Category Archives: business startups

No reason not to build & launch in 24 hours

I just read a great article “Building a .com in 24 hours.” There’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to create a simple .com and launch it in such a short period of time. The author (Dominiek?) takes us through his steps and thought process as he created Wigitize from conception to launch.

This begs the question – why is development taking so long? Sure, it’s time and politics. Maybe waiting for the client to decide on the actual requirements or for everything to be hashed out and done being changed. Maybe the developers are getting distracted. The team over at OMA launched a new app from conception to, well, launch in one month (pulse). Let’s face it, if everyone is …

2008 – The Startup Year

Many startups have come and gone in 2007…who knows what 2008 will bring.

In my quest to find the best startups and what drives them to success (or failure), I plan on writing on the life of the startup. I’ll provide you with some cool startups and what they’re doing. Perhaps we can even follow one startup as it begins from conception to launch — and perhaps even further. In the process we’ll talk about the technologies driving these businesses and what the key to technological success is today.

If you’re interested in having your startup shared along with your story, drop me a comment or email (matthewvb [at] gmail [dot] com) and let me know what makes your startup something special.

To get the …

Talking doesn’t get a project launched – doing does: post 3 of x

I’ve worked with several teams and committees across the country and one lesson I’ve learned that can’t be echoed enough is that “Talking doesn’t get a project launched — doing does.” Sure, common sense we know, but ask yourself how many meetings you’ve been in where all you do is talk about things rather than actually work towards accomplishing the goal?

I have seen the exception to this plague in our society, the work group. It’s not a committee. A committee sits in a circle and gives reports, occasionally but rarely doing actual tasks. The work group is a group that’s been created to perform a task. While a work group maintains elements of a committee (a leader, occasional talking without productivity, etc.) it differs …

LaunchBox Digital — the Y-cominator of DC

I’m sure they don’t want to be labeled with Y-Combinator, but LaunchBox Digital is a great new company in the DC area doing some of the same types of things for us east coast people!

LaunchBox Digital works with small startups through a 12 week development, mentoring, and training process to help give them the tools to be a successful business. These small teams will come to DC for 12 weeks, work with the best in the field, and be set up for success.

LaunchBox will fund you between 15k – 30k for the 12 weeks, and then only ask for 5-8% of the company. A great deal in my opinion for working with some of the best in the industry. The joy for …

If I were a business owner, I’d be afraid of SW – post 2 of x

The more of I think of it, the more I’d be freaked out if I was a business owner of was thinking of starting a business. And here’s why business people need to start that freak out process, asap!

Short story

In less than 72 hours, a group of the brightest minds in the area got together and took an abstract non-existent concept into a full functioning business complete with site, business and marketing plans, and extended branding plans.

Long story

About 2 weeks ago SW weekend DC had 43 ideas being pitched, by Friday night we had 3 ideas left to consider. In a matter of about 90 minutes we finalized an idea of a business to build. Now, earlier in the week another …

DC SW – part 1 of x

Well, it’s come and gone in a rather quick fashion. I have plenty of thoughts to share for the upcoming days, but today I’m going to start with an overview of the weekend.

This weekend about 60+ people in DC meet up for DC Startup Weekend. Friday night we decided to launch a social network for communities about what’s going on in their neighborhood, HolaNeighbor. Friday night left many in the group frustrated over a lack of direction towards where HolaNeighbor could go. I was really nervous we’d have about 10 people on Saturday morning cranking out an unflushed vision.

Saturday morning came with a new excitement as development (myself included) start cranking out some basics of the site. About an hour in, …

One Month App launches Pulse

One Month App, a great social experiment where a team works on a month time line to launch a full-fledge online application just released Pulse tonight. Pulse is meant to be a new small business cash flow management tool.

You may recall SideJobTrack, which aimed to provide the same types of resources, but has since seemed to have stopped development.

Pulse provides a great web 2.0 feel as you ajax your way through the site, adding companies, projects, and managing your income.

Check out this app. After playing with it a bit I’d recommend it to any small business looking for a simple way to manage cash flow. The site mentions it’s working on future cash flow analysis, which should be very …

Web Trends and Me

web trendsIn the next year, I am looking to be added to this great map provided by Information Architects Japan. It’s a great look at the major players in the WWW and where they are going. I’m just blown away by the organization and detail it provides. I can’t wait to continue to see the progress of the internet mapped as web 2.0 continues to grow, develop, and evolve.…

Startup Weekend Came and Past

With hundreds of posts coming out of a first-time event in Boulder, ColorVosnap logoado, Startup Weekend is officially over. With 72 participants, the event invited people to come together for a free weekend with the simple goal of creating and launching an entire business operation in the course of a weekend. By the end of the Friday night, the final product was chosen and named Vosnap.

Though currently not live (one of the major disappoints coming out of the weekend), Vosnap promises to be the next way to make decisions online. Users can post polls to their friends and people can reply via email or SMS, with results being sent instantly through the same modules. The idea for Startup Weekend created by: Andrew Hyde

Have a Startup?

I’m interested in talking to startups and those working on side projects which they’d like to see highlighted. If you have a cool web technology, site, or just idea that you’d like to share and get out there, let me know. I’m going to start doing some posts on upcoming products and companies out in the world. Just send me an email at: matthewvb [at] gmail.com…