people and the idea pendulum

Startup concepts often feel like a pendulum. You start with one idea, you bounce it off people you can trust, they add their thoughts and it picks up momentum and speed. Next thing you know, you've diverged significantly and hit a standstill as you realize you are way off track. Before you know it, you are somewhat back to the original concept but the "bob" is now a bit shinier.

I was a little stuck until I had a chance to meet with my crew of merry men today for lunch. We had such a fantastic discussion that I believe we may have come up with some potentially revolutionary concepts ... one idea building on another and another until some really neat thing popped out. Very exciting stuff, especially since it is tied to delivery of ads (gotta leave it there ... sorry). It is great to be in the presence of smart capable people! The ingredients for the magic potion are now appearing.

Having said that, the team is missing one or two key people that are crucial. We are playing in an emerging market but it has strong roots in radio and its usually duller second cousin on the net. I am looking for assistance from some senior people out of the radio industry to provide some critical input, feedback and contribution. If you are one or know of one that wants to be involved in something revolutionary and disruptive, please contact me. Perhaps some adult supervision wouldn't hurt either (ok, I'm nearly 40 ... but I feel so young!).

You have often heard that VCs invest in teams, not ideas. In my slightly younger, more naive days I thought this was complete bull. What good is a fantastic team if there is no fantastic idea to go with it? I experienced this at my previous company (great team) when we changed our business model and struck gold. Now I'm literally living through it again. The things we came up with today, coupled with one or two key people (whom I need to find) will catapult us to new heights.

Cheers,

Allan "Bob" Isfan
PS. Those that have known me for a while know that my nickname is Bob (eastern european for Bogdan ... my middle name) so this is a bit of a funny irony relative to the whole pendulum thing.

Also note that I have added links to some blogs I think are worth checking out. I'd strongly recommend Guy Kawasaki's latest blog since it covers defensibility really well (a topic I covered in my post entitled "crush crush crush") http://blog.guykawasaki.com/