Introducing Found|READ

Many of us in the reporting business, convince ourselves that we can do a better job than folks we typically write about, a malady that is often experienced during the boom years, at least in Silicon Valley. Like others, I had my visions of grandeur. Talk about being delusional, for the differential between theory and practice is that between Roger Clemens and a 12-year-old pitching in the little league games.

Last nine months have been a lesson in humility, and a harsh realization that starting a company is for those dumb enough to climb a rock face standing perpendicular to terra firma. Confusion, constant second guessing, manic multitasking and perma-smile are new emotions. Caffeine has become my best friend. Sleep and I have broken up.

While growing our little publishing company has been a thrill-a-minute, it has also been an educational process, one that Harvard Business School can’t teach you. I have been scribbling some of my lessons, hoping to someday turn it into a book. How analog for a digital guy – quipped a friend who also was responsible for the title of my first book, Broadbandits. Why don’t you start a blog about it, after all you are good at blogging – he said.

Mulling over this for a few days, it dawned upon me, that the lessons I am learning, thousands have learnt before, and might actually have a wider (and better) perspective on trials and tribulations of being a founder of a business. Not just a tech start-up, just any business. Why isn’t there a resource that captures this tribal wisdom? What if we could
build one – one that can be shared by one-and-all?

While there are some excellent resources such as Reddit-powered YCombinator start-up site, Startupping, Venture Hacks … what I envisioned was a digital salon – where the conversations were started, experiences shared, questions asked and answered – with us writers playing the role of a salon keeper, a.k.a. conversation lubricant.

I harassed quite a few entrepreneurs and asked them if they would like a resource like this, and if they would become active participants in this project. Most, if not all were encouraging, and signed-up for this new effort, that is called, FoundREAD. (A little cheesy play on Foundry, but hey these are days of domain squatters.)

FoundREAD is a shared resource, where anyone can contribute, either through their posts, or experiences or comments. You can choose to contribute freely or anonymously. Just like a GPS system helps us drive through a maze of freeways, the founders and entrepreneurs help their peers navigate the twisted, confusing roads of company building.

So here it is folks, the newest member of GigaOM family. Hope you can visit, and share your stories with us. And sign-up for RSS feed!

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Om Malik

Om Malik is a San Francisco based writer, photographer and investor. More....

56 thoughts on “Introducing Found|READ”

  5. This looks like a nice addition to Webworkerdaily and Giga Om (one of my personal favorite blogs even back when 95% of the posts were yours).

    I wish you much success Mr. Malik.}

  6. Are you guys really going to publish a feed with ONLY headlines, no item text? Reeeally?

    I love the site, but if there’s not going to be a full feed, or at least excerpts, I don’t know how much I’m really going to drop by to read everything.}

  15. Agreed, the Headline-only feed is a dealbreaker for me (Arstechnica, I’m talking to you too 🙂 ). I do 90% of my reading on the train, offline, so one line is no good for me.}

  18. Anthony,

    It is a little problem we are fixing. one of the many things I forgot to check before launching. Full feeds should be made possible in a few hours. Again, sorry about that oversight.}

  19. Dave

    you make an excellent point, and you are spot on when you say – the rewards and growth are hard to find. It has been a crash course in life – these past nine months, and wouldn’t trade it for anything else.}

  20. Om, this sounds like an excellent idea. After more than twenty years of strategy consulting, much of which has been spent advising start-ups, I too have amassed a long list of the common trials and tribulations that all founders and entrepreneurs face but nobody remembers to document and share. That notebook full of ideas was to become a book but is still lying on my desk with a few other unfinished pieces of work. However, I did reach the point of soliciting dozens and dozens of anecdotes and stories from entrepreneurs and clients who were kind enough to share their biggest stumbles and/or epiphanies with me. This new forum you’ve provided seems an ideal place to share those thoughts and wisdom with those who can put it to good use. I look forward to becoming a contributor.}

  22. Om,

    This is something everyone wanted but only you could make happen. Now it’s up to us entrepreneurs to grow the gift you gave all of us. Thank you!

    (Awesome launch party BTW 😉 )}

  23. I am teaching an entrepreneurship course and I will send them here. I will also send you our entrepreneurs from Arizona, who would love to have this kind of dialogue. Thanks for doing this…}

  24. Dear Om,

    thank you very much for the great party last night. It was a pleasure to see you and all your friends from silicon valley. Looking foreward to spread the word for this new venture. Entrepreneurs make the difference. Best, Lars}

  28. Hey– Christina of PublicSquare here. I think that is an awesome idea, but a non-trivial technical challenge. 😉

    For now, though, why not upload on vimeo or revver or some such, and link the URL. I think the more faces and voices we bring in, the better!}

  30. Hi guys,

    Thanks for your kind comments and feed back. First of all, the RSS feeds now full feeds so that is one issue that is taken care off.

    Christina and her team are working with me to make sure that everything gets fixed, and all the kinks are ironed out.}

  31. Excellent idea. We are weeks away from beta testing our site and I have been longing for a “salon” type forum for serious startups.

    I’m looking forward to reading and participating.}

  34. Om – this blog is an excellent idea and will be immensely successful for you. But the user experience on your site sucks. This is a new blog and you already have 9 links in your global nav. I will still read it because of the content, but please hire a good UI designer}

  35. What a cool idea! I’d have loved to have found a site like this about a year ago but now that I’ve got a site under my belt and looking to build, I bet I’ll need it all the more.

    Thanks for this Om! Looking forward to reading it regularly.}

  38. Om – Great effort! Just in time – the blogs out there were beginning to loose the passionate editorials that once defined your space. Found+Read has the opportunity to surface some of your best fans – the ones who live in “entrepreneurial purgatory”.}

  42. I’m already a daily reader of your other blogs Om and this one looks to be great as well! I look forward to being part of this community. Keep up the good work all.}

  45. Glad I followed the trail of crumbs landed here at the Foundry. I’m experiencing the “crap sandwich”
    (someone else’s phrase) of starting a company — for the first time, and at a time in life when many are retiring! So looking forward to what insight and solace might be shared here.

    Pleased to meet you Om.}

  46. Wishing you the luck to “Getting Started”. But, it looks like you already did. Bravo. I’ll lurk and then jump into things from time to time.}

  48. Om,

    I’m sure Found|READ will excel like all your other work. Giving back to the community is something too few people do and it’s nice to catch those moments where the experienced lend a helping hand to the inexperienced. It can only lead to good things.

    Good luck in your new endeavor.}

  50. I think this is potentially a very exciting new venture. By allowing anyone to contribute, and fostering intelligent, enlightening discussion, you’re creating a very unique(and valuable!) community.
    I look forward to participating.
    The salon metaphor couldn’t be more apt.}

  52. Om, I was asked to write my startup experiences for Found-Read without knowing what your new blog was really about. I didn’t read your intro until now, days after I have posted my “Get Psyched” http://www.foundread.com/view/get-psyched. Boy, we are talking about the same thing!!! Even more stunning for me is that these “lost” feelings don’t go away even for serial entrepreneurs with our 2nd and 3rd startups. We are simply more prepared to recognize and take advantage of them. Thank you for creating this space for sharing our inner souls!}

  53. Jack

    thanks for the comment and your first post created quite a conversation. I think that is the idea – we founders need to talk about things that matter, and basically share it. I hope more folks will write in their stories and share the tribal wisdom}

  55. I know I’m a bit late to the party, but… better later than never:). Congratulations, Om! That’s a really good job! I keep on reading here… and now I am finally registered.

    Indeed, the process of starting up a business inevitably raises lot of questions. I am preparing to launch a business soon, and being first time on this path, I lack answers to some of those questions. Therefore one of the reasons I started my blog recently was to establish a communication channel that will help me and potentially others to find these answers.

    Your unique digital salon is very promising in this respect, especially given the wide audience you can reach, and I am really glad the timing of your plans turned out so coincidental. I’ll surely be a frequent visitor here, both asking questions and contributing as much as I can.

    Much success in this undertaking!!!}

  56. Awesome idea. I’ve always had the hardest time finding great blogs by entrepreneurs, probably because most of them are too busy to breathe, let alone blog. :)}

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