colorado. Like the LA event, I’m hopeful that we’ll have great angels and companies from all over the country at the first Colorado meeting. If it’s interesting to you, come join me, Jason Calacanis, Brad Feld, and many more investors at this special first OAFCO meeting in Colorado. There are also tickets available for service providers – as Jason explains on the Open Angel Forum web site – this is how the event is supported. Only five tickets are available, so if you’d like to attend and help sponsor the event, head here before they’re gone.
I’m excited to try this new format out here in Colorado. There are a bunch of other chapters being started in cities all over the country, but I won’t steal their thunder. Suffice it to say that each chapter is being run by some great local investors. So again, I feel honored to be given the baton for Colorado.
I’d welcome your thoughts in the comments!
Boulder is showing the world about mentorship
November 15, 2009
During the last TechStars summer, we were visited by representatives from two foreign governments: Singapore and France. Both had heard about something interesting happening in Boulder. Each came and observed the program for a half day or so, looking for a productive exchange of ideas and opportunities.
During the summer, I was invited by the Singapore government to visit their country and I jumped at the opportunity. I love to travel to places that I’ve never been before. They also invited Andrew Hyde to come along, which made the trip even more fun.
Singapore is pretty much as far away as you can go in the world from here. It’s a beautiful place with very warm, tropical weather. The total population is about 4 million. As you’ve probably heard, it’s very clean and there is a very low crime rate. It’s an extremely international city, and you can find an amazing variety of food there. We ate at a Korean BBQ place that was out of this world. See my Everlater trip for my notes on my visit.
We met with various government organizations, incubators, and startups. What was shocking to me was the sheer volume of funding, programs, and services for startups. It’s quite easy to get government funding to launch your startup in Singapore. There are about 10 incubators there to support you once you get going. Unlike in the United States, immigration is easy – nearly anyone who wants to live in Singapore can just move there. It’s only necessary to fill out one form to start a business in Singapore. It’s an amazingly business friendly place.
One of the government officials described the situation to me this way. He said that from a funding perspective it was as if you had walked into a restaurant where you were the only customer, but where there were about 16 waiters and staff waiting to serve you. It’s that awkward feeling of over-supply of servers (funding) and undersupply of customers (startups).
I actually (respectfully 
) disagreed. I saw a very vibrant and young web2 entrepreneurial community. Sure, it wasn’t huge, but it had plenty of critical mass.
I think it was something else that was actually lacking. And it was part of why I had been invited.
Everyone was telling me that the few web startups that were there were mostly learning on their own. There wasn’t a strong visible culture of mentorship in the community. They were hungry for the benefit of some of my experience building and working with startups. Perhaps insatiable would be the better word.
All of the government funding support in the world can’t create deep, engaged mentorship out of thin air.
On my trip, I met one of the founders of Match.com, who happens to be from Singapore. I asked him why there wasn’t more mentorship, and he thought that it was a simple lack of supply of experienced mentors who had been there and done that. You got the feeling that a few of them were certainly trying.
E27, a great startup organization there, had invited me to do a talk on my final night in town. I tried to focus my talk on entrepreneurial ecosystems, comparing what was happening in Singapore (as far as I could tell) to what had happened in Boulder over the last 15 years or so. I encountered the usual “Silicon Valley envy” and challenged the entrepreneurs in the room to start a new culture of mentorship. I asked them not to wait until they were rich and successful, but to mentor someone else now. Today. They had all learned things that they could share with others in their community. Certainly, I also asked those that had startups that had been or would be successful in the future to go above and beyond in helping others follow in their paths by mentoring them, angel investing, and by creating visibility for their community. I think it was fairly well received, although the cultural differences there are evident.
One fact that consistently blew my mind was that everyone in the web startup community in Singapore, on the other side of the world, had heard about little old Boulder. They knew something was happening in the startup scene here. And they were looking to us for inspiration, knowing that they too will never be Silicon Valley, but still wanting to be the best Singapore that they could be just like Boulder is becoming the best Boulder it can be.
When I got home and reflected on this great trip, I was reminded that we need to keep doing more of this right here in Boulder too. I was inspired by the fact that we’re an inspiration to others around the globe. How amazing is that?
So…. Hey you – yes you – go be a mentor to somebody that you can help. Today. Keep helping others a core part of what our community is all about. The payback is truly mind-boggling.
Mentorship is on the rise in America. I’m proud that TechStars has been some small part of the inspiration for that when it comes to web startups. I’ve already been to a few other cities here as well, answering their questions about what’s going on in Boulder. Soon, I’m off to England and Denmark to work with local communities there on improving their own entrepreneurial ecosystems. So far, a pattern seems to be emerging.
Want your town to be the best it can be? Create a sustainable culture of mentorship, and participate in it.
Robert Reich and Add-on-Con
November 8, 2009
Robert Reich has done an amazing job building the new tech meetup here in Boulder and now in Denver. I was at the earliest of those meetups, when there were just 10-15 people there. Now there are 300+ and standing room only at every event, it seems. It’s now a fixture here in Boulder, and Robert deserves much of the credit for that.
Now Robert has put together at conference called Add-on-Con which is focused on browser add-ons. It’s happening in Mountain View, CA on December 11. They’ve just added a closing keynote called “The future of the web browser” which will be moderated by Douglas Crockford and featuring representatives from Microsoft, Mozilla and Google. They’ve also created a program called Sandbox which is designed to help new companies get exposure to the community and the browser vendors. Finally, they’ve created a game with the goal of facilitating name and face recognition of people attending the conference.
Robert was kind enough to offer me a discount code for anyone reading this who’d like to attend. Use “DCohenaddoncon09″, it takes $50 off of the $150 registration fee.
Internet Business Models of the TechStars
November 7, 2009
I’m a guest lecturer for an executive MBA class at Denver University later today. I was asked to talk about Internet business models (among other things), so I thought I’d take a look at the 39 companies that have been through TechStars to give them a sense of the relative popularity of various business models. I think this represents a fairly decent cross section of reality, since about 75% of these companies have raised outside funding after TechStars ended.
Some of these are open to interpretation or are really a hybrid of a couple of forms. My categories might be somewhat arbitrary. But here’s the data as I see it:
SaaS (33%) – These companies sell their product to customers via the web, and don’t bother with a “try before you buy” product. Examples include Rezora, SendGrid and Filtrbox.
Freemium (20%) – These companies give away a free product, and then try to upsell more sophisticated features or solutions on top of that. Check out Baydin and TimZon.
Sell Installed App (5%) – I broke this out from SaaS, because these companies are actually selling software that is licensed and physically installed. Subtle difference these days. A good example is RedLaser from Occipital.
If you add the three approaches above together, you get 58%. So well more than half of the companies we’ve funded are ultimately selling software to people who pay for it. Novel idea, huh?
Gather/sell eyeballs (18%) – You might call this the “advertising” model, or the “underpants” model. Some call it “audience aggregation”. Some of the companies which achieved early exits were in this category (Socialthing, Intense Debate) , but it’s quite risky too. Often, companies doing this initially have other models in mind once they reach a critical mass but can’t use that approach early on because they don’t have enough scale.
Marketplace (13%) – These companies try to aggregate buyers and sellers, and generally take commissions or service fees for providing the marketplace. Foodzie and oneforty are examples.
Lead Gen (5%) – These companies often provide a valuable free service, and then provide qualified leads to buyers. This is very similar to the Freemium model, except that the upsell is not more software, it’s other services or software provided by someone else.
Virtual Goods (2%) – This model typically involves providing a game or other interesting virtual environment and then selling virtual goods in that environment. J-Squared Media’s MiniPlanet is a strong example.
Crowdsourcing (SaaS) (2%) – These companies use the power of a large distributed workforce, often to do things that computers can’t do automatically or efficiently. Typically they ultimately deliver a service to the customer. Retel Technologies is a good example.
Content Production (2%) – Although it’s a perennially unpopular approach with investors, these companies create content and then attract an audience for that content, typically selling advertising inventory targeted at the audience or subscriptions. Howard Lindzon’s WallStrip is an example of this approach that worked well.
Enterprise 2.0 (0%) – I was surprised to see that we haven’t funded any companies (yet) that are taking web 2.0 consumer technologies and applying them to enterprise settings. Some companies I know of that are doing these sorts of things are Yammer and Brainpark, as examples.
So there you have it. If you’d categorize the models differently, please let me know in the comments.
Brad Feld interviewing me at Entrepreneurs Unplugged
October 27, 2009
A few people have asked, so here’s a link to a video of Brad Feld interviewing me at the Silicon Flatirons Entrepreneurs Unplugged event last week down at the University of Colorado. In the interview, Brad asks about:
- How I became an entrepreneur
- My first company - Pinpoint Technologies / ZOLL Data Systems (acquired)
- My second company - iContact (failed)
- My third company - earFeeder (acquired)
- My fourth company - TechStars
There’s some fun Q&A at the end about TechStars and more. Enjoy!
An offer to Funding Universe
September 22, 2009
UPDATE: Funding Universe posted a response to this post and has now waived pitch fees nationally as a result.
Funding Universe is expanding their presence in Colorado and they are presenting a CrowdPitch event on September 30th in Denver. It costs $125 to present your company there, and it’s free to attend otherwise.
Some of us vomit when we hear that promising entrepreneurs are being charged to pitch to investors in Colorado (or anywhere). I’m hoping people will stop doing it. In my opinion, If investors want to see companies they (or sponsors) should bear the costs instead of the entrepreneurs.
To be fair, CrowdPitch is an event that is geared towards to general community and not specifically towards investors. It’s designed as a fun investor role-playing “monopoly money” type event. But still, it’s a bummer that companies have to “pay to pitch” in any setting.
So to welcome Funding Universe to Colorado, I’ll offer to pay the presentation fees for half the companies if they’ll match me.
In any event, here’s some more information about the event:
Want to pitch?
At LivePitch early stage entrepreneurs have 4 minutes to pitch to a panel of experts and a live audience of 40 - 70 peers in order to:
1. Discover investor insight.
2. Let the community know what resources are needed to move forward (partners, services, funding, connections, talent).
3. Gain visibility in the business community.
Want to attend, but not pitch?
Attendance is free. You’ll learn how investors think, meet the hottest start-ups in Colorado, and have a lot of fun. You’ll also help decide the winner of the event by investing your monopoly money in the business of your choice.
When and where
When: Wednesday September 30th
Time: 12:00 - 1:30 pm
Where: TAXI
3457 Ringsby Ct.
Denver, CO 80216
