The book about Ron Conway

Recently I picked The Godfather of Silicon Valley http://www.amazon.com/dp/081299163X/?tag=iwhite-20

That is the book about Ron Conway http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Conway with no doubts the most prominent angel investor in Silicon Valley.  I like to read biographies as they can be pretty inspiring.

That was a different book.  I can't really describe it, neither I can say that I loved it, but I "ate it" in just two days.  Not a typical biography-book.  However, it change my view of Ron Conway.  Unfortunately, I had no chance to meet him personally, yet, so my impression of him is solely based on typical TechCrunch- and Hacker News-type of a stories (which I tend to accept with a grain of salt).  This book gave me a chance to to see him as a talented businessman, but a not as a all-wanna-be-entrepreneurs-God-whatever.  And his networking circles can't leave you unimpressed anyways. :)

If you have got a spare few hours, I highly recommend this one.

# Posted via email from opportunity__cost

Free pitch

a) There is no circumstance where an angel investing group should charge a startup to pitch
b) We’ve launched an investigation into these groups and need any information you have
c) If you would spread the word about this issue by discussing it with angel investors and startups we would appreciate it
d) We are demanding that angel groups waive all fees starting today
e) We are going to crush any group that doesn’t comply with our demands
f) There is no negotiation
g) Angel forums upset by this email: Jason doesn’t care what you think of him and could care less if you email his investors, his mother or the Principal of the Internet to complain about his bad behavior (plus these folks get emails all the time and are used to it).

via calacanis.com

A class act from Jason again.

And, yes, I personally was approached by few shady guys trying to convince me to pay the "pitching fee", and no, I never paid and not planning to pay it ever. This is just not fair. One commitment (money) should be at least exchanged to another commitment, while it's given away for free.

# Posted via web from opportunity__cost

What I learned

Yesterday we had a "quick-pitch" meeting with our Purple Star team (from Founder Institute). We're lucky to be the smallest team in the class, so it will give us extra advantages whenever our group will meet investors. The course will have three public meetings for investors over the period of four months.

So we decided to gather together and try the 3 and 5-minutes pitches of our ventures and get some real life feedback from it. I should say it was very productive, even if we had to leave Starbucks and move to Borders at 9pm. (I had no freaking idea that Starbucks in downtown San Mateo is closing at 9 pm! That's absolutely ridiculous. Are we supposed to move to City next time? :)

So, few thoughts on the pitch:

1. Clearly state the purpose, but not the process. Purpose comes first, process next.
2. Make sure to have very clear about the process, have a use-case if it's easier for you to explain.
3. (Consumer will ask) What does it give to me? What do I get back? (We were talking about B2C idea)
4. Make sure not to scary people by thinking that you're building a new social network. Be clear about overhead which you add and how it balances with benefits gained.

Overall, we had a great time together. Everybody has got very nice ideas and in our team of 5 people all of us are working in a very different industries and directions. That's why we always learn something new from our peers. Personally, as a beer fan, I think our discussion could be better over the pint of some nice german lager, but whatever, Starbucks' double-shot Mocha was good, too. However, I was wearing only the t-shirt and got cold shortly after starting our meeting. Next time need to think ahead and grab something warm. :)