Matt Douglas is the co-founder of MyPunchbowl. Previously, he has worked at Adobe and Bose. He received his bachelors degree from the University of Rochester and an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina. Visit the company blog here.

How are you working to differentiate MyPunchbowl from similar services?

We think MyPunchbowl.com is an exciting new web application for event and party planning. We want to be your web destination from the moment you get the idea to have a party to well after the event is over. We're fanatics about ease of use and simplicity, and want to help users walk through every step of the event and party planning process. Not only are our features different and more useful than what's out there now - but we think our user interface is the best in class. And our users agree.

How important do you think a relevant undergraduate degree is for Web 2.0 business? What has your music degree done for you?

The reality is that your undergraduate major doesn't matter at all. Should you get an undergraduate degree? Absolutely. But whether you major in Political Science, Music or French Poetry doesn't matter one bit. What matters is that you choose to learn. I took a lot of different classes during my time at the University of Rochester. At the end of the day, I felt that I learned the most in my music classes. Music, just like web technology, is a whole different language. First you need to learn the basics, separate the noise from the important facts, and then learn to focus on the things that matter. I think the ability to learn quickly and focus on what matters translates to the web startup world very well.

Do you have any warnings or words of wisdom for entrepreneurs looking to follow a similar path in business?

Don't give up. This sounds so simple, but I can't tell you how many times I've felt like giving up. I've come out of meetings feeling like I shouldn't continue to develop MyPunchbowl.com. I've received emails that have filled me with despair. But then you go to bed, re-focus your energy and try to make incremental progress everyday. As I've learned how to navigate the startup world this is the one lesson that has become more clear to me everyday. Make a little progress everyday. Don't give up. Soon it starts to add up.

What type of funding is behind MyPunchbowl, and what are your goals in the foreseeable future?

Punchbowl Software is a privately held company with no outside investors. We're looking for the right investors to join our team, but it really has to be the right circumstances. Our focus is on making the best possible application for event and party planning possible that our users will love. The rest will work itself out.

Where do you get your knowledge, advice, and inspiration from? Any particular people or blogs?

Most of my inspiration, knowledge and advice comes from actual users. I love to receive emails and phone calls from users who have constructive criticism and feedback about MyPunchbowl.com. It's wonderful to hear how people use the application, and I get excited about how MyPunchbowl makes peoples' lives better. I read a lot of blogs - collectively they are inspiring. But nothing beats real user feedback. One other important note for anyone thinking about starting a company: make sure you have someone in your life that you can really lean on when things are tough. I have a wonderful wife who has been there for me at every step of the way. I wouldn't be where I am today without her.