The following video “How To Raise Money From VC’s” comes from 5min.com, an instructional video site we covered in May, and is currently getting a lot of attention in Israel. The video (in Hebrew with English subtitles) provides some fun advice for anyone looking at raising money from VC’s. Content aside I was just impressed at not only the quality of the video playback, but the built in support for switching subtitles on and off as well. If quality is the defining point of differentiation amongst instructional video sites, 5min has positioned itself very well. Enjoy.
Advertisement
- Actively Discussed Posts
- NSFW: After Fort Hood, another example of how 'citizen journalists' can't handle the truth
238 comments - "Horrible Things" Slink Back Into Zynga
204 comments - Fever Pitch: It's Droid Day, Enjoy The Moment.
147 comments - Think The Droid Launch Was A Let Down? Not So Fast.
141 comments - My Not-So-Epic Quest To Find The Elusive Verizon Droid Line
120 comments
Responses
-
easn.de
July 15th, 2007 at 2:51 am -
share.websitemagazine.com
July 16th, 2007 at 6:41 am -
rocket german
October 8th, 2007 at 6:54 am -
How to raise money from VCs? | Venture Capital Cafe
December 5th, 2007 at 1:29 am -
imedo-Interview von Christian Angele auf squeaker.net » Der imedo-Gesundheitsblog
May 26th, 2008 at 7:44 am
Comments 
Leave Comment
Commenting Options
Enter your personal information to the left, or sign in with your Facebook account by clicking the button below.
Alternatively, you can create an avatar that will appear whenever you leave a comment on a Gravatar-enabled blog.
Trackback URL
- Actively Discussed Posts
- NSFW: After Fort Hood, another example of how 'citizen journalists' can't handle the truth
238 comments - "Horrible Things" Slink Back Into Zynga
204 comments - Fever Pitch: It's Droid Day, Enjoy The Moment.
147 comments - Think The Droid Launch Was A Let Down? Not So Fast.
141 comments - My Not-So-Epic Quest To Find The Elusive Verizon Droid Line
120 comments
It will be interesting to see if the Techcrunch conference helps some of the more promising StartUps get funded
If the Winner is unfunded at the time of winning – it will likely the publicity will change that situation in mere days
Obviously, 5min.com have better interface than Youtube.
And yeah, the video is short and sweet :p
I might try it for my blog one day.
nice interface. what a total piece of crap from the content perspective.
that dude was hilarious!!!
The subtitles don’t do justice to this content. (Do they ever?). This is much more entertaining than the english subtitles reveal.
Tip 0,
Your chances of getting VC money is 2-3X higher if you are a member of the tribe
But the video is in Hebrew so I guess this is assumed…
I agree that guy is hilarious.
This guy rocks! Absolutely hilarious! *LOL*
lol.. well, Mike, he got some points there. Don’t be too harsh. We don’t want any fallen angel lurking around here. lol!
I went to 5min.com and have a look. They have lots of good videos in it.
Also (and I didn’t notice this until after the post) click on the smart player button for more interface goodness
Mike, Duncan, i guess Quality of content is relative to the context. I posted this video on my personnal blog a few days ago and the reactions were quite different
http://ouriel.t...o-get-vcs-.html
Actually i mentionned to someone at 5min the video was hilarious but only if you really know the israeli culture and mentality as it is full of references to typical local social behaviours and expressions impossible to translate.
Obviously did not work with you, and that’s fine. If this was not for the features you mentionned i am not sure i would have posted the video here.
I’m open to cultural interpretation, but sometimes something sucks in all cultures.
hey! I don’t think that was “a total piece of crap from the content perspective.”, he made some good points… not very technical, but he went for the acting part of the presentation.
good job, and yes 5min.com is really good
“what a total piece of crap from the content perspective.” Somebodies mad at something. Too witty for you Arrington??? Come on it was great.
He is fucking funny!!
At the very least, it was entertaining and mildly humorous. Some crude (and controversial) points in there, but I suppose each man paves his own road to success!
Obviously the vid is exaggerated for humor purposes, but it still struck a cord with a lot of people so I guess there’s a kernel of truth to it in addition to the hilarity.
Let’s just say the video is entertaining. I don’t know if the tips he shared would work, so maybe we need to try it to find out if it’s really just a piece of crap. Anyone? :p
he could be talking about how tasty crap is – and he’d still convince many
he’s quick, witty, and confident – the perfect salesman trifecta
As a Sicilian guy, I liked it very much: it is really hilarious and according to the Mediterranean humor!
Anyway, being in the industry, I don’t believe that everything he says about VCs is true: get funded is an hard job, but it’s not impossible and a VC doesn’t really get shocked if you use a competitor’s logo in your presentation, or if you use terms that are not understandable, or if you put estimations in a spreadsheet that don’t mean anything: that would mean you found the dumbest one. A good VC, in fact, will ask you about the meaning of the not understandable acronym, he/she will ask you about the full explanation of the estimations before letting you continue, and will be aware of tricks like putting a rival’s logo in the presentation.
Anyway, as I said, it wa hilarious…
I though the video was funny, but I do agree with MA, the content was crap!
If you act like this guy in a VC meeting, you most likely will tarnish your reputation in the valley for a long time, unless you are some genius with some new technology that is very defensible. Otherwise, VCs invest in teams and what they can do. It’s mainly about reducing their risk and they have to feel confident that the team can deliver. I do agree with the guy in video, VCs want to invest in google pre IPO, however, that wasn’t one of his points, it was just a side note.
BTW, 5min UI is cool…but good luck. It reminds of ehow.com back in the days. I remember going to a program with the ceo as their main speaker. I asked her how scalable would it be to build all this how to instructions. She said oh very scalable. I knew she was full of it, and the company later closed.
The 5min.com guys are targeting instructional videos. The killer app here is not a cool UI, but good content. This is where they are going to fail. Since they do not have the distribution of youtube. So anyone who can create high quality content, would go with youtub and make money off the revenu share that they’ll get off youtub. The much higher distribution rate just mean a lot more revenu for the content creator.
If I were them, I would instead license their UI to all the other youtube wannabes and make money off of them.
Just $.02 from someone who lived through the first bubble.
this video and guy was hilarious, quit whining mike.
RE #20: “This is where they are going to fail.”
I would say that is their challenge, but hardly that they’re doomed. YouTube is optimized for general use, and the “instructional” market (as it were) has different needs. Video quality, for one example, can make or break certain types of tutorials.
Sclipo seems to be working on slightly more novel functionality so far (i.e. live classrooms), but 5min has great brand potential and better UE. Either of these companies would do well to concentrate on nuturing their community over the trap of one-hit-wonder material. To Sam’s point, a Mentos-and-Diet-Coke tutorial will always have more potential on YouTube.
Based on my experience with VC’s, or more accurately consistent lack thereof, he’s 100 percent right. Clearly my earnest and uncool and businesslike approach isn’t working, so I’ll try this dude’s approach next. Gotta go work on my cool. Can somebody please tell me how I become the “vibe”?
Nick
@Nick: Cigar, glass of scotch, and uh, Prada on his head?
Also, becoming the ‘vibe’ includes not deconstructing every nuance.
I mean, what, no one has posted 48 comments about the passage of time throwing off the continuity along with the cigar and glass switching hands.
FAIL all of you, especially the VCs.
Arrington, Unfortunately – Shit Sells as much as Sex!
If you wanted to do the “wrong vc logo” bit, there is a better way to do it:
– Have two versions of the presentation ready.
– Load incorrect logo version
– When the slide appears, explain that you rushed over and that you made a mistake on loading the presentation
– then take off the screen, change the presentation to the correct one
(not suggesting that this is a good idea by any means)
This was a hilarious video.
The subtitles are provided by PLYmedia’s subtitling full service tool and service which adds added value to this 5min video by combining the old and the new (subtitles with internet video). Now, online video is more interactive by allowing the viewer to switch between languages just like a DVD (www.plymedia.com/subply).
What a funny that was….
MA,
It is amazing how Americans will consider “crap” what is considered to be humerous in other parts of the world. And especially such a worldwide recognized person like MA.
“I’m open to cultural interpretation”? Give me a break!!!
Will it surprise you guys that China (eventually) will change the economic equilibrium of this world?
This site was AWESOME! Funny and mocking this stupid Silicon Valley where arrogant rich people think their shit doesnt stink.
Why is this bad content? If its entertaining and made me laugh. I also found it original.
I thought it was hilarious, but I speak Hebrew, so I absorbed it in its optimal format.
the guy was not making a serious documentary. It was funny – with his big cigar, slicked back hair and designer frames, waiving his “brandy” …. it was a farce with some elements of truth hinting at the vapidity of the entire scene.
And somehow I can see someone like mark zuckerberg making a lot of those anti-establishment moves then being called “brilliant” afterwards… (just kidding mark)
Great advice about the acronyms part… let’s get started here: http://www.abbreviations.com
Somehow I didn’t find the English subtitles. Did they run away to Lebanon?
Good stuff, i am sure there is more to this thing. Since everyone already see it, do you think it will still work?
The video is really good I thought. Exaggerated suggestions obviously, but they get you thinking from a different perspective and the delivery is engaging.
RE 22
Content creation is very expensive and hard. As you can see in this sample video, it’s little funny and little education, but it’s not very good at either. Which means these guys would rely on people to create the educational videos. But what is in it for the content creators? If it’s going to be revenu share, then the outlet with the largest distribution would provide the largest revenu–youtube. If it’s recognition and ego, then again youtube give them largest audience. Sure youtube is great for fun videos, but when you have all that 45 million or more eyeball you get the opportunity to put your educational or other stuff out there and if it’s any good, you make money from it.
RE 33…
I am not sure if these guys want to promote being an educational video resource or a fun video sharing site. They advertise themselves as an online educational video resource, if that’s what they are doing, then this hack wont cut it. It might be amusing for the techcrunch Hebrew speaking audience that knows Israeli culture, and the importance of fund raising, but if this is the best content they are going to have, they are just going to remain hip only among the 20-30 people who have posted favorable comments about this video.
I’ve never been to Israel and don’t speak a word of Hebrew, but that guy was pretty funny
lol…wonder what an English version would be like in a NY accent and Jewish mannerisms..
hilarious
Dear investors:
I need to speak to people at the wall street and CBOT. Overprice milk made children sick. I have niece vomiting milk last nigh and got fever. I’m looking for international investors to sell the milk prices. Milk can’t cure sickness. I need some intelligent investors to plumming milk price back to $2.50 a gallon.
Do anyone have infant that vomiting milk?
Hilarious, based on truth.
Nothing is more profitable than an investment idea whose time has come.
But you know what they do. If you look closely, VCs spending money — and its nothing about investments. They often missing perfect opportunity — and why? IMO due to the lack of adequate search and research capabilities.
VCs need serious training and support. Without it, disaster is inevitable.
Sam, it’s a JOKE video…… jeesh. I can’t believe anyone would think this is a serious content video. Lighten up. I don’t speak Hebrew and I get the humour in it.
That was quite entertaining, LOL
Subtitling of online media is excellent.It would be interesting to see such concept which can work with all foreign languages.
Lawrence
Media Movers, Inc.
#46 – Media Movers
PLYmedia offers such solutions – this 5min video has 5 subtitle languages (English, Spanish, German, Arabic and Russian) – allowing the user to change between them on-screen.
Check out http://www.plymedia.com/subply for more details or contact yoni@plymedia.com to discuss our tools and services.
#46 – Media Movers
PLYmedia offers such solutions – this 5min video has 5 subtitle languages (English, Spanish, German, Arabic and Russian) – allowing the user to change between them on-screen.
Check out our website for more details or contact yoni@plymedia.com to discuss our tools and services.
Intruders.tv did a video interview on raising angel funding with two London based entrepreneurs who raised a $1m round
Mike (2) comments about this video saying it sucks with no explanation; sounds jealous.
– then on your 2nd to admit it might have a cultural value (of humor) and you say it still sucks; heh to think you know all….
– guess you just an average lawyer, RB – Congrats on TC success