I figured I should introduce myself

[MitchTalmadge]

Hey everyone! Some of you have already seen me around. I'm 18 years old and am working on my first LLC with two friends. I've taken a few entreprenuerial classes at school, however most of the kids in the class didn't want to be there, which made it difficult to learn. I have a mentor at my high school who is helping to guide us through the process of starting our business, however she does not know the industry or technologies we are going into (Software as a Service), so we will be looking for an additional mentor soon.

I have been accepted to the business scholars program at the University of Utah, and I am the Sterling Scholar of Computer Technology of the Wasatch Front in Utah. This is an award that I won after competing with hundreds of kids from all the different high schools in the Wasatch Front.

I love technology and computer science, and I am entering as a full CS major at the University of Utah. I've been programming since I was 7 years old, and have recently found a love for Java Enterprise Edition, which powers the product that my business will be marketing. The product is an asset reservation system designed for schools, to replace the pen and paper methods currently employed by those schools (which teachers have told me they despise more than anything in the world).

I am very interested in business, however I have found it quite difficult to get started, because I really can't find many materials on how people even go about starting a business. Therefore, please bear with me as I ask many simple and likely naïve questions because I am a beginner to all of this.

Thanks so much, I'm excited to have found this forum!

[vangogh]

Welcome to the forum Mitch. I know we've already been talking, but it's good to give you the official welcome. One thing I've noticed since you've been here is that you're a lot more mature than most people, not just most people your age, but people in general. I know a lot of starting a business is confusing and you aren't entirely sure where to look, but I have no doubt you're going to be successful. Based on the things you've posted here, I think you've already done a lot more preparation and a lot more thinking about starting a business than many who first show up here asking questions.

A lot of the confusing stuff goes away quickly and some of it you just have to learn as you go. I think most everyone here would say the same thing. Don't worry abut asking naïve questions. They probably aren't as naïve as you think, and every one of us likely had the same question(s) when we were getting started.

Welcome again. I look forward to getting to know you and thanks for joining the community.

[David Hunter]

Welcome, Mitch!

What kind of business are you actually starting? Like software develop or something else?

[MitchTalmadge]

Thanks vangogh, what you said really means a lot. Thanks for the advice as well! I want this business to be successful more than anything in the world

David, I'm starting a software solutions business. Our (current -- we're still working on it) mission statement is:

"<Company> is dedicated to providing custom built software solutions that will maximize productivity within organizations of any size. Efficiency, simplicity, and reliability take top priority at <Company>, and are backed by a loyal team with clients’ best interests in mind."

I am hiding the company name until about early June, as the previous owner of the domains for our company has let them expire, and they are now at auction. We will be able to get them in June as long as nobody else beats us to it. We are starting this company after seeing great potential in the asset reservation system we are creating. A high school in our state has agreed to pilot test the software, which is where we will get much of our market research for this product. (We will collect as many statistics and figures as we can during their use of the system. It'll also be great for bug finding.)

[KristineS]

Welcome to the forum Mitch!

[David Hunter]

Best of luck, Mitch!

Does the owner of the domain still have their company or was it domain squatters?

[MitchTalmadge]

Their company is listed as "Canceled" under their state business entity search. So we should be alright to use the name; nobody else is using it.

[WebsiteDoctor]

Very cool, I wish I had got into business back when I was that age!