Comment by mindcrime | Hacker News Reader

Comment by mindcrime | Hacker News Reader

We (Fogbeam Labs)[1] didn't get in last time, but we'll be applying again this fall. One thing that I like about TSF is that they do actually give you some feedback on why they didn't pick a given applicant.

In our case, the two reasons they cited were "market too small," and "lack of expertise in this domain (by TSF)". Unfortunately, there isn't anything we can do about them feeling they don't have sufficient expertise in enterprise knowledge management and collaboration software, but the market size thing was obviously just a communication breakdown on our part, since the market for this stuff is farking huge. This time, our application will focus a lot more on the current market opportunity, and hopefully we'll be accepted.

And ultimately we're not even limiting ourselves to just "knowledge management and collaboration." That's just where we're starting. The goal is to provide quality Open Source solutions up and down the stack, that A. don't suck (like most enterprise software), B. have excellent UX, C. are well integrated (with each other and with external systems), and D. use cutting edge technology to address the highest-value customer problems.

Once we ship our first couple of products, and get that initial toe-hold / purchase point and are able to start accelerating, we are going to shake things up in the enterprise.

[1]: Fogbeam Labs, the up-and-coming Open Source collaboration / knowledge-management company. http://www.fogbeam.com Go there now and sign up for our newsletter. It's not necessary for you to spend the rest of your day thinking about how cool Fogbeam Labs are, and how much you want to email all your friends and tell them about us too. But if you can remember a time when you were really excited about a company like Fogbeam Labs, then think back to those feelings and how that made you feel, and do the right thing.

One of the things we learned a lot about at TSF was a beach-head market. It's the first market you take on to get traction (however you're measuring traction). So, I'd suggest talking about "knowledge management and collaboration" as your beach-head and WHY you've selected that as your beach-head...and, possibly most importantly, why traction within this beach-head will allow you to tackle some of the other markets you have on your radar more easily.

Also talk briefly about the potential market size of your other target markets. You don't have to have all the answers for your other markets -- after all, they are not your target market, yet -- but you should show some knowledge about those markets and be able to talk convincingly about how your product solves a real problem in those markets.

As for market expertise: I think it comes down to two things. How long have you been working in that industry and how many contacts do you have so that you're not jumping in cold. If you don't have either of these, it's going to be a big red flag. I'm guessing you have had some way of validating the problem, so I am going to focus on the network problem. Find an adviser that works in the industry that is well-connected and can tell others that your solution is heads-and-shoulders above what's out there now and is solving problems in new ways that add 10x more value than current solutions. I use 10x as you're going to have problems convincing people to switch unless you are able to provide a ton of value.

Anyway, just my $.02. The other thing you'll learn about, if you get into TSF or any accelerator: mentor whiplash. You're gonna get a ton of advice and most of it conflicting. So take these suggestions for what they're worth: one person's feedback based on your 5 paragraph post. ;)

One of the things we learned a lot about at TSF was a beach-head market. It's the first market you take on to get traction (however you're measuring traction). So, I'd suggest talking about "knowledge management and collaboration" as your beach-head and WHY you've selected that as your beach-head...and, possibly most importantly, why traction within this beach-head will allow you to tackle some of the other markets you have on your radar more easily.

Yeah, that's text-book "Crossing the Chasm" stuff. We'll need to narrow down the "beach head" to something more precise than "the market for companies that need km and collaboration," of course. And we have some research we've already done in that regard. Depending on how things shake out, there's a chance we'll focus on finance related firms first, even though my initial penciled-in list of possible target markets did not include finance... due mainly to the idea that finance is highly insular, very regulated, and has a ton of domain specific vocabulary, and none of us have specific experience in the field. But, as things have worked out, we've talked to several finance related firms, and my $dayjob as a consultant actually has me in Chicago now working for a finance firm. And I'm making new connections here, in this industry, so it's looking more and more realistic.

That said, I'm still thinking that "old school" industries like manufacturing, distribution, logistics, retail, etc. might be better for us. But that's the kind of stuff we're still working on settling.

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