Bootstrapper.com - Confessions of Serial Entrepreneurs

Inc magazine published their list of the fifteen best industries in which to start a business.  The first on their list was candy.

It got me realizing how our love of a quick sugar fix has actually produced a vast marketplace for many stable and long-lived brands.  Somehow, candy brands don’t die.  Necco started in 1847.  The kindly old Werthers grandpa has only been around for a decade, but the company itself dates from 1903.  Hershey’s was founded around the turn-of-the century, and its stock has paid a regular dividend for the past two decades.  I don’t know anybody who enjoys old-timey candies like Circus Peanuts, Wax Lips, Bit-O-Honey, Oh Henry, or the great taste of Charleston Chew, and yet a market clearly still exists for these 80-100 year old candies.

So if you’re one of those entrepreneurial types focused on sustainability and the long term, I second the call to create a new candy recipe.  Caramel wasabi cakes, anyone?

So anyone who has received an email from me has seen my jiffle link so you can schedule a meeting with me (without me knowing) through my signature. It is a very simple and valuable tool because as we all know comparing schedules is a pain in the ass to set up a meeting. Jiffle lets you block out time to open the public and lets other people schedule it in.

I’m currently writing this from my seat on Virgin Americas on my way to the Valley. I gotta say it’s a cool airline, even as I listen to a baby crying a few seats over. Virgin did a very good job, they have cute stewardesses and this really cool in flight entertainment system where you can chat with fellow passengers (currently im signed in and talking to myself!) and order food. I don’t even mind paying for food when I can order it from a screen. It doesn’t feel slimy like most airlines charging for food. Plane is nice, roomy and cool neon purple lights. Way to go Virgin! … Given Sir Richard Branson’s former (?) swinger past, I’m surprised there are no condoms in the bathroom and a sign saying ‘welcome to the mile high club’… perhaps for Vegas.

Hello there gang!

Been a while since I last posted to this blog, but I’ll try to be more regular in the future.  I wanted to take this time to officially announce the launch of my next startup: http://www.PriceDrip.com.  Please check it out, register for free, tell your friends, but most importantly.. GIVE ME FEEDBACK!  You can leave me comments here or get in touch with me directly (you know how).

PriceDrip is actually a revolutionary new way to shop. It’s an auction site for brand new items, but instead of watching the price go up constantly, you watch it fall-er, drip!  You do have to pay to bid though and this is partially to ensure serious buyers use the site and not just casual browsers.  Give it a whirl, win an auction today.

Now for all you entrepreneurs out there, a few important points.  First, I got this entire thing up and running in about 4 months, but  had to work EVERY day at it.  I did 98% of the progamming myself and hired a few contractors along the way.  I’m now in the marketing stage, which means setting up my banners, ads, etc ad testing it.  Once I know what works, I crank up the marketing dollars and zoom zoom zoom!

So please, provide any feedback that you may have below.  I don’t care if it’s good or bad or if you love the idea or hate the idea.  Just be honest!

ChubbyBrain is trying to organize the mess on the net as it relates to information and insights about angel investor- and venture capital-backed startups and the investors themselves. Through the thoughtful application of technology, ChubbyBrain is aiming to democratize this information for investors, entrepreneurs and corporations as well as many others including bloggers, journalists, academics, and students. The ChubbyBrain platform currently contains information on 14,800+ global startups covering everything from web2.0 to green tech to healthcare (and everything in between). It also has profiles of 1100+ global investors (angel investors, venture capitalists, university incubators)

Recently, the ChubbyBrain team sponsored a pitch slot at the upcoming Bootstrapper Summit. To win the sponsored spot, entrants were asked to write reviews commenting on the viability of startups they found on ChubbyBrain with the winner being the reviewer who’d received the most compliments from the ChubbyBrain community. Congratulations to People Capital for winning the pitch slot.

Yay! We’re up to the last presenter at the BootStrapper Venture Summit. Perio-Imaging has a unique product that is a serious upgrade from existing dental technologies and is an early way to find is a patient has a periodontal cancer. It’s a huge product that can save a lot of lives. We did due diligence on this product by asking my Dad, a Dentist about it and he said it looks great - so it got my vote and got into the conference. Check it out, this could be huge and there are clear exit opportunities for the product.

Only 2 more to go! Agripower was the 12th presenter at the BootStrapper Venture Summit and what they do is convert garbage into energy. Yes, they are trying to save the world. I am very impressed by these guys and they have a working prototype and are looking for some financing to take the product to market. I think this can be a huge a winner given our energy concerns.

Another company that presented at the BootStrapper Venture Summit was Zen Burger. Zen Burger is a vegetarian (soy based) fast food that is simply amazing. They sponsored lunch and also presented, my conference co-chair is an investor in the company and it is just awesome. It looks and tastes like meat but isn’t and is far less greasy and much healthier than traditional fast food. They have one store around grand central and franchising more soon. I love it.

I would like to talk about VaultX Technologies for a moment. VaultX builds a computer chip that cannot be attacked by viruses by essentially being a buffer on the chipset between the BIOS and the hard disk. It’s a simple idea but a needed one. The founders have built computer companies with tens of millions of dollars in sales and are very sharp folks. They already have meetings with all the top computer companies and their goal is to sell the company within a year or so. They’ve already raised $5MM and just looking for a few dollars more to complete the puzzle and hopefully sell out.

The 9th presenter at the BootStrapper Venture Summit was Media Morph . Media Morph is a company that provides analytics to F500 company within the user generated content space…for example they closed a $300,000 deal with Sony to help Sony track and analyze their exposure on youtube and other similar sites. This is a big need in the F500 space and Media Morph has deep connections to pull it off. Michael Sid, the CEO is a really sharp guy and gets the game well. I wish them great success.

The 8th presenter at the BootStrapper Venture Summit was Talkto.Us. TTU is a cool product that lets you actively screen your calls and manage all of your communication in one place. Andy Breen who runs the company has 4 exits and sold his last company to Palm.

There was some feedback that their product overcomplicates people instead of simplifies people but i think there is a core group of over communication users that will find their product very useful though i’m not sure there is a mass consumer market there. Great guys and i think they’ll figure out a way to make it work.

The 8th presenter at the BootStrapper Venture Summit was RMBRme.com.

RMBRme is run by a friend of mine Gabe. Gabe used to run conferences for CMP and already has a successful exit. Rmbrme replaces business cards by allowing for the simple and easy virtual sending of contact information via mobile phones. This is something your carrier should have offered or plaxo or linkedin should offer but they don’t.

I think RMBRme will be a huge success.

So a quick update on TakesAllTypes.org. We have launched a new website and have built the product from just a facebook app into an enterprise quality product that is being sold to blood centers and hospitals as a private label product. This should drive some revenue for TAT and also make it easier to sell. It’s interesting, originally we were giving it away for free and people didn’t want to pay nothing for it so now we’re charging (and will be sustainable from it eventually) and people are more interested. It’s really amazing. FREE is valued at nothing. Anyway, check out the new site and spread the word. Oh yea, we’re also looking for donations!

The 6th presenter at the BootStrapper Venture Summit was Kidos Computer. They are a portal and software protecting children from harms’ way online and securing your computer from your childrens’ harm at the same time. The cool thing about their product is their revenue model. The product itself is free and aims to make money by selling content to kids. Sounds interesting to me but has a lot of competition in the space so we’ll see what happens…

The 5th Presenter and the first in our Digital Media track at the BootStrapper Venture Summit was APParition Ads. *APP Ads)

APP ads is a yet to launch interstitial ad network that in tests have gotten $20 CPM’s within facebook and social media inventory. I’m the founding chairman of the company and we’re about to launch in public beta (been in private alpha making $$$ for a few months) and we’re very excited about it. We have a great team that includes 4 successful entrepreneurs. We’re not sure if we need to raise any money for this but i figured it would be good to pitch it since it was my conference (gotta love conflicts of interest

If you want to learn more, contact me!