Template by:
Since I've started my new career as a venture capitalist I have become keenly aware of some of the classic mistakes that geeks make when trying to raise money for a new business. Instead of writing the same comments over and over again I thought I'd try to summarize some of the mistakes that people -- especially smart people -- make when they decide to try to turn their bright ideas into money. Here then is my top-ten list of geek business myths:
Myth #1: A brilliant idea will make you rich.
Reality: A brilliant idea is neither necessary nor sufficient for a successful business, although all else being equal it can't hurt. Microsoft is probably the canonical example of a successful business, and it has never had a single brilliant idea in its entire history. (To the contrary, Microsoft has achieved success largely by seeking out and destroying other people's brilliant ideas.) Google was based on a couple of brilliant ideas (Page rank, text-only ads, massive parallel implementation on cheap hardware) but none of those ideas were original with Larry or Sergey. This is not to say that Larry, Sergey and Bill are not bright guys -- all three of them are sharper than I can ever hope to be. But the idea that any of them woke up one day with an inspiration and coasted the rest of the way to riches is a myth.
Myth #2: If you build it they will come.
There is a grain of truth to this myth. There have been examples of businesses that just built a product, cast it upon the ether(net), and achieved success. (Google is the canonical example.) But for every Google there are ten examples of companies that had killer products that didn't sell for one reason or another. My favorite example of this is the first company I tried to start back in 1993. It was called FlowNet, and it was a new design for a high speed local area network. It ran at 500Mb/s in a time when 10 Mb/s ethernet was the norm. For more than five years, FlowNet had the best price/performance ratio of any available network. On top of that, FlowNet had built-in quality-of-service guarantees for streaming video. If FlowNet had taken over the world your streaming video would be working a lot better today than it does.
But despite the fact that on a technical level FlowNet blew everything else out of the water it was an abysmal failure as a business. We never sold a single unit. The full story of why FlowNet failed would take me far afield, but if I had to sum it up in a nutshell the reason it didn't sell was very simple: it wasn't Ethernet. And if we'd done our homework and market research we could have known that this would be, if not a show-stopper at least a significant obstacle. And we would have known it before we spent tens of thousands of dollars of our own money on patent attorneys and prototypes.
Myth #3: Someone will steal your idea if you don't protect it.
Reality: No one gives a damn about your idea until you actually succeed and by then it's too late. Even on the off chance that you do manage to stumble across someone who is as excited about your idea as you are, if they have any brains they will join you rather than try to beat you. (And if they don't have any brains then it doesn't matter what they do.)
Patent protection does serve one useful purpose: it can make investors feel warm and fuzzy, especially naive investors. But I strongly recommend that you do your own patent filings. It's not hard to do once you learn how (get the Nolo Press book "Patent it Yourself"). You'll do a better job than most patent attorneys and save yourself a lot of money.
Myth #4: What you think matters.
Reality: It matters not one whit that you and all your buddies think that your idea is the greatest thing since sliced pizza (unless, of course, your buddies are rich enough to be the customer base for your business). What matters is what your customers think. It is natural to assume that if you and your buddies think your idea is cool that millions of other people out there will think it's cool too, and sometimes it works out that way, but usually not. The reason is that if you are smart enough to have a brilliant idea then you (and most likely your buddies) are different from everyone else. I don't mean to sound condescending here, but the sad fact of the matter is that compared to you, most people are pretty dumb (look at how many people vote Republican ;-) and they care about dumb things. (I just heard about a new clothing store in Pasadena that has lines around the block. A clothing store!) If you cater only to people who care about the things that you care about then your customer base will be pretty small.
Myth #5: Financial models are bogus.
As with myth #2 there is a grain of truth here. As Carl Sagan was fond of saying, prophecy is a lost art. There is no way to know for sure how much money your business is going to make, or how much it will cost to get to market. The reason for doing financial models is to do a reality check and convince yourself that making a return on investment is even a plausible possibility. If you run the numbers and find out that in order to reach break-even you need a customer base that is ten times larger than the currently known market for your product then you should probably rethink things. As Dwight Eisenhower said: plans are useless, but planning is indispensible.
This myth is the basis for one of the most classic mistakes that geeks make when pitching their ideas. They will say things like "Even if we only capture 1% of the market we'll make big bucks." Statements like that are a dead giveaway that you haven't done your homework to find out what your customers actually want. You may as well say: there's a good chance that only 1 customer in 100 will buy our product (and frankly, we're not even sure about that). Doesn't exactly inspire confidence.
Myth #6: What you know matters more than who you know.
Reality: You've been in denial about this your whole life. You were either brought up to believe that being smart mattered, or you just didn't believe your mother when she told you that getting along with the other kids was more important than getting straight A's.
The truth is, who you know matters more than what you know. This is not to say that being smart and knowledgable is useless. Knowing "what" is often an effective means of getting introduced to the right "whos". But ultimately, the people you know and trust (and more importantly who trust you) matter more than the factual knowledge you may have at your immediate disposal. And there is a sound reason for this: business decisions are horrifically complicated. No one person can possibly amass all the knowledge and experience required to make a broad range of such decisions on their own, so effective business people delegate much of their decision-making to other people. And when they choose who to delegate to, their first pick is always people they know and trust.
Ironically, C programmers understand this much better than Lisp programmers. One of the ironies of the programming world is that using Lisp is vastly more productive than using pretty much any other programming language, but successful businesses based on Lisp are quite rare. The reason for this, I think, is that Lisp allows you to be so productive that a single person can get things done without having to work together with anyone else, and so Lisp programmers never develop the social skills needed to work effectively as a member of a team. A C programmer, by contrast, can't do anything useful except as a member of a team. So although programming in C hobbles you in some ways, it forces you to form groups whose net effectiveness is greater than the sum of their parts, and who collectively can stomp on all the individual Lisp programmers out there, even though one-on-one a Lisper can run rings around a C programmer.
Myth #7: A Ph.D. means something.
Reality: The only thing a Ph.D. means is that you're not a moron, and you're willing to put up with the bullshit it takes to slog your way through a Ph.D. program somewhere. Empirically, having a Ph.D. is negatively correlated with business success. This is because the reward structure in academia is almost the exact opposite of what it is in business. In academia, what your peers think matters. In business, it's what your customers think that matters, and your customers are (almost certainly) not your peers.
[UPDATE: this is not to say that getting a Ph.D. is useless. You can learn a lot of useful stuff by getting a Ph.D. But it's the knowledge and experience that you gain by going through the process that is potentially valuable (for business endeavors), not the degree itself.]
Myth #8: I need $5 million to start my business
Reality: Unless you're building hardware (in which case you should definitely rethink what you're doing) you most likely don't need any startup capital at all. Paul Graham has written extensively about this so I won't belabor it too much, except to say this: you don't need much startup capital, but what you do need is a willingness to work your buns off. You have to bring your brilliant idea to fruition yourself; no one else will do it for you, and no one will give you the money to hire someone to do it for you. The reason is very simple: if you don't believe in the commercial potential of your idea enough to give up your evenings and weekends to own a bigger chunk of it, why should anyone else believe in it enough to put their hard-earned money at risk?
Myth #9: The idea is the most important part of my business plan.
Reality: The idea is very nearly irrelevant. What matters is 1) who are your customers? 2) Why will they buy what you're selling? (Note that the reason for this could very well be something like, "Because I'm famous and I have a huge fan base and they will buy sacks of stale dog shit if it has my name on it." But in your case it will more likely be, "Because we have a great product that blows the competition out of the water.") 3) Who is on your team? and 4) What are the risks?
Myth #10: Having no competition is a good thing.
Reality: If you have no competition the most likely reason for that is that there's no money to be made. There are six billion people on this planet, and it's very unlikely that every last of them will have left a lucrative market niche completely unexploited.
The good news is that it is very likely that your competition sucks. The vast majority of businesses are not run very well. They make shoddy products. They treat their customers and their employees like shit. It's not hard to find market opportunities where you can go in and kick the competition's ass. You don't want no competition, what you want is bad competition. And there's plenty of that out there.
Special bonus myth (free with your paid subscription): After the IPO I'll be happy.
If you don't enjoy the process of starting a business then you will probably not succeed. It's just too much work, and it will suck you dry if you're not having fun doing it. Even if you get filthy stinking rich you will just have more time to look back across the years you wasted being miserable and nursing your acid reflux. The charm of expensive cars and whatnot wears off quickly. There's only one kind of happiness that money can buy, and that is the opportunity to be on the other side of the table when some bright kid comes along with a brilliant idea for a business.
All these myths can be neatly summarized in a pithy slogan: it's the customer, stupid. Success in business is not about having a brilliant idea. Bright ideas are a dime a dozen. Business is about taking a bright idea and assembling a team that can turn that idea into a product and bring that product to customers who want to buy it. It's that simple. And that complicated.
Good luck.
EDMUNDS:
By Caroline Pardilla
Lists come out every year detailing the most stolen cars and, with that, what steps one can take to deter car thieves. Yet, a car is stolen in the United States every 24 seconds according to the Insurance Information Institute. Auto theft continues to thrive despite those lists and regardless of new anti-theft technology that emerges with every new model year.
What else can you do besides not drive the most stolen car in America and equip your car with anti-theft protection? We're going to give you the unique opportunity to look inside the mind of the car thief and learn how he steals cars. With the help of police auto theft experts and auto theft professionals, we've compiled this list of some of the ways thieves steal cars followed by suggestions of how to stop them from doing it to you.
We have no intention of providing new information to the wrong people and simply want to educate the good guys. We haven't disclosed anything that car thieves don't already know and we have left out specific details to avoid making this a "how-to." Knowing the insider tricks of auto thieves will motivate you to take the necessary precautions to defend your vehicle.
1. Bump against the car to check for a car alarm. Since it seems like everything from a loud Harley to a rumbling garbage truck can set off a car alarm, people have been conditioned to tune them out. Instead of a motion-sensitive car alarm, use one that has a pager that will notify you as soon as your alarm is activated.
2. Break the window or jimmy the lock to gain entry into a locked car. Don't tempt car thieves. Keep valuables out of plain sight. Take them with you or store them in the trunk. Also, if you have a stereo with a removable face plate, take it with you instead of tucking it away in the glovebox.
3. Cut the steering wheel itself if there's a steering wheel lock. Instead of locking just your steering wheel, "lock" your car's ability to go by using a starter disable switch and putting it in a place where only you can get to it.
4. Look for exposed wiring that can be cut or for the central unit of the car alarm to deactivate it. Instead of going to a big retail chain store, have your car alarm installed by a professional car alarm installer, preferably a reasonably shady one. Unlike retail chain employees, these experts know what it takes to make your car elusive to crooks.
5. Look for car alarm decals to figure out which method to use to eliminate the alarm. Never display stickers that advertise what sort of car alarm you have, or audio system for that matter. Consider using a hood lock cable so the thief can't get to your battery or car alarm mechanism.
6. Jump into an unattended running car while the owner is at the ATM, dropping off videos, etc. Never leave your keys in the ignition even for a quick errand. Car theft is a crime of opportunity, so don't make it easy for them to grab yours.
7. Look for the car's title, registration or anything with a home address on it. Keep your registration and insurance information with you and never leave personal information in your car.
8. Stake out sporting events, movie theaters and shopping center parking lots for the car of your choice since they offer the largest variety of cars in one area. Whenever possible, park in lots and garages that have security and/or parking lot attendants. If not, don't park in the farthest corner of the lot but rather near the entrance of these facilities to insure the most foot traffic (and the most potential witnesses). Also, opt for paying the extra couple of dollars for the monitored parking lot instead of using the free parking on the less-trafficked side streets.
9. Find the second set of keys the owner "hid" in the car. Don't leave spare keys in your car or in a magnetic box attached to the underside of your car. Thieves know where all the "hiding places" are.
10. Copy specific vehicle information and take it to the manufacturer to get a replacement key made. Instead of VIN etching the major parts of your vehicle, which doesn't turn most thieves off, drop your business card into the doors through the window slots to identify your car as yours.
Even though auto theft is a crime of opportunity, if a crook really wants your car, he'll do whatever it takes to get it regardless of steering wheel locks or car alarms. But with the above knowledge, you can slow him down, make your car inconvenient to him and, hopefully, discourage him from attempting to steal your vehicle. Layering your car with anti-theft protection, especially if it's at the top of the most stolen vehicles list, is a good start. But, as with anything that is of value to you, the most important protection you can give your car is to take a proactive approach to security when you leave it unattended.
Top 10 Free Time Wasting Sites on the Net
Some would say that the personal computer and the Internet have revolutionized how much we can accomplish in a day. That may be true, but they have also revolutionized how much time can be wasted in a day. But then again, I would contend that if you are having fun, you are not wasting time. Enjoy my picks for the ten best time wasting sites on the Internet. And don't blame me if you don't get anything done for the next few weeks!
1. Falling Sand
This is an absolutely incredible interactive toy. I won't spoil your fun by giving you details on how to play. Just experiment with everything and realize you can use the choices at the bottom to change your "drawing tool" and rate that things happen. I guarantee you will play with this for hours and hours.
2. Not Pr0n
Not Pr0n is essentially a puzzle game -- a very hard puzzle game. But it is also very addictive and a lot of fun. Each new page has a puzzle to be solved to get to the next one. There is a forum where you can find subtle hints to help you when you and stuck -- and you will get stuck. The site is very enjoyable and you can waste an enormous amount of time there.
3. Someone keeps stealing my letters...
Imagine the chaos and the fun of having dozens of people trying to spell out words with virtual letter magnets on a virtual refrigerator. Actually, you don't have to imagine it -- just give it a try and you will have a ball wasting more time than you will care to admit.
4. Samorost
If you have not experienced the incredible graphics and engaging point and click game play of Samorost you must give it a try. There are a limited number of levels, so the danger of wasting lots of time is reduced, but there is no time wasting that is so creative unless ...
5. Samorost 2
... you count Samorost 2. After you have mastered the original, Samorest 2 awaits your head scratching attention. You will laugh out load at some the bizarre contraptions and pure creativity in this sequel.
6. Subservient Chicken
I refuse to admit how much time I wasted playing with this little gem. Your wish is the Subservient Chicken's command. Doesn't this guy ever get tired?
7. Stuff on My Cat
This one is not interactive, but there are so many pictures and many of them will make you laugh so much, that it can take hours to get through the site. The pictures range from cute to bizarre and even if you are not a cat lover it is worth checking out this site.
8. Spirograph
I had a Spirograph as a kid and loved spending hours making amazing geometric drawings with it. Now you can have all the fun without using up reams of paper and ounces of ink.
9. Sodaconstructor
Ever wish you could create a moving robot from masses, springs and muscles? Now you can spend hours playing with the constructor. Create your masterpiece and watch it walk and dance around.
Top Picks
10. SymmetryLab Machine
This is a work in progress, but you can still have a lot of fun and waste a lot of time building animated machines form a simple set of parts.
Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary..." With those words, many schoolchildren had their first experience with a ghost। According to folklore, Bloody Mary is a ghost of a woman who murdered her children long ago. If you want to see her, go into a bathroom (usually at school), turn the lights off, stand in front of a mirror, and repeat her name three times. While countless children (and surely more than a few adults) have tried to summon Bloody Mary using the prescribed method, to date few if any have actually succeeded. Most either stare at their scared reflection in the dark mirror or lose their nerve after saying the second "Bloody Mary" and run screaming from the bathroom in girlish giggles. An updated version of the Bloody Mary legend was made into a horror film series "Candyman."
While Bloody Mary spends her time in the ghostly realms waiting to be summoned to dark bathrooms so she can scare kids, Casper (whose legal last name is "The Friendly Ghost") is the white-outlined, smiling ghost who tries not to scare people। In the Harvey comic book series, Casper was often joined by friends such as Wendy the Good Little Witch and Hot Stuff the Little Devil. While some found the idea of a dead child's ghost hanging around with a witch and a devil a bit creepy, the characters were made benign and kid-friendly with the addition of "good," "friendly," and "little" to their names. Casper had a revival of sorts with a self-titled 1995 film, a modest success that managed to avoid the direct-to-video graveyard.
The events that allegedly happened at John Bell's Tennessee farm between 1817 and 1821 are said to be one of the classic American ghost tales. Bell shot at a strange animal on his farm, but the creature disappeared before it could be harmed. Several weeks later, the Bell family was tormented by a ghost that made terrifying sounds, shook the house, and physically attacked Bell's daughter Betsy. The spectral assaults continued for several years, and at one point Andrew Jackson is said to have dabbled in ghost hunting and did his own investigation. Though some authors recount the Bell Witch tale as a true account, there is little evidence that it is anything other than a ghost story. Jackson, for example, never mentioned the Bell Witch case at all; it seems that the future president's role was created from thin air, possibly to lend verisimilitude (the appearance of reality) to the fictional टेल
The Flying Dutchman, the world's best-known non-human ghost, is a seventeenth-century merchant ship said to haunt the high seas। According to sea lore, the ship, which often appears as a hazy image or a strange light, is said to be a portent of bad luck and doom. The ship and its crew became eternally cursed when its Dutch captain refused to take safe harbor during a storm despite pleas from the crew and passengers. Instead the impudent Dutchman challenged God to take them down. The "ghost ship" has been reported on the ocean from time to time, including appearing off the coast of South Africa in 1923. Though never seen on land, The Flying Dutchman most recently appeared in movie theaters across the country in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.
Though ghosts appear in several of Shakespeare's plays (such as "MacBeth" and "Julius Caesar"), King Hamlet is among the better known of the Bard's ghosts and plays an integral part in "Hamlet।" Hamlet may be the central character in the play named after him, but without his father's ghost, there would be no story. King Hamlet appears three times in the play, each time during the night (apparently ghosts, like vampires, prefer darkness). The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his treacherous brother Claudius, and asks Hamlet to avenge his death.
Slimer is the grotesque green ghost featured in the "Ghostbuster" films and cartoons. He's green, he's obnoxious, and he can spew slime... what's not to love? In fact, Slimer proved to be so popular with kids that he got a starring role in the spin-off series "The Real Ghostbusters." A reformed evil ghost that joined the Ghostbusters team, Slimer's voracious appetite and guttural burps make him among the most memorable cartoon घोस्ट्स
One day, in the early 1840s in Hydesville, New York, a young peddler arrived at the home of a Mr। and Mrs. Bell to sell his housewares. He was invited into the home by the Bells' housekeeper and in fact stayed for some days. The maid was shortly dismissed from service but abruptly rehired a week later. The peddler was gone, but many of his items were now in use in the Bells' kitchen. The maid thought little of it until she began experiencing strange, ghostly phenomenon, only to find out from the peddler's ghost that he had in fact been murdered in her absence. At least that was the story told by two sisters named Maggie and Katie Fox, who claimed to communicate with the ghost. Years later, the sisters admitted it had all been a hoax; there was no murdered peddler, and the spirit communications had been faked. Still, the sisters had inadvertently founded a religion called Spiritualism, which is still practiced today. The Murdered Peddler is the only fake ghost whose presence started a real religion.
In Charles Dickens's famous novel "A Christmas Carol," cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart after being visited by several ghosts representing different eras of his life's Christmases (Past, Present, and Yet to Come)। Ghosts are often associated with life lessons and morality tales, and these spooks are no exception. The ghosts aren't wasting time rattling chains or scaring kids; instead the Ghost of Christmas Past rehabilitates Scrooge by showing him visions of his past Christmases. Scrooge comes to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas-no, not holiday commercialism but friendship and goodwill.
This didn't happen to me, but my friend, she heard it from her hairdresser, it happened to her parents। It seems that they were driving along a lonely country road one night'¦ it was really cold, maybe up in Minnesota, or Montana. Anyway, it was snowing and as they turned a corner they saw a barefoot young girl wearing a dress and a green shawl. Of course they stopped to help her, and she got in the back seat. She didn't say much, and when they asked her where she lived, she pointed to a farmhouse in the distance. A few minutes later, when they pulled into the driveway, she was gone! The couple were puzzled but got out of the car and knocked on the farmhouse door. A somber, grey-haired woman answered, and the couple explained that their mysterious passenger had said this was her house. 'That's impossible,' the woman replied. 'My daughter died near here twenty years ago, on this very night.' Just inside the door, on an old wooden peg, hung her daughter's green shawl!"
There are many theaters in the Covent Gardens district in London's West End. Plays have been produced in that area for over 300 years, and some of the world's greatest actors have appeared there. Yet one theater is better known more for its ghost than its productions. There is actually more than one ghost said to haunt Drury Lane's halls and wings, including those of several actors. The most famous, however, is a "Man in Grey" seen as a nobleman carrying a sword. Any theater worth its salt (and many that aren't) reputedly have a resident ghost treading the boards, and the Drury Lane ghosts carry on their part of theater tradition.
The Parapsychology Foundation Inc. Scholarship
The foundation offers the $3,000 Eileen J. Garrett Scholarship to an undergraduate or graduate student studying or conducting research in the area of psychic phenomena to meet the requirements of their degree program. That kid from Paranormal State should probably apply for this one.
The Klingon Language Institute’s (KLI) Kor Memorial Scholarship
Although fluency in the fictional Klingon language is not required for this scholarship being a fan of Star Trek can’t hurt. Each year $500 is awarded to an undergraduate or graduate student studying language in any form. Qapla! The award recipients are announced each year at the qep ‘a’ (the annual KLI conference).
The Golf Caddy Scholarship
Each year the Evans Scholars Foundation gives out about 200 full tuition scholarships renewable for up to 4 years. To qualify applicants must have a strong two year caddie record, maintained at least a B average in high school, and demonstrate financial need as well as an outstanding character. Although the scholars may use their award at the University of their choice, most choose to attend one of the 14 universities where the Evans foundation maintains a scholarship house.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) Scholarship
Each year NORML gives out a $650 scholarship to the student who writes the best essay outlining a more “sensible” drug policy for the United States. It’s unlikely one of these winners would qualify for the Goodie Goodie scholarship mentioned next.
“Stuck at Prom” Contest
Duck brand duct tape annually sponsors the “stuck at prom” contest, which awards $5,000 to the couple with the best outfits made out of duct tape. In recent years the Duck Company has received over 4,000 entries each year. Some past winners are pictured below.
The United Daughters of the Confederacy Scholarship
Only direct decedents of “worthy” confederate soldiers, sailors and marines are considered for the $1,000 Helene James Brewer Scholarship. Applicants must reside in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee or Virginia. They also must plan to study southern history or literature at an accredited college. In addition, proof of Confederate Military Record and the applicant’s line of decent from the Confederate ancestor must be submitted.
National Marbles Tournament Scholarships
Since 1922 the National Marbles Tournament has been held annually in different cities. Over the four-day tournament more than 1,200 marble games are played. With so many games played obviously only the most skilled mibsters (marble shooters) have a chance to win the 2 $2,000 scholarship prizes.
The Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Scholarship
Any high school senior in the United States is eligible to participate in the Chick and Sophie Major Memorial Duck Calling Contest held annually in Stuttgart, Ark. Participants must adhere to the rules of the World’s Championship Duck Calling Contest which give each person 90 seconds to use four calls (hail, feed, comeback and mating). The best duck call gets the winner $1,500
The Church of Euthanasia (CoE) is a dadaist organization started by Rev. Chris Korda in the Boston, Massachusetts area of the United States. According to the church's website, it is "a non-profit educational foundation devoted to restoring balance between Humans and the remaining species on Earth." The CoE uses sermons, music, culture jamming, publicity stunts and direct action combined with an underlying sense of satire and black humor to highlight Earth's unsustainable population. The CoE is notorious for its conflicts with anti-abortion Christian activists.
he Creativity Movement is a racialist, and White-supremacist organization that advocates a "White Religion" called Creativity. Though "Anti-Christian" in a contemporary sense, the Creativity Movement is a surrogate of Positive Christianity, and is guided by elements of a pseudo-Christian racial Manichaeanism. The group also denies the Holocaust, embraces racial neo-eugenics with a religious mission that is dedicated to the "survival, expansion and advancement of the White Race exclusively."
Aum Shinrikyo was a Japanese religious group created by Shoko Asahara. In 1995 the group was reported as having 9,000 members in Japan, and as many as 40,000 worldwide. The core of Aum doctrine are Buddhist scriptures included in the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism.
Funders of Heaven's Gate, M. Applewhite and B. Truesdale, claimed to have arrived via UFO from another dimension (a "level above human") and would return via a secretive "Process", which was taught to cult members. One of the group's publications, "How To Build A U.F.O.", purported to describe an interplanetary spacecraft built out of materials such as old tires.