Lessons Learned: DanceJam's Geoffrey Arone on a clear, shared vision

Before he co-founded DanceJam with rap legend MC Hammer, Geoffrey Arone was an executive with Flock, which makes a social Web browser that won product awards last year from the editors of CNET and Mashable.

During his time there, however, Arone says that not everyone at Flock was working from the same script.  While he wanted it to focus on video and other rich media, others felt it was more of a bloggers' browser.

His experience at Flock, which was founded in 2005, taught Arone the importance of having -- or not having -- a shared vision.

"Make sure you have a clear vision," Arone advises new entrepreneurs. "Everyone in the company should be able to articulate the same vision." 

Arone is focused now on "people and media (like video and music) and the community that forms around them."

That's one of the reasons he got together with Hammer on DanceJam, which wants to be the premier dance destination site on the Web. You can see DanceJam's Vator.tv pitch here.

Another lesson he's learned concerns corporate governance and the allocation of a startup's equity, including "saving parts of the company for people you haven't hired yet."

When raising money, "it's important to think about the next six to 12 months, because they go by very quickly," Arone says.

To see Arone and Hammer discussing DanceJam, click here.