Getting into 500 Startups

SportHold got into 500 Startups. We've already started and it's pretty exciting. The credit goes to my co-founder, Adam, who did the pitch and the interview that led to the invitation to join. We're a part of batch 9. Sometimes I have to pinch myself. The people I'm meeting on a daily basis are impressive and the things they've done blow me away.

The two I'm thinking of right now are Eric Nakagawa who is responsible for LolCatz (!) and Cynthia Schames, one of the founders of AbbeyPost, another startup in our group. I'd pencil AbbeyPost in for a billion-dollar valuation at some point in the next few years (just after us, of course).

Eric hasn't been in the office recently but he sits 6 desks away. The freaking founder of Cheezburger, I mean, c'mon, it doesn't get any more awesome than that!

We've navigated the bureaucracy that comes with being a foreign founder in the Valley to do heroic things like set up a bank account, set up a PG&E account (which involved going to San Jose, which has the amazing Agave Mexican Grill restaurant and absurdly good tacos, not to mention Philz, a stellar boutique drip coffee place right next to San Jose State University), rented a place, filled it with cheap Walmart bare necessities (we don't have a table - we're not into indulgent and lavish furniture) and all the other annoying non-start-uppy things that come with doing startups anyhow.

We've also established a routine with some rules:

• Wake up at 6am 6 days a week. Stuck to this so far.
• No drinking except on Fridays and then only 2 drinks. Stuck to this so far. We were drinking too much in our first month in SF and given that we're always around startup people we decided to treat those occasions as work related.
• Exercise every day. Started well but I haven't kept up. I don't enjoy running around here at 6am. Adam will start swimming once his Amazon ordered swim gear arrives.
• Meditate every day. Hasn't happened yet (T.T).

It's working so far. The routine has given us the kind of structure we were missing but I still don't feel I'm anywhere near peak productivity yet. That will come.

I also bought a bunch of books to help me unwind as we don't have a TV or internet where we live right now.

Oh, and one block from our home they found a mountain lion in a garage and two blocks away is a Wallmart Obama visited. Other than that just enjoying 500's amazing view and the gorgeous weather. The food is great and the people are friendly. Ideal conditions for focus.