What We Can Learn from Bootup Labs

Bootup Labs Danny Robinson
As Bootup’s Danny Robinson knows, the best solution is to confess, correct, and move on.

The fury surrounding Vancouver start-up accelerator Bootup Labs should provide a lesson for all new or existing businesses who discover that their best-laid plans aren’t exactly working, which is pretty much every business out there to varying degrees.

Basically, that lesson is that somewhere along the way, something is going to go terribly wrong.

And you have to take it and move on.

In Bootup’s case, the snafu occurred when it brought in a cohort of digital start-up companies (its focus) from B.C. but also from various parts of the world, and promised to help them get their businesses going, as is its mission.

But Bootup funds this acceleration with investment from angel investors and venture capital companies with the understanding that it will make them investment ready at the end of their term in the lab.

Except earlier this year, that investment didn’t come through when it was supposed to.

So in March, Bootup had to boot out four of the seven companies it took in last January.

Stuff Happens

These included one Phoenix company, Statusly, whose young founders moved to Vancouver for the program. When they were cut, they were almost destitute and managed to make their way home broke, bitter, and scuffed up by the experience.

One founder, Jamie Martin, wrote a devastating blog post about it that rocketed around the tech start-up community in North America.

Bootup founder and chief Danny Robinson tried to answer the blog, but spent a large amount of space correcting mistakes instead of apologizing, so apparently didn’t come across as quite contrite enough.

And he’s been getting kicked around by other tech bloggers for weeks because of it. In fact, bloggers not generally being the sort who pull their punches, some pretty nasty stuff was said out there.

Last week, Robinson posted a blog indicating that he had essentially prostrated himself before investors, mentors, and friends for advice on how he should have handled it. The results of that process was contained in his post, entitled “I made mistakes. I was wrong. Lessons Learned.”

It contained a much stronger confession and apology. He had messed up and was more than sorry.

Of course this hasn’t quelled completely the furor out there. Many bloggers in the start-up and acceleration biosphere are still taking the whole incident apart and, in some cases, looking for villains. Usually they turn their bile to Robinson.

But at least Robinson can hold his head high.

He messed up, and he ‘fessed up. It won’t happen again.

Now it’s time to move on.

Nordica are Vancouver wedding photographers, social media photographers and Vancouver headshot photographers who, although based in Vancouver, take projects worldwide.
Nordica (E-mail) Cole (E-mail | Blog), Jakob (E-mail | Blog)