Okay, so I admit it, the last few months I’ve veered off and haven’t focused as much on business as I’d like. However, in that time I’ve realized that I’ve learned a lot.

First off, you guys probably know by now about Facebook’s decision to launch a marketplace for students. Their service directly competes with what Walamu was trying to do. And considering we’re dealing with the behemoth Facebook here, I’m not sure as to where the future lies for Walamu. It was definitely a good learning experience and I certainly don’t regret it. Granted it was an expensive learning experience, I still came out better than before and that’s what counts. Here’s a run down of things I learned for my next start up:

• Running a startup solo is boring and does not have the motivational power of a partnership. Having a partner around can make the start up a lot more important because you’re automatically more responsible to the expectations of someone else, have someone else to motivate you, have someone to discuss business decisions with, and ultimately more fun.

• Just because I’m a college student, doesn’t mean I have to focus on the college market. There are a ton of opportunities out there that don’t have the threat of Facebook taking over at any minute. This requires thinking outside of the box and looking beyond your immediate environment. When you’re in college that seems like your entire world. However, there are an insane number of communities and possibilities to explore.

• Don’t doubt yourself. I didn’t really reach out to any mainstream publications about Walamu. I kept my advertising limited and pretty local. Their were people who loved Walamu, but emailed me about not seeing much publicity about it. I guess that’s because most of my marketing happened online because I was too lazy to go flyering every day. However, I’ve certainly learned that it’s not impossible to get into publications like widely-read newspapers and that I shouldn’t limit my publicity because I have doubt in terms of it’s relevance to those publications.

• I’ve always liked to think of myself as a bootstrapping entrepreneur. However, most of the problems I ran into were because of a lack of funding. I never seemed to have enough money to get me to the next step. I now believe that if you have a business model you strongly believe in and that you can prove it’s value that there is no reason not to seek outside capital. It can only help you see your dreams become a reality. Why not do so?

That’s all I can think of for now. All in all, it has been a pretty crazy ride and people now refer to me as “Walamu” in order to get my attention. I’ll think of a way monetize the site somehow and keep it growing for the users. Believe it or not people are still posting on it even after Facebook’s launch of their marketplace. It feels like a failure and I sort of feel disappointed in myself, but I know I shouldn’t. Failure is a part of the game and I hope I continue to fail until I get it right.

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