Thanks for the great info! While I appreciate the value of having these start-up incubators local, are you aware of anyone doing this virtually? Is anyone making use of social software platforms to emulate venture capital incubators?
Benjamin Yoskovitz
· 6 months ago
Steve - I'm not aware of any incubators using social software do emulate these programs virtually. I think there's some possibility for that, but a big part of the success of these incubators is proximity. It's about having a whole group of people in close quarters working on different things, dedicated to helping each other out. I'm sure some of the teaching, etc. could be done virtually, but I don't think you could mimic the total value / feel of incubators.
stevenmilstein
· 6 months ago
Ben,
Having worked in a Geographically Distributed Software Development(GDD), as well as, a local software lab, I can certainly attest to the advantages of being face-to-face. On the other hand, social software - even used locally, would provide many benefits. For example, chat or instant messages, wikis, blogs, shared files & bookmarking, screen sharing & capture, would be preserved for future reference & serve as a knowledge base - which will only increase in value with each iteration.
Any while some domain experts - such as start-up gurus, mentors, advisers, investors etc., may not always be available locally, 1) their online presence would still provide an everlasting value and 2) the transparent development environment would enable them, as well as, newcomers to get up to speed.
Finally, teams adopting outside-in Agile/Lean start-up methodologies need to focus on time-boxed demonstrable deliverables. Stakeholder feedback is essential for subsequent sprints/iterations. And so increasing the depth of stakeholders simply mitigates the risk of developing something in a Ivory Tower.
While social software will not be the magic bullet for start-up success, it does have the potential to mitigate certain risks, costs, redundancies and errors. I imagine, all of which align nicely with Incubator mission statements?
IMO, of course :-)
Regards, Steven
Benjamin Yoskovitz
· 6 months ago
Steve - Thanks for the detailed / well thought out comments. I'm all for social software inside a startup. We use a number of tools - chat, wiki, etc. - to maintain open dialogue, track stuff we're doing, etc. And I agree that leveraging social software in an incubator / accelerator model makes sense.
But at the end of the day, I still believe that you can't replace face-to-face - especially when taking a young group of entrepreneurs and a number of veterans / mentors - throw them in a room and let 'em have at it. Social software can't create that kind of feel / opportunity.
Nice posting, I never thought that, and how incubators are important.
Texting While Driving
· 3 months ago
Who Let the Dogs Out?" is a song written and originally recorded by Anslem Douglas for Trinidad and Tobago's Carnival season of 1998. It was heard and taped on a float by hairdresser Keith from the London salon Smile, who played it to Jonathan King, who recorded it and released it[1] under the name Fatt Jakk and his Pack of Pets.[2] It then came to the attention of King's friend Steve Greenberg, who produced it with a group he was promoting called The Baha Men. The Baha Men covered the song and placed it in the movie Rugrats in Paris: The Movie and then released it as a single in 2000, when it became the band's first hit in the US and the UK. It reached #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and #2 on the UK Singles Chart. It was the 4th biggest-selling single of 2000 in the UK. It was also a big hit in Australia, where it reached #1. The track went to win the Grammy for Best Dance Recording on the 2001 Grammy Awards
All Comments
Having worked in a Geographically Distributed Software Development(GDD), as well as, a local software lab, I can certainly attest to the advantages of being face-to-face. On the other hand, social software - even used locally, would provide many benefits. For example, chat or instant messages, wikis, blogs, shared files & bookmarking, screen sharing & capture, would be preserved for future reference & serve as a knowledge base - which will only increase in value with each iteration.
Any while some domain experts - such as start-up gurus, mentors, advisers, investors etc., may not always be available locally, 1) their online presence would still provide an everlasting value and 2) the transparent development environment would enable them, as well as, newcomers to get up to speed.
Finally, teams adopting outside-in Agile/Lean start-up methodologies need to focus on time-boxed demonstrable deliverables. Stakeholder feedback is essential for subsequent sprints/iterations. And so increasing the depth of stakeholders simply mitigates the risk of developing something in a Ivory Tower.
While social software will not be the magic bullet for start-up success, it does have the potential to mitigate certain risks, costs, redundancies and errors. I imagine, all of which align nicely with Incubator mission statements?
IMO, of course :-)
Regards,
Steven
But at the end of the day, I still believe that you can't replace face-to-face - especially when taking a young group of entrepreneurs and a number of veterans / mentors - throw them in a room and let 'em have at it. Social software can't create that kind of feel / opportunity.