Disqus - Latest Comments for innonate

Re: Swinging For The Fences

innonate — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:08:57 -0000

This was a large part of why I decided last Spring to partner up with Aaron Cohen on AnyClip. So far, my decision has been a great one, AnyClip's trajectory aside.

The opportunity to work with someone who has literally seen it all -- from the first GIF89 flashing advertisement to data-intensive operations like MenuPages -- has really been fruitful for me, as one of those "visionary young people."

Vision just can't replace experience.

Re: Thesis Driven Startups & Investing

innonate — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 16:54:24 -0000

good luck!

Re: Thesis Driven Startups & Investing

innonate — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:32:52 -0000

No, your thesis is very important here. Would love to have a collection of theses somewhere, just to read through. Not a surprise, I love yours.

Re: Thesis Driven Startups & Investing

innonate — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:31:51 -0000

Very valid point about how useless a thesis can be for a team who doesn't execute. But it's a good framework to execute around for a team that does.

Re: Startup Lessons - Having industry momentum at your back

innonate — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:13:20 -0000

Yes, your point is still quite valid.

Re: Startup Lessons - Having industry momentum at your back

innonate — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:55:38 -0000

Perhaps unimportant but I think 37Signals took $ from Bezos.

Re: The Golden Triangle

innonate — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:10:01 -0000

This space is interesting because great players -- like Facebook (mobile app usage is insane), Twitter (duh), Google, Foursquare, etc -- are already rocking this space and rocking it well.

How much more company does this space need?

Would love to hear what "big problems" other commenters think are still unsolved in this space. We know how to make connections, share our thoughts and locations, find information together and on the go... what else is needed?

My contribution: I think a big unsolved problem -- while other people are finding ways for you to save money while on the go -- is how you can MAKE money, socially, in real-time, while you're on the go. The labor issue.

The socializing, real-timing, and mobilizing of the web are all a part of us making a more efficient -- and labor will be a big part of this.

Re: Putting your life on the line for a 50% chance to fail

innonate — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 22:06:18 -0000

Congrats, Ryan. I can honestly say it was one of NY Tech Meetup's best presentations in my tenure.

Re: Launching AnyClip

innonate — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:25:04 -0000

Thanks! TC50 draws an international crowd, so it will be hard to compete
with. I'd love for something like this to exist in New York, but I'm not
sure it ever will...

Re: Accelerate NY

innonate — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 17:54:10 -0000

I'm not saying learn code. I'm saying learn "the ways of" code -- and that's
nowhere to be found in a CS101 book. It's to be found on Andrew Kortina's
blog or at a Justin Day's BarCamp session on 3d, self-replicating robots.
The idea is -- if you not already a programmer -- to think like a
programmer. The people who say you have to be a programmer are wrong, but I
don't care what role you want to end up filling at a startup -- founder,
CEO, maid, biz dev, product, QA, etc -- the people who saw you have to think
like a programmer are right. You'll end up wasting a lot of cycles if you
don't learn to do that. And unless you're insanely good (and experienced) at
what you do, those wasted cycles are just too much waste for a startup to
need your services, no matter how smart.

Re: http://anyclip.com/title/Clueless/clip/%40EDIbJ2tYhntu

innonate — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 14:51:23 -0000

Ha! Mine too.

Re: Accelerate NY

innonate — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 13:03:08 -0000

Jared, go make yourself so intensely aware and understanding of how software engineering works that an untrained eye can't tell a difference and CTOs talk to you like you are one of them. Live the products and understand why some succeed and some fail. Eat web apps for breakfast, and -- before lunch -- learn to install and hack-around on Drupal, Wordpress, and even get up and running on Ruby on Rails.

At the end of the day, you'll still be a non-programmer. But, you won't be an idiot like so many other non-programmers (the reason folks say you must be a programmer to succeed).

That's the basic program I think is needed.

Re: Accelerate NY

innonate — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:42:22 -0000

I definitely think the pace of startups is accelerating here, and I think hackers have great resources already. I still think we're leaving major innovators out of the picture -- some non-hackers especially -- and could find creative ways to bring them into the fold, and out of the brain-and-soul-sucking industries which dominate NYC.

Perhaps its my own personal experience, but I think there's a right path for training non-developers to make big contributions to the tech startup world. I also think that if we did this in a coordinated fashion, the effects would be transformational.

Re: Accelerate NY

innonate — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 11:38:38 -0000

I think we could go wrong focusing on hackers with new programs in NYC. We have a vibrant hacking scene -- both hardware and software -- and I think there's enough hacker-friendly money laying around.

I'm interested in the non-hackers, personally. There are a lot of brilliant minds who think like hackers but need some education on how to properly get a tech startup off the ground. That's what we have a surplus of here -- and that's the community which is underserved.

Re: 100 AnyClip Invites for /Film Readers

innonate — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:57:03 -0000

Quick update for folks... there's a minor bug in our invitations system, so I'll have everyone's invites out first thing in the morning. Thanks for hanging in tight!

Re: 100 AnyClip Invites for /Film Readers

innonate — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:04:39 -0000

Yikes! Sorry we ran out of invites (actually, we got 175 requests before I cut it off). I'll get those 175 their invite now... and hopefully we can get more invites to you soon.

Nate Westheimer
Co-Founder, AnyClip

Re: Anyclip: Finally, A Movie Clip Search Engine

innonate — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 15:22:57 -0000

Thanks a bunch for the write-up, Devindra. Shoot me your email so I can get you a beta invite.
Nate
VP Product, AnyClip

Re: Why Tomorrow Night’s NYTM is so Important

innonate — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:23:03 -0000

It's not just about mentorship. It's about partnership too. The
technology being developed in the universities can be game-changing
for some companies. The problem is most companies don't know what tech
is being developed at universities and most universities dont know
what problems people with businesses have.

Re: Equity Grant Math

innonate — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:11:38 -0000

It's a tired saying, but I'll throw it out there:

"50% of something is a lot more than 100% of nothing."

My dad was the first person to tell me this, when I got started with BricaBox. With that venture, I owned well over 50% of the company still when I decided to close it. That well over 50% turnout to be of nothing.

With my new venture, I'm sitting well south of that 50% number, but with little sacrifice to ownership. Why is this?

It's because my "less" comes with "more" team of invested people. The more people who feel like meaningful owners of the Company (meaningful in terms of both % and their attitude towards it), the more valuable my Company is.

So, % matters, for sure -- it's the basis on which investors and employees can do real back-of-envelope dreaming -- but so does the culture around that number.

Re: http://nytm.org/2009/08/24/212/

innonate — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 03:06:58 -0000

Very cool list. Congrats to all of them!

Re: Memorable Quotes

innonate — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 07:32:25 -0000

Great bunch of insights here.

Re: Couldery Shouldery

innonate — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 15:43:24 -0000

Scott - wow. I never had to look away, but I understand how tough it was to write. Mostly, I learned a lot just in reading this post. I look forward to catching up in person and -- as with everyone else -- seeing what revolution you're going to start next.
Best, Nate

Re: Why Startups Fail (Hint: It’s not because of money)

innonate — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:28:31 -0000

I think you're right about listening to customers. Blip.tv is a perfect
example of getting this right.

Re: Why Startups Fail (Hint: It’s not because of money)

innonate — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 18:06:33 -0000

I think the trend of cheaper startups puts a focus on market timing for
sure. It's harder to go longer periods of time without getting traction
because next week, when the market is ready for your product or service,
someone could come in without the baggage of an existing company and with a
product build around more current models/facts/etc and compete.

Re: Chris and Malcolm are both wrong

innonate — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 12:36:13 -0000

Brad, this is a real gem.

You finish beautifully too. Where can we break the economics of government and create Zero Billion dollar programs, services, and products leveraging what's good in technology?

It's a great question to think about.