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Using Blogs To Dispense Venture Capital

Posted by timothy on from the two-birds-with-one-buzzword dept.

prostoalex writes "The New York Times describes how Tim Draper, a founder of Draper Fisher Juvetson venture capital firm, is trying out a new approach to finding the next entrepreneurial superstars. In his Web log (which NYTimes mysteriously never links to, but it's on AlwaysOn-Network), Draper asks the readers to leave the comments with their billion-dollar ideas. The winners of this pitch were selected recently, and just reading the comments with innovative ideas is quite interesting."

15 of 121 comments (clear)

  1. Presentation, Presentation, Presentation... by TWX · · Score: 3, Funny

    So, if I can theoretically pitch an idea so it sounds absolutely awesome but in reality is totally full of crap, then I too can get venture capital money to use to create a company and pay myself a massive salary? Cool!

    --
    Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
    1. Re:Presentation, Presentation, Presentation... by sentientbeing · · Score: 3, Funny

      ive got this great idea for collecting email addresses to help people market products using the internet.

      Send me an email and ill tell you all about it.

      --

      ------
      beware he who would deny you access to information, for in his mind he dreams himself your master
    2. Re:Presentation, Presentation, Presentation... by MrAndrews · · Score: 3, Interesting
      I have an article I wrote a whole back dealing with this concept of the "idea men" not being able to execute their own innovations properly. The one thing that a lot of former dotcom execs told me was that they wish they'd sold out soon before they got the big company with all the programmers and Coke machines, because the biggest lesson they learned was that they didn't know how to run a business as well as they knew how to come up with great starter ideas.

      I think this blog approach - despite the fact that it's horribly risky for people with good concepts - is closer to the ideal. Find the talent out there, get them to give their baby a kickstart, and then (likely) buy it away from them to make it really successful. People need to see where they fit into the bigger picture, and not try and be in every shot.

      I should update that article sometime... hmm...

      --
      The world's only surviving livewriter.
  2. This seems like an interesting idea... by Zugot · · Score: 4, Insightful

    But I don't know if I would want to submit my idea out in the public before I had a chance to gather some financing to protect it. I also don't want my competitors to get an early leg up on my business before I have a chance to become competitive.

    All in all, this is interesting idea. I'm glad to see people using technology in all forms of business. This one idea may help four more just like it come to fruition. This can only be good for folks searching for venture capital.

    --
    -- Bryan
  3. Agh I Hate eTechnology by t_allardyce · · Score: 3, Funny

    I dont want to troll, but I personally would just remove any idea that called itself a technology made up of two words StuckTogether(tm) people just need to be slapped and told no.

    --
    This comment does not represent the views or opinions of the user.
  4. Oh, the irony... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    http://www.alwayson-network.com/...

    Heh, heh, heh.

  5. Well, that's how it used to work. by stoneymonster · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I personally witnessed $300 million of VC money come to naught. And our product worked. Even a good idea which is completely implemented is no guarantee of success. If giving money out based on slideware alone is alive and well, then the bubble never really burst. -C

  6. Re:I never got the word "blog." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    its short for weblog. But they took the we out because it's usually for "me me me".

  7. always-on.com by artemis67 · · Score: 3, Funny

    No, it isn't.

    Thanks, /.

  8. Intellectual Property Theft by Sean80 · · Score: 4, Insightful
    The first thing that came to my mind when I read this was: "What about IP theft?" I, like many people who think they've had their "big idea," am not too keen on putting it out on the web, where I have no patents or copyright to protect the idea, and where anybody and everybody can come along and put my idea into practice without paying me a dime.


    Maybe this is just the paranoia of one inventory, but I wonder how many people would be comfortable doing this sort of thing, and whether this would select any particular sub-population of entrepreneurs by its very nature.

    1. Re:Intellectual Property Theft by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      This is a classic scam pulled by venture capitalists. They have been known to take great ideas from presentations by companies that are courting their financing and give the ideas to companies already in the stable. I personally wouldn't trust this blog idea further than I could drop kick it.

    2. Re:Intellectual Property Theft by prostoalex · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most of the successful businesses are not ideas, they are execution. Look at successful Internet companies right now: online marketplace, online bookseller that's not selling electronics and a lot more, large-scale information archival and retrieval system. Every once in a while you have Edison-like geniuses coming up with brilliant ideas that turn the world around and occasionally make their inventors rich, but more often than not, it's the execution, not the idea that matters.

      And don't forget that Draper is not the only one, as NYT article states, he's one of the few people that would invest in half-baked startups, but nevertheless in the venture world he's still one of many. And there's $70 billion dollars out there ready to be invested into the next venture. VCs got a bit tough lately with dot bomb and everything, but the money is still out there, and there are fewer ideas, than there are brains.

  9. Yeah, right by melted · · Score: 3, Funny

    OK, folks. I'm a millionaire and I've put together this blog where you can help me to become a billionaire for free.

    Nice thinking, dude. Try again. :0)

  10. My Great Idea... by bfg9000 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... a website where nerds can get together and read about stuff that matters to them, and people can comment and then others can moderate those--- nah... that'd never work. Who'd actually pay for that? Duh.

    Therefore, my new great idea is the Sex Helmet.

    --

    I'm not normally an irrational zealous dickhead, but I figure "When in Rome..."

  11. Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. by Sunlighter · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.

    -- Howard Aiken

    --
    Sunlit World Scheme. Weird and different.