lanceweatherby

How do you define success?

A company called Atlanta Startup Weekend LLC owns 50% of Skribit at the moment. The LLC is comprised of all the people that contributed at Atlanta Startup Weekend last year. I am the President of the board of managers of the LLC and vote on behalf of the LLC when the need to do so arises. The rest of Skribit is owned by the active cofounders. This method of distribution is in the public domain.

Twitpay's equity distribution is not in the public domain. I will say that the cofounders who worked on the project over the weekend each received a small share.

Just like TwitPic, TwitSay, & Twitturly.

Actually Atlanta is only one of two cities to hold more then one Startup Weekend event. Last year about 70 people participated. This year over 100 showed up and there were 70 people still standing on Sunday night.

I see lots of startups. Two of those that emerged from this weekend have the potential to be YC type quality startups.

Customers are more important then investors.

I suggest tuning into Presentation Zen on a regular basis. http://www.presentationzen.com/

For $1,049 in the refurbished section of the Apple store is is fashionable right now.

They actually need to freemium the business model. X views for free before charging.

Fair enough, though I think that we have strayed from the topic of taxes on capital gains on startups or investments in startups or whatever it is that Obama is proposing.

My point was, however poorly made with the Gates example, that I doubt that the thought, other loopholes aside, is to eliminate capital gains tax for people that are deemed to be "rich".

Regardless, I am all for any tax incentive that provides incentives for anyone to start or invest in a startup.

You think that Bill got that money to build that big ol house of his tax free?

I beg to differ.

Estates are currently taxed. I believe to the tune of 45% of the amount over $2 million.

As far as capital gains goes, they are due when you sell your capital. In the case of PG this most likely occurred when he sold ViaWeb. Everytime Larry and Sergey sell their GOOG stock they incur captial gains.

Obama is generally proposing raising the capital gains tax from 15% to 20% for anyone that earns over $250,000. Any startup founder that has a successful exit should make a heck of a lot more then $250k. By def an angel investor must earn $200k per year or have a net work of more than $1 million.

And that is why I want to see the details.

Mr. Obama's official tax plan states the following:

Eliminate capital gains taxes for small businesses, cut corporate taxes for firms that invest and create jobs in the United States, and provide tax credits to reduce the cost of healthcare and to reward investments in innovation. * What you have stated he said is very different, and perhaps he has changed his position.

Regardless, I would love to hear Obama explain what he means by eliminating capital gains for startups and small businesses?

There is a big diff between eliminating all capital gains taxes on start-ups and small businesses and eliminating all capital gains taxes for individuals that found/invest in start-ups and small businesses.

Small businesses and startups have very little capital gains liabilities.

Entrepreneurs that start successful companies and those that invest in them have potentially huge capital gains liabilities and the latter by definition reside in the wealth class that Obama wants to tax more.

You really think he is proposing that folks like PG, Cuban, Larry, Sergey, and Bill Gates for that matter pay no taxes on their capital gains. I think not.

The concept would encourage investment so I like it. But I want the details which have not been forthcoming.

I work for Georgia Tech's (I hate to use the term) incubator. Very different types of startups come out of there than YC. But media and investors come to us every day looking for new companies. Why? Because we see a lot of deals and vet them. YC does the same thing. Angels, VCs, and TC know that PG sees a lot and only accepts the best. PG is the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval for Web app startups.

Maybe it was, I just forwarded it on so can not say. Tech companies always need smart productive engineers. Product development never stops.

Don't disagree with your POV. I do think that the recent decline in angel portfolio values leaves them with less money to invest in the asset class that startups comprise.

I wish I had 10 friends. That's what I truly find depressing.

Of course your mileage may vary. The guy that just walked out of my office checking his blackberry for a $9 million wire transfer only had a single presentation deck and a business model.

They are not my numbers so I don't want to defend them, but I think that what we are seeing is some of the differences in "localness" in angel markets. Knox's group mostly invests in enterprise software plays which are a bit more capital intensive then web apps.

Of course you are a "friend" of startups.:)

1. I spent a good deal of time tooling up and down 101. SV and Ess Eff are kinda like Atlanta and Alpharetta. If you walk into the Starbuck's at 5th & Spring on any work day and toss a quarter into the crowd it will land within 5 feet of an entrepreneur, an investor, or both.

2. Great point. Real estate is king in ATL. Read "The Man in Full" for more.

3. I think the social network is here. I literally sit and look at over it every day from my office window.