Happy St. Pat’s Day

My maternal grandfather’s people were from Cork. Since my dad is from Edinburgh I can proudly say I’m mostly a Celt. So, what better day to start a blog for someone who’s always taken seriously the importance of carrying on the Celtic traditions of storytelling, humor and drinking?  (And not necessarily in that order.)

The point of this blog–in case you were asking–is to document the trials and tribulations of an individual (that would be me) and his partners in the throes of creating a web startup. The startup in question is Trybe, a personalization service based on … oh and you actually thought I would tell you? Not on the first date. I can share the name with you–probably because I’m proud of it and because I spent a boatload of cash to buy the url. Or is that buttload?

I plan to track our progress in an accurate, sometimes irreverent, documentation of the process of creating and launching a new web site/service. I plan to allude to my illustrious partners, (known here as D and T like characters in a Russian novel) and many of the characters we run across, most of whom will also remain anonymous. At times, I may digress into the idle musings of a male living in the 21st century. I will try to remain cognizant of the remote possibility that people of importance may come across this in an effort to size me up but I will also try to keep it real. I really have no idea if that’s possible. I will no doubt, (as a lifelong oldest sibling), be unable to resist the urge to pass on any small pearls of wisdom I come across, while doing my utmost to avoid pontificating. Because the longer I live, the less sure I am that I know anything–or anything of significance. I do know how to make a good cup of espresso and how to play Ebm7b5.

Where was I? We are building a prototype for gigmor, a musician matching service, that I wished had existed 7 years ago when I moved to LA. As an avid player who needed the stress release and the distraction of playing music–preferably but not exclusively in public–I embarked on the task of finding compatible players to jam and gig with. I found myself in the wasteland of online classifieds where a) you had to scroll through hundreds of ads, b) you didn’t know whether the person whose ad you liked was a complete flake or your next best musician buddy forever, and c) to find that out you had to write dozens of unanswered mails and leave dozens of unreturned voice mails. If you were lucky enough to emerge from that unscathed, then you might find yourself in a rehearsal studio with people who instantly bored you.

Gigmor will solve that problem for thousands of musicians (around the world, we hope) by matching them ONLY with compatible musicians in their area. The prototype will be ready in a couple of weeks, at which point, I will be pounding the pavement, smiling and dialing, etc in search of enough funding to build the real site we’re imagining. Gigmor will be a microcosm (and incubator for) the aforementioned Trybe service.

All this is a preamble to last night’s sleepless preoccupation or, shall I say obsession?, with a competitor who recently entered our radar screens because of an article in the NYT. (I think you know what that stands for.) No sooner did they (let’s call them H) enter our world as a direct competitor then they announced additional funding of $12M. Yes, additional. Since we’re behind them in every respect this is not good news. And as H’s co-founder termed it, this money will allow them to “go turbo.” Turbo! We’re looking for–and would be happy with–low seven figures. That was, until yesterday, our definition of going turbo. Seems there was a prior relationship between H’s co-founder and the guys with the deep pockets.

And that’s the challenge for all of us in the startup game. When you approach someone who doesn’t know you from Adam and you’re asking for a sizable amount of cash you’d damn well better have a good idea. And a good story to tell. Because there are a hundred folks ahead of you who are known in one way or the other to said check writer. And, of course, who can blame them? Their goal is to maximize returns while minimizing risk. And conventional wisdom says risk is minimized with someone you know. There’s the possibility that’s a fallacy but we’re all human. So, what does an entrepreneur need to do? Network like crazy, rekindle old relationships, create new ones. Suddenly everyone’s important. Because that snarky kid right out of college could be the son of….who knows? Some Silicon Valley maven. Or your former office rival is now a partner at a VC firm. So you migrate from snob to sycophant. Because it’s survival, baby. The biggest gorilla got the most mates and the most food. But also don’t forget that you have to live with yourself–as does your beleaguered spouse–and there is a kind of reality adjustment that can occur when you’ve ignored your conscience for too long. More on that another day.