I've been in nreduce for a couple months now and I think it's a great program. The startups are very mixed in terms of goals--some are working on side projects, others are building real businesses with real customers, revenue, and all that. The community has been extremely helpful, and it's a good way to connect with people facing similar problems.
This is a bit of a glowing review, but as far as my goals of accountability and connections, it's been hugely helpful for me. And honestly, not having to give up equity or take investment is a pretty great deal.
I agree. There is a mixture of teams in various stages. It is very good to learn from teams that are ahead of you in terms of learning. I've been attending the physical meetups in san francisco. Eventhough, the turnout has reduced steadily over a period of time, I think that is the best part of nreduce.
There is definitely a lot of great things about the local meetups and yes you are right, unless there is great content it is hard to get people to invest 3-4 hours a week for a local meeting. That is why we are focusing on the online experience and continually working to make it better / more engaging.
Would love to learn more about what you like about the local events.
We've found that over the weeks the startups have got more comfortable using the nReduce platform to give more constructive feedback, and are not afraid to shy away from being direct.
Also some of the teams involved have actually changed their plans when the rest of their 'support network' have firmly suggested alternative approaches.
We've received a lot of constructive feedback from other startups over the last couple months in nReduce, and it has generally been a nice experience. For that reason alone, it has been pretty valuable to us.
The new approach to "demo day" that nReduce is going for will hopefully be something that helps entrepreneurs get exposure in a more meaningful way. If it's done right, I could see it as a serious AngelList alternative; they seem to be interested in building tools that let developers show off their skills on a micro/functional way. This is much more appealing than a system that relies more heavily on getting attention through mutual friends and connections.
Having said that, I'm still kind of wary about the 10 startup demo day approach that is based on "investor rating" of the companies, mostly because it's not really clear what that means. Other people questioned the potential for investors to be more inclined to care about specific types/markets of startups, and I think that's a valid concern. However, I think that since they're planning on making it a monthly thing, it could potentially make it a lot easier for niche startups who have a solid product to get some real attention.
Thanks so much for the feedback. Everything in nReduce is a prototype, so we are going to be monitoring the success of the process we are designing for demo day. If it doesn't work well, we will go back to the drawing board.
Hmm. I signed up for this when you launched in June, and so far I haven't received any email since mid-June when you told me about a meetup in SF. I assumed this project was dead, actually, since I haven't heard anything from you since then, and I'm surprised to read you've been doing meetups and even have an online community.
You might want to dig up whatever email list I'm on and let us know that you're still around and have changed your model.
I'm glad to know you aren't just focusing on Bay Area startups, by the way--there are so many startups outside that area that could benefit from what you're doing. Cheers to that!
Totally our fault, we had some forms break in the beginning and emails got mixed up. Can you send me an email? I would be happy to walk you through the process.
nReduce is indeed alive, and quite active in San Francisco. Been involved since the first meetup. The meetings have been drawing a decent crowd (up-vote for pizza and beer) and the feedback has been amazing. Joe and Josh are doing an amazing job, essentially they built a social platform for us in a few weeks.
Glad you are liking it! Josh is an F'n genius, I am just the guy that messes around with twitter bootstrap and ordering pizzas! Really glad you are having a good experience!
nReduce has been incredibly helpful to our startup and I'm super psyched that Joe and Josh have been able to put dev resources into building what's turned into one of the most useful resources to keep our startup motivated and shipping things every week.
I helped kick off the initial idea a few months ago, and it's morphed into something way different and in my opinion way better than what I initially was aiming for.
One of the few things that differentiates nReduce from other founder meetups (Hackers & Founders, 106 miles etc.) is the online platform they have built to manage weekly video checkins (before & after videos) and private groups where other founders can choose what other startups to pair with and share constructive feedback on what groups are building.
Rather than meeting another founder briefly over a beer and having an inkling of whether they are killing it, you can very quickly see based on the weekly checkins who is making real progress and who you want to engage with further. Plus, founders who engage deeply with other founders on their platform get more community points (think karma) that unlocks other benefits like mentor access.
Now they are exposing these very valuable weekly progress reports to potential investors. Much as Suster writes in his "Investing in Lines, Not Dots" post (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/11/15/invest-in-line...), investors want to see how you progress. Seems like a big value add to the seed investing ecosystem.
nReduce has been invaluable for us at PolarMeter. We especially benefited from the weekly kick-in-the-butt to show what you've accomplished, the honest no-bs feedback from other founders and the chance to meet and build relationships with other teams during nReduce Tuesdays.
Joe and Josh have done a great job so far, keep it up and things will get even bigger and awesomer!
Two months later, I can say that the decision to join nReduce was a right one. The requirement to ship every week keeps you motivated; this is exactly what I needed. As I said in my intro video, "My name is Alexander and I never finish (personal) projects." I'm sure there are many other developers who have 90%-ready projects but never get to showing them to the public.
If you are one of these guys, consider joining nReduce. It's been two months now and Feetlot.com just got its first users (who are loving it; and if you buy shoes online, check it out). I honestly think that if I hadn't joined nReduce, there would have been no alpha by now.
There is one month left till the demo day but already now I can say that I've reached my initial goal of launching an alpha and getting first visitors.
Another startup guy at nReduce here. Because of the time differences (I'm in India) I'm not able to participate actively in the community. I know I should learn to wake up early. What has really helped me are the weekly builds. I just missed uploading one update and I'm feeling so bad I couldn't do it on time. Needless to say, you get what you put in to the program. So far, it's been a self discipling tool for me.
nReduce has been great for Spark. The weekly checkins, combined with frank advice from our fellow teams, makes for a serious kick in the pants drive to ship constantly.
I would recommend nReduce for any startup.
If there's one gripe, it is in the use of binary peer ratings to determine who gets to move on - it really encourages gaming the system, rather than focusing on doing your best work.
Thanks so much for the feedback. The dynamics of the system are very subtel and we are seeing how things play out over time. The "gaming of the system" if you look at it looks like it is taking the form of people having to make deals with other teams. Kind of an interesting dynamic. We will of course revisit this over time.
Another nReducer here - we're on a distributed team, and bootstrapping. Since making a team-wide move was not a possibility for us, nReduce has been an amazing opportunity.
Great work so far from the nReduce team, and the startup team interactions are super-helpful.
I haven't joined nReduce, but I thought it was a great idea and it inspired me to start a smaller weekly coffee meetup of product creators in my city. I call it the "Iterators" group. Similar concept: we are all working on stuff so meeting weekly and sharing feedback, status, etc. is a great way to stay accountable and share experience.
You can do a lot of interesting things when you meet weekly instead of monthly.
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 86.5 ms ] threadThis is a bit of a glowing review, but as far as my goals of accountability and connections, it's been hugely helpful for me. And honestly, not having to give up equity or take investment is a pretty great deal.
Great to hear that, as always let me know how to make your experience better!
-Joe
There is definitely a lot of great things about the local meetups and yes you are right, unless there is great content it is hard to get people to invest 3-4 hours a week for a local meeting. That is why we are focusing on the online experience and continually working to make it better / more engaging.
Would love to learn more about what you like about the local events.
Best, -Joe
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lambda_calculus#Reduction
The new approach to "demo day" that nReduce is going for will hopefully be something that helps entrepreneurs get exposure in a more meaningful way. If it's done right, I could see it as a serious AngelList alternative; they seem to be interested in building tools that let developers show off their skills on a micro/functional way. This is much more appealing than a system that relies more heavily on getting attention through mutual friends and connections.
Having said that, I'm still kind of wary about the 10 startup demo day approach that is based on "investor rating" of the companies, mostly because it's not really clear what that means. Other people questioned the potential for investors to be more inclined to care about specific types/markets of startups, and I think that's a valid concern. However, I think that since they're planning on making it a monthly thing, it could potentially make it a lot easier for niche startups who have a solid product to get some real attention.
Thanks so much for the feedback. Everything in nReduce is a prototype, so we are going to be monitoring the success of the process we are designing for demo day. If it doesn't work well, we will go back to the drawing board.
Please keep the feedback coming.
-Joe
You might want to dig up whatever email list I'm on and let us know that you're still around and have changed your model.
I'm glad to know you aren't just focusing on Bay Area startups, by the way--there are so many startups outside that area that could benefit from what you're doing. Cheers to that!
Best, -Joe
joe@nreduce.com
I helped kick off the initial idea a few months ago, and it's morphed into something way different and in my opinion way better than what I initially was aiming for.
Rather than meeting another founder briefly over a beer and having an inkling of whether they are killing it, you can very quickly see based on the weekly checkins who is making real progress and who you want to engage with further. Plus, founders who engage deeply with other founders on their platform get more community points (think karma) that unlocks other benefits like mentor access.
Now they are exposing these very valuable weekly progress reports to potential investors. Much as Suster writes in his "Investing in Lines, Not Dots" post (http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2010/11/15/invest-in-line...), investors want to see how you progress. Seems like a big value add to the seed investing ecosystem.
+2cents
Joe and Josh have done a great job so far, keep it up and things will get even bigger and awesomer!
If you are one of these guys, consider joining nReduce. It's been two months now and Feetlot.com just got its first users (who are loving it; and if you buy shoes online, check it out). I honestly think that if I hadn't joined nReduce, there would have been no alpha by now.
There is one month left till the demo day but already now I can say that I've reached my initial goal of launching an alpha and getting first visitors.
Thank you, nReduce. Keep it up!
I would recommend nReduce for any startup.
If there's one gripe, it is in the use of binary peer ratings to determine who gets to move on - it really encourages gaming the system, rather than focusing on doing your best work.
Great work so far from the nReduce team, and the startup team interactions are super-helpful.
I hope they changed policies.
You can do a lot of interesting things when you meet weekly instead of monthly.