Flush the Toilet: Young Entrepreneurs

Wang and Paul of Faucet Studio are two entrepreneurs who know exactly what they want out of life. They want to change the world. Before the money and fame – which will surely come – they really want to make a difference in the educational system. Their passion and desire to improve the communication between parents and teachers is honorable. These guys are a tight team with a strong vision and only good things can be expected from them.

Here’s what Faucet Studio had to share with ftt:

Tell me a bit about the focus of your company. How did the idea come about? What was the brainstorming process like? Did you feel that your particular niche was unexplored or one that just needed improvement?

Wang: We are here to improve parent-teacher relationships. Paul and I went through a whole “how to save the world” discussion and we eventually decided on creating tools to improve education. For our research we went through articles, statistics, teacher interviews and surveys looking for patterns that show signs of weaknesses in education. We learned that the lack of communication between parents and teachers has been a big issue. So we want to help out as much as we can. There’s a good amount of web-based teacher applications out there that takes care of grade books, attendance, and classroom management. But there are few that are focused on parent – teacher communication.

Paul: We also had the sense that this is something we really needed to do. Being able to really help people and make a difference was a big dream of mine but I was never quite ready, maybe we’re still not. This was a huge opportunity that we needed to jump on and go for the ride. I was also getting really antsy working for other people and just had to break out. Our hopeful optimism really beat out our fears at that time. That’s what really keeps us going now as well.

How did you guys meet and when did you decide that you should start a company together?

Wang: Paul and I were classmates at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. We were always excited about working on projects outside of school and naturally we became good friends. In the summer of 2005 our ideas for PeachKit.com began to evolve on a larger scale and we wanted to support that growth by formalizing our business partnership.

Paul: I tried working part-time during the beginning of PeachKit.com and managed to perform both jobs horribly. It was an all or nothing opportunity so we searched for funding and just went for it.

So who does what in the company?

Wang: Paul works on the code, and I work on the UI design. We are both responsible for the overall direction of PeachKit.com, as well as its brand and identity.

Paul: Our individual talents have been able to manifest and adapt naturally. We kind of sunk into our roles as new requirements came about. Being that there are only two of us we’ve had to do a lot of things we weren’t quite comfortable with or particularly good at. But that’s the best part—it’s caused us to grow so much more than anything else we’ve ever got into. We both do a little bit of everything now and we’re looking forward to finding new people that will be able to concentrate on these roles and bring their experience to the company.

What inspires you as an entrepreneur? Any companies or people in particular?

Wang: I am attracted to the idea of innovation. Bringing new solutions that can benefit people’s lives in a positive way. There are many things that inspire me and they do not necessarily exist in a business landscape but they change the world in other ways. I am inspired by Santiago Calatrava’s architecture, Edward Tufte’s research on information design, Marcel Duchamp’s art theories, the guys from the Bauhaus art movement, and the ideas of the philosopher Michel Foucault. They are just a few of many creative minds that I admire.

Paul: I’m constantly inspired by the people around me. I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without the amazing amount of support I’ve had. Waking up in the beautiful city of San Francisco everyday has been a true blessing. Simply having the opportunity to do what I love, with a purpose, is inspiration enough. Most of all, God has really been my main source of inspiration.

As far as companies go, I sort of draw from a little bit of everything but I read 37signals and Guy Kawasaki’s blogs daily, as well as running through del.icio.us and digg.com. Tom Peters is also a good one to look up to. We subscribe to Fast Company, Wired and Business 2.0 magazines, along with a few Teacher magazines. We’ve found it extremely important to keep up with what’s going on in the web industry in order to stay at the forefront.

What are some of the roadblock or setbacks that you have encountered as being entrepreneurs and how have you gotten past them?

Wang: To be honest we are very inexperienced in the world of business, but we are forced to learn at an extremely fast pace. We have a lot of people around us that have been very supportive and they give us a lot of insight in the areas that they specialize in. To get people to believe in what we are doing, we have to learn to effectively communicate our ideas. We are also learning how to be efficient in our execution, especially since there are only two of us. It’s crazy, I’m learning a lot in the process even at an early stage.

Paul: I’d say our major issues are time and money, but that’s a given. Though, coming up, I see our ability to execute as our main potential roadblock. I believe that as long as we can do what we set out to do, we’ll do well. So that mostly depends on our own discipline and the amount of help we’re able to pull in.

How old are you guys, and have you ever not been taken seriously because you’re so young?

Wang: We’re both 25 years old. I think if you are able to speak well and communicate your ideas people are more likely to take you seriously. I don’t remember the last time I was not taken serious because of my age, but I do remember many times that I was not taken seriously because of my lack of preparation. I believe that a lot of fears and restrictions that we have are ones that we created for ourselves.

Paul: I think that it hasn’t been a problem directly. For the most part, we’re on the web so people really have no idea how old we are. I do think that our lack of experience, however, holds us back in many areas but there’s only one way around that: to just do it.

What are some of the things that you consider before creating an internet application?

Wang: It was important for us to find something that we care about. We want to create something that can be of social change. Because if I am creating for a cause that is beyond a dollar return, I would be able to endure more pain and suffering.

A friend of ours mentioned that it’s important to know what problems our application will solve, and whether or not the problem is worth solving.

Paul: That’s it right there. You have no boss, your mom’s not around; you need something that’s going to get you up in the morning.

In your own view, how would you define the internet 10 years from now?

Wang: No comment. My mind would explode just thinking about it.

Actually there’s a good article on the web called “Breaking the Web Wide Open!” by Marc Canter that speaks about some interesting ideas in regards to the future of the web.

Paul: Anything I could say that would sound semi-visionary would be old news in 5 years. Everything’s constantly changing. There is no 10 years from now. Whoa.

Where do you guys see yourselves in 5 years?

Wang: I’m really enjoying the cause that we’re working for and would like to continue to create tools that will encourage parents to get involved. Down the road I would like to be a 5th grade teacher. It’s the important final year before middle school madness, so I’d like to teach them what I can before all hell breaks loose.

Paul: I’d love to continue running Faucet Studio and take it where it needs to go. For now though, PeachKit.com is my main focus and I’m interested to see where that leads me. I love watching people that are in-between jobs. It’s a spot that’s full of opportunity, to just go with what leads you. I’m looking forward to that.

Talk to me about the support from your family and friends. Good, bad, none?

Wang: We have a lot of support from both family and friends. I just wish I had more time to spend with them.

Paul: They are what keep me afloat. Without them I wouldn’t be here answering these questions. They are my personal heroes.

How do you guys survive without any income from your business just yet?

Wang: We’re currently working off a decent sum of angel investment fund that allows us to focus on the project full time. We only give ourselves a small allowance for our monthly spending. Our entertainment budget is $60.00 per month, which is not much when you’re living in San Francisco. We also got deferments on our school loans to keep our monthly costs down.

Paul: It’s interesting because I’ve always wanted a steady income so I could keep track of my expenses better. Now I’m looking back at how I used to live such an opulent lifestyle in college through small student loans. It’s easier to keep track of everything when there’s not much to keep track of. It’s a period of conditioning.

Describe a typical day in the office?

Wang: Wake up, run through del.icio.us popular links, have a short briefing about our goals for the day, setup appointments and meet with teachers and principals, reply to emails, fix any broken code, continue with competitor research, listen to industry related lectures, update our websites, discuss trends and newly released web applications. I guess it varies by week and we go through different stages. There were two months where all we did was build the application and we pretty much ignored the rest of the world.

Paul: Notice he didn’t say eat or sleep.

Do you guys ever get nervous when pitching your business to people? If so, how do you get past the fear?

Wang: I always get nervous at the beginning of pitches. But once I get into it I am able to express my ideas more freely. The reason why I’m here in the first place is because I want to improve education and many other people want to do the same as well. I try to see others as potential helpers or partners. Improving education is a problem we share as a community not as a company.

Paul: I think Wang has a healthy fear; I tend to get too relaxed and start forgetting things and thinking everything’s cool when maybe it’s not. All the positive feedback definitely helps encourage us. Just don’t ask me if I’m nervous or I’ll start wondering.

Were you ever told to get a “real job” and just forget about being an entrepreneur? If so, how did that make you feel and what was your response?

Wang: I am fortunate to be around many good people that are very excited for our venture. There might have been a few that thought it was a bad idea but I’m not sure, maybe I just chose not to remember. I’ve never felt that I needed confirmation from others to make big decisions in my life so it doesn’t really matter what others say.

Paul: I believe that people’s reaction to things mostly depends on how they’re presented. We’re always pretty excited so it makes it harder for people to rain on our parade. Though I’ve always had great support from the people that mattered and that definitely makes a difference.

I know that you started your company only about a year ago, but have you dabbled in any form of entrepreneurism prior to your company?

Wang: I started a web design company in 2000 with another friend of mine. But at the time we were too immature to deal with many of the responsibilities of running a real business. As a kid I had a lot of informal businesses such as buying and selling bike parts, video games and designer clothing. I would say most profitable was selling bags of ramen to fellow classmates in elementary school.

Paul: I had a few things going in grade school as well but during college I worked on a bunch of projects where I didn’t need to worry about monetizing anything. Faucet Studio was originally meant to be a design collective with five other people but we realized some important things there; such as don’t ever try to design a logo with six people. I kept the company floating on my own and used it to run PeachKit.com later on with Wang a few months later.

Can you talk a bit about how to go about creating a business model on the net?

Wang: We started by surveying existing web business models and took notes of our competitor’s business structure. We asked a lot of teachers what they’re willing to pay for our service. We also made it a point to understand how our audience spends their money so we can create a business model that makes sense for them.

Paul: I think the whole web business model thing is yet to be figured out. If you don’t have a product or actual service there’s still adwords available but that doesn’t work for everyone. Everything seems to be a combination of the models that came before it and we’re just about the same. We’re trying to look ahead and see what people might want to pay for in the future and tilt in that direction. A few examples we found were digg.com selling t-shirts, Flickr doing all sorts of things, or perhaps MySpacers buying up band CDs. I think extending from the social space into actual products or services will get very interesting. Currently, you’re also seeing a lot of integrated advertising (ie. Xbox MySpace profiles) and I can definitely see that growing as well. It’s great how adwords has pretty much enabled much of the free content on the web today.

What’s your take on the whole go-to-school-get-a-good-job-work-for someone-for-40 years-then-retire-comfortably-somewhere philosophy?

Wang: The stable route is comfortable like a nice pillow. I think it’s good to know that five years from now I can expect to have a certain amount of dollars in my bank account. But like a nice pillow it’s hard to wake up and strive for more. Everyone is different and the trade-offs of starting your own business is not worth it or even attractive to most people. I think it comes down to one’s personal idea of happiness.

Paul: I think that working for someone like that is a good option for people that aren’t exactly sure what they want to be doing with their life. Or they have kids. Or they found the perfect group of people that they love working with. Or they’re just really smart and they just know better. There are plenty of reasons but I think fear is the biggest barrier to jumping into our own thing. Really, we only have one chance at life and you’re either going to take it or hang back. It just takes a little healthy ignorance and letting go. I think that’s my big mantra at this point.

What advice would you give to another budding entrepreneur with big dreams and high hopes of success?

Wang: Remember why you’re doing it and just keep on moving forward. When you fall, fall forward. I also think it’s important to understand that not every problem is the same and in most cases they require solutions that are unique rather than just solutions that are popular.

Paul: I just hope you’re doing it for the right reasons and not your ego or money. And learn how you’re screwing up as quickly as possible and make the change. Other than that, good luck! It’s an exciting time!