

Startup struggle, Crashing a party to get into 500 Startups - useflyer
http://blog.safeshepherd.com/post/19975988812/startup-chaos-and-crashing-our-way-into-500-startups

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dkrich
I seriously hate being this guy, but this is taking short-sightedness to a
ridiculous level. You guys drifted from one idea to another to another like a
windsock. Then you suggested that you decided to pitch an investor about the
idea you were "passionate about" that you got from a thread on Reddit,
seemingly days before. See the problem here?

The other question I have is why you were so adamant about getting funding. If
the idea is so good and people want it so badly, why seek investment? I don't
mean this as a dig. I just don't understand why so many people wanting to
start businesses work from the assumption that they need to make obtaining
funding the end goal, and if they get into an incubator or get some investor
money, they win. Nowadays, it seems like building a successful company is a
process that is tightly guarded like entrance to an elite university, and if
you don't get in, you can't succeed. In reality, there has never been a time
as favorable for starting a purely tech-based company than right now. You can
do in a few hours of work per week what used to take a team of full-time
engineers several months. You don't need to invest in equipment or inventory.
And yet, ironically, it seems that the companies that most desperately seek
funding (and most often get it) are the companies that least need it.

That said, having advisers is another matter, and I know that having
connections in high places is never a bad thing. My point is that I think the
process described here, (and in so many articles on Mashable and TechCrunch)
unnecessarily discourages people, and prioritizes the unimportant aspects of
building a business.

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lusr
This was an entertaining and interesting story but at the end of it I couldn't
help but feel a bit discouraged: "great so this means I have to go find
somebody to mentor me? To fund me? Should I be talking to more potential users
about my idea? What if zero of them cream their pants? What if they all do and
someone steals the idea... I'm just one guy, two people are guaranteed to
finish this faster. And I thought the OTHER guys said the other day not to
talk about your idea until you had something visible, and that's been working
well for me. What if I waste my time on this and nobody likes it. Etc."

I think it's important to remember there are many ways to start a product and
a business around that product. If the approach in the post appeals and works
for some guys - great, go for it. Worst case all you lose is some money and
time, but for most of us that's NOT the end of the world.

I'm not comfortable going their route because I really believe I have solid
ideas that will generate revenue without needing more funding than my savings
can provide, and these are _my_ ideas that I don't want to share ownership
with anybody else. A mentor would be nice but these ideas are also about my
personality, and I've been through too many situations where people with more
charisma and experience try to tell me what to do and I give in to their
greater wisdom at the cost of feeling somehow cheated... I want to burn my own
fingers, for some reason, and that's the route I'm going to take. (I suspect
that what will happen, though, is that in the process of burning my fingers I
will meet a great medic.)

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melissamiranda
Glad to finally know the story!

Are you guys the reason why they locked the 500 offices permanently (so you
can only get in with a iPhone app)? Did Dave finally tire of all the ramdom
dudes pitching him?

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rdg
Eh... so, they just basically just wanted to get some VC money at any cost.
Ok.

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citricsquid
Please hyperlink any mention of Meloncard or any other product that remains
live, you're on the front page of Hacker News make the most of it! I had to
_search_ for your product, that's so backwards!

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useflyer
We changed the name of our product, same thing as safeshepherd the blog it was
written on :) that happened much later

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markkofman
Rob, I hope in a year or so you will write an update and this will be as
exciting as current one!

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melissamiranda
Just wait till he talks about A/B testing the name from MelonCard to
PrivacyPlum to SafeSheperd. How many hours did you spend on that domain name
suggestion website?

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davemc500hats
PrivacyPig would have been SO much more awesome.

(and i still have it btw)

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Schwolop
The funniest part of this for me is that my friends' company is
halfbaked.com.au...

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zinssmeister
old school hustle meets lean startup management. love it!

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minikomi
Is this a good place for feedback? Please emphasize that you're only currently
offering service for people in the US.

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ghayes
Appreciate the feedback. We're always working to better incorporate
international users, but the good news is that most people lookup websites are
very US-focused. We're working on asking for city/state/country/postal code if
you don't have a US zip code. -Geoff

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acanby
It's great to see you reaping a reward for going out on a limb -
congratulations!

How do you think your pitch would have been received had this been in a more
traditional forum? Do you think you would have achieved the same results, or
would you have pitched a completely different angle?

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useflyer
All of it true. The good, the bad, the ugly of learning how to build a
company, take risk, and make things happen.

