Sun MicroSystems is teaming with social networking site Mashable.com to create a weekly review of new startups. The newly created category is part of their partnership to help startups with emerging ideas garner greater publicity for their efforts. In addition, Sun Microsystems, as part of its Startup Essentials Program with mashable.com is hosting a free event called “Startup Camp” in San Francisco on May 4 to 8. The event unfolds as a non-traditional conference, such that startup participants actively take part in sharing, networking, and discussing ideas as apposed to the accustomed practice of listening to the speaker rant about startups. Also, the event will showcase a competition for Startups to compete against one another for the title of “Best Startup” by means of a 5 min business pitch. Hence, for those who feel that this is unfound territory, then may I suggest you take a glimpse of a past event by Sun Microsystems by visiting SunMicrosystem’s startupcamp.

With all the hype surrounding facebook. Some established entrepreneurs as well as prospective startup enthusiasts
may look to facebook as a vital launching pad. Especially considering the amount of fanfare and traffic it drives. Not to put a damper on your spirit, but an comprehensive look from the Globe and Mail newspaper suggests otherwise. We should not blindly launch our site on facebook, without undergoing an analysis of our business, particularly if we would benefit as a B2B or B2C venture. Also, we should consider whether we have a grasp of what social networking really is and whether facebook as a business tool would ultimately allow us to reach our intended audience. I agree, the internet should be treated as any other business tool in the traditional business world and we really have to look at the pros and cons as well as the demographic involved if they will help you achieve your business goals. In that respect, the writeup comprehensively points out both the pros and cons of utilizing facebook as a launching period. It definitely was an insightful read.

Click here for the Globe and Mail article.

Jumptomap.com (United States) is a one stop map site that incorporates via a non-cryptic link various viewable mapping sites for your particular address.  These mapping sites include Google, Yahoo, Mapquest, Ask, MSN, Multimap, Maporama, Maps.com, Randy McNally, Maps On US, and Map24.

I had a chance to talk to the site founder Rahul Dhesi and this is what he had to say:

Why is your site different than your competitors?

It appears that there are no direct competitors at this time. My algorithms are patent pending (see more below) and that should give me a competitive advantage in the long run.

What is your business plan or model?

The plan unfolds in two stages. In stage one, this web site will simply provide a free, fast, reliable service that people can use with confidence. Everywhere on the Internet, that anybody provides a street map link to anybody else, they can use a simpler link instead. If stage one succeeds, then we get to stage two. Here, some of the algorithms behind jumptomap.com, currently patent-pending, can be generalized to apply to other services. If the underlying patents become commercially valuable, then the business plan succeeds and the monetization of the patents can occur.  The jumptomap.com web service itself remains free, and acts as a showcase for the patents. In the worst case, we may need to sell a little advertising. In any case: The jumptomap.com web service was carefully designed to have a very cost of operation, so it can be kept going essentially forever.

Why did you start this website?

I found it quite annoying that I had to manually type a street address into each different web site that provided street maps. A search engine could easily take a street address and provide links to multiple mapping sites, but they were not doing it. I decided to provide this service.

How are you planning to market it?

First, through publications like yours, which bring new and interesting ideas to the attention of readers. Second, by providing fast and reliable service. Once a person sending email or designing a web site decides to use a jumptomap.com link, ideally they should never have a reason to stop using it. It should just stay there forever, quietly in the background, acting as a marketing agent to keep traffic coming to jumptomap.com.

Any other information that you believe is relevant to your startup?

Start-ups get funded at various scales: tens of millions of dollars; millions; hundreds of thousands; sometimes tens of thousands. This one was funded by me at approximately $600 (which includes $105 to file a provisional patent application). At the rate we are burning cash, this will last for about a year. By then, we will know how well this venture will succeed.

Jumptomap.com, launched on December 19, 2007, is a simple site that will definitely cater to those who utilize multiple map sites and are looking for a straightforward interface. Definitely looking forward to seeing this site grow!

Click here to visit jumptomap.com