Screenshot  of  Placeblogger  

Placeblogger  World  HQ!  (now  with  free  coffee)    

Cambridge, MA

Startup  Math  

Motherhood  +  blogging  =  startup  

This  child  NEVER  SLEPT  

This child NEVER SLEPT

OMG  this  is  so  boring  

Started  a  community  site  for  Watertown  God’s gift to

local blogging

Jay  Rosen  

That’s Jay Rosen

How many local sites are there? Photo: JD Lasica

Antarctica  A Lot, Really, Really A Lot

My  first  venture  capitalist:  eBay  

New  Year’s  at  our  house  That’s

Dick Clark

42,000  people  

I  go  to  work  for  the  Boston  Globe  on  the  strength  of  H2otown  

I Still Don’t Realize I Have A Startup, So I Go To Work for The Boston Globe

People  tell  me,  You  should  apply  for  the  Knight  News  Challenge  

That’s Eric Newton

newschallenge.org

Jay  Rosen  

He says ask for $200,000

To my eternal surprise they give it to me

Site   Startup  Capital  

Tech  at  launch  

Phase  2  tech  

Phase  2  financing  

Exit/  Uniques  

Blogher   >$10k   Movable  Type   Drupal   NBCi,  Venrock  $5M  

Eventual  Acquisition  18M  uniques  

Television  Without  Pity  

>$10k   BBforum,  Plone   MT,  Prospero   Bootstrap,    Advertisers  

Acquired  by  Bravo  for  $1M  1M    uniques  

TechCrunch    

>10k   Wordpress   WPMU   Bootstrap,  ads,  conferences  

Acquired  by  AOL  for  $25M  

1.8M  uniques  

You don’t really need that much money

We  win,  but  I  still  don’t  realize  I  have  a  startup  

I am so stupid I Still don’t Realize I have A startup So I go and Start Another one

Do not stick your head in there

$10,000  

$200,000  

And  I  *still*  don’t  realize    I  have  a  startup,  until  

Four  years  six  months    nine  days  and  thirteen  hours    after  I  launched  my  first  site,    

my  kid  comes  to  visit  me  in  Boulder  

That’s Rowan Williams

My mommy has a startup and it’s really cool and she came out to Colorado and we got to ride on a plane and I’ve never been on a plane before I live in Massachusetts but we don’t have any mountains Do you live here? Do you like it here?

Screenshot  of  Placeblogger  

And  that’s  when  I  realized  I  had  a  startup  

Things  I  would  not  get  asked  if  I  was  a  man  

(a  very  select  subset)  

Your  husband  is  rich,  right?  Your husband is rich, right?

Oh,  then  your    husband  must  be    Mr.  Mom,  right?  

But  what  about  your  children?!  But what about your children?!

#$Q@A#$!!!  

#$&@?!

Losers.

HAVING A STARTUP IS LIKE HAVING ONE LONG EXISTENTIAL CRISIS

How  to  tell  the  good  startup  ideas    from  the  bad  ones  

Don’t  do  anything  for  free  that  you  wouldn’t  do  for  free  indefinitely.    

WHAT CAN I DO WITHOUT ANYONE’S

ASSISTANCE OR PERMISSION?

Everything about something!

“Good  tests  kill  flawed  theories;  we  remain  alive  to  guess  again.”    

Never start a company when you can start a

4100  

1422  

800  

Independent  local  news  sites  drama6cally  outnumber  both  tradi6onal  dailies  and  VC/founda6on  backed  news  startups  such  as  Patch  or  Bay  Ci6zen  

1422  

800  

But  only  4%  of  independent  local  news  &  community  sites    have  a  rate  card  

164  

When  we  began  looking  in  2007  1  in  8  Americans  lived  in  a  city  or  town  with  a  placeblog  

Now  that  number  is  1  in  2  

Funding   Risk   Growth  Venture  funded   High   Fast  Growth  -­‐>  

Flip  or  Die  Business  Loans   Moderate   Moderate  

Growth  Grants   High   Variable,  but  

limited  exit  Bootstrap   Mid   Very  Slow  

Growth  

You  don’t  need  to  do  it  forever  

Succession  planning    

Pets  

Carving  out  time  

Universal  gas  law  

M T W T F

M

MONEY

F

FUTURE

T W T

Prospecting  

The  minimum  number  

Get  Excited  &  Make  Things  

Thanks! Lisa  on  LinkedIn:      

linkedin.com/in/lisawilliams  Lisa  on  Twitter:    @lisawilliams