Monday, May 24, 2010

Amy Reynolds of Climb On Talks about her Startup

Amy Reynolds of Climb On Talks about her Startup


Where are you from originally?

Both my sister and I were born in Houston, Texas


What university did you go to?

University of Houston, B.S. in Human Nutrition and Food Science


What brought you to Austin?

After college I joined the Peace Corps and then lived in Europe for a while. I came back to the States to reconnect with family, then moved to Boulder, CO where Climb On! was “born” from the combination of my aromatherapist sister and my need for rapid healing of my rock climbing hands. She then moved (from LA) back to Texas and I followed shortly thereafter. Always knowing that Climb On! could be a viable business as well as the best skin care product on the market. So things just happened serendipitiously so to speak, and finally we were able to get paid for fulltime work by Climb On! in the last couple of years!


What is the idea behind your startup?

Born from an organic need to heal my rock climbing skin! My boyfriend and I asked my sister jokingly one day if she could make something for us! And she did. The rest is history!


What need does it fulfill? Climb On!

fulfills a need for people who desire to use only clean skin care products as well as providing a super concentrated, fast acting intensive skin repair. Most skin care is synthetic based—rendering it toxic to the skin and body. Since there is virtually no regulation of cosmetic ingredients, many ingredients – even in baby products—are toxic and proven harmful. Because every ingredient is “active” our product provides results much more quickly and effectively.


What exactly does your product do?

Climb On! moisturizes, repairs and protects skin, esp. skin that is exposed to extreme conditions as well as chronic skin issues such as eczema and psoriasis. One woman even used it to heal her turtle’s shell rot! Climb On! also helps the skin organ be healthier since the skin isn’t having to detox synthetic chemicals.


Who is it for?

Anyone with skin! Most of our customers, though, have some kind of compromised skin issue—like rock climbers, gardeners, construction workers, etc.


What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?

Bootstrapping with hardly any money. Working other jobs to make ends meet until revenue started coming in. That’s just stressful when there is no other household income.


What is the next step for you and your startup?

More expansion and more fun! Our emphasis is on building our direct to consumer sales and fleshing out our overseas distribution.


What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

Check your ego at the door! Be in service to your business and your community of customers. Personal connection and heartfelt passion go a long way! If people like you they will buy your product.

No matter what business you’re in, you’re still dealing with people and we all have the same needs for connection. Even techies!

Also, get connected with people who have already successfully done what you want to do and learn from them! It’s a no brainer!


What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

Well, we consider Austin itself a resource because of the deep wealth of creative energy that pulses in this area. And the Austin Entrepreneur Network’s Start up Business Class was very helpful. Connecting with excellent professionals in all aspects of a start up is priceless.

Interview Questions for Entrepreneurs Amy Reynolds, VP and co-owner of Climb On! Products, Inc. (Polly Reynolds is the President and co-owner and creator of the recipes)

Vamsi Mohun of Entreave Talks about his Startup

Vamsi Mohun of Entreave Talks about his Startup

Where are you from originally?

I am originally from Hyderabad which is in South India.


What university did you go to?

I got my MBA from the McCombs School of Business at The University of Texas at Austin. Previously, I got my MS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan Technological University and BS also in Electrical Engineering from Andhra University.


What brought you to Austin?

In the late 90’s, I was working at Sabre Travel Solutions in Dallas when I ran into folks from Momentum Software, a consulting company that was helping a lot of the dotcom startups in Austin. I figured that I wanted to be in the midst of the dotcom madness and hence joined Momentum when they made me an offer.


What is the idea behind your startup?

The idea behind Entreave is to use Social Network Proximity for matchmaking in the marketplace for professionals. Our platform bridges the gap between the consulting services ecosystem on one hand and the social network ecosystem on the other. Workforce and demographic trends suggest that professionals will be increasingly mobile, collaborative and independent (of employers) over the next decade. Entreave’s goal is to facilitate this changing workforce. Likewise, businesses have in the past, and will continue in the future, to have lean workforces and will engage outside experts for burst engagements.


What need does it fulfill?

From time to time, both businesses and individuals need temporary help from professionals. For instance, a business might need a marketing consultant or a SEO expert for a few days. Likewise, an individual might need a CPA or for a legal expert for a few hours. Our system reduces the costs of finding the “right” expert and it also eases the process of engaging with the expert.


What exactly does your product do?

Entreave offers an online marketplace for professional services. Users, businesses or individuals, can post their needs on Entreave as gigs. Professionals can sign up as experts by listing their skills and availability. Gig posters and experts can connect with each other by doing a manual lookup or alternately the platform will pro-actively do the matchmaking. Social proximity of experts to the gig posters is used as the basis for matchmaking, apart from other criteria. Once a Gig poster and an expert agree to engage, the system guides them throughout the engagement through a workflow that comprises of features such as online contracts, escrow payments and online collaboration.


Who is it for?

Our end users are businesses and individuals. We will reach our end users through existing web-based social networks and communities – our platform will enable these entities.


What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?

Finding customers that are actually willing to sign up is the most challenging aspect. There is a huge amount of inertia for customers to take the leap from simply talking about a problem to actually trusting a startup to help them find a solution. Assembling the team is almost as challenging.


What is the next step for you and your startup?

Our goal is to bring in about five customers within the next 6 weeks and use this as leverage to bring in the first round of funding.


What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

Cash Flow is the most important part of the business. Cash has to be generated either from paying customers or from investors. My advice to entrepreneurs is to focus on the fastest path to get to cash on a sustainable basis. You don’t have a business unless you can a) convince customers to pay for your product or b) convince investors that there will be enough paying customers within a certain period of time and these revenues will be enough to justify an investment.


What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

Generally, folks in the Austin community are willing to talk to you about your venture. If you reach out to them and tell them that their feedback might be valuable to your venture, they will give you an hour of their time. Also, they are willing to give you further references. The Austin community has the right mindset to enable entrepreneurs by spending time with them and by pushing them to be successful and this is very helpful. I recommend entrepreneurs reach out to and participate in organizations such as Austin Entrepreneur Network (AEN), The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE), Bootstrap Austin and various relevant forums at The University of Texas at Austin.

Robert Larkin of the Daily Juice Talks about His Startup

Robert Larkin of the Daily Juice Talks about His Startup

Where are you from originally?

I was raised between Steamboat , Colorado and Newport, Rhode Island. I consider both the ocean and mountains home. In Steamboat I was training to be an Olympic ski racer before I decided to spend my last two years of high school back on the east coast to receive a world-class education from St. George’s School.


What university did you go to?

I attended the University of Colorado at Boulder. I chose CU Boulder both for it’s engineering program and the accessibility to the outdoors.


What brought you to Austin?

I came to Austin in 2006 for the Acton MBA in Entrepreneurship. I had no plans to stay longer than the 10 months it took to complete the program, however, the people I met over those 10 months are the reason I am still here. Austin is a city with natural beauty, full of driven entrepreneurs, and is a melting pot of culture, business, community, and ideology.


What is the idea behind your startup?

I have a passion for endurance sports. I would have never guessed that Austin, Texas, is where I would be introduced to the benefits of practicing Yoga and eating vegan and raw foods. I began to experience new levels of physical and mental performance resulting from both my Ashtanga Yoga practice and vegan diet. I realized that something as simple as eating a primarily plant based diet could increase your energy, physical appearance, and overall wellbeing. Most of what I had learned was from conversations with and books that were recommended to me from the folks at Daily Juice.

In 2008 a long time friend of mine who introduced me to Acton, raw foods, and Austin proposed that we launch a company focused on local food infrastructure. As we dug into our analysis of what opportunities existed we decided we would start in the middle of the system, between the growers and the customers. At this time we were approached by Daily Juice to help in the expansion of the company, a few months later we had become partners with the founders of Daily Juice bringing capital to open a new location, build a commercial kitchen, and begin developing a product line that would provide people with nutritionally powerful foods that are delicious.

This product line is now the Rhythm Superfoods brand.
The basic idea behind Rhythm Superfoods is that people do not have to sacrifice taste for nutrition. We make foods that are of both the highest nutritional value and have exceptional taste.


What need does it fulfill?

People love to eat. It is a central part of everyone’s social life. We provide a rare opportunity to enjoy great tasting food that you don’t have to feel guilty about eating.


What exactly does your product do?

Our product delivers phenomenal taste and nutrition that is un-matched by any other snack food.


Who is it for?

Our products are for any person who enjoys great tasting snacks that are full of nutrients.


What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?

Prioritization. There are many things that must be attended to everyday, they are all urgent, they are all important, and just when you think you have it all under control you something else gets thrown at you.


What is the next step for you and your startup?

We are raising money to grow into serving a national customer base. To do this we will need capital to increase the throughput of both our production and sales operations.


What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

Get the right people on your team. We have been fortunate to have attracted the best of the best to join with us to execute on the opportunity we identified. Without the help of some seasoned people who share our vision we would be on a much different and definitely more difficult path.


What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

I am lucky to have the Acton alumni, faculty and staff as friends and resources. Outside of Acton the resource I have found most useful has been the RISE events. At RISE I have been able to connect with many other entrepreneurs and learn about what other people have learned along their entrepreneurial journey.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Nathan Smith of ETA Computing Talks about His Startup

Nathan Smith of ETA Computing Talks about His Startup

Where are you from originally?

I am originally from Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved to Austin back in 2005.


What university did you go to?

I have a Computer Science degree from Brown College in Mendota Heights, MN and a Business Management degree from Northwestern College in Roseville, MN.


What brought you to Austin?

I moved south to get away from the cold temperatures in MN.

What is the idea behind your startup?

We want to help small businesses get more from their IT investment. By providing our services and experience with flat-rate a pricing model we are positioned to help these businesses really do more with less.


What need does it fulfill?

Many small companies today need help with creating a unified branding image, operational costs, and they need assistance with reducing capital costs around purchasing equipment and software. We want to help these companies by being their virtual Chief Technology Officer for their business.


What exactly does your product do?

We manage every aspect of a company’s Technology infrastructure from their phone system, web domain image, and IT support all the way through to auditing their phone and ISP bills to make sure they are getting the best services for their dollar.


Who is it for?

This service is really for any company that wants to cut down on the expense with supporting their network and save money with their operational costs. Currently most of our customers are in the 10- 150 seat range and this is where we really get to shine with helping to reduce costs. We also have a few customers that are 1-man shops with their website and email imaging to leverage a unified branding process they use to grow their business.


What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?

For us the most challenging part of starting the company has really been on the Sales and Marketing side of things. Both owners here have an extensive IT support background so we have gone through many of the tougher steps in getting the business going when it comes to these areas. With all that we have gone through we believe we have identified a few different avenues that businesses can use to grow their business without breaking the bank and wasting a lot of time and money.


What is the next step for you and your startup?

Our next phase for us is actually in hiring qualified Sales Personnel and continuing to work on growing the business. We have spent the time to get all our processes in place to make sure we can take care of our customers and now are looking to grow and gain market share.


What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?

New entrepreneurs need to make sure they really know what it is you want to do and make sure you research how best to reach people when starting your business. The better an idea you have in what you want to do and how to reach people will be a great asset in creating the marketing pieces you need to actually get people attention and interest in what you do.


What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?

I would have to say that the best Austin based resources we have found are the Central Texas Angel Network and local networking groups. The reason I say Central Texas Angel Network is because Hall really knows quality people that can help you in the areas you need help with, and the local networking groups such as Your Local City and NetworkingAustin are great for meeting potential clients and building relationships that really helps to grow your business through referrals.