Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I have news!

It was bound to happen. The daily inspiration that I have received during the past 4 years as the chief community officer of StartupNation is now being put to use in a brand new startup company called Showcase U.

I have been working behind the scenes the past 2 years with the co-founders Chad Durbin & Jake Chapman, and have joined Showcase U as the CEO, and we just launched www.showcaseu.com this past weekend.

Showcase U gives high school student athletes a way to showcase themselves so that they can increase their opportunity to be recruited by college coaches and pro scouts.

Chad and Jake read the book "StartupNation: Open For Business" and contacted us at StartupNation over 2 years ago. It`s been a while in the making, and the site will improve with each passing day from here forward, but I would LOVE to hear your feedback right away.

BE BOLD - we can take it, and we crave it. The StartupNation community is the smartest, most creative, and in-your-face-tell-it-like-it-is group of entrepreneurs on the planet. We NEED that kind of input.

Check it out, and give us the great, the awful, the spectacular & the "oh my, what were you thinking?!" reactions.

Oh, and watch out for a new series of blogs that I`ll be writing here at StartupNation sharing the behind the scenes scoop on the "birthing of a startup"

I`m still the StartupNation chief community officer as well as the CEO of Showcase U. Yes, life is wonderfully full!!

Thanks everyone!

Joel

Joel, congrats on the beta launch!  Cool idea too.

Nice concept, colors and layout.

In IE, none of the flash is playing or showing, where in Firefox it is fine; maybe it`s my IE browser settings ( IE8 emulating IE7 ), but I couldn`t find anyplace in my settings that was blocking it. Don`t know it it`s just me or not.

I`m not crazy about the sign-in area at the top right overlapping the header image.

Some pages are a 2 column layout, some are 3 column. Personally, I think the 3 columns make the pages look cramped and too busy; the large graphics on both sides seem to overpower the content.

Your page source has a lot of code, which you may want to export as much as possible. Granted it`s beta, but start thinking about getting more content into your pages. Also, start getting your SEO in place.



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M Hall
Website Critique Community
International Society of Curmudgeons

I`m sorry, but white text on a black background just bugs my eyes to no end.

I found myself wishing those little icon on the bottom were buttons, so I could click on baseball or cycling or whatever.

"Home" is not a good home page name.

I also though the page on the front would be linked to something, but they aren`t. Maybe the featured profiles should be higher up, and the photos on those should be clickable too. I mean, if it`s "Showcase U", why is the showcase below the fold?

I love the idea though. It totally makes me remember how excited I was to get on "High School Sports Focus" on tv years ago.

I had to edit this to add .... oh man, I really shouldn`t have looked at the code. It really needs to be cleaned up and brought into 2008.

I like the concept and the  look of the site - color and layout. 

What I like most is the "overview" - where you give a concise description of each page.   That makes it so much easier to navigate and understand what`s what and where you need to go.

All the best,

Debra Stokes

www.glistensonline.com

Steve, I believe Eloge is referring to the Tour link on the homepage. It`s in flash - please let me know if it is not functioning for you.

Thanks to all for your comments thus far.Number 1 on our Action list right now is to prioritize site issues & enhancements now that we`re live. There`s nothing like making the site live so that folks like yourselves can take a crack at offering your terrifically helpful critique.

Check out my new blog post here at StartupNation. I`ll be sharing the journey of this new startup.

Joel, it`s beautiful! I love the monochromatic theme, the little sports icons, and the animation. Great design. I did notice that my browser called it "Home" on my Firefox tab instead of "Showcase U".

Eew.. wait. Those little blue sports icons at the bottom of the page are NOT buttons! They just sit there doing nothing. I`m expecting them to take me to a page about their respective sport. Web users like myself have been conditioned to click on tiny little icons, and when they don`t do something, I feel empty inside. I know, it`s a strong emotion, but true.

All the best,
John