STARTUP ISLAND | Be Authentic.

Watch every step of 13 startups fund and build an island in Thailand with nothing but support from great people, an internet connection and a idea. var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-29062133-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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From our new partners at Angel's Gate, we bring you Episode 1. If you have not already, apply now for Season II at: www.angelsgate.com

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We saw this live two weeks ago, and we are thinking about asking Jason to speak at TEDxStartup. Also shoutout to our friend John from 4WordThought for shooting the video. This speech truly hits home and we hope you all love it. 

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It is important to always remember where you are coming from and how important web traffic can be for charities; just getting the word out is huge. Every website has something called 404 Redirects, which basically means a special page shows when a link is broken or the content is no longer there. We have all seen these pages, "Sorry, this link is missing" or "File Not Found." When we at Startup Island heard there are 10 Billion of these pages shown each year we thought to ourselves, wouldn't it be cool if special charities were featured on these pages? From now on, all of the 404 Redirects at Startup Island will have a creative introduction to a big charity. You can see our current 404 page by visiting here, or install your own by visiting a site we created just for you: give404.com. 

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The NPA is really the heart of Startup Island. Composed of some really great people, the NPA is a student communication network focused on helping students access, be empowered by, and engage with information from the world outside college. We thought we would share photos from our last event. In the cover: (Left to Right) John Richardson Student Body President, George Washington University. Nico Guetierrez, Student Body Vice President Pepperdine University. Senan Ebrahim, Student Body President Harvard. Brandie Vanorder, Student Body President, Boise State. Nate Levick, Student Body President, Cornell. Ralanda Nelson, Student Body President Brown (Not Pictured) Michael Cruz, Student Body President, Stanford. 

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The 3D Business Cards are complete! #3dbusinesscard

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Jacked up on caffeine we explain Startup Island in 60 Seconds. Yes, the long boring version is available at www.BuildTheIsland.com, but if your ready to chip in, the gear is too!

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*THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED DAILY THROUGHOUT OUR KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

DAY 7 STARTUP ISLAND In 60 Seconds! Ok so we realize we have not been good at updating the days (sorry!) but we have been busy making really cool gear for you and making this video which will hopefully answer your questions...in 60 Seconds!

DAY 2 INDIEGOGO: We expected that our project would spend some more time on the public eye in "Recently Added" instead Kickstarter batch uploaded campaigns right after ours. SH*****T. So we thought, if we are going to have to grass roots the whole marketing campaign why are we jumping through all the disadvantages at Kickstarter where it's competitor (albeit less known) is way more open to customization. We also launched a better, more informational video, and great preview of TEDxStartupIsland with it. We heard feedback from everyone (which was encouraging but critically supportive!) so we changed the tiers to 2 main support options, added more swag, and really just made everything more bad a$$. 

Be authentic. 

Soundtrack of the day: Rusko

DAY 6: Today we commission the 3D Business Cards, which we are incredibly stoked about. There is a full post below! In addition, we had a great meeting with a Partner at JVP who we requested would advise the Island. Based in Jerusalem, JVP is a very large fund that backs startups in both pre-found and late round (B+C) funding. Very nice guy.  You can read more about him on our investor profile @ Angel.CO. We are rapidly scripting a informative video for the national campaign and decided to hold the press releases until later this week. You can take a look at the LIVE document we are editing here. BTW, since there was no viral jump by launching on Kickstarter we have decided to switch platforms because IndieGoGo is way more flexible and open. Since we have to do the marketing our selves (which we will break down the strategy when we finish this video) then our thinking is, "why use Kickstarter?"

Soundtrack of the day: Come Fly Away, Ben Benassi

DAY 5: Zzzzz...

DAY 4: As emails went out to the interns, we finalized the structure of the new campaign video. We are having a huge conversation about IndieGoGo vs. Kickstarter in a couple of minutes. Here goes! Also, today we had an incredible discussion with Elevator Labs about joining their incubator. Tom was totally supportive and interested. Read the post below for more about Elevator! 

Soundtrack of the day: Timebomb Laidback Luke (Alex Re-Fix)

DAY 3: As of this morning, we have well over 100 likes on our Facebook page. We are so thrilled to see our friends show of support and the momentum will only increase from here on out. We are re-thinking the Kickstarter video because we feel it may not be as simple as we originally hoped it to be. But have no fear! This is the entire purpose of our existence: to try, to fail, to adapt, to move forward, and most importantly, to show how we do that. Within the next few days we will be uploading a new video to Kickstarter with more passion and charisma than ever. We will be breaking down what viewers and donors will be getting from StartupIsland, which was not the strong point of the last video.  On the agenda: Devon and Patrick will be scouting for Startup Island Interns today, we will be making final edits to the new video, and as always, the team is continuing to spread the word on this amazing adventure!

Update: We just got back from a firestorm of introducing Startup Island to student organizations all over Pepperdine university. A great experience with amazing people, but we realized a couple things. First, we realized that we are not just looking for marketing interns, were looking for everyone and anyone that believes in the island. Second, the momentum of this crazy idea has been building so fast that we are totally over our heads (and we love it). Third these are exactly the kind of things we needed to realize in order to keep racing toward Thailand. The path to Startup Island has a funny way of revealing itself when we need it most.

Bottom-line: Anyone who believes in startupisland has a place in its construction.  If you're ready to build, let us know at www.buildtheisland.com

Soundtrack of the day: Happiness by Sam Sparro

DAY 2: Woke up to personal friends backing us $67.18, one request to come speak at a college CSUN, and our new friend Mike Costache wants to feature Startup Island at an Alumni event. We are gathering today to do a Google Hangout to prepare our national rollout out. On the agenda: The Startup Island Interns (starting Tuesday), rolling out to entrepreneur clubs countrywide, submitting our information to talk shows, and getting pictures on the Ducati. 

Soundtrack of the day: Say Anything by Drake.

DAY 1: Campaign went live at 6:30PM, we did a blitz to our local network and received $67.18 in Backing. Went to an LA BDAY party for EGO.TV's founder Jimmy Hutichenson, who was a boss with a sick home in Bel Air; he also gave everything to charity.  Again, boss. 

Soundtrack of the night: Ambition by Wale. 

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Here is the thing, if we can rethink the business card, why can't we rethink the suit? At it's core a suit is just a piece of armor so we went to literally the epitome of Italian suits: Luigi Bianchi Mantova. I mean come on, "MANTOVA" how much more cigar-in-hand-boss can you get?

Yes, I know we can't make a holographic 3D suit-REF the business cards. However, wait till you see what we have planned. 

UPDATE: They kindly agreed to our visit to Milan as we completely re-think the business suit. 

Be authentic.

PS: The new video is pissing us off difficult.

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Introducing the world's first 3D business cards! When they are vertical, it uses the transparent blue to become the water and the red to become the sunlight. On the back there is a unique Bit.ly sticker with the Islanders unique contact page link. When the individual goes there the whole page is in 3D when you look THROUGH the business card horizantally....the most bad @ss business card ever.

Here is the story: 

- The only reason we would hand out a business card would be to help people remember and hold something to take them to the website. 

- Therefore the important part is the link on the Business Card so how do we make that experience bad a$$? By reinventing the experience. So make it 3D! (check out this example and this example, or this weird 3D video guy). 

- We mocked up the designs you see above and called Plastic Printers. Our friend Nick was stoked and a bro over the whole thing. Not only was he encouraging and helpful to figure out this whole thing, he asked the CEO of the company to send the card as an example of the coolest card he has seen. They are double timing proofs and they will be rolling off the press in the next couple weeks. 

- Finally, we want you to do this, we don't care. We are happy to license the copyright to anyone, shoot us an email! And we will send you the color spectrum (took forever to find) to make your own 3D cards. Finally we used "parallax" tech to optimize 3D coming off of digital displays. 

Want your own? We will have a quick web generator up soon to auto make your contact information 3D and an at cost way to order your own cards. 

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We are LIVE! The Kickstarter campaign is up and running. Starting at $2 we have some incredible rewards and swag. Essentially the best thing you can do is to back the project, even if it is just $2 and BRAG ABOUT IT EVERYWHERE. BACK AND BRAG. 

Think Zombies, Think Documentary, Think Fast As Sh*t Cheetah Shirts...

Be authentic. 

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Tomorrow @ 6:30PM the Kickstarter campaign goes live, we have a few surprises for you! The last thing we wanted to throw your way is our swag-me-out sticker kit. 

Literally "stick" with this Kickstarter thing, this is going to get epic. Press sources, contacts, and a whole new wave of entrepreneurs are joining us next week.

Be authentic.

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We would like to introduce you to the final part of our Kickstarter campaign. This whole process has been incredibly exciting and we are really proud of the work that is coming out of this. It's weird how long you can work when you are doing what you love, and we ultimately want to create something you love and value too. 

Startup Island Campfire is our tool to rethink community engagement by providing a network for people to innovate together, push limits, get pre-release content or musings from the Island, and really truly get to know each-other. Available to backers of the documentary on Kickstarter, Campfire holds true to the belief that business can be about you and your passion.

We love you. Join us around the Campfire. 

Be authentic.

The Islanders

PS: Look at what Islander Grant created as our final funding tier...kidding. Still, any Audi readers out there who want to supply. Obviously a Startup Island Edition Audi is a must.

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LIVE: Kickstarter Campaign

Over the next seven days, you can be pretty sure this blog is going to be all about the Kickstarter campaign, and what we are doing with it. Tune in each day and don't just watch this, chip in if you see something we should change! 

WHAT WE ARE CREATING:

A viral Kickstarter campaign that funds cameras and production costs for the Documentary about Startup Island. 

KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGNS ARE COMPRISED OF:

A video, a body of text, and several levels of money that can be "pledged" to fund a campaign. 

OUR CURRENT VIDEO STATUS IS:

Craig Weisman is going to open with an audio recording on a black background:

"Our team is building this campaign from the ground up. That means no video, because not everyone has a camera and no editing, because not everyone has editing software. Startup Island believes anyone can change the world. But it’s not enough to just believe it: we’re going to prove it. Enjoy the video."

It then has several slides and screens of animated text played to an awesome song called, "Sunrise" from the Yeasayers. We are not just saying download it because they are in our video, but the band is actually really cool and out to change the music scene. 

It closes with something epic. SO EPIC.

HOW ARE WE MAKING THE VIDEO:

- We were all using Google Hangout to work realtime.

- We are using Apple's Keynote, which we then record using Presentation Record to make the sick transitions.

- Each slide is designed with Adobe Fireworks CS4. 

WHAT IS NEXT?: 

Tomorrow we are writing out the intro, engaging networks, and shooting more video. Big big day.

Remember to like our Facebook page, and use the #islandswag tag to see the awesome rewards as we build them.

Be authentic.

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We sent IDC Elevator an application for their investment round on Friday--got an email back from Rachel this morning to set up a conversation. We were, and still are not thinking about going with Venture Capital (yet). However, IDC Elevator is different: here is why we applied--trust me it was a weird application. 

(1) Don't take equity. This is huge because equity = loss of control and you all know how insane we & the Island is. 

(2) Part of IDC. IDC very connected group in the middle east, we have been watching them for a while.

(3) Based in Tel Aviv.  Israel has the most beautiful and hard working people in the world. Israel has one of the highest IPO transition rates in the world, and our friend Meiri there is a BOSS. 

(4) Referred by Summit Series. As you may or may not know we are the biggest fans of the entire Summit Series team and they are early investors. 

EITHER WAY DON'T LET MONEY BUY YOUR DREAMS.

In addition to this we sent out several emails to mentors or leaders in the area to check on IDC Elevator +/ it's founder Tom Bronfield. We are checking with a Sr. Partner at the Jerusalem Investment Fund and the head of Google Israel R&D. Oh and Tel Aviv IS WORLD FAMOUS FOR IT'S CLUB SCENE. Dope.

Be authentic. 

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Just wanted to update you all on the Kickstarter video, we are getting there! This take one quadrillion.

For total transparency we made this with some graphics tricks in Adobe Fireworks (lenses and stuff) and Keynote on a Mac.

Be authentic. 

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A rant by Gary Vaynerchuck, yes we sent a video back, yes he is a movement voice. It will galvanize your way of doing business and his vision matches ours. 

Favorite quote: "F*ck listening to others intuition, Listen[ing] to yourself always wins. Do I have angst? Sure, I have been calling myself out for the last 6-7 years.""

Be authentic.

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One of us noticed an article about the island nation of Kiribati, and it's current dilemma; it's sinking. Kiribati has a total population of 110,000 and has declared a state of emergency as they attempt to negotiate the purchase of new land from the nearby country of Fiji. There are just so many incredible things about this island that you have never heard of, so we thought, why not help them out? Raise awareness, hell, fly over there (maybe boat?) and seeing if we can lend a hand in moving things. Can you imagine? An entire country, moving? We did two hours of digging and managed to find most of the emails of their parliament--you have to think of this like a small town with a mayor so it's not too hard to reach people. Using a very interesting technique, we believe we found the email of the President, Anote Tong, who we also contacted. We sent an email to ask what they needed and if we could raise a banner for donations or otherwise.

We will keep you posted if we hear back and the email is on theemails.tumblr.com.

Be authentic.