Category: Entrepreneurship

I’m Blogging about Madison Startups At Capital Entrepreneurs

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If you enjoy my Startup Reviews, entrepreneur profiles and thoughts on the Madison startup scene, don’t forget to check out my posts over at Capital Entrepreneurs.  For the last year and a half, I’ve been posting on Capital Entrepreneurs whenever a member company gets press, but over the last few weeks, a few of the CE members have decided that we’re going to use the CE blog as the TechCrunch of Madison and potentially all of Wisconsin.  We’re writing more in depth posts and are interviewing more people, startups and entrepreneurs and are even breaking some news that you might not see covered in the local media outlets.

I don’t think I’ll be cross posting much, but I think if you’re interested in hearing about Madison tech, you should check out my stories on Capital Entrepreneurs.  I posted last week about GoBuzz, a business intelligence email service that two CE members launched last week and yesterday I wrote about Chris Meyer’s grand opening of Sector 67, Madison’s first hackerspace. Check out CE and if you have any tips or stories that you think should be told, shoot me an email and I’ll make sure to do

Startup Tip: How to Find Your First Office

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I wrote a post back in November right after Jesse and I moved Entrustet into our first office about why we decided that it was time to get an office.  I also covered how you can tell it’s time for your startup to get an office.  I wanted to share how we found our office space and how you can find cheap or free office space in any city.

We pay $250 per month for office space, right on the Capitol Square in Madison.  Along with State Street and the University Research Park, Capitol Square office space is among the most expensive in the city.  So how did we do it?

We talked to our attorney and he offered to rent us space in his office, as he had unused space.  Unfortunately, his office is on the west side, so it was not within walking distance.  We thought this was a cool idea and tried to find other people who were closer to downtown.  We talked with other established businesses, but most were not sure about offering an extra office to us.

At a Capital Entrepreneurs meeting, we were taking with some of the other startups and realized that a few of the companies had extra offices that they were not using.  One of the companies, Hardin Design and Development, offered us a small office for $150 per month.  The office was probably only 12×12, but it got the job done.  After we started to expand, we moved into another, larger office on the same floor.  Hardin also rents another office in their suite to Momenta Technologies, another cool Madison startup.

Besides the price, it’s been a huge help for us to be in an office with other people in the startup world.  We all compliment each other’s skill set.  When Jesse and I have technical questions and we don’t want to bother our own tech team with a phone call, we can walk over to an office of programmers and get a quick answer.  When we’re looking for connections, it’s great to have 2 other startups right there.  It’s not just a one way street: we also help out the other companies in our office by sharing our social media and marketing skills.  Check out Fred Wilson’s post on coworking spaces for more info on how/why this works.

Another benefit is that we’re not lonely.  If we had rented a small office where we didn’t know anyone, we would have been very isolated at the beginning.  We share conference rooms, a small kitchenette and some of the same electronics.  It works out well for everyone.  We’ve created a sort of makeshift coworking space, because one does not exist in Madison (yet).

So if you’re looking for your first office, here’s what you should do:

1. Figure out what you need

How many people? What location? How much are you willing to pay? How long are you willing to commit for?

2. Reach out to your network

Talk to your lawyer, accountant, mentors and other business connections.   Since most companies don’t normally rent out spare offices to startups, you’ll have to propose terms. If you don’t have any/many or none are a good fit, move onto the next step.

3. Contact established startups/tech companies in your area

Most startups/tech companies are open to other entrepreneurs, especially if they are not in the same industry.  Introduce yourself, say you’re looking for office space and see if they have any recommendations.  You can always see if they have any extra space and offer to pay for it.  Many startups would love to add a small revenue stream while they don’t need all of the offices in their space.

4. Be flexible and respectful

If you are sharing space with another company, you must be respectful and flexible.  If the company you are renting from needs to grow, they may have to tell you to find new space somewhere else.  Always remember that they are doing you a favor and that they are opening their doors to you.  If you are not respectful (think leaving dirty dishes in the sink, monopolizing the conference room, making lots of noise, distracting other employees) sharing their space will not work.

I actually think there could be a cool business built around this idea.  A website could match up companies that have extra office space with startups looking for affordable space on short term leases.  The site could take a cut of the rent or a finders fee from the entrepreneur, or someone could just write it for free.  I bet there are tons of companies that have extra offices that they would like to rent out to interesting, high growth businesses and I know there are entrepreneurs looking for affordable office space on month to month leases.  I get emails every week from them.

Forward Technology Conference 2010

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On the flight back from Austin after SXSW last March, I was taking with Jesse about how much fun it would be to have something like it in Madison.  We thought it would be cool to try to set something up for the summer.  When I got back, I pitched the idea to my friend Matt Younkle, who really liked the idea.  In May, over some beers, we decided to try to make a go of it.  As the summer rolled along, Matt, Bryan Chan and I continued to plan Madison’s tech conference.

The Forward Technology Conference took place at the Memorial Union on the UW campus on Friday and was a huge success.  Over 120 Madison entrepreneurs, techies, investors and other tech savvy Madisonians attended the inaugural FTC2010 to hear from some of the most interesting people in the Madison technology scene.

FTC2010 was only a small part of the 10 day long Forward Technology Festival, which was sort of a “taste of Madison” but for all of the tech and entrepreneur focused groups in town.  The Forward Technology Festival was the brainchild of Preston Austin, who had the foresight to try to bring all of the different tech groups in town together in a week long celebration.  FTF2010 included High Tech Happy Hour, Capital Entrepreneurs, Sector67, BarCamp and other tech focused events.

FTC Highlights

The Forward Technology Conference kicked off with a panel called Entrepreneur 101, which featured four successful Madison entrepreneurs: Greg Tracy (Sharendipity), Dan Voell (GoBuzz), Chad Sorenson (Flamedisk) and Roy Elkins (Broadjam) and was moderated by Bryan Chan (Supranet).  The panelists talked about their successes and lessons they’ve learned over their careers in the startup game.  All of the entrepreneurs talked about staying focused as one of they keys to their success.

Next up was All About LLCs featuring attorney Joseph Boucher of Neider and Boucher and Kevin Kelbel an accountant from Smith & Gesteland LLP moderated by Matt Younkle (Y-Innovation).  Boucher and Kelbel talked about the different types of business entities and shared stories about why different companies should choose LLCs, S or C corps.

After a quick lunch break, we did an hour of breakout sessions with topics proposed from the attendees.  We ended up with a wide range of topics and settled on four.  First was how to run an intern program led by Jesse Davis of Entrustet.  The second group was about what a shared hackerspace in Madison should look like, led by Chris Meyer of Sector67.  Another session was about biomimicry, with the last session focusing on the future of the web and HTML5 (hosted by Momenta’s Dan Gordon).

The final panel of the day was all about design, branding and identity.  It featured John Besmer (Planet Propaganda), Wesley Grubbs (Pitch Interactive), Andy Wallman (Knupp & Watson & Wallman), Gage Mitchell (Gage Mitchell Design) and was moderated by Dan Merfeld, (TheoryThree Interactive).  This was one of the more fun panels of the day and featured spirited discussion on the pros and cons of large and small design shops.  The panelists stressed that brands need consistent messaging across all platforms or their marketing won’t work.  My favorite quote of the day came from Besmer “If you’re thinking about your marketing when its time to do marketing, its way too late.”

We rolled on into my favorite part of the day: Pitch Your Biz.  5 startups had 5 minutes each to present their ideas to the crowd and then the crowd had 5 minutes to provide feedback, ideas and ways to improve the business.  Biz Pitchers included Heidi Allstop (Student Spill), Derek Swoboda (Golf Links Cafe), Joseph Beck (Loacsys), Justin Beck (PerBlue) and Mudit Tyagi (Open ADC).

I love this format because it keeps the participants and the audience on their toes.  The audience can’t fall asleep, since the pitches come fast and furious and there’s a new one every five minutes.  All of the startups did a great job, as did the audience.  My personal favorites were Student Spill, which I think has the potential to be a game changer by bringing support groups online, but with a tweak and PerBlue.  Justin Beck from PerBlue is always an entertaining speaker because he is right to the point, provides compelling stats and doesn’t mince words.  All five startups did a great job and Laurie Benson (Innacom) was a phenomenal MC.

Fred Foster of Electronic Theater Controls was the keynote speaker and told the story of how he founded ETC while he was still in school at UW.  He told war story after war story about his battles growing the company into what it is today: $200m in revenue and 700+ employees.  Foster had the audience laughing every few minutes and I could have listened to him tell stories for as long as he wanted to talk.  I thought it was awesome that when he started the company, he wanted to sell theater controls to The Met and 20 years later, he actually did it.  Talk about perseverance!

After the keynote, we put on a reception above the union terrace, right on the lake.  The weather was perfect and I enjoyed talking with all of the attendees and learning about their current projects.

I really enjoyed FTC2010 and am hoping to make it an annual event.  I know that with a full year to prepare, we can do an even better job and get more people in town to attend.  Madison is turning into a startup hub in the Midwest.  TechCrunch noticed.  Forbes noticed and the local media is starting to take note.  The Forward Tech Conference is another step in the right direction and one that I hope continues to put Madison on the map!

Did you attend FTC2010?  What was your favorite part of the festival? Do you have any suggestions or feedback?

Introducing Forward Technology Conference

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Ever since South By Southwest, I wanted to put on a smaller version in Madison.  SXSW was such an amazing experience because it was a place I could learn, meet awesome people and then relax with a happy hour and entertainment at night.  I pitched Matt Younkle on the idea few months back and we decided we wanted to make something happen in Madison.

After some work, we settled on the Forward Technology Festival, headlined by Forward Technology Conference, Barcamp, High Tech Happy Hour, Capital Entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurship, startup and technology events in Madison.

We’ve partnered with the founders of the Forward Music Festival and have an eye toward unifying the dates for the music and tech festival in the future.

This year’s Forward Tech Conference will have some great sessions, including:

10:05 am – Startups 101: A panel discussion with Madison-area entrepreneurs with businesses at different stages of development. Hear what’s working and what’s not in today’s market. Your questions and participation are encouraged.

11:00 am – All About LLCs: Finally learn about the in’s and out’s of Limited Liability Companies. We’ll have an attorney and a CPA on the stage together to set the record straight, and you won’t have to worry about any hourly billing.

1:00 pm – Unconference: Here is where the attendees become the presenters! Come with topics to discuss and ideas to share. We’ll poll you and the other attendees for hot topics, and split off into four or five groups based on interest.

2:00 pm – Branding and Identity Panel: Learn about what to look for in choosing a good graphic designer, hear about relevant design trends, and learn about different identity philosophies from some of the area’s top design minds.

3:15 pm – Pitch Your Biz: Here’s your chance to pitch your new biz or big idea in front of your peers for some no-holds-barred feedback. Biz-pitchers will have exactly 5 minutes to sell the audience on their concept. After that, the floor is opened for feedback, compliments, and criticisms. Contact us if you’d like to be a Biz-pitcher

All of the session will have high quality speakers and presenters, but I’m most excited for the Pitch Your Biz session.  5 entrepreneurs will get 5 minutes each to pitch their idea, business plan or even full fledged business and then the audience will have 10 minutes per company to provide feedback to try to improve the business.  I haven’t seen anything like it and I think we’re going to have some really strong presenters that should make the session really interesting.

After the panels, we’ve reserved the top level of the deck overlooking the Memorial Union where we’ll host a networking happy hour, with 2 drinks included in your registration fee.  There will also be a live band on the terrace, which should be awesome.

I’m also excited that people in Madison are getting excited about technology, entrepreneurship and startups.  I’ve already started to hear some buzz surrounding FTC2010 and think that Madison has the chance to really showcase its entrepreneurship credentials.  After being featured in TechCrunch last week, people outside of the state are starting to figure out what’s going on in Madison.  I’m hoping that Forward Technology Festival, Forward Music Festival and the rest of the Forward Movement can help bring the Madison community together around new, interesting ideas and the culture that’s needed to help the city grow.

If you’re interested in attending FTC2010 or want to get involved, you can sign up here, or you can contact me for more info.

What do you think?  Are you excited for FTC2010?  What panel are you most looking forward to?