Fear and Greed are the topic of the day for CB Stealth (not real name), the internet startup I've been involved with for nine months. So the question is, do you worry more about losing a fixed amount of money, or do you fret more about missing out on the investment of a lifetime?

Well, CB Stealth is now up and running (3 weeks) in its beta test version, which finally happened after jumping some major hurdles. Besides all the issues related to the site's features, before we went live we had to get clearance from our insurers and our legal counsel. This is a major milestone for a internet software startup company that has been tinkering with the product for months now.

Investors have become excited about reaching this point and I will be happier to be able to speak about it publicly once a few more updates are complete. I thought by now I would be able to share more about this new social networking site, but as it is, we are still too small to handle even the current pace of questions and suggestions. We need to work out a few more things before we go big time. The initial product is free and has advertising, but we are now in development of the value added paid product that we intend to release in the Fall.

It is very interesting to be following stories like this in the business journals and to have the opportunity to see it all from the inside as an advisor, and shareholder.

Continue reading Fear and Greed - CB Stealth 5 - it's live

Fear and Greed - CB Stealth 5 - it's live originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 19 Jul 2007 15:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

This another of my reports from the inside of an internet start-up. It is very interesting to be involved with something so new and so eventful. Every day it seems some new intrigue pops up. The founders, Howard and Brent, have been excellent to work with. Between them and the key advisory board members, we already have the nucleus of a successful team. Those investors who focus on management as the highest priority have been very pleased.

Yesterday (5/24/07) we had another investor meeting with a small group of people to present the latest progress on CB Stealth, my angel investment. The company has made some major strides in the software platform and raised additional capital since my last report about three weeks ago CB Stealth - our start-up gaining traction. We had hoped to have the Beta site up by now but we have added a few more bells and whistles and we are changing our servers (hardware issues) so it has been delayed until mid-June, or so I have been told.

Interest in CB Stealth from old media companies seems to be accumulating and it seems that, two in particular are anxious to meet with us even before the Beta version goes up. This is all new to me because I have not been involved with any Internet ventures as a principal. If we take on any large investors our valuation will go up and our control over the company will likely go down. One of the key decisions is going to be whether we wait for a higher valuation in six months after we are up and running or we take the cash now which would allow us to ramp up faster.

Continue reading CB Stealth - some progress, some minor setbacks - Chapter 4

CB Stealth - some progress, some minor setbacks - Chapter 4 originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Tue, 29 May 2007 18:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.