For most of us entrepreneurs, the desire to setup your very own venture sets in early often in school, high school or college. For some other sit may set in during early working life at the onset of a career. In either case, the very ‘idea’ of building your venture is like an ‘itch’ that won’t go away easily even if you are still pursuing your education or decided to opt for something a little more ’safe’ like a job. You can try and rationalize with yourself saying “I can’t startup now….while I’m still studying or while I have a full time job to work”, but the truth is, if you have been bitten by the entrepreneurial bug, you can’t fight it! The thought will keep coming back to you, telling you that you have to give it a go and pursue your idea.

Luckily with the emergence of strong support networks for the venture community like Grow VC, there is really no better time than now for first time entrepreneurs to “go for it!” whether they are still in the middle of their college courses or engaged with a job they don’t want to let go off for financial security reasons. The biggest hurdle for student entrepreneurs and employed professionals who would love to take the leap into founding their own companies has been time and support. Building a startup from scratch takes tremendous effort, plenty of time, the right people, sufficient funds and things that just seem so far out of reach for student entrepreneurs. Things that make it seem like you have to pick between being a student or being an entrepreneur. Things that make it seem like you can either be an employee or an entrepreneur at any one time and they can’t be done in parallel.
This is where turning to a community which can offer the support and additional bandwidth required comes to the rescue. Better still, you can access the support of all these people from behind your laptop or PC which is far simpler than networking the traditional way and takes up less time. A student with a startup idea can use the community to:

• A.  Find mentors who would help them get things right the first time, guide them, help fine tune their pitches and business plans extending their experience to a new generation of first-time entrepreneurs

• B. Find the right people to form the startup team from amongst a community of experts be it in legal matters, marketing, sales, technology, development and other areas who are willing to offer their services of for cash or equity through the service investment model. While hiring may not be an immediate option, the service equity model throws open the opportunity to have an ace team without large funds to get the startup going.

• C. Use the crowdfunding model to attract investors and members in the community to acquire funding. This model is not just a cost effective means of seeking angel investments financially, but can be done with less of a fuss. No running around to investor offices, making presentations and other activities which are time consuming.

It’s the ideal environment for the first time entrepreneur who could use the support of others to get their venture up and running. Have you been thinking about a startup idea you would like to execute on but can’t quit your job till things start rolling? Are your education commitments holding you back from getting your dream venture off the drawing board? There’s a community which can support you out there offering solutions and help. Sign up! Use it!

I was reading this interesting article in ReadWriteWeb about the Oxford survey that examines student-run VC funds.

If there’s any truth in these numbers then these student run VC’s seem to be outperforming the Venture Capital asset class as a whole.

Altogether, these funds have invested in 36 companies and have had 5 profitable exits. The median initial fund size was $1.3 million, and today the median worth is $2.4 million. While one fund was associated with a college class and had over 200 students participating, the average had about 20 students involved.

If this is in fact the case, then I hope that the authors of this study do not get what they wish for:

According to the authors of the survey, they hope that the report helps increase the quality and performance of the student-run funds and that in response, the broader VC community will offer advice to universities which have these funds.

I hope that they would just keep doing what they have so far and leave the “advice” of the broader VC community to be used only in those VC’s own funds.

Some of the other conclusions from the study:

1. No funds which have limited investment to only alumni of the university at which they are a part have achieved an exit.
2. 38% of student led venture funds have achieved an exit. One fund has gone dormant.
3. All funds list education as an objective. 46% of funds list returns as a major objective.
4. Funds tend to operate as extensions of university’s foundation, independent nonprofit vehicles or as individual corporations.
5. Student-led venture funds expect

The whole study is available here (PDF)

It seems that crowd-facilitated solutions are becoming more and more topical, and not just for us, but also for the global community. This of course refers to the media and we’ve got some great boosts from many different instances. The newest ones are from the Times of India, Mashable and ReadWriteWeb.

Mashable did a story on crowd-facilitated solutions called “HOW TO: Crowdsource funds for causes, creativity and startups“. Grow VC was depicted as the more “serious” funding solution, which we obviously graciously accept and gladly also reinforce. The market is getting more and more ready for a serious solution, which we will obviously provide. The whole article is available on Mashable.com.

Mashable also featured Nick Christy, from the community and his cleantech startup CINTEP. The company CINTEP, that manufactures showers that consume 70% less energy and water, has a commitment to crowdsourcing and has taken great initiatives in making it a reality. For example, see CINTEPs Homepage and it’s crowdfunding section for investors. Heads up, they’ve just opened their first funding round!

The Times of India wrote in their article “Leading the mob” about crowdfunding, on many different levels. It’s a good coverage of different solutions and it demonstrates how new funding alternatives can truly function on a global level, creating more equal opportunities for entrepreneurs. It also contains suggestions and indications to some future news that we at Grow VC will happily announce soon, so make sure you read it! The article is available in full-length here.

ReadWriteWeb also pointed out that Grow VC is the only solution that does due diligence on the startups, making them more likely to succeed. Building a nourishing community of inspired people is a longer term vision for identifying and deploying amazing startups on their paths. We believe in empowering the community to develop successful ventures and succeed together with its members. You can read the full article here.

Imagine two entrepreneurs both equally talented. With the same brilliant idea but just in two different places in the world starting up their venture. One in a Utopia for innovative startups much like the Silicon Valley and one in a place where innovative startups are not often recognized or even understood.

Every time you attend one of the several technology Barcamps or startup events organized across the globe, you can’t help but realize just how many fantastic, innovative ideas people have to develop great new technologies and web products. Every one of these events and gatherings reveals new ideas, beta versions of applications and new technologies that are game-changing. Yet, how often do so many of these great start up ideas (especially in developing countries) disappear into thin air just months after they look so promising?

Across developing countries which clearly have immense untapped talent the environment to nurture these startups, secure early stage funding and get the inputs required at that stage are lacking. The ideas are plenty. The potential to execute them is abundant. The support framework to help support the idea while it tries to manifest itself into a business…is a missing piece. It may exist but it’s not nearly as abundant as the talent or ideas. In these markets the entrepreneurs seem willing to take a leap but as they do, often find themselves asking “where are the angels???”

Having seen a number of startups with great ideas come and go you notice there have to be some inequalities which may influence how startup-friendly or not a place is. Also having spoken with a number of budding entrepreneurs (often first time) here is what one would find if they dug into the causes of their early disappearing acts:

Lack of Early Stage VCs & Angel Investors – While there can be well established capital markets in these places most of these are geared towards the large investments segment and not towards early stage startups. As a result too many entrepreneurs are vying for the attention of a handful of investors which means many great ideas end without a chance to grow. (The opposite can be seen in areas which have a lot of angel investors and smaller numbers of entrepreneurs where ideas not as robust can also pass through)

Inexperience In Innovative Technologies Investments – In developing places investment activities are more cautious and investments into innovative or new technologies is often considered risky. Investors tend to keep away from this space and those who don’t look for higher returns as a pre-condition for financing. It’s not angel funding or seed funding but loans rather.

Lack of Passion & Focus – Entrepreneurs may “give up” too easily without the approval stamp of investors and this could often be a case of ‘lack of passion and focus’. Instead of focusing on results from the original plan they can be swayed to come up with new ideas trying to become attractive to investors by any means except for showing results and building value.

Difficulty Building A Strong Team – While talent in places can be plenty it doesn’t mean that talent will be accessible for free or even for equity. While entrepreneurs for whom funding is a challenge, securing the talent needed to build his / her core team would be an even bigger challenge as it’s hard to find the right people who have a similar belief in the idea and an entrepreneurial mindset willing to work for equity or future reward.

Lack Of Guidance & Mentors – Having good guidance is critical especially for relatively less experienced entrepreneurs and no matter how great the idea is, making the right choices and sharpening the business as one goes along is important. It’s nice to have the right set of people to bounce ideas and questions off. It’s not always easy in a number of places. Without a nurturing environment where the business can get regular inputs in the form or knowledge and advice mistakes which have already been made by others in the past can be repeated.

Challenging Eco-system – You can’t grow grapes in the Antarctic. The conditions are just not right. Similarly, startups can often thrive in places where everything and everyone around them creates the right eco-system for them to grow. Investors who understand them, people who understand them, potential talent that understands them and knows what they are doing and how they work. It’s almost as if everyone speaks your language no matter where you are. In an environment where the needs of startups are not understood, the job of building one and growing just becomes that much harder.

Two similar sets of entrepreneurs in two different places around world both with an equally great idea may not have the same journey. One could be a smooth ride and the other could be like driving down Mount Kilimanjaro on a horse-cart loaded with tin cans…going backwards! Wouldn’t it be great if every entrepreneur and investor could just go to Silicon Valley and create the ideal conditions for growth so that every good idea has an equal chance? But they can….and we are building it together right here. With Grow VC, we can create more equal opportunities for entrepreneurs!!!

In our past posts we’ve talked a lot about ideas, the role they play in startups, how to nurture them and a whole lot more. All said and done, what is the value of an idea alone?

As a serial entrepreneur having founded several of my own startups as well as and having even many more business and product ideas that were done, there’s remains an even bigger number of ideas that were never done (at least not by myself).

Moreover, having worked mentoring hundreds of entrepreneurs, very rarely have I had my own ideas come to me through someone else. That does not mean that my ideas always are or have been unique, just pointing out what I have seen (checking the unique factor with Google should always be the first step). Since I have had most of my ideas copied after bringing those in the markets, I could say I’ve learned a thing or two about the value of an idea.

After being a serial entrepreneur for 15+ years you will learn what the value of an idea alone is. The value of the idea alone is nothing, zero, zip, nada. I know many new entrepreneurs won’t agree with me and don’t like to hear that, but that’s just the way it is.

It can only begin to have value when it’s an idea + execution. Till then, it’s still just an idea. When you combine an idea + great team + execution, it can start to have potential but the real value remains zero, until it gets tested/evaluated by real customers. That’s when you can start to estimate the real potential of “the whole package” again not the idea alone.

Like myself, most entrepreneurs view the world a bit differently than most others and therefore, see business opportunities and ideas more often within it. When you have more ideas than you can practically execute, the question on “what should you do with them?” comes up.

You can either try to integrate that idea into your existing business, but more often than not you also come up with ideas that do not fit to your own business. So the next option is to evaluate if the idea is better than what you are currently working on and evaluate if it’s worth making a bigger change in direction all together. For many reasons that rarely happens in life so you either forget it and move on or it continues to bother you and you feel you need to do something about it.

So what else you can do? You can try to sell the idea, but that is also close to impossible if not done as primary focus, so you then need to start a new business around it and build another team to execute. Or , just pass it on to others to be free from thinking about it.

For this very reason, in our talks (free discussion forum for all registered members), we have now added a new section called “ideas”. In ideas you can share those ideas that you may have but are not in position to execute or do justice to properly and therefore are happy to share with others. After this you are free from thinking about it anymore as now it’s not only your problem / idea anymore and you are just happy if someone else will also see the value in it.

So, maybe someone else does and decides to build a business around it and continue to develop it further. If that happens it may well be that the new team will also be interested to have you as their advisor and offer some equity from their startup (2-4%). Why? because that’s what I would do if I would be in their position. To be able to dip in for more details in the thinking behind the idea from someone who’s still motivated to see the idea to become a reality.

So if you have ideas that are on your mind, bothering you with no outlet to pass them on, feel free to share them in our ideas section at talks (http://www.growvc.com/talks/ideas). The very least you will receive is feedback from other venture community members to see if the idea would have legs or not.

For new entrepreneurs this will be one source to compare own ideas to other ideas and pool for potential new ideas to develop further or to add those to own business. If nothing else, at least it should be fun to play with ideas, give feedback and develop them further as a community.

There! I have shared one of my extra ideas already, dare to share yours?

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Grow VC Partners up with Startupbootcamp from Denmark

On our big mission of democratizing early stage funding and empowering startups, we are glad to announce our partnership program with Startupbootcamp in Denmark. Startups participating in Startupbootcamp will receive startup profiles in the global Grow VC community and all the possible tools to add value to their hard work. Grow VC is constantly looking for new partnerships with different organizations around the world, that share our passion for entrepreneurship and pushing the envelope!

Startupbootcamp launches in August and runs during a course of three months, finishing in September with a highlight at Investor Day. The process goes through three phases, 1) developing the idea, 2) creating a prototype and 3) selling the idea. The process builds up to Investor Day, where the teams will present their ideas to hundreds of investors and hopefully find their rocket fuel to make their businesses the best they can get.

Startups will share highlights on their journeys in the Grow Venture Community and their progress will be followed by a vast audience of potential future partners and customers. Grow VC aims to open the Startupbootcamp program as wide as possible, for a global audience of just the right people. We are delighted to be able to follow along the progress, the learning process during three months and the development in the teams.

Applications are still open, until the end of June! Check out more on Startupbootcamp.dk and listen to the Podcast for experiences and insights from Alex!

You can play the episode on the player below or on iTunes.

In this episode of the Podcast, we present the partnership, discuss the program and coaching in general. We are glad to have Alex Farcet from Startupbootcamp on the show. Here’s some highlights:

“We take ten teams, give them a little bit of cash, lots and lots of mentorship, put them in a pressure-cooker environment, work really hard for three months and then showcase them for investors”
“Getting to a point where I can kick the ball really hard, without kicking you”
Alex on Startupbootcamp

Here’s some points from the Podcast:

• Grow VC on Danish Podcast Harddisken - Kudos!
• Startupbootcamp in a nutshell
• Partnership between Startupbootcamp and Grow VC
• Mentoring and coaching startups
• How to apply for Startupbootcamp?

Podcast on iTunes: here or scroll down for player.

People remember stories, they like stories and they will even share stories with others. We’re discussing the value of a great story, with Markus and Jouko from Grow VC, and our special guest, actor and presentation coach Ole TIllmann.

“.. to get your thoughts into a story and this story into your body, so that you have your head free for your presentation”
” .. because it’s always about values, we as human beings want to be next to other human beings who have the same values as us..”
- Ole Tillmann

Find out more about Ole at Ole Tillmann.com

Bullet points from the Podcast:

Highlight: Kurrents

• Social games market
• Experiences from Singapore at Echelon2010

More on Kurrents on the profile in the community.

Finding your own startup story

• Heroes and villains (protagonists and antagonists)

Example Story: Premium Cola – The Ethical Cola Company

Core values and emotional characteristics

Apple, Steve Jobs & Nokia

Example Story: Betterplace.org

Value of founders and the original team

Recommended reading by Ole Tillmann:

• The Hero with a Thousand Faces
• The Writers Journey: Mythic Structure for Writers
• Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting

Image via Wikipedia

An interesting podcast by Venture Capital TWiVC (podcast #6), brought out an important issue in about the 33:30 min mark when they talk about how traditional VC’s can share a startups insights among their portfolio companies. They went on to explain how up to 5% of all the VC’s they know can share a startup presentation with their portfolio companies and in addition, “ the valuable nuggets” will be passed on to the portfolio companies in different ways.

Oh yeah, and the big companies do that as well as discussed in this latest Venture Cast podcast (episode 41, about 18:30 min mark). When they talked to an entrepreneur that felt taken by one Goo.., no…. unnamed company, when listening to that story, I could feel the pain of that entrepreneur from thousands of miles away. So much for ‘strategic advantage’ of coming up with a great idea…right?

If startups should be rewarded for their innovation and creative ideas and VC’s are supposed to nurture this creativity, then there has to be something fundamentally wrong with the system when “good information” is siphoned from a great startup idea and used to fuel personal portfolios. Being cautious walking around the 5% of VC’s that can potentially pass on your idea while still needing the funding could end up feeling like a game of ‘Minesweeper’.  As a Startup you are most likely drawn to those VC’s that have same or similar profile companies in their portfolio because of their investment focus, that the likelihood of “being safe” is slim at best.

So the question is.. ”Should you share your data in private with those that have their own resources to act on the idea or just accept that once you share whatever with whomever, it’s out of your hands and beyond your control?”

We feel that your strongest position is to work on a level where you can keep yourself on the driver’s seat. In other words, you “play in your own league” and graduate in to big leagues when the right time comes along. As you grow, you can continue to keep yourself at the driver’s seat in bigger and bigger leagues… all the way to masters! In fact,  it’s what the VC’s expect  you to do as well.

It’s true your ideas are no longer safe once they are out of your head but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. What is does is lights a fire under you and pushes you to execute on it, get it out to market, get customers, develop a revenue stream and move quickly! Once you have, you can stop worrying as much since you have a working model, tones of fresh ideas and a business that’s growing.

Experienced entrepreneurs already know this and that’s why they are not so worried for their ideas. Either they “just do it” or they pass on the idea and are happy to share it, because there’s always going to be new ideas coming along and if they are hanging on to their old ideas, they can miss great new opportunities.

After all, how often do you hear a successful entrepreneur say “Hey they are stealing my ideas!”? More often than not, this is what we hear from those who would not have been able to execute on the idea anyway. The truth is – great entrepreneurs thrive on pressure and execute the best under these circumstances. There’s perhaps nothing better to have your tail set on fire and get you moving than having your idea released to the public. Just make sure when you do that you’re starting in your own league so the big boys don’t hammer you!

Related post: The process from idea to competitive startup

Echelon 2010 is Asias leading web technology conference taking place in Singapore on June the 1st and 2nd. We are thrilled to be a part of such an innovative and forward oriented conference, and will be presenting our contribution to our collective futures there as well. More information on Echelon can be found on their homepage, here.

Living in a network society, we want to give attendees the opportunity to network, prior to the event, as well as after in our Virtual Silicon Valley. So for the first time ever we are also going to sponsor all of the 50 startups that are presenting at the event, by giving a one month free access to our Virtual Silicon Valley. Also, at the event Jouko will separately select or organize a vote for 5 of the startup companies to get their free account extended for 3 months.

For everyone else at the event you may want to look up Jouko as he going to be handing out limited number of “free visas” at the event to our Virtual Silicon Valley.

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Image via CrunchBase

One of the great things about blogging is that not always do you need to come up with original stuff. Sometimes you just come across a story so good, the best thing you can do is just to pass it on.

I just received the latest Michael’s Minute, an ocasional newsletter by Michael Robertson – one the serial entrepreneurs I have been following on and off, for several years.

In his latest Michael’s Minute, he’s telling a great story about one of his “own idol” that let him down. It’s such a great story that the best thing for me to do here, is to link to it below and not post anything about the story itself here – because it’s best when read in the original format.

The message in this story is very clear, it demostrates how valuable your integrity is and that’s a very important message to everyone, in our community where all of us are putting a lot of trust in others.

In our lives, there are multiple occasions when one can make a wrong decision that could make them loose their integrity and when we talk about business, often there can be plenty of money at stake – basically setting the price to “sell your integrity”.

When you come across these situations in business, I suggest you to think really hard about your choices and stay true to yourself.

It’s easy to understand that one of the most valuable assets that we all have is time and that is something that simple nobody, regardless of how much money they have can buy more, or buy their way back and fix things in the past.

So if you loose your integrity, it means you loose time and the time you loose with integrity is calculated in years not in months.

Read the story: “Sad Saga of Floyd Landis”