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Whistle is Hiring!

Sales & Business Development Associate

Come and join the Whistle team!

About Whistle

Whistle is an emerging start up centered right in the heart of Silicon Beach, ready to take the spotlight as one of LA’s most delightful new apps. Our goal is to be an international name, fostering communication between businesses and customers in a whole new way.

Whistle is an elegantly simple technology solution to drive down negative reviews by increasing interactions between businesses and their customers. A customer’s minor issue shouldn’t be a painful Yelp review, but rather a friendly conversation.

You can learn more about Whistle by visiting: http://www.trywhistle.com/

Backed by the Curious Minds incubator, Whistle is poised to grow dramatically in the next 3 years. Knowing this, we are carefully selecting the team that will grow with us.

  About the Position

We are currently looking to bring someone on board to assist in Lead Generation & Business Development. Working in a startup, you can expect to perform a variety of job functions but here the critical responsibilities

Lead Generation:

Build a strong pipeline of potential adopters through direct contact

Lead contact campaigns

Following up with potential adopters

Customer Relationship Building

Sourcing new channels

Generate new use cases

Attend and participate in Business Development

Creating new outbound marketing strategies & efforts

Facilitating Customer Relationship Management systems

Collecting, analyzing, and reporting critical analytics

Working closely with the CMO and Executives to guide the development of the organization

Attend to Social Media & PR responsibilities such as press releases and timely blog posts

  About You

We’re seeking someone with entrepreneurism in their blood and a hustle in their work. A bright mind, strong motivations, and commitment are all essential qualities. Adaptability and the ability to learn quickly are critical as well. Specifically, the required skills include

Communication. You will be required to speak clearly and competently about Whistle to potential leads, current adopters, potential investors, and at various events. Additionally, you will need to communicate with your team and executives.

Meeting deadlines. Working in a fast paced environment will require you to work under the gun and make sure you’re keeping up with the needs of the company.

Self management. Someone who can manage their priorities and keep themselves productive will thrive in this position

Working with a team. Various meetings, pitches, outreaches, calls, reports, and critical decisions are performed as a team. Collaboration is key.

About the Environment

Whistle and the Curious Minds incubator are staffed by dedicated entrepreneurs with great enthusiasm and questionable tastes in music. The environment provides a fun place to work, but never at the cost of productivity. Ingenuity, innovation, and knowledge flow freely, making this a great opportunity to grow your skill sets.

Compensation & Expectations

$15 per hour

40 hours per week

Formal to Business Casual

How to Apply

Submit a resume (and preferably a cover letter) to Vaughn@curiousminds.com with the position title in the subject line

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Since its 2004 induction, Curious Minds moved beyond the bounds of a family business into becoming an influential trendsetter. While Curious Minds is credited with the success of companies like Telesign, Ringadoc and Showkit, little is known about the people behind Curious Minds. Today marks the...

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The Curious Minds Story: Jonathan Gonen

Since its 2004 induction, Curious Minds moved beyond the bounds of a family business into becoming an influential trendsetter. While Curious Minds is credited with the success of companies like Telesign, Ringadoc and Showkit, little is known about the people behind Curious Minds. Today marks the first installation of a blog series featuring our co-founders Jonathan Gonen, David Gonen and Curious Minds’ President, Sam Gonen.

Jonathan's afternoons as a child were spent in his father’s pawn shops where he passed the time studying and assisting in the stores’ operations. “It was really good exposure at that age because I was able to see people that were getting loans for twenty to fifty dollars,” Jonathan said. “It is a world that a lot of people that go to college do not even know about. For a large part of the population $25 is a big deal. These people live paycheck to paycheck.” Time spent working in his father’s shops instilled Jonathan with a determined work ethic and an appreciation that he would carry for the rest of his life.

After graduating high school, Jonathan went on to Emory University in Atlanta to pursue a degree in Political Science and Economics. In college Jonathan wanted to cultivate a skill set that would equip him for the business world. While he envisioned going to law school, the thrill of the business world drove Jonathan to reevaluate his post-graduate endeavors. Jonathan returned to Los Angeles to build a business with his serial entrepreneur dad, Sam Gonen.

In the beginning, Sam and Jonathan had little indication of what they would do. Jonathan had a degree in Political Science and Sam’s experience was predominantly in offline businesses. Curious Minds stayed off the grid until Curious Minds hired Darren Berkovitz and Stacy Stubblefield with an idea that would revolutionize cyber security. That idea would eventually manifest into Telesign and protect the largest internet properties using two factor authentication. Looking back on the early days Jonathan said, “The bet that these co-founders  placed in hindsight is crazy, but now they are worth millions of dollars. They stuck with us and we stuck with them.” The end result? A strategic framework for building small companies into big companies, which Curious Minds continues to rework and utilize in its everyday operations.

Since the success of Telesign, Curious Minds has refined and iterated their formula for building successful companies. Drawing on the philosophy of venture capitalist, Peter Thiel, Jonathan continues to dedicate his to career to building companies with the potential for disruption. “I love the challenges and even the frustration of starting new business models. In technology things can happen so quickly for a small startup,” said Jonathan. For Jonathan, being a successful entrepreneur stems from an unwavering perseverance, “The most successful entrepreneurs experience dark days. With their backs up against the wall, they stick, even when all logic tells them to give up.”

Jonathan is a founding member of Telesign and held managing director positions on the boards of Ringadoc, 800LoanMart, IsItYou, and Telesign.

-Katie Roughan  

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Curious Minds is Hiring (Again)!

We've found our next Research Advisor! Be sure to check back regularly. Opportunities are always coming up here!

Curious Minds is on the hunt again, this time for a bubblegum chewin’, (deadline) ass kickin’ research advisor that will graduate into a project manager role. The position is designed to help college students and young professionals (ideally recent graduates) build critical and desirable skills to succeed in the tech and startup communities. As the project grows, your position will turn from that of a research advisor to a project manager, and even potentially becoming a senior level founding member, as the team turns an idea into a revenue generating, independent company.

As always, no solicitations. All solicitor e-mail addresses will be used to create dating profile on all dating sites known to the internet. Let that sink in for a minute.

Everyone else, however, please submit a resume to Vaughn@curiousminds.com if you want to learn an incredibly diverse and valuable skill and how to build a profitable company from the ground up. Details of the position below.

About Us

Founded in 2004, Curious Minds strives to be at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship, bringing technology to consumers and idealist start ups alike. As stout practitioners of the ‘lean methodology,’ we reduce risk while bringing customers exactly what they need. For over a decade, we’ve been helping young companies build out their dreams while offering resources and experience. And with our recent relocation to Santa Monica, we are now in the heart of Silicon Beach and more ambitious than ever.

About You

A young, highly motivated college student looking for a paid internship or recent college graduate with entrepreneurship in your blood.

About the Position

As Research Advisor, you’ll conduct the critical research that guides the growth of an idea into a company. As a project manager, you’ll turn that company into an industry leading competitor with name brand equity and top tier clients.

Job Functions

Become an industry expert, familiar with competitive landscapes, market size, resources, adopters, and verticals.

Help determine the critical assumptions necessary for the success of the project

Help create testable hypotheses and surveys to validate or invalidate said assumptions

Conduct specialized interviews with industry leaders and perform qualitative analyses

Report and work closely with C-Suite levels executives to guide the development of the project

The Perks

Building skill sets that include: qualitative and quantitative analysis, lean business development, consumer behavior, grassroots and guerilla marketing, mobile and web based marketing, project & resources management, and more.

Wheelie Wednesday & Push-up Parties

Build valuable industry connections

$15/hr

Our Culture

Dedicated and motivated startup minded business developers with moderate to great fashion sense and music taste. We come from diverse professional and academic backgrounds to create a greater company where all input is valued. We’re proud to offer a fun environment that never sacrifices quality and crushes deadlines.

The only way to really understand what we’re about is to come in and meet us. Submit a resume to Vaughn@Curiousminds.com. A cover letter is not required but it’d certainly help you stand out…

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Zuma Ventures

It is no secret that Los Angeles is making waves in the entrepreneurship world with more and more startups, incubators and investment firms springing up. And now there is a new player in town - Zuma Ventures. Zuma Ventures is a technology studio based in the heart of Silicon Beach. They focus on incubating ideas with large market potential and growing them into independent companies.

If anything hints towards future success for Zuma Ventures, it is the star-studded team. Leading the company is CEO and co-founder, David Carter. Carter is an angel investor and serial entrepreneur who has been involved with multiple startups. A number of those startups were sold, including Vertical Technologies (sold to Zebra) and Thoughtstar (sold to iManage). He was also advisor and co-founder of Amplify.LA, a Santa Monica accelerator.

Carter is joined by Allen Hurff, co-founder and CTO. Before Zuma Ventures, Hurff was a “Think’er & Do’er” at Science Inc. - in other words, an Entrepreneur in Residence. He also boasts the titles of Executive VP of Engineering at MySpace and Senior Engineer at Experian Consumer Direct.

Richard Wolpert provides venture advising for the company, bringing his experience as Managing Director of Amplify.LA, and his work at Accel Partners, Disney Online and Apple to the table.

Combined, the managing team has worked in numerous capacities within the technology world and has seen more than their fair share of startups go through a full lifecycle. Now, they are pooling together their diverse skill sets to create a technology studio. After studying the market and analyzing exits from venture funded companies, Carter realized that most exits were under $100 million but traditional venture fund models do not allow for returns that low. The studio model allows the team to leverage smaller exits for a great return.

Using this model, the team gets to see a whole product from cradle to grave. They are able able to focus on quantitative and qualitative analysis, seeing that everything from design to execution are done internally through a process that they can control. This allows for more efficient use of capital, earlier exits and mitigated risk for investors. According to Hurff,

 You feed an idea, and as it grows it starts to find its own presence, its own personality. The idea then gets its own team and its own persona - we replace it with the right staff who would take it into its place in the world. We provided each company with the full cast of characters to help it succeed in the marketplace at whatever cost.

Over the next 18 months, the Zuma Ventures team plans to build three companies. According to the co-founders, they are well on their way with their first project and have a second project in the early stages.

The co-founders are also adamant about the importance of feeding and leveraging the flourishing LA ecosystem. They are actively recruiting teams for their portfolio companies from the Los Angeles talent pool. “LA has gained national recognition for its burgeoning technology scene and will become an increasingly important epicenter of innovation,” says Wolpert.  

Like true Californians, the founders spoke about the controlled chaos of the ocean resembling the startup ecosystem. Carter spoke about the strength of a wave coming to shore resembling the process of bringing a product to market. Hurff emphasized that you can never force a wave to do what you want; you have to get into the flow of it and ride with it. And that is exactly what Zuma Ventures plans to do - surf the LA ecosystem.

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Curious Minds has Moved!

Something special is happening on 3rd St. just North of Wilshire. It began on Monday morning, November 3rd, when the Curious Minds team began filing into their new office.

Previously, for the past 3 years, Curious Minds resided in a penthouse office overlooking the iconic Sunset strip in West Hollywood. But manifest destiny took hold, we packed up, and West we rode, in our Teslas, Benzes, and a ‘97 red Ford Escort.

Much like the philosophy of the Lean Methodology baked into the processes of Curious Minds’ day to day operations, the pared down team of CM’ers is a lean, intimate, tight-knit group led by CM Co-Founders David and Jonathan Gonen, and inspired by Curious Minds’ President Sam Gonen.

Not to present the wrong idea; the team, current and past, is overwhelmed with a sense of pride in everything accomplished (see TeleSign, Ring-A-Doc, Brand Reporter,  ShowKit). There’s just an energy surrounding the present opportunities that seems to be uniting the team.

"Our old office was a glass-walled penthouse with decorative chrome plane parts and a spacious balcony,” said Stephanie Higa, Curious Minds’ Front-End Developer who studied architecture at UC Berkeley.  “Striking, without a doubt. But the new office wins by a long shot. We all sit close together, which is great for collaboration, and the interior is full of beautiful earthy tones: cream-colored walls, wooden floors and doors, and windows into the lush greenery surrounding the building. It feels cozy."  

The team worked collectively to unpack boxes, set up work stations, and organize categorized boxes of spare electronics parts, cables, adapters and power supplies. Then, immediately after a team lunch at Monsoon Cafe, it was back to work; researching, developing, and designing.

There was an unspoken sense of camaraderie, a fresh slate, a new beginning and a palpable excitement in the air. The team of battle tested start-up veterans from West Hollywood origins embarked on a new chapter, together in Santa Monica.

“Should we put on some music?”

“Bump it up.”

Our “Launch Party” was not austetacious. The guest list: exclusive to those in the room at the time. Just us CM’ers hanging out on Plug.DJ and getting shit done (as it should be).

Santa Monica… We have joined you. We aim to challenge you, change you, and disrupt you. We hope to grow together.

-----

Brad Seraphin

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Curious Minds is Hiring a PR Strategist!

11/11/14 Update! We have found our new PR Hacker! Be sure to check back with us though- new opportunities are opening up all the time here at CM!

Curious Minds is looking for its next great Public Relations Specialist to help bring Curious Minds to the forefront of the Silicon Beach community. This position is designed to help college students and young professionals (ideally recent graduates) emerge into the tech community, building their skills and network in a way to help launch their career. As such, please, no solicitations from PR/marketing agencies or firms. Your emails will be deleted with the most vigorous of finger clicking. This post will remain active until the position is filled.

That said, we encourage any and all who are interested in finding their way into Silicon Beach and startups, entrepreneurship, marketing, and PR to submit a resume to Vaughn@curiousminds.com. Details of the position below.

About Us

Founded in 2004, Curious Minds strives to be at the forefront of innovation and entrepreneurship, bringing technology to consumers and idealist start ups alike. As stout practitioners of the 'lean methodology,' we reduce risk while bringing customers exactly what they need. For over a decade, we've been helping young companies build out their dreams while offering resources and experience. And with our recent relocation to Santa Monica, we are now in the heart of Silicon Beach and more ambitious than ever.

About You

A young, highly motivated college student looking for a paid internship or recent college graduate with entrepreneurship in your blood.

About the Position

As the PR Strategist, you'll become an effective self starter and valued team contributor. While having essential job functions, you'll wear many hats and build a very diverse skill set.

Job Functions

• Engage in weekly strategy meetings where we outline the Social Media & PR objectives for the week.

• Create thoughtful Facebook and Twitter posts. We want to contribute to the conversation, not just repeat what's already been stated.

• Write weekly blog posts that provide actionable information from seasoned industry leaders to our audience and critical commentary on the state of technology.

• Attend networking events in Silicon Beach and beyond, promoting the Curious Minds brand while talking to idealistic entrepreneurs to technology veterans.

• Foster communication and relationships between Curious Minds and other technophiles. We want to make sure that we're not only finding organizations that may be an asset for us, but organizations we can be an asset to.

The Perks

• Building skills such as content creation, SEM, SEO, AdWords and other CPC bidding structures, writing, executive communication, and the ins and out of business development and lean methodology.

• You'll build an enormous network of professional contacts that will accelerate your career

• $15/hr

Our Culture

Dedicated and motivated startup minded business developers with moderate to great fashion sense and music taste. We come from diverse professional and academic backgrounds to create a greater company where all input is valued. We're proud to offer a fun environment that never sacrifices quality and crushes deadlines.

The only way to really understand what we're about is to come in and meet us. Submit a resume to Vaughn@Curiousminds.com. A cover letter is not required but it'd certainly help you stand out...

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Project #CodeTruck

This month, General Assembly (GA) and The Michelson Twenty Million Minds Foundation (20MM) started a series of free coding workshops for students in LA. The classes are taught out of a mobile classroom that is equipped with MacBook Pros, high speed internet and energized speakers and tutors. The idea behind the series is to expose kids who would otherwise not have the opportunity to the tech world.

Anthony Kelani, CEO and Co-founder of our incubating company Showkit, was at the event to introduce coding and the code truck to the kids. Kelani has a Bachelor’s in Computer Engineering and Computer Science from the University of Southern California, as well as eight years of experience as a software engineer. He spoke to the kids about the importance of coding and introduced them to the unique workshop.

Anthony Kelani of Showkit introducing the CodeTruck

Project #CodeTruck aims to bridge the gap between the amount of educated coders and the amount of computing jobs available. According to an article by Tasneem Raja, US high school enrollment in computer science has actually declined over the years. Additionally, the amount of kids choosing to take AP classes in computer science is significantly less than other subjects. This is alarming as there is a huge amount of job opportunities for coders -  around 70% of all computing jobs will be unfilled by 2020. 20MM and GA aims to get youth interested in computing by teaching them how to code and introducing them to the many computing career opportunities.

-- Stanzi Wicht

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Winning TechCrunch Disrupt - Is it All it's Cracked up to Be?

In light of the recent TechCrunch Disrupt Europe and San Francisco competitions we decided to speak to a few of the past winners to hear about their post-competition progress and what the accolade has meant for them. Disrupt provides a playground for investors among a number of startups that battle it out for a $50,000 check and some serious bragging rights. But what does winning the competition actually mean? Is holding the title a true indicator of success? And is the hype accurate, or is it just that - hype?

One of the first winners of the competition is Shaker, an Israeli company that earned the title in San Francisco in 2011. Shaker provides a synchronous real time gathering in simulated locations. Each user is assigned an avatar connected to their Facebook that can travel into different virtual locations, chatting and interacting with friends and friends of friends over common interests.

When Shaker competed in TechCrunch Disrupt they were doing pretty well, boasting 250,000 active users and $3,000,000 in funding ($1,000,000 from an angel investor, Zaki Rakib, and $2,000,000 from Pitango). What they needed was international visibility, and they were certain that TC Disrupt could give them that. At the time, Shaker hit all the right buttons in Silicon Valley - they were social, virtual and friends of friends. They gave a great pitch that generated a lot of excitement, and walked away with the title.

And so what does Shaker say about winning the competition? Co-founder Gad Moar says,

“It’s dangerous, that’s what I would say. Why is this dangerous? It puts the business way beyond the company. Back then people looked at Shaker and saw this great company and said ‘Wow look at Shaker, they will scale immediately, they solved the problem.’ And we didn’t solve the problem. We never said that we solved the problem. We were a young company at the beginning of a product and we were beginning on the journey to find the optimal ending point for us. If you are a winner of TC Disrupt, unless you’re sold for $2,000,000 a month after, you might not do your job. It sets an expectations bar that is just too high.”

Three years down the line, Shaker is not the same company. Moar believes that the internet was not ready for a generic meetup world. People today are far more “asynchronous” - they do a lot of things at one time. People will talk on the phone while they are watching TV. They will cook while they check their Facebook. Moar believes that this attitude makes it hard for someone to commit to spending time in virtual world and that this made it hard for Shaker to scale. As a result, they pivoted. Now Shaker is a social gaming application called Caso Casino that recreates the experience of going to Vegas. They realized that gaming is a far more interactive experience and they applied their expertise to create a new application that appeals to this “asynchronous” lifestyle. Interestingly, during the Q&A portion of their TechCrunch pitch, one of the judges expressed concern about the fact that Shaker was a purely synchronous platform. While Shaker as a business is still thriving and doing big things, the idea that the TechCrunch team rooted for three years ago is no longer the main focus of the company.

Despite this, Moar acknowledges that winning the competition did help them. It put them at the heart of the tech world and gave them a strong credibility which was important for a company coming from very far outside of the Valley. Moar thinks it might have helped them to get a higher valuation, it helped with recruiting, and probably helped to sign some deals, such as a partnership with the NBA. Shaker was also able to raise a Series A round of $15 million led by Menlo Ventures. However, this deal was not directly correlated to the TC win - the term sheets were prepared before the competition. This is contrary to what is suggest by an article TechCrunch posted entitled, “Less Than a Month after Winning Disrupt, Shaker Raises $15 Million”.

Overall, Moar says that the competition definitely helped Shaker make progress. Next time he would set an appropriate expectation, but he would still enter, and he would still try to win.

The photo accompanying the article, showing an

exhausted Shaker co-founder with his prize

    Craig Walker, founder of UberConference, thinks that the high expectations are one of the best things about the competition; having the additional pressure really forces a company to buckle down. Even just the deadline is enough to light a fire under a startup - knowing that at 3pm on May 23rd you will be on stage demoing truly motivates a team to get things done.

UberConference holds the title of the 2012 TC Disrupt New York winners. They provide a service that aims to change the tiresome and flawed process of conference calling. The company was founded by Craig Walker, who has a long history in Silicon Valley. Walker worked for Google Voice, founded Yahoo! voice, was the first Entrepreneur in Residence for Google Ventures and founded Switch Communications (previously Firespotter Labs). Unlike Shaker, Walker already had a strong reputation and connections within Silicon Valley.  However, Walker is insistent that whether you’re well known or not, the competition is still extremely important for any new company.

“Whether you’re well funded or have done it before, it doesn’t matter. Our hundreds and thousands of users at UberConference really don’t care that we once worked at Google Voice or are backed by Andreessen Horowitz. And so we will do whatever we can do to get the word out and build grassroots awareness. If I were to start another company at some point it would be the exact same path. Every time you have to treat it like it is the first time because the market doesn’t care what you have done in the past, it’s what have you done for me lately.”

According to Walker, one of the best things about winning is the validation; having that third party affirmation adds an extra boost of confidence for potential investors and for the team. “We had been talking about and working on our product as a team,” says Walker, “but then when we won, it was like ‘Hey, we’re on to something here! It’s not just crazy Craig telling us this is important’. The validation is good internally, as well as externally.”

After the competition they closed a $15 million venture round led by Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures. Walker believes that this was simply accelerated by winning the competition, and not directly attributed to it. He stressed that winning the competition is not an escape velocity for success. UberConference would have done the exact same things whether they won or not, the process was just expedited by the prize.

“At a certain point, you go from riding that launch buzz to actually having to prove it in the real world. It’s like going on a first date - it’s all excitement and flowers and starry eyes and then three months later you have to do the real work. That’s why you better have something sustainable and real. The reality of the service is proven once you get out of the cocoon of tech insiders. The launch buzz is great, but that is all it is. You have to turn it into a fire. ”

    The 2013 winners, Enigma, also believe that the buzz is not nearly enough to propel your company to success. Co-founder, Hicham Oudghiri says:

“Disrupt is an excellent launching pad to pursue your larger company objectives. It is extremely important to use the success as a driving force for growth and not a source of complacency or arrogance. It’s a great honor to win TechCrunch Disrupt but if that is your crowning achievement you’ve missed the mark.”

Still enjoying the immediate buzz of the competition is one of our incubating companies, Showkit, who went to the finals of TC Disrupt New York in May. Showkit CEO, Anthony Kelani, agrees that being in the competition does not mean that you can rest on your laurels. There is plenty of limelight at the beginning and an abundance of influential people are exposed to your company, but it is really up to you to hustle to make sure that those relationships go forward. There are still the same problems that every startup has, with a little added push into the eyeline of investors and customers.

Overall, Moar says that the competition definitely helped Shaker make progress. Next time he would set an appropriate expectation, but he would still enter, and he would still try to win.

And so to address my previous questions - is competition an indicator of success? The first competition was hosted only a few years ago and so not enough time has passed for many of the companies to become established. However it can be said that every single winning company except one has received venture funding after the competition. CarMechanic didn’t raise any more after their seed round, but they seem to be surviving on the money they do have. Two of the companies were acquired - Saluto was acquired by Asurion for $100 million and Qwiki was acquired by Yahoo! for $50 million. However, Yahoo! recently closed down their Qwiki project.  

And what does winning TechCrunch really mean? It seems that the competition provides you the best launchpad around. Whatever stage your company is at, it propels you into the limelight and the vision of hundreds investors and clients. As a winner, you will undoubtedly be noticed. But if you want to capitalize on the attention you need to truly work hard to make those relationships turn into something fruitful. Most of the industry does not blindly follow TechCrunch’s advice, and so it is unlikely that winning alone is going to secure you a deal. If you are ready to scale and take on that kind of attention, it will do wonders to expedite the process of growing your company, which is essential in the fast changing tech world.

-- Stanzi Wicht

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Whistle at Vator Splash LA

At Curious Minds, we are firm believers that great startups are created as a response to a problem. A successful startup identifies an issue and then provides a strategic and creative solution. One of our incubating companies, Whistle, is making strides in fixing the problem of disengagement between customers and business. There is a growing trend of customers choosing to go online to voice their frustrations instead of addressing it with management. As a result, guest service representatives and general managers are not given a chance to right a wrong prior to a review. Most business and hotel owners know the pain of seeing a bad Yelp review about a problem that they didn’t even know existed and would have happily corrected. Whistle fixes this relationship by allowing customers to communicate with businesses via texting and popular messaging applications. Business utilize a real-time interface to message and respond to customers using their application of choice.

Customer View

Business View

The concept is simple, but incredibly effective. For example, if a guest in a hotel would like extra pillows, they send a text. The hotel receives instantly this on their server, replies and knocking on the guest's door in a matter of minutes. Every conversation is saved, allowing the hotel to gather information on their customers’ wants and needs and enabling them to make lasting improvements to their customer service. Meanwhile, customers can continue their regular messaging behavior while communicating and interacting with the business. Jessica Saab, a member of the Business Development team said,

For me, the product development has been really exciting - seeing the possibilities and the products growing and changing. I’ve been seeing the reaction from people, of just overall excitement. Every time we talk to someone about it they light up. They recognize the problem and they realize that we are building a solution for their needs. It’s almost a ‘duh’ moment. What aren’t people able to text businesses?

As far as startups go, Whistle has had pretty smooth sailing. They went through our lean lab process, conducting extensive market research and gathering information from general managers and customers alike. They signed their first hotel during this research process, and since then they have signed a client a week onto the Whistle service. The team is continuing with this momentum while constantly iterating and rolling out new features.

Yesterday, the Whistle team took their energy to the final round of Vator Splash LA. Their journey with the competition began a few months ago when online voting pushed them into the Top 20. They then became one of the 10 finalists selected by the Vator team to pitch to the impressive group of entrepreneurs and VC’s. Among the speakers were Jessica Alba and Brian Lee of the Honest Company, Paul Bricault of Amplify, Bill Woodward, the founder of Anthem Venture Partners and Erik Rannala of MuckerLabs. Bill Gross, founder of Idealab, also gave valuable advice, saying that in his entire experience of startups, he has learned that a great idea is pertinent, but what’s even more important is timing.

Whistle COO, Chris Hovanessian, is very confident that this is the right time. Smartphone messaging is set to double by 2017 and yet businesses are still reliant on telephone and in-person communication. Whistle is addressing this by providing a service that closes the gap between email and telephone calls.

Questions or concerns? Text Whistle at (323) 476-1703.

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

Advice for Entrepreneurs: Sam Altman's Lecture Series

There is no doubt that Y-Combinator is doing something right. With one I.P.O., 84 exits, and a $30 billion combined valuation of their portfolio companies, Paul Graham and Sam Altman are outliers in the industry. Now, their wisdom is being made available to anyone who wants it. Sam Altman took to the stage last night to teach the first of a series of Stanford classes, entitled ‘How to Start a Startup’. A video of his lecture was posted online, and drew in over 24,000 views in 20 hours.

The lecture series offers 20 sessions, each featuring a representative from a billion dollar company. Yesterday, Dustin Moskovitz, co-founder of Facebook took time out of his day to teach a few hundred Stanford kids and a few thousand remote entrepreneurs his tricks of the trade. Upcoming speakers include Peter Thiel, Marc Andreessen, Aaron Levie of Box, Reid Hoffman of Linkedin, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo… The amount of brilliant minds coming through those doors is enough to make anybody feel daft.

Unsurprisingly, the first lecture was filled with great advice. Altman calmly explained that the idea is the most important piece of the startup puzzle, and that you have to fiercely and passionately believe in it if it is going to work. Even if everyone else tells you it is a bad idea, you should pursue it - less excitement means less competition. He also explained that it is better to have a few people that are unwaveringly committed to your product, than a few thousand that thinks it’s sort of OK.

Moskovitz then took over and went through his presentation, deconstructing every misrepresentation of the life of an entrepreneur. He echoed Altman, saying that all you really have is your idea. Any other form of validation you hope to achieve is a fallacy constructed by the media. He also emphasized that startup founders are foolish to be excited at the prospect of being their own boss. In reality, a startup founder has many bosses - they have to listen and answer to many people. He used this quote from Evernote CEO, Phil Libin, to illustrate his point,

“What it’s really like: everyone else is your boss - all of your employees, customers, partners, users, media are your boss. I’ve never had more bosses or needed to account for more people today.”

Yes, the lecture was filled with fantastic advice. The whole lecture series will probably have some pinterest worthy quotes and provide much inspiration to nervous entrepreneurs all around the world. The issue is that this lecture is just one piece in an overwhelming amount of information for entrepreneurs to take in. Just last week, we wrote about the new Arts, Technology and Business of Innovation major at USC. There are blogs, forums, Paul Graham’s Essays, books, fireside chats - an endless number of opportunities to get advice on how to be a great startup founder. But in this sea of anecdotes, who has the right information to take in? Anybody with a modicum of success is quick to lend themselves to speaking events and offer up their advice, solicited or not. Who do you trust?

I’m not saying that these speakers do not have good advice to share - they are all absolutely fascinating people that I would be overjoyed just to have ten minutes with. If you are going to listen to anybody, that group would be it. And, if you put your faith in academic institutions, then Stanford is probably a good place to start. It is just that the most brilliant and revolutionary ideas are usually crazy, and always unique. You often hear of, “The Uber for this…” or the “Facebook for pet owners”. None of those companies are going to make nearly as much of an impact as Uber and Facebook did. They came up with something completely new and necessary and they dominated because of it. They put their head down, pushed through all the noise, and emerged victorious. It is quite easy to get bogged down in the great ideas of others, and stop coming up with great ideas yourself.

This begs the question - is an entrepreneur’s time better spent focusing on their customers? Should they devote hours and hours to reading, and learning, and figuring out the correct path to take? Is there a correct path to take? Each startup is entirely different. If there was a perfect formula for the perfect startup, then it would not be true that 9 out of 10 startups fail. Sam Altman himself admits that only 30% of what makes a startup good is stuff that you can learn - the other 70% is up to each individual startup.

This is why at Curious Minds we do not have a formula beyond always trying to iterate and innovate. Granted, we’re stout practitioners of the ‘lean methodology,’ but even in that that there is ample room for interpretation, innovation, and improvement. Defending a business model because “that’s the way it’s always been done” is a great way to announce your company’s eventual death. We constantly get questions asking how much we invest, when we take startups, what are our startup class sizes. We don’t want to only accept startups at a certain time and put them in a certain class because we realize each startup needs the most individualized attention. Some startups mature quicker than others, some need more focus on product, some need more focus on team development. What would spell disaster for one startup is an opportunity for another. Our brand of support and advice at Curious Minds is that of individualized attention and commitment to each and every startup and each and every member of the team. We don’t want to push them into a certain mold because we think that that true brilliance comes from the absence of boundaries.

-- Stanzi Wicht

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

Takes Official Launch

We are very pleased to announce the official launch of one of our investments, Takes. Takes is a new photo/video app that creates an unfiltered and effortless way to memorialize life’s moments. It’s not a photo and not a slideshow, but rather a real, authentic, quality video that is captured, automatically edited, and produced with a single click. Whenever you snap a photo, it is immediately transformed into a high-quality video.

Takes was founded in 2012 by computer vision and image processing scientist, Amit Man. The goal of the company is to revolutionize the way we capture and share life’s everyday moments, through patent-pending 1-click video capturing technology. When you snap a photo using Takes, the app is continuously recording video. By constantly analyzing the camera motions, Takes determines which footage is quality and which is subpar. The subpar footage is automatically removed, such as blurry/transitional/discolored content. With Takes, you go through the exact same behavior you would to capture a still photo (1-tap snapshot), but the result is a full, quality, authentic video of that moment.

Takes is now available for download on the Apple Store and Google Play.

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

"The Degree that Steve Jobs Would Have Stayed in School For" - USC's Jimmy Iovine & Andre Young Academy of Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation

In May, it was announced that Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young had donated $70 million to USC to start the Iovine and Young Academy of Arts, Technology and the Business of Innovation - the only program of its kind in the world. The program began its first classes this Fall, bringing in an inaugural class of 31 extremely talented students. These students will graduate in 2018 with the first ever “degree in disruption”. The school offers an interdisciplinary mix of classes in three areas: engineering and computer science, art and design, and business and venture management. It focuses on nurturing innovation and creativity at the intersection of those disciplines, to instill an entirely new way of thinking in the students.

The program was born out of Iovine and Dre’s desire to develop and cultivate creative geniuses. Being the successful musicians and entrepreneurs that they are, Iovine and Dre recognize the possibilities that exist when imagination and business are merged. They combined their artistic experiences and enterprising minds to create Beats Electronics - an extremely successful company that was recently acquired by Apple. Their success didn’t come from higher education - neither of the men went to college. Instead, they attribute it to their unique skill sets as business-oriented artists. Their academy hopes to enhance and harness those skills in youth to create the next generation of innovative geniuses. USC is just the place to do it, with a growing number of successful startups coming out of its campus, including Tinder and Box.

A large portion of Iovine and Dre’s donation went into building the Garage - a space intended to encourage free thinking. It is a circular, open space where the students work, build, hangout, and study. The room centers around a large cylindrical pillar that has doodles and thoughts of the students scrawled on its walls. In the Garage, the students also have access to a high-end 3D printer, a workshop with power tools, and a laser cutting lab. Essentially, the space is designed to encourage artistry and innovation. It provides an environment to collaborate comfortably with the other students, and gives them the tools to bring their ideas to life. One student created a wooden drone in his down time and he flies it around the Garage space while the students are hanging out.

This environment of fostering imagination is hard to find in higher education outside of an arts major. In elementary school, creativity is encouraged. At that age, it is the educational equivalent of hiding your vegetables under a bed of cheese; it is used to get students excited about what they’re learning. For example, young kids will sing a song about their times tables, which allows them to learn math while having fun. In middle school and high school this quickly falls to the way side. Suddenly there is a push for everyone to follow a certain path with a certain destination. Colleges are not only focused on students’ grades, but also what classes they took and how rigorous they were. As a result, artistry usually becomes a hobby, and sometimes even a distraction. In the Iovine and Young Academy, creativity is an essential component of success. The school harnesses and nurtures this skill and applies business and engineering practices to encourage the innovation of the most daring ideas.

This inaugural class of 31 students is not only extremely creative, but also intelligent. The average GPA was 4.2 and the average SAT score was around 2150. The students come from all different backgrounds, and many of them created their own businesses while in high school. One of these students, Jane Li, created a business called Walk in These, selling customized shoes. Similarly, Macki Alvarez-Mena, created and sold screenprinted handbags at the age of 12. Both of these students said that joining the academy was a no brainer - it was the perfect combination of their love of business and art. Li and Alvarez-Mena said that the rest of the student body has pursued equally as impressive ventures at a young age, whether it is creating an app or building something unique and exciting.

The students have to really stand-out to get accepted. In addition to the regular USC application, they have to fill out a prompt for the Academy and submit a portfolio displaying sustained creativity. The Academy does not discriminate on where the students direct their creativity - it could be cartooning, rapping, or sculpture building. They just want to see that they have a uninhibited mind and a penchant for action. In addition to this, each student has to create a one minute video pitching an idea or a product. The faculty review these applications, and about 67 applicants are invited to campus for a weekend. There, they partake in campus tours, a talk with Jimmy Iovine, and a 15 minute interview with a large group of staff. This narrowed the pool down to 31 excited students. They were alerted of their acceptance in the most exciting way possible - Iovine and Dre filmed personalized videos congratulating each and every one of the one of them, telling them that they are going to do extremely well in the Academy.

When comparing the skills learnt in this Academy to what one might learn in an incubator, Lynn Miles, Senior Associate Dean, said that they students are gaining very deep training and skills. Like in an incubator, they are thrown into situations and have to problem solve on the go, drawing from their resources. However, they simultaneously learn concentrated skills in topics like 3D design, Excel and coding. It is a combination of formalized education with the quick troubleshooting skills one would learn at an incubator. While time spent in an incubator is focused on developing a product, the Academy concentrates on developing critical and unrestricted thinking. In fact, innovation is so readily encourage that the dean said that if she knew what the students would be doing when they graduate, she would have designed the program wrong.

Miles also brought up the issue of young entrepreneurs that come up with an idea and drop out of college to pursue it. She mentioned Aaron Levie, the CEO of Box. Levie created Box in his dorm room while at USC’s Marshall School of Business. He dropped out, and now he runs a billion dollar company. However, Miles says that she wants to show that this program is far less institutionalized than other programs - it gives students the tools and the flexibility to create a business while in college. In fact, it has been said that this is the degree that would have allowed Steve Jobs to stay in college. Staying in the program offers many perks, including the numerous connections and resources that USC has to offer. If a student comes up with a design, they can 3D print it right there in the garage. If they need the help of an engineer, they can find someone in the engineering school and bring them into the workspace. Additionally, Miles says the she thinks that the whole undergraduate experience is extremely important for young people to go through - building lasting relationships and networks is tremendously important.

On paper, the unique education this Academy offers is exceedingly valuable. It teaches skills that will allow the students to stand out no matter what they decide to pursue. Throwing thirty extremely creative and talented kids together for four years is bound to produce some incredible ideas. If Peter Thiel is correct in saying that startups and technology will be the “center of the US economy for the next 10-20 years”, then these students are doing OK.  However, being only three weeks into a program that has a world of possibilities as its end goal, it is hard to truly tell what this program might lead to. We look forward to seeing what the Jimmy Iovine and Andre Young Academy produces.  

-- Stanzi Wicht 

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

Brand Reporter Acquired by YPB Group

Curious Minds is pleased to announce that Brand Reporter has been acquired by YPB Group. Brand Reporter provides an online and mobile platform to identify, report and track counterfeit products anywhere in the world. Globally, brands lose an estimated annual 1.7 trillion to counterfeiting. With Brand Reporter’s technology, companies can painlessly catalogue and flag infringing items, reporting data such as price information, sale location and other suspicious signs. It provides an analytical platform that pulls together actionable data for big brands to tackle diversion goods and brand abuse.

This software will be folded into YPB’s existing suite of anti-counterfeiting technology. YPB’s patented system offers invisible and secure brand protection for companies and consumers. Brand Reporter’s technology will allow YPB to roll out a full mobile and web solution globally which will refine the reporting and tracking process. Additionally, the acquisition of Brand Reporter will allow YPB to immediately create a presence in the US. Currently, YPB’s focus is on China and other Asian markets. The YPB Group will temporarily establish it’s US headquarters in Curious Minds’ office, and will be sending out a sales team to expand the awareness of Brand Reporter and YPB group alike. In addition, Brand Reporter will be adapted for Asian markets, and will begin sales in China.

The acquisition of Brand Reporter will help YPB to work towards their goal of developing a global database of counterfeit goods.

Brand Reporter was created at Curious Minds as an internal idea of our founders, David and Jonathan Gonen. It was incubated in-house and is led by Jack Axelrod.

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

Pitching, Funding & the Secret Code of VCs

On Monday, Curious Minds headed to General Assembly for a forum on finding the best funding route, hosted by the Tech Coast Venture Network. The event began with a number of eager entrepreneurs lining up to take part in a pitch contest, which gave each person only 30 seconds to explain their business. The time crunch was less about sparing an inattentive audience and more about seeing if the entrepreneur knows their business well enough to succinctly explain it in a few words. If you can’t explain your idea in thirty seconds, you can’t explain it at all.

We heard interesting pitches in the fields of medicine, architecture and social gaming. There were also pitches we didn’t hear at all due to mumbling or confusion as to how microphones work. However, that is the beauty of events such as this one - they give entrepreneurs a comfortable forum to fail miserably, and then improve.

The entrepreneurs were told that they must make sure to hit these six points when delivering their speeches:

Who makes up the team

The problem that they are solving

How their product solves that problem

The size of the market

Product-market fit

Their business strategy

An emphasis was placed on number four - the size of the market. Finding a number for the total addressable market is often neglected as it is extremely time consuming and a huge pain in the you-know-what. However, when pitching to a VC, the entrepreneur should realize that the investor will only own a small stake in their company. In order for the venture to be profitable for them, the company has to be able to draw in revenue from a market large enough that a small percent of equity could give the VC a sizeable return. If entrepreneurs want to get investment they should suck it up, buckle down and do their research.

After the pitch event, there was a Q&A with Erik Rannala, cofounder of Mucker Capital. For his years of experience in the tech world and as a VC, Rannala was a surprisingly humble panel participant. He advised that when pitching to an investor, you need to know why you need the money and what you are going to do with it. Investors want to know exactly where their cash is going and how it is going to result in a return. This strategic planning also plays a role in avoiding over-capitalizing or under-capitalizing. It seems counter intuitive to say that having too much money would pose a problem, but experience has shown that too much funding can lead to complacency and premature scaling. Startup founders need a little fire lit under them to push them to put the required focus and effort in to make their company succeed. The equally detrimental counterpart is under-capitalization, or “starving your company”, as Rannala put it. If you do not have enough fuel in your car, it is not going to drive.

When it comes to getting noticed by investors, Rannala commented on the “secret code of VCs and angels”. That is, that most of the companies that investors seriously review come from connections, and they like it that way. This is partly because recommendations provide a quality assurance, and mostly because they want you to prove that you have the determination to work for what you want. Investors want you to go out of your way and leverage your network to get an introduction in order to show that you have a certain creative capability.

This is also one reason why many investors want to see tangible progress and traction before they are willing to fork out cash - bootstrapping to an MVP shows an inclination for action over documentation. Rannala advises funding yourself for as long as possible, as successfully bootstrapping is indicative of the entrepreneur’s future performance. Ultimately, all this jumping through hoops in order to secure funding boils down to the same thing - weeding out the entrepreneurs who don’t have the creativity and persistence to make things happen.

While it is true that most investors want some sort of a prototype, we take a rather unique approach at Curious Minds. We are not opposed to taking on startups at the idea stage - in fact, we encourage it. This allows us to utilize our lean lab to conduct extensive market research to discover if there is a problem, if the product solves that problem, and what customers would need in order to pay for the product. This leads to minimal wasted resources, as the MVP has already been extensively validated before it is even built.

When the audience had the chance to ask questions, the issue of the extremely early ‘resignation’ of Surf Air founder and CEO, Wade Ereyly, came up. While there have been many carefully crafted press releases that state that this was Wade’s decision, a co-founder stepping down usually signals incongruencies in the visions of the board and the founders. The answer to avoiding this? Lawyering up. From the first deal you sign, have a great lawyer write it into your contract that you cannot be fired. However, if the person replacing you is indeed more qualified (as was the case with Ereyly’s successor, Jeff Potter), then you have a tough decision to make. Do you stick with the idea that you put so much time and energy into cultivating, or do you watch it grow to greater heights under someone else’s direction?

As the evening came to end, Rannala was asked the most important question of the evening - “Who would make a better entrepreneur, Tyrion Lannister or Yoda?” He decided that the creative and ballsy Tyrion would be a great entrepreneur. Yoda, however, would make a great venture capitalist, for his sage advice, calm nature and talent for sensing the future.

-- Stanzi Wicht

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

Global Vision, Local Actions

It is no secret that Israel is one of the most influential tech communities in the world. In fact, an article by Benyamin Cohen reports that “there are more Israeli companies on NASDAQ than all of Europe combined.” Despite many employees being called for reserve duty during the current conflicts, the community is still thriving. Just last week, four Israeli companies went public, and apps like Yo and Waze continue to make waves in the U.S. YL Ventures is a unique venture capital firm that helps the Israeli startup community bring their products to the United States and communicate with California’s strong tech community. It was founded by Yoav Leitersdorf, an Israeli-American entrepreneur who heads up the San Francisco office alongside his partner, John Quigley. This Silicon Valley office is mainly focused on business development and creating relationships among investors and prominent tech companies in the US. The Israeli office concentrates its efforts on discovering great entrepreneurs and startups in the rich tech community in Israel. Representing the company in Israel is partner Ofer Schrieber, whom we spoke with yesterday to hear more about YL Ventures.

  YL Ventures is currently investing out of their second fund of $27.5 million. They invest early - usually at the seed stage - and around $1.5 to $2 million per company. This makes them unique, as most U.S. based companies investing in foreign markets only come in around the Series B stage. YL Ventures also has a very narrow investment focus - they invest primarily in Israeli startups and focus on B2B companies in the sectors of cyber security, SaaS, big data, and cloud computing. Their formula seems to work, with their company Clicktale exiting to Amadeus Capital earlier this year and Limelight Networks acquiring AcceloWeb in 2011. This year, YL Ventures has invested $6.5 million in Blazemeter, $2.5 million in Hexadite and an undisclosed amount in Firelayers.

  According to YL founder, Leitersdorf, the success of Israel’s booming tech industry is largely due to the conscription into the army. The army gives young men and women education and training, and exposes them to cutting edge technologies. It gives them a tough skin and prepares them to be entrepreneurs. Leitersdorf likens the skills learned in the Israeli army to an education one might get at a university like MIT. When combining those skills with the vast amount of engineers, the growing entrepreneurial spirit and a penchant for risk-taking, it is a no brainer that Israeli startup community is thriving.  A glance at this map by Ben Lang, a sort of Israeli version of Represent.la, shows exactly how booming the industry is.

  Here at Curious Minds, we also recognize the pool of talent in Israel and have an active presence in the community with our sister company, Curious Minds Israel. CMI is run by two successful serial entrepreneurs, partners Yohai Rayfeld and Nimrod Kimchi. Companies in CMI’s portfolio include StoreYa, which provides social media commerce solutions, and E2C, a company aimed at providing powerful communication technologies to seniors in a way that’s easy for anyone to understand. As a company with deep ties to both the Israeli and Los Angeles tech startup communities, we have a strong commitment to further merging the two startup ecosystems.

-- Stanzi Wicht

[curiousmindsinc-blog]

Paul Orlando, on the Hong Kong startup scene

Hong Kong is famous for being a densely populated, hugely urban world city. It is one of the top financial centers in the world due to its free trade, great taxation and the thriving economies of surrounding Asian cities. It is undoubtable that there is a culture of hard work and ambition. This is why it seems strange that a city with 7 million tech-savvy occupants does not have a particularly prominent entrepreneurial or tech community.

We met with Paul Orlando, an entrepreneur, writer and the director of Accelerator HK, to get his take on why Hong Kong is not the tech hub that it could be. After working on a startup in New York, Orlando brought the lessons he learnt across the ocean and began a startup boot camp in Hong Kong. This attracted enough attention to earn him the funding to start his three month accelerator program, AcceleratorHK. Orlando hopes to provide structure and resources to entrepreneurs in Hong Kong who are not afraid to take the risk. He also wrote a book that caters towards founders with ‘unsexy’ startups and budding entrepreneurs trying to create a business in a city that is not a tech hub. Orlando shared his story with us, told us why he dislikes ‘shark-tank’ culture, and gave his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.

  Curious Minds: What was it about Hong Kong that inspired you to found an accelerator?

Paul Orlando: There was a gap in the market - it was the first program of its kind in Hong Kong. The interesting thing about Hong Kong is that even though it is a big city with a lot of talent and money, its history has meant that for the last one or two generations people have followed more of a traditional corporate path. People that would be angel investors somewhere like Los Angeles, are instead buying buildings and investing in the financial services industry. The investors I know over there say, “We know we can do much better than our friends who only buy property, but we have to live with the stigma of seeing that 9 out of 10 investments we make go nowhere.” There is a cultural difference with that. Also just the tech ecosystem over there has limited support if you are going to start a startup. A lot of combined factors has led to Hong Kong being a smaller tech hub than you might expect, and so it looked like a good market to build an accelerator. I went over for an exploratory trip, ran a couple pilot programs and then funded the program.

  CM: How do you think that startups who are not in a tech hub should operate?

PO: When you are operating in a location that is not a tech hub you should not try to operate as if you are in a rich technological ecosystem. You should recognize that you can’t just copy what you read from the pages of TechCrunch, which describes more of the Silicon Valley experience. Instead, you should really think about building for local problems that exist. You have potential customers right there in your backyard who you should focus on, and then you can think about how you can grow regionally and internationally.

CM: What do you think should be done to increase the number of startups and the entrepreneurial spirit in Hong Kong?

PO: I always pause when I see the question of how to get more startups. I don’t know that there should always be more or if there’s such a thing as a correct number to have. But I do see people who have the talent and passion but are otherwise prevented from starting their own thing.

  CM: Do you believe that startups need accelerators to do well? What do you see as the main benefit of an accelerator?

PO: Accelerators are not required but they can help a lot. The main benefits are mentorship, connections to potential customers and investors, and just getting pushed to move faster. For me, the coolest thing is that I really like seeing that the startups are making progress - that they are figuring things out faster than if they were just by themselves. I'm able to help them with fewer mistakes, I'm able to help them get connected with people along the way, whether it is customers or investors, and I'm just there to be somebody who - after seeing a bunch of companies go through this process with good and bad outcomes - is able to help with some of that pattern recognition that can guide the directions they take.

  CM: Can you tell us about why you focus on bootstrapping and the lean startup methodology?

PO: I focus on bootstrapping as long as possible because it forces founders to build sustainable businesses that are not dependent only on funding in order to exist. Bootstrapping can also get you to the point where you are an attractive investment. Lean startup tools help bring some discipline to the whole process. I’ve gotten pretty creative at getting founders to experiment with low-tech MVPs as a way to test their ideas before committing serious resources.

  CM: What is the inspiration behind your book?

PO: I realized that the startup story that is repeated often does not reflect reality, especially for startups that are not in the mainstream. That’s why I wrote Startup Sacrilege -- to share what I have seen directly and what I have learnt from interviewing people in emerging communities. I want to save entrepreneurs from thinking that they need to act like the Hollywood version of a startup. The ‘unsexy’ startups represent the bulk of startups but they are often ignored. I thought that was a shame. I had already seen several of them produce great results, and so I wanted to help more of that happen.

  CM: We had a chance to speak briefly about “shark tank” culture. Do you mind sharing your thoughts on how, if it all, that benefits the startup community?

PO: I usually advise any startup I’m working with to avoid shark tank type events. Events that glorify the judge-investor seem to promote rudeness and are not great environments to be in for anyone. They put the judges or the event organizer at the top of the pyramid as the most important person. To me, it is the entrepreneurs who are the ones who are truly taking a risk, trying to figure things out and struggling with limited resources. If you want to check out what they are like, go to a couple and see. If you are a great presenter, you could maybe hack that system and create greater awareness of your product, then sure, go for it. But beyond that, I wouldn't spend significant time at these events, because eventually you walk away thinking, "All I need is a snazzy pitch,” and you go back to the office and realize that its a lot tougher than that, you still have to build a sustainable business eventually.

  CM: You’ve discouraged entrepreneurs from going to networking events. Why? How else should they be trying to get themselves noticed and off the ground?

PO: You can learn from going to these events - or at least the good ones - but I sometimes see startup people spend way too much time at them. Unless you’re building something for other startup people, these startup events are full of the wrong kind of attendees. If there is one thing I would say it is to make sure you are spending enough time with your customers. Put yourself in a situation where you can figure out who your customers are and what they want. If you're going to go to an event, make sure you go to an event your customer goes to, if you're going to read tech news, make sure you read the news your customer reads.

Orlando left Hong Kong after his wife started medical school in California. Currently, he is continuing to mentor startups through his Startups Unplugged lean advisory program, and after the great response to his first book, he is thinking of bring out a second. You can get his first book, Startup Sacrilege for the Underdog Entrepreneur, here.

  Stanzi Wicht