ServePath Blog

Yesterday we inaugurated with co-host Orrick a new event in San Francisco called StartUp SF. The idea behind StartUp SF is to bring together like-minded technologists, entrepreneurs, startups, Web 2.0 companies and others to engage, learn and network. The “special mix” of socializing, company demo tables and a guest speaker proved to be the perfect environment for this to take place. All proceeds from the event are donated to charity. For this event, $400 will be donated to Habitat for Humanity.

The 100+ audience not only received invaluable information on how to “kick-start their startup,” they also received the Orrick Emerging Start-Up Kit CD-ROM (containing important legal tools and document templates to help any business) as well as a $100 coupon towards GoGrid.

Speaker & Demos

After about an hour of socializing, meets-and-greets and mini-demos (by Triggit, Askpedia and MotivePath…and GoGrid, of course), attendees listened to and participated in a through-provoking and information presentation by Jonathan Cobb (CTO and Founder of Kiptronic - a long-time ServePath customer). The presentation, “Genesis of a Startup…from concept to company,” covered a wide range of important topics that anyone thinking about starting a company should consider, including:

• Early Validation (pitch, customers, risks)
• The Basics (capital, agreements, timing, records)
• Validation (milestones, customers, research)
• Core Team (people, network, skillset, compensation)
• Fund Raising (tight ship & stay hungry)
• Term Sheet (valuation, plan B)

The full presentation is available for download here.

The Audience and Photos

We took a few photos last night. They are located on the ServePath Flickr photostream. A few highlights…

John Keagy (CEO/ServePath)

Michael Sheehan (Tech. Evangelist/ServePath) Pete Cashmore (CEO/Mashable)

View from the Orrick balcony

Daniel Lieberman (CEO/bitpusher) & Robert Ficcaglia (Founder/MotivePath)

Jonathan’s presentation

In the future, we also hope to begin doing live videocasts of the event as well as make these videos available for viewing later.

More information about StartUp SF

StartUp SF will continue every other month, with the next one planned for June. Speaking topics will be geared towards different tools, techniques, methodologies and strategies to help start-ups and emerging companies grow successfully. Companies or individuals who would like to speak, be media sponsors or host a demo table are encouraged to fill out the Contact form on the StartUp SF site.

If you are in the San Francisco Bay Area tomorrow (April 30th) we hope that you can attend StartUp SF, a meetup designed to help you “kickstart your startup.”

Speaker and Demo tables

Jonathan Cobb - Founder/CTO of Kiptronic (http://www.kiptronic.com)

Topic - “Genesis of a Startup: from Concept to Company”

• Early Validation — Before you start in earnest, you might wonder — What makes a good idea? Is yours worth pursuing? How do you size your opportunity?
• Covering the Basics — A handful of best-practices recommendations for general company administration: corporate formation, capital structure, legal, accounting, etc.
• Building the Core Team — How do you attract talent at this very early stage? What kinds of players will you need pre-funding? Post-funding?
• Market Validation — How do you execute to prove you have a winning idea? What milestones make sense for your business?
• Fund Raising — When should you raise money? Who should be your target funding sources? How much should you raise? What are common investment terms?

Demo table companies: Triggit, Askpedia and MotivePath. Also come see a demo of GoGrid, a definite “must have” for any startup.

Every attendee will receive:

• $100 GoGrid service credit which enables you to deploy, scale and load balance server networks instantaneously - More info about GoGrid

• Orrick’s Startup Kit CD which includes legal documents critical to every startup Venture - More info about Orrick

Quick Details:

When: April 30th, 2008 from 6pm to 9pm
Where: Orrick, Herrington and Sutcliffe, 405 Howard St, SF at the 8th Floor Cafe
Who: Technologist, Entrepreneurs, Startups, Web 2.0-ers (over 21 years of age)
Bring: Business cards, elevator pitch, curiosity, legal dilemmas and hosting needs
Cost: $10 in advance / $20 at the door (all proceeds go to charity)

Register at: http://startupsf0408.eventbrite.com/

Hope to see you there!

Today I attended an event put on by SVASE, an organization “empowering entrepreneurs to realize their vision,” that had a very pertinent topic for Web 2.0 companies and start-ups. The topic was understanding how to validate whether your value proposition meets the need of a demanding market.

IT was a “round table” discussion headed by a 3 person invited panel. Jonathan Cobb, Founder and CTO of Kiptronic, was a member of the 3 person panel. (Kiptronic is a hosting client of ServePath’s.) The other two members of the panel were Skip Glass (Operating Partner of Foundation Capital) and Julie Wainwrite (former CEO of Pets.com, Reel.com, Bellamax, and Berkeley Systems).

The discussion was lively and very engaging, with seasoned and new entrepreneurs asking and answering questions. What I have compiled below is a list of 15 items that stood out in the discussions as offered by the panel members.

1. Listen to your customers
2. Have metrics showing how your compare to others in the same or similar market in a measurable way (like price per click or similar measurement)
3. Get some market research done for unbiased analysis
4. Be sure to evaluate the size and magnitude of the problem
5. Test your proposition with people who don’t have a vested interest
6. Don’t underestimate the number of people who will want to help you
7. Release your product early, release it often
8. Don’t go for a media/press push until your product, company and team are honed and fine tuned
9. Best way to kill a BAD product is with GOOD advertising
10. Skew your offering towards your largest target market; don’t try to hit everyone
11. People want to associate with a group; understand that group
12. Read any early adopter feedback through a lens or filter
13. Consider channel deals as they may be less expensive and faster to market
14. When finding a VC, build up a stellar advisory board of leaders; it will add value to your proposition
15. Find a good hosting provider, like ServePath, when you are ready to go to market (Ok, I added that one myself, sorry)

Here are some photos from the event.

The Panel (Left to Right) - Skip Glass, Jonathan Cobb and Julie Wainwrite

The Roundtable - at DLA Piper

ServePath client - Jonathan Cobb (Founder/CTO - Kiptronic) & Steven Buelow (Servepath)

More photos of this event can be found on the ServePath Flickr set.