Shad Khan, Jaguars owner, ends association with One Spark, calls financial ties

[CityLife]

I'm not anti-One Spark either, just want to ensure they aren't paying exorbitant salaries, living it up on expense accounts, and financing outside projects. My request has been put in for all 3 years and they are on notice that I will be contacting the IRS if they don't comply. I'll be sure to post when (or if) I get them.

Oh and everyone check out Chris's blog post. Good stuff.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Interesting write-up, Chris. Thanks for the link.

Don't think you were around when this happened RG:

Analysis: Not enough crowdfunding dollars at 'world's crowdfunding festival'

[chrismarkl]

Interesting write-up, Chris. Thanks for the link.

Thanks!  I hope it begins a larger discussion how to grow North Florida's entrepreneur ecosystem.

[chrismarkl]

I'm not anti-One Spark either, just want to ensure they aren't paying exorbitant salaries, living it up on expense accounts, and financing outside projects. My request has been put in for all 3 years and they are on notice that I will be contacting the IRS if they don't comply. I'll be sure to post when (of if) I get them.

Oh and everyone check out Chris's blog post. Good stuff.

Awesome. I look forward to seeing finances as well.  Thanks for the kind words. Please feel free to share my post on Facebook/twitter etc.  I just started a new faculty job at Florida State University - as an entrepreneur in residence.  My entire job is to empower students to start businesses and analysis the startup community.  Thus I'm really hoping to write as much as possible and build a community in north florida develop innovative ways to foster entrepreneurship.

Cheers

Chris

[sonoandrea]

I'm not anti-One Spark either, just want to ensure they aren't paying exorbitant salaries, living it up on expense accounts, and financing outside projects. My request has been put in for all 3 years and they are on notice that I will be contacting the IRS if they don't comply. I'll be sure to post when (of if) I get them.

Oh and everyone check out Chris's blog post. Good stuff.

I am very curious to see these financials if/when you get them.  Per the Jacksonville Business Journal (via Chris' excellent blog post), four start-ups were given $35k each.  So $140k of the $1,000,000 invested by Stache Investments in 2013 went to the start-ups accepted into the incubator.  Where did the other $860k go? 

[finehoe]

I just started a new faculty job at Florida State University - as an entrepreneur in residence.  My entire job is to empower students to start businesses and analysis the startup community.  Thus I'm really hoping to write as much as possible and build a community in north florida develop innovative ways to foster entrepreneurship.

I'd love to hear more about this.  Perhaps MetroJacksonville will allow you to post a guest column giving us more info.

[Steve]

I'd be interested to see what the numbers say too. I did raise an eyebrow when I heard that they would take up a bunch of room in the Barnett Bank building. The renovation isn't cheap, and those floors cost a lot of money. What they do is their business, but if I was a large donor, then I'd like to see where my money went as well.

Note that he isn't closing Stache Investments here. He simply decided that Kyn wasn't an investment that he wanted to keep. As far as I know he didn't promise to invest forever.

[tufsu1]

Wasn't KYN to be one of the tenants in the Barnett Bldg?

yes..along with One Spark and CoWork Jax

[chrismarkl]

I just started a new faculty job at Florida State University - as an entrepreneur in residence.  My entire job is to empower students to start businesses and analysis the startup community.  Thus I'm really hoping to write as much as possible and build a community in north florida develop innovative ways to foster entrepreneurship.

I'd love to hear more about this.  Perhaps MetroJacksonville will allow you to post a guest column giving us more info.

We would love to.  Chris Markl is no stranger to mj, and when he posted his comments about the underlying mathematics a year ago, there was spirited discussion, which ended in the release of One Spark's actual money in/money out statements.

What was not addressed however, was the history or involvement of KYN, which seems to be the source of all the mayhem.

Thanks!  I love MetroJacksonville, its such a great forum to wrestle with importance issues.  Anything I write, including previous one spark analysis, is only to provide one viewpoint on entrepreneurship.  For me, what is important is to foster discussion on economic development and entrepreneurship in north florida.

Cheers

Chris

[dukes_forge]

I just started a new faculty job at Florida State University - as an entrepreneur in residence.  My entire job is to empower students to start businesses and analysis the startup community.  Thus I'm really hoping to write as much as possible and build a community in north florida develop innovative ways to foster entrepreneurship.

I'd love to hear more about this.  Perhaps MetroJacksonville will allow you to post a guest column giving us more info.

We would love to.  Chris Markl is no stranger to mj, and when he posted his comments about the underlying mathematics a year ago, there was spirited discussion, which ended in the release of One Spark's actual money in/money out statements.

What was not addressed however, was the history or involvement of KYN, which seems to be the source of all the mayhem.

I went back and read this discussion, but saw no release of statements, can you provide a link?

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

it was on a separate thread, dukes.  Ill see if i can find it.

I linked it above.

[RattlerGator]

Don't think you were around when this happened RG:
Analysis: Not enough crowdfunding dollars at 'world's crowdfunding festival'

No, I sure wasn't. Thanks for the link -- quite an interesting thread. I have to admit, I was surprised by Stephen's strong skepticism of Markl's work. The selected excerpt first posted by the lakelander appeared to me to be right on the money, and unambiguous.

I drove over to check out a bit of OneSpark, downloaded and took a look at their mobile app on my phone, was basically pleased by the vibe I found downtown, and I've since talked to some friends and acquaintances who are intrigued by the idea of it. But crowdfunding was / is clearly the hook of OneSpark and I admit to being quite fuzzy then about the whole enterprise.

Here's to hoping they take all of the current developments to heart and work on humbly improving their effort.

[ProjectMaximus]

I wish KYN wasn't the only accelerator in town.

It's unique for what it does, but are there not other kinds of "accelerators" in Jax? I've read about iStart and The Factory. Beaver Street Enterprise Center though that's a lot less hi-tech. I believe there was another one primarily for coding. Not to mention some incubators as well.

[mtraininjax]

yes..along with One Spark and CoWork Jax

Why would Co-Work Jax move from where they are now? A block away in the nice digs above Perdue office interiors. Maybe they need more room?

just listing possibilities, rattler, not stating the gospel.

but still speculating, eh? 

It was a decent block party and music/food festival, which couldnt succeed without Rummell funding it, and that's it. And then, because everyone was drinking the OS Kool Aid, KYN was supposed to be so amazing because...
Khan was wasting his money on One Spark and Kyn and finally saw that.

Like it or not, after reading the thread and the Times Union article, Khan is a businessman, was not getting a return on the "investment" and decided to change. From the 50,000 foot level, seems like a good business decision. If KYN was a credible, successful solution, where were the other funding sources? Why would you allow one person to dictate and cause peril to the company without his (Khan) funding? Business 101, if you need resources to live, go find more people with the resources needed.

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Like it or not, after reading the thread and the Times Union article, Khan is a businessman, was not getting a return on the "investment" and decided to change.

I read the same articles.  When you compliment the reporting with comments from some of your more trusted people on social media, the picture starts to become a little more clear.  So couple all of that with the comments from Markl and City not being able to get their hands on the financials....

If I had put up seed money and no one could provide me any updates as to how much is left and where it went, I would be unlikely to hand over any more.  Unless I could SEE some progress, but they seem to only have 5 viable startups their working with and only 1 of those is poised show any return at all, out of close to 450 applicants....  Yeah, you need to show me a solid paper-trail.