EightBlack.

One of the TaguchiMail board members, Glenn Vardy, sent me this extract (point 4 below) in an email this morning. It’s relevant to us because in a week or so, we head to the US to begin a series of meetings with VC’s along Sand Hill Rd.

I don’t know about you, but asking for money is something that I’m not particularly good at. But in Silicon Valley, there is no embarrassment in this area (either on the requesting side or the giving side).

All I know is that in this market, start-ups in the tech space face an incredibly tough time. One quick glance at Techcrunch will tell you that while money is still around, it is increasingly difficult to part it and its owners.

I’ve seen a lot of local pitches in the tech area. VC’s, either here or in the US, aren’t as scary as most people make out. The most important advice I have received so far is this:

1. 10 slides only (if you need me to tell you more, you need to do more homework). Hint - Google “Guy Kawasaki and start-up advice”.

2. This recent article by David Hornik (there is plenty more on this subject).

3. Anything written by Marc Andreessen, especially is 6 part series on “The Guide To Start-Ups” Start here.

4. And this extract here, written by a serial entrepreneur and proven leader in the Valley - Sam Cece, the CEO of StrongMail. From his blog (Disclosure, StrongMail is a partner of TaguchiMail).

Innovation or iteration? I’m sure that most of you have heard the phrase, “The New, New Thing.” If not, it’s one of those Silicon Valley phrases that is typically asked by an investor, most likely a VC, that is intended to make you stop and think about your company’s next move. Plainly stated, it means, “What new technological (or market, business model, adjacent technology, etc.) innovation is on deck within your company that will leap-frog your competitors and propel your company into the future?” This is a tough question for any CEO.

The problem with forcing “The New, New Thing” onto your organization is that these big leaps are distracting, destabilizing and unrealistic.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 10:47 am and is filed under People, Web 2.0. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.