Fatdoor, a website that visually displays neighborhood homes on a map, puts an icon next to each house where a registered member lives, and of course provides each member with a public profile, launched a pilot test in the San Jose area so a coworker and I thought we'd take a poke around. What we found was amazing - on my coworker's block (he lives in the area covered by the pilot) 8 of his neighbors were already registered members and had pretty complete profiles. Given that the site just launched, we were really shocked to see such rapid adoption of users in such close proximity. As my coworker's next door neighbor was registered and had entered her email address so we could contact her directly we dropped her a note to find out how she heard of it, and why she signed up. She didn't responded, so my coworker walked next door and spoke with her. Turns out she never even heard of the site and had no idea how her information (full first and last name) got there!

While it may be legal to display a persons full name next to their property, i'm not so sure it's cool to act as if that user is actually a registered member of the site. The site goes one step further and actually assigns political, among other, preferences to that person. This also makes me wonder if they are pulling our email addresses from public databases to ensure we get lots of the spam we all know and love so much.

Personally, i think Fatdoor has crossed one Fat line! Have some ethics people, well at least when you're going to be caught red handed. I doubt this will a be socially accepted move. Stupid community building act for sure if you ask me.

As a startup, it's tempting to believe that with a little investment you'd have a much easier time establishing partnerships with companies or acquiring business customers. The fact of the matter is that it's not always the case.  Yes, money makes it easier to hire the right people who have relationships you can leverage, and it does provide some degree of credibility.  However, if you're targeting a risk-averse customer base it's unlikely you can pick up the phone and close deals just because some VC firm put money in the bank.  A risk averse target market still wants to see market validation and a sustainable business. They still want to see others take the risk before they jump on board.  And, you're still going to have to do that cold-calling we all love so much.

Keep your eye out for an earlier adopter - a company with a proven track record of adopting non-standard solutions.   

I can still clearly recall the months following my decision to execute on our first business, a p2p lending exchange - it was the summer of 2004 and people were jumping up and down in their seats to tell us how foolish and naive we were for trying to build a p2p banking model:

• "Why the hell would I lend to someone I don't know?"
• "Financial markets are efficient, you're wasting your time."
• "What kind of person would give a loan to someone, let alone manage their own loan portfolio? That's what wealth managers are for kids. It's clear you have a lot of rethinking and learning to do."
• "Have you considered getting some work experience? A couple years in banking could help clear up your misconceptions." A couple years in banking and we'd know better then to be entrepreneurs in the first place!

Doors were slammed (and re-slammed) in our faces left and right. My financial support was ripped from under my feet, so I wore torn jeans with too many holes and refused to wash my car until we were financed. The holes got bigger, the car got dirtier and the naysayer's grew stronger.

If your vision is beyond the market, just remember this the next time the world is beating you down: IBM told Bill Gates there would never be a market for personal computers.

In March 2005, a p2p finance exchange (Zopa) was launched in the UK. In February 2006, a p2p exchange was launched in the US. And, soon, a p2p exchange will be launched in other countries around the world.

Welcome your naysayer for it's a reason to leap forward with pride. Never reveal all your cards to people outside of your network, and hold your most valuable keys close to you chest. You may very well be standing on a gold mine.

I'm very much against writing about my friends - I'll only act as a reference when I know a friend will live up to the raves. After all, it's my reputation on the line as well :) One friend has met the mark, and I'm writing about his efforts since his business is the result of a lot of sweat and blood, and a low quality lifestyle as he bootstrapped his way up (and that's the way it should be done :) 

Several months ago, Steve left his day job and decided to build his vision into a business.  Leveraging his network from his university and his experience working in the hotel industry, he sought out to create a place where prospective travelers could really experience and learn about where they wanted to go before they made the big investment.

He started out like everyone else - not enough cash to live on or time to sleep, but plenty of good friends to help!  When I first saw his site several months back, I though he was a little off his rocker - his words were bigger than his product (as is usually the case when you're just starting development); not much content and lots of links to sites that left me scratching my head.

Only now do I get what he meant so long ago when he told me "[he's] trying to create a truly valuable experience for travelers."   Check out his site - Epic Trip - and hit the box titled "customize." It's a totally unique traveler search experience and really helps you discover where you want to go. Since I've seen the "secure" parts of the site (and you haven't  - hehe) all I have to say is stay tuned because the experience is only going to get so much better!

My goal is to get Steve to write about some of the lessons he learned starting Epic Trip, so if you have any questions (such as, "how did you convince your friend to help you?", etc.) send them to me and I'll be sure to squeeze them out of him! Trust me, the only dumb question/comment is "I have a stupid question..."

Begin with software! If you're trying to build a business that VCs will invest in and you're young, start in the software industry, or another space with low capital requirements. There are several good reasons:

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Yesterday, I had a discussion with a friend of mine who is currently going through the start-up process.  He noted that starting up is not a vertical process (develop product then do beta testing then find investment, etc.), but rather the steps involved are all jumbled together - in order to secure an investment, you should be working on product development while finding companies to do the beta testing and getting to know prospective investors. Save your ammunition until the time to fire is right, but line up the dots to make sure you maximize your efficiency.  The point of all this is to speed up the process of execution so you don’t run out of cash or lose your motivation.

In theory, I encourage every entrepreneur to practice a non-vertical approach.  It may not work out as planned, as most of what entrepreneurs do does not, but with the right mix of flexibility and persistence you just may find yourself ahead of the game.