Sonoma State alums launch startups

<p>ROHNERT PARK – Two sets of young entrepreneurs are launching companies they hatched at the Sonoma State University School of Business and Economics. Barspace Inc. and College Postings Inc. are both Internet businesses that have gone live this year.</p><p>Partners Peter Viviani and Michael Deignan, with some initial funding from family and friends, are beta-testing a social networking site for bar and restaurant owners and their patrons, including live Web cam feeds. Subscribing bar owners get an interactive site at www.barspace.tv where they can post calendars, printable vouchers, menus and other information. They can use the site to send e-mail blasts or text messages to willing patrons.</p><p>“Basically, we’re bringing bars into the direct digital market,” said Mr. Viviani. About 15 local bars have signed on as beta members since the service launched on St. Patrick’s Day. Of those, six have chosen the Web cam option, which allows potential customers to check the live action before deciding where to go.</p><p>According to Tex Wasabi’s General Manager Neil McDowell, he and his crew are still exploring the options the site offers.</p><p>“Certain camera angles can make a place look less busy than it is, we found. But it definitely builds business. We’re treating it like MySpace, getting friends. If it’s a slow Tuesday night, we can use the site to send out a mass text for an impromptu happy hour,” he said. Musicians and entertainers can have their own sites too, and text their fans, ‘Hey, come catch my set at Spanky’s,’ said Mr. Viviani.</p><p>“We emphasize that the cams are not surveillance cameras. You get a feeling for the place and the patrons, but you can’t pick out individual faces,” said Mr. Viviani.</p><p>Following beta testing, the partners hope to move the business to San Francisco and charge bar owners and other members a monthly fee of $75 to $200, depending on the level of services chosen.</p><p>Their model calls for one-third subscription revenue and two-thirds advertising. Given the demographic – social 21 to 35 year olds – they will target the beverage industry and others that cater to the young adult market for ads they will work into the fabric of the site.</p><p>Sharing an office with Barspace at the Sonoma Mountain Business Cluster is College Postings (www.CollegePostings.com), the brainchild of Kenny Walker and three partners.</p><p>The user-generated content on the site is free to students and offers information on housing, jobs, roommates, textbooks available for swap or for sale, great places to eat and meet and just about anything else that students need.</p><p>Launched in early January, CollegePostings.com is already entrenched at 22 campuses in California, said Mr. Walker. “We’re using the Craigslist model, but we cut out everything that doesn’t apply to students.”</p><p>He and his partners grow the site by visiting college campuses and talking to the associated students organizations. Reception has been enthusiastic. Several campus newspapers have featured the site in front page stories, he said. Revenues come from charging employers for job listings. Only legitimate job opportunities are listed on CollegePostings. The partners hope to take the service nationwide.</p><p>“The beauty of both these businesses is that they’re scalable and sustainable,” said Dr. William Silver, dean of Sonoma State’s business school. “From my perspective, they represent exactly the practical business building methodology we want to teach.”</p><p>He is especially pleased that Barspace has approached and intend to use the services of the Sonoma State Marketing Club, paying students to find new subscribers to their site.</p><p>“Most universities don’t know what to do with alumni, besides ask them for money. When alums come back to share their knowledge and hire students to help them grow, it closes the circle. I’d like to see hundred more like them,” he said.</p>