Websites for Veterans

Squarespace is proud to be working with Syracuse University’s Students in Free Enterprise (SU SIFE), an international non-profit organization where students develop and apply their business skills to make a difference in the world. Their latest project, EVB-Web, is focused on helping graduates of the nationally-acclaimed Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) program build professional websites for their entrepreneurial ventures, with Squarespace donating our services. 

The EBV program is offered through a national consortium of business and hospitality schools to provide cutting-edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management for post-9/11 vets, opening the door to business ownership for those who have served our country.

Matthew Gartner, president of SU SIFE, told us: "One of the key challenges that these veterans face is being uninformed when it comes to setting up a website. Not knowing what to expect, or the appropriate costs of website design can cause many veterans to pay for more than necessary. The goal of the EBV-Web project is to help open up this market to them with higher quality websites at a reasonable cost. The Squarespace platform has been an incredible tool to help the veterans, and their pricing model results in an average cost savings of about 75% to the veterans."

We're thrilled to be able to help these veterans build their businesses by removing some of the obstacles of creating a high-quality website. We've sponsored websites for 11 veterans so far, whose businesses run the gamut from property management to financial services to barbecue-sauce manufacturing. We're excited to watch the program continue to grow.

Participating in Bpeace

Last week Squarespace was privileged to serve as a host company for Bpeace, a non-profit network of business professionals who volunteer their skills to entrepreneurs in conflict-affected countries. In partnership with the Clinton Global Initiative, Bpeace's goal is to create one million jobs across 1000 communities, with the simple belief that more jobs mean less violence. Bpeace Fast Runners are remarkable entrepreneurs from countries like Afghanistan and Rwanda. They all share the vision that employment is the bridge to better education, less poverty, improved health, and ultimately, less violence.

We had the pleasure of hosting two Fast Runners from Afghanistan, both young entrepreneurs, in our office for two days. Reza owns a web and software development company. Farangis is a civil engineer who recently founded her own web hosting and design services provider.

Reza and Farangis spent time with many on our team, with discussions ranging from an overview of our industry, building a successful business, personnel management, strategic and financial planning, sales and marketing, IT and data center infrastructure, and PHP and JavaScript coding. In return we had the opportunity to learn about Afghani perceptions of American business, the challenges of the local business environment in Kabul, female entrepreneurship in their culture, and much more.

Squarespace is proud to have participated in Bpeace, and we look forward to continuing to help Reza and Farangis via email and Skype, and to participating again in 2012.

How Do You Squarespace? Meet CakeSpy

CakeSpy's Jessie Oleson wasn't always doing her dream job, but she certainly had a few interesting stops along the way.

She'd started her art career the 'regular way', with a degree in Illustration from the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. And then things took an interesting twist. "Before starting my own company, I was the art director at a refrigerator magnet company. No, really."

Now Jessie runs what she calls a Dessert Detective Agency, "dedicated to seeking sweetness (literally) in everyday life." She writes about bakeries, runs baking experiments, and seeks out all kinds of new awesome desserts.

Recently the job expanded yet again, with Jessie venturing into the world of retail. The official CakeSpy Shop occupies a small gallery/studio space in Seattle's hipster neighborhood, Capitol Hill. There you can find your go-to source for the sweetest art and gifts around. In describing the change of pace, she says, "it is nice to have someplace to go in the morning, and to have people other than my two pugs and occasionally the UPS man to talk to during the day."

I love the title "Dessert Detective." What have been some of your favorite discoveries over the years? 

Pretty much every day is an adventure as a professional dessert detective, and the journey is always delicious as I seek sweet things to write about, bake, and draw! I mean, it is my JOB. How cool is that? One favorite discovery recently was the "Pumpple", an amazing pound-and-a-half per slice monster of a baked good which has two whole pies baked within two cakes, all given a big bear hug with frosting.

What do you enjoy the most: illustrating, baking, writing, or eating? 

If you were to make a "pie" chart of it, I'd be equally split in four parts. I started CakeSpy exactly because my four favorite things in the world are baking, illustrating, writing, and eating. I think some days one will edge ahead of the others, but it tends to balance out over time.

It sounds like there isn't much room for improvement, but is there anything else you still want to try? 

I consider myself a lifetime adventurer, and there are so many things I would still love to do. I can't see myself in a non-artistic role, but I'd love to do more writing about history. I have an unhealthy obsession with backstories -- about everything, from cool buildings to food to historical figures to people I have just met. I have been told I am something of an interrogator.

Why does Squarespace work for you?

I have been using Squarespace for about 2 years now! I was so impressed by what I saw that I made the switch from Blogger. I adore it because it is user friendly, but very polished-looking. People frequently say "Who designed your site? I love it!"

What's next for you?

I have a book of my finest recipes and illustrations coming out in fall 2011 through Sasquatch Books! And, you know, in general, more baking, writing, illustrating, and eating!

Ready To Lead

It is with great pride that I announce today that Anthony Casalena, our founder, will be taking over as the CEO of Squarespace moving forward. 

Since starting Squarespace in his dorm room in 2003,  Anthony has always actively lead the company in its vision, strategy, design and product -- and is now more than ready to provide continued leadership for its next exciting chapter.  My three years here have been deeply rewarding, going from being the second employee to a team of 45 in a rapidly growing, profitable company. This is a decision we have all worked toward and I will continue to support Anthony and the company as an advisor to the board and a close friend to the team.

It has been a pleasure seeing people's dreams supported by our service.  Keep an eye on the company as it is headed toward exciting things!

Squarespace Fall Update

Not only has Squarespace been growing, but we're very close to launching some very exciting things that we think will make your lives easier.  Here's an update on what our priorities are at the moment.  We also figured since you've been so patient, you deserve a sneak peek. ;)

 Here's what's on deck for the current version of Squarespace: 

• Autosave - Autosave has been in beta for the past 2 months. Autosave can be a catastrophe if not properly implemented, so we've taken our time to ensure it functions elegantly and out of sight. We've gotten some great feedback and are almost ready to roll it out to every user. You'll only see it in your post editor for now, but it has the capacity to be implemented in other areas.
• Foursquare/Gowalla/Facebook Places Integration -  We're expanding our social widgets lineup with a brand new addition over the next 2 weeks.  Geolocation widgets will take your feeds from Facebook Places, Foursquare, or Gowalla and display them in typical Squarespace fashion. Fully integrated, customizable, beautiful.
• iPad App - You've been asking for it since before the iPad came out. Well, we're happy to say we're almost done with it. It's gorgeous, and we think you're going to love it. For you road warriors, we think this'll really help in keeping your post frequency up.  Look for this within the next 3 weeks as we deal with app store approval.
• Media Management Improvements - We mentioned this in our 2010 roadmap. It's been a while, and its come a long way. Before long, you'll see a brand new way of managing your photos & implementing galleries on your sites. Don't be surprised if this makes it over into other data types, either. This will be one of the fundamental blocks of the new Squarespace moving forward. 

Also, one more quick note about where the majority of our efforts are flowing:

The Squarespace V6 team has been working extremely hard at getting together the fundamental building blocks of our completely new template and developer systems.  These changes are, to say the least, major.  New editing interfaces, new datatypes, more flexibility, developer control over template code, a new template coding system, and more are in the works.  We’re determining which of these innovations will make it into Squarespace V5 -- so stay tuned.

That's a quick snapshot into the next few months of Squarespace. Looking forward to sharing more with you!