Steve Morris's blog

Thank you everyone who responded to the Summer Camp survey.  The goal was to get input to help us select the topics for the 2013 Summer Camp.  We'll present the selected topics at workshops at OTBC - and stream them live online.  Want to stay informed of Summer Camp details?  Get on our list.

We had 42 people respond, and the 16  most popular requests were:

Congratulations to the Sonivate Medical team for being named a finalist for the Willamette Angel Conferece.  

What topics would you like to see OTBC cover in Summer Camp in July and August?  We have a long list of possible topics - and you can help us pick the workshops we provide by voting.

Voting just takes a minute at: VOTE NOW

Whether you're looking for a programmer or a CEO,  if you want to find - and motivate - the right person to join your startup as a cofounder, you'll need to put together a very compelling story.  After all, joining a startup is risky - like jumping into a very big void.  It's especially risky if you're asking someone to work for stock compensation for a few months.   Here are 9 tips for developing a strong story:

1. Validate your idea by talking to customers

Congratulations to OTBC resident venture Sonivate on reaching the finals in Angel Oregon.  Having already one the Bend Venture Conference, Sonivate is on a roll.  Their finger-tip mounted ultrasound probe creates new application prossibilities for ultrasound.  

Contratulations to the other Angel Oregon launch stage finalists too: Brandlive, Indie Vinos, Language Twin, Selfpubd, and SpinRiot.

Starting a company?  Thinking about cofounders?  To get off to a great start, I suggest you sign-up for the OTBC "Founders Seeking Cofounders" event on April 19.  

Meanwhile, here are some ideas from my favorite cofounder blog posts (posts that are tagged "cofounder" in the OTBC blog tag-cloud):

Early stage entrepreneurs often have a lot of questions about angel investors - what they look for, how to convince them to invest, how long the process takes, and, in general, just what makes investors "tick".  I'd like to suggest that it's not that hard to figure out.  You can understand quite a lot about how investors think - by simply putting yourself in their shoes.  

After all, angel investors aren't from another planet.  They're just people with a reasonably high net worth who decide to allocate part of their investment portfolio (probably a small part) to startups.  

So let's pretend that you're a high net worth individual.  Here are some things you'll probably be thinking about:

Last night at the Cofounders Lab event, the first entrepreneur I chatted with described his "idea" and asked me what I thought of it.

My response: I haven't studied your market or talked with your target customers - so why ask me what I think of your idea?  I'd rather hear from you what customer feedback you've gotten that confirms that the unmet need you think you've found is a real and compelling need - and the feedback that you've gotten from customers that confirms that your "idea" for a solution does indeed solve the problem.

If you are seeking funding in the form of convertible debt, you'll likely be negotiating about a cap - and you'll want to understand exactly what that means.   I strongly suggest you read these posts:

Convertible Debt - Valuation Caps, Ask the VC

Why Convertible Notes Are Sometimes Terrible For Startups, Mark Suster

Version 2.0 and why Series Seed Documents are better than capped convertible notes, Ted Wang, SeriesSeed.com