Startup City

[Mike Subelsky]

For those who missed it, here's the Startup City proposal I alluded to
in a previous thread:

https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AdPdQktVsPezZGp0bW1jNF8xNGdxcHBqamRm&hl=en&authkey=CMCIsp8K

1) Mike Brenner asked these questions:

+ Do we have enough interested / accomplished personnel in the area to
foster the leadership and the aggressive mentoring that some of these
other programs have?

My answer: absolutely. Half of the point of doing this is to make
entrepreneurs aware of the resources in Baltimore. We have people in
our backyard who have built billion-dollar technology enterprises, and
plenty of people with experience with many other critical business
skills. Also, if we do this right it will be a big-deal organization
that people are going to want to be associated with. To quote Mark
Suster: "Most successful people want to give back, but they don't
always know how"

+ Who would "own" Startup City?

My answer: this could be done in a variety of ways. The most
straightforward way would be that the investors own shares in the
Startup City fund, which is administered by for-profit or
social-benefit corporation. The fund would invest seed capital in the
startups and would receive some percentage of equity in those
companies (like YCombinator, in the range of 5-10%), along with an
informal promise not to leave the city for some reasonable period of
time (1-2 years).

+ Do you have a tentative timeline for when you want to start breaking
ground? First enrollment class?

My answer: this was pretty dormant because I didn't have good ideas
for raising a decent-sized pool of money. But Monica has some ideas
about how to get that done, so now the proposal has new life.

2) I'd love to meet with everyone interested in moving this forward.
It's definitely something that has to be done as a group effort. I
created a Doodle poll to pick a time when everyone can meet:

http://www.doodle.com/dpqu4iefkm8h8yzg

Please vote when you are available.

-Mike

--
Mike Subelsky
oib.com // ignitebaltimore.com // subelsky.com
@subelsky // (410) 929-4022

[John Cutonilli]

I found an interesting blog post about starting something like y combinator

http://blog.jedchristiansen.com/2009/09/21/copying-y-combinator-why-and-how/

John

[Nick Yeates]

All,

= Thoughts on the Startup City Proposition =
I like the pitch - I think it would sell decently given some more
discussion and love. The fact that we want Baltimore to thrive like we
know it can, and then backing it up with data and references like you
have is superb. I think that this will be appealing to state bodies
and business stimulation advocate orgs.

I also like how we can elaborate on the pluses that Baltimore can
provide. We have certain advantages over other big hubs, on bringing
and keeping people.

As a business, looking for money from investors, I think we will have
to fine tune on proving the success, existence of a market, and
sustainability of the venture. Seeing Baltimore become a tech magnet
are indeed the wide-scoping outcomes we would like to see, which can
drive important initial decisions on how to prove feasibility and plan
the business.

Me personally, I am most interested at this early stage, in proving to
myself that this will be a worthwhile expenditure of my resources.
Business feasibility and product differentiation are key on my mind.

= Other Seed Accelerators =
The link to that doc that John provided, is amazing. It has a google
spreadsheet listing all existing seed accelerators and which startups
each of them has founded and whether each of the startups have seen
exits and for how much $.

Quick Stats:
- 15 Seed Accelerators, including y-comb
- ~470 individual startups created
- 23 of 208 companies at y-comb have made an exit

= Value Innovation =
To me, this confirms my lessons learned from my masters class on
innovation and entrep.:
Any new business hoping to make it big needs to provide a Value
Innovation proposition. Go ahead, google the term along with Harvard
business school. Basically, you have to be different, you have to have
something new, or come at it from a different angle.

I think StartupCity would be no exception. I suggest that we view the
project not as first of its type in our region, but rather as a global
competitor to the other 15 seed accelerators. We dont want to get the
table scraps of entrepreneurs handed down from 5 others who passed on
them. A key driver in success for something like this, might be coming
up with a differentiator, a niche market, or preferably: true
innovation - coming up with a new angle to the problem.

= Question =
My single question to us all right now is:
How can we provide a different and innovative solution in this sphere,
so as to bring something new and gain entrepreneurs that we would not
otherwise get?

= My Brainstorm =
The above conclusion, was my thinking in originally offering the idea
of peer-to-peer funding. Maybe we can explore similar ideas of crowd-
sourcing other major parts of the operation. Maybe the community at
large can vote for who we take on, maybe they can give feedback into
the direction that companies go. All the stuff that mentors can and
should do, can be doubled-over by a community of hundreds to tap into
the wisdom of crowds. I am blue-sky brainstorming here, and encourage
all else to jump in.

= Contacts =
I have many contacts at UMBC, as I worked there for years and also
finishing a second degree there.
Vivian Armstrong is the head of the Alex Brown Center of
Entrepreneurship there.
In addition I know the UMBC VP of IT, Jack Seuss personally.
I also have a former boss that is high up at TEDCO.

We might want to get the kernel of the idea out to similar people.
Once feasibility is satisfactory, and we begin in earnest with raising
resources, we should continue to add to the list of contacts and
possible partner orgs at the bottom of the Proposal doc.

--

Looking forward to hearing ongoing discussion, and to meeting up to
talk about this!

-Nick Yeates-
http://www.linkedin.com/in/nickyeates
http://www.nickyeates.com
http://digitalcooings.wordpress.com/

On Jan 18, 2:21 pm, John Cutonilli <jcutoni...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I found an interesting blog post about starting something like y combinator
>

> http://blog.jedchristiansen.com/2009/09/21/copying-y-combinator-why-a...
>
> John

[Mike Subelsky]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for your thoughts.  I read that link with interest and I agree that we will have to compete nationally and internationally with other similar programs, and the goal needs to be to create something that will last for years and not just be a one-off.  I think we can definitely compete by getting high quality mentors involved. Monica has been having some awesome success in pitching this to investors and is making some really good connections.  

Your peer-to-peer idea is interesting but I think it would be hard to make it work on a large scale.  I don't think it will help us achieve our goals in the short term for Baltimore but I would certainly encourage you to pursue it if you think it might work!  There's certainly room for multiple approaches.

Monica and I are working on getting some logistics straightened out (like what the legal structure of the Startup City entity will be, and what terms will be offered to the investors) -- once we know the basics we'll want to meet with everyone who wants to be involved to figure out next steps. There's going to be a lot of work in getting the word out, arranging events, finding office space, getting a cool website up and running, etc.  Stay tuned!!

-Mike

[Nick Yeates]

I want to bring this thread to the fore-front again. I am interested
to keep discussing it and see where thoughts and actions are on this
and how I might assist.

My comments above were not meant to push a peer to peer idea, or any
other idea listed. It was to say, how can this accelerator be
different, how can it stand out. Maybe it would be from outstanding
mentors that you cant get elsewhere. Inkling would tell me that many
of those are eaten up by Silicon Valley, Boston, NYC. Maybe I am wrong
though - do we have some big names around here that are world renowned
that we can get as mentors? That would be a decent differentiator.

"Can you buy a Silicon Valley? Maybe" http://www.paulgraham.com/maybe.html
The above post from Paul Graham, founder of Y-comb, talks exactly
about replicating their model in other cities and how to turn a city
into a startup hub. Basically, big money investments on a blanket of
30+ already-started companies from other places around the world.
Bring them here, gentlemans agreement to stay, be nice to 'em, give
them some help, let a few grow large. It would be a 30 $MM gamble, but
he thinks it would start a chain reaction. Sounds legit.

Eager to hear some more thoughts and discussion ongoing!

[Amy]

Here's a Bmore Media article I just wrote about Startup City:
http://bmoremedia.com/features/startupcity030811.aspx

:) Amy

[Mike Subelsky]

there's some really cool discussion of it on Hacker News, thank to Bill Mill:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2301022

thanks Amy!

-Mike