Charlie’s Angel – A Startup Fund – marallo’s posterous

To Begin….

I have lost the argument – hard fought over many months.

Can I be invisible in todays social network?

My Argument:

Why can’t I be just like Charlie? No one needs to know who I am. I am not the important one in the equation – it is the startup, the entrepreneur…always. I am just a tool, one of many, that the entrepreneur needs to achieve success.

I was happy with this situation. I was funding startups; I was providing good advice; I was introducing people to a growing list of mentors; I was a cog in the journey from idea to business. In short, I was doing what I wanted.

It is hard work to keep up a public profile. Do I ask a question on Quora or answer a question; Do I tweet my blog or blog my tweet; Do I need to find an interesting picture every time I want to write about something…. It takes time, a great deal of time.

Is it the best use of my time? I would much rather meet great people, explore interesting ideas, put together killer teams.

And – you put yourself out there. Some say – The Internet is written in ink. A potential partner, an investor or a mentor could read a post and say, ‘what an idiot, I want no part of this dude.’

Hell, I know I will read an old post and cringe at the naiveté, the incomplete thought process, the ernest writing…

Is it worth it?

The counter argument:

• I can’t find you.
• Who have you worked with.
• Why should I take your money.
• Who are you again
• You are doing good work, people should know..(..I am not sure if anyone actually said that…:)
• etc.

But over time the cracks started to appear in my argument.

I did get tired of explaining who I was. I was embarrassed by half completed LinkedIn profiles. Julie wanted me to quit talking about it and just do it. Mack got tired of fielding phone calls – who is this guy? Maura started to get exasperated by the thought of having to tell my story one more time.

And I was listening to guys like Dave Olson – talking about amplification.

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http://bootup.ca/2240/social-marketing-kung-fu-white-belt-with-dave-olson/

It got me to thinking. How about I get my insecurities out of the way and think about the entrepreneurs and startups that I have the pleasure of working with. If even one of my posts gets noticed and aids in scoring a contract, a developer or some extra financing it will be so, so worth the effort.

So – LinkedIn is now more complete, AngelList is confirming commitments, about.me lets people know what I look like, HootSuite is set up to listen and amplify, and this blog will start to let people know how and what I think….

So, Is it worth it?

Ultimately  – yes

Will it be any good? Who knows…..success is about showing up.

Whatever you think you can do or believe that you can do, begin it. Action has magic, grace and power in it.

Goethe.