What I am up to…
January 28, 2009
I have always used this blog to ‘time-shift’ conversations, so it makes some sense to give those of you with an interest, an update on what I am working on these days:
Last summer we reinvented Big in Japan and turned it into a publisher of mobile applications. Our first application, developed in house, was called ShopSavvy. The application, built originally for the Google’s Android platform (available on T-Mobile) allows a user to scan the barcode of any product to find competitive prices from online and local retailers. With hundreds of thousands of users in the US, the application is the second most popular in Google’s Android market. I have been doing quite a bit of traveling for our European launch (Amsterdam a couple of weeks ago, Hamburg, Germany last week, France next week and Barcelona, Spain the following week). Of course this has really eaten into my blogging (sorry about that). You can following the action at Big in Japan on our blog here.
Around the same time we were reinventing Big in Japan I teamed up with David Cohen of TechStars fame, to launch SpringStage. Our goal with SpringStage is to build a network of individuals like ourselves around the world interested in helping promote entrepreneurship. Today we have ‘catalysts’ in more than 20 cities and hope to cover more than 100 cities by the end of the year. Check out our 2009 schedule for Dallas. The best way to follow what we are doing at SpringStage is to check out our homepage and of course the startup blog in your area (I cover the Dallas area).
More than a year ago we teamed up with my old YEO friend, Brad Merritt, to launch WhiteBox. WhiteBox provides insurance premium finance and collection services to the automotive industry. Using a fairly cool platform we are able to fund vehicle service contracts on behalf of car buyers and collect the premiums via ACH. This business really got started when we decided to take our agile development experience and apply it to a real world problem. Focusing on a very specific niche has turned out to be a great opportunity.
Towards the end of 2008 we had the opportunity to augment our IT services business, Architel, with the assets of another public IT business. Formerly known as AtlasTG, we renamed the business SevenLayer and incorporated its offering within Architel. Scott Ryan, my business partner who runs Architel, has been a real sport providing the cashflow to support our various efforts (including Big in Japan, SpringStage and WhiteBox).
Finally, we received a term sheet to fund our contractor referral business called ServiceGuy. Last week I met with the strategic investor and suggested that it might make sense to sell it to them instead of accepting an investment. They agreed and I am hopeful ServiceGuy will have a new owner who will be able to turn my little idea, into a real business. More to come on this soon.
I almost got myself in a pickle when I offered to buy JPG Magazine, but fortunately for my schedule they spurned my offer. This year I am going to hire a business development person to help me manage my time and activities. If you know someone please have them contact me. Anyway, you are now up to speed.
