Follow Me:
Micah January 1st

Sharing Food With My Stylist

The news in 2010 was dominated by the rise of the Super Angel, and their affect on the startup ecosystem.

Basically, that the existence of Super Angels (individuals that are investing smaller $20-$75 million funds) was allowing too many startups to get funding, and that a bubble was being created that would burst, and would ruin the venture market. (Ever since 1999-2001 the greatest fear that investors and startups have is that a bubble will burst. All kinds of bubbles. All kinds of bursting.)

Folks like Dave McClure and his 500startups, which became (in many ways) the poster child for the “New VC” or “Super Angel” movement, started to invest in dozens and dozens of startups. Every week, Techcrunch would run stories of companies getting sub-$1mm in seed funding, and in many ways, investing in technology became “fashionable.”

I am a lazy blogger, so I wont find out how many startups received (true) seed funding (sub $1mm) in 2010, but I would bet its a big number.

The side effect of this growth in seed-level funding is that more women led startups received funding and/or interest in 2010, perhaps also more than in recent memory.

It’s not an issue of shear number of women in technology, like was talked about to death in 2010, or the lack of women in power positions or on big boards. Its that entrepreneurship is not a male only gene.

Its not about the numbers. Its about the quality.

In 2010, there were three startups that were founded by women that have a big chance to become the breakout startup in 2011:

Neighborgoods:

Started by Micki Krimmel in LA (there are startups in LA?!??!) after she realized that there was no easy way to share, well, stuff, online for short periods of time, Neighborgoods took a little while to get off the ground. I met Micki in the middle of the year and over the course of six months, I watched as she continued to refine the business model. Launching in around October or so, she quickly got a ton of press around what she is doing. The “Share Economy” is certainly a growing interest, and coupled with social entrepreneurship and sustainability, Micki has hit on something interesting (although I would bet that solving stagflation by allowing employees to participate in revenue wasn’t first on the agenda).

Making it extremely simple for people to share stuff with each other, and watching that extend to corporations and organizations, she has seen some great early success. I expect that success to soar in 2011.

StyleSeat:

Started by Melody McClosky in SF (*whew*) in 2010, she received some early investment from friends of mine. I have never met Melody (although Facebook says we have 160 friends in common, so, well, there is that.), and frankly, early on, couldnt see the appeal of a site that provided storefronts for stylists and service providers (like massage therapists). So many companies have tried to replace the yellow pages and failed, I couldnt understand the appeal of something like StyleSeat.

But the SME market, with its potential of billions and billions can be cracked. Look at Etsy. And, watching companies attack it in an interesting ways (simplicity) piques my interest. I think about tattoo artists, and their need to manage a wait list as well as appointments (Jeremy Pepper’s comment below reminded me of that). In addition, when Styleseat releases some level of search functionality, it will become really interesting.

One startup I used to work for, ServiceMagic, has become the defacto place for home improvement contractors. Can Styleseat become the spot for service providers? I think so.

I can see Styleseat expand to allow anyone to use its technology to set up a page to advertise services, such as office hours, resume reviews, or even a game of backgammon.

Foodspotting:

This past summer, Lane Becker and I were hanging out in Boulder (Yes, Lane leaves SF), and talking about ways to help motivate employees (rousing discussion; I know.). “Have you seen Foodspotting?” Lane asked. He proceeds to tell me about how Alexa, while at Adaptive Path, came up with the idea. She continued to work on it while at Adaptive Path, never missing a deadline, until Foodspotting became…well, something…and she left to give it a go. I met Alexa while speaking at a conference in SF, and she had such positive energy around an app that was basically a way to take pictures of food.

Since then, she brought on Soraya Darabi, as the third founder (and I think moved the company HQ to NYC), and the team has landed deals with the Travel Channel among others. Time named them one of the best sites of 2010. More than 500,000 people have downloaded their iPhone app.

Related articles
Enhanced by Zemanta
startups Add to del.icio.us  Digg This
  • http://pop-pr.blogspot.com Jeremy Pepper

    I agree with you on all three; I think, though, that Styleseat needs to change its messaging as almost all aestheticians and stylists I go to have a central appointment system through their salons. Except in San Francisco (odd city), where everyone rented their chairs (pretty common) but had no central system (not common at all in other cities).

    I did show it to my personal trainer (Equinox trainers set their own schedules) and she loved it. Only issue? She didn’t sign up because she couldn’t find the pricing anywhere.

  • Pingback: Who do you think will be the breakout startup or entrepreneur of 2011? - Quora

  • http://500startups.com/ Dave McClure

    and FYI, 500 Startups invested in both StyleSeat and FoodSpotting.

    (spoke to Micki and have great respect for her skills, both on and off the roller derby rink)

  • http://learntoduck.com/ micah

    Well, 2 for 3 aint bad. :) Of most investors I know, you have been pretty
    vocal around women entrepreneurs. In fact, I was going to include Christine
    as part of the list, given her ability, by working at 500startups, to be
    helpful and touch so many startups, but I couldnt figure out how to make it
    fit the post.

  • nooo

    This past summer, Lane Becker and I were hanging out in Boulder (Yes, Lane leaves SF), a<a href=”http://www.hihandbag.biz/police-watches.html”>police watches</a>

  • http://www.findfrisoer.dk Samiparker1

    WOW thats very awesome and now I am feeling more and more hungry now.

  • Sami Parker

    Thanks for sharing such a nice post, I would like to thank you for that, keep sharing such nice stuff.

  • http://www.ekspertens-opskrifter.dk Samiparker02

    Its so informative and have much knowledge about the topic, I would love to share it on ma faceboook, thanks for sharing such a nice post.

  • Anonymous

    thanx you for article

  • david

    if such small businesses needs push up why no,t they can or should be funded to grow..

  • David

    Quite interesting and lovely post, I like it, thanks a lot for sharing such a nice post with us.

  • http://melodymccloskey.com melodymcc

    Hey Micah, thanks for the shout out! We think the small business opportunity is a pretty big one and have a lot of great functionality planned beyond just appointments. Most isn’t yet public- looking forward to sharing more as we approach launch.

    I feel like I’m seeing more and more quality female founders every month, (I’m a big fan of Alexa and Micki) and I think we’ll see a lot in 2011.

  • Anonymous

    The side effect of this increase in seed funding level is that more women took new companies have received funding and / or interest in 2010, perhaps more than in recent times.

    Escorts

  • Anonymous

    that the existence of angels Super (individuals investing less than $ 20 – $ 75 million fund) have to start too many to get financing and that the bubble was created, would burst.

    Escorts

  • Anonymous

    I go to have a central appointment method through their salons. Except in San Francisco (odd city), where everyone rented their chairs ( common) but had no central method (not common at all in other cities.

    Motorcycle Accessories

  • Pingback: My Grandmother Once Told Me