SOMA: the Hollywood of Web 2.0

My job is to video interview Founders of Web 2.0 startups. By startup, I mean any company that has developed a finished 1.0 version of a Web 2.0-related service. My interviews cover small one-man startups with bright ideas to startups with 50+ employees, venture-backed and covered many times on micro media sites like Techcrunch.

All the persons that I interviewed have a strong entrepreneurial spirit, and the way their businesses grew vary from Founder to Founder. For some, it's not too hard: they are popular serial entrepreneurs, and the mere fact of launching a new venture brings all eyes on them. Others are fresh out of Stanford, and are at a seed-funding stage of their project. There are those who've spent months, sometimes years, developing their product before it got a buzz. Some were top executives in an industry, and saw an opportunity attractive enough to quite their jobs and jump into this opportunity.

I am part of this movement. I am developing a concept of online video PR. Don't judge a book by its cover: My approach still needs to be tested, but at least it's original and not following the steps of Podtech.

How am I funding my projects? I am not a trust-funded baby. Money doesn't really run unleashed in the family. I haven't previously sold a promising startup. And I didn't win the lottery jackpot. I'm bootstrapped. No funds, no credits, no mortgage, no eating up on my 401k plan. My developer lives in Mexico, he is family, so a couple hundred bucks a month is enough for him to work part time on my project.

To make money for basic survival stuff, I display ads on my site (about $3 a month), in my videos (about $3 bucks a month), I provide traditional online PR services for a startup (about $500 a month). That's not enough. My main source of revenue is... Cappuccinos.

That's right. Everyday weekend, I cover day shifts at the Butler & the Chef right there in SOMA's South Park. When I was in high school, I'd work in restaurants to make money for my nights out. As a student, I'd work in restaurants to pay for my school and related expenses. And now, you would think that a diploma would protect you from working shitty jobs, but no, same old, all over again.

Luckily enough, I love the agitation of a restaurant's rush. Plus, I make the creamier cappuccinos ever. I don't even drink milk, but I like my drinks to look and taste good. I previously worked at Starbucks and Peet's Coffee and Tea. I've learned a lot there.

Just like the good-looking American young adults migrate to Hollywood for a chance to be stars and end up serving basil-flavored tofu to wealthy silicon-faced second-tier producers, I serve decaf vanilla soy cappuccinos to wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. I recognize a lot of the faces that come to my restaurant for a bite. Some I know and we chat. Some I don't know. Some I recognize because I've seen their avatars on Twitter.

Sometimes, I'll over-hear discussions about the latest deals, management problems, difficult personalities, unexpected competitors' moves, and so forth. Nobody ever suspects a waiter to be a tech blogger as well. I hear a lot of stuff, believe me.

Will I, one day, have a business going on? One decent enough that enables me to only eat half my plate and still request the dessert menu? This is my objective (the decent business, not the half-eaten plate). Whatever happens, I think that when I'll look back and read those lines, I'll think to myself: "At least I was one darn ambitious kid!"