LaunchUp.org

icount: Q&A

by Jeremy on 01. Sep, 2010 in Q&A

To help you to get to know the companies presenting at LaunchUp #10 we asked each to respond to a few questions…

The following Q&A segment is with icount:

Q: What does your company do?
A: Icount provides a way for you to impact politics through social networking. Icount keeps you informed on political issues, current events, legislation, campaign platforms, voting histories and the positions of your elected officials helping to formulate and strengthen your opinions. Icount provides an easy, user-friendly website to engage in meaningful ways with your social networks, with candidates and with your elected officials. Users can see the impact of these engagements as bills are written, impractical laws are challenged, elections are determined, positions are debated and your voice is heard. Icount provides a one-stop-shop for everyone to be involved in the political process.

Q: Why does that matter and how do you make the world a better place?
A: Over the past few years I have become increasingly frustrated with politics and the callousness of our politicians. It seems that they are more concerned with their own careers and backdoor deals then they are about what is good for the country or what their constituents want. About a year ago I read a quote by Edmund Burke that jumped out at me, “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”. I knew I needed to get involved politically — I just didn’t know how to make an impact. Protest marches, phone calls and letters to my politicians don’t seem to make a difference. After discussing my frustrations with others, I quickly became aware that I was not the only one feeling this way and I decided to create icount to provide a simple, effective method to make our voices heard and impact politics.

Q: Why is your company cool?
A: We give purpose to social networking by replacing Farmville, Mafia Wars and FunSpace with creating legislation, repealing laws, impacting elections and exercising your freedom of speech and virtual assembly. We’ve also been accepted as a company in the BoomStartup program which is pretty darn cool!

Q: What 3 lessons/observations would you tell other entrepreneurs?
A: 1. Make sure you marry the right person.
2. Learn from your failures, because you will fail.
3. If you failed to marry the right person, don’t be an entrepreneur.

Q: Pick 5 people for your entrepreneur dream team (assuming you and your team were riding the bench)
A: 1. Warren Buffet
2. Oprah Winfrey
3. George Washington
4. John Huntsman
5. Michael Jordan

Q: Which one pursuit? Golf, Basketball, Skiing/Snowboarding, Knitting, Mountaineering/Climbing, Bowling, Watching Grass Grow
A: icount!!!

Q: Why are you an entrepreneur in Utah?
A: Because I am an entrepreneur and I live in Utah. I would be an entrepreneur in another state if I lived in another state, but most likely with less support and infrastructure. Utah is setting a high mark for encouraging and supporting entrepreneurial activities.

We look forward to LaunchUp #10 and hearing more from icount!

Help us spread the word! And RSVP on our Facebook Page event page for LaunchUp #10.

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BekoZone: Q&A

by Jeremy on 31. Aug, 2010 in Q&A

To help you to get to know the companies presenting at LaunchUp #10 we asked each to respond to a few questions…

The following Q&A segment is with BekoZone:

Q: What does your company do?
A: BekoZone.com is an online platform that generates matches for people to trade what they have for what they want. Example, you have an iPhone and want a camera, Beko connects you to the person that has a camera and wants an iPhone.

Q: Why does that matter and how do you make the world a better place?
A: Tight economy means tight cash. Trade/Barter is a market saver. We hope we can help small businesses keep their doors open as well as boosts people’s confidence when they don’t feel valued. Now they can use their skills and get things they want and need.

Q: Why is your company cool?
A: Trading is exciting and super addictive. It’s also fun reviving the cool system from Kindergarten days that has somehow been fogged over by money. Trading usually produces an exchange whose value can’t be met by a monetary system.

Q: What 3 lessons/observations would you tell other entrepreneurs?
A: 1) Find a way to do what you love. You’ll always be wealthier.
2) Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Learn from them and move on. No Regrets.
3) There will be haters when you make it, and there will be haters when you don’t. So stop caring about what others think, and do what you want to do.

Q: Pick 5 people for your entrepreneur dream team (assuming you and your team were riding the bench)
A: To me, entrepreneurship is all about self-improvement and experiences more than simply financial success. So I’m not sure if I’d want to be riding the bench to success, or if I’d rather be on a suckier team actually playing the game. Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to be mentored by superstars, but there is only so much you can learn by just studying the game. Sometimes you just gotta get in there and play.

Q: Which one pursuit? Golf, Basketball, Skiing/Snowboarding, Knitting, Mountaineering/Climbing, Bowling, Watching Grass Grow
A: Playing Basketball

Q: Why are you an entrepreneur in Utah?
A: Sounds a lot better than being unemployed in Utah.

We look forward to LaunchUp #10 and hearing more from BekoZone!

Help us spread the word! And RSVP on our Facebook Page event page for LaunchUp #10.

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Eduglu: Q&A

by Jeremy on 31. Aug, 2010 in Q&A

To help you to get to know the companies presenting at LaunchUp #10 we asked each to respond to a few questions…

The following Q&A segment is with Eduglu:

Q: What does your company do?
A: Eduglu makes quality learning experiences accessible to people around the world through our open-source social learning application called Eduglu. In the coming months, we will be launching a hosted version of Eduglu.

Q: Why does that matter and how do you make the world a better place?
A: Most of the world is struggling to meet rising demand for higher education. As the world grows wealthier, hundreds of millions more people need a quality education, exceeding the capacity of existing educational institutions. Eduglu solves this problem by providing an online learning application built on the open-source CMS Drupal which makes accessible quality learning experiences to far more people than traditional educational methods.

Q: Why is your company cool?
A: We believe in working on big important problems. And education is one of the biggest and most important. Online learning is already a $40 billion global market and growing 20% annually.

Q: What 3 lessons/observations would you tell other entrepreneurs?
A:1. The size of your questions determines the size of your answers.
2. You really can be an entrepreneur, it just takes time and a lot of effort.
3. Stay humble, you’re a lot more naive than you think.

Q: Pick 5 people for your entrepreneur dream team (assuming you and your team were riding the bench)
A: Tim O’Reilly for his vision, leadership, and moral backbone
Young Hahn (right name?) for his mad Drupal skills
John Seely Brown because he asks the right questions
Eric Ries because he knows how to work lean
Steve Blank because he’s a wise old bird and would be a lot of fun.

Q: Which one pursuit? Golf, Basketball, Skiing/Snowboarding, Knitting, Mountaineering/Climbing, Bowling, Watching Grass Grow
A: mountaineering/climbing

Q: Why are you an entrepreneur in Utah?
A: I graduated from BYU, the classic Utah family trap, plus Utah is a really strong hub of learning research.

We look forward to LaunchUp #10 and hearing more from Eduglu!

Help us spread the word! And RSVP on our Facebook Page event page for LaunchUp #10.

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LaunchUp Legal Clinic

by Jeremy on 30. Aug, 2010 in LaunchUps

Hey Everyone!

Remember, LaunchUp #10 is this Thursday.

We’re also really excited to announce that you can come an hour early to LaunchUp #10 for a free legal clinic put on by our pals at Bennett Tueller Johnson & Deere. A group of startup and VC lawyers from BTJD will be hanging out from 5:15 to 6:15 to answer questions and brainstorm with entrepreneurs. These guys can give you their thoughts on issues relating to formation, angel and venture financings, employment, options, intellectual property, strategic partner relationships, customer contracts, exits and other issues that startups face.

If you’re starting a company, or are thinking about it, you’d be extremely remiss to not take advantage of free legal advice!!!

RSVP on our Facebook Event page for LaunchUp #10, or by tweeting:

I’m going to #LaunchUp Sept 2 to see Eduglu, BekoZone, & icount, are you? http://bit.ly/launchup10

See everyone there!

As a reminder, LaunchUp #10 is at Noah’s in South Jordan.
322 West 11000 South South Jordan, UT 84095
How to get here: Just west of I-15 located near CarMax. North of the Walmart and Alternative High School.

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LaunchUp #10 – Thursday Sept 2, 6:30 p.m. – @ Noah’s in South Jordan w Eduglu, BekoZone, icount

by Jeremy on 18. Aug, 2010 in LaunchUps

Hey everyone. After taking a summer vacation, LaunchUp #10 is ready to roll!!

Location has been changed to Noah’s in South Jordan.

Come support our community “barn raising” and energizing event for entrepreneurs.

We have another sublime event planned with 3 rock worthy companies.

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Specifics:

Promotion/RSVP: If attending in person, PLEASE tweet:

I’m going to #LaunchUp Sept 2 to see Eduglu, BekoZone, & icount, are you? http://bit.ly/launchup10

And use our FB event page to RSVP and forward on to/invite your friends.

If not on Twitter, email jeremy . hanks @ gmail . com and let me know you’re coming. It helps us plan for food.

Date: Thursday Sept 2nd

Time: 6:30 p.m.

Location: Noah’s in South Jordan

322 West 11000 South South Jordan, UT 84095

How to get here: Just west of I-15 located near CarMax. North of the Walmart and Alternative High School.

Event URL: You can watch our live stream online at http://www.launchup.org/live/ if you can’t make it out.

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Agenda:

Welcome and LaunchUp Report: 5 minutes: Jeremy Hanks

Amp Session:10 minutes
Dave Bateman, Cofounder and CEO, Property Solutions.

Before co-founding Property Solutions, Mr. Bateman studied business administration with an emphasis in entrepreneurship at Brigham Young University. In December 2002, Mr. Bateman was awarded “Student Entrepreneur of the Year” by Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management for founding various successful web-based companies. Bateman sits on the board of several for-profit and non-profit ventures including Xento Systems and The More Good Foundation. He has been featured on the cover of both Entrepreneur and Fortune Small Business Magazines. Today, Mr. Bateman has over 10 years of hands-on software development and architecture experience in Saas-based software development. Mr. Bateman remains extremely hands-on in product steering and architectural implementation. This unique characteristic explains why Property Solutions remains overwhelmingly product focused, and prides itself on being the most inventive, agile, and responsive company in its space.

In The Weeds: 10 Minutes

Bootstrap Marketing for Start Ups
Chris Knudsen, VP of Marketing & Biz Dev, SEO.com.

Chris Knudsen is an experienced technology marketing and business development executive. Prior to SEO.com, he was the vice president of sales and marketing for Doba SMB – one of the largest Internet companies in Utah. He previously served in various vice presidential roles at Podango, Sapha, and Speaking Roses International. Chris has also consulted extensively in the areas of Internet marketing, start up sales, and social media. He has published articles in both Connect and Launch magazines. Chris has been recognized by v|Spring Capital as one of the top venture entrepreneurs in Utah for 2007, 2008 and 2009. He earned an MBA from Westminster College and occasionally teaches as an adjunct instructor in the Gore School of Business.

Company Presentations: 45 Minutes

Eduglu
Eduglu is a hosted social learning app that makes it easy for teachers and students to post insights, point out good content, ask pertinent (and impertinent) questions, and share what they’re working on with fellow students. Built on the open-source CMS Drupal, Eduglu is more customizable, dynamic and social than other online learning tools for classrooms—it’s like Facebook for your classroom.

BekoZone
BekoZone.com is the first online barter/trade match-making platform. Meaning, Beko connects you to the person who wants what you have, and has what you want. It’s the funnest way to trade your stuff for cooler stuff.

icount
Icount is a political social networking website that informs its users on political issues, current events, legislation, party and candidate positions and the voting records of their elected officials. Icount also provides its users with engagement opportunities with their social networks, candidates and their elected officials as well as measures the impact of those engagements.

Corner Dives around 8:00 p.m., get food, and then each company heads to a corner, and anyone interesting in learning more or helping dives right in with them. General networking in highly energized setting.

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Please help spread the word. Bring your friends!! (If you’re using Twitter, use hashtag #LaunchUp)

http://bit.ly/launchup10 Is the URL for all the event details.

Remember, we stream the event live at http://www.launchup.org/live and make it as inclusive as possible to anyone, even if you cannot attend in person.

We are also building a list of those that want to support first-time technology entrepreneurs in Utah. You can join our community. It will help us track those that want to help, and your name/link will be published real time on the community page.

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A special thanks to LaunchUp #10 supporters:

Noah’s for providing the location, and to

Doba for the perpetual LaunchUp fund.

Finally, LaunchUp #11 will be in October on Thursday Oct 7, 2010 at 6:30 p.m. at Noah’s in Lindon.

Watch the site for more info. If your company, or one you know, would like to present, please fill out our application to present.

If you’d like to help out, email jeremy . hanks @ gmail . com

Subscribe to our RSS feed — Join our LaunchUp Linked Group — Follow us on Twitter: @launchup — Become a fan on Facebook: LaunchUp.org — Email Jeremy Hanks if you’d like to help/get move involved: jeremy . hanks @ gmail . com

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LaunchUp #10 – Summer Vacation

by Jeremy on 02. Aug, 2010 in LaunchUps

We tried. Tried hard. But we’ve realized that summers are BUSY!

We had about 1/2 a LaunchUp ready to go for this Thursday the 5th at SEO.com.

But last we checked, we try — sometimes unsuccessfully (sorry Yoda) — to not do anything of the half donkeyed variety.

Thus, we’re moving LaunchUp #10 to September 2nd at 6:30 p.m., still at SEO.com.

Two things:

- Mark your calendars! Let’s kick off the Fall with the biggest LaunchUp yet!
- Make sure and spread the word so no one shows up Thursday!

See you in September!

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LaunchUp #9: O-CODES, RawData, Pixelture

by merrillhansen on 31. Jul, 2010 in LaunchUps, News

Thanksgiving Point in Lehi was the facility that hosted this evenings LaunchUp. They provide great services to the entrepreneur community in Utah.

Company Pitches

oCodes Dave Oldham presented his idea of how companies, more specifically those that sell through periodicals, can improve their customer experience by providing OCodes to their readers that they can text on their phones. Once they have text’d the code all their networks will get updated, purchases will happen and the world will be a better place because OCodes bridged the gap between “offline” and “online” browsing. If you text “OCodes” at 62626 you can get a copy of the presentation that Dave has given. Ask Not a clear ask except to text for the presentation.

Chad Nuesmeyer from RawData presented his company. Only one analytics package exists for broadcast TV. Neilsen and other collectors of data have a view of some consumer information, but we have more. We load information from users cell phones. This reflects everything they are experiencing, music, radio, video etc. We load this data in to a report and sell that to advertisers. Ask 1) Ideas on DB query problem across massive amounts of data. 2) Hardware acceptance to the markets. 3) Looking for funding – around $ 120,000.00.

Justin Strong with Pixelture give a presentation about their technology. It is a unique solution that allows users to share their desktop with others. Pixelture provides a server that client software connects with. The client can choose to share their entire desktop, an application or a number of different screens with the server that then projects or broadcasts the screens to other clients. Ask Since they are looking at distributing to the education market does anyone have relationships or suggestions on getting in to the market.

Amp Session was by Steve Spencer. His main message was that as entrepreneurs we should recognize our weaknesses and strengths very honestly. Then, in the places where we are weak we should find outstanding talent to help us out. The second principle is that when you found a company you should craft a way for co-founders and partners can exit gracefully. One of the worst things for a startup company is when one of the founders doesn’t belong in the company anymore and all the employees recognize it, but the founder doesn’t have a simple way to get out.

In the Weeds was presented by Jared Richards who is an attorney with BTJD and also has his own startup company that builds customer skis. He gave a list of six things that entrepreneurs should keep in mind as they start their company:

Choice of entity – If you are going for VC then go straight to Delaware C Corp. Otherwise consider the LLC. It’s cheap and flexible. Don’t make agreements before the company because you lose liability value.
Relationships – This is between your partners. You should consider drafting “walk-away” clauses at the very beginning.
Leaving – If you are creating your company while working with another company make sure that there is a clear line that separates the two entities.
IP (trademarks) – You can do your own search and file your own at US PTO.
IP2 – Make sure that all consulting work done for you is owned by You.
Attorney usage – Use them wisely. Make their job easy and it will keep your costs down.

The video for this event was done by Clark at Mustache Power Productions and can be found at YouTube.

We look forward to seeing you at the next LaunchUp on August 5, 2010!

You can find more complete notes (boring transcript style) at merrillhansen.com.

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RawData: Q&A

by Matt Smith on 30. Jun, 2010 in Company, Q&A

To help you to get to know the companies presenting at LaunchUp #9 we asked each to respond to a few questions…

The following Q&A segment is with RawData:

Q: What does your company do?
A: RawData, with its advanced technology, does for traditional media what web analytics did for the internet. RawData, tracks exactly how the consumer moves through ALL media.

Q: Why does that matter and how do you make the world a better place?
A: Tens of Millions of dollars are spent in Radio and TV advertising, just in local markets. These spending decisions are based on questionable and often time inaccurate data. Add to that, each local market consumes media differently and those differences are not being measured in the current systems. At RawData we want to empower the relevant decision makers by collecting and reporting more accurate local data in a more cost efficient manner.

Q: Why is your company cool?
A: Media – we work with movies and music and the people that make all of it. Mark’s (all 4 of them) are entertaining as hell.

Q: What 3 lessons/observations would you tell other entrepreneurs?
A:1 – Not all money spends the same. Know who and where the money is coming from and what their motives are. Always remember there are a lot more funding sources than the popular groups, and mentors can and will work for FREE (w/out altering your cap-table).
2 – Terms are always open. Nothing is static, from rent to the terms of a potential investor. You can always ask for an item to be removed or even ask for more clarity on the motive behind a term.
3 – You can always find another job and/or other people to work with, the old fashioned, ‘No Asshole’ rule.

Q: Pick 5 people for your entrepreneur dream team (assuming you and your team were riding the bench)
A: Bus. Dev. – Ines Papert (sheer determination)
Sales – Obi-Wan Kenobi (You will buy…)
CIO – Yvon Chouinard (innovative and groundbreaking solutions)
HR – Shane McKonkey (the guy could spot talent)
CEO – Will Ferrell (people gotta laugh)

Q: Which one pursuit? Golf, Basketball, Skiing/Snowboarding, Knitting, Mountaineering/Climbing, Bowling, Watching Grass Grow
A: Ice Climbing

Q: Why are you an entrepreneur in Utah?
A: I enjoy good/fun people, dynamic environments, and solving big problems. As it turns out we have an abundance of all three here in Utah. Also, I have found a good group of kindred spirits that are into the same things.

We look forward to LaunchUp #9 and hearing more from RawData!

Help us spread the word!

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OCodes: Q&A

by Matt Smith on 29. Jun, 2010 in Company, Q&A

To help you to get to know the companies presenting at LaunchUp #9 we asked each to respond to a few questions…

The following Q&A segment is with O-CODES:

Q: What does your company do?
A: We make offline information interactive using simple codes and text messaging. Consumers can save and share stuff they see in print by texting a simple code to 62626. We send them info on their phone, save the content for them online in a free personal archive, and can simultaneously share that content to their Facebook wall, Twitter stream, and Evernote notebook.

Q: Why does that matter and how do you make the world a better place?
A: We make it easy for people to save and share information they encounter off-internet (instead of keeping stacks of magazines, coupons, brochures, etc) lying around. We also make it easier for brands to measure the value and response rates for their offline advertising and marketing investments.

Q: Why is your company cool?
A: Coolness is in the eye of the beholder – this is a better question to ask our customers and since most of them are friends and family at the moment I’m sure the data is unreliable

Q: What 3 lessons/observations would you tell other entrepreneurs?
A:1. Get paying customers as early in the process as possible. If you have an idea, make a PowerPoint and see if you can get a contract before you’ve built or coded anything. All ideas are lame until someone is willing to get out their wallet.
2. Customer service/satisfaction/loyalty is a key to success in any market. But this doesn’t mean just doing whatever they want (Henry Ford’s famous quote about faster horses). You have to know your customer well enough to solve their problems, even when they can’t articulate them.
3. Trust everyone but get everything in writing.

Q: Pick 5 people for your entrepreneur dream team (assuming you and your team were riding the bench)
A: Eric Ries, Max Levchin, Evan Williams, Steve Blank, Tony Hsieh

Q: Which one pursuit? Golf, Basketball, Skiing/Snowboarding, Knitting, Mountaineering/Climbing, Bowling, Watching Grass Grow
A: Golf

Q: Why are you an entrepreneur in Utah?
A: Love the 4 seasons for outdoor sports, family here, talented people at affordable salaries

We look forward to LaunchUp #9 and hearing more from O-CODES!

Help us spread the word!

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Pixelture: Q&A

by Matt Smith on 29. Jun, 2010 in Company, Q&A

To help you to get to know the companies presenting at LaunchUp #9 we asked each to respond to a few questions…

The following Q&A segment is with Pixelture:

Q: What does your company do?
A: We make enterprise software for commercial and educational use.

Q: Why does that matter and how do you make the world a better place?
A: Our product makes it easier to share content and create powerful collaborative discussions.

Q: Why is your company cool?
A: Ideas are incredibly powerful and shape the world we live in–Pixelture makes sharing these ideas more dynamic and effective, and this is helping to shape the world we live in.

Q: What 3 lessons/observations would you tell other entrepreneurs?
A:1- Everyone falls down–the successful entrepreneur is the one who got back up one more time; 2 – Edison was right, genius is more about tenacity and sweat than convenient inspiration; 3 – Love what you do–period.

Q: Pick 5 people for your entrepreneur dream team (assuming you and your team were riding the bench)
A: Benjamin Franklin, Seth Godin, Guy Ritchie, BIll Mahr, and Tony Stark (these will change from week to week)

Q: Which one pursuit? Golf, Basketball, Skiing/Snowboarding, Knitting, Mountaineering/Climbing, Bowling, Watching Grass Grow
A: Who has time for any of these?

Q: Why are you an entrepreneur in Utah?
A: The second wave of high technology in Utah is afoot (the first wave being Novell, WordPerfect, and the like). Omniture and a slew of others are signs of the second wave.

We look forward to LaunchUp #9 and hearing more from Pixelture!

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