Hello World: from our Intern Extraordinaire!
July 8, 2010
Vurve is always looking for sharp interns – and boy, did we find one in Hanyin (thanks to the TEC program)! Over the next few weeks, we will share his thoughts as an intern working at Vurve. Here’s the first installment – enjoy!
Hello world! My name is Hanyin. (It is pronounced like ‘onion’ but with an ‘h’) I am one of the 15 lucky interns for the TEC program this year. I am originally from Beijing, China and lived there until I was 10 then came to Boston in the States. Currently I am a junior at Boston College studying Computer Science and Economics. I have a wide range of interests including: entrepreneurship, technology, basketball, TV-show marathons, developing mobile applications, and road trips.
Its good to be back in Silicon Valley! 3 month ago, I was here with a group of students from Boston College as a part of our Tech Trek field study program. Although I was only here for a week, I quickly fell in love with the beautiful weather, nice people, and the strong tech and entrepreneurial atmosphere! I am looking forward to spend the summer in San Jose and to be working for True Ventures in San Francisco and Vurve in Sunnyvale. I hope to use this blog to reflect on my experiences and on new things that I learn everyday.
My own interest in startups and technology really developed this past semester at school. I always knew that I was loved coming up with business ideas. I have participated in several business plan competitions in the past and have done fairly well. However, I didn’t know what I loved even more was taking action and actually executing the plan. It took a combination of two involvements at school to help me realize my own entrepreneurial spirit. First is my involvement with student government at Boston College. Taking a leadership role in the student government gave me the platform to work on exciting school wide initiatives. I loved the rewarding process of starting something from scratch and building a program that benefits my peers. At the time I didn’t see the parallels of working in student government and entrepreneurship, but now its clear. Second reason, which I already mentioned is Tech Trek. This amazing class studies companies from startup to blue chip and had a field study component that took us to all the companies we studied during spring break. What I learned was that although the Google and Yahoo’s of the world were great, the startups we visited were the most exciting. One of the companies that stood out to me was WePay. I was envious of the founders Bill and Rich because they really have the best job in the world. Everyday they work to make their dreams a reality. They make the impossible, possible. To me, that is the definition of success.
It is 2010, there is just no reason to not be doing what you love. We are young and have nothing to lose. People say it is a risky business and it takes luck, I think that’s crap. Being at a University and at a great summer internship with TEC, we are empowered to achieve. So what are we waiting for, lets start a company!
True Partners
October 2, 2009
Over the last few months, we met with a lot of potential investors – friends and family, mentors and ex-bosses, institutional angels and, yes, VCs of all hue. A strong team, a robust idea, and an actual business model meant we got a good hearing – and a good shake too. Then came the time to make a decision – who should we partner with to turn our vision into reality?
Today, I’m happy to announce we’ve closed our first round of funding with True Ventures. We’re honored to join their portfolio companies like Automattic (think WordPress), gdgt, GigaOM, Brightroll and Bloomspot (full list here).
So, how did we make this momentous decision? Here’s what we looked for, and found with True. We thought we’d post the list in case it helps other entrepreneurs, too!
- Respect: Are the VCs ‘pitching’ themselves, as much as listening to your own ‘pitch’? If not, there’s a power relationship here that doesn’t augur well.
- Speed: How quickly do the VCs move? True got back to us in less than 1 working day – now that’s quick (and probably an outlier) – but you get the idea.
- Trust: Does the VC inspire trust? Do you feel they will back you as a founder through thick and thin?
- Openness: Dealmaking is tricky, and things will be touch-and-go at times – do your potential partners listen well? Are they upfront?
- Pragmatism: Early-stage startups are hard work indeed. Will your VCs be pragmatic about when to intervene, when to help, and when to merely observe?
- Experience: Different firms have different strengths – we appreciate True’s deep bench of Entrepreneur-turned-partners – but you might have a different perspective.
- Reputation: Early stage VC firms don’t have a long historical record, but there are clear trends and experiences you can extrapolate from.
- Personal Rapport: Yes, it’s intangible, but it’s critical nevertheless! And, it’s the key to any successful long-term relationship. As they say, choose your partner wisely!
This is, of course, just the start of the Vurve journey. We’re glad to have great partners, and a solid team to execute on our vision – stay tuned for more! (no, Joseph, it’s not time for us to share yet!)
- Amit
Introducing Palaran to the World
August 1, 2009
Thanks for visiting! We are working hard on some things we’d love to share with you very soon – in the meantime, we’d like to answer all the frequently asked questions.
Well, actually, there’s just the one. How exactly do you pronounce ‘Palaran’?
The answer – however you like! We like to pronounce it pal-a-RAN, but we’ve heard puh-LA-run and PAL-uh-run used, and we love them equally well!
And now – back to your regularly scheduled programming. We’ll be back with more news soon, we promise!
- Amit
