Doing it for REAL

This is all getting VERY exciting and just a bit scary. There are now (as of Monday) three full time folks involved in FreshBrain. Me, Todd and Stan. Here is what we have been up to and what is coming.

• Creating a prototype of the website. We, well mostly Stan, have been hard at work creating a prototype of the website. There are really three purposes for this. First, we will use it for the board meeting, second, it is helping us to flush out the usage scenarios and third, it is allowing us to try out some different technologies.

• Completing our plans. We have been working on a number of different plans. Todd has the lead on the marketing and fund raising plans. Due to the nature of our nonprofit, it is hard to separate out a marketing plan from a partner or fund raising plan. So Todd is creating one that covers all of this. We are also doing an engineering plan, a roadmap, a budget and so on. The first draft of these will be complete for the board meeting.

• Evaluating technology. Being a startup, it is a greenfield for us in terms of what technology to use. And given that we are really small, we need to leverage as much as possible, pick lightweight platforms and insure that what we create is very supportable (so that we don't need a lot of support folks!). Stan will put be creating a technology based blog that will go into more detail here. At a very high level, we started out looking at using a portal for our site. We did some prototyping with LifeRay. Pretty nice product, light weight and comes with lots of nice portlets. But after working through the scenarios a bit, it seems that it is more important to base our site on a social networking platform. We are now evaluating Jive Software. We will see how that goes ...

• Searching out partners and donors. We of course have Sun as a technology provider and donor. And we have Skona also as a donor. They are providing us with the corporate look and feel and help with advertising. There is a lot more that we need. The top two on our list (outside of the technology described above) is legal help and a CRM system to tracking all of the contacts including students, volunteers and so on. We are making progress on these and on others as well!

• Preparing for our first board meeting. This is the biggest thing that we are focused on right now. We have five members of our board - a very good start, but not the full board that we will require moving forward. Never the less, we will be walking through a demo of the prototype website with them, will review all of our plans and ask for approval to move forward. Lots of work, but none of it is a waste!

Just for fun - here are a couple of early graphics from Skona. We will be testing these out next week with some students to see what they think!

So that is it for now. I hope to be updating this on a more regular, at least weekly basis moving forward. The next one should be following the board meeting where I will share how that went and some of our objectives and goals for the first year.

More Progress

While this is still a part time after hours thing, we are continuing to make good progress. The big step for me is taking place THIS WEEK. My group is being merged into another group under a peer VP at Sun. As a result, my time is beginning to free up and for the first time, real hours are being spent on FreshBrain!!

Here are some highlights.

• Creating Our Board. We have found the first three members of our board. I will wait to name these folks in a later blog entry. But we have one member from higher education. We have another with an amazing marketing background. And the third with a good number of years of selling. We may add a couple more members as part of the interim board. One who is a leader in technology from Sun Microsystems our initial donor and technology provider. And one from a small company who has experience on the board of another nonprofit. These folks together with me will be sufficient to help us get things going. A few others with experience in finance and legal will be added in the future.
  

• Evaluated Technology. We have been scouring the planet for open source technology on which to build our business. It is absolutely amazing what is out there. We have found everything that we need, and in some cases multiple options. Specifically, we have found community, learning, collaboration and presentation software that is impressive. We have visited Sunlabs in search of the next generation of technology and found some interesting 3D collaboration software that may be available as well in our timeframe. And we have started to evaluate CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software as the first business system that we need to use - for all of the contacts that we are beginning to make! More on all of these as well in a later blog entry.

• Making Contacts. We are reaching out to everyone who shows an interest at this point. We met with folks from JA (Junior Achievement), CityYear and FIRST. We are taking to everyone who has an interest and wants to help. There are simplified java development activities like Greenfoot. Folks interested in helping us with legal issues (pro bono), book keeping, visiting schools, being advisors and so on. It is truly inspiring!!
  

Rounding Out Core Team. And we have been working on rounding out the core or management team. As of TODAY, Todd Ferrario (yea, my brother) has let his staff know that he will be moving on to be a part of this startup / nonprofit. He will be freed up on a few weeks and will "officially" start in early July. Our third will still remain unnamed as he has not told his boss and company yet. Our fourth has said yes (as I predicted). He will have to remain unnamed as well, but start at the beginning of July as well. And we have found our fifth. He will be on our board initially and will ultimately become a part of the nonprofit - as soon as we can afford him!!
So things are moving along. I will be taking a bunch of vacation, but things will continue to move forward at an accelerated rate with the nonprofit fully up and running in August.

Welcome ...

Welcome friends to FreshBrain!

Since you are here, you likely already know what we are all about. But just in case, here is our simple vision.

FreshBrain is a nonprofit focused on enhancing the development of our youth in the areas of business and technology by providing hands-on real world experience.

We are brand new - just starting up. Our initial coming out party will be in August and we will go big later in the year. Sun Microsystems has been awesome in offering to be an initial donor and technology provider, which is really going to help!!

Here is what we have been up to thus far.

• Came up with a name. Seems pretty simple, but believe me, it is not. First you have to come up with the options, then you have to see if they are available, have to test them on folks (including kids!) and finally you have to live with and say them for a while. I am TOTALLY happy with the one that we picked. Fitting, new and pretty cool.
• Created the core team. I can't actually give you the list right now since some of them are still working elsewhere:) But I have a outward sales / marketing / business guy an IT / Engineering guy and we just found our senior engineering (he hasn't actually said yes, but will in the next couple of days).
• Met with TONS of energized, motivated and inspirational people. I don't have room to list them all, but this has been amazing and likely numbering 30-40. We have met with deans of business schools, founders and CEOs of nonprofits and experts in a broad range of business and technical areas. The willingness to help and the passion that we have found is truly amazing.
  
• Met with Sun engineering folks on technology. There are some excellent technologies available, and some pieces that are missing. What is there will give us a big leg up (as soon as we can get going and bring in some interns to help:)).
  
• Began the creation of the 5013c, including the board. Hired the lawyer to put the 5013c together. And have the first four of at least five initial board members.

Not bad progress as a part time after hours thing. Can't wait until this is really our jobs:)