Startup struggle, Crashing a party to get into 500 Startups
blog.safeshepherd.com
blog.safeshepherd.com
The other question I have is why you were so adamant about getting funding. If the idea is so good and people want it so badly, why seek investment? I don't mean this as a dig. I just don't understand why so many people wanting to start businesses work from the assumption that they need to make obtaining funding the end goal, and if they get into an incubator or get some investor money, they win. Nowadays, it seems like building a successful company is a process that is tightly guarded like entrance to an elite university, and if you don't get in, you can't succeed. In reality, there has never been a time as favorable for starting a purely tech-based company than right now. You can do in a few hours of work per week what used to take a team of full-time engineers several months. You don't need to invest in equipment or inventory. And yet, ironically, it seems that the companies that most desperately seek funding (and most often get it) are the companies that least need it.
That said, having advisers is another matter, and I know that having connections in high places is never a bad thing. My point is that I think the process described here, (and in so many articles on Mashable and TechCrunch) unnecessarily discourages people, and prioritizes the unimportant aspects of building a business.
I think it's important to remember there are many ways to start a product and a business around that product. If the approach in the post appeals and works for some guys - great, go for it. Worst case all you lose is some money and time, but for most of us that's NOT the end of the world.
I'm not comfortable going their route because I really believe I have solid ideas that will generate revenue without needing more funding than my savings can provide, and these are my ideas that I don't want to share ownership with anybody else. A mentor would be nice but these ideas are also about my personality, and I've been through too many situations where people with more charisma and experience try to tell me what to do and I give in to their greater wisdom at the cost of feeling somehow cheated... I want to burn my own fingers, for some reason, and that's the route I'm going to take. (I suspect that what will happen, though, is that in the process of burning my fingers I will meet a great medic.)
Are you guys the reason why they locked the 500 offices permanently (so you can only get in with a iPhone app)? Did Dave finally tire of all the ramdom dudes pitching him?
(and i still have it btw)
How do you think your pitch would have been received had this been in a more traditional forum? Do you think you would have achieved the same results, or would you have pitched a completely different angle?