Chaos and Contagious Behaviour

This morning, I have been tuning in and out of the broadcast from AlwaysOn Stanford Summit.

I am enthralled by the broadcasting technology (and seamlessness of the broadcast and simultaneous chat).

Most recently, I tuned into a panel discussing the secrets behind contagious behavior. The key, it seemed, was allowing messiness into organizations. An interesting concept and one embraced by many start-up companies in particular.

While the concept seems to work with established companies, I wonder about its effectiveness in start-ups. I suppose one has to be careful to keep some of the messiness in check so as to prevent unproductive chaos.

StartupU

The room brimmed with aspiring entrepreneurs at today's standing-room-only SVASE StartupU event at the Pillsbury Winthrop offices in Silicon Valley.

The guest speaker was Jeremy Liew, Partner at Lightspeed Venture Partners. The topic: Making the First Validating Sale for a Startup.

I was very excited to hear Jeremy give estimates of client and user statistics that would impress VCs. I liked the focus of the presentation and its emphasis on a topic that is very relevant for entrepreneurs, particularly providing them with realistic milestones as they grown their venture and hope to raise financing.

I was also able to connect to a number of interesting entrepreneurs and enthusiastic supporters of the entrepreneurship community in the Bay Area. Chris, Scott, and the SVASE team did a fabulous job in bringing together a great speaker and an interesting crowd (and the SVASE calendar shows that they do so on a regular basis!).

Only 3000?

If you think it's tough finding an investor, you won't be surprised that only 3,000 VC deals were completed between 2002 and 2005 in the US.

Time to rethink your strategy - perhaps bootstrapping your business to first - and subsequent - clients?

For Aspiring Start-Up CEOs

For those first-time CEOs, Redeye VC blogger Josh Kopelman talks about getting things done. I've heard from a number of VCs that an inability to say "no" is a liability of many first-time CEOs. A recent VC complaint: rather than running his company, the CEO would give presentations and talks about his success at conferences.

Join Me in Silicon Valley

I am spending time in Silicon Valley this summer to better get to know the cradle of entrepreneurship.

I have been attending a number of events in the area to get to know the community and I am greatly looking forward to attending four different types of events hosted by the Silicon Valley Association for Start-Up Entrepreneurs (SVASE). Since its inception in 1995, the organization has been reaching and connecting thousands of entrepreneurs and executives.

SVASE is a partner of Young Inventors International; our members receive a discounted membership with SVASE and we are bringing the Learn from a Legend SVASE program to young innovators and entrepreneurs in Canadian cities.

If you happen to be in the Silicon Valley area and would like to check out a great resource for entrepreneurs, attend an SVASE event. I'll be at the following ones and would love to catch up, too:

July 25 Startup U - An exploration of issues that are relevant to the success of start-up ventures. This event will feature Jeremy Liew Of Lightspeeed Venture Partners, "Making The First Validating Sale For A Start-up! Featuring Real World Examples!"

July 27 VC Breakfast - A VC listens to up to ten entrepreneur elevator pitches and provides feedback. This event will feature Vanguard/ePlanet Ventures: "Focus On Internet, Communications, VOIP, And Semiconductors"

August 3 Main Event - Networking opportunities and a headliner speaker. The August 3rd topic is "Raising Capital For Early Stage Tech Companies – The Definitive Crash Course!"

August 9 CXO Leadership Forum - A roundtable discussion among 25 CXOs about topics of relevance to advancing their ventures. The topic on August 9: "Confessions Of A Marketing Guru: How Can Your Get What You Need From Marketing And Retain Your Rationality."

I hope to see you there!

YouOS

Pushing the barriers of Web 2.0 is YouOS, developed a web-based operating system. YouOS leverages online collaboration tools and provides remote access to your desktop. Developed by four recent college grads (from both coasts), YouOS may be able to bring collaboration to a new level by enabling people to log onto their desktop anywhere in the world and collaborate with an impressive suite of tools developed (not surprisingly) by a community of enthusiasts and early-adopters.

My concern, though, is security and trust. The only reason I have not yet signed up for a YouOS account is because I don't know how my information will be handled. If I were discussing a project with my team, I would not want the information to be hackable.