Episode 17: The Business of Startups

Welcome to the first episode of DoC, now at home on Talkshoe. We started out discussing some of the technical difficulties of Talkshoe but this is all very experimental for us.

Geoff and I discuss PodCamp DC and the video that Geoff took of Shana Glickfield. Geoff is really tackling video and trying to get really ninja-like with video. Aaron shares a video editing tip he got from Loren Feldman.

We talked a lot about the business of startups today, diving right into this 37signals post about starting a business, not a startup.

There’s also a Washington Post article that indicates that in the District, VC funding of startups is up 13.9%.

Aaron makes an analogy to BrightKite as an example of a startup calling itself as startup, not a business.

Then we rant on Stealth. Give me a fucking break. Stealth mode is the biggest cop out ever. At least give us the name of the company.

Example: Job req for a Architect for a company in stealth mode

How professional is the concept of come work with us, we expect senior level experience, etc - but we’re not going to tell you who we are…

Then we opened the phones and had a regular old party line where callers like QueenofSpain, Erin Kotecki-Vest, Jonny Goldstein and others skewered the concept even more. Great times!

Jonny promotes the fact that Geoff and I are going to be on Jonny’s Partay live tomorrow at 9pm ET. On video!

Finally, we discuss contrived transparency as it relates to the topics du jour.

Episode 17 - MP3