Forgive the analogy, but launching a start-up is the professional equivalent of a pregnancy. And no, I’m not referring to the physical pain of pregnancy or trying to compare a company to an actual son or daughter. But still, there is a similarity in that nervous excitement you feel; that feeling of the great unknown you are about to enter. Will everything work out as planned? What if something goes wrong? Leaping off that cliff is exciting/stressful/overwhelming/thrilling all at the same time.
Our closed beta-test of Alice.com begins on February 2nd, which means we are going to meet Alice for the first time in a few short weeks. It is one of my favorite times in a start-up. The time when everyone on the team comes together to work like crazy to pull off the big idea we’ve been talking about for so long and change the market (we hope). To see something that was once only scribbled on a whiteboard come together and take on a life of its own is an amazing experience and something that I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to experience again. Being in a start-up gives you the freedom to swing for the fences; something everyone should do at least once or twice in their lives.
Things will be stressful the next few weeks and for months beyond our launch. But they are times you’ll never forget. So wish us luck as we enter the waiting room and get ready to step into the great, exciting unknown.
Brian Wiegand’s daily prayer that Alice will actually work
January 14th, 2009 at 1:31 am
groundhog day…halfway between the summer and winter solstice.
you are indeed brave to dare ride the biorhythm rollercoaster
associated with this date.
January 15th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Best wishes and lots of prayers for the success of “Alice” Brian and Mark! Jellyfish has been awesome so I’m looking forward to the launch of Alice.
Any chance I can be one of the guinea pigs?
Good luck Alice Team!
January 16th, 2009 at 12:52 am
Sunray, thanks so much for your comments. We really appreciate all of your support of Jellyfish and Smack Shopping. Alice is going to be going into private beta sometime in Feb and we will be looking for some beta testers. We are having a ton of fun and are excited to launch Alice very soon.
Maybe we can do a special Alice program just for the loyal Jellyfish Smack shoppers…hehe
Brian
January 19th, 2009 at 11:24 am
Private-beta is a hard milestone to achieve. Congratulations! The idea behind Alice sounds awesome, and I am looking forward to the execution.
I would love to be a part of the beta (private or public). Lately I have been focusing on usability so I might be able to provide some valuable feedback on this aspect of the site.
Good luck!
January 19th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Thanks Farhan. We’ll have a way to request an invite to our beta on the site when we enter the closed beta. I hope you check back.
January 20th, 2009 at 10:19 am
Sounds excellent Brian and Mark! I’m looking forward to the possibility of a special Alice program for the loyal Smackers. We have been pretty down about the change in show schedule and eagerly await for the new changes.
Aside from that, you both have great ideas and it would be an honor to provide constructive feedback for Alice.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
Hey guys glad to hear things are plugging away. I would love to give you some feedback and help you out if I can. I just left Madison last week should have looked you up and checked out the new digs. Keep at it and best of luck. Looking forward to meeting alice
January 27th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
Sunray and Will, great to hear from you. We look forward to introducing Alice to you soon!
February 4th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Cool idea! I am a college student with little available transportation and this seems like it could be very useful for me. I can rarely make trips to the local grocery store or pharmacy and this could be an easy way for me to get those essentials. If you can get the prices lower than making those trips then I’d use it all the time!
February 27th, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Catching up on the blog. I’m sure things are going well. All the best!