From my latest Seattle 2.0 blog post, “Startup Decision-Making Done Right”:

If you’re a startup founder, you should be good at making decisions.  If you aren’t, you’re going to have a rough time of it – because the better part of your first year or three will be spent making them.  You’re the boss, you’re on your own, and you have nobody to fall back on.

Check it out.  Leave a comment!

I couldn’t attend StartupDay yesterday, but wanted to review the feedback and commentary and thought I would summarize the links/resources for you as well.

First, you can get video clips from StartupDay over at the Seattle 2.0 TV Video Library.

Not too many blog posts yet, but I found this one from Ryan Kyle. UPDATE:Here’s a great post from Bill Carleton.

You can check the real-time Twitter comments via the #startupday hashtag.

Finally, on the Seattle Tech Startups distribution list, Scott Warner noted that lots of StartupDay participants had the same question:

In looking over the day, it seemed like a lot of the participants had a variation on the following question: "How do I make the break with my current employer?" That is, "I am currently working for x and want to start my own company doing something similar – but not the same. Or, something very different. What steps can I take to reduce the chances that my employer will object to my new venture?" This is one of the first questions an entrepreneur often asks and, like running a business, there are no easy, one-size-fits-all answers. But there are some ways to minimize the risk of going forward. As an add-on to our discussions, I thought it might be helpful to summarize some of them here.

He then goes on with some very detailed checklist-type advice on how to do exactly that.

If you aren’t subscribed to the STS list, you probably should consider it.  And if you want to get the full text of Scott’s advice, I’m sure that if you e-mailed him he would send it to you.

Congratulations to Marcelo Calbucci for putting on what appears to be a very successful event.  (I wonder how many times in the next 10 years I’ll write that exact sentence – dozens?)

If you know of more StartupDay recap posts, please link to them in the comments.  Thanks!

Saw this notice this morning about an upcoming pitch event at Seattle University, sponsored by the Northwest Entrepreneur Network. If you are thinking about pitching your startup in 2009 you might consider registering.

*************************************

January Think Tank – an evening knowledge exchange

LEARN ABOUT MAKING YOUR PITCH AT NWEN’S UPCOMING “FIRST LOOK FORUM”

When: Tuesday, January 27 — Networking starts at 7 pm — Program starts at 7:30 pm
Where: Seattle University, Shafer Auditorium
Cost: FREE

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

Are you getting ready to launch a new business in 2009, or planning to take your early stage company to the next level? Join us for January’s Think Tank and learn about NWEN’s exciting new First Look Forum. Coming this May, First Look Forum will give a dozen early stage entrepreneurs a chance to pitch their ideas to a roomful of angel investors. One of them could be you.

John Sechrest, whom I met at the recent Seattle Mind Camp, posted a notice on the Seattle Tech Startups mailing list that I thought would be of interest to some of my readers. It’s about an upcoming event in Corvallis, OR called Business BootCamp, and has sessions of interest to entrepreneurs, marketers, startup types, and business development people. Several of my acquaintances in the NW startup scene are presenting. The overall program looks very good, and if you’re in Portland or Seattle you might consider going down for one or all of the sessions.

I hope John doesn’t mind, but here are the details: You can register for the Business BootCamp here.

Session 1 -
Friday Jan 23 – 5:30-9:30
Saturday Jan 24 – 9:30-5:00 , Dinner , Evening

Session 2 -
Friday Feb 20 – 5:30-9:30
Saturday Feb 21 – 9:30-5:00 , Dinner , Evening

Session 3 -
Friday Mar 13 – 5:30-9:30
Saturday Mar 14 – 9:30-5:00 , Dinner , Evening

Location: Weatherford Hall, OSU Campus

=========== Schedule Details =========

Session 1 -
Friday Jan 23 – 5:30-9:30
5:30 Networking/Registration
6:00 Introductions
6:15 Keynote – My Experiences at the startup/Y-Combinator – Tony Wright
7:00 Intro: From Idea to business: a tour – Nick Fowler, Orion Ventures
8:00 Are you CEO material? – Frank Moscow, Brentwood Group

Saturday Jan 24 – 9:30-5:00 , Dinner , Evening
9:30 Registration + Networking
10:00 Determining your Value Proposition – Marty Schulz, LBCC SBDC
11:00 Ideas for commercialization from OSU, UO, UW, PNNL, Ch2M and HP
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Startup Checklist – Carolynn Duncan, Coffee with an Expert
2:30 What is the life Cycle of a startup + Exit: Bill Witt, Witt Consulting
3:30 Forming a Team – OEN
4:30 Ten Slide Pitch Development – Ravi Sinha, Choice Solar
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Develop Pitches – Christoper Klemm , OSU Austin Entrepreneur Program
8:00 IgniteBootCamp – do the pitches – 3 minutes

Session 2 -
Friday Feb 20 – 5:30-9:30
5:30 Networking/registration
6:00 Introductions
6:15 Ten Mistakes in Business Planning – Sabrina Parsons, Palo Alto Software
7:45 Business Planning as you go – Tim Berry, Palo Alto Software

Saturday Feb 21 – 9:30-5:00 , Dinner , Evening
9:30 Registration + Networking
10:00 Legal formation And Documents – Jeanne Smith, Jeanne Smith Law
11:00 10 ways to build an Audience – Robbin Block , Block Beta
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Market Sizing + Competition – Mike Prichard , 5 Circles
2:30 Market pricing – Mike Prichard , 5 Circles
3:30 A Tactical Plan for Raising Money – OEN
4:30 Ceo Experiences Panel -
Mark Frohnmayer Garage Games
Katie Wilson-Hamaker, OsoEco
Dan Whitaker, Nanobits
6:00 Dinner
7:00 OEN process overview – State Resources – Caroline Cummings, OEN
8:00 Cutting up the Founders Pie and other consequences of formation
– David Brabender , Endeavor Law

Session 3 -

Friday Mar 13 – 5:30-9:30
5:30 Networking/registration
6:00 Introductions
6:30 What if Scenarios.
7:30 Using Social Media Tools to Grow Your Start-up – Caroline Cummings,OEN
8:00 Fun , round the room Team building effort

Saturday Mar 14 – 9:30-5:00 , Dinner , Evening
9:30 Registration + Networking
10:00 Shortest Path to Revenue / Go to market – Katherine Cleland
11:00 Sources of funding your business – Ron Larson, SBA
12:00 Lunch
1:30 Business Formation issues from the CPA view – Larry Stover
2:30 Leadership of the small and growing enterprise – Anne Murray Allen -
3:30 John Turner – Managing IP and risk in your venture
4:00 SWOT Business Facilitation – >>Need target company (is that you?)<<
6:00 Dinner
7:00 Building a Sustainable Business – Katie Wilson-Hamaker
8:00 Feedback Round table

I don’t see a listing on Upcoming for this event yet, but will post it when I run across it, so you can keep it on your online calendar.

Yesterday at Seattle Open Coffee I had an nice conversation with an entrepreneur who was working on a patent on some cutting-edge technology in the green / energy efficiency realm.  He was a little reluctant to talk details about his idea, what with his patent application still not finalized.

We got to talking about the need to keep mum for intellectual property reasons.  I started out very secretive about the details of my idea for Crowdify; but at some point all of the anecdotal evidence about the benefits of just getting your damn product launched became overwhelming and I launched an early-alpha version of Crowdify on May 31. My friend from yesterday is not ready to open his kimono just yet.

This morning I read a nice post on Fred Wilson’s blog titled “Do Loose Lips Sink Ships?”, exploring the same idea.  Fred’s key takeaway:

I think that last point is the clincher. “If an entrepreneur is incrementally more prepared (should it be equipped?) to execute on an idea” then they should be as open as possible.

I agree. Execution is the key differentiating factor, ESPECIALLY for Web 2.0-type startups. Get your product launched, iterate the hell out of it, improve every day.

Two nice thoughts today on the business of iterating your startup idea: First, from my friend Carolynn Duncan, this comment (via Twitter):

re: that entrepreneur link– starting the race isn’t the difficult part, it’s running the damn marathon.

Next, a blog post from Seth Godin about “grand openings”:

Make a list of successful products in your industry. Most of them didn’t start big. Not the Honda Accord or Facebook, not Aetna Insurance, not JetBlue or that church down the street. Most overnight successes take a decade (okay, four years online).

I might have a little quibble with Carolynn over the semantics of what it means to “start the race”: launching Crowdify this past weekend was hard. Damned hard. All the typical procrastination/perfectionist/fear of failure/fear of criticism bugaboos exposed their fangs at numerous points along the way. Yet, I didn’t feel like I’d “started” until I actually released something. Before, I was the talker. Now, I actually have something out there. I’ve put my stake in the ground.

I think a lot of people are like I was in the beginning: they think (secretly hope?) that “starting” means “I have an idea that I’m tinkering with.” That way lies the slow death of unfulfilled promise.

Here’s some feedback from my friend Craig on his review of Crowdify:

Good first release, now the real work starts….

So true.

More great thoughts from Dharmesh Shah at OnStartups. I found this interesting:

Nobody cares about business plans. Investors won’t read them. They take a lot of time. Just work on the idea, work on the team and work on getting customers (or understanding why you’re not getting customers).

There’s some correspondence between this and what Andy Sack of Founders Co-op recently wrote:

In all the advice out there, customer acquisition sometimes feels like a dirty word or a trivial concept and for that reason, I want to shine a light on the topic.

Moral: think hard and often about what it takes to find, sign, and retain paying customers.

Check out this list from Bernard Lunn over at Read/Write Web describing 13 seed-funding options for entrepreneurs. It’s very useful, and Lunn has a great writing style.

Excerpt:

Self-fund on credit cards and a second mortgage. You are brave, maybe brilliant, and maybe stupid. Just don’t expect any VC to give you more than words to recognize your courage. And also remember: it will take more capital than you think. Self-funding is not bootstrapping, it is just using your money and not somebody else’s money.

From Alyssa Royse at the P-I:

It is very likely that you do, in fact, have access to the people you need to meet. But, you have to ask for it. Yes, everyone knows that you have a startup, but that does not mean that they know you are looking for funding, or what kind of funding, or from whom you hope to get that funding. Only by asking everyone you know IF they know anyone who is an angel investor and telling them what you’re looking for will they know to go through their rolodex and hook you up.

Good stuff. Alyssa’s columns are becoming a must-read for seed-stage tech entrepreneurs in Seattle.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately learning about, and participating in, the local startup community in Seattle and am going to step back, take a 30,000 foot view, and spend some time telling you why I like you.

Is it your money? A lot of you have obviously made some mind-boggling fortunes. You have accounts at Charles Schwab that cause their own gravitational pull. But no, it’s not the money. Plenty of you work for a salary, have never started a company, and your 401(k) has barely begun to see five figures.

Is it your success? There’s a lot of you that have started, ran, and sold multiple successful businesses, or are running one now. You’ve been the Head Cheese at industry-changing outfits, and are a “go-to person” in your field. But no, it’s not the success. Plenty of you are still climbing the ladder, have faced setbacks, or are just starting out.

Is it your notoriety? Some of you or are on lists of Top Bloggers, or the Seattle Startup Index, or have 6,000 Twitter followers, or whatever. But no, it’s not your notoriety. Plenty of you have never been on any of those lists, and can count your Twitter followers on two hands.

Is it your smarts? Some of you are technical geniuses, or business geniuses, or both. You’re the type who program neural networks in your spare time, or can do NPV calculations five years out in your head, or can juggle 100 pressing details about your product and barely break a mental sweat. You may have had an important theory named after you. But no, it’s not your smarts. Plenty of you are average Janes and Joes, like me.

You know what it is? It’s your optimism. Every outing — no matter what — I come away absolutely enthused, refreshed, with a happy outlook on life, career, and the world. Everything is possible. Nothing is out of the question, nothing too difficult, too permanent, or too unknowable. You, individually and as a group, have a belief in yourselves that is on the far right side of the bell curve. That is gold right there. Optimism is better than money, success, fame, or anything else, because it makes the world the best of all possible worlds (h/t Voltaire).

So that’s why I like you!