https://frankdenbow.com/blog Essays and posts by Frank Denbow. en Tue, 16 Jun 2026 20:21:55 +0000 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/26-startup-investments-for-2026 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/26-startup-investments-for-2026 Mon, 26 Jan 2026 23:26:41 +0000 Here is the continuation of the series that I've run for many years showcasing the top startups that I am seeing and working with. You can see past posts from 2025, 2018 , 2014, and 2013, along with my personal portfolio. If you'd like an intro to any of these, let https://frankdenbow.com/blog/focus-on-you-why-competition-is-for-losers https://frankdenbow.com/blog/focus-on-you-why-competition-is-for-losers Fri, 16 Jan 2026 13:20:11 +0000 I'm Frank, founder of Ballers (http://realballers.com), an ai-powered basketball community that uses computer vision to give you edited highlights and stats of your basketball games using only your phone. If this is interesting to you, lets chat here. On day 2 of living in San F https://frankdenbow.com/blog/why-im-not-66-blame-my-dad https://frankdenbow.com/blog/why-im-not-66-blame-my-dad Sun, 17 Nov 2024 23:30:22 +0000 It all started with basketball. As a kid, basketball wasn’t just a game—it was an obsession. I dribbled everywhere I went. The ball was like an extension of me, whether I was at the park, walking to school, or in our living room (which, I quickly learned, was https://frankdenbow.com/blog/yvonnes-final-act https://frankdenbow.com/blog/yvonnes-final-act Tue, 05 Nov 2024 11:17:13 +0000 The last thing my mother did before she died was to vote. We knew Yvonne was going to die in early 2021. I remember sitting in the doctor’s office as she told us that, while there were treatments left to try, the cancer had spread—reaching her lungs and https://frankdenbow.com/blog/25-investments-for-2025-a-follow-up-to-the-2020-series-part-3 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/25-investments-for-2025-a-follow-up-to-the-2020-series-part-3 Mon, 28 Oct 2024 19:19:18 +0000 Companies The final public post in this series (Part 1, Part 2) lists 9 of the 30 companies I believe in for 2025. The rest of the companies are available to members subscribed to this blog upon request. 1. Sugarwork – sugarwork.com Lots of knowledge gets lost when great empl https://frankdenbow.com/blog/25-investments-for-2025-a-follow-up-to-the-2020-series-part-2 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/25-investments-for-2025-a-follow-up-to-the-2020-series-part-2 Fri, 25 Oct 2024 13:40:02 +0000 TLDR: My syndicate is here. In part 1 we talked about my investment criteria generally. Now we delve into the people who I would invest in (wether to start a company or of my time and energy to support) because they have an elite skill or perspective in some area. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/2025-investments https://frankdenbow.com/blog/2025-investments Sun, 20 Oct 2024 10:08:41 +0000 (TLDR: Join my syndicate) Back in 2020, I published a list of 20 startups I would invest in, something I have done in 2018 , 2014, and 2013. I’ve had the pleasure of watching many of them grow and evolve. In addition I did some personal investments (now pushing via https://frankdenbow.com/blog/coding-is-thinking https://frankdenbow.com/blog/coding-is-thinking Wed, 28 Aug 2024 13:45:27 +0000 Programming, to me, has always been more about thinking than writing code. It’s not the hours spent writing lines of code that define the work—it’s the deep dive into problem-solving, the relentless questioning of assumptions, and the stripping away of unnecessary complexity unti https://frankdenbow.com/blog/buying-your-way-to-the-top https://frankdenbow.com/blog/buying-your-way-to-the-top Mon, 04 Dec 2023 02:16:13 +0000 The shortcut of using money to skip the hard stuff has been a strategy used for centuries. It manifests often in venture capitalists and private equity folks spending insane amounts of money to buy up smaller companies in order to roll them up into a bigger entity, finding accoun https://frankdenbow.com/blog/pole-pole-the-steady-march-to-the-peak https://frankdenbow.com/blog/pole-pole-the-steady-march-to-the-peak Thu, 21 Sep 2023 17:53:50 +0000 I took two steps forward and could not fathom making the next one. Staring straight down at the leg gaiters of the person in front of me, I bent over to alleviate the throbbing back pain, clutching my trekking poles for dear life. "No sleeping!" one of the porters yelled https://frankdenbow.com/blog/tech-culture-intro-february-2020 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/tech-culture-intro-february-2020 Mon, 09 Mar 2020 01:53:58 +0000 "The reason that Apple is able to create products like the iPad is because we've always tried to be at the intersection of technology and the liberal arts," - Steve Jobs In August of 2011, Marc Andreesen made a post (https://a16z.com/2011/08/20/why-software-is-eating-the-world/) https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-20-startups-for-2020 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-20-startups-for-2020 Sun, 19 Jan 2020 11:35:59 +0000 Ran through a bunch of companies that I think are interesting and building great businesses. 20 2020 Startups I Like: (ping me if you’d like an intro to any of these) 1/ @MSCHFXYZ: creators of the jesus shoe (https://pagesix.com/2019/11/08/drake-splashes-out-on-nike-jesus-sho https://frankdenbow.com/blog/chasing-dollars-three-failed-attempts-to-get-outside-capital-2 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/chasing-dollars-three-failed-attempts-to-get-outside-capital-2 Tue, 12 Mar 2019 04:28:31 +0000 This first appeared on the INFLECTION Blog On three occasions I chased outside funding when I should have just buckled down and focused on getting consistent predictable revenue. Here are 3 of those occasions: THE FAST LOAN After getting a bunch of investor rejections (as https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-your-dreams-dont-serve-you-let-them-go https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-your-dreams-dont-serve-you-let-them-go Mon, 11 Feb 2019 04:44:00 +0000 This first appeared on the INFLECTION Blog with full images. If your dreams don’t serve you, let them go. One dream I had was to be a Y-Combinator (a.k.a YC) founder. I can already read the hacker news comments: it’s just an accelerator, why does their https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-profit-driven-fund-part-2 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-profit-driven-fund-part-2 Mon, 17 Dec 2018 15:55:11 +0000 If I Ran It is a thought experiment series on my blog where I think about how I would run a company/fund if I was in control. Its hypothetical (for now). Previous entries in this series can be found Here and Here In the prior post I talked about https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-profit-driven-fund-part-1 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-profit-driven-fund-part-1 Fri, 05 Oct 2018 14:57:27 +0000 If I Ran It is a thought experiment series on my blog where I think about how I would run a company/fund if I was in control. Its hypothetical (for now). Previous entries in this series can be found Here(2013) and Here(2014) (Part 2 of this post https://frankdenbow.com/blog/interview-nasdaq-spotlight-with-mario-armstrong https://frankdenbow.com/blog/interview-nasdaq-spotlight-with-mario-armstrong Tue, 27 Feb 2018 14:06:46 +0000 Frank Denbow https://frankdenbow.com/blog/the-new-black-history-opportunity-and-inspiration-in-computer-science https://frankdenbow.com/blog/the-new-black-history-opportunity-and-inspiration-in-computer-science Tue, 27 Feb 2018 14:05:01 +0000 (this post originally appears on the CSForAll medium https://medium.com/@CSforALL/the-new-black-history-opportunity-and-inspiration-in-computer-science-c82e696b0ab3) The new black history that I’d like to see in the world is one where young people of color are inspired by techn https://frankdenbow.com/blog/why-networking-is-not-overrated https://frankdenbow.com/blog/why-networking-is-not-overrated Tue, 11 Apr 2017 14:29:05 +0000 (if you like this, give a like on medium) How an introvert networked their way to a few million in revenue Theme Song: Rise and Shine — J. Cole I caught a conversation last week started by Naval Ravikant of Angelist (hi Naval, lets talk sometime :) that caught my attention https://frankdenbow.com/blog/when-great-trees-fall-eulogy-and-tribute-to-dr-enid-denbow https://frankdenbow.com/blog/when-great-trees-fall-eulogy-and-tribute-to-dr-enid-denbow Wed, 22 Feb 2017 13:27:09 +0000 Tribute by Frank Denbow III There is no greater influence on my life and perspective than my Grandma Enid. As has been said already, she was accomplished in her work in medicine and her contributions to the field in Guyana. Her success was a source of inspiration for myself https://frankdenbow.com/blog/alternative-funding-startups https://frankdenbow.com/blog/alternative-funding-startups Mon, 13 Jun 2016 11:04:56 +0000 (If you like this, give us a heart on Medium https://medium.com/@frankdenbow/alternative-funding-sources-for-startups-9bc962820398#.xpky98994) Less than 1% of startups raise venture capital funding. Here are some opportunities for the rest. Feel free to comment with other resou https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-angel-investing-part-2 https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-angel-investing-part-2 Mon, 06 Oct 2014 00:53:48 +0000 Updating my list of companies that I find interesting and would invest in with my imaginary angel fund. This is a continuation from the first post. UPDATES How is the portfolio doing? Namo Media - Bought by Twitter for 50M Tailwind - One of 7 companies using Pinterest's https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-angel-investing https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-angel-investing Wed, 27 Nov 2013 13:47:52 +0000 I’ve been reading a lot recently about angel investing (highly recommend Brian Cohen’s new book: What Every Angel Investor Wants You To Know) and I thought I would play armchair angel and talk about companies that I think are interesting that I would probably invest in if I https://frankdenbow.com/blog/base-high-school-mentors https://frankdenbow.com/blog/base-high-school-mentors Fri, 25 Oct 2013 12:24:33 +0000 This year, the Bronx Academy for Software Engineering (BASE - http://bronxsoftware.org) opened up its 4 year high school. It is a sister school to the Academy For Software Engineering (http://afsenyc.org). BASE is looking for 30 male mentors to connect with the students. It https://frankdenbow.com/blog/without-their-permission-review-giveaway https://frankdenbow.com/blog/without-their-permission-review-giveaway Tue, 01 Oct 2013 14:45:00 +0000 Without Their Permission is a new book by Alexis Ohanian that explores what its like to start a company or movement, and the power of the internet to fuel these ventures. The central theme is of doing things without permission, finding a way when there seems to be no natural https://frankdenbow.com/blog/var-null-dont-fly-during-ramadan https://frankdenbow.com/blog/var-null-dont-fly-during-ramadan Fri, 23 Aug 2013 01:22:45 +0000 /var/null: Don't Fly During Ramadan chimeracoder: A couple of weeks ago, I was scheduled to take a trip from New York (JFK) to Los Angeles on JetBlue. Every year, my family goes on a one-week pilgrimage, where we put our work on hold and spend time visiting temples, pr https://frankdenbow.com/blog/the-academy-for-software-engineering https://frankdenbow.com/blog/the-academy-for-software-engineering Fri, 12 Apr 2013 23:39:00 +0000 The Academy for Software Engineering (http://afsenyc.org/) is looking for mentors for our next class of students. AFSE is partnering with iMentor, a nationally recognized mentoring program focused on preparing high school students for college success. Located in Union Squa https://frankdenbow.com/blog/academy-for-software-engineering-mentorship-clubs https://frankdenbow.com/blog/academy-for-software-engineering-mentorship-clubs Tue, 15 Jan 2013 12:13:00 +0000 Mentorship The Academy for Software Engineering is just about done with its first semester of the inaugural year. Through iMentor, a mentorship program was setup pairing each student with an older mentor who meets with them once a month and emails with them regularly. A pic https://frankdenbow.com/blog/developers-for-good-future-software-superheroes-its https://frankdenbow.com/blog/developers-for-good-future-software-superheroes-its Sun, 23 Dec 2012 13:01:55 +0000 Developers for Good: Future Software Superheroes - It's time for your CodeMontage! developersforgood: The hours approaching, just give it your best, Youve got to reach your prime. Thats when you need to put yourself to the test, And show us a passage of time. Were https://frankdenbow.com/blog/holidaysongs-co-send-holiday-music-to-friends https://frankdenbow.com/blog/holidaysongs-co-send-holiday-music-to-friends Fri, 21 Dec 2012 15:17:50 +0000 HolidaySongs.co - Send Holiday Music To Friends This is a site I worked on this past week for sending a nice music message to friends via email or facebook posts. Would love to get some feedback/complaints/music requests as I work towards the main Songsicle app. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/from-the-story-inspirations-from-africa-by https://frankdenbow.com/blog/from-the-story-inspirations-from-africa-by Tue, 04 Dec 2012 20:30:50 +0000 From the story “Inspirations from Africa” by frank. Read it on Backspaces. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/afse-update-mentoring-and-rec-room https://frankdenbow.com/blog/afse-update-mentoring-and-rec-room Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:25:00 +0000 Lots of progress has been made with the Academy for Software Engineering (http://afsenyc.org) since the lastpost. Generous donations have been made of time, items and resources that have made the rec room fully stocked for the students. A full update on this will be coming https://frankdenbow.com/blog/rec-room-for-academy-for-software-engineering https://frankdenbow.com/blog/rec-room-for-academy-for-software-engineering Wed, 22 Aug 2012 12:16:39 +0000 The Academy for Software Engineering is a new high school in NYC that has a focus on computer science education. You can read more about it at the main site hereor on Fred Wilson’s blog post here. It is opening up very soon and I am helping to put https://frankdenbow.com/blog/5-companies-im-excited-about https://frankdenbow.com/blog/5-companies-im-excited-about Mon, 11 Jun 2012 15:38:00 +0000 A couple companies that I’m into: * Turf : An app from an incredible designer from NYC, Michael Tseng, Turf is a iOS game that combines foursquare with monopoly. You checkin to get points, buy and sell properties, and maintain them. I’d love to https://frankdenbow.com/blog/startup-threads-swag-bag-1-hipmunk-levelup-10gen https://frankdenbow.com/blog/startup-threads-swag-bag-1-hipmunk-levelup-10gen Thu, 08 Mar 2012 19:05:57 +0000 Startup Threads: Swag Bag #1 - Hipmunk, LevelUp, 10Gen startupthreads: Our first swag bag came packed with goodies from Hipmunk, LevelUp, and 10gen. Missed out? Sign up here by March 15th to get the March box, featuring Twilio Here is what subscribers received in th https://frankdenbow.com/blog/my-steve-jobs-story https://frankdenbow.com/blog/my-steve-jobs-story Fri, 07 Oct 2011 14:05:00 +0000 After my junior year of college I was able to finagle my way into an internship at Apple. I moved out to Sunnyvale, worked in Cupertino coding for an internal team and only passed by Steve Jobs a few times. He was always walking quickly, but would give eye contact https://frankdenbow.com/blog/how-to-throw-the-perfect-hackathon https://frankdenbow.com/blog/how-to-throw-the-perfect-hackathon Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:46:41 +0000 How To Throw The Perfect Hackathon Check out this post by Ben Doernberg on how to throw Hackathons. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/node-knockout-entry-dancekombat https://frankdenbow.com/blog/node-knockout-entry-dancekombat Tue, 30 Aug 2011 20:41:59 +0000 Node Knockout Entry: DanceKombat Check out my submission for Node Knockout: Dance Kombat, an online dance battle site. Video chat + dance battle somebody, vote on who wins. If you like it, vote by clicking the link in the top left corner. Tweets are appreciated. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-zaarly https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-zaarly Tue, 02 Aug 2011 18:39:00 +0000 Dylan (best rapper of all time) could have use Zaarly to get sugar cookies for Diddy Zaarly is a platform that lets you buy and sell goods and services to people nearby. It is buyer powered, meaning the buyers post what they want (each of these posts is called a https://frankdenbow.com/blog/on-honesty-in-startupland https://frankdenbow.com/blog/on-honesty-in-startupland Tue, 05 Jul 2011 18:50:00 +0000 My experience in NYC Tech over the past year has been highlighted by great conversations with people of all backgrounds. I’ve been lucky to get support and feedback from various people in the community. Entrepreneurship can be alonely journey, but with a supportive ecosystem https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-turntable-fm https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-turntable-fm Thu, 16 Jun 2011 12:33:00 +0000 If you haven’t heard of Turntable.fm, its the new music web app that is all the rage in the tech scene. It is a great site that lets you listen to music in rooms with your friends/coworkers. There are some great social elements to it, and it https://frankdenbow.com/blog/how-to-hack-conferences-and-meetups https://frankdenbow.com/blog/how-to-hack-conferences-and-meetups Tue, 07 Jun 2011 22:59:00 +0000 Discuss this on Hacker Newshere. I’ll admit it, I am a conference junkie. Traveling is my thing, and meeting new inspiring people who are on the same journey I am on helps to keep me in good spirits. It took me a while to get the stamina to truly https://frankdenbow.com/blog/you-did-what https://frankdenbow.com/blog/you-did-what Sat, 21 May 2011 12:00:00 +0000 A few weeks ago I made a split second decision to quit my full-time job and go fully independent. I gave the company a few weeks notice and this was my first week on my own. With most decisions I try to weigh my options, putting myself in a position https://frankdenbow.com/blog/music-hackday-sf-and-sf-music-tech https://frankdenbow.com/blog/music-hackday-sf-and-sf-music-tech Thu, 19 May 2011 12:09:00 +0000 I had a great time in San Francisco at the Music Hackday and SF Music Tech events. I worked on a new version of SongVoodoo (http://new.songvoodoo.com) and a mothers day version of Songsicle (sign up at Songsicle.com and I’ll hook you up soon). The reactions https://frankdenbow.com/blog/startup-summer-by-ny-tech-meetup https://frankdenbow.com/blog/startup-summer-by-ny-tech-meetup Tue, 17 May 2011 21:50:57 +0000 When I look back on my own history in technology, I find that my experiences in high school were critical to me falling in love with technology and programming. NY Tech Meetup (NYTM) is looking to help more students in NYC have a similar experience, by joining them up with https://frankdenbow.com/blog/startup-weekend-book-my-story https://frankdenbow.com/blog/startup-weekend-book-my-story Fri, 08 Apr 2011 02:22:00 +0000 This was written for the Startup Weekend book, which you can find more information about on their Facebook page:http://on.fb.me/h6hoaY I sat rigidly on a white plastic chair, fidgeting with my phone as I tried to look occupied. Looking around I saw a sea of strangers, https://frankdenbow.com/blog/billboards-twitter-140-music-industry-characters-you https://frankdenbow.com/blog/billboards-twitter-140-music-industry-characters-you Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:32:00 +0000 Billboard's Twitter 140: Music-Industry Characters You Need To Follow I somehow finagled my way onto this list, with some of my music industry heroes such as Chris Lighty and Scooter Braun. Hope to earn my spot in their ranks one day. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/frank-denbow-wins-our-music-hackweek-contest-with https://frankdenbow.com/blog/frank-denbow-wins-our-music-hackweek-contest-with Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:25:05 +0000 Frank Denbow Wins Our Music Hackweek Contest with SongVoodoo https://frankdenbow.com/blog/musixmatch-blog-frank-denbow-is-the-new-musixmatch https://frankdenbow.com/blog/musixmatch-blog-frank-denbow-is-the-new-musixmatch Wed, 02 Mar 2011 15:07:52 +0000 musiXmatch Blog: Frank Denbow is The new musiXmatch hero : meet SongVooDoo musixmatch: ** ** Lets say youre out somewhere and you hear a great song playing on the sound system but just as youre getting into it, the tune ends. And now youre singing the chorus to yo https://frankdenbow.com/blog/new-york-tech-meetup-nomination https://frankdenbow.com/blog/new-york-tech-meetup-nomination Tue, 14 Dec 2010 01:12:01 +0000 Hi NYTM! My name is Frank Denbow and I have been nominated to the NYTM board. For the past year I have been involved in the NY tech community and have learned a great deal from meeting many of you. Particularly, I have enjoyed the discussions with people I have https://frankdenbow.com/blog/singsend-wins-twilio-play-developer-contest https://frankdenbow.com/blog/singsend-wins-twilio-play-developer-contest Mon, 25 Oct 2010 14:45:11 +0000 A few weeks ago I entered into the Twilio Developer Contest and found out this past week that the project won! Working with Twilio has been a pleasure and they have been very supportive of my efforts. I encourage other developers to try out their API; you can get up https://frankdenbow.com/blog/techcrunch-disrupt-san-francisco https://frankdenbow.com/blog/techcrunch-disrupt-san-francisco Mon, 04 Oct 2010 04:36:00 +0000 Finally got a few seconds to breathe after an eventful week in San Francisco for TechCrunch Disrupt. I went out there to participate in the hackathon and volunteer primarily, while also listening to the intense lineup of Silicon Valley heavyweights and networking with other https://frankdenbow.com/blog/nyc-startup-weekend https://frankdenbow.com/blog/nyc-startup-weekend Thu, 16 Sep 2010 12:46:23 +0000 I participated in the NYC Startup Weekend event this past weekend and had an incredible experience. I had an idea for a voice application that I could build on top of Twilio. My team and I ended up building SingSend which lets you create a karaoke recording on your phone https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-assisted-serendipity https://frankdenbow.com/blog/if-i-ran-it-assisted-serendipity Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:34:51 +0000 Originally posted on FrankDenbow.com and 9to5am.com Assisted Serendipity solves the problem of finding a venue where the ratio of guys/girls is in your favor. By looking at recent check-in data, you can tell when the ratio “tips” and Assisted Serendipity will email or text https://frankdenbow.com/blog/why-i-am-in-tech https://frankdenbow.com/blog/why-i-am-in-tech Fri, 13 Aug 2010 11:53:00 +0000 Watching the conversation about race/gender and technology byTristan Walkerand Charlie O’Donnellcaused me to think about the origins of my involvement in technology. In particular if the statistics in this articleare indicative of problems in the technology industry.Lookin https://frankdenbow.com/blog/how-i-became-a-member-of-the-ny-tech-community https://frankdenbow.com/blog/how-i-became-a-member-of-the-ny-tech-community Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:26:00 +0000 How I Became a Member of the NY Tech Community Some timeless advice on how to get connected in the NY scene. "My goal with everyone I meet with is to be more helpful to them than they are to me" - This is how life should work. https://frankdenbow.com/blog/thanking-mentors https://frankdenbow.com/blog/thanking-mentors Tue, 20 Jul 2010 13:55:20 +0000 I had a great conversation yesterday with one of my mentors through my college years. There are few feelings better than thanking someone who truly made an impact on your life. If you have the chance, thank someone who has helped you become who you are today. I promise you https://frankdenbow.com/blog/10-inspiring-ted-talks-for-startups https://frankdenbow.com/blog/10-inspiring-ted-talks-for-startups Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:47:08 +0000 10 Inspiring TED Talks for Startups https://frankdenbow.com/blog/realize-that-a-startup-puts-you-on-an-emotional https://frankdenbow.com/blog/realize-that-a-startup-puts-you-on-an-emotional Wed, 07 Jul 2010 22:08:58 +0000 Realize that a startup puts you on an emotional rollercoaster unlike anything you have ever experienced. You will flip rapidly from a day in which you are euphorically convinced you are going to own the world, to a day in which doom seems only weeks away and you feel complete https://frankdenbow.com/blog/the-wealthy-slave https://frankdenbow.com/blog/the-wealthy-slave Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:58:00 +0000 The Wealthy Slave https://frankdenbow.com/blog/you-will-always-find-those-who-think-they-know https://frankdenbow.com/blog/you-will-always-find-those-who-think-they-know Sun, 27 Jun 2010 14:51:29 +0000 You will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the