Changes

Real quick post to let you know there are some changes coming (have come) to this blog! They are for the better and I'm quite excited, and frankly feel liberated, from some previous "pressures" on writing and business. So, I know it's been a while but stay tuned for the further explanation.

Not Gonna happen...

Stoked! It's Startup Weekend here in Evansville! Woo-hoo! However, my idea did not get picked, nor could I recruit anyone, nor does anyone want me on their team. I did want to get something out of this weekend even if my idea didn't get picked. Oh, well. Sooooooo, back to square one working on this idea alone (of course I've still got Shaun). I don't know what to do.

**edit: This was on Friday night when I was having a pity-party for myself! Before I decided to take advantage of the weekend anyway and work on Students2U anyway. Also, before I met all the people that encouraged me to continue, gave me advice, and before I got to help and have input (even if a small contribution) with others' ideas. So, yeah, more to come about all that in another post (I'm hoping tonight!).

Your Very Own "Sneak Peek"

Yes, I'm aware it's been a while since I made a post. Again, yes, I'm aware that I promised that I won't fizzle out on this blog. But, would you believe that I've actually been working? Didn't think so. So I'll prove it, I even have non-photo-shopped pictures and everything!

Let me begin by saying, I am not, I repeat, I am not, a programmer, designer, or web-developer by trade. I did take one class in high school and that was plain 'ol html. I've since "learned" cascading style sheets (css) to help me be a better designer. However, I have always been good at art, good with numbers and structure (ie markup and coding), and generally internet savvy. So there are my credentials for starting a web-based company. Ha!

Moving on. I won't go into the gory details of why I am embarking on starting a web company focused on college students, if you want to know the genesis of it all you can find it here. I've done the typical things you can find on the internet about starting a "start-up".  I've found 2 or 3 mentors in different stages of business careers with vastly different businesses and backgrounds. I've talked to people about my idea and gotten feedback. I've, partially, worked on a business plan. It's even true that I have recruited a partner for the endeavor. But, what I have been really lacking is the format of the business itself. If it were a retail store it would be like not having the building, sign, or merchandise! Well, no more, at least on my local machine anyway! I have created the "front end" of my "coming soon" landing page. (Meaning: it looks good but isn't quite functional; I need a programmer! Feel free to email me or contact me through the comments if you'd like to be part of our team!) All in all, I'm proud of the work Shaun (my co-conspirator) and I have done thus far.

So without further ado, here is the screenshot that I have been holding back:

Okay, pretty simple eh? Well I tried to operate under the KISS methodology: just Keep It Simple Stupid! So there it is, for now. I will continue to engage in learning more html/css markup and work on my programming skills to help nudge this project along (seriously if you can help me let me know!). 

Finally, I'm glad I have something accomplished. StartupWeekend, is this weekend! I really feel that having something to give a "face to the name" of my project can go a long way when I get to pitch my idea. I'm hoping to recruit some technical people and really get this idea off the ground, not to mention win the contest!

Whelp, that's all I got for ya! Hope that you aren't rotfl too hard right now.

PS: I'm planning on writing about the upcoming StartupWeekend in the next day or so so look out! Also, I will be tweeting (@LucusP) during the event. And, I'm going to attempt to capture some of the event and my team with some digital video!

Cheers!

The game of business: LaunchNow.co

I missed yesterday, but am making up for it today! I have many thoughts of what to write about and will pump them out as quick as I can (barring burnout!). But I wanted to make a special post about a new company/website that was shared by someone I follow on twitter (@andrewpheil) and it's LaunchNow.co. The reason I wanted to share/talk about them is mainly because the site is awesome. It's a business (website) that makes a game out of your business (or website). I believe that this business was formed out of a weekend event called StartupWeekend in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Which I will be at the StartupWeekend in Evansville, Indiana February 24th-26th! I'd love to see you there: StartupEvv).

Now for the good stuff.

Launch the "LaunchNow" website and click "sign up" at the top of the page, enter a few details about your company and get started! (pictured below is the Students2U page):

You can click "earn achievements" or even just edit your profile with certain information (twitter account, facebook page, youtube, etc.) and earn achievements as well! The purpose is to compete with other businesses and work on your own at the same time. There are many achievements and many more to come. Users even have the opportunity to contribute to the site by offering feedback and suggestions on improving the site. Also, the site states that they are working on many new features upcoming.

So if you haven't done so already check out the site: LaunchNow.co and sign up! Now, here's where the "call to action" really comes into play: they need financial support. Fortunately they have given us all a way to contribute to the game of business through a website indiegogo which is much like kickstarter but more loosely structured to include business and websites, etc. So check out LaunchNow's page on Indiegogo and support a good business community cause! Here's the link: Support LaunchNow.

I do want to disclaim that I have not yet contributed to this project but fully intend to. Also, I am in now way connected to the owner of this website and have no financial interest in Launch Now, LLC. And finally, Launch Now and its contents are copyright of Launch Now, LLC. Is that enough legal stuff for ya?

I'm out.

First Things First: All About A Different Company

Okay, so I have few posts under my belt. I thought I would share a condensed version of the story of how I came to write, All About a Company (Students2U), rather than All About a Different Company (Inthequad.com). 


So here goes,

I've had ideas bouncing around in my head for quite some time now, dating back to my undergraduate collegiate days (about 4 years ago). I had an "epiphany" while in business school, the way certain things work in a college/university often times stink (now I'm true to my Alma mater and not bashing them specifically so read on and you'll get the point). Without getting into specifics, I'll just say that the way things are done are just plain outdated in many ways. So, I noticed a group of my peers (accounting students), coordinating their schedules together. This may seem normal on the surface, but while being around them for some period of time I noticed what they were working out was, a way around purchasing every single text book needed for the courses; they were trading and borrowing! So what pops in my head? A peer-to-peer textbook buy/sell/trade website! What did I do about it? Nothing. Read on.

So, I graduate from college (yipee!) and go to work in the corporate field learning the ropes in a huge company. This company just so happens to basically offer employees the ability to go back to school to continue their education, ie for me a masters in business. So I went back to school (yipee?) to gain the critical "150 hours" of course work to be able to sit for the CPA exam. Through a couple of classes I attended I met an intelligent guy (I'll hold the names to protect the innocent ;) let's call him Dave), whom I decided to pitch my idea to. Dave loved it, so I brought him on board and we started brainstorming like crazy at what else was missing for college students. Turns out their were several! So we incorporated, In The Quad, Inc., and bought a domain name inthequad.com. The basis for this name was we would be a virtual campus "quad" where students could connect, share, etc. Keep reading!

So after fleshing out many ideas (which I can't share them all here due to intellectual property rights), I started to learn/look for development help. Through this, however, we learned that we both wanted to run the company and had differing visions for the direction. Dave wanted to push the company toward an entertainment genre, while I wanted to focus on the students services aspect of our niche. We had some, text message, debates and actually found that we could not reconcile our differences. Now that may sound harsher that it really was, but what we decided to do was "spin-off" the student services into a different company, with each of us owning reciprocal interest in each others' company. We also decided on who could take what from our brainstorming sessions (hence the IP disclaimer above). We agreed on a number of other things, such as board seats on each company, regular meetings/brainstorming, etc. In other words, it was a peaceful departure (I have a post planned for more details on the "split").

In a nut shell, that's how I got to writing about "All about A Company."

Random Updates

Okay, so you may have seen before that I said I usually quit after one or two posts...well here's number THREE!! Goody, goody!

Now for-serious: I have some random updates for my start-up project @Students2U.

1. I have been steadily learning php & mysql from a free book excerpt from the sitepoint website. It's quite good and I did promise a "book" review. So far I've learned to install a local server (Apache), do some simple SQL programming, and some simple to moderate php programming. It's been tons of fun, and if I could redo my collegiate career I would have minored in computer science (and *gulp* marketing!).

2. I want Students2U to be different. I want the users to be different. I want the experience to be different. I want the revenue streams to be different. I want share all the 'gory' details here (you didn't think I'd give everything away did you?), but I will say that it's not going to bombard you with random banner ads, and just between you and me Zynga may have exposed my ideal revenue model! That's all for now on that! Ha!

3. StartupWeekend. I can't wait! There is a Startup Weekend coming to my town (@StartupEvv). At startup weekend attendees are challenged to start a viable company in 54 hours! There will be pitches made on opening night, and the ideas will be voted on and the top votes will be worked on throughout the weekend. Needless to say I'm working on my "elevator pitch" for Students2U and hopefully I can find a development team through this networking experience. For more info on StartupEvv go here.

I'm pumped with everything going on. Glad the blog is rolling.

That's all for now.

"Do More Faster" aka the DIYer

So I received a book, a great book, for my birthday last November. The book is titled, "Do More Faster," by Brad Feld and David Cohen. The premise of the book is basically to quit making excuses on why you don't start capitalizing on your idea and do it, fast.

(Well, I have conflicting views on this book, because as I stated earlier, it's a great book! However, if I'm supposed to be doing all I can to get my company off the ground, why am I sitting here reading this book! Ah, a paradigm at it's best, but I digress. )

Anyway, so this prompts me to stop actively looking for a lead developer for my company and start becoming the lead developer. Whoa?! Come again? Yes, I have had some previous, although limited, training in the world of HTML and CSS, and am now delving into the world of MySQL and PHP. "Oh, boy," you say? That's right, there are plenty of free materials on the web nowadays that someone looking to honestly and wholeheartedly create a start-up now has access too and really no excuse not to learn some of this stuff.

Here is a link to a great website that publishes hard-copy and e-book formats of many of their development books: http://www.sitepoint.com/. There you will find many resources, but the best part is: you can receive free portions of many of their books. I've been using the one for php & mysql and it's been great. I do intend, however, to upgrade to the full version and will let you know how that is.

Did I just promise a book review? Wow, I guess I am turning into a "blogger." Scary.

Until next time.

Blogging Commencement: "Students2U"

Okay, so I've tried blogging before and never really had anything to say so I usually quit after a post or two. Then I read an article that I found on twitter via the local Social Media Club (@SmcEVV that you can find here), that basically summed up the "7 Reasons Why Blogging is Still Important in 2012", as it's appropriately titled, that tells me to "start a blog!"

So my initial reaction is, "uh, um, eh, oooookay, because if I want to get my business/website going then I need to 'write about it'." Knowing full well my former attempts were all for not. But, then I had a revelation (mostly from the article) that I "successfully" run a twitter account which is "micro-blogging." I spend much of my time writing several "DM's" and posts explaining, promoting, and talking about my project: Students2U (here is a shameless plug: follow me on twitter @Students2U).

So I made a list of things that I would "blog" about. And it turns out that there are tons of stuff to write about. I'm not sure who cares, but I'll put it down anyway. So look for a post or two a day about life in a start-up company. I'll mainly talk about Students2U, but also general business stuff that I come across as well.

So I am actually excited about this endeavor and look forward to your feedback!