Ok.. so I'm giving some serious thought to "doing it again".
Yes, creating another startup. The last one was a hell of a fun ride and I've had a couple of really good ideas in the back of my head for the last three or four years and they seem original as far as I can tell.
Better yet, the entry cost isn't too high to get a proof of concept running. Of course, whether VCs will like it and think it worth supporting is a key question. But you don't know if you don't try.
I have the name: Yellowbird. It has all the classical requisites: it has a back story, it's obscure enough that it doesn't tell you anything about the product, it has some cool imagery that can be appropriated, and the company will already have a rocking theme song.
I grew up for a short while in Jamaica (where my father and sister were born) and this is close to a national anthem. Or at least it was before reggae came along. The music is called "calypso" and it was the music of my childhood. This is the back story part of the piece, if you were wondering.
So steps for success:
2) Bounce the spec off some smart people and plug the holes.
2a) Consider finding an angel investor. Not a lot, maybe $100k to pay programming staff and keep the wolves from the door while building the
prototype.
3) Build a prototype. I'll like need some of my friends who are good coders to help here. I'm antiquated, and while I can do the research, I don't profess to be good at coding Web services ("Aha! A first hint at a product direction.") Probably build it on a Linux/OS X variant for the servers and maybe do the entire client piece in something nearly ubiquitous, like Flash or even Java. First prototype could probably be able to rock in six months or less (depending on job constraints for me and my coder friends).
4) Develop a pool of users/community/advocacy movement. This could take between a year and two years depending on whether the community thought the idea worthwhile.
5) "Monetize it". Doesn't really matter how much, just get an income stream to prove that people are willing to pay greenbacks to use the product. Key point in the entire process, here.
6) Find some VCs who will cut a half-way decent deal to scale the prototype. Luckily I know a couple. Doesn't mean that they will be the best to do business with but always better to work with people you know.
7) Run the company for a couple of years.
Hmm.. so, Day Zero. Time for me to get back to my packing, and the spec will get fleshed out in the evenings.
Posted by artandscience at May 11, 2007 08:49 AM