NYC Tech Watch

There are 7 billion people in the world…how many have thought of your start-up idea?

Lou — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 14:13:12 +0000

How many times has this happened to you? You have a great idea that you think no one else has thought of only to run across someone who is already doing it. What do you do? I met a founder who explained with passion how he was moving along on his start-up only to run into a company at a conference that was doing the exact same thing. In fact, they were a bit further along than he was. He decided to quit his own project and is now helping another founder with a non-related start-up. When he explained the new start-up, it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it.

Did he make the right choice?

Unfortunately, in his case I don’t think so. He had a real strong connection with his original start-up idea and was making good progress toward it. It’s no secret that the start-up journey is difficult, but what sustains most is the belief in what they are doing. He had that belief and a means to see it through. In fact, many great ideas can support multiple competing start-ups all of whom can secure marketshare and be successful. Ideas are great, but as any experienced angel, VC or founder will tell you, it’s really about the execution. Your mantra must be that you will implement your idea better than anyone else. It’s competitive out there and you need to be ready to take on all comers. This way when you here of a start-up that is very similar to yours, you’ll shrug it off and focus on fine tuning your implementation strategy.

After all, with 7 billion people in the world…..most likely someone is having the same thought you are having, so focus on execution and see it through.

Startup Experimentation Allows for Quick Pivots Early On

Lou — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:44:20 +0000

A critical part of the lean startup movement is experimentation and creation of a minimum viable product (MVP). Five startups shared their experiences last night at the NYC Lean Startup Meetup on exactly what to expect with the approach. Here are some of the takeaways:

The ABC Tool (Michele Serro) – An application that manages the home buying process, Michelle discussed the effectiveness of working with a conceptual flow of their product early on. Discussing with users and agents the process helped her team focus on what functionality really resonated and allowed significant changes before any code was actually written. Although not an actual product in this case, the exercise prevented unnecessary development.

Contently (Shane Snow) – A marketplace for freelance writers and publishers, Shane utilized small pieces of add-on code to offer different functionality and monitor user reactions. In some cases functionality was not actually built out but offered simply to gauge interest. Based on the responses, functionality would either be developed or scrapped.

CityPockets (Cheryl Yeoh) – An application to manage daily deals, Cheryl and her team used extensive experimentation at different phases to refine their focus on what user psychology was applied when interacting with the site. As her experience with experimentation increased, her tests were more precise and productive.

Dispatch.io (Nick Stamas) – An application to manage files across multiple cloud services, Nick tweaked an early application to focus on needs of those who required easy transfer of files using the cloud.

Ordr.in (David Bloom) – Restaurant API to support food ordering functionality, David built very little of his early product before getting specific contracts and requirements from his initial customers. Based on that feedback, the initial product was created and additional functionality was added based on experimentation and feedback.

A common theme throughout the night was that although experimentation and creation of an MVP was very helpful, there was a general unease with releasing a product that was in many cases very raw. This was especially prevalent with founders who had a design background.

Should your start-up be a B-corp or L3C? If your addressing social and environmental issues, the answer maybe YES

Lou — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 15:35:08 +0000

Fill in the blank in the following sentence: The goal of a corporation is to maximize _____________ value. If you said “shareholder”, then you understand the long established explanation of the 20th century definition of a corporation. But does this definition work today? Can a public or private organization simply focus on the bottom line profit without any regard for resource or people impact? From a legal point, not only should they, but they are required to or face potential shareholder lawsuits.

As organizations become more conscious of their social responsibility, they are starting to focus on a triple bottom line (TBL). For those unfamiliar with the term, it stands for people, planet and profit and captures an expanded definition of what organizational success means. It entails a commitment by the organization to measure success by reporting on economic, ecological and social measures (rather than economic alone). Unfortunately, the “C” corporation isn’t really structured for this type of organization. Luckily, there are two structures that help.

B-Corps

The b-corp (or Benefit Corp) is a type of corporation which uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems. B Lab, a nonprofit organization, certifies B Corporation based on criteria that meets comprehensive and transparent social and environmental performance measures, as well as other accountability and sustainability standards. The most significant component of the b-corp is that there is a legal requirement to follow the criteria and corporate documents are changed to reflect that.

L3C

The L3C (or Low-profit Limited Liability Company) is a legal form of business entity created to bridge the gap between non-profit and for profit investing by providing a structure that allows for investments in philanthropic ventures designed to provide a social benefit. Unlike a standard LLC, the L3C has an explicit primary charitable mission and only a secondary profit concern. But unlike a charity, the L3C is free to distribute the profits, after taxes, to owners and investors. A primary benefit of the L3C is the qualification of the company as a program related investment (PRI), thus allowing for investments by foundations who otherwise may not have been allowed (as a for-profit). The L3C as an official legal structure is not available in all states.

As the definition of corporate success evolves to include social and environmental responsibilities so must the supporting legal and organizational structures. Hopefully, these two entities are the beginning of a long overdue update.

SOPA / PIPA Protest Draws Hundreds to Midtown Manhattan

Lou — Fri, 18 May 2012 20:22:28 +0000

SOPA / PIPA Protest in Midtown Manhattan

Hundreds from the internet community protested outside the offices of U.S. Democratic Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand who are co-sponsors of the Senate bill PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act). For a better understanding of the legislation, review the Standford Law Review explanation here and Roger Yu’s story here.

The legislation threatens the dynamics and freedom of the internet and is primarily supported by special interests such as publishers, large media companies and business trade groups. Many legislators are clueless to the ramifications.

It’s no longer OKAY to NOT KNOW how the INTERNET WORKS!

Stop PIPA / SOPA.

Free Storage Everywhere – How Do We Manage It

Lou — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 17:32:24 +0000

I don’t know what it is about free storage, but I can’t seem to pass it up. As the storage wars heat up, there are more and more options for free storage then ever before. At last check we have:

Dropbox – 2 GB Free
ICloud – 5 GB Free
Google – 1 GB for Docs; Picasa 1 GB; Google+ unlimited for photos
Windows Live Skydrive – 5-25 GB
Box.Net – 5 GB
Amazon Cloud Drive – 5 GB
SugarSync – 5 GB
IDrive – 5 GB
ADrive – 50 GB
Memopal – 3 GB
OpenDrive – 5 GB
ZunoDrive – 2 GB
TeamDrive – 2 GB
SpiderOak – 2 GB
Syncplicity – 2 GB
SafeCopy – 3 GB
Mimedia – 7 GB

Okay, so I’m sure there are a good deal more providers out there, but you get the point. Now the question becomes, where do you keep all your files? If you’re like me, you probably have one or more of the services above and have files with several providers. For example, I have calendars and photostream syncing through ICloud, business files on Dropbox and some personal items on Microsoft Skydrive. Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app that managed all your services behind the scene? You could simply drag and organize files, photos and other pertinent items on the app and an algorithm would decide where to store it. Fetching would occur through the same app. Developers?

$5 For College Tutoring – Quality of Learning on the Rise

Lou — Mon, 05 Mar 2012 21:41:14 +0000

You never really did like Chemistry in high school and now you’re face to face with it again in college. What’s that? You can’t even understand your professor? The concepts are foreign and the TAs are no help. Enter StudyEdge. Ethan Fieldman, the co-founder and president of StudyEdge provided attendees of the Digital Design series an in-depth look on how mass tutoring at the college level can not only be affordable, but actually provide better delivery and presentation of the material.

StudyEdge is a Facebook App that allows students to sign up for a monthly plan (usually from 25$ to 75$ depending on how many classes you’d like to view) to access videos of well qualified, highly effective tutors on introductory courses. The videos are designed to follow along with the syllabus and provide a way for students to get reinforcement on the material. Students can also ask specific questions that may be answered by other students or the tutor. The tutor assesses answers given by other students and assigns points to those who correctly provide an answer. Looking for additional practice problems to help study for the final? StudyEdge provides that too.

Currently in three colleges (primarily in Florida) for now, I’m sure we’ll be seeing a lot more of StudyEdge in the future.

Are You Feeling the Pressure…..or is it really just Stress?

Lou — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 00:49:21 +0000

As anyone who has experienced the emotional roller coaster a startup can unleash on a team can attest, it’s no picnic. It can be overwhelming, but how much of it is really warranted? As a small child, I recall being told the story of William Tell. For those who may have never heard of it, it was a story about a father and a son who inadvertently disobey the governor of their town. As punishment, William Tell is forced to shoot an arrow through an apple that sits on his son’s head at a distance of 50 steps. William Tell begs for another punishment, but in the end if he does comply, his son will be immediately killed. In the end William Tell splits the apple and his son is spared.

What does this story have to do with the topic at hand? It’s an excellent example of the difference between pressure and stress. William Tell has pressure in that he must perform and execute at a high standard. His son, on the other hand, has stress. His son has no control over whether his father will perform and is dependent on his expertise. Pressure is productive and can be reduced by increasing one’s preparation, knowledge, experience or other factors that will help in performance. Stress, on the other hand, revolves around what can’t be controlled. The bottom line…..focus on the pressure, get rid of the stress.

New Year’s Resolution – Learn To Code! At least 163,799 people have said Yes.

Lou — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 15:52:22 +0000

Last night I opted to skip the NY Tech Meetup (I can always catch the video on their website) and decided to head over to see the demos at the Digital Learning Series. Zach and Ryan from Codecademy were there discussing their “learn to code” initiative for 2012. If you haven’t yet heard about Codecademy, then welcome back from hibernation since they’ve received a good deal of press in a very short time. In a nutshell, you learn how to code by completing interactive lessons, earning badges and sharing with friends.

Well for 2012, Zach and Ryan set up CodeYear to help people learn to code in 2012 as part of their New Year’s resolution. Each week you get an interactive programming lesson sent (the first one will be sent Monday, January 9th) for you to complete. So if your dreams consist of coding the next hot app or everyone chasing you down for start-up jobs, head over to CodeYear and sign up now.

P.S. In the 15 minutes I spent writing this post, the above number has jumped to 164,972!