Welcome

Early stage investments in creative and well executed ventures.

Don’t put a stake in the ground…

I think this is a great article. Thanks to old friend Mika Salmi for forwarding it.

In a world where flickr was originally started as a game and imeem was started as a software utility, it doesn’t make sense to stick a stake in the ground and not be flexible with your vision. Just getting started is the most important part. Where you end up may well be a success but might not have anything at all to do with your original plan.

Be nimble. Keep an open mind. Gravitate to opportunity.

February 22, 2008 | Filed Under Inspiration 

comments

2 Responses to “Don’t put a stake in the ground…”

  1. Xlog on February 23rd, 2008

    Don’t put a stake in the ground…

    My friend Kelly Smith over at Curious Office has blogged about a Financial Times article about the need for flexibility in any endeavor, but certainly any Internet related business.  It really is a great article and the FT has some great content, so h…

  2. Tony Wright on February 23rd, 2008

    A great related read is:

    http://www.unionsquareventures.com/2007/11/why_early_stage.html

    “…Of the 26 companies that I consider realized or effectively realized in my personal track record, 17 of them made complete transformations or partial transformations of their businesses between the time we invested and the time we sold. That means there a 2/3 chance you’ll have to significantly reinvent your business between the time you take a venture capital investment and when you exit your business.”

    Another great snippet:

    “My friend Dick Costolo, co-founder of FeedBurner, describes a startup as the process of going down lots of dark alleys only to find that they are dead ends. Dick describes the art of a successful deal as figuring out they are dead ends quickly and trying another and another until you find the one paved with gold.”

Leave a Reply




  • Pressplane

    Pressplane is our latest internally developed concept. We raised our $1.7 million seed round on September 22 and are backed by Second Avenue Partners and a variety of tremendous angel investors. We aren't saying too much right now because we still have a lot of work to do but we thank Techcrunch, VentureBeat, Seattle Times and others for mentioning our latest effort!

  • CafePress

    Cafepress acquired Imagekind in July 2008. CafePress.com is an online marketplace that offers sellers complete e-commerce services to independently create and sell a wide variety of products, and offers buyers unique merchandise across virtually every topic.

  • Imagekind

    Curious Office started Imagekind in 2006 and it is the world's fastest-growing art site offering over 750,000 high-quality fine art images for sale. Imagekind gives consumers limitless options to purchase museum-quality framed and poster art from over 50,000 domestic and international emerging and established artists.

  • Shelfari

    Amazon.com acquired Shelfari in September 2008. Based in Seattle, Shelfari introduces readers to our global community of book lovers and encourages them to share their literary inclinations and passions with peers, friends, and total strangers

  • Fanzter

    Fanzter was founded in 2007 by veterans of leading media, technology, and consumer products companies and is headquartered in Collinsville, Connecticut. Their first product, Coolspotters.com, launched in May 2008.

  • Wishpot

    Wishpot is a free social shopping service that makes it easy to save and share interesting things you find in stores and online. Items are easily collected online or from stores and organized using simple online lists. Lists and items can be kept private or shared with others. You can collect and discover products you like, recommend your favorite stuff, share and explore gift suggestions or ask for opinions and advice.

  • FeedDigest

    FeedDigest is a parser, regenerator, and syndicator for, and of, RSS and Atom feeds originally built by Peter Cooper. In August 2007, Feed Digest was sold to its new owners, Informer Technologies, Inc., and in 2008 rebranded to Feed Informer.