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[makingthebandwagon]

WE’RE HAVING A BABY!

“We’re having a baby!” - a metaphor that entrepreneurs often use when describing the imminent moments as each of our Launch Days draw near. After months (in some cases, years) of research, testing, and development, our “labor of love” meets the public. We remove those private-beta training wheels from our platform and release it into the cruel, cruel world of real-life customers. This experience can be terrifying. In a matter of hours, days, or weeks, you can go from “awww, she’s so cute!” to, “developmentally, he’s underperforming.” It’s that potential gut-wrenching reaction from the public that leaves some of us in a continuous loop of, “it’s not ready.” With startup failure rates of over 50%, it’s no wonder why an entrepreneur may be fretful. Given scenarios like that, can you blame an entrepreneur for seemingly never launching their product? And we all know those people - constantly tinkering with the product, adding feature after useless feature, all in an effort to gain mass appeal, desperately attempting to grasp the attention of any user at all without truly knowing their target customer.  But then you have others... those  willing to  brave the world; a  world full of deadly germs, persistent trolls, and everything else that makes bringing something beautiful into it absolutely terrifying. All that said, my team and I are gritting our teeth. Tomorrow, we’re testing out the car seat and braving the world - we’re launching BANDWAGON.

We have spent months and months laboring - building our product. Once we embarked on the journey, we did everything that first-time parents do: We found communities and groups of people also going through it, we read countless books on how to do it, and we even took classes to prepare ourselves so that we don’t, inadvertently, fail our baby. From there, we gave advice to others - often times, the blind leading the blind - on how they might consider embarking on that same journey. You see, it’s in our human nature to help. We want others to learn from our mistakes and avoid our miscues, but some lessons are best taught in the first-person perspective. So here we are. We’re finally here. The nursery is prepped. We [stress]tested the car seat AND stroller. We fielded suggestions and opinions on names (read: product features) for our new platform and picked the best of them to incorporate. The only thing left to do now is step out on faith, knowing we can’t protect our little bundle of joy from every potential hazard (yet, we did take precautionary measures) and that there will be some bumps and bruises that simply come with growing up.

Like EVERY good parent, we’ve thought of EVERYTHING! *sarcasm* At the end of the day, we researched, surveyed, tested, and built a product that some people will like and a lot of people will love. However, we will NOT be the parent that always sides with their child during parent-teacher conferences. We WELCOME feedback and know that it is the only way that we’ll continue to improve our baby. The beauty of innovation is that there are any number of ways to do it. You can build a gigantic swiss army knife that does everything (but nothing well), or you can specialize and partner with others, choosing to be more effective, like a bow and arrow. We chose to focus on one goal: create a marketplace that allows fans everywhere to optimize their gameday experience by picking their perfect seat while helping create a community inside the stadium - a home-field advantage, of sorts. Tomorrow, our neophyte will take on the goliaths that have been school-yard bullies for so long. But instead of walking into battle alone, we want to do it together. We want you to join in! The joy that I’ve found in this journey is that I’ve rarely had to go it alone. Whether it’s with my amazing team, my loving family, and supportive friends--or dozens of people in the community (entrepreneur, or otherwise)--I’ve never been alone. So tomorrow, when you join us, know that you won’t be alone either!   

They say, “It takes a village” and we truly believe that. Every “LIKE” and “SHARE” helps us make a product that some will like, and many many more will love. If we all #bandtogether the possibilities are endless. And who knows, our little bundle of joy may grow up to be an Astronaut - or even SpaceX.

[makingthebandwagon]

“Don’t press send!”

Don’t we all hear those words in Herm Edwards’ voice every time we see Social Media rear it’s ugly head at the most inopportune time?! Last night at 7:47pm, former Ole Miss standout, Laremy Tunsil, saw YEARS of hard work crumble before his eyes as the projected #3 pick was victim to an apparent social media ambush. A video of (what appears) to be Tunsil smoking an unknown substance out of a modified gas mask, was posted to his personal Twitter account just moments before the start of the 2016 NFL Draft. Now...unlike most boneheaded social media posts, it is apparent that Tunsil, himself, did not share this incriminating video but that doesn’t mean that he deserves none of the blame. For the sake of this post (and to minimize the use of allegedly, purportedly, reportedly, and a bunch of other jargon), let’s assume that the video IS in fact Laremy Tunsil. The greater point to be made here is the growing need to capture every.single.moment of our lives on camera. Whether we intend to eventually share them or not, most simply collect digital dust with the hundreds of videos and pictures (but in this case, can come back to bite you). Social Media isn’t going away - nor should it - however, it’s important to realize our social and personal responsibility, especially when there are millions of dollars at stake. 

This nightmare of this story didn’t end there as Tunsil’s Instagram account was also hacked. On the biggest night of this young man’s life, decisions of his past came back to haunt him - this time involving his alma mater. Pictures surfaced of text message conversations between Tunsil and a member of the University of Mississippi’s Athletic Department about an exchange of money to cover his mother’s utility bill (NOTE: The University has since responded, saying they are cooperating with the NCAA and the SEC on an investigation into this matter). Naturally, this could take us down the rabbit hole of if college athletes should be paid but we’ll save that for next time ;-). Instead, the emphasis here should be the potential damage that decisions we make can have. Tunsil was fortunate that he didn’t slip nearly as far as former LSU Guard La’El Collins. Collins, saw his Top-15 pick dreams (and money) slip away as his name was involved in a murder investigation. Though Collins, who was a never a suspect in the investigation, overcame the negative ramifications of being affiliated to this situation, he will likely never overcome the economic impact that going undrafted in the 2015 NFL draft will have on his life-time earnings. Collins - who was projected as a top-15 pick - meaning he could have expected a 4-year, $10+ million contract with a $4+ million signing bonus - was eventually signed with the Dallas Cowboys as an undrafted free agent to the tune of $1.6 million (over 3 years).

Collins was able overcome the rocky start to his pro career, going on to start 11 games as a rookie, and many expect Tunsil to prove doubters (or the risk averse) wrong as well. Talent at the highest level is hard to find and even harder to keep in the NFL, with the average career being under 4 years. As a collegiate athlete, is a 6-second Vine video worth the years of sweat, tears, and performance at the highest level? Some teams, like the Clemson Tigers encourage their student-athletes to abstain from social media use through the season (a decision made by the student-athletes in 2012 that still continues) while others, like USC, have created resources to help student-athletes use these new tools wisely. Though these are great measures, they don’t stop life from happening around these young men and women. Social Media has been an incredible outlet for athletes and fans alike, bringing the two groups closer than traditional media did just years ago. However, it is our responsibility as fans, players, and consumers of all of this personal content to use it responsibly. We created BANDWAGON as a platform to help fans protect home-field advantage and enhance their fan experience by bringing curated content right to their fingertips - all in one spot. Seeing platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat used to hurt the athletes that make the very game that we love sucks. That being said, we’re rooting for Laremy Tunsil and all the hopeful athletes who’s dreams will come true this weekend! We can only hope that student-athletes, young professionals, and anyone with anything to lose choose to use these awesome platforms to connect with each other, share experiences, and follow your favorite teams/players instead of the other stuff! Happy drafting, folks!

#bandtogether

[makingthebandwagon]

Lessons Since Launch

Aside from some random pieces that I’ve written about life as an entrepreneur, in general, you all haven’t heard from me in regards to how Bandwagon has been doing. After officially launching on September 1st, things REALLY kicked into high gear! Between balancing operating BANDWAGON AND participating in Founder Institute, I simply didn’t have time to write about all the stuff that I was learning....BUT now that graduation is here, I wanted to take a second to put my thoughts to paper - er, screen - so that you all can continue on with the journey. 

Be careful what you wish for. - Before launch, we knew we wanted users. LOTS and LOTS of USERS! We focused on user generating activities like social media engagement and even a campus ambassador program. We spent our Saturdays handing out koozies and cups in exchange for emails and sign-ups. We set out to get users and that we did! Hundreds of users are signed up to our platform and that traction helped us secure our first outside investment commitment (more on this in future post). However, the more that I think about our focus on user acquisition, the more that I think that we were tracking a vanity metric. In the end, the ability to gain users is important but we must find a way to be more efficient about it. Having a B2C strategy is a very capital intensive game, in this industry, so it is important that we shift our focus to become more of a B2B company (with that second “B” actually being “schools and athletic departments). We wished for users and got them, but from what I’ve learned, we should’ve wished for something else. 

Learn, if you must. Try, if you can. - I’ve never been shy about sharing my traditional mindset when it came to life, education, and career. Entrepreneurship was never in my DNA...until it was. In the Spring of 2014, as I completed my last semester of my MBA program at Clemson University, I started to think about creating my own company. Without any “formal” (air quotes) education in entrepreneurship, I sought out every bit of information I could find - this led me to the Founder Institute. Enrolling into the Founder Institute this summer was one of the best things that I could’ve done for BANDWAGON...but it was grueling. The time commitment - unlike most speed limits - is NOT a suggestion. I found myself spending many late nights completing homework assignments in order to make the deadline. The lessons learned were valuable, as the structure of the program encouraged us to go deep in several different (and important) aspects of creating a successful startup. I’m a HUGE advocate of learning all that you can but at the end of the day, the best form of learning is TRYING for yourself. The curriculum for the Founder Institute was solid because it encouraged Founders to put themselves out there, in ways that were comfortable but necessary. 

Traction is traction. - Of all the lessons that I learned, this one is probably one of the most important. Creating a viable business is difficult and I know that I can’t say that we have created that today. However, what I can say is that we have been able to create traction that has proven some of our hypotheses (right or wrong) so that we can learn, adapt, and adjust. In less than 2 months, we’ve gained hundreds of users, made thousands of dollars, and have had doors opened everywhere from Eastern Washington to Notre Dame. Though our successes have been relatively small, we are using these small victories to build off of. Without traction, we may still be in the “ideation” phase but as we graduate Founder Institute on October 19th, we leave as one of the top ventures with the support of our cohort, directors, and mentors. 

I’ve obviously learned a lot more than this but some lessons are just meant to be shared over coffee (read: bourbon). If you ever want to chat, ask questions, offer insight, or just share your own story, I’m just an email or tweet away! Follow me on Twitter or drop me a line via email (hh@bandwagonfanclub.com). The value of connecting with others isn’t something that I learned since launch but it is a lesson that I’ve carried with me through life and along my entrepreneurial journey. So let’s #bandtogether and CONNECT! 

BANDWAGON is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up atwww.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

All You Need Is One

As a bootstrapping entrepreneur, I’ve always been very careful on how we spend our money...simply because we didn’t have much of it. In an ideal world, I’d be able to outsource anything that wasn’t a strong suit of mine, however as an early stage startup - a cash strapped one at that - it’s especially important for first-time entrepreneurs to know the in’s and out’s of their business. For one, it helps you truly grasp what is and what is not scalable but it also allows you to communicate processes and value propositions to customers, potential employees, and investors. 

We’ve been REALLY fortunate so far...I mean, really! We have a GREAT idea - we’re building an online fan community designed to enhance the game day experience of college football fans EVERYWHERE! We know that where you sit (and who’s next to you) can have a HUGE impact on YOUR game day. So with you in mind, we built Bandwagon, the only ticket marketplace that allows you to buy/sell/trade tickets with fans of YOUR team. No more ruining home-field advantage for a quick buck. Being based in Greenville, SC, we have received lots of AWESOME community support and even some praise from our alma mater. As we get closer to the season, we’ve been fine tuning our processes (all that messy backend stuff) and polishing off our design (Thankfully, we’re working with Coherent Marketing Group to design our front end). We’re chugging right along so the next step was to start getting some capital in. 

As I talked with mentors, advisers, entrepreneurs and just overall smart people, they all told me, “You will be told ‘no’ - if they bother to respond at all - but all you need is one ‘yes’, so don’t be discouraged.” I have probably talked to hundreds of people about Bandwagon since I started it just over a year ago. Some responded, “That’s awesome! That makes so much sense!” while others said, “Who really cares?” or “I’m not sure I understand how you will be able to compete against the big players in market.” Despite the great amounts of support we have received, I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that we have been met with some opposition. Opposition is fine...actually, it’s better than that - opposition is good! It taught me 2 things. 1) Be better at explaining what we’re doing...quickly. and 2) Understand that Bandwagon isn’t for everyone. Once those messages became clear, we were on our way.

We pitched, and met, and did follow up call after follow up call. We pitched some more, bought coffees, showed PowerPoints, wrote executive summaries, revised our pitch deck, and did the whole thing all over again. We got some no’s but more importantly...we got a yes! We found some partners that truly believe in what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, AND (probably most importantly) that we’re the best team to get the job done! So now that we have some money to invest in building a better platform, we’re back to where we started. All we need is one: One school, One team, One fan base, One fan to see what we’re doing and give us a shot. We know that it will be difficult. We know that people have habits that are hard to break. But we also know that what we’re doing is purposeful for a specific customer - the TRUE college football fan. If you think that describes you, be sure to head on over to our site and join your favorite team’s Bandwagon so that we can notify you on our launch day - September 1st!

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up atwww.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

Beginning Beta Testing!

The moment that we have all been waiting for is quickly approaching! College Football is almost here and as you plan your vacation days and rehearse your reasons to call in sick after a big Thursday night game, the Bandwagon team is preparing our platform for all of YOU! 

In an effort to provide the BEST levels of service to our fans, we are starting by rolling out to 4 schools: Clemson University, University of South Carolina, University of Georgia, and Georgia Institute of Technology. By focusing on those 4 schools, the Bandwagon team (Headquartered in Greenville, SC) will be able to get to any of our campuses in just 2 hours! If you're a fan of any of these schools, I’m sure you have some major home games circled on your schedule. Our goal is to help YOU, the fans, protect home-field advantage and pack out your stadium with fans that rep your school.

For season ticket holders, we have created a safe and secure platform for you to sell tickets to fans anywhere with the option, if you're a big enough fan, to protect your team’s home-field advantage by only listing your tickets to fans of your team. NO ONE ELSE in the industry allows you to do that and we're happy to be the first! No more posting your tickets on message boards or meeting folks at CostCo complete those sketchy transactions. 

For the NON-season ticket holders, our site gives you the opportunity to pledge your allegiance to your favorite team AND put your money where your mouth is. No more traveling to away games only to end up sitting in the heart of the top donors in the away team’s section. No more missing out on the biggest games of the year because simply because you couldn't afford season tickets. Fans can buy their tickets almost anywhere but TRUE fans will look to Bandwagon because we'll have the best seats at the BEST prices for you...THE TRUE FAN!

Sooooo...with all that said, we're gearing up for our launch on SEPTEMBER 1st (mark your calendars!) but before we can do that we want YOUR feedback on what we've built so far! If you're a season ticket holder, or the person who buys single game tickets to only the biggest games, or just the socialite that loves getting together for tailgates, shoot us an email at hey@bandwagonfanclub.com. We want you to be one of our beta testers and give us feedback on what you like, love, and don't love about what we've built.

College Football season kicks off in 50 days and we're bustin’ our tails to get ready to help you enjoy every moment of every game. Thanks for supporting us in our journey to improve the fan experience every Saturday (er, Thursday, Friday, Saturday) in this fall. 

PS - We're looking for Campus Ambassadors at each of the schools we listed (Clemson, Univ. of S. Carolina, UGA, and GT). If you're interested, apply here! 

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up atwww.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

All I Want For My Birthday...

is “LIKE”, Retweet, or a Follow!

Bandwagon is officially 1 year old today and there is so much that I have to be thankful for. I couldn’t let the day end without doing a couple of shoutouts so here goes...

To my management team (Sam, Susan, La-Vaughnda, Nick), THANK YOU for believing in ME when this thing was just a conversation over a beer. You all are the real deal and by our powers combined, we can do ANYTHING. I'm looking forward to the future of Bandwagon with you. 

To our student team (Rachel, Jake, Kori) - THANK YOU for being passionate about your team, your school, AND your experience. With your help, we will be able to help fans who believe in protecting the home-field advantage be the difference in stadiums across the country. My door/cell phone/email/etc. is always open so if I can be of any assistance to you (Bandwagon or otherwise), please let me know. 

To our Fan Advisory Board, you all are among our first supporters and for that, I'll be ever grateful. You support us, provide feedback, and connect us with resources that you all believe will help us grow and be better. YOU are the voice of fans everywhere so I hope that you use that as an opportunity to voice all of your opinions so that we can make Bandwagon for every fan. The fans out there that are just like you. 

Lastly...to YOU, the fans! Thank you for your loyalty, dedication, and passion for your teams. College Football fans are among the most passionate fans in the country and we are building this platform to help you simplify your planning, organize your get-togethers, and help you protect home-field advantage. We are beginning beta testing this month (if you’re interested, drop us a line at hey@bandwagonfanclub.com) and are STOKED about our launch this upcoming season. 

That’s it! Here’s to many more years of Bandwagon fans! #bandtogether

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

What’s Taking So Long?

On May 11th, 2014, I filed with the state of South Carolina to have Bandwagon officially recognized as an LLC. Before that date, Bandwagon was just an idea. Since then, I’ve been working tirelessly with my team to bring our idea to fruition. If you’re reading this, you probably have a vested interest in our success. You’re either a family/friend, member of the community, or just overall fan of cool innovative companies. We talk about Bandwagon often - we’ve even received some solid press - and the more we talk about it, the more people ask, “So what’s taking so long!?” As much as we appreciate the enthusiasm from our future users, I felt that I should take this opportunity to give some you, our loyal followers, some insight into what we’ve been working on. So here goes…

When we built our MVP (minimum viable product) last fall, we developed in PHP, focusing solely on user functionality. The site, as designed, would allow fans to buy, sell, and trade tickets to college football games. Since the season ended, we’ve had the opportunity to talk to Athletic Departments and booster clubs about our platform and how it works. From those conversations, we knew we had to not only maintain our user focus but also be mindful of how we would integrate into backend systems. Thus, we began rebuilding our site in Ruby on Rails (a completely different platform).

While focusing on rebuilding our product, we knew we couldn’t neglect our marketing efforts so while we’ve been away, we’ve quietly added several new members to our Bandwagon team! Starting this fall, we will roll out our platform to every Power 5 conference fan base. To get that done, we’ve brought on Campus Ambassadors to give hyper attention to fanbases and help us spread the word! Our final addition brought us a SUPER talented Social Media Manager that already has some great ideas for contests and prizes so if you haven’t liked us on Facebook yet, you probably should - FAST!

So to answer the question, that’s what has taken so long. Even though we have been kinda quiet, I promise you that we are diligently working towards our fall 2015 launch! Above all, we want to do this the right way and we appreciate all of your support. If you haven’t already signed up to be notified when we launch, you can jump on the bandwagon here. In the mean time, I’ll be providing you weekly updates with what we’re working on and how you can get involved. And hey, if you want to be one of our Beta Testers, shoot us an email at hey@bandwagonfanclub.com! If you can’t tell, WE’RE EXCITED for you to see what we’ve been working on!

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

One Man Band(wagon)

There’s no “i” in “Startup”, let alone “Successful Startup”. When I started out with the initial idea of Bandwagon, it started as almost a senior project.

The original hypothesis: Would fans from a specific fanbase be inclined to sell their tickets to their fellow fans IF they had a viable platform to do so?

As I talked up Bandwagon to my friends, family, and even strangers, the idea began to really take legs and my comfort level on the topic got higher. One thing about being comfortable telling your story and exuding passion is that it’s CONTAGIOUS! Conversations that started out as friends casually saying, “Man, when are you going to let me invest in Bandwagon so that I can make millions with you,” slowly changed to “Can we sit down some time soon to talk about what your plan is with Bandwagon? I’d love to work with you on it!” While I REALLY appreciated the support, I was still on the fence about adding anyone to my 1-man team. After all, Bandwagon is my baby - an actual brainchild that consumes my thought! Would a person that I brought on be as passionate? Would they be willing to dedicate all their free time too? As I wrestled with these thoughts, 2 things became painstakingly clear:

Owning 50% of something that makes it BIG is much better than owning 100% of something that doesn’t.

When it comes to an early stage startup, the hours that are invested are SUPER important and as it stood, I was only able to put in time after 6pm daily (and weekends).

Building a team became a crucial decision for me as I realized that even though, as the founder, I had the idea and the initial vision, it takes A LOT more than that to get a company off the ground. After taking some time and being honest with myself, I was able to assess my skill set as well as areas that I could use a person to make us better. Through that process, the team grew to a total of 7 and I was able to make more clear objectives for what I need to do as well as capitalize on the strengths of the entire team. For Bandwagon, the whole is definitely greater than the sum of our parts.

Being reluctant to add anyone to your team is natural. Very natural actually… think about it - you want a person who believes enough in your idea to give of their time/money/effort/etc but also, is able to fit from a company culture standpoint. Aside from developing a product or building an app, I had to understand that I was also building a company and with that came the responsibility of creating a culture. I haven’t been able to figure out if it was Mark Fields, President and CEO of Ford Motor Company, or Peter Drucker, 2002 Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, that first said, “Culture eats strategy for breakfast” but those words are etched in me. As a person that has almost a decade of experience in corporate America, I knew that as I built my team, and subsequently my company, that I must keep my finger on the pulse of our culture.

I have always been told that it is best to hire slow and fire fast. Whether it’s a family friend, an MBA colleague, or a resume you receive at a coffee shop, it’s important to consider skill set, weigh the value that they will be able to contribute with actual team need but most importantly, how this new team member will affect your team’s culture. The way I’ve always seen it, if you can measure a person by their integrity, you can measure a company by it’s culture. That company culture is a melting pot of the integrity, core values, atmosphere, and overarching beliefs that will guide a company through challenging times (and as a startup, I assure you…there will be challenging times). Each member of the Bandwagon team passes the integrity test in my book. Their skills and strengths are unquestioned and their belief in what we’re building is unwavering. Whether you’re a sports fan or not, that alone should make you one of our supporters - a Bandwagon Fan! We’re building an online fan-community to enhance the user experience for college sports fans everywhere. More plainly put, we’re creating an environment where good people can connect with each other and have a good time talkin’ about sports! For us, it doesn’t get much better than that.

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

What They Didn’t Tell Me

If you’re in anyway familiar with the nature of startups, the next statistic won’t shock you. More than 50% of startups fail within their first 2 years of business. With a failure rate that high, more and more entrepreneurs and industry folks have bought into the idea of failing fast. There are LOTS of reasons why this makes sense, in theory, but the two most obvious ones are:

·      If you’re going to fail either way, you might as well do it early before it costs you more time and money

·      If you fail fast enough, you may have the opportunity to pivot to a model/idea that has a higher success rate

As an evening entrepreneur that bootstrapped Bandwagon, time and money are two resources that my team and I are very conscious of. We applied concepts learned in “The Lean Startup” about lean product development, shortening the feedback loop, and yes…failing fast! Getting our idea out there as early and often as possible so that we can see which parts stand up to critique and which parts may not be ready, or better yet, even necessary at all. As a first-time entrepreneur, I was encouraged to fail fast but there are a couple of things they didn’t tell me about the process…

They didn’t tell me the pounding that my ego would take OR how long it would take me to bounce back from these bouts. In an effort to get the most objective feedback that we could, we applied to pitch contests all across the country. We were fortunate enough to be accepted into the TPG Sports Tank, a first-time event for startups in various sports industries, hosted in Charlotte, North Carolina. Just 10 companies were selected to present so to even be in the presence of companies like, Cup Caps, iSlide, and Fanstreamm, was an honor.

We prepared. We practiced. We pitched. We handled tough questions and objections with poise and confidence but in the end, we didn’t get a deal. After the event we were able to get some one-on-one time with the investors to get some specific feedback that we could go back and rethink. While most of the private feedback was positive, we were told some things that definitely left us discouraged. We sucked it up, took it all as a learning opportunity and went back to refine our pitch and find a better way to tell our story. We were able to come out on the other side being even better than we were when we went in, despite not getting an investment, yet as the leader of the team, I couldn’t help but wonder if I was leading my team down a path of gloom and despair. The thing about putting yourself out there with the potential to fail being so high is that the words that you hear (and the people that say them) stick with you. It’s your choice to take that critique and crumble or use it modify your plan and motivate you… I chose the latter.

Another example of my team failing early was missing out on an opportunity to sign our first partner school. We did our research, developed our offering, and fine-tuned our presentation. The athletic department was receptive and candidly told us that they LOVED our idea because it will help them address some serious issues they have to deal with during the season. Unfortunately, due to some unforeseen challenges (those pesky legal contracts), we weren’t able to ink a deal with them. Though this failure didn’t bruise my ego, it did make me question our purpose a little bit. Was I properly thinking this through? Had we done enough research? Fortunately, thanks to my team and my support system, I was able to refocus our team to channel our efforts into a new go-to-market strategy. I knew the value of having a strong team (next blog post will be on how we made our team) but what blew me away was how well we worked together when we ran into each of these challenges.

As an early stage startup, Bandwagon has hit SEVERAL brick walls but the beauty in being at this stage is the amount of learning that happens (whether you like it or not). My team and I were able to double-down on our idea by reinventing how we market ourselves. What started out as merely a ticket market has morphed to the product that we hope will make you all very proud to have followed the journey of. The days of solely developing a ticket market are gone. We’ve talked to YOU, the fan, and shifted gears to bring you a product that is more holistic – an online fan community designed to enhance your experience as a fan, every step of the way.

Yes, we failed. We failed to stubbornly stick to the plan as we originally conceived it. We failed to let rejection distract us from our core goals. We failed to be so blinded by our own ideas that we neglected input. Of all the things they told me about failing fast, they never told me how easy it would be…to fail to give up on this thing. We’re making the Bandwagon and we want you to be a part of it.

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

I was featured on The Tao of Sports podcast! Check it out! 

[makingthebandwagon]

The Myth of Work-Life Balance

Once I got past the hurdle of understanding the difference between creating a business and finding a new hobby, I had to figure out WHERE I would find the time to focus on my idea to give it a real chance at becoming a business. In this post, I’m going to address the myth of work-life balance. As the person at the top, you don’t get the luxury of work-life balance…trust me. I’m not the only one that thinks this way either. On Tuesday during a public Q&A session, my good [Facebook] friend, Mark Zuckerberg said, “If you count the time I’m in the office, it’s probably no more than 50-60 hours a week. But if you count all the time I’m focused on our mission, that’s basically my whole life.” In 2015, “work” is not only confined to a desk or a cubicle.

The idea of “balance” relies heavily on two or more things being weighed/valued equally. As an evening entrepreneur, I am working my corporate America job from 8:30am until 5:30pm. If I’m lucky enough to get 6 hours of sleep, that only leaves me 8 hours to eat, commute, have a life, AND work on Bandwagon. So what does that leave you with? WEEKENDS! Yes…weekends a.k.a. the only days that I’m allowed to spend daylight hours on my idea. Needless to say, life has definitely taken a backseat to work for the past 10 months…but is that a bad thing? I know that the initial reaction may be, “Heck yeah that’s a bad thing!” but that’s why it’s important for you to HIGHLY consider only starting a business with an idea that you’re passionate about. So there you have it – neither I nor Zuck believe in the traditional definition of work-life balance but that doesn’t mean doom and gloom for an entrepreneur. In my time as an entrepreneur, I’ve learned some vital skills and found a few resources that have helped me more properly manage ­– and optimize ­– my time.

Before I jump in, I want to issue a disclaimer. Though I’ve found these tools/ideas to be helpful to me as a budding entrepreneur, there’s no reason that a student with a part-time job or a Corporate America professional who always seems to work late (or take work home) can’t be more effective by considering some of these things. With that said, feel free to share these tips with anyone!

Of all of the resources we have, the one finite resource we all have is time. Regardless of what you add to your plate, you only have 24 hours each day. As much as I often find myself trying to steal one extra minute of sleep or read one more article before bed, that hard stop is 24 hours. That means that for me to be truly effective, I had to be more efficient. Meaning, if I can spend my 24 hours in a better way than the next guy, that will give me a slight edge. I know this may sound simple but you’d be surprised by how many people don’t maximize their time. After months of working on Bandwagon at all kinds of hours each night, I started noticing that I was retaining less of what I was learning and thus, re-reading/re-doing activities the next day to reinforce my memory. Now imagine…what if I would have just went to sleep once my brain was no longer operating at a level conducive to grasping information? How much more refreshed would I be for the next day? I was overthinking it! After reading this article about discovering the best time of day to work, I was able to create a better structure in my schedule and be more effective. Knowing whether or not you’re a morning person is one thing but knowing if your brain can handle 1-hour of constant focus on a singular task vs. 30-minute segments is completely different. Understanding the difference between the two can lead to more sleep/time with friends/exercise time or re-work the next day.

Another widely accepted belief is that we are creatures of habit. When I come home, I put my wallet in the same place every day and I sit in the same spot on the couch. Think about that – for years, I’ve been training my mind to veg out on the couch when I sit down in that spot. You may have a similar routine. The fact of the matter is that we can’t expect our brains to automatically turn that spot on the couch into a mobile office simply because we want to start a business. I’m no scientist so I can’t/won’t get into the details of what’s going on in the brain but I can tell you that the switch was not an easy one to flip. I would find myself “listening” to the television or having a browser tab with Facebook open as I “worked”. I had to get off of the couch! I’m not encouraging anyone to go out and find office space as they start their business as a one-person operation but I am saying that changing up the environment that your brain is used to can lift your productivity. To take it a step further, defining office hours has also been extremely helpful. By setting office hours, I am able to turn off my distractions, stay away from my time vices, and get as much done as possible. Though I can not say that I am achieving work-life balance, I can say that by creating office hours, I’m able to prioritize the things that are important to me in my personal and social life while also scheduling time to work when I know I can be effective.

Understanding when I work best, changing my scenery, and setting real office hours helped me become more efficient and gain more of my social life back. As an early entrepreneur, there’s no reason to “work” for the sake of working. In my next post, I’ll talk about building a team and how important it is for everyone to understand time commitments as well as vision objectives. As the founder, it is important for me to set the tone for that as it pertains to Bandwagon because a team will reflect it’s leadership. That being said, as important as it is to find ways to out hustle the dozens of people how may potentially have the same idea, it’s equally important to give your brain time to relax. Whether that’s playing a video game or working out, it’s important to recharge the batteries from time to time to stay sharp AND not burn out.

So my 3 suggestions are:

#1 - STRATEGIZE - Get off the couch! Find new places to work/study that will stimulate your brain.

#2 - ALLOCATE - Set REAL office hours around the times that your brain/body are most prepared.

#3 - OPTIMIZE - Work when you should be working. Rest when you should be resting. Give your brain time to recharge so you can perform at your highest level.

Whether I’m working 30 hours or 60, I’m always mindful of the mission of Bandwagon and how I represent the company 24/7. Similarly, Zuck is committed to the mission of Facebook whether he’s in the office or not.

Facebook's mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected. People use Facebook to stay connected with friends and family, to discover what's going on in the world, and to share and express what matters to them.

Though we have not formalized our mission statement, we are striving to enhance the sports fan experience before, during, and after the game. By creating a fan community that encourages fan to fan engagement, we believe that we can help protect home-field advantage while improving the game and game planning experience.

H

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

Building a business...or a Hobby

“You’re not an entrepreneur...you’re a wantrepreneur!’

“This isn’t a company yet...this is just a product…”

“This isn’t a business...this is a hobby.”

Whether you’re watching The Profit, SharkTank, or reading horror stories about making the leap to being an entrepreneur, you’ve probably heard these quotes and if you’re anything like me, they struck the fear of God in you! Mary Kay Ash, founder of Mary Kay Cosmetics, famously said, “Ideas are a dime a dozen. People who implement them are priceless!” As an entrepreneur, these words couldn’t ring more true. The fact of the matter is that it’s human nature to come up with ideas to help improve our conditions or simplify our own lives. While we see company after company explode with HUGE valuations, a lot of the time, the idea came out of a desire to improve one’s situation versus simply trying to devise a get rich quick scheme. The same was true for me. The same was true for Mat Franken.

Mat Franken and his wife, Jodi, were really “bugged” by fruit flies. Anyone who enjoys fresh produce knows the irritation that these pests can cause. Mat had a real life problem on his hands and like any person, he tried to find a way to solve it. After discovering that his children had serious sensitivities to various household supplies, Mat did what any good parent did - he tried to find a solution! After coming up empty after scouring the internet, Mat set out to concoct his own homemade recipe. I won’t get into all of the details of his awesome story but the outcome is Greenville-based startup that is growing and growing by offering a non-toxic solution to fighting fruit flies. One of my good friends now works at Aunt Fannie’s and it’s stories like this that remind me why some businesses are more successful than others.

When it comes to starting a business, identifying the customer, calculating startup costs, and defining how you will make money really are the true differences between whether you are building a business or finding a new hobby. As I developed Bandwagon, I originally thought of creating a simple platform for passionate sports fans to trade tickets to college football games. I never thought about user acquisition costs or revenue streams. However, as I talked to people about my idea, I was encouraged to seriously consider the idea of making this a real business - and I’m so glad that I did! The journey to making Bandwagon is one full of “learning opportunities”. For example, one of the things I had to learn was how to build a team (a soon-to-be blog post). In school, your teammates/group members were either your best friend or some hodgepodge that the professor assigned. Learning opportunities like that, challenged me to think about things in ways that I had never traditionally learned but also to think of things through the eyes of others (read: Investors, customers, strategic partners).

I capitalized on one of those learning opportunities while pursuing my MBA. For the first time in my life, I learned about tools like The Business Model Canvas (free download here), Porter’s Five Forces, and lots more. Being able to answer the questions they ask and fill out these frameworks will help you as you move from idea to company - without that messy hobby stage in between. As a new (or even serial) entrepreneur, it’s important to shorten the feedback loop (image below) as much as possible so that you are able to A) build something that people actually want while B) not spending a fortune on the rework process.

The Bandwagon team is 100% focused on shortening the feedback loop and being as engaging as possible. Along with creating our Fan Advisory Board, which serves as a sounding board for us to go to fans and hear what they think about everything from new features to site layout, we are also present on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIN! As a small startup, we take pride in being 3 things: Nimble, Flexible, and Responsive. It is important for us to be nimble because unlike most of our competitors we don’t have gobs of money to throw at problems. We must learn quickly and address each challenge in an agile way. Next, we have to be flexible. Just as I told you that we originally started out as a ticket trading platform but pivoted to what you see today, it’s important for us to be flexible with our goals and our approach but never waiver on the value of our customers and business partners. Lastly, we have to be responsive. Companies all across the world pay MILLIONS of dollars for market research while ignoring the best and most obvious source of feedback - the customer. So if it ever feels like we’re inviting you along to build Bandwagon with us...IT’S BECAUSE WE ARE!

We are designing a fan community that gives you, the fan, the ability to buy, sell, and trade tickets while also acknowledging that there are other pain points that you may have in the overall planning game day process. We may not be able to catch a touchdown pass or hit a game winning shot for your favorite team but we ARE developing a product that enhances your experience, before, during, and after the game. Whether your hobby is tailgating in Tuscaloosa, grilling out in Georgia, or cheering as loud as you can in Clemson, Bandwagon is making it our business to help you protect home-field advantage and get more sports, less fees.

H

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

So…I have an idea...What next?!

Last week, I had the pleasure of speaking on a panel event hosted by NEXT. Even though the event focused on Crowdfunding, I realized that there were SO many steps that we took before raising money when it came to starting Bandwagon. Before the money or the team or the swanky website, we started…with an idea.

After the event, several entrepreneurs (and folks wanting to become entrepreneurs) came up to me asking questions about the process that we used, what should they do with their idea, and quite possibly the best question, “Will you sign an NDA? I’d love to tell you about this idea I just came up with!” - The short answer to question was “no”. Not because I wanted to try to steal their idea but because once you have an idea, it’s important to get objective feedback from trustworthy people without throwing around legal jargon that we’ve all heard on television. At that moment, I realized that a lot of us see these really successful companies on TV but don’t know what happens in between “having an idea” and “making millions”. Since Bandwagon is still somewhere in the middle, I wanted to share that process as we’re going through it!

Before Bandwagon was a company, it was just an idea and before I moved forward with it, I had to ask myself a couple of questions:

·      Does this already exist?

·      Why is this different from what’s already on the market?

·      Am I the right person to bring this to market?

All of these questions lead you to one place… Google! Once you have an idea, before you start spending time - God Forbid money - you NEED to RESEARCH! Research, research, research. Having an idea is a great but before you can realistically consider turning it into a viable business, you have to make sure A) that it’s not out there already and B) if the market really wants it at all.

As we built Bandwagon, we started out as a closed secondary ticket platform for fans to trade tickets. Originally, the buying and selling feature was not an option. I did research and there weren’t any offerings in the market that offered fans the ability to straight trade tickets so I knew that there was a differentiator there, however, when I got to the “is this something the market would really want”, the answer was cloudy at best. Before I went any further, we surveyed over 400 sports fans and decided to make some key changes. The Bandwagon that you see today is WAY different from what I first envisioned but the beauty in starting a company is that it can be whatever you want it to be.

The last question is one of the most important to me because I think that one of the first things that people do once they have a great idea is that they swear off the rest of the world and keep it to themselves (or ask you to sign an NDA before they tell you about it). A great idea kept to one’s self won’t take you far. When I started Bandwagon, I told EVERYONE! Why? Well, there’s 2 reasons: 1) It was important to me to vet the idea out properly. Of course I started out with family and close friends but I knew I had to move outside of my network to get a more objective critique. 2) I wanted to be THE person associated with the idea. Often times, we get GREAT ideas and keep them to ourselves because we’re afraid that people will steal them. The truth is, it takes more than a good idea to be successful. The passion that you bring as the creator of the idea can’t be simulated and the fact of the matter is, if someone could knock you off by simply knowing your idea, it’s better that they do it now before you’ve put any money into it! Think about it - your idea will become public sooner or later - in fact you want it to! Choose your confidante carefully, but also be prepared for the risk - after all, you are about to start a business!

Building Bandwagon has taught me a lot but the most important thing that I’ve learned is how important it is for people to see your passion. An idea without passion, regardless of how much money or resources you put behind it, will eventually fail as your interests shift to something else. So if you’re reading this, know that the team that I’ve built is passionate about what we’re doing AND that no matter what YOUR idea is, it’s you that can’t be duplicated. Make your passion behind your idea be the differentiator.

H

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

Why do we watch Shark Tank and Why am I blogging?

Like millions of people, I LOVE Shark Tank! Whether I’m tuned in on Friday nights or hopelessly watching those old Standard-Definition reruns on CNBC, I’m glued to the TV to see entrepreneur after entrepreneur try to realize their piece of the American Dream. Then…. the episode ends. And I’m stuck somewhere between “Man, that was really inspiring!” and “See! I’m nowhere near ready to start a business…” If you’ve ever felt either of those emotions, keep reading…

There are some things that just aren’t taught in school. Growing up, I was always taught, “Go to school, get a good job” as though that was the only option. Well, shows like Shark Tank have shown us that there are WAY more options to realizing your potential and being successful as a business professional. As a guy who has grown up still trying to find out what my “talent” or “skill” is, I’ve found that as I create my startup, Bandwagon, that there’s SOOOOO much that goes on between when you have your bright idea and when you get on Shark Tank – or Shark Tank aside, are truly successful in entrepreneurship…and that’s why I’m blogging.

If you’re an entrepreneur a person that’s ever had an idea and wondered how does that grow from just a cool thought to something BIGGER, I’m writing for you. I’ll be blogging about every step that I’ve taken with Bandwagon in hopes that you can learn from the decisions/mistakes that I’ve made. You’ll learn about Bandwagon but more importantly, you see all the messy behind the scenes steps that companies like Pebble, SnapChat, and Breathometer had to take to get to where they are AAANNNNNDDDDD see which resources are available to you (that you may have NEVER known about). Whether you want to know what an NDA is and who should sign it or how to raise money via crowdfunding without a super cool (pun definitely intended) product like The Coolest Cooler, this is the blog for you! ☺

So that’s it. I’m no serial entrepreneur. I’m no investor. I’m just a guy that started with an idea and I want to help you figure out what to do with yours while I share the journey of my company. You’ll get to know us and all the behind the scenes stuff!  Let the story begin…this is Making the Band(wagon).

H

Bandwagon is where the fan community meets the free market. We want more sports and less fees! To stay in the know, jump on the Bandwagon by signing up at www.bandwagonfanclub.com!

[makingthebandwagon]

Coming Soon!