Technically Speaking

ImThere hosted a STL startup meetup last night. It was a great group of guys who had some really good ideas. These guys are doing what I use to always say when I was in bands, “You should be able to live anywhere, and still do what you love to do!”

UPDATE: This was actually a co-hosted event with St. Louis Startups. Thanks for the link Paul, as well as Mike’s link below.

Now the trick of course is to see if the Venture Capitalist’s of the world will realize there is great “music” everywhere. I saw some really good ideas last night, and feel that VC or angel money would be well spent on an idea outside of the Valley. David the founder of ImThere realizes the reality of how there is no VC money here in St. Louis, and will actually be presenting at Under The Radar in November.

Some of the other great ideas I saw were from two guys who have developed a great new mapping mashup. Now many of you are thinking “Oh Google does that well.” - Well I’m here to tell you that Google doesn’t do everything, and there are some things their application does well. Not only that, they have a full suite of other apps, one of them could be used as a great way to eliminate e-mail attachments. Check ‘em out for yourself.

Since I have already alluded to music, it was great to see a music place that I haven’t heard of. In fact it reminded me of the old mp3 dot com, garageband, etc… The place is supported by a big time radio company. It is currently being re-tooled for 2007. The site, once re-tooled, has all the potential that the above mentioned sites did in helping the consumer discover new music.

There was one more presentation, and it sort of reminded me of Minority Report. This person is designing a new way of storing items and viewing them. It is sort of a web top, but than again it’s not. I don’t have the URL to share, but if you are reading this (Mike) - send it to me and I will link it. UPDATE: Here is Mike’s site - only works in IE 7

Technically Speaking, there are startups here in the STL with some great ideas.

Sub Prime worries? Recession woes? Stock market volatility? No concern if you are one of those start up companies that received venture capital money last quarter. In fact it appears to be on pace for over 300 VC investments before the end of the year.

Now as reality has it, the exit issue for some of these VC’s will come up over the next several quarters. One starts to wonder if it’s than when the VC guys might not get the value they put in. Nevertheless, for now it’s smooth sailing if you are a new company that is looking for VC investments.

“The third quarter was marked by significant stock market volatility and growing concerns about the state of sub-prime mortgages. Venture-backed companies navigated these hurdles well as evidenced by strong M&A transactions and a growing pipeline of venture-backed companies in registration,” said Mark Heesen, president of the National Venture Capital Association. “However, both exit strategies will be facing challenges over the next several quarters. Anecdotally, we are hearing that acquisitions are taking longer to close as corporations remain cautious in an unpredictable market. Additionally, a growing number of venture-backed companies are trading below their offering prices, signaling potential market weakness. Both these concerns are surmountable but will factor into the health of the overall exit market,” Heesen added.

Technically Speaking, it will be quite interesting to watch how this transpires.

**** UPDATE: VentureBeat admits mistake ***** Sorry readers, this wasn’t as it seemed. Matt posted a full explanation on the post which you can find right here. Every now and again, the percentages are going to go against you. I know Matt is very concise on his writing of stories. Very precise in fact. It happens, and all I can say is that VC’s/Investors - Take note - Next time it could be the REAL DEAL.

I was doing my usual before dinner Link Blog Lock n’ Load, and I ran across this. I about spit out what I was drinking in laughter. I had to of course see the source where he made his commentary. Now it’s funny, as in the fact that I want to just scream “I freakin’ told you so!” But I won’t. It is sad, as it sets a bad precedence for other investments being made.

There are many companies out there worthwhile of investment. Companies that need that helping hand to get off the ground. These morons have just about screwed it up for everyone. It’s always the case of the one bad apple.

Now don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against porn. I have nothing against flying in black helicopters on the company dime. What I find wrong is that if you want to buy porn, don’t buy it on the company dime (idiot). Or if you do, make sure you can at least do the crime correctly. If you want to steal company money, steal it in a totally shady way.

Yes, I see both sides of the coin at all times. Not against porn, not against the perks of the executive life. I’m just against stupidity and this has to be the epitome of it. I mean honestly, don’t you think that if you bought porn on the company funding, you would be smart enough to hide it in a paperwork shuffle?

Technically Speaking, I once wrote a post questioning the investment process. I said something to the extent of “it’s about how many tequila shots you can get the VC to drink” - I was flamed on that pretty hard in my comments. Hmmm… looks like I knew just a little bit more than that person. My words are probably a lot closer to the truth than meets the eye. Personally, I would have bought some real estate.

It’s been quite a busy day for me. I just went through and updated my Link Blog for only the 2nd time today. What I’m doing these days is fun, exciting, and at the same time frustrating at times. You know that being said, I wouldn’t trade it for any day job that I’ve done. Even when I worked in the IT industry full time, I will have to say, this is still 120% more fun.

Well I just went through my Link Blog, as I stated above, and one of the articles that jumped out at me of course is from CenterNetworks. One thing about Allen, he has a great way at putting across the news of the moment. I saw a bunch of articles about the twitter money grab, but he put it across in an engaging and interesting manner. One that grabbed my attention, and made me want to read it. Any article that finishes with the line

I am sure the cats who handle the servers are eating some fine Kibbles ‘n Bits tonight!

deserves to be read.

I will however have to say, even though the article he posted the other day on a great blog that talks about VC funding, I am going to have to lean to what I have always stated. Any freakin’ idea will sell to any VC if you know the right people. If you know how to grab someone’s attention, and hold it for at least 7 minutes, you can sell them another social network. Don’t believe me? Look through any of the major sites to see how many social networks have received $millions in the past 30-45 days.

So where do I stand as far as executive summaries, biz plans, and all that tree killing stuff? Well as a traditionalist I would say “Yes, you should have all of that ready to roll.” As a person that hates to kill trees for any purpose but to burn wood over an open fire, I would say, if you can talk the talk and get in front of some people; show that your product just “works” (twitter), all that stuff can be reserved for an open bonfire on your camping trip.

Another interesting item that I have yet to see is Om’s new show. GigaOm TV. Nice. Now again, I did read Allen’s review of the show earlier today (see guys/gals, I may not be blogging as much, but I am reading and taking note when I get a second!) - and I will have to say, I am still intrigued at watching. That just proves that a bad review or middle of the road interview is not a show stopper.

I agree with what Om said, all that production stuff is hard to deal with. When I was doing the podcast thing last year, 4 nights a week, I will say that was the worst part of it all. I can walk in and plain lay it down. Perform. That’s me. When it comes to producing a show, now that is another story entirely. As many have seen, I forgo any production these days with my occasional video web cam casts. Why? Because I would rather be the talent, and let someone else do the producing stuff. OR, I’d rather just produce and let someone else be the talent. Either or, but not both.

When you have the crew of Revision3 behind you, anything can be cool looking. Unlike the videos that I was in earlier this year that I did produce. The Technically Speaking Live shows, and the Friggin’ Break Reports. Yup, Rev3 could have probably made those shows rock. Unfortunately, being the talent as well as the producer takes quite a bit of time. All of these shows I speak of, podcast or video can be found on my media page.

Finally a “just this in“, well not really. It’s been in for a bit now, but looks like Microsoft is going after anything that strengthens their stake in the world of online advertising. They just acquired this Santa Barbara startup called AdECN Inc. I’m not the first to say anything about it, as I saw the smattering of stories as I went through the Link Blog, and it’s quite interesting to see their focus now on the advertising world.

One that I posted earlier in the Link Blog, that everyone that is in a startup should look at. It’s called, when it’s time to move on from your startup idea. I agree with the 3 points it made. For those that are in a failed startup, maybe it’s time you read this article that pretty much lays the facts out there. What was that saying? Oh yeah, “Lie to yourself, Lie to your mother, but don’t Lie to Rex Dixon.”

Technically Speaking, yes, I can be a goof ball - but when you live like I do, you have to have a weird sense of humor to keep your sanity some times day to day. Oh, and why it’s almost a total full time job being a blogger - this just in for real - Alesis iMultiMixer - now this is just plain COOL! I think some Wilmington NC real estate might be the plan someday.

Let’s save the uplifting one for last.

VC Tax - Matt has been all over this one for quite some time now. It appears that even if a Democrat is elected to office, the VC tax will slow the internet economy down. That isn’t a good sign of things to come. Not saying that VC’s shouldn’t pay taxes, but right now the only economy worth a hoot is the online one. Why kill it?

Offshore we go - It appears that more US companies are establishing a foot hold offshore. Nice. That means, we all will have beach front property; well if you want to go work off shore in some 3rd world country where you need to drink bottled water, or even better - wine all the time because the bottled water isn’t pure either!

Facebook - Wow, Dave hit the nail on the head with this article. Kind of funny, as I have been debating in e-mail (semi-debating) why Facebook is working, and other things are not today. I agree, that Facebook is in the driver’s seat, but they need to forge ahead and do something now.

I know, I sound a little dramatic, but here is a good story. About 10 years ago a buddy of mine was living with me. He was 19 at the time. He was a whiz at everything computer. I mean an absolute whiz. I smiled and told him, “Don’t be so sure of yourself, as there are guys/gals that are like your brother’s age who will come up and pass you while flipping you the finger.”

I was right. For more info see - Mark Zuckerberg - who was probably all of 13 or 14 years old at the time of my statement. So my message to Mark is the same one I gave to my buddy 10 years or so ago. Think about that, and laugh if you want, but look what you did in the past few years. Don’t think it won’t happen again.

Technically Speaking, the Link Blog is updated. A few interesting items going on such as the big revelation of the iPhone and 25% of the customers that AT&T have signed up are switchers. Other than that, it’s Friday!

Go BIG Network has been in business since January 2006. The company is a place for startups, new businesses, and small businesses to look for VC and angel funding.

Wil Schroter and I had a conversation about his new startup. I say new, as Wil is a veteran after launching nine different startups. One of the key things that he always wanted was a central location to seek out funding. Now there is a place.

With over 70,000 startup companies as subscribers, and 10,000 active requests it seems like this is a winning combination. They have a 7 day free trial, but their revenue is generated from subscribed users. Give it a try for 7 days, you might generate interest and find it worthwhile for your business. Subscription fees are $50 a month. Ads can be run for 30 days for $59.

Technically Speaking, resources such as this need to be supported to further growth in the new business world. One thing that needs to be mentioned, is that anytime the word “VC/angel funding” is mentioned, most think of internet startups. Well the one thing that is different is that Go BIG Network invites all small businesses to look here.

Wil Schroter is the founder who has launched nine companies, written a book about startups and authors a nationally syndicated column on startups. Go BIG Network has 12 full time employees and located in Columbus, OH. The company is not looking for funding, as it has been profitable since August of 2006.

Not a literal one, but one where people just turn it all off. It could very well be a possibility that looms large on the near horizon. I sort of alluded to that fact a few years ago. I was at the time being interviewed (phone interviewed), and I stated that if you meet the person that knows everything and is an expert at everything; they are either extremely gifted or a liar. Maybe a bit of both.

The point I was trying to make to one of these recruiters was that no matter what the job specification said, there was no way that a person could know every single point on that specification. At least not well enough to jump right in.

Same goes for Web 2.0 overload. One of the more interesting things I heard today was Marshall’s SplashCast on Evoca (a Skype recording program). Marshall was praising OpenID, but was bummed that he couldn’t use it anywhere. Jeremy on the other hand didn’t really like it.

With OpenID you can log in anywhere, anytime with one login ID, one password. The concept is great, but with it you are back to the crash. How many social networks are necessary to build the internet into a viable business model? How many photo sharing programs do you really need? How many different sites that do the same thing, only branded a “little bit left or right“, do we really need?

The main article that I’m referencing goes into this and a little more. I am right now leaning towards agreement. If the money is diluted with poor VC/angel choices, the money dries up and pulls out. What will the VC’s invest in?

Other companies that are no longer centrally located as an online industry. There are plenty of companies looking for funding that have absolutely zero online interest. These would be in the bio-tech circle, clean energy, sports business, and sports entertainment area. That is my informed guess.

Technically Speaking, VC’s like playing games. Bloggers such as myself would rather see solid innovation and companies that push things ahead. I really have absolutely no interest in another photo site.

If you are a VC or angel funding person that is about to invest in one, please think again - there are others like me that are tired of seeing junk spilled online just because you have the money to let the startup put junk out there. If it is not innovative, new, or something that pushes the industry ahead; please do us all a favor and pass!

Feedily - This is a hypothetical Web 2.0 start up story; could use an angel investor or VC look.

CenterNetworks Video Review - Allen does the Washington Post this time; yesterday, in case you missed it, he did a follow on video review of the Kontrib article that was on VentureBeat.

Nokia Coffin - Caption contest by Engadget.

Confused about Project Agape? - I think this is a better explanation; * full disclosure - yes, I also write for VentureBeat, but this is my honest opinion - this is better then what I read this morning; a lot more in depth.

Pathetic Attempts - To grab some Web 2.0 love. This is not going to cut it folks.

AppleTV - Just might have to look into this further as I do live in the city of the defending Word Champion St. Louis Cardinals!

Technically Speaking, it’s Friday - get out and have a blast!

If you look at these numbers this morning, you will see the investing and the return is not all that great. So what makes them tick? For those kind of returns, they should have just started a rock band. Just as risky, but less money involved. I think more fun too.

Technically Speaking, I needed a non-twitter, non-China tie in for a change. Music is always a good fall back for me at least.

He has now announced the fact that we all probably wondered after my post that I made about Wesabe I made last night. He comes clean today with this announcement of investing in new companies now. It looks like he is looking for some photon torpedo startups. I think someone could corner that market.

Technically Speaking, another resource to get your funding for your company is now official.