Disqus - Latest Comments for rokhayakebe

Re: Designing a Personal Knowledgebase

Roko — Fri, 05 Sep 2014 10:01:44 -0000

How about using a dedicated gmail account?

Re: The+incredible+anti-aging+startup%21+Started+in+2008%2C+Pinterest+is+now+just+six+months%26nbsp%3Bold

Roko — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 10:06:05 -0000

Another overnight success.

Re: What most of us will be doing on holidays: Checking our work email | VentureBeat

Roko — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:21:59 -0000

I think in this age the real statistic to worry about is the 30% who will not be checking their email for the holiday weekend.

Re: Holiday merchandise, discounts arrive early in stores this year | The Salt Lake Tribune

Roko — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 15:47:31 -0000

A few more are Groupon.com, Savings.com newest deal feed, Deals.com which aggregates from several sites, Brandslane.com, and LivingSocials.

Re: Want to Know How VC’s Calculate Valuation Differently from Founders?

Roko — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 15:03:48 -0000

This episode was very informative and unfortunately SAD as well.
For a group professionals who's entire existence depends on investing in innovation, it is just disheartening that you guys fail to innovate within your own environment.

With this many rules and fine prints it is as if investors are not frankly trying to help companies succeed. Please invest in simplifying the investment process, the language, eliminate the fine prints.

Mark, you seem pretty different so you should be one of the guys leading this change in the industry.

Re: This Week in VC – Scott Painter, CEO of Zag & TrueCar

Roko — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:17:56 -0000

The car business is a real cash cow (I mean for used cars). I would like to see some innovation on that level as well.

Marc, when will we have the privilege to have Fred Wilson on the show? I think that is going to be one of the best pieces of content ever.

As a matter of fact, I would take it further and say you two need to come up with a co-blog post twice a month. You could just email each other back and forth about a subject and post the thread.

Re: This Week In Startups #60 with Neil Young

Roko — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 01:12:10 -0000

You know why TWIStartups is the best? Because you guys start the show with Jay Z. Awesome.

Re: The Credit Card Expiration Blues

Roko — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:21:18 -0000

Congratulations for being one of the few who exceeded the gmail free space quota.

Here is one solution: One card to rule them all. There should be a service that gives you one card and allows you to link all your other cards to it. You could make purchases and at the end of the day/week you can go online and choose on which card to put what expense(s).

Re: Why The ‘Fail Fast’ Mantra Needs to Fail, Fast

Roko — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:51:16 -0000

We will fail fast = We don't know anything about what we are doing.

Pivot fast instead, or even better yet "fail before you’ve spent any money building product". This one will go on my wall. But here is a problem. Last fall I sat down and called nearly 300 dentists offices to gauge demand for a product I had in mind. The problem ends up being that the sample size maybe too small, you spend a lot of time talking to people who cannot draw a mental picture, and it's time consuming. Depending on the problem market research can be more expensive than building a simple simple prototype.

Re: I’m Moving You to BCC

Roko — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:52:40 -0000

On intros: I think introductions are overrated most of the time. I guess that is because I never tried brokering a multimillion dollar deal. If I have something of value to say/ask I prefer to contact the person directly. Chances are if it is of real value the person will respond and move forward. If you mention having a mutual friend at this point you earn even more points. However, if someone offers to introduce me to a colleague/friend, then I will be very happy to do so.

On coffee/lunch/brunch/beer/diner/martinis...: Most of the things that are to be said during this time can fit in an email correspondence. One should make it interesting there, and as the conversation gets more serious and needs to materialize, move it to a physical meeting.

Re: The Entrepreneur Thesis

Roko — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 23:34:33 -0000

1- Second time entrepreneurs who had success with their first startup, have a better chance at succeeding the second time around.

2- Venture investing is usually a 7-8 year timeframe.

Knowing 1 and 2, it appears to me that a good model would be to get an entrepreneur a quick exit (2 years in)with his first company at sub 20 mil. He earns, he loves you, he owes you for making him rich, but you, you just break even. Now he is ready (experience) for the second company around, he does worry about money, and you guys are both ready to swing for the fences.

Re: Entrepreneurship: Nature vs. Nurture? A Religious Debate

Roko — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:46:48 -0000

No one was born to be a great entrepreneur. Yet some people were born ready to be great entrepreneurs. There is a dichotomy. Some people are born with many attributes needed to be successful entrepreneurs. If they cultivate these qualities, they can almost effortlessly have great successes. In this way some people were also born with physical attributes that makes it 20 times easier for them to be great athletes.

So are you born entrepreneur? NO. But could you have been born with an unfair advantage? YES.

Re: Advertising Wants to be Measurable – An Investment Thesis

Roko — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 14:09:15 -0000

On online video.
Some 33 billion videos were watched online in Dec 2009.
That is on average 130 billion minutes.
60% of this not on Youtube.
Pre/mid/post-roll, overlays, branding are very interesting, although they all get in the way. Ads on Hulu (when I watch 24) are tolerable due to a great integration, and they are short.

I am confident there is a scenario where the ads are still related, but completely separated from the video, hence user experience.

Re: Why Are There Certain Times in the Year Where it is Impossible to Raise Capital?

Roko — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:56:00 -0000

Well, we hope the time off does not include this blog :) .

Re: Good Judgment Comes with Experience, But Experience Comes from Bad Judgment

Roko — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 03:02:42 -0000

This makes absolute sense. At the end of the day, this is business and not the lottery. VCs take risks. Fine. But you had better make sure those risks are calculated. They have to maximize their chances at turning a profit by funding companies that "seem" to have The DNA.

I think entrepreneurs should easily understand this one. If you had just raised an angel round, would you go out and hire the best developer you could, or would you place your bet on a guy who has never built something, although he knows all the fundamentals? Although the second guy could be a great candidate, you have to make a smart move. I know I would pick the first one.

Now that being said I am a still a big believer of "passion + curiosity > IQ".

Re: Are Business Plans Still Necessary?

Roko — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:50:25 -0000

I think it applies to you more than anyone. You have competitors at every corner, your pastries are probably not that much greater, and your coffee probably does not smell that much better. So you need to truly figure how you will make money and grow sales.

Another reason is your inability to switch from one business model to another. On the web you can change your entire strategy by simply changing your copy or creating landing pages and pitching to a different group. Once you have a coffee shop, it is kind of hard to turn it into a Italian restaurant.

Re: How to select your angel investors

Roko — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:06:04 -0000

Question.

-Why would someone invest 100k-250k and not respond emails, or follow up somehow?

Something is not right here.

Re: Are Business Plans Still Necessary?

Roko — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:39:25 -0000

Every startup founder secretly believes they will be acquired, hence it is hard for them to think of building sales and creating revenue. Here is a typical startup financial model:

-My savings as the revenue while I build a prototype.
-Angels, VC and ads as the revenue while we are gaining traction.
- And once we are acquired , we let the next team figure out monetization.

Looks like gambling to anyone?

This is not a lesson that can be taught to any entrepreneur. But after failing a couple of times, your entrepreneurial mind will shift to another mode. You will start to drop sexy ideas, for practical ideas (mainly problems) you can execute against, and that have a chance at becoming real businesses.

When the shift happens an entrepreneur will start to ask a different set of questions: "How long before we become profitable", or "How do I make money from day 1?", or "How much do we need to spend to make 1M, 5M,...?" etc...

Re: Understanding your market

Roko — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:28:51 -0000

Agree.

Most companies fail because they have not succeeded at 1) cost-effectively putting their product in front of their audience, 2) convincing potential users that they need the product.

In an era where you have air guitar concerts, there is definitely a market for any web product. But finding, pitching and convincing your customers to open up Wallet is a whole other problem.

A simple way to test traction is to create landing pages and tailor the content for different groups. Good example is Listerine changing its pitch from "Surgical antiseptic to Floor cleaner to finally Solution against Halitosis". That's when they found success. Same product, different message.

Re: sfCube launches to seed fledgling startups

Roko — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:10:13 -0000

You actually took the time to go back 478 days into my comment stream to make your comment. I am rather flattered.

Now could you please answer the question. How is an "entirely new approach?"

Re: sfCube launches to seed fledgling startups

Roko — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 18:59:49 -0000

Cody, How is it taking an "entirely new approach"?

Re: sfCube launches to seed fledgling startups

Roko — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 14:11:55 -0000

12 companies, up to $25,000 per company, that is $300,000 total, add operating expenses of 30% and we are right near $400k. If they do this twice a year, that amounts to $800k.

What do they need $8 to $20M dollars for?

Re: Why bit.ly may beat Digg

Roko — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:45:24 -0000

Mainly Bit.ly tells you how many people clicked on the link and when they did so. It also tells you how many other users submitted the link. The first two features cannot truly tell you how valuable or popular the link is. People will click on just about anything. Knowing how many times the link was submitted however is useful.

Re: AndroidTunes? Amazon launching a mobile music/movie store for Google’s platform

Roko — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 19:00:51 -0000

Is the G1 carrier independent? Because that would make it open. As opposed to just being an open operating system.

Re: 19 Really Cool Gadgets for Your Office or Cubicle

Roko — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:46:27 -0000

The portable sleeping cube is definitely a must have. Power naps can increase productivity. If you have been operating full speed for a few hours, it can be good to relax for a few minutes. Unfortunately the office carpet is the best place to do so. And it has style too.