Month: June 2013

My Investment Thesis

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the past two years is that I must have an investment thesis to evaluate my opportunities. Without one, I succumb to the  entrepreneur’s disease: taking on too many seemingly good opportunities and doing none of them well. A good example of someone who has a clear investment thesis is Fred Wilson, who only invests in startups that are “building large networks of engaged users that can disrupt big markets.”

So here’s mine, whether as a founder, advisor or investor, in no particular order. A project must:

  1. Make money (business) or be self sustaining (nonprofit)
  2. Solve a real problem
  3. Makes peoples’ lives better in a real, measurable way
  4. Give me a platform to talk about the things I believe in

If an opportunity doesn’t fit these points, I’m not interested. No social photo apps. No group texting. No opaque finance deals. No businesses that exist solely for making money. There are enough good opportunities for me that I know I can both work on projects that make money and that make the world a better place. Nothing else.

Do you have an investment thesis? If so, what is it?

My main projects I’m working on right now all fit this criteria:

Entrepreneurship Courses in Chile

An organization that teaches entrepreneurship to Chileans who want to launch a business. We’re currently teaching classes in three Chilean universities, launching an online course and making our content available to as many Chileans who want to learn as possible. We are changing people’s lives by empowering them to take control of their lives. The program works and many of our students have launched profitable businesses, both in tech and traditional industries.

La Condonería

An online store that sells condoms with home delivery. Previously, the only way to purchase condoms in Chile was to go to a pharmacy, take a number, wait in line and then ask the pharmacist for condoms while all of the other clients are watching you. Sometimes the pharmacist looks at you condescendingly, other times other customers look at you disapprovingly. The process is embarrassing, especially for Chileans who live in a culture where, in many families, sex is still a taboo, a somewhat shameful activity, even for someone in their mid 20s. Most schools don’t have sex education. So many Chileans just don’t buy condoms, especially women. I have friends who drive 3+ miles away from their house to buy condoms just to not run into anyone they know. Plus they’re about double the price of condoms in the US. The system is broken, so we’re fixing it with La Condonería.

Startup Chile 101

I wrote the book to help people have a soft landing in Chile and avoid making the mistakes I made when I first got here. The book is the guide book I’d wished I’d had before I came to Chile and will make sure people have as good of an experience as I did.

Forward Technology Festival

After South By Southwest in 2010, I decided Madison should have a tech festival just like Austin. So along with two friends, we started The Forward Technology Festival. August 2013 will be the fourth festival. It gives me the platform to talk about entrepreneurship in Wisconsin and outside of the coasts.

Capital Entrepreneurs

In 2008 Madison, WI, didn’t have a good place for entrepreneurs to get together, so along with a few other entrepreneur friends, we created Capital Entrepreneurs, a way for entrepreneurs to share their experiences and get to know each other. Five years later, it’s growing like crazy and has more members than ever. It gives me the chance to interact with a group I care about.

De-Pe: Real Entrepreneurship in Antofagasta Chile

Last Thursday was Demo Day for De-Pe, the class I teach at Universidad Catolica in Antofagasta, Chile. It was the culmination of a 12 week class designed to give the students in the class the tools they need to be successful running a business. Nine teams showed up to the first class twelve weeks ago. Some had an idea, others a functioning business, others just a dream. But by the last Thursday, everyone had something they could be proud of.

It was amazing to see the progress the entrepreneurs made by the end of the course and I’m really proud of all of our entrepreneurs who were willing to keep an open mind and improve their product each week.

But the best part, for me, was that each entrepreneur was working on a real problem. It was refreshing to see. Nobody was there because entreprneurship is cool. Nobody was there for the free food. Nobody was there for the free beer. Nobody was there to get famous. Nobody had the next photo sharing app or the next cat social network.

Everyone had a real problem they wanted to solve. Everyone was working on their idea because it was a problem they had. And that helped someone. By the end of the class, everyone found a niche where a customer was willing to pay them to solve the problem. There were no bullshit.

Our class follows a methodology we call EPIC. Luckily it works the same way in English and Spanish:

Enganchar – Engage

First, we break down the myths of entrepeneurship. You don’t need a ton of money. That it’s necessary to fail small in order to avoid failing big. That if you fail its not because you were stupid, lazy, stole the money or a combination of the three.

Poder – Power

Second, we empower the teams by giving them the tools they need to succeed. Entrepreneurship has become more scientific and we give the teams the best practices to be able to succeed. We force them to pivot to find a niche, simplify and find success on a small scale.

Integrar – Integrate

Third, we integrate our students into the entrepreneurial ecosystem. We bring local and international entrepreneurs to Antofagasta to help mentor students. We force the students out of the classroom to speak with their clients and share their ideas with entrepreneurs and actually listen to their feedback.

Comunicar- Communicate

Fourth, students need to be able to communicate their value proposition to clients, to potential business partners and to potential investors. That’s the first step toward sales. We teach clear communication via multiple presentations that end in Demo Day.

While it was a bit of a long haul traveling to Antofagasta 8 times in 12 weeks, it was completely worth it. Our students are exactly what entrepreneruship should be, not the bullshit that’s permeating most entrepeneurial ecosystems. I have no doubt that a year from now all of our entrepreneurs will be successful in whatever they’re working on. Here’s some of our projects (spanish news story):

1st Prize – $5000

Veneno Detect – The world’s first rapid detection test for araña de rincón spider bites. The current test is to go to the hospital to wait for your flesh to start to rot. If it does, it’s araña de rincón, if it’s not, you’re safe.

2nd Prize – $3000

Ecocrea – Solar panel arrays for off the gird mining offices to replace diesel generators at lower cost.

3rd Prize – $2000

Standmat – 3d video animations to increase sales for companies wanting to sell to mining companies.

Other notable projects

Purorugby – Chile’s first online rugby store.

Maestroalaobra – A Chilean version of Angie’s List, a way to get handymen you can trust.

Melanie Stylo – Solo entrepreneur who makes custom made sheets and curtains. Her business supports her family and grew during the class.

Ludico – Online costume rental with offline store. Solo entrepreneur who is supporting her family with her business.

Rincón Sano – Food truck to sell healthy salads in Antofagasta to give people another option besides crappy fried food.

CleanSubZero – Machine that uses dry ice to clean mining heavy equipment.

What Entrepreneurship Is Really Like

I’m sick and tired of many people’s mistaken impression of what entrepreneurship actually is. It all started a few years ago with the Facebook movie and now we have a big problem. Too many people have the wrong idea. The douchebaggery quotient in the “entrepreneurial ecosystem” is so high a few non entrepreneur friends have told me that they think there’s something innate about startups that attracts massive douchebaggery. That used to be the domain of bankers. Now its startups. So I’m here to set the record straight.

Entrepreneurship is not dressing in whatever clothes you want, coming in to work at whatever hour you’d like to work on your social app that’s going to be the new Twitter for Facebook for Instagram and if you could only get 5% of the market, you’ll be able to sell for $1.1b too! It’s not working on an idea in hopes that you can sell it one year later. It’s not easy.

It’s not getting out of bed at 12pm, going to networking events and drinking as much free crappy beer and eating lukewarm mediocre pizza and telling people you’re the CEO of the company when you’re the only one “working” on your “idea.” It’s not applying to countless incubators, contests and pitch competitions. It’s not talking about your idea that’s been in stealth mode for six months and won’t leave for another year. If ever. It’s not working on a problem that nobody has.

Real entrepreneurship solves a problem someone has…and they’ll pay you to solve it for them. Real entrepreneurship is hard. It’s a struggle. It’s like getting up each morning and walking into the kitchen and putting your hand on the hot burner. Ten minutes later, someone walks in an starts smashing your hand with a frying pan. All the while, they’re laughing at you. “You think you’re going to succeed with that product? You think you can execute that? You think you can beat the incumbent company with 1000x more employees than you?” And you just have to take it with a smile and go about your day proving the critics wrong.

But at least you get to wear the clothes you want.

Obviously there’s some days where you get to take your hand off the burner and the laughing and the smashing stop. But then you’re going to an office, convincing people to pay you for your product and shipping product. Iterating. Solving a real problem. And then you have to deal with a whole new set of laughing, smashing hurdles.

So if you’re getting into entrepreneurship to wear comfy clothes, drink free beer and eat crappy pizza at meetups and pretend you’re the founder of a $1b company when you just have an idea and think it’s worth more than a ham sandwich, you’re probably in the wrong business. And you just might be a #starthole.

Startup Chile Generation 8 Application Help

Startup Chile is opening the eighth round of applications today, June 10th. This application period will run from June 10th until June 27th with the winners being announced August 29th. In the round seven application process 1577  startups from more than 57 countries applied for the right to come to Chile for $20m Chilean pesos (US$42,000). Chile invited 100 of the 1577 companies who applied and they will begin to arrive July 3rd.

Startup Chile has become more competitive as the number of applications has grown. Round seven had applications grow from 1421 in round six to 1577. More than 1700 companies will likely apply to Round 8. More than 600 companies have already gone through the program since the pilot round in 2010.

It’s a great program, especially for entrepreneurs who are bootstrapping or already have developed a product but need more time to figure out the correct business model for their business. It’s a perfect fit if you’re looking to target the South American market.

My company, Entrustet, was part of the pilot phase of Start-Up Chile and I’ve been in Chile since November 2010. I blogged extensively about my experiences in the program and in Chile, along with advice on how to get selected for Start-Up Chile. I tracked down the stats from the pilot round companies a year later, which was published on The Next Web. I also wrote Startup Chile 101, the book that will tell you everything you need to know about living, working and doing business in Chile.

Since the third round, I’ve helped startups review their applications and prepare them to get accepted into Startup Chile. Overall I’ve now reviewed, 35 applications for prospective Startup Chile teams and 20 have been accepted.

Round 3 – 6/9 66%
Round 4 – 3/4 75%
Round 5 – 3/6 50%
Round 6 – 3/6 50%
Round 7 – 5/10 50%

Overall: 20/35 57%

In rounds five through seven, 6.4% of applicants were accepted into the program and 50% of the applications I’ve reviewed have made it. Three companies had applied two times previously and were accepted after we worked together. Another team needed to completely redo their video and we worked together to make it happen. I thought two more of the teams that I worked with completely deserved to make it in this round.

I can help you craft an application that emphasizes the criteria that the judges are looking for, correct your grammar into perfect English and give you the tips you need to have the best chance at getting selected.

If you need help with your application, please contact me. Editing, writing, review, advice. I charge a small flat fee to review and edit your application, plus a larger success fee if you are selected for the program after I’ve helped you.

Want help? Got questions? Want a quote? Email me: nate at nathanlustig dot com or fill out my contact form.

Note: I WILL NOT write paid letters of recommendation.