Aviel Ginzburg, left, and Damon Cortesi

Aviel Ginzburg: There are plenty of good reasons to start a company and plenty of bad ones. For us, it falls somewhere in between.

This is actually our second attempt at giving it a go. Back in February of 2009, when Damon joined Madrona as an entrepreneur-in-residence, I was supposed to tag along as his right-hand man. We were excited to work together and had a pretty great offer on the table. But much to Damon’s disappointment, and let’s be honest, justified anger, I backed out at the last second. The reason being? I couldn’t stomach that amount of risk in a failing economy.

Now, nearly a year later, the risk is most definitely still there. But it sure as hell seems like the best time since I’ve moved to Seattle to build a new company.

But let’s be honest, most decisions in life aren’t based on pure choice alone.

In Damon's case, given how much time he had invested in building social media applications, it was a "now-or-never" decision to take the leap in these uncertain times.

He began that process by roping me in to apply to Y Combinator, the well known high-tech incubator.

We were invited to interview. And, even though we chose not to go for a number of reasons, it was the last push I needed to venture out on my own. It also provided some initial validation for both of us.

The economic climate may still be unforgiving on a national scale. But we believe that now is the best time to start something new -- especially for those of us who aspire to do something different.

Plenty of companies are falling apart. And traditional opportunities are becoming few and far between. But, while most people cling to what they’ve got, Damon and I find ourselves doing the opposite almost to a fault.

In my case, it was leaving a profitable startup on the eve of $3.5 million financing.

All we see is opportunity. And we’re passionate about pursuing it at all costs.

The bubble has definitely burst for certain kinds of businesses, and I think that realization is the main reason Damon and I were finally able to focus our interests on a single business-to-business vertical. Up until a few months ago, every plan we hatched and every idea we had, had been grounded in a business-to-consumer model. (I’d be absolutely terrified to build that type of company in the current climate).

To us, the most promising opportunities lie in helping companies achieve their ongoing goals, all the while becoming leaner and more agile.

We, along with plenty of others, are watching this unfold. And it’s the driving force in why we decided to start a company. It’s terrifyingly unpredictable and chaotic, but it’s full of opportunity.

Our first step was simply launching a Web site to let people know who we are. That went something like this:

Aviel: "So, mind if I tweet this out?"

Damon: "Go for it."

And with that, I sent a message to Twitter about UntitledStartup.com. We had "launched."

Now, this isn't our product. It's simply the beginning of our trek towards building an open startup.

Why are we doing this?

First, we firmly believe in being as transparent as possible.

But, more importantly, we think that being open will shape the direction of the company in a more positive way than going into stealth mode for a year and popping out a product that nobody wants.

With that in mind, we invite you to come along for the ride. Tell us what we're doing right -- and more importantly -- what we're doing wrong. We'll be sharing our experiences along the way, hopefully removing some of the confidentiality that often surrounds startups.

Editor's Note: Startup Confidential is written by Aviel Ginzburg and Damon Cortesi. The series will follow the ups and downs of the Seattle technology entrepreneurs as they try to get their new business off the ground.