Hey Cincinnati — Go to Pittsburgh!!

The best way to build an entrepreneurial community is to send techies to another town? I think so! AlphaLab is now taking applications for their 2009 season and this might just be the ticket for a startup to bring their product to life. AlphaLab provides office space, internet amenities, a positive motivating startup attitude and $25,000 to six startups lucky enought to make the cut. You will spend a half year building, strategizing, tuning, testing and finally delivering a product.But what if the entrepreneur stays in Pittsburgh? Well, that could happen. There is startup money and venture capital firms there just as there are here! But what if they come back? The startups have gained new insights into their business and hopefully will spread the word and talent they have acquired to others in Cincinnati. The application deadline is October 15, 2008. Click here to check it out!

And while you are at it, why stop at just Pittsburgh. Y-Combinator in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Massachusetts is taking applications for their next 10-week stint at startup product development. The deadline is October 17 — click here to check it out So go West or East — but just go and don’t forget to come back and get it started right here.

Check out Guy Kawasaki’s blog on the Open House day at Y-Combinator where all the companies present what they did on their ‘summer vacation’.

Pitching Season is about to Begin!!

The Venture Club of Indiana will host Venture Idol with 25 ‘entrepreneurial contestants’ competing for a grand prize of $10,000. Taking off from one of the most popular shows on television, Venture Idol is really a great way for 20 companies to get in front of investors for their ’60 seconds’ of fame.

First, you must submit an application to the Venture Idol Committee (Deadline: September 17, 2008.) If selected, you and 24 other companies get to give a 1 minute naked pitch (no powerpoint) with a 2 minute Q&A. The top 8 finalists move to round 2 to give a 5-minute presentation with a 5-minute Q&A. The winner receives $10K and there are 3 Miss Congeniality prizes of $3K each: “Most Innovative New Product, Biggest Opportunity, Let Me Invest Now!”

For you healthcare/biotech startups, the MidAmerica Healthcare Venture Forum will be held here in Cincinnati on October 1-2, 2008. Although the deadline for presenting has passed (August 15, 2008), you might contact them with your plan in the event of a cancellation.

Never Fund Anyone Over 30

Remember the 70’s — where you could never trust anyone over 30. Well all of us who didn’t trust anyone are now way past 30! The new mantra in the valley is “find them early and gettem going!”

Y Combinator is a new venture firm with a radically different model: Fund really, really, really early stage software startups and immerse them in Silicon Valley and Cambridge, Mass. culture to launch a business.

New Venture Capital Ideas

Thanks, Guy Kawasaki, for keeping us at the leading and bleeding edge of entrepreneurship thought. Guy’s blog hits two great ideas in one fell swoop.First is the connection to the Venture Capital Database (VCDB), which has been graciously sponsored by our friends at Chrysalis Ventures in Louisville, KY! The database has 492 venture firms categorized, tagged and geographically searchable as of this writing. Check it out at http://www.punctuative.com/vcdb/!

Poor Man’s Patents

Should you patent your idea or can you protect it some other way? As a startup, you will be aghast at the cost of securing a patent for your idea, process or invention! And if it requires multiple patents, then you are well on the way to funding your attorney’s college fund for their kids! First of all, it worthwhile reading Kirk Teska’s article on patent protection. The theme of the article is caveat emptor or you get what you pay for. There are no shortcuts to the process. If you decide that a patent is necessary or absolutely required, then get it done right.