I am thrilled to announce my most recent — and most ambitious — startup project to date.
My wife Kirsten and I are now expecting our first child — I’m going to be a dad!
New Ambitous Startup Project: The Details
1. Funding: Unlike my current startup HubSpot (which has raised $33 million in venture capital), this particular project will be self-funded. Hopefully, it won’t be quite as capital intensive.
2. Founding Team: Though both founders are new to the domain, we hope to make up for the inexperience with passion and perseverance.
3. Launch Date: Scheduled for January, 2011.
4. Branding: We haven’t kicked off a branding project yet — will do that as the scheduled launch date approaches. Meanwhile, we'll use the term, NewBay, Inc. (inspired by that fantastically inspired name, NewCo, Inc.)
5. Management: Luckily, we have many people interested in helping with this project. Some will be helping grow the effort on a volunteer basis.
6. Parallel Startups: Generally, I’m not a fan of working on multiple startup projects simultaneously. But, in this case, it was not avoidable. HubSpot hasn’t quite hit adulthood yet (and still wants the car keys every Friday night), and this new project couldn't really wait.
7. Distribution: We believe there is a market need as evidenced by some recent survey respondents: “Quit working so hard and focus on life a bit. You’re not getting any younger -My Mom”. “Listen to your mom.” -My Dad. Though the sample size for these surveys is not statistically representative, seems like finding early interest in the project will be easy. Then, using lean startup principles, we’ll iterate from there based on what we learn.
As is the case with any new, early-stage effort, we’re likely to make mistakes. The hope is that in the the long run (and in this case, it’s a really long run), we will have created something great and made the world a tad better. Wish us luck! Exciting times!