Thanks to everyone who showed up. It was a great evening with interesting and inspiring conversation.  Here are the notes from the meetup.

Startup Santa Cruz Thru 10/22/09

Ideas

2 Great startup articles from Techcrunch:

From nothing to something
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/20/from-nothing-to-something-how-to-get-there/

• Find a great founding team. One person is almost never enough.
• Forget everything else and just get your product out the door.
• Get good mentors.

Finding your cofounders
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/11/finding-your-co-founders/

• The best founding team for a startup is a group of two or three people who have synergistic – not overlapping – skills. Note that it’s also important your goals and passions be similar.
• Join student groups relevant to your interests.
• If your school doesn’t already have a student group designed to foster collaboration between groups of students with the skills necessary to get a startup rolling, start one!
• Get out there and find activities that attract diverse groups of people.
• Ask your friends for intros to people in an area you’re trying to learn about.
• Join / attend local organizations designed to foster introductions between folks interested in startups.
• Team with co-workers at your current job or that internship you did last summer.

Seth Godin’s Blog

Anyone have any ideas?
Flesh out Tomorrowsmusician more
Can anyone help with tomorrowsmusician? I need php and js fused with HTML5. This seems more like a foundation that will be funded by donations than a business that could possible be acquired. As such how do I handle sweat equity? I also need people to put their music into the system.
Does anyone need help?

From Brooklyn

1. You have to pay your dues!
2. Everyone has an idea, the difference is, CAN YOU EXECUTE IT? Do you think you can or do you know?
3. Do you have a business plan?
4. What do you need to run your business? Office space, insurance, # of employees…
5. What are your projected earnings?
6. What is your break even point?
7. When will your investors see a return on their investment?

Opportunities

This week I would like to explore the Idea of The Long Tail and micro markets

I posted this link last week but will post it again this week. The idea of the long tail is so powerful to me that I will probably post this video many more times. Please take the time to watch it so that you know what I mean when I say “The Long Tail”
The Long Tail video

Micro Market-
Seth Godin- Tribes

How do you identify your micro market?
How do you create your tribe?
What is your tribe passionate about?
The concept of “Otaku”
http://www.fastcompany.com/events/realtime/miami/blog/godin.html
Use the power of the web to reach your niche
Build a group of 100 who will send you $1000 over the next year. Scale this idea up.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/06/r-i-p-good-times-one-year-later/
There were 645 venture financing for a total of $7.7 billion in Q3 2009, v. 660 and $7.7 billion in Q3 2008 (basically flat, but not down at all). Acquisitions have become less common, but the average price is way up. There were 231 acquisitions in Q3 2009 for an aggregate of $45.2 billion. In Q3 2008, there were 329 acquisitions for $25.9 billion in aggregate.

Fred Wilson
The Golden Triangle

The three current big megatrends in the web/tech sector are mobile, social, and real-time.

Networking

A blog is one of the best ways to drive traffic to your site. The more often that you post relevant content, the more often people will check back to see what you have to say. If it generates enough traffic you can post ads next to a blog. A blog can also voice your opinion and expertise leading to future work or influence. But most of all a blog is a great way to air your thoughts and communicate your ideals with your tribe.

Wordpress.com – for not locally hosted blogs,

Wordpress.org – to download the wordpress software. It is open source and free.

I recommend using Godaddy.com if you plan to host your own blog. Godaddy makes setting up a mySQL database and linking it to the software a snap. It is also very easy and integrated to find plugins and do updates. If your client has a low budget or you don’t know how to install the software try creating a free account at wordpress.com and linking to it from your domain.

A good technique to drive traffic to your site is to leave thoughtful, insightful, and most importantly NON-SPAM comments on the blogs that you read regularly. Most blog comment systems allow you to put in your website. This will let people who read your comment click through to your site and is considered appropriate/

New Media

HTML5
<video>
youtube.com/html5
When is it ok to use?
Who visits your site?
<audio>
When is it ok to use?
Who visits your site?
<canvas>
http://www.whatwg.org/demos/2008-sept/color/color.html
https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Canvas_tutorial

Markets

Children
Green technology
The music industry
Consumer Electronics
National
International

Venture Capital

Only 17 venture capital firms raise money in Q3 — fewest in 15 years

http://deals.venturebeat.com/2009/10/12/only-17-venture-capital-firms-raise-money-in-q3-fewest-in-15-years/

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/12/venture-funds-raise-only-1-6-billion-in-third-quarter-most-of-that-went-to-vinod-khosla/

Final notes

Any new emails to add to the list?

Introducing the Startup Santa Cruz forum
startupsantacruz.com/forum

looking for startup santa cruz volunteer bloggers
http://startupsantacruz.com/blog/?p=13

There are plenty of people who have been to college for what you are studying. And most of those people will never take the leap and start their own company. Why? It’s not that they don’t know what they are talking about. It’s not that they don’t have the skill set or people skills. It’s that they lack the passion of a true leader. A passion that drives them to never accept the status quo and forces them to always strive to find a better solution.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to be sure that you are fulfilling your passion:

What is my passion?

What do I talk about from sun up to sun down?

At what are you most successful?

Why do people listen to you?

On what are you always up to date?

Why are your skills valuable?

What makes me the most happy?

What would I do if money were not an issue?

Why have I not been successful so far?

Answering these can help you dial in on your true talents and calling. Often times things that we may have thought were our strong points are actually weak points. Don’t allow your ego to get in the way of answering these questions honestly and completely. Once you realize what it is that you are TRULY passionate about you can commit to it whole heartedly.

This last week there has been quite a buzz online regarding startups who have payed money to pitch to angel investors. I would like to weigh in on this.

A startup is in a much different position than an investor. A startup is just starting. Their budget is probably small as well as their social reach. They don’t have many connections in the industry and are looking to get their name around. They might or might not have a great, game changing idea, but they are usually enthusuastic—possibly even young and stupid.

An investor on the other hand is not just starting out. They have been in the business for years and their budget is massive. They have all of the social reach that comes with being a successful and wealthy person. There connections are endless as well as their burned bridges. They might or might not have ever had a great idea of their own but they were definitely around for some of the great investments and acquisitions of all time.

The differences between these two groups are the reason that they meet up in the first place. An entrepreneur has a great idea but no connections or cash. An investor has lots of cash and connections but no good ideas. The synergy of the two are what lead to society changing and fortune generating businesses. When a young entrepreneur comes to an investor they are bringing them their goals and dreams. They are hoping to find a mentor and someone who can take them under their wing and show them the way through the bumpy first couple years of business. When an investor comes to an entrepreneur they are looking for someone who is full of energy and inspiration. They are looking for a young general to carry the banner through battle.

This relationship, when properly created, is a true win-win situation. Each party involved walks away with more than they brought to the table. Even when money is lost hopefully both parties take what was learned and use it to create the next great idea—possible even together again.

Which brings me back to the point of the post. Entrepreneurs paying to pitch in front of investors. I think that is crap. Investors, at least in theory, are wealthy. They have money that they are looking to invest. Entrepreneurs on the other hand are not only usually not wealthy, they also are usually cash strapped—hence the meeting in the first place. To a cash strapped entrepreneur there is no such thing as extra cash. Any cash that they have is already deeply invested in their dream. To think that they have to pay thousands of dollars to present their idea to rich people is appalling.

Venture capitalists should be grateful to entrepreneurs. Just as entrepreneurs should be grateful to venture capitalists. It is in the fusion of young idealism and wise resourcefulness that leads to game changing success.

I encourage anyone out there considering paying to pitch to reconsider taking that money and investing it in their dream instead.

Here are a couple related posts from around the web.

http://thisweekinstartups.com/2009/10/twist-episode-23-angel-funding-showdown/#more-496

http://scobleizer.com/2009/10/10/it-is-ridiculous-startups-have-to-pay-to-pitch/

http://calacanis.com/2009/10/09/why-startups-shouldnt-have-to-pay-to-pitch-angel-investors/

Why do you have a startup? What is the reason you started your company? Was it as simple as not wanting to get a job somewhere else? Was it something as extreme as wanting to change the world? An entrepreneur needs to decide what it is that drives him/her. These are the things that we need to draw upon whenever faced with hard times or whenever we are lacking inspiration and vision. Here are some questions that every entrepreneur should ask him/herself

• What is my great idea?
• What is my motivation?
• Who will I affect?
• How will I affect them?
• What is the goal?
• What is the plan?
• What is the first step?
• What are some milestones
• Is there an end?

Our industry is driven by the profit motive. So your answers to the above questions may be short and obvious. But more and more I am finding young entrepreneurs who are not driven so much by the profit motive but by a honest desire to change the world.

It is universally acknowledged that the world is in an an extremely unique place. It seems that our ecology has been stretched to the limit of what is sustainable while we are on the brink of creating social and technical revolution. We are creating the tools that will heal our environment, offer clean energy, spread ideas, create physical goods, and feed the masses. Entrepreneurs of our generation must be aware that when we create a successful idea that it affects the entire world and even future generations. We have the chance to catalyze our society. The tools at our disposal are more powerful and more pervasive than anything previously imaginable. And this is only the beginning.

These ideas will generate more wealth than ever in history. Witness Google, the first great company of this new economy. They create no physical product but the services that they have created are slowly becoming crucial to our culture. The value that they serve by organizing the ocean of data is priceless but it manifests itself in billions of dollars in profits each year. Each problem that our world faces is really a great opportunity. The entrepreneurs of our generation have a great responsibility to consider the rest of the world and future generations when considering our next great idea or venture.

You are creating the next great idea and business. You are the leader of tomorrow. The idea that you have will generate wealth beyond your dreams but the wealth you create will pale in comparison to the social change you will affect. It is critical that you take this time to ask yourself the most important question of your life—Why?

Love to blog? Have a lot to say? I am looking for 2 to 3 people to help me with the Startup Santa Cruz blog. My intention is to create a toned down, Santa Cruz version of http://www.techcrunch.com. There are many interesting websites of mention from Santa Cruz and I need people to help me find and get the word out about them. The job is initially volunteer basis. But my vision is to be paying these volunteers within 3 months. Please let me know if you are interested and we will talk on the phone or in person.
The blog is located at:
If the right people respond and this idea spreads I am considering making the blog the landing page of http://wwwstartupsantacruz.com
Please let me know if you are interested.

contact cgcardona [at] gmail [dot] com

Sharemycard.com creator Steve Gabrio had a problem. What to do with all of those pesky business cards that seemed to elude him after he had gathered them from a good night of networking. The good ones seemed to totally disappear while the bad ones seemed to reappear even after he had tossed them out. He decided to fix his problem and hopefully yours by creating Sharemycard.com. This is a site that allows you to quickly create a flash based digital business card and share it with others. Because it is flash based your card can potentially do many interesting things. It currently supports several beautiful templates and will soon be adding video and sound. The site also allows you to store and manage the cards that you have swapped with other business associates. This site wonderfully solves the problem I have of loosing business cards. If I don’t enter the info into my computer the night I get the card I almost always misplace it and then end up going online anyway to hopefully find that person’s contacts. This site eliminates the first step and aggregates all of your digital business cards into one spot. Check out Sharemycard.com and create an account.

I have created a Startup Santa Cruz forum. It is located @ http://www.startupsantacruz.com/forum. It is currently set to only be viewed and posted to by members. I felt this was the best choice as people will be sharing their business ideas and this privacy might foster better trust and sharing of great ideas. But forum membership is open to anyone. So please create an account and feel free to create your own threads and use this as a tool in your own life. Tell people that you wish to network with about it and then start conversations with and engage them.
I hope this helps facilitate creative interaction and networking.
–

Thanks to everyone who showed up at our first meeting of Startup Santa Cruz. It was an intimate evening with really interesting and revealing conversation. We have decided to move the meeting nights to Thursday to accommodate the group’s schedule. Posted below are the notes of the evening with all relevent links included. Thanks again and see you in two weeks.

Startup Santa Cruz 10-07-09

Santa Cruz county is ripe with talent and innovation. Startup Santa Cruz is a bi-monthly meeting focusing on the opportunities and perils that all startups face. We will focus on emerging technologies and interesting trends. This will be a venue for the Santa Cruz startup community to pool resources and communicate.

* Ideas

* Networking

* New Media

* Opportunities

* Markets

* Venture Capital

Ideas

What is a Startup?

“A startup company or start-up is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Startup_company

Startup companies can come in all forms, including those that are simply life-style companies, but the phrase “startup company” is often associated with high growth, technology oriented companies. Startup’s have lower bootstrapping costs, higher risk, and higher potential return on investment. Successful startups are typically more scalable than an established business, in the sense that they can potentially grow rapidly with limited investment of capital, labor or land.

What benefits exist?

Starting over

Working on something that you are passionate/excited about

Getting your ideas out.

Financial Success.

Social change.

What perils exist?

Financial Failure

Social Disruption

Legal trouble

Personal embarrassment /ruin

Any ideas?

Tomorrowsmusician.com

Sharemycard.com

What are large companies interested in buying?

What is likely to have the greatest impact?

Does anyone have any business ideas?

Must all startups be money oriented?

What about a non-profit? Ex Firefox $70 million a year non-profit that gives away it’s product for free.

Networking

Events

Bi-monthly networking dinners

Live music events

Email/Social Media threads

New Media

Email

Newletters – A great way to push new content to people who care to receive it.

Threads- Email threads can be a great way to get conversations going between people who are rarely in the same place. I want to create a Startup Santa Cruz mailing list to create vibrant threads between the santa cruz startup community.

Mailing lists

Blog

Wordpress

Godaddy integration

Blogger

Hosted by Google

Host yourself?

Social-Media

Facebook

Myspace

Twitter

Wordpress

Meatball Sundae?

Opportunities

What opportunities exist?

With unemployment up this is a great time to hire talented people for a good price.

Recessions breed entrepreneurialism.

Venture Capitalists are looking for great companies.

Multi-national companies flush with cash (Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc..) are consolidating more and more smaller companies leading to more successful exits.

CEO Eric Schmidt tells Reuters that Google is once again looking to make about about one purchase a month.

http://paidcontent.org/article/419-google-is-ready-to-start-buying-companies-again/

Microsoft is also looking to buy a bunch of companies.

“We’ll probably buy 20 companies a year consistently for the next five years,” said Mr. Ballmer.

http://www.redherring.com/Home/22998

What pitfalls exist?

Financial and personal ruin or embarrassment.

Environmental pollution.

Social pollution

Legal trouble

Markets

The Long Tail

Great youtube video: authors @ google

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ibzF_7gSjyI

wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Long_Tail

Free

Great youtube video: authors @ google

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJuoziJaE4

http://www.audible.com/free

Markets

National

California

The United States

International

Canada

Mexico

North America

Europe

South America

Atoms

Is the idea to create and distribute/sale physical objects?

How will we produce them?

Where will we produce them?

How will we ship them

How will we store them?

What is the price?

What is the profit?

What is the motive?

Bits

Is the idea a digital?

What format?

* HTML/CSS

* Flash

* mobile

Venture Capital

Worth it?

Too much outside influence?

Investors don’t share your vision?

Too much pressure toward an exit from investors?

Possible without it?

Able to get “off the ground”

Able to hire staff?

Able to create prototypes?

HTML5 Video #1 from 2008

<canvas> element example

Google Engineer Brad Nuerberg’s introduction video to HTML5

Monthly updated browser market share chart

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Usage_share_of_web_browsers