Say goodbye to your air guitar. Moniker Guitars, an Austin based company that builds and sells customer-designed electric guitars, launched their website on April 9. Now, instead of picking a guitar off the shelves, customers are able to customize their own guitar.

Boston natives, Kevin Tully and Dave Barry, co-founded Moniker in 2012, with the intention  of giving guitar players the opportunity to express themselves not only through their music but through their guitars as well. Users are able to easily customize their Moniker guitar by choosing the shape, color, and component parts. Users can even choose to add text or graphics to their design.

“Traditionally, buying a guitar is a lot like buying a car off the lot in that you’re limited to the options the manufacturer has provided you with.  Moniker is the first to offer musicians, who are creative people by nature, a chance to own a guitar that reflects their musical style both visually and sonically,” said Tully.
Kevin Tully and Dave Barry of Moniker Guitars

Moniker customers will also be glad to know that when you are designing your guitar you’ll get to choose from new and different shapes that are not always seen in the designs of manufacturers like Fender and Gibson. Moniker guitars are also environmentally friendly! They use all water based paints, which are less toxic, and they are all made from domestically sourced wood.

Barry, a 2006 Northeastern University alumni, decided to get involved with IDEA, Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator, when they were getting ready to launch their company. Through working with their coach, Moniker was granted funds in two rounds of Gap Funding. The funding acknowledged their business plan and the need for customized guitars in the market.

“We wouldn’t have been able to do any of this without the Gap Funding,” said Tully. “It’s been so crucial to everything we’ve done.”

For a limited time only, Moniker is offering $125 off of the order of a guitar by entering the promo code “SXMoniker12” at checkout. They are also offering free shipping and a free case with any purchase of a guitar!

Check out their website at www.monikerguitars.com and be sure to order your customized Moniker guitar before this offer runs out!

Now all I need are some guitar lessons!

When Greg Rublev, Dean Hantzis and Dustin Haines co-founded LeanWagon in September of 2011, they aimed to show how a few simple changes can dramatically affect one’s health. For Rublev, it was avoiding bread, pasta, and sugar six days a week that jumpstarted his own personal weight loss journey.

Rublev shared his success with friends and family, and saw that they too experienced great results after making changes in their diet. Inspired by the effectiveness of these gradual changes, Rublev and his team created LeanWagon.

Today, LeanWagon is about helping dieters to eat better and lose weight. The LeanWagon experience, however, is unique in that it is highly socialized. When users come to the site, they typically do so through the recommendation of a friend.

Beginning a few weeks ago with the launch of their newest version, users become part of a team immediately upon signing up (their older version had everyone as one big Beta group). Users also gain access to a professional coach.

Rublev explains the goal of this organizational change is to “foster activity within the teams, and enable competition so that teams that are most active in the efforts to help one another lose weight will be recognized and may possibly even win prizes.”

With the latest version, users agree to make gradual changes in their diet and to share their successes and progress with the rest of the team and with their coach. (Coaches are nutrition and fitness professionals, and are paid by LeanWagon.)

Rublev cites WeightWatchers as LeanWagon’s primary competitor, but differentiates LeanWagon’s services as inexpensive, and more convenient. Members do not attend physical meetings but, rather, track whether they are sticking to their commitments through the website. They also have the option to have chat and/or phone conversations with their coaches regarding their progress.

LeanWagon positions itself as a “fun ride to health and pride,” and their motto promises users the opportunity to “socialize your way to weight loss.” The service is available now for anyone who wishes to sign up.

The team behind this social weight loss application consists of three full-time founders who all work on business development, technology, and user interface. LeanWagon also employs two part-time developers. (Recently, the team delivered a pitch at Ultra Light Startup, and won second place honors.)

Currently, LeanWagon is looking for a part time team member to help develop content for the website and for their blog. The position includes collaboration between their web product experts and their product advisory board, comprised of health and wellness experts and creators of other web consumer startups.

Prospective applicants should be ambitious self-starters with an interest in wellness, fitness, food, or

Dean Hantzis and Greg Rublev of the LeanWagon team.nutrition, as well as with strong writing skills. The position is part-time, with the possibility of a full-time role. LeanWagon’s office is in Waltham, but most work is done remotely. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

To apply, email Greg Rublev, co-founder and CEO, at greg@leanwagon.com.

To learn more about IDEA, Northeastern’s Venture Accelerator, please visit our website.

We are thrilled to share the exciting news that one of our coaches and soon-to-be Northeastern graduate, Greg Skloot, will join Influencers@ LLC as their Chief Operating Officer (COO).

Aside from his exceptional work as an IDEA coach for the past two years, Greg passionately led a team of 24 as President of the Northeastern University Entrepreneurs Club, an organization of over 1000 members that has—under Greg’s leadership—become the number 6 collegiate entrepreneurship club in the world. He launched multiple new programs and graduated 35 new student-run startups from the club’s influential Husky Startup Challenge.

As COO for Influencers@, Greg will be responsible for marketing campaigns, day-to-day business operations, and the task of building a national network of motivated college students to serve as brand influencers for the company.

Influeners@ is an influence marketing agency that hits the streets and the web to increase awareness and create buzz for brands and solutions, focusing on the 18 to 30 year old demographic. They specialize in generating and delivering influence marketing via word of mouth campaigns, product sampling, street teaming, brand ambassador programs, event promotion & staffing, and promo tours. As an established leader at Northeastern and in the Boston entrepreneurial community, we are more than confident that Greg will prove to be a tremendous asset to the growing organization.

IDEA would like to congratulate both Greg Skloot and Influencers@ on this stellar business partnership. We wish Greg the best of luck as he begins his post-graduate journey on what we know will be the path to success.

Last night, the Northeastern University Entrepreneurs Club hosted the fourth Husky Startup Challenge. The semester long program works with students to develop their ideas into viable ventures, culminating with Demo Day. IDEA is a proud sponsor of HSC and looks forward to working with the newly developed ventures as they further their entrepreneurial goals as IDEA ventures.

Check out BostInno’s coverage of the event to learn more about the winners!

Here at IDEA, we work with first-time entrepreneurs on a regular basis. Our job is to provide a network of resources as we guide these budding entrepreneurs through all the steps necessary to propel their ideas into real, successful businesses.

We decided to compile a list of the top ten entrepreneurial mistakes we see students make as they learn the ins and outs of what it takes to survive as entrepreneurs in today’s complex society.

1.  Not having a clear focus. The most important—and often most difficult—part of starting a business comes down to knowing how to prioritize and understanding the tasks involved.

2.  Hiring the first person they interview. Venture Capitalists invest in teams, not just business ideas. It is crucial to put the time and energy into bringing the right people on board.

3.  Being too repetitive in their Business Plan. Keep in mind that while repetition can be good, too much repetition is a turn-off to potential investors.

4.  Not being open to constructive criticism. Entrepreneurs sometimes fail to realize that constructive criticism is an invaluable tool for them as they develop their businesses. Learning to see it as positive feedback can be largely beneficial.

5.  Rushing into funding. Entrepreneurs often pursue any and all sources of money before they have thought through their venture.  Planning always leads to more intelligent use of funds.

6.  Getting publicity too fast. Publicity is all about timing.  Waiting until your business has stories to tell and not just dreams to share will yield more effective coverage.

7.  Not communicating with customers. Entrepreneurs sometimes love products more than customers. Doing adequate market research will help you understand if you are actually meeting the needs of your customers.

8.  Not taking it step-by-step.  Entrepreneurs often don’t know where to start and how to set milestones, so they try to do everything at once. Remember that there is a great deal of value in milestones. What tasks are more important than others? How do you select milestones?

9.  Incorporating too soon. First-timers will often rush to incorporate their businesses before they should. It is beneficial to actually start business ventures before fronting the costs of incorporating to ensure that everything goes according to plan.

10.  Forgetting that entrepreneurs need to eat, too. Many entrepreneurs, particularly students, will draw up a three to five year plan in which they will not pay themselves a salary that allows them to survive after they graduate. Remember that entrepreneurs have needs too (like eating!) that simply cannot be ignored when planning a venture.

Dan Gregory, Chris Wolfel and Evan Stein contributed to this article.