A little validation, a little too late.

Our first real venture as entrepreneurs (Russ and I) was IVxChange, the niche community resource/classifieds website for universities and college ares.  The plan was to get in running first in Isla Vista, the college community of UC Santa Barbara, and then replicate it everywhere else.

Our competitor, Uloop, jumped in the game at the same time as us (literally the same week that we launched)--started by a group of older guys (late twenties/early thirties, I believe).

We fought them hard for a few months and eventually decided to move on.

Anyway, Gannett made an investment in them in 2007...not a bad bit of "validation", but a little too late.

As my friend, Rich at Attributor, said: focusing on a specific target segment is a much better strategy than trying to be "everything for everyone".