• by Laurie Petersen , September 24, 2007

In launching TeeBeeDee, an experience network for baby boomers whose lives are full of opportunity and remain "to be determined," founder and CEO Robin Wolaner says she set out to avoid the traps that caught up earlier failed or floundering ventures purporting to reach the demographic.

By positioning its content and networking community as a place for people ages 40 to 60ish, TeeBeeDee (at www.tbd.com ) skews more to an active sensibility than a senior one--a deliberate effort to avoid establishing a brand that would feel like AARP or some mashup of middle-and-old-age interests that is relevant to neither age group.

Wolaner also studied some of the failed efforts of the '90s--including Third Age Media and MyPrimeTime--to avoid the same outcome. The costs to establish a startup have decreased dramatically, the tools are now in places to enable real networking and collaboration, and the number of boomers who have reached the older bracket has hit critical mass.

The founder of Parenting magazine, 53-year-old Wolaner has bona fide online credibility as one of the early executives at Cnet, and has attracted a team with comparable credentials. Her former colleague, Shelby Bonnie, is now on the TeeBeeDee board.

Chief Product Officer David Markus was a founder of Thrive Online in the '90s, and most recently general manager of Yahoo Health. One early individual investor, Jan Brandt, was the marketing chief who put AOL on the map. A first round of funding in August came from Shasta Ventures and Monitor Ventures.

TeeBeeDee officially launched last week with no advertising. The door is now open to advertisers that want to participate actively in the conversation--rather than plaster a banner on the side of a screen, Wolaner says.

In developing TeeBeeDee, the 20-member team based in San Francisco paid careful attention to ease of use. For instance, there are specific guidelines for codes that need to be typed in to share information. Rather than italic or numeric/alpha combinations that can challenge aging eyes, all symbols must be in clear type and spell out a real word. As a branded kicker, these are words like "Woodstock" or "Jagger" that have cultural resonance with the audience.

Wolaner declines any direct comment on the floundering Eons.com for 50+, which also purports to target boomers. Instead, she emphasizes TeeBeeDee's jumping-off point of 40-year-olds and its focus.

Among the community/content mix are "Real Life Scripts" offering solutions on how to start difficult conversations ranging from what to say to a teen when you think you smell pot on their clothing to what to say to a boss who's promoting other people ahead of you.

This week's programming features online dating makeovers from Trish McDermott, who founded Match.com.