Ideas Caught in Web of Impractical, Cliched

After having read hundreds of business plans to select which companies would be allowed to make presentations seeking funds at last Wednesday’s VentureNet venture capital conference hosted by the Software Council of Southern California, Beth Kinsey said she was impressed both by the quality of some of the businesses, and the mediocrity of many others.

Hint: To get venture capitalists to give you millions of dollars for your business, you need to have a way of making money.

“A lot of people would just say, ‘Here’s my idea for X Web site,’ but they didn’t say how they’d pay for it,” said Kinsey, senior vice president of City National Bank.

Another hint: Have a new idea. “What you see is a lot of people trying to do the same thing and that’s kind of sad,” Kinsey said.

The most common copycat ideas? Online auctions and drug stores.

Coincidentally, the very next day yet another Orange County company started up an online auction just a few miles from the Ritz-Carlton in Dana Point where the venture capital conference was being held.

Laguna Niguel-based EGuide2000.com said it launched its auctionGuide2000.com site. “to take on industry leaders eBay.com and Amazon.com.”