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.

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.