Host Teams: John Hurt
Final Project Proposal
I would like to do my final project dealing with my brother's and his wife's startup company called Athena Study Abroad. Their company sends college students abroad to study for a semester or for a summer session. I would like to write a paper on the challenges that a startup company has to endure. Specifically, I would look into the technology that goes into a startup company of this nature. My brother, who graduated from JCU with a CS degree, is in charge of the technology for the company. Thus, I would gain insight into how a new company is run, especially in regards to technology.
DWP Response:
Topic works for me, I need more details on the specifics of what the paper will explore. I am much more interested in your brother's company as an example rather than a case study of the specific problems that they face. In particular, I don't want the oral history of Athena Study Abroad. I'd like to see IT start-up issues with examples from Athena, Pikimal, and/or others.
UPDATE and RESUBMIT
Final Project Proposal Redux
Specifically, I will look into all aspects of Athena's technology department, including web, servers, database, multimedia, social networking, etc. I could also try to get in touch with Pikimal to get some insight into their company, which is solely a computer-based company. From there, I may be able to find some key differences in technological issues involving two different start-up companies that have different purposes.
Milestone 1 (April 7):
Interview my brother. Get as much information about the technology needed for his company, including the software used, difficulties faced, likes/dislikes, etc.
M1 Update:
Interviewed my brother. Talked about Contact Management Systems, online exposure, sharing of files among employees, web, online forms, working with other websites, online advertising, social media, smart phone apps, image editing, QR codes for smart phones, in-office hardware, etc. We also discussed the difficulty between balancing what type of technology will last and what will be a waste of time. Got a lot of insight into issues a new company must deal with. Need to do research on what a typical startup company needs to worry about.
Good start -DWP
Milestone 2 (April 14):
Research common technological requirements for start-up companies.
M2 Update:
Searched the web for common issues for startup companies. Pretty general ideas. Maybe I can use these ideas as topics within the paper. I can talk about the topics, and say why startups need to tackle each issue. Then I could talk more specifically on how Athena tackled each issue.
Not much content here - what are the common issues that you found? So why do they need to tackle the issues? This is meager evidence of progress DWP
Milestone 3 (April 19):
M3 Update:
Organize research, create an outline for the paper.
- Introduction of start-up companies
- What is a start-up company?
- Challenges faced by start-ups
- Introduction to Athena Study Abroad
- Web
- Contact Management System
- File Sharing
- Image Editing
- Social Networking
- Smart Phone Apps
- Conclusion
NOTHING HERE as of 5/1/11 DWP
Milestone 4 (April 28):
Rough draft.
M4 Update:
Start-up Company Rough Draft
A start-up company, or just start-up, is a company that has a limited operating history. Beginning a start-up can be very risky, as costs to start a company are high. A key challenge for a start-up is getting exposure to a customer base. In order to be successful, people first need to know that a start-up exists and second need to like its products. However, because the price to start a new company is so high, even if a start-up is successful in its first few years, it can still certainly be without a net profit. However, if a start-up can remain in the game and continue to grow, then it can turn out to be a wonderful investment. In 2005, my brother and his wife developed a study abroad company called Athena Study Abroad in an effort to bring students authentic study abroad experiences involving true, cultural immersion, designed by knowledgeable, caring professionals. Athena prides itself in the fact that it is a small company that can provide personal attention to its students. Moreover, unlike many other study abroad programs, Athena offers its students programs that are focused on intense, cultural immersion which puts them in touch with the locals of their host country, elements of the host culture, and other international students from around the world to ensure a well-rounded, diverse experience. It is a little over five years since its inception now, and Athena Study Abroad is still around and thriving more than ever.
Web
One of the first things that any new company needs is a web site. In our current times, web exposure is integral to gaining an audience. Potential customers need to be able to see everything from a company’s product, services, pricing, and history, among other things, to make an informed opinion on the company. Looking up company names and numbers in the phone book just does not cut it in modern day. The modern day phone book is Google, and so a new company must have a web site. With Athena, a web site was especially important considering that its customer demographic was mainly college students, who tend to be very much involved with surfing the web.
To get a web site, a company first needs to get a domain name and have a web host. There are scores of different web hosting services, each having different values for disk space, bandwidth, and speed. So, a new company needs to sit down and evaluate exactly what its web site will need to do before they choose a web host. For instance, if a company’s web site will need to store a lot of files, then disk space may be an important quality in the web host. Athena Study Abroad chose GoDaddy as its web host because of its high quality and low prices. GoDaddy currently is the fastest growing registrar. A nice thing about GoDaddy is that it supplies one-hundred email addresses for each company that registers with it. So, after signing up with GoDaddy, Athena Study Abroad was given the rights to one-hundred different “@athenaabroad.com” email addresses, which is a nice touch because it can keep the private accounts of employees unknown, and can also give the company a unified feel.
After a company gets a domain name and host, the company needs to develop a web site. Again, there are many different web development applications, but the two most popular are Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver. FrontPage is a clear extension of the Microsoft atmosphere, and so new companies who are familiar with Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel, may find FrontPage easier to learn. FrontPage is also not as expensive as Dreamweaver. So, a new company that is looking to keep prices down and does not need a particularly advanced web site may want to choose Microsoft FrontPage. One the other hand, although Dreamweaver may have a steeper learning curve, most people agree that it is a more powerful application. For one thing, Dreamweaver allows for layers, which FrontPage does not. Athena Study Abroad chose to use Adobe Dreamweaver as its web development application. Going into the decision was the fact that my brother was a computer science major in college, and so he knew some of the advanced tools of Dreamweaver. Once these tools are known, one can perform many powerful actions including advanced design through Adobe Flash, communication with databases, and e-commerce capabilities.
Another decision that a company needs to make when it is building its web site is what language it wants it site to be written in. Two of the most popular web languages are ASP (Active Server Pages) and PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor). Both of these languages are used to build dynamic web sites that can interact with databases and exchange information. However, ASP is from Microsoft and runs on Microsoft servers, while PHP has been modified by many different people and runs on Unix and Linux servers. Many of the tools used in PHP are free of cost since PHP is open source. These languages are pretty similar, and so the decision mainly comes down to personal preference. Athena chose to use PHP as its web programming language. Reasons for this decision included the simplicity in PHP forms and the fact that loading is done on the server side, as opposed to the user side, which makes the speed a bit faster.
File Sharing
Companies need to have a way for their employees to access many different files and a backup system for their files. Now, files can, at any time, be updated. So, employees need to have a way of receiving up-to-date files. In order to achieve this, companies need to have a good file sharing system. There are many file sharing services, including free open source ones, such as Subversion. Athena uses a system called SugarSync, which was downloaded onto all of the company’s computers. However, SugarSync can be accessed through the internet, which is important specifically for Athena since members of the company travel abroad throughout the year.
Contact Management System
New companies are similar to a sponge in that they absorb a ton of new contacts in a very quick amount of time. Start-ups need a way of managing
Image Editing
For various purposes, companies will find themselves needing to create images. These images may be for the purposes of creating a logo, making an advertisement, or making a booklet, to name a few. In order to create images, however, companies need image editors. Some popular image editors include Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks, and GIMP. Adobe Photoshop is often viewed as the most powerful image editor, as it has an insurmountable amount of features that help manipulate and enhance photos, as well as create web graphics. The downside of Photoshop is that it comes at the greatest price. Fireworks, which is another Adobe product, was designed specifically for web designers as it deals with prototyping of sites and a workspace environment that’s optimized for web designers. Fireworks is also a hybrid of raster images and vector graphics, which allows it to work with raster-based images and vector-based graphics with more synchronization than Photoshop. For this reason, many web developers favor Fireworks. In contrast to Photoshop and Fireworks, GIMP is an open source image editor. Like many open source software, GIMP allows users to customize their interface. Not to be outdone by its closed source counterparts, GIMP offers state-of-the-art photo enhancement and digital retouching. GIMP is also supported by all the main platforms, namely GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista), and Mac OS X. For its image editor, Athena mainly uses Photoshop. All around, Athena feels that Photoshop has the best package. Athena needs to create images for its web site, but also for a yearly brochure that Athena passes out to schools and students throughout the nation at conferences, visits, and through mail. Athena employees make full use of image editing in these brochures so that they look as appealing as possible. Multiple layers and complex image distortions are often used, which Photoshop can easily handle since it has been viewed by experts as the image editing standard. However, some startups may decide to go a cheaper route with Fireworks or GIMP, which is free, if images are something that is not integral to their business.
Social Media
As Facebook and Twitter have become online exposure giants, it is very helpful for young companies to get an account with either or both of these sites. Facebook and Twitter now have a way to talk with one another, making it easy for companies to update their accounts and save time. Twitter “tweets” can now appear as Facebook “statuses.” Athena created a Facebook account in 2009, and joined Twitter in 2010. Athena employees update each account every day, which keeps current students and potential students updated on upcoming events. Moreover, Athena tries to gain participation from the public by offering free giveaways to people who reply to statuses or vote on the web site. These social media sites are so popular that Athena’s audience, which is generally college-aged students, may go to these sites first to get information about the company. Thus, having an account with these sites is crucial for making a connection to an audience, especially a young one.
NOTHING HERE as of 5/1/11 DWP
Milestone 5 (May 9):
Technological Issues of Start-up Companies
Introduction
A start-up company, or just start-up, is a company that has a limited operating history. Beginning a start-up can be very risky, as costs to start any company are high. A study done by Inc. magazine and the National Business Incubator Association (NBIA) revealed that 80 percent of new businesses fail within the first five years. A key challenge for a start-up is getting exposure to a customer base. In order to be successful, consumers first need to know that a start-up exists; then they need to like its products. However, because the price to start a new company is so high, even if a start-up is successful in its first few years, it can still certainly be without a net profit. Nevertheless, if a start-up can keep its head above water and continue to grow, then it can turn out to be a wonderful investment. In 2005, my brother and his wife developed a study abroad company called Athena Study Abroad in an effort to bring students authentic study abroad experiences involving true, cultural immersion, designed by knowledgeable, caring professionals. Athena prides itself in the fact that it is a small company that can provide personal attention to its students. Moreover, unlike many other study abroad programs, Athena offers its students programs that are focused on intense, cultural immersion which puts them in touch with the locals of their host country, elements of the host culture, and other international students from around the world to ensure a well-rounded, diverse experience. It is a little over five years since its inception now, and Athena Study Abroad is still around and thriving more than ever. Throughout this paper, I will look into certain requirements of any generic start-up company, and then I will reveal how Athena tackled the issue.
Web
One of the first things that any new company needs is a web site. In our current times, web exposure is integral to gaining an audience. Potential customers need to be able to see everything from a company’s product, services, pricing, and history, among other things, to make an informed opinion on the company. Looking up company names and numbers in the phone book just does not cut it in modern day. The modern day phone book is Google, and so a new company must have a web site. With Athena, a web site was especially important considering that its customer demographic was mainly college students, who tend to be very much involved with surfing the web.
To get a web site, a company first needs to get a domain name and have a web host. There are scores of different web hosting services, each having different values for disk space, bandwidth, and speed. So, a new company needs to sit down and evaluate exactly what its web site will need to do before they choose a web host. For instance, if a company’s web site will need to store a lot of files, then disk space may be an important quality in the web host. Athena Study Abroad chose GoDaddy as its web host because of its high quality and low prices. GoDaddy currently is the fastest growing registrar. A nice thing about GoDaddy is that it supplies one-hundred email addresses for each company that registers with it. So, after signing up with GoDaddy, Athena Study Abroad was given the rights to one-hundred different “@athenaabroad.com” email addresses, which is a nice touch because it can keep the private accounts of employees unknown, and can also give the company a unified feel.
After a company gets a domain name and host, the company needs to develop a web site. Again, there are many different web development applications, but the two most popular are Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Dreamweaver. FrontPage is a clear extension of the Microsoft atmosphere, and so new companies who are familiar with Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel, may find FrontPage easier to learn. FrontPage is also not as expensive as Dreamweaver. So, a new company that is looking to keep prices down and does not need a particularly advanced web site may want to choose Microsoft FrontPage. One the other hand, although Dreamweaver may have a steeper learning curve, most people agree that it is a more powerful application. For one thing, Dreamweaver allows for layers, which FrontPage does not. Athena Study Abroad chose to use Adobe Dreamweaver as its web development application. Going into the decision was the fact that my brother was a computer science major in college, and so he knew a number of the advanced tools of Dreamweaver. Once these tools are known, one can perform many powerful actions including advanced design through Adobe Flash, communication with databases, and e-commerce capabilities.
Another decision that a company needs to make when it is building its web site is what language it wants it site to be written in. Two of the most popular web languages are ASP (Active Server Pages) and PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor). Both of these languages are used to build dynamic web sites that can interact with databases and exchange information. However, ASP is from Microsoft and runs on Microsoft servers, while PHP has been modified by many different people and runs on Unix and Linux servers. Many of the tools used in PHP are free of cost since PHP is open source. These languages are pretty similar, and so the decision mainly comes down to personal preference. Athena chose to use PHP as its web programming language. Reasons for this decision included the simplicity in PHP forms and the fact that loading is done on the server side, as opposed to the user side, which makes the speed a bit faster.
Contact Management System
New companies are similar to a sponge in that they absorb a ton of new contacts in a very quick amount of time. Start-ups need a way to properly organize their contacts for future use and increase their efficiency. A good way to achieve this organization and efficiency is to acquire a contact management system, which is a database that organizes all contacts. Athena first used a program called Filemaker, which came at a reasonably low price. The main factor going into this decision was the low cost and the simple design for technologically-handicapped employees. It was similar to a Microsoft Excel environment, and so the learning curve was low. However, a major issue with Filemaker was that it could only be accessed locally. So, Athena switched to a Google App called Insightly. Athena chose Insightly because at the time it was reviewed as the top cheap contact management system. At the time, Insightly was actually free; however, one month later Google started charging. This did not affect Athena, though, because Athena was “grandfathered in” to the free deal. Insightly works well with Athena since Athena’s email provider is Google. Thus, all of the contacts were easily imported into Insightly. Moreover, Insightly keeps a running history of all interactions with customers, schools, and staff members. Moreover, Insightly uses 128 bit bank grade encryption, which makes protects all data from outside sources. The database is also backed up daily.
File Sharing
It is important for companies not only to have a backup system for their files, but also a way for their employees to access many different files. Many company files are updated on a daily basis. So, employees need to have a way of receiving up-to-date files. In order to achieve this, companies need to have a good file sharing system. There are many file sharing services, including free open source ones, such as Subversion. A few popular file sharing systems with cost are Dropbox, SugarSync, and Carbonite. Athena uses SugarSync due to its low cost compared to the other non-free systems. SugarSync was downloaded onto all of the company’s computers, but can also be accessed through the internet via a log-in name and password, which is specifically important for Athena employees since members of the company travel abroad throughout the year. Thus, the online access allows Athena employees to access files on foreign computers and laptops. Some great aspects of Sugarsync include: sending files of any size, real-time upload, password protection on certain files, streaming media to smartphones, and backup of any folder on a company’s computers.
Image Editing
For various purposes, companies will find themselves needing to create images. These images may be for the purposes of creating a logo, making an advertisement, or making a booklet, to name a few. In order to create images, however, companies need image editors. Some popular image editors include Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Fireworks, and GIMP. Adobe Photoshop is often viewed as the most powerful image editor, as it has an insurmountable amount of features that help manipulate and enhance photos, as well as create web graphics. The downside of Photoshop is that it comes at the greatest price. Fireworks, which is another Adobe product, was designed specifically for web designers as it deals with prototyping of sites and a workspace environment that’s optimized for web designers. Fireworks is also a hybrid of raster images and vector graphics, which allows it to work with raster-based images and vector-based graphics with more synchronization than Photoshop. For this reason, many web developers favor Fireworks. In contrast to Photoshop and Fireworks, GIMP is an open source image editor. Like many open source software, GIMP allows users to customize their interface. Not to be outdone by its closed source counterparts, GIMP offers state-of-the-art photo enhancement and digital retouching. GIMP is also supported by all the main platforms, namely GNU/Linux, Microsoft Windows (XP, Vista), and Mac OS X.
For its image editor, Athena mainly uses Photoshop. All around, Athena feels that Photoshop has the best package. Athena needs to create images for its web site, but also for a yearly brochure that Athena passes out to schools and students throughout the nation at conferences, visits, and through mail. Athena employees make full use of image editing in these brochures so that they look as appealing as possible. Multiple layers and complex image distortions are often used, which Photoshop can easily handle since it has been viewed by experts as the image editing standard. However, some startups may decide to go a cheaper route with Fireworks or GIMP, which is free, if images are something that is not integral to their business. Moreover, Athena also utilizes Adobe InDesign, which is a substitute for Microsoft Word, when creating its brochures. Athena representatives have the opinion that InDesign is “way better than Word” because of its flexibility in formatting. Lastly, Athena also employs the use of Adobe Illustrator for certain images. Illustrator is great for vector images, similar to Fireworks in that regard. Thus, Illustrator can keep the form of large images and also retain their crispness. This characteristic of Illustrator is important for creating company logos or company posters which require high-pixelated photographs or drawings.
Social Media
As Facebook and Twitter have become online exposure giants, it is very helpful for young companies to get an account with either or both of these sites. Facebook and Twitter now have a way to talk with one another, making it easy for companies to update their accounts and save time. Twitter “tweets” can now appear as Facebook “statuses.” Athena created a Facebook account in 2009, and joined Twitter in 2010. Athena employees update each account every day, which keeps current students and potential students updated on upcoming events. Moreover, Athena tries to gain participation from the public by offering free giveaways to people who reply to statuses or vote on the web site. These social media sites are so popular that Athena’s audience, which is generally college-aged students, may go to these sites first to get information about the company. Thus, having an account with these sites is crucial for making a connection to an audience, especially a young one.
Another advantage of having a Facebook or Twitter account is that it allows for customers to talk with one another. This brings a sense of community to a company’s customer base. This sense of community is specifically critical for Athena Study Abroad, since the customers are students. Athena representatives have indicated that in the past students have become friends through Athena’s Facebook account before their semester abroad. This online friendship made their trip abroad more exciting and comfortable.
Smartphone Applications
As was mentioned previously, it is critical for new companies to stay ahead of the technological curve. With smart phones gaining steam, a good way for start-ups to get their name out there is by creating smartphone applications. These applications can include allowing users to access the company’s web site from their phone to allowing users to get updates on company events. Athena is in the works of creating an Android application that allows users view its web site in a nice format, where scrolling is not needed. To create the application, Athena is working with the Android SDK, which can be downloaded from the Android site for free. Applications are written using the Java programming language and run on Dalvik, a custom virtual machine designed for embedded use which runs on top of a Linux kernel. The neat thing about smartphone applications is that they can be fully customizable, and many of them are open source. Thus, you can get ideas for your own application from the community.
Another attempt by Athena to stay ahead of the technological curve is the implementation of QR codes, which is short for Quick Response codes. These codes look similar to bar codes, and, when photographed through a smartphone camera, can bring up a piece of literature onto the phone. So, for example, Athena places QR codes on the back of their brochures and pamphlets. If customers take a picture of the QR codes with their smartphone cameras, then those customers will have access to a digital copy of the Athena pamphlet on their phone. This is a convenient process since the customers will have constant access to the material as long as they have their phones. Many Android, Nokia, and Blackberry phones come with QR code readers pre-installed. QR reader software is also available for most mobile platforms. Another bonus about this technology is that it also saves costs on paper, which is important in our recently trending “go green” society.
Conclusion
In our current times, it is imperative that start-up companies are up-to-date on modern technology. Even if a start-up company, such as Athena Study Abroad, is not primarily web-based, it needs to have a solid web presence. This not only includes having a good-looking, informative web site, but also having a social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. Web sites are the modern day company booklets, and Google is the modern day phonebook. So, a company needs to have a web site in order to get exposure. The social networking sites provide additional advertisement and awareness to a company. Having accounts on Facebook and Twitter increases name recognition and makes customers think about your product. Athena has both a Facebook and Twitter account, and has received increased participation in its study abroad programs. Athena representatives are confident in saying that both of these sites are great advertising tools.
Moreover, start-ups will have choices between different vendors for products such as image editors, web development applications, web hosting, contact management systems, and file sharing systems. Going into these decisions should be cost, efficiency, and what is needed for the company and the future of the company. It is also important to balance staying up-to-date with technology and not wasting time. Thus, a company should only invest in technology that it expects to last in the future. Athena took a risk on implementing QR codes into their physical brochures because they foresee smartphones as being technology of the future that will last. Ultimately, startups have to be very wise in their decisions because money is usually tight. But, if a company runs things correctly, and has a good product, starting a new company can be a great investment.