Switching Blogs

Although I just started my blog last week (officially), I moved all of my data from Blogger.com (a Google-owned company) to Six Apart (Typepad.com). I had been hearing a lot of buzz about Typepad lately. Then today I read an article in the Wall Street Journal about them. It turns out they were started by a husband and wife in San Francisco three years ago.

Their idea was to build a better blogging service than they could find on the net and they set out to do just that. They built quite a nifty application and gave it away for free for the first two years and then recently started charging. I’m paying $4.95 per month.

At any rate, it turns out they’ve been having a great deal of success since moving to a paid service. They’ve attracted a lot of attention out west and in fact just landed $10 million in a “B” round of financing.

I love stories like this and I look forward to seeing Typepad take on the goliaths that will soon be entering the Blogging world, if they haven’t already.

Companies like Typepad amaze me – as most everyone knows (at least everyone that currently reads this blog), we are looking to raise money at the current moment – a much smaller sum than Typepad just raised. While we’re slowly making our way towards our goal, I see so many companies on the west coast raising cash hand over fist. What is it about the west coast that companies are able to generate so much excitement, such high valuations and really get these VCs to invest?

I’m running a company right now that is growing leaps and bounds, is within a high growth market sector, has a leadership team that has demonstrated an ability to grow a business in the toughest of economic times, has a large paying customer base and so forth… and I can’t get a VC around here to “get” it. Please don’t read this as frustration… its more fascinating to me than anything. And to be quite forthright, I love the challenge. 🙂

I’ll be writing a lot more moving forward about my capital raising experiences over the coming weeks. There has been a lot of excitement around here lately… we’ve given several presentations in the area and we’re now negotiating with a handful of angels and high net worth groups in the area. Most of them seem to be very good people and I look forward to working with them.

I truly believe that we have the ability to take a small infusion and turn it into something really big… something that will wake up the VCs in these parts and put us in a much better negotiating stance when the time is right… and more than anything, that will put Blacksburg on the radar screen, helping to attract more funds in the area which will allow the area to further prosper.

One of the great things about being in the position we’re in is that we don’t need the money. We’re not a startup anymore – in fact, we’re a well-established firm looking to accelerate growth. While we don’t need the money though, as an entrepreneur looking to grow a business faster than the next guy, I look forward to raising the cash, growing the company and creating more opportunities for our employees and those looking to work for one of the more promising companies in the New River Valley.

For now, hats off to Typepad. I’m enjoying my service and I’m sure it will only improve as time goes on. And even if they do get swallowed up soon by one of the goliaths, I’ll find it in my heart to understand. 😉