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BarDiver hopes to get the buzz going

November 17, 2006

picture-3.pngJay Graves is one of the guys behind BarDiver.com which launched today. Ironically enough, I met him at BarCamp last weekend. BarDiver is a user-driven site listing bars, as you might have guessed. Jay told me that right now BarDiver is a growing side project, and that they’re really just “fans of the dive bar.”

I played around on the site a bit today, checking out some Denver bars such as the Larimer Lounge and Sloans. There are two sharp contrasts to Happy Hour Boulder (covered recently). First, content on BarDiver is user generated. Second, Happy Hour Boulder is more focused on happy hour specifically while BarDiver aims to tag bars with user generated attributes such as “beautiful staff” and “geeks who drink.” As of this minute BarDiver has only about 40 bars listed in Denver.

I always tell people to start businesses that center on their passions, solve real problems, and have some reasonable way to make money other than becoming a top 100 site and selling ads. For side projects that you’re not dedicating your life to, one out of three isn’t bad, and I can prove it. So, you go Jay.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups |  

Bootstrappers unite!

October 24, 2006

My recent post and podcast on angel investing stirred up quite a few comments and emails. While most were supportive of the information presented about angel investing, there was a group of people who were essentially asking for equal coverage of innovative bootstrapping against-all-odds daredevils here in Colorado. I have covered several companies like this lately, including Room 214, Happy Hour Boulder, and Thoos. But I realized that they’re probably right - I tend to cover angel/venture funded companies mostly, because that’s what I’m in contact with the most.

In the podcast mentioned above, Brad Feld pointed out that he invested $10 in his first company, and I was pissed that he beat me, since I invested $50 in mine. Both companies bootstrapped their way to success and had substantial value events.

So, please comment on this post and tell me about a bootstrapped technology company here in Colorado that has taken no outside investment of any kind and has become a $20M+ company. I know they’re out there, and I want to write about them too.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups | 7 Comments 

HappyHourBoulder.com: Girls just wanna have fun

September 28, 2006

Meghan, Anne, and Tara like happy hour. They like it so much that they built HappyHourBoulder.com.

This June, they got tired of hitting all the same places after work. Sure, they googled and found lots of information, but most of it was outdated or not nearly detailed enough. So, with just a few bucks and and a vision, the girls built the resource they wanted. It’s a comprehensive, focused, and up to date resource about Happy Hours in Boulder. The site launched on September 1st and already is seeing more than 700 unique visitors each day.

Currently, the site is just a hobby for the team. All three still hold down day jobs, and hope to build the business into a full time gig. Presently, the revenue model is to sell ads but there are plans to add other revenue streams in the future.

While this will obviously not turn into a huge business, I like what HappyHourBoulder is doing. Like a miniature version of Dogster (Toy Poodlester?), Thoos, and similar highly focused socially oriented sites, HappyHourBoulder reaches a very specific point on the long tail quite effectively. Advertisers will happily pay to reach such a focused audience. They know exactly who they’re talking to, and exactly what to say. Compare this to placing an ad on Adwords and going for volume.

I spoke with one of the founders, Meghan McCarthy today to hear more.

“We launched in just two months with pretty much no capital.” said Meghan.

I wanted to know more about the future plans for the site. Meghan indicated that plans for growth include the addition of social networking features and expansion into cities other than Boulder.

Meghan explained: “We’re trying to prove the business model in Boulder first, then we’ll expand. In the big cities, the sites are overwhelming and include shopping, nightlife, restaurants, and everything. We won’t go in that direction. We don’t want to be everything to everyone. Happy hour is it’s own cool phenomenon. We want to help build the happy hour community.”

Although HappyHourBoulder is not actively seeking investment, they’re full of future ideas. Meghan summed it up by saying “If the right thing came along and we could get to our big ideas sooner, we’d consider it.”

Congratulations to HappyHourBoulder for following their passion, building it with next to no money, and producing a high quality site in such a short timeframe. You can tell from one look, it’s a site coming from some talented and professional people.

Written by David Cohen · Filed Under Blog, Startups | 1 Comment