Founder Institute New York Graduates FINY10

Wednesday February 24th celebrated the graduation of FI NY 10. The tenth batch of the Founder Institute in New York. The Fall 2015 semester in New York's Silicon Alley ends with nine great companies. Of course none of this would be possible with out the incredible lessons, experience, and wisdom brought to the program by our mentors. 

Here are the new companies building a better tomorrow: 

DealGeeks - Drive foot traffic into your business.

Donate Me - Help vetted students go to the college they deserve.

Home-Cooked Dinner Club - Fastest way to a home-cooked meal.

My Citizen Source -  The first U.S. citizenship game.

Paction - Friend to friend marketing platform. 

Pocmi - Connecting companies with international talent.

Ready To Go Survival - Personalized emergency survival packages.

Sofos Labs -  On-demand one-on-one legal experts.

Stareable - Searchable. Shareable. Stareable.

Ambition Today: Avi Yashchin of Clean Edison Talks Having His Company Acquired, Data Science And Clean Energy

The sounds of science are ringing through episode 12 of Ambition Today when Avi Yashchin comes on the show. Avi is the founder of Clean Edison, the nation's largest sustainable energy education and training firm in the US. for those seeking to enter the Solar, Wind, and larger Energy space.

Avi had a fascinating front row seat to the great recession in 2008 while employed by Lehman Brothers and his story is quite incredible. The lessons and uncertainty created from being inside a failing company led Avi to afterword, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, found Clean Edison. In this episode we talk about his story growing and eventually having Clean Edison acquired by Kaplan. Also data science, the future of energy, and even more science: 

• How going to Rocket School as a kid impacted Avi.

• Starting a career in New York in late 2001.

• What the Great Recession looked like from the inside of Lehman Brothers.

• What to do if you have multiple ideas to start multiple different businesses.

• Having Clean Edison was acquired by Kaplan.

• Finding the right partners that compliment your business.

• The importance of building a business with recurring revenue.

• Why data science is cool.

• How the declining cost of data is going to impact the world.

• The future of clean energy.

• The future of the planet.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

Do you always have “an ask” ready everyday just in case you meet the right person to answer it?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

---

Links from this episode: 

• Founder Institute

• Audible

• Avi Yashchin

• Lehman Brothers

• Clean Edison

• Kaplan

• Earth Carbon Dioxide Levels

• 23 & Me

Who should I interview next?  Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below.  It keeps me going…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

When Business Growth Creates New Challenges

The funny thing about growth is that it can be a double edged sword. As a founder it is your job to drive and create growth for your company. After all the hard work, eventual growth in your company is the result of over coming each early obstacle. But at the very same time growth can then immediately create new obstacles.

This happens because growth brings with it additional challenges that your company may not have experienced before. On one side you should be celebrating that recent growth has led demand to increase beyond your wildest dreams. At the very same moment though your company is reaching the maximum capacity of your existing processes and current team capabilities. 

This is one of the reasons entrepreneurship is a constant uphill battle. As an entrepreneur it is your job to keep problem solving new challenges over and over. Knowing this is one of the reasons we place such a high value on High Fluid Intelligence at the Founder Institute when evaluating new potential founders applying to the program. Can you quickly learn a rule set and apply it to solve a novel problem? With a constantly changing playing field, founders must recognize patterns and quickly adapt to survive.

The best founders have high fluid intelligence. They use it to quickly recognize the new obstacles growth has challenged them with, analyze, adapt and solve them. Ensuring that as the founder you are problem solving over and over is the path to increased growth and success for your business.

In order to prevent this repetitive cycle from becoming too daunting though it is important that throughout this process you make sure to remember to take a a brief moment to celebrate the wins as they come, or they may just quickly pass you by. 

Mise En Place Featured In Gilt City New York

This week is quickly turning into the week of startup companies on this blog and here comes another one. Starting today Founder Institute New York graduate company Mise En Place has launched an exclusive deal going on with Gilt City right now!

If you live in New York City and haven't tried a meal delivery service before (or even if you have tried Blue Apron and then realized its prep times take FOREVER) then Mise En Place is probably for you. I personally have tried both Blue Apron and Mise En Place and much prefer the simplicity and high quality meals Mise En Place provides. 

MEPnyc for short, Mise En Place is working to bring families back around the dinner table by providing fully prepped meals for two, that are available with same day delivery. There are a few options for you to give Mise En Place a try through Gilt City before February 19th. I suggest grabbing the "$25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" for $5 or at the very least make sure you grab the FREE "$15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two" before the deal ends! 

• $15 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - Free
• $25 Credit Toward Three Meals for Two - $5
• Two Meals for Two Membership - $44
• Three Meals for Two Membership - $66

Easy Aerial On "All-American Makers" This Wednesday

Last week I featured Easy Aerial as the Startup Of The Week. Today I am super-excited to announce that Easy Aerial will be featured this Wednesday at 8PM EST on Discovery's Science Channel during this weeks episode of "All-American Makers".

Easy Aerial's latest product, Easy Drone XL Pro, was chosen to be featured in the second season and Ivan, founder and CEO of Easy Aerial, claims to have put it through some rough testing on the show! So set your DVR or tune in Wednesday night to join the Founder Institute New York family as we look into the unique design features of Easy Aerial's modular approach while exploring the future of drones as smart and helpful autonomous machines.

Work The Problem: Advice From An Astronaut

Last year I read An Astronaut's Guide To Life On Earth by Chris Hadfield. In it he talks about the NASA strategy of working the problem. This very technique ended up aiding Commander Hadfield when he went blind in space. Here is an excerpt from Chris Hadfield's book that offers you a brief explanation of what exactly working the problem means is in his own words: 

“Working the problem” is NASA-speak for descending one decision tree after another, methodically looking for a solution until you run out of oxygen. We practice the “warn, gather, work” protocol for responding to fire alarms so frequently that it doesn’t just become second nature; it actually supplants our natural instincts. So when we heard the alarm on the Station, instead of rushing to don masks and arm ourselves with extinguishers, one astronaut calmly got on the intercom to warn that a fire alarm was going off – maybe the Russians couldn’t hear it in their module – while another went to the computer to see which smoke detector was going off. No one was moving in a leisurely fashion, but the response was one of focused curiosity; as though we were dealing with an abstract puzzle rather than an imminent threat to our survival. To an observer it might have looked a little bizarre, actually: no agitation, no barked commands, no haste."

Chris Hadfield - Excerpt from An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth

This work the problem NASA mentality of descending down one decision tree after another until you reach your solution is something I learned and practiced first hand during my time as a Fireman and EMT. The main reason I think the idea of working the problem has stuck with me so much over the years though is because it is so similar to entrepreneurship. With each problem you conquer there will be a new one that arises. And just like the the limited oxygen supply in space, with entrepreneurship you can be limited by the year, month, or week of runway you have left in your business.

Applying this work the problem mentality to problem solving in business can be extremely useful. I was solving a problem recently, but was not really making any progress toward a solution. I stopped, took a step back, and realized I found myself too fixated on the problem. I was analyzing the problem over and over again as if some magic answer was just waiting to reveal itself to me. It can be so easy to get caught up on the problem when problem solving. I wasn't working the problem toward a solution like I needed to be one decision at a time. While it is important to understand a problem you are facing, once you have extracted the main knowledge you need to move forward there is often very little value remaining.

During the New York City blizzard this weekend I watched The Martian with Matt Damon (I promise no spoilers). Being as it is a film about Mars filled with teams of astronauts the strategy of working the problem is a common theme throughout the movie. It reminded me of the lessons learned over the years. After the movie I revisited the problem I was stuck on and solved it. 

Work the problem is a good tool to keep around, whether you are an astronaut or not. Remember, no matter what the problem is you are facing, whether it be with your company or in your life, take the time to understand the problem and then be done with it. Take your new found knowledge and focus it, descending one decision tree after another until you reach you solution. Work the problem!

Yahoo's Katie Couric Features Buffalo In "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America"

Katie Couric recently paid a visit to Buffalo New York for her new series "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America". Since visiting the region she now states that "Buffalo Is Back!" with part 1 of her new series. The goal of this six part series is to highlight key cities in America that were once thriving, then fell on hard times during the last 100 years, and are now being rebuilt into the 21st century.

I am really proud of all the great people in the Buffalo region working hard to improve the local startup ecosystem. Some of the people in the Buffalo startup community that I been working to make an impact in the last year include:

• Steve Poland
  • Managing Director of Z80 Labs
• Michael Serotte
  • Immigration Legal Partner at Unshackled Fund
  • Founding Partner at Serotte Law
• Dan Gigante
  • Digital Director, Partner at 19 IDEAS,
  • Founder & President at You and Who
  • Director of Founder Institute Buffalo
• Jon Spitz
  • Director of Development at 43 North
  • Director of Founder Institute Buffalo
• Peter Burkowski
  • Director of Marketing at 43 North
• Oscar Pedrosa and David Brenner
  • Thimble
• And Many More

I know I have written about the surge of entrepreneurship in Buffalo before as well as its incredible past history, but I really am excited for the future of my hometown Buffalo, NY. I am proud to say I am from Buffalo. Be sure to watch part 1 on Buffalo in Katie Couric's series "Cities Rising: Rebuilding America" above.

Spireworks & The Value Of Exclusivity: How An Invite Only App Controls New York’s Skyline

From almost anywhere in New York City you can see the colored antenna's on top of One Bryant Park and Four Times Square. They are a definite part of the New York City skyline and every few moments they change color.

I recently heard a story from a friend of mine who was at a party in New York City. The host of the event he was at pulled his phone out of his pocket and instructed my friend to pick a color on the screen. He pressed purple. The host then instructed him to look up toward the top of an actual skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. The antenna at the top of One Bryant Park had changed to the color purple. There was a moment of disbelief. 

The idea that the hosts phone was actually controlling the colors at the top of real world skyscrapers seemed unreal. Could you imagine the ability to carry with you a button in your pocket that could at any moment you see fit, alter the colors of the New York skyline for all to see from New Jersey to the Bronx, to Long Island. 

Believe it or not, that app exists and it is called Spireworks. It was made by The Durst Organization who developed and owns several office towers in New York City. The Spireworks app has been in beta and invite only since it's live launch in 2010. All in all only a few hundred people are rumored to have access to the Spireworks app. Now I am going to go out on a limb here and guess that after hearing that story you want a Spireworks invite. I know I did. 

While I patiently waited for the day I could bet strangers that the top of a sky scraper is going to change to a specific color and then be right, the real lesson here lies in the value of exclusivity. The Spireworks app is a real world example of that. So is the English Royal family abroad, the Navy Seals here in the United States, and all the Country Clubs I bartended at in order to put myself through college. A lesson that startups should use to their advantage.

The best part is that when you release a new product you can actually create and then apply this value in order to use it to your advantage. You will turn what should be an inherent weakness in your offering, the fact that no one has access to your product yet because they simply do not know about it, into an advantage whereas the new reason no one has access to your product is because they simply haven't been invited yet. This changes the dynamic of the normal relationship people have with products. In the exclusive scenario the responsibility to "get" the product falls on the end customers ability to chase after it via tracking down an invite code.

A few companies have done a great job at this recently. Regardless of the end story, the Google Glass Explorers Program did a tremendously successful job at fostering early adoption even though the price was over $1,500. Beme launched it's new app with user referral unlock codes that created a frenzy to the point where people were selling the unlock codes for cash online. Most recently the new game @getstolen, where can own your friends Twitter profiles, tweets out one unlock code for only 500-1,000 people each day.

🔑🔑🔑they don't WANT u 2 have a #StolenCode, so we gonna GIVE you a code -> "MADLUV" FAN LUV BLESS UP 🔑🔑🔑

— Stolen! (@getstolen) January 10, 2016

Creating and leveraging the power of exclusivity can be a powerful tool. Spireworks invite only system is one of the best examples of that. Creating exclusivity gives you the ability to throttle the number of early users while still ironing out your core product. It turns a weakness around awareness into a strength. Also, it can result in increased promotion via word of mouth virality of your product. Lastly it attracts higher quality and more engaged users of your product which will be exponentially more useful to your initial product iterations and refinement.

Ambition Today: Rob Principe, Founder & CEO of Scratch On Partnering With Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C., The Future Of Music, And The Rise Of The DJ

Rob Principe, CEO of Scratch Music Group

Episode nine of Ambition Today finds us with the King of the DJ's, Rob Principe, the Founder & CEO of Scratch Music Group.

Young Rob Principe with Run-D.M.C.

Growing up on Long Island as a child Rob loved music, especially Run D.M.C.  One day the popular music group happened to sit down next to him on a plane as he was traveling to a tennis tournament. Afterword he took a picture with the group. Fast forward years later Rob had founded Scratch Music Group and after some hustle, Rob would show this very picture to Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. in a greenroom at the Letterman Show in New York City while pitching him his vision. Jam Master Jay was in and together they co-founded the Scratch DJ Academy. I found Rob's story to be pretty incredible. During this episode we go over the history of Scratch as well as: 

• What is it like meeting your childhood hero's.

• How Rob and Jam Master Jay of Run-D.M.C. co-founded the Scratch DJ Academy.

• The importance of building credibility when building your initial startup's team.

• Recognizing that defining inspirational moment in your life that changes the path your on.

• How Aerosmith and Run-D.M.C. came to collaborate on "Walk This Way".

• The moment when your startup becomes and feels real to you as the founder.

• Converting your initial traction into a paid business model.

• The importance of moving the chains over and over during the early years of your startup.

• The future of DJ'ing and Music

• How Music Festivals became so popular.

Ambition Today Question of the Day:

Do you think childhood plays a role in defining who people become?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

---

Links from this episode: 

• Scratch Music Group

• @Rob_Principe on Twitter

• @princee09 on Instagram

• Herbie Hancock - Rockit

• Run-D.M.C. & Aerosmith - Walk This Way

• Kid Capri

• Run-D.M.C.

• Forbes DJ List

• A-Trak

Who should I interview next?  Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below.  It keeps me going…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

Careers Of The World's Best Founders

So you want to be the next Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, Walt Disney, Henry Ford, or even Colonel Sanders. Ever wonder where do the best founders come from? Well consider your self covered thanks to this new collection of careers of the world's best founders.

The journey to greatness is not always just sunshine and rainbows. It is a journey and along the way there are plenty of successes, failures, new ventures founded, and lessons to be learned. You hear some of those stories on Ambition Today. If you are wondering about societies late great founders of the past though, then here you go. Fleximize answers the following questions:

• How did the greatest entrepreneurs start out?
• What were their biggest successes?
• What failures did they have to overcome along the way?

Here are the answers all packed into one charted collection of the careers of 33 inspirational company founders, showing that there’s more than one path to success.

State of Startups Report: 2015

State of Startups 2015 from First Round Capital

First Round Capital has released their 2015 State of Startups Report. They asked the question "What does it mean to be a startup entrepreneur in 2015?".  The report was designed to share meaningful insights into what it's like to run a startup today. The full report is above. 

The key takeaways from the First Round Capital State of Startups Report 2015 include: 

1. Most think it won’t get easier to raise funding.
2. 73% say we're in a tech bubble.
3. No one has a clue about the IPO market.
4. Women-led companies are more diversity focused.
5. Founders see power shifting from entrepreneurs to investors.
6. Hiring the right people and revenue growth top the list of founder concerns.
7. Co-founder relationships change with age.
8. Bitcoin is overhyped while autonomous vehicles are underhyped.
9. Founders fear long-term failure, but not the short-term mistakes that lead to it.
10. Elon Musk is the far-and-away most admired leader in technology.

If you are a startup founder let me know on Twitter or in the comments below what you think some of the biggest lessons learned from running your startup in 2015 is. 

Tomorrowland: The Companies Building a Better Future

There is a reason the header image of the Siskar.co website is a futuristic city where anything seems possible. It is Tomorrowland. At the dedication of the first Tomorrowland Walt Disney declared it as: 

"A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying Man's achievements... A step into the future, with predictions of constructed things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure and ideals. The Atomic Age, the challenge of Outer Space and the hope for a peaceful, unified world."

— Walter E. Disney, July 17, 1955

I wasn't alive post World War II when the greatest generation was building and believing in anything they put their minds too. When society as a whole believed in the future and that anything was possible. I would have loved to have experienced that level of optimism in society and technology. This is the future Walt Disney believed in and was inspired by. 

I think we could be returning to that time.  A great example of the potential of this mentality is what Mark Zuckerberg did this week with his pledge to give away 99% of his Facebook shares to charity.  

Even if all of society isn't on fully on board yet, there are some incredible individuals already building great new companies in order to make the future and tomorrow a better place. There is an infinite number of ways and methods to use your life to contribute back to the world. Over the past few years I have been working with some of these companies. I now feel it is time to share them with you. Hopefully, they inspire you to also help with building a better Tomorrow. 

Ambition Today: Beatriz Helena Ramos, Founder & CEO of DADA Restores Power To The Artist

Beatriz Helena Ramos

On episode 7 Beatriz Helena Ramos, Founder and CEO of Dancing Diablo & DADA is with us.

Her most recent startup, DADA is a visual conversation platform for artists and art enthusiasts.

Founded 14 years ago, Dancing Diablo is is live action and animation production company based in DUMBO, Brooklyn, with a sister company in Caracas, Venezuela. The company has directed over a 100 spots including TV commercials, promos and videos for the web whose clients include: Coca Cola, Jet Blue, Chip's Ahoy, Bayer, General Mills, Kraft, PNC Bank, Tums, Oreo, Bronx Zoo , Movistar, Alka Seltzer, Ralph Lauren, University of North Carolina, Whirpool, Stouffer's, Toyota, Wendy's, Sesame Workshop, PBS, Nickelodeon, MTV, Disney, ESPN, among others.

After moving from Venezuela to find success in America, Beatriz thought that would be the hardest thing she ever had to do. Then she started her first business and learned that was not going to be true anymore. During this episode we go through: 

• Starting a brick and mortar Comic book store in Venezuela

• Moving to America to find success

• Working for MTV and Disney

• Who would win in a fight, Batman vs Superman?

• Running a remote office in another country

• How to restore power to the artists

• How to find impactful Mentor's and Advisors

The Ambition Today Question of the Day:

What is Ambition to you?

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

---

Links from this episode: 

• DADA

• Dancing Diablo

• Why I Mentor by Jeff Wald

Who should I interview next?  Please let me know on Twitter or in the comments. Do you enjoy this podcast? If so, please leave a short review in the comments below.  It keeps me going…

Listen to this episode now: 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Founder Institute New York

The Acceleration of Unicorn Startups

CB Insights just made this great infographic to help visualize the rate at which new billion dollar unicorn companies are being created. It seems to be as increasing trend since the start of 2014. There are now 142 total unicorn companies with a total cumulative valuation of $506B. This is up from 30 privately held technology companies worth more than $1B about 18 months ago.

Last month Mark Suster wrote on how he believes this trend is being driven by a fundamental change in the the structure of the Venture Capital industry and how money is entering the market. Let me know what you think is driving this change in the comments.  

You can click to enlarge the infographic below. 

View fullsize

Founder Institute Reviews From New York City Entrepreneurs

Last night we graduated twelve new companies from the Founder Institute in New York City. I couldn't be more proud of all the founders that graduated last night. Some of the new graduates recently published their thoughts and opinions on the program now that they have been through it. I wanted to share with you a few quotes from the thoughts they had. I am including links to the full posts below each quote so you can read those as well.

Thank you to all our mentors and congratulations again to the Summer 2015 New York Founder Institute Graduates! 

---

Mise en place - Vicente DeReyes

"Initially, I wondered how an incubator program would help us achieve our mission of bringing the communal spirit back to dinner.  "Is the program designed more for tech heavy startups like emerging app companies or B2B service technologies?  Would our mission resonate with the program’s curriculum?”  These are a few of the questions I asked myself before joining.  As I write this post on graduation day, I look back at the past three months in awe of how much progress we have achieved.

Week after week, milestones were continually set and the bar constantly raised.  Have a B2B service? Go get LOI’s.  Have a B2C service? Create a landing page and get 500 signups.  Think your customers want “X”? Well go ask 200 of them and find out for yourself.  After many sleepless nights, countless pitches to mentors, and the reality-check of graduating with only 12 of my fellow companies out of an original class of 36, today is graduation day." 

- Vicente DeReyes: Link to full article

---

Viozel - Roddi Simpson

"The training in lean startup methodology has been exceptional. Support has been excellently balanced. We were given the tools and enough space to figure it out ourselves but help was at hand if needed, challenges are given to strengthen weaknesses and it is all done in an environment of support between fellow founders that are literally (and I mean the literally!) invested in each other's success." 

- Roddi Simpson: Link to full article

---

Bigger Dreams - Stefan Klotzbuecher

"Each one of us pitched our ideas about seven to nine times from start to graduation. While I sucked big at the beginning, you see everyone raising the bar and getting better, so you don’t want to be left behind. I invested a good amount of time in getting my pitch right, incorporating feedback and new insights along the way. I haven’t presented this much in a row before and think it is not only a helpful exercise, it’s also important as a founder, as you basically sell something (including yourself) all the time to someone (customers, investors, mentors, friends, employees)."

- Stefan Klotzbuecher: Link to full article

---

Virtzy - Isak Mirzak

"For three months, influential mentors not only provided us with advice and their own experiences of being entrepreneurs, but also gave us invaluable feedback about our ideas and helped direct and guide us the right way to accomplishing our goals.

We've also developed great friendships with other founders that will continue beyond graduation. I want to commend other founders for their resilience, hard work, unrelenting passion and amazing support! This journey would have not been the same without my fellow team mates." 

- Isak Mirzak: Link to full article

---

Ward eSports - Jose Lincuna

"One of the greatest challenges of your life..." "...You will meet some of the smartest and passionate people in your life." 

- Jose Lincuna: Link to full article

Founder Institute New York Graduates Twelve New Companies

With the 2015 Summer Semester of the Founder Institute coming to a close this week there is now twelve new companies formed in New York's Silicon Alley.

The Founder Institute is an early-stage startup accelerator and global launch network that helps entrepreneurs create meaningful and enduring technology companies. Through a four month program, existing and prospective founders can launch their dream company with expert training, feedback, and support from experienced startup CEOs. 

On November 4, 2015 we will gather graduates, mentors, investors, and friends to celebrate the twelve newest Graduates of the New York City Founder Institute. In addition to the Graduation Ceremony, guests will be treated to short business pitches from the graduates.

Here are the companies building a better tomorrow: 

Beginex -  Start your tech career with real work experience.

Bigger Dreams - Comprehensive career prep for High-School students.

Ballyhoo - Home of parody.

Collar and Kitchen - Real food, balanced just for dogs.

Easy Aerial Inc - Modular smart drones for industrial applications. 

Happy Heart Kid - Helping families "Play with Purpose".

Mise en place (mepNYC) - Bringing people back around the table.

The ffoodd company - Creating equal food access one order at a time.

Petvet Technologies Inc - Real time medical billing insurance claims for Veterinarians

Viozel - Find, quote, and track the progress of med tech services.

Virtzy - Connecting beauty & wellness professionals. 

Ward eSports - Find communities for every eSports game.

A Complete Guide To The New York Startup Ecosystem

In local regions startup ecosystems can be fragmented, competitive, and sometimes hidden to newcomers, which can be detrimental for local startups and the growth of the community. The New York City Startup Ecosystem Canvas seeks to provide local entrepreneurs with a clear list of resources for every stage of their startup journey. A complete guide to the New York City Startup scene, Silicon Alley, all in one place for the community.

With applications for the next semester of the New York City Founder Institute coming to a close, we are excited to release the New York Startup Ecosystem Canvas. It was developed by the Founder Institute and local New York City leaders Kevin Siskar and Ramphis Castro.

View fullsize

If you know of a great resource that you feel should be added to the New York Startup Ecosystem Canvas feel free to let me know on Twitter @TheSiskar. 

Ambition Today: Cory Crosland of Croscon on Bootstrapping, Grammys, and the Future of Mobile.

On this episode of Ambition Today, I was joined by Cory Crosland. Cory is the founder of Croscon, an engineering company which partners with big thinkers to plan, engineer and support their digital business.

Today we talk about how to bootstrap a company from one person just doing freelance work to a growing team of almost 20 people. How you can stay motivated years into your company. What it is like being nominated for a Grammy and winning a Webby Award. Also, what is the future of mobile now that Android has 1.4 billion users and much more.

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Audible.com

Shahab Kaviani of CoFounders Lab, Breezio, and Hyperoffice on Ambition Today

On this episode of Ambition Today, I was joined by serial entrepreneur Shahab Kaviani. Shahab is most notably the co-founder of CoFoundersLab, a global organization helping entrepreneurs find their co-founder and launch lasting new businesses together. Previously he cofounded Hyperoffice and recently he is the co-founder of a new company Breezio, which is a collaboration platform for research scientist to accelerate discoveries through team science.

Today we discuss Shahab's journey through serial entrepreneurship. We explore some questions such as: 

• When is the right time to replace yourself as CEO?

• What to do when Google decides to enter your market?

• How to test your companies MVP offline without even building a website?

• Who could be the right company to merge with?

• The new Ambition Today Question of the Day ( Q.O.T.D.™ )

• And More

Be sure to listen and subscribe to Ambition Today in the iTunes Store for iOS and on Stitcher for Android. 

Ambition Today Podcast Sponsors:

Straight Outta Compton Is A Startup Movie

In the spirit of old school hip hop we are going to take it back to my high school days. I am in a garage with 5 friends and my buddy Mike has a drill gun in his hand while he is ducked inside the driver side door of my 1990's Vinyl Top Mercury Cougar. He is in the process of drilling a large hole through the engine compartment's firewall located under the front dashboard. He finishes and we push the new wires through. Shortly after we hook up those wires up to the refurbished head unit we installed in the dashboard, power up the amplifier in the trunk, and finally startup the car to hear some beats pour out of the just set up Alpine R subwoofers in the trunk. 

One of the first things you want to do when you install a new system in your car is hear how it sounds. We immediately put in a mixtape we made up consisting of some Led Zeppelin, Beastie Boys, and of course it included some N.W.A.  

The group N.W.A. has influenced me since I was younger, which is why I was excited when recently I saw the new movie Straight Outta Compton. While watching it my startup focused mind couldn't help but connect the parallels between the story and the startup world. 

One of the reasons I love early stage startups so much is the idea of the come up. Starting with just a little come something and making it so much more through hard work and creativity.  

Thats what startups do and that's what N.W.A. did. They used creativity and their existing environment to open up a new level of authenticity in music that prior to them didn't exist. 

When you look at it you can see that N.W.A. stumbled upon a market with large potential that hadn't been changed in awhile. This meant the timing was ripe for disruption, which is important. They applied a unique solution, which they assembled a credible team around based on their upbringing. The perseverance and hard work was put in by all the founding members overcoming numerous obstacles in their way. The revenue model was clear and established as viable with the potential to scale. 

If you haven't seen the movie yet, I highly recommend you check it out. Meanwhile you can watch Kendrick Lamar sit down the Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and DJ Yella of N.W.A. to hear first hand how they view the way they changed the game.