Listening to startup people speak can either be exciting and inspirational… or it can make you do a little gag. It’s hard not to poke fun at self-righteous entrepreneurial types that pepper their language with buzzwords and act as if they got their Ph.D. in passion – so here’s our pick of the best startup spoofs.
Nonstartr
If you know a couple of people who need an idea for their startup, or some confused founders who are ready to pivot – you should direct them to Nonstartr, a pitch generator. Because who knows, maybe your cool startup friends will give you some eProps for inspiring them to build the next Airbnb for puppeteers and picnics.
Vooza
Believe it or not, Vooza, which describes itself as “a video comic strip about the startup world”, is a real startup. But unlike all the other tech companies trying their hand at humour, Vooza’s parodies on modern startup culture are pretty accurate… and entertaining. The team has spoofed everything from productivity porn to founder philosophy.
When you work at a startup
Okay, we get it – working at your startup has a bunch of cushy benefits. But it’s not all beanbags and motivational posters, at least not according to this Tumblr, which reveals a more realistic snapshot of daily startup life in typical internet fashion – the animated GIF.
Startup is the New Hipster
Although this comparison between Hipster (left) and Startup (right) – which was first posted in the epoch before iPhone5 – is a little dated, this must-see graphic is one of the earliest virtual records of the startup-hipster association. And in case you’re still unsure about the dichotomy, make sure to read this list.
Startup Hipster
Lucky for us, we’re *always* in the loop with the latest startup trends and entrepreneurshipismness. How? You might ask.
Well, my young padawan, mostly because the Startup Hipster – founder, CEO, BBC and WC of “eBay for minerals” startup Dirtdig – has given us all the tools on how to out-cool our peers with startup lingo, office decor and style.
Lean startup parody
There are now almost as many Lean Startup fanboys as Steve Jobs worshippers out there… So we couldn’t resist a pair of Xtranormal animated bears saying lines like “my market is junkies who can’t survive six hours without my product or their brains implode” and “if you want to be a lean startup ninja pirate rockstar like me, you have to employ continuous agile scrum customer development iteration to drive market development”.
The latter is slightly more justifiable, but only because the Fake Grimlock – a giant robot startup dinosaur that has contributed to VentureBeat, The Next Web and ReadWrite – is on a mission: “TO DESTROY SUCK ON INTERNET, REPLACE WITH AWESOME!”
Rebecca Black Parody
So you wanna create your own startup spoof? Hint: Do the opposite of everything that you see in this First Round Capital Holiday Video that’s supposed to be a “Rebecca Black Parody”. From the clipart-y intro to the pencil sketch video filters that we didn’t even know people used to contrived group dance sequences, we’ve cringed more watching this “parody” than we did watching the Exorcist.
What are your favourite startup spoofs or entrepreneurial pet peeves? Let us know in the comments below…
Image credits: Featured image via Vooza’s Facebook page. Fake Grimlock photo: Sean Ludwig/VentureBeat. Other screenshots via their respective websites.
This post originally appeared on VentureVillage, one of VentureBeat's editorial partners.