I went to an UpStart Network talk last night about how to have your own internet startup company. It was freaky, all the people were the same. Virtually no women. Glasses. Ribbed jumpers (high neck). Um, dressed like me. A whole room full of geeks and people who want money. Scarily, the guy talking spoke about money in the same way a guy from Intel did when I saw him talk - a big-business kind of way: 'generous renumeration packages' as opposed to 'well paid', that kind of thing. I don't like it, it makes me feel ill.
The guy giving the presentation was Simon Darling, the internet man from Unilever from ages, and now starting a company to leverage WAP and SMS. He was obsessed with mobile phones, which I can understand even though I don't have one (when I can do my email on a phone, unmetered, and the same address I usually use, then I'll get one). Anyway, so what did I learn?
Get money from wherever you can, but go for smart money from people who can introduce you to other people. Technology doesn't matter, you can outsource that (that was a shock to me. I thought you had to live & breathe the internet to start an internet company, but no - it's just about making money). NDAs matter shit: a VC will never steal your idea because they'll get a bad reputation, and if you're moving slowly enough for potential employees to steal your idea you may-as-well pack up and go home. Saying that, the guy wouldn't tell us what his idea was. Hmm, what else? Don't drink several pints of water before sitting through an hour presentation. And if you expect to give the free wine a run for its money you should have a bit more to eat than a couple of pancakes and chocolate cupcakes first.
Those last two are by personal experience. Can you tell?
I went to an UpStart Network talk last night about how to have your own internet startup company. It was freaky, all the people were the same. Virtually no women. Glasses. Ribbed jumpers (high neck). Um, dressed like me. A whole room full of geeks and people who want money. Scarily, the guy talking spoke about money in the same way a guy from Intel did when I saw him talk - a big-business kind of way: 'generous renumeration packages' as opposed to 'well paid', that kind of thing. I don't like it, it makes me feel ill.
The guy giving the presentation was Simon Darling, the internet man from Unilever from ages, and now starting a company to leverage WAP and SMS. He was obsessed with mobile phones, which I can understand even though I don't have one (when I can do my email on a phone, unmetered, and the same address I usually use, then I'll get one). Anyway, so what did I learn?
Get money from wherever you can, but go for smart money from people who can introduce you to other people. Technology doesn't matter, you can outsource that (that was a shock to me. I thought you had to live & breathe the internet to start an internet company, but no - it's just about making money). NDAs matter shit: a VC will never steal your idea because they'll get a bad reputation, and if you're moving slowly enough for potential employees to steal your idea you may-as-well pack up and go home. Saying that, the guy wouldn't tell us what his idea was. Hmm, what else? Don't drink several pints of water before sitting through an hour presentation. And if you expect to give the free wine a run for its money you should have a bit more to eat than a couple of pancakes and chocolate cupcakes first.
Those last two are by personal experience. Can you tell?