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What Went Wrong: How one entrepreneurial great idea couldn’t quite get off the ground. . .
The Story of FreePrint, the Startup that ALMOST could.
Today, CareerMee is speaking with FreePrint founder Gus Murray. Whoa, that’s a lot of links for the first sentence. Anyway, we’re here to tell Gus’ story, about his great startup idea FreePrint – the challenges he faced, the good choices and the bad, and what led, in the end, to pulling the plug on a great idea.
Not all ideas that make it to the market are good (please see link about KFC introducing a sandwich that had no bread and instead two pieces of fried chicken holding it together) and not all ideas that falter are bad. Gus speaks from his experience, and hopefully startup entrepreneurs can learn something from his journey. Be sure to leave any additional questions or thoughts for Gus in our Comment Section below so he can get back to you.
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CareerMee: Pitch Freeprint in 100 words or less:
Gus: Freeprint is a new print media, where targeted messages are printed ‘on demand’ on the rear side of student prints. Companies can segment the student body based on their online profile, gender, education, degree, interests and location, and in ‘sponsoring’ the rear side, students can then print for free. A win-win!
CareerMee: How far into development were you before pulling the plug?
Gus: After completing a trial at one of the business schools, we had the software developed for the backend of the system, raised $250,000 USD, and installed our printers in two schools.
After running the system, and bug fixing, over a 8 month period we redeveloped the concept to be a web based system that would be allow for students and individuals (non-students) to print over the web and at various print kiosks i.e. Starbucks, 7-eleven, airport lounges, etc.
CareerMee: What were some of the things that went wrong?
Gus: The new system would essentially allow anyone to print for free, with sponsored messages, over the internet, at any of our print kiosks. This posed several challenges. First, we required additional funding to redevelop the software and create a web based printing solution and an API that allowed people to print from heavily printed web pages – i.e. Google maps, Gmail etc. Second, it would be encouraging people to print more and therefore increasing the volume of pages printed – not so environmentally friendly. Third, to attract advertising dollars we would need to build a large users base – i.e. students, business people, individuals etc. Finally, the advertising and recruiting market is, as most people know, at the moment quite depressed.
All-in-all, one of the greatest challenges we faced was managing the different stakeholders and in the end, this proved to be our undoing. For Freeprint, our stakeholders included: Customers (paying advertisers), Users (university students), Software Partner (product), Investors (cash), and Distribution Points (business schools). One of our misjudgments was the time it would take to form, engage and develop each of these different stakeholders with their various interest and incentive points. However, it was the software company that ultimately led to our undoing.
CareerMee: What are some things that you might have done differently?
Gus: If I had a magic wand or a time-capsule and could change things again, I would have made sure that we did all the development internally and had better control and input into the project. The project management, cost structure and general inflexibility of our software partner caused massive problems for us, so if we had recruited some developers and had them in-house, I believe we would have been on much better grounds for success. Additionally, we would have better prepared for the amount of time taken to deal with all stakeholders mentioned above.
CareerMee: Any other advice or wisdom that you learned from the venture?
Gus: As business students playing with an IT related product, one of the things you can’t know when you start out, and go down a path like the one we did, is how little you actually do know. So make sure you surround yourself with good people. What I mean by this is people that have good energy and burn for your idea – i.e. they’ll give you unsolicited advice, help and constructive criticism.
Lastly, I believe that one of the things that we did really well was tell other people our idea. What we realized, as we told more people, is that the more people we told the better the idea became through feedback, input, contacts and referrals / recommendations. This helped us immeasurably – free access to conventions, cash from business angels, publicity, an auditor, a huge amount of fans and many other costly items for nothing.
So for everyone thinking of becoming an entrepreneur or in the process or saving the world and becoming the next Facebook or Google, tell others what you are doing, what your product is, what model you think you should use and ask people for their thoughts and advice. Nine times out of ten people will offer their advice and services for free and you in return will at best receive validation of your idea and at worst practice pitching and communicating your product / service or technology. Good luck!
Thanks for speaking with CareerMee, Gus. We look forward to hearing more from you soon, about any future business ideas! MBAs, looking to work for a startup? Think you have what it takes to make a company run? Then head over to CareerMee.com and get you resume online in front of our over 125 recruiters, many looking to hire for small businesses and startups.
Filed under: How To Start an Online Company, Startup Profile | Tagged: entrepreneurship, freeprint, lessons learned, MBA, startup | 1 Comment »
An MBA grad works free for startup: Carrotmob Part (2)
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MBA grad speaks out about the decision to work for free after business school and what compeled her do it.
. . . AND, we’re back with Susanna Schick from Carrotmob, an innovative startup CareerMee profiled last week. Find the story here.
After getting her MBA from North Carolina’s Kenan-Flagler business school, Susanna decided to move out to California and work, free, for a company she really believed in.
What’s more is that this isn’t an isolated incident. A study by by David Montgomery and Catherine Ramus of UC Santa Barbara examines the tradeoffs candidates are willing to make when selecting a potential employer.
It found, to the surprise of all involved, that a reputation for ethical conduct and caring policies towards employees ranked 95 percent as important as the financial package and were willing to give up about $15,000 of their paycheck to get it. Read about it here and check back later this week for a more in-depth review.
And if you think MBAs were just bending the truth a bit on a survey to make themselves look good, we’ve got Susanna, who has given up more than the average $15,000 to work for her ideals. Let hear from her. . .
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CareerMee: Has having an MBA helped you in your role at Carrotmob? AND: Why did you choose to work for an internet start-up, and why Carrotmob?
Susanna: I chose to work as an unpaid intern at Carrotmob because it totally fits with my values, and my passion for saving the planet through conscious consumerism. I get to use what I’ve learned about entrepreneurship, sustainability, marketing, and also tap my large network from b-school. It’s great being with a small and dynamic company where I can be myself. People, including my school’s career management services office, tell me I’d never fit in at a large company, and I think they’re right. I applied to some Fortune 500’s, and wouldn’t turn down the right offer, (I am just an intern here, after all) but I’d think more seriously about the culture shock.
CareerMee: Have you had to make any sacrifices to work for a start-up after business school instead of an established business?
Susanna: Yes, the biggest one is that I am living with my parents. But I made that choice before the Carrotmob internship came up, because I knew I’d rather live with them and be close to San Francisco, where there are so very many companies dedicated to sustainability, than live in a city I’m not excited about and working for a company I don’t believe in.
CareerMee: Do you know if many MBAs are taking similar routes?
Susanna: Because Kenan Flagler provides such an excellent education in entrepreneurship, many of my classmates have chosen to work for startups or even start their own businesses, some of which are focused on social and/or environmental responsibility. It takes tremendous courage of conviction and a willingness to earn less than one did before b-school. I would much rather do something like this that contributes to the greater good and utilizes what I learned in school, than go back to my old job.
CareerMee: Have you found the things you learned in business school to be useful in a practical sense?
Susanna: Absolutely. The one problem I had was that some of the classes felt like I was being fed information through a firehose, to quote our awesome Managerial Accounting professor, Joey Bylinski. So that made it harder to retain what I’d learned, but that’s why I never throw anything away, and also one reason why I stay close with the friends who excel in the areas where I’m weak.
CARROTMOB IN ACTION
CareerMee: Overall impressions of working for a start-up after business schoool – advantages/disadvantages?
Susanna: The positives: It’s exciting and there’s a tremendous sense of potential. I work in a great office culture and in a fantastic neighborhood (South Park in San Francisco has launched a bazillion startups). I work every day with smart, interesting people and I’m learning a ton about early phase business development.
I’m lucky, because it’s a great startup that’s well known, with a founder (Steve Newcomb) who has a history of successful launches under his belt, so I feel like I’m learning more than I would at any other startup solely because of Steve’s strong management talent and transparency.
The only downside: The pay.
Thanks for talking with CareerMee, Susanna, and sharing your story. MBA grads, if you’re looking for work or maybe even want to change careers, check out our site, CareerMee, to put your profile out in front of our over 125 recruiters. Nonprofit, green energy and socially responsible businesses are recruitinng on CareerMee now.
Photo courtesy of Flikr user emdot.Filed under: MBA News & Commentary, Miscellaneous, Startup Profile, Unusual MBA Jobs | Tagged: carrotmob, ethics, MBA, mba alumni, mba ethics, mba jobs, MBA resources, startup | 1 Comment »