LaunchBox Blog

Thank you to everyone who applied to LaunchBox08. We were very pleased with the quantity and the quality of the applications that we received. Due to the overwhelming response, it took us a little bit longer than expected to complete our initial review of applications. We have recently completed our review of all applications and are now finishing up interviews with a subset of applicants.

While we wish that we could provide individual feedback to each applicant the time required to do so would make it impractical. However, we thought that it might be helpful to provide you with some insights into our review process. In general, the applications that stood out had many of the following characteristics:

-Clearly identified a problem with a large market opportunity
-Clearly described the solution to the problem
-Demonstrated an understanding of the market the company was entering and the competitive landscape (participants, differentiation, strengths, weaknesses)
-Demonstrated a capability or understanding of the requirements to solve the problem either through prior experience or prototypes/demos
-Demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit through either prior work experience or the progress made to date on the business
-Bios/resumes of the team indicated they possessed the capabilities to build the business

We wish all applicants the best of luck with their endeavors.

Labels: Advice, Feedback, LaunchBox08

Kelley Dunne, Founder and CEO of Digital Bridge Communications, recently participated in an Entrepreneur Hotseat interview. Click the video below to hear Kelley's insights on starting a technology business.

Labels: Advice, DigitalBridge Communications, Entrepreneurship, Interview, Kelley Dunne

Labels: Advice, Entrepreneurs, Interview, Jon Jackson

Ann Bernard, Founder and CEO of WhyGoSolo, recently interviewed Julius Genachowski, Co-Founder of LaunchBox Digital, about the importance of mentorship for start-up entrepreneurs. The key message of the post is that finding good mentors is critical and will help smooth the path of starting a new business for entrepreneurs. Ann's full summary of her discussion with Julius can be found here.

Labels: Advice, Entrepreneurship, Mentorship

We live in a world where progress is measured in hours and days and where we are in a constant race to launch a new company, a new product, or a new feature. Who are we racing against - is it to meet our own expectations, to demonstrate worthiness to our investors, or is it to stay ahead of the competition? Regardless, the race comes at a cost. The cost may be the family and friendships we lack time to give attention to during the endless race, the cost may be our own life savings, the cost may be our health, or some combination of the above. At the same time, running at this fast pace for extended periods may cause burnout - maybe not today or tomorrow, but at some point people need to take a break.

What prompted me to put these thoughts on paper? I've been on such a break for the past few days. By day, I've been enjoying the fresh cool mountain air on the ski slopes. By night, I'm making sure that I've fully caught up on required communications and work. Is this a complete break - no. However, it is enough to reenergize.

So my advice to you is to take a few days off (maybe not completely) and go do something for you that is not work related. Your company will survive, the people working with you will still get things done in your absence and you will be more productive and energetic when you refocus on work.

Labels: Advice, Health, leadership, rest

Back in September, Jason Calacanis published an informative piece on the CEO/CTO relationship and the debate on allocating resources to develop product for demonstration purposes vs for scale and market delivery.

Occassionally, I am dazzled by presentations and demos only to experience buzz kill when told that what I've just seen is months away from being market ready. I welcome the vision of the opportunity when presented with a far reaching demo, but I prefer this to be prefaced with the reality of the current product status. At the same time, I think real market traction with existing product is an indication that you are on track. It is a fine balance to develop for investor/press impression versus market delivery. When in doubt, I would err on proof of concept and market delivery.

Labels: Advice, product, resource allocation

In the past few months, I've been to a number of great tech oriented networking events in the metro D.C. area. It is great to see a vibrant and dynamic local entrepreneurial community and I've enjoyed meeting many entrepreneurs. I'm flattered that many of them have shared their elevator pitches and business concepts with me. I'd like to share some ideas on how to capture my attention and the attention of other angels/vcs at these events:

1. Draw me in to the conversation by telling me about the problem you're solving
2. Convince me that its a real problem
3. Tell me how your company is solving the problem
4. Direct me to your website and invite me to see a demo of your product

Often times I'm approached by an entrepreneur who wants to lead with the product/service they've built. While I enjoy learning about cool products and services and thinking about how the product/service meets a market need, in a networking setting where I'm having conversations in succession it will be more effective to spoon feed the information to me. If you set the stage for me, I'll be more likely to engage in a thoughtful discussion.

I look forward to seeing you at future local networking events.

Labels: Advice, elevator pitch, investors, networking