Getting Off The Bitch Train, Part 1

How can any of us forget Gary Vaynerchuk and the “get off the bitch train” comment.  Since that show I have been keeping in touch with JT Keller the caller during that show for many reasons, one I did a follow up with him for StartupRecap and I was curious about his startup and where he was headed.  I found him extremely smart and expect big things in the future.  This prompted me to write this piece, my plan is to track his trials and tribulations of his startup with hopes that many of you will be able to learn from his experience.  If you have any questions you’d like me to ask him, please send them to me: startuprecap [at] gmail.com.

Q&A with JT

After calling into the show was it easier to choose between your two ideas?

It didn’t necessarily make my choice easier but it did help.  I took away two great value adds from my call-in that allowed me to move forward with a singular concept.  The first was perspective and the second was a sense of urgency.  After my call-in, I totally reframed the way I was looking at my ideas which helped tremendously.  I also better understood the fact that it’s important to take that initial first step with “true” intention and know that failing is OK.  You just need to learn from your mistakes and pivot intelligently.  I’m sure you’d like to know the deciding factor about why I chose the idea that I did and it came down to domain expertise, which has paid dividends as we develop our platform.

Can you briefly describe your startup?

Sure, but I’d like to preface my “pitch” and apologize for my vagueness ahead of time but some of the key features that give our platform a definitive advantage over competitors need to be kept under wraps until we get closer to launch. Branding is a huge challenge, especially for small and medium sized businesses which are alienated from using large, well-established branding consultancies because it’s extremely cost prohibitive.  We’re building a solution, a platform, that will allow our target audience to tackle their branding challenges with the same knowledge base and processes provided by the likes of an Interbrand, Landor, Siegel+Gale, etc…  We’ll move them from A to Z, from brand creation to maturation utilizing crowdsourcing, social media, and many other features.  Although we’re utilizing crowdsourcing, we’re being careful to create a solution that’s as far from a “spec” work platform as possible.  I really love what we’re developing.  I feel like we’re making so many improvements vs. current competitors in the market space and really making great branding solutions affordable and more accessible.  I’ll definitely share more as we move forward.

It is my understanding you had the business model fairly complete, what were you lacking to get started?

I think the biggest obstacle was having the right frame of mind…and a great technical co-founder.  I think it’s really important for anyone reading this to really understand their frame of mind and make sure you’re putting your intentions in context and be truthful with yourself.  You have to have a serious inner monologue and for all of the cheerleading and feel-good rhetoric, you have to realize that you’re about to undertake a hell of a journey filled with peaks and valleys and trials and tribulations.  You have to know in the end, no matter the outcome that you “left it all on the floor” and that makes all the difference.

How did you find a developer?

I found my co-founder by reaching out to the TWiST community and being really sincere in my approach.

Not being a developer how did you know what to ask to know whether the person was knowledgeable in what you needed?

I’ve always been tech savvy but I’m also fortunate to have a consulting background which really trains and hones your ability to do a “deep-dive” and become versed in an industry or market fairly quickly.  I took the same approach that I would have, if I were consulting in an unfamiliar vertical or market.  In addition to my “deep-dive”, I digested a ton of material in terms of how you hire someone technical both from the perspective of being technical and non-technical and scouring tons of wanted ads.  I also got my hands dirty by hacking on a few open source languages.  Last but not least, I also reached out to the TWiST community and gained some great insights from others who had tackled the same challenges.

Now that you found someone did past shows about bring on a partner help?

Definitely, as we move toward episode number 43, TWiST is becoming a great repository/reference for a number of startup topics.

Did you get lawyers involved?

Legal can be an expense, especially if you’re bootstrapping, but it’s necessary.  I think that you always need to complete your due diligence upfront and have a conversation about the pay/equity structure and your individual roles and responsibilities.  I would also recommend creating a legal business entity early in the process to protect everyone’s interests.

How has bringing a co-founder onboard help?

Creating, defining, and developing a startup is an arduous task and it’s definitely much easier having a co-founder on board.  It’s been a great experience thus far because we complement each other’s skill sets very well.  I would definitely urge anyone looking for a co-founder to take the opportunity to make sure that you’re finding someone who’s your antithesis.  If you’re a great developer, look for someone who has a great business background and domain expertise and vice versa.  It’s timely that you ask this question because we’re thinking of bringing another web developer on-board as a co-founder.  We’re being careful in terms of maintaining the overall chemistry that we’ve established and making sure that we bring someone onboard who is as dedicated as we are in moving this forward.  It’s amazingly paramount that you’re cautious when adding additional team members and making sure that you surround yourself with individuals who are smarter than you are.

Any difficulties in working together?

At this point, everything is progressing very smoothly.  I think the key so far has been making sure that we communicate clearly and concisely.

The next follow-up will be in two to three weeks, if you have any comments concerning this article please add them to the comments I’m sure JT will chime in.