With fifteen years of experience in Internet-based entrepreneurialism, Gnip CTO Jud Valeski is well qualified to offer expertise to startups, which he does through the Boulder, Colorado-based TechStars summer program.
In this interview, we see him working hands-on with the young team developing EverLater, a site for social web-using travelers. He also talks with us about how startups can get a critical mass of feedback to make important business decisions and discusses what he sees as consistent issues and characteristics of new teams, both in terms of business acumen and general temperament.
For inexperienced but passionate startup teams, finding guidance can be critical to their ultimate success. While technical expertise frequently abounds in such teams, there is often a crucial gap in knowledge about how to build a business, what amounts of funding to seek, and the next steps to take in building a company. Valeski addresses these concerns as well as the positive aspects he has perceived in the dozens of startup teams he’s worked with over the years.
