This story appears in the
February 2000 issue of
Startups.
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Yeah, yeah--we know Business Start-Ups is all a novice
entrepreneur really needs. But if you have to get a
different perspective, there's a cornucopia of informative
sites specifically geared toward answering your start-up questions.
Unfortunately, Alex Carter, 24, founder of X Startup.Com (http://www.xstartup.com) in Ames,
Iowa, didn't encounter one that told the stories of
entrepreneurs his age--so he created his own.
"I originally got the idea for the site last
February," says Carter. "I went to a bookstore, was
thumbing through magazines, and picked up Business Start-Ups
for the first time. On the cover was a story on Generation X
entrepreneurs."
Already eight months into his own Internet consulting venture,
Carter was surprised to learn that droves of young people were
infiltrating small business, and he felt a strong desire to find
out exactly what they were up to. After a fruitless attempt sifting
through several bland business sites, he hit the Idea Cafe
(http://www.ideacafe.com)
bulletin board looking for resources. He didn't find any to his
liking, but he did find Jeff Frutkin, 24, who helped him outline
the initial idea for X Startup.Com but dropped out of the
development process to start his own network of sports Web
sites.
With only $300 to cover software and hosting, and mass amounts
of input gathered from entrepreneurial bulletin-board pals, Carter
brought X Startup.Com live to advice-seekers worldwide last June.
(He's not the only one who thought it was a good idea; Idea
Café acquired X Startup.Com last September.) Whether
you're seeking straightforward start-up articles, profiles of
young entrepreneurs, a venue for networking, a good idea or you
just want to post your URL so others can learn about your business,
it's all yours for the taking.