Well, we’ve never been shy about our obsession with Duke University. Most of us are Duke graduates, and some of us are current students there. So it made a lot of sense that when we wanted to get some photos taken of the team that we turned to Duke students. I mean, it was without question that we’d find a talented photographer from the obscenely talented and involved Duke student body. We were very impressed with what we found. Chase Olivieri, a freshman at Duke, took us all around downtown Durham today and took some great shots of us.

To check out some more of our photos, check out our Flickr account. There are photos from pretty much our whole history, including our summer in Berlin and our team trip to Jordan.

I like finding stuff on the internet about Duke and its burgeoning entrepreneurship scene. Shoeboxed is certainly a part of this movement toward encouraging entrepreneurship, so I like spreading the news as well.

Jim Roberts, the founding executive director of the Blue Ridge Entrepreneurial Council and the Blue Ridge Angel Investors Network, wrote a column the other day for WRAL, a local news source here in Durham. He was talking about the organizations and technologies that he thought were creating buzz in the Southeast tech community as 2008 begins.

In his write-up he gave a shout-out to Duke and the growing entrepreneurship economy in the area surrounding the university. Shoeboxed is definitely a part of this, and we are happy to see people talking about this great area!

Duke University will have a bigger influence on the Triangle entrepreneurial economy. Duke has expanded its entrepreneur program with the addition of a friendly face, Howie Rhee, formerly of the CED. Of course we all know Duke has the potential to be even more of an economic powerhouse with the brains and the resources. Will the university put it all together in 2008?

Hopefully Shoeboxed will get a mention in the Top 10 Buzz Creator list for next year!

First of all, I just wanted to say Happy New Year, as this is our first entry of 2008!

In the first few days of this year, lots of people in the U.S. will be focusing their attention to Iowa, watching with great interest what will happen in Thursday’s caucuses. But today, I’m thinking more about Idaho. And North Carolina of course.

According to the Idaho Statesman (”Idaho’s #1 website for news and information”), Boise has had a hard time attracting businesses to the area because of what one businessman called “the lack of entrepreneurial culture” there. In this particular piece, the author says that Boise needs some entrepreneurial spark in order to attract new business and stimulate the economy.

So why am I talking about it here? Well, the author gives a shout out to Durham, Shoeboxed’s home base.

What does it take to build the culture? Look a the Stanford/Silicon Valley connection or Highway 128 around Boston and Harvard University. The Research Triangle in Raleigh/Durham near Duke University has that intangible culture… “It” is a combination of a strong university, either engineering or management oriented; an incubator area for new technical ideas to develop economically; and venture capital to fund it. You also need like-minded, competitive, risk-taking individuals who want to do their own thing and who are willing to share experiences and knowledge.

Durham is an awesome place to start up a company, and we’re happy to be a part of the “it.”

It’s been about a week and a half since most of us left Berlin, and we have finally settled down in Durham, NC. We spent the first week trying to find a new Shoeboxed office (that doesn’t double as an apartment, like our last two have), and expanding our team.

Our new office is located in Brightleaf Square, one of the coolest areas in Durham. When I first enrolled at Duke as a freshman, this area was kind of dead, but since then, it’s been revitalized into a vibrant and popular (not to mention beautiful) destination. There are at least 10 restaurants within 100 meters of us, and it’s cool to have all the people, entertainment, and, well, food that come along with them. Two blocks from Duke’s East Campus, it’s also very convenient for the current students working with us.

We spent the whole day yesterday getting all our new furniture set up, and now we are enjoying our fully-functional and lively workspace. Needless to say, we are very happy to be in Brightleaf, and to be located in Durham! We look forward to being actively involved in both communities.

The office we have now is larger than the last apartment we were working out of (even though 12 people lived there…) so we figured we should have more people on the team. Well, okay, that’s not the only reason we brought them on. We are excited to have this new group of talented, smart, and extremely motivated people working on everything from marketing to server administration. It’s really exciting to see the team growing so quickly!

It’s another insanely busy day here at Shoeboxed. After moving back to Durham two days ago with Taylor, Tee and Rolf, we’ve been busy settling in, picking the perfect office space, and meeting all the new map-holding freshmen roaming around Duke’s campus.

But, wait, there’s more! Shoeboxed was featured this morning on Lifehacker.com, a popular blog that offers suggestions on how to “hack” your own life, or find inefficiencies in your daily routine and tweak them to improve your productivity. 

They wrote up an article and we’ve had lots of people visiting the site today, and we thank everybody who’s signed up. This kind of support means a lot to us.

Shoutout to Gina from Lifehacker! You made my day!

Also check out The Consumerist, where they gave us a little plug in response to the Lifehacker post.

Last week we were really excited about being in Zitty magazine in Berlin. But Shoeboxed is moving up in the world. Not only have we been featured in another magazine, but now we are on the cover! Towerview magazine, a publication put out by the Duke student newspaper, has identified us as one of the “Ten to Watch” at Duke in the coming year.

This is a big honor, considering some previous “Ten to Watch” winners have included the editor of the Internet phenomenon MediaBistro, Provost Peter Lange’s vision for Duke’s Strategic Plan, the once-upcoming Duke lacrosse rape trial, the Duke Global Health Institute, and of course, our friend Anthony Vitarelli. Needless to say, we are extremely happy about this honor.

The writer of this piece, sophomore Chelsea Allison, only communicated to us via e-mail and when we called her from the run-down Internet cafe down the street, but she managed to get everything she needed to write a great story. It’s weird to think that the conversations we had with her in those hot, small, and loud phone booths turned into such an awesome cover story.

Never before our recent launch has detailed information been publicly available, and Chelsea certainly did our product justice with her article. She wrote the article at the beginning of the month with some advanced, top-secret knowledge of the product that nobody outside the team knew. Towerview doesn’t have the opportunity to break news very often, but we’re very happy with how they handled it.

The process of putting together this particular issue was probably a little more complicated than usual because they have been switching over to a new design system this summer, and had to create a lot of their layouts from scratch.

If you are a returning Duke undergrad or a first-year Duke graduate student, you will get a copy mailed to your home address, so definitely look out for it in your mailbox. If you live on or around Duke’s campus, you can pick one up anywhere you would normally find a Chronicle. Otherwise, you can just access the article online here.

Stay tuned for more updates about Shoeboxed making the news in the coming weeks!

Earlier today I had the opportunity to read a particularly insightful interview with Richard Brodhead, President of Duke University. It originally aired on June 16th on China Radio International (CRI), China’s only worldwide radio station.[link] The interview was conducted by Xing Zong, a fourth year Ph.D. student at Duke University. He had the opportunity to ask Brodhead about his unique life as an academic and administrator and about his long-term vision for Duke.

Some people have criticized Brodhead for his lack of business experience, but in the interview, the president made it clear that entrepreneurship is a priority at Duke. Here is what he had to say:

Xing Zong: Once students are admitted, one of the big goals of a great university is to cultivate their independent thinking. It is far from enough to just learn what the textbooks give to the students. How do you think Duke has done in this aspect, so that students can keep learning for the rest of their lives?

Brodhead: First of all, the majority of our classes are small and the majority of classes are based on discussion, rather than allowing the teacher the final word. Therefore mental activity and independence are cultivated at an early stage. Right now we are also expanding the opportunities for independent research. For graduate students, needless to say, you already have to start your own research, but it is also important for undergraduate students. On the teacher’s side, it is important for teachers to realize, when you teach the students, the students also have something to teach you. So I think the real question is that whether the culture of a university favors independence, favors students taking initiatives, and favors students raising their own questions and trying to find the answers. Fortunately, the answer to these questions for Duke is “Yes”.

Xing Zong: I agreed that Duke has improved a lot in this aspect. Still I have a friend who studies in Stanford. He told me that Stanford encourages students to drop out of school and start their own businesses. How do you think Duke would treat situations like this?

Brodhead: This is a very interesting thing. When you think about Stanford, you always think about Yahoo and Google. If you study in Stanford, you will never get your physics Ph.D. (laugh) You will become a billionaire before that happens. We have a lot of students who study engineering, or biomedical engineering and from very early on, the school teaches the elements of design. You also learn entrepreneurship; how to solve the problem. So we are now consciously trying to develop the skills of entrepreneurship. We haven’t had our first Google yet, but just wait.

There’s not much more that I can say other than GO DUKE!

Shoeboxed.com. We’re looking to change the Duke start-up scene in a big way. Although we are currently in Berlin, Germany focusing on our launch, we will be moving to Durham in the fall - and there’s so much to be excited about. Soon we will offer a free service to help people automatically organize their purchase histories online. We know that people deserve a website that automatically makes their lives simpler. We also know that Duke University deserves a start-up that can unite the community and bring The Triangle Area the positive national attention that it deserves. Shoeboxed.com will be looking for talented members of the Duke and Raleigh-Durham community who are interested in getting involved. If you feel like you have what it takes, email help@team.shoeboxed.com and tell us why you’re awesome. Shoeboxed.com isn’t your ordinary company - we work hard and have fun doing it.

Duke’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization (CERC). The purpose of the center is to “bring knowledge and technology into the service of society”. CERC does it’s best to help bring ideas to the market. By helping to organize teams of talented individuals from diverse backgrounds and by providing these groups with resources from Duke and beyond, CERC has created strong and successful networks of entrepreneurs.

Fuqua Research Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. The mission of the center is to advance the scholarship, teaching, and practice of entrepreneurship and innovation. It was created to expand the focus of the Fuqua School of Business so that it would include entrepreneurship and innovation. Focusing on research in these fields, the center looks to contribute to both the knowledge and practice of pioneering business. Even though the center is still new to the Duke community, it plans to leverage the position of the university and the interest of its students and faculty to establish a world-class research program.
(more…)

The fact that Duke University is so quaintly located in Durham, NC was probably a deterrent for most students who were considering enrolling. However, four years later, chances are that this average Duke student will proudly claim their loyalty to Durham and display no sign of regret. The area is simply awesome.

Corporations, entrepreneurs, and anyone who is considering a job in business: consider the Raleigh-Durham metro area. This year, Forbes Magazine, everyone’s go-to source for financial literature and rankings, chose Raleigh-Durham as the number one best place for business and careers in the United States. Entrepreneur.com rated the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area as the third best metro area for entrepreneurs, and allbusiness.com declared the area as the best in the nation for female entrepreneurs.

The Raleigh Economic Development group sums up the appeal of the triangle area:

A growing number of companies — from start-ups to the Fortune 250 — are choosing to locate their corporate headquarters here in Raleigh. Why? They’ve found a dynamic hub of technology and innovation that puts them in the heart of world-class academic institutions and pioneering research. They know they can count on a highly skilled workforce, and the quality of life makes recruiting a breeze.

Further evidence in support of the Raleigh-Durham region can be found in a new legislative document, Article 3J. Designed to better the business climate in the area, Article 3J will give us significant breaks on taxes through credits. Basically, job creation and investment in business property will be eased through tax credits. As a thank you for migration into the area by multiple corporations, the triangle has put together multiple public financing, human capital development, and public investment mechanisms to make our lives easier.

So you might want to listen to Forbes, Money, FORTUNE, and the Employment review when they say that the triangle area is the number one place for people to live and work in America.

Click here to see what some of the major presidents and CEOs of corporations in the area have to say about business in the triangle.

I’m the first to admit that I’m proud to be a student of Duke University. A first-class education, a strong community of talented individuals, the opportunity to excel in any field you choose—you couldn’t ask for much more. Except maybe good sports teams. But we’ve got that covered.

I’m especially impressed with Duke’s ability to focus on what’s really important, when it’s important. When biomedical research was identified as a leading research discipline with the potential to make meaningful advances worldwide, the university made it a priority to establish a top-notch engineering program. When Duke made an effort to enhance sportsmanship and school spirit, they established what has become one of the strongest athletic programs in the country. And now it seems as though Duke may be making entrepreneurship its next project—encouraging students to think beyond the boundaries of contemporary ideas and solve problems in creative and innovative ways.

On graduation weekend, Richard Brodhead, President of Duke University, spoke to graduates about the importance of entrepreneurship. He suggested that the only way to assure success in the future is to “strengthen the culture of inventiveness, versatility, entrepreneurship, and creativity such that, whatever the future turns out to hold, smart minds will be here to seize the opportunities of that time,” adding that the most prepared individuals will “meet the future in imaginative, constructive ways”.

It’s those moments that make us feel good about what we’re doing here at shoeboxed.com. We’re proud of our university, and hopefully not too long from now, they’ll be proud of us.

Some team members haven’t slept in days. Some team members have tried to sleep but have been woken up by other jealous teammates.

April 1st was an ambitious goal and we’re going to make it. Thanks for all the support. We’re glad you’re as excited as we are.

Phase 1 is finally here. At this point we’re beginning closed beta testing (read: only for our dorky friends). But you’re next. Stay tuned to the blog for updates and sign up to receive an email when we fully launch if you want to be the first to know.

>>> Correction: We are now live! Sign up today for free organization of all your receipts!

It’s your life. You deserve to be in control.

What’s school work?

Edit: fixed links & added Sbx status correction 9/10/07 - MTR

Word association. GO!

shoeboxed. dot com. pom-pom. cheer. bring it on! game time. aggressive. baseball bat. pinata. PARTY!

When I think shoeboxed, I think party. And apparently I’m not alone.

There’s a real buzz on campus. People have seen some fliers, gone to the site, and want to know more. Admittedly, the homepage gives little information about the future of shoeboxed.com, other than alluding to our upcoming start date and beta testing. A brief digression: for those of you who don’t already know, many websites begin by allowing a limited number of select users to test their site and its features. Shoeboxed won’t be an exception. Starting April 1st, beta testing will help improve the backbone of the shoeboxed website. Security is our number one priority, and general users will enjoy the comfort of this feature from the start.

But not everyone knows the term “beta”. I mean that’s cool. I’m not judging. Alex, our Brazilian marketing team member, used to think “beagle” means “bagel”. But it was made especially clear that my friend didn’t know what beta testing is when she invited me to a Shoeboxed-themed Beta Theta Pi party. What do you even say to that? I certainly had more questions than answers, starting with “do you know that’s not a party?”, “what kind of theme is that?!” and “what am I going to wear?!” The expression on her face was one of utter disappointment when she found out that no such party would be thrown, and that it was only a website that was looking to change the world.

But I do think she’s right. If anyone could pull off a shoeboxed themed party, it would be Beta.