Haha, I didn't plan for it to go this way. I was just looking for really bright, really motivated, and just awesome people in general to start our business with. In hindsight, I'm actually glad it turned out this way. Working with siblings adds an interesting dynamic. It actually makes our discussions very productive because we can cut through all the "don't hurt feelings" crap and get straight to the point. If you're wrong, people will tell you and that's how I think a startup needs to operate. I've been told I'm wrong so many times I can't even keep count. And I really appreciate that kind of brutal, yet honest feedback. The cons? Same thing. When you have four really bright people arguing about the future of a product, some discussions can get really heated. I feel really blessed being able to work with these guys though, because at the end of the day, it's just business. Our secret to resolving these conflicts: we end every meeting with a game of super smash bros brawl. The winner is right and the loser is wrong. :)

Kind of. I'm assuming you're referring to LinkedIn, and if that's the case, we're completely different. We help professional groups build and manage a community around their members which in reality is very different from LinkedIn. LinkedIn is focused on you as the professional, and we're focused on the groups and you being a valuable contributor to those groups. We're much more like Ning, but we think there's a niche there in the DIY site for just professionals.

Right now, we're focused on growing our community of network creators. It actually takes a lot of commitment and energy to use a new platform and manage a group, so we're focused on making everything extremely easy from the technical standpoint. Our revenues come from sharing the revenues network owners generate from job postings and events so we're not successful until our network creators are - it makes it a very good partner relationship. The basic platform will always remain free and as we grow, we'll continue to innovate to add innovative services that creators may decide to pay for. I'm no expert in marketing, so my answer to your last question is probably: yes. We'll do all those things, but at the end of the day, we put a whole lot more priority in making the experience awesome for our current loyal users then spending money to acquire more. We believe an awesome product and loyal customers who love it is the best marketing tool out there.

Actually, there are two labs projects. One is Ripplely.com (a Facebook app that allows you to tap your network and your friend's network for jobs) and the other one is PriceYeti.com (track any product and get instant notifications when the price drops). Both are public so feel free to check it out.

We decided to explore these lab projects because Eggsprout was at a stage where it really wasn't the technology that needed work, it was the handholding, marketing, and growing of the user base. The platform itself is actually really powerful. So what do you do with a bunch of awesome people that can churn code like there's no tomorrow? Solve more world problems. We're actually not sure where this'll go, but that's the point of labs projects. Twitter came out of a labs project. So did Gmail and Google Maps and a whole bunch of other successful stuff. It's a great way to relieve our creative entrepreneurial energies and have fun while doing it. :)

Tags: eggsprout, brianma, ripplely, priceyeti

This was the second Startup Weekend that I attended, and the format definitely improved between the first Startup Weekend a couple of years ago and this one.  It was a wonderful experience, and I'll definitely do it again.

My personal goal for Startup Weekend was to get to know people by actually working with them to create something useful over a single weekend.  That meant picking a concept that could be prototyped or built within just a couple of days, where I could personally jump in and make a difference.

The product concept came from Eric Koester (ed. note: an attorney with Cooley Godward Kronish LLP).  Startup Weekend started with a product pitch session, where over 20 people pitched potential projects to everyone.  At the end of the pitch sessions, the entire room voted on the concepts, and the top 12 or so concepts formed into teams as people signed up to work on the projects that resonated with them the most.  Eric's concept was voted at the top, and a relatively large team formed to build the application (see http://www.learnthatname.com/about for the team members).  The product pitching process took a few hours; by the time the team got together we only had time to introduce ourselves to each other before they closed the space.

On Saturday morning, we quickly got on the same page about what we were building and how we were going to build it so that we could split up the work.  The group split about evenly into a technology team and a business team.  The business team spent the weekend working through the nuances of the game play, demoing early versions of the app to other people and getting feedback, building a great demo script and planning the demo, learning how to market apps in the iPhone app store, determining price points and positioning, and building the web site.

Having experience working with both LinkedIn and the iPhone, I led the technology team.  I expected that getting 14 people coordinated when we haven't really worked together before would be a nightmare, but it wasn't really a problem.  We knew exactly what we wanted to build by early Saturday, and everyone on the team signed up to deliver a specific piece of it that morning.  Saturday was intense.  We were clustered around a couple of large round tables buzzing back and forth as we worked together.  Everyone was focused and working on what they needed to deliver, and there was significant energy in the air throughout the day as we kept making progress.  By Saturday night, we knew that we would have a working app to demo on Sunday night.  By Sunday afternoon we had game play complete and were giving demos around the room.  We even had a few hours to polish the app before demos at 6 pm.  The business team then pulled off a phenomenal demo – they connected everyone in the room to a Learn That Name LinkedIn account and brought up the Startup Weekend organizers to compete against each other in a public face-off to see who know more people at the event. We’ve since released the app, and it’s available at the iPhone App Store, or from http://www.learnthatname.com.

Much to my surprise going in, we ended the weekend with a working and polished iPhone app as well as a great start on a Palm Pre app.  I expected to come out of the weekend with only high-fives all around and a great demo, but we ended up with a nearly saleable product.  After a short discussion led by Eric, we decided to form a company around the app as the cleanest way to collect and share revenue amongst the team.  None of us had any expectations of making significant money, but it should buy us all lattes every now and then.

The entire process of forming a company, registering the company as an iPhone developer, and going through the Apple app approval took a couple of weeks.  There was a lot of initial buzz surrounding Learn That Name stemming from a TechFlash article "iPhone app wins top honors at Microsoft sponsored event", but the buzz had largely died down by the time we were able to release.

We focused our initial marketing push on getting the word out through business and technology journalists and bloggers.  By the end of the first week, we were covered by the Wall Street Journal, TechFlash, Xconomy and many others.  That coverage was great, and I was extremely impressed with how well Dustin and the team pulled it off (ed note: Dustin Woodard is a local SEO expert and social media consultant, formerly head of SEO at Wetpaint).

The most interesting thing about the coverage, though, is how little impact it had on sales.  The number of purchases in a day during the coverage was only about three times as much as the initial bump for being a "new release" in the app store.  This was a bit surprising; we had expected such broad coverage to make more of an impact.

Since the initial push, we’ve largely stepped back and let the revenue passively come in as people find the app in the app store on their own. We've since completed the Palm Pre app, which is awaiting Palm approval before it can be added to the app catalog.  I'm very curious to see how well it does relative to the iPhone version, since it will be one of the very first paid apps in the Palm app store.

Our key goal has been to help our users improve their online communications by giving them lots of context about their conversations with all their contacts.  We learned a lot from our iPhone application, and we're acting aggressively on that information now.

The main thing we learned is that people use this information for research as much as they do for just-in-time information when communicating.  That is, they check in on their close friends, look for reasons to contact acquaintances, and they often need to remind themselves about what’s been communicated earlier even when they're not about to call or write the person, such as when going into a meeting.

One implication is that other platforms are at least as useful as mobile platforms for these goals.  We're getting ready to go into beta (sometime in November) with an Outlook client that brings all the benefits of our iPhone application onto the desktop, where people often do more research-oriented tasks like meeting preparation.  We're excited about it because the Outlook platform gives us a lot of freedom to integrate very closely with the existing communications workflow, and bring in lots of extra information about a contact like past and future meetings, notes, mentions in other emails and so on.

Another important insight was that email is only part of the picture: our users need to know everything their contacts are saying, whether on Twitter, Facebook, or on the web through blogs or comments.  We recently re-released All My Mail as "Whole Contacts" - it now features not only everything your contacts are saying in email but also in Twitter and Facebook, with the ability to respond to your contacts via email, a Facebook comment, or a Twitter reply.  The idea that you can always see what the people you know are saying will drive our Outlook client as well as future releases of the iPhone application.  Whole Contacts is available now on the iTunes App Store, and more information is available at http://www.attassa.com.

Tags: attassa, startupweekend

Unconsciously, everyone expects a startup to be like a job, and that explains most of the surprises. It explains why people are surprised how carefully you have to choose cofounders and how hard you have to work to maintain your relationship. You don't have to do that with coworkers. It explains why the ups and downs are surprisingly extreme. In a job there is much more damping. But it also explains why the good times are surprisingly good: most people can't imagine such freedom. As you go down the list, almost all the surprises are surprising in how much a startup differs from a job.

Tags: Ycombinator, startups

The reusable aspect has been a real benefit to businesses.  In order to maximize the power of Scribulz, it is a joint collaboration in providing our creative medium with a powerful business message or offering. When this is accomplished, we see anywhere from a 10% to 100% return which cuts the initial coin cost each and every time they are returned. It's a great way to track your advertising investment and make design adjustments as needed.  Our highest responses have been from businesses that utilize their coins with aggressive discount offerings in conjunction with creative and colorful logos. We have also started to see an increasing demand to use Scribulz as business coins. Most business cards will be piled up with other cards or be thrown out, but Scribulz naturally sets individuals apart for a lasting impression. 

No such thing as a typical user with Scribulz! :) We do provide most of our current advertising services to small to medium sized businesses, but are expanding into entertainment promotions, fundraising and community events, and photography collections (pets, students, travel, etc.).  As far as synergy with businesses, we have run a successful tourist program with our Chamber of Commerce which was focused on having people shop locally. There were ~ 30 businesses that participated in customizing their own Scribulz and they were made available at the Visitor Center and Port/Marina. People were able to choose the coins they wanted to use and take advantage of great discounts on products and services.  Once redeemed at the local business, they would be circulated back to the two locations to be used again. The businesses would also keep some to hand out personally or give to other merchants to hand out on their behalf.  Another initiative underway is a local city “discount” coin that will be used at all participating merchants by locals. This will further enhance the cross-promoting aspect that will allow for businesses to share their customer base more freely in order to strengthen the group as a whole.

We started grassroots in growing our business locally in order to be hands-on with understanding the needs of our clientele. Since then we have ventured out into other parts of the country and beyond to spread the Scribulz offering. In order to continue to provide superior service, we are working with creative sales reps that understand their local communities.  Though franchising may be a natural choice, we are investigating other options at this time.  Our manufacturing process is covered under a pending patent, but all our wood coins, printing, and assembly is done in the good ol' USA.  We have realized along with many other small growing companies that viral marketing is powerful. We have only recently started down this path, but have received a good response so far.

Tags: scribulz

The primary failure of Strata8 had to do with execution, and execution failure falls squarely on the team. Unfortunately the founders did not know each other very well so there was no existing mechanisms for conflict resolution and decision making. As the company grew, we quickly found employees (including founders) who were under-qualified. All the miss-steps that occurred were the direct result of this lack of executive execution. The founders were not alone in their poor execution. The investors and board also bear much of the weight. It was 3 months after initial funding before the board and investors came out to headquarters to meet the team, and the only communication mechanism was between the CEO and the Board. Overall, it was very disappointing. Lesson learned: know who you're climbing into bed with.

The secondary failure of Strata8 had to do with technology risk. We did not have the primary technology product until a year and half after initial funding. This product was manufactured by a third party who we did not have control over. We increased our burn as if the product was going to be ready 6 months after funding and we simply ran out of runway. Lesson learned: focus on the product until you have the product. Then you can build the operational components to sell and support it.

The third failure was market planning. The undelivered product's cost was double what was initially communicated and the market rate for services based on this product dropped significantly. Although this falls somewhat into the technology risk section, it also leads to poor target market selection and poor market needs analysis. Lesson learned: thoroughly understand the product cost, target market and market demand.

Everybody on the Internet is suddenly a Social Media consultant or expert. The problem with almost all of them is they tend to believe Social Media is a marketing cure all. Social Media is simply one tool in the marketer's tool kit. Yes, it is efficient marketing if executed properly and if executed as a component of a well thought out strategic marketing plan. As I speak with clients, they are interested in Social Media, but they are more interested in growing their brand, their sales pipeline and their revenues. Having one arrow in your quiver does not make you an accomplished archer. I've also noticed many of these Social Media consultants are trying to sell (pimp) rather than establish meaningful dialogue and hence a true relationship with their customer. There is still room for new players because the existing players aren't true marketers.

Business networking is a delicate issue. Is getting a business card truly networking? Is grabbing a beer after work going to establish a relationship? I've been disappointed with most organized networking events. My networking philosophy is based on "pay it forward." Meaning, try to help out anyone and everyone you meet. Try to make them successful. In my experience this builds true relationships. Then utilize these relationships to meet new people. It's interesting to keep track of who appreciates a giving relationship and who simply wants to take. Probably the best Seattle groups are the investor groups such as the Keiretsu Forum. Investors are entrepreneurs, understand the value of relationships and know how to get things done. I refuse to attend the breakfast networking groups where all the legal, insurance and banking folks are trying to pimp their wares.

Tags: andrewwilson, strata8, lamonti, 4thwith

I would ask yourself the question "Why?," and make sure you're comfortable with the answer before you take that step. Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of satisfying their egos and try to "go national" without considering the benefits of focusing on doing everything they can do locally before making that risky leap. For most businesses, they have local advantages that won't translate on a national scale: understanding the social and business culture, personal and professional relationships, synergies with other local businesses, being a "local story" to the press... the list goes on and on and most, if not all of those, won't be working for you when you try to reach beyond your region. Prove you can dominate locally, build that foundation fully and be prepared to fall back on it entirely before you take the expensive step of branching out. When the time comes, soften your target by test marketing in another city in an entirely different region and you'll quickly learn a lot of lessons that will help you plan a much more efficient and successful national effort. Among the obvious exceptions would be ASPs or those companies where a local physical presence is unnecessary and/or service/product fulfillment and distribution has the same cost and process at a national or international scale.

Our company is about as virtual as you can get while being more than just an idea. Since we have scaled our software development and technical functions using a work -from-home model, location hasn't mattered. We each require a reliable Internet connection. but outside of that, location is irrelevant. What has been important with regard to location is making a point of getting together in person at least 3-4 times each year, with occasional one-on-one visits to complement. The quality of communication that occurs in our planning and strategy discussions when we're together in one room results in a level of productivity that, in our experience, is impossible to replicate strictly through online methods. We get 90% of our work done by working virtually, but 90% of our corporate and product development discussions and strategy decisions are accomplished in person. I have had my team visit me in Montana many times, and we always find time to either hit the slopes, get out on the lake or do some off-roading. In that respect, this has been an especially great place to run the business as my team members are always eager to visit.

We plan to go to 2 Billion, then 5, then 10.... The Ookla Speed Test has become the global standard with nearly 600,000 daily users enjoying free and accurate broadband throughput testing in less than 20 seconds to any of the over 350 servers worldwide. In this respect, we don't have a reason to change! The success of this property has led to many organizations licensing our technology in order to have a branded Speed Test on their own server(s).

Much like the Line Quality Test we offer at www.ookla.com, we plan to launch an additional testing application site that does more than basic throughput testing. Before the end of the year this site (also free) will allow anyone in the world to test their broadband connection for latency, jitter and other line attributes important to applications such as VoIP and telecommuting.

I believe the reason Speedtest.net is popular is due to the attractive but highly utilitarian and efficient nature of its interface, combined with the fact that it is free, fast and accurate. One of the business rules we have at Ookla is to exceed the expectations of our users and customers at every interaction. While I think we have done that with our licensed products and at Speedtest.net, we look forward to doing much more in the future. Thank you for your interest and please stay tuned!

Tags: mikeapgar, speakeasy, ookla, speedtest

I joined a company called SPRY in 1993.  SPRY sold the first commercial internet product called Internet in a Box.  What was unique about it was that we were the first company to license the Mosaic source code from the University of Illinois where a young Marc Andreessen was still a student and hadn't yet co-founded Netscape.  Sometime in mid 1994 we were all standing around our computers looking at the newly launched FedEx website.  You could enter a tracking number and it would show you where your package was.  That blew us all away.  I fell in love with the web at that moment.  Yahoo wasn't yet even a search engine.  Just a handmade directory of links.  Not long after SPRY sold to CompuServe I was referred to a company in Seattle called Progressive Networks.  They had this idea to deliver audio over the Internet.  I joined in 1994 and they subsequently called the company RealNetworks.  During my 5 years there, the smart engineers figured out not only how to deliver audio but also video.  I remember that our big tradeshow demo was showing live radio station feeds from a Stockholm radio station streaming over the web to our tradeshow floor!  The RealPlayer and the Rhapsody Music service became a household name.  I learned so much and feel very lucky to have worked with so many smart people.

Nobody has ever asked me this question before but it's actually something that challenges me.  We start companies ourselves like Imagekind and our latest venture called Inkd: The largest marketplace to download newsletter templates, flyer templates, brochures, business cards and other types of print creative.  However, we also invest in companies such as SEOmoz where we don't have day to day responsibilities.  But we still feel it is important to be as supportive as we can so we need to back away from our computers and sometimes go to meetings and try to help tackle tough questions that our portfolio companies have for their own businesses.  As you can imagine, when we start our own companies we hold a larger stake but I still feel it is just as important to try to be as helpful as possible for our portfolio companies.  When I think about the challenges that Curious Office has, the answer is always the same - not enough time in the day.  

This one is easy.  Adrian has an incredible risk tolerance.  He brought the Seattle Sounders to Seattle as a Major League Soccer team this year for example.  He is one of my oldest friends and I respect him so much because he thinks for rationally and calmly in every situation...even when very large amounts of money are at stake.  The Seattle Sounders was a far bigger bet than any technology investment.

In my experience, fundraising seems to be just as much about relationships as it does about your idea and your technology. If you are contemplating fundraising then get involved in the events and venues where investors and other successful entrepreneurs go.  Sometimes its easier to get close to other successful entrepreneurs than it is to get close to investors but that's a great way to start.  It is also important to remember that previous success is the best way to raise money.  Even if your first success is small, that's better than no previous track record.  It's sometimes smart to establish a first base hit for yourself.  That makes all investors feel more inclined to take a risk with you.

I'm interested in working with people who deeply understand the subtle nuances of driving lots of traffic through all available channels.  There are those who are learning and there are those who know.  I don't know what the next big thing is but the best bet is to bet on smart people.  Guys like Andy Liu of BuddyTV or Ben Huh of ICanHasCheezburger are great Seattle examples.  They understand how to come up with concepts that have a viral hook and they understand how to drive and build traffic to their destinations.  Someone who divulged all those secrets would sell a lot of e-books :)

Tags: kellysmith, curiousoffice, inkd