Yup. Even though the name of my blog is Startup Next Door, I’m done with startups. I knew a year ago that I wouldn’t start another company, or work at another startup. What About my Startups? I’ll still run zKorean and TalkToTheManager, but since everything is automated, the time…
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I really hate it when posts have pop-culture, timely linkbait titles like “8 1/2 Startup Tips I Learned from Justin Bieber” and “5 Things Every Entrepreneur Needs to Know about PSY’s Gangnam Style Video”. But I honestly could not get startup equivalences out of my head…
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A couple of months ago I put some thought into the area of competition. You may not know, but my latest startup has some competition. The competition we face ranges from trivial to troublesome. But we’re glad to have it. Once you launch a startup, it’s only a matter of time until…
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Those in the Seattle area can check out TalkToTheManager at Spitfire in Belltown on Tuesday, April 24th. I’ll be doing demos of TalkToTheManager and showing off all the cool features. Tickets to the event are $15 or $20 for 2. Get more info at: http://seattlebeta.com/ Update (April 30,…
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My latest startup is TalkToTheManager, which is a departure from the consumer-focused startups I’ve done in the past. This announcement is a little late, since I actually launched on March 4th, but I was holding back on an announcement until I could get some good market traction. Read more…
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Early Friday morning, I was thinking that if I could get an instant domain search going, I could hook it up to Hover.com and send them traffic (because they’re awesome) and get some affiliate revenue when someone bought a domain with them. After work Friday I started coding, and Sunday night…
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So you’ve likely noticed I haven’t posted in quite a while. Blogging is hard work, and takes a ridiculous amount of time to write even a short, quality post. I’ll be back to posting soon, but wanted to share what I’ve been so busy with. Several months ago, I joined a small…
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On June 30th, Rasmus Lerdorf, the creator of the PHP programming language, joined Earndit as advisor. You may remember my interview with Earndit back on April 7th. The free service tracks members’ exercise (jogs, runs, walking) and offers rewards in the form of discounts on great…
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As I mentioned a few months back in I’m a Startup Rancher, I tend to create startups, let them run for a while, and see if they have any traction. Some flop due to difficulties in the business model, or in the marketing, or just because I didn’t solve a problem that many people had. So…
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I don’t speak much about raising capital at Startup Next Door. For goodness’ sake, the tagline is “Venture without Capital”. But Wednesday night I spoke with a gentleman who had been involved in a few startups (most of them huge), and who has raised funds and is currently…
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So you’re a businessperson and you have a great idea but you know nothing of the IT nerd world. Or you’re the nerd but have no business acumen. Here’s a great video segment on finding someone to fill in your partnership. From This Week in Startups with Jason Calacanis…
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OK, So GooberBlitz is not a real startup, and a $20.45 round of funding isn’t likely to make TechCrunch. TechCrunch reports on startups and businesses in the Web 2.0 space that are dealing with large VC and angel funding. TechCrunch rarely reports on bootstrap startups unless they are doing…
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The regularly scheduled post will be a little late, as I’m waiting to hear back from Rackspace. So a little diversion… Great video from This Week in Startups, featuring an interview with David Heinemeier Hansson of 37Signals, whose remarks mimic the Startup Next Door philosophy, where your…
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Back when I ran my startups under the veil of secrecy, I had to manage my secret identity, and did it pretty well. This post continues in that regard for those who want to keep their privacy while running startups. For those who have been reading about me a bit, you know that it’s just me…
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Although I tend to talk quite a bit about getting your startup done yourself, not all businesses can thrive that way. A good home-based startup with lots of traffic and revenue will require quite a bit of customer support efforts, and eventually you will need help to keep it running. The idea is…
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When I was driving to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport today from Abilene, I saw an old building with a large realtor’s sign on it that read “Residential - Commercial - Ranch”. That got me thinking - how different is a ranch from a residence or a commercial property? It’s…
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In the beginning when the idea of some hot new startup idea is fresh in your mind, but may require considerable resources, you’ll be tempted to borrow money from friends and family. You’ll go on about how they’ll be rich and how the idea is sure to succeed because no one has ever…
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When naming your company you’re naming your baby. So give your baby a name that will still be a good name when she’s all grown up. Here are some tips to help you get it right. At this point you probably have a name in mind, or a number of names, and have been searching domain…
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I’m not going to tell how you should run your business, or how much privacy you should give up. I’ve run both closed and open door businesses, and they both have advantages for your business. But since I have quite a bit of experience in keeping my identity hidden when running…
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When a brick-and-mortar business sets up shop, such as a restaurant or shoe store, they have a business space, employees, a published phone number, and other items that identify the business. As the proprietor on the internet, you expose only what you want to. Depending on the volume and demands of…
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