Nibletz Staff - 73/87 - Serious Startups

Build a Beautiful Online Store with CoreCommerce

With the growth in ecommerce, everyone is able to sell online. But, non-tech people are often relegated to eBay stores of Etsy shops that offer little in the way of personalization, branding, and control.

Nashville based CoreCommerce is changing that with a platform that allows even the most un-technical person (like me!) to build their own gorgeous online storefront.

Check out our Q&A with CoreCommerce CEO Matt DeLong below, and if you’ve been thinking about opening an online shop, make sure you check out their 15 day free trial offer.

What is the name of your startup?

CoreCommerce

What’s the story behind your idea?

After noting the lack of ecommerce shopping cart options back in 2008, we wanted to make it easy for someone to build an online store and have access to all features without having to opt for the highest pricing plans for basic features.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

Matt DeLong has a programming/technical background and Nick McDuffie has a sales/marketing background. (Nick has moved onto other projects while Matt remains CEO)

Where are you based?

Franklin TN (just outside Nashville)

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

Nashville has a very vibrant startup scene, there are plenty of entrepreneurs to connect with and learn from. For entrepreneurs, there is no shortage of training, mentoring or opportunities in Nashville.

What problem do you solve?

Our goal is to simplify building an online store, especially for non-techies. With CoreCommerce, anyone can easily build a beautiful, functional online store cost-effectively.

Why now?

CoreCommerce launched in 2008, when there weren’t a lot of e-commerce shopping cart options in the market. Thanks to the growth of technology and online shopping, it’s never been easier to start a successful online business.

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

We surpassed $1m in recurring revenue in 2011.We surpassed $1b in transactions on the platform in 2013.

What are your next milestones?

We anticipate 2014 as a big year for CoreCommerce! This summer we are planning to launch of a new version of our software. Another big milestone for us will be adding another 5,000 customers by the end of 2015.

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

To learn more about CoreCommerce or start a 15 day free trial, visit corecommerce.com.

Why The Lone Visionary is a Myth

From WSJ Accelerators

In the startup world, there are always brilliant designers without many leadership skills. To illustrate how this plays out, I’ll tell the story of a NibzNotes23 fictionalized character named James.

Everyone who knows James knows that he is a brilliant designer, including James. Especially James. Yet he is on his fifth startup and it, too, is heading toward failure. At this rate, the world may never benefit from his vision of the long-promised “smart home” with all of its systems automated, interconnected and accessible remotely from the internet.

After an introduction through a mutual friend, James dropped in to do some networking and – so I thought – to seek some advice. Early in our conversation he fervently asserted a credo I’ve heard from many an entrepreneur-designer: “If you want to have a major impact on the world, you must never compromise your vision,” he said. “Steve Jobs taught us that.”

How to Make Open Call Interviews Work for You

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Unlike formal, appointment-based interviews, the process of hosting an open call interview can be refreshingly fast. But with speed can come a certain level of uncertainty; open call interviews imply that anyone, of any varied background can walk through your doors and pitch themselves for a job they may have zero qualifications for.

So what is a founder to do? The answer is to learn how to properly manage the pros and cons of this process so that they not only work for the candidates, but for you, your schedule and the position at hand. Read on to discover 4 ways in which you can host an open call interview with a small business twist.

Pro: The Candidate Pool is Deep

Most open call interviews are just that; they list the job, the date, time and place of the interview and then open the floodgates. However, while it’s great to be introduced to a deep candidate pool, it may be too much to tread through the day of. Most people shy away from open call interviews for this very reason; it’s great to have a wide variety of candidates, but how many of them will actually be qualified?

Regain some control by posting the details of the job and requesting emailed information

BEFORE your reveal the date, time and location of the open call interview. You can put tests in place (i.e. Put “Kiwi” as the subject line) and immediately weed out those respondents that didn’t take to time to read and follow directions.

Keeping with the speed and convenience of open call interviews, perhaps request that people bring their resumes with them rather than attaching them for your lengthy review.

Instead, request email respondents to answer three easy questions in one simple sentence (i.e. “Why are you a fit for this job?”). With a quick scan you can still extend an open call invitation to numerous candidates; however you’ll have trimmed out those that are clearly not a fit right from the start.

Con: Time Is Limited

Open call interviews take place in a varied window of time (i.e. from 8am-10am). To help manage the influx of people coming in at varying times have a welcome packet prepared that people can fill out while they sit and wait for their turn. Use the packet to help cut through time constraints and get a jumpstart on the answers you’re looking for.

As time saving as these packets can be, it’s important to remember to keep the interview a two-way conversation. Let the packet serve as your guide by providing jumping off points for deeper, more thorough face-to-face discussions.

Pro: You Can Find Your New Hire By The Day’s End

The most exciting prospect of hosting an open call interview is the fact that by the end of the day, you may have found your next hire. He or she presented him/herself nicely, they answered the right questions and you have a good feeling about them…but hold on.

Just because you may feel like you have found your match, don’t rush the process of making a final hiring decision. Instead, offer your top candidates the chance to prove themselves with an individual, deadline-driven test. This test should be something they can do later a home and within a reasonable time frame. Pair the results with your feelings from the interview and you’ll be able to come to a more secure, thorough hiring decision.

Con: Options Are Overwhelming

The day of your open call interview will be a whirlwind. After interviewing multiple candidates for the same position it can be hard to keep all of the sorted detail straight.

One simple way to stay organized is to have three (unlabeled) No, Maybe and Yes piles to place those welcome packets in post-interview.

At the end of your open call you’ll have a pile of No’s to thank for their time, a Maybe pile that you’ll keep tabs on for the future, and a Yes pile to implement those individual tests. Staple any resumes you were handed to those packets for easy reference. Also, consider indiscreetly writing notes in a designated corner (i.e. Green eyes, flowered dress) as a way to help you match the faces with the evaluations later on.

Kelly Gregorio writes about small business topics while working at Advantage Capital Funds, a provider of merchant cash advances. You can read her daily business blog here.

WILD Is the Original Mountain-To-Bar Company

wild

WILD Outdoor Apparel could be considered the local craft beer of clothing.

Some people really don’t want to dress like everyone else, but few outdoor clothing companies cater to them. WILD is changing that by producing limited batch performance clothing.

Check out our Q&A with WILD below:

What is your startup called?

WILD Outdoor Apparel

What does your company do?

WILD makes Limited Edition runs of independently minded apparel for independently minded people who don’t follow the crowd. All WILD products are designed driven and performance oriented constructed from very unique high quality fabrics for all of your Mountain to Bar endeavors. WILD brings style and performance together in numbered editions designed and manufactured in Portland Oregon USA. For example, the style/color edition of a given design might be150. Each piece is hand numbered 1/150, 2/150… up to 150/150. After the edition number is reached that style/color will never be produced again assuring your item will be only one of 150 anywhere in the world.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

Dan Tiegs… Owner/designer/product developer/sales

I am a veteran of 15 years in the apparel business. I have worked for some large apparel companies like Nike and Columbia Sportswear as well as some smaller niche performance apparel companies. I have operated my own apparel consulting business since 2009 and started WILD after doing floor cleaner to desert topping projects as an independent consultant.

Where are you based?

Portland Oregon

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

Portland is a very DIY town. From high tech to music to food to beer to bikes to apparel Portland has a scene for it all. We take pride in our boot strapping ways looking to keep it local and original.

What problem do you solve?

WILD Products liberate people from the same old world of mass produced apparel. WILD protects an individual’s individuality. WILD takes you from the Mountain to the Bar with aplomb. WILD delivers limited edition, design driven performance apparel made locally for what many brands charge for mass produced goods that are made in Asia.

Why now?

There are people who do not aspire to dress like everyone else and do not aspire to a corporate message. These people are served much better by the fashion market than by the performance market. WILD looks to change that by melding the fashion and the performance worlds. This is possible now because of our development of the local manufacturing base. The small limited edition WILD runs are a direct response to people looking for a more crafted way of doing things. A local brew pub instead of Anheuser -Busch if you will.

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

WILD launched the Men’s Park Place Snap Front Down Shirt and the Women’s Sweet Sister Down Hoodie already.

What are some of your next milestones?

The next milestone is the Crowd Supply sale of the WILD Burnside Alpha jacket which is the debut product of the WILD Made In Oregon line.

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

Please check out the WILD website, Facebook page….

http://www.wildoutdoorapparel.com/

https://www.facebook.com/WildOutdoorApparel

The Case for Going Stealth

From Ben Yoskovitz

The tech industry is overly-obsessed with making noise, being self-congratulatory and too often, focused on the wrong things. We look at PR as a big win. We celebrate financings (although we also spill plenty of digital ink about not celebrating them too; and yet they’re common on tech news sites).

There’s a time and place for making noise about your startup, but you’ve gotta be clear on whether you’re doing it to feed your own ego and make yourself feel good, or if you’re doing it strategically for some understood and measurable benefit. Making noise can definitely help–but more often than not we do it for the former reasons and not the latter: we want to feel important, we want people to recognize our “accomplishments”.

How You Can Put a Dent in the Universe

From Bijan Sabet

We often hear about new products that promise to beat the current market leader by being the “blah blah blah on steroids” NibzNotes20

I’m not a big fan of this strategy

That doesn’t mean that the market leader isn’t vulnerable but it’s a question of the approach.

Apple didn’t put a hurt on Microsoft desktop business by a better version of macos. They put the hurt by nailing a new category altogether with the iPad.

By contrast Microsoft has adopted the “on steroid” strategy in many of their products.

The Surface tablet is an attempt to be an “iPad on steroids”. It has a keyboard, it shipped with a pro and consumer model. It can do split screen. The list goes on.

You know how well the Surface did.

Keepy Brings Families Together–No Matter Where They Are

keepy

Childhood goes so fast, and with families scattered all over the world, it can be easy for loved ones to miss out on those fleeting years.

That’s the idea behind Keepy, an interactive platform that lets families capture childhood moments in one place and lets grandparents and family members respond with voice messages, videos, or little notes.

Check out our Q&A with Keepy below:

Name of Company/Product:

Keepy

What Is Keepy?

Keepy is an intergenerational platform that is redefining the way families share and save memories by allowing them to create a private Memory Playlist filled with photos, artwork, schoolwork and mementos enhanced with audio and video commentary. Simply put, it helps you capture the precious moments of childhood.

How does it work?

Keepy is free for iOS and Android. Parents can snap a photo of their kids’ creations, name it, date it, label it with a tag, record their child telling the story behind it with the KeepyCam, and share it privately with “fans” (e.g. grandparents, aunts, uncles and other loved ones). The fans can then admire it on the web, in an email or on their phone, and leave a video, voice or text reaction. The personalization of a child sharing highlights of a daytrip, or grandma’s “gush,” adds a richer, deeper dimension to the moments saved.

What’s the story behind your idea?

As told by Offir Gutelzon, founder of Keepy:

In 2011, my wife and I moved from Israel to New York with our two young sons. After just four months in NYC, our apartment looked like an art tornado had touched down. I had no idea kids could create so many (amazing) paintings and drawings in such a short period of time. We also had a ton of photos since we had arrived: my sons’ first day of school, visits to museums, face painting at a street fair – and my photos were just as disorganized in my Dropbox as the artwork in my apartment! What bothered me most wasn’t the big mess in my home or in the cloud, it was the fact that we weren’t effectively sharing everything in that mess with our family back in Israel. Even when I did manage to share a photo on Facebook or over email, my kids didn’t get to experience the joy it brought to their grandparents, aunts and uncles. In talking with other parents, I realized everyone had this problem. They were overwhelmed by the volume of projects and photos they were saving, they weren’t sharing them with family, and they felt guilty to throw things away. So I assembled a team of tech-savvy parents and we created Keepy – The New Way for Families to Save & Share memories

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

Offir Gutelzon is the founder of Keepy. He’s a serial entrepreneur whose last venture, PicScout, he sold to Getty Images in 2011. His entrepreneurial background started in 2000 in Israel. While studying at the IDC he joined the Zell entrepreneurship program where he met Eyal Gura who Offir teamed up with to co-found PicScout. At the time they sold PicScout to Getty Images, the company had 60 employees with offices in Israel, and the Bay Area.

Where are you based?

Lower Manhattan – NYC

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

The New York tech scene is fascinating in many ways. It’s very diverse – companies are bringing a diversity of approaches to design, UX and UI, and of course the people themselves are diverse. What I enjoy most about being in New York is the ability to verify and refine ideas based on meeting with real customers from all walks of life who live right here – from the suburbs to downtown to Chinatown.

Why now?

We knew parents would appreciate the simplicity of Keepy and based on our rapid growth, there is clearly a huge need for a solution like this right now. We looked to build an intergenerational platform and brand, and now that kids parents and grandparents using the same technology which is hard to believe it just didn’t exist 2 years ago.

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

In Mid-September 2013 Keepy launched in the Apple store. In December 2013, the Android version launched along with an in-app partnership with Zazzle that allows users to have their memorable photos printed on keepsake products like mugs, lunchboxes and t-shirts. In January 2014, Keepy was featured in the Google Play store for two weeks, driving significant downloads and visibility for the app across global markets.

Keepy has seen rapid user growth, attracting more than 150,000 users in three months after launching on iOS.

What are your next milestones?

Beyond user adoption milestones that we will celebrate this year, we are looking forward to have many more families around the world enjoying Keepy, we are looking to expand our team in NYC and we’re looking forward to partnering with more brands through API integrations to give our users a range of options for how they can print and share their memories in tangible ways.

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

Visit www.keepy.me to download Keepy to iOS and Android.

Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0TkNmHJyEI

Facebook: www.facebook.com/keepyme

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Keepyme

Common Sense Advice for When You Fail

startupsign

From Chris Yeh

I ran across Startups Anonymous, and a post entitled, “We’re Shutting Down and I’m Scared” caught my eye: NibzNotes21
http://bit.ly/1gc2r95

For better or worse, I’ve either been through or participated in shutting many companies down, so I thought it would be fun and potentially useful to provide my blow-by-blow advice:

After over two years, backing from a well-known accelerator, nearly one million in funding and a decent amount of traction, we’re shutting down.
> Over half of all *VC* funded startups go belly up, so you’re definitely not alone.

I’m scared. I’m also sad, disappointed, ashamed, embarrassed & deflated. But mostly just scared.

> That’s natural. The way to get past the fear is to take action.

Nobody but my cofounder and I are aware we’re shutting down yet. It’s been a few days since we made the decision and I haven’t even gotten up the courage to tell my family.

How One Person Can Make All the Difference

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From Mark Suster

I wrote this on my flight home from f.ounders & web summit in Dublin, Ireland late last year. I think I was too hung over to finish it, hit publish and move on. So here is NibzNotes19 attempt two now that the alcohol is mostly out of me.

Scenes from my counter-top on my last night in Dublin. I recently returned from a 5-day visit to Ireland, my first time back in 10 years and the start of what I hope will be a more regular travel schedule there. Between 1995-2002 I visited often – especially since I founded my first company there.

My trip was scheduled around the annual Web Summit and the f.ounders conference, both of which have become the hottest must-attend event in Europe and rivaling any great conference in the US.

The roster of speakers was vast and just off the top of my head it included the founders of DropBox, Box, WordPress, EverNote, TrueCar, HootSuite, Charity Water, DataSift, Indiegogo, Huddle, oDesk (and many others) plus the usual cast of characters such as Robert Scoble, Gary Vaynerchuk, Dave McClure, Ben Huh, Shak, Shervin and many others. There were senior members from Facebook and Google.

Oh, and of course Bono popped by for a little while.

Flappy Bird Leaves Us Wanting More

From Tech Crunch

Yesterday, the developer behind Flappy Bird said he would be removing the remarkably/mysteriously successful game from the App Store in just 22 hours.

Sure enough, the game appears to be gone. And in its spot on the #1 spot on the iOS leaderboard? A Flappy Birds clone.

Flappy Bird’s developer, Dong Nguyen of Vietnam, suggested that the many pressures of success had become overwhelming. NibzNotes18

He later followed up to clarify that the game was not being removed for legal reasons, nor would he sell Flappy Birds to someone else.

According to an interview with The Verge last week, Dong Nguyen disclosed that the game was making upwards of $50K per day in ad revenue.

Many internet commenters had suggested that the tweet was something of a ploy to bump downloads up even higher; that Dong would have a “last minute change of heart” after the tweet lead to a surge of downloads and further secured the game its #1 spot. Given that the game is seemingly gone from both the iOS and Android stores (with a million clones left in its wake), that doesn’t appear to be the case.

Wishpicker Joins the Gift-Giving Market with Machine Learning

wishpicker

How often do you stress out looking for the perfect gift for someone? It’s the thought that counts, but sometimes we don’t know what to think.

Indian startup Wishpicker is using machine learning to change that. Partnered with several online retailers, the service allows users to get online and search within very specific parameters to find just the right gift.

Check out our Q&A with Wishpicker below:

1) What’s your startup called?

Our startup is called wishpicker.com. The concept behind the name was fairly simple. We wanted the name to directly reflect what we are doing, which is helping people ‘pick’ the right gifts for their loved ones. Hence the name ‘wishpicker’.

2) What’s your big idea?

Wishpicker is an exciting new start-up that helps you figure out WHAT to gift! This is an extremely useful product, that provides great gift ideas to anyone unable to figure out what to gift when a wedding or anniversary is around the corner. You can search for a ‘Personalized-Birthday-gift-for-Girlfriend‘, or ‘Anniversary-gift-for-Husband‘

Gifts are curated from the best online stores, and this helps the user get access to the best that is available across the web – all at one place. Essentially, a one stop shop for the best gift ideas! They can choose from a wide range of gift products, gift vouchers, experiential gifts etc. Users can also filter results based on personality, budget, type of gift, and various other parameters.

We have 20 e-commerce partners as of now, including Flipkart, HappilyUnmarried, Ferns and Petals, etc. We plan increase the number of tie-ups soon.

To ensure that if someone comes to Wishpicker looking for a gift, he/she does not go away disappointed, we incorporated machine learning in our gift recommendation algorithm. Wishpicker’s algorithm reads user insights, and becomes more and more intelligent as the number of people using it increases. As a result, we are able to maintain a conversion rate much higher than that of vanilla e-commerce stores.

3) What’s the story behind your idea?

Wishpicker.com was launched in Jun 2013 by Prateek Rathore, and Apurv Bansal to fix the broken gifting market.

Apurv Bansal, an IIT graudate, was looking to gift his girlfriend on her Birthday. He searched online for ideas, but was overwhelmed with the large number of options that came up. With every website claiming to sell the ‘best gift’ he got mighty confused. Around the same time, Prateek Rathore, Apurv’s batchmate from IIT was pursuing his management studies at IE Business School in Spain. He was looking to send a nice anniversary gift back home to his parents. He turned to the internet, but returned disappointed. He had to call up his sister, and asked her to buy a gift from the mall.

Apurv and Prateek, who always wanted to start a venture of their own, spoke about this. They realized that this was a problem faced by a large number of people on a regular basis. Prateek, a Computer Engineer, knew that he could use technology to help people figure out what to gift. He convinced Apurv to quit his high paying corporate job at Bain & Company in Mumbai, and return to Delhi. Prateek completed his course in Spain and flew back home. In early 2013, they began working on their venture, wishpicker.com, from the terrace of Prateek’s parents’ flat in Delhi. Soon after, they roped in Tejendra Singh, B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Patna, as a core technology member, and there has been no looking back ever since.

4) Who are the founders?

Wishpicker.com was founded in Jan 2013 by Prateek Rathore and Apurv Bansal to fix the broken gifting market. Prateek is a B.Tech in Computer Science from IIT Delhi. He then worked with Royal Bank of Scotland before he went on to pursue management studies from IE Business School (Madrid, Spain). Apurv is a B.Tech in Civil Engineering from IIT Delhi. Post graduation, he worked with Bain & Company as a management consultant – primarily working in their strategy and operations divisions for leading IT, and Healthcare multinationals. Apurv and Prateek were batch-mates at IIT Delhi, and have now been friends for 7 years. Prateek’s excellence in technology, and Apurv’s experience in strategy and operations were the perfect set of complementary skills. The passion to create an impact using technology is what brought them together to start Wishpicker.com Linkedin profiles:http://in.linkedin.com/in/bansalapurvhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/prateekrathore

5) Where are you located?

We are based out of New Delhi, India.

6) What’s the startup scene like there?

The startup scene in India is currently booming, with the e-commerce space poised for tremendous growth. The current size of the e-tailing market in India is USD 1.6B. This is expected to grow 60X in the next 10 years. Given the tremendous growth potential, a host of new and innovative startups have come up, which are also catching the fancy of investors in the area.

7) What milestones have you reached?

We have been experiencing 100% month on month growth for the last 3 months, and very recently crossed annual GMV run rate of INR 1 crore (USD 180,000). We have tie-ups with 22 e-commerce websites as of now, including Flipkart, HappilyUnmarried, Ferns and Petals, etc.

Started with a seed capital of INR 15 lacs (USD 25,000), which we put in from our personal savings, funding is also on the cards for the us. We are in advanced stage of talks with a few investors. We are waiting for the right time, but it will happen soon.

8) What are your next milestones?

A host of new features shall be rolled out over the next 6 months – we are launching a dedicated mobile site very soon. We are building a social layer on top of our current recommendation algorithm – this will enable us to crowdsource gift recommendations. Apart from these, we shall introduce email gifting and gift registries.

The problem that we are trying to solve – deciding what to gift – is intrinsically global in nature. We have an extremely scalable model, given that we are completely cloud-based. As a result, we plan to expand internationally soon after cracking the Indian market (around Q3)

9) Where can people find out more?

Company website: www.wishpicker.com
Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/wishpickercom
Twitter Profile: www.twitter.com/wishpickergifts

We are always available to answer any queries at hello@wishpicker.com.

13 Jobs Aspiring Entrepreneurs Should Consider

Question: What’s one suggestion you’d give an aspiring entrepreneur in terms of prior work experience? Should they freelance? Work at a startup first? Go corporate? All of the above?

Work at a Startup First

“I think it is most beneficial to work at a startup first. You will get to see the ins and outs of how a new business operates from all levels. You can gain valuable insight as to what works and what doesn’t work. This would closely mimic starting your own company. “

JEFF TESTERMAN BROKERHUNTER.com

Commit to What You Want to Do

“Many people will tell you that if you have never done something before, you will never be able to do it. They are giving you this advice because they don’t know a way it can be done. Entrepreneurs are the ones who find a way or make the way. Sure, freelancing or working at a startup or corporation is great, but you should get clear on what you want, and go after it like your life depends on it. “

LOUIS LAUTMAN Supreme Outsourcing Follow @louislautman

Get Work Experience

“One of the biggest things that would have helped me with my business is having prior work experience with an established company. I would have examined their day-to-day and multiple departments to see what different parts are needed for a successful business. I learned later that a successful business requires more than revenues coming in or out — it requires a stable foundation.”

SHAHZIL (SHAZ) AMIN Blue Track Media

Freelance

“If you’re thinking about starting your own company, freelancing is the first step! First of all, a one-person business IS a business — many freelancers fail because they aren’t thinking entrepreneurially. I maxed out my solo freelance business before I moved on to building my team. It taught me the basics of business: making clients happy and managing cash flow. “

LAURA ROEDER LKR Social Media Follow @lkr

Build Your Tool Kit, No Matter Where You Go

“Entrepreneurs need to be proficient with customer service, product development, strategy, finance, team-building and, well, everything. Thus, any work experience is incredibly valuable. As a management consultant, I learned how to communicate clearly, work on a team and work hard. Every role in every industry will teach you — just pay attention to the success stories and develop your skills.”

AARON SCHWARTZ Modify Watches Follow @ModifyWatches

Take the Plunge

“Dive in. Being an entrepreneur means constantly meeting new and unexpected challenges head-on. You’re the master of your own destiny and must learn to overcome all obstacles. Take the plunge, and you’ll hopefully rise to the top. “

NICOLAS GREMION Free-eBooks.net

Just Don’t Lose Your Spirit

“Prior work experience can be helpful. Working at a startup can be great experience, but be careful signing contracts, as a non-compete may limit your options after working there. Freelancing can bind you to similar restraints, but you’ll gain good experience. Going corporate can also be beneficial to learn how the best of the best companies run things. Just don’t lose your entrepreneurial spirit!”

JOE BARTON Barton Publishing

Start Corporate

“There is a lot of value in spending some time at a big corporation. You will be trained by industry experts and get a glimpse of what makes a big corporation successful. I spent some time at an investment bank prior to founding my company, and I consider the experience invaluable.”

JOSH WEISS Bluegala

Learn an Industry

“It is really important to have experience in the workplace first, but not a lot of work. Go to grad school, gain some experience and learn some skills in the industry. When raising money, it is not enough to have a great idea. Most people will want someone with experience who can control the business. The CEO needs to be hireable for the business. Experience is important. “

JORDAN FLIEGEL CoachUp

Learn From Others’ Mistakes and Experiences

“Work with a successful entrepreneur first so you learn from his or her experience. Once you are confident that you have learned all that you can, then it’s time to leave and start off on your own or jump to another startup. “

JOHN HALL Influence & Co.

Shut Up and Start Up

“There’s no role or course that can teach you enough of what you need to know when you’re starting up on your own. What you will learn from starting up will be far more than any entrepreneurship books and startup jobs put together. If you want to start your own company, just do it. Do not wait for the tide to come and sweep you away when you’re standing miles away from the shore.”

RAHUL VARSHNEYA Arkenea LLC

Know the Industry

“Working in a corporation gives you good connections, but it also limits your understanding to a world where funds are not an issue, and problem solving a business issue without a large budget is often unnecessary. The key is working in the industry you want to be in — that’s where startups are often born. Your experiences show you what that industry needs, and you can create it for them. “

BENISH SHAH Before the Label

Get on a Founding Team

“For the best bang for your buck, I wouldn’t just work at a startup, but work on a founding team. Being the first to fifth hire will enable you to learn basically what it takes to run a company, from top to bottom. Those first hires have to wear many hats, and you can learn how to be an entrepreneur on other people’s time and money.”

LIAM MARTIN Staff.com

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

GlobalHack Makes Its First Winners $50k Richer

Last weekend St. Louis-based GlobalHack hosted the first of its quarterly hackathons. The winning team walked away with $50,000 from TopOPPS, which received the code and IP from the weekend project in return.

TopOPPS is the new company of Jim Eberlin, who also founded companies like Host Analytics and Gainsight. The weekend marked the public launch of TopOPPS, and the project the teams worked on will help the company move forward.

Why would a successful CEO choose a hackathon to launch a new product? Eberlin said he saw it as “an opportunity to have hundreds of the nation’s best developers working on your product non-stop for 48 hours, is priceless. In one weekend, we saw more innovative ideas and had access to more tech talent then most companies see in a year.”

Cofounder of LockerDome and GlobalHack Gabe Lozano agreed, noting that the event drew 200 designers, developers, and business professionals from all over the country. In fact, Eberlin was so impressed with the quality of work produced over the weekend, he awarded a surprise $10,000 check to the second place team.

The winning team was composed of Washington University students. They were, obviously, excited about the win.

“Absolutely incredible,” team member Eric Elias said of the experience. “I was fortunate to work with such an exceptional team and compete against so many talented people.”

GlobalHack has 3 more hackathons planned for 2014, with the sponsoring companies for future events yet to be announced. The nonprofit plans to award more than $1 million in prize money over the year.

Interested? Check out the GlobalHack website to keep up to date on all events.

Nudge Puts All Your Fitness Tracking Data in One Place

Fitness apps. Sleep apps. Wearables tracking our every move. The market is full (and growing!) of products designed to helps us get and stay healthy.

But when you’re tracking all that data across several apps, it can be hard to see the big picture. What efforts are actually moving you toward your fitness goals? Are you actually getting and staying healthy with all this effort?

That’s where Nudge comes in. They’ve integrated with several top fitness apps to provide one platform and score for all that data, helping you know easily and quickly if your efforts are doing any good.

Check out our Q&A with Nudge below:

1) What’s your startup called?

Nudge

2) What’s your big idea?

Nudge connects your favorite health tracking apps and gadgets in one app, giving you one score for your whole healthy lifestyle—the Nudge Factor.

The Nudge Factor is a 30-day snapshot of how healthy you’re living from 0-110. The algorithm indexes hydration, nutrition, exercise and sleep data to provide a single, simple feedback system for health tracking. While simple tracking can be done manually, Nudge was not created to compete as a health tracker, but rather to unify the health tracking market under a single feedback system while allowing consumers to continue using the apps and gadgets they already use to track individual inputs.

3) What’s the story behind your idea?

Nudge originally launched as a corporate wellness platform (B2B Solution) for small organizations designed to gamify and simplify health tracking within the workplace to reduce costly lifestyle pitfalls.

The B2B experiment helped us identify factors plaguing adoption of similar platforms in the space:

· Adoption and engagement primarily driven by novelty.
· Increasing consumer adoption of consumer health apps and wearables resulted in platform competing for user’s time.

We saw our opportunity to use the Nudge Factor to bring health trackers together in one place by unifying the health tracking market under a single feedback system, without competing as a health tracker. We pivoted, integrated with popular apps like RunKeeper, Moves and MapMyFitness, and re-launched in mid-December.

4) Who are the founders?

· Mac Gambill—Co-founder + CEO—Richmond, Va.
· Phil Beene—Co-founder + President—Washington, D.C.
· Chris Garson—Co-founder + CTO—Arlington, Va.
· Russ Campbell—UI/UX Director—Nashville, Tenn.

Nudge originally was founded in 2011 by Wofford College graduates Phil Beene and Mac Gambill during their stint playing semi-professional soccer in Chattanooga, Tenn. for the Chattanooga Football Club. At the time, Phil was managing caretakers, and client-care services at Maxim Healthcare, while Mac was working as a group and individual sports and fitness trainer, and doing sales for D1 Sports. After the platform’s conception, the two brought on Chris Garson, a backend web developer with mobile app experience and a masters in Biomedical Engineering from The University of Virginia. Chris officially joined when he returned from traveling southeast Asia with his wife and working on projects as an independent software developer.

Subsequently, the team was introduced to Russ Campbell while working with a local design shop in Chattanooga. Russ’ experience leading design initiatives for organizations like Griffin Technologies and Gibson Guitars perfectly complemented the skill-sets of the founding team and made Russ an obvious addition to round out the leadership team. Russ joined Nudge on a full-time basis in Q4 of 2013.

5) Where are you located?

Richmond, Va.

6) What’s the startup scene like there?

Richmond has a rapid growing startup scene with awesome companies beginning to make a splash in their respective fields. Several accelerators and early stage investment groups like 80amps and New Richmond Ventures have launched that have begun to lay the foundation in ensuring success, amongst the latest wave of local startups. Companies like Coffitivity achieving Time Magazine’s Top 50 websites, and PlanG raising significant early investment have served as the catalyst for the tech startup movement in Richmond.

As early-stage capital becomes more accessible keep your eyes peeled for several more innovative groups making headway on the national stage!

7) What milestones have you reached?

In the first month after relaunch we have already surpassed 10,000 sign-ups, and we have begun piloting our revenue model with several partner brands.

8) What are your next milestones?

Some of the upcoming milestones we have on the timeline include launching our revenue model in the second quarter after several months of testing, as well as a user milestone of 50,000.

9) Where can people find out more?

Check us out at www.nudgeyourself.com, or search for “Nudge” in the app stores.