Contest: Be the VC

I ran a small contest over a couple days last week via PayPerPost. Basically, I shared that there are more interesting ideas on the net than any one guy can keep track of. I challenged Posties to "Be the VC" and blog about the most interesting or promising online companies they've encountered recently. Think TechCrunch, but much smaller, diversified, and distributed.

I promised to PayPal $20 to my favorite post, but I left the criteria pretty open. I was roughly looking for 1) most interesting new finds and 2) general quality of the post/blog. The incentive and budget on this opp was modest so I appreciate all of the participating Posties, but I'd like to recognize 4 of my favorites here, including the winner.

Hmmm at kitty.nu uncovered free411.com (free directory assistance) and loowa.com (MySpace/Virb/Vox) . Both were interesting and the blog had a nice clean look.

Would you like to be a Venture Capitalist (for a day, that is)? at HomeOfficeWomen.com uncovered Fliptrack (video/audio editing) and provided some nice examples in the post and comments.

Be the VC at The-Upperroom.com shared multiple ideas for leveraging SecondLife. Although raw ideas weren't exactly what I was looking for, I wanted to recognize the length and depth of Kevin's post, integrating images and video. I like the SecondLife banking possibilities, but Kevin's comment about low daily concurrent users (only 19K-36K?) is a concern.

It was a squeaker, but my favorite post was Who Deserves Venture Capital? at HomeBizBlogger.com by Eve Lester. Although I didn't really understand what FlyLady.com was all about, I was intrigued by Eve's first tip: Tubetorial.com. I've spoken to a few entrepreneurs who are leveraging video tutorial sites for vertical opportunities (recruiting, medical etc.), but there is room for one or two catch-all sites as well. I've embedded an example of what you might find at Tubetorial -- they need some easy embed tools and a broader set of tutorial topics. This one's called "Be the Master of Your Own Domain"

Flash video — 5:51 run time

Video isn't as good as text for snippets of info, but can be great for detailed how-to. I also thought Eve's blog design had a good balance of aesthetics and information -- most designs are heavy on one of those two areas.

Thanks everyone for playing via PayPerPost and congrats Eve, I've got $20 waiting for your PayPal address -- don't spend it all in one place ;-)

GUT: Gainesville Underground Technology

Steve/Colin: you guys can relax now. GUT was a success, big success, like "I can't wait for GUT 2" success.

For those of you who weren't there Wednesday night, the guys behind Orangeply pulled together a great unconference in Gainesville -- for the underground tech set. The speakers were informative and entertaining. The panels were open conversations and packed with juicy digital music and news distribution nuggets.

If you couldn't attend, the comic below hits the highlights. If that's not enough for you, I guess you'll just have to join us next time.

I've also attached one of GUT's assigned viewings below -- Steve Jobs' Stanford graduation speech (nice tip Todd):

Splitting the Pie: Looking Forward or Back

A common issue every entrepreneur faces is how to split the equity pie early-on. A recent founder discussion reminded me of my first company and the pie-splitting process -- it wasn't pretty. Our process incorporated elements of:

• who created the founding idea
• who had seed funds to invest
• who had time/effort to invest
• who had networks/relationships to invest
• what are expected ongoing roles (e.g. CEO, silent founder etc.)

The result was a roughly equal split among 5 co-founders (surprise!), with some minor re-allocations as everyone's contribution became clearer in those first few months. Although it worked mathematically, the process could have been better and some of those early decisions were a sore-spot for years to come.

This topic could support multiple posts on the various trade-offs, but for now I wanted to share how investors and founders often differ in their focus. Specifically, founders place greater weight on past contribution and investors place greater weight on future contribution. Having been on both sides of the table, I understand why this happens, but it still surprises me when it comes up.

Why do entrepreneurs place so much weight on past contribution?
Because they are the ones who have invested their whole life into the business. They want to be rewarded for that investment. They see clearly that the business wouldn't be where it is -- poised to create more value -- but for their early commitment. Past contributions are also already in the record books, not some uncertain measure of future value.

Why do investors place so much weight on future contribution?
Because investors are measured/rewarded only on creating future value. As such, every decision about stock/option grants etc. is measured against whether the shareholder value created will exceed the dilution of that grant. Of course, investors have to acknowledge past contribution to maintain harmony and ongoing commitment, but that isn't the driver of their equity decisions. Investors also see a difference between number of shares and value of shares -- whereby, the growing value of shares rewards past contributions instead of the need for additional shares.

Who is right?
They both are to a degree. In fact, the entrepreneur carriers a bit of both viewpoints because they are both founder and shareholder. I can make the argument for both sides, but the important part is just understanding the different perspectives. Doing so will help with investor discussions, but could also help with early founder pie-splitting.

Florida Gators: Top College Basketball TEAM of All Time?

"I'm not saying they were the most talented," Donovan said of his bunch shortly after the 84-75 win against Ohio State on Monday night at the Georgia Dome. "I'm not saying they were flawless. But when you talk about the word 'team,' what that encompasses in terms of unselfishness, sacrifice, playing together, they have got to go down and be considered, in my opinion, one of the best teams to ever play."

OK, it took me a couple days to compose myself and let it all sink in. I'm now ready to talk about what my family and I witnessed in the Georgia Dome Monday night. Put simply, we saw possibly the best TEAM college basketball has ever produced.

The Florida Gators survived the gauntlet as defending national champs, taking everyone's best shot all season, and emerged as the 2007 NCAA Men's Basketball National Champions. I don't just mean the university repeated as champs, I mean the same 5+1 guys that won it all last year, stayed in school, and made it look easy dismissing Ohio State for the Championship Monday night. Although they always played as a TEAM, their names deserve mention:

• Taurean Green
• Lee Humphrey
• Corey Brewer
• Joakim Noah
• Al Horford; and
• sixth-man-of-the-year Chris Richard

On the heels of dismantling UCLA for the 2006 Championship, at least four of those six could have been drafted by the NBA, with Noah and Horford potential lottery picks. Brewer grew up in a modest tobacco farmer's home and his ailing dad could have been safer with a son in the NBA. Despite the millions of dollars within reach, the TEAM decided "if one stays, we all stay" -- and they all stayed in school.

In an age when too many kids see college as a sports franchise instead of a school, these Gators signed up for another year of homework, tests and grades -- in between more Brutal Billy practices and ongoing risk of injury. Why? Because Coach Billy Donovan and their families taught them what being a TEAM means. They lived together and played together, always looking out for each other and getting the ball to their best player: whoever was open for the best shot.

Opponents attacked the Gators differently each game and the Gators responded -- sometimes with inside banging, sometimes by raining 3-pointers, sometimes on the backs of subs stepping up and sometimes, particularly this weekend, helping the Final Four Most Outstanding Player (Brewer) work some magic of his own. Brewer's post-game quote about the MOP award sums up his focus: "It means a lot. But, you know, it's all about my teammates. I'd give it to each and every one of my teammates if I could break it apart because if it wasn't for those guys, what's MOP mean?"

Playing as a true TEAM means that no one was a stats superstar -- even though the Gators led the country in shooting percentage. Will that hurt them in the NBA draft? Possibly, but the commitment and teamwork they embraced will pay off for life. These lessons apply to family, friendships, business and sports.

I'll end my post of praise with a huge thanks to basketball coach Billy Donovan, football coach Urban Meyer and Athletic Director Jeremy Foley (the real mastermind behind the Gators 2006-2007 basketball- football- basketball domination). The amazing accomplishments of the Gator Basketball and Football programs start with recruiting the right kind of role models to the coaching staff and teams. Congratulations to the coaching TEAM that made this all possible, from the biggest TEAM of all: The Gator Nation. GO GATORS!!


Other coverage of the Gators repeat includes:

• All Hail the Gator Nation
  
• Gators are Everywhere
• Gators Get the Wheaties Box Treatment
• Spurrier Can't Hide Glee
• Not Just a Game