Going For It

One of the things I admire most about entrepreneurs is their ability to "go for it", to put themselves out there and take a risk.

A few weeks ago, Adi Sideman, founder and CEO of our portfolio company YouNow, did this on state at TechCrunch Disrupt and I was blown away by it. He gets the "going for it" award for this performance.

#VC & Technology

Comments (Archived):

  1. Adrian Sanders

    “Going for it” is… about building an amazing service and exciting people… or just continuing to back up criticism that the whole thing is a dog and pony show? 

  2. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

    Not the worst way to announce an investment. Congrats!

    1. fredwilson

      we have been invested in Adi’s company for five years. he restructured it and launched YouNow. so this isn’t really an announcement

      1. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry

        Ohhhhhh. Ok.

      2. William Mougayar

        It’s not on your USV portfolio list. 

        1. Steve Poland

          Oddcast

  3. Ryan Schilling

    The video is the startup’s POC (proof of concert).

  4. tyronerubin

    Another very interesting company to follow, thanks!

  5. Mccormick Evan

    It’s always nice to see people that lighten the mood in a tense environment — we too often take ourselves and the world too seriously.

  6. Esayas Gebremedhin

    I love it. It’s the best way to demo your startup, by being an example yourself how the stuff actually DOES work.Oh, by the way have you checked my mail?

    1. fredwilson

      i will look for it now. been on a mini vacation with my wife and her family

      1. Esayas Gebremedhin

        Nice, I hope you had a good time. About to send you a private invite to our infinite game 🙂

  7. Ela Madej

    Great! I also loved how great the CEO of bitcasa did at SF Disrupt. He OWNED the stage – http://www.ustream.tv/recor… (disclaimer: I don’t know him/them).I promised myself last year I that would dance in a musical (should add that I’m not a professional/good dancer) to have that experience. And to get waaaay out of my comfort zone. After few weeks of training, emotional roller coaster and overcoming fear, I did it. Now I can say it’s “not a big deal” but it was a huuuuge deal at a time. The main entrepreneurial takeaways:1. You can do anything if you want to + are ready work hard.2. Controlling your emotions will be a big part of it.3. Being on stage (even if you’re not as good as you’d like to be) feels great!One day I want to direct/produce “A startup musical” (there, I said it, now it’s public!). Amen!

    1. Ela Madej

      A small update:4.  JFDI approach is key (yay for spontaneity). If you give yourself too much decision time, 95% times you won’t take risk.5.  Have “fun, fun, fun, fun” (Rebecca Black style). It’s your show.

  8. Andy

    Typo – should be “on stage”.

    1. fredwilson

      thanks

  9. Jan Schultink

    Respect.

  10. Nathan Hangen

    Gutsy, I’ll give him that. Hadn’t heard of the company either, but I can see how those seeking Internet fame would see this as an all-day hangout. 

  11. William Mougayar

    That was a good way to “demo” YouNow which is a video self-promotion service. So, he was acting what a user would do. I get it. 

  12. Guest

    This leader is modeling courage.  A choice to move into a more vulnerable, exposed … but ultimately valuable experience.  This action can inspire a team to take safe risks with big payoffs.  It’s not about hanging yourself out in the wind.  It’s a decision that is formed from emotion and intellect.  Kudos!

  13. David Semeria

    It’s so much ballsier to sing in front of people when you’re crap at singing.He’s worse than me – and that’s saying something.Respectful I am.

    1. Tom Labus

      No question about that.

    2. ShanaC

      Why?

  14. Gary Sharma

    Almost feels a little like Turntable.fm but for live performances instead of DJ’ing

    1. Aviah Laor

      Old YouTube + Chatroullet + Hot-or-not >> Brilliant. Fun. Addictive.

      1. Gary Sharma

        yeah it definitely has that Chatroulette feel to it. Whatever happened to Chatroulette???

  15. Jon Knight

    +1 Ziggy Sideman!

    1. fredwilson

      love it, that’s what i am going to call him

  16. leigh

    Chutzpah has to be up there on a top 10 list for start-up success 

    1. Tom Labus

      and lots of it.

    2. Rohan

      Yup!

  17. andyidsinga

    Thats cool

  18. Eric Leebow

    Nice, that’s great. A friend uses YouNow, very interesting video.

  19. Travis Biziorek

    “did this on state”, hmm?  I guess you’re still in need of that Kibin solution 😉

    1. fredwilson

      yup. will fix. thanks

  20. Carl J. Mistlebauer

    Hmm, next thing you know start up founders will be giving lapdances for funding…..

    1. panterosa,

      AND THE PROBLEM WITH THAT WOULD BE…..?

      1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        DEPENDS ON WHO FOUNDER IS.

      2. Carl J. Mistlebauer

        There is no problem with it…its just not worth the time to explain it to most people who will just react with their talking points of their preconceived notions.

  21. Mark Figart

    Ouch. Maybe that had some entertainment (or other) value if for those who could experience it in context, but on the surface it was nothing more than someone making some pretty god-awful vocal sounds in the presence of a captive (and uncomfortable?) audience. Made me wince.

  22. Pete Griffiths

    I guess that counts as personality so he’s safe from FAKE GRIMLOCK.

    1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

      NO COUNT ON THAT.

      1. panterosa,

        NEVER COUNT ON BEING SAFE FROM FAKE GRIMLOCK.THAT STUPID.

  23. Eunice Apia

    Tech Entrepreneurs sure know how to have fun. I need to join the club soon.

  24. kenberger

    I have gone out to karaoke with Adi before, and can attest to his ability to go for it with mic in hand!

    1. fredwilson

      he built one of the most successful online karoke platfrorms about six or seven years ago and sold it to myspace (i think)

  25. LE

     on younow: The songs I like I like and I like the live versions of songs better. Even by a band at a wedding.I typically will buy multiple versions of the same live song by different artists. I’ve never particularly liked the Hall and Oates song “you make my dreams come true” but after seeing this clip on NYT I bought two versions on itunes.http://www.nytimes.com/inte…(note: turn off the commentary)younow needs tweaking but has potential. (Example: Being captivefor 1 minute is not good there should be multiple live streams at the same time or at leastre-runs.

  26. testtest

    you need to be able to take success. and walk to the beat of your own drum.

  27. FAKE GRIMLOCK

    KEY TO BE AWESOME IS BE AWESOME.AND NO WORRY IF ANYONE ELSE AGREE YOU AWESOME.THIS GUY GET IT.

    1. Carl J. Mistlebauer

      Be awesome, everyone else will eventually catch up and realize it too….Or, they will decide you are nuts and leave you alone; and there is nothing wrong with being awesome all by ones self!That’s why I have everyone believing I am a small government socialist!  🙂  I have never had to explain what that is but it pretty much stops every conversation…..

      1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

        THAT EASY.TRIBE IS SMALL GOVERNMENT SOCIALISM.EVERYONE HELP, NO ONE STARVE.TRIBE ALSO DEFAULT HUMAN STATE.

        1. Stevengermain1

          Tribe notnhavr resources to aid tsunami victims, build public transit, bring water to desert. Tribes/small gov’t sweet dream of ostrich with head in sand.

          1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            ME, GRIMLOCK, MAKE OBSERVATION, NOT JUDGEMENT.CHIP ON SHOULDER MAKE HARD TO SEE.

        2. fredwilson

          i like the idea of tribes as governing entities as long as they don’t decide to start taking on other tribes

          1. FAKE GRIMLOCK

            REORGANIZE GOVERNMENT SO MOST POWER AT TRIBE LEVEL.TRIBE RETAIN SOCIAL PUNISHMENT POWERS, BUT NOT SHOOT PEOPLE POWERS.IT PROBABLY WORK.MASSIVELY DISRUPT POLITICAL SYSTEM KIND OF STARTUP ME, GRIMLOCK, LIKE.MAYBE DO NEXT.

          2. Trish Burgess-Curran

            Ummm…  Sorry Grimlock, I’m sure I’m missing the point here…  Isn’t that how it kind-of-works right now?  Most power at tribe level sounds like democracy…  Social punishment powers at tribe level sounds like judicial system with everyday people covering jury duty.  We do need to work on the ‘shoot people powers’, I fully agree…  And we could have a bit more of a ‘social network’ (of the physical type) to support public education or those that are unemployed but, the basics are there…  Not so disruptive…  Sorry, I’m it’s early in the morning and I’m obviously missing the point!

    2. Mark Essel

      This also explains why he’s an entrepreneur and not a professional singer.

    3. Robert Thuston

      Ralph Waldo Emerson to Walt Whitman (who was younger at the time):  “You have more friends than you are aware, Mr. Whitman; you will be patient I know; the world will come your way in the end because you have put it in your debt and such obligations are always met.”

  28. Alex Hammer

    Stretching by taking positive risks is good. He impressed you. If he takes singing lessons and comes back again next year and sounds better, I hope you’ll post that as well.

  29. Rohan

    Brilliant! Very inspiring! 

  30. Sonicgleek

    Brave! But wait, his backers told him to do it so like a puppet he did so to secure (continued) funding? And Fred would you have been blown away were it not a Bowie song?Say, Crystal Gayle?

    1. fredwilson

      i just like the way he stepped up and went for it

  31. Robert Thuston

    I agree, and feel things like this help develop an entrepreneurial muscle.I find myself looking for and making similar type situations.  Yesterday, I asked some friends  in a restaurant to come up with a crazy pick up scheme for getting a girl’s phone number across the room.  They said, “Alright, we want you to take Jason’s cell phone, set it in front of her, walk away while calling it, and have her pick up…”  I came up with an excuse not to do it, but I’m continuing to create these situations for myself with hope of developing a greater sense of awareness and learning in novel situations.

  32. MBAchic

    NICE. Just gotta put yourself out there, sometimes.I think it’s cool!

  33. markslater

    this needs an authentic distribution channel to succeed. they should talk to karmaloop TV. 

  34. Dave W Baldwin

    Love it!For the judgmental ones out there, remember it takes a lot of talent to purposely sing off key…leaving it at him not being a singer, also remember the acoustics are tough in that situation.  He did fine.Re tribes-  that is why some of us have been saying we need to grow all the tribes rather than NY or LA taking on SV.  As it is, the tribes are and have been feeding themselves/each other and it is unfortunate when the big powers come in and screw it up…. remember Haiti?

  35. Trish Burgess-Curran

    I have been away from home all weekend.  I always travel with my iPad and iPhoneand I try to check avc.com every day. On Saturday I checked out the video and got chuckle – it does take guts and it’s great promotion for younow so hats off to him – but then I was disappointed when I tried to check out http://www.younow.com…  As often happens, it requires flash…  Mobile Apple products:  Not flash friendly. I am now home, where I have my faithful Mac, and was able to spend a few minutes on the site.  But I was wondering…  When will we have more video-focusedsites that are not flash dependent?  What will it take content builders and curators to find a format that doesn’t leave out so many mobile users?  Or, is there a work-around that I just don’t know about?

  36. James Ferguson @kWIQly

    Re going for it and VC – I think we need to have a perspective from the generations before us…They Have Their Exits: A Classic World War Two Memoir of Action and Escapeby Aerey Neave  DSO, OBE, MC one of the few men to escape from Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle. Sadly assassinated in the name of terror.This book is a book to inspire – A man who gave everything for his beliefs and served at the Military war tribunal in Nuremberg after WWII 

  37. Jack Holt

    That was awesome–especially because the presentation was a bit delayed (iirc) and thus he had to interrupt the vast wisdom being proffered by the VC panel. He simply was not going to be denied..

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