Job Generation - Like an Investor-in-Residence Program?

According to the New York Times, VC’s spend thousands on Investor-In-Residence programs. Job Generation makes it happen in front of you - and for a fraction of the price. By putting seasoned execs in front of Start-Ups to see what VCs think make them more investible we are doing much the same thing – but the for the benefit of the public.

Sign up for our first Job Gen iEvening event on March 18.

What is Job Generation?

Last week we taped the pilot of “Job Generation” and in March we will roll out our first live events.

So what is Job Generation? It is a variation on Start-Up Presentations to Investors except that we include senior executives seeking leadership positions in the conversation.

The bigger picture – the part that is creating the buzz - is that new business ideas tend to come from young start-ups with little capital and less experience. They are usually energized by real world interaction with savvy execs but are too busy chasing investors to do that.

This is a uniquely informative experience because it brings savvy executives into the conversation at an early stage. Too often these executives are chasing after the same entrenched jobs that everyone else is after - so by putting these two generations of business execs face to face along with VCs, we see a variety of possibilities will occurring: employment, consulting, joint ventures and investment.

More than a "Job Interview"
Job Generation is about about more than savvy execs being interviewed by young Entrepreneur about running their companies. It is telescoping the process than made companies like Google, Apple and Microsoft great - when they raised enough money they hired senior execs that took them to the top. We are starting the conversation now hat these execs are available as a way to increase their chances of raising money or building sales.

Polaroid goes Facebook - Lesson from the Job Generation Pilot

In the first Job Generation, a former exec from Polaroid – a great fallen American business presents to Pixable, a company that generates photobooks from Facebook – where he notes that although the technology is different, the customer base is almost exactly the same, young women. The Pixable founders agree and they want to hire this exec. The VC on the other hand, would prefer they hire an exec with operations experience. The net result is a blend of consulting and strategic rethinking and maybe a hire or a consulting opportunity…….

In this environment have seen roll-ups, consulting arrangement and joint ventures or alliances of one kind or another. After all, only a tiny number of start-ups are investible – somewhere between 2 – 10%. So, to a large extent this is an exploration of what happens to the rest of those start-ups. Often, these are concepts that need further sales or business development provided through a joint venture context. By taking this conversation beyond the purely start-up funding conversation, we allow many more business opportunities to flourish. When business grow through sales, investors find them!

Business Discovery

One thing we learn about what the CEOs bring to the table when they talk to Entrepreneurs is a deeper understanding of the true nature of their businesses. We also have VCs at the table to help the parties understand what each can do to increase the value proposition and make them more investible.

Starting in March we will be doing a regular series of Job Generation events. In addition, all iBreakfasts going forward will still have the typical informative content but will also feature this interaction between Start-Ups and experienced execs as part of the warm-up session.

The Theory Behind Job Generation: Raising the Investibility Quotient

For those who have experienced our “Hierarchy of Start-Ups” presentation, you’ll know the most investible class of start-ups, at lest in sheer numbers re those who have these key attributes:

• 10 Years or more of domain experience in a field

• Identify and industry-specific problem

• Have a team with the solution that the mother company doesn't value

• Have an existing relationship with the natural buyers

If this is you, your check is in the mail! Most start-ups aren't like this but we find that putting them together with savvy execs can get them much closer to this fundability zone - and that is the basic goal of Job Generation.

Job Generation: The next phase of the iBreakfast

As you know the business world has changed!

After 14 years of running the iBreakfast, the iEvening for Innovators, the Web 2.0 NY Conferences and number of associated events, we are changing with it.

Our audience has always been those executives following the Digital Media revolution. Now, in this jobless recovery, what they need are more jobs.

We don’t believe the government or any state organization can make that happen, although they can certainly help. What really makes a difference is when entrepreneurs develop a new market or find news ways to solve persistent problems.

Often these great ideas needed help and our industry has generally viewed capital as the key driver.

We think that has changed. Today, start-ups can launch for a fraction of what they once required. On a relative basis, that means business expertise and contacts are worth more than start-up capital.

So the iBreakfast is launching a series of events and media initiatives to tap this shift. For the most part, they revolve around bringing seasoned execs in front of start-ups as a way to develop new business, employment and investor relationships. As we look back, these kinds of interaction have always taken place. Now, we are going to accelerate the process because we think it is the key to developing a new wave of employment opportunities.

So look out for announcements covering the following:

TV Show – will run to an audience of 50,000 on ours and partner websites
Local TV
Global Talk Weekly Radio Show
Job Generation Events
Business Opportunity Events

Report from the VC Outlook iBreakfast

More Funding, Low Valuations, Getting M&A Ready

With a fast-growing entrepreneur environment - thanks to the somewhat recovering economy, this is a good time to go back to investors and find out what they are looking for. As we know, valuations are low, exits are limited but the business idea mill goes on nonetheless.

Now that the 40 plus set is the fastest-growing portion of the entrepreneurial class, the fundable ideas tend to be niche solutions. Geoff Judge talked about his own pre-investor record at 24/7 Media and true to form, is looking at investing in new kinds of ad networks - especially ones that are focused on specific high-growth areas.

Juan Lopez-Alcarcel described a kind of localization ploy that is quite common in Europe. When a US restaurant reservation company tried to spend money opening up in Europe, the locals quickly demurred when they realized their businesses would now appear on record and therefore subject to taxes. So a local entrepreneur stepped in with a similar idea but without the record-keeping. Often, local knock-offs like the first German version of eBay get acquired - or they just do well by using local knowledge.

Michael Kurdziel talked about exits which today, are mostly M&A. However, VC investment appears to be growing and new markets are emerging to trade and therefore create liquidity for founders stock. The bottom line, however, seems to be: find out what companies are buying and make your start-up M&A ready!


About the Speakers
Michael Kurdziel is the Managing Director of Landmark Ventures. He was a Partner and Managing Director with ARC Investment Partners, a Director at Activision, Inc., and a founding member of DealerTrack (Nasdaq: TRAK).

Juan Lopez-Valcarcel the Managing Director for The Digital
Sunrise Group, a new incubator and angel investment group for European digital startups. He was a VP in the Digital Media team at NBC Universal and the General Manager for iVillage.com

Geoff Judge is an active investor in early stage companies and member of The NY Angels. He was the Chief Revenue Officer of Piczo and COO of Preclick, a Digital Photography software firm with clients such as Hewlett Packard, Wal-Mart, Costco, and Sandisk.

Report from the Glitter in Twitter II iBreakfast

Phil Perlman, StockTwits
Stephen Gilberg, WineTwits
David Berkowitz, 360i
Ariel Hyatt, CyberPR

By revisiting Twitter we learned that smart marketers have used the microblog platform to develop a following and then build a platform on top of that. Giving people timely, essential information was the key to growing a loyal audience for StockTwits which enables investors to follow the picks of savvy traders. Now, according to Phil Perlman, their website has become a hub for independent investors, traders and other high-value Wall Street players.

Stephen Gilberg used Twitter to build a following for his WineTwits start-up, where wine-lovers could crow about their favorite wines in real time. That has grown into “Social Grapevine”, a wine drinkers’ social portal with useful filters and Twitter management tools that any social marketer might covet.

David Berkowitz talked about the ways his corporate clients have used Twitter and Social Media Sites to develop business. He even offers a free handbook called “The Social Media Playbook.”

Ariel Hyatt talked about the ways musicians, mostly independent, but also established artists, have learned to use Social Media to build a following. With Twitter, they have learned, the more personal, the better. After all, they not dealing with customers but fans. While some musicians “just want to play their instrument” many others have figured out the lessons of Godin’s “Tribes” and Anderson’s “1,000 True Fans.” With a following, and no record company to pay back, many musicians have learned how to flourish.

The Obama Campaign and White Plains iBreakfast: Social Media and the Tipping Point

Michael Terpin, who helped engineer the "Yes We Can" viral video with will.i.am is speaking tomorrow. Aside from telling us how he got to 40 million viewers and tons of press - this is a great time to ruminate on the power of Social Media. After all, it brought us an entirely new kind of President.

We all know the usual - harnessing the long tail, word of mouth, crowdfunding etc. But what about the gradual mass change of opinion anticipated by Obama's literary doppelganger, Malcolm Gladwell. While he never mentions Obama, Gladwell, whose 3 books (Tipping Point, Blink & Outliers) are still on the best-seller list was talking about a change in state, and he too is bi-racial. His books talked abut the paving new ways while paving the way.

Social Media, in other words, is not only a tool but a kind of change predictor and instigator. We're going to learn more about this tomorrow. But one thing is sure - we have entered into a new world of doing business, the likes of which we have never seen before.

We need all the change predictors we can get!