Startup Stories: Nearly broke but full of hope, The New Hive comes to San Francisco

For the first two years of their partnership the three co-founders, fueled by a small friends-and-family round of funding, spent their days and nights designing what Verdin called a “philosophically perfect” platform for online self-expression.

Then reality set in. “We ran out of money,” Verdin told me. “We could either go back to normal jobs, or continue on this journey.”

Bucciferro, Clark, and Verdin decided to continue working on their project full-time, taking odd jobs and freelance clients along the way. “We were doing everything we could to stay afloat,” he said. “It’s one of the things we’re most proud of: sustaining ourselves, moving forward, and focusing all our attention on this project.”

Ultimately, the lean, hungry, philosophically pure years the team put into talking about building ended up being the glue that held them together. “That common ground is what’s kept us in it this long. Knowing why we’re in it allows us to overcome those conflicts.”

Finally, in the early fall of 2011, they had a working version of the site, TheNewHive.com. After so much time in incubation mode, the founders approached an actual launch with some understandable trepidation. “At that point, we had no idea how people were going to respond,” Verdin said. “We just started sharing it with folks, and people had a really great response.”

Hearing that the outside world was having fun with their app gave the founders encouragement, validation, and a new burst of energy. After a late August launch, the team moved back to Seattle from their island, and Verdin started coming to San Francisco in September.

As we watch the startup world evolve, we try to keep one eye on the Bay Area and the other on the many startup communities beyond it. They are vibrant, creative, interesting, and they spawn inspiring teams with astounding visions.

But for a litany of reasons — the money, the talent pool, the networks — the Bay Area keeps drawing these others in, its mass and gravity seemingly impossible to avoid for some entrepreneurs.

Verdin, who is from California originally, also felt that gravitational pull toward San Francisco.

“Initially, it was overwhelming,” he said. “When it first dawned on me that we were going to have to move the company, all the logistical details — giving up leases, folding up the office space, saying goodbye to our friends, girlfriends — we didn’t know how it was going to unfold.

“But we knew that San Francisco was the best possible place to succeed.”

I asked Verdin if he wasn’t a bit resentful about having to leave so much behind when he’d invested a lot of time building a life and a product in Seattle. “It was the same experience I had when I first left school,” he told me. “Dropping everything I had and getting on a train to Seattle — but it was exponential because I had a team of people who were going to have to go through it as well.”

But in spite of that, when I asked him if he made the right choice, he responded without a beat: “Without a doubt.

“There’s a pace, there’s a cadence to what goes on in San Francisco that’s hard to replicate. Today, we’re heads down, in the grind, cooped up in our apartment. All of a sudden, a tweet comes in, and we have this serendipitous encounter [with me, the journalist who wanted to meet an entrepreneur — any entrepreneur, for an on-the-spot interview]. It’s easier to manufacture serendipity in San Francisco.”

I ask Verdin if he has any regrets about his move. He pauses for a long, still moment; one person, perhaps two people are vividly and obviously in his mind as he begins to answer.

“No regrets. A lot of really wonderful memories, people that have provided a lot of support and inspiration. But one of the great things about the web, it allows us to create connections that go beyond time and space. I can still connect with the people in Seattle even though I’m not there anymore.”

Even with those bittersweet memories and half-severed connections, even with two weeks between today and his last day of rent, Verdin has a powerful belief in his team and the three and a half years they’ve spent together.

“Failure isn’t really an option,” he tells me. “We’re going to iterate until we get there.”

What advice does he have for others on this bizarre, risk-filled path of starting new companies and building new products?

“Overcome the habit of hesitation,” he said. “Anytime you feel that resistance, you start to come up with a million reasons you shouldn’t do something. But in your heart, you know you should.

“Express yourself passionately and with intention, and people will hear you and your dreams will come true. That’s what it’s all about.”

The New Hive is currently in private beta. Verdin has graciously offered 500 invitations to VentureBeat readers. The startup is also looking for a few good, likeminded folks to join them as they continue their journey and work toward a public launch.

Artwork by Jolie O’Dell