KINGSTON BETA
To Learn. To Be Inspired. To Network.
Kingston BETA PITCH! Entry Information
Feb 8th
We’re accepting entries for our Pitch This Segment for Thursday, February 18th, 6:30pm at The Spanish Court Hotel, New Kingston.
HOW TO ENTER
Send us The name of your startup, website, a short company profile to ingrid (at) connectimass.com. Startup must be Caribbean based, Caribbean led. Pitches by Skype Video is also being done. We’d like to hear from the Global Caribbean Diaspora too.
<What’s New with Next Kgn Beta>
- Jamaica National ( JN) is now a major sponsor. They have agreed to sponsor Kingston Beta for 2010 and we’re happy to have them on board.
-We’re at a new location – Spanish Court Hotel. We are thankful to Susie’s Bakery and Cafe for being amazing hosts to Kingston Beta for 2009.
- We going Caribbean. We accept Pitches from Caribbean based and Caribbean run Startups from around the world, through Skype Video. It’s going to be fun and even more competitive.
- Kingston Beta will have it’s own video channel on http://www.facebook.com/l/76af0;RealVibez.tv.
- Socialingua is our online PR partner.
Kingston Beta opens 2010 with a new sponsor and a new location
Feb 1st
We are happy to announce that we’re opening Kingston Beta 2010 with lots of great new things.
Kingston Beta's New Sponsor - Jamaica National (JN)
1. First we welcome Jamaica National ( JN) as our major sponsor. They have agreed to sponsor Kingston Beta for 2010 and we’re happy to have them on board.
Kingston Beta's new home
2.We’re at a new location – Spanish Court Hotel. We are thankful to Susie’s Bakery and Cafe for being amazing hosts to Kingston Beta for 2009.
3. We going Caribbean. We started Kingston Beta in 2007 with a strong Caribbean representation in Rodney Browne, Ceo of eCaribbean Ltd who flew in from St Kitts to pitch. Now with the help of technology, we’re incorporating more Caribbean baed and Caribbean run Startups from around the world, through Skype Video. It’s going to be fun and even more competitive.
Kingston Beta - TV Channel Partner
4. Kingston Beta will have it’s own video channel on RealVibez.tv. Since we’re now bi-monthly and every event will have at least 4 Caribbean startups pitching, we’re going to get all of this on video and post to RealVibez.tv and of course right here on KingstonBeta.com
We’re growing thanks to the support of you all in the Jamaican and Caribbean Web/Tech/Mobile Community. Let’s keep it going in 2010. We believe this year in the Caribbean’s Tipping Point!!
Kingston Beta is a Connectimass Event! Supported by SiliconCaribe.com – the Caribbean Technology Blog.
How to Give Your Startup Idea a Reality Check
Jan 30th
I have a certain friend who called me again a while back, all excited about his latest revelation. “What if you could go to a web site and find all the recipes you could make today, with just the ingredients you already have in your kitchen? I’m going to start a website to offer this service!”
I’m sure you all realize that there could be quite a distance between a great idea and a great startup. But many people don’t have a clue on how to bridge the gap. So, trying carefully not to rain on his parade, I suggested to my friend that he complete the following analysis as due diligence on the idea before spending his life savings (and others) to roll out a solution:
- Few competitors. Use Google or one of the many other search engines to search for existing solutions to this problem. A search argument like “recipes from the ingredients you have on hand” might be the place to start. If you find ten competitors who already have this offering, it’s probably not worth going any further.
- No patents filed. Maybe the solution hasn’t yet been commercialized, but a patent has been submitted by someone else, putting your idea in jeopardy. Another series of searches on Google Patents and the US Patent Office site and Free Patents Online is in order at this point. Of course, you could pay a Patent Attorney a few thousand dollars to do the same search.
- Large and growing market. Investors will expect market analysis data from a “credible unbiased third party” – that means a nationally known market research firm like Gartner, Forrester, IDC, or Frost & Sullivan. Hopefully, you will find, with your favorite search engine, something like the “Cooking And Eating Market Assessment 2007.”
To Think Big, Start Small
Jan 10th
Start small. Do what you can with something you care about so deeply that you simply can’t not do it. Stay focused, close to the ground, rooted in everyday reality. Trust your instincts and your eyes: do what needs doing any way you can, whether the experts agree or not. Put practice ahead of theory and results ahead of conventional wisdom.
Start small. If it works, keep doing it. If it doesn’t work, change what you’re doing until you find something that does work. Start small, start with whatever is close at hand, start with something you care deeply about. But as Muhammad Yunus told the KaosPilots, start.
Excerpt. Read Full Post here.
THANK YOU: Kingston Beta 2009 Season Closes. We’re looking fwd to an amazing 2010
Nov 25th
Last night was the last Kingston beta event for 2010. We had Coretalk, Advocate Integrated Media and Twindies.com presenting and as usual it was great to hear the ideas, the questions and witness the robust networking. Let’s keep it growing for 2010.
I’d like to give a really big thank you and commendation to the following startups who have pitched their ideas, helped to grow the Internet Culture and Industry in Jamaica and the Caribbean.
Caribbean Startups
jamenus.com
Socialingua
Playjamaica.com
Coretalk
Caribcontact
Caribclix
ECaribbean Ltd (st kitts)
Top5Jamaica
Software architects
PileoJobs
RebelMix
Music Pass Network
CaribbeanHomePlans.com
MyEliteGrocer.com
Twindies.com
One studio (vietnam)
The Community
Thanks to the community of entrepreneurs, professionals,bloggers,tweeters who’ve supported Kingston Beta by being a part of it and by spreading the word one text message, tweet, blog post and conversation at a time. We appreciate it.
The Support
Thanks To Susan Leequee, Shaneel, Tandra and my fellow members of the Internet Alliance- Chad Cunningham,Sandor Panton,Jamie Ranston,Leighton Scarlett.
The Sponsors
Thanks to our sponsors Caribbean Producers Jamaica, Susie’s on the Terrace and especially Susie, Amanda and the very accommodating Susie’s Cafe team.
We look forward to a fantastic 2010. We’re growing, we’re growing! Give thanks.
Thanks a million
Ingrid Riley
Co-founder of Kingston Beta
CEO, ConnectiMass- Digital Marketing AGency
Editor, SiliconCaribe.com- Caribbean Internet Guide
What Startups Are Really Like
Nov 23rd
I wasn’t sure what to talk about at Startup School, so I decided to ask the founders of the startups we’d funded. What hadn’t I written about yet? I’m in the unusual position of being able to test the essays I write about startups. I hope the ones on other topics are right, but I have no way to test them. The ones on startups get tested by about 70 people every 6 months. So I sent all the founders an email asking what surprised them about starting a startup. This amounts to asking what I got wrong, because if I’d explained things well enough, nothing should have surprised them.
I’m proud to report I got one response saying: What surprised me the most is that everything was actually fairly predictable!
The bad news is that I got over 100 other responses listing the surprises they encountered.
There were very clear patterns in the responses; it was remarkable how often several people had been surprised by exactly the same thing. These were the biggest:
1. Be Careful with Cofounders
This was the surprise mentioned by the most founders. There were two types of responses: that you have to be careful who you pick as a cofounder, and that you have to work hard to maintain your relationship.
What people wished they’d paid more attention to when choosing cofounders was character and commitment, not ability. This was particularly true with startups that failed. The lesson: don’t pick cofounders who will flake. Read the rest of this entry »
If your business needs money: Debt, equity and a third thing that might work better
Nov 19th
by Seth Godin
If your business needs money, it seems as though you have two choices:
* Get a loan from a bank
* Raise equity from an investor, giving up part of your company in exchange
Banks are everywhere, so the idea that they can loan us money seems obvious. And venture capitalists and the companies they fund are in the news all the time… and making a billion dollars sounds like fun.
Here’s the thing: for most businesses, most of the time, neither is a realistic option.
Banks aren’t in the business of taking risk. Which means that they make boring loans to boring companies for boring purposes. They do everything they can to be riskless. Which means you need to guarantee the loan with your house or with assets worth far more than the loan. Which means that a good idea is not a sufficiently good reason for a loan. Read the rest of this entry »
12 Facts About Entrepreneurs That Will Likely Surprise You
Nov 17th
These findings are from a report is titled “The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur”. It’s based on a survey of 549 company founders across a variety of industries (that’s my first mistake, as it turns out entrepreneurs start companies other than Internet software companies — who knew?) In any case, here are some of the points from the report that I found the most interesting.
1. The average and median age of company founders when they started their current companies was 40.
2. 95.1 percent of respondents themselves had earned bachelor’s degrees, and 47 percent had more advanced degrees.
3. Less than 1 percent came from extremely rich or extremely poor backgrounds
TEXT Games…at the Next Kingston Beta
Nov 11th
TEXT GAMES n GIVEAWAYS
We’re asking you to Bring your cellphones ( like you’d really leave them at home, right. lol). We’re having an on the spot Text game and giveaways.
TWEETING DI TINGS DEM
We’re live tweeting for our followers in the Caribbean and overseas. Follow us @siliconcaribe.com and you can follow the action and ask questions.
15 Second Marketing: What’s Your Company’s Elevator Pitch?
Nov 6th
Have you ever heard of an elevator pitch? That’s when someone casually asks, “What kind of work do you do?” and you give them a brief answer in roughly the time span of an elevator ride.
The people who hear your elevator pitch could be potential business partners or clients, or they could be strangers you meet at a party or on the street. Even when it seems like no serious business relationship is likely to develop, there are lots of people out there that can help advance your career indirectly. For example, they might personally know someone who’s looking for the service you provide, so your elevator pitch could lead to a referral or two.
Unfortunately most people totally flub their elevator pitch, so they’ll typically receive a reply like, “Oh, that sounds interesting.” At best the other person may ask a few follow-up questions, but deep down they don’t really care about your answers. They’re just making polite conversation. They’ll probably never do business with you, and they won’t refer you any new clients or customers. More
