YouDeparted: More proof that it's not just about the idea
I missed this over the summer:
"Nevada based YouDeparted provides an encrypted electronic safe deposit box with up to 5GB of space that can be accessed by loved ones in the event of a members death."
The funny thing is, I blogged about a form of this idea months before the service came out:
"...Sometimes, I think about what might happen to my digital presence when I'm gone. ...people's blogs and MySpace pages become comment section shrines, only because that's the only thing the public has access to.
In my case, at some point, my Typepad subscription and domain registration would expire, and my blog might disappear.
Now, lucky for me, I know a couple of folks over at 6A and so if news of my unfortunate demise reverberated throughout the blogosphere, I hope they might be nice enough to make my blog a freebie.
But then what of my email buddies, Twitter friends, and friends across various social networks? How would many of them even know I was gone? That's prob a big issue. Many of my digital friends, like all those dozens of prospective Match dates waiting in my inbox, wouldn't even know I was dead.
Enter Digital Plot. Digital Plot would enable you to carry out a very specific set of intructions to be carried out for your digital world when you pass.
Sure, its a little different, and more about the digerati, but still, the concept of leaving digital instructions for the Big Day is the same.
The main difference?
These guys went out and did it!
Execution is everything. The idea is nothing.
What I would do if I was them is to device an upsell mechanism for all of these digital places... domain registry, blog services, hosting companies, etc. Allow them to offer YouDeparted members a small payment on the side up front that allows them to insure their blog or page will live in perpetuity. Would I pay Typepad an extra $15 up front to ensure that my blog lives after I die? Sure. Does it cost them much to host a blog that no one posts to anymore... not really.... especially since the liklihood that my page gets any traffic years after I die is pretty slim.
The service is a good idea, but I think if you really want to get word of mouth going, you need to offer something to the geeks.
Response to Feedback
I got two comments on my previous post about some creative ways to get some elements of my startup done (some quick and dirty ways to get a logo) that I'd like to address.
First, Nate's comments...
"Don't settle on a logo early and don't let someone outside the company do it. Yes, you need a better one -- and fairly soon ;-) but don't lock yourself in and don't lock your eventual full-time designer out of the process."
I like this angle. It makes sense to me that a designer, especially one that we'd like to hire full time, might not want to get handed a logo that may or may not square with their vision for the look and feel. That's an excellent point.
Now, Rachel's comments. I don't know who Rachel is, but she seems to be (or believe herself to be, given her tone) an expert in something...
"Corporate identity (logo design/graphic look and feel) is brand expression, which is the derivative of brand essence, which you haven't done any strategic work on..."
Personally, I don't believe that seed stage startups should do "strategic work" on corporate identity. They should build a useful product, period. So many times, web services do fancy redesigns to make things look good when they flat out fail on improving the usability of the product. "Brand essence" = good product. You think people use Apple because they like the logo? No, it's because their products are functional and easy to use. All the brand positioning in the world won't save a product if it doesn't just flat out provide utility. Do you think Craigslist does strategic work on its brand essence? Having met Craig, I'd say I highly doubt it. I mean, hell, they don't even have a logo.
Actually, they do. Here it is:
Craigslist
Snarky? Yeah, because I'm just snarking back to her comment about my presentation:
"It's a mess from a sheer presentation standpoint. Clean it up, format it, get those headlines right, just get some look of discipline in there and the VCs might overlook your age and inexperience"
It may be a graphical mess... I don't pertain to be any kind of expert, but it is also on Google Docs, so things got bumped around a little. In fact, that's the very "essence" of the company... open, out there, direct... but figuring as we're having little trouble attracting interested folks, perhaps other VC/angel pitches aren't messy enough.
But the real kicker is this: "get some look of discipline in there and the VCs might overlook your age and inexperience".
Rachel, how old do you think the average internet entrepreneur is that gets funded by VCs these days? Certainly not a lot older than 28.
And my inexperience?
So tell me, how many people are out there who have been a product manager during the launch of a new product, evaluated early stage startups for a top tier VC firm, taught both undergraduates and graduates in classes that they developed from scratch, ran a mentoring program for both a professional society and a school's alumni organization and also created a professional organization that currently has over 1,000 members?
Perhaps I haven't run an enterprise software product and taken revenues from zero to fifty million, or led three startups in completely unrelated spaces, but I dunno, from my vantage point, I couldn't imagine being any more fortunate that I have been to get the exact kind of insight and experience needed to make Path 101 a success--plus not to mention the absolutely fantastic network of people I've built up to help me.
So, instead of trying to "grab the conversation by the emotional cojones" which is, trust me, what a lot of entrepreneurs try to do ("We're going to change the world, you'll see!") I'm more interested in solving a real problem with a useful product. A lot of marketing "experts" think that it's all about "sexing up" the pitch. I've been on the other side of the table (have you?) and trust me... sex doesn't sell in a good VC firm, nor does it sell a sophisticated angel investor. A good idea backed by the appropriate passionate entrepreneur in a market ripe for disruption is what we're selling here and I'm quite confident we'll do just fine.
An Idea: The Sponsored Startup
Alex and I threw an idea out there that might be ridiculous, or it might be pretty good.
As we're starting up this business, we'll be accumulating all sorts of little expenses here and there out of our own pockets until we raise this angel round.
For example, we need a logo. I'm sure it will cost us a few hundred bucks at the end of the day. I also want to make a trip up to Toronto because I have a connection to a big group of schools up there. Same with Providence, RI. Trips, obviously, cost money, but they're really valuable to drum up school support, get feedback, and get market knowledge about who else is out there.
Well, what if we could get someone to sponsor these expenses? Would it be worth a law firm, professional services firm, IT consultant, or some collaborative software's money to slap their logo on some aspect of our process? Maybe we'll decorate our company blogs with logos of other companies and say "Logo provided by generous sponsorship by Scion" or something like that?
Is that ridiculous, or just a smart way to monetize the high profile we're fortunate enough to have with this startup?
Anyone want to sponsor our logo design, or contribute a logo design?
I think if someone wanted to do a logo for us, I'd do a video interview with them to put on our blog about the process of doing a logo for us and link to their portfolio.
Maybe we can get a lawyer cheap that way, too. Interview all these professional services folks about how they want to work with us and advertise their services for payment in kind. Hmm...
When I get elected President...
I will pull us out of everywhere and address the world in a live telecast....
"Do whatever the fuck you want, we're out of here."
Then, I'll divert all military spending to spending on alternative energy and big seawalls, for when the global warming floods come.
And on the outside of the seawall, I'll write in big letters:
"Don't let the massive seawall dissuade you from coming, our borders are now open. We don't like half the people who are already here, so what difference does it make? Just make sure you pay taxes and don't litter. No nose picking or loud radios after 10PM either. People need to wake up early, you know... and we shouldn't need to tell you about the nose picking."
After that, we'll start a government secrets blog. First post: All about the aliens. In fact, that's part of why I want to be President in the first place. Tell me that's not a cool meeting:
"Ok, so give it to me. What's the deal with the aliens? Can I see the bodies? Does the spaceship still work, like in Independence Day? Oh, and JFK, too. What happened there?"
Oh, and I'd promote a la carte, month to month pricing for everything. Anyone can get any heathcare plan, not just the ones your company picks for you. Cable, too. You don't watch that channel, you don't have to pay for it. Cell phones? No two year contracts. No penalties for quitting. If you get bad service, feel free to leave.
And that stupid "winner of the All-Star game determines the home field advantage in the World Serious"... that goes, too. Seriously, what the f is that? If you win 120 games, your team should get home field.
What else? Oh, yeah... basic parenting classes. If you need a license to fish, you should need a license to unleash offspring onto the world. We could make the test pretty easy, but at least just cover the bare minimum stuff. Kind of like driving. If you can't identify a stop sign, then you shouldn't be allowed to drive. Same with kids. If you don't know that feeding your kid McDonalds each day isn't healthy, sorry but you're going to have to retake this test until you pass.
Speaking of food... Government mandated portion sizes, particularly for beverages. Until you learn not to drink yourselves into diabetes with Super Big Gulps of Diet Coke, you just can't have that much. It's no good for you.
And we'll fix that ridiculous electoral vote process, too. Person who gets the most votes wins.
We'll also be taking state by state votes on gay marriage. To any state that doesn't allow gay marriage, we're going to make them put that big Arnold Diaz "Shame on you" finger on their "Welcome to..." road signs. We'll also institute a prejudice tax on those states to pay for extra copies of wedding albums from the gay weddings being held in other states. Albums will be airlifted and dropped on the homophobe states and should any 'phobes get clonked on the head with an album, well, that's the price of creativity. That's about as far as I think I can go without making marriage a federally regulated institution, like communications. Just look at our damn cable and cell phone bills and service.... yeah.. just not a good idea.
Oh, and wiffleball on the South Lawn...everyday.
Poison Pen Killing the Mets
Wanted: Bucket of baseballs. Willing to trade: Guillermo Mota.
Here's a question... where would the Mets be if instead of Pelfrey starting the season as the 5th starter, it was Brian Bannister, and instead of Schowenweis, Mota, and Aaron Sele, it was Chad Bradford, Heath Bell, and Darren Oliver?
Pelfrey 3-7, 5.24
Bannister 12-9, 3.61 (For the Royals!)
Schowenweis 0-2, 5.27
Bradford 3-7, 3.38
Mota 2-2, 5.91
Bell 6-2, 2.22
Sele 3-2, 5.29
Oliver 3-0, 3.36
The Mets let go of four pitchers from last year that could have had major impacts on this season. So, if the Mets don't see this thing through, don't blame Willie... blame Omar.
links for 2007-09-19
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Well, here it is... its a lot better than what we started with, I think.
Path 101 is looking for a look: Know a design/UI person? Ninjas preferred.
Path 101 is looking for a designer... Alex and I need someone to help with evil laughs and cackles as we take our ideas and create mockups, clickware, and eventually, the site itself, as we yell, "It's alive!"
I get it now: Learnings from being turned down by VCs
I had a very interesting experience this morning... I got turned down by a VC for the Path 101 angel round.
Of course, we're very early and I didn't really expect to get any VC interest to begin with at this stage, but it was just a weird feeling because I'm not used to being on this side of the table.
It was a little bit like that Simpsons episode where Nelson walks by a mirror and does his "Ha ha!" laugh and then realizes, "Oh, that hurts." (One of my favorite Simpsons moments ever.)
I've turned down tons of companies on behalf of USV even before they got to a funding meeting, but when it's your company, I'll tell you, it really smarts. I totally get it.
Even more so, I understand the animosity that entrepreneurs seem to have for VCs because of the impression that they only want to take a risk on you after you've already executed. I'm not saying that's the case, or that VCs aren't well founded to ask to see more traction, but I have to say that's what it honestly feels like.
But, rather than just sit here and complain about it, I'm thinking about what is to be learned from these experiences. Here's what I have so far:
- First, if nothing else, practicing your pitch and seeing what resonates with people is enormously helpful. This is partly why I'm such a big believer in anti-stealth. You should get in the habit of telling as many as possible about your startup. Whittle your way down to the elevator pitch. Alex and I have come a long way with our presentation even just in the last two weeks and these meetings have proven invaluable for that very reason, if nothing else.
- Product feedback: Instead of thinking that someone else just "doesn't see the vision" or that there's some missing piece of info that you could get someone to make them understand, you have to consider that your product vision sucks, or more likely, its jumbled with a lot of extra crap it doesn't need right now. In fact, your first response should be to look at what you're not getting, not what they're not getting. Being pushed on our product thinking will have the long term effect of making Path 101 that much better in the future.
- Don't burn bridges...hang around the rim. Go out and get your angels or cobble together what ever you can and just keep everyone posted. You can't get rebounds if you don't hang around the rim. Maybe the investor has too many things going on right now or maybe they just took some meetings that scared them off to your space. If you got in the door once and you weren't laughed out the door, don't waste any social capital you may have gained even by getting turned down. Sometimes investors come around again and you don't want to lose touch.
- There's always risk. Just because someone asks for more traction doesn't mean that you will have taken all the risk off the table by the time you see someone later on, after you've accomplished more. Companies still go under even after they've generated lots of revenue. To think that, "Oh, they just want all the risk off the table first", isn't really accurate.
- Most of all... it's not personal. Everyone in this space is trying to run a business. Shake it off and move forward. You'll get 'em next time.
Got space?
Alex and I are looking to grab some empty desks in NYC... got any? Details here.
CRM Software for customer service professionals: Really effective, if you have it. Sprint apparently doesn't.
So, I've now been trying to port my number from Helio to Sprint since last Wednesday.
First, I tried this Wednesday, and they told me I was all set.
Then, when it didn't happen, I called again Saturday.
Of course, every time I call, I go through my little dog and pony show to tell them what my problem is and of course they need to transfer me to some other department.
But what absolutely kills me is that no one that I get transferred to seems to have any of my information. You have no idea how many times I've given my name and address to verify the account.
My favorite is when they ask for my password.
Do you know how many different types of passwords I keep for all my different service providers?
What do you want? Pick a password.... I've got first pet's names, 4 digit codes, last 4 digits of my social. Mom's maiden name?
And of course, not every representative has the ability to login to the integrated "Sprint together with Nextel" billing system, so I always get transfered at least one extra time.
Now, I'm at the point where we need to call Earthlink while I'm on the phone to get the transfer approved.
So, let me get this straight... Earthlink (Helio) can say "no"? Yeah, I'm pretty sure they can't, so what's the point of this?
And, as if this wasn't irritating enough, now all the representatives are trained to come back from putting me on hold every 2 minutes to tell me what they're doing. Don't stop! Keep doing whatever you need to do until you actually help me!! I actually told a rep that yesterday. I was like, "Take as long as you need. I'm trained to hold for ludicris amounts of time and frankly, I liked that better than this annoying touchy feely, "Is it ok if I place you on hold again... thank you so much for your patience."
I couldn't believe it, but I was actually pleading with the customer service person not to be polite to me, because all these thank yous were wasting some serious time on the clock.
And, of course, I'm doing the whole thing on Skype, because you never call the wireless carrier using the wireless phone itself, just in case they need to do anything on it.
So, at the moment, my number porting has been "elevated" to the technical department to do this manually and will be worked on "as soon as possible" and they'll call me back "from time to time" to check on this.
I don't have from "time to time"! This needs to be done TODAY, because my new month at Helio starts tomorrow and I don't want to have to pay another month over there.
Perhaps it's the fact that they know I have this cheap SERO account and so they're getting me back for screwing them over by finding the super secret special cheap plan.
Knowing when to throw the right pitch: Marketing Your Startup
Alex and I have been doing a lot of meetings for Path 101 and one of the most difficult things has been adjusting the flow and content of the meeting for the audience.
So, for example, we took a meeting with a VC that we knew well and whose demeanor is usually pretty fun and casual (not Fred, just fyi). So, we decided not to run through our slide deck and instead stayed at a high level, conceptual, throw some ideas about the space around, kind of thing... conversation was kind of all over the place, admittedly, and today we got the "sorry, not for us" e-mail. I'm not sure I would have invested in us either, because we probably seemed a lot more all over the place on product than we really are at this point. It's unfortunate, b/c we really didn't feel like we put our best foot forward.... basically got fooled on a pitch and looked bad for it.
Conversely, we tried to walk through the slide deck with another VC and it was 45 minutes before we got past slide two and that conversation was excellent... and it was our attempts at herding the cats back into the slide deck that actually made the conversation less interesting.
Predicting what someone needs to see is incredibly difficult. If you've ever pitched at USV, you know that you should just walk in and show them the product, throw some ideas around, etc... It will become more like a hack-a-thon than a pitch meeting... and you need to be able to roll with that flow... b/c that's how they like to get to know businesses. They want to poke and be imaginative about what you could become, who you run into... what is the scope of possibilities for this business and how flexible are you and your model. Not all VCs are like this...and if you bet wrong, you might not get another meeting. I like to think that we never held slide deck dependency against any entrepreneurs at USV, but it sure does make it difficult to get in an engaging conversation with someone.
What we've found incredibly useful has been meetings with other entrepreneurs... not for funding or biz dev, but just to see what others think, and also learn a lot about how partnerships and teams function. We met with Paul and Rony from Indeed the other day. They have an incredibly focused strategy and clear vision on what they want to be. We're quite a bit wider and perhaps a little amorphous at this point and so it was an incredibly valuable conversation to have... not just to help us think about focus, but to help marketing our focus. We know we'll be building something comprehensive, but we don't need to overwhelm the audience with the comprehensive vision before establishing the viability of the first thing we want to build.
Yesterday, we met with Pete and Josh from Reprise Media (and got to meet the infamous Kate from Searchviews). As we did with Paul and Rony, we tried to gain a little insight into their working style, which would be hard to match since they were childhood friends. Still, hearing about the process of hiring, collaborating, product management from people who've done it successfully is invaluable. Josh finished up our long diatribe on what we were doing with, "You need an elevator pitch", and Pete responded, "So do we." That's our next step, in addition to all the product strategy work/research we're doing now... culling the message down to its basic points and tailoring that to investors, schools, the public, etc.
Alex and I were talking about opening this whole company creation process up... like doing some kind of a regular open meeting where people can just show up and essentially give feedback and here about our progress so far. I don't know what the right venue for that would be... we'd certainly like to make it as casual as possible, but also somewhat functional. Perhaps once we wrap up this funding, we can do it in our own tiny little cramped office. In addition, we'll be adding a wiki to our site and a blog of course to further expose ourselves in public. :)
Techcrunch and My Mom
What do they have to do with each other?
Well, today, GotVoice introduced some new features to its platform, including avatars that read your voicemail.