Mat Harris of BizGreet Talks about His Startup
Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Allen, Texas, which is a suburb north of Dallas.
What university did you go to?
Baylor University, BBA ’96, Marketing & Broadcasting double major
Baylor University MBA '01
What brought you to Austin?
My wife and I got married two weeks after graduation, and she wanted to come to the University of Texas to finish her teaching degree, and we never left. That was 13 years ago.
What is the idea behind your startup?
BizGreet rests upon the idea that personalization matters, and that businesses need a way to automate personalized video campaigns. Everyone probably knows that personalization matters, instinctively if not empirically. When I say your name, I can stop your brain. For a second. Slow you down long enough to actually hear what I have to say next. BizGreet automates this process, allowing any organization to mass customize video messages to any number of individuals personally, with minimal effort.
What need does it fulfill?
For B2B clients, BizGreet either replaces or seriously augments cold calling, direct mail, and e-newsletters in the lead generation process. We are seeing B2B clients land appointments with companies they don’t have any sort of relationship with, by only sending out a BizGreet campaign to a handful of prospects. B2B clients need to know which prospects are actually leads. BizGreet streamlines the process while maximizing the outcomes. For B2C Clients, BizGreet is beginning to replace mass media, broadcast, and web banner marketing campaigns. We can send a BizGreet campaign to anyone in a contact database. Some of the companies we are talking to have 120,000 or more contacts that they don’t do a good job of tracking and keeping in touch with. We say, bring it on. BizGreet gives marketers real ROI. Which persons responded to the call to action? Who watched the video? Today especially, marketers need real, measurable results, and are hungry for specific business intelligence on their customers, not just demographic reach projections or aggregate data on a population.
What exactly does your product do?
BizGreet campaigns deliver personalized, custom marketing messages to individuals, and provide immediate calls-to-action that people can respond to in the moment. Then, BizGreet tracks each response and delivers instantaneous information to our clients, who can decide how to best follow-up.
Who is it for?
B2B clients use it to open new sales opportunities, and as pre-tradeshow lure or for post show follow-up. B2C clients use it to directly sell to end users, or to
communicate something in a very personal way. Non-profit orgs and politicians use it for fund-raising and donor communications.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
The toughest challenge in starting a business is believing in the idea and in your
own capabilities long enough to make the business viable.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
The next step is to fund the business. We are pursuing a bootstrap strategy and
landing new opportunities every month, while we also prepare for a capital infusion. Capital will allow us to catalyze further development and reach software milestones quickly.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Right now, the most important element you can build into your business is
flexibility. Remain agile. If you’re a software startup, use an agile development
process if at all possible, but don’t stop there. Run small batches, make a handful
of presentations and ask for the sale. Close a few deals, listen to customers,
react to them, review with the team, and then do it again. Build feedback loops to
make it easy to hear from customers. They’ll tell you what thousands of dollars and months of market research can’t tell you…how to actually satisfy a real customer.
Be willing to shake things up. At the same time, put some stakes in the ground on core values and unmovables. All of this presumes that you operate a bootstrappable business. Today, you have to be able to bootstrap and prove your leadership aptitude and your business’s viability before looking for investment dollars.
Build with the right people, not just the people you like. Look for intelligent
people who are happy to disagree with you, and will stand up for their points of
view. There’s no such thing as a superstar CEO who is 100% operational/administrative and 100% sales/evangelistic. Start with one person who is great where you are weak, and who can be openly critical of you and still stand up for you. Tie yourselves together and don’t look back.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
I found Leadership Austin to be one of the most helpful organizations for personal development. I graduated from the Emerge class at the end of 2008, and look forward to opportunities to serve in the community with the wonderful people I met through the program. Leadership Austin was great because the trainers forced me to focus on my own core values and on being true to my own leadership style. I have key strengths and core values that make me who I am, and Leadership Austin helped me to embrace those and learn to leverage them to get things done.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Sean Roach of Yukuri Talks about His Startup
Sean Roach of Yukuri Talks about His Startup
Where are you from originally?
Primarily suburban Philadelphia but I lived in a bunch of places growing up, including 6 years in Europe.
What university did you go to?
I received a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University
What brought you to Austin?
My wife and I moved here in 2002 when I took a job with Dell building the partner network for their then new Managed Services division.
What is the idea behind your startup?
The modern workplace is undergoing tremendous changes right now but the available tools are not keeping pace. People are breaking from the confines of their cubicles but their information isn’t following. Companies need to provide younger workers with t00ls that leverage how they already interact and collaborate while at the same time retaining the skills and experience of workers preparing to retire.
At Yukuri we are looking to build the tools that enable individuals and teams to
leverage needed resources and information regardless of roles, departments, or geography.
What need does it fulfill?
It’s all about increasing productivity and decreasing waste by putting the right information in the right hands at the right time. A big piece of that is enabling companies utilize the knowledge, production, experiences, and connections resident within that organization and its members regardless of current role or location.
Companies that are able to capitalize on this will create a sustainable competitive advantage going forward.
What exactly does your product do?
Workstyle is a personal portal that enables users to work with the activities,
accomplishments, and knowledge of the entire organization. Users can quickly create custom workplaces by just dragging and dropping portlets already containing links to the resources they need to accomplish an assigned task. If they need one that doesn’t exist, the process for creating a new one can be as easy as copy and paste. The reporting process has also been automated so that management can keep abreast of what is going on in their organization
without slowing down groups with requests for status updates or briefings.
By enabling users to access all the information they need from a single place,
Workstyle eliminates fruitless searching and allows them to really start producing.
Who is it for?
Right now we are primarily targeting the Sales and Professional Services teams of small and medium businesses. The ROI around enabling these roles to produce more revenue is extremely compelling and a key part of our positioning. That said, we believe Workstyle can add significant value across all departments so we
Expect to see usage grow organically within customer accounts as well.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Aside from the financial uncertainty that comes with going out on your own, I think the most challenging thing has been taking this grand vision and that was in my head and building it into something tangible that others can quickly grasp. It’s a constant battle to stay focused on building what customers need and will use rather than adding all the features and functions you think are cool.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
Increasing customer traction, refining the product, and expanding our team.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Stay flexible. You cannot predict the future so building flexibility into your thinking, finances, organization, and products provides you with the agility to respond and take advantage of the unexpected when it arises.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
I think the whole ecosystem around entrepreneurship that exists in Austin has been a huge help to us. People have been so generous with their time- providing advice and making introductions - it just blows me away. The assistance and guidance that is out there makes Austin a great place to be an entrepreneur.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
Primarily suburban Philadelphia but I lived in a bunch of places growing up, including 6 years in Europe.
What university did you go to?
I received a BA in Economics from Vanderbilt University
What brought you to Austin?
My wife and I moved here in 2002 when I took a job with Dell building the partner network for their then new Managed Services division.
What is the idea behind your startup?
The modern workplace is undergoing tremendous changes right now but the available tools are not keeping pace. People are breaking from the confines of their cubicles but their information isn’t following. Companies need to provide younger workers with t00ls that leverage how they already interact and collaborate while at the same time retaining the skills and experience of workers preparing to retire.
At Yukuri we are looking to build the tools that enable individuals and teams to
leverage needed resources and information regardless of roles, departments, or geography.
What need does it fulfill?
It’s all about increasing productivity and decreasing waste by putting the right information in the right hands at the right time. A big piece of that is enabling companies utilize the knowledge, production, experiences, and connections resident within that organization and its members regardless of current role or location.
Companies that are able to capitalize on this will create a sustainable competitive advantage going forward.
What exactly does your product do?
Workstyle is a personal portal that enables users to work with the activities,
accomplishments, and knowledge of the entire organization. Users can quickly create custom workplaces by just dragging and dropping portlets already containing links to the resources they need to accomplish an assigned task. If they need one that doesn’t exist, the process for creating a new one can be as easy as copy and paste. The reporting process has also been automated so that management can keep abreast of what is going on in their organization
without slowing down groups with requests for status updates or briefings.
By enabling users to access all the information they need from a single place,
Workstyle eliminates fruitless searching and allows them to really start producing.
Who is it for?
Right now we are primarily targeting the Sales and Professional Services teams of small and medium businesses. The ROI around enabling these roles to produce more revenue is extremely compelling and a key part of our positioning. That said, we believe Workstyle can add significant value across all departments so we
Expect to see usage grow organically within customer accounts as well.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Aside from the financial uncertainty that comes with going out on your own, I think the most challenging thing has been taking this grand vision and that was in my head and building it into something tangible that others can quickly grasp. It’s a constant battle to stay focused on building what customers need and will use rather than adding all the features and functions you think are cool.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
Increasing customer traction, refining the product, and expanding our team.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Stay flexible. You cannot predict the future so building flexibility into your thinking, finances, organization, and products provides you with the agility to respond and take advantage of the unexpected when it arises.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
I think the whole ecosystem around entrepreneurship that exists in Austin has been a huge help to us. People have been so generous with their time- providing advice and making introductions - it just blows me away. The assistance and guidance that is out there makes Austin a great place to be an entrepreneur.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Guest Blogger Kimberly Key Talks about the Biggest Reason Entrepreneurs Fail
I’ve seen companies succeed and I’ve seen companies fail. In fact, I’ve been part of companies that were able to sustain steady growth and still thrive today while others collided as soon as they took off.
One company, in particular, that comes to mind never should have failed, but it did. It’s also the reason I transitioned out of engineering and got into entrepreneurial coaching in the first place.
Their cause of failure was caused by relationship strive and power struggles (see my book at Ten Keys To Power Struggles if you or anyone you know is experiencing this problem). Yet, this post is entitled the biggest reason entrepreneurs fail and although I believed at one time that businesses failed because of problematic human interactions, I’ve now come to realize that there’s an even lower common denominator than that—and it’s something most business experts have missed.
Take a moment and think about what you’ve heard, read, or experienced as the leading cause of business failure.
Are you listing them?
Let’s see if any of these are on the list:
Did you come up with inadequate or lack of planning?
How about marketing?
Did you say stupidity? (Well, surely you’ve had that sentiment from time to time.)
Okay, what about not having enough capital?
Or, as my previous experience revealed, how about relationship
challenges (this can include battling with a partner, investor, staff, or just plain overlooking the customer’s needs).
According to entrepreneurship author and Case Western University professor Scott Shane, there’s even the possibility that failure is a measure of a good economy if your venture folded. He purports, “Having fewer entrepreneurs means that we are experiencing economic growth. The more developed a country is, the fewer people work for themselves.”
This post isn’t about telling you to go work for a high growth company. (Although it’s cool if you do.) This is about providing support and insight so that you can make your entrepreneurial venture succeed—and maybe even turn it into one of those high growth companies that Shane says is good for our GDP. If that interests you, then please read on.
I listed some of the common reasons people say that businesses fail. There’s a lot of research out there that provide reasons and many of the stats contradict other researchers’ findings. There’s also the discussion about teasing out superfluous data and accounting for confounding variables, etc. However, What I’ve found to be at the core of most of my client’s issues is this one basic human flaw that
undermines even our best intentions.
This flaw explains why smokers can’t seem to quit even when the doctor
says it’s going to kill them and they desperately desire to quit.
It also accounts for the billions of dollars that are spent on gym memberships, self-help programs, and other health and wellness miracles that end up unused and untried as soon as the commitment was made.
I believe this flaw translates into business start-ups and reveals why most businesses fail (8 out of 10) within the first year (64% by the fifth year).
This flaw, while seemingly simple, is the disease responsible for ruining your best intentions. It’s why you can’t focus—and, unfortunately, it’s worsened with the advent of video games, microwave ovens, and microblogging sites like Twitter.
It’s not ADD or ADHD, but it is this distracter gene’s ancestor and it resides in ALL of us.
It’s our primal reptilian brain that causes us to be so immediate focused that it takes us right off track from our original agenda. It’s the source of procrastination. It’s the source of emotional hijacking. It’s why the best-laid plans go awry.
The primal reptilian brain feeds off of distraction, drama, and holds tight to emotional traumatic triggers that transform wisdom and grace into momentary flights of rage and despair.
The good news is that the primal reptilian brain can be your best ally. You just need to learn how to harness your inner power and make your primal brain work for you rather than against you.
For instance, let’s say you want to make X number of marketing calls a
week, but you never seem to get it done. Basically you keep finding yourself procrastinating. You might loathe the task. Maybe you have some fear of failure or rejection. You could even have fear of success. Or you get distracted with all of your other responsibilities. Whatever the reason may be, your primal brain is
working against you if you’re not making the calls—and it’s feeding off the energy from the fear, loathing and/or distractions.
The trick to making your primal brain assist you in making those marketing calls can be two-fold. You can employ that good old-fashioned work ethic that says you have to make X number of calls a day before you can relax or have some type of reward. Secondly, you can also up the ante by offering a penalty payment to your assistant, colleague, mentor, or a family member each time you don’t make the
required calls that week. However, in order for this last part of the trick to work, it needs to be realistic but painful enough to make you miss the money that was doled out as your penalty payment.
This last trick works because it makes your primal brain want to protect you from the pain of the money loss. Before that, your primal brain sensed the pain from the fear and loathing and worked hard to keep you off your task no matter how much you tried to motivate or convince yourself.
Did you get that? Your primal brain is motivated to protect you and any sign of fear of loathing activates your primal brain, causing it to rescue you from the source of your pain.
Now think about what happens when you start a business. That’s right— fear of failure. Fear of those looming statistics that say you’re probably going to fail. Fears from your family, friends and colleagues who shake their head at your decision. Fear from the loss of security, benefits and support staff that makes you feel safe when you’re working for a stable company. Fear of your own decision-making skills.
Need I go on? The inherent and pervasive fear from kicking off an entrepreneurial venture can activate your primal brain to protect you
and make you abandon your venture (either through procrastination of a
needed but dreaded task, overwhelmed helplessness, poor relational functioning, etc.).
However, your primal brain can be your most powerful ally and loyal protector. The key is learning how to make it work for you so that you can accomplish the goals your frontal lobe creates (e.g. business plans, entrepreneurial ventures, networking, writing a book, losing weight, going on dates, listening, eating healthy, etc., etc.).
If you would like to learn specific methods for harnessing your inner ally and making your primal brain work for you rather than against you, please join me for a special-request seminar focused on entrepreneurial coaching methods that will help you harness your inner power and achieve greater success in accomplishing goals based on your passion and purpose. This is an intimate gathering of pre-screened committed entrepreneurs only with limited spots available. If you’re interested in attending, please contact me at 512.617.6356 to discuss where you’re at in your business and how this seminar can help you.
Harness Your Inner Power Seminar
Jun 26-27
Fri. Jun 26 3 PM – 5 PM with optional happy hour to follow at The
Grove
Sat. Jun 27 9:30 AM – 12 Noon
The Overlook at Rob Roy - 6836 Bee Caves Road - 2nd floor conference
room
Austin, Texas 78746 – 512.617.6356 – Kimberly@EncompassWF.com
Cost: Normally $950; Save 75% with Club E Network & Austin Bootstrap
Discount Only $317
What to Expect: Presentation with interaction among group members
sharing their experiences with the common pitfalls of entrepreneurship, life management and ineffective habits. Bring a list of the challenges you want to overcome in your business, life and even your family, and learn customized approaches to harnessing your inner power and making your primal brain work for you rather than against you. You’ll leave with renewed energy, motivation AND real applicable strategies that will make you overcome the procrastination and devastating habits that cause 8 out of 10 businesses to fail within the first year (64% by the fifth year).
Kimberly Key is
founder of Encompass Work & Family,
an Austin-based entrepreneur coaching and counseling firm. She has
worked with Fortune 500 companies and numerous start-ups and their
families, helping them unlock their passions and achieve their
purpose.
Best regards,
Hall T.
One company, in particular, that comes to mind never should have failed, but it did. It’s also the reason I transitioned out of engineering and got into entrepreneurial coaching in the first place.
Their cause of failure was caused by relationship strive and power struggles (see my book at Ten Keys To Power Struggles if you or anyone you know is experiencing this problem). Yet, this post is entitled the biggest reason entrepreneurs fail and although I believed at one time that businesses failed because of problematic human interactions, I’ve now come to realize that there’s an even lower common denominator than that—and it’s something most business experts have missed.
Take a moment and think about what you’ve heard, read, or experienced as the leading cause of business failure.
Are you listing them?
Let’s see if any of these are on the list:
Did you come up with inadequate or lack of planning?
How about marketing?
Did you say stupidity? (Well, surely you’ve had that sentiment from time to time.)
Okay, what about not having enough capital?
Or, as my previous experience revealed, how about relationship
challenges (this can include battling with a partner, investor, staff, or just plain overlooking the customer’s needs).
According to entrepreneurship author and Case Western University professor Scott Shane, there’s even the possibility that failure is a measure of a good economy if your venture folded. He purports, “Having fewer entrepreneurs means that we are experiencing economic growth. The more developed a country is, the fewer people work for themselves.”
This post isn’t about telling you to go work for a high growth company. (Although it’s cool if you do.) This is about providing support and insight so that you can make your entrepreneurial venture succeed—and maybe even turn it into one of those high growth companies that Shane says is good for our GDP. If that interests you, then please read on.
I listed some of the common reasons people say that businesses fail. There’s a lot of research out there that provide reasons and many of the stats contradict other researchers’ findings. There’s also the discussion about teasing out superfluous data and accounting for confounding variables, etc. However, What I’ve found to be at the core of most of my client’s issues is this one basic human flaw that
undermines even our best intentions.
This flaw explains why smokers can’t seem to quit even when the doctor
says it’s going to kill them and they desperately desire to quit.
It also accounts for the billions of dollars that are spent on gym memberships, self-help programs, and other health and wellness miracles that end up unused and untried as soon as the commitment was made.
I believe this flaw translates into business start-ups and reveals why most businesses fail (8 out of 10) within the first year (64% by the fifth year).
This flaw, while seemingly simple, is the disease responsible for ruining your best intentions. It’s why you can’t focus—and, unfortunately, it’s worsened with the advent of video games, microwave ovens, and microblogging sites like Twitter.
It’s not ADD or ADHD, but it is this distracter gene’s ancestor and it resides in ALL of us.
It’s our primal reptilian brain that causes us to be so immediate focused that it takes us right off track from our original agenda. It’s the source of procrastination. It’s the source of emotional hijacking. It’s why the best-laid plans go awry.
The primal reptilian brain feeds off of distraction, drama, and holds tight to emotional traumatic triggers that transform wisdom and grace into momentary flights of rage and despair.
The good news is that the primal reptilian brain can be your best ally. You just need to learn how to harness your inner power and make your primal brain work for you rather than against you.
For instance, let’s say you want to make X number of marketing calls a
week, but you never seem to get it done. Basically you keep finding yourself procrastinating. You might loathe the task. Maybe you have some fear of failure or rejection. You could even have fear of success. Or you get distracted with all of your other responsibilities. Whatever the reason may be, your primal brain is
working against you if you’re not making the calls—and it’s feeding off the energy from the fear, loathing and/or distractions.
The trick to making your primal brain assist you in making those marketing calls can be two-fold. You can employ that good old-fashioned work ethic that says you have to make X number of calls a day before you can relax or have some type of reward. Secondly, you can also up the ante by offering a penalty payment to your assistant, colleague, mentor, or a family member each time you don’t make the
required calls that week. However, in order for this last part of the trick to work, it needs to be realistic but painful enough to make you miss the money that was doled out as your penalty payment.
This last trick works because it makes your primal brain want to protect you from the pain of the money loss. Before that, your primal brain sensed the pain from the fear and loathing and worked hard to keep you off your task no matter how much you tried to motivate or convince yourself.
Did you get that? Your primal brain is motivated to protect you and any sign of fear of loathing activates your primal brain, causing it to rescue you from the source of your pain.
Now think about what happens when you start a business. That’s right— fear of failure. Fear of those looming statistics that say you’re probably going to fail. Fears from your family, friends and colleagues who shake their head at your decision. Fear from the loss of security, benefits and support staff that makes you feel safe when you’re working for a stable company. Fear of your own decision-making skills.
Need I go on? The inherent and pervasive fear from kicking off an entrepreneurial venture can activate your primal brain to protect you
and make you abandon your venture (either through procrastination of a
needed but dreaded task, overwhelmed helplessness, poor relational functioning, etc.).
However, your primal brain can be your most powerful ally and loyal protector. The key is learning how to make it work for you so that you can accomplish the goals your frontal lobe creates (e.g. business plans, entrepreneurial ventures, networking, writing a book, losing weight, going on dates, listening, eating healthy, etc., etc.).
If you would like to learn specific methods for harnessing your inner ally and making your primal brain work for you rather than against you, please join me for a special-request seminar focused on entrepreneurial coaching methods that will help you harness your inner power and achieve greater success in accomplishing goals based on your passion and purpose. This is an intimate gathering of pre-screened committed entrepreneurs only with limited spots available. If you’re interested in attending, please contact me at 512.617.6356 to discuss where you’re at in your business and how this seminar can help you.
Harness Your Inner Power Seminar
Jun 26-27
Fri. Jun 26 3 PM – 5 PM with optional happy hour to follow at The
Grove
Sat. Jun 27 9:30 AM – 12 Noon
The Overlook at Rob Roy - 6836 Bee Caves Road - 2nd floor conference
room
Austin, Texas 78746 – 512.617.6356 – Kimberly@EncompassWF.com
Cost: Normally $950; Save 75% with Club E Network & Austin Bootstrap
Discount Only $317
What to Expect: Presentation with interaction among group members
sharing their experiences with the common pitfalls of entrepreneurship, life management and ineffective habits. Bring a list of the challenges you want to overcome in your business, life and even your family, and learn customized approaches to harnessing your inner power and making your primal brain work for you rather than against you. You’ll leave with renewed energy, motivation AND real applicable strategies that will make you overcome the procrastination and devastating habits that cause 8 out of 10 businesses to fail within the first year (64% by the fifth year).
Kimberly Key is
founder of Encompass Work & Family,
an Austin-based entrepreneur coaching and counseling firm. She has
worked with Fortune 500 companies and numerous start-ups and their
families, helping them unlock their passions and achieve their
purpose.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Jonas Lamis of Tech Ranch Talks about the Entrepreneur Town Hall Meeting
Jonas Lamis of Tech Ranch Talks about the Entrepreneur Town Hall Meeting
Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Terre Haute Indiana. Once the Crossroad's of America, these days it is suffering quite a bit from manufacturing contraction. There is quite a difference in how Austin has grown versus how most Midwestern towns have suffered over the last 20 years.
What university did you go to?
Bachelors in Engineering from Purdue, Masters in Engineering from Georgia Tech, and an MBA from Texas.
What brought you to Austin?
I started my first venture in Austin in 1995 while my wife was at Dell.
Since then, I've been a founder or early employee of 6 different startups. Some were venture backed, some were bootstrapped. A couple crash and burned and two were acquired. Austin is a great place to launch and grow a startup.
What is the idea behind your group?
Tech Ranch is a service for the Central Texas entrepreneurial community
focused on accelerating success by collaborating together and sharing our wisdom. We provide mentorship, office space, shared services, and strategic council to some of central Texas' most interesting startups. You can see pictures of Tech Ranch on our flickr feed.
What need does it fulfill?
Tech Ranch is focused on accelerating technology entrepreneurs and their ideas. Over the years in Austin, we've seen our share of technology incubators. I believe that the economic model now finally makes sense - because most software startups require less funding to get off the ground and become sustainable.
What exactly does your group do?
Tech Ranch offers programs for all stages of entrepreneurs. We have a training program called Employee to Entrepreneur that is focused on going from idea to company launch. We offer "drop in" office space for entrepreneurs and companies that need a place to call home but don't yet need a permanent office. We rent offices to qualified startups on a month to month basis (costing between $400 and $600). We provide consulting to large corporations and governments that want to develop entrepreneur centric activities. We even take part-time executive positions with a few of our portfolio companies.
Who is it for?
Our Employee to Entrepreneur training program is for anyone who is
considering launching a technology venture and has questions about how they can thrive. We currently have 10 launched companies that we are working with including Be Greeted, Piryx, Help End Local Poverty, Nidiant, Blazent, Simplitex, IPX, Zehicle and others. We also have a dozen entrepreneurs who hang out at Tech Ranch working on getting their new ventures launched. More information about these programs can be found at http://techranchaustin.com/
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the group?
At Tech Ranch, my partners (Kevin Koym and Arvin Poole) and I roll up our sleeves and help entrepreneurs get their companies launched and help navigate through the "valley of death". We are focused on early customer validation through revenue, and growing the team pragmatically based on measurable success. Early in a venture's life, there is rarely enough capital to pay the staff, so we generally have to get creative in building the right team and support organization for each venture.
What is the next step for you and your group?
We are really excited about our work with The City of Cedar Park, Texas. We are partnering to launch Tech Ranch Cedar Park later this month. Our first event is The Entrepreneur Town Hall Meeting. This event is scheduled for the evening of June 24th. The event is open to all interested people in Central Texas and is free. Information and tickets are available at http://www.techranchcedarpark.com. We hope the readers of this blog will join us for that event!
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
It seems like an excellent time to launch a startup in Central Texas. There are new support organizations like The Austin Entrepreneur Network, Tech Ranch, Capital Factory and others who can help you launch, grow and monetize your venture. Be sure to check us out!
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Terre Haute Indiana. Once the Crossroad's of America, these days it is suffering quite a bit from manufacturing contraction. There is quite a difference in how Austin has grown versus how most Midwestern towns have suffered over the last 20 years.
What university did you go to?
Bachelors in Engineering from Purdue, Masters in Engineering from Georgia Tech, and an MBA from Texas.
What brought you to Austin?
I started my first venture in Austin in 1995 while my wife was at Dell.
Since then, I've been a founder or early employee of 6 different startups. Some were venture backed, some were bootstrapped. A couple crash and burned and two were acquired. Austin is a great place to launch and grow a startup.
What is the idea behind your group?
Tech Ranch is a service for the Central Texas entrepreneurial community
focused on accelerating success by collaborating together and sharing our wisdom. We provide mentorship, office space, shared services, and strategic council to some of central Texas' most interesting startups. You can see pictures of Tech Ranch on our flickr feed.
What need does it fulfill?
Tech Ranch is focused on accelerating technology entrepreneurs and their ideas. Over the years in Austin, we've seen our share of technology incubators. I believe that the economic model now finally makes sense - because most software startups require less funding to get off the ground and become sustainable.
What exactly does your group do?
Tech Ranch offers programs for all stages of entrepreneurs. We have a training program called Employee to Entrepreneur that is focused on going from idea to company launch. We offer "drop in" office space for entrepreneurs and companies that need a place to call home but don't yet need a permanent office. We rent offices to qualified startups on a month to month basis (costing between $400 and $600). We provide consulting to large corporations and governments that want to develop entrepreneur centric activities. We even take part-time executive positions with a few of our portfolio companies.
Who is it for?
Our Employee to Entrepreneur training program is for anyone who is
considering launching a technology venture and has questions about how they can thrive. We currently have 10 launched companies that we are working with including Be Greeted, Piryx, Help End Local Poverty, Nidiant, Blazent, Simplitex, IPX, Zehicle and others. We also have a dozen entrepreneurs who hang out at Tech Ranch working on getting their new ventures launched. More information about these programs can be found at http://techranchaustin.com/
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up the group?
At Tech Ranch, my partners (Kevin Koym and Arvin Poole) and I roll up our sleeves and help entrepreneurs get their companies launched and help navigate through the "valley of death". We are focused on early customer validation through revenue, and growing the team pragmatically based on measurable success. Early in a venture's life, there is rarely enough capital to pay the staff, so we generally have to get creative in building the right team and support organization for each venture.
What is the next step for you and your group?
We are really excited about our work with The City of Cedar Park, Texas. We are partnering to launch Tech Ranch Cedar Park later this month. Our first event is The Entrepreneur Town Hall Meeting. This event is scheduled for the evening of June 24th. The event is open to all interested people in Central Texas and is free. Information and tickets are available at http://www.techranchcedarpark.com. We hope the readers of this blog will join us for that event!
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
It seems like an excellent time to launch a startup in Central Texas. There are new support organizations like The Austin Entrepreneur Network, Tech Ranch, Capital Factory and others who can help you launch, grow and monetize your venture. Be sure to check us out!
Best regards,
Hall T.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Anjan Contractor of iSpire Talks about His Startup
Anjan Contractor of iSpire Talks about His Startup
Where are you from originally?
I am originally from India but lived in Columbus, Ohio for 7 years before I moved to
Austin 4 years ago.
What university did you go to?
I went to Ohio State University.
What brought you to Austin?
My first job.
What is the idea behind your startup?
A state of art mechanism that we developed in our spare time has potential to
generate energy from the traffic flow.
What need does it fulfill?
It generates free energy, which can be used for the traffic lights, road lights, display boards or fed to the electric grid.
What exactly does your product do?
Our product- Roadside Dynamic Generator (Rd-Gen) can be installed underneath the pavement. When vehicles pass over Rd-Gen, it can generate electricity. It can also enhance traffic safety.
Who is it for?
The US department of transportation, Wal-Mart, Simon Property Group, Central Parking
Corp. and similar.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Getting seed funding.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
We will develop a prototype and test it.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
"If you throw enough things on the ceiling, something will stick."
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
I am originally from India but lived in Columbus, Ohio for 7 years before I moved to
Austin 4 years ago.
What university did you go to?
I went to Ohio State University.
What brought you to Austin?
My first job.
What is the idea behind your startup?
A state of art mechanism that we developed in our spare time has potential to
generate energy from the traffic flow.
What need does it fulfill?
It generates free energy, which can be used for the traffic lights, road lights, display boards or fed to the electric grid.
What exactly does your product do?
Our product- Roadside Dynamic Generator (Rd-Gen) can be installed underneath the pavement. When vehicles pass over Rd-Gen, it can generate electricity. It can also enhance traffic safety.
Who is it for?
The US department of transportation, Wal-Mart, Simon Property Group, Central Parking
Corp. and similar.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Getting seed funding.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
We will develop a prototype and test it.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
"If you throw enough things on the ceiling, something will stick."
Best regards,
Hall T.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Mark Spilotro of iKnowWare Talks about His Company
Mark Spilotro of iKnowWare Talks about His Company
Where are you from originally?
18 years in Bloomington, Indiana .... Chicago's North Shore before that
What university did you go to?
Indiana University... Home of CEO's John Chambers/Cisco and Mark Cuban/Owner of the Dallas Mavericks graduated from IU's SOB (School of Business)
What brought you to Austin?
Oracle Corporation in 1999 - part of a "SWAT" Team as the "Internet Changes
Everything"
What is the idea behind your startup?
At Oracle E-Travel we used 'Salesforce.com' and I could NOT generate an Invoice, see Inventory, look at Projects, and personalize what I wanted to see in business.
What need does it fulfill?
Elimination of costly "silo" applications. The need to simplify and unify all
business communications based on the individual workers role and privilege.
What exactly does your product do?
An easy to use, fast/secure and personalized mobile internet view of business
functions of Marketing, Sales, Inventory, Project/Tasks Management, real-time
reporting, Case/Knowledge Management, and messaging. iKnowWare my Sales are... iKnowWare my Inventory is... get it
Who is it for?
Small to Medium (SMB) businesses who want to simply "Turn On Your Business" with ease of a Swiss Army Knife with deep personalization in industry language for high adoption and utilization (and ROI of course!)
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
People... its all about People (motivate, listen, inspire, lead by example, each as
an owner) and focus to simplify Process for productivity and profits to exist.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
Growth capital of $5M and a secured credit facility of an additional $5M; grow to
$184M by 2012; launch 2 more innovative products.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Find Mentors, great Advisors, and use iKnowWare!
the three i's if iKnowWare.... Innovation, Information, as delivered via the
Interactive Internet. Use iKnowWare as it gives your Team the transparency to
execute, deliver, and reduce the number of mistakes made as you grow. Check out this article.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
18 years in Bloomington, Indiana .... Chicago's North Shore before that
What university did you go to?
Indiana University... Home of CEO's John Chambers/Cisco and Mark Cuban/Owner of the Dallas Mavericks graduated from IU's SOB (School of Business)
What brought you to Austin?
Oracle Corporation in 1999 - part of a "SWAT" Team as the "Internet Changes
Everything"
What is the idea behind your startup?
At Oracle E-Travel we used 'Salesforce.com' and I could NOT generate an Invoice, see Inventory, look at Projects, and personalize what I wanted to see in business.
What need does it fulfill?
Elimination of costly "silo" applications. The need to simplify and unify all
business communications based on the individual workers role and privilege.
What exactly does your product do?
An easy to use, fast/secure and personalized mobile internet view of business
functions of Marketing, Sales, Inventory, Project/Tasks Management, real-time
reporting, Case/Knowledge Management, and messaging. iKnowWare my Sales are... iKnowWare my Inventory is... get it
Who is it for?
Small to Medium (SMB) businesses who want to simply "Turn On Your Business" with ease of a Swiss Army Knife with deep personalization in industry language for high adoption and utilization (and ROI of course!)
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
People... its all about People (motivate, listen, inspire, lead by example, each as
an owner) and focus to simplify Process for productivity and profits to exist.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
Growth capital of $5M and a secured credit facility of an additional $5M; grow to
$184M by 2012; launch 2 more innovative products.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Find Mentors, great Advisors, and use iKnowWare!
the three i's if iKnowWare.... Innovation, Information, as delivered via the
Interactive Internet. Use iKnowWare as it gives your Team the transparency to
execute, deliver, and reduce the number of mistakes made as you grow. Check out this article.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Kevin Leahy of Knowledge Advocate Talks about His Startup
Kevin Leahy of Knowledge Advocate Talks about His Startup
Where are you from originally?
I was born in New Jersey, lost my Yankee accent in North Carolina, accelerated my appreciation for wine and food in California, met the love of my life in Manhattan, romanced in Brooklyn, and eventually landed in the Great State of Texas.
What university did you go to?
My economics undergraduate degree is from Duke University and I earned my law degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
What brought you to Austin?
My wife and I sought out a young, vibrant, smart town that was close to where she grew up (San Antonio).
What is the idea behind Knowledge Advocate, LLC?
After 15 years of preparing and examining witnesses for trial, I saw the opportunity to create an on-demand interview company. The company helps clients with pre-hire, exit, performance, and other interview needs. The skills and training of a trial attorney are well-suited to capture and transfer critical corporate know-how. Employee knowledge matters and is often hard to collect and organize. I saw a niche need for professional questioners who could interview people at the highest levels to connect and pattern their essential corporate knowledge and pass it along in a meaningful way to those who need to access and know it.
What need does it fulfill?
Consultants, businesses and individuals have limited access to expert questioners absent being deposed by a lawyer, written up by a journalist for a story, or analyzed by a therapist. Knowledge Advocate fills the need to interview pre-hire candidates and perform exit interviews with the highest possible skills available. The company uses its questioning abilities in business consults to execute comprehensive succession plans and facilitate communication, productivity, and change management opportunities. Knowledge Advocate also teams with other business consultants to accentuate expertise in fields including organizational dynamics, economics, and web analytics with a professional questioner who drills down and gets to the bottom of client concerns, roadblocks, and problems. The point is that when professional answerers (the consultants) get together with professional questioners (Knowledge Advocate), the effort results in great consults.
What exactly does your service do?
Depending on the client, Knowledge Advocate researches hiring needs, evaluates concerns about losing knowledge held by departing employees, and explores the need for succession plans of senior leaders and business owners. Investigation and preparation quickly turn into action: interviews happen that maximize access to the highest quality of high quantity, relevant business information. We pinpoint what the client needs to know, protect it (with transcripts and video, as needed), and pass it on to those individuals that depend on it for future business success and smart, well-informed decisions. Because of our unique third-party role, Knowledge Advocate clarifies the insight and meaning of what employees know, a process that drives outcomes including faster decisions and solid solutions. Always, the professional level of questioning leads to a deep, documented awareness of how and why things get done and by whom.
Who is it for?
On-demand questioning and interviewing skills are well-suited for business clients including senior leaders and HR departments who understand the value of a professional who conducts top notch interviews and champions knowledge capture and transfer needs. Available knowledge that is capitalized on in this way becomes a competitive advantage. Consultants also use Knowledge Advocate to round out their expertise with a subcontracted expert questioner who dives deep to connect and pattern the clients' opportunities and constraints with the consultant's expert advice. Individuals also rely on the company as a soundboard for tracking their own thoughts and capturing critical insight into business and personal challenges; the effort produces instant 360 evaluations and trends the individual's thoughts in a comprehensive, actionable way.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Educating potential clients about the value of a professional questioner is a continuing challenge. No business owner would consciously hire amateurs to perform their interview work. Still, because few companies offer on-demand questioning and interviewing services the accepted practice is to permit employees who may not be expert questioners to conduct critical pre-hire, exit, and system wide interviews like performance evaluations. Getting the word out about professional questioning and comparing Knowledge Advocate's service to already existing services like business consulting and coaching has been a challenge as well because what Knowledge Advocate does is not exactly the same as what coaches or consultants do.
What is the next step for you and your company?
I have become a thought leader in the field of professional questioning and interviewing. Because clients express needs in this area, Knowledge Advocate conducts seminars that teach employees how to improve their questioning skills to get better interview results. The company is also teaming with web and enterprise analytics professionals to leverage technology that can trend employee knowledge over several quarters to understand where the company is, where it is heading, and why what the company knows at the employee level matters. Knowledge Advocate's partnership with business consultants rounds out the continued practice of high end questioning in fields as diverse as investment banking, economic development, and non-profit management.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Use your existing skills to leverage a passion that fits a market need. I know, sounds a lot easier than it is. Mostly, believe in yourself and your skill set and know that it can and will deliver outstanding results that provide you the courage to go out and sell your stuff to buyers who turn into satisfied customers.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
A nod goes to Hall Martin and his Entrepreneur Network, his organization conducts a class in conjunction with the Acton MBA that is excellent for new business owners. Additional resources have included a small group of peers that met to discuss solopreneur challenges, Bootstrap Austin's many helpful members, advice from non-profit colleagues (non-profit service has led to my relationships with a diverse and vibrant group, Leadership Austin alumns offer particularly strong counsel), friends, family, and most important, the adventurous innovators who became my first clients. In the end, those closest to me have been the most supportive, cheer-oriented group an entrepreneur could hope for. They serve as excellent guides through the difficult, life-changing decisions that make up the entrepreneur's journey.
Where are you from originally?
I was born in New Jersey, lost my Yankee accent in North Carolina, accelerated my appreciation for wine and food in California, met the love of my life in Manhattan, romanced in Brooklyn, and eventually landed in the Great State of Texas.
What university did you go to?
My economics undergraduate degree is from Duke University and I earned my law degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
What brought you to Austin?
My wife and I sought out a young, vibrant, smart town that was close to where she grew up (San Antonio).
What is the idea behind Knowledge Advocate, LLC?
After 15 years of preparing and examining witnesses for trial, I saw the opportunity to create an on-demand interview company. The company helps clients with pre-hire, exit, performance, and other interview needs. The skills and training of a trial attorney are well-suited to capture and transfer critical corporate know-how. Employee knowledge matters and is often hard to collect and organize. I saw a niche need for professional questioners who could interview people at the highest levels to connect and pattern their essential corporate knowledge and pass it along in a meaningful way to those who need to access and know it.
What need does it fulfill?
Consultants, businesses and individuals have limited access to expert questioners absent being deposed by a lawyer, written up by a journalist for a story, or analyzed by a therapist. Knowledge Advocate fills the need to interview pre-hire candidates and perform exit interviews with the highest possible skills available. The company uses its questioning abilities in business consults to execute comprehensive succession plans and facilitate communication, productivity, and change management opportunities. Knowledge Advocate also teams with other business consultants to accentuate expertise in fields including organizational dynamics, economics, and web analytics with a professional questioner who drills down and gets to the bottom of client concerns, roadblocks, and problems. The point is that when professional answerers (the consultants) get together with professional questioners (Knowledge Advocate), the effort results in great consults.
What exactly does your service do?
Depending on the client, Knowledge Advocate researches hiring needs, evaluates concerns about losing knowledge held by departing employees, and explores the need for succession plans of senior leaders and business owners. Investigation and preparation quickly turn into action: interviews happen that maximize access to the highest quality of high quantity, relevant business information. We pinpoint what the client needs to know, protect it (with transcripts and video, as needed), and pass it on to those individuals that depend on it for future business success and smart, well-informed decisions. Because of our unique third-party role, Knowledge Advocate clarifies the insight and meaning of what employees know, a process that drives outcomes including faster decisions and solid solutions. Always, the professional level of questioning leads to a deep, documented awareness of how and why things get done and by whom.
Who is it for?
On-demand questioning and interviewing skills are well-suited for business clients including senior leaders and HR departments who understand the value of a professional who conducts top notch interviews and champions knowledge capture and transfer needs. Available knowledge that is capitalized on in this way becomes a competitive advantage. Consultants also use Knowledge Advocate to round out their expertise with a subcontracted expert questioner who dives deep to connect and pattern the clients' opportunities and constraints with the consultant's expert advice. Individuals also rely on the company as a soundboard for tracking their own thoughts and capturing critical insight into business and personal challenges; the effort produces instant 360 evaluations and trends the individual's thoughts in a comprehensive, actionable way.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Educating potential clients about the value of a professional questioner is a continuing challenge. No business owner would consciously hire amateurs to perform their interview work. Still, because few companies offer on-demand questioning and interviewing services the accepted practice is to permit employees who may not be expert questioners to conduct critical pre-hire, exit, and system wide interviews like performance evaluations. Getting the word out about professional questioning and comparing Knowledge Advocate's service to already existing services like business consulting and coaching has been a challenge as well because what Knowledge Advocate does is not exactly the same as what coaches or consultants do.
What is the next step for you and your company?
I have become a thought leader in the field of professional questioning and interviewing. Because clients express needs in this area, Knowledge Advocate conducts seminars that teach employees how to improve their questioning skills to get better interview results. The company is also teaming with web and enterprise analytics professionals to leverage technology that can trend employee knowledge over several quarters to understand where the company is, where it is heading, and why what the company knows at the employee level matters. Knowledge Advocate's partnership with business consultants rounds out the continued practice of high end questioning in fields as diverse as investment banking, economic development, and non-profit management.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Use your existing skills to leverage a passion that fits a market need. I know, sounds a lot easier than it is. Mostly, believe in yourself and your skill set and know that it can and will deliver outstanding results that provide you the courage to go out and sell your stuff to buyers who turn into satisfied customers.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
A nod goes to Hall Martin and his Entrepreneur Network, his organization conducts a class in conjunction with the Acton MBA that is excellent for new business owners. Additional resources have included a small group of peers that met to discuss solopreneur challenges, Bootstrap Austin's many helpful members, advice from non-profit colleagues (non-profit service has led to my relationships with a diverse and vibrant group, Leadership Austin alumns offer particularly strong counsel), friends, family, and most important, the adventurous innovators who became my first clients. In the end, those closest to me have been the most supportive, cheer-oriented group an entrepreneur could hope for. They serve as excellent guides through the difficult, life-changing decisions that make up the entrepreneur's journey.
Friday, May 22, 2009
Curtis Maly of Flex-CFO Talks about His Startup
Curtis Maly of Flex-CFO Talks about His Startup
Where are you from originally?
The Midwest. Born in Ames, Iowa. Later spent time in Ann Arbor, Michigan before heading West to Colorado and eventually heading down to Austin.
What university did you go to?
Undergrad in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. MBA in corporate strategy and finance from the University of Michigan's Ross School of
Business.
What brought you to Austin?
Opportunity to do mergers & acquisitions in the semiconductor space.
What is the idea behind flex-CFO?
Using Finance & Strategy to enable Start-ups, Company Executives, and Boards to make key decisions, coordinate financing, and efficiently execute on Deals (M&A).
What need does flex-CFO fulfill?
Many companies (start-ups, smaller private companies, etc.) need Executive caliber help in key areas such as: Executive Decision Support, Strategy, M&A Advisory, and Buying or Selling a Business. flex-CFO provides executive level support in each of these areas.
What exactly do you do?
Decision Support: Financing (Angel, Seed, Series A...), Presentation to Investors,
Preparation for Board Meetings, Financial Forecasting/Modeling, Cash flow.
Strategy: Planning, Competitive Analysis, Pricing, Go to Market, etc.
M&A: Acquisitions, Divestitures, Joint Ventures, Licensing, Transaction Deal Lead. Buy or Sell a Business: Valuation Modeling, Marketing, Prospecting, and
Transaction Execution.
Who is it for?
Start-up executives, founders, board of directors, investors, and family business Owners.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your business?
We all have our areas of strength. Many very successful entrepreneurs and business Leaders are constantly pulled in many directions. flex-CFO provides support and Partners with our clients to bring Executive caliber support in finance, strategy, and M&A advisory delivered on a flexible as needed basis.
What is the next step for you and Flex-CFO?
Developing our Brand and growing our Client base. Flex-CFO serves a niche as a
company's executive decision partner. The emphasis is to bring Executive caliber support to our clients and Partner with existing Management.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Think about the prize. Understanding what the perfect end game would look like for the Entrepreneur will impact many early decisions. For example, different funding paths (Angel, Bootstrap, VC) have a dramatic impact on control, timing, and economics for a new business. Each path has its own benefits and risks,
understanding these different funding paths early on can help the Entrepreneur be both successful and happy!
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
The Midwest. Born in Ames, Iowa. Later spent time in Ann Arbor, Michigan before heading West to Colorado and eventually heading down to Austin.
What university did you go to?
Undergrad in Mechanical Engineering from Iowa State University. MBA in corporate strategy and finance from the University of Michigan's Ross School of
Business.
What brought you to Austin?
Opportunity to do mergers & acquisitions in the semiconductor space.
What is the idea behind flex-CFO?
Using Finance & Strategy to enable Start-ups, Company Executives, and Boards to make key decisions, coordinate financing, and efficiently execute on Deals (M&A).
What need does flex-CFO fulfill?
Many companies (start-ups, smaller private companies, etc.) need Executive caliber help in key areas such as: Executive Decision Support, Strategy, M&A Advisory, and Buying or Selling a Business. flex-CFO provides executive level support in each of these areas.
What exactly do you do?
Decision Support: Financing (Angel, Seed, Series A...), Presentation to Investors,
Preparation for Board Meetings, Financial Forecasting/Modeling, Cash flow.
Strategy: Planning, Competitive Analysis, Pricing, Go to Market, etc.
M&A: Acquisitions, Divestitures, Joint Ventures, Licensing, Transaction Deal Lead. Buy or Sell a Business: Valuation Modeling, Marketing, Prospecting, and
Transaction Execution.
Who is it for?
Start-up executives, founders, board of directors, investors, and family business Owners.
What is the most rewarding aspect of your business?
We all have our areas of strength. Many very successful entrepreneurs and business Leaders are constantly pulled in many directions. flex-CFO provides support and Partners with our clients to bring Executive caliber support in finance, strategy, and M&A advisory delivered on a flexible as needed basis.
What is the next step for you and Flex-CFO?
Developing our Brand and growing our Client base. Flex-CFO serves a niche as a
company's executive decision partner. The emphasis is to bring Executive caliber support to our clients and Partner with existing Management.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Think about the prize. Understanding what the perfect end game would look like for the Entrepreneur will impact many early decisions. For example, different funding paths (Angel, Bootstrap, VC) have a dramatic impact on control, timing, and economics for a new business. Each path has its own benefits and risks,
understanding these different funding paths early on can help the Entrepreneur be both successful and happy!
Best regards,
Hall T.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Thomas Sheahan Talks about His Startup Called Red Oxygen
Thomas Sheahan Talks about His Startup Called Red Oxygen
Where are you from originally?
I was born in Chicago. I grew up in Connecticut and Dallas.
What university did you go to?
SMU
What brought you to Austin?
It was close to Dallas. The Sarah Palin sticker moratorium
What is the idea behind your start-up?
The belief that business would want to leverage their existing IT infrastructure to send out text messages to the 4 Billion cell phones to employees, students or customers.
What need does it fulfill?
Quick, instant, cost-effective communications to the 4 billion cell phones
What exactly does your product do?
Allows businesses to send text messages from Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Lotus Notes, the web or any CRM solution, and the recipients can reply back into the applications.
Who is it for?
Businesses ( Small to Large), Churches, Schools, Universities, Sport Clubs , Governments.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Having enough capital
What is the next step for you and your start-up?
Raising capital, growing our US customer base
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Every mistake you have been warned about - you will do. Listen to people with grey hair! Try to find a mentor that you trust and admire, not because he is wealthy but he is the type of person you want to become. They will help you look at the forest from the trees. You are not different – you will have many successes and failures, enjoy them all equally.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
High-Tech Happy hours!
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
I was born in Chicago. I grew up in Connecticut and Dallas.
What university did you go to?
SMU
What brought you to Austin?
It was close to Dallas. The Sarah Palin sticker moratorium
What is the idea behind your start-up?
The belief that business would want to leverage their existing IT infrastructure to send out text messages to the 4 Billion cell phones to employees, students or customers.
What need does it fulfill?
Quick, instant, cost-effective communications to the 4 billion cell phones
What exactly does your product do?
Allows businesses to send text messages from Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Excel, Lotus Notes, the web or any CRM solution, and the recipients can reply back into the applications.
Who is it for?
Businesses ( Small to Large), Churches, Schools, Universities, Sport Clubs , Governments.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Having enough capital
What is the next step for you and your start-up?
Raising capital, growing our US customer base
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
Every mistake you have been warned about - you will do. Listen to people with grey hair! Try to find a mentor that you trust and admire, not because he is wealthy but he is the type of person you want to become. They will help you look at the forest from the trees. You are not different – you will have many successes and failures, enjoy them all equally.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
High-Tech Happy hours!
Best regards,
Hall T.
Monday, May 18, 2009
Clifton Hargrove of CastVent Talks about His Startup
Clifton Hargrove of CastVent Talks about His Startup
Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Central Florida. My parents still live there in Ocala. I went to school in Orlando, FL and worked over at Kennedy Space Center for 7 years before coming to Texas.
What university did you go to?
I originally went to the University of Central Florida. Received a Bachelors in Electronics and a Masters in Computer Systems. Then in 2005 I went to St. Edwards and received my MBA in August 2007.
What brought you to Austin?
Originally I was in the space program. Back in the late 80’s, early 90’s there was a lot of contract consolidation and it was obvious that was not a good long term career move. I was offered a job here in Austin in the semiconductor business. Then I figured out that the semiconductor business only has two modes, one is they cannot hire fast enough, the second is they cannot lay off people fast enough! So then I joined a VC funded software company here in Austin. I rode that through two major acquisitions and then decided to start Cast Vent, LLC.
What is the idea behind your startup?
I had a motorcycle wreck and broke my left wrist pretty bad. I ended up having surgery on it and wore a cast for weeks. The itch was driving me nuts. I ended up going to the store and buying a dremel tool and drilled holes in the cast so I could attach an air pump and blow warm air inside of it to make it stop itching. It worked beautifully. After about a week of using an air mattress air pump I started experimenting with different pumps, then it occurred to me that this would make a terrific product. No one ever offered me anything to address cast itch. I searched the internet, still could not find anything. So I designed cast vents and pumps.
What need does it fulfill?
It makes your cast stop itching. Ask anybody that has ever had a cast. They itch. Cast vents allow you to do something about cast itch.
What exactly does your product do?
The construction of a cast is actually quite simple. First you cover the area to be cast with a stocking, then you wrap cotton padding around it and finally you wrap it with fiberglass tape. Cast vents allow you to construct a cast and leave a circular or cylindrical hole through the fiberglass and cotton. Once you are done and have worn the cast for a few days (and have muscle atrophy), you can then attach a mating air pump (called a cast vent pump) and blow warm air inside the cast. This drys it out and makes it stop itching.
Who is it for?
Anbody that has a cast. There is one doctor doing testing with specialized applications like diabetics in casts, but cast vents are really aimed at anybody that has a cast. There are two groups of people that are no brainers, anybody that has ever had a cast before because they know how bad they itch. The second group is parents because they want to make their kids more comfortable.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Getting in to see doctors and the fact that doctors, as a group, are extremely conservative. Cast vents have to be built in to the cast itself so it has to be sold through a hospital or doctors office. I have been giving vents and pumps away for free to get them to use them. Once they hear from the patients that it works and how much they like it, then they start offering it. However, it is slow because it takes 4-6 weeks from the time they first put it in before they get feedback. Another aspect that is challenging is the fact that it isn’t covered by insurance. The patient has to pay for it themselves. In today’s economy people don’t want to spend money.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
I am looking for angel funding to hire some sales people. One thing I have learned is that the medical profession is all about personal relationships. It takes time to establish them so I am looking to hire some professional sales people with established relationships with orthopedic doctors. Once I can hire some professional sales people, then I expect things to really ramp pretty quickly. I also need to develop better marketing materials and start marketing it on a broader scale. Right now I am just focused on the major metropolitan areas in Texas.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
One thing I have heard while trying to raise money is the acronym “PRO”, pessimistic, realistic and optimistic. Plan based on pessimistic. If things turn out better or faster than your pessimistic plan, that is great, but don’t plan on the optimistic side of things.
Another thought is to talk to people. You will be amazed at how many people know somebody that can help. I was talking to a lady buying some stuff from me off of craig’s list. Turns out she knew quite a bit about the medical field and I got some really good advice about how to approach hospitals and group purchasing organizations. Another example is I was talking to neighbor about his jeep and it turns out he works at one of the largest orthopedic practices in Texas. Plus you can go to lunch or dinner with friends and tell them about it. You simply cannot network enough.
One other thought is do not assume you know THE way forward. You may know of A way forward, but stay open. I have been very surprised at how many ways you can sell cast vents and pumps. Even today, if things changed I would be open to changing the strategy.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
Networkinaustin.com has been very helpful.
Best regards,
Hall T.
Where are you from originally?
I grew up in Central Florida. My parents still live there in Ocala. I went to school in Orlando, FL and worked over at Kennedy Space Center for 7 years before coming to Texas.
What university did you go to?
I originally went to the University of Central Florida. Received a Bachelors in Electronics and a Masters in Computer Systems. Then in 2005 I went to St. Edwards and received my MBA in August 2007.
What brought you to Austin?
Originally I was in the space program. Back in the late 80’s, early 90’s there was a lot of contract consolidation and it was obvious that was not a good long term career move. I was offered a job here in Austin in the semiconductor business. Then I figured out that the semiconductor business only has two modes, one is they cannot hire fast enough, the second is they cannot lay off people fast enough! So then I joined a VC funded software company here in Austin. I rode that through two major acquisitions and then decided to start Cast Vent, LLC.
What is the idea behind your startup?
I had a motorcycle wreck and broke my left wrist pretty bad. I ended up having surgery on it and wore a cast for weeks. The itch was driving me nuts. I ended up going to the store and buying a dremel tool and drilled holes in the cast so I could attach an air pump and blow warm air inside of it to make it stop itching. It worked beautifully. After about a week of using an air mattress air pump I started experimenting with different pumps, then it occurred to me that this would make a terrific product. No one ever offered me anything to address cast itch. I searched the internet, still could not find anything. So I designed cast vents and pumps.
What need does it fulfill?
It makes your cast stop itching. Ask anybody that has ever had a cast. They itch. Cast vents allow you to do something about cast itch.
What exactly does your product do?
The construction of a cast is actually quite simple. First you cover the area to be cast with a stocking, then you wrap cotton padding around it and finally you wrap it with fiberglass tape. Cast vents allow you to construct a cast and leave a circular or cylindrical hole through the fiberglass and cotton. Once you are done and have worn the cast for a few days (and have muscle atrophy), you can then attach a mating air pump (called a cast vent pump) and blow warm air inside the cast. This drys it out and makes it stop itching.
Who is it for?
Anbody that has a cast. There is one doctor doing testing with specialized applications like diabetics in casts, but cast vents are really aimed at anybody that has a cast. There are two groups of people that are no brainers, anybody that has ever had a cast before because they know how bad they itch. The second group is parents because they want to make their kids more comfortable.
What was the most challenging aspect of starting up a business?
Getting in to see doctors and the fact that doctors, as a group, are extremely conservative. Cast vents have to be built in to the cast itself so it has to be sold through a hospital or doctors office. I have been giving vents and pumps away for free to get them to use them. Once they hear from the patients that it works and how much they like it, then they start offering it. However, it is slow because it takes 4-6 weeks from the time they first put it in before they get feedback. Another aspect that is challenging is the fact that it isn’t covered by insurance. The patient has to pay for it themselves. In today’s economy people don’t want to spend money.
What is the next step for you and your startup?
I am looking for angel funding to hire some sales people. One thing I have learned is that the medical profession is all about personal relationships. It takes time to establish them so I am looking to hire some professional sales people with established relationships with orthopedic doctors. Once I can hire some professional sales people, then I expect things to really ramp pretty quickly. I also need to develop better marketing materials and start marketing it on a broader scale. Right now I am just focused on the major metropolitan areas in Texas.
What advice do you have for entrepreneurs?
One thing I have heard while trying to raise money is the acronym “PRO”, pessimistic, realistic and optimistic. Plan based on pessimistic. If things turn out better or faster than your pessimistic plan, that is great, but don’t plan on the optimistic side of things.
Another thought is to talk to people. You will be amazed at how many people know somebody that can help. I was talking to a lady buying some stuff from me off of craig’s list. Turns out she knew quite a bit about the medical field and I got some really good advice about how to approach hospitals and group purchasing organizations. Another example is I was talking to neighbor about his jeep and it turns out he works at one of the largest orthopedic practices in Texas. Plus you can go to lunch or dinner with friends and tell them about it. You simply cannot network enough.
One other thought is do not assume you know THE way forward. You may know of A way forward, but stay open. I have been very surprised at how many ways you can sell cast vents and pumps. Even today, if things changed I would be open to changing the strategy.
What Austin-based resource have you found to be the most helpful and why?
Networkinaustin.com has been very helpful.
Best regards,
Hall T.
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