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Offer HN: Are you a startup founder? Want some free PR?
I'm producing a webseries about Silicon Valley - it's basically Entourage, but based here in the Valley. I'll be launching a Kickstarter fundraising project in the next few days, and as part of the fundraising I'm doing "30 Days of Startup Stories." I will feature your story and you get to piggyback off the PR for the project. What I'll need your best startup story to feature in my update. I'll be asking for feedback on the stories, and the best ones will make it into the series itself - which would obviously get you even more exposure. Remember this is drama - so it's not a product pitch - it's killer products, crazy founder stories, lust, betrayal, absurdity, coincidence, debauch, or whatever else you have experienced that will make people go "no...fricking...way." Here are a couple I've gotten so far:
- fired my best friend
- lost a $10mm deal because I was 10 minutes late
- lost 3 girlfriends in 2 months
Your only commitment is a few sentences of text to get featured in 30 Days of Startups...easy! Write to me at fernando at valleyseries dot com with 2-3 sentences on your startup and your story. Or drop your story in comments if you'd like...I'm sure we'll get some doozies!
- jaequery 15y agodo companies have to be in the valleys?
- fapi1974 15y agoNot for the little profiles I'm doing during fundraising - just an interesting story is great.
- callmeed 15y agoMy friend and I were just discussing how awesome it would be to have a reality show/movie/drama series about some startups and founders in the valley–but mixed with a lot of what you described (lust, betrayal, absurdity, etc.). Post your kickstarter project when it's live–I'll contribute.
- fapi1974 15y agoAwesome! I'll do that. And the cool thing is that all sorts of people have THOUGHT of doing this - but no one really has,yet.
- aussiegreg 15y agoNice idea, going to cause some trouble I think..
- volandovengo 15y agoStory for you: I quit my corporate job and then had a co-founder bail on me 1 week later. So I had to ask my old boss to take me back. Luckily he agreed. I then quit 6 months later.
- fapi1974 15y agoSign me up - send me your details via email. We might want to anonymize it :-)
- corywatilo 15y agoCall me crazy, but I'm kind of glad I don't have enough drama to make it on this show...
- fapi1974 15y agoNot crazy at all - and honestly I want to do a great job of showing how dreary and depressing it can get - the internal drama is real!
- ca-rl 15y agoNot sure what this will do for the startup community as a whole... I personally wouldn't want to contribute to the "over hype" of start up life - people think it's all fun and games but often forget how much work goes behind building a successful business and product. Just my 2 cents.
- JulianMiller520 15y agoIf I were an Angel or VC, I'd check this list against my upcoming meetings and cancel meetings with any founders who would or could focus time on being the "entourage" of the valley. IMHO it shows a propensity for focusing on the notoriety as opposed to the process. I believe Ashton said it best when he spoke about shutting off as soon as founders were affected by thoughts of "the effect" as opposed to being focused on the problem they are trying to solve.
- dpapathanasiou 15y agoAnd yet Techstars NYC forced all its startups to be part of a similar show on Bloomberg.
- danielamitay 15y agoThe founders featured in the Bloomberg series agreed to the coverage. There were other TechStars NYC companies that did not agree.
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- JulianMiller520 15y agoexactly and then there was that whole "we were taken advantage of/ it was fake" blog post which I think just made them look worse. I was always told when I was younger to remember "when you dance with the devil, it's ALWAYS to his tune." Best to focus on shipping your product and marketing. If you are doing it right, the right kind of press should come your way. Skip the theatrics.
- dpapathanasiou 15y agoNot exactly. Bloomberg chose not to feature everyone, but all startups had to agree to be on the show or leave the Techstars program: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3133198 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3133198
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- davidhansen 15y agoWe're not based out of silicon valley, so I'm not sure if we qualify. That said: "Cofounder: set up shop in grandma's living room and lived on the couch. Me: quit my prior startup, endured business partner's rage, dumped girlfriend, moved to a different state. Business: bootstrapped, profitable, growing." Probably not dramatic enough, but there it is.
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- fapi1974 15y agoSo for the "30 Days of Startups" your story, while common - is essential - it's part of what people go through. Can't guarantee that you will make it into the series, but I'm happy to feature you during fundraising! Send me an email with the details.
- drnex 15y agoWe have cool stories, but we are based in Mexico City. Is that cool?
- fapi1974 15y agoOf course! Remember these are ideas that will form the basis for some fiction - I'd love to hear all about it!
- ed209 15y ago> lost 3 girlfriends in 2 months How do you even get 3 girlfriends in two months? Surely anything shorter than a few months with someone is not considered a girlfriend!
- JonLim 15y agoIt's not difficult if you meet and get friendly with a lot of women. Keep in mind boyfriend/girlfriend is just a title and you can actually have one for a day if you want. Hell, Kim Kardashian had a marriage for 75 days, that's about the same time frame, no? #rimshot
- fapi1974 15y agoAlso, the point of the story was that each of them was a "real" prospect that the founder was really into. But multiple stood up dates sent them packing!
- ed209 15y agohow can you possibly be "really" into someone that many times in 2 months... it's like something out of High School Musical
- lbarrow 15y agoYou might be interested in talking to this guy: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3221094 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3221094
- fapi1974 15y agoGreat suggestion - will do.
- jiganti 15y agoDropping out of University of San Francisco before my startup even launches next month. Spending all my money to pay a couple developers for the prototype and hoping all goes well. I am very confident.
- fapi1974 15y agoI'd probably need a bit more detail - but send me an email!