DreamIt Ventures Kick-Off
On Friday and Saturday I attended the DreamIt Ventures Kick-Off here in Philadelphia. Yesterday I saw the presentations of the 12 web startup ideas, which was really interesting - some of them are very good. They will be working on their startups from May 21-Aug 21 and I’m interested to watch the progress.
I found the speakers to be very inspiring and had a lot of good advice for young entrepreneurs. Josh Kopelman, founder of half.com, spoke on Friday. Philadelphia mayor Michael Nutter also spoke. Lucinda Holt, CEO of Commerce360 spoke on Saturday. The founders, David Bookspan, Michael Levinson and Steven Welch - besides their success in business - are all very nice people, which helped to solidify my belief that personal credibility is one of the most important parts of business.
Some of Josh Kopelman’s advice to young entrepreneurs is: be adaptable, focus on the unknown variables, focus on the execution of the idea, the importance of the first 90-120 days, and be willing to give up your personal life at least in the beginning. He also spoke about how an idea doesn’t have to be new - a good idea can do something that already exists, but cheaper and better. In this way, the goal of a startup would be to shrink a market. Lucinda Holt mentioned the importance of finding the right market, the right team, and persistence with a willingness to adapt.
