The Road Ahead - Looks Bumpy

Spent sometime scanning for conferences and hob-nob events that I can attend to network. The balance between stealth and networking should be interesting. I'll do more of that today, both the scanning and the networking.

The need to get some cash in is rapidly becoming the important part of this venture. My small cadre of collaborators is a nice base, but loosely coupled at this point, and they have chains of limited length, due to their other commitments, so I can't get them really close yet. So I'll start to beat the bushes to scare up others.

Meanwhile I think I have a pretty workable demo. I need to do some run-throughs to ensure it speaks to my goals well and then start to take it on the road, and get beaten up a bit. I need to plan a way to manage the depression that comes with the constant skepticism of the audience a start-up needs to court. My sense from previous involvement in this area is that the audience is about 60% charlatans who cultivate the power of the critic without actually holding any potential value or useful ability, 35% gatekeeper types who are negative to any thing that comes their way, and 5% genuinely capable, open minded and in a position to be engaged in an opportunity.

The most deflating people to deal with are those without any experience, who are also unable to hold down a real job, but who position themselves as 'start-up gurus' They just repeat obvious platitudes that are perhaps fresh insights for a 20yr old, but for anyone else sound like they've just opened a business 101 textbook and are reading verbatim.

So while the initial crafting of a business is challenging, dealing with the pursuit of funding is the toughest of all.

I guess that's one of the reasons that immersing myself in some technical content has been fun on this project. Not only renewing that distant part of my skill set, but also because you can make progress without having to deal with difficult yet empowered people.

Still, I have had the pleasure of engaging with the odd visionary person who can ask the tough questions yet still embrace a good idea and run with it. That's a very rewarding experience, and one that I hope happens in the next couple of months before I make a decision about the future at the end of June.

Researchinator anticipates becoming more of a sellinator...