I think SXSW was a mess this year - but it was still a worthwhile conference to be at.
Was advertising everywhere and totally in your face? Yes. Were there a million people trying to get into the parties? Yes. Did all the panels totally suck? Yes (this is something the author totally failed to mention BTW.)
The benefit to going to SXSW is to see / meet people in your space. The most important part is just being there, and getting awesome introductions. The noise is totally outrageous. I don't think anyone launching a product (including us) would be able to make huge waves unless you already had nice little buzz going.
SXSW is amazing because everyone from SF, LA, NYC, Austin, and a million other places come together expecting to meet people.
One last thing - Nick posted this comment: I am part of the mid-to-high-profile blogger/media crowd; I'm entitled, but I know how shitty I sound saying that I'm entitled. We're the crowd who demands VIP access.
Dude you are so lame it hurts. All these parties were the same. Do you really need to get drunk and have awkward social media conversations at 3 AM? Do I really want to watch an overweight blogger try to ride a mechanical bull? Sure the parties are fun (for a moment) but like btilly said, its all about what your looking for. If I am looking for a party I would much rather go to music (hot girls,) you go to interactive to get a feel for the people in the digital space and what they are trying to do. But yes... last year was a little cooler.
I know the founder of this startup. She is awesome. I think their methodology is smart when it comes to temporary talent. I would rather hire someone connected to me via linked in rather than a random off elance or craigslist.
I bet it's better than elance or craigslist, but how is it different than a more traditional staffing agency? I've talked with other companies with models similar to this, where you ask for semi-skilled talent, and they provide it for a cost. Then they handle all the junk associated with employing somebody.
I have. I chose my own encryption password, but in order to restore files, I had to enter the password into the Backblaze web site. Backblaze used it to decrypt my files on their server and assemble them into a zip file on their server. They then sent me email saying I could download the zip file.
Name ten startups that are awesome from NYC off the top of your head. Ten with products you use at least once a week? I live in NYC, and am happy to see things growing, but NYC is not 'on fire.'
As a New Yorker, I can honestly say I don't think I have ever heard anyone actually pitch NYA. David Rose frequently gives how to get funding talks, and they all sound the same.
Yeah, I truly think NYC Seed is the worst case scenario for any startup. We have met the people behind it, and I don't think they are capable of helping in the way Y Combinator can.
Even the application should be a turn off. The questions they ask are not asked in a way that someone with startup experience would ask. They are asked in a way a finance person would ask. Not necessarily a bad thing - if you a are building a finance company.
Finally, I would also argue that their portfolio companies are not really inspiring...
Not trying to hate, but there are so many better options right now. NYC definitely needs a strong seed program, but this is not it.
Keep in mind that you can only send one message every second. That is a pretty low throttle. If your service were to take off you would probably need to switch to a bigger aggregator.
Really? One per minute per number? That's a pretty big limitation.
Edit: I think Danielle just mistyped. From the FAQ: "Each of your Twilio SMS-enabled phone numbers can send SMS messages at a rate of 1 message per second. You can make requests to Twilio as fast as you like, and Twilio will queue the messages, releasing them at a rate of 1 message per second. It is not possible to adjust this rate."
Either way, imagine you need to send out 100 messages. That would be 100 seconds (or even worse 100 minutes.) Imagine if you needed to send out 1,000 or a million. Its going to be hard to build a solely SMS service around this based on that limitation. I think this is awesome if you want to add SMS alerts to your existing website or build a proof of concept, but I don't think your going to build an SMS app on top of this API.
My point is that you have 86,400 seconds in a day. Well before you are spending $864 per day maxing out the number of messages you can send, you have $1 in the bank to get another number.
But then again, having a bank of 100 phone numbers just to send the million messages you want to send within an hour sounds slightly annoying from a logistics perspective.
Does this feel sketchy to anyone else? This is supposed to be a multi-million dollar fund, but their website looks like that? It feels pretty unprofessional.
Berkshire-hathaway's core competency is not digital or web-based. This is not a financial site. It is a site designed to entice entrepreneurs (its version of consumers.) Berkshire-hathaway is 44 years old and a fortune 500 company. Appfund is brand new and needs to build its brand/trust.
If you want your money to look pretty, you have it all wrong. And brands/trust are based on reputations of principals in the finance world, not on the website. Hell, I don't know why they have one in the first place...
As a the co-founder of an NYC startup I would like to share my insight. NYC is a great place to do business if your startup is consumer facing with a marketing skew. If you are an engineering company you do not belong here. I also truly believe it is extremely hard to raise funding here, much more so than in the Valley. NY Seed is the biggest joke in the world. Most of the VC firms are run by ex-finance guys that are not willing to take chances on ideas. Obviously this is changing (think Betaworks and USV.)
I also think the Startup scene here is especially small, and full of the kind of people you should avoid. If you really want to meet the kind of people that will help you and are doing innovative things you need to head to Brooklyn or hunt them down. They are not at New York Tech MeetUp or any of the other startup events. Most people doing interesting things (I am only doing somewhat interesting things) are doing them off the radar. The people you hear about are kind of like the football players from High school - everyone knows about them, but they don't really amount to anything.
If your doing a startup in NYC, you should surround yourself with other interesting people outside the tech community. Meet people from Fashion, Music, Art, Advertising, PR, Marketing, ect. NY has so much to offer - the key is not to get stuck in the tech community. NY is all about expanding your horizons, and that is truly the benefit of starting a business here.
Was advertising everywhere and totally in your face? Yes. Were there a million people trying to get into the parties? Yes. Did all the panels totally suck? Yes (this is something the author totally failed to mention BTW.)
The benefit to going to SXSW is to see / meet people in your space. The most important part is just being there, and getting awesome introductions. The noise is totally outrageous. I don't think anyone launching a product (including us) would be able to make huge waves unless you already had nice little buzz going.
SXSW is amazing because everyone from SF, LA, NYC, Austin, and a million other places come together expecting to meet people.
One last thing - Nick posted this comment: I am part of the mid-to-high-profile blogger/media crowd; I'm entitled, but I know how shitty I sound saying that I'm entitled. We're the crowd who demands VIP access.
Dude you are so lame it hurts. All these parties were the same. Do you really need to get drunk and have awkward social media conversations at 3 AM? Do I really want to watch an overweight blogger try to ride a mechanical bull? Sure the parties are fun (for a moment) but like btilly said, its all about what your looking for. If I am looking for a party I would much rather go to music (hot girls,) you go to interactive to get a feel for the people in the digital space and what they are trying to do. But yes... last year was a little cooler.