Kendall's "Internet startup checklist":

1. Idea:

  1. Would YOU write a check for your idea?
  2. Don't spill your candy in the lobby.
  3. Is your idea refining or revolutionizing?

2. Funding:

  1. Are your financials realistic if nothing goes right?
  2. Could you see your investors with a 10X, 20X return in 3 years?
  3. Do you have back-up plans b,c,d before quitting your day job?
  4. Do you have a great answer for the most cynical of investors?

3. team:

  1. Can you build your idea or will it take a team of pros?
  2. Is a specific person on your team essential or can he/she be replaced?
  3. Dont give up the farm to recruit talent.
  4. Hire brave & passionate smart people.

4. Product:

  1. Does your product SOLVE a problem?
  2. Beware of feature creep! Customers & prospects add features, not developers.
  3. Stay focused on money earning features, not cool ones.

5. Marketing:

  1. Is it costly (time/resources) to get branded in your target market?
  2. Make a goal of closing a core group of customers the first year. (traction)
  3. Adjust marketing resources to get traction (don't need much).
  4. Be sure to test your "seo / ad-words / ad-sense" properly before banking on them
  5. Nothing is better than "boots on the street." Start knocking on doors.

6. Customer:

  1. How many "loss leaders" do you have?
  2. Does your idea help your customer or is it just a "nice to have"?
  3. Make each customer feel like they are the only customer you have.
  4. Can your customers be up-sold? Do they have peers they could refer?


June 30, 2009 basement timeline

As my 4 readers know, I am a glutton for watching the market. I thought it would be neat to time-line the crash reported by the Wall Street Journal in my basement.

Here is a snapshot, with my iphone (sorry not a 3gs quality image) of Kohl standing in front of December / January 2008.journals

It is amazing to read some of the words of these reporters as they scrambled for the best descriptions of the panic.

Want to comment? Comments: 2

Posted by Kendall in economy


2 comments so far

  1. Are you planning on doing something with them besides wallpaper?

    June 30th, 2009

  2. Hey AB. More of artistic thing. The house was built in 1890 so I want the basement to be historic and current. (Like mission control with the all computers / flat panels but in an old basement on real old desks. History meets future theme going.)

    July 1st, 2009

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