Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with startups

What Does The Word SLACKER Mean To You?

Lipstick Thespian — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 13:18:39 -0800

Do-Gooder Needs Help With Amusing Slackronym! I am thinking of starting a website that would feature local people in Northern New England who have valuable job skills or passions that are lying dormant because of the economic downturn.

I want to entitle it SLACKER.com or something similar, but am having trouble aligning a SLACKER acronym (slackronym?) with it.

Ideally the Slackronym should embody the following:
- underused, valuable local resources.
- a commitment to making the world a better place through your passions.
- the idea that enormous possibilities are going unnoticed in our communities because no one is hearing about what people can offer.

Any creative, witty or sarcastic help with fitting words into a SLACKER acronym would be great. Bonus points for turning the whole "GET A JOB, ASSHOLE!" rhetoric on its ear that the far-right wingnut Tea Party folks use.

Tell me why a room-and-board-and-bandwidth incubator for tech startups is a stupid idea

Michael Roberts — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:55:22 -0800

So a little while back, I bought a big old brick house in Richmond, Indiana (for $8000). It's way more house than I need, and there are lots of other fantastic brick houses here, just no economic reason to buy them. Why shouldn't I give free room and board and bandwidth in return for equity in a tech startup? (See also HNN's comment threads.) So remember the big old 1890's brick house I bought this year? (Previously on AskMeFi, or read the houseblog.) It's really a whole hell of a lot more room than I need, and - the kicker - it's not alone. There are a boatload of beautiful old brick buildings here, just no economic reason for anybody sane to buy them. There's even a 23-unit building of single-bedroom apartments two or three blocks away from me, standing empty. Lots of these houses are standing empty; there's just nobody left to live in them.

So I had this stupid idea, and I'm not even sure it's a stupid idea: why not sponsor young (or non-young) entrepreneurs by giving them rooms or small apartments, server space, good bandwidth, and home-cooked but free food? In return, perhaps a percentage take of whatever they came up with during a certain fellowship period, or whatever other venture capitalists take as their cut. Later in the game, actual capital would be available (it's not on the table, not from me, not right now). But the idea is to build an active and close-knit, quasi-academic, community. There was definitely an era in my life when I would have jumped at such an opportunity, and I'd still seriously consider it.

So tell me: in how many ways is it stupid? I love these old buildings; given just a little economic rationale, they're eminently salvageable (people built to last in the 1880's and 90's).

Also, Indiana has some pretty sexy-looking startup grants for sexy-looking startups. I dunno. I could save these houses, hire a cook, have a bunch of interesting people nearby. Have all the hassles of landlording without the actual rental income, plus all the hassles of screening for startups without any real startup experience of my own... It's probably stupid. So why do I keep thinking about it?

How to track wiki startups?

teracloth — Wed, 13 May 2009 23:55:31 -0800

Where might I find evidence that there was a surge of wiki startups circa 2005, which has since tapered off? This is just a hunch I have, but if it's true, I'd like to use the argument in a job application I'm preparing.

My dream would be to find an annual list of "100 hot startups" from Business 2.0 or some such magazine. I could then count how many of those were wiki-related. But I haven't found such a list.

Does anyone know of something like that? Can anyone suggest an alternative methodology?

If people work on a startup as a side project, do their employers have any claim over what they create?

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 08:42:07 -0800

I have some interest in getting a little startup going. I'm thinking through who could help, and some of the people on my list are still at my former employer. I worked there for quite some time, and would like to ask a couple of folks there if they want to commit some off-hours to this as a side project. Problem is: will their employer (my former employer) have any claim on what we create - since they still work there? I'm thinking of the whole anything-you-invent-while-working-here clause we all sign when we get a new job. It's not a competitive idea, necessarily, though it is something the aforementioned company should do themselves and might even be interested in buying someday. Would I spoil things by involving folks who still work there? This is in California.

Should a start-up use its patented tech to get some money in the door while it works on its consumer launch?

mrkinla — Tue, 20 May 2008 12:27:54 -0800

TechHistoryFilter: Can The Hive Mind name any instances of technology or net-based products that began life as a "white label" business service solution before being rolled out as a consumer-facing service? This one needs a little explaining: I'm doing consulting for a small start-up. They're a cool group of people, but as in all start-ups, there are lots of questions about direction and focus. The company has a patented process that serves as the basis for what they eventually want to launch as a consumer-facing web service.

However, in the meantime, this patented process could be used by agencies and their brands for better brand engagement. Because I need to stay sketchy, let's say this start-up invented Bluetooth. And they wanted to use Bluetooth to start a social network that worked in the real world as well as the online world. But, in the meantime, they said to themselves, "Hey, there's a million uses for this Bluetooth thing. Maybe we should shop it out to get a little money in the door while we work on developing the Bluetooth-based social network."

The technology is not as groundbreaking as Bluetooth - that's just an example. But I've been wracking my brain, trying to think of a tech or web company that's followed that model. If one can't be uncovered, it's probably a bad idea to pursue that strategy. Even if there is, I know it would take a great deal of focus to sell the white label product, make money from it, while growing the consumer-facing black label product. I'm a firm believer in those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, so anyone who knows of a similar product/company history, I'd be interested in hearing it.

Target ROI for a late stage investment in a biotech startup

alms — Fri, 16 May 2008 13:10:59 -0800

How much ROI would a VC be looking for in a late-stage biotechnology startup? A late-stage biotechnology startup just closed a final round of private financing and is now talking about an IPO at the end of this year or early 2009. The IPO hinges on positive results from a phase-2 drug trial that is currently underway. This calendar would have been known to the investors in the final round.

If this last round of investment was at $5/share, what ballpark IPO price would the final investors have been hoping for? This would be a pretty quick return (12 to 18 months), and on the scale of biotech startups it is a lower risk investment than most. But it is still a biotech startup.

I know that ultimately the answer is, "as much as possible," or "at least $5/share," but I'm hoping for something more specific than that. What prospect would the company need to show to close the deal? A reasonable possibility of a 20% return? 50% return? 100% return?

1. Great Idea 4. Profit! Help with 2 and 3, please.

muckster — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 08:37:11 -0800

I've been playing with a promising idea for a website for a while, and I feel I'm ready to get things moving. I've got a fairly clear idea of what I want, who would use it, and why it would take off. Income would be ad-generated, in an area where I believe prospects are good. The problem is, there's no out-of-the-box software that does what I need it to do, and programming the site is beyond my capabilities. Now, I realize that none of my precious ideas are worth anything until I've got at least a prototype up, and I'm not sure how to get there from here. From what I read, I could either try and find a partner with tech skills who is equally psyched about the idea, or I could find angel investors to fund development of a prototype for hire. But I'm not even sure where I would find a programmer -- or how much I could safely tell them in order to price the job. (I know there are places where freelancers bid on projects, but do I really want to post details there?) How difficult will it be to add features later if I hire a programmer for the prototype? If I work with a partner, does that mean I'll have to get lawyers involved?

I'd like to grow this slowly -- an invite-only beta, limited initial investment, and so forth. But I think there's a lot of potential, and I'd like to do things right from the start. In short: what's the smart way to proceed? Thank you.

Unethical to leave job for startup grabbing other employees?

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:42:28 -0800

Some former co-workers have asked me if I'm interested in leaving my current position (where they used to work as well) to join them at their startup. Does this burn bridges at the old job? OK. So, about a year ago two guys I work with left to startup a new company. It was an amicable split. Our company had recently been acquired and the founders were leaving so the culture was changing.

Where I work now, someone recently left and it was a contentious leaving. I've taken on most of his responsibilities with no raise and it's uncertain how long it will be until a replacement is hired. I'm basically holding everything together right now. But I haven't been happy at this place for a long while. Bad culture. All that. Corporate overlords getting more involved. Bah.

Even so, I feel like the timing to leave would be bad and especially since I'm leaving to join a company that has already grabbed another former employee from the current place. (Granted he had quit this place well before being offered a job at the startup.)

The new place is a startup. They're well funded. I'd be doing what I do now plus more. Culture seems really cool. I know a lot of the people.

I just don't want to leave anyone in the lurch or go out on bad terms and I'm wondering if just in general it's unethical for me to make this move.

I'm excited about this other place and it's more money. But if I leave where I am I feel like I'm completely screwing everyone over. Anyone ever found themselves in this predicament? Is the anxiety normal?

What's the startup community like in Korea and Japan?

mhh5 — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 11:38:11 -0800

What's the startup community like in Korea and Japan? I'm sorta wondering how I can find out how many small businesses there are (and what kind of moolah funds them) in Korea and Japan.. but just the ones that are sorta "Web2.0" or have a mostly online business. Any ideas? Are there government resources that track private companies and categorize them that way? Thanks in advance!

Books by serial entrepreneurs

Moistener — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 11:03:50 -0800

Please help me find this biz book. Topic: small biz startups. Author: a serial entrepeneur who claims to have started ~20 companies, none of which failed. Date: About 2-3 years ago. (I'm basically interested in any authors who have a track record of multiple successful small biz starts.)

Tech companies founded in 2002?

nyterrant — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 10:56:17 -0800

I'm looking for names of prominent technology companies that were founded or took their first round of VC investment in 2002, during the post-bubble nadir. So far I have Ludicorp (the company behind Flickr) and Skype. Can anyone think of more? I'm trying to limit the list to IT/Internet and perhaps a few biotech companies - the sectors that suffered most during the bust.

VCs in the UK

reklaw — Fri, 16 Jul 2004 18:02:45 -0800

If you thought you had a great business idea, but it was too expensive to just go for it on your own, how would you go about getting venture capital funding (in England)? Or would you do something completely different?