Tech Entrepreneurship: Public Service By Other Means

Bill and Melinda Gates during their visit to the Oslo Opera House in June 2009. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I think of tech entrepreneurship as public service by other means, and I don't mean you make billions to give away (why, thank you Bill Gates!) way.

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My New Startup

My new tech startup is in the mobile gaming space. I could call it the first tech startup of my life.

In 1999 I was a founding member - not the leader - of a tech startup that did really well for a few rounds until the nuclear winter hit and it was Gone With The Wind. We were trying to build the top South Asian online community. In early 2008 I met the stated goal and raised 100K for my startup whose vision was what the Chromebook is today. In early 2009 me and my Co-Founder gave the money back to the investors in the face of an extremely ugly economy: we did not see us raising round two money. This is my third attempt. Third time is the charm. When you have four borderline genius developers working towards a private beta product for equity, you know you got something.

There is a huge culture clash between the tech startup world and the rest of the economy. When you try to raise money from people who don't "get it," are not from this world, it is like you accidentally touched naked electric wires. Wow, what was that? You get all sorts of weird reactions.

The Angel List is a great starting point. Although I am in mind to pay Fred Wilson a surprise visit. Very likely I will show up and he will be "away" at one of his 100 Board meetings, either elsewhere in the city or on the Left Coast.

I feel like he owes me money for all the comments I have left at his blog over the years.

Fred, I have had your curiosity, now do I have your attention?



From The Angel List I have a short list of about 50 angels who have (1) listed themselves as interested in mobile gaming, (2) are in or near NYC, although not all are, and (3) who are not too far down in the ranks at the site. I am going through the list, and I am like, I'd want to know and hang out and converse with these people regardless of if they gave me money or not. They just come across as so very interesting people.

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Doing Two Tech Startups

What is better than doing one tech startup? Doing two tech startups.

So I am doing two tech startups. And the newer startup is actually moving faster. But there is symbiosis.

Patrick Chen's Entrepreneur Exchange Summit

I met Patrick Chen at this Hackers And Founders MeetUp. He is a great guy. He said he was a MBA student at NYU, and he had teamed up with a techie friend, who was a full timer with a hedge fund, to form a gaming startup. I paid him the ultimate compliment. I suggested the two of them should team up with me on my startup. He said we can talk. We did talk. We became Facebook friends. We exchanged a few tweets. A few days later he said it is best he stuck to his gaming startup.

Long story short I am going to Patrick's conference on Friday. I tried to suggest they should waive the $45 fee for me since "I will be blogging about the event extensively before and after." Let's put it this way. I ended up having to pay.

Immensely Excited

Image via WikipediaI am so very immensely excited with my startup.

Some people complain of the work environment of a big corporation, start a company, and their behavior will tell you they long for the big corporation.

You have to be excited, you have to stay excited. You have to get excited when you hit a wall, you have to stay excited when you get over it. Why would you get excited when you hit a wall? Because, well, what were you expecting? If you did not expect to hit walls, you were not expecting right.

At this stage with my startup it feels like I am getting to watch the formation of the DNA. It is an amazing feeling. I have a small team. We are making steady progress.

Soon I expect to speed things up.

I am really liking it that we could launch for very little. I am really liking it that we will start generating revenues almost right away. I am really liking that. I am liking the immense human component of my business model. Suddenly I will get to party with a purpose. The more people you talk to, the better you get at it.

A Mini Bubble Burst In Three Years

Image via WikipediaThis is not me agreeing with Fred Wilson on the topic, but I do foresee a mini bubble burst a few years down the road. We are going through a relatively easy funding phase of what I see is going to be a boom decade.

The first mini bubble burst is that not every startup idea seeking funding is getting funded. Most are not. That is normal. So you are already starting with the natural selection process in place. Investors are not fools. They go in with high hopes. They do say no. All the time.

But of all the companies that are getting funded, it is inevitable not all will survive. Many will not. I don't know enough to get into more precise numbers. You could argue nobody does. But there will be weaning out. The wheat will get separated from the chaff.

Every new economic sector in history has seen a bubble, some big, some small. The biggest bubbles have been reserved for some of the most exciting new sectors. Bubbles are good things. Bubbles are the market trying to figure out what will stick, what will not stick. And there is no way to know except by trying.

Some failures just can not be avoided. The best policy is to make peace when that happens. But there are other failures that can be avoided. How do you make sure you still have your startup three years from now?

Build a real business. Focus on the fundamentals. Don't overspend. Start generating revenues and profits within a reasonable amount of time. Work hard. Maintain perspective. Don't stop taking risks. Build a great team. Be a great team. Eat right. Sleep right. Exercise. Don't ignore your relationships.

Be open to the possibility that there are many kinds of exits, most of them not big. If you can earn a living doing work you love, that is a great soft landing actually. Don't ignore that possibility while shooting for the stars.

Shoot for the stars.

Ageism And Entrepreneurship

I believe you can start a company at any age. I believe you can join a startup team at any age. I don't believe a startup has to do with coding and coding alone. There is always room for startups in every industry, in every sector of the economy.

Startups And Immigrants

Thomas Friedman, New York Times: Start-Ups, Not Bailouts

“Between 1980 and 2005, virtually all net new jobs created in the U.S. were created by firms that were 5 years old or less,” said Litan. “That is about 40 million jobs. That means the established firms created no new net jobs during that period.” ..... “Roughly 25 percent of successful high-tech start-ups over the last decade were founded or co-founded by immigrants,” said Litan. ...... What made America this incredible engine of prosperity? It was immigration, plus free markets...... “We ought to have a ‘job-creators visa’ for people already here,” said Litan. “And once you’ve hired, say, 5 or 10 American nonfamily members, you should get a green card.”

Voices like that of Friedman are important because we are about to embark upon the great national debate on comprehensive immigration reform. The success on health care will make it easier to wade through this new debate because success will be a foregone conclusion, but some of the debate is going to be nasty. We have to brace for that. Free speech can try you sometimes.

Fred Wilson: Immigration Reform And The Jobs Bill

Google's Corporate Transparency

It's all right there, online. Too bad they don't have this one webpage that links to all the stuff. Instead there are separate starting points.



They did not have an easy start either. Earnly stage investors were not easy coming by.

Their corporate culture to me is as fascinating as their technology. The two feed on each other.

These people, they are just starting out. They are growing to grow, grow, grow. They invent challenges for themselves. They realize their competition is with themselves.

"Despite the dotcom fever of the day, they had little interest in building a company of their own around the technology they had developed."