Two things to think about, (1) Is what we actually talked about and (2) is that Andy has what I think is an interesting model of taking shows online. I think he’s got something here.

If you’re pondering starting up a tech company and are looking for money, I suggest you read his essay, “The Hacker’s Guide to Investors“.

In classic Graham style, he’s talking to you, the geek. Good stuff. Read it.

Paul covers these points:

1. The investors are what make a startup hub.
2. Angel investors are the most critical.
3. Angels don’t like publicity.
4. Most investors, especially VCs, are not like founders.
5. Most investors are momentum investors.
6. Most investors are looking for big hits.
7. VCs want to invest large amounts.
8. Valuations are fiction.
9. Investors look for founders like the current stars.
10. The contribution of investors tends to be underestimated.
11. VCs are afraid of looking bad.
12. Being turned down by investors doesn’t mean much.
13. Investors are emotional.
14. The negotiation never stops till the closing.
15. Investors like to co-invest.
16. Investors collude.
17. Large-scale investors care about their portfolio, not any individual company.
18. Investors have different risk profiles from founders.
19. Investors vary greatly.
20. Investors don’t realize how much it costs to raise money from them.
21. Investors don’t like to say no.
22. You need investors.
23. Investors like it when you don’t need them.

1. Marketing is not a department.
2. Marketing is a conversation, but most people don’t speak geek.
3. Simplicity does not negate complexity.
4. Think what, not how?
5. Think will, not can.
6. Only you RTFM.
7. Technical Support is marketing.
8. You’re not marketing to people who hate marketing.
9. You’re not marketing to people who hate technology products.
10. Marketing demystifies.

1. Single Founder
2. Bad Location
3. Marginal Niche
4. Derivative Idea
5. Obstinacy
6. Hiring Bad Programmers
7. Choosing the Wrong Platform
8. Slowness in Launching
9. Launching Too Early
10. Having No Specific User in Mind
11. Raising Too Little Money
12. Spending Too Much
13. Raising Too Much Money
14. Poor Investor Management
15. Sacrificing Users to (Supposed) Profit
16. Not Wanting to Get Your Hands Dirty
17. Fights Between Founders
18. A Half-Hearted Effort

Attend the 2nd Annual Hawaii Intellectual Property Licensing Conference

• Co-sponsors: High Technology Development Corp., and Intellectual Property & Technology Section of HSBA
• Date: Friday, October 20, 2006, 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
• Place: Ala Moana Hotel, Hibiscus Ballroom, 2nd Floor
• Online registration at: www.iplicensingconference.com
• Contact: Patty Low, (808) 947-3101 or promotions@pacificnews.net

This year’s IPL Conference, “Turning New Technologies & Creative Ideas Into Profits”, will focus on practical business models, marketing methods, and licensing resources to assist Hawaii entrepreneurs, business professionals, and investors with selling or licensing technology inventions and creative ideas successfully. Visiting guest speakers include Richard C. Levy, a marketing tour de force who has licensed some 125 inventions generating over a billion dollars in revenues, and Henk B. Rogers, President and CEO of Blue Planet Software, Inc., who has made a huge success with IP licensing in Hawaii.

Hat Tip to Leighton Chong for driving this conference. Yours truly will also be speaking there.

Google’s $1.6 billion acquisition of YouTube sprang to life during breakfast at Denny’s just a few short weeks ago – or so the story goes. For this and many other reasons, the YouTube deal is really the exception rather than the rule of M&A today.

There is an old saying: a product well bought is half sold. The most successful software acquisitions are those which are carefully crafted well in advance. Understanding today’s M&A landscape and the new standards involved will help emerging companies ensure a strong exit.

Key points are:

• Start Early
• Be Prepared
• Say “No”
• Be Patient
• Know the Buyer Landscape
• Value Realistically
• Go Early
• Look Big
• Be Ready for Audits
• Know Your Buyer
• Meet Deep

“The Art of the Executive Summary“

• Its purpose is to give the investor enough to see if they are interested.
• It’s not to give in-depth info, that’s what the pitch/slides/businessPlan is for.
• In many ways, you want to give enough to get them interested, enough for them to say “hey, lets look more into this”.
• Investors are pretty smart and they can go through something really quickly and know whether they are interested or not.
• The ES’ purpose is to state the plan in a quick and easy-to-digest way so they don’t have to think or move around it to get what they need to know.
• LESS is ALWAYS better. Why? Because it forces you to only keep what’s absolutely necessary, allowing the reader/investor to cut through the fat and get to the meat in the quickest way.

This simple question (How much of your own money have you put in the venture) is an obvious one that you should be prepared to answer. In addition to looking for the direct answer, investors are also trying to subliminally find out:

How successful have you been on your previous ventures?
If you have presented a history of previous successes, you must have money in the bank, right? If you don’t have money in the bank, then you either didn’t make as much money as your success claimed, or you spent it all on something else.

How confident are you in your current venture?
An obvious point, but extremely important nonetheless. If you’re raising $X and asking investors to pony up their money, surely you have already stepped up to the plate. If you don’t have money in the bank, did you mortgage the house to raise capital? Hock the car?

If you haven’t invested any of your own money, don’t skirt the question and exceed expectations by proactively addressing the subliminal questions. Some investors will disqualify you right away regardless, but if you have an honest and compelling story that answers both the direct and subliminal questions, you may be able to come out of it alive.

Its nice to see someone else agreeing with me. Read Don Dodge’s “Google a one trick pony?”