startup communities
Facade Over Foundation
Why Do We Want More Startups? I’ve never gotten a good answer to that question. Is it because people believe startups drive innovation? Is it because the successful ones create jobs? Is it because people are happier working at them? Most of the time it seems that we (meaning cities, regions, countries, universities, communities…) want […]
Maxed Out Mentor
There are a handful of startup world terms that I can’t stand. Sometimes that’s because the terms are confusing. Other times because they’re downright unhelpful. Other times it’s just because I’m preternaturally cantankerous. I’m not sure into which one of those my experience with the word “mentor” falls. To rethink these old issues, start with […]
Hey Hong Kong Startups — You Know That List? It Doesn’t Matter
Two years ago today I said goodbye to friends and colleagues, got on a plane and left Hong Kong. I had spent just a year in Hong Kong focused on working with the growing number of startups there by running AcceleratorHK and an earlier program called Startup Bootcamp. When I gave a farewell talk at […]
Judging the Judges
In the startup world, there are many occasions in which startups are judged and few (if any) occasions when the judges themselves are judged. I want to quote my friend and startup advisor Kevin Dewalt, who in a blog post wrote “We don’t need to be judges – the customers are the only judge that […]
You’re So Vain
While we talk about lean startup and vanity metrics we also often send conflicting signals. Here are some examples that startup ecosystems create or enable. From what I’ve seen, vanity is the major culprit. The Events Problem Speaker Events. You don’t get any closer to your goal by going to hear a speaker, famous or […]
When Does a Startup Accelerator Succeed?
There’s a lot written about startup accelerators. At least, there’s a lot written by outside casual observers; very little is written about them from the inside. There are reasons for that. In my experience running an accelerator, I wouldn’t share much about the startups until after demo day (more about why in a later post). […]
Startup Weekend Toolkit
Here’s a Startup Weekend Toolkit I put together after mentoring and judging. It’s a lot of info, so it’s best to read this before you go since you will be busy enough (and sleep deprived) during the weekend, but these resources will save you lots of pain. Startup Weekend isn’t a hackathon or a business […]
No Dave, No Matter
Dave McClure is on a tour of Asia that includes Beijing, Seoul, Taipei and Singapore but not Hong Kong. I’m already hearing people say that this is more evidence Hong Kong is not on the tech map yet. Some also want to bring people like McClure to Hong Kong — as if their visits would […]
Can You Do An MVP For Your Life?
I had to come to Hong Kong to go to my first Barcamp. The timing was perfect — I arrived less than a week before to run Startup Bootcamp so it was a perfect time to meet more people. And everyone in the bootcamp attended for at least part of the day. After attending a […]
Random factoid about Cluetrain Manifesto and URL longevity
Here’s something I put together while on hold on the phone. Everyone remember “The Cluetrain Manifesto”? I came across a copy of the book a couple days ago, full of references to “electronic mail.” After the 12 years or so the book has been out I wondered what the longevity was of the URLs they […]