A Quick Video Break!

Does anyone still watch SNL? I swear... Andy Samberg is an entrepreneur in a class of his own.

Oh... and yes, follow your dreams. =)

Start-up Chores: Getting a Phone Number

Whether you're online, off line or running a shady business in an undisclosed alley somewhere; all businesses need a phone number (or a beep-a). Even though I personally would prefer email communications or IM's for online customer service stuff, experience tells me most would still prefer to pick up a phone to give me a piece of their mind if something isn't working right.

Rightfully so...

So what are my options?

Buy a traditional phone number, hook it up at home and wait for someone to call? The problem with this is... I'm never at home during work hours; during these early days of the start-up, I'm at my day job. When the business becomes successful, I may be traveling a lot so I probably won't be at home. So... with this option it's money down the drain, bootstrap initiatives failed; and Verizon/at&t laughing their way to the bank.

Vonage? Well, besides for the legal problems that Vonage has been having recently, I actually like this service. I've used them for a few years but have recently canceled due to not needing a separate phone line for my home. The same problems above for the landline can be said for Vonage but Vonage does have the added bonus of letting you check your voicemail online as a sound file. Granted, if you use voicemail now-a-days, you can probably check it anywhere. But if I'm paying for a number, I'd rather have it be portable.

What about a cell phone? Ugh... I made the mistake of posting my only cell phone as my company's direct contact number before; I won't be doing that again. I now get a few calls here and there during the work day that isn't business (day job) related and it's just embarrassing. I mean, if I'm talking to my boss or if I'm in the middle of a meeting, I can't very well excuse myself every so often to take care of other bid-nez. Not to mention, if it's a customer service call and I'm not in front of a computer, I'm virtually (and physically) worthless as a person who can help the customer.

Well, what if I get a separate cell phone? As much as I love my iPhone, I think carrying two of them would make me the biggest tool on Earth. I'm not a hacker, I don't write for tuaw, I'm also not a project manager on a construction site so I really have no need for multiple cell phones. Not to mention if I were to pay $120 a month in cellphone bills, I'd be throwing money away that could otherwise be used for web hosting or bagels and expensive coffee.

Oh I know! What about Skype? Okay, so a popular recommendation I've been seeing across the board is Skype. With Skype, you can call the world. With Skype, you can sell easily on eBay. With Skype, you can hold online meetings and look like a customer service rep while doing so. With Skype, you can yada yada... Yes, Skype would be a pretty good alternative and it's a service I definitely recommend using if you are off-shoring your development. The world loves Skype and for the most part, you will get everything you need for calling others. However, it doesn't solve all my needs. I would like one number for the entire company and I need a place where people can reach me or my partners. I'm not quite sure that Skype offers that for free... or even at all.

Alright, so what DO you want? One service I found while chatting in the start-up forums is a company called Grand Central. The service is in beta but they were recently acquired by Google which could only mean a couple of things: 1. They're here to stay. 2. They will most likely be free to consumers/small businesses. Grand Central allows you to reserve a number and set a voice mail to it. You can also have it forward the call to multiple numbers at once. So in essence, I can get a number and have it forward to everyone in the company though at this point, I'm not quite sure what would happen if everyone picks up. The idea seems like a great one and best of all, it comes with a lot of cool features. (GC, if you're reading this; I'm still waiting to be activated! I can do a much better review if I can use it; *hint*)

So if you're stuck in the same situation as we are with regards to phones, I'd recommend you check them out and reserve a number. I'm sure there are probably other solutions out there and/or similar service providers; we would love to hear any other suggestions you guys have or solutions you are using for your start-up.

I think I'm sick in the head...

In the last month, my average bed time has been way past midnight. Whether it's Halo 3 or working on the new idea, it's just been keeping me up way past when I should be going to bed.

So what's the problem? Well, I'm actually loving it. There's something about an 18 hour work day that makes me feel really, REALLY productive. Never mind the fact that a good portion was probably spent on Facebook (doing research) and that during the morning I feel like a giant slug. Something about it just feels right to me.

On another note, I prematurely started a Facebook group supporting the new autos website. I figured: hey, it is possible to build buzz over a non-existent product (e.g. the Segway), so hopefully this will create good buzz and not backfire on us.

Can Waiting Tables Teach You How to Succeed?

This is a good read: Rags to Riches. Too bad I decided a long long time ago that I wasn't fit to work in the food industry (due to my quieter personality). Who woulda knew it would actually fix it.

Web 2.0 Overload?

For about 4 years, I used to only visit about 3 websites on the internet. If you've shopped everything you've ever needed and have all the news on feeds; there really isn't much else to do on the web.

In more recent days though, my journey to find interesting sites and people have led me to a number of places. So after reviewing tons and tons of web 2.0 sites, it's nice to see that there is someone out there critiquing them like a normal sensible person would.


If you're interested, check out Sucky Startups.

For Those Graphic Design People

Sometimes as a graphic designer you just get stuck with a good color scheme for "the next big thing" website you're doing. I get my block at times and I know plenty of artists who have the same problem. Anytime you can come up with some non-subjective tool that can help you get back in the groove, productivity is always helped. So, I give you the following tool:

http://colorblender.com/

Color Blender uses an algorithm to create a sample of 6 colors (the first is the one you give it) that will go together well in a swatch. This is the AutoMatch feature. You can also do a DirectMatch mode that will allow you to play with the colors once it AutoMatches for you. It's not a tool that will change the world, but it might make your future web designs easier.

Shedding the Corporate Image via Blogs

If you haven't noticed in recent times, companies are messing up more, apologizing more and are coming out more into the public that make them appear more human than being some large, evil corporate entity. I may not know who the owners of Walmart, Waffle House, Publix or Sears are, but I can put a human face to many of the others such as Microsoft, Apple, Dell, Google, Facebook, MySpace, etc.

Web 2.0, amongst some of the other definitions can also be defined as shifting the focus to people. Part of this transition of opening up is to get people from various positions in the company to come out from behind the walls of the corporation and share some behind-the-scene stuff with the general public. Why is this good? Well, when a human speaks to another human, you get honest feedback. When a company speaks to the public, we as consumers, put up our defenses.

In the blogosphere, it's pretty easy to tell if a person is blogging from their passions vs. another who's blogging because their job mandated it. Even if you're a great writer, if your heart's not into the topic, the blog usually sucks.

Part of the reason why we're blogging about this new autos classified venture is because we're genuinely passionate about scratching the entrepreneur itch and we actually enjoy what we do. Also, I don't know about y'all, but I think it's sexy as hell to have grown men keep diaries like 13 yr old girls. (Unfortunately this one lacks a pink, heart shaped lock.)

Anyway, in my pursuit to hunt down the next great buzz maker to join our team, I've been scouring the web for like-minded individuals and randomly landing on various blogs by other entrepreneurs that are also dictating their journey into their own start-ups. Even if their idea is not directly related to what we're doing, it's great to see others walk down a similar path to try to educate their audience on the stresses of starting up something from nada.


One such blog I found was by another entrepreneur named Jimmy Huen who talks about his trial and tribulation of starting his idea. While I don't know what exactly he's working on, it was interesting to read about his execution style and how it's different from what we're writing about here.

In a way, some of his stories kinda mirrored my last attempt at outsourcing which failed miserably for me. Granted, I'm not saying Jimmy is doing anything wrong; but I can certainly sympathize with him on those days where he felt like his developers are just screwing him and can't be reached via regular communications.

If you're interested in what his story is, feel free to hop on over to his blog to see where he's at in his process. Although Jimmy's currently hit a bump in the road, I'm pretty confident he'll find ways to solve the problems. Of course, our videos on starting a venture with zero budget may also help. (It's worth checking out Jimmy!)

So the Chances of Success...

The chances of success for any given start-up is... not great. There's the inspiration, the PERSPIRATION and then there's the LUCK!

I'm not sure how many of you are Halo 3 fans... but after seeing this video, (last one for awhile I promise); I can say luck is within reach for those who try. To Randall's point, the keyword is try.

And Then There Were Two...

Saluations!

My name is Randall Prince. Wei has given me the great honor of accompanying him on this journey of learning and entrepreneurship. I'll be the hacker involved with putting all this information we'll be aggregating into a real, honest-to-God, Web 2.0 site. I'm hugely excited about this project due to the normal reasons, but more so because the inner circle of entrepreneurs have a certain panache and thought process among them which most of the population lack, even in groups of very smart people. Honestly, it's refreshing as all heck.

With that said, I'll continue Wei's precedent of showing off great videos that help the new guy in this Web 2.0 world. As you'll find, I'm more of a list guy, but this video really shows how simple and effective the right web idea can be when executed thoughtfully and without going overboard or doing too much work yourself. It's about organization and having a well defined goal in mind (and it's got a list in it too).



This video shows that it's really not a matter of the how to do it. This video is a strait up how-to guide. It doesn't tell you what to do. It doesn't say why to do it. Though those are very important issues. But what I take away from this (as with many other things in my life like equity trading) is that you actually have to do it for it to work. And if that idea doesn't work, and you have another, then try another idea. It's cheap enough (you can do a project for far less than the one in the video). As with most things, it's about getting off your butt and doing it. So, let's get moving towards EasyAutoSales.com!

Randall Prince

Another 90 Minute Trip...

I swear... with all these videos I now probably have the longest avg. sessions on the web for a 4 week old blog. This one was recommended by Randall and among the celebrity CEO's in the panel is the owner of Photobucket and LinkedIn.

Alright, maybe they're not celebrity CEOs; I also didn't know the LinkedIn guy was that huge... but the stuff they say are still helpful. You're welcome.

Red Alert! Red Alert!!!

While the title here would have made more sense if the blog changed to a red theme (something we're working on if time allows), what it's really describing is sense or urgency that entrepreneurs feel when we get excited about our new pet project.

You guys may have noticed that the last few posts this month have pretty much nothing in common; and you may be asking...

Is this blog about cars?

Yes but not exactly.

Is this blog about web design?

Well, right now it kinda is.

Alright guy, is this blog really about inspirational videos?

Whatever helps right?

The truth is, this blog has been jumping around (about topics that would bore your first date to tears) mainly because these are the hats entrepreneurs have to wear when starting a new venture. Well okay, part of it is probably b/c of my A.D.D. but for real, there are a lot to consider when you decide to dedicate your free time to work. I mean, what kind of crazy person choose to load themselves with MORE work after a long day?

They say ignorance is bliss and I would have to agree. The first time I started out back in college we launched a site in a few weeks. I did not take into consideration nearly as many futuristic variables as much as I am now. Which designer are we going to use? What width should the site be? How will we promote it? Where are we hosting it? Is 300gb's of space enough for 3 million cars' worth of pictures? Yeah, if this had been done years before, I would have been a lot more reactive than proactive; but it would have been short and sweet.

Is that bad? Not necessarily. If nothing else, a basic site would be up now and someone out there would be trying it out and telling me I did great job or to shove my P.O.S. site on to an unstable hard drive. (Hey, feedback is great either way!) Also, if you'll notice, a lot of what's being considered are things that can be fixed or upgraded as the need arises. Do I really need to worry about getting a world class server right now when we have a total of -2 users? Probably not. But yet I am and we'll probably write about it in our next post.

So anyway, why the red alert? Well, as I've mentioned in an earlier post, this past weekend I interviewed a guy for the position of CTO. The meet and greet with Randall went great and it's refreshing to finally meet someone that gets it both on the technical side but more importantly, the business side. For those of you that don't know what CTO means, it means that he will be effectively replacing my left side of the brain so I can focus more on other things instead of technical details of how to setup Linux or writing code. What a relief...

But since we've decided to collaborate on this venture; things have been moving close to double speed; which is welcomed but stressful. I'd be lying (and not doing enough) if I say things are calm. The good news is that positive energy and positive reinforcement charges my batteries (which explains the current video kick on entrepreneurial successes) but more importantly, it feels like this venture is headed somewhere and that it'll meet my virtual deadline!

All good GREAT things!

Randy Pausch: Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams

Here's another great video that was forwarded to me by a friend.


The story behind the video can be seen at TechCrunch.