Event review
Garage.com's Boot Camp
for Startups

On February 28-29, 2000, our own A. Kris Bell went to the Bootcamp for Startups, (held in Seatte, WA) a seminar run by Garage.com started by noted Apple alumnus, Guy Kawasaki. As stated in the advertising on the Garage.com web-site:

"Learn the fundamentals of taking your company from startup to IPO. Hear from the high tech industry's top investors, experts, and entrepreneurs. Gain invaluable information about raising capital, building a buzz, hiring top talent, and launching your product."

So how good was the bootcamp? Did Kris have to have her head shaved and run ten miles every morning? (No, thank heaven!) Read on.

What was covered?

In general, the Bootcamp was supposed to cover all those issues that entrepreneurs need to know in order to take their business from startup to IPO. That includes presentation, getting funding, finding a management team, dealing with the day-to-day operation of the business, and so on. Specifically, topics included (from the agenda):

• Finding partners and creating alliances
• Learning from real-life Venture Capitalists about the process of raising money
• Crafting your pitch, to deliver the best possible pitch in the shortest time
• Learning from real-life in-process entrepreneurs about life in a startup
• Finding the people it will take to make your business fly
• Getting the straight scoop on capital structure, valuation, dilution, options, stocks, bridge loans, and so on
• Learning from real-life IPO survivors how they got there
• Hearing about the trends that will shape the Internet and capital markets
• Learning from real-life angel investors how to get to and close an angel deal
• Learning from real-life press analysts and PR firm folks how to build the buzz for your startup
• Dealing with the day-to-day issues of HR, finance, and operations.
• Finally, Rules for Revolutionaries, a complete and pragmatic guide to the creation and marketing of revolutions.

A big list, right? Given this list, and two days, your head will start to swim. Some almost went down for the count.

What went right?

Two items from the Bootcamp can be called unqualified successes, that raised our pulse to fever pitch. The first was the talk, Perfecting Your Pitch, by Bill Joos of Garage.com. This talk is vital for anybody who is in the "seeking-funding stage", which is practically every startup. He did an incredibly good job of presenting the critical components of the pitch, why they are there, and where to put them. The core of his talk was the perfection of what he called the “elevator pitch”. This is a pitch that can be given in any reasonably short (the fewer floors, the better!) elevator ride. His examples of a couple of "bad" key phrases would have been unbelievable if we hadn’t heard some similar starting pitches ourselves. This talk is very critical to most entrepreneurs we know. As long as it’s offered at the Bootcamp you’re attending, do not miss it! It’s an extremely vital piece. Take notes! Buy the tape! Bring it home and listen to it 10 times!

The other rave has to go to Guy Kawasaki, both for the moderation job he did on the panels and for the Rules for Revolutionaries talk. Guy did a spectacular job of asking the questions that Kris had and that other people around Kris had. In the end, he asked the appropriate questions, and if you took a poll of all startups of questions to ask, he asked those questions. He represented us all very well as he moderated those panels. Unfortunately, we felt that, despite Guy’s tremendous efforts, the panels were definitely the low points. But more of that later.

An honorable mention must go to Human Capital: The War for Talent by Amy Vernetti, also of Garage.com. While she did an admirable job of presenting the details on the “human capital” war, this was a subject that cried out for an afternoon of talk, not just 45 minutes. She was very good and very energized. But, in the end, even with the material that she referred to us that would be on the website, there wasn’t really enough material or enough usable information from that presentation. Bootcamp could spend a lot more time on subjects like finding officers, how to look, and where to look. Is it worth using the executive search people? Is that a waste of money? How do you find people with the right qualifications and why? What makes up a good team, and why? Why do you need all these people whose title starts with a “C”?

What went wrong?

Simply put, the panels were not worth the time and effort spent on them. The VCs and angels, while giving different criteria for what they considered important, all laid down the same rule for access: It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know (INWYKIWYK). No matter how Guy asked the question, no matter who was answering, no matter how the answer was phrased, the answer always came back "INWYKIWYK." Even the Venture Law Group who theoretically represents the poor startup entrepreneur said that they reject 99 out of 100 applications. How do they choose that last 1%? INWYKIWYK!

Fine, most of us already knew that. So why did Bootcamp spend almost 40% of the time beating that dead horse? Why not present alternative approaches, or discuss new mechanisms, or something? How is the poor “outsider” supposed to get his or her foot in the door? They did make it clear that how you present your plan is important, that you do your homework, that there are things that set off their alarms. Any entrepreneur who has done his or her homework should already know these things. But that’s what Bootcamp is all about, stating the obvious. Otherwise it wouldn’t be “bootcamp”.

It’s interesting to find out just how VC's and Angels approach issues, how different they are, and how same they are. They’re different in what they look at and what they think is important, but unfortunately they are all the same with “it’s who you know.” If you don’t know someone that the VC trusts then he or she probably won’t see you or hear you. And that’s unfortunate. Guy Kawasaki made it very clear that it was his goal to democratize funding. Well, with an attitude like "INWYKIWYK", that’s not going to happen, no matter how hard Guy Kawasaki tries.

The other panel not worth the time was the startup folks. It appeared they were pushing the 126-hour work week. Each and every one of them stood up for their Red-eye Badge of Courage for sticking it out 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. “See, look what I’ve done! Rah, rah.” It’s not that they’re not deserving of respect, because they are. But that’s not the only way to run a business. Not every entrepreneur can devote that amount of time to it. It’s not that they don’t have that level of commitment because most entrepreneurs have exactly that level of commitment, but cannot physically handle that kind of day-to-day grueling schedule. You have to do what you can in the number of hours in the day that you have.

That was one item that many people Kris spoke to took issue with, the expectation that if you were an entrepreneur and you’re a startup, these are the hours you are forced to be putting in to make your company succeed. They’re right taking issue with that. You don’t have to put in 18 hours a day, 7 days a week. If you have that kind of personal drive and physical endurance, then so be it. If you don’t, that doesn’t equal failure. It means that you may not grow as quickly. It means you may not get the same level of funding. But you should never give up.

In the Final Analysis…

Garage.com may need to get a few more of these under their belt to get the right combination. But eventually they will come up with just the right combination that will represent the startup really well, and will be a Bootcamp that fairly represents most of the levels of being a startup that you need to be familiar with -- not just familiar with, but be intimately familiar with.

As we’ve discovered with the clients we’ve had, the absolute hardest times they have is in making the business succeed on a day-to-day basis. That’s what Bootcamp for Startups doesn’t cover. One the other hand, the business plan, financials, and presentation scare them the most. This is where Bootcamp is exceptional in its coverage.