CorkBlog

37signals does it again; we at CorkShare are very excited to...

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:23:03 -0400

37signals does it again; we at CorkShare are very excited to check out Rework!

Attack ad on Karl Rove’s book from 37Signals

confer: Over 500 entrepreneurs, investors, VCs and members of...

Tue, 16 Mar 2010 12:29:08 -0400

Over 500 entrepreneurs, investors, VCs and members of the Midwest tech community showed up in Chicago to check out the coolest new tech startups in the Midwest. MidVentures25 was a fantastic event. We met a lot of great startups and people, and there was a great showing of what’s in store for the Midwest startup industry. A big thanks to Pasky IP and GoldsteinCaldwell for putting the event together.

CorkShare Launch Party on March 4th!

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:09:28 -0500

Please join us at the launch party for CorkShare, the latest and greatest social media website created by students from Case Western Reserve University. The event will take place Thursday, March 4th from 5:30 to 8:30 pm at RJ Boland’s Restaurant & American Saloon, rated Cleveland’s “best new bar” according to Metromix.com! Best of all, the event is FREE to attend!

What is CorkShare?
- Create online corkboards to visually share and discuss web content, such as videos, photos, links, notes, and more!
- Collaborate, connect, and share in groups with your friends, family, and colleagues.
- Visit CorkShare.com for all the latest news on our release!

The Launch Party
Come celebrate the CorkShare launch with good food, good drinks, and good people! The party will be held at RJ Boland’s Restaurant & American Saloon on Prospect Avenue. FREE appetizers will be offered, but be sure to bring your wallets to enjoy a CorkShot, the night’s featured drink!

Information
DATE: March 4th, 2010
TIME: 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm
LOCATION: RJ Boland’s - 724 Prospect Avenue

Free appetizers, cash bar available
Parking information: http://bit.ly/bp33s2
We look forward to seeing you there!

- The CorkShare Team

Feature update: archive post

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 04:40:41 -0500

CorkShare beta testers,

Just wanted to inform you about a new feature that we have recently implemented: archiving posts.

If you’ve got some posts on your corkboard that are getting stale, simply click on the gear option and select “Archive Post”.

Your archived post can then be accessed by clicking on the “View Archive” link along the top of your corkboard.

We are working on making the archive page look cooler, I promise! The layout of this page is only temporary :)

Check it out on your corkboards starting today. If you have any feedback, please leave any comments on our new Get Satisfaction page.

- Jim

Free or Cheap Tools for Startups that Make It Possible

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:03:00 -0500

One of the main keys to startup success is to stay lean - you don’t want to get caught up in any unnecessary expenses. The entrepreneur’s financial motto should always be “If you don’t make money, don’t spend money.” A lot of what made CorkShare possible, and many other startups possible, are the free tools available to help us take care of business. Here are some great examples of those tools you can use for your business - or for personal use!

Productivity Tools and Collaboration

Google Docs (free) - A staple for any startup. Make spreadsheets, text documents, and presentations, and then share them with each other. Super powerful and super free.

Google Calendar (free) - Setup a Google Calendar for your company so you are all on the same page on who’s doing what and when. Google keeps adding new features to make it more comparable with Microsoft Outlook - it’ll never have all the bells an whistles, but it’s more than good enough.

Basecamp ($24 a month for basic plan) - Product Management and Collaboration tool used by many startup companies, especially useful for software development. Basic plan only supports 15 “projects” but that’s probably all you’ll need for a long time.

Yammer (free) - It’s like Twitter for within businesses. It’s private, let’s you share links and content, and let’s you tell it what your organizational chart is. Keep each other updated on what you’re up to, and rather than e-mailing all those random links out and spamming each other, put it on Yammer with some # hashtags to keep it organized.

Open Office (free) - Microsoft Office is expensive. If you really need some offline tools, consider Open Office which has pretty much all the power with none of the price.

Zoho (free) - Zoho is a suite of online software similar to Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar, but it also has CRM, Wikis, Invoicing, Product Management, Reporting and Business Intelligence, HR/Recruitment software, and much more. They limit how many users can use things, with the intent that you’ll pay later when you outgrow the free level. We haven’t used it much yet because we haven’t needed some of that more intense software stuff yet. But its pretty awesome, and when we need it I’m sure we’ll come back to it.

Brand Identity

Logoworks (decently priced) - As much as you can, you want to do things yourself or bug your creative friend in exchange for some pizza and beer. But if you’re willing to pay up a little, Logoworks will design your logo, website, business cards, etc. for decent prices. It’s not super cheap, but it’s worth checking out if you need something professional for a reasonable price and you need it pretty fast - in many cases they can get you concepts in just 3 business days.

Marketing or Business Materials

Zazzle (decently priced) - Zazzle is really cool - customize your t-shirts, business cards, mugs, you name it. It’s not the cheapest on the block, but the level of customization is huge. I’ve noticed the business cards are really cheap, and as you customize things the cost stays the same - some sites like to really pump up prices to more you modify.

Website Statistics

Google Analytics (free) - Google Analytics is used by just about everyone it seems - it’s relatively easy to setup, and its extremely powerful. Figure out how many people are coming to various pages on your site, how many people are clicking on certain links, etc. etc.

MixPanel (free, may have to buy some credits soon if you use it heavily) - A different option for analytics. It have some heavy duty customization to get very specific as to what you are measuring, it’s in real-time, can support detailed “funnel” analytics, and more.

Newsletters

MailChimp (free credits, but you’ll need to buy some soon) - Use one of their templates or upload your HTML and blast out your e-mail messages to your e-mail lists. It makes the whole process a million times easier, and it gives you great statistics on who’s been clicking on what in your e-mail, how many people are opening your e-mail in the first place, and how things compare with past e-mail blasts.

Customer Feedback

Get Satisfaction (free, with lots of good upgrade options) - CorkShare just setup an account here, you can only have a couple admins at first but it’s a really great way to engage customers and have them engage eachother for (1) Questions, (2) Ideas, (3) Bugs/Problems, and (4) Praise.

Blogging

Tumblr (free) - Tumblr has a really easy setup for a blog, and has a strong community to reach out to. Our blog is setup through them with some customization.

Wordpress (free) - Wordpress has some really good customization options, and can be placed on your own servers and such. Requires a little more setup than Tumblr, but may be worth it for you.

Online File Space

Dropbox (free) - Gives you 2 GB of space online for free with a great syncing system. Whenever someone in your startup puts a file in the Dropbox folder on their computer, it automatically uploads it to the internet, and also downloads it to everyone else’s folder on their computer. It’s quite magical.

Drop.io (free) - Little drop zones for files to be uploaded to, pretty useful for adhoc or temporary sharing of files with people, and has many different views to interact with content.

Social Media Marketing

Twitter (free) - Great for having conversations with customers and colleagues, blasting out links to your blog articles or interesting related content, and gaining a following. Those who say Twitter is overrated may have some valid points, but we’ve found it to be a tool that has delivered consistent business value.

Facebook Page (free) - Very much like the Twitter of the Facebook world. It’s a good way to reach out to Facebook, which has a huge user base. Also very useful - being able to make events on Facebook. A lot of people have profiles there, and often making an event on Facebook is the most effective way to build an RSVP list.

YouTube (free) - Good old YouTube. Post your videos up easily and then distribute. In the social media world, content is king - and video is the most powerful and engaging form of that content.

Vimeo (free, premium member is worth checking out though) - Vimeo is growing in popularity and doesn’t have all the noise and copyright infringement of YouTube and tends to be a friendly audience. Great place to put up high quality or HD video as their viewer is beautiful and administrative system is intuitive. Also breaks down the statistics of who’s watching your video pretty nicely.

Interesting Programs of Note

Microsoft BizSpark (free at first, but has some catches) - Microsoft will let you use their software for free as long as you are a small, privately-owned startup. Most of the software can only be used for test or demonstration purposes which is the big catch, but it’s a huge help to be able to use legit, full-powered Microsoft software to get stuff done. Includes Office 2007, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Sharepoint, SQL Server, Microsoft Dynamics, Visual Studio, Expression Studio, and more.

Have some other recommendations for free or cheap tools for startups? Let us know at @CorkShare or on Facebook!

Reflections on a College Launch: CorkShare and Case Western Reserve University

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 19:05:00 -0500

+

So the dust has had time to settle after our launch at Case Western Reserve University. Our overall feeling is that the launch went very well with many new users joining! The holiday season gives us a (much needed) break now to prepare for future launches, and a chance to reflect on how we can improve.

What Did We Do Well?

The CorkShare team did a great job building hype at the school. Since we knew many people at Case, we were able to spread the word and ensure it got passed on. Going forward, we will have to work with people attending each university we launch at (or maybe recent alums) to be spokespeople for CorkShare - word of mouth is invaluable.

We were able to utilize channels that made sense for that school such as the school newspaper The Observer and the university daily e-mail newsletter. Each school has its most popular mediums for reach out to students, and its crucial to take advantage of them. Many times it just takes a friendly request to get an article - nothing too complicated.

The CorkShare team also did a great job of interacting with users on CorkShare as they joined. A link to a “Feedback” section was heavily used in the first week after the launch - allowing us to talk through CorkShare with users and gather invaluable feedback.

What Could We Have Done Better?

While the “Feedback” section facilitated great conversations, having a way to talk in real-time would have been nice - like a chat room. Comments back and forth can be difficult to follow when the conversation is fast-paced.

Also, after the initial launch, user activity dropped off. Following up with some e-mails to the beta users to let them know what the CorkShare team has been up to would remind them to come back and play around with the site some more. Some of the drop off is likely due to fact the site is still in private beta. Once it opens up to the world and is more heavily integrated with the other social media tools we use every day, users will be much more engaged.

In addition, there’s work to do on explaining how to use CorkShare. We had a text-based explanation on the initial entrance to the site, but that isn’t effective in explaining a very visual web application. A video would be much more appropriate, or some sort of widget tutorial app.

Next Steps

On the to-do list: making the tutorial video or widget that users see on startup, and also improving the entire user sign up process. Signing up is a crucial time to get necessary information from users and spark the user to be engaged. If the user doesn’t immediately find the site useful or exciting, we can expect to lose many people in the confusion - people that may or may not return to try again later.

We can also work on encouragements for certain important activities. Things like uploading an avatar picture, following some boards, and leaving some comments are key - and we need to help users to do so. If interested in learning more about user encouragement, I’d recommend checking out J. Boye’s great presentation on “Hot Triggers” and user ritual.

Finally, the CorkShare team needs to refine the entire user experience. That means conducting usability testing (maybe with tools like Silverback) and conduct more analytics. Where are we losing people? What user interface components get used a lot, and which get ignored or unnoticed? We’ll be seeking answers for these questions and more.

Get Excited!

We’ve got some major development efforts happening behind the scenes at CorkShare, so you can look forward to those coming soon. And don’t forget to join the conversation (or just ask us for a beta invite :-P) on Twitter @CorkShare and our Facebook Fan Page!

CorkShare Launching to Case Western Community on November 2nd

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:55:52 -0400

Jim England and Huston Hoburg, students at Case Western Reserve University, and recent Case grad Tim Gasper, have started a social media company that aims to change the way people share content on the web. Now they are looking to release it exclusively to the Case Western community to try the website out.

CorkShare.com lets you build virtual CorkBoards for sharing web content like photos, videos, and links with small groups of friends. The site is specifically aimed at college students as it can be used to share research for team projects, act as a discussion board for a club, or simply to share funny videos and links with friends.

On November 2, 2009 at 9PM EST, CorkShare will be launching the website to all Case Western Reserve University students, faculty, and staff to participate in. Simply go to CorkShare.com/CWRU and sign up with your @case.edu e-mail address. There is also a quick video on that web page that explains how CorkShare works in an easy, simple way, also included in this blog post below. Click here to visit the Facebook Event for the launch!

Welcome to CorkShare from CorkShare on Vimeo.

“We want to try out the website on a larger scale, and the Case community is the perfect place to do this,” Case senior Jim England explains. “There are so many clubs, student groups, team projects, and other places that our website can benefit, and since there are already groups of friends and coworkers it will be easier for everyone to comment on one another’s content and work together.”

Users of CorkShare can create as many CorkBoards as they want, post as much content as they want, and add “members” - individuals that have permission to post on that CorkBoard too. The website has everything students or faculty need to manage, share, and discuss their photos, videos, links, notes, and more.

“Creating the website was a great learning experience,” Jim notes. “Starting a company in Cleveland, and while still in school was difficult. But by using our free time in the summer wisely and tapping some local resources such as Goldstein, Caldwell and Associates, a Cleveland seed investment and business development company, we were able to build out most of the website.”

For information on CorkShare, please visit our website at CorkShare.com, our twitter at Twitter.com/CorkShare, or our facebook page at Facebook.com/CorkShare. Or click here to visit the Facebook Event for the launch!

MyTechTube Weekly - Episode 3 "Tablet Sneak Preview"

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 08:46:46 -0400

MyTechTube Weekly - Episode 3 “Tablet Sneak Preview” from CorkShare on Vimeo.

Get a sneak preview of the fabled Apple Tablet, learn about the Twitter’s deal with Google and Bing, and Scott has a …

The third episode of the weekly technology, social media, and entrepreneurship news update: MyTechTube Weekly. Brought to you by the prestigious, ingenious MyPeopleTube founders.

The CorkShare Facebook Fan Page

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:17:00 -0400

CorkShare has just hit the Facebook scene - and you should totally be our fan. Over the coming weeks, we will be posting updates, information for beta accounts, and access to special Facebook-only content. Look out for some behind the scenes videos, contests and prizes, special interviews, and more!

Tell all your friends too - the more fans we have, the more fun stuff we can do!

http://www.facebook.com/CorkShare

MyTechTube Weekly - Episode 2 "Scott's Hard Tech Update"

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:31:39 -0400

MyTechTube Weekly - Episode 2 “Scott’s Hard Tech Update” from CorkShare on Vimeo.

The second episode of the weekly technology, social media, and entrepreneurship news update: MyTechTube Weekly. Brought to you by the prestigious, ingenious MyPeopleTube founders.

Social Media Club of Cleveland - Sept Meeting

Tue, 15 Sep 2009 08:17:00 -0400

Hey guys and gals,

Check it out:
If you are in Cleveland and interested in learning a whole lot about Social Media and the Social Media peeps around town, come to the September meeting. Mingle, enjoy some food, and grab a drink or two or three as a panel of members of the media speaks about how they use social media.

Moderated by Mark Szczepanik, the panel will discuss how they integrate social media into their jobs and answer questions posed by attendees. Members of the panel are: 1) Kaye Spector - Health and Medical Reporter, The Plain Dealer, 2) Howard Fencl - Assistant News Director, WKYC-TV, 3) Joseph Sheppa - Interactive Content Manager, WVIZ/PBS & 90.3 WCPN ideastream®, 4) Scott Suttell - Managing Editor Crain’s Cleveland Business, 5) Denise Polverine - Editor in Chief Cleveland.com.

These are big name people in Cleveland - don’t miss out!

Where/When?
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
6:00pm - 8:30pm
Great Lakes Science Center (cool !!!)
601 Erieside Ave
Cleveland, OH
Map

For more details about the event:
http://clevelandsmc.ning.com/events/social-media-club-cleveland-4

MyTechTube Weekly - Episode 1 "First Episode"

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:13:54 -0400

MyTechTube Weekly - Episode 1 “First Episode” from CorkShare on Vimeo.

For our latest project - we’ve been putting together a short weekly web show that we can discuss happenings in the tech world. However, rather than Jim and Tim being the main characters, we decided to slip into our CoFounders characters: Chad and Scott, founders of a generic, uninteresting, undifferentiated social media startup called MyPeopleTube.com. After all, these characters were highly experienced in technology and social media (hypothetically), and would be much more qualified to speak (and would be much more hilarious)!

The first episode of the weekly technology, social media, and entrepreneurship news update: MyTechTube Weekly. Brought to you by the prestigious, ingenious MyPeopleTube founders.

Have you seen Got City Game Cleveland? You may heard one of...

Sun, 23 Aug 2009 15:28:51 -0400

Have you seen Got City Game Cleveland? You may heard one of their spots on the radio - the folks from http://gotcitygame.tv are giving away a year’s stay in an apartment downtown for free! Here’s what you have to do:

Find a teammate you want to play the game with
Create a short YouTube video with your teammate
On the video show us why Cleveland is great and why you should be picked
Register here at www.gotcitygame.tv
Submit your YouTube video for selection under the SUBMIT button on the home page
Submission deadline is Midnight September 21, 2009

It’s only for people in the Cleveland area between 18 and 35 - for more information, check out their website at http://gotcitygame.tv.

Landing Page Design Tips

Mon, 17 Aug 2009 23:01:39 -0400

Landing Page Design Tips:

I found this article on HN last week. Very helpful tips that we’ll be using soon for CorkShare’s homepage redesign. - Jim

This is the YouTube video we created for the PositivelyCleveland...

Thu, 06 Aug 2009 19:20:00 -0400

This is the YouTube video we created for the PositivelyCleveland Hastily Made Documentary contest. It took hours of roaming around and some iMovie magic - check it out!

Tech Cocktail Chicago: Are you going?

Wed, 05 Aug 2009 14:24:33 -0400

Tech Cocktail is hosting their 11th Chicago event and I (Jim England) will be in attendance. Started by bloggers Frank Gruber and Eric Olson in 2006, Tech Cocktail aims to grow startup communities in places that are not (yet) as cool as Silicon Valley.

I’m driving a good six hours from Cleveland and staying for the weekend. Come to the event and say hi; I’ll be handing out beta keys all. night. long!

Preview of all the startups demoing at the event:
http://techcocktail.com/home/2009/08/05/a-preview-of-tech-cocktail-chicago-11/

Buy your tickets here:
http://tcchicago11.eventbrite.com/

Welcome to CorkBlog

Sun, 02 Aug 2009 22:23:36 -0400

We will use this blog to post all the great happenings over at CorkShare. Stay tuned!