It’s a This Week in Venture Capital first, as Mark hears a company pitch from the co-founders of Smarketplaces, Sonia Sahney Nagar and Ryan Weber.
We’d like to thank our sponsors Fenwick & West, Assistly, and MozyPro–Protect your data, protect your business.
For more, visit http://thisweekin.com/venturecapital
Timecodes:
00:17 INTRO: We decided to try something new for the first time ever, we have Ryan and Sonya of Smarketplaces who are going to be pitching me!
1:50 Have you raised money, or are you bootsrapping right now?
2:10 So we’re going to go through the business in a moment, but let’s give people the headlines. What does Smarketplaces do?
3:10 Some of the biggest trends on the internet: content mixed with commerce.
3:30 Intro to Ryan.
4:50 Ryan, what attracted you to consulting?
6:40 Sonya, what’s your background?
7:30 When did you go to Harvard Business School? Is there an entrepreneurial background there?
8:47 How did you guys meet?
10:08 Let me throw out a concern I have about programs like Founderlabs and Startup Weekend. The problem I have is that you get thrown in with a bunch of people you don’t know, it’s actually the winners I worry about. My fear is for a weekend, everybody seems great and you’re all excited to work together. But you take all the positive kudos, and you commit 5 to 8 years of your life to it, and maybe it’s not as good as you thought?
13:28 You should assign your IP to the group that works together. Be selective about the people you work with.
17:42 MozyPro Ad Read
20:09 Let’s go into Smarketplaces!
20:25 Sonya details Smarketplaces business model
22:30 You’re focused on mom-blogs, is that your first target? Why does a mom-blog want to take your widget?
23:30 Mark analyzes Smarketplaces’ pitch
25:20 Your number one thing that you should care about is revenue. How do we increase your revenue?
28:10 Is Smarketplaces more of an Ebay or an Etsy?
31:38 Mark on the value of a Blog Network.
33:20 How do you handle customer service?
33:40 Assistly Ad Read
34:50 How can you guarantee that your inventory will be available if it’s listed in multiple places?
35:38 Do you do a revshare? Do you disclose this amount?
36:02 How do you imagine differentiating yourself?
37:00 Do you imagine cooking your users, so you know more about them when they come?
38:00 If you can do something with your data, and find some way to do innovative with it, you will be adding incremental value.
38:30 What is your biggest technical challenge that you’re trying to work through?
38:58 How big do you think the market is?
42:30 How do you think about fundraising these days?
44:10 When do you go out? Early vs. developed
44:56 I would encourage you to meet early, and meet as many people as you can.
46:02 Mark’s advice on getting a business off the ground: Make a ‘business pie chart’ so you can allocate your time more appropriately.
49:00 Mark’s feedback on Smarketplaces: monetizing a media company!
50:51 Fenwick & West Ad
52:45 Closing
Duration : 0:53:26
@ …
@jonathanpaulmetillon same here…. So what? I have to quit everything and pick some idea? How to choose the right one? Where to find someone with similar/relative ideas to startup something?
those as breaks are …
those as breaks are so fake and funny lmao
Wow that’s a great …
Wow that’s a great video!!! Mark, please do this more
5:36 “For years …
5:36 “For years I’ve been keeping sort of a Google Document of ideas that I have. They keep coming to me.” Exactly the same and mine is getting pretty long
We need more like …
We need more like this here in South Florida aka The Silicon Beaches. How about it? 954-778-5137. Get the business done-Have some Fun-in-the-Sun
what is it with …
what is it with you americans, smart but so cocky.
Great video. …
Great video. Learned a lot and hope to see more of these in the future.
She is very clear. …
She is very clear. I look forward to seeing this product. Mark, having to shill for products takes the presentation down a bit. The TV industry may be “old” media, but you might want to follow their model and have a 3rd party do the advertising pitching.
Very good info even …
Very good info even for an existing (successful) internet business. We can use this to improve and hone our model. Thanks!
I’m in Philly. I …
I’m in Philly. I see some sparks and puffs of smoke that might someday develop into a fire of entrepreneurialism here. I’m just a noob; PhD physicist turned web-entrepreneur so what do I know? I love this city. We have some great minds and artists; a nice balance of the technical and arts. I’ll probably get sucked into SF or NYC at some point, but I’d love to be part of a new movement here. Anyway, here’s to next season, go Eagles!
Mark, speaking of …
Mark, speaking of Vegas, you look like you just got back from there! Bring back Mr. Smooth… please!
Hugely useful! A …
Hugely useful! A great insight into what goes on inside those four walls….particularly as I hope to be in there sometime myself!
Had a really hard …
Had a really hard time understanding her when she said this; I believe Founder Labs is program where she said they met.
This was helpful! …
This was helpful! Keep this going! I really enjoyed the Q & A, very dynamic. I was impressed by Sonia she was well spoken and confident. It was a good model for how pitches will play out for those of us who have never done this before. Wish I would of saw this prior to talking with my first potential investor.
Mark, can you do …
Mark, can you do more of these? I love the transparent approach and rationale behind the questions.
@Mark: Thanks, it …
@Mark: Thanks, it was enlightening to see what a typical pitch would look like without having to be there. I’d like to see more in the future.
Venture Capital is …
Venture Capital is back! YAY!
Just a heads up. …
Just a heads up. The MozyPro ad says 70,0000 businesses.
Great idea. I think …
Great idea. I think it has a lot of potential. The only problem I see is the difficulty to keep a unique position. it’s easily to clone the tool.
after 10/15min …
after 10/15min Marc lost his excitement…
Mark, spot on …
Mark, spot on comments on limitations of Startup Weekend. I’ve been to 2 and had great experiences at both, and they are great places to network, brainstorm and refine your skills, but I would NOT start a serious startup out of one of those weekends.
Sonia is hot!
But …
Sonia is hot!
But siriously - great company. Good luck