a community Lovingly created for kiters, by Kiters.

by Jessica Valenzuela @mavindigital

Recently, I’ve had to face some tough decisions as a Founder for a new company that I am nurturning, Just Kite It. Beyond the day-to-day hustle of ensuring that action items are followed-through and executed on efficiently, networking and making connections that will help grow the company, keeping your team motivated and focused, there are those days when tough decisions need to be made in order to keep the upward momentum of the startup. Decisions that at times may result in hurting a friendship that you truly value.

I could have chosen to start Just Kite It on my own. After much consideration and thought, I decided to bring in a co-Founder. Back in August, my requirements were simple and generic: equally passionate about kiting. Someone who can strongly complement my skill sets and talent. After all I started a service business, Mavin Digital, Inc. So this new startup should be a piece of cake. I discovered that there is more to learn.

Lesson #1: I was naive to think that friendship and common passion for a sport and a lifestyle is enough to warrant a strong working relationship.

When the wheels start to turn is when you realize that common passion and friendship is not enough to get you through the potholes of starting  a company. You can only prepare so much and risk manage as much. Have 101 conversations on the possible challenges that could occur to keep the fluidity of the creation process. At the end of the day a Founder’s duty is to have clarity and focus on the tasks. Can friendships make it through tough business decisions? It depends. There is no right or wrong answer here. In my opinion, keeping a general open mind and conversation always bears better fruit, yet the Founder’s Duty is keeping the vision in which the company was founded. Keep that flame burning bright up to the finish line.

“Trust is a Founder’s biggest challenge. Not capital,” Divya Gugnani, Founder Behind the Burner.

Lesson #2: Is capital enough to earn co-Foundership status? The clear answer is no.

Obviously, investor equity at the seed round is available to those who invests in the startup. Yet it is a Founder’s duty to pick a founding team he/she can trust to have infinite desire to help execute on your idea, transform it into a great product and understands the business you are building. Equity motivated by capital alone could dilute the vision of the startup. Distractions over revenue decisions versus focusing on what is strategically sound for the company could hurt the growth of the organization and performance of the brand.

“Create and deliver a good product first, then business will come,” The Apple story.

Lesson #3: KISS and focus on doing one thing well.

Identifying a problem and crafting a solution that a community would find valuable is not a one shot process. Nurturing an idea and transforming it into a product requires evolution. Sometimes the idea becomes diluted and the problem in which it is intended to solve is lost. We were close to heading down that path for Just Kite It. I was reminded by a fellow Founder and friend, KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) and focus on doing one thing well. So back to the drawing board I went.Today, as we draw closer to our alpha release date for phase 1…I’m excited! It won’t be perfect, yet that is the beauty of the startup creation process there will always be room for improvement.

Lesson #4: Don’t build to sell. Build to create a great company.

So far the most invaluable lesson I’ve learned since my journey into creating Just Kite it. I was at a coffee shop yesterday meeting someone who I have a high regard for and is one of my Advisory Board members for Mavin Digital, Inc. He stopped me in my tracks when I said, “well in two years I’ll probably sell.” I was greeted with “Don’t think like that. You don’t build a company to flip it. You build a company to create great companies.”

Indeed, why would you want to sell something you love? “Do what you love and never give up,” Bill Tai.

The application also includes an impressive feature called Nearby™, which enables fans to watch and exchange messages, photos and video with other NIN fans real-time from all over the world, powered by Google Earth.  By zooming in to a concert location, you can follow the localized discussion during the show while viewing pictures posted live from the venue.  Consider it a one-stop shop for community and content powered by the fans themselves and to extend the concert experience beyond the people actually attending the show.

So why should you care?  Well, for starters, NIN Access looks like everything that Web 2.0 promised to be for musicians, fans and frankly, anyone who embraces progressive technology — all wrapped up in an incredibly slick package.  It is, in a sense, the “ultimate resource” for the NIN community online: one that integrates seamlessly with services and technologies their fans are already using — Blogger, Flickr, YouTube, Twitter, RSS, bittorrent, and dynamic playlists, with the next release of the app promising to incorporate Vimeo, Photobucket, MediaWiki, openID and Facebook Connect.  By doing this, Reznor has effectively brought together community and content, powered by fans themselves, while extending the concert experience beyond those actually attending the show.  Further, he’s deepened the interaction between artist and fan, and between the fans themselves.  And this, if done correctly, could prove to be a mighty powerful thing for musicians and marketers alike.

Eric Pilkington, Guest Blogger

While in San Francisco for the recently concluded Web 2.0 Expo I had a moment to catch up with Suzane Xie (@suzannez) CEO and co-Founder at Weardrobe. The seedlings of our friendship began in the summer of 2008 in New York City. Connected by Women 2.0, our pursuit and passion for community building and our startups. It was truly extraordinary to see her and listen to the evolution of Weardrobe and its continued success. Here’s an excerpt of our conversation. I hope it will inspire you as it has moved me.

@mavindigital: Girlfriend am so proud of you! Tell me about your experience in the accelerator program at SXSW. How did you get in?

@suzannez: Truly an unplanned moment. I was not planning on being at SXSW until I saw an email message from @tikkers asking for startups to submit to the SXSW program. The short of it, we submitted Weardrobe for the social networking catetory and was selected as one of the 25 finalists to present. Then everything evolved from that moment. @guykawasaki is now one of our fans, and has been helpful in making introductions. Listen in on what people think about Weardrobe on Twitter.

@suzannez: Haha, hardly the case. I’d like to be the next @garyvee first before I ever get to be the next Oprah.

Note: Suzanne and I were laughing hysterically at that moment over something really geeky.

@suzannez: We (@richtong, my co-Founder of Weardrobe) made the decision to relocate to Palo Alto for many reasons. One being closer to Stanford University opened doors to a pool of really great intern talent. Second, I wanted to establish Weardrobe as an integral part of the Valley startup and investor community for future growth. The Valley investor community sees more dealflows and are open to new ideas versus microscoping the bottomline, hence by the time we are ready for sizeable funding, the hope is to tap into those relationships. Today, we have a converted home office in Palo Alto which is extremely accessible for our interns at Stanford. In the last six months, we re-launched Weardrobe with new site design and a clearer vision for our business model.

@suzannez: Our focus for the past six months is to improve the quality of our content. The hard-work and focus has paid off as we’ve seen traffic growth from 35K to 125K with over half a million page views and it increases daily. Weardrobe has made clothing more discoverable and searcheable for the average fashion fiend or wanna be fashion fiend. Any woman with a closet has a story to share about their personal style. What best place to start sharing that story is from your own closet. Fashion retailers like American Apparel and other fashion retailers of which I am unable to share at the moment since we are in the dealmaking process are beginning to see the value we add in the fashion ecosystem. Google as a search engine is a gateway to the entire internet, but they can’t cover every niche vertical. Weardrobe is your gateway to discovering wearable fashion.

@suzannez: Weardrobe’s audience has an age median of female and 19 years old. College to late twenties, who we refer to as the fashion influencers. 95% of our users are female, who also holds the majority of the purchasing power.  We have over 5,000 registered users and very close relationships with our top users who we are in contact with on a weekly basis. We are also launching “The Weardrobe Closet” -  where our most trusted members get to borrow and style items from our retail partners so they can share their personal style and inspire other girls on Weardrobe. I’m very excited about this!

@suzannez: No! Of course you’re not too old for Weardrobe! The idea is that hopefully our early adopters will convert the main stream in using Weardrobe as a style discovery tool versus depending on runway fashion for inspiration. Plus, who doesn’t like the idea of borrowing clothing from an endless closet?

@suzannez: I believe the current economic climate is the best time for entrepreneurs to start their business. When the market improves your business will grow with the market. The plus side of a slow economy is that startups like ours have access to a wealth of brilliant talent who can help make the difference in the growth of your business.

@suzannez: @richtong and I started with our own savings at first. Then when we saw that this novel idea started to truly blossom and evolve we sought for convertible notes in order to relocate to Palo Alto. Convertible notes allows a lender to loan money without your company being valued too early on. We are just starting to talk to Angel investors and VCs now for a valued round.

@suzannez: Personally, I wouldn’t include a VC firm in my funding equation until I am ready for that kind of expansion and scale. We have tried to grow Weardrobe for as long as possible before seeking a valued round of funding. Before institutional funding, you have more freedom to experiment and make mistakes. Regarding what happens to the founders post-funding, it would be ideal to stay on and help the company scale. However, that’s not always the best option for the business – my thinking would be “if someone is better positioned to oversee the growth of my baby” then it would be wise for me to give up the CEO post provided that my shares as Founder are in place.

@suzannez: Ha! Rich and I go way back.  We met during summercamp at Cornell during high school and have been friends ever since. When I was studying at the University of Chicago and he at Cornell Architecture, we started a high-end stationary business coast to coast. Our clients included the Palms Hotel and we even made a stationary for one of Donald Trump’s events. Rich and I have always worked well together – though we have had our fair share of arguments. All of our countless fights have proven that our partnership and friendship will endure any challenge. At the end of the day, his talent and skills are complementary to mine. Finding the right partner in your business is very key to your success.

@suzannez: (She has this big smile and her eyes just lights as shares this vignette) Well, I have this really geeky and superbly organized side of me. I like spreadsheets, which is probably why I decided to study econ and do investment banking before Weardrobe. I used to organize my closet by entering all the pieces of clothing I own into an excel spreadsheet. After completing this task and realizing how lame I was — I figured I better make someting cool out of it. And we did, Weardrobe!

I had such a fun time in San Francisco! Catching up with Suzanne has definitely convinced me that starting a startup was the best decisions I’ve made in my life. She’s pursuing her dreams and doing it well. I hope her story will inspire you to do the same.

About Weardrobe

Weardrobe is a fashion community focused not just on what you wear, but how you wear it. It was inspired by the unique and inspirational styles of “What I Wore” fashion bloggers and groups like wardrobe remix. You can start by searching for inspiration or by posting your own photo.

Meet the Founders:

Suzanne Xie (@suzannez)                                                     Rich Tong (@richtong)

How can I make my campaigns work? Don’t campaign. When your audience is engaged “campaigns” become irrelevant. A consistent flow of information exchange with your audience will provide the insight that you need to connect and create deep and long term relationships. They’ll see you as a credible and trustworthy source of information.

How am I suppose to measure? As an entrepreneur I measure the success of my personal message by the number of conversions from conversation into a project without ever hard selling. By being active in the community of startups and entrepreneurs I am surrounded by people with ideas yet have challenges with execution and creation, an area which comes natural for me. The ability to think at the macro level while being able to execute on the micro level and the creation of tactical steps offers me the unique opportunity to help entrepreneurs visualize the various possibilities for their idea. In doing so, I am able to establish credibility and earn their trust. I am a listener first before a consultant. I am a consultant first before a marketer.

Does social media matter? It is the latest and the greatest tool for a brand (personal/consumer/corporate) to establish a connection and have an open engagement with one another. In that regard, it matters. Does it mean we disregard marketing as a practice? I think social media is the evolution of marketing not a replacement.

In addition, consistency in your message, relevance and timing are key elements to establishing and building an audience around your personal brand. For more insight, read Chris Brogan’s post on the same topic.

What is the value of your personal brand equity?

Competition is heating up as hundreds of young start- ups and entrepreneurial teams across the country compete to land a spot in one of five “accelerator” programs, each with deadlines looming this month. At stake is seed money, access to leading experts and mentors, and the opportunity to turn an idea into a viable product, and a dream into a daily reality.

So, what does it take to get into one of these programs? And what should a team consider before applying in the first place?

To gain insight, I spoke with Buzzable.com founders and LaunchBox Digital 2008 alumni Satjot Sawhney and Ashish Kundra. Little more than six months after completing the LaunchBox program, Sawhney and Kundra launched, Buzzable.com on February 27^th, and have already seen the diverse ways in which users are utilizing their platform.  (For example, teachers in the Highered group are bouncing questions off of each other, folks in the Mexico group are having an asynchronous chat, and the Buzzable team manages and responds to ‘buzzable-related’ tweets in the buzzable support group.

We spoke about their experience applying for, and participating in, the 2008 cycle of the LaunchBox Digital accelerator program. In this blog post, the first of a two part series about their experience with LaunchBox, Sawhney and Kundra shed light on the application process itself, and the key questions and main mindset that lead to their acceptance into, and success within, the LaunchBox Digital accelerator program.

What made you decide to do apply for a program?

A combination of seed funding and the opportunity to work with people who would help the business grow. The truth is, cash behind you makes things easier. You don’t waste time over analyzing minor expenditures, and instead focus on product development.

Why LaunchBox?

They forced us to answer critical questions from the get- go. Even at our very first interview, they critiqued the crap out of our proposal in a way that was very specific to our proposed business. This was precisely the type of feedback we felt would be necessary to help us reach our maximum potential.

How far along was your product when you applied?

We were at a very conceptual stage when we applied for the program, and actually ended up changing our business completely.

Can you elaborate on the application process?

After submitting our initial application and participating in a phone interview, we were invited to DC for a face-to-face meeting. At that meeting, we spent an hour and a half with LaunchBox principals, really getting into the nitty gritty of the company and answering many tough questions, some of which we had not yet even considered.

We didn’t just wait around after the interview, either. We spent the entire week after our meeting in constant contact with LaunchBox, following up on all of the questions we had been unprepared for or unable to answer.

It was an intense period of dialogue, but we also saw it as an opportunity to learn as much as possible from the interview process.  Our thinking was, “We may not get in, but we are going to learn everything from these guys while we have their attention…”

What are the top three things entrepreneurs considering an incubator program should weigh in deciding whether to apply?

The first question is definitely, are you ready to climb the mountain? Are you willing to commit to working 14- 15 hours a day, alone or with a partner in order to see this thing through? Second, you should ask yourself whether you need the money. What will you use it for? Don’t just take it for the sake of taking it- have a use for it. Finally, figure out what attributes of a program are most important to you. For us, it was about the mentors, and about having advisors that would be willing to ask the tough questions.

Take some time to do some self analysis first, it will help you determine whether an incubator program makes sense, and which one would be the right fit for you and your team.

What personal attributes do you believe made you successful in applying and participating in the LaunchBox program?

Persistence, persistence, persistence.

I’d say that the interview process helps to narrow down who really has what it takes to go through the program itself.   It is sort of like college admissions in that sense—the partners WANT participating teams to succeed, and therefore use the vetting process to identify those companies they believe can manage the workload, and the up-and-down-roller-coaster ride of it all.

Do you have any final recommendations for teams applying to one of the incubator programs this year?

Be passionate and sincere. If you are serious and you think you have an idea that is going to be big- communicate that clearly. At the end of the day, they are funding people, not just good ideas. Show that you believe in your idea and your team without a shadow of a doubt, and that you have the drive and personality to keep pushing.

For more information on Buzzable, check out this article in TechCrunch, or follow @buzzable on twitter. Feeling inspired? Click here for details on the LaunchBox Digital accelerator program, or read-up on one of these other programs currently accepting applications: Amplifier, TechStars, Y-Combinator and DreamIT.

Alexis Rodich, MBA Candidate, Guest Blogger

After over six months of working with Adriana Gascoigne it proved that we had a different vision for Girls in  Tech and very different work styles. Not setting goals and objectives in the beginning of a working relationship was an Achilles heel we failed to overcome. I am positive that Adriana had pure intentions when we had our conversation in August 2008 and convinced me (at that time I was contemplating on starting a networking group in NY independent of any existing organization) to be a co-Founder with 49% time equity share which I shared equally with @dma235 for her contributions on the creative and tech assets. Though after experiencing major delays from Adriana on producing a proper co-founder agreement, our different views on growing the organization (I preferred a focused grass roots expansion while she preferred rapid expansion in any place someone raised their hand to start a Girls in Tech Chapter), disagreement on blog management, SEO and social media tactics that I knew worked well as it showed in our traffic reports and many other irritations not worth mentioning – it proved challenging to work together. After failed attempts to communicate, on January 15, Adriana abruptly made the decision to redirect the Girls in Tech URL she owns from the former community site to the splash page you now see without proper notification nor transition to the New York bloggers and the entire community. My guess is as good as yours on why she made this decision without the appropriate transition and notification to our members. On the same day I received this email message from her “It is unfortunate that our partnership with Girls in Tech didn’t work out. I am sympathetic to the work that you put into the organization and can offer you 1.0% shares each.” Indeed it is unfortunate when efforts are recognized with insufficient funds.

Though this partnership failed, I intend to march forward with the experience and value I helped create and nurture with the tech and media community at large. My involvement gave me the opportunity to engage with some of the most creative, remarkable and talented men and women in the industry. I will continue my community contributions through this blog, future small gatherings, industry events, introducing startups with VCs who will find value in their business models and ideas, and a venture forum in New York which I will help lead and produce in the coming months (stay tuned for details!).

Gratitude and very much deserved acknowledgment for the support from all our members and specially the following individuals and organizations:

Finally, here’s a special registration page from one of the partnerships I nurtured and formed Gilt Group for ladies and gentlemen who love tech! It will be available for six months so pass it along!

Do you have a similar experience to share? I’d love to hear from you!