Have an idea? Want to build it into a startup, but don’t know where to begin? Serial entrepreneur Philip Rosedale will talk about how and why to create a startup, how to manage a team, how to raise money, etc.
If you want to learn a thing or two about failure, just talk to a venture capitalist. As August Capital’s David Hornik recently told an entrepreneurship class at Stanford, for every 1000 pitches he gets, he meets with 100 entrepreneurs and invests in about two companies.
“The odds suck,” he volunteers.
So, since the numbers show that you’re probably going to fail, what’s the best way to do it? We recently caught up with Hornik at his office on Sand Hill Road. Here’s what happened:
1) It’s a good time to fail: “It used to take a long time to figure out that something was a bad idea,” Hornik said. “Particularly in the consumer internet today, you can determine it was a bad idea on hundreds of thousands of dollars and months rather than millions of dollars and years.” (more…)
This just in:
“logistic regression is pornography for faculty members” @StanfordBiz professor discussing sales forecasting for #startups
Only in Silicon Valley can you charge $3.75 – $10 for a cup of drip coffee. And still have a line out the door.
Clusters of people huddle over laptops, colonizing tables for the day. (Local startups work here when they don’t have co-working space.)
The eclectic barista staff were mum about who their clients are but you can find out yourself. Enjoy the free WiFi and spend the day on the couches. Bring some work and find out the favorite drink of your favorite tech idols.
Thursday Night is Trivia Night — come prepared to meet some interesting folks. If the trivia crowd is anything like the regulars, expect to compete against hard working students, savvy entrepreneurs, and maybe even a VC or two 
Protip: if you are looking for something sweet on a balmy day, get the iced mocha Tesora. It won’t disappoint.
Some of our best overheards have come from Philz customers:
- “I should never meet with start-ups at
@Philz_Coffee before work. I get too fired up. It makes me want to throw my legal work at my secretary.”
- “Our relationship is significantly improved by the existence of FaceTime”
#overheard at@Philz_Coffee
