Hermione Way with a strap-on. Not pictured: investors from Gramercy Ventures. (Photo: Business Insider)

On last night's episode of "Start-Ups: Silicon Valley," the close-knit (like real close) brother-sister duo Ben Way and Hermione Way claimed to raise a $500,000 seed round for their health and wellness app Ignite--from respected angel investor Esther Dyson and Gramercy Ventures, no less.

(By email, Ms. Dyson confirmed that she invested $25,000. "I  guess I would say the tech industry takes itself way too seriously....and anything that gets the public interested in either tech developments or a healthy lifestyle contributes some value to the world," she said in response to questions about the perception of the show. We've reached out to Gramercy to confirm the size of  its investment. But it's worth noting that Gramercy managing partner Michael Gale delivered the good news shortly after saying, "I care about looking stupid"--perhaps in reference to the party he attended where Ms. Way pranced around in her birthday present, a strap-on.)

UPDATE: By email, Mr. Gale confirmed that Gramercy is an investor in Ignite, although not the size of the round. In an email to Betabeat, he wrote:

"We tried to ignore the whole reality TV aspect in making our investment decision and not be swayed too much by that. So we followed a fairly typical review process and made our decision. It is true however that within the context of reviewing the opportunity we did factor into consideration the TV show as a way to increase downloads of the app and that is an important part of the strategy. When the show was being filmed we had no idea what the response to the show would be nor what it would look like so we had no feel for pubic response to the show.

The company is off to a great start and we are very excited to be involved. We think there is a magnificent opportunity in this space and Ben and Hermione are very talented entrepreneurs."

UPDATE II: Mr. Gale confirmed that Ignite raised a $500,000 round with $475,000 from Gramercy Ventures.

So after some deeply embarrassing, amateur hour attempts to pitch Dave McClure and Jeff Clavier, which involved napping under the conference room table and wondering if the firm would decide within the hour, it seems the Ways managed to make a semi-convincing case for their Wii Fit/Withings scale/Fitbit-like combo, sans prototype. A good thing since Mr. Way floated the possibility of stiffing their design company on camera.

The chance that viewers noticed the company's big break? Pretty slim since Bravo tweeted out yesterday that the show would now be aired at 7pm Eastern/6pm Central on Tuesdays.

#SiliconValley is all new and on at a new time: 7/6c! Watch a clip: bravo.ly/S6hf1D

— Bravotv (@Bravotv) December 11, 2012

And that's after already moving the show's plum 10pm Monday slot, right after the capitalist screetch-fest "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills." As an earlier email from cast member David Murray seems to indicate, this latest change was not planned.

Bravo reps declined to comment, but it seems clear the blame lies with abysmal ratings. According to Futon Critic, the total audience for the November 27th episode, at its original time slot, was 512,000, down from 634,000 for the premiere. "Bravo is a big cable channel. 500K in prime time would not be good," one ratings expert told Betabeat. "LOLWork," the show about the Ben Huh and ICanHasCheezburger, appears to be faring even worse, the season finale is scheduled to air at 1.30am.

It seems all that hysteria that Randi Zuckerberg would bring barbarians to Silicon Valley's gates may have been for naught. But cable execs with startup shows in the works--from the MTV show rumored to be produced by a Reddit cofounder to Mike Judge's version of the Valley--might want to take better care not to put recappers to sleep.

As for the Ways' app Ignite, since the startup's name competes with a New York lecture series, a Texas power company, and a social media firm, you'll have to trek over to the unfortunate URL signup.goignite.it to find it. The current version of the app holds a two-star rating on iTunes and some scathing user commentary: "Sorry but bravo won't help you succeed. Looks like this app was made by some kid over night."

This is a guest post from Gary Sharma (aka “The Guy with the Red Tie”), founder and CEO of GarysGuide and proud owner of a whole bunch of black suits, white shirts and, at last count, over 40 red ties. You can reach him at gary [at] garysguide.com.

Don't miss the upcoming TEDxSiliconAlley event on December 4. The theme is "Rise of the Machines" and the keynote speaker is Ray Kurzweil (author of New York Times best-seller The Singularity Is Near). Other keynoters include Bre Pettis (founder, Makerbot), Jincey Lumpkin (attorney & Huffington Post sex columnist) and Ken Segall (creative director of Apple's "Think Different" campaign).

DEMO will be hosting an event at First Round Capital on December 13 to meet and select potential startups to present next year at DEMO Mobile. Deadline to apply for a meeting is November 28.

Congrats to ZenMenu, Planet Expat and Cielo--the winners of the Who Would You Fund TechStartup Challenge 2012. And kudos to everyone who participated!

Here's something interesting: Wu-Tang Clan member GZA is teaming up with Columbia University professor Christopher Emdin and Andreesseen Horowitz-backed startup Rap Genius to do a pilot project to use hip-hop to teach science in ten New York City public schools.

Seeing a crazy increase in the number of moustaches around you recently? Well that's cuz its Movember, meant to raise vital awareness and funds for men's health issues. So don't delay, start growing a 'stache today!

And if you like drinking beer (and who doesn't?), I have a feeling you're gonna like it even more if you drink it out of a horn :) My friend Laurie Segall's brother David has a Kickstarter project aiming to help you do just that. I present to you the definitive drinking horn: Das Horn!

Another week, another awesome movie recommendation. No, no, not Breaking Dawn. I'm talking about Lincoln. Combine a legendary filmmaker (Spielberg) with a terrific actor (Daniel Day-Lewis), add a historical backdrop (Civil War) and a riveting and inspiring central character (Abraham Lincoln) and you have magic. Must see.

And now let's see whats going down in the Alley this week...

Technology You Can Touch
Network with hard sciences engineers, entrepreneurs, and capital sources. Organized by NYC Tech Connect, the Partnership for New York City Fund and Columbia University.
Monday (Nov. 19), 5:30 p.m. @ Columbia University Earl Hall, W. 116th Street and Broadway

Mediabistro TVNewser and TVSpy Party in New York
Hosted by TVNewser senior editor Alex Weprin, TVSpy editor Kevin Eck, and TVSpy senior editor and TVNewser co-editor, Merrill Knox.
Monday (Nov. 19), 6:30 p.m. @ SideBAR, 120 E. 15th Street

Everything you wanted to know about Startup Law
What not to do when you create a start up, forming and organizing a startup, term sheets, founder stock and equity incentives and other topics.
Monday (Nov. 19), 7 p.m. @ Pivotal Labs, 841 Broadway, 8th Fl.

Future of Fashion Startup Series
Panelists include Jenn Talley (digital development editor, Teen Vogue), Susan Barber (art director, Opening Ceremony) and Nick Chirls (investments, Betaworks). Demos by Merocrat, Stylitics, Little Black Bag, Fashion Qlic and Bib + Tuck.
Monday (Nov. 19), 7 p.m. @ Projective Space L.E.S., 72 Allen Street, 3rd Fl.

PGA New Media Council: Cutting to the Beat
With Sarah Landy (senior director, Stache/RED Media), Zack Beatty (VP biz dev, PlayMySong), Frank Woodworth (director biz dev, Thrillcall) and Karimah Day (cofounder & COO, Sir Groovy).
Monday (Nov. 19), 7 p.m. @ Theresa Lang Auditorium The New School, 55 W. 13th Street

Healthcare Information Technology: Change Outlook & Opportunity
With Esther Dyson (EDventure Holdings), Andrew Litt (Dell), David Feygin (Becton Dickinson), Jean-Luc Neptune (Health 2.0 Conference), Andy Weissman (Union Square Ventures), Todd Pietri (Milestone Ventures) and others.
Tuesday (Nov. 20), 8:30 a.m. @ Alston & Bird, LLP, 90 Park Ave

NYC Data Business Meetup #10
With Christopher Ahlberg (CEO, Recorded Future), Josh Becker (CEO, Lex Machina), Nik Bonaddio (CEO, numberFire) and Hjalmar Gislason (CEO, DataMarket).
Tuesday (Nov. 20), 6 p.m. @ Bloomberg LP, 731 Lexington Ave, 7th Fl.

WeStory with Scott Harrison
Featuring Scott Harrison, the founder and CEO of charity: water.
Tuesday (Nov. 20), 7 p.m. @ WeWork Lounge, 154 Grand Street

Ray Kurzweil: Engineering The Brain
The bold futurist and author of the New York Times best-seller The Singularity Is Near explores the limitless potential of reverse-engineering the human brain to create more intelligent machines.
Tuesday (Nov. 20), 8 p.m. @ Kaufmann Concert Hall, Lexington Avenue at 92nd Street

More events on the horizon...
Business Insider: Ignition - Future Of Digital on Nov. 27 @ Time Warner Center, 10 on the Park
MakeIt NYC: Secrets of Kickstarter Panel on Nov. 27 @ University Settlement - Speyer Hall
Ultra Light / NY Angels Novemberfest Showcase on Nov. 28 @ Alley NYC
Dwolla + Derby Jackpot Party! on Nov. 28 @ Tavern on Third
NYTECH Fall Networking Cocktail Reception on Nov. 29 @ National Showroom
November NY Enterprise Technology Meetup on Nov. 29 @ Cooley
tilt@vc: ff Venture Capital on Nov. 29 @ ff Venture Capital
Mashable Media Summit 2012 on Nov. 30 @ The TimesCenter
Founders@Fail: The Dos & Donts of Pitching Ad Agencies on Dec. 3 @ General Assembly
Vator Splash NY 2012 on Dec. 5 @ Le Poisson Rouge
FashInvest 2012 Capital Conference on Dec. 11 @ Fashion Institute of Technology

Until next week. Stay thirsty social, my friends! ;)

Mr. McGuigan (left) and Mr. Frazier from Bitbanger Labs

There are only two rules for the “idea dinners” held by New York early-stage investment firm ff Venture Capital. No side conversations and a strict 8 p.m. end time. Every month, the company invites financiers, founders and other “influencers” to its Midtown headquarters for a catered get-together. The meal is served in a glass-walled conference room, situated just past the rows of adjustable standing desks, where it’s not unusual to see startup employees cranking out code well past dessert.

The conversation often focuses on tech-oriented subjects, but this February, as the group fired questions at veteran investor Esther Dyson, the discussion turned to the subconscious.

Josh Weinstein, the 25-year-old founder of YouAre.TV, brought up his experience using lucid dreaming to get over his fear of heights, noting that he first toyed with the idea while trying to memorize Chinese characters during an immersion program in Beijing—using his nonwaking hours to cram for tests. Later, when he found himself flying above the jogging path along the FDR in a dream, “I just let myself drop onto the concrete,” Mr. Weinstein said. “I would hit the ground, but I wouldn’t feel impact. I kept experiencing that sense of falling without actually feeling the pain of impact.” Above him, the sky morphed into psychedelic swirls. “I don’t do any drugs or drink, so when people talk about their experience being high, this is analogous.”

Lucid dreaming refers to the act of being conscious while in a dream state—you’re in the dream, but you know it. With practice, proponents say, you can harness that awareness to manipulate your surroundings. Think Inception without the corporate espionage, or Neo’s trips to the Matrix after he downed the blue pill. (Tom Cruise’s cryogenically induced affair with Penelope Cruz in Vanilla Sky doesn’t quite fit because, for a good two hours, the poor sap thought it was the real deal.)

A century after the term “lucid dreaming” was coined by Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden in 1913, the practice is experiencing a major resurgence. For New York techies, already dutifully maximizing their waking hours, it seems sleep has become the last efficiency frontier. “We need to maximize the output that we get from our time, so if I’m not sitting in front of Codecademy or eating, I should be doing something cool, learning something, analyzing things, having cool experiences,” Mr. Weinstein said later.

After two hours that included watching investors whip out their calorie-tracking FitBits (Ms. Dyson’s was affixed to her bra strap) and blood-pressure monitoring iPhone apps, the takeaway from dinner seemed to be that truly self-optimized life-hackers should be quantifying their bodies’ every input and output, standing while they work, learning to code or speak Mandarin in their free time and using their dreams to overcome personal weaknesses or conjure up the next billion-dollar app. Or at least indulge in some mind-blowing virtual sex—often the first stop on a Lucid Dreaming Experience Tour. “It’s rewarding,” suggested psychologist Stephen LaBerge, who spent decades researching the science of dreams at Stanford and then at the Lucidity Institute and has been credited with proving the existence of lucid dreaming, “and people who don’t have the opportunities for getting sex elsewhere in their lives, then why not?!”

Then again, who wants to be conscious all the time? Weren’t bars invented expressly to avoid the burden of 24-hour lucidity?

At the dinner, Rob Cromer, the 26-year-old founder of a stealth startup called Adcade, chimed in with advice about “reality checks” that he picked up from a lucid dreaming coach at a cocktail party. One of the trickiest parts of lucid dreaming is recognizing that you’re in a dream. Thus practitioners train themselves during their waking hours by, say, drawing a dot on their hand as a signal to look at a clock.

New apps are coming on the market to solve the same problem. In less than a month, the Brooklyn-based duo behind Bitbanger Labs has managed to raise more than $330,000 from more than 3,800 backers on Kickstarter, including Mr. Weinstein and Mr. Cromer, to build a sleep mask called Remee that uses flashing LED lights as a “reality check.” Their initial goal was just $35,000. Kickstarter also hosted campaigns for the book Oneironautics: A Field Guide to Lucid Dreaming, funded three times over; and The Lucid Dream Tour, a “multimedia, multidimensional road trip event” that promises to showcase the “entrepreneurial possibilities of today’s consciousness movement.” Soon that will include a video game designed to elicit lucid dreams currently being developed by a grad student in Copenhagen.

Since Remee first appeared on Kickstarter on April 3, the number of people who subscribe to the lucid dreaming forum on Reddit has grown more than 30 percent, up to 33,300 “oneironauts,” as practitioners like to call themselves. The influx of new users got be such an issue that the moderator was moved to create a separate forum for lucid dreaming memes so as not to interrupt discussion topics like “I can’t feel emotions in my dreams” or “Loosing [sic] track of reality quickly, help!”

The fantasy of controlling one’s dreams goes way back—Aristotle and Tibetan Buddhists were proponents—but for the new wave of technologically-savvy acolytes, dreams are seen more as a form of virtual reality. “The brain works so well it’s like the operating system on a Mac,” said Dr. LaBerge. By exploring your subconscious, “You find out how the system works.”

The last lucid dreaming boom had a more spiritual cast. “I think that was the ’80s,” noted Bitbanger Labs cofounder Duncan Frazier. “It kind of got new-aged a little bit. It went away and now it’s coming back and people are trying to make sure it doesn’t go down that weird road of pseudo-science.”

According to psychologist and dream researcher Jayne Gackenbach, hard-core gamers are more likely to both have lucid dreams and be able to control them. She's releasing three books on the subject this year, including a self-published e-book called “Play Reality” told from the perspective of her 27-year-old son, a harcore gamer.

Still, both Dr. Gackenbach and Dr. LaBerge cautioned against getting too goal-oriented with one’s REM cycle. “Dreaming is specifically designed for information processing,” Dr. Gackenbach explained. “It’s when we store new emotions and process negative emotions and try to make sense of them. If you’re trying to optimize it, what does that mean? Do you want to get rid of your negative emotions in an efficient way? It’s a system that’s doing pretty well on its own.” She expressed some skepticism about the idea of maximizing the use of this supposed downtime. “If it’s just about being able to control this alternative reality and go to a Rolling Stones concert,” she noted, referring to a goal articulated by one of her students, “then I have some concerns.”

Mr. Frazier and Steve McGuigan, the 30-year-olds behind Bitbanger Labs, makers of the Remee sleep mask, don’t seem too worried about it. During a late-night visit to Mr. Frazier’s apartment in Windsor Terrace, he talked about flying over the Grand Canyon and being able to push and pull the mountains below him at will, like he was “conducting music.” On the desk next to his left, a handful of Remee prototypes with their circuitry exposed lay in front of a 3D printer Mr. Frazier built from scratch.

Mr. McGuigan plays around with dimension. “I’ve always been into increasing or decreasing my size,” he said. “Shrink down to the size of an atom. Get microscopic and go hang out with subatomic particles.”

Teaching oneself to fly is another favorite pastime of lucid dreamers. “People on Reddit like to ride dragons,” added Mr. Frazier. At the dinner, Ms. Dyson, a trained cosmonaut, said she dreams of weightlessness.

In the late ’80s, Dr. LaBerge actually put out two versions of a mask similar to the Remee, among other “lucid dreaming induction devices,” called the DreamLight and NovaDreamer. But at around $1,000 a pop, he sold only 10,000 or 20,000 in the five or six years they were on the market, though he noted that they “had a disproportionate influence on technical types.”

A standard-issue Remee will retail for $80. The device is simple, using flashing LED lights on a timer—“like the front of Knight Rider,” as Mr. Frazier put it—to prod the dreamer into lucidity without waking him up.

“We’ve had to explain it to most of our friends, and it takes awhile,” Mr. Frazier admitted. “Over beers.”

-ntiku@observer.com

A version of this story appeared in the May 2, 2012 issue of the New York Observer.

Mr. Diamond giving his candidate speech from the heart at New Work City.

About 60 of 200 registered attendees gathered at New Work City last night to hear two-minute speeches by the candidates for an open New York Tech Meetup board seat. Meetup and NYTM founder Scott Heiferman stood in the audience in a red hoodie, board member Esther Dyson settled on the window ledge in a #newsfoo t-shirt, and scene staple Gary Sharma wandered about with his sponsored tie (Pivotal Labs and Inkba) as 15 candidates gave their vision of what should change about the largest meetup in New York, which last year incorporated as a nonprofit 501c(6), giving it the power to lobby government, among other things.

The other bold-faced names, as far as New York tech goes, were among the candidates: Eric Friedman, head of business development at Foursquare; Shai Goldman, a 10-year veteran of Silicon Alley Bank who moved to New York a year or so ago; and David Tisch, the most talked about candidate of those who couldn't make it, as he had a prior commitment out of town.

NYTM held its first election for the board last year, when proto-blogger Anil Dash and NYU computer science professor Evan Korth were elected. A few things were different this time. Last year, speeches took place at the Skirball Center in front of the usual 800-some audience instead of the cozy New Work City Soho digs; there were also no women running last year, while this year there are four; and only one board member will be elected, rather than two. "This ties us directly to our membership and holds us accountable," NYTM board chairman Andrew Rasiej told the audience.

Whitney Hess, a user experience designer and NWC resident, almost ran for a seat last year before she realized she had massively overscheduled herself. She was the last candidate to step up to the mic last night, a prepared speech on her iPad, and proceeded to thoroughly critique the NYTM user experience from entry to afterparty, including the hated "hovering" until tickets become available "like a Justin Bieber concert."

Other candidates talked about improving the experience of attendees, broadening NYTM's role as an advocacy group, and making the meetup more welcoming to hackers and new members from the outer boroughs and other communities.

First up to the mic was Ben Kessler of CrowdTap--"you guys might know me as @kessler on Twitter"--followed by longtime NYTM volunteer Brandon Diamond, who dumped his script to the floor in favor of speaking from the heart, promising to bring more hackers into the organization if elected. Mr. Friedman's platform was "always be helping," which he illustrated with a quick survey of who was hiring and who was looking for work. Other highlights included the cosmopolitan Jalak Jobanputra, whose resume includes "NYC 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0.," stints in venture capital, government and finance. "It's my goal to evangelize New York as the top tech hub in the world," she said, promising to make NYTM's voice heard in the White House.

Jonathan Askin, a tech law professor at Brooklyn Law School, emphasized NYTM's power to advocate. "We haven't stepped up," he said. "We haven't engaged the government to the extent that we should." Google, Amazon and Facebook are directing government policy on tech, he said, and that doesn't represent the interest of startups.

Murat Aktihangolu, director of Entrepreneurs Roundtable, spoke passionately about making New York more welcoming for startups; Mr. Goldman had a three-point plan: making it easier to move to New York, making sure entrepreneurs have a voice on policy, and reforming the image of New York as a two-trick pony (web and mobile) and getting some attention for cleantech and biotech.

Other candidates who showed up to give a speech included Gregory Schnese of Kikin, Jack Welde, Jesse Landry, June Cohen of TED Media, Luke Haseloff, Matthew Knell and Wei Zhao.

Audience members showed a bias toward the candidates "who showed up." "You just don't like David Tisch," one attendee chastised his friend. "These are community board members," the other pointed out. "Tisch would be better as a board member, don't you think?"

After the talks, the group swigged the Brooklyn Lager and Blue Moon and gobbled their way through several boxes of excellent pizza, talking enthusiastically about New York tech. "I think New York is the best place to start a company!" Mr. Aktihangolu said. New York is an "emerging market," founder Mattan Griffel explained excitedly. Many of the attendees had been to their first NYTM in 2004, 2005, 2006, when the scene was much dinkier, they told Betabeat. Now, Vanity Fair and "The Dylan Ratigan Show" are on the Meetup's press list, managing director Jessica Lawrence told Betabeat. "We should get Betabeat, New York Tech Meetup, Entrepreneurs Roundtable and some cool startups and go to Silicon Valley and recruit!" schemed Mr. Sharma. An entrepreneur in the conversation, Seth Bannon of Amicus, was working on a similar idea (currently in stealth mode), inspired by Paul Graham's recent visit.

Voting for the board seat opened at midnight, and will close December 20. As NYTM adjusts to its new nonprofit status, board members are figuring out their duties (candidates we asked weren't quite sure what they would be doing if elected). Board members serve three year terms.

Ms. Clegg (right) and Ms. Kimball

Foursquare's Naveen Selvadurai, Craiglist's Craig Newmark, dotcom doyenne Esther Dyson and Nassim "I see black swans" Taleb walked into a Chelsea loft. No, it's not a lead-up to some joke about how Wall Street is drowning the tech bubble. It was the scene of a dinner party hosted by Takeout, a budding consultancy that sloughs off the dated McKinsey model--train an army of MBAs to travel around the country consulting--for a fresh look more appropriate for the digital age.

Why ask an MBA to tell you how to fix your company when you can hire someone who runs their own? Hey, it could have saved Conde Nast somewhere in the six figures. Just imagine how their troubled iPad editions would look if they'd tapped the brains behind New York's tech scene to figure out the internet instead.

Takeout, a reference to "taking out" the status quo (and not,  say,  Seamless deliveries), started in London in 2007, but recently ramped up its efforts in New York. By next month, it expects 75 percent of its business to be based out of its New York office. Microsoft, Gilt Groupe's Jetsetter, and iVillage are already clients, along with a few other big players that prefer not to be named. But the proof is in the pounds.

For a project with The Central Office of Information in the UK, Takeout brought in two young company founders--Moo.com's Richard Moross and Moshi Monsters' Michael Acton-Smith--to help government employees think like a start-up. The end result were ideas like "g-bay" (eBay for governments) that auctioned off unused goods and resources to other departments or the public, as well as a text messaging service that nudged citizens about paying fines and court appearances. All told, the projected saving amounted to roughly £1 billion pounds. "I wanted the intellect without the rubbish," Alex Butler, the COI's Transformational Strategy Director, emailed Betabeat. "This wasn't a project about charts and fancy words."

As for the Chelsea loft with all those bold-faced names, that belongs to Takeout's founder, Judith Clegg, a former consultant and entrepreneur voted Top 100 Digital Powerbrokers by Wired UK. Jess Kimball, a former speechwriter for futurist Faith Popcorn (the woman the New York Times' once called the "Nostradamus of marketing"), was recently brought in to head up Takeout's New York operations.

Mr. Selvaduari and the like were gathered there for a pro bono assignment that Ms. Kimball was only at liberty to describe as a project for a senior British policy staffer. In that case, it was just a one-night assignment. But that's exactly the point, explains Ms. Kimball. By leveraging "a consortium of the smartest entrepreneurs, academics, artists, journalists, and former executives around" rather than career consultants, Takeout's clients get access to thinkers who have no interest in a full-time gig.

"One of the things we've learned about smart people," she added, "is that they tend to have so many more interests than what they picked for their career. The current economy knows how to capitalize on then, figuring out how to use people's strengths." Through Takeout's associate network, some experts only work with the company a few days a year. "We're able to offer more flexibility and intellectually interesting projects," said Ms. Clegg. Experts are paid a fee, but Takeout is also putting in place an equity share program that gives their network a pro-rata share in the business.

As the operation expands in New York, Ms. Kimball says she wants to put the call out to all brainiacs--"basement tinkerers, big dreamers, weekend experts"--that Takeout is hiring. And if the start-up fever should infect McKinsey-types who want to leave the corporate box, Ms. Kimball sounds open to that as well. When Betabeat told her we'd mentioned the company to an MBA friend, she quickly emailed back, "Oh, fantastic! We love recovering consultants."

Post-funding grin?

If Betabeat just closed a $350,000 round of funding from folks like Dave McClure, Eric Ries and Esther Dyson, we're pretty sure we'd spend the next day hungover trying to form our piles of cash into a Scrooge McDuck-like money pool.

Not so Tout founder Tawheed "TK" Kader, whose app attempts to solve the problem of repetitive email. "Its that magical moment right? Its what you’d been waiting for right? The press starts writing about you, the congratulations come flying in. You’ve made it. Right? Wrong."

On his Tumblr, at 2am, TK sketched a rough outline of what the-day-after actually looks liked, including terribly glamorous tasks like answering 52 customer service emails, posting job listings, making sure your iPhone developer has his priorities straight, crossing your T's on Apple's enrollment process, and fretting over your backlog of work.

What’s the point? The point is that the day after you get funded is like any other day that you are running your business. Getting funded is not some magical event where all your worries go away. It is not some big party to pop the champagne over. Its the time where you buckle down even more so that you can make it rain.

The day after you get funded, you still have to deal with the real fundamentals of your business. You still have to build your actual business, and you have to actually plan and execute so that you can actually deliver all those things you promised your Investors when you took their money.

Somebody bring this man a 16-olive martini. It sounds he'll be at the office for awhile.