Category Archives: Startups
Reviewing applications for SpringBoard Media/Tech 2012
I’ve been reviewing applications for the SpringBoard Media/Tech 2012 program and then conducting interviews for those that made it to the next round. If you haven’t heard of it, SpringBoard is an eleven-year-old startup acceleration program for women-led companies. It has helped over 480 businesses raise over $5.5 billion in capital, so it’s certainly a great opportunity and big deal for the applicants.
In reviewing their proposals I have seen a wide mix in the quality of ideas and levels of preparation. Some have been really amazing, others not as much. When reviewing startup companies (something I did a lot of in my Sprint days) I am always surprised how much work it sometimes takes to ferret out their key goals and strengths. Companies don’t always make them clear enough themselves. I really try to do this for every company, but startups really can’t count on that since reviewers have to sift through hundreds if not thousands of applicants. You need to put your awesomeness on a platter and hand it to the reviewer.
With that in mind here are a few tips:
- Identify the main strengths that you want to communicate and then make sure you hit them hard and often. Reinforce those strengths throughout your application and you attached documents, and prep your team members on these points before the interview.
- Really spell out what you are going to do, why it’s special and unique, and why you are the right team to do it. Assume that we don’t understand your business area or technologies, and then use that as an excuse to demonstrate the depth of your own understanding. We are investing in the team and their ability to tap a market, the current product and business plan is really just an indicator of your ability to do so.
- Keep in mind every applicant will have market pie charts, growth projections, and hopefully customer testimonials. These are not differentiators; they are table stakes (and let’s be honest, they’re not that rooted in reality anyway).
- Explain what you are going to do with the money and how you will use it efficiently. For most early stage companies that means using it to learn from your customers and build your product. It does not mean hiring sales people or launching marketing campaigns, that is what big companies do after they already have a winning product. It’s true that enterprise plays do need some sales, but even then your main goal should be to get the product right before you get more customers.
- Explain why you are right for the program/accelerator/incubator/VC. This is more important than you think. Programs want to show success, and not just in follow-on investment dollars. They want to be able to show how they help their participants. Different programs are good at accelerating different kinds of startups. Make it clear why your team will flourish in the program (the Springboard reviewers discussed this a lot among ourselves).
Many of these feel like “soft” aspects of the process, but they are just as critical as your demo going successfully or your team’s credentials. With a little planning and practice you can ensure that reviewers really understand what makes you great and how you will be a good fit for their goals.
Related articles
- One Week Left To Apply To Springboard: Media/Tech 2012 (women2.com)
- Get Your Startup Into a Top Accelerator: 4 Insider Tips (readwriteweb.com)
Mentoring at StartupWeekend Virginia for Education
Well, I’m coming off another StartupWeekend high. This one was StartupWeekend Virginia for Education – sponsored/organized by the excellent Virginia Center for Innovative Technology (including DC Tech pillar Jen O’Daniel).
I really love being a part of StartupWeekends. Watching people turn raw ideas into prototypes and a strong pitch in just 54 hours is awesome. Even better is watching folks learn what it means to be an entrepreneur – not to mention how much fun it is. Of course, being a coach/mentor is great because I get to talk to so many folks about their ideas, and then see those ideas get fleshed out and come to fruition. Giving up a weekend seems like a small price compared to the feeling that you’ve helped these amazing, hardworking teams get closer to achieving their goals.
And it’s hard to describe how good it feels to get an email like the one below. It’s good to get some confirmation that I, and everyone at StartupWeekend, really did have an impact. I trimmed the email a bit, but it still does a great job capturing the StartupWeekend experience. Let me add that while I appreciate the thanks – Christine and the WishBooks team had things well in hand when I came to visit. I think I just helped them realize it :)
Our path to Startup Weekend began with a comment that became an action and resulted in a meaningful outcome all in the space of 4 weeks. And while many of you who were interested in supporting our effort couldn’t attend, I wanted to include you in this email because you are a part of our community, because you are passionate about education, and because your interest and genuine desire to make a difference matters and was a source of inspiration and insight to our effort throughout the weekend and I wanted to acknowledge that.
Our team pitched two ideas and both were selected to be worked on and refined over the course of the Startup Weekend. We went with one idea, had the biggest team, and went to work on the biggest problem at the event. Our group was the first team in and the last team to leave each day and this did not go unnoticed by the dedicated coaches and mentors who were there. Of the 40 or so coaches and mentors there, over half of them spent significant time with our team and made pivotal impacts that helped us put the legs to what had been a personal story and a few words scribbled on a half torn piece of paper on Friday night. It was clear that what we were tackling resonated and that we needed to really craft the message so that we could get it out. I am in awe and humbled by the difference their feedback made on our team and our effort. They are truly amazing people with a generosity of spirit that is mind blowing.
The outcome of all of that committed and focused effort was an Honorable Mention at an event sponsored by a globally active organization.
Not too shabby a showing for a first time team with lots of mixed skills, no real prep ahead of time, and whose pitch deck got finished with only 9 minutes to spare before the final pitch round started!!
We should all be proud! I could not have spent 54 hours with a better group of people.
I want to send a sincere thank you to Paul McGowan (CIT), Hap Connors(CIT), Brooke Bell (CIT), Carole Ottenheimer (CIT), Mary Garber (FredTech Council/Fred Chamber of Commerce), and George Hughes (SIMVentions) for their outreach, support, and continued engagement. This milestone would not have happened without your passion for entrepreneurship and Fredericksburg.
I want to send a special shout out to Ann Emerson whose show of support made all the difference and Mary Garber again for”getting outside the building” and getting us important data for customer validation.
Heartfelt thanks to the Mikes (McVicker and Wellman) for putting a view to this big idea we had in the nick of time and David Tuell for finding the tag line that pulled it into view and said it all and Brian for doing research at a moment’s notice and getting good results quickly each time.
Thank you to Simona and Vlad for throwing in with us and making critical contributions to the prototyping, customer validation, and development of the pitch deck. We couldn’t have done it without you.
And finally, I want to acknowledge David Rees – a mentor who spent 40 of the last 41 minutes we had making magic happen for us. It was his coaching and mentorship that brought the vision that we had scattered across the whiteboard and screenshots and collective heads in the room into view. Dave, you are a genius and your passion for our story was the breath of life that helped us bring it into view for others to see. We are eternally grateful for the difference you made and when you made it. It felt like nothing short of serendipity just in the nick of time. Can’t wait to return the favor.
NOVA EDU Startup Weekend was an amazing and impactful experience for all the right reasons.
Can’t wait to bring one to Fredericksburg!
Related articles
- Startup Weekend Women’s Edition: Arriving July 13-15 (geekwire.com)
Connecting with the DC startup scene
I am asked often about where to find out about DC startup/tech events and groups, so I thought it would be useful to have an online list to point them to, instead of emailing whatever groups are fresh in my mind when they happen to ask me. This list is by no means exhaustive, and I will update the list from time to time, but it’s a good starting point for someone new to the city or the world of startups.
First of all, get used to hashing and following #dctech on Twitter. Its the go to hashtag for sharing #dctsartuplove.
For events, these are good sites to watch/follow.
- Kauffman’s http://startupdigest.com/washington-dc I think this is the current best summary of startup events in DC.
- PlanCast is hit or miss unfortunately, but I do sometimes find out about cool stuff through it by following folks who are active. You can see my list of subscriptions at http://plancast.com/studgeek.
Meetup.com is also very active here in DC. Despite how the name sounds, it isn’t a dating service. It’s also not strictly for tech. There are all kinds of social activities, but you can use group tags to quickly narrow your search to biz/tech meetups (or crocheting clubs – your call :). These four are a good start. You can also see the ones I am in at I’m in at http://www.meetup.com/DC-Tech-Meetup/members/29001302, and the site does a good job of recommending groups as well.
- http://www.meetup.com/DC-Tech-Meetup – Run by iStrategyLabs.
- http://meetup.hackernewsdc.org
- http://www.meetup.com/Co-founders-DC
- http://www.meetup.com/DC-Lean-Startup-Circle
And there are two main Facebook groups depending which side of your brain you want tickled.
- DC Tech – The main forum for discussing DC startups (after Twitter of course :).
- Refresh DC – “web designers, developers, and other new media professionals”
- http://techcocktail.com Holding startup presentations at happy hour is a stroke of genius, because even if the presentation doesn’t interest you, you will probably still have a good time and meet some interesting people. They do stuff in lots of cities, but DC is one of their main hubs.
- http://www.istrategylabs.com Peter Corbett, who runs iStrategyLabs, is one of the driving forces behind tech networking in DC (in a good way). iStrategyLabs and TechCocktail are the main organizers of Digital Capital Week.
- http://dc.startupweekend.org A few of these awesome events now happen each year. Get thrown in a room with a bunch of other folks and try to craft a startup plan in 54 hours.
- http://foster.ly Another great source for events including their well known Foster.ly Study Halls.
- http://thefort.vc – DC’s first accelerator – w00t!
- http://www.citgapfunds.org/ – Virginia’s state sponsored VC
Related articles
- Inside the World’s Biggest Tech Meetup (inc.com)
Talking at the StartupAmerica DC Ideas Summit
Cool beans. I’ve been selected to talk at the upcoming StartupAmerica DC Ideas Summit along with Aneesh Paul Chopra (US CTO) and a bunch of great DCTech folks. I’ll be talking about “Ties and T-Shirts; Together” – how the DC startup and government/business communities should be working together and leveraging our collectives advantages as a region.
There’s been a lot of excitement around the Startup America intiative in general, but we’re really going to hone in on the specifics of the DC startup community. If you’re in the area I hope you’ll come to the talk. Don’t be afraid to say hello afterwards (and mention that you read the blog!).
Update 2/1/12
The summit was a great success. People came with lots of great ideas, and the incredible energy that I’ve come to associate with the DC startup scene was on full display. A few people even made some polite compliments about my talk J
I don’t know what happened to the video, but my slides/prezi is available here. And I added a blurry shot of me evangelizing t-shirt/tie togetherness above.
Related articles
- How Startup America Is Helping Americans Become More Entrepreneurial – with Scott Case (mixergy.com)
Mentoring at inaugural Startup Weekend DC
I’m still recovering from mentoring for the first Startup Weekend DC. It was an amazing weekend, so many ideas and so much energy. It felt like I was mainlining startups :).
I guess my enjoyment showed because I was awarded “most helpful mentor” and given a very snazzy USB Power Pack for keeping my phone and tablet juiced.
Now I’m lead mentor helping the winners of Startup Weekend DC, Weekly Eats, compete in the Global Startup Battle. It’s a worldwide competition pitting the winning StartupWeekend teams from sixty cities against each other for a cool set of prizes including the chance to present at Demo Asia and the Launch Conference.
Update 11/29/11
Thanks to great work by the WeeklyEats team and the DCTech community we came in 3rd! The team started with an awesome video submission and then we drove a non-stop SMO campaign to get the word out. It was an amazing amount of work to keep the energy up and votes coming, but we did it! Congrats WeeklyEats and DCTech :).
Related articles
Speaking on Cities Unwired panel for Digital Capital Week
I’ll be participating in a panel discussion this Saturday at the inaugural Digital Capital Week put on by iStrategyLabs. The panel will also include Karla Ballard, VP of Social Innovations, One-Economy; Tegene Baharu, Director, DC-Net, and Peter Corbett will be moderating. We’re going to be discussing Cities Unwired, focusing on “the new kinds of services developers, startups, and governments [will] be able to deliver to their citizens,” now that CLEAR is providing mobile broadband across DC.
There will be plenty of time for people to ask questions. Come for the interesting discussion, stay for the DCWeek after party :).
studgeek 