One of the greatest opportunities in college was Office Hours. Every professor held them and suddenly became accessible. It was a few minutes where you could walk-in, sit down, ask questions, develop a relationship and catch a professor in an informal environment. We think the same opportunity for dialogue should exist for entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. At Office Hours, we’d love to meet with entrepreneurs, people thinking about becoming entrepreneurs or folks who would like to join a start-up. No agenda needed. No presentations or preparation required. Just an opportunity to discuss entrepreneurship and startups.

We’ve met with 50-60 entrepreneurs at every other city — let’s make Philadelphia our biggest event yet!

If you can make it, please sign up at http://officehours.firstround.com/

[From Symantec Expands Portfolio With New Protection Suites and Web Security - Yahoo! Finance]

What is your 30 second elevator pitch?
Fwd:Vault is a subscription-based service that backs up your data and email through plain email messages. There’s no software or hardware to install or configure, just create an account and start forwarding important files and emails to a special email address. Fwd:Vault catalogs those files and messages, making them available to retrieve online or via email request. There’s more information on our website, http://fwdvault.com, and you can actually find a 1-minute audio pitch online over at StartupNation’s Elevator Pitch Competition. (http://www.startupnation.com/elevator-pitch-2009/contestant/4233/index.php)

What is the basic history of the company?

Fwd:Vault was born out of my years working in the IT industry. Since I was 14, when I started working as a technician over summer breaks, my experience has covered home and office users, software development, network buildouts and administration, websites and intranets, support centers, you name it. In every one of these arenas, my non-technical co-workers and clients consistently displayed a general indifference to technology. This indifference results in the most common computer problems we see today: virus infections, spam, spyware, phishing, and of course data loss.

Of these major issues, I’ve found the absence of backups to be the most common issue. I also knew that most people understood the concept of backing up, but were not committed to the task enough to jump all the hurdles. Buying, installing, and configuring a piece of hardware or software is a tall order for most “regular people” (as opposed to nerds like me). I realized that the solution for these basic users was to minimize or outright eliminate hardware and software from the equation.

I also knew that even the simplest of users could effectively use email — most were introduced to the internet through this ubiquitous platform. Since they already had it and understood it, using it to create backups would be an easy concept to grasp. And thus Fwd:Vault was born.

I played with the idea on my nights and weekends until I was laid off in November of last year. I decided to take a shot and Fwd:Vault has been a full-time affair since.

What market need do you fill?
Data backups in general, very very easy backups in particular. Most people recognize the importance of backups, but simply don’t have the time, skill, or inclination to do them and do them right. Fwd:Vault removes every conceivable hurdle from the user’s path, using the familiar concept of email to facilitate backing up.

From this formula, several target audiences immediately arise: any lightweight computer user will appreciate the lack of software or hardware to configure; mobile professionals — think real estate agents and solo lawyers — get a quick and easy way to backup crucial messages and documents; home/small businesses can establish backup procedures without paying for IT support; and white collar professionals in large companies can safe-harbor sensitive data off of corporately managed systems.

These are obviously very specific niches, but in an age of boundless choice, Fwd:Vault’s ability to cater technical services to the “tech-averse” masses will differentiate it from other players.

What Challenges have you experienced?
Fwd:Vault marries email with backups, and thus initially presented some conceptual challenges. Storing data is pretty cut and dry, but the process to recover previously backed up data through email required a lot planning and revision. We didn’t want to create a series of commands, because we know no one would remember or use them. Instead we came up with a method that leverages our internal search engine to locate the file or message a user is looking for. This is the same search engine used on the website, so users can expect the same results in both places.

Other major hurdles revolved around presentation. No one likes having to learn a complex system or a convoluted interface, but usability and clarity are doubly important for Fwd:Vault’s target audience. We are also presenting an entirely new concept — “backups through email” — and therefore have to worry about users not getting it. We consequently spent a lot of time ensuring every detail was (a) necessary and (b) as simple and clear as possible. For example, incoming data is processed specifically to ensure it shows up accurately in our search results, and the copy in all our outgoing notification messages has been revised four or five times already.

As for the site itself, I have worked very closely with the website designer to ensure that the site is usable first, good-looking second. Fortunately, they’re really talented and I think they accomplish both tasks wonderfully.

How are you funded and what is your revenue model?
Fwd:Vault services are subscription-based. Following a lengthy free trial period, users can subscribe on a monthly or annual basis. There are currently two pricing tiers planned. The first offers basic service, and the second will provide more advanced functionality, such as the ability to share documents with non-users and accept documents via a public dropbox. There are also special pricing plans for companies and universities. College students have been identified as a strong opportunity.

This idea has gone from zero to internal testing on about $5000 of my own cash and a lot of love. There’s zero outside backing, and in the current economic climate I couldn’t be happier about that accomplishment. If the current schedule holds, we’ll launch sometime in summer or fall of this year. From there the plan is to grow the company as the service gains traction. While we aren’t beating down the doors for investor money, we are open to interested parties. I’d rather have the money come to us than the other way around.

What do you think about the startup scene in Philadelphia and the importance of being based here?
The sheer size of the Philly startup ecosystem is a fantastic support structure. There are literally so many events, services, and contacts that I won’t ever be able to take advantage of all of them. I have been involved with startups before, but this is my first one at the helm, so having that easy access to advice and services is invaluable to me.

• Aviom Inc.

• Niiki Pharma Inc.

• Onconova Therapeutics

• Versify Solutions

• Healthy Humans

• Syandus Inc.

• Apptastics LLC

• Spectrum Devices Corp

• Larger than Life Prints

• PayParade

[From Ben Franklin Technology Partners stakes 11 companies - Philadelphia Business Journal: ]

March 11 th @ 7:30 pm

Science Center

3711 Market Street, 8th floor

Philadelphia, PA

Event: Mobile Monday – Social Networking and Entertainment: a mobile perspective

Location: g Lounge, 111 S. 17th Street

Mobile Monday is the premier place to learn and talk about what’s hot in mobile. At our next event, you will hear from established firms and start-ups working in the space of mobile social networking and entertainment. You can also network with leaders in mobile from carriers, start-ups and VCs. Seating is limited, register at www.momo-ma.com

Build something great this summer!

Applications are now open for people
launching great companies (Innovators).
Applications are also being accepted
from great developers (Hackers) and
great business people (Strategists)
to join our Innovator Companies.

Application deadline March 16, 2009

Apply Now