This is an excerpt from this interview with Matt Cameron of Corporate Catapult by Gareth Rose of iPitch. Matt highlights the value of the connections that he made at several Bootstrappper Breakfasts.
When I reached out to Gareth to get his permission to use this excerpt I asked him what iPitch was and he said “IPitch is an online community which educates and connects Australian entrepreneurs to help them startup and grow their businesses.”
Hat Tip to Ron Fredericks of LectureMaker for splicing together the excerpt.
We did some brainstorming at a recent breakfast about events and co-working facilities where you can meet other potential co-founders or look to join an early stage startup. Here is the list that we came up with.
Hacker Dojo costs $100 a month and will give you access to the co-working space and a chance to meet a lot of other founders on a informal basis and compare notes.
PlugandPlay is another space that has a lot of entrepreneurs, it’s more expensive but has several hundred teams either on-site or affiliated.
Hackers and Founders is a meetup devoted to founders. It’ a chance for informal conversation about technology and business subjects.
Startup Weekend is also an event worth attending when they come back to to the Bay Area, it’s a 54 hour “stress test” that let’s you see how folks perform under a small amount of pressure.
FounderDating is devoted to helping folks find co-founders
Startup2Startup is another group focused on getting early stage technology entrepreneurs together for a talk and networking.
The Founder Institute runs a structured program for entrepreneurs that is getting a lot of positive recognition. They run a four month training
SVASE runs Startup-U events several times a month with speakers who address startup issues, they would be an opportunity to network with attendees for co-founders
The MIT/Stanford Venture Lab runs monthly events that attract a lot of early stage technology entrepreneurs.
George Grellas posted the following in answer to a question on Hacker News about deferring legal fees. Like all of his writing it’s well thought out and based on a wealth of practical experience. It’s posted here with his permission
Be cautious about deferred fees in dealing with lawyers. These have their legitimate role in the world of startups but, as with any other form of “easy credit,” they can wind up costing you far more in the long run than if you simply negotiate good rates or fixed fee amounts for work you have at hand.
For example, this piece discusses fee deferrals up to $30K. How would this work?
A typical deferred-fee deal provides that a startup will get corporate legal services of up to x amount that are deferred for some fixed time (say, 6 months) or until the company does its first funding at some minimum amount (say, $1 million), whichever comes first. In exchange, the startup gives the law firm a small piece of equity for the credit extension. If the startup fails in its business, the founders are not personally liable for the cost of the legal services and the law firm eats the loss (this is the credit risk it takes for which it gets equity in exchange). If the startup does not fail, the bill comes due in time and must be paid.
Now, a few observations from one who has done such deals many times over from a lawyer perspective:
The deferred-fee deal is a beautiful fit for the type of go-for-broke, hope-to-massively-scale company that will depend heavily on VC funding. You team up with a few co-founders, set your company in motion, and let it fly. You get heavily diluted up front when the VC funding comes in at $5 million and up, the burn rate for the company is high, and you go all out with a prestige team to build that billion dollar company (or at least hundreds of millions). You hire a law firm that bills $500/hr and up even for green attorneys and that works in teams. A simple company formation is $5K and up; your convertible note round is $5K to $10K and up; your Series A round is $50K to $60K and up. And, if it all works, all this gets paid from VC money. If it flops, you owe nothing. In a way, then, this is a risk-free way as a founder to go for broke in launching an ambitious venture.
Now consider a bootstrap venture or an angel-funded venture where the founders delay outside funding until they can build a credible pre-money valuation in hopes of minimizing dilution. Unlike the VC-funded case, you will here want to be much more cautious about what the legal services will cost. In most such companies, it is easy to get through the first 6 months of the company’s history (a typical deferral period) without coming anywhere close to spending $30K on a legal budget. Company formation can easily be done in the $2K-$3K range for the vast majority of such companies; bridge notes for $3K or so; Series A often for $5K to $10K. Maybe you also need Terms of Service and other miscellaneous items (e.g., trademark applications). Thus, if you add up all the typical legal needs of such a venture, you might get up to the $10K range in the normal case if you spend your money wisely.
The temptation, then, with a deferred-fee deal is to spend on legal matters with greater abandon given that you are using “easy credit.” This made sense historically under the VC model. It makes less sense under the modern angel model and even less sense for a company that is going the purely bootstrap route.
When it comes to deferred-fee deals, then, it is important to count the real cost. It may be a good step for your company but make sure the fit is right for your venture. A decade ago, this was a near-ideal arrangement for most startups with quality founding teams. Today, it makes sense for some but probably not for most quality startups.
Bottom line: if a deferred-fee deal looks attractive, then, by all means do it. Just don’t treat it as an axiomatic good. Like most easy-credit arrangements, the ultimate cost to your company (even if not to you personally) may be quite a bit higher than what it might otherwise be if you focus purely on the market cost of the services.
Watch your dollars and especially when someone offers you something that seems to be all upside (when it is not).
SPARK Chicago will help launch three companies from scratch! Unlike any entrepreneurial event in Chicago’s history, SPARK Chicago will help create, build, and launch three startups with six days of intense incubation and donated services. More Info
The key to any successful start-up is belief in your idea, a good execution plan and consistency. The single most important but often overlooked quality in any successful entrepreneur is consistency.
Here are some tips to help you maintain consistency in carrying out your tasks:
Prepare goals with timelines.
Make sure the timelines are realistic.
Write a to-do list for each day and prioritize it. One is likely to get more work done when they have the checklist in writing.
Carry out tasks on your to-do list.
Combine tasks which are alike. Schedule time when you make all the phone calls, all emails, etc.
Focus on one task at a time. When working on one project, let your phone calls go to voice mail.
Share your goals and timelines with friends and family. You will more likely try and stick to them when you share them.
One of the most effective time management is having checklists for tasks that you do on a regular basis. Checklists for simple tasks can increase the quality of the end result to a great extent and lend consistency to what you do, a key attribute to running a business.
Here are samples for possible checklists you might want to have for your business.
Checklist For Writing and Publishing a New Blog Post
Spellcheck
Linkcheck
Grammar Check
Mention sources
Title and Date
Make sure the text is broken into paragraphs as appropriate
Checklist For Conferences You Wish To Speak At
What is your motive to speak-marketing your product,service, gain credibility, etc
Which area would be speak at or do you have the time and budget for? In california, on the east coast, etc
Depending on your motive and the geography,shortlist conferences. Also make sure to look at topics spoken at the conferences and make sure they are in line with your strategy
After shortlisting conferences, make sure you have the following data in a organized and sortable manner: Conference date, location, address, possible speaking topics, deadline to submit speaking proposals, contact name.
Have a short bio of yourself and a picture
Prepare a short para on the topics you wish to talk about
