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Google, as we once knew it, is over. The Google+ project is just about 1 month old, and at an estimated 20 million users already, it could be here to stay. To me, at a high-level, Google+ indicates a potentially massive tectonic shift in Google’s overall strategy that will directly affect pretty much all facets of the company. Google’s search technology has always (loosely) been about an algorithm interpreting your search and spitting back the results it thinks are most relevant to you. This old search and find process was only the beginning of search technology, and Google is making a bold bet that the real future of this technology looks a whole lot more social than this.

Google has long acknowledged the need to evolve into the social networking space, but has been 0/2 on attempts thus far with both its Google Buzz and Google Wave products. But as great companies and people often do, Google is learning from its mistakes, and is storming back into the social media arena with a vengeance. And this time, they ain’t fuckin’ around.

Google+ is pretty nifty

With an estimated 20 million users just weeks after a private beta launch, Google+ is almost certainly the fastest social network of all time to reach this figure. Right now, Google+ just early-adopters (read: tech geeks), but I think it’ll be a household name before long. If you’ve used Google+ already, then you know it’s pretty slick–so slick, in fact, that it really almost looks like an Apple product. And if you haven’t used Google+ yet, then trust me–it’s pretty slick. But the purpose of this blog post is not to run over the tech specs of Google+–you can familiarize yourself here if need be. Rather, these are just some ramblings on some things I find noteworthy about Google+ and some thoughts about the future.

The ‘folding in’ of Google’s software products

A major piece of this whole Google+ frenzy is the fact that Google is going to fold all of its current software products under the same Google+ roof. That is, services like Blogger, Google News, Adwords, Analytics, Picasa, Youtube, and Google Docs, etc. are all going to be accessed from within Google+, as opposed to existing as standalone products. By bringing all of it’s services under one roof, Google is making the following statement: “The web is too spread out. It’s time to consolidate and simplify everything.” I have to say I agree with this. Hopefully the days of having contacts, web apps, and news sources spread out across a million different places will soon be behind us. The “next era” of consumer web is all about consolidation. The ways I receive and share information on the Internet will all be wrapped together under fewer and fewer roofs.

The sharing strategy behind Google+

The million dollar question these days seems to be: is there room for Google+ in the already crowded social media space? That is, with the likes of Facbeook, Twitter, and Email so heavily ingrained into our daily routines, is there even room for Google+ as yet another content sharing and discovery source in our daily lives? I recently read this brilliant article by Jonathan Allan of SearchEngineWatch.com which goes into great detail on this subject from a network theorist perspective.

One particularly interesting conclusion from the article was that Google+ very well could exploit a currently gaping hole in online communication: the one-to-few level of communication. The article goes on to explain how email has essentially mastered the art of 1-to-1 communication, Facebook & Twitter have mastered the art of one-to-many communication (aka broadcasting or ‘over-sharing’), but nobody has mastered the art of one-to-few communication. Facebook hasn’t been able to succeed at this mainly because of its confusing sharing and privacy settings. (Does anyone actually use Facebook lists anyway?). But Google+ is all about this idea of leading the user to make a conscious decision about who particular information is shared with instead of just making it as easy as possible to broadcast to as many people as possible.

The profile psychology behind Google+

Christian Oestlien is Google’s product manager behind this whole Google+ shindig, so I was excited to find and follow him on Google+. I was reading his wall one day and stumbled upon a very interesting quote. See below.

Facebook is about who you are, and Google+ is about who you want to be.

I have no idea who ‘OH’ is in this post, but I do know that Christian makes a bold and curious statement here, and I’m a bit surprised that it wasn’t picked up and written about because it’s such a bold distinction he makes here and it really sheds some light on the long-term vision behind Google+. It also makes a bold statement about the whole psychological approach Google is taking when it comes to its users’ Google+ profiles. To me, this is Google saying they want to be the “most authentic” version of you on the web that exists. They want to put your creativity and personality on exposé as well as your professional status and whereabouts. (And they’ll achieve this by bundling all of the Google software products under the Google+ roof so your profile can boast more robust versions of your photos, writings, music, links, etc. than Facebook can).

Finals thoughts

There’s no doubt that Google+ has passed the initial ‘cool test.’ Twenty million users in like a month is absolutely nucking futs, even if they are geeky early adopters, is enough to classify this as a smashingly successful product launch. Google+ already officially occupies a permanent tab on my browser. And considering that until now, I only granted “permanent tab status” to email and calendar, this is an impressive feat in the world of Jesse Davis.

The big question is obviously whether or not they’ll continue to penetrate quickly into the next round of users–the casual user. I dunno, I don’t really see this happening in the traditional way. That is, I don’t think Google+ will just grow via the network effect like Facebook did. Instead, I predict Google+ will grow via the backdoor route–by forcing current Google product users to join Google+ if they wanna keep using the products. Case in point: my dad uses Facebook, Gmail, and Picasa. He has no intentions of signing up Google+ because from his perspective there’s no need–one social network is enough. He would, however, join Google+ if all of a sudden Google said “you are gonna have to create a Google+ account in order to keep using Picasa and Gmail.”

Last thought: Google is going to know everything about me. And ya know what? I’m fine with that. I’ve got nothing really to hide and to me, the value of their services outweighs the potential loss of personal identity. But what do you think?

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When friend and fellow Madison entrepreneur Ryan Paugh suggested I submit my application for The Young Entreprenuer Council, I honestly just figured “why not? it’s never a bad idea to join another group” and decided to apply. What I certainly did not expect to get from the group was the most powerful personal branding/mentorship hybrid opportunity of my life.

I applied for the YEC in January of this year, and at the time, the group’s membership was small, but impressive, and the group itself was starting to get some significant press. The group had some 30-40 young entrepreneurs doing really interesting things, such as Jason Sadler, as well as impressively successful members like Aaron Patzer (founder of Mint, which sold to Intuit for like $80 million or something ungodly like that).

In the past few months, the group has grown immensley and has made some incredibly impressive moves. Behind YEC founder Scott Gerber, the group has become the most syndicated source of entrepreneurship advice blogging via content partnerships with Fortune, All Business, AOL, Huffington Post, Wall Street Journal, FOX Business, CNN, and more. And there are even rumors of a partnership with the White House…stay tuned!

What exactly do I do for the Council? Well, basically my responsibilities are two-fold: 1) I give my two cents on questions submitted by startup entrepreneurs looking for specific advice, and 2) I’ve started a blog series for the YEC called Enlightentened Entrepreneurship, which will hopefully offer some advice and tips to startuppers for bringing positive energy and calm, focused attention to the workplace.

Since I began answering entrepreneurs’ startup querstions a few weeks ago, my answers have been featured in a number of high-profile outlets:

Huffington Post

All Business #1

AOL

All Business #2

Mashable

My only question: what happens in 10 years when I’m not longer really a young entrepreneur? Haha. This group is awesome and is going to do some special things and most importantly, going to help a lot of people along the way. Cheers to Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh

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You may think of Lil Wayne as just a rapper, but whether you–or he–know it, he’s a business man as well. As ‘Crush It!’ author Gary Vaynerchuck points out time and time again, being accessible and responsive to customers is at the heart of any company’s customer loyalty. This is something Lil Wayne seems to understand quite well. Lil Wayne is currently in jail, but that hasn’t kept the self-proclaimed “best rapper alive” from doing a silly job connecting with his fans. Wayne takes the time to read every single letter sent to him in jail and respond to the fans personally on WeezyThanxYou.com.

I’ve never seen fan communication like this before. It’s so personal and thorough, I almost don’t believe it’s him writing it…but then again, my gut says it really is him responding. For starters, he’s got plenty of time in jail to read and respond to letters. Also, his responses emit a very genuine aura. Check out last week’s fan feedback:

I would love to thank the following fans:

Julien Paul – You’re already where you need to be, school!

David Cash – I appreciate you as a fan and the fact I can inspire you. Keep working, cause I will.

Diane Johnson – That was motivating. Thank you.

Kai Rossbach – I’m thankful to be of an inspiration to you and I hope your dream comes true.

Dominique Vinson – Thanx for the love and I hope to see you in the NFL someday.

Sherron Jones – I think what you do is “remarkable” but thank you.

Ane K. – I thank you for the love from Lithuania. And the rhymes!

Maria Moore – God bless you and you made me miss that great Louisiana food. Crawfish and gumbo.

Keisha Belt – Thanx for the card and those boys are little rockstars!

June Thomas – Thanx for the card and judging from the pics, I like your style as well.

Shyniece Jackson – I thank you for the love. Stay cute.

Andre Young – That’s love. Respect!

Kianne Hill – Thanx for the sweet cars and all the hearts.

Aaron P. Taylor – Glad I can help.

Edri Lile – I love that you’re a fan. You are super cool to me. Tell sis I said “what up”.

Sade Bailey – I love you too! Thanx for supporting me.

Ashley Hill – “Team Wayne”… I like that. I hope you become exactly what you wanna be. You seem like an aspiring young woman.

Nina Sordillo – Thanx for the love and “Go Sox”!

Niles Hightower – I appreciate you! “Kid Bruce Wayne”

Tiara Richardson – I thank you for your prayers and for carrying my name with grace.

B. Baron – I appreciate the endless support and turn that shut up for Carter! Stay clean.

Louraine George – Thanx for the love. Libra love! That autograph story is classic.

Dave Scott – Thanx for that brotherly love and the encouragement. And I said a prayer for you and the church.

Maureen Annand – Thanx for the love and I said a prayer for you and your daughter.

James Shan – I thank you for supporting me, though it may be difficult to do so. I appreciate it.

Alicia Gatica – I simply loved your words and the card. I’d love to have that date.

Elizabeth Corporan – I thank you for the continuous support.

Sara Tworogal and Guisy Morotta – I sincerely thank you both for the love from Italy. I love that I make you proud. The prayer is perfect.

Ashley Hanrahan – I thank you for your heart, thoughts, and prayers, and for living it up for me while I’m in here. Thanx for the endless support.

Olivia Synejko – I thank you for the appreciation, love, and support from England. I’m glad that my voice can help you in any way. And no matter what anybody says, I think you’re great! Around the way girl.

Jesse Kenton Curry – Nice rhymes. Keep it up.

Elizabeth Ann – Thanx for the love mama. And your eyes are capturing.

Juanita DeAngelo – I thank you again and your daughter is adorable. The poetry was fantastic and Happy B-Day!

Jason Whyte – I appreciate the London love my G.

Billy Ann Johnson – I thank you for the love ma.

Le Nourichel Lendy – I thank you for the French love. And the French lesson. God bless you and your family.

Catherine Anundsicas – I hope that you see this and thanx for the Norway love. Nice drawing.

Stacey Lubwika – Thanx fot the love and scriptures. And I think it’s wonderful what you’re doing. Say hi to lil man for me. Big beautiful eyes!

Karina Garcia – Thanx for the prayers… And you are pretty.

Mary Hall – Thanx for the prayers and the love. Tell the kids I say wudup.

Monique Williams – Thanx for the love. My Mississippi girl. Go Lakers!

Jasmie Hazelton – Thanx for enjoying the show. And I love you and your friends as well.

Kelsey Veert – I won’t forget you.

Brittany-Marie Augustus – Your words were motivating. I also appreciate you following me for so long. And the drawing is perfect.

Maheen Mustafa – I deeply appreciate you. Say hi to your family for me… And you’re one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen.

Annie Francois – Thanx for the love and say hi to Derek for me. He’s lucky.

Csilla-Veronika – Thanx for the love all the way from Italy.

Kamryn Kurtcher – I really hope all is well. Keep love. And thanx for the letter. I loved the poems.

Marcus Pentz – I thank you for your appreciation and the picture. All I wanna be is a great father to my kids.

Karen Reis – Thanx for the love. Say hi to the boys for me and I’m waiting for my meal.

Vergie & Parris Spann – Thanx for the card and the love.

Kristin Metz – Thanx for the love, the drawings, and attending the show. Bob Dylan? Wow!

Chris Williams – I appreciate you… 10000058%

Marley Regan – I love your name. And thanx for doing the piece on me. Thank you.

Andrew Nunes – You have an amazing appreciation for me son, and I admire you for it. Thanx for the prayers. “Law is mind without reason”

Cameron Myers – Thanx for appreciating my music.

Lucy Garsner – Thanx for supporting me in the U.K.. Say hi to Lexie for me.

Tovarin D. Haymen – Thank you for respecting the music as you do.

Chad Cunningham – Thanx for the compliment, and for following so long. More Nino to come.

AJ Jacobs – Glad the music can be of such an impact. Thank you.

Lester Lindey – Thanks for the love and support. “Man I miss my dawg”

Sam Kiess – Thanx for the love and the card.

Sandra Freeman – I thank you for your love and especially your prayers.

Angela Akopyan – Thank you.

Vincent Fields – No motivation is better than self-motivation.

Alejandro Camacho – You’re a cutie. Nice tat and thanx for the love.

Sunny Cannon – Thanx for your love and prayers.

Tiffany Jones – When you have money, trouble finds you! I love my life.

Charissa Edwards – Thanx for the prayers and the letters. Say hi to the kids.

Daniel Caney – Thanx for the scriptures.

Jaime Pestefano – I simply applaud you and your schools effort. Thank you. God bless you all.

Miranda Donahue – I love you too.

Courtney Clapp – That was simply beautiful. I thank you.

Meagan Lafferty – Congrads on the graduation.

Neisha Beach – Thanx for the prayers and don’t worry, I didn’t receive that message you’re talking about.

Eric Mares – Thanx for the love and the prayers.

Bryce Lanckriet – You’re welcome. Thanx for allowing me to be an inspiration.

Nazisha Mirza – Thankful to have you as a fan. Great poem. Keep writing the poetry.

Liz Scrima – I love you too.

Elena Kniesel – Thanx for your love and prayers. Again.

Mary Claire Whitaker – Thanx, the picture was refreshing.

Matias Manriquez – Motivating.

Morgan Myrick – Thanx for the love and I hope Rio De Janeiro was fun as it looks.

John Parks – I respectively thank you.

Khrissy Flores – I thank you for the love and support and you are super cute. Go Lakers!

Adriane Woods – I appreciate your prayers as I said one for you and your fam as well.

Savannah Ashley – Beautiful poems and happy belated.

Alicia Galvis – Thanx for staying loyal and no, didn’t cut my hair.

Servando Galvan – Stay positive.

Karen Okonwo – Thanx for the beautiful card.

Crystal Scott – Glad the music helps. “Lil Wayne hug”

Kassandra Barcelo – Thanx for the love and the hug and kiss.

Orzie Henderson – Love is good bro.

Iris Rivera – I thank you for the constant support and you and your daughters are very beautiful.

Josey Portillo – I appreciate you as a fan. I hope that your soccer dream comes true and say hi to mom for me.

Rachelle Offidani – Thanx for the love from the Poconos.

Alexander Graham – Thanx for what you do for the country. Congrats on the marriage and you have a beautiful wife.

Melecia Baysinger – Thanx for the love and Kindergarteners are cool! Yes I believe in true love.

Trona Hooper – I appreacite your love and most of all your prayers.

Robin Adams – I thank you for the letter and your son for turning you on to me. Your alien!

Mandie Roll – I’ll do my best as your idol.

Katie Angelle – Think hard on the decision and make the choice that you’ll be comfortable forever.

Cedric Sanders – I appreciate that.

Chelsey Larsen – Perfect is a strong word but I thank you.

Taylor Buud – Me and Miley? Different, but cool. Enjoy Utah.

Donna Hopkins – I love you too and I will never forget your words. You are a “great fan”.

Shaylia Laboone – Thanx again, for you are special as well. Nice envelope.

Nicole Borowski – I appreciate your love and respect.

Jas Ahillan – I appreacite you! You are a dear fan. Thanx for your heart, mind, and soul. I cherish it. Thanx for the prayers. Nice poem.

Kirsty Brereton – I sincerely thank you. You must be a great mother because you’re already a great friend.

Jody Arbaugh – Thanx for the love. Tell your daughter I love her too and great name for your son.

Cherisse White – I honor your support and I said a prayer for you. Love you too.

Natisha Gulston – Thanx for the Harlem love.

Dasmin Deriso – I thank you for following me and my music for so long. Say what up to your uncle for me.

Catherine Lantigua – Thanx for having hope in me. Nice B-Day.

Sandra Cyprian – Thanx for your wonderful words and your prayers. And you’re right, education is everything. And thanx for supporting me!

Margaret “Sam” Chimé – I thank you for your love and peace. I’m glad I can be an inspiration to such an intelligent woman. Thanx for the wonderful card.

Christina FL Barbie – Thank you sweetheart for the endless love.

Sunny Shah – That poem was highly intelligent and can never be duplicated.

Selma Yohanes – I thank you for the Dutch love and the positive energy.

Nancy McDermott – I love what you’re doing for the kids and I’m glad my words can be helpful.

Jennifer Henderson – I love you too! Hi Baily.

Jescina Ramsey – You are a true fan and I value you. Thanx, sincerely. Tell moms I said thanx.

Jamel Hawkins – You are a bright kid! I appreciate the fact that you’re a fan. Stick with the music, keep it positive.

Leeza Platt – Thanx for the love darling.

Kelsey Walters – I thank you for your love and most of all your prayers. Say hi to granny for me.

Selena Williams – Thanx for the love and support. Say hi to your cousin for me.

Jessie Hatton – Thanx for the support and I hope you make it to that show, and I hope your dream comes true someday.

Shanice Campbell – Love your letter!

Michael Pizer and Akilah Mickell – I appreciate the both of you. And don’t worry, I won’t stop.

Aaron Bentley – I thank you for your love, thoughts, and kind words.

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Hi all! I’ve been busy this summer and haven’t been able to blog as much on here as I’d like to. I plan on getting back into the swing of things on Entreprecurious, but in the meantime, follow my posts on Entrustet’s Blog. I’m doing a summer-long blog series on how to set up a successful intern program. Check out the articles here

Here are some quick summaries of the posts I’ve made on the topic thus far:

Part 1: Intro of a good Intern Program and why every startup should have one. I talk about the massive benefits a well-oiled intern program can bring to any given startup company and lay out the general direction for the rest of the posts in the series.

Part 2: Setting up a Framework for an Intern Program. I talk about how to set up a basic framework for the program and figuring out how many interns to take on and how to use them effectively.

Part 3: Interviewing and Hiring. I go over the process for finding good, qualified local student talent and how to bring them in for interviews.

Part 4: Legalities of an Intern Program. First off, is your program legal? Secondly, what kind of legal relationship exists between you and your interns? I’ll explain in detail in this post. (Note: I also include a FREE sample contract between you and the interns).

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I’d like to welcome the world to Entrustet.com. Launching our Beta version last week was the culmination of some 21 months of work. But the thing is, it has never once felt like real work. Okay, maybe there have been a few times it felt like real work, but overall, I feel like a kid in a candy store of ideas.

Looking back on how Entrustet got started, I can’t help but feel almost overwhelmed by the mysterious, yet fateful and obvious way the Universe tends to unfold itself. Whether or not Entrustet ends up being a long-term financial success or not, nothing can deny the silly number of coincidences that have brought it to this point. First, I had to stumble upon that Ellsworth story in The World is Flat. Then, for some inexplicable reason, at the jovial age of 21 I decided to focus all my attention on death. I knew nothing about starting a tech company, and I knew nothing about estate law, but I did know there was a major thought gap in society’s mind: what happens to all our digital assets when we die? After months of Googling looking for someone or some service out there with a solution to this question, I was convinced it did not exist. But I was also convinced a solution was needed–wasn’t it obvious? I remember being kept up at night saying to myself, “this is SO obvious it hurts.”

I believe in fate. I believe that often the path of least effort actually allows the world to unfold in your benefit right before your eyes–that is, if fate is on your side. After losing in the finals of Northwestern University’s Entrepreneur Idol competition, I was THIS close to calling it all quits. I mean, after all, what the hell was I thinking trying to put together a company that basically went against all common thought and law at the time. Moreover, I had no partner, no advisors, no programming experience at all, and most of all, no cash.

But then fate came in. In the next 10 days, three people independently told me I had to meet this kid Nate Lustig. And meanwhile, three people independently told Nate he had to meet me. Needless to say, we met. From there, the pieces of the Entrustet puzzle have fallen together like dominos–all it took was that one initial push and they all followed suit. We found a top-notch programming firm and well-respected Madison law firm willing to partner in exchange for a slice of the Entrustet pie. Two hurdles cleared. Then we found  a free advisory board to basically act as in-house consultants, answering emails whenever we needed and meeting in person once a month. Then a popular blog about the topic popped up, and news articles aplenty showed up all over the place. Then estate lawyers started blogging about the topic. People started wondering about the topic. Horror stories of reasons to protect your digital assets could be found strewn all across the Internet. Then we were asked to speak about the topic at South by Southwest. Then we raised more money than we ever expected to, and then the local government gave us a forgivable loan. It was all topped off by this ABA article and this NBC 15 video.

Whether or not you are a big believer in fate, it’d be hard to deny there is something more powerful moving this thing along than just Nate and me. Although I am a co-founder, I really cannot take all that much credit for Entrustet. This is the product of so many countless people’s hard work, that taking much credit for this company would just be silly. All I can do, and all I have been doing, is sit back, watch, and react as the whole thing continues to unfold right in front of my eyes.

I invite anyone out there reading this to check out Entrustet and let us know what you think. It is in Beta mode, so we’re still working out the kinks, but even in it’s testing state, I am confident you’ll see the value in it. From 18 year olds with 200 online accounts to 65 year-olds with just an email address, we’re all HIWIs.

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Little things can go a long way in making your startup company appear bigger than it is. Carelessness about these seemingly small details can leave big blemishes on your credibility, directly limiting your ability to grow. And ability to grow is undoubtedly one of the single most important strengths that any startup can prove to investors, allies, and competition alike.

The days building up to any startup’s launch are overlooked insofar as research and case studies are concerned. These are the days when the company’s entire foundation is laid; partnerships are formed, suppliers are contracted, distribution channels get established, competition is approached, investors are engaged, networks are constantly contacted, and internal operations and responsibilities are ironed out.

This foundation period, this first several months, is when you have to start looking big, not later. Looking like an established company will help you:

• get noticed
• get responses from contacts
• get good deals from service providers
• get your name out and about around town
• get credibility from investors (both current and future, alike)

and

• not get taken advantage of

10 (simple) ways to look bigger than you are:

(starting with the most basic)

1. Set up a formal entity. Most likely, you’ll be an LLC, but regardless of particular corporate structure, be sure to have one. If you are not set up, you are unlikely to get taken seriously by any number of service providers, potential clients, suppliers, partners, etc.
2. Get unique business cards made. Not having a business card is certainly one way to look unprofessional and unprepared in no time flat. Regardless of the fact that everything is digital now, and that it would make more sense to plug someone into your cell phone than hand them a paper business card, the world is resisting to change. Business cards are still the number one most trusted, fail-proof way to get into someone else’s rolodex (or gmail contacts). I emphasize getting unique business cards because most are boring and identical, thus business cards can surprisingly be a great way to raise someone’s eyebrows. Below is my business card, which I like simply because it stands out. Anything that stands out is good. Make your card dark black. Give it a camouflage background. Make it a circle instead of a square. Make it a fold out origami swan. You get the picture:
3. Be on Google. Everybody uses Google. If someone’s gonna find you, you better show up somewhere on a Google search for something about you. It’s easier than you may think: follow these instructions on Google. The longer you spend researching these instructions and acting on them, the better your results will be. But do yourself the favor and don’t miss this uber-critical step. If you cannot figure out your way around Google Webmaster tools, that’s okay! At least you tried. Now go and find a consultant in town who can help you out. Any SEO consulting firm will be able to help you out–it’s worth the money.
4. Get a domain name and build a website. And when people find you on Google, they’ll wanna click on the link to your website! Depending on your company, the website is of less or more importance. It goes without saying that it’s more important for a web marketing firm to have an elegant website than a local pizza shoppe. That said, any company has a lot to gain by having at least a clean and simple site. For the vast majority of startups out there, the site need not be anything more complicated than a place to inform potential customers and investors about your offerings and offer up a bit of your company’s personality in the ‘about us’ section. The cost building such a site will obviously vary greatly between companies, but should not necessarily exceed $5,000 in 99% of cases. If you pay more than that for a very simple, yet clean and easy to navigate website, you’re overpaying. A savvy Google-searcher will find a plethora of site development options, both in America as well as overseas.
5. Have a ‘full website.’ That is, don’t skimp on the details. There needs to be ‘about us’ pages, investor’s information, news & press, a blog, a ‘contact us’ form, and potentially a TOS and Privacy Policy (in the case of website startups that take, store, or distribute any user information or sites with credit card processing functionality). You cannot be blatantly liable to law suits by not having one of these last two, if you’re particular startup requires these.
6. Have good email addresses. At some point, a Gmail address isn’t going to cut it. Have your website developer set up a basic email system (I recommend using Google Apps–it’s free and carries the familiar and intuitive Google User Interface with it). Give yourselves email address at your domain name, and be similar across the board in terms of email names, for instance: Psmith@yoursite.com and Ljohnson@yoursite.com, NOT pamsmith121@yoursite.com and Lennyjohnson4life@yoursite.com.
7. Have an infrastructure (and show it off with your website’s ‘contact us’ page). Have a customer service department, a marketing department, a strategic partnership department, an investors services department, etc. even if it’s just the co-founders themselves pretending to represent an entire department. Correspondingly, your ‘contact us’ page should lead viewers to further informational email addresses such as info@yoursite.com, partners@yoursite.com, marketing@yoursite.com. Now, obviously you shouldn’t go overboard–most startups don’t have an in-house HR department, insurance branch, holdings corporation, etc. But still, the basics should be covered.
8. Write gooder (emails and copywrite). Writing clean, concise, response-worthy emails is an alarmingly underappreciated skill for any entrepreneur to hold. It can mean literally all the difference between getting responses from the people you need responses from, and never hearing back from anyone. You could write a 50-page blog post about how to write more efficient emails, and I’m not even all that efficient myself, so I won’t try to explain how to do this here. All I will say is this: re-read your emails before sending them, this should be more than enough to step up your email game big time. Most of the time, something blatantly wrong will stand out, and at least you won’t send stupid shit anymore. Sending blatantly stupid, arrogant, or incoherent messages is the fastest way to get people to click the ‘ delete button.’ Likewise, having good professional copy for site content, marketing materials, and advertisements is critical. Nothing makes a company look more vulnerable than a simple typo. Shows lack of focus. So focus!
9. Have professional-looking marketing materials (electronic and paper). Being able to say, “let me send along some of our marketing materials” is an incredibly powerful ability, believe it or not. People say to themselves, “o, they’ve got marketing materials? They’re legit. They must have people working on lots of different stuff around there if they’ve had the time to craft marketing materials.” And don’t just have them to have them, have them to show them off. Make them look good. Hire a consultant for a couple hundred bucks if you need to, but just make sure they are laid out nicely and can attract someone’s eye. And don’t forget about mass emails, too! RatePoint is a GREAT GREAT resource for this. Check them out and just try it for 30 days for free. The price is right, too, at just $10/month. You’ll get hooked.
10. Appear legally well-represented. This is as simple as putting ‘TM’ marks above your logos, copyright disclaimers at the bottom of Powerpoint presentations, or having Terms of Service/Privacy Statements on your website. Any lawyer can give you a run down of these specific basics, but they are really easy to do yourself–which saves money, of course! See the ‘TM’ above our logo on my business card above. This is what I’m talking about. That easy!

That’s about it for now. I hope this helps someone out there and good luck!

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It took 10 months for my co-founder Nate Lustig and I to get from the ‘garage’ to the ‘couch.’ During the 6 months or so of the ‘garage phase,’ we mainly worked separately from our apartments, sometimes meeting up at the UW-Business School for a whiteboard sesh as needed. When the glorious Madison summer arrived last May, we began working together more often, and used none other than the beautiful terrace at Lake Mendota as an office. Only in hindsight is it clear why we began working more and more together than apart. First and foremost, each passing day meant we had dug our heels that much further into the loose, ungrounded soil that is a startup, and thus we were continually taking ourselves more seriously. Secondly, day-to-day tasks slowly but surely began to require more and more verbal collaboration and strategic planning, instead of discrete simple tasks that could be done individually from anywhere with an Internet connection.

As the long, warm summer days began to shorten and cool, we could no longer rely on the terrace as an office. So this last October, Entrustet.com officially moved into our first office. The rest of this blog is going to discuss specific ways we set up our office and different tactics we’ve come up with to try and use the space effectively. But if you’d like more information about why and when startups should get an office, please refer to Nate’s post about just that very thing.

Considerations for choosing an office:

• Location. It pays off big time to be in a place where there are other businesses around. Having ther startups in the area is great for idea brainstorming, meeting up for lunch or a drink after work, and using as a resource for exchanging information. Having other service providers (accountants, lawyers, etc.) around is clutch as well, for obvious reasons. Being near a university is a huge bonus as well, if possible. Universities are great places to find cheap services and potentially new employees when that time comes.
• Price. Obviously startups don’t have cash flowing out the wazoo, so this is probably going to be the single most important (and limiting) consideration. That said, you can always at least make sure you’re getting your bang for the buck, whatever the price may be. If the landlord doesn’t already includes wireless, some utilities, a mailbox, etc. then use these as leverage points when negotiating the price.
• Accessibility. Ideally you’d want the office to be walking distance from home, or at least easily accessible on a bike or by public transportation. Remember, you are your own boss, so if the office is hard to get to, you make end up taking more “sick days” than is good for the business.
• ‘Feel.’ When you walk into the office space, pay very close attention to how you feel. Upbeat and energetic, or bored and lazy? Homey and comfortable, or too hot or too cold for comfort? Isolated and repressed, or free and open? Windows are an enormous mood elevator, so consider the additional cost of an office with a window, assuming the price jump is within your budget.
• Size. Give yourself room to grow from the get go, or else you are literally and metaphorically limiting your company’s potential. How many people can fit in your office? Are there open offices next door in case you bring on another person? I’d suggest starting with an office that comfortably seats 2 times the number of people on your staff at the time.

What to put in the office:

• Whiteboards, whiteboards, and more whiteboards. There is an incredibly cheap version of the whiteboards you’ve grown up with, and they’re available at Home Depot and many other large home/office improvement stores. Check out this article describing the boards.
• Plants. Having living, breathing, colorful vegetation in your office can do wonders for your mood and aura.
• Decorations. This doesn’t have to mean expensive photos and inspirational posters, but rather anything and everything you and your partner(s) enjoy looking at. In our case, we mainly just put up the goofiest stuff we could find. There’s a picture of me in a speedo from when I was 5 years old. There’s a free trials of viagra posted on the corkboard. There’s funny move quotes all over the whiteboards. Get creative. Make the office a place you want to go to, and your productivity will naturally increase tenfold.

Here are some pics of our office to give you an idea. Calling all young entrepreneurs: shoot me an email of your startup’s office pictures, I’d love to see what other Gen Y entrepreneurs are doing for office space these days.

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While in college, ‘Student’ will suffice quite nicely as a job title. And since graduating last May from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I have been going with ‘Entrepreneur’ whenever and wherever I was asked. But last week this changed when my friend and business partner Nate Lustig, and I decided it was about time to get business cards for our startup software company, Entrustet. The title, ‘Entrepreneur’ clearly had to go, but what would replace it? After a bit of back-and-forth between ourselves and our advisors, I quickly found out that when it comes to a job title, a name is way more than a name. Ultimately, the choice is entirely up to you, but here is a case study on our company to help illustrate some of the questions and answers we faced along the way.

I don’t wanna sound whatever, but I’m sort of a big deal

The first question we posed to our advisors was how to choose names that didn’t make us sound inflated, but still carried some weight with it. To me, there’s just something about a 22-year old calling him/herself CEO that strikes me as a bit audacious, but there’s also something about co-founder that sounds a bit juvenile. Our advisors told us to err on the side of professionalism, and choose titles like CEO or COO instead of co-founder.

Ultimately, we took their advice on this one. Instead of fearing that I’ll sound inflated by a title like this, I now make it a personal challenge to live up to it. When I hand someone my card as CEO of Entrustet, I am immediately on a mission to prove to them that my day-to-day responsibilities are fully worthy of the title. Regardless of it being a two-person company, regardless of being in the fundraising-not-revenue-generating stage, regardless of having a 10′ x 10′ office space, I work my ass off with a passion for my company in the same exact way any CEO in America does. There may be a bit (or a lot) less pressure on my shoulders, and I may work fewer hours a week, and I may make a lot less money ($0 per year, as of now, actually), but all the more reason to deserve the title, because I’m doing this out of pure passion and nothing else.

What’s it do you do, exactly?

Our advisors asked us to describe each of our roles within the company, because whatever job title you choose ends up being the way you brand yourself to the rest of the professional world. Our company was originally an idea I had and worked on for a few months before partnering with Nate. I still hold this original company vision in my head that we have not steered very far away from over the past year. CEO then just sorta made sense for me to use. Nate, on the other hand, knows software and website development much better than I do (although he’s not a programmer, we have a company making the actual software). He also has far more experience in the web-industry than I do. Since we are a software company, our most basic operation is developing software. Thus, he’s an obvious fit for COO.

The first and most important question to ask yourself is what professional role do you fill on any given day at work? If you’re a real multi-tasker (as many young entrepreneurs are), then focus on your core competencies. In other cases, this will not be so difficult. For example, if you are the programmer in a 3-person startup, then you know your core competency, and you should go with something like Chief Technology Officer or Lead Programmer.

Here are some general guidelines for the 3 most common startup titles:

Chief Executive Office

• You come up with the “to-do” lists, instead of just following them.
• You are “big-picture” instead of detail-oriented.
• Maybe the company was originally your very own idea.
• Maybe you’ve been working on it the longest.

Chief Operating Officer

• You understand and/or work on the company’s core operation(s) more than anyone else
• The company’s growth is dependent on the quality of whatever it is you specialize in
• You have the most experience running the day-to-days of a company

CTO

• You are the one programming your company’s software/website
• You understand the IT infrastructure better than the rest
• You have the most IT experience of all

But wait, there’s more

These are obviously not all the names you can choose from. However, let me say that I would refrain from titles such as President, Vice-President, Director, etc. The reason being that if you do one day incorporate, these job titles can actually take on formal, legal definitions. Don’t confuse people with this. You can also get creative if you’d like, depending on your startup’s culture. I’ve seen CIO (Chief Innovation Officer) before. You get the gist.

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Scott Amron has made a living out of selling his wacky-inventions-turned-working-prototypes to companies such as OXO and Polder Home Tools, but Scott’s approach to his latest invention caught my eye in this Wired Magazine article. The invention, known as the Split-Ring Key-Blank is an almost head-poundingly obvious hybrid of a standard front door key and a key chain ring. But important to note is the fact that Scott’s approach to the invention is also a hybrid: half  inventor/half entrepreneur.

Scott Amron is a professional inventor. He invents things in his head (where else would you invent something) and then spends the next several weeks trying to turn it into a working prototype, then patent it, and finally, sell it to the highest bidder–payday! But this time ’round, Scott decided to just draw up a sketch and put it on his website to feel out the market’s reaction–and what a reaction he got.

Within the first month, Scott had 25,000 preorders. At $3.50 a piece, that’s a whopping $87,500 in pre-sales…only problem was, he hadn’t actually made one yet. A few quick calls later, Scott had a manufacturer in place and you too can now order yous right on his site.

But there’s something missing…

I did my homework on this one, and found some curious things about Scott’s approach to the keyring invention. First, you’ll notice on the link above, that he is taking inquiries for investment on the patent. A) shouldn’t he have enough money by now to fund a patent (roughly $25,000 to prepare)? And B) why would he choose to release such vivid details of the invention to the public before getting such a patent?

To be honest, I have no idea why he’s going about it the way he is. Even if he for some reason didn’t have the $25,000 personally, he certainly could get a bank loan, considering the simple prototype did $87,500 in presales in the first 30 days! And I also have no idea why he went so public with it before protecting himself intellectually.

An idea is just an idea…unless…

As the saying goes, “In America, if your idea is one-in-a-million, then there are 300 other people out there with the same idea.” Thus, most seasoned entrepreneurs will tell you that they’d gladly present any idea they come up with to as many people as possible, regardless of whether they’ve got IP protection yet or not. The theory behind this, of course, is that an idea is just that–an idea. And ideas aren’t worth anything because the real value isn’t in the idea itself, but rather in bringing that idea to market, which is (usually) no small feat.

But this idea is not just another idea. This idea has more things going for it:

• Proven market demand. Again, not to beat a dead horse here, but a simple picture of this thing on Scott’s website pre-sold 25,000 UNITS IN A MONTH. This proves market demand. Proving market demand is critical because what good does a great invention do if people don’t want to buy it?
• The price is right. $3.50 per unit at retail probably means that a buyer could get these from Scott for around $2.50-2.75 when bought in wholesale quantities (e.g. a local key shop. And even lower still, if the buyer was interested in getting a lot a lot of them, in the case of a major key manufacturer such as Schlage. This low price point means that the product could draw both individual small-order buyers, as well as the big guys.
• Sold! The nature of the key-making industry is conducive to buyouts of small startups such as Scott’s. Here’s why: How many keys have you ever had in your life? Probably in the 10′s or 20′s, at least. Keys come and go; you switch apartments, offices, have your locks changed, etc. frequently throughout your life. This means return buyers, which increases future revenue projections and thus increases Scott’s valuation. Thus, Scott’s idea is prime for a buyout.
• Novelty. This product is just plain obvious. It’s got a “duh! appeal” to it. That catches attention. That sells units. Scott did almost no advertising for this thing, but had hundreds of thousands of site visits in addition to the number of pre-orders.

Given all this–and many more reasons I’m sure you could think of–I don’t know why Scott’s positioning the product in the way that he is. But it is how it is, which means I’ve either got to get involved in Scott’s investment offer, or I need to get $25,000 and an IP lawyer on the phone immediately.

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As a young entrepreneur, it often feels like you’ve got a million different hats to wear. There’s the finance hat, the marketing hat, the management hat, the legal hat, the accounting hat, the branding hat, the operations hat…and the list is goes on…and on…and on. But often, the right decision is to not wear the hat yourself, but rather take it and place it squarely on the head of a professional.

Example: Legal work.  Yes, sites like LegalZoom offer entrepreneurs a cheap option for basic legal services such as incorporating the business or trademarking a logo, but beware the limits of your abilities on tasks like legal work.

Example 2: Tax preparation. If you have a very simple income status, and turbotax or taxactonline come easily to you, then by all means do it yourself– that’s what these sites are there for. But if you say, have an LLC with a couple partners, a side-job at the local pizza place, a tax-sheltered trust fund in your name, and do some small business consulting on the side, then go to H&R Block and pay a couple hundred bucks to have some kind man or woman in a suit do it for you–that’s what they are there for.

Example 3: Graphic design. So you may think you’re really good at Powerpoint or Photoshop or Pages on your Mac, but you’re not that good. I consider myself very proficient at all of the above, which makes me nothing better than amateur. Graphic artists are good…really good. In fact, they’re (most likely) way better than you. Do not try to do something as stupid as make your own logo. Use a pro, and if the pros are too expensive, use a site like CrowdSpring.

Example 4: Marketing materials. Again, I think I’m pretty good at Powerpoint, and even a decent writer, but yet again this makes me nothing more than realistically amateur. Get a professional to do or AT LEAST REVIEW  your Powerpoint decks, memo headers, marketing packets, and ESPECIALLY advertisements (whether paper-based or digital or anything else in between).

The list of examples is virtually endless. The point here is that entrepreneurs of all shapes and sizes need to do some serious looking inside themselves to determine the extent of their skill set across all the different hats they wear on any given day. If you’re not up to a certain task, ADMIT it–to yourself and to all those involved. It’s better to do this than to wind up in court on a trademark infringement because you filled out your legal paperwork on Legal Zoom (who conveniently doesn’t assume responsibility for any of this).