A few weeks back, I wrote a post about finding a technical co-founder.  I’ve been having some conversations lately with developers who are looking for a business co-founder.   I like the model of hustler & hacker co-founders. Here are some qualities of a great business co-founder.

An awesome business co-founder is:

• A great producer of work-product – skilled at excel for financial models, powerpoint or keynote for pitch decks, writing for web copy, email updates. By great I don’t mean a resume that says “capable” at those software programs – I mean someone that knows how to create a financial model, builds beautiful decks, and writes really well.  You should be impressed when you see their stuff.
• A hustler – someone who likes talking to people, has done cold calling in sales at some point, has a knack for getting meetings, loves going to networking events.
• A leader - has taken a leadership role in their community, organizes events, has a blog, has an opinion, speaks at conferences and events – someone who puts themselves out there.
• A doer - takes stuff and runs with it.  Sometimes termed a self-starter, I prefer “a doer” because they are going to get it done, whatever it takes. This may mean delegating, outsourcing, or hiring, but it means the job will get done.  You need to be focused on product development, you want a co-founder who makes your life easier by doing stuff, not talking about it.

A bad business co-founder is:

• A fake co-founder - someone not up to the challenge that you are plugging in just to fill the role b/c you think you’re supposed to have a co-founder
• An idea guy or gal - someone who thinks they have brilliant ideas that someone else should implement
• A talker – the opposite of a doer, a talker just talks about stuff that should get done, but never seems to be pulling their own weight
• A big leaguer – someone who has had a successful career as an executive so they think the daily grind of getting stuff done is below them

Of all of those, the one I look for is the producer of work product.  It’s so important to be able to produce high-quality output.  Just like writing code, a business co-founder should be capable of producing business stuff.  What do you look for in a business co-founder?

I frequently get emails that say something like:

I have an idea for a product that I want to build, and I need to hire a web developer or find a technical co-founder. Where should I start?

I’m going to try to give helpful guidance that I give to people who approach me with this.  First, I want to give personal context.  I am a mechanical engineer and a partner in a software development company, but not a programmer.  I am much more of a hustler than a hacker.  So, I do understand when people need to find and depend on someone else to build out their vision.

Step 1 – Check Your Ego

• Talk about your idea. Don’t waste people’s time dancing around your pitch. There is a much higher likelihood that you’ll fail for lack of execution than someone stealing it.
• Don’t ask people to sign NDA’s. You’re already asking for their time and guidance.  Now you’re asking them to take legal risk. (Hint: they won’t)
• Your idea is worthless. Until you have a product, and then a business, you don’t have anything of value.  Ask Paul Graham.

Step 2 – Get Perspective

• You are asking for help. Whether you are looking for a co-founder or a consulting firm to build your product, you can’t do it without them.  And you need them more than they need you.  Any engineer you want already has a job, so you’ll need to be persuasive.
• What value do you bring? The technical co-founder perspective may be – “what do I need you for?” Know what value you bring and communicate it.  Be the hustler to their hacker.

Step 3 – Get Out There

• Go to tech meetups. You’re unlikely to find a co-founder on a job board.  You raise your chance of success monumentally if you start attending meetups and meeting programmers in person.  Here are the NOLA meetups.
• Go online. Learn how to approach the conversation by reviewing these resources on Quora and searching the web.
• Go co-work. I gauge how serious people are by inviting them to work at Launch Pad and meet people.  (If you don’t take me up on free co-working and introductions at Launch Pad, then you’re not committed.)
• Go to conferences. Get out of town, go to SXSW, TechCrunch Disrupt, RubyConf.

Step 4 – Value Your Need

• Reward risk – for a co-founder, even after you get them to buy into your vision, you’re going to have to come up with a compelling equity/cash compensation package.  Remember, they are evaluating their opportunity cost.
• Have a budget – if you’re not looking for a co-founder, but you want to talk to a development firm, then you need to know your budget.  If you’re not prepared to spend 20k+, then you probably need to re-evaluate.

Alternative Approach – Learn to code yourself.

If I sent you a link to this post in response to your email, I hope this is a good starting point for you. Good luck.  Have feedback or other resources? Please share in the comments.

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Brad Feld speak several times in the last year, most recently at Launch Fest.   One of the things driving our work right now is building a sustainable startup ecosystem in New Orleans and Louisiana.  Brad set forth his premise about the five components required for a successful, sustainable ecosystem at the TechStars Network conference in May. Here’s my summary of his talk.

While small business is vital to communities, the vast majority of new job creation comes from high growth entrepreneurship, and that is what we are focused on in the startup ecosystem.  While there is much focus on ecosystems like Silicon Valley, Brad believes that there are 100 cities in us that can support vibrant long term entrepreneurial communities.  His premise is informed by from his work in and the growth of the Boulder startup community.

Working towards the goal of creating long term sustainable entrepreneurial communities, we need:

1. Long View – a 20 year timeline – stakeholders must be committed to the community for long term.
2. Entrepreneurial Leaders – it must be led by entrepreneurs – cannot be led by government, non-profits, big companies, VCs, lawyers, accountants, economic development, universities.  All of those stakeholders need to be engaged, but entrepreneurs must drive it.
3. Fresh Meat - need new talent all the time – college graduates & people moving in.
4. Engaging Activities – engage the entrepreneurial community from top to bottom – startup to serial entrepreneurs – get all involved – you need a thing that engages all those people. You want really active engagement for a moderate period of time because its impossible to maintain a high level activity by someone on something that is not core focus.
5. Repeat – must have a rhythm with for a long time.  Must have a beat that last through economic cycles. The only way to build a community is to move beyond boom and bust and build something over extended periods of time.

Thanks to Brad for all the support he’s provided us through the TechStars Network.  I’d love to hear what you think is important to the ecosystem.

Are you headed to Jazz Fest this weekend?  Um… YES! It’s my favorite time of year.

And this year, it’s getting even better with the inaugural Work Week Conference Series.  Using the world-class music festival of New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as a building block, we’re filling up the entire week with incredible speakers and sessions where you can learn to launch a startup, inspire innovation and succeed in the music business.

Our vision for the Work Week is to build a business conference series complement to the great music experience on the scale of what SXSW has become in Austin.  There are 3 great events that you won’t want to miss.

• Sync Up – 4/29-30 & 5/6-7 @ NOMA – This is the 4th year of Scott Aiges’ music industry conference.  Swing by the conference in the morning before you headout to the fest and learn from musicians, festival bookers and film producers technologists.  Sync Up has a talent packed lineup including Chris Blackwell, founder of Island Records, Mystical sitting down for a chat with Wild Wayne and PJ Bloom, music supervisor for Glee. A special addition this year is a screening of the Arcade Fire film ‘The Wilderness Downtown’ with Thomas Gayno from Google produced by Bryan Bailey.

• Second Line -  5/2-3 @ XLIV at Champions Square – The inaugural Second Line conference launches this year with a focus on disruptiveinnovation, value creation, and sustainable social impact.  Hot of the success of last year’s TEDxNOLA, Gerard Cox is producing the conference and has lined up an impressive roster of talented speakers.  James Carville & Wendell Pierce headline in addition to Scott Gerber, John Besh Matt Candler and Matt Galligan of SimpleGEO.

• Launch Fest – 5/4-5 @ NOMA – With two half-day sessions, Launch Fest returns for year two, and takesonnew significance this year as the demo day for New Orleans’ only startup accelerator, Launch Pad Ignition. Day one features programming for entrepreneurs and those who are thinking about starting a company.  Day two features investor focused discussions by Brad Feld and a Startup America panel with Scott Case, CEO of Startup America and Sean Greene of the SBA.  Highlight speakers include Leah Culver of Convore, Stephen Dimarco of Compete.com, Brent McCrossen of Audiosocket, Anne Driscoll from Ning and Bob Dorf a Customer Development guru.

Jazz Fest has grown into more than just a music festival with the arrival of the Work Week. Look forward to feeding the mind during the week and the soul on the weekends.  I highly recommend all these great events and can’t wait to see you at these events and out at the fairgrounds!

I am excited today to announce Launch Pad Ignition, our new startup accelerator program.

This is the culmination of several years of planning and preparation, and we are particularly excited to be launching as a part of the TechStars Network, and by extension the Obama administration’s new Startup America Initiative.

Ignition has been a personal passion project. The conversation started a year ago, after I wrote my open letter to David Cohen (see, they really work).  Andrew Hyde has been a huge supporter and Taylor Davidson has been instrumental in helping us model this out and make it happen. Thank you to the fantastic mentors who have already committed to being onboard.  If you’re interested, please contact me. I’m excited to be working with my co-founders of Barre Tanguis, Will Donaldson, Peter Bodenheimer and Mark Graffagnini, this really is like a startup itself.

An exciting leap for the New Orleans startup ecosystem, Ignition creates a framework to help founders refine their product offering, invigorate their business plans, and raise funding to fuel their growth.  So, if you are a startup in New Orleans, or willing to move to New Orleans to accelerate the growth of your company, definitely check out the info and get your application in before March 18.

Learn more about Launch Pad Ignition, the TechStars Network, and Startup America.  See more detailed information in our press release. We are proud to be playing a role in accelerating entrepreneurship.  Startups, start your engines!

We’re doing a Five Minute Pitch on Wed at Launch Pad.  Here is the coaching guidance that I just sent out to the companied presenting.

• format – we are going to hold you to 5 min, so be sure to keep your pitch tight and focused.  this is plenty of time if you are rehearsed and gives you an opportunity to communicate about your company or project in a way that will keep the audiences attention and hopefully spark conversation with you afterwards.
• goal – what do you want to accomplish?  start there, think about that deeply.  are you trying to raise funding, attract users/customers, generate press? utilize this forum to accomplish something for your business. focus on achieving that goal and don’t worry if your pitch isn’t broad enough to be interesting to everyone.  that’s why we’re keeping them to 5 min. this is not an exercise, this is an opportunity to accomplish something for your business.
• ask – close (and maybe open too) with your ask.  be specific and be clear.  ie: 1) we’re looking to find new school customers, so if you know anyone in education, please refer me to them. 2) we’re currently raising a seed round of $500k and have $200k committed.  3) we are looking to generate awareness about our platform so please follow us @yourname and tweet about us 4) we’re looking for beta users to please sign up on www.yourwebsitename.com for an invite.
• practice – please, please, please give your pitch out loud, standing up.  if you don’t you will run too long.  You will have 100x improvement in your pitch by giving it several times, getting feedback, doing more of whats working, less of whats not.  ask for candid feedback.  treat this as the real-deal, not a practice.  you want to be proud of your pitch.
• show, don’t tell – if you have a product, show it, demo it if you can do it very quickly.  1-2 min videos are great, b/c you can prepare them in advance and they can be extremely professional. live demos are difficult to do, if you are going to do it, please have someone else to “drive”.  screenshots of your product are actually much better than a live demo.  remember, the audience doesn’t know your product nearly as well as you do, so showcase the “wow” factor, but don’t expect them to understand it and don’t try to do a deep dive about how it works.  focus on the sexy and sizzle.
• elevator pitch arc – there are lots of blog posts about what people want to hear in an elevator pitch.  this obviously varies depending on what your goal is.  but have a clear outlined format, don’t just talk. you’ll be judged by the audience as much on your professionalism and clarity in approach as you will on your product.  remember to touch on things like: problem, solution, market, team, traction, business model.
• deck –  i’d recommend keeping it to 5-8 slides, unless you are able to run your preso very tightly and succinctly.  don’t read whats on the slide, use the slide for backup and then give context, explanation or tell a story.  make sure that what you are saying connects with the slides but you are not reading bullet points, nothing is more dull.
• get excited! relax and have fun – the coaching advice here is to help you be prepared and confident. practicing beforehand will give you confidence and help you relax. make sure your excitement about your company comes through, excitement is contagious. this is a friendly audience, everyone is rooting for you. you will be great.

Here are some resources that I like:

• http://www.slideshare.net/UTR/how-to-pitch-a-vc-dave-mcclure
• http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2005/12/the_102030_rule.html#axzz1ASoQA9sv
• http://www.socialedge.org/discussions/funding/the-social-entrepreneur-s-pitch/
• http://venturebeat.com/2010/05/24/five-minute-pitch-sliderocket/
• http://ryanacademy.wordpress.com/2010/08/08/techstars-show-how-to-pitch-with-passion-prt-1/
• http://www.quora.com/Elevator-Pitch-Descriptions?q=pitch

Art without commerce is a hobby.

Chef Joe Bastianich offered up this statement in the NY Times magazine as his motto a few weeks back, and it resonated with me.

I’ve been having lots of conversations lately with people who are trying to crack the business model code for art.  Benjamin Reece, Robert Fogarty, Ross Hinkle are all building businesses around beautiful artistic expression.  But they’re building businesses, so commerce is key.

Business model options might be:

• Consumer pays to consume the content
• Brands pay to commission and be integrated into content
• Advertisers pay to post ads beside the content
• Give away the art to generate service business

What other methods of monetization do you see? What do you think works best?

Platforms like Kickstarter are today’s version of art patronage with a crowd-funded model, but they just fund the creation of art, not revenue generation from the art.  Ben pointed me to this post by Mark Cuban about the exhaustion facing content creators.  The bottom line is the independent artistic content production business is incredibly difficult to monetize.

We stand at an inflection point in the creation of content.  The cost of the tools to produce professional quality content have fallen dramatically, and more people than ever before are creating art as “prosumers.”  Yet the ability to capture value from content is has not yet been disintermediated, the traditional payment gateways are still firmly in place, and new models have yet to emerge.

Most content creation businesses remain controlled by the traditional gatekeepers to the content.  People pay monthly cable bills, buy magazines, newspapers, movie tickets, and concert tickets yet have been trained not to pay for these services on the web.

As internet content consumption moves away from the computer towards other devices, it seems important to build these monetization schemes into the platforms that control access to the content.   Apple has trained people to pay for apps by making it easy and affordable.  What will happen with the emergence of set-up boxes?

Its crucial that people creating art can make a living doing it.  Let’s find the commerce for art.

Once in a while life offers up a truly humbling moment.  Last week I had the pleasure of seeing this piece in Portfolio magazine proclaiming me “The New King of New Orleans.” While it is truly a treat to read an acknowledgment of all of the things we are working hard to accomplish, I was most touched by this email I received.  I’m posting it with her permission.  A good reminder of why we’re working so hard. Thanks Renée.

Chris:  I just read the article on you in the Portfolio Today e-newsletter & want to say Thank You. As a native of La, I get such pleasure seeing people like you who aren’t from La help my wonderful state.  See, I love Louisiana and I make sure everyone in my current state of Texas knows it.  I have not conformed to a Cowboys or UT fan … I stay true to my roots and have always been proud to be from Louisiana.  Being in Dallas when Katrina/Rita hit was one of the hardest things for me.  All I could do was watch every devastating moment on CNN and hope that everyone I knew was okay, including family.  No matter how hard I would cry when I watched CNN nightly, I couldn’t stop watching.  My home state was devastated.  More importantly it was hitting parts where I grew up.  I grew up in Houma, going to Grand Isle and New Orleans frequently.  My mom went to school at Loyola and my parents met while both living in NOLA.  The Camellia Grill is their favorite restaurant … as children we hated it because we were forced to eat there every month when we went to NOLA!  Now, I appreciate it and am just glad it is still there.

Louisiana is often a state that gets the wrong attention and is often overlooked.  It’s really hard for “us” to see other states devastated and tended to so quickly; yet our state suffers and suffers and it feels as if not much is done.  When people like you move to La and do what you do, it makes all the difference in the world.  I only wish I was in a position that I could do that myself.  My 7 year hiatus in Texas has been much longer than I’ve wanted, but I know I’ll be able to give back to La somehow, someway.

So, thank you from the very bottom of my heart.  You’ll never know how much people like you mean to Louisiana natives like me.

Let’s Geaux Saints!

Renée

On this 5th anniversary of Katrina, there has been much reflection about New Orleans.  We have made many strides as a city, yet there remains much work to be done.  The city is broad and diverse and I wouldn’t for a minute pretend to know the challenges that so many have faced over the last five years.

One bright spot has been the emergent entrepreneurial community in New Orleans.   I been a New Orleanian equal parts pre & post storm now, and it amazes me how different the business climate is today.  There is a collaborative, bootstrapping, can-do spirit driving us and the last few years have been the most inspirational of my business career.  There is something truly special going on in New Orleans right now, and I am humbled that the people of Launch Pad, our community, is playing such an vital role in this resurgence.

There has been plenty of coverage this week about what is going on in New Orleans, and I wanted to share some of it with you here.  Thanks to everyone in New Orleans for being here and to everyone else for your love and support!

• The Daily Beast
• NBC Nightly News
• NPR – All Things Considered
• CNN

I’ve talked about my investment in Jackson Square Group previously, but since the company has just closed the round of funding, I wanted to highlight why I think Jackson Square Group is going places.

First, a little context:  In March, I invested in Jackson Square Group through Voodoo Ventures and took a seat on the board of directors.  Jackson Square Group just closed its seed financing round on July 15.

I invested in Jackson Square Group because:

• Patrick Comer, the CEO is as driven a founder as I’ve ever met.  He has extensive background in the market research industry and as an entrepreneur.  Industry experience and multiple startup experiences are a winning combination.
• The team is top-notch. It’s been eye-opening to me to see the talent that New Orleans has to offer and the energy that this team has brought to the company (of course this is hindsight, b/c I was already committed, but its a good start).
• The technology is disruptive. This is a bit of a cliche, if your technology isn’t disruptive that might be a problem.  But the Federated Sample platform that Jackson Square has launched increases quality & deliver-ability, automates transactions, and provides many-to-many connections in a industry dominated by one-to-one manual relationships.
• The market is rapidly evolving. The world of market research surveys adapts as new data collection methodologies come online: door-to-door begat telephone begat email lists begat social networks. Jackson Square’s Federated Sample technology is well-positioned to to move the industry to its next phase.
• Data. Enough said.

Here is some recent press from Time Picayune, Research Magazine, & Market Research Online.

I’m very pleased to be an investor in Jackson Square Group.  If you are interested in the company, please contact Austin Lavin. As always, if you have questions for me, hit me up.