Sideways

Michael Arrington broke this story on FilmLoop. I had been following this company, since the announcement of Garage Technology Ventures' initial investment. I remember also listening to the founder with Guy on a podcast from the Demo show, so enthusiastically talking about their stuff. Guy, at the time thought this was the most exciting thing since his time at Apple.

What a freaking tragedy, no matter how or why this really went down. There are going to be multiple sides to this story that will likely never reach our eyes. I'm sure all parties will share in a negative light here, but deals go sideways all the time.

In any case, there are some fundamentals to note in any consumer facing start up: (note, I'm not calling these lessons, because that would imply I have a clue about what did and didn't go wrong here)

-partner with investors that have and appetite for, and have proven an ability to sustain a consumer facing endeavor
-if direct to consumer traction is taking longer than planned, get some partnerships to establish revenue
-make sure the investors are involved in strategy buy-in along the way - everyone should be on the same boat as much as possible
-make it happen as if there were a gun to your head, just make it happen. An old boss named Jim Flach used to say "Just Execute!"
-can't get a huge win? Then get lots of small wins, they add up
-put on a mentality as though you have to do something remarkable every day
-stay up late
-get up early
-obsess with the success of the cause, always find an opening in the field

Technorati Tags: Filmloop, Techcrunch, Startups

Comments

[tammie]

Thanks for sharing this, Michael. Forcing a sale during the holidays sounds heartless to me. Did ComVentures not give a reason why they couldn't wait until afterward? It makes the conflict of interest so much more blatant. Scary.