Incubator

Get Launched w/Launch It Theme

by Travis Ketchum · 1 comment

Special offer for TCS readers, download this free theme and email launchit[at]grantlandram.com to get the next premium theme for free.

A talented designer and good friend of mine, Grant Landram has made a sweet version of Launch Rock that you can download right now for free and install on your own wordpress hosted website. Grant does all kinds of design and development and just wanted to make something cool for the community that is both useful and a cinch to use.

I know many of you are still waiting for your Launch Rock invites, but why keep waiting? Check out this free theme and slap it on the WordPress site you likely already have and start collecting emails and incentivizing users to refer their friends. After you install it I’d love to know what you think, the features are just basic enough so that nearly anyone can get leads from users on the best budget of all…….. Free 99

To download your copy of LaunchIt Theme for free click here.

The Entrepreneur’s Mirage

by Travis Ketchum · 0 comments

With the announcement that The Social Network has won best picture in the golden globes, there is even more buzz than ever about people who feel like anyone can start a multi-billion dollar business. With reports of Facebook stock trading around a $70 Billion dollar valuation and Groupon preparing an IPO at $15 Billion – these entrepreneurs seem like absolute geniuses. The reality of the situation is however, much different than the media has portrayed.

1. Dumb luck meets opportunity

While I think Mark Zuckerberg is a bright guy (although he comes off very arrogant at times), Facebook would only be a shadow of what it is today without the help of Sean Parker of Napster fame. Sean is one of the driving forces behind subtle things such as changing from TheFacebook to just Facebook; to much larger things like the billion dollar contact list he carries which ultimately got Facebook the funding it needed to continue its upward ramp.

2. We are in a bubble

Being an entrepreneur myself I can sometimes be turned into a cynic instead of just seeing the blind optimism that often infects those built of our breed. I have been guilty of that far too often myself, and while I certainly think that entrepreneurs should be championed, we also need to occasionally step back and see what is going on in the marketplace and understand that bubbles happen and try to counter the inevitable “losses” that will eventually happen.

The kind of valuations that companies are getting right now are absurd, and stories of things such as Groupon attempting to acquire Hipster.com for a sub $10 million range BEFORE IT EVEN LAUNCHES are insanity. While this is fantastic news for companies who bring real value and innovation to the table, by offering them a chance to get the funding they need to keep going it creates a problem for the marketplace as a whole.

High valuations and easy liquidity for companies also means that a lot of stupid and redundant ideas are getting funded. This may not seem bad on the surface, and creates temporary jobs. However, those jobs are not needed and create an artificially good economy when there isn’t enough value to support it. As the cycle of bubbles starts to come down from emotional decisions to decisions based on metrics and returns these companies will get axed, liquidity will dry up and we will be in a tougher place than we started once again.

Relaunching MyBigGive

by Travis Ketchum · 2 comments

Those of you who know me also know that I spend a lot of my “down time” working on http://mybiggive.com, it is something I am passionate about and feel is very important for the industry. I have had the pleasure to work with some very talented individuals from programming and design backgrounds that have pulled something together worth writing home about. This is still a “small project” in the sense of it’s financial impact for causes but I am confident that if we keep iterating we can come up with something that really nails it. That being said I wanted to share you a few things I have learned along the way of getting this version out to the public.

#1 Getting a team of people to work together is difficult

I am sure you remember working with teams when you were in school (or currently experience this pain) that was supposed to get you “ready for the real world”. The biggest flaw I always felt in the school based team system is that no ever pulled their weight and one person ended up doing all the work because they were the person motivated to get a good grade. Ultimately the entire team benefits unfairly from the work done by a singular person.

Luckily lean startups are a different story, but that doesn’t mean they are all rainbows and lollipops. For this project most of my time has been spent with two developers and at least one designer (although the design capacity seems to be continually passed from one person to the next.) Throughout this experience the only people who have been working on this project have either been invested in the idea (as in they like what it is trying to do), just want to help me out, or some combination thereof. Communicating the needs and roles of each person has been a unique challenge even for a team this small because it has been my job as a project manager to understand the disciplines of expertise for each party and how to guide them towards my “big vision”. With any luck this big vision also aligns with my business development deals I have been working my tail off on securing, but more to come on that at a later date…

#2 The little things make a huge difference

The last version of MyBigGive was a decent milestone for us, but we really got the design wrong. The last website, while elegant was designed for a more content/corporate site and may end up being recycled into other projects I have at a later date, but it certainly wasn’t meeting the needs we had as a charitable shopping service. As we went through the process we realized that one of the major components missing was simplicity and the level of friction for sharing the service with friends.

The back-end was rebuilt from the ground up with this ideology in mind, that in order to win we had to convince users to share us and quickly understand WHY we existed. It sounds easy enough, but keeping the feature list and product flow simple is actually more difficult than created a feature rich experience when your team has talent (good problem to have). Some of the small things that are subtle but are having a major impact on our sharing metrics include the dynamic Tweet and FB Share buttons on our “Thank You” page that is shown after a customer shops for a cause. By dynamically slipping into the charity name for a preloaded Tweet or FB Post (via a Facebook Application) we are now able to create a shared experience that still feels relatively organic in the stream instead of a cut and dry advertisement. This means more for our users and makes the entire process more meaningful for our “super users”.

#3 Something good is not equal to something great

A smart friend of mine recently said “never settle – iteration is a way of life”. I don’t think I could have said it better myself, and this has always been my motto to life. NEVER SETTLE. I would like to think that I don’t settle with my projects, friends, significant others, purchases etc. If you want to create something great you have to be continually innovating and that is exactly what we plan on doing; we have hugely ambitious goals that will only come one step at a time by staying on the grind.

So that being said, I would really love any feedback you have on our redesign. You can check it out here: http://mybiggive.com. Comment below or @ reply me on Twitter!

Namesake Preview: Lethal Endorsements

by Travis Ketchum · 7 comments

NameSakeHome

Namesake, one of the more promising start-ups from California driven by a very bright and talented team. The founders Brian Norgard (co-founder of Ad.ly, Newroo) and Dan Gould. I had the delight of connecting with Brian Norgard recently and was able to talk with him about what the project nicknamed as the “LinkedIn killer” by some of its avid fans (which is an incredibly short list due to its uber exclusive beta testing period to date).

What I love

  • The user interface is absolutely gorgeous
  • It is simplistic, which means it is easier to convey its value proposition
  • Builds around your existing social ties (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube)
  • Real time opportunity routing
  • Endorsement graph

What I don’t (aka feature wish list)

  • Some kind of quality score and search-able list for routed opportunities as the community grows
  • An infinite scroll type feature to see more than just the last 3 things someone posted

I can’t help but wonder how the activity feed is going to be handled as this site grows. According to Brian Norgard, as of today there are only 168 people on Namesake due to its hyper exclusive on-boarding. But, that being said, if any team has the talent and the brains to solve that problem it is going to be these guys. It is already plain to see with this small group of users though how valuable the friend-to-friend referral and endorsements are going to be.

However, with LinkedIn now reaching 80 million users signed up, how do you think Namesake is going to be able to make a case for those with other profiles to put in the effort of developing yet another social graph within Namesake ecosystem without being perceived as actively job seeking? I would still fill out Namesake even if I wasn’t looking for a job because I think it represents your level of authority within certain fields but employers may not share the sentiment. What are your thoughts? Let me know below or with an @ reply on Twitter!

NameSakeFeed

My Mobile Toolkit

by Travis Ketchum · 0 comments

One of the wonderful things about technology is that it makes it connects people across the globe with a seamless and constant connection. Here is a quick run down of the things that I absolutely have to use in order to get my job done when I am mobile.

The Device

A lot of people will argue about what hardware is the best to use when running a business on the go, and while I am sure my choice will polarize people just like every other post about iconic cell phones in the technology community, I simply cannot go through my day without this device:

iPhone 4

$199-299 w/2 year AT&T Contract

Hate or love Apple, you have to admit that they know how to create a reliable product with a slick and smooth user interface. I had the iPhone 3G before this device and while I liked it, it was just too slow and was missing a few key features that make the iPhone 4 a kick ass device for running a business on the go. The 4th iPhone is VERY fast, runs applications in the background, feels solid in the hand, has great battery life (for a smart phone), and has a gorgeous high resolution screen.

If you are lucky enough to live in one of AT&T’s more reliable coverage areas, this phone does the higher speed version of their 3G connection that in my experience.. has actually been exceptional (Pacific Northwest). This phone has a lot to do with my next recommendations, if you happen to prefer an Android based smartphone (for the software.. or to use Verizon) then you would have to find the equivalent application on that platform.

Messaging

The built in SMS app on the iPhone has great threading for each contact, and the new threading for e-mail conversation into a more usable (and search able) story line. For messaging across your instant messaging accounts and social media though here are my 3rd party recommendations:

Meebo

FREE

This is easily my most used app on my iPhone when I need to be available for my developers, editors, designers and more to get in touch with me. It connects the messengers across all of my accounts including Live!, AOL, GMail and Facebook. If you like to use Meebo.com in your browser (pro-tip for those of you who want to IM on a machine that can’t download new messengers.. like a friends or a work machine), then you are you going to love the Meebo App. This app is not only costs absolutely nothing but it syncs with the Meebo servers if you leave it logged in on your home machine.

Skype

App: Free Service ~$60/year

With the last update, iOS 4 and AT&T lifting some restrictions, Skype has become infinitely more useful when on the move. If the App is running in the background you can accept audio calls over 3G without the need for WiFi or even being directly in the App. It only uses your data, instead of your minutes and gives you a cost effective way to talk to anyone in the US or Canada without paying an arm and a leg. You can buy a Skype out number and unlimited talk to US and Canada for roughly $60/year which absolutely kicks ass.

Facebook & Twitter

Free

The two most popular social media services have their own free application available for the iPhone. While the Facebook App is a great way to control updates to your Fan Page, I don’t recommend trying to use the messenger.. go get Meebo instead for more reliable delivery and notification.

In regards to Twitter, I had been using Tweetie before it was acquired and is now the free and official Twitter application which does a pretty good job. However with the new launch of Seesmic Destktop 2 I am considering moving my day-to-day usage over to the free Seesmic app in order to sync which notifications I have already read on my mobile for when I am back on my laptop or desktop.

Productivity

Google Apps

Free to $50 per account/year

Do you remember when e-mail and productivity used to be expensive? Not with Google Apps, now you can use the same collaborative tools you love about GMail in your business for a branded e-mail, Google Docs, Instant Messaging and a boat load of other useful features. Google Apps runs the backbone of my business, my life and my way of making money. From calendaring, being able to share documents with developers to track progress, to the seamless integration of Google Apps into my iPhone, Mac Mail, Outlook or whatever platform I need, Google Apps JUST WORKS.

I hope these tools help you get your business running a little smoother while on the go. Do you have any suggestions of things you use and love that I haven’t listed? I’d love to hear what makes your business work while on the go!

Axe the Business Plan

by Travis Ketchum

Throw away your business plan and ship something.

Just Haven’t Met You Yet

by Travis Ketchum

Starting a business isn’t easy at all – in fact I can say without a doubt that starting not one, but two businesses so far it has been the most challenging thing in my life…

Too big to fail? Too small to win?

by Travis Ketchum

Do small businesses even have a chance against the big guys? How do you think Google raced to the top when there were already 5 well established competitors in the market?

When to cut and run

by Travis Ketchum

Being a passionate entrepreneur comes with as many drawbacks as positives. How do you deal with separation of passion and idea to make logical decisions?

The KISS Business Model

by Travis Ketchum

Keeping your business simple to maximize profits and efficiency.

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