bpeters

He is an 800-lb gorilla that thinks he is stronger than all the other 800-lb gorillas.

Always interesting to see two beasts battle.

Businesses that use Groupon as a demand side solution are the ones beating themselves up. Businesses that use Groupon as a supply side solution reap the rewards. Groupons are great for getting rid of excess inventory, but its terrible for recruiting loyal customers, for the reasons mentioned in the article.

Groupon using businesses just need to understand how to effectively fit Groupon in there own business model. Using Groupon as a catch all marketing scheme is not the way to go.

Groupon should work with small businesses and help them understand this instead of marketing them self as the perfect solution for marketing your product/service.

I like the sudden advert to Groupon lumped into the Ad-based business model.

I see what you did just there :) but it does bring to light the absolute ridiculousness of the current valuations.

At this point I wouldn't even be that shocked if something of the sort went down...

Great goal that I believe is skipped over in a lot of "How to" articles.

Getting as many users as possible as quickly as possible not only outstrips your capital to capture those users, but most of them never stay on for long.

Focus on perfecting features and functions that make and keep 1000 users happy. If at first you don't then iterate. Don't keep trying to capture more users when your first 1k are not even using your product.

When did tweeting become a chore that had to be done at some specific time and number of times?

Are people really judging people on how often they tweet? If you have insightful things to say, or are contributing with new and interesting posts then it should not matter about how often you tweet.

The bigger the water hose != better the twitter account

In terms of too much noise, you can always filter users and content with lists. I am sure twitter is working hard on allowing users to create streams off their raging rivers.

When I found myself a third co-founder it extremely helped out our startup. Not only do you have a third head to help out, but you have another person to balance out the other two founders. I find working with just one other person can lead to divisions. If you have a third you can have another opinion on matters.

Unless you feel three is a crowd, I would say go for it! Find a person who can not only be a great asset to the team, but helps balance the emotion and energy in the team dynamic.

Wow, if TechCrunch was just about startups (Everyone of them), I might actually come back to as part as my daily reading. Until they clean up their articles and focus on what matters then it is hard to justify spending time on their site.

Okay, perfect! I look forward to applying :)

We have a C-Corp and terms with our current investor. Is there anything that would kill our application being already set up?

Oops sorry, misread that line.

What were some of your experiences participating in Capital Factory? Best parts? Worst Parts?

Maybe it is less that they jumped the shark and more that they tried and missed, thus being eaten alive by the shark.

Or they really believe that writing about anything is better than writing nothing.

What, no blind $150k investment? (Just Kidding)

It is interesting to compare the applications to both Capital Factory and Y-Combinator.

For one, Capital Factory gives you up to 500 words per responses, while YC suggests you stay within a 120 word count.

Also, YC emphasis less on the actual idea and more on the team dynamic and personality of the individuals. Where else Capital Factory express a need for more detail about the idea and startup.

I am interested in hearing other peoples opinions about Capital Factory versus YC, since I am applying for both.

Email me at brennen@qlobe.com and I can put together an invite for anyone who wants to come. I will shoot for this first Sunday in March, right before SXSW Interactive.

Edit: I may need to repost the question with my email included at the beginning.

Sundays would work for me, hopefully we can get more involved if this is not going on already.

>Facebook users are very sophisticated

Whoa, that is news to me. I always thought Facebook catered towards the lowest common denominator. The average Facebook user is not that sophisticated by definition of using Facebook over alternatives. Most sophisticated users are early adapters and they are probably not using Facebook to engage brands.

Indeed brands shouldn't try and create over complicated apps to gain attractiveness. Sticking to simple marketing, like Old Spice. Create one unique thing and play it over and over until it finally dies.

That was awesome! Donald Duck created a chemical before it was actually discovered! Brilliant!

A way AngelList could monetize is by allowing establish businesses that offer enterprise or startup tools to advertise and reach out to these entrepreneurs. This includes server providers, analytic tools, shared work spaces, and based on geological location local lawyers/CPAs.

>To me, an idea is a good excuse to go out and talk to customers.

I really like that point. When any idea comes to mind that seems worthy of a possible startup I immediately start to talk to potential customers to get feedback. If I can convince random people to believe in my idea before I even put effort towards it, it is probably worth pursuing.

My favorite test to evaluate my idea is the $20 Starbucks test. http://read.bi/gnVYKv

If there even was a bubble occurring it is only in the seed funding stage and not the IPO/late VC stage which ended up affecting much more than just entrepreneurs and investors.

The amount of money being invested/risked is much less than it was back in the 90s, and as Paul remarked the quality of entrepreneurs and investors is much better. Most likely lessons learned from the 90s

You should not just focus on twitter, but leverage community sites like HN. Also, social media is just one ends to a mean. There is always the good old fashion hustle in the streets to get that initial traction.

I believe there is a difference between being in "stealth" mode and having people sign NDAs.

I have a startup I call in stealth mode not because we do not get feedback from users or have advisors and investors sign NDAs, but because we want to grow on our own terms. We want to get direct feedback from our target market with out opening the flood gates where noise enters into the equation.

I completely agree with your statement about NDAs are a load of shit, but stealth as something else is not always a bad thing.

That post is hilarious! And so very true....

First time I had to do that was overseas. I failed twice.... I then realized all my "friends" take pictures only at night and in groups of 10 or more!

I feel like Techcrunch does that a lot....

Not only does working with a PR agency cost the company money, but it allows employees and founders to get lazy on the continuous selling that needs to occur.

Everyone in the company should be able to pitch and sell the startup and should to everyone, including the press and media.

Yea, I was based in San Antonio. Thanks!

Continuous iteration towards continuous improvement! That final logo design is very good and clean.

I noticed you worked at Booz Allen Hamilton, is that the consulting company you recently quit from?

I am 23 and worked for Booz Allen 4 months ago before I quit myself to work on my startup.

Best of luck my friend! It is a much better feeling to be working and struggling for the things you love than having it easy with the things you don't!

>Most companies put an implicit value on size for the sake of size, and doing any cheap viral game in the book to get there, even if it means a low percentage of users ever engage with your app or return to your site again.

These "Mafioso" Startups are playing the right game. Leverage slow growth and focus on maximizing value per consumer, rather than maximizing the number of consumers.

A good point made in the article, that could have been overlooked.