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UPDATE: Ignite Clean Energy business plan competition

There is an upcoming event at the Council for Entrepreneurial Development in RTP that involves some cool stuff:

• Startups in NC
• Clean Energy ideas
• A business plan competition

Here is the deal: Ignite Clean Energy (ICE) is an initiative to foster renewable energy technology firms.  Since 2005 ICE has been organizing a business plan competition for entrepreneurs in the clean energy industry.  The event this week at the CED is a teambuilding event and information session aimed at clean energy startups looking for advice and investment.

WHAT: Ignite Clean Energy Team Building Event

WHEN: Wednesday January 7th from 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm

WHERE: MCNC, 3021 Cornwallis Road, RTP, NC

Register here — fee depends on your CED membership.

We plan to blog live from the event and will have some updates later today or tomorrow.

###

UPDATE:  If you’re interested in clean and green energy, check out today’s WUNC’s “The State of Things” radio show about “The Carbon Free Home”.

Event: “Reboot your Work”, by TriUPA

The Triangle Usability Professionals Association is holding a 1-day personal productivity workshop on Jan. 12th and 13th.  Though not strictly for entrepreneurs, it teaches the skills required for getting more done (tell me you can’t use that!).

“In this fast-paced full-day workshop, you will learn modern techniques to juggle and prioritize all the information constantly coming at you: dozens of projects, round-the-clock demands for your attention, and the perpetual overload of email and IM.

You’ll apply the concepts using hands-on exercises at the individual, small group, and large group levels. You’ll leave with a solid system for doing your job more productively, with less effort, and a greater sense of control.”

Registration fee depends on membership, starting at $50 for the full day.  The workshop will be held at the CED.

Full details here.

Out with the new, in with the old!

As we wrap up the year and plan for 2009, lets take a few minutes to look back at what 2008 was like for the NC Startup blog.   As regular readers know, the NC Startup blog is part of the Springstage project, a network of startup blogs founded by Alexander Muse and David Cohen.  Springstage is an ongoing project and if you think you could contribute, fill out an application here.

The NC Startup Blog launched this past July and although its a part-time activity, we’ve slowly grown it to cover a variety of NC startup topics, from events to discussions to ideas to profiles of NC based startups.   As we move into 2009, we plan to continue all that, but to add some new stuff as well.   We’ll do some live blogging of relevant events, do more interviews with founders and some follow-ups on startups we profiled previously to see how they have progressed.  We’re also considering a live event in cooperation with www.linkingraleighnc.com.

We’ll also add more content to the site.  An event list with a calender, local links, a short-list of the start-up profiles we have run, possibly job postings (if we can do this without making it labor intensive) and the opportunity for local businesses to advertise.

Meanwhile, Springstage will slowly continue to expand, with a bit af an unveiling early in 2009 of some new network features.

So about that headline…  Yes, out with the new and in with the old.   The more you read about business, the more you realize that most “new” rules are just applications of the same old concepts.   Its not necessarily bad advice, but don’t be fooled into thinking that 2009 is a whole new paradigm for startups.   We took that crazy roller-coaster ride in the late 90’s that we now refer to as the “bubble” — most of us have mixed feelings about it.  In the end, we realized that businesses need to generate a profit and throw off some cash (what a concept!).

Here are some old ideas for the new year:

1. Focus on 1 idea.  The idea itself is less important than the execution.

2. Have a business plan.  Starting without a business plan is like driving fast with your eyes closed.  Sure, you may survive, but a startup is about maximizing the chances of success.  A business plan is not optional.

3. If you have partners, make sure somebody has enough control to make sure decisions are made. Not making a decision can be worse than making the wrong decison and fixing it later.

4. Expect to work hard — for a long time.   If you love what you’re doing, it won’t feel like work.

5. Be flexible.  You will need to change your plan, refine your product, add or loose partners and do other things you never expected to be part of your new (ad)venture.

So there are five rather “old” ideas that will serve you well in the new year.   Oh, and here is a bonus tip from David Cohen….  Start now (i.e. in 2009) and not sometime when you’re “ready”, when the economy is better, or when [insert excuse here] is better.

Make 2009 your year!

6 Questions - The Startup Interview

In our ongoing series of Startup profiles, we interviewed Jason Keath, the Social Media Director of Heels.com, an online women’s shoe boutique.

1) What is your 30 second elevator pitch?
Jason Keath:  Heels.com is an interactive online women’s shoe boutique.  People often say that with the big box retailers and the impersonalization of the internet that shopping has lost a little of its fun.  Heels.com was created to bring the fun back to shopping.  We aim to be the top online shopping destination for women’s shoes.

2) Describe the planning leading up to your launch?
Jason Keath:  We arduously studied the women’s designer shoe industry as a whole but also the top players in the industry.  We analyzed where we thought we could be the most competitive and built the site around that target demographic.

Selling high end women’s shoes also creates many inventory challenges.  Shoes must be ordered 6 months in advance typically and the brand has a large impact on the numbers of sizes you can order. This makes growth and sales projections incredibly intricate as we try to estimate our sales numbers so far in advance.  And for products whose demand depends greatly on quick changing trends, our planning must be careful, but at the same time, we set high growth goals.

3) What market need do you fill?
Jason Keath:  We turn the shopping process into a fun experience.  We ship all over the globe.  Our target demographic is female, age 18 to 35 but we have many customers from 13 to 80.  There is really no age limit for enjoying a good pair of shoes.  If someone wants a new pair of shoes to put a little strut in her step, then Heels.com is the place to be.

There are lots of online shoe stores out there, but few are focused on selling designer and high fashion shoes.  Our international reach and focus on using internet technology to give our customers a better experience sets us apart as a shoe buying experience.

4) What is your and your team’s background?
Jason Keath:  We host a diverse mix of fashion experience, entrepreneurs, web developers and designers; while also including strong marketing backgrounds.

5) How are you funded and what is your revenue model?
Jason Keath:  We are privately funded.  Our owners have created and sold past successful startups.

6) What is the importance of being based in NC?
Jason Keath:  Our founder/CEO, Eric McCoy, lives in uptown Charlotte and he would not have it any other way. Charlotte and NC in general are a growing tech region for the east coast.  Heels.com is just one of many startups that are beginning to thrive here.  Charlotte also offers a great shipping home in the center of the east coast and is one of the fastest growing cities in the country and great for new businesses.  Charlotte is home to 8 Fortune 500 companies, the 2nd largest financial center in the country, and is one of the top cities for young, talented professionals who decide to relocate.  We are big believers that Charlotte is a great place to do business.

6 Questions - The Startup Interview

In our ongoing series of Startup profiles, we interviewed Andy Beal, the founder of Trackur, an online reputation monitoring tool.

1) What is your 30 second elevator pitch?
Andy Beal:  Trackur is a sophisticated, yet affordable, social media monitoring tool that allows anyone to monitor online conversations that impact a company’s reputation.  While comparable services cost thousands of dollars a month, Trackur starts at just $18 and can be set up in less than 5 minutes!

2) Describe the planning leading up to your launch?
Andy Beal:  Frustrated at the lack of affordable monitoring tools, I decided that I could not only build a better mousetrap, but I could make it affordable enough for small businesses, yet still keep it powerful enough for Fortune 500 companies.  I compiled a list of all the features I wanted to see in such a service, then prioritized those that could be built into a tool without bloating out the price tag for the user.
Working with a team of developers, I mapped out what I believed would be the perfect tool and we went from concept to launch in around 2 months.

3) What market need do you fill?
Andy Beal:  The concept of monitoring online media for mentions of your company, products, and executives is still very much a nascent one.  Sure, the large corporations get it, but they’re also paying a high price for that awareness–often in excess of $10,000 a month.  Trackur makes it affordable for anyone to monitor what is being said about them.  Realtors can keep track of their personal brands, bridal shops will know if a bride-zilla attacks their reputation, and consumer electronics companies no longer need to pay thousands to listen to what popular bloggers are saying about a new product launch.

The $30K Hyphen

I got an interesting email the other day.  One of the blogs that I read regularly was contacting all its subscribed readers to offer its domain for sale.

Here is what it said…

It is the domain for “Linked Business Strategists” and one of the authors of the blog, Patrick Veenhoff, made the case by stating “Google search results on “Business Strategists” will come up in FIRST place” (I checked, its true).

I don’t think they will get many offers.  The problem is, “LI-BS” doesn’t spell anything (not in English anyway).  If you’re an organisation named or initialed “LIBS”, why not claim the domain www.LIBS.com, without the hyphen (or something similar).  That hyphen would save you $30K.

And that Google search result?  Its tied to the content on the page.  If you stop adding content, or even take the content away, which is what happens if someone else buys the domain, the web-visits quickly diminish and the Google search rank will go down rapidly.

The value in domain names seems to go with the meaning of the URL, especially if it spells a brand or a company name.  Much more so than the value of the content behind it.  Patrick told me he plans to continue blogging about marketing on his own blog and there is also an LI-BS group on LinkedIn.  I will keep following his content on his site; Google will help me find the content, no matter what the URL is.

BTW, you may recall that I just wrote about startup and business related blogs a few days ago.  And curiously, www.LI-BS.com was not on Marc Dangear’s list of the Top 150 Blogs for Entrepreneurs.  That seems to mean there is little relationship between a Google ranking and the type of influence ranking (based on who links to what) that Dangear was tracking.

So there, I just saved you $30K!

What you should be reading

There’s a lot of good advice out there if you want to start a business.  And these days a lot of it is on blogs.  Marc Dangear tracks about 350 blogs that discuss different aspects of entrepreneurship.  He lists the top 150 (based on influence ranking, not traffic) on his own blog and we’re happy to be # 56 (just below our blog affiliates in Texas, Colorado, New Hampshire and Kentucky).

Check it out and here’s just the top 100 for some happy reading for the holidays!

1 http://www.techcrunch.com
2 http://www.venturebeat.com
3 http://blog.guykawasaki.com
4 http://www.gigaom.com
5 http://www.alleyinsider.com
6 http://www.readwriteweb.com
7 http://www.avc.com/a_vc
8 http://www.pehub.com
9 http://paul.kedrosky.com
10 http://www.entrepreneur.com
11 http://www.valleywag.com
12 http://www.scobleizer.com
13 http://www.thefunded.com
14 http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com
15 http://redeye.firstround.com
16 http://www.buzzmachine.com
17 http://www.smallbiztrends.com
18 http://www.venturehacks.com
19 http://www.socialedge.org
20 http://upandrunning.entrepreneur.com
21 http://blogs.openforum.com
22 http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content
23 http://www.informationarbitrage.com
24 http://blog.entrepreneur.com
25 http://www.instigatorblog.com
26 http://networking.entrepreneur.com
27 http://vestpocketconsultant.entrepreneur.com
28 http://www.gapingvoid.com
29 http://lsvp.wordpress.com
30 http://www.howardlindzon.com
31 http://inspired.entrepreneur.com
32 http://weekend.entrepreneur.com
33 http://www.vcconfidential.com
34 http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting
35 http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing
36 http://www.texasstartupblog.com
37 http://fiveyearstoolate.wordpress.com
38 http://www.coloradostartups.com
39 http://www.markpeterdavis.com/getventure
40 http://www.startupnorth.ca
41 http://www.business-opportunities.biz
42 http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com
43 http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org
44 http://campusentrepreneurship.wordpress.com
45 http://www.billionswithzeroknowledge.com
46 http://www.getentrepreneurial.com
47 http://www.nextbillion.net
48 http://philanthropy.blogspot.com
49 http://www.tacticalphilanthropy.com
50 http://blogs.wsj.com/independentstreet
51 http://www.newhampshirestartups.com
52 http://www.kentuckystartups.com
53 http://www.techflash.com
54 http://www.davidcrow.ca
55 http://www.bootstrapme.com
56 http://www.northcarolinastartups.com
57 http://vcmike.wordpress.com
58 http://joi.ito.com
59 http://www.ocvcblog.com
60 http://www.startupprincess.com/wordpress
61 http://blog.acumenfund.org
62 http://startup.partnerup.com
63 http://www.startupmeme.com
64 http://blog.timberry.com
65 http://www.thefrankpetersshow.com
66 http://www.growthology.org/growthology
67 http://www.montrealtechwatch.com
68 http://www.innoeco.com
69 http://founderresearch.blogspot.com
70 http://canentrepreneur.blogspot.com
71 http://bizcoach.blogspot.com
72 http://ben.casnocha.com
73 http://www.gifthub.org
74 http://www.askthevc.com/blog
75 http://www.startupcfo.ca
76 http://blog.ecairn.com
77 http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs
78 http://blog.socaltech.com
79 http://www.mvmpartners.com/blog
80 http://www.nivi.com/blog
81 http://www.allantyoung.com
82 http://coheda.typepad.com/israel
83 http://www.christine.net
84 http://www.vcrants.com
85 http://www.tjacobi.com
86 http://blogs.forrester.com/colony
87 http://www.adeoressi.com
88 http://commonangels.wordpress.com
89 http://vcinjerusalem.typepad.com/vcinjerusalem
90 http://wallen.typepad.com/wallen
91 http://thoughtsprevail.blogspot.com
92 http://www.infochachkie.com
93 http://www.afpr.com
94 http://www.epicchange.org/blog
95 http://blog.bootuplabs.com
96 http://www.skollonline.com/blog
97 http://www.dorm-room-biz.com
98 http://www.vccafe.com
99 http://marktomarket.typepad.com/marktomarket
100 http://blog.marsdd.com

6 Questions - The Startup Interview

In our ongoing series of Startup profiles, we interviewed Jeff SanGeorge, the Owner and Creative Director of Connect Marketing and Design.

This post is also featured on LinkingRaleighNC.com.

1) What is your 30 second elevator pitch?
Jeff SanGeorge:  At Connect we help small business owners plug in to their customers, whether through a logo, a website, a brochure or a marketing campaign. We help clients communicate effectively and “connect” to their target market, and we do it at an affordable price.

2) Describe the planning leading up to your launch?
Jeff SanGeorge:  As a creative designer and marketer I have been freelancing since 1996, and  have always thought that if the timing was right I would like to work for myself full-time.  In 2008 I was laid-off from the marketing department of a real estate company and  immediately began looking for a “corporate job”.  I continued freelancing to earn extra income. As I was able to dedicate more time to helping clients, it became apparent that my vision of working for myself was closer than I thought. As I began to expand my network, I met many people who needed a website, an advertisement, or a logo.  Their needs, and my twelve years of design and marketing experience was the perfect opportunity for me to begin helping small business owners build their marketing materials; and do so at a price that would be more affordable than what they would pay at a typical marketing and advertising agency.

3) What market need do you fill?
Jeff SanGeorge:  Every small business owner needs to do some type of marketing in order to thrive and grow. We at Connect Marketing and Design are able to fulfill this need by identifying the most appropriate and cost effective ways to market a company’s product or service and then implementing these solutions. As a small company we also are able to fill the need for client’s small projects with a quick turn-around and on a small budget.

4) What is your and your team’s background?
Jeff SanGeorge:  As owner of Connect Marketing and Design, my background is in advertising, marketing and graphic design. After college I began working for The Employment Guide, a national publishing company where I was promoted  to Regional Graphics Department Manager. There I  directed a team to publish seven free distribution papers weekly and served as in-house art department for those same seven offices. I also worked to market and brand The Employment Guide nationwide. My next role was as Triangle Regional Marketing Coordinator for the Allen Tate Company. In this role I created, designed and implemented multi-media advertising campaigns. Also I have been serving the needs of small business owners through freelance design since 1996. The other team members of Connect, who are called upon on a project basis, include web programmers, marketing and branding consultants, audio and video producers, search engine optimization experts and printers.

5) How are you funded and what is your revenue model?
Jeff SanGeorge:  Connect Marketing and Design is self-funded. Our revenue model is simply based on payment in return for a service. Some jobs are billed hourly and some per project.

6) What is the importance of being based in Raleigh?
Jeff SanGeorge:  The Triangle area is a growing vibrant area. The presence of large healthcare, pharmaceutical and technological companies has created a dynamic atmosphere for business. Also the culture of this area including the universities, and the arts, makes Raleigh a diverse and unique place to live and work.

###

You can reach Jeff at (919) 428-8165 or on-line at www.connectmarketingdesign.com.

Startup Humor

www.startupcomix.com

Lessons on playing nice

David Cohen of the Colorado Startup blog recently told of a fascinating experience that reads almost like a fable.  Minus the animals that is (or… well, I won’t go there).  Its based on his own experience and teaches a tremendous lesson for startups and the people that are there at the very beginning.

He tells of “the boomerang founder” — someone who participates in the venture early on, but soon decides to exit (or so it seems).  After much time and much hard work, the remaining founders see their efforts come to some fruition.  But along with success, the boomerang founder re-appears.  With their hand held out.  David includes the details and, most importantly, the lesson.  So read and learn here.

It reminded me of another, somewhat similar painful experience of two founders who went 50/50 into a venture.  They both worked hard and all seemed well.  Decisions were easy — unless they did not agree.  In that case, the decision became a stalemate.  Eventually, decisions were avoided and the startup became dysfunctional and fell apart.

Lesson learned?  If you want equal ownership, make sure you have an odd number of partners.  Otherwise, split the ownership (and the control) so somebody has majority control (i.e. 51%) and decisions can be made.

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