I’ve watched Startup.com multiple times. Last time I had watched the movie was about 14 months ago, right after Frank and I decided we were going to leave my first venture to strike it out on our own. Watching the movie again, I’ve noticed I’ve learned a LOT. I think you really notice how much you learn, by going back and looking at old scenarios later on in life. Startup.com is an interesting movie, and brings out the best and worst of the old dotcom bubble. I think there’s a few obvious and huge errors the guys made at GovWorks:

Focus

For a ten minute period, about twenty minutes into the film, Tom and Kaleil are arguing about focus. They’re both on different pages, and worst of all in front of a VC that’s invested in them. Why in God’s name are they arguing about focus after raising a round of money? This is Startup 101 stuff, get your focus down. Yes, you will have to adapt, but without a simple focus, your startup is done. Example: Riya.com, now Like.com has adapted and changed, but their focus is the same: facial and visual recognition technology. They have adapted it to search recognition, but it’s still the same business. Look at Facebook, connecting people through a social directory. Three years down the road and it’s the same focus, but expanded outwards. There are three levels of focus throughout the business:

1. First Initial Focus: We provide X for Market Y, which makes Market Y work better.

2.Adaption Focus: Keeping the same focus, while adapting to feedback from your customers. Make the business better, but still Provide X for Market Y, to make Market Y better.

3. Expansion Focus: Take what you’ve done in Step 1, and expand it to other vertical businesses. Keep the same core focus of the business, but do it for Market X and its coordinated verticals.

Relationships

Business is all about relationships. There is nothing more important than relationships. Your cofounders? Should be like brothers. Your Investors and VCs? Should be like fatherly figures for advice, not Warlords. Granted they NEED to be hardasses. In Startup.com, the company lost TWO of its cofounders. It seemed to be at odds and constantly fearful of their VCs. Everyone that you have a business relationship needs to do one simple thing: GET IT. Either they get it or they don’t get it. They need to see the same vision as you. Without that, it’s not a relationship, but two people fumbling around trying to explain some odd contraption to each other. Get Co-Founders who you trust like family and VCs that are with you.

Don’t Be a Fool With the Money

I know it was the bubble, but please don’t be an idiot with the money. 30 employees, only 200k in the bank,etc. WTF? By the way, did they even run a damned company. All I saw were trips to the Valley and across to New York to raise more money. The valuations I heard, seemed like they were diluted to hell and back. The product wasn’t even close to being launched and they were burning through money. I’d love to see with how little money and scarce resources that a Web 2.0 company could build something like GovWorks. I’d be astonished. You know what, we’re not in a bubble. We have startups who are more nimble and can do it with very little money. Not to tout my horn, but we’re a small team of 3 right now and are building this product with very little money. Why else aren’t we in a bubble? The products are more focused. They may seem ridiculous to some, but that’s because they’re not mainstream products. The products are niche. They serve actual needs that people actually have. Calling this a bubble brings pageviews, that sells advertisements. It’s not a bubble, and I’m happy to be in Web 2.0.

[tags] web 2.0, web 1.0, startup.com, publictivity, startups, failures, riya, like.com [/tags]

I’m from New Jersey, if you already don’t know. I was proudly born and raised in Norwood, NJ, a town only a few miles from New York City. Growing up, 50% of everyone you knew would attend Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Some of my best friends go there, and I’ve even taken a class there in the past. If you haven’t partied there, trust me you ARE missing out. This is coming from someone who has gone to the University of Miami, so trust me on this. Anyway, up until recently, more like this year, Rutgers football, well hasn’t been anything too amazing. Fast forward to this year, and Rutgers is a Top 10 football program, that’s right, and undefeated. One of the key ingredients according to their Fearsome Leader, Greg Schiano, is “The Chop”. What is it? Simply put:

“Coach Greg Schiano has instilled the phrase with the No. 14 Scarlet Knights, his way of telling the team to maintain focus no matter what the situation. “

This applies easily to a football game, but it applies to business just as easily. Here are some simple scenarios where “The Chop” applies to business.

1.) STAY FOCUSED

A startup will throw you tons of curve balls. Your team is small, your budget is limited (even if you are venture or angel funded), and your immediate future is uncertain. This may even be your first startup, which makes it even harder. The best thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to keep moving forward. Set your goals up, and then knock them down. If things come along in between… which they will, ignore the drama/ bullshit, and take care of the very few that are important. Once that’s done, get back to your goals and keep chopping. If you have a goal, just get it done. SEE A GOAL, CHOP IT DOWN UNTIL IT IS FINISHED.
2.) Adapt And Keep Moving

In Football, you may lose your quarterback due to injury in the second quarter or receive an unjust penalty. Guess what? Life is unfair. Football teams that succeed adapt to the changes, and stay focused on their goal of winning the game. As an entrepreneur, you may get thrown curveballs, have a venture deal fall through, lose a partnership, have downtime, lose a key team-mate,etc. The best thing you can do is understand the situation, take it in, and ADAPT. Once you’ve adapted, stay focused on your goals. See a curveball, CHOP IT DOWN.

I hope everyone found this useful. Entrepreneurship is a lot like a football game:

• It is long. Football is not one quarter, one game, but a series of games leading to a championship. Sometimes games have overtime. YOU HAVE TO BE IN IT FOR THE LONG RUN.
• You will lose. It’s inevitable, you will lose some games. You really lose, if you do not learn what you did wrong during those games. Same thing with entrepreneurship. LEARN FROM YOUR MISTAKES.
• It is a team sport. Football is a team sport, and the best teams succeed. Entrepreneurship is the same. Ask any venture investor, potential hire, advisor, or even seasoned co-founder… THE BET IS PLACED ON THE TEAM.

I’m not a sports expert by any means. If anyone has any contributions to this post ie- analogies, insight,etc. post them in the comments. I’ll add them to the post. Thanks again everyone.

[tags] rutgers, football, bcs, rutgers football, greg schiano, new jersey, entrepreneurship, rutgers chop, the rutgers chop, scarlet knights, business, web 2.0, blogging, startups, jason l. baptiste [/tags]

If we linked to you, don’t worry, this blog will be up this week. Just testing

[tags] web 2.0, public relations [/tags]