Time to move on…

When I began writing software for the University of Kentucky climbing gym back in the summer of 05, I had no idea that over two years later I’d still be working with them to improve the product. I also had no concept of the potential market for climbing gym management software, and the idea of using this project as part of my Masters degree at Purdue was only a passing thought.

Over the next eight (or more) months though, I will be making that vision into a reality and wanted to invite a few more people on the journey. The 3Dogs blog had humble beginnings, and even from the start I knew that it wouldn’t always keep its name. So now, starting today, the new home for my entrepreneurial musings is http://anotherstartup.wordpress.com.

I’ve copied over all the old content, so your favorite articles will still be available (ha). Also, for both of you (big shout out to my dad and to my friend Tyler) who have subscribed to receive email updates, you shouldn’t need to change anything — I’ll be modifying my feedburner feeds so that everything will transfer to the new site starting tomorrow.

Thanks to those who have followed along so far and who have offered some great advice. The fun is only beginning and I’ve got lots of cool stuff to post on AnotherStartup. See you on the other side!

Entrepreneurship and Failure

The prospect of starting a company or developing a product, for me, has led to a bit of soul searching. Why am I really doing this? Do I have what it takes to create something that people will actually want to pay money for? Is there a real need for my product?

I don’t have answers to either of the first two questions, but an article in a recent issue of Inc. has me thinking. The article, Mapping the Entrepreneurial Psyche, states simply that the reason people start companies is to prove themselves superior to others. Now, I don’t necessarily feel the need to prove myself — but I do enjoy a challenge. And I have experienced, as quoted from the article, “the joy of creating, of getting things done, or simply of exercising one’s energy and ingenuity.”

For me the article was an interesting introduction to Joseph Schumpeter, and I was particularly struck by his ideas on failure:

“Schumpeter held the view that failure was a phase through which nearly all people must pass on the way to success. The ability to take a punch, and then get up off the canvas to win the fight was, he thought, one of the defining characteristics of entrepreneurs”

I experienced a sort of failure a few months ago in regards to ClimbPoint wall management software. As I alluded to in the recap of my trip to Boulder for the CWA Summit, I had the opportunity to send a demo version of my software to a climbing wall manufacturer after the conference. They were interested in reviewing the software so that they could, at some point, begin offering the software to new climbing wall customers.

I was excited to have someone else review my software, so we signed a Non-Disclosure Agreement (thanks Nolo) and I sent them a copy. The feedback that I received was mixed. The software seemed too simple, and it was lacking in the area of reporting features. The idea was good, they said, but it needed some refinement.

At first this news was devastating for me. Someone (gasp) didn’t like what I was doing! But that’s not entirely true — they said it was a great idea (why else would they have wanted to try it out), and I got some really good feedback out of the deal.

I’m keeping this experience in mind as I begin to ask others to be a part of the ClimbPoint Beta testing program…I’m keeping things hush hush right now (partially because I don’t have time to post it all) but hope to let you in on my master plan very soon. Stay tuned…

Fund Raising Boot Camp at Purdue

Earlier this week I noticed that Purdue’s Center for Entrepreneurship is hosting a ‘boot camp‘ for two days on October 8 and 9. The theme of the event is “Real World Advice for Starting a Company”.

While I’m not in need of funding, some of the topics that will be covered on the first day look pretty interesting. According to their website, topics include company formation, the importance of human capital, selling your idea, sources of capital, and company valuation.

The second day is designed as a workshop for entrepreneurs who are preparing to pitch their idea to potential investors. The event is free, which makes me slightly more inclined to go check out the first day.

UPDATE: I didn’t go, but would love to hear from others who attended…

My reading list

Here are a few books that I’ve decided to pick up (in one way or another) in an effort to get a few more ideas on strategies for starting a company and commercializing a product.

• Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
• Eric Sink on the Business of Software
• Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality by Bob Walsh
• The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki (I plan to jump through a few hoops for this one)

Many of these books have been recommended by people I know, and they’re all on another startup reading list. I don’t plan to read these cover to cover (at least not yet), but I will skim them for ideas and insights. As always, I’m open to suggestions on other good reading material for aspiring entrepreneurs.

Finding a selling point

Recently my first customer paid me one of the highest compliments I’ve received so far in my short span as a software developer. For those of you who are new to the blog, a couple summers ago I put together a simple version of a management program for the University of Kentucky climbing wall.

So the person in charge of the wall at UK, Mark Lattin, had this to say: “It’s the most idiot-proof piece of software I’ve ever used in my life. No double entries, I don’t have to train anybody. People can just pick it up and use it.”

Now when I was building the first version of the software, Mark and I talked about idiot-proofing it. At the time I thought of that as a helpful addition, but not necessarily essential. To hear him talk about it, that’s the one thing that sets my software apart from the other recreation management applications that he sees around their rec center.

As a result, I’ve been rethinking my selling point(s) for the software. Until my conversation with Mark, I had been thinking that it would be an advantage if ClimbPoint implemented almost all of the guidelines in the Climbing Wall Association Industry Practices (a new document that provides guidelines and best practices for climbing wall management — if you want a copy it’ll cost you $75). Mark hadn’t even heard of the industry practices, and I’m betting that he’s not the only one.

While I still think the industry practices are important, that’s probably not the aspect of my software that’s going to push people over the edge in terms of buying it. Soon I’m hoping to begin polling a few other people who manage their own walls to find out what’s really important to them…but not before I get a few more quotes from Mark. His endorsement is probably more valuable than a lot of other marketing that I could do.

Boulder Recap

Before arriving in Boulder for the Climbing Wall Association Summit I came up with a few objectives. While I wasn’t able to accomplish all of them, I think I made progress on the most important ones. Here’s a recap:

1. Understand the Climbing Industry
There were a number of great workshops related to starting and managing a climbing wall which gave me a window into the world of climbing wall management. The presentation given by Dan Hague of Climbing Wall Management (yes that’s a company) was especially helpful. He covered the latest version of the CWA Industry Practices, which is a set of guidelines and best practices in climbing wall management.

One of the drivers of these industry practices and other guidelines is a fear of government regulation. If the primary focus of the summit was on best practices, government regulation was definitely a close second. While I don’t pretend to totally understand this issue, a few workshops on regulations and the legal responsibilities of climbing wall managers were pretty enlightening.

2. Make contacts
This was one of the primary objectives of the conference, so it was really easy to meet a lot of people associated with the climbing industry. There ended up being at least 200 people at the conference, and I was able to get well acquainted with ten or so. I did hand out a few business cards, though not as many as I could have due to the then ongoing quest for a name. I ended up printing business cards for Chisld and HangDog. In the end, I handed out my Purdue business card to most people.

3. Get feedback on my software
I wasn’t able to cobble together a full demo version before heading to Boulder, but I was able to discuss the possibility of partnering with a few sites to test the software. I also talked with a few managers about the concept of climbing wall management software. With few exceptions, everyone responded positively to the idea and chipped in with a few applications of the software that I hadn’t thought of. Quite a few were ready to buy now, and I told them that I’d be in touch once I was ready to begin testing the software.

After everything was said and done, I did end up sending a demo version to a climbing wall manufacturer — but that will be the topic of another post.

4. Look at the Boulder Rock Club, and pick their brain
No dice here, though I did find out a little bit about their management practices second-hand. So I’m still in the dark about how the largest climbing gym in the US manages their operations, but then again they’re not who I’ll be targeting initially.

5. Find out what’s already out there
I was really able to unearth a great deal of information related to the solutions that climbing wall managers are currently using (or trying to use). It seems that the folks at Vertical Relief Enterprises are the only ones at present with a product specifically geared toward climbing walls — but the reviews I’ve heard have been mixed, and I think there’s room for improvement.

Many managers that I spoke with were using one of a few recreation management software systems. FirmPOS seemed to be a popular choice, as did CheckFree/Aphelion. Other software that was mentioned was ClubRunner, FitnessTrax and GymAssistant. One owner was using QuickBooks POS for everything and was desperate for something better. So to summarize, I didn’t find a product that was already doing what I want to do with ClimbPoint — and that’s a good thing.

Back to school

After a life-changing summer, it’s now time to head back to school and once again turn my attention toward this software commercialization experiment. I’ve attempted to get back on the blogging horse before, so I’m not going to make any promises in terms of post frequency.

That said, over the next ten months I’ll be completing my Master’s Project at Purdue, which happens to be commercializing climbing wall software. So I would hope that there wouldn’t be a shortage of post ideas. I would expect, though, that there will be a shortage of time.

Before I fill you in on what I’ve been working on over the past couple weeks, I’m going to bring some closure to my trip to Boulder. So for those of you who have been perched anxiously on the edge of your seats, the details will be coming soon!

The quest for a name

The search is over!

After purchasing countless domain names I’ve finally settled on one that I can live with. The whole search for a name has been much more difficult than I imagined. I began as Leon suggested by creating a list of about 30 names that I could live with (and that weren’t already taken by squatters). PCNames was pretty helpful in screening out the .com names that were already taken, though I’m suspicious that they sell their search results to squatters.

I say this because in the heat of the name search I checked the availability of climbpoint.com 4 or 5 times. The fifth time I checked it I noticed that someone else was sitting on it. From then on I used the tool sparingly and was much less hesitant in nabbing potential domain names–after all, 1and1 sells them for about the price of a ham sandwich. As of right now I’m sitting on hangdogsoftware, chisld, climbingwallsoftware, 3dogsoftware, climbpoint, and climbcomplete.

My domain name shopping spree began when my advising professor recommended that I create some official-looking business cards before heading out to Boulder. Originally I had planned to use my Purdue business cards, but his opinion was that people would be more likely to take me seriously if I actually had a name for my company. So I dropped everything and began thinking of a company name, putting all my great product names on the shelf for the moment.

I came up with Hangdog Software and Chisld Technologies, though I wasn’t in love with either of them. My friends seemed to like Hangdog but I was uneasy about it. Climbers use the term ‘hangdog’ to refer to someone who just hangs on the rope, either out of laziness or due to lack of skill. Here are a couple of memorable responses I got to that name while in Boulder:

“Oh, cool. That’ll work.” (This guy was just trying to be nice)
“Why don’t you just call it Sandbag?”
“No way, that’s played out. This hotel has a Hangdog cafe in it.”

They weren’t crazy about Chisld either. So I decided to go back to the drawing board and pick out a product name…eventually I found that climbpoint.com was available (again), so I jumped on it this time.

All in all, the whole ordeal was one big roller coaster ride. It could have gone a little smoother had I taken Leon’s advice and stuck with my first choice, but I feel fortunate that I ended up with ClimbPoint. Next up is finding a web host other than Google Apps so I can create the website.

The name search in a nutshell…

I saw this Dilbert comic today and couldn’t resist posting it. This has been exactly my experience in coming up with a name for my climbing wall software. I know you’re all waiting on the edge of your seats for a Boulder update, but I’ll post that later this week. I need some time to process — and catch up on all my class work.

Goals for the CWA Summit

About a month ago I sat down and thought through what I wanted to accomplish by going to Boulder (this, of course, happened after I freaked out). My top 5 are below — they haven’t changed much in the last month, and I’m posting them here mainly for reference.

1. Understand the Climbing Industry
Despite my chiseled physique and spiderman-like climbing ability, I really know very little about the climbing industry. The knowledge that I do have comes from my friend Mark, who manages the climbing wall at the University of Kentucky.

But I don’t just need the scoop on the climbing industry in general; what I really need is some beta on climbing wall management: what it is, who’s involved, what the challenges are, and potential applications of technology. So my goal is to get a clear picture of the needs in the industry, especially as it relates to climbing wall managers.

2. Make contacts
This one’s a no-brainer. There will be around 100 people at this conference, and one of the stated conference objectives is to build community. If I’m able to meet a few people who are passionate about climbing and willing to guide me in refining the software, I’ll consider this one a success. Maybe I’ll even meet a few people who are interested in testing the software at their facilities.

3. Get feedback on my software
Although my software doesn’t yet have a name, it is complete enough for another facility to pick up and use (well, I would need to make a few small changes…). This is because the software was custom crafted for the needs of the University of Kentucky. The program logic, data structures, and icons were all chosen to fit that particular climbing gym and university environment.

I know the application needs to be much more flexible than it currently is if anyone is going to pay money for it. What I don’t know is what parts of the application need to be flexible. Do people need to be able to take payments? Does everyone use ID card readers? How do people certify climbers?

4. Look at the Boulder Rock Club, and pick their brain
This is one of the things I’m looking forward to. The BRC was one of the first climbing gyms in the country and boasts a massive 10,000 square foot facility. I don’t know what sort of software they use to manage their operations, or what they like/dislike about it, but I’m sure they have some opinions. Hopefully I’ll be able to talk with one of the managers there to find out what’s on their wishlist for a climbing wall specific management solution.

5. Find out what’s already out there
I’ve only talked briefly with a few climbing wall managers, so I’m in the dark about what the popular membership management solutions might be. I know from my own research that there are quite a few tools out there for fitness centers, but I have yet to find something for climbing gyms specifically. My guess is that climbing gym managers cobble together their own solution using a couple of the available software tools.