Modern-Day Tech Startups Tread Carefully

Landy Ung and her boyfriend Wan Hsi Yuan work on their startup company out of their studio apartment on Oct. 30, 2007 in New York. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan) (Mark Lennihan - AP)

Eighteen months later, the site was launched.

Growing it requires everything from algorithms to cold calls. 8coupon's 150 advertisers, most in New York City's East Village, start with free trials, then pay $250 a month. Two part-time employees help with sales, another works on the math needed to keep the site running.

The hardest task is converting new advertisers, Ung said. Since most users don't print their coupons, she makes sure everyone at a participating company is ready to honor coupons that exist only on a customer's cell phone screen.

The site has 1,700 users and depends on flyers and word of mouth for more. Users pick a coupon on the Web site, then enter their cell number to get a text-message coupon.

At the startup camp, a partner at a venture capital firm ran through a PowerPoint slideshow on what VCs are looking for: Companies doing things competitors can't with technology that's either patented or incredibly challenging to create.

As he went on, it was clear 8coupons lacked nearly every attribute he listed, but Ung and Yuan shrugged that off.

"VCs are all looking for the same thing," Ung said.

When The Twisted Burger in New York's East Village ran an 8-cent burger, $1 beer promotion, the restaurant was overrun with 500 customers and an hour-and-a-half line. Ung and Yuan ended up waiting tables and busing dishes.

"Our goal was to do whatever it took to make the event successful," Ung said.

Asked what success for her business will look like, Ung answered without a second's hesitation. "When a consumer thinks about local coupons, they'll think about 8coupons."