Reid Hoffman, one of the founding members of Internet payment-services giant PayPal, said successful startup companies require “art, science and luck.”
Hoffman said the art is a company’s ability to conceive of something innovative; the science is having the expertise to execute the idea; and the luck is developing the right product at the right time.
“The best sorts of ideas are the ones that people say you are crazy but you turn out to be right,” said Hoffman, speaking Thursday at a venture-capital conference in Denver. “The problem is that you are often crazy.”
Hoffman is now chief executive of LinkedIn Corp., based in Palo Alto, Calif., which claims 6 million users of its online networking website.
Hoffman delivered his advice to about 275 attendees at the 18th annual Colorado Capital Conference at the Marriott City Center hotel. The event attracted entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, angel investors and business-services companies looking to land new clients.
Eight companies, seven from Colorado and one from Wyoming, pitched their business plans. Six were smallish companies looking for money from angel investors; two firms were aiming to strike larger deals with venture-capital firms.
“It’s critical,” said Lee Taylor, chief of Telluride-based Thera Togs Inc., a provider of physical-rehabilitation products. “It’s the only way we can get visibility in the investment community.”
More than 60 companies applied to present at the conference. As many as three of the presenting companies could land financing through contacts made at the conference, said Jim Arkebauer, event chairman and founder of Denver-based Venture Associates.
Investor Wayne Greenberg said “it would be a good yield” if one of the six companies seeking angel money received financing.
“I’m looking for as clean a deal as possible,” said Greenberg, who is also chief executive of WellDog Inc., a Laramie-based energy company.
Staff writer Will Shanley can be reached at 303-820-1260 or wshanley@denverpost.com.
