The ten companies from across the country were selected through a rigorous, three-stage application process from more than 125 applicants. 

This year’s cohort includes established companies with existing revenue and promising teams with disruptive pre-revenue concepts. A hefty Tennessee delegation includes Nashville, Knoxville and Chattanooga entrepreneurs who will be joined by teams from as far away as Palo Alto, CA and Boston, MA. Our COO, David Ledgerwood, described some other differentiators for the cohort.

“When you look at the roster this is a really exciting group. We’ve got an age range of close to 25 years. We’ve got international schooling and experience. And, as a Jumpstart first, we’ve got three woman co-founders so we’re all excited about that.”

The 2013 Jumpstart Foundry Cohort includes:

• eVisit – a secure and convenient mobile platform to facilitate communications between primary care providers and patients
• Chalky – an e-learning video platform where experts can earn money through remote coaching and teaching
• Gun.io – an exclusive Elance-like marketplace to connect with the best-of-the-best open stack developers
• InvisionHeart – a secure mobile platform for emergency responders to communicate critical medical statistics to doctors during emergencies
• LoadTag – a SaaS mobile platform for trucking and freight companies
• MyMedMatch – a service to match underutilized specialized rehab equipment to patients who need it
• NewsBreak Media Networks – video-based advertising, interaction and promotion platform for gas stations and convenience store networks
• Poliana – an online matching service for political-based social networking and advocacy
• Rocket Link Mobile – a platform for SMS-based text ads that pay users to sharing them
• Zingfin – a financial services SaaS platform that facilitates ETF analysis

Vic Gatto, our Managing Director said, “We have a lot of respect for companies that can make it through the grueling application and interview process. That’s already an accomplishment. Now the real work begins where we rank the companies weekly and the best, most disruptive, business models rise to the top. I’m really proud of what the Jumpstart Foundry alumni have done so far and I look forward to adding this cohort’s accomplishments to the list.”

Supporting this effort are 125 of Nashville’s best entrepreneurial mentors and a full time staff. Jumpstart Foundry kicks off May 19th at the Entrepreneur Center and culminates with Investor Day presentations on August 22.

We hope you are as excited as we are! 

The post Announcing the 2013 Jumpstart Foundry Cohort appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Diego Saez-Gil, Founder of WeHostels.
• WeHostels is a mobile app that allows travelers to locate and book budget accommodations anywhere in the world. You can also use it to connect with a community of fellow travelers.
• WeHostels was selected as the most innovative travel startup by PhoCus Wright’s Travel Innovation Summit.
• Like popular guide book, LonelyPlanet, but from mobile with more up to date information.
• Between CouchSurfing and AirBNB.
• Young travels can’t afford expensive hotels. 
• Diego is originally from Argentina. 
• Six years ago he finished college and wanted to travel the world. 
• He got a scholarship to study in Barcelona, Spain. He lived there for two years and backpacked much of Europe. He saw needs on the go, he needed tips, he wanted to meet friends. 
• Diego came to New York on an internship and got involved in tech startups. 
• He moved to Chile and started a company there. He joined StartUp Chile, a government run organization that provided him with $40,000. StartUp Chile does not ask for equity, but they do insist that you give back by teaching youth about entrepreneurship and by hiring Chileans.
• They bootstrapped and then raised some funding.
• As a child, Diego was always trying to get involved in business ventures. In college he started a bakery with a friend. When he got his scholarship to Spain, he sold his ownership of the bakery.
• WeHostels was selected as 1 of 100 brilliant companies in 2012 by Entrepreneur Magazine. 
• Most of their investors traveled as backpackers when they were younger.
• What’s the best hostel in the world? 
• Diego is a founding fellow and board member of CodeRise. CodeRise is a nonprofit enterprise to empower young kids in developing nations by teaching them to code. CodeRise began in Colombia and they are trying to cover all of Latin America and then expand to Asia and Africa. 
• Find something you are really passionate about. Something you believe is a positive force in the world.
• Do something that you believe is good for the world.
• The first five or ten people you surround yourself with is crucial. Surround yourself with amazing people.
• Getting involved in the startup communities is important. That is how you meet others in the industry. Go to events and build relationships over time. You’ll find people you want to work with.
• No one on his team came from job postings, they all came from being part of the community.
• Diego recommends subscribing to Mark Suster and Fred Wilson‘s blogs. 
• Read: Start Something That Matters by Blake Mycoskie and The Founders Dilemmas by Noam Wasserman (affiliate links).
• “We are entering into a world in which communities are no longer local. We can build global communities.”
• Visit WeHostels.com to learn more. 
• Contact Diego on Twitter @dsaezgil.

The post JSF48: Interview with WeHostel’s Diego Saez-Gil appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Take a few minutes to get to know Vic. You will learn about his firm, Solidus, more about JSF, and the Nashville technology startup scene. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLkMGQyD6c

The post Vic Gatto speaks about Venture Capital, Startups, Nashville, and more appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Matt Rubinstein is Founder and CEO of LiveSchool.
• LiveSchool provides a platform for teachers to track and improve school culture, specifically student behavior.
• “When teachers and schools can get control of student’s behavior and create a great positive learning environment, scores go up, kids are happier, teachers stay in the profession longer, and schools are more successful.”
• Matt was a teacher at a charter school in Nashville. He also managed the data system at the school. They used the “pay check” system where students got rewarded for good behavior, but it was too much work for the teachers. This experience inspired LiveSchool.
• In middle school Matt coded a program for people to dial in (Voice XML) and enter a user ID to make unlimited long distance calls. 
• LiveSchool has been around for two years. First year he and his brother co-founded. They recently raised a Series A Round, so the second year has been about growth.
• The biggest challenge was balancing raising capital and building the business. The only way is to have an awesome team in place.
• He found his employees through mutual friends in Nashville. He also used Craigslist to find talent.
• Constantly keeping your ear to the ground is key to finding great employees.
• One thing he wishes he had done better is to get a good securities lawyer sooner. 
• Matt recommends you read Gary Blank’s The Four Steps to the Epiphany: Successful Strategies for Products that Win. 
• Matt is a self-proclaimed John Dewey nerd. Any entrepreneurs in the ed tech space should read Experience And Education.
• “I really don’t put stock in the notion that teachers will be replaced by algorithms.”
• “The role of technology has always been and will always be to enhance what people can do. The really exciting disruptive technologies are going to be ones that help teachers get new access to information and tools to apply their creativity and energy in new ways.”
• Contact Matt @lsimatt or email matt at liveschoolinc dot com (don’t forget to recommend some blogs for him.) 

Are you a proven founder or co-founder? We would love to speak with you about being a guest on the show. Please email Dave at dave @ jumpstartfoundry dot com for details. Thanks.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher. Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF47: Interview with LiveSchools’ Matthew Rubinstein appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

We are excited to write that 2012 Jumpstart Foundry cohort graduate, Evermind, will kick this program off. In partnership with RechargeCar Inc., Evermind will provide developers for the Hertz Connected Vehicle and Mobility Hackathon from April 19th – 20th. What a fun way to start their Spring Residency in Silicon Valley!

Learn more and follow the news from our sister site, Southern Alpha.

The post Evermind Kickstarts Silicon Valley Residency with Hackathon Role appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

For entrepreneurs, success comes in many forms. Financial rewards are obvious, but how about ones that effect our lives or the lives of people we care about?

We asked our Facebook and Twitter friends what they consider success is as an entrepreneur, here is what they said.

How Do You Define Success?

Unreasonable focus on a compelling vision, achieving what you envisioned, and experiencing a deep sense of fulfillment. - Jonathan Harris

Understanding your purpose, realizing your potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others. - Bryan Clayton

Changing just one person’s quality of life who suffers from diabetes. Repeated as often as possible. - Jason Myers

Learning to think out the box and maturing in your fiancial goals. - Prince Calvin

Having the guts to ‘try’ and the will to ‘pull it off’. - Matt Billingslea

Starting. - Kevin Kazlauskas

Qualifying for self employment tax, haha. - Andy Chick

How do you determine success? Please leave a comment below. 

The post How Do You Define Success? appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Honorees were selected for their contributions to Nashville’s community and health care industry by a panel of judges. On May 23rd, honorees will be recognized during an awards luncheon at Renaissance Hotel, and in a special publication.

Mark Harris was selected in the Health Care Entrepreneur category along with Christina Cook, Jim Anderson, and Michael Brody-Waite, who has been a guest on our radio show.

Congratulations to all of the honorees in their respective categories.

Speaking of health care heroes, did you know our MedSolutions Innovation Challenge closes this Friday (April 12th). This is your final chance to apply to take your healthcare startup idea to the next level.

Learn more and find out what’s in store for our winning applicant now.

The post Health Care Heroes appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Jon Ferrara is Founder and CEO of Nimble.  
• Nimble is your professional relationship dashboard. Nimble helps you to focus and find the right person at the right time and help you connect effectively. 
• Jon was executive VP and Co-founder of Goldmine for 11 years. 
• Goldmine pioneered the CRM and salesforce space. They were around before Outlook. 
• Started in 1990, Goldmine, began in an apartment with $5,000, receiving over 2 million users worldwide by 1999. 
• Jon shares his thoughts about social, “We have to communicate with our customers on whatever channels are most effective for THEM”
• Great business advice from UCLA coach John Wooden.
• Jon has been an entrepreneur all his life. He wasn’t given a lot, he had to earn it and make it happen.
• At an early age he learned to trade and barter to get G.I. Joes.
• He was inspired by his father and uncle, both successful entrepreneurs. 
• “The best products come from your needs, because you are passionate about it and understand the problem.”
• Jon’s 5 E’s in Social Business: Educate, Enchant, Engage, Embrace, Empower.
• Learn how to find A-level employees.
• Tips:
• Clarity of purpose is the most important thing. 
• You need to address large markets that will have rapid growth.
• Find rich customers who can move fast and pay a premium for what you are offering. 
• You should create a simple product that has a single value proposition.
• Pick that one thing that is of burning importance to your customers, and then delight them with a really compelling solution.
• Think outside the box!
• The core team must be A-level people who will attract A-level people after them.
• Execute with stealth and speed.
• Be focused on being frugal.
• Jon recommends these books: Think and Grow Rich and The New Rules of PR and Marketing.
• He subscribes to the following blogs:  ForEntrepreneurs.com, AVC.com, Both Sides of the Table, Feld Thoughts.
• Follow @jon_ferrara on Twitter.
• SPECIAL OFFER: Free 60 Day Trial of Nimble! Email info@nimble.com and mention “Jumpstart”.

Are you a proven founder or co-founder? We would love to speak with you about being a guest on the show. Please email Dave at dave @ jumpstartfoundry dot com for details. Thanks.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher. Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF46: Interview with Nimble’s Jon Ferrara appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Our media partner, SouthernAlpha, has been pumping out informative technology and start up news in the southeast and beyond for some time. SouthernAlpha’s very own Kelley Boothe did an incredible job creating this infographic about when startups pivot (or don’t). 

It is always interesting to watch new startups be born and how they pivot their business offering and product itself through development. Last year Jumpstart Foundry company, Kiwi, did just that. It is actually quite common for companies to make big changes along the way, sometimes  completely reinventing themselves. 

In our interview with Matt Mickiewicz, co-founder of Flippa, 99Designs, and SitePoint, he explains why SitePoint pivoted to become a book publisher. It’s an eye-opening interview.

We expect some of the accepted applicants for the 2013 Jumpstart Foundry program may also make a pivot. Only time will tell.

Click the infographic to see it enlarged and don’t miss Kelley’s post on SouthernAlpha. 

The post The Startup Pivot appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Interviews will take place for teams starting at rank 1 and proceeding until 10 slots have been filled. Teams that interview and are given an offer will have 24 hours to accept or reject that offer. Rejected teams or rejected offers result in an open slot being passed down the rankings until all 10 slots are filled.

Here’s a visual process flowchart that we hope makes it more clear. Comments and questions welcome.

The post Our Admission Process Explained appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

On April 5th, our selection committee will meet to discuss and review all applications. On April 8th, our finalists will be notified and we will schedule interviews. If you applied, be sure to watch your inbox (and spam, just in case) for a message from us. Offers will be made rapidly. If your startup receives an offer you’ll have 24 hours to accept or reject.

We’ll publicly announce all accepted companies for the the 2013 Jumpstart Foundry business accelerator program in our newsletter, you can subscribe here and via our media partner SouthernAlpha.

On April 16th, contracts and our orientation packages will be sent to all accepted applicants. The Jumpstart Foundry program will commence on May 19th followed by our Investor Day event on August 22nd.

The 14 weeks leading up to Investor Day will be jam packed. Expect to work 12-15 hour days for six days per week totaling 18 months of accelerated business progress in approximately three months. At the end of the program we expect you will be fully prepared to pitch your startup to hundreds of investors and VCs. We are excited to get started! 

Here is a look at what’s to come for the 2013 Jumpstart Foundry cohort:

• Week 1: Who is the Customer, and why do they need you?
• Week 2: Rapid Market Validation and Prototyping (SquaredCircle)
• Week 3: Roadmap for Customer Development
• Week 4: Being Data Driven – Know your business drivers, Stay Honest and Transparent
• Week 5: Building the A-Team – Key Roles, Advisory Boards, Mentors
• Week 6: The Customer’s Solution – Product Vision and Design Focus
• Week 7: Competition (Analysis / Five Forces) / Differentiation (Being Novel) / IP
• Week 8: Getting to the Market – Distribution, Message, Audience
• Week 9: Pricing and Packaging
• Week 10: Customer Pilots – Securing Commitments to Use / Purchase
• Week 11: Projecting Sales – Building a Pipeline
• Week 12: The Financial and Operational Plan – Assumptions, Cash Flow, P&L
• Week 13: The Art and Science Of Pitching, Angel Financing and Term Sheets
• Week 14: Refining the Message & Launch Plan

Be sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook for more news and information soon.

The post What’s Next? appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Accepted applicants to Jumpstart Foundry will receive:

• $15,000 in seed funding.
• Office space in the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
• Access to an army of knowledgeable mentors waiting to serve you. 
• Legal services.
• Arranged accommodation in Nashville. 
• Approximately $500K in benefits from the Global Accelerator Network and F6S.
• The ability to pitch hundreds of investors and VCs during our Investor Day event at the end of the program.
• 14-weeks in Nashville, TN. If you aren’t here already, you will love this town!

Apply today before you miss your chance. See what our 2012 cohort and mentors say about the program, or enjoy a look back at our 2011 teams. 

Apply now, the clock is ticking. 

The post Time is Running Out to Apply appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

I typically pull my presentation style from the Ethos3 school of thought. Visually pleasing slides, simple content matter supportive of the talking point, not duplicating it. Though I’ve been known to bring a couple of beers, stand on stage and ramble for 30 minutes.

Still, with all this experience I was nowhere prepared for the amount of effort it was going to take to give a 3 minute pitch.

Recently I co-founded a new business, Sucratrend, and as part of the experience I’ve decided to use more traditional business channels to get exposure and build a conversation around the awesome problem we are solving. This lead me to entering a pitch competition here in Nashville called Spark, put on by the local news service startup SouthernAlpha.

The event was really well done and all the pitch competitors had a great time helping each other out prior to the competition and watching each other rock it on stage.

Leading up to the event was a whole other experience– though still pleasing.

So this wasn’t the first pitch I’ve given, I come from an agency background so you’re pretty much pitching your services almost everyday. This also isn’t my first technology startup. Still, I’ve never done a pitch like this and though my process illustrates this, I believe my process was exactly what I needed to go through.

How the hell am I going to say 2198 words in 3 minutes?

I was lucky enough to know I was going to be a presenter before the competition was announced, so I started writing my pitch early. 2198 words later, I had what I thought was the perfect explanation of Sucratrend. It was elegant, full of details, passionate, everything you want in a pitch. But it was full, really full at 2198 words.

Shortly after writing the first draft, and doing a couple of revisions, I found out that the pitches were only going to be 3 minutes in length. 3 minutes! How the hell am I going to say 2198 words in 3 minutes? I wasn’t. So off to the cutting room I went.

This part of the process I am grateful for more than any other. By cutting and cutting and reworking the text, I found what was special in our new business, what was important and how to tell a tighter, more engaging story.

I went through a total of 5 versions of the pitch over a month’s time. Going from 2198 words down to 528. Simple and elegant and to the point. Just what you need when you do a 3 minute pitch.

Now to do the slides. Like I said, my slide style is very reinforcing of the talk so I ended up with 39 slides to do in 3 minutes. Yup, 39 slides in 3 minutes and they looked pretty good.

Now that I had my pitch and slides, all that was left was to practice. You see the hardest part of a 3 minute pitch beyond writing it, is giving it. You have no room for error. You have to be perfect. A stumble can cost you a a few invaluable seconds. You also have no room to “make up” time later in your pitch. Later, and you’re pitch will be over.

…a great exercise that I will recommend to anyone starting a business.

I ended up practicing this pitch probably 200+ times. I gave it over 30x just the day of the event. Still I stumbled. But overall I was happy with my presentation, and so was the crowd apparently as we won the people’s choice award, an iPad Mini.

You can see the pitch here if so interested to do so.

I learned a lot in this process. Not only about how to structure and give a good 3 minute pitch, but about my company, our place in the world and our focus. It’s was a great exercise that I will recommend to anyone starting a business.

I recently had a followup pitch which allowed me to extend from 3 minutes to 8. I wrote 1386 words for this one and had 51 slides. It was nice getting to spend more time talking about the technology and a bit more about our vision and less on the opportunity.

Compared to my previous experience this pitch was much simpler to write and even practice. To be honest, I didn’t finish writing it but 2 days before the pitch meeting and only got to practice it less than half the amount of times I did with my first pitch. All due to a stomach bug running a muck in my house.

Still, I feel I was able to process, write, learn and give a really strong pitch 10x faster this time around thanks to that 3 minute pitch experience.

Guest post written by Jacques Woodcock, CEO at Sucratrend and JSF 2013 Mentor.

The post The 3 Minute Pitch; The hardest presentation I’ve ever given. appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

UPDATE: Applications now closed. 

Do you have an innovative idea to help consumers improve their healthcare decisions? If so, turn your concept into a reality by partnering with MedSolutions and Jumpstart Foundry to take on an exciting market opportunity in our Innovation Challenge. 

We are accepting applications now until April 12th, 2013. The selected applicant will begin concurrently with the JSF 2013 cohort. Learn more about the 14-week program. 

The winning healthcare startup will receive participation to the Jumpstart Foundry summer business accelerator program. This includes:

• In-person mentoring from one of the world’s premier networks of healthcare and technology entrepreneurs.
• Office space at the state-of-the-art Nashville Entrepreneur Center.
• $15,000 cash to launch your business.
• Access to $150,000 of startup services through Jumpstart Foundry and the Global Accelerator Network, and over $300K in additional perks to founders.
• Opportunity to pitch to 400+ potential investors at Investor Day 2013.
• Ability to leverage the expertise of MedSolutions, the leader in patient-centric healthcare cost management.

For more information contact Mitch Evans mitch@jumpstartfoundry.com.

APPLY NOW for your chance to create the next great healthcare startup with Jumpstart Foundry and MedSolutions.

Can’t see the form? Apply here.

The post MedSolutions Innovation Challenge appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Each 15 minute episode is the perfect length to learn a few tips and to be energized by our guest’s success stories. Hear how MySocialCloud’s Stacey Ferreira, met Richard Branson and secured 400K in funding from him. Enjoy the story of BTM’s Faisal Hoque, who went from a ‘janitorial engineer’ to a CEO who raised 90M for his firm. Listen to how Adrian Salamunovic pivoted his small DNA print shop to the popular CanvasPop, which prints your Instagram photos directly to canvas. Don’t miss our interview with marketing expert, author and thought-leader, Seth Godin. 

Seeking Founders 

Jumpstart Radio is seeking new guests for the show. We record our speedy interviews via Skype in audio format. Are you a founder? Do you know one? Contact Dave at jumpstartfoundry dot com and be a guest on the show. We want to hear and share YOUR story of success to inspire fellow and future entrepreneurs. 

Never Miss an Episode

You can easily subscribe to Jumpstart Radio in iTunes or Stitcher. Please leave a rating and comment on the show if you enjoy it. 

The post Jumpstart Radio is Seeking Guests appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Our partnership offers much more than prime office space. nestGSV’s staff will facilitate the first 30 days of each company’s stay via a guided process that will make warm introductions to entrepreneurs, angels and VCs, corporate, tech and strategic partners who can help the companies get off to a fast start. Jumpstart companies will then spend the next two months following up and developing key relationships.

Hurry…

We anticipate less than 5% of applicants will be selected to join Jumpstart Foundry this year. If you are serious about launching your start-up, now is the time to apply. 

Download the press release for more details about our partnership. 

The post Want to Spend Twelve Weeks in Silicon Valley? appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Watch the video. Do you have what it takes? Join us this summer. Apply to Jumpstart Foundry before April 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zq4_Uf1jQE8

The post Entrepreneurs: Breakdowns and Breakthroughs appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Matt Mickiewicz is Co-Founder of Flippa.com, a market place for buying and selling websites and their assets.
• Flippa was launched in June, 2009 and has sold over 90 million websites and web assets to date. 
• In 2008, Matt co-founded 99 Designs, which has received 35 million in funding.
• Matt was recently selected by Forbes in their 30 Under 30 Technology feature.
• In 1998 at 14 years old, he stumbled upon entrepreneurship by accident with his site, webmaster-resources.com. He used it to compile all of the resources he found on webmaster tools and tips. The site became a popular resource for web developers. 
• When he was 15 (or 16) he had FedEx arriving at his door daily with packages for him to review. 
• Feeling overwhelmed, he reached out to Mark Harbottle, who ended up joining Matt in 1999. Together they relaunced Webmaster Resources as SitePoint.
• The dot com bubble burst caused Matt and Mark to pivot SitePoint, shifting their business to book publishing. It was SitePoint’s community who inspired Flippa.com.
• Matt recommends reading books, On Innovation and Entrepreneurship by Peter F. Drucker, and The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding by Al and Laura Ries. 
• He also recommends subscribing to HackerNews, TechCrunch, and follow Steve Blank and Eric Ries. 
• Matt is currently thinking of ways to disrupt the recruitment industry. I expect this is not the last you will hear of Matt! 
• Contact him at matt AT flippa DOT com.

Photo by: Tom Hawkins

Are you a proven founder or co-founder? We would love to speak with you about being a guest on the show. Please email Dave at dave @ jumpstartfoundry dot com for details. Thanks.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF45: Interview with Flippa’s Matt Mickiewicz appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Alumni standouts include Splitsecnd which recently launched its “plug-in crash detection device that calls for help to protect your family on the road,” Evermind with its consumer-directed “Ambient Assisted Living System,” and NextGxDx’s “comprehensive online marketplace for genetic testing.” Together the companies have raised close to $5 million in funding.

On average, each of the ten alumni companies has raised $800,000 in follow-on funding since Jumpstart Foundry began in 2010. We take this as a great indicator to the quality and success of our business accelerator program for startups. 

We asked JSF Managing Director, Marcus Whitney, to add his thoughts.

“Certain businesses respond well to scaling fast using investment and we’ve had success with that model. Still, the story would be incomplete if we didn’t mention the companies that have successfully launched and sustained operations by bootstrapping. Lean startup and bootstrapping methodologies factor significantly into the Jumpstart Foundry curriculum. There are several roads to success and we embrace that.”

We are gearing up for an incredible year of success, training, pitching, mentoring, and investment. We anticipate fewer than 5% of applicants will be selected for our program this year. It is key to get your application in as early as possible. Apply today.

Photo from Flickr by joeltelling

The post Our Alumni Have Raised Over $8 Million appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Leave a comment with a tip of your own. Let’s see how many we can come up with together.

The post Tips for Pitching Investors appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Here is a question we received from Ed Dodds: 

Just curious: Do VCs have a dog in the fight re: backed vs. fiat currencies?

Vic Gatto replied:

VCs are attempting to provide capital and strategic advice in building high growth entrepreneurial companies. These efforts create large amounts of shareholder value -when they work; and large smoking holes in the ground when they do not. In my experience, it is more about the team and market opportunity than the style of currency. Thus – we really do not have a dog in the fight.

As far as my unprofessional, personal opinion – I think backed currencies are the only manner in which politicians can be reasonably controlled in the long run. Unfortunately – I also hold the opinion that these days are gone and fiat currencies have already taken over the globe… Sad but true.

Do you have a question? Submit it here. 

Photo from Flickr by: ARCHIVED Department of Energy and Climate Change

The post Ask the VC: Backed Vs. Fiat Currencies appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Last night we enjoyed our second annual, Founder Speed Dating event. The fast-paced gathering was held at the Entrepreneur Center, where a great mix of developers and business people bounced ideas off one another and got better acquainted. 

The energy of the room was contagious as each person got to spend a short time getting introduced and hearing ideas. We followed the event with some networking over pizza and beverages. It was a great way to wrap up the evening. 

We hope the evening was a big success for you. You can check out the photos and be sure to tag your friends on our Facebook page. 

Now is the time to complete your early application for our summer business accelerator program. You can learn more and apply here. We hope to see you with us this summer.

Heard some great ideas; met even better #innovators at the @entrecenter last night.Great event @jsfoundry.

— Doug Powers (@dougkpowers) February 20, 2013

I met some amazing minds last night, over pizza & drinks we took ideas and gave them life… Thanks @jsfoundry for the opportunity

— Adedotun Olusoga (@dotunolusoga) February 20, 2013

The post Founder Speed Dating a Success! appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Ask the VC

Jumpstart Foundry Managing Director, Vic Gatto, who is a partner with Venture Capital and Private Equity firm, Solidus, is here to help. Welcome to Ask the VC. Vic has offered to answer your questions on the blog. Submit your question today, and we will share his answers here soon.

Photo from Flickr by: ARCHIVED Department of Energy and Climate Change

The post Ask the VC appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Bob Eskew, CEO of Automated Systems Design (ASD).
• ASD is a five-time Inc. 5000 national technology company.
• 25 year-old, ASD,  is a company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, and project management of Information Transport Systems. All the wired and wireless connections in commercial enterprises. They are the “plumbers of the Internet.”
• Bob worked an assembly line worker at General Motors before becoming an entrepreneur.
• In 1986 he was asked to build a computer cable and sell it to a friend.
• He was inspired to become an entrepreneur after reading The Magic of Thinking Big by Dr. Dennis Schwartz. 
• Think and Grow Rich and How to Win Friends and Influence People also influenced him.
  
• “The IRS helped me get into business, and they’ve been trying to get me out ever since.”
• He was inspired by his Mom, who gave him two words of advice: “Gumption” and “Initiative”. He later added a third word “Enterprise.”
• Tips:
  • Entrepreneurs all have a belief in what they are doing. To be successful you have to truly believe in what you are doing.
  • Revenue is the risk. The profit is the reward. The closer you can get those numbers the less risk you have.
  • You have to be able to take chances and to go with your gut feeling. Learn to listen to your inner self.
• Contact Bob Eskew by email: beskew at  asd-usa dot com.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF44: Interview with ASD’s Bob Eskew appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

From the original post…

• Stay Alive. Say your are 30 now. You got about 60 years, say it takes 3 month to do a big project. That’s 60 X 12mos /3 = 240 SHOTS at success! As long as you are alive anything is still possible.
• Lower your expectations. Michael Jordan missed over 300 important shots. 99.99% of success took TIME.
• Stronger. You are stronger than you think.
• Persist. Stuck in the weeds? ” try lots of different things.” – Paul Graham Fake it. Fake success before it is real.
• Don’t compare. Careful. This can kill you. Don’t compare yourself to people who already succeeded. They have their own story. You don’t really know that story.
• The dip. Right before success you will face the worst.

The post How To Never Give Up On Becoming an Entrepreneur appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Join us for this rapid, speed dating style networking event. You will spend a few minutes with each person in attendance to find a match. We hope you will come away with new relationships and business opportunities.

Last year over eighty people attended our first Founder Speed Dating event. The feedback was so good that we are doing it again. 

“My head is exploding with ideas.”
“Learned about 100 ideas, liked them all!”
“Met a lot of people and got connected.”
“A lot of good ideas, it’s fantastic.”
“It helped me vet out a lot of my ideas.” 
“Being able to bring entrepreneurs and developers together… this was a great event.”

Now is the time to meet your co-founder and get your application in to join us this summer for our fourteen week business accelerator program. 

Be sure to RSVP to this free event. Tickets are limited and will be available on a first come first serve basis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2V8JmLb6bY

The post You are Invited to Founder Speed Dating appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Find a passionate friend that can challenge you and compliment you in same setting! - Craig Kinley
• Ask. - Kevin Cullis
• I guess in some circumstances entrepreneurs reach a level of self awareness that it may take a different skill set or simply more than one person to bring the idea to life. Then they put a bplan with a 5 yr pro forma together to show the ROI for X% ownership for the co-founder candidates. Afterwards, they start asking around. - Eli Martorana
• Take a business partner compatibility test – there are several out there. - Mariecor Ruediger
• $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ - Chris Allen
• Use a headhunter. - Chris SpinMan Spintzyk
• Ely Michael Beckman recommended cofounderlab.com founder2b.com. 

Kumarovski Thangudic pointed out, “There is no simple answer to this question.” I believe these ideas are a good starting point though.

What are other ways you can think of to find a co-founder?  Please leave a comment below or join the conversation on Facebook.

Photo from Flickr by: dunkr

The post How to Find a Co-Founder appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

A recent blog post by my friend, Suzan Murphy, inspired me to consider how improv can be used in start-ups. I recommend you take a moment to visit her site to read, “How Improv Can Help You Achieve Your Goals“.

The following are three ways improv is related to business. Consider these three items when starting your own company.

1. Yes, And. How to accept items and keep moving ahead.

In improv acting, there is a common technique called “Yes, And”. The gist of the rule is you must accept everything your partners give you in order to make the audience believe in the scene. For example, if an actor was performing an improv scene and gave his partner on stage an (invisible) apple and said, “Here is the apple you ordered, sir.” The audience would believe that the object he was now holding was an apple. However, if he replied “No, it’s not an apple.”, it would confuse the audience (and frustrate the other actor). Instead improv actors always use the “Yes, and” rule.

Successful founders do this too. They accept the questions from investors, feedback from customers, and advice from staff. Of course you must answer honestly!

“Yes, and we plan to earn an additional $20,000 this quarter.”
“Yes, and our product will be updated to accommodate your favorite platform.”
“Yes, and we need a foosball table in the break room.”

2. Picking a great team and knowing when to pivot the scene.

In improv acting, you are only as good as your teammates. Understanding each other and the ability to read one another is crucial. It is under these circumstances that you know to continue a scene or to change the direction. For example, an audience may not be connecting with the current premise of the scene. You should sense this and change things quickly to keep their attention.

Your team members, especially your co-founders, help you determine if and when to pivot your business model to meet the needs of an unexpected customer base or technical failure beyond your control. Pivots happen.

3. When an idea doesn’t work.

“Who’s Line is it Anyway?” may fool you into thinking that every scene the improv actors perform is a winner. We forget that not all scenes make the show, the weak ones are always cut. Not every scene is going to go well. The art of improv acting teaches you when to know to pull the plug. Monty Python famously added an angry Colonel who would enter a scene to declare that it is too silly and must stop, and the scene would abruptly end.

In business, it is also important to decide when an idea is no longer working. Not all ideas will succeed, this is a fact of life. However, with a strong team of positive, creative thinkers, you have a good chance of receiving a standing ovation from your customers and investors.

Guest post written by Dave Delaney, President at Delaney Digital Marketing Consulting.

Image from Creative Expeditions.

The post Improv for Startups appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

The following are several inspiring messages we hope will leave you motivated. As they say on their site, “You really just need the reminder that…“

• it’s never the end of the world.
• failure won’t kill you.
• just make a simple product.
• perseverance is key.

Now check out this deck for more inspiration. What are your favorite inspiring quotes? 

The post Must Read Motivational Quotes for Startups appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• John Lusk, Entrepreneur, Author, CEO of Rivet & Sway. An online eyewear boutique exclusively for women.
• Author of The MouseDriver Chronicles: The True-Life Adventures of Two First-Time Entrepreneurs. Required reading in 200 colleges across the world.
• Steve Anderson from Baseline Ventures approached John with the idea of a startup in the eye wear industry.
• They discovered a problem, women were not satisfied with current online processes for purchasing glasses.
• John shares the interesting tale of how his company received the name, Rivet & Sway.
• Started working with Ernest & Young as a consultant. He got his first taste for entrepreneurship as a senior consultant for Trilogy, a software solutions company in Austin, Texas. John was excited by the energy and excitement of the young startup. He was inspired how they used their credit cards to bootstrap the company.
• John realized he wanted to be his own boss. He went to Wharton to get his MBA with the intention of staying true to entrepreneurship. Instead of taking a job, he chose to work at the Wharton Small Business Development Center to work with startups. 
• He got a holistic view of marketing from his early experiences in his career.
• Tips:
  • Make sure your passionate about your business idea. With entrepreneurship it is never all highs or lows. 
  • Find advisors. People who have failed often have the best advice. 
  • Be patient. Don’t expect things to happen over night.
  • Drop your ego and listen.
  • Once you have made the jump to entrepreneurship, enjoy the ride, regardless of the ups and downs. Treasure the experience.
• John plans to continue to be an entrepreneur and loves to teach, motivate and inspire other entrepreneurs.
• Contact him at: johnlusk at yahoo dot com, on Twitter @johnlusk, or vist johnlusk.net.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF43: Interview with Rivet & Sway’s John Lusk appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Read the full story at SouthernAlpha. 

The post JSF alumn, Jamplify, wins at Midem! appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Mr. Ledgerwood traveled to Nashville in late 2006 during a location search for his first full time startup. He immediately saw the potential of Nashville’s entrepreneurial scene, which was already developing an attractive framework for migrant startup founders and technical talent who have flocked to the city in the past six years. A technology and operations manager with experience ranging from Fortune 500 companies to garage-based startups, Mr. Ledgerwood is a solid match for Jumpstart Foundry as it seeks to grow from an annual event focus into a self-sustained, year-round business.

“Having steadily matured over the last three years, Jumpstart Foundry has positioned itself as the leading tech accelerator in the Southeast,” said Jumpstart Foundry Managing Director, Marcus Whitney, himself an accomplished Nashville entrepreneur. “We’re thrilled to advance that tradition by bringing in David Ledgerwood to run day-to-day operations. David is a true entrepreneur with a passion for founders and products; he will improve the experience for founders and mentors and the results of the JSF companies significantly.”

Mr. Ledgerwood joins Jumpstart Foundry from RANDA Solutions where he led the proposal practice for $500K+ enterprise business development contracts. He previously led several Nashville-based startups and has worked as a management and technology consultant since 2007. Prior to that he ran operations for a $10M regional news and information website and worked enterprise technology implementations for PricewaterhouseCoopers at large companies including UPS, JPMorganChase, and Aetna.

“It’s a natural and timely evolution for Jumpstart Foundry to bring in a full time operator at this stage,” said Managing Director, Vic Gatto. It’s a signal to our investors and mentors that we’re in business for the long term, and more importantly to our applicants that we’re invested in their successes as they launch, develop and fund their visions.”

Mr. Ledgerwood will finish his tenure at RANDA Solutions and make a full transition to Jumpstart Foundry by February 1, 2013 where his first order of business will be solidifying a 2013 cohort of 10 outstanding startups who will begin the program in May.

The post David Ledgerwood Joins Jumpstart Foundry as COO appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

If you are a startup looking to jumpstart your business, with sharp advice from expereinced mentors, and an opportunity to pitch to a room full of investors – this is for you!

APPLY NOW.

Courtesy of: ProfitBricks – The IaaS Company

The post Infographic: Why Now is a Good Time to Start a Startup appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Bloggers have been outlining scenarios of 1,000 early-stage companies failing in the next year due to the lack of funding. On the other hand, some investors maintain that venture capitalists will continue to fund promising opportunities regardless of how many there are; more money will enter the market to meet the larger supply of good companies.

All of this talk about the Series A crunch has highlighted one important thing to me: regardless of whether it exists or not, startup founders need to focus on driving considerable revenue with their seed round.

As a founder, it seems inherently flawed logic to think that you would raise seed money from a group of investors and build toward the goal of raising further financing. For many low overhead web 2.0 startups, it is entirely possible to achieve positive cash flow with $500,000 (the average seed round). In the case of startups with such high margins, the Series A is not the end goal; the goal is to build a sustainable business as soon as possible. The Series A represents adding fuel to an efficient engine. If a cash flow positive startup chooses to raise more money, they’re determining that the additional capital will enable them to grow more quickly and stave off competitors or new entrants.

The goal is to build a sustainable business as soon as possible.

It has been my perspective that there are two major points of risk to the business model of an early stage company. The first occurs when the company determines whether their innovative idea is something that customers will pay for. The second occurs after customers demonstrate a willingness to pay and the company then works to acquire customers and scale toward profitability. If the startup has produced something that is of little value to anyone or if the startup is addressing a market that is too small or too costly to penetrate, it will not be successul.

Over the (JSF) three month program, we gained invaluable feedback from our early customers and refined the product to ensure that it was driving real value for our clients.

Within the context of raising capital, our goal was to answer the first question around product-market fit before raising a seed round. The Jumpstart Foundry incubator program was instrumental in us achieving this goal. The team at JSF excels in business model formation. Over the three month program, we gained invaluable feedback from our early customers and refined the product to ensure that it was driving real value for our clients.

Now, the goal is to answer the second question. We are identifying distribution channels, building strategic partnerships etc.

JSF sets you up to take full advantage of your seed round. People often ask me if an incubator is worth it. It definitely depends on the incubator, but if you’re looking to differentiate yourself from all the startups out there looking for seed capital without a true business model (who will be impacted by a Series A crunch), JSF can provide huge value to your company.

Guest post written by Andy Pickens, Co-founder & CEO at Jamplify and JSF 2012 alumus. 

Photo from Flickr by DavidDMuir.

The post A Founder’s Take on the Series A Crunch appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

How do you stay out of Legal Stupidland?  Here are some of the most common legal mistakes that startups make, and how to avoid them:

No Vesting Restrictions on Founders

Let’s say you’ve assembled a great team of co-founders for your startup.  Each founder typically has the expectation that the other founders will actively work to launch and grow the company. Sometimes, though, life happens, and a founder leaves the company.  It could happen for a variety of reasons; some good (a great job opportunity), some bad (the founders no longer get along), some tragic (a founder dies, or needs to relocate to take care of a sick relative).

What happens to the departing founder’s equity?  If you haven’t specifically agreed otherwise, the answer is nothing!  Legally, he or she has the right to keep all of it.  That can create a variety of problems for the company going forward, and I know of at least two companies that eventually failed in part because of problems caused by this issue.

For that reason, we always recommend that co-founders enter into a stock restriction agreement that imposes vesting restrictions on their equity.  If a co-founder leaves, they keep what is vested and forfeit the rest.  This is very similar to the vesting restriction that startups impose on stock options or restricted stock issued to employees as incentives, and creates a strong incentive for the founders to stick with the company.  (Make sure you file an 83(b) election on the restricted stock!)

Choosing the Wrong Entity

Should you be an LLC or a corporation?  In what state should you form your entity?  These are all important questions that can have lasting consequences.  Broadly speaking, if your company is “VC or bust,” you should start off as a C-corporation and you should file in Delaware.  Most venture capital funds will not invest in LLCs, and Delaware has the most respected and widely-known body of corporate law in the U.S.  So, if you start as a Delaware corporation, you’ll already be in an investable structure right out of the gate.

On the other hand, if you are not sure if you will need to raise venture capital, we recommend starting as an LLC in your home state, and then converting later to a Delaware corporation if the need arises.  Generally, it’s much easier to convert from an LLC into a corporation than the other way around.

Not Protecting IP

Most high-growth startups these days are built on intellectual property, but many make easily-avoidable mistakes.  One of the most common is failing to take steps early enough to protect your intellectual property.  Particularly when dealing with something potentially patentable, waiting can be costly.  This is not to say you should file patents and trademark applications on anything and everything; you can easily spend tens of thousands of dollars doing that.  The key is to have a plan and know what you want to protect and when to do it.  Put another way, if you don’t make a decision, the decision might be made for you.

The other common mistake we regularly see is misunderstanding the “work made for hire” doctrine under copyright law.  It’s natural for people to believe that, when they pay for work product such as software, they will own it.  Unfortunately, under copyright law, that just isn’t the case, except for work that is done by an employee (in the strict sense) who is acting within the scope of their employment.  Most of the time, unless you have an express, written assignment of copyrights, that outside developer you just paid tens of thousands of dollars to will own the software he just developed.  And that’s in spite of what both parties may have intended all along.  So, get an assignment, and get it in writing.

Poor Contract Practices

That leads us to contracts.  For starters, we lawyers are fond of saying that if it isn’t in writing, it didn’t happen.  So, get all your deals in writing.  Second, make sure that if something is important to you, it is written into the agreement.  Do not rely on “understandings” or “relationships.”  Those things change, and a court, in a dispute, will only have that written document to rely on. Third, read carefully and apply the “law of common sense“; if something doesn’t make sense to you when you read it, or seems wrong, that’s probably because it doesn’t make sense or is wrong!

You can take that last concept even further.  For your customer agreements, keeping them simple can actually improve your sales cycle!  When a business person reads a contract that is written clearly, concisely, and in plain english, you have a greater chance of getting that contract signed without extensive legal review.  Spend some time with your lawyer and your business team to determine exactly which provisions really add value, streamline the rest, and you’ll be surprised at how much more effective it can be.

Guest post by Jumpstart Foundry mentor, Chris Sloan, Co-Chair – Emerging Companies Team at Baker Donelson.

Photo from Flickr by: Boston Public Library

The post Stay Out of Legal Stupidland appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Jack Redzenger is Co-Founder of SeatGeek, an online search engine for live event tickets. 
• Jack compares SeatGeek to Kayak, the online travel booking service. SeatGeek aggregates all tickets from multiple sources on one site. 
• He and his co-founder, Russ D’Souza, were inspired by an inefficient ticket market. As frequent live event attendees they were both frustrated with the experience of purchasing tickets online.
• The entrepreneurial bug bit him in college. He and Russ founded a furniture rental company for students seeking items for their dorms. They bootstrapped the company and sold it when they graduated. 
• Jack shares his experiences with Dreamit, a Philadelphia-based business accelerator.
• It is less difficult to become a functional web programmer than you think. Russ bought a big book on PHP to learn and immediately dove in to building prototype apps. 
• He recommends Hacker News for technology and startup related news. 
• Rather than digging through books Jack recommends reading Paul Graham’s essays.
• Get the free SeatGeak iPhone app available in the AppStore now. 
• Contact Jack on his blog www.JackG.org or Twitter @JackGretz.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF42: Interview with SeatGeek’s Jack Groetzinger appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Last year over one hundred technology oriented businesses from twenty-seven different cities and eight countries competed for the ten seats we had open. The 2012 program accelerated the growth of ten startups and built on the overall Jumpstart Foundry track record of success.

Over our first three years of the program, we have achieved a very strong 65% success rate! 

Thirteen JSF alumni have raised follow-on capital and are building operations.  These results combined with a rigorous program refined over multiple years, a deep mentor pool and affiliation with the Global Accelerator Network position JSF as one of the top accelerators in the United States.  

We have written before how our mentors are our secret sauce. It’s true. Thirty-seven percent of our mentors hold an executive position, thirty-eight percent are planning to hire at least five employees during the next calendar year, and sixty-two percent own their own businesses. You can learn more about these fine people on our mentor page. 

If you have what it takes to receive eighteen months of progress for your startup inside one intense fourteen-week experience, we are looking for you. 

The early application period has ended. However, you can still  Apply today until April 2nd.

Photo from Flickr by: @NYCphotos-flickr

The post Jumpstart Foundry Now Accepting Applications for 2013 appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

5 Essential Principles For Growing Your Small Business

1. Timing is everything. 
2. Brand, brand, brand.
3. Scale your sales.
4. Embrace technology.
5. De-stress for success. 

You can read his full article to dig deeper into each principle. I am certain you will come away with knowledgable insight to help you maintain a strong small business in 2013. Do not miss our interview with Faisal Hoque for more insight and inspiration.

If you could add a sixth principle for growing a small business what would it be? Please leave a comment below.

Photo from Flickr by: - POD -

The post 5 Essential Principles For Growing Your Small Business appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Three years ago I became a JSF mentor, and last year I took my own startup, Evermind, through the JSF program.  I’ve seen JSF from both sides.  

The program is tough, intentionally so, and by the time Gatto, Burcham, Whitney, and Rouse get through with you you’ll feel like you’ve been coached by Bobby Knight who used to train his players so hard that they looked forward to the game as a break from practicing.  

This is a good thing and I’ll tell you a story to explain why.  The story belongs to a trusted advisor of mine, who has been very successful.  As I don’t have his permission to retell it, we’ll call him “Grant.”  

When he was a young man pitching one of his first businesses, Grant landed a meeting with George Soros in NYC.  On the day of his meeting he found the right office building and entered the elevator.  As the elevator doors were about to close, another man stepped in, looked over at Grant and asked “where ya going?”  Grant explained he was going to the 17th floor to pitch his business idea to George Soros.  The man said “I’m George Soros — we’ve got 17 floors to go why don’t you pitch me right here?”  So Grant launched into it.  By the time the elevator car had reached the 17th floor, Grant was only a third of the way through his pitch.  Grant rushed to finish, but the doors opened and Soros stepped off, then leaned back in to say “That’s lovely best of luck to you” and punched the “Lobby” button. 

Think of Jumpstart Foundry as the tactical training site that will prepare you for your elevator pitch, or as Grant puts it, “It’s better to learn with people who shoot rubber bullets.”

16 Must Read Maxims for Entrepreneurs   

Now to the advice.  I offer you the following 16 maxims.  Don’t fault me for lack of originality, I’m mostly passing on what I have learned from others that has worked for me.                   

1. Don’t burn your bridges.  Former employers, coworkers, and business associates are among your best potential allies when starting a new business.  Keep things in perspective and always be gracious.

2. Be patient.  It may take you a couple of tries to find the right idea and pull together the right team.

3. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.  And certainly don’t argue over unlaid eggs.      

4. Be charitable in how you attribute motives to others.  Very few people try to subvert others maliciously.  Most act out of a sense of what they think is just and fair.  Look at it from their perspective before you decide how to react.

5. Never send a business email that you’d be ashamed for your mother to read.  Unless your mother is Ma Barker in which case you’re probably in a different line of business and none of my advice applies to you.

6. Embrace complexity.  Every time you think there are only two courses of action, you’re probably ignoring five alternatives in between.  Beware dichotomies and either/or logic.  

7. There is as much art in soliciting and receiving advice as in giving it.  Learn how to take advice.

8. Practice telling stories.  Our brains are wired to understand stories.  That means characters, a plot, conflict, and resolution.  Develop a handful of stories, each of which has a different user of your product/service as the main character.  Answer arguments with stories.    

9. When you’re talking to investors who know your field, you should very quickly explain to them why your product/service is different from others.  You don’t want them  thinking “But what about….”  
 
10. If you’re young, everyone knows you don’t know what you’re doing, so don’t try to convince them otherwise.  Convince them instead that you will stick with it no matter what.  

11. If you’re middle-age, everyone knows that you might retreat back into a cushy corporate job.  Convince them that you will stick with it no matter what. 

12. It’s important to argue fairly.  No personal attacks.  And don’t play the game my friend calls “Louder-Faster,” which is a game where in order to win an argument you try to talk louder and/or faster than the other guy.    

13. Protect yourself against bad stress and anxiety.  Just like a professional athlete has to avoid physical injury, as an entrepreneur you need to avoid mental distress.  Eat healthy food, drink moderately, learn to live with disappointments, and don’t hold grudges.

14. Some things are worth arguing about, and some aren’t — learn the difference.  If you are always ready for an argument then people will think that everything is of equal importance to you, which is to say that nothing is important to you.      

15. I learned from my mother that if you’re having trouble getting someone to do something you should bug them in a very innocuous but persistent way.  This is a Southern form of Chinese Water Torture and it works.  

16. Make designers and engineers — naturally suspicious of each other — sit in detention hall together on a Saturday until they make out and one wears the other’s earring. (Just like in my favorite John Hughes’ film.)  

Get ready to apply for 2013  – the Mayans have given permission for you to make a fresh start.  JSF 2013 will be great!    

Don’t miss our interview with Dave from last summer to learn more about his experiences with Jumpstart Foundry.

Photo from Flickr by: David King

The post Everything I Always Wanted to Say to New Entrepreneurs But No One Ever Asked — Until Now appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Stacey Ferreira is co-founder of MySocialCloud.com
• MySocialCloud allows people to easily manage all of their online user names and passwords, users can log in from one place. MySocialCloud also stores bookmarks and text-based documents to share with friends and colleagues.
• How Stacey and her co-founder and brother, Scott met Richard Branson. The meeting resulted in $400,000 in funding. 
• Her family provided mentorship and business feedback.
• Stacey and Scott discovered entrepreneurship when they ran an imaginary restaurant as kids. 
• Be sure to take advantage of every opportunity that is given to you. 
• Review and reconnect with people on LinkedIn who you meet to grow your network.
• Stacey reads Fred Wilson’s AVC blog for startup and funding advice.
• She recommends the books, Never Eat Alone by Keith Ferrazzi and Grouped by Paul Adams.
• Contact @staceyfiera on Twitter or visit mysocialcloud./stacey to learn more about Stacey and MySocialCloud.com. 

 Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post JSF41: Interview with MySocialCloud’s Stacey Ferreira appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2012/12/18/allos-ventures-seeks-to-invest-in.html

The post Allos Ventures seeks to invest in Nashville startups appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

The end of the final quarter of 2012 is quickly approaching. It has been an exciting year for Jumpstart Foundry, it’s cohort, mentors, and investors.

It won’t be long before we share announcements and get the ball rolling again for our 2013 program. For now, please enjoy five of our most popular blog posts from 2012.

1. Pivots Happen
2. Why Nashville?
3. Our Secret Sauce
4. 9 Tips to Write Sales Copy That Makes Money
5. Looking Back on this 14 Week Experience

We also encourage you to have a listen to our podcast, Jumpstart Radio, for interviews with many of today’s best entrepreneurs. Be sure to also keep track of the 2012 graduating class to watch their progress throughout the new year. 

On behalf of everyone at Jumpstart Foundry, we wish you a safe and happy holiday season with your friends and families. Thank you for your continued support. We will see you in 2013.

Photo from Flickr by: nelsocs

The post Happy Holidays appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Andrew Eye, CEO & Founder, TaskBox, an advanced mobile email client.
• TaskBox is an iPhone app that will process email faster and make important messages into tasks.
• 20% of people admit to using their inbox as a To Do list.
• People mark things as unread to keep them highlighted in their inbox.
• Andrew used at least 50 task managers, but found people still emailed him what they needed to do. 
• Started his first company in 2006 on the side, doing private consulting. It became Bodkin Consulting Group in 2006.
• His second company, Ciphent (acquired by Accuvant) was selected as #16 on Inc 500 Fastest Growing Business List. Everybody understood and this was a stamp of approval.
• Andrew swears by how open other entrepreneurs and executives are on LinkedIn. He uses it to reach out to people to let them know how much he admires them. He requests 10 minutes of their time to connect with them over a coffee or by phone.
• When you reach out, be sure you have a couple of clear, concise, bullet points. Respect the person’s time.
• Recommends reading: HackerNews, VentureBeat, TechCrunch.
• He tries to find less popular folks in the venture or tech industries to learn from. He uses Zite to indetify and subscribe these blogs.
• Andrew recommends books: Lean Startup, Good to Great, Behind the Cloud.
• TaskBox donates 1% of equity to charity.
• Contact Andrew: Andrew.Eye@taskbox.co.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 40: Andrew Eye appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Ryan Ozonian, Founder and President of Mention Mobile.
• Mention Mobile are creators of social mobile games. Launched in mid 2010.
• Most popular game is Trivia Friends, a Facebook trivia game that uses your friend’s information.
• Co-Founder Kory Jones, provided seed funding for Mention Mobile.
• Trivia Friends got a lot of attention. 
• Building mobile games is not cheap. 
• Ryan had heard from a friend that Mark Cuban was interested in investing in mobile games.
• June 2011, Ryan read Cuban’s blog post about wanting to invest in social games.
• Ryan emailed Cuban with his pitch deck. 
• 2 months later they received $250,000 funding from Cuban.
• Since then they have raised two more rounds. 
• His father was his mentor, even though he was in a different industry.
• People like Mark Cuban inspire Ryan.
• Young people are afraid to go out and just talk to anyone.
• People do know people. There is always someone connected to someone who can help you.
• Execute on some part of your concept before going after money. 
• Prove people will like it, before seeking investment.
• Ryan recommends: Inside Mobile Apps, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, Inc.com.
• Their latest game, Word Derby comes out November 29th. 
• Contact Ryan: ryan at mentionmobile dot com.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

 Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 39: Ryan Ozonian appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

In the last 20 years over 600 companies have relocated here. Forbes chose Nashville has the eighth best city for growth in the US. Forbes also ranked Nashville as the fifth most affordable city in the US. And then there’s Rolling Stone magazine, who said that we have the best music scene in the US. Read more reasons why we love Nashville. 

Now check out 10 reasons why you should consider Nashville for your startup.

The post 10 Reasons to Startup in Nashville (Infographic) appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Watch her inspiring presentation, and consider how you can use her examples to tap into your imagination to launch or grow your business.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY0Pf_pfqCI

The post 4 Lessons in Creativity appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Adrian Salamunovic is co-founder of CanvasPop.
• 3 year old, CanvasPop is the leading photo to canvas photo printing company. 
• CanvasPop was inspired by DNA11, a company that prints your DNA sample and prints them to a piece of art. Salamunovic grew DNA11 into a million dollaw company in a little over a year.
• They wanted to expand upon DNA11 to something more and reach more people.
• Nazim Ahmed is Adrian’s business partner and co-founder of CanvasPop.
• “If no one else is doing it, it may be a bad idea.”
• DNA11 got press from Wired and Playboy. Featued on CSI New York.
• “Take something you really love and find the bigger market opportunity.”
• They knew in 2009/2010 that mobile photography was going to be huge.
• CanvasPop has had 80% growth year over year.
• Offices in Las Vegas and Ottawa, Canada.
• Adrian was always trying to make a buck as a kid. He sold Lego and had newspaper routes. He has never had a “real” job. He sold his first company at 21, when he graduated from college.
• It is so important to find a mentor. The best mentors often find you.
• Cameron Herald, COO of 1-800-Got-Junk, was a hired consultant and became a mentor. Double Double is a great book.
• “We are in a social bubble. There is no doubt about it.”
• “Instagram has already been created, you are not going to create the next Instagram.”
• “Try to solve real world problems, real-world pain, real world solutions.”
• Think “Wouldn’t it be cool if…..?”
• Create your own mini Kickstarter. Show your product to 10 or 20 people, if absolutely not one of those 20 people show interest, you probably don’t have a business idea. Showing your product and getting feedback as early as possible is critical.
• Blogs Adrian recommends: Co. Create, Mashable, TechCrunch, AVC.com, Feld’s Thoughts, BetaShop
• Books Adrian recommends: E-Myth and Purple Cow.
• Contact Adrian @king_of_canvas or visit CanvasPop.com

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

 Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 38 – Adrian Salamunovic appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Understand the significant importance of “Plan B”. – Craig Kinley 


• The way you set out to make money rarely ends up being the way you ultimately make money. – Bill Butler


• Surround yourself by experienced people who are supportive but challenge your perspective. Your ideas and execution of those ideas will be magnified as a result of that. – William Bridges.
• 

2 words to thoroughly understand….large margin or transaction volume. – Robbie Morris.
• It is okay to fail as long as you get up, dust off, and keep going. – Clifton Wilson.


• GSD – Gavin Ivester.
• 
You reap what you sow. – The Salvation Army Berry Street Worship Center in Nashville, TN.
• 

Do customer discovery BEFORE you build your great idea. Just because you think it’s awesome does not mean there is a market for it. – Michael Hoffmeyer Sr.
• 

Follow your gut and your guides. – Dez Stephens.



The conversation continues on our Facebook page. I encourage you to leave your “1 Thing” in the thread on Facebook.

Do you agree with the others? Leave a comment and let’s share more advice for young (and older) entrepreneurs. I am excited to see what you advice you share. 

Photo from Flickr by: chrisinplymouth

The post The 1 thing every entrepreneur needs to know appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8I0RVQXoo30

Anything is possible in entrepreneurship. Are you ready?

The post Anything is possible appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jumpstart Episode 37: Faisal Hoque

• Faisal Hoque is Founder and CEO at BTM Corporation.
• Ziff-Davis Enterprise named him one of the Top 100 Most Influential People in Technology.
• BTM is a software solution and research company, launched in 2000.
• Faisal began his career in the United States as a “janitorial engineer”, he went on to raise 95 million in funding. His story will inspire you!
• Like Mark Cuban and Steve Jobs, he was fired by the board of his own company. 
• Most tech entrepreneurs focus on building the right solution to solve major problems, the financial success comes along later.
• Tech entrepreneurs are long term thinkers, where institutional investors are short term thinkers.
• You must build the right solution that your customers will benefit from.
• Faisal wrote several books on technology management and innovation.
• His latest book, The Power of Convergence, is about how technology has changed our business world, and how best to manage next generation companies.
• He sold stereo equipment at 14 years old. He always wanted to be in an entrepreneurial environment. 
• Inspiration comes from many places. He didn’t have one mentor, but many people came into his life just as he needed them.
• Faisal shares three tips for entrepreneurs:

1. Everybody’s journey is very unique. You have to have a vision that is grounded by solving a true problem. If you don’t solve a true problem, it’s hard to inspire other people around it.
2. Create the right environment with the right people and customer around you.
3. Plan for the long haul. Make sure that whatever you do can be repeated.

• Follow @faisal_hoque on Twitter and visit faisalhoque.com. Find more information at BTM Corporation and check out the free BTM Institute too.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

 Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 37: Faisal Hoque appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Early in the life of your startup a key decision you’ll have to make will be the choice of a technology stack. A facet of this choice will be choosing whether to build everything yourself or integrate with pre-existing components. For these pre-existing components there are closed source, proprietary options as well as those of the open source variety.

There is obviously a spectrum here as you don’t have to be 100% open or 100% closed. I’d like for you to consider being as open as possible, keeping only core IP private where it is strategic to do so, and use as much open source as possible. There are many reasons for this open source strategy.

Product Focus

As a new startup one of your most precious resources is time. As much of your time as possible should be focused on product. Whether that be marketing, customer development, or coding, if what you are doing is not moving the product forward it is waste.

Waste is necessary. You have to keep your books. You have to setup a necessary legal structure. There are always some bits of infrastructure you must code. However, you should seek to minimize these activities whenever you can to free more time to push your product forward.

One way we have done this at Eldarion is to use existing open source components for infrastructure (user registration, authentication, password resets, email confirmations, gamification features, referral systems, etc). If the components didn’t exist or failed to work like we wanted, we built them. Then, the next client (or our own site) that had a similar need had a simple plug and play solution available. This has yielded more and more time for focusing on core value rather than reinventing the same tired wheel.

Cost

Conserving cash is a necessary skill to develop for any business, but it is especially important for a startup. If you can accomplish a lot with a little (both in man-hours as well as capital expenses) you will give yourself a better chance at an “investable story”. You need to be able to generate revenue of course but the lower your costs, the better your margins will be.

By using open source software you are free to make good technology decisions rather than burdened by the restrictions of affordability. As a developer in the age of GitHub your options for open source packages are extensive.

Quality

I have generally found higher code quality that is open source than that of closed source. This is especially true the more popular the project. There seems to be extra care given to quality when code is public rather than where no one will see it and deadlines trump all long term goals such as maintainability and readability. The more popular the component the more it’s getting exercised in different scenarios by different people. This means bugs are found faster. Since its open source it’s easy, if not customary, to submit a patch or pull request when reporting the bug.

Simplicity

When you buy licenses to proprietary software you need to track and audit your compliance to the terms of these licenses. The more software you purchase the more you have to maintain. It can create additional due diligence issues upon potential investment or acquisition.

It must be noted that you still need to pay attention to open source licenses. Some are worse than others. For instance, I normally shy away from anything that is not BSD or MIT. I generally run from GPL. The reasons why are beyond the scope of this post, but hit me up online if you want to discuss.

Community

Community is a powerful force that should not be discounted. Every open source community is different but in my experience, I have grown the most as an engineer through my involvement in subsets of the Python and Django communities.

In getting involved in Boto and Pinax and writing open source code in various projects in these communities, I got amazing feedback from experts. This was much better than learning from a book or huddled in a cubicle all in my own.

When there were issues that I faced in production or emergency development, I didn’t have to get a support request into an Oracle or Microsoft and pay through the nose, I was able to hop on a mailing list, IRC channel, or Twitter and was able to find incredible help from great people volunteering their time and expertise. This is invaluable to you as a young starter.

Summary

You are going to learn more, grow faster, and often find better support if you leverage open source. The parts of your system that come from open source are likely to be of higher quality and you will have better access to updates. There may be legitimate reasons for not choosing open source. However, you owe it to yourself and your investors (current or future) to consider open source options first.

Photo from Flickr by: Benjamin Gray

The post 5 Reasons to Consider Open Source appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

The post Entrepreneurship: Is It Worth the Risk? appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

If a fire wiped out your office tomorrow, how fast could your business be up and running? This is the type of question a sound business continuity plan can help answer. While it may seem like only large companies need a business continuity professional as part of their permanent staff, the fact is that businesses of all sizes are equally vulnerable to interruptions.

Interruptions to normal business operations can take many forms, from criminal acts to changes in company structure to natural disasters. Having a plan in place to meet these challenges gives you an advantage over less prepared competitors, and it also demonstrates to investors that your business can maintain cash flow under less than ideal conditions. Below are a few questions to orient your thinking towards shoring up the resiliency of your business.

Which assets are most critical to the operation of the business?

This includes not only physical assets such as computers, backup servers, and office space, but also personnel assets. If your business revolves around coding, your programming staff is going to be a critical asset to your company’s operations.

What risks threaten these assets?

Risk can take many forms. There are the obvious things that come to mind, like server failure or the floods that devastated Nashville in 2010. However, there may be different threats unique to your business that can be just as harmful. For example, if you do business online, it’s likely that protecting customer payment information is critical to the operation of your business.

How would these threats affect the company if they were to occur?

Knowing the risks is not enough; you must also determine exactly what it would mean for your business if any of those threats came to pass. On the one hand, losing server functionality might not mean much if your data is backed up in cloud storage. Conversely, in the example above, losing customers’ credit card information to hackers might mean losing your existing customer base altogether and exposing you to regulatory fines & penalties.

Of these identified risks, which are high probability and high impact?

Risk is typically defined as having two components: the probability of occurrence, and the impact of its occurrence. An effective business continuity plan takes steps to address both of these riskfactors. High probability events, as you might guess, are ones for which you should definitely prepare your company. High impact events, even if not high probability, also require consideration because of their likelihood to stop your business in its tracks.

Are there strategies that would help me mitigate the effects of these risks?

Once you’ve determined which risks and assets require your attention, focus on identifying ways to lessen your company’s exposure. Doing so not only gives you peace of mind, but also shows current and future investors that your business is on a secure path. Consider building your business continuity plan with a certified expert who can give objective, structured guidance to the above questions. Take the time to build a plan to keep your business moving when the unexpected happens, you’ll be glad you did!

For more information on what to look for in a business continuity plan, visit www.survivalpartners.biz.

Photo by Stuart Pilbrow

The post 5 Steps to Protect Your Growing Business from the Unexpected appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jumpstart Episode 36: Suzanne Rowland

• Suzanne Rowland is owner of Sevier Skirts
• Sevier Skirts is a custom skirt company in Nashville, Tennessee, established in 2004.
• Rowland sells her casual and playful custom skirts to guests at house parties.
• Her staff measure guests, and take custom orders based on the  loud and funky fabrics the attendees choose.
• Sevier Skirts was born when Rowland couldn’t find a good fit for her career. She began making skirts for fun.
• Jason Moore (a previous guest and friend of Jumpstart Foundry) mentored her. 
• She recommends finding mentors early in your business. 
• Videos and her blog help communicate how her business operates. 
• Don’t just have social media accounts, use them.
• People are more likely to use her service if they have heard of it multiple times. Social helps with this.
• Tips: Find mentors in your city and industry. Ask people in like-industries.
• Rowland would gather like-minded people together for lunches to ask their opinions.
• She recommends Style Blueprint  as a great blog, but also because they have the same customer demographic.
• Rowland recommends reading Getting Naked  
• Check out speaker Jack Daly for inspiration.  
• Reach Suzanne at sevierskirts.com

The post Jumpstart Episode 36: Suzanne Rowland appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

The following is a video series of some of the guest speakers and the 2012 graduating class including: Kiwi, PhotoRankr, OurVinyl, Contigo Financial, Evermind, Jamplify, and The Skillery. Photos are also available on our Facebook page.

Sit back and relive the event. Be sure you are signed up for our newsletter. We will have news and special event information soon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNJRNtnp0s0

The post Jumpstart Foundry Investor Day Video Recap appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Boyd Jones is Venture Partner at Co-Power Ventures.
• Co-Power Ventures is a Chinese VC based in Shenzhen.
• They manages about 300 million with a team of 12 people.
• They invest in consumer internet, mobile internet, financial services, hardware and software.
• Boyd is based in the San Francisco area. 
• China is the largest internet market.
• In 2004, Boyd teamed up with local entrepreneurs and created iTech Holdings Limited, a small VC firm.
• He moved to Twain to study mandarin chinese after college, and he ended up staying in the region for 21 years.
• The entrepreneurial bug bit him when he started teaching english in 1992. He created his own tutoring business.
• His business led to work in financial services, venture capital, and private equity business.
• Boyd stresses that it is important to find something you are passionate about.
• Make sure you have that inner fire to motivate you and see you through.
• It does take time. You have to put in your time.
• There is always something you can learn from someone else.
• Boyd recommends the books: The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business is Selling Less of More; The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You; Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose; A Round Table Comic; The Warren Buffett CEO: Secrets from the Berkshire Hathaway Managers
• For every three people walking together, one will become your teacher.
• Contact him on Twitter @boydjones

The post Jumpstart Episode 35: Boyd Jones appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Started in 2010, Jumpstart Foundry is a formal, mentor-driven 14-week business acceleration program held over the summer months – with the goal of launching successful companies, prime for funding, at Investor Day each August.

Recent Media Coverage

The Jumpstart Foundry class of 2012 graduated Thursday, ending their 14-week entrepreneurial boot camp with a pitch to investors. Business cards were under chairs, on chairs and exchanging hands, all in hopes of putting money behind the new ideas... – Nashville Business Journal.

These young business owners were passionate, well-spoken and showed maturity beyond their years as they clearly communicated their ideas to tackle consumer needs… – Nashville Post.

Nashville’s Jumpstart Foundry has had some practice at this. They’re definitely the veteran accelerator out of the bunch and it shows… – Nibletz.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzpxTcbYm34

Are you interested? Sign up and we will contact you with more information. 

The post Jumpstart Foundry. Where Nashville Startups are Growing. appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jumpstart Episode 34: Miranda Whitcomb

• Miranda Whitcomb started Nashville coffee house, Frothy Monkey in 2003.
• She launched her restaurant, BurgerUp, in 2010.
• She had just returned to school and got her masters in education before moving to Nashville.
• Never considered the title “entrepreneur” until going to a Social Venture Institue event in Hollyhock, BC. 
• It took Miranda six years before realizing she was an entrepreneur. 
• Recommends the book, How to Open a Financially Successful Coffee, Espresso & Tea Shop.
• Hired an ex Starbucks manager. 
• Joined SCORE organization, a network of retired business professionals. She met her mentor Randy St. John there.
• Miranda explains drastic changes she made to increase business profits.
• Twitter has been an important tool to share information. It is her main source of advertising for both Frothy Monkey and BurgerUp.
• Using Aloha point of sale with iPads.
• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t is the best business book.
• Why be a good company, when you can be a great company?
• Recommends the Imogene + Willie blog, they understand the essence of content.
• Check out the Entrepreneur Center.
• Utilize peers to hold you accountable to your ideas and plan.
• Contact Miranda at burger up miranda AT burger-up DOT com

The post Jumpstart Episode 34: Miranda Whitcomb appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

You can find photos (more coming soon) on our Facebook page. Please like us while you are visiting. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yPQ3qkKnUjI

What was your highlight of JSF2012?

The post Leading Up to Investor Day appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

We want to share a thank you with everyone who was present at Investor Day. Houston Station was buzzing with excitement and energy as each of the 2012 cohort pitched hundreds of people in a full house.

We sincerely want to thank our sponsors: Baker Donelson, Solidus, Entrepreneur Center, CentreSource, Checkd.in, Fabu, Nashville Health Care Council, HonkyTonk Brewing, Populr, Teknetwex, and Plante Moran.

Jumpstart Foundry wouldn’t be possible without the support of our amazing team. Thank you to our staff, mentors and friends everywhere.

Finally, a big THANK YOU goes to our incredible seven startups: Contigo Financial, Evermind, Kiwi, The Skillery, Jamplify, OurVinyl, and PhotoRankr. You all did a phenomenal job this summer and on Investor Day. Follow them on AngelList. 

We expect big things for the future of these fine companies. We hope you do too. To learn more about what we have planned and to become a mentor next time, please sign up for our newsletter.

Thanks.

The post Thank You appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Read more: http://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/blog/2012/08/jumpstart-entrepreneurs-seek-out.html?page=all

The post Jumpstart Foundry startups make their pitch to investors – Nashville Business Journal appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Read more: http://nashvillepost.com/news/2012/8/24/2012_jumpstart_investor_day_a_hit

The post 2012 Jumpstart Investor Day a Hit – Nashville Post appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Whether you are a Jumpstart Foundry company about to pitch hundreds of investors tomorrow, or you are a high school student in another state, this is important. You could be going on a date, job interview, or the most important sales call of your life – this will help.

Watch as motivational speaker, Eric Thomas, verbally kicks some sense into these students. Now go out there and get ‘em!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sa2AmQortk

The post Inspiration for tomorrow today appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

PhotoRankr is the first online photography marketplace to leverage the power of social media. PhotoRankr allows anyone with a digital camera to upload, license, and sell their work.

Jacob and Matthew share their experiences with entrepreneurship, in Jumpstart Foundry, and about their passions. They also include advice for other young entrepreneurs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSLUoqz4bO0

The post Meet the Cohort: PhotoRankr appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

OurVinyl allows users to discover new music through video. Services like Pandora have changed the way we listen to music on our radio, OurVinyl is changing the way we watch it. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GL9nyg2DnU

The post Meet the Cohort: OurVinyl appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

With his unquenchable thirst for knowledge, Jacob Sniff could best be described as part entrepreneur part savant. From studying Physics at Princeton University to Entrepreneurship at the University of California, Berkeley, Jacob has taken a very intense approach to learning whatever interests him.

What were you like growing up as a kid?

From a very young age, I always wanted to learn how things work at the highest level. I spent time learning about science, economics, technology and sports. From an insect collector to almost becoming a scratch golfer, I have taken a really intense approach to the things I’m interested in.

What was college like?

Princeton really gave me the opportunity to immerse myself in studying the subjects in which I was most interested. I’m not antisocial but I didn’t find the social side of college all that appealing. I spent most of my time studying physics. I learned a lot but became disillusioned with academic world. This led me to explore entrepreneurship during a sabbatical at the University of California Berkeley.

What is one of the most interesting things you have ever done?

I got the chance to work at the Hadron Collider in Switzerland. That was really wild experience.

What was your first entrepreneurial experience?

Photorankr is really my first entrepreneurial experience. Although some of the Photorankr team has previous entrepreneurial experience.

What have you learned from JSF thus far? Would you recommend the program? Why?

As a whole Photorankr has come a long way and I think Jumpstart Foundry was absolutely necessary for us to get this far. Jumpstart makes you focus on all aspects of your business. We tend to focus on product development and Jumpstart Foundry really helped us focus on equally important things such as our business model and investor pitch. Additionally, the mentors have really helped us avoid the traps into which most startups fall. Ultimately Jumpstart Foundry helped me create an investible business out of an idea. It has really been great!

Describe Photorankr in three words or less?

Social Photography Marketplace.

—

NEWS: 

PhotoRankr just released their Marketplace, which allows users to upload, rank, and now buy and sell photos. 

Photorankr.com, which launched on April 3rd of this year, has already surpassed 1000 users. If you’re looking for some fantastic stock imagery, or would like to sell a few shots of your own, sign up for free at photorankr.com.

 Don’t miss PhotoRankr’s live demo next week at Investor Day in Nashville. RSVP now while tickets remain. 

The post Interview with PhotoRankr appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

“Once You’re Out of Here, You’re Swimming with the Sharks.”

This was Mr. Greenhill’s opening line to the teams when he spoke on Tuesday. LeShane started Sagents, a cloud-based marketplace that introduces suppliers and buyers. “Think Match.com,” he says, “but for small, medium and large businesses.”

The teams quickly perked up to Mr. Greenhill’s advice because not long ago, Sagents shared office space with them at the Entrepreneur Center. As part of a pre-JSF accelerator program, Sagents completed its incubation and entered the market in May.

“You guys are coming out of Jumpstart, you all have an MVP… But you’ll need to shift focus to sales and funding.”

Despite his cautionary words about the real world outside of the Entrepreneur Center, LeShane was impressed by the progress of the 2012 cohort.

“I’ll see you guys next week, I’ll be out there cheering you on!”

Be sure to check out LeShane’s beta of Sagents for a valuable B2B tool!

The post You’re Swimming with the Sharks appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

This is part two of our interview with Daddy-O, legendary record producer, rapper, and founding member of Stetsasonic. Hear part 1 here.

• Hone in on your craft. You must learn your craft first.
• It is a lot easier now to follow and connect with people you admire.
• There is such thing as being good at what you do. Study good people.
• Daddy-O emailed Guy Kawasaki many years ago and heard back from him right away.
• Slideshare is an amazing resource of information.
• Twitter is a phenomenal tool to find and follow great people.
• Use a feed reader to subscribe to your favorite blogs.
• Daddy-O enjoys books by Malcolm Gladwell. They give you more of a broad scope as to where things are.
• He also recommends Trust Agents by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith, and anything by Seth Godin (our interview here).
• Establish a daily routine. Like university. Dedicate time to study. Block out time to work. Use categories.
• Research the soundbites. Don’t negate the best selling books.
• Connect with Daddy-O on Twitter @professordaddyo or on Google+ as Glenn Bolton.

Enjoy the show? Please subscribe to our new podcast feed in iTunes, we love your ratings too. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 32: Daddy-O (Part 2) appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

We asked Mario for his advice for entrepreneurs, about his experience as a startup in Jumpstart Foundry, and much more. 

Contigo Financial Inc., is a consumer lending start-up seeking to partner with employers to offer short-term consumer loans to their employees.

Stay tuned for more interviews here soon. We hope you join us at Investor Day on August 23. Details here.

The post Meet the Cohort: Contigo Financial appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

A gregarious individual, Mike Reuther’s love for music and film brought him to Nashville, when he decided to pursue a degree in film and video production at Belmont University. After a life changing experience writing music content for a Y Combinator start-up, Mike knew he would one day return to the accelerator world. However, this time he would be launching his start-up, OurVinyl.

What was college like?

I went to the University of Dayton. I had no idea what I wanted to do but I was damn sure I was going to figure it out by trying everything I could. After a brief stint as a political science major and an internship on Capitol Hill, I decided the game of politics wasn’t for me. I then majored in finance, but I didn’t find numbers all that exciting. I ended up graduating with a degree in marketing.

What is one of your proudest accomplishments to date?

During my junior year at Dayton, I founded Spike for Charity. Spike for Charity was a charity volley ball tournament that raised money from teams consisting of professional student organizations. The whole experience of launching Spike for Charity really helped me see that I was capable of executing on my ideas. Spike for Charity is currently in its sixth year and has raised almost $100,000.

What was your first entrepreneurial experience?

Technically my first entrepreneurial experience was probably the lawn company I owned as a teen. However, I think the most meaningful entrepreneurial experience I had before JSF was during senior year at Dayton. I had been writing a music blog when I was invited by a recent Dayton grad, Dan, to write music content for his startup, TicketStumbler, which had just been accepted into Y-Combinator. At the time, I had no idea what an accelerator was but it sounded exciting and so I agreed. I was amazed at the “change the world” mentality of the start-up culture. The whole experience was life changing.

What have you learned from JSF thus far? Would you recommend the program? Why?

I really feel like JSF forced our company, in the short span of 3 months, to learn everything we needed to learn in order to efficiently start and maintain a business. I believe that the skills I have acquired through JSF would have probably taken me years to acquire had I not been a part of this program. For example, I have learned a great deal about music licensing, how to structure a financial model, how to motivate employees, how to manage a team, how “not” to pitch, that people are always willing to help, and most importantly I have learned that no task is unreachable; anyone can change the world.

I would absolutely recommend this program to anyone interested.

Describe OurVinyl in three words or less?

The new MTV.

—

Did you know that OurVinyl recently surpassed their total Kickstarter goal to raise funds for equipement? Clearly, there is sincere interest in this young startup. 
Attendees at Investor Day on August 23 will be able to meet the OurVinyl team and see their pitch. Don’t miss it. 

The post Interview with OurVinyl appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

“A back-of-the-napkin sketch won’t cut it and will fall apart. You need to understand the DNA of your model.”

The DNA of a financial model, he explains, includes initial capital, personnel assumptions (IT, MGMT, Bus/Dev Sales, Legal, Finance, etc), sales and marketing, rent and utilities, cash, inventory, A/R, A/P, personal credit cards, capital equipment (tools, IT infrastructure), capitalization, and others, depending on your industry.

“You’ll want to flesh out your model to reflect the next two years. That’s the sweet spot for startups.”

The post Is Your Financial Model Detailed Enough? appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Glenn Bolton is best known as Daddy-O, a legendary record producer, rapper, and founding member of Stetsasonic.
• Daddy-O is CEO of OpenSource Recordings.  
• He started making records in 1983. 
• We talk about Creative Commons, open source, and podsafe music.
• “We can’t keep one standard contract for everybody.”
• Records didn’t come with personality beyond the music and lyrics. Today artists have tools to show their fans who they really are.
• Learned lots when he was managed by Russel Simmons, and through his work and observations of record labels like; Def Jam, Tommy Boy, Select Records, Profile Records, Next Plateau Records. All of these were important entrepreneurial events in his life.
• The entrepreneurial bug bit when Daddy-O learned that analog needs to go digital. 
• In 2001, when he was working with Sony and Warner, he saw digital as an opportunity. He had tried to put forth his ideas, but management would not listen. 
• Inspired by Chris Anderson, Seth Godin (our interview here), and Russel Simmons. 
• Puff Daddy also inspired him early on from his energy and constant work ethic.
• He recognized a similar work ethic in other artists he worked with. 
• MC Delite in Stetasonic was like a mentor, because he always pushed him forward.
• Leo Laporte makes great content and hangs out with the right guys.
• Baratunde, James Andrews, Brian Solis, and Lewis Grey are all people who strive for excellence. They hold themselves to a high standard. 
• Sly (and the Family Stone) would erase entire songs when they didn’t work for him. All tracks would be deleted.
• “At some particular point you need to care if it’s good enough.”
• “You crowdsource to find out why they (your fans and customers) like it.”
• Stetasonic worked because they were all weirdos – it was like a university. Stetasonic then was like ThinkLab in Silicon Valley is today.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of our interview next week.

SUBSCRIBE to our new podcast feed in iTunes. You can also subscribe using Stitcher.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 32: Daddy-O (Part 1) appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Such is the case with Kiwi, Acacia’s new flagship product. Having gathered feedback from their July beta testers, the team has decided to shift their focus to what their users loved best.

“Pivoting from wax was a very difficult decision,” says CEO Jayme Hoffman. “We watched the way [our testers] were using the app very carefully and saw that they didn’t care about several of the main components of wax. Competing with their friends simply wasn’t important to them, but they loved uploading videos. Taking that feedback, we decided to strip wax down and focus on what we did best… Helping people see and share the exciting world around them through video.”

Pivots Happen

The team has decided to strictly focus on further developing their custom made video capture application they designed for the wax app. Following a trip to the grocery store for inspiration, the team decided to call the project “Kiwi.”

“Our app allows you to upload a video, choose your thumbnail and you add filters to make that thumbnail really beautiful. Once you tap the thumbnail you see all the juice, flavor and vibrance of the rest of the story, just as you do when you cut open a kiwi. Each of us laughed at the name but we kept calling it Kiwi and so it stuck. “

Having carefully studied the existing competition, Acacia are confident they can sweep the market with a superior product.

“Kiwi gives you the capability to broadcast your life with the web similar to YouTube, but is as easy and fast as capturing an Instagram image. There are a couple apps trying to accomplish the same thing but they simply aren’t as easy, fast and beautiful as Kiwi is.”

Details on Kiwi are being kept under wraps, but the team is excited to reveal it to the world on Investor Day, August 23. You can also follow Kiwi on AngelList.

The post Pivots Happen – Wax Becomes Kiwi appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jamplify offers “Crowdpromotion” . It is a service for digital content creators to reward their fans for driving exposure. It is a must for any musician. 

In our discussion, Andy and Moses share what it was like to leave their jobs at Goldman Sachs to follow their passion. They compare living in New York City to Nashville, tips for entrepreneurs, and much more. Don’t miss the next six minutes with these two promising entrepreneurs. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtTP5j9ouTw

Meet Andy and Moses live at Investor Day on August 23.  

The post Meet the Cohort: Jamplify appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

During his years at Northwestern University, Matt took an interest in theater and upon graduating decided to pursue acting. After a brief career as a budding actor, intern at the Jerry Springer Show and a page at NBC New York, Matt found his true passion, teaching.

Considering both of his parents spent their entire careers teaching, Matt choosing education comes as no surprise. But in true entrepreneurial fashion, Matt is putting his own personal touch on teaching by launching The Skillery.

What was college like?

While at Northwestern, I found theater and really fell in love with it. After graduating I decided to pursue a career in acting and spent some time doing commercials and voice-overs. Unfortunately, I looked like I was 20 but carried myself with this “young dad persona”. The two really didn’t line up with each other and so people just didn’t know where to put me.

What is one of the most off the wall things you have ever done?

Once I realized acting was not for me, I decided to try TV production. I found an opportunity to intern at the Jerry Springer Show and decided to apply. I got the internship and was tasked with fielding calls from prospective guest. Once picked, guest would spend the week in Chicago for filming. It was my responsibility to keep them entertained. I did more wining and dining at Fuddruckers that you would care to know. It was an interesting experience but the excitement soon wore off and I knew it was time to get a real job.

How did you end up pursuing education?

9/11 happened while I was a page for NBC New York (for those of you who watch 30 Rock, Matt was basically Kenneth the page). Soon after, one of my roommates who also worked at NBC opened a letter addressed to Tom Brokaw that was filled with anthrax. Fortunately she was ok but the whole experience made me put my life in perspective. After deciding a life in New York City wasn’t for me, I decided to move back home with my parents to figure out what I would do next. Shortly after I moved back a family friend called and said he was looking for someone with a background in theater to teach at a rural high school in Connecticut.

Who has influenced your entrepreneurial spirit?

I don’t think any single person has, rather the idea of having a rote life was just completely unappealing to me.

What have you learned from JSF thus far? Would you recommend the program? Why?

JSF has really helped me build a solid framework for launching The Skillery. I would absolutely recommend the program. As a single founder, the one piece of advice I would give to entrepreneurs considering JSF is to not come alone. The program is rigorous, and you will need multiple hands on deck.

Describe The Skillery in three words or less?

Community learning marketplace.

–

See Matt pitch The Skillery live at Investor Day, August 23. For details visit: www.jsf-party.com.  

The post An interview with The Skillery appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Once you register, check your email for an invite to our Checkd.In page, your home base for enjoying Jumpstart Foundry content including intriguing blog posts, exclusive interviews with company founders, and exciting team-specific content including never-before-seen videos and webpages! As you enjoy content, you’ll rack up points and become ranked against our fellow fans. 

Before Investor Day, we’ll be giving out tickets to our top fans. The more points you have, the better chance you have to join us for Nashville’s Premier Entrepreneur Event of the Year: Investor Day 2012!

Not all content will be available at first, so be sure to check back frequently to increase your score. Get started now. Good luck. 

The post How to Earn Your Way to Investor Day 2012 appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jumpstart Episode 31: J. Tod Fetherling

• Tod Fetherling is Chairman and Founder of Stratasan.
• Nashville healthcare startup, Stratasan is an advanced health analytics company.
• Company founded in summer of 2012.
• Tod was working at HCA Healthcare as an intrepreneur before he became an entrepreneur. He started HCA’s interactive marketing department in 1994/1995. 
• Mentored by Doctor Tommy Frist and Florida Governor, Rick Scott.
• His HCA boss, Lindy Richardson, taught him that it was OK to fail. It’s more important to do your research and try to get it right on the first try. To set the bar very high for yourself. 
• Two sides of failure. You have to have an environment where failure is OK. You also can’t ever have the concept that you are going to fail. 
• Nashville’s technology scene is exciting, but we need to continue to bring in new talent.
• Tips: You better love what you’re doing. If you don’t have the excitement about what you’re doing, ultimately you will fail. 
• Tips: It’s important to build that team and figure out your weaknesses area. Surround yourself with complimentary people.
• Tod recommends a “game changer” book called The Advantage. by Patrick M. Lencioni.
• Tod is a huge Wired magazine fan. 
• Subscribe to the Stanford Entrepreneurship podcast and Harvard HBR IdeaCast podcast.
• Contact Tod across the web @jtodwork.

Please SUBSCRIBE to our new podcast feed in iTunes. 

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 31: J. Tod Fetherling appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

David Gilbert is CEO and Founder of Evermind. Evermind is the first consumer-friendly senior monitoring system. If you can plug-in a surge protector and use a smartphone, Evermind is easy. 

David shares his experiences working at the largest Apple accessory company, Griffin Technology. He goes on to share why he wears a bandana, his lessons learned with Jumpstart Foundry, and much more. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgUh26TcR9M

The post Meet the Cohort: Evermind appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

I hope you enjoyed our interview with Jamplify last week. This week we are excited to share our chat with Mario Avila, CEO, co-founder of Contigo Financial.

As a child, Mario moved to Chicago when his father shut down their bakery in Mexico, after deciding that he wanted to give his children the opportunity to pursue their own dreams. Now the product of his parent’s dedication and sacrifice, Mario has spent the greater part of his life setting goals and achieving them. So it comes as no surprise that after attending Dartmouth and recently completing a Vanderbilt MBA, Mario is in full pursuit of his next goal, launching Contigo Financial.

Describe Contigo Financial in three words or less:

Responsible lending institution.

What were you like growing up as a kid?

I constantly challenged the status quo. In fact, many times my dad would tell me and my brothers to do something. They would go right to doing it but I always stopped to ask why. I guess I was just curious if there was a better way of doing things. It drove my dad crazy.

What was college like?

Dartmouth proved to be a great personal learning experience; balancing football and academics really taught time management.

Who has influenced your entrepreneurial spirit the most?

My mother’s compassion and resiliency towards life has inspired me to take on the challenges of entrepreneurship.

What have you learned from JSF thus far? Would you recommend the program? Why?

After Contigo Financial won the Jim Sohr grant, I wasn’t sure if Jumpstart Foundry was appropriate. I couldn’t have been more wrong. JSF has helped me take a very introspective approach to how we present Contigo Financial, Before the JSF experience; I made the incorrect  assumption that everyone would intuitively understand the Contigo Financial product offering. I now have crafted a clear, concise pitch not only to investors but also to prospective clients. For that and a lot more, I would definitely recommend Jumpstart Foundry.

As the CEO of Contigo Financial, what keeps you up at night?

Not knowing what I don’t know keeps me up at night.

The post An interview with Contigo Financial appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

The light company culture made it all the more appropriate for Dr. Michael Burcham to prepare the teams for the less glamorous side of small business incubation. In addition to addressing how to face and overcome failures, Dr. Burcham elaborated on a concept he calls “The Post Pitch Blues.”

“You’ll want to hit investors in waves. Your first pitch is not an end-all.” He says. “The best time to seek investment is before you need it.”

The Post Pitch Blues

Michael’s ensuing advice reminded the teams of his reputation for tempering energy and passion with real world expectations. “It’s easy for someone to say you have a great idea, but it’s only a great idea when they write the check.” He then emphasized the importance of surrounding your company with friends and experts in the industry, but reminded the teams to be wary of Yes Men. “Find people who are honest, and take their criticism.”

He then closed by addressing the topic of failure head on.

“If you can’t deal with a no, don’t get in this game. You’ll get 9 no’s for every yes. Have very thick skin.”

What advice would you offer our a startup before they enter the fray?

The post Facing the Post Pitch Blues appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

The Don’t Miss Investor Event of The Year – Jumpstart Foundry Investor Day

Nashville based technology business accelerator, Jumpstart Foundry (JSF), announces its annual Investor Day event. On August 23, 2012, the 2012 cohort will pitch approximately 500 investors, media and friends. Do not miss this!

Now in its third year, Nashville’s Jumpstart Foundry has continued to grow and nurture impressive startups. “We had a 62% success rate from our first two years,” says, Vic Gatto, Founding Partner of JSF.  ”100% is possible with the quality of the companies about to be revealed.”

Investor Day is the must attend event of the summer for anyone with an interest in investment, technology, and Nashville’s emerging startup scene. It’s the hottest ticket in town this summer!

The stellar startups include:

Contigo Financial, an online consumer lender offering a suite of responsible loan products through the workplace.

Jamplify (formerly OKDJ), a social media marketing platform which turns fans into active promoters of online content. 

The Skillery, a marketplace for classes and workshops led by experts in the community.

Evermind, the first consumer-friendly senior monitoring system. If you can plug-in a surge protector and use a smartphone, Evermind is easy. 

Kiwi (formerly Wax),  the best way to capture any exciting moment on video. 

PhotoRankr, the first online photography marketplace to leverage the power of social media.

OurVinyl, allows users to discover new music through video. The modern day MTV minus the re-runs.

Be a part of history by attending Jumpstart Foundry Investor Day on August 23, 2012. Light refreshments and snacks will be served in the gorgeous Houston Station. Who knows, the next Facebook could very well be one of these fine young companies. 

This is a ticketed event. Limited space is available. To be sure you do not miss Investor Day, visit: www.jsf-party.com to register now. This will be a sold out event.

# # #

About Jumpstart Foundry

Jumpstart Foundry (JSF) accelerates the growth of tech-oriented businesses. Started in 2010, JSF is a formal, mentor-driven, 14-week business acceleration program held over the summer months.  The goal is to launch successful companies, prime for funding, at Investor Day at the end of the program. Jumpstart Foundry enjoys key partnerships with the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and the TechStars Affiliate Network.

For more information, please visit http://jumpstartfoundry.com.  Contact: Vic Gatto  vic at jumpstartfoundry.com or Tel: (615) 665-3818.

Download this press release (PDF).

The post The Don’t Miss Investor Event of The Year appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jayme joins his team at Jumpstart Foundry this summer from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio. His company is creating Wax, an app that you can use to learn new skateboard moves, compete with your friends, share your tricks and get discovered. 

Skaters and those into extreme sports will flip (literally, possibly several times) when they use Wax! 

Should you drop out of college? Learn to code? Master marketing? Find out what Jayme has learned so far, plus his experiences in Jumpstart Foundry in this short interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L__b8325eBI

The post Meet the Cohort: Wax appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

In the summer of 2008, Andy, a student at Duke, and Moses a student at Yale, were studying abroad at the London Business School of Economics. Strangers, the two briefly crossed paths during class when Andy asked Moses to share his computer screen, which was playing the World Cup. The following year the two would meet again, during an internship at the epicenter of the financial crisis, Goldman Sachs New York.  

Upon accepting a full-time offer, one would have expected them to kick back and enjoy the highly publicized compensation Goldman employees receive, but not Andy and Moses. Over the past year, the two have juggled a career at Goldman while working on their true passion – a startup called Jamplify. 
 

Describe Jamplify in three words or less:
 
Andy: Crowd promotion. Moses: Viral engagement.

What were you like growing up as a kid?

Andy: My parents always say that I was the kid who would go to school with ten cents and a couple pencils and come home with $4 and no pencils.
Moses: I was a disruptive child. School was easy and so I would find ways to entertain myself. My parents never encouraged it and tolerated it as long as I kept my grades up.

What was your first entrepreneurial experience?

Andy: I played in a band in high school. I consider that to be my first entrepreneurial experience. We had to do PR, team building, and land gigs.
Moses: My first entrepreneurial experience came in college when I managed the Yale Care Cubes agency. 

Tell me about a time when you failed?
 
Andy: I really wanted to play baseball in high school and went to clinics three times a year. I tried out both freshman and sophomore year and was cut. I just sucked. The whole experience taught me that failure is inevitable. Accept it and move on. 
 
When was a time you felt challenged to overcome or prevail? 

Moses: I came into high school not as motivated towards school as I had been. I had good test grades; I just wasn’t doing any homework. Sophomore year, a teacher questioned my academic ability due to my class ranking, which was 100 out of 400. That had a profound impact on me; put 100% effort into everything you do. I crushed the next three years of school and graduated 6th out of my class. 
 
What was it like at Goldman Sachs?

Andy: The first day of my internship at Goldman a Partner told me that my sole purpose was to make the firm money. I thought I was there to learn and when I brought this to the attention of the traders on my desk, they just laughed in my face.
Moses: I think my fraternity experience prepared me for Goldman more than anything else I had done. Reading the book Liar’s Pokers helped too.

What have you learned from JSF thus far? Would you recommend the program? Why?
 
Andy: JSF helps you to identify the key assumptions on which your business depends and then teaches you how to validate them. I’d recommend the program to any entrepreneur with a lot of passion and the ability to process feedback effectively, because you will get a lot of it.

Moses: The most important thing I’ve taken from JSF is the emphasis on the actual revenue model for Jamplify. Before JSF, I very much thought to myself, “If we build something that becomes popular, the revenue model will figure itself out.”

It’s been great that JSF has forced us to come to a firm understanding of what the market will pay for Jamplify, and generate a model that is scalable and will result in predictable, regular revenue. I would definitely recommend JSF. For the reasons stated above in addition to the fact that JSF and Nashville generally are much easier to navigate than the bigger markets of NY and Silicon Valley. Every team gets a lot of individualized attention from the program leaders and mentors, and people in Nashville are very willing to take a meeting with you, and give you their advice and open their rolodexes to you without anything in return. 
 
–

We have more interviews lined up for the blog in the final six weeks of the JSF 2012 program. Stay tuned.

The post An interview with Jamplify appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Mr. Harris discussed pricing strategies with the teams, covering several popular strategies used by large companies like Apple, Microsoft and Google.

The teams were particularly interested in the idea of Skimming, where a company relies on its devoted early adopters to pay a premium for the first wave of the product, and gradually reduces the price to appeal to a mass market. For example, Sony released the Playstation 3 at a staggering $599 in the fall of 2006, but despite the high price point, early adopters formed long lines outside of retailers to make their purchase.

Sony released a redesigned, improved version of the console in 2008 at half the price, and continues to see a high, consistent volume of sales.
Armed with fresh advice from Mr. Harris, the teams are now developing their own pricing strategies to maximize their product’s potential.

Do you have any tips or stories to share about pricing strategies?

The post Shiny New Product? Maybe you should sell high! appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

In this video we introduce Matt Dudley, owner of The Skillery. The Skillery is an online marketplace for affordable, offline classes and workshops led by experts in your community.

We are excited about everything The Skillery has to offer. Expect great things from this startup. Watch the blog for details on how you can attend Investor Day to meet the teams in person and hear their pitches.

In this 3 minute video Matt shares his history and inspiration for The Skillery. From Ghostbusters to bloody noses, this interview is a must watch! 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCkovzq9bpw

The post Meet the Cohort: The Skillery appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

This week the teams had the pleasure of hearing words of wisdom from Brad Montgomery and Cliff McKinney (interviewed on Jumpstart Radio). The pair founded Work For Pie, an online community for software developers that unlike Monster.com, does not require a resume. Instead, the site assigns a numerical score for each developers based on the quality of their work.

As with most unique startups, the creation of Work For Pie was not a smooth one. “One thing we learned,” stressed Mr. McKinney,” was that your MVP (minimum viable product) is smaller than you think.” His philosophy and experience reinforced a point that Dr. Michael Burcham made to the teams earlier Tuesday morning – that any idea, from a decent one to a fantastic one, is worth very little alone. The force multiplier is in the execution. A fantastic idea with a weak execution will fail as a business, and vice versa.

“My initial product vision for Work For Pie is nothing like what you see now. We had to fail first.”

Can you think of strong ideas that faltered under poor execution, or vice versa? Sound off below in the comments.

The post An Important Idea Behind Ideas appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

What is your involvement with CoderFaire?

I’ve been lucky enough to have been invited to co-organize CoderFaire with Cal Evans.

What is CoderFaire?

CoderFaire is a language agnostic 2-day event with the first day being all about learning while the second day is all about building.

How was CoderFaire conceived?

Cal is the brains behind the event, but I believe Cal wanted a vehicle that showcased Nashville’s coder talent (all presenters are local coders), bring together the whole technology community, showcase local companies through our sponsorships and give the attendees a chance to use their new found knowledge by building something in our lab.

Who should attend the conference?

The schedule can be found here, http://nashville.coderfaire.com/schedule/, so you can see the types of topics covered. Still, though the topics are technical, I’m a firm believer that even if you only deal with coders that going to a conference like this would be great knowledge for you. Plus the connections you make are worthwhile. I’d even suggest if you have an idea you want to pitch be built during the second day’s hackathon, you come out and get to know the coders.

What can people expect to learn at CoderFaire?

Again, you can take a look at the schedule for  the amazing topics being presented, but we’ve added something that makes the event even better and that’s our lab partners.

During both days our lab will be open for people to come in, relax and build things with the knowledge they are picking up from the sessions. In addition to this, we’re bringing in some amazing lab partners to be resources to the attendees, helping with coding questions, teaching them how to use technologies and overall being technical support to the technical attendees.

We’ve got some amazing lab partners lined up– partners such as Stratasan, Firefly logic, FoxyCart, Twilio, Mashery, SugarCRM, Jumpstart Foundry (of course), and we’ll be announcing another hopefully soon– who are sending their top technical employees to be there to support our attendees and answer any questions they have around their platforms and/or the technology they use.

Where can we learn more?

We have a lot of great information up on our site http://nashville.coderfaire.com and we’ll be posting even more as we approach the event date.

Thanks Jacques!

Enter to win a ticket

Leave us a comment below with why you want to attend CoderFaire. We will randomly select one winner on Friday, July 27. Good luck! 

The post Win a ticket to Nashville CoderFaire appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Jayme Hoffman is the poster boy for startups, a life-long entrepreneur. He constantly has his eyes open, seeking out and solving problems. He follows no path except for the path not traveled, a mindset instilled by his parents. After spending a little time with Jayme, one cannot doubt this entrepreneur will make the front page of Mashable or Entrepreneur Magazine.

Describe Wax in three words or less:

Challenge people to live… I guess that’s four – sorry.

What were you like growing up as a kid?

My parents instilled an entrepreneurial mindset from a young age. They always said, “Never take the beaten path”.

I didn’t have many friends in high school. I wanted to change the world, not play Halo.

What do you consider your biggest strength?

My biggest strength is being a natural salesman. In high school, a friend of mine’s dad was the GM of Home Depot and I convinced him to give me a job. He hired me as a lot attendant. One day the shift manager wrote me up when he discovered that I was spending more time selling tractors than rounding up carts. Two weeks later the shift manager got fired and I was moved to appliances.

What was your first entrepreneurial experience?

At 14 I taught myself HTML and built my first company, isellyourauto.com. At the time I thought it was the greatest idea. It sucked.

What was college like?

I wasn’t sure about college but ended up going to OSU; I just wanted to be an entrepreneur. During college I worked at a startup that recycled telephones. It was one the best and worst experience of my life. I learned how not to lead people.

Tell me about a time when you have failed?

I consider my second company, Frudal, to be my biggest failure because I was so close to success. Frudal was a deal site focused on the suburban market, something we thought Groupon wasn’t paying attention to. We had our site up and had partnered with a newspaper to sell our deals. One week before our launch the newspaper dropped us. I never thought Groupon would come to Delaware, Ohio. I was dead wrong. Lesson learned: never underestimate your competitors.

What have you learned from JSF thus far? Would you recommend the program? Why?

I’ve learned so much from JSF directly and indirectly. The most obvious is learning to pitch Wax to different audiences. Indirectly, I’ve learned so much about leading the business. My to do list is millions of pages long and if I don’t prioritize then we lose so much momentum. I would definitely recommend the program to entrepreneurs who are willing to do everything to make their business work. If you’re just half-assing it then JSF probably isn’t for you.

The post An interview with Jayme Hoffman from Wax appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Scott Schwertly is CEO and Founder of Ethos3 Communications.
• Ethos3 is a presentation design and training company. The firm began 5 1/2 years ago.
• Scott recommends recent presentations by Dan Pink. Check out Pink’s TED Talk on the surprising science of motivation (video below).
• Scott spotted a problem, where people at companies didn’t know how to present well. He found a problem to solve.
• He found a way to make meaning. See Guy Kawasaki‘s short explanation (video below).
• He worked on Ethos3 on the weekends and at night, while he continued his day job. 
• Scott read 30 – 40 books in 2 or 3 months to prepare for entrepreneurship.
• Persistence is key. Work hard. Allow things to compound on themselves, so you get that momentum that you need. 
• There is great importance in creating content. End each day with something created, so that you have added value to the market. 
• Blogging was critically important for his business. He wrote 3 to 5 posts a week. 
• He looked for guest blog post and article opportunities.
• ChangeThis.com – Read Scott’s manifesto: Presentation Revolution. 
• Scott recommends you read The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki. 
• He also recommends Now Discover Your Strengths by Marcus Buckingham. Use his book to narrow down your five top strengths.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkrvAUbU9Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQs6IpJQWXc

Please SUBSCRIBE to the podcast in iTunes, so you’ll get new episodes as they become available. We also love your reviews.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 30: Scott Schwertly appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

“Think of campaigns as a photography contest, but with a payout. Businesses and individuals looking for spec photography work submit what they are looking for and the time/budget they need, and you as a member of PhotoRankr can submit as many photos as you wish to the contest. At the end of the contest, a winner is announced (purchased) and you as the photographer get the reward money. We are excited to release this great new feature as many of you have asked for contests and the like.”

Check out Photorankr’s Campaigns now. What do you think?

The post PhotoRankr Releases All-New “Campaigns” appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

In addition, a strong culture will make your company a fun AND efficient place to work. “Building a team is all about celebrating.” She explains. “I know it can be hard to celebrate when something’s broken, but you have to stop.” She stressed that having breaks in the team’s week to focus on relaxing culture-building is crucial to keeping a happy workforce. “Work hard, play hard. Stop and have a beer or a glass of wine!”

Finally, she emphasized to the teams that as entrepreneurs, they have a unique opportunity presented to them. “That’s the cool thing about starting your own company. Your personal vision can be lived out through the company vision.”

How do you maintain a strong company culture at your office?

The post Speaker Recap: Beth Chase on Creating Company Culture appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

James Sun, finalist on The Apprentice and CEO of Pirq, has shared 9 tips on how to avoid becoming what he calls an “EntrePOORneur.” Interesting takeaways include hiring slow, firing fast, and remembering to simultaneously sell yourself and your product to your customers.

Read the full story at Forbes.

How did YOU avoid becoming an EntrePOORneur?

The post 9 Ways to Avoid Becoming an EntrePOORneur appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Chris Sloan is Co-Chair of the Emerging Companies Team at Baker Donelson and Chairman of the Board for the Nashville Technology Council
• Chris is a Jumpstart Foundry mentor
• Baker Donelson have 40 attorneys in the south east who specialize in working with entrepreneurs, ”from idea to IPO”
• Choose the right entity for your business, set it up properly with co-founders
• Chris throughly enjoys working with startups, he often feels as excited as the founders themselves
• He is excited about the quality of the companies coming our of the Entrepreneur Center
• Tip: Do your homework. Have a basic understanding of legal issues for small businesses
• Read: Bargaining for Advantage and Pitching Hacks
• Visit: PitchingHacks.com and VentureDeals.com
• Education is the best thing you can do for yourself
• Contact Chris on Twitter @casloan

Please SUBSCRIBE to the podcast in iTunes, so you’ll get new episodes as they become available. We also love your reviews.

Jumpstart theme song “DLDN Instrumental (ft. Onlymeith, Mellotroniac)” by: St. Paul from ccMixter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 29: Chris Sloan appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XKocnAS345U

The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster was written and produced by Sonja Jacob for David Hauser.

Have you experienced the rollercoaster?

The post The Entrepreneur Rollercoaster appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Mr. Hau attributes the success of the device to its unique advantage over the incumbent competition of the era. Most doctors prefer writing notes longhand, so unlike the Palm Pilot and similar data assistants, Shareable Ink did not seek to ask doctors for a new input method. With Shareable Ink, doctors did not have to change their behavior or preferred input method, and the issue of illegible or misplaced notes was solved.

Mr. Hau summed up his path to successes in 5 tenants of market penetration

1) Never enter the market too early. If the consumer has a need for your device but doesn’t know it yet, your best option may be to lay low and survey the market for a while. For example, the late 90′s saw a massive influx of competing MP3 players on the market. Apple, rather than immediately join the fight, surveyed the landscape of their competitors, which allowed them to design a superior device.

2) It’s very hard to change your consumer’s behavior. Devices aiming to disrupt the status quo or overcome a consumer’s natural inertia to change are in for an uphill battle. Again, the success of Shareable Ink is attributed to the fact that it didn’t ask doctors to learn a new data input method. It adapted and improved the existing one.

3) No one likes an IT project. A company’s IT professional is a difficult middleman to market to or expand through. These individuals are often too bogged down in IT projects for their company to help you adapt yours to the existing company structure.

4) Finding the proper sales channels is challenging. The best lead user is one who not only uses and appreciates your product but acts as a catalyst for expansion. For a health care initiative, the Vanderbilt Medical Community is a potent sales channel, as it is one of the most respected and followed in the country, and would greatly increase exposure to your product.

5) Venture Capital is not free. You may have received a $2 million investment, but you’ve traded a percentage of the company, and will need to produce a strong ROI on that number in order to receive further investment from the same or other parties.

What would you add to Mr. Hau’s list?

The post Speaker Recap: Stephen Hau and Market Penetration appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Ariel Hyatt is President at Ariel Publicity & Cyber PR
• Cyber PR is a cloud based software that runs her PR firm
• Main clients are musicians and bands
• They help connect musicians to bloggers, podcasters and internet radio stations
• They also use their platform as an educational resource
• Ariel was in her second job after college, about 23 yrs old. She spent a year working at a record label and then was fired from a concert promotions company
• She was living in Boulder, Colorado, because there were no other concert promotions companies or record labels, she decided to start her own company.
• She has since moved back to New York City about 12 years ago
• Ariel was inspired by her mother. Her mother, Carole Hyatt, wrote New York Times best selling book the Women’s Selling Game about business networking for women.
• Tips:
  • Just do it. If you get too precious about your planning, you’ll never have the perfect moment. It’s like having a child. Just dive in and go for it! You’ll figure it out if you want it bad enough.
  • Read Seth Godin’s blog and read his book We Are All Weird. Have you heard our interview? 
  • Subscribe to Social Media Today and Mashable for social media news
• The foundation of being a strong entrepreneur is that you have to understand that the only thing that will stop you and hurt you is yourself.
• Read The Secrets of the Millionaire Mind about how to make money by T. Harv Eker. We’re programmed with a mental number. It’s about resetting your internal compass about making money.
• Be comfortable about asking for what your worth.
• Reach Ariel at ArielPublicityTips.com or follow @cyberpr on Twitter.

The post Jumpstart Episode 28: Ariel Hyatt appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

Entrepreneurs are innovative, driven, and passionate about carrying a product or idea to the market. However, they oftentimes have little business background, and can often suffer the pitfalls of entering the world of capitalism unprepared.

Jay Goltz of the New York Times has written an article to help entrepreneurs evade these common pitfalls and keep “wanna-preneurs” from overwhelming themselves.

His points include picking a proper bank, keeping family out of the business, and not falling blindly in love (with your product).

Read the full article.

What’s another common rookie mistake? Leave a comment below. 

Photo from Flickr by: Neil T

The post Top 10 Rookie Mistakes for Entrepreneurs appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

1) Awareness. The entrepreneurs’ first step is to show their consumer that they have a product or service that will either solve their problems or entertain them.

2) Action. The entrepreneurs then ask the consumer to take action. This is usually done through a call-to-action on an internet post. “Click for more info,” “See my site!” and “scan the QR code to enter” are all examples. See #8. on David Hooper’s post for more.

3) Active. At this stage, the consumer is now using the entrepreneurs’ product, but is neither a guaranteed continued customer or promoter.

4) Loyal. These consumers have reached a stage where they develop a relationship with the product and use it beyond a superficial level. Their usage is generated by need or want rather than pure curiosity, and they use the product regularly. These consumers are valuable targets for feedback or further promotion.

5) Zealots. Few consumers will reach this stage, but they are a valuable asset to the entrepreneur. They often adamantly promote the product and refuse competitor’s products.

According to Mr. Holland, the key to driving consumers to the loyal and zealot stages is to draw out the ideal behaviors you wish your consumers would perform. Being realistic in your approach to predicting consumer behavior is paramount to capturing their awareness, action, activity and loyalty. Learn more about Nicholas from our podcast interview.

What examples (good or bad) do you have of companies attempting to capture consumer interest?

Photo from Flickr by: Josh Oakes

The post Speaker Recap: Five Levels of Entrepreneur Consumer Interaction appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

They call this series #startupstories and currently there are three videos up on the web, one about pitching your company, one about building the team, and one about failing.

This episode of Startup Stories takes a long hard look at failure — and explains why failure might just be the most important step towards success if you’re serious about creating a great startup.

Watch this and share your thoughts about failure in the comments please. Are you afraid of failure? Do you encourage it? 

Can’t see the video? Click here.

The post Failure appeared first on Jumpstart Foundry.

• Jay Clarke is President and CEO at Magazines.com
• Magazines.com is the easiest place for a consumer to discover, find, buy, and manage magazine subscriptions
• Magazines.com has 6,000 titles to subscribe too
• When Jay graduated from Georgia Tech he joined SunTrust Bank, a polar opposite from where an entrepreneur comes from
• He realized he was a fish out of water, because he liked the idea of taking risks and making his own decisions
• Doug Johns from Compaq retired at an early age and moved to Atlanta. In 1995 he recruited Jay from SunTrust as CFO at his new startup
• Jay’s tips for entrepreneurs includes:
  • Before you write your business plan, write your core values. Core values lead to your corporate culture and your corporate culture leads to your brand.
  • The first two or three hires you make will be one of the most important decisions you make. They will determine the fate of your company.
  • You need someone you trust to be with you to say No. You need a Vice President of No.
• Jay recommends Mastering the Rockerfler Habits by Vern Harnish. The bible for entrepreneurship.
• Contact Jay by email: jclarke AT magazines.com 

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