Addition to Team Civi-Side

A few weeks ago I went to a networking event to do a quick pitch of Civi-Side to the local entrepreneurial community. I should point out that the weather outside was terrible (I think around 25 cm of snow fell over a few hours) Anyhow, at this event an experienced senior Human Resources person in the audience made a point of coming over to me and giving some really helpful feedback. Taking advantage of the opportunity I asked him to look at our technology when it was further along, and suggested that we could use someone like him on our advisory board. He seemed a bit taken back by my suggestion at first (I tend to be a bit bold in asking things from strangers : ) but agreed to come to a meeting to check out who we were. Long story short, he liked what he saw and agreed to join our advisory board. In addition he is donating 20hrs of his time to give us free consulting on crafting our message to other HR people.

I feel like this story is a really instructive one. First, commitment to further your business means venturing out in a blinding snowstorm whether you really believe that it will payoff. In this case, I would not have met our new advisor had I not taken some personal risk. If you really believe in your concept then you will find yourself doing things that in most cases seem foolish (for example, borrowing against your credit cards, asking strangers for money/time, driving out in a snowstorm, etc). The second lesson here is not to be afraid to ask for what you need. Had I not suggested that this person would be a great addition to our advisory team we would still be guessing at many facets of our business. You will be surprised how people can buy into your vision if you present it and ask for help in making it a reality.

Anyhow, without any further ado, I would like to welcome Alan Murray (Former VP HR at Gennum Corp.) to Team Civi-Side. I hope that he gets as much out of this association as we will from him.

Civi-Side update

Wow...it's been about 6 weeks since my last post. Over that time we sealed the deal with our investor, and have been building the site. We have also figured out a great long-term revenue model that will keep us in the black from the get-go.

Not to say that everything has gone smoothly. Over initial negotiations with the Department of National Defence appear to have gone nowhere. This outcome put us into a position where we had to rethink how we would make money to sustain this service. Necessity being the mother of invention kicked in and through observing other business models, and a bit of serendipity, we came up with a sustainable revenue model that actually increases our revenue potential and makes the service even more attractive to employers.

I have said it repeatedly in this blog, perseverance and creativity are the key attributes of entreprenurs. Even if you don't have all the talent in the world, the universe miraculously allows these qualities to make up for shortfalls.

I will endeavor to keep this blog more up to date. I think that this opportunity will end up being exponentially more interesting than anything that has come before it.