CLOVIS, Calif. -- Want to know how to pop a wheelie or crochet a scarf? Ever yearned to share your knowledge of how to do the Hokey Pokey or how to disarm an attacker using nothing but packing tape?If so, the people at WatchDoit.com want to hear from you -- and, if you've got a video camera, they want to see what you've got to offer."As we're talking, I'm uploading video," said Brendan Kane, the 27-year-old president of WatchDoit Inc. in Clovis, Calif. "There's no time to waste."Kane and his small staff -- marketing assistant Yulia Chavez and videographers Troy Russ and John Gelbraith -- have been combing through hundreds of video submissions they've both shot and received since the company got started last fall.Of those submissions, about 150 are available on the site, teaching everything from how to replace your car's air filter to how to make a champagne cocktail -- oh, and lots and lots of skateboarding videos, most of them recorded at a Clovis skate park.Most of the videos were shot and performed by students at California State University, Fresno -- an important part of his business plan, Kane said. After all, instructional video sites such as eHow.com and the how-to sections of Internet giants YouTube and Google have built huge audiences.Kane envisions WatchDoit.com as a combination how-to site and social networking site like MySpace.com or Bebo.com, both of which have been bought up for hundreds of millions of dollars by media giants hungry for their online audiences."I think we have a lot of talent in Fresno," Kane said. "This provides a venue for it."It's unclear whether starting with a core of young people -- armed with video cameras and talents both serious and silly -- will lead to the growing community that WatchDoit needs to thrive.Bulldog Capital Partners thinks it will. The Clovis-based venture capital group has invested an undisclosed amount to fund the company's startup costs, including video production and Web site development. Bulldog was introduced to WatchDoit through Fresno State's Lyles Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, where Kane was a graduate student."We've made a bet that we're very excited about," said Steve Heinrichs, Bulldog's managing partner. His firm supports "the whole arena of getting the attention of younger people and putting them in a social environment."Cassidy Smith, an 18-year-old Fresno State mass communications student, shares the buzz. She's shot about 50 videos for WatchDoit.com, including a series of interviews with other students asking them what they wanted out of such a Web site."What they like the most about it is that it's peers making these videos, people they can relate to," she said. "Kids coming out and doing Tae Kwon Do kicks, riding a unicycle, juggling -- it's amazing."The site's success depends on drawing advertising dollars. Kane said company programmers are building customized pages for businesses interested in creating a unique presence on the site, with the option of using instructional videos as a form of advertising. Stephanie Reilly, a 19-year-old Fresno State freshman, wasn't thinking of advertising potential when she shot several how-to fashion videos for the site. But if the videos lead to a "fashion buzz," that could draw attention to Poparazzi, the vintage bottle-cap jewelry business she started seven months ago and hopes to expand to include a line of clothing and accessories."I think it's a really great deal for businesses to hone in on a niche market of people interested in this Web 2.0 community," she said, using the buzzword for Web sites that incorporate community interactivity.Matt Sconce, the 26-year-old "Ninja Guy" who shares techniques for disarming attackers at WatchDoit.com, wouldn't mind attention from his videos. A martial arts student since the second grade, Sconce is also a filmmaker opening a production company in Fresno. He said he understands how video clips can propagate themselves across the Internet and create new audiences.It will all depend, he said, on how WatchDoit.com's community grows."The more recognition it gets, the more content will come," Sconce said. (E-mail Jeff St. John at jeffstjohn(at)fresnobee.com.)(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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