Does anyone else dislike the "Startup" community?

[Ravens_Shadow]

Moved to North Carolina a few months ago. Decided to go to a "startup tech expo" where thousands of people were going to attend with investors galore. Went to go check it out because why not? After all, its free!

Made a ton of connections!

Wait.. I made zero connections.

There were about 150 people in total and 90% of the companies with a "table" had nothing to do with software or tech. I made a quick round, saw a bunch of circle jerkers and decided to book it. Just about zero value was being provided. Just mouth foamers wanting to join the "startups" there by passing around their resumes or lawyers and insurance agents wanting to get me as their next big client.

I did get a chuckle out of a guy running around handing out business cards to anyone and every one who would take one. He wouldn't even say hello, he'd just stick it in someones hand or throw it on a table. You know how many calls he probably got the next day? Zero would be my guess.

 

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[focusedlife]

I think this sort of stuff happens everywhere.

In the copywriting scene you've got the "A-Listers" which who even knows what the hell that means anymore, lol.

In sales you've got the hardcore closing crowd that say you need to "man up" or get out.

In "guru" space you've got those that want you to tap into your "vibrational frequency."

It's every damn place because that's how crowd mentality works.

It's important to understand it and accept that that's how it is.

Why?

As Blair Warren knows, if you want to be influential, you've got to understand what are the meta factors that allow you to influence, right?

I'm not hating.

I have just come to learn to utilize it however I can while trying to create REAL value in the world without burning out.

This serving others stuff is tricky, so, it makes sense to me that the weak and without vision don't wanna go it alone, which is something those at the top seem to understand and exploit very well.

 

[TreyAllDay]

Something I forgot to mention - what urks me is lots of startups featured in those "now this" or "tech INSIDERS" videos on FB are always getting millions on crowdfunding websites for "reinventing" products with a F*cking USB port added to it and then calling it the "smart" X.

"Now you can charge your phone with this eco friendly, portable, solar powerer, BBQ".

 

[MoreVolume]

Startups is the new MLM

So much truth

 

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[minivanman]

I've been to a few of these startup events and I feel exactly the same way - just too much talk about garbage that doesn't matter and no talk about working hard and bringing value.

>99% of people at these events haven't even started something or are constantly coming up with excuses on why they haven't built their Unicorn yet.

Probably the reason behind all of this is that anyone can call themselves an "entrepreneur" or a "Startup founder" now, and as it's so fashionable you can't tell whose for real and whose not.

Reps to @TreyAllDay - your threads always seem to hit a nerve (in a good way!).

Contrare my friend. You can tell the difference very easy. Those who are for real have already started and those who are not for real talk a great game but never step foot on the playing field. Maybe we should start calling it...

FANTASY ENTREPRENEUR

 

[LeoistheSun]

Which brings me up to the topic of STARTUP INCUBATORS or w/e. Lets be clear, I'm not a success... yet, but these startup college dorms (I read one recently), had video games, 24/7 coffee and unlimited DISTRACTIONS.

I couldn't help but think for a real "startup community" you should be in a place with no distractions at all, and a filtered internet so no Facebook.

Thats my style.

 

[ZF Lee]

It sounds like a lot of you are jealous of the super successful growth hacker ninjas out there.

Not jealous. Horrified.
Not everything is as hunky dory as it might seem...

Nope, @Ravens_Shadow, totally not free! Using time to spend there and transportation costs to go there....not free. The business cards guy....pretty much epic fail. I wonder how much cash he blew through the cards for that one event alone

 

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[Xeon]

Having worked in startups for a major part of my working life, I can totally relate and agree with what you guys are talking about.

Can't say the same for other countries but here's what our local startup scene and their weekly startup networking sessions are like:

Buzz words like combinator, incubator, ACCELERATOR get thrown around everywhere. They always host all these startup events every Thursday or so, with pizzas, coke and fries free flow. And lots of PlayStation and xBox Ones with 70-inches TVs in the middle of the room. Guys wearing shorts with assorted hipster hairstyles with funky names. All of these guys LOVE retro and indie video games. Always.

And at these events, there's always some guest speakers, all of which are unheard of. Even the supposedly "big names" seem mediocre in their list of achievements.
Some of the activities they do at these startup meets include networking, circle jerkin, feel-good pats on the shoulder. Everyone laughs and feel hip together, then it's time to go back home.

Recently, there's this trend of startup entrepreneurial contests, where you pit your startup prototype and mocks against a few other startups. The one who wins gets a small check and some photography session, and it gets uploaded to the startup networking group's Facebook. Lol

 

[MJ DeMarco]

It sounds like a lot of you are jealous of the super successful growth hacker ninjas out there.

I think this is more aimed at the startup sycophants who download Wordpress and then waltz around saying they're now the CEO of a "startup."

I don't think anyone here would dismiss someone who's deep in the scene with multiple wins under their belt. But nonetheless, it's more of a "who you know" vs "what you know" culture.

Think you're running a startup?

1) Do you have funding from an outside investor not in your circle of family or friends, one that entails a 40 page document?

2) Do you have more than 1 employee who actually has a marketable skill that would be worth at least $100K in the job market?

3) Do you have a product with a discernible value skew or problem solving ability? Something that took longer than 2 weeks to develop? (Hints of a productocracy?)

4) Do you have a mention in TechCrunch with the usual description full of startup jargon, stuff like "Collaborate", "disrupt", "native environments" and "synergistic blockchain"?

Yes to all 4? Congrats, you have a startup!

 

[Richie Rich]

I hope I don't catch slack for this, but I kinda dislike it as well.

I'm from Louisville and they have a small startup scene. These events they have like the OPs event experience happens in parts of Louisville that tend to be "hipster" and "trendy" and "starbucks-y".

Now, just for clarification.. I love my coffee from Starbucks. I have nothing against hipsters or "trendy". I really don't.

But what happens is a group of 100 or so "wanna-bes" get together and cheer on whoever is speaking at the time about their "dreams" of a startup and what they are working on, which almost always I can tell within the first 5 seconds is something that will flop and fail.

No one with real business experience comes to the events. It's always people working a 9-5 or people living in mom's basement with no real goals showing up. The word "startup" tends to attract people that are new, inexperienced, and green.

Hey I know people gotta start somewhere, so I am not digging at these people. But if you try to tell them something different like, "maybe you should do this instead".. they look at you like you're a dream killer and then proceed to ask you, "well who are you mr bigshot.. I didn't see you pull up in a maybach".

Eh. Maybe it will change.

Startups is the new MLM

I live in Louisville as well eliquid, and I roll my eyes everytime the news promotes these startup events, usually during the "business" section of the newscast. Fischer (Louisville's mayor) is always there for his camera time and it's usually in NULU (the hipster area of Louisville). I watch and listen and in my head, all I am thinking is: there's a slowlaner, there's another slowlaner and oh, suprise, there's a sidewalker. It's all about keeping up appearances and making the city look like it's trending with upward mobility and progress. Whatever let's 'em sleep at night.

.[/QUOTE]

 

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[eliquid]

I live in Louisville as well eliquid, and I roll my eyes everytime the news promotes these startup events, usually during the "business" section of the newscast. Fischer (Louisville's mayor) is always there for his camera time and it's usually in NULU (the hipster area of Louisville). I watch and listen and in my head, all I am thinking is: there's a slowlaner, there's another slowlaner and oh, suprise, there's a sidewalker. It's all about keeping up appearances and making the city look like it's trending with upward mobility and progress. Whatever let's 'em sleep at night.

.

Yes, NULU and the area around downtown Humana where there is like 3 incubators or seed/angel funding companies. Pretty much I call this NULU too even though I was around there and just considered it downtown before Market St got renovated and before Whisky Row got its undertaking as well.

And yeah, like another post said.. it seems these happen on Thursdays with Pizza/BBQ and beer/drinks with no names I have never heard of. Which is crazy because I grew up in Louisville my whole life and know ALMOST every developer and tech person that came up during my time. Im not so much in tune with it now, but I always laughed at Louisville's "startup scene" because it's always behind Cincy and Cincy's isn't even great.

I'm now living outside Jefferson County by 10 minutes in Meade County on the SW side of Louisville so I don't go to them often anymore unless some of my pals throw an event for Louisville Digital Association

 

[MiguelHammond10]

Lol, yeah you're not the only one... and I giggled to myself when MJ brought up his thoughts about the 'startup' terminology in his latest book, Unscripted . I nodded in agreement, lol..

When I hear the word startups, I immediately think of what @eliquid and @TreyAllDay said - hipsters throwing buzz words around, wanting to 'disrupt an industry' or saying shit like "we're gonna be the ________ of ______" (insert whatever gazillion dollar valuation success company here) - but without actually being focused on value, or often not having any business experience.

I mean, we're technically all "startups" here too, but you never see Fastlaners throwing these words around. It's kinda cheesy IMO. Just say you're starting / running a business. Saying you're a 'startup' more often than not comes across as trying to impress.

I totally agree with your point. you right.

 

[Ascension]

It's as if Academia went on an awkward blind date with Entrepreneurship, and Academia raped entrepreneurship with some date rape drugs and had a bastard child called "start up" or "disrupt" or "pre-revenue".

That's one of the greatest sentences I've ever read

 

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[mrarcher]

I've noticed that by working hard to benefit the customer and growing naturally the people you want to talk to will suddenly appear and find a way to get in touch. I've never been to one of these "networking" meet ups so can't talk from experience in that respect but I have noticed that as I grow within my industry there have been a few "big players" getting in touch and talking about working together. The funny thing is that if I'd emailed them when I first started I probably would have never heard back.

 

[mrarcher]

Can't speak for the start-up scene locally, but over on the tech-coast it reminds me of a high-school clique where you're either part of the "IN" crowd, or you're trying to get in.

Both times I sold my company involved a Silicon Valley company and it became pretty clear to me, if you aren't a part of the clique, you aren't anybody they want to hear from.

I find this interesting, you obviously sold to them, are you saying you were part of the clique in order to sell or just views from an outsider? Sounds like there's an interesting story here

 

[craig1928]

 

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[NewYorkCity]

I work in sales at a Venture backed startup.

They are very real (We have had a few deals with world class institutions), however a lot of them are pure hype.

Honestly you shouldn't give them any consideration until they have a few solid deals under their belt. If they had a good product its not THAT hard to get at least a few small organizations to sell to.

The ones based off a real problem and less hype... typically "non-exciting".... and are spending their time and money going to trade shows to get in front of decision makers instead of trying to impress the local hipsters at a "Start up event" (unless they're looking for programmers or something).

 

[Jose L. Nimmons]

It depends on where you are looking. Generally speaking, I look for real entrepreneurs, people who have helped a startup or founded one several times. If you have any experience under your belt, you have had some "sure things" that have gone south on you, and that can be very humbling. They have had every bad thing happen to them and have to deal jerks and shady characters of all kinds. These people are a joy to work with. They do not expect the world to owe them anything, they make no excuses for their failures to raise money or build their company, and they know that failure is always a possibility.

On the other hand, I stay away from "wantraprenuers." These are people who are on their first startup and hang out at a well publicized incubators, go to all the tech meet ups, and seem to know all the other wantrapreneurs in town. They are generally insufferable. They want everything for free and do not like to be asked hard questions about their company.

I suspect it is because there is a whole industry dedicated to sucking money off them, and so they are pursued, lauded, praised to high heavens and told they are their idea are bound to put facebook out of business. Why? Because certain people make money by getting contracts with them for real estate, consulting, and service providers of all kinds, and so they tell them what they wish to hear.

These people tend to think that it is fun to run their own company, it is hip and cool, they are in a trendy sector, and that it isn't really hard work. They believe they can just hire the people they need to do all the hard work like generating revenue, and so they spend all their time on development and pitching for money, no time actually build the company. I have met people who have spent years on development, blown through tens of thousands of dollars or more, and still have nothing ready to sell. Yet they will tear your ear off on how wonderful their idea is.

So if you look at the low end, you find lots of junk, but that is likely true for any profession.

 

[Xeon]

I lol-ed hard at the arcade machine, the pool table, the coffee machine, the colorful couches and the sticky notes on the wall. These are true blue items that all start-ups have!

I suspect it is because there is a whole industry dedicated to sucking money off them, and so they are pursued, lauded, praised to high heavens and told they are their idea are bound to put facebook out of business.

This gave me some inspiration. I think I can start a side hustle that caters to start-ups specifically and providing them value and making them happy.

 

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[MJ DeMarco]

I've noticed that by working hard to benefit the customer and growing naturally the people you want to talk to will suddenly appear and find a way to get in touch

True. This is why I say build something. Do something. Have something demonstrable. Several years ago I had someone pitch me for an investment. I didn't really take him seriously because all he had was an idea and words. Six months later he showed me a concept that was pretty impressive. Suddenly I was interested.

are you saying you were part of the clique

I was not.

In fact, they made it pretty clear they weren't interested in anything I had to say, despite being a founder with significant domain experience. Worse, the new CEO (who replaced me) took credit for starting the company publicly and then proceeded to label me as a "chauffeur", as if after I sold the company for the second time, I went back to driving limos or taxis.

Both companies ended up bankrupt.

Yes I have stories, the complete arrogance and elitism is astounding.

 

[alan3wilson]

I still don't get why many peeople go to the startup events while they can focus on taking action and working instead of attending events..

 

[LeoistheSun]

Okay I found some pics of a "Startup Incubator" in Isla-Vista. If you didnt know where that is, its in Santa Barbara aka UCSB (Party Central University)...

These pictures are epic:

"Lets lounge around to greatness they said"


As I mentioned, startup-incubators include way to many distractions and promote the idea of well: Have a great idea? Build it with us! <-- Without validating it of-course!

 

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[Eskil]

Worse, the new CEO (who replaced me) took credit for starting the company publicly and then proceeded to label me as a "chauffeur", as if after I sold the company for the second time, I went back to driving limos or taxis.

Lol, wow seriously?! The audacity of some people is astounding. And yeah, I bet you couldn't wait to get back to being a "chauffeur" after getting acquired, lol..

And hahaha.... that starterpack and those photos. I saw that starterpack on Reddit a while back and I laughed out loud. Those pics are pretty much spot on too. "Startup" in a nutshell.
I have personally visited a few of these places as I was invited by friends who worked there. It's pretty much exactly like this. Low productivity, but extremely high COOL and chill factor!

 

[socaldude]

Okay I found some pics of a "Startup Incubator" in Isla-Vista. If you didnt know where that is, its in Santa Barbara aka UCSB (Party Central University)...

Yup, if you want to understand something then you look at the source. I'm surprised nobody has brought this up, as this is where these ideas come from. Academia has done a great job of telling college kids that they are rock stars and have the world at their finger tips. Kind of like telling them that the material that has been taught to them is at the pinnacle of evolutionary intelligence. Yup, cause after all your gonna be worth millions guarantee regardless of struggle or what reality says. SMH.

We've been sold an educational scam our whole lives feeding us the lie that we are special and we are geniuses. Not to mention the BS material made up by professors with no real world experience because their school needs more money or they want to be part of a small circle of "research papers" Hence we get stupid buzz words thrown around by clueless people.

 

[PetePreneur]

A bit of a rant here - I'm just curious what everyone's opinion is of their local "startup" community. It was "Startup Week" this October in my town (not sure if this is a global thing), so there was a few open events. Honestly, a majority of the community seems really self-absorbed. Constantly throwing around buzz words like "disrupt" and "hack", and focused on "impact" without seemingly any reason why. I don't know why I have always sort of disliked this community, maybe need to give it more of a chance!

Most people in the "Startup Community" are setting up a company because they think it will involve less work than a 9-5, which in reality is the total opposite. It's this whole "Being an entrepreneur is cool" generation.

 

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[TreyAllDay]

What's also interesting is how "sexy" it is to be in tech, now. Shows like Silicon valley are HUGE.

Most people in the "Startup Community" are setting up a company because they think it will involve less work than a 9-5, which in reality is the total opposite. It's this whole "Being an entrepreneur is cool" generation.

Depends on the person - but there's definitely an "aura" around being an entrepreneur and being notable - and it's largely from the media, shows like Silicon Valley, movies like The Social Network - and Shark Tank which is HUGE now (but to be honest, it seeming less and less genuine). And these dumb tech/entrepeneur blogs.

 

[Iammelissamoore]

Waw, ALL of your responses are so spot on - totally funny too, but so real.

I have learnt a very valuable lesson in life - "When the masses are speaking the jargon, the concept is dead."

When I am considering joining a group, making input in something or working with anyone, the first thing I MUST be clear of is what is the agenda behind this - and I know it is important for me to figure it out on my own, as anyone can sell any concept they want. Don't get me wrong as @Jose L. Nimmons mentioned, looking in the right places at these startup expos can help you get a little ahead, but it isn't a means to an end for building the foundation of successful businesses.

The term "startup" is so cliche it lost it's credibility with me. Don't get me wrong, all of us "started" "up" our businesses, but it didn't involve hanging out and I doubt we were all considered "cool", ALL of us can give our fair share of 'everyone believed I was crazy' stories. Starting a business is challenging and it doesn't end with starting, it has a long-winding, topsy-turvy, many-lessons-will-be-learnt, yet glorifying journey and when we stick with it throughout we see rewarding results as we continue to grow along that journey.

The "startup" fraternity is nothing more than an expo for banks/lending institutions to encourage people to take unnecessary loans and for other sectors to sell ideals that will be useless to one's business journey, but that's what it is - sales sales sales of institutional concepts that will barely benefit the individual who is clueless about what they are doing and/or the reason why they are doing it - but who cares right? The companies/salespeople behind these concepts are working on commission and they gotta fulfil that quota; oh, and the marketing strategies, hmmm, so beautiful, painting this "perfect" life of all the cool people jumping on the bandwagon seemingly strung out 'I'm-so-happy drugs' from having a business, when their reality is that they are simply modeling the concept to sell the dream.

I steer clear of the startup expos in my country, after all, we are a really small country, and while that doesn't limit us from being exceptional in the business sector, we're not exactly a business-driven society; therefore business, while it does exist in my country, a lot of people are in it for the wrong reasons - Customer Care? What is that? A lot of the businesses in my country couldn't care less about the customers exchanging money with them for their offerings, so imagine, if a "startup" conference is held in my country, what type of advice would be spat out by these "businesspeople"? Oh, and yeah, there are actually a lot of these conferences held in my country.

 

[Beijing]

Here's a list of words that I hate:

podcast: somehow everything is a podcast these days, even if it is hosted on Youtube, never downloaded and saved to a physical user-end device and no one owns an iPod anymore.

entrepreneur: I'm technically an entrepreneur, but this word is the last one I want to use to describe myself. I've started stooping to using it recently, however, just to avoid talking about what I do with a stranger who won't understand. Most people are smart enough to avoid a conversation about work with an "entrepreneur," so I avoid wasting my time by using this word. But I don't want to be an entrepreneur. I want to be a successful business owner with $1,000,000 sitting in the bank unneeded.

startup: By definition, I'm running a startup. But I won't use this word for it. In fact, I don't even know what this word really means. Technically, it translates as "an unproven business idea what is bleeding money at a frantic rate." I don't want to own a startup. I want to own a proven, revenue generating business as quickly as possible.

disrupt: I don't want to talk about how my idea is going to disrupt an industry. I want to own and be selling a product so successful that it is commonplace and not a legitimate topic of conversation because everyone buys a few more every months as part of their routine.

hack: What does this even mean?

team: Why do I need a team? Is it because I'm not good enough at what I do or my ideas aren't good enough to simply have employees who trade their time for money turning my ideas into reality so that I don't have to sacrifice my own time in exchange for being able to sell great products to grateful consumers? Why do I want my employees to be a part of a team? So that they can disguise their lack of contribution in the confusion that comes with team efforts?

transparency: lol, what?

 

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[maverick]

A lot of people are in love with the start-up life: sitting around on beanbags, playing fussball or table tennis, paid lunches/snacks/beverages but not a lot of people actually love the grind.

A lot of well-funded startups are just burning through VC cash: bad customer retention, self-organising teams with people that are not capable of self-organising, weekly check-ins to justify your existince/job, and updates filled with vanity metrics such as cumulative account regs.

 

[maverick]

Here's another great piece of work. Holacracy. Makes me want to holacry.