Birth of a Startup
I’ve been the StartupNation chief community officer for four years. That’s four years of day after day hanging around eager entrepreneurs, and drinking in the most phenomenal information on the planet to learn about starting and growing a small business. It’s been a PhD in Entrepreneurship under the tutelage of Jeff and Rich Sloan, chief startupologists of StartupNation, and the thousands of entrepreneurs in the StartupNation community who provide inspiration, wisdom, strategies, best practices, wacky ideas that are way smarter than conventional ones, and a network of relationships that is all powerful in the world of starting a small business. And all of this came after 19 years of starting & running my own small business, a recruiting firm.
I am now embarking on the next chapter of my entrepreneurial journey, and I’m going to take you along with me for the ride. I am the CEO of a brand new startup company called Showcase U. Co-founders Jake Chapman & Chad Durbin read the book “StartupNation: Open For Business” and contacted us at StartupNation over 2 years ago. I have been working behind the scenes since then with Jake & Chad, 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.
In this blog going forward, starting today, I am going to share the key decisions involved in starting up Showcase U from scratch and launching the website and the daily battle to build and grow the business. You’ll hear from me a couple times each week as the challenges and strategies are fresh and real. I’ll come to you with answers for sure, but I’ll also be sharing the “in the trenches” issues as they are happening before we reach final conclusions. You may have your own insights to share and I welcome them with open arms here in the blog comments.
OK, that’s all for today. Oh wait … Number 1 on my Showcase U Action List today is “StartupNation Marketing”. The opportunity to share and cross-promote with other websites is a powerful grassroots marketing tactic and is a cornerstone of the Showcase U marketing strategy. The way to make those partnering opportunities happen is the manner in which you build relationships over time. On www.showcaseu.com you’ll see that we already have a team of bloggers who are contributing fresh content that is appropriate for the Showcase U audience. We have taken great care to ensure that these relationships are Win/Win for both parties, and a terrific way to begin a partnering relationship is by sharing content back and forth. It’s a strategy that has worked exceptionally well here at StartupNation and we are emulating it at Showcase U. The hosting site gets fresh content which aids in search engine optimization, and the guest bloggers grow their brand with an opportunity to link from an external website to their own, which also aids in SEO.
Talk to you again soon! I’m still the StartupNation chief community officer as well as the CEO of Showcase U. Yes, life is wonderfully full!! I wouldn’t have it any other way.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
CONGRATULATIONS, I LOVE THE IDEA.
I AM STARTING MY OWN WEBSITE NOW TOO, I’LL LET YOU KNOW WHEN ITS UP AND READY TO VIEW.
WHAT KIND OF LUCK HAVE YOU HAD IN PROMOTING IT?
DHANA COHEN
May 13th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
conGRATS, joel! this is an incredible business concept and great execution. you know i’ve been there by your side, in your words “cheering for your success”. it’s great to have an entrepreneur blossom from within our team. i’m very excited that you’ll be sharing your endeavors here with the SUN community.
wishing you the very best of success, along with jake and chad…
best,
rich
May 14th, 2008 at 8:27 am
Hi Dhana, Thanks for your congrats. Our initial promotion strategy is grassroots oriented. We’ll see how effective it is and I’ll share with you the results in an upcoming blog post.
Rich, we accept your blessings with open arms & glad hearts! And more than that, I am grateful to you & Jeff and what the StartupNation community has built here at StartupNation.com as an unparalleled resource for entrepreneurs. I’m going back & reading & listening to many articles, radio shows & podcasts as we are getting Showcase U off the ground. This place rocks! But you knew that.
May 15th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Hi Joel,
Love your concept, and will be checking back to learn strategies and watch your business grow.
Congratulations!
ei
May 15th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Congratulations Joel,
I too am in the process of developing my website. Unfortunately, I don’t have a whole lot of time to dedicate to it, but it will get done at some point in the hopefully near future.
My family is my priority, so maybe (when they’re old enough) my twin boys will have profiles on showcaseU. What a great idea! Good going!
May 15th, 2008 at 8:25 pm
Hi Joel,
Congratulations and thanks for the inspiration to Dream! I have followed the advice of Start Up Nation’s members and have been educated and inspired by so many entrepreneurs. I am just about to launch my website for my start up potty training company and will definately post it for their review. I have learned so much through this community and I look forward to learning more from your experiences. That is how we learn! Good luck to you on your exciting new adventure!
May 16th, 2008 at 8:31 am
Congratulations! My question is how will the college recruiters link up to your new website? When do you plan on Marketing your website to High schools on a national scale. Do you offer suggestions and ideals on how to professionally showcase the athlete? Our son is 15, finishing up his freshman year in high school. He has a passion for football and is a key player. We want to position him in the best way possible for successful opportunities at being recruited. He attends a private school and he continually comments that he feels he will not be noticed because of the school he attends. We will see how his Sophmore year goes before we make a decision to enter public school. Do you plan on highlighting private schools? Once again congrats on such a great business ideal.
May 16th, 2008 at 10:39 am
Thanks for the congrats & kind words from everyone who’s commented.
Mary, GREAT QUESTIONS!
We’re marketing immediately but doing it grassroots style.
Yes, we do offer tips on how to showcase your high school student athlete. Creating a profile for your son once we have football up & running (soon, stay tuned!) will be a terrific way to level the playing field for him in the recruiting process even if he stays in the private school.
For now, you can register a free profile as an Enthusiast/Fan at http://www.showcaseu.com and we’ll let you know when football is ready for your son to create his own profile & upload video.
Best wishes for FUN & success for your son!
May 16th, 2008 at 10:41 am
Joel,
It’s a beautiful site. I posted my comments in your webstie feedback forum at http://www.startupnation.com/forums/11447/1/1 .