Mike Hudack on how Blip.tv got its start

Closing a deal with a handshake at the urinals shows just how personal investing is

Mike Hudack is CEO and co-founder of Blip.tv, a next-generation TV network with 140 million  monthly video views and 30 million viewers. During his keynote at Vator Splash NY, he shared his experience building Blip.tv and raising the initial funds.

One of the more unique stories Mike shared is the time he was raising Blip.tv's initial $500,000 in seed funding back in 2005. One investor was very hard to convince. It took Mike some 25 meetings with this person before he opened up his wallet. Finally, after one meeting, the men both went to the urinals. The investor looked over the divider and asked, "Are you really serious about this?" Mike said, "Yes." They shook hands and the deal was sealed. As Mike explained, the new investor like Mike's handshake and the fact that he looked the investor in the eye.

What this underscores is that investing in startups is a very personal business. 

Watch the video here. Check out Ronny Kerr's writeup of the presentation titled Hudack: "My job is to make myself obsolete."