My January Email to my Startups

(Here's a short version of the email that I send to the startups that I advise. -- andreas)

Yo, startups!

My more-or-less-monthly email to friends at startups:

• Virality: Ed Ipser and I are putting together a Network Effect Work Group, i.e., to figure out virality. Everyone talks about going viral; a few describe it; but oddly enough, nobody has figured out how to do it repeatedly. We're looking for 4-5 people with substantial experience in SV and startups to see if we can figure this out. Contact me.
  
  
• Book #14: If you have good contacts to book agents or fiction publishers. I'm writing a novel about Silicon Valley. For research, I've read 42 books in the last seven weeks. I'm meeting with several agents and publishers in Feb.
  
  
• More Books: If you're dealing with VCs, get Mahendra Ramsinghani's book on VCs. Excellent guide to VCs, like playing poker where you can see their cards. Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y-Combinator) also wrote a book of interviews with 33 founders. They describe their problems and mistakes. Learn from them. Links (and several more v good books) at andreas.com/silicon-valley-startup.html
  
  
• Looking for Funding?: Strategic funding from investors in China for Silicon Valley startups. You set your terms;; they choose whether to invest. Tell your friends who are thinking of doing a startup: they can get funding. Go www.ShanghaiValley.com.
  
  
• Weather Forecast: It's Dotcom Boom Summer '99: lots of startups, easy money, etc. I've talked with founders, investors, VCs: all agree yes, it's a bubble and yes, it'll go on for sometime longer.
  
  
• Events: I'll be at Klean.DK in Denmark in mid-Feb; teaching an all-day seminar on enterprise SEO in SF on March 27th (timelapsesf.com/seo/scale-up-your-seo-strategy); speaking at a conf in Philadelphia in early May; and Shanghai/Chengdu in mid-May. Yep, still learning Chinese. I'm at the point where I meet American-born Chinese and I speak more Chinese than them, which amuses Helen.

yrs,
andreas
andreas.com