Yes... Ok So one of the barriers is the level of commitment to the
team. IE, we don't have one focus, but we have many. They are overlapping,
and they feed off each other. But they are not focused on the same thing. (01)
Barrier #1: Focus on same task
Barrier #2: Team development, commitment to team (02)
In addition, we don't all share common skills sets. Php for some, perl for
others, java for others. And several who are not coders. (03)
Barrier #3: Common development tool set. (04)
Others? (05)
Jack Park <jackpark@gmail.com> writes: (06)
% This strikes me as, at once, cool, and problematic. Cool because it
% seems like a fresh way to jumpstart something. Problematic for reasons
% I stated in this forum a couple of years back in relation to this
% particular geek tribe, something about herding cats.
%
% Jack
%
% On 1/17/06, John Sechrest <sechrest@jas.peak.org> wrote:
% >
% >
% > Someone on one of my local entreprenuer lists pointed out this article:
% >
% > http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?art_id=3D3D70297
% >
% >
% > It proposes a small $6000 per founder for a venture investment in
% > a startup. It strikes me as a very interesting model. If you have an
% > idea fleshed out. And you take 3 months of extreme programming with a
% > core group of people who are capable of writing code well, then
% > you might move from talking about it to having a full prototype done
% > in that 3 month time frame.
% >
% > This is enough to rent a house, a network and buy food for 5 people
% > for 3 months.
% >
% > Assuming 80 hours a week of work for 3 months, with 5 people, you end
% > up with 4800 hours on a project. Given focus and isolation, this
% > seems like an interesting way to jump start a project.
% >
% > What is more... If it is a model that works, then raising $6000 for
% > each person really does not seem like something that far out
% > of the range for people to do themselves.
% >
% > This may work best for single people just out of college, but I think
% > that it has the possibility to work as a extended time-of-leave from
% > regular jobs.
% >
% > If the yak folks were to sit in a room for 3 months, What are the
% > barriers for having a working prototype at the end?
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% > ----
% > http://www.masshightech.com/displayarticledetail.asp?art_id=3D3D70297
% >
% > New venture firm shrinks software startup model
% > 11/14/2005 07:39 AM
% > By Ethan Forman
% >
% > Two-person Cambridge seedling Kiko Software Inc. is one of a handful work=
% ing
% > on a new funding model - one that offers just enough cash to cover three
% > months of cold pizza and long nights of coding.
% >
% > The software company's founders a few months ago started coding the produ=
% ct,
% > which is still in beta. Co-founders Justin Kan and Emmett Shear, recent Y=
% ale
% > University graduates who grew up in Seattle, trace their friendship to th=
% e
% > second grade.
% >
% > The two programmers are spending 100 hours a week on the company, Kan sai=
% d,
% > and credit Y Combinator, a nanoscale venture capital firm that seeded its
% > first crop of eight startups, including Kiko, this summer.
% >
% > Y Combinator, located in Cambridge for the spring and summer and Mountain
% > View, Calif. in the fall and winter, provides about $6,000 per founder -
% > perhaps just enough money to get a young company off the ground.
% >
% > Paul Graham, a partner in the venture firm, said Y Combinator owns just 5
% > percent of Kiko, which is using its Asynchronous Javascript XML, AJAX,
% > technology (the power behind Google Maps) to create an agile online calen=
% dar
% > application that users might access on the go without the need to synch
% > several devices. The model allows Kan and Shear to keep more control of
% > their startup.
% >
% > Graham said he wants to change the way software companies are started by
% > providing a hands-off approach and less money, which in turn offers less
% > dilution for company founders.
% >
% > "It's sort of venture investing for a whole new world where everything
% > (computers, Internet hosting, publicity via the web) is cheaper," said
% > Graham, a co-founder of Viaweb in 1995.
% >
% > Viaweb's founders sold the company to Yahoo Inc. in a deal that closed at
% > $49.6 million three years later.
% >
% > Graham said of the eight companies founded this summer, six are still goi=
% ng
% > and are starting to pay off.
% >
% > "Two of the eight have had acquisition offers," Graham said. "They turned
% > them both down. They were lowball offers."
% >
% > The most the venture firm has invested in any one company so far is $20,0=
% 00,
% > a far cry from the millions VCs usually invest in firms at the start.
% >
% > Y Combinator bills itself as a startup school. It does not provide office
% > space, but does offer founders advice. It holds Tuesday dinner gatherings=
% to
% > talk shop, meet with VCs and IP lawyers, and it helps founders fill out
% > paperwork to incorporate in Delaware, known for its unique tax and corpor=
% ate
% > advantages.
% >
% > Y Combinator's partners also know about computers and startups, as three =
% of
% > them are the founders of Viaweb.
% >
% > In addition to Graham, the team includes Harvard computer science Ph.D.
% > Trevor Blackwell, who is also founder of Anybots, a company developing
% > humanoid robots. Another Y Combinator partner includes MIT associate
% > computer science professor Robert Morris. Partner Jessica Livingston roun=
% ds
% > out the team. She is compiling a book of interviews about startups.
% >
% > If Y Combinator appears a bit frugal, so were the founders of Viaweb. It
% > spent just $2 million before being bought by Yahoo, Graham said.
% >
% > So far, Kan said Y Combinator's network has proven just as valuable as th=
% e
% > seed money that pays the rent in Cambridge.
% >
% > "It's kind of like professionalizing angel investing," Kan said. "I think
% > it's a great idea."
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% >
% > -----
% > John Sechrest . Helping people use
% > . computers and the Internet
% > . more effectively
% > .
% > . Internet: sechrest@peak.org
% > .
% > . http://www.peak.org/~sech=
% rest
% >
% >
% > --
% > This message is archived at:
% >
% > http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=3Dyak&i=3DE1Eyu7x-00=
% 01Ib-Ox@jas.peak.org
% >
% >
%
% --
% This message is archived at:
%
%
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=5179aafa0601170912h7441a815ne63c0320ae22eeb0@mail.gmail.com
% (07)
-----
John Sechrest . Helping people use
. computers and the Internet
. more effectively
.
. Internet: sechrest@peak.org
.
. http://www.peak.org/~sechrest (08)
--
This message is archived at: (09)
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=E1EyuhP-0001Rz-S1@jas.peak.org (010)
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