Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 5 hours ago
Whether your are selling a product or an investment opportunity, relationships are important. In the current economic climate they are even more important. Most people are running scared. Companies are reluctant to spend money. Investors are reluctant to invest. Everyone is preparing for nuclear winter. How do you keep going in an environment based on [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 06/10/2008
Is the Freemium business model dead? It might be if you are looking to raise venture capital. Fred Wilson is suggesting that there is a movement away from the Freemium approach, like it or not. I first wrote about the Freemium business model back in 2006 in a post titled, “Fred Wilson’s Favorite Business Model“, [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 03/10/2008
I decided to ‘twitter‘ the Vice Presidential debate this evening and I was very surprised how prevalent the anti-Palin sentiment was - specifically the HATE leveled at her. If Twitter is any measure, our political system is broken - we have lost the ability to respectfully disagree. Ironically, much of the ‘hate’ rhetoric was from [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 02/10/2008
I have had a hard time sitting down to write blog posts over the past couple of weeks. This morning I began realizing that it might be because my ‘opportunity’ radar has been on ‘high alert’. Why? There has been so much chaos in the world: Iraq, Afganistan, McCain/Obama, Palin/Biden, bank failures, insurance company failures, [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 29/09/2008
Remember, tonight is Startup Happy Hour between 5PM and 8PM (feel free to show up at 6PM or 7PM). The intent of the meetup is to get entrepreneurs together to share ideas and experiences. The event is the talk of the startup community in Dallas. Check out the coverage in the Dallas Morning News: http://tinyurl.com/sshhdfw [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 28/09/2008
Jason Calcanis suggests, “Collapsing Economy Will Kill 50%-80% of Startups” as reported by Silicon Alley Insider (since then the post has been removed at the request of Calcanis). I suspect, however, that REALITY will kill 90% of all startups anyway. Get it? The conventional wisdom is that 10% of startups survive. I suspect that what [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 27/09/2008
T-Mobile’s first Android based phone, the G1, has sold out almost a month before you can actually get your hands on one. This according to TmoNews, the Unofficial T-Mobile Blog. My own phone has been ringing off the hook since Tuesday (when we launched ShopSavvy in conjunction with the G1). People are desperate to get [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 26/09/2008
If you have been following the discussions around the proposed $700,000,000 bailout (rescue plan, whatever) of Wall Street you may have seen a $2300 cost for every citizen of the US. Of course, only 138 million US citizens pay taxes and the share of taxes is not equal as described in the chart below: So if [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 25/09/2008
Big in Japan is hosting AndroidDevCamp Dallas on October 25th (the first Saturday after the release of the first Android phone - the T-Mobile G1). SInce I posted the Upcoming notice we have been talking to Android developers around the world and our plans have expanded. Beside the event in Dallas we are working with [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 25/09/2008
Most people who know me, know that I have an open door policy when it comes to sharing my time. I will talk to most anyone about most anything (at least for a little while). More and more people seem to think I have an ‘inside track’ when it comes to investors in Dallas. This [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 25/09/2008
With most startups (except for ShopSavvy) everything takes longer than you expect. That is certainly true for our Whitebox (electronic contract and finance system for auto dealers) business. Basically a month after launch and our system accepted its first finance contrac last nightt! We had assumed we would have processed our first contract weeks ago. [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 24/09/2008
You may have noticed a ‘lull’ in my blogging over the past couple of weeks. Blame Google’s Android phone platform and T-Mobile’s launch plans. The team from Big in Japan headed to Manhattan earlier this week to participate in the launch of the T-Mobile G1, the first Google Android phone. Larry Page and Sergy Brin [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 21/09/2008
Christopher St. John and I are hosting ‘Pitch Camp‘ on October 18th, 2008 at the INFOMART (in Dallas, TX). The all-day event (10AM to 5PM) is designed for up-to 50 entrepreneurs. Pitching your startup to prospective employees, angel investors, venture capitalists or journalists can be daunting for the most experienced entrepreneur, must less the startup [...]
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 21/09/2008
Well, at least for Dallas-based Big in Japan. The Android Community guys stopped by the office last week and interviewed us in preparation for next week’s T-Mobile announcement. Love the photo, not sure about the video:
Texas Startup Blog (Free subscription) | 21/09/2008
My iPhone is dead, less that two months after I bought it - I am now waiting on the resurrection. I have been a fan of Apple for years. I bought the first generation iPhone on the first day and attended the first iPhone Developers Camp in San Francisco later that week. The iPhone was [...]
