mtn: Stick to your plan. Build traffic via word of mouth and hustle. If things start to take off, look into possible financing for expansion. In general, don't expect to see any money for at least six months from the time you start fundraising, often longer.
Wynton: Yes, the major difference between this and any other forum on 2+2 is the restricted group of people able to create new threads.
PITTM: I think he will not be as impressed by Le Bernadin as French Laundry. I haven't been to Le Bernadin, but have been to places that friends say are like it. Tons of restaurants in New York like Daniel, Jean Georges, and others (I could go on for a bit re: NYC fine dining restaurants) are going to generally be incredible execution and taste, but not quite as unique an approach as French Laundry.
B: I don't think there are any shortcuts to networking. You go to business-focused events and have as many conversations as possible. There are tons of small-business focused groups for every possible business or interest group. Groups like The Churchill Club and The Commonwealth Club are good ways to meet people by going to their events.
A: I haven't read that book, but it sounds right up my alley. I'll add it to the list. I haven't really participated in or read much of the mod forum excpet for answering questions about this forum.
CT: I think people should get into things they are really personally interested in and will love devoting ridiculous amounts of their time to.
DDY: I've started a few small companies, no runaway successes yet, and been involved with advising/investing/fundraising for a number more, some of which have done quite well. I think the Well thread I linked is as much detail as I've gone into regarding my background.
me: I'd find a friend in real-life or via online means like 2+2 to help you out with the tech side.
poker: I don't buy wine from TJs, but perhaps others can help. My recommendation for finding the best lower priced stuff is to find a good local wine shop.
Savage: I provided them with some patent-pending sidebar-updating technology.
Barry: I'd make them go through with the 10k fight first, but regardless of results would pick yves.
[censored]: My standard drink is vodka soda w/ a lime. Delicious and refreshing. For real cocktail suggestions, check out this sweet OOT thread:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...age=0&vc=1
KJS: Only way to really know is to get the inside scoop from the exec team. Feel free to PM me the name of the company and I'll give you my best guess.
Aqua: If you truly have something innovative in biometrics, you should PM Boris and give me a referral fee. If you have unique IP in biometrics that fills a market need, that's the perfect type of thing that VCs look for. On the flip side, if you've had a product for years and sales aren't growing, you should have an answer for that first.
Six: Thanks!
nation: Your costs will be almost all based on how much you want to spend on design, ranging from $100 to get it all set up yourself to many thousands to have a professional designer do it all. If I were you I'd poker around 2+2 looking for web designers to help you out. In terms of traffic and orders, go to any e-commerce hosting site (Yahoo! is the most basic of them, Google will provide you with 100 more names) and they'll have tons of packages for very cheap that will support all that stuff for the volumes you'll do.
Tron: Alas, no. On both counts!
X: katy was not excluded for any reason. Just happened to not be on the first list of 100 I picked to start new threads.
Will: Very nice. Which W? All are nice. If I were you I'd hang around the East Village and check out random bars/pubs there. Ask Evan where he goes!
David: 35