Startups

• Most Topular Stories

• Vertical Coworking News Roundup

  Small Business Labs

  Steve

  23 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  We've long followed the growing number of coworking facilities that cater to vertical markets, specific industry groups and/or professions.  It's even on our list of the Top 10 Signs Coworking is Growing Up.   This week a series of articles highlight this trend:  - Co.Exit's Forage Kitchen: A Coworking Space for Food covers a new effort to create a food-oriented coworking space.  The article mistakenly says it "may end up being the first full-fledged co-working space for food".  In reality there are at least several hundred…

• Demo Day: Pittsburgh’s AlphaLab Launches 6 Startups

  Tech Cocktail

  Kira M. Newman

  23 May 2012 | 2:00 pm

  AlphaLab was ranked as the 15th best accelerator in 2011, and today it added 6 new startups to its portfolio. Since 2008, Innovation Works’ AlphaLab has offered 5-month programs in Pittsburgh to mentor and kickstart startups, with office space and $25,000 in funding. Here are the 6 startups (all based in Pittsburgh): HeadRight Games: A game development studio that creates games for a variety of devices, based on a game engine that makes creation faster. Their first title is adventure game Amusement World!, or “Willy Wonka meets Disney world.” Led by 7-year game professional Matt…

• Business Cards Designed to Make You Think

  Rajesh Setty » Blog

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  19 May 2012 | 10:20 pm

  The consulting side of my life (Foresight Plus) is a combination of enough left brain mixed with a lot of right brain thinking. It’s about bringing creativity, storytelling and leverage to the marketing side of any business. So, my cards for Foresight Plus had to have a mix of all of them. A pack of 100 cards comes with 100 mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Each story is fictional at the same time comes with a life or business lesson. I call these ThinkCards – business cards that make you think. Recently, Prashanti Ganesh from The New Indian Express interviewed me for her…

• A Secret to Creative Problem Solving

  Entrepreneur Update

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  This mind trick is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs trying to find a solution to a perplexing problem.

• What Kind of Funding is Right for Your Business?

  Up and Running

  Jay Snider

  18 May 2012 | 12:01 am

  It’s the question that everybody starting a small business asks. Do I need outside funding or can I bootstrap my business. If I do need funding, what kind do I need, and how to I get it? Most businesses are actually financed by home equity or private savings. Attracting venture capital or angel investors is something that very few businesses will succeed at, though many will definitely try. And unlike investment money, borrowing will depend on collateral and guarantees over business ideas. So first and foremost, take a serious look at your financial situation and your business from a…

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  Fast Company

• If Your Employees Are Squabbling, Your Company's Probably Standing Still

  Ken Blanchard and Scott Blanchard

  23 May 2012 | 3:42 pm

  In today's changing work environment, it's important for leaders to provide clarity of direction. If they don’t, fear, frustration, and inefficiency start to creep in.In the same way that a bicycle is wobbly when it's standing still and becomes more stable the faster you pedal, the same is true with personnel issues at work. It's when the organization is standing still that people start to squabble.Three leadership strategies can help. The first is having a clear sense of where you're going. The second is having a plan for your people so they each know their role going forward. The third is…

• Dan Beckmann And Tom Hallaran’s Plan To Bring Big Data To Big Government

  David D. Burstein

  23 May 2012 | 3:19 pm

  If your elected officials suddenly seem less clueless, you might thank Beckmann and Hallaran, creators of Congressional analytics dashboard, Correlate. After the inauguration of President Barack Obama, Dan Beckmann, a former Obama digital team strategist, stayed in D.C. to meet with Congressional staffers on both sides of the aisle. Beckmann, 32, had previously worked on developing and implementing new media strategy for ABC News and Current TV. Now, with all that he had learned about using technology on a political campaign, he was eager to try and use similar digital tools to increase the…

• Pop Goes The Pivot

  Adam L. Penenberg

  23 May 2012 | 3:05 pm

  What do The Beastie Boys, Katy Perry, and PayPal have in common? They all pivoted. When the Beastie Boys formed in 1979, they were a hardcore punk band that dabbled in performance art, a fixture at clubs like CBGBs and Max’s Kansas City. Their first full-length album, Poly Wog Stew, with bombastic minute-and-a-half paroxysms like “Transit Cop,” “Jimi,” and “Holy Snappers,” owed as much to the Sex Pistols as it did Dadaism. Always on the prowl for the absurd, they started rapping in rehearsals, mainly as a joke. But when they tried it during performances something magical…

• Why Utah Matters To Virgin, Amazon, And LeBron James

  Ryan White

  23 May 2012 | 2:45 pm

  The Foundry, a Salt Lake City training ground for entrepreneurs, is challenging some long-held notions about how startup incubators should work--and captivating everyone from Armenian businessmen to Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh. UNITED STATES OF INNOVATION New Ideas, New Markets, New Insights All around the country, Americans are dreaming big. Their boldest ideas are changing their communities--and having a ripple effect throughout the world. CLICK HERE to read about pockets of innovation in other U.S. cities.  Two years ago Scott Paul was taking evening MBA classes at the University of Utah…

• 4 Strategies To Turn "Big" Into A Disadvantage

  Kaihan Krippendorff

  23 May 2012 | 1:49 pm

  Whether you are writing your first business plan or have been in business for years struggling against a larger competitor, you can multiply your chances of success by stacking together strategies that turn your (small) size into a sizeable advantage. In the last several weeks, I covered four such strategies. If you combine them all, you could completely change the game.This is what Ruckus Media is doing. Founded by Rick Richter, who until recently was the president and publisher of Simon & Schuster's children’s division, Ruckus Media is seeking to leapfrog its nearest…

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  VentureBeat

• Model the world with Wolfram’s new software for engineers

  John Koetsier

  23 May 2012 | 5:43 pm

  The wise carpenter has a simple philosophy: measure twice, cut once. Wolfram, the uber-geek’s software company of choice and organization behind the WolframAlpha “computational knowledge engine,” takes a slightly different tack: test as many times as you want, build once. Today the Champaign, Illinois company announced SystemModeler. Showing the same charming modesty as founder Steven Wolfram, author of “A New Kind of Science,” the company said this tool ushers in “a new era of integrated design optimization.” What that means, more or less, is that…

• Funding daily: Get off your butt and lose some weight

  Sarah Mitroff

  23 May 2012 | 5:09 pm

  We’ve got you funding news here on this windy-in-San-Francisco Wednesday evening. If want to stay on top of funding news as it happens, subscribe to our Deals Channel RSS feed by either clicking the red RSS icon at the top of this page or adding the Deals Channel feed link to your favorite reader. And as always, send funding news our way at tips@venturebeat.com. BodyMedia grabs $12M to whip you into shape BodyMedia announced a $12 million funding round led by Comcast Ventures. The company produces the FIT armband, which uses medical grade sensors to track movement and body temperature…

• Congress to probe Facebook, underwriters for answers

  Jennifer Van Grove

  23 May 2012 | 5:05 pm

  Add the House and the Senate to the growing list of parties with serious questions and concerns about how Facebook, its underwriters, and the NASDAQ handled the most anticipated initial public offering in recent history. Both the Senate Banking Committee and the House Committee on Financial Services are now officially looking into issues surrounding the Facebook IPO. The committees will be conducting briefings with all involved parties, spokespeople confirmed in statements to Reuters. The committees have yet to schedule hearings or publicly state what specific issues are under review, but we…

• We’ve seen the killer mobile browser, and you’ll never believe who built it

  Jolie O'Dell

  23 May 2012 | 5:00 pm

  Everyone knows it, but few people acknowledge it: Mobile web browsers absolutely suck. Technologists are launching commercial space flights, mapping the human genome, and building flexible computer displays, yet we still haven’t figured out the right way to use a browser on a small device with crap connectivity. That’s about to change. We’ve seen the next step — and it’s a really awesome, significant step — in mobile browsers, and it was made by none other than Yahoo. Today, Yahoo launches Axis, a new way of getting around the web, both on mobile and in…

• Google Voice creator’s teleconference startup UberConference wins TC Disrupt

  Sean Ludwig

  23 May 2012 | 4:39 pm

  Six companies battled it out for dominance at TechCrunch Disrupt’s Startup Battlefield today, but only one came out in top. That company was UberConference, a promising conference call startup from the creator of Google Voice. Craig Walker, the inventor of both Google Voice and DialPad, aims to reinvent conference calls with UberConference. The service wants to fix many of the problems that traditional conference calls have, including not knowing who is speaking as well as the often terribly annoying feedback. Using a variety of tech, UberConference calls show who is talking, mutes…

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  Inc.com

• Increase Your Retail Foot Traffic

  Scott Gerber

  23 May 2012 | 1:10 pm

  Tips on how to generate customer interest from Cyriac Roeding, co-founder of Shopkick, and Scott Gerber, founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council.

• You Can Compete with Free--and Win

  Frank Addante

  23 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  A good product is always more important than the free alternative, even when you sell yo-yo upgrades.I recently visited a colleague at home, where I met his 10-year-old son. When prompted by his dad, the boy--let's call him Andrew--told me about the yo-yo business he had founded with a classmate.Andrew and his partner offer services to repair and upgrade yo-yos for tricks with new parts like extra-long string and inner-gear modifications. With great pride, Andrew boasted that he made $13 his very first day in business. Then he told me that business had gotten tougher. "Some kid is trying to…

• Biggest Hiring Mistake You'll Ever Make

  Jeff Haden

  23 May 2012 | 9:35 am

  Let a good one get away? That's a bad mistake but not the worst. Here's the one that trumps all the rest.We've all hired people we just knew would be superstars... who turned out to be duds.And we've all passed on people who turned out to be superstars at another company. (If you're like me, you regret the ones you let get away more than the ones you had to let go.)Big mistakes? Sure—but not the biggest hiring mistake. Here's the biggest hiring mistake you can make:Failing to follow up with and provide closure to every person who applies for a job.Unfortunately it's a mistake most…

• The Hack That Helped Launch a Company

  Minda Zetlin

  23 May 2012 | 9:04 am

  Start-up Voyager Mobile got hacked--and wound up tripling the media attention for its launch.Sometimes being attacked by a cybercriminal might be a blessing in disguise.Consider Voyager Mobile, the new start-up that's reselling service on the Sprint mobile network, and getting lots of attention for three reasons. First, it's substantially undercutting most mobile prices, offering an unlimited talk/text plan for $19 a month, and an unlimited data/talk/text plan for $39 a month. Second, its founder is 22-year old New York University student John Mardini, who vows he won't drop out no matter…

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  23 May 2012 | 8:38 am

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  OPEN Forum Articles

• Few Small Businesses Claim the Health Care Tax Credit

  23 May 2012 | 2:45 pm

  From Courtney Rubin:  The tax credit designed to make it easier for small businesses to offer health insurance is underused, says a new government report. The Small Employer Health Insurance Tax Credit, created under the 2010 Affordable Care Act, became available to small employers—businesses or tax-exempt entities—for the tax years beginning Jan 1, 2010. It’s available to companies that have 25 or fewer workers, pay average salaries of $50,000 or less and cover at least half of employee health insurance premiums. The credit was projected to apply to between…

• 3 Tools to Make You More Time-Efficient

  23 May 2012 | 9:15 am

  From Kneko Burney: I don’t know about you, but running my business is like having not one, but two full-time jobs. It’s more often that I work 16 hours a day than I work just eight. Because my time–like that of every other business owner–is one of the most vital assets of my company, I am always focused on finding ways to save it. It’s all about efficiency and innovation: If I have more time to think or rest, the better work I will do and the more contributions I can make to my businesses success. There are probably many things that my employees or I could do to…

• Company Culture Part 2: Turning Your Culture Around

  23 May 2012 | 7:45 am

  From Erik Rhey: Do you have employees who are bored, unproductive, snarky, late, selfish or any combination thereof? In Part 2 of our Special Feature series on company culture, we take a look at how to turn the tide of a negative culture and get the atmosphere you want. Wise Bread’s Julie Rains gives you the 10 ways to identify a bad culture. And Katie Morell shows you tips for dealing with the “culture killer” in your company as well as tips for changing that bad vibe. And you’ll hear from small businesspeople who have created or fostered cool cultures. Finally,…

• 10 Signs of Unhealthy Company Culture

  23 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  From Julie Rains: Your employees may seem content, but you never know if they're just hesitant to voice their grievances to their higher-ups. Here are some telltale signs that they're unhappy, and how to treat your ailing culture. 1. Playing favorites. Some employees have frequent contact with you, resulting in a strong bond. He or she pleased with you and your company. But others don’t get much support—coaching, mentoring or encouragement—from their managers and colleagues. 2. Bending the rules too much. As a caring boss, you make sure that employees have the time…

• How to Deal With a Culture Killer

  23 May 2012 | 7:15 am

  From Katie Morell: It usually comes as a surprise when an employee turns into a culture killer. After all, the candidate fit perfectly during the interview process, but now that they’re in the trenches, you are seeing another side of them, possibly manifested in selfish attitudes, unprofessional behavior and tardiness. Before you reach for the pink slip, consider the following tips and watch your 'Debbie Downer' transform into corporate culture cheerleader. Train and demonstrate. Scott Crabtree, founder of Happy Brain Science, a human resources consultancy in…

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  StartupNation - Tips for Entrepreneurs

• StartupNation - Brewing Beer, Crowd Sourcing, and Advice for Startups!

  19 May 2012 | 12:00 am

  Hear about how Arcade is using their grant, his thoughts on crowdsourcing, and his best advice for startups.

• StartupNation - Hey, is there spinach in your teeth?

  18 May 2012 | 12:00 am

  Join host Brandie Kajino, as she talks with best selling author and small business advisor, Carol Roth, who dispenses some tough love for entrepreneurs.

• StartupNation - 5 Essential Keys to a Website that Sells!

  5 May 2012 | 12:00 am

  Does your website have what it takes? Come find out, and what you can do if it's not making the cut.

• StartupNation - 2012 Business Trends Review

  4 Apr 2012 | 12:00 am

  If you’re interested in starting it up, and you want to know where the action is, listen in to this interview.

• StartupNation - Making Your Website Mobile Device Friendly

  29 Feb 2012 | 12:00 am

  With the popularization of smart phones and tablets, more and more people are likely to hit your website from a mobile device.

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  Entrepreneur Update

• Small Businesses Suffer in States Hardest Hit By Housing Meltdown

  23 May 2012 | 2:12 pm

  Southeastern states have a particularly high percentage of small businesses being hamstrung by tight credit conditions.

• Eyeing a HUBZone? Hold Onto That Status

  23 May 2012 | 9:25 am

  When it comes to landing federal procurement contracts, getting certified under various set-aside programs can improve your chances. But a HUBZone status can easily slip away as an area changes.

• 3 Rules for Successful Crowdfunding

  23 May 2012 | 8:03 am

  Consider these tips before pitching the crowd to fund your startup.

• Bars Go Green

  23 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  How eco-friendly practices are helping drinking establishments attract a loyal clientele.

• A Secret to Creative Problem Solving

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  This mind trick is a powerful tool for entrepreneurs trying to find a solution to a perplexing problem.

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  TechCrunch

• Yahoo Debuts Axis, Their New (And Impressive) Desktop And Mobile Search Experience

  Chris Velazco

  23 May 2012 | 6:38 pm

  Late last year, Yahoo filed for a trademark on the phrase “Yahoo Axis.” The filing raised more questions than answers at the time, but after six months Yahoo has finally spilled the proverbial beans — Axis is both a new search-oriented add-on for your web browser, and a new browser app for iOS. Before I talk about what it’s like to actually use Axis, let’s first discuss why the hell they’re doing this in the first place. TechCrunch spoke to Yahoo’s Director of Product Management Ethan Batraski, and he told us his his job has been to figure out what search looks like over the…

• And The Winner Of The Third Annual TechCrunch Disrupt NYC Is UberConference

  Alexia Tsotsis

  23 May 2012 | 4:17 pm

  It’s been a whirlwind couple of days here in New York, as our expert judges watched earnest startups pitch their hearts out onstage at the third annual TechCrunch Disrupt NY. Thirty startups presented in the first two days, to be whittled down to six after much judge deliberation and founder bated breath: gTar, OpenGarden, UberConference, Ark, Babelverse and Sunglass. Those six had to come back today to present again, this time in front of super-hardcore finals judges Fred Wilson, Roelof Botha, Marissa Mayer, Mike Arrington, Chris Dixon, Eric Eldon and Chi-Hua Chien, who dug deep into…

• Kony Solutions Nabs $15M From Insight Ventures For Its Enterprise App Development Platform

  Rip Empson

  23 May 2012 | 3:03 pm

  Kony Solutions, the unfortunately named makers of a write once, run everywhere mobile app development platform today announced that it has closed a $15 million series C round of financing. The funding was led by New York City-based venture capital firm, Insight Venture Partners, a 17-year-old firm that has invested in companies like Tumblr, Buddy Media, Wix, Chegg, and Twitter — to name a few. Insight also led Kony’s $19.1 million series A financing, which it closed in January of last year. With its latest infusion of capital, which brings total funding to nearly $39 million, the…

• How to Get Involved With The White House Digital Road Map

  Gregory Ferenstein

  23 May 2012 | 3:00 pm

  President Obama’s technology advisors are looking for some “kick ass” fellows to work on the White House’s new digital road map for open government. Announced on stage at Disrupt 2012, CTO Todd Park and CIO Steven VanRoekel detailed five new projects, each which will need a team of open government geeks to help move forward. You can view the first part of the application process here. So, what are they looking for? Park told the audience that he’s looking for the first 5 people one would want to begin a startup with: a mix of people with technical expertise, an…

• Meg Whitman Details Layoffs To HP Employees In Internal Video, Thinks HP Is “Rebuilding Credibility”

  Matt Burns

  23 May 2012 | 2:20 pm

  Confirming rumors from last week, HP just publicly announced a layoff plan that will result in a reduction of 8% of its workforce. Shortly after releasing the memo to Wall Street, HP CEO Meg Whitman sent a company-wide video message explaining the future of Bill Hewlett and David Packard’s company. She acknowledges throughout that HP is in trouble, stating in the beginning, “HP’s performance is still not where it needs to be” and “We have a lot of work ahead of us to get HP back on track.” She also explains, a bit comically and perhaps erroneously, that…

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  Knowledge@Wharton

• JPMorgan's Big Loss: Why Banks Still Haven't Learned Their Lesson

  23 May 2012 | 1:25 pm

  When JPMorgan Chase announced a $2 billion trading loss a few weeks ago, it was seen by many as a warning shot -- notice that practices at big financial institutions can still, despite the lessons of the financial crisis, produce a toxic mix. Lawmakers continue to wrangle over the best way to moderate the systemic risk caused by financial institutions that are "too big to fail," and top banks have only grown larger since the crisis. What if several banks had big troubles at the same time? Could the ripple effects swamp the innocent, as they did a few years ago?

• Europe's Tragedy Nears the End of Act One, but the Drama Continues

  23 May 2012 | 1:25 pm

  More, not less reform: That's what Europe needs if the euro stands a chance of survival, according to experts from a range of fields at a workshop held on April 26 in Fiesole, Italy. Titled, "Governance for the Eurozone: Integration or Disintegration?," the workshop took place as Greece and a number of other European communities are at a breaking point, squeezed by austerity and an uncertain economic recovery. Against that backdrop, the workshop, which was co-organized by the Wharton Financial Institutions Center, among others, evaluated the steps that EU members are taking to…

• After Broadband: Imagining a Future When Connected Networks Are All-pervasive

  23 May 2012 | 1:25 pm

  What will the future be like a decade from now when fast networking and connected devices are almost ubiquitous? How will social, family and community life change? What will be the impact on fields such as manufacturing and health? A group of entrepreneurs, executives, policy makers and other experts brainstormed about these questions and more at a conference held last month in Wharton San Francisco.

• From Fringe to Mainstream: Companies Integrate CSR Initiatives into Everyday Business

  23 May 2012 | 1:25 pm

  Companies once viewed corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs with general skepticism and even contempt. How times have changed. Today, businesses around the world, spurred by consumers as well as a rising generation of more socially conscious leaders, are making CSR a priority, embedding it into their operations and using it to attract and keep talent.

• The Facebook IPO: What Went Wrong?

  23 May 2012 | 1:25 pm

  It has been a wild ride for Facebook lately -- and it doesn't seem to be over yet. The social networking giant made its long-anticipated market debut on May 18, only to see its stock barely rise above the opening price of $38. By May 22, the stock had fallen by 18%, and although it has bounced back slightly since then, some investors have filed lawsuits over how the company and Wall Street banks handled the IPO. What factors contributed to such a volatile debut? According to Wharton faculty, the problem is that no one knows for sure how to value Facebook's 901 million users.

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  swombat.com

• The mid-size market

  Daniel Tenner

  23 May 2012 | 11:16 am

  My first startup targeted the impossible market of "small businesses online". This was a disaster, since such a wide market presents a couple of insurmountable challenges. First, it's so wide that it doesn't have any specific needs. The problem with that is that the only way to get a new product out on a low budget is to focus on a clearly defined niche and be very specific and therefore better than the generic solutions out there. The second problem was one of marketing: it's impossible to target such a wide market. Jason Cohen describes another mythical, unattainable market: that of…

• The Toolbox: From idea to launch in 10 hours

  Daniel Tenner

  23 May 2012 | 6:16 am

  The Toolbox is a great little project by Sacha Greif that seems to be "sticking", so to speak. Sacha describes how he built the site in 10 hours: I realized that there was no such list available yet (or at least, that I knew of) and it seemed like the perfect week-end project. Never mind that it was actually wednesday, that’s just one of the perks of being self-employed! The thing is, we’re so busy with client projects and bigger undertakings that we rarely fully exercise those skills. For once, I wanted to have an idea and just do it, instead of writing it down in “the List of Doom”…

• A good day's work

  Daniel Tenner

  22 May 2012 | 11:16 am

  DHH: You can dangle yourself the carrot that it’s just until you get out of the first hole: “Once we’re live, it’ll all calm down and I’ll be able to relax”. But that’s rarely how it goes. The reality is that you’re never going to be done. There’s always more work. New initiatives, new customers, new competition, new technology, new ideas. One pattern to help yourself fight the mad dash for the mirage of being done is to think of a good day’s work. Look at the progress of the day towards the end and ask yourself: “Have I done a good day’s work?” Entrepreneurship a…

• Perspective on the billion-dollar exit

  Daniel Tenner

  19 May 2012 | 11:15 am

  Adam Siegel: Instagram sells for $1B. Evernote is now valued at $1B. Pinterest at $1.5B. 3 month old companies coming out of YCombinator are getting investments based on $10M+ valuations. And today will be the Facebook IPO which will likely put a market cap on the company north of $100B. As the founder of a small company in Chicago who only took $17k from YCombinator 6 years ago (YC-W06) and now runs a classic “lifestyle” business that support myself and a small team from client revenues, I find myself wavering between being fairly satisfied with the state of my business life to mild…

• Email subscriptions and linked posts

  Daniel Tenner

  19 May 2012 | 3:20 am

  First of all, it's awesome for me to be able to say that there are as of today 620 subscribers to swombat.com. Thanks to all those who have subscribed! I feel that email is a much better medium than RSS or Twitter to get user engagement. If you're reading this in your email, you should know that if you ever have comments on one of my articles, you can simply reply to it and I will receive your email (and read it!). My speed of reply has been less than stellar, but I do read every single email I get, and eventually get around to replying to it. Linked posts The other bit of news is that back…

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  SmartBrief on Entrepreneurs

• Wellness improves productivity, study shows

  23 May 2012 | 6:19 am

  About 58% of workers who took part in low-intensity exercises said they had "excellent" on-the-job productivity, up 17% from  -More- 

• 3 entrepreneurs who had to struggle against legal restrictions to start up

  23 May 2012 | 6:19 am

  Entrepreneurs sometimes have to bring about changes in the law before they can launch their businesses.  -More- Your business deserves easy savings Staples has low prices on everything you need to run your business. As the champions of easy, we offer a huge selection of high-quality, low-cost products and expert services. Enjoy extra savings with this $5 off coupon.Get it now.

• There's more than one way to be an amazing leader

  23 May 2012 | 6:19 am

  Typical leadership development techniques assume there is one set of best practices that everyone should follow, Marcus Bucki -More- 

• Big marketing mistakes you don't want to make

  23 May 2012 | 6:19 am

  It's a mistake to try to get your customers to buy your product too quickly, Ryan Caligiuri writes.  -More- 

• How to start checking items off your company's to-do list

  23 May 2012 | 6:19 am

  At times, it might seem as if your organization isn't making any progress.  -More- 

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  VatorNews.tv

• Facebook IPO devolves into epic mess

  23 May 2012 | 8:01 pm

  Lawsuits, accusations and investigations are flying; SEC, FIRA and both Houses of Congress involvedThe Facebook IPO is becoming a giant mess, with lawsuits from investors and investigations by government agencies and both Houses of Congress. Everyone involved in the IPO, from Facebook, to its underwriters, to Nasdaq, is getting sued by somebody. So who is being sued, who is being investigated and why? Let’s take it one step at a time. Congress The Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee are going to be investigating the circumstances surrounding…

• Shopkick enters 1,700+ Target stores for shopping kicks

  23 May 2012 | 12:41 pm

  Target shoppers can rack up rewards real quick with the new partner it has with Shopkick  Target has just become the largest retailer to offer shopkick check-ins and perks through the tech company's startup smartphone app. Starting today, Target guests across the country can use the app to check in during their shopping excursions and can earn points for a variety of future rewards. Shopkick is free application for iPhone and Android devices that partners with various retail stores to increase loyalty perks and offer coupons.  Now, when guests walk check into any Target they can…

• Amazon adds hundreds more movies to Prime streaming

  23 May 2012 | 10:32 am

  Netflix might start worrying that Amazon Prime offers a broader spectrum of digital content, perks  With summer blockbusters around the corner, Amazon is filling out its Instant Video catalog with hundreds of new movies from Paramount Pictures. Amazon's new licensing agreement adds to the 3,000 titles it gained from the March deal with Discovery.  Now the Amazon service that is competition with Netflix offers more than 17,000 movies and TV episodes for unlimited streaming by Amazon Prime customers.  Movies gained in this new agreement include Star Trek, Breakfast at…

• The content that's working for YouTube's $100M bet

  23 May 2012 | 8:49 am

  Head of original programming, Tom Sly, on YouTube's original programming strategyJust this week, Google led a $35 million investment in Machinima, one of the more popular video producers on YouTube. Earlier this week, Hulu announced its original content summer lineup.  Original programming by YouTube, Hulu, Amazon, Netflix is exploding. How will YouTube compete and what's working for the media company as part of its $100 million effort to build up original content?  I sat down with Tom Sly, head of original programming at Google's YouTube, who sat down with me recently. This is the…

• Today's Entrepreneur - Today's Entrepreneur: Robert Rice

  23 May 2012 | 8:08 am

  No. 1 mistake: Building the wrong teamToday's Entrepreneur is Robert Rice, Founder and CEO of LocalSense. According to his VEQ Robert is a thought leader and is  project development and technology design. LocalSense is one of the top contenders competing in the Splash LA competition. Check it out here.  Vator’s community is the home to entrepreneurs who embrace their passion and follow their dreams. Our profiles allow members to express themselves by sharing their interests, lessons learned, as well as bits and pieces of their roller-coaster journey. These profiles give…

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  Small Business Labs

• Vertical Coworking News Roundup

  Steve

  23 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  We've long followed the growing number of coworking facilities that cater to vertical markets, specific industry groups and/or professions.  It's even on our list of the Top 10 Signs Coworking is Growing Up.   This week a series of articles highlight this trend:  - Co.Exit's Forage Kitchen: A Coworking Space for Food covers a new effort to create a food-oriented coworking space.  The article mistakenly says it "may end up being the first full-fledged co-working space for food".  In reality there are at least several hundred…

• Academic Freelancer Woes

  Steve

  22 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  The PhD Now Comes with Food Stamps is an interesting article on the struggles of adjunct university faculty. Adjuncts are freelance faculty who are paid per course taught.  According to the article, the average adjunct is paid $2500 per course taught, but it can be as low as $600.  As freelancers they don't have job security or, in most cases, benefits.    This is very different deal than what tenured professors get.  Tenure is granted after a 5-7 year process at most universities, and once tenured professors are almost impossible to fire.  They're…

• Secret Freelancer Knowledge

  Steve

  21 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  Best selling author Neil Gaiman gave this year's commencement address at University of the Arts in Philadelphia. His theme was "Make Good Art" and in it he shared his "secret freelancer knowledge": You get work however you get work, but people get to keep working in a freelance world - and more and more of today’s world is freelance - because their work is good, because they are easy to get along with and because they deliver the work on time. And you don’t even need all three! Two out of three is fine. People will tolerate how unpleasant you are if your work…

• Why Small Businesses Aren't Hiring - VUCA

  Steve

  18 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  VUCA is an acronym developed by the U.S. Army War College in the late 1990's to describe their view of the future strategic environment.   It stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity and we think this group of words does a pretty good job of describing today's business environment. We also think this operating environment explains why a lot of small businesses are not hiring additional employees.  Things are simply too uncertain and too volatile to take on additional risk. Accounting Today's Private Companies Too Nervous to Hire covers a survey on…

• Super Temps to the Rescue

  Steve

  16 May 2012 | 1:00 am

  Excellent article in the Harvard Business Review on The Rise of the SuperTemp. According to the article: "Supertemps are top managers and professionals—from lawyers to CFOs to consultants—who’ve been trained at top schools and companies and choose to pursue project-based careers independent of any major firm." The article goes to say: Most supertemps are refugees from big corporations and law and consulting firms who value the autonomy and flexibility of temporary or project-based work and find that the compensation is comparable to what they earned in full-time…

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  Ben Parr's Entrepreneurial Musings

• Spamming My Friends With Facebook Ads Is the Wrong Way to Get My Attention

  Ben Parr

  21 May 2012 | 6:06 pm

  Tweet Facebook targeted ad fail, right @benparr? twitter.com/toddjolmstead/… — Todd Olmstead (@toddjolmstead) May 21, 2012 Being a former @Mashable editor is weird. cc @benparr yfrog.com/kk28138309p — Samuel Axon (@SamuelAxon) May 22, 2012 Thanks for spamming my Facebook friends with this ad, MyDreamDorm. Please don’t do it again.

• My adorable family!

  Ben Parr

  18 May 2012 | 4:03 pm

  Tweet

• A duck makes a hotel swimming pool his home

  Ben Parr

  16 May 2012 | 3:21 pm

  Tweet

• What is your favorite airline?!

  Ben Parr

  15 May 2012 | 4:57 pm

  Tweet

• Quora’s Worth $400 Million Now

  Ben Parr

  14 May 2012 | 2:22 pm

  Tweet WSJ reports: Question-and-answer site Quora Inc., started by two of Facebook’s earliest employees, Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever, has raised $50 million in a new financing that values it at $400 million, up from a valuation of around $86 million two years ago, said people familiar with the matter. The new financing round is being led by Facebook board member Peter Thiel, who invested with his own personal funds. Other investors in the new round include Silicon Valley venture-capital firm Northbirdge Venture Partners, which made the investment through its partner Jonathan…

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  Business tips for startups by proven entrepreneurs - Mixergy

• Grubwithus: How A Founder Tried EVERYTHING Before Finding His Hit Business – with Eddy Lu

  Andrew Warner

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  How does a founder, who tries everything end up finding his hit business? In this interview, you’re going to hear about the laundry list of companies that Eddy Lu co-founded with his partner. I want to focus on two of those businesses: A franchise called Beard Papa (which he still owns today and runs passively, apparently at only three hours a month), and Grubwithus, which has one of the most impressive collection of investors. Grubwithus is a social network that brings people together over tasting menus at top restaurants. Watch the FULL program Prefer audio? Great! “Right…

• How to systemize your business so everything will run smoothly, even when you’re out of the office

  ArieSaint

  22 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  This guide is based on Mixergy’s interview with Sam Carpenter. After fifteen years of working 100 hours a week on a failing business, Sam Carpenter acted on an epiphany that helped him earn 20 times more while working just 2 hours a week. He did it by systematizing his business, so we’ve invited him to teach you how to do the same with yours. Sam is the CEO of Centratel, which provides commercial telephone answering services to firms all across the United States. Here are the actionable highlights from the course. 1. Don’t do it yourself so the system won’t rely on you Sam…

• How Startup America Is Helping Americans Become More Entrepreneurial – with Scott Case

  Andrew Warner

  21 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  How does the man who helped found Priceline go on to help America become more entrepreneurial? In the mid-90s, Scott Case was the founding CTO of Priceline, the “Name Your Own Price” company that reached a billion dollars in annual sales in less than 24 months. Currently he’s the CEO of Startup America, which provides resources and connections to young companies and supports regional startup ecosystems. Watch the FULL program Prefer audio? Great! “Right click” here for the MP3 format. I use my sponsor Wistia‘s video hosting because of Wistia’s stats.

• How to create an Information product that sells

  ArieSaint

  21 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  This guide is based on Mixergy’s course with Greg Rollett. After Greg Rollett found himself broke when his band’s 20-city tour was cancelled, he started creating information products for indie bands and later founded a company that helps people create their own information products. It was all done by understanding how to develop successful information products for any market, so we invited him to teach you how to do it. Greg is the CEO of The ProductPros, which helps authors, experts, speakers, marketers, and other professionals create information products that take their business to…

• How to compete with giants in the app industry

  ArieSaint

  18 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  This guide is based on Mixergy’s interview with Cole Ratias. Cole Ratias knew his Facebook app might become irrelevant with the release of the official Facebook app, so he added features Facebook lacked to hit 10 million downloads and maintain stable download numbers. It was all done using app development and marketing techniques, so we invited him to teach you how to do it. Cole is the co-founder of Loytr, which is the developer behind mobile apps like MyPad, Timelines for Facebook, and G-Pad. Here are the actionable highlights from the course. 1. Create an app that’s in demand to…

• 

  Tony Wright's Startup Front-EndTony Wright's Startup Front-End -

• A Grand Experiment: Farewell Seattle, Hello Silicon Valley

  admin

  7 May 2012 | 9:12 pm

  This is a bittersweet post to write.  I love Seattle.  I love the people.  I love the scenery.  I love the startup scene and the underdog mentality.  I’ve actually written data-driven posts trying to justify this entrepreneur’s choice to live here.  I’ve cheered on as Glenn Kelman valiantly defended our soggy brand of entrepreneurship.  I actually kinda love the weather.  But over and over again, very smart people tell me that the best thing for my company is to move it to the Valley (see this & this).  The logic is pretty compelling.  Being a founder…

• Why is Apple Building “Yahoo Directories for Mobile”?

  admin

  28 Feb 2012 | 5:00 pm

  In the early days of the App Store, search wasn’t really that important. With relatively few apps (and very few good apps), the directory/browse experience was ideal. For those of you who were around/pubescent during dotcom #1, that might remind you of a nimble upstart at the time– Yahoo. They proposed to categorize and organize all of the worthwhile content on the internet and did a truly outstanding job– for a while. Eventually, the web got too big and Yahoo Directory collapsed under it. Enter: Apple. Proposing to categorize and organize all of the world’s apps. You…

• How to Evaluate a (paid) iPhone App Idea

  admin

  16 Feb 2012 | 10:15 am

  As I mentioned in my first post in this series, we dove into the App Store with a ($2.99) Productivity App called TouchBase Calender.  It was a part-time effort as we were wrapping up other commitments, with the goal of learning about the App Store, getting up to speed on the iOS SDK and Objective-C, etc.  This post details what we learned about the paid apps market and it contains data that I don’t believe exists anywhere else. First off– let me say that the paid side of the App Store is not where the real money is being made.  While you can churn out paid apps and make a…

• Mobile is What’s Next (for me)

  admin

  10 Feb 2012 | 10:15 am

  Photo by John O’Nolan In the nearly 1.5 years since leaving RescueTime (still growing and profitable– woot!), it could reasonably be said that I’ve flailed about with my career.  I’ve done a few gigs at existing startups, ranging from discreet projects to try-before-you-buy gigs that could’ve led to leadership positions.  I helped build Cubeduel.com (read about it on GeekWire or TechCrunch) with the eminent Adam Doppelt (it was a blast) and helped build TouchBase Calendar, a part-time effort to learn iOS development.  As far as flailing goes, I suppose…

• App Store Learnings (post 1 of 4)

  admin

  1 Nov 2011 | 10:48 am

  (We’re two web software geeks who decided to make a move to mobile. Our first app– built mostly on a part-time basis while we were wrapping up other commitments– is TouchBase Calendar, an iPhone Calendar app (iTunes link). It’s #5 or so in Paid Productivity as I write this. This series is about what we’ve learned so far.) Post #1: Genesis & Backstory (note: a little light on data/techniques) Post #2: Evaluating a (Paid) Mobile App Idea: How Much Could it Make? (coming soon) Post #3: Launch Strategy & Sales #s (coming soon) Post #4: Ongoing Marketing…

• 

  The Businessmakers Radio Show

• Sabrina Parsons - Palo Alto Software

  The Businessmakers Radio Show - Russ Capper

  19 May 2012 | 1:30 am

  Sabrina Parsons’ father, Tim Berry, was always dabbling in business planning and other entrepreneurial pursuits, so Sabrina grew up listening to her father evangelize about risk taking, passion and technology. Over the years, she and her husband made life decisions in the same way other couples did—but, well, somehow they were always in the right place at the right time. Several natural transitions—and gutsy decisions—resulted in Sabrina’s being named CEO of Palo Alto Software. Since taking the reins of the company in 2007, she has ridden the tech explosion, making more gutsy…

• BusinessMakers Classic Minute - George Zimmer

  The Businessmakers Radio Show - Russ Capper

  19 May 2012 | 1:30 am

  George Zimmer, the founder of Men's Wearhouse, talks about how he came up with his famous slogan "You're going to like the way you look, I guarantee it."

• School of Business 05/19/2012

  The Businessmakers Radio Show - Russ Capper|John Beddow

  19 May 2012 | 1:30 am

  Russ and John present the show that features those that make our lives better: the artists and the athletes of our free enterprise economy who create benefits for all of us. It’s NOT your business-as-usual school. Includes: the BusinessMakers Quote of the Week—useful wisdom from award-winning American writer Pearl S. Buck; This Week in Business History includes thermometer wars, the Lady of Spain, Bottle Shock and other random silliness from long ago; and the Jargon Challenge Round—trendy technospeak that YOU should know.

• Women Mean Business - Beth Williams

  The Businessmakers Radio Show - Leisa Holland-Nelson

  19 May 2012 | 1:30 am

  Women Mean Business host Leisa Holland-Nelson, president of ContentActive, interviews Beth Williams, Techtrans International Inc.

• PKF Texas: The Entrepreneur’s Playbook® - Paul Parsons

  The Businessmakers Radio Show - Greg Price

  19 May 2012 | 1:30 am

  The energy industry is volatile and ever-changing: never more true than today. Don’t be left uninformed. Greg Price interviews Paul Parsons, Energy Training Resources.

• 

  Up and Running

• New eBook on Revolution in Crowdfunding

  Tim Berry

  23 May 2012 | 9:58 am

  (Note: This post today is written by Kelsey Arnold of Social Media Today. And, like the politicians say on the ads, “I approved this message.” Tim) For entrepreneurs with the right strategy, this is an exciting year to launch a new business with high growth potential. The JOBS Act that was recently signed into law and the emergence of crowd funding related sites like IndieGogo and Kickstarter offer interesting alternatives to early funding, although not straight investment.  The social web is drastically changing the way young companies get noticed, monetize, and begin to grow.

• 7 Steps to Client Relationship Harmony

  Amina AlTai

  22 May 2012 | 8:01 am

  A strong business is built on relationships. Producing solid work is a given, but it is the people behind the work product, those that manage the process, and the expectations and outcomes that drive the success of a campaign. Keeping a client happy may seem more like the work of a psychologist sometimes, but there are a few sure-fire ways to manage the success of a campaign and thus the relationship. 1. Clear communication: Clear communication between the client and the service provider is paramount from the beginning. It is always better to over-inform a client rather than to under-inform…

• Free Webinar: Learn to Drive More Sales

  Jay Snider

  21 May 2012 | 10:58 am

  National Small Business Week kicked off yesterday with a three-day educational and networking event in Washington, D.C., recognizing the accomplishments and contributions of small businesses across the country. If you couldn’t make it to Washington this year, you can still benefit by joining marketing expert John Jantsch for a free webinar he’s offering in celebration of the annual event. The founder of the Duct Tape Marketing system, John will be giving you concrete suggestions on how you can grow your business. In “5 Ways to Use Online Tools to Drive More Sales,”…

• What Kind of Funding is Right for Your Business?

  Jay Snider

  18 May 2012 | 12:01 am

  It’s the question that everybody starting a small business asks. Do I need outside funding or can I bootstrap my business. If I do need funding, what kind do I need, and how to I get it? Most businesses are actually financed by home equity or private savings. Attracting venture capital or angel investors is something that very few businesses will succeed at, though many will definitely try. And unlike investment money, borrowing will depend on collateral and guarantees over business ideas. So first and foremost, take a serious look at your financial situation and your business from a…

• Tips from Winning Entrepreneurs

  Jay Snider

  17 May 2012 | 2:15 pm

  Every year, the folks at Entrepreneur Magazine name an Entrepreneur of the Year. They’re looking for a person who makes a positive impact and improves their industry, employees, and community with a combination of ideas, leadership, and vision. The deadline for entries this year is June 15, so you’ve got plenty of time to enter and share your story. Let’s take a look at some quick lessons you can learn from some past winners: Don’t give up: 2011 Entrepreneur of the Year Lee Rhodes was a mother of three fighting lung cancer when she was inspired to start glassybaby. If…

• 

  Tech Cocktail

• Demo Day: Pittsburgh’s AlphaLab Launches 6 Startups

  Kira M. Newman

  23 May 2012 | 2:00 pm

  AlphaLab was ranked as the 15th best accelerator in 2011, and today it added 6 new startups to its portfolio. Since 2008, Innovation Works’ AlphaLab has offered 5-month programs in Pittsburgh to mentor and kickstart startups, with office space and $25,000 in funding. Here are the 6 startups (all based in Pittsburgh): HeadRight Games: A game development studio that creates games for a variety of devices, based on a game engine that makes creation faster. Their first title is adventure game Amusement World!, or “Willy Wonka meets Disney world.” Led by 7-year game professional Matt…

• Meet 12 Showcased Startups at Tonight’s Tech Cocktail Seattle Mixer

  Monika Jansen

  23 May 2012 | 12:00 pm

  The Tech Cocktail team is excited to be back in Seattle tonight, long the home of highly innovative and impactful companies.  Only tiime will tell if one of the 12 showcased startups at our Tech Cocktail Seattle mixer will be their industry’s next Microsoft, Starbucks, or Amazon.  Thanks to our partner StartupCity for making the event possible. We look forward to seeing you tonight, but first, here’s a rundown on the company’s you can expect to meet: CoCollage: A digital bulletin board that lets you post photos, comments and content from sites like Facebook, all from your mobile…

• 5 Tips for Managing Interns This Summer

  Guest Author

  23 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  This post was adapted from the original that appeared on Social Tables’ blog. When I graduated from college in 2004, I was more confused than the day I enrolled. In an attempt to figure things out, I interned for a local Congressman.  After 6 months, I was hired full-time and asked to reinvent his intern program – and reinvent I did.  Fast forward 4 years: I created a diverse group of 65 well-trained, young politicos, many of whom are rising stars in the political world today. A lot of what I learned back then can be applied to your startup’s intern program.  Here are my top 5 tips:…

• National Small Business Week Laptop Giveaway

  Frank Gruber

  23 May 2012 | 10:27 am

  This week is National Small Business Week and the Small Business Administration is hosting it’s annual event in Washington, D.C. to celebrate small businesses. We are looking to also celebrate small business and thanks to Microsoft we are giving away a new HP Folio Laptop with Windows 7 Professional. HP Folio 13 The Folio 13 is both light and thin with specs of 3.3 lbs and only 0.7 inches respectively and boasts nine hours of battery life; an ideal option for business travel.  Windows 7 Professional is the perfect compliment to your small business needs with enhanced backup options…

• Napkkin: These Married Cofounders Think Business Cards Need a Makeover

  Kira M. Newman

  23 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  Jim Huang, PhD, is a former researcher at Microsoft Research and published over 20 technical papers. But he recently went from doing a lot of thinking to doing a lot of doing – i.e., starting a company – because he wanted to solve real problems and delight people. And delight is certainly lacking in the space he chose: professional networking, the realm of toppling piles of business cards and fake smiles. Huang’s iPhone and Android app, Napkkin, lets you swap business cards using a QR code. It’s competing with a host of other apps, such as Card Swapp (which also uses QR…

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  Forbes - Entrepreneurs

• Why Action Trumps Everything, When You Don't Know What To Do (A Case Study)

  Paul B. Brown

  23 May 2012 | 3:26 pm

  ?Do you practice what you preach,? is a question we often get.

• Value Considerations When Structuring A Joint Venture

  Lowell Yoder

  23 May 2012 | 3:20 pm

  In prior blogs (4/30/12 and 4/17/12) I discussed some key considerations in structuring a joint venture or alliance (JV) and focused on some of the issues that inform the decision whether to structure the JV as a JV entity or as a contractual JV (non-entity structure).  In many situations, the tax advantages of using a JV entity that is a tax partnership will outweigh the burdens, primarily in the form of the complex partnership tax rules.  Once that decision has been made, another set of tax rules must be considered?the transfer pricing rules. Transfer Pricing The transfer pricing…

• Venture Capital's

  Connie Guglielmo Tomio Geron

  23 May 2012 | 3:00 pm

  Borrowing a page from Mike Ovitz, literally, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz have created a VC firm that acts like a Hollywood talent agency--and has every entrepreneur in Silicon Valley flocking to their door.

• Inside The Club

  Ryan Mac Kerry A. Dolan

  23 May 2012 | 3:00 pm

  Silicon Valley runs on connections, and two of its biggest moneymakers go all the way back to college. Reid Hoffman and Peter Thiel reveal how entrepreneurs can break into tech's most exclusive network.

• Expanding In Style

  Hannah Seligson

  23 May 2012 | 3:00 pm

  CEO Harry Wang leads fashion house Shiatzy Chen in China Invasion.

• 

  Startup Professionals Musings

• 10 Concrete Steps to Assure Business Innovation

  23 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  Continuous innovation is required to survive in all businesses, beginning with a startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. Technologists often insist that new things can’t be invented on a schedule, but successful companies seem to be able to do it on a regular basis. Many people have tried to define a process for innovation, but most are too abstract for me. I like the easy to remember approach found in “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival,” by Robert F. Brands. It seems to be more concrete, and chronicles several decades of…

• 7 Reasons for Entrepreneurs to ‘First Know Thyself’

  22 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  If you are going to be a real entrepreneur, it’s important that you know yourself well. After all, you won’t have a direct manager charged with giving you feedback, and your team probably will be afraid to tell you what they really think. Entrepreneurs need to recognize their own strengths and limitations. In any case, your skills, talent, knowledge, personality, and strengths are your best assets as an entrepreneur. I’ve extracted many of the following points about knowing yourself from a book aimed at women professionals, called “Career GPS”, by Ella L. J. Edmondson Bell, Ph. D.,…

• Startups Are All About the Execution, So Tell Me How

  21 May 2012 | 6:30 am

  When entrepreneurs come to me with that “million dollar idea,” I have to tell them that an idea alone is really worth nothing. It’s all about the execution, and investors invest in the people who can execute, or even better, have a history of successful execution. Execution is making things happen, and for startups it usually means making change happen, which is even more difficult. For most people, execution is one of those things that seems obvious after the fact when done correctly, but is hard to specify for those trying to learn to do it better. Recently, I finished a new book on…

• 6 Key Attributes of a Winning Business Culture

  20 May 2012 | 7:42 am

  I’m seeing a renewed appreciation of culture and values in business these days. Maybe it’s just another example of nature abhorring a vacuum, but I prefer to think it’s a natural evolution of the pervasive social networking communities, where people relate to and expect to interact with businesses and products they like. They drive the market, rather than the other way around. Your values as you create a startup are the key to creating an enviable culture that attracts more customers, according to Ann Rhoades, in her book “Built on Values.” She would assert, and I agree, that you…

• You Can’t Be the Victim as an Entrepreneur

  19 May 2012 | 7:41 am

  People with a victim mentality should never be entrepreneurs. We all know the role of starting and running a business is unpredictable, and has a high risk of failure. For people with a victim mentality, this fear of failure alone will almost certainly make it a self-fulfilling prophecy. I’m sure you all know someone who is the perennial victim. The problem is that most of these people aren’t likely to accept your assessment, so it’s hard to help them. They don’t see themselves as others see them, and many simply refuse to accept the reality of the world in general. According to an…

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  Great Demo!

• Great Demo! Public Workshop May 23

  Peter E. Cohan

  2 May 2012 | 10:55 am

  [Warning – shameless self-promotion alert!] Our next public Great Demo! Workshop is scheduled to take place May 23 in San Jose, California – registration and additional information can be found here: http://www.skmurphy.com/blog/2012/02/23/great-demo-workshop-on-may-23-2012/ This is an excellent opportunity for individuals, small groups or for teams that have new hires. We’ve found that these events are most productive when there are two or more participants from each organization (singletons are also fine). This helps to mimic real-life interactions as much as possible, both…

• Why Structure a Demo Like a News Article?

  Peter E. Cohan

  1 May 2012 | 4:21 am

  Remember newspapers – the analog version of web-delivered news?News organizations have been presenting information for several hundreds of years, in print and more lately via the web, and they have learned some highly effective practices that we can employ in demonstrating software.Structure your demonstrations like a news article.  Here’s why…  Think about the news articles you read and consider two things:1.      How you select which articles to read 2.      How the articles are writtenChunks and Consumable ComponentsImagine…

• Demo Data – A Tough Nut

  Peter E. Cohan

  2 Apr 2012 | 11:45 am

  How can one set of demo data serve a broad range of customer situations and verticals?  (It may not be possible…) Presales and sales team often struggle with how specific data needs to be for their customer demos.  Demo data often ranges from highly generic, to moderately focused (on specific markets or verticals), to data that that is highly specific for certain areas.  At the far end of the spectrum are POC’s and/or POV’s where the customer requires the use of their data in the experience.Some demo teams invest a fair amount of up-front effort to generate meaningful…

• Using a VM for Remote Demos – Comments and Experiences?

  Peter E. Cohan

  22 Mar 2012 | 8:49 am

  I’ve heard a number of advantages and trade-offs regarding using virtual machines when presenting demos remotely (e.g., over WebEx or GoToMeeting).  One advantage is that using a VM eliminates (or hides) the possibility of the audience seeing IM’s or email previews and related notifications.  It also provides the ability to show a “clean” desktop.  On the other hand, using a VM may add substantial start-up time and/or complexity to operating remotely. What experiences and recommendations can you share?

• Terrific Situation Slide Labels

  Peter E. Cohan

  18 Mar 2012 | 11:36 am

  For internal communications and “controlled vocabulary” within the vendor I typically recommend using the following labels for Situation Slides:- [Job Title/Industry]- Critical Business Issue- Problem/Reason- Specific Capabilities- Delta- Critical Date/Critical EventWhile these labels are excellent for internal use, they may not resonate well with customers. Here are a set of labels offered by a recent Great Demo! Workshop team that were particularly well-received:- Your Challenge- Your Current Process- Your Requirements- Your Bottom Line- Your Target DateWonderful!

• 

  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

• 76ers Top Celtics To Force Game 7: Jrue Holiday, Elton Brand Lead Philadelphia To 82-75 Win

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  23 May 2012 | 8:18 pm

  PHILADELPHIA -- Jrue Holiday scored 20 points, and Elton Brand had 13 points and 10 rebounds to lead the tough-and-determined Philadelphia 76ers past the Celtics, 82-75 on Wednesday night to send the Eastern Conference semifinals back to Boston for Game 7.No team has won consecutive games in a series where neither team has played well enough to seize control.Read More... More on 2012 NBA Playoffs

• George Zimmerman's 'Cozy' Relationship With Sanford Police Questioned (WATCH)

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  23 May 2012 | 7:57 pm

  Neighborhood watchman George Zimmerman had a relationship with members of the police department in Sanford, Fla., long before he shot unarmed teenager Trayvon Martin to death in February, newly released information suggests.During a community forum on Jan. 8, 2011, more than a year before Martin was killed, Zimmerman, then a criminal justice student, told city officials he had ridden along with Sanford police officers on patrol. Zimmerman blasted Sanford police as lazy and criticized outgoing Police Chief Brian Tooley, who was forced from office in a scandal involving the son of an officer…

• Nuclear Submarine Fire Injures 4 In Maine

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  23 May 2012 | 7:53 pm

  Four people have been injured fighting a fire on a nuclear submarine at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.The fire is located in a forward compartment of the USS Miami SSN 755, according to a press release issued by the shipyard. Read More... More on Military

• Devils Beat Rangers In Game 5, 5-3: New Jersey Takes 3-2 Series Lead

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  23 May 2012 | 7:39 pm

  NEW YORK — Ryan Carter snapped a tie with 4:24 left, and the New Jersey Devils survived for a 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers after blowing a three-goal lead in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals on Wednesday night.The Devils, who led 3-0 before the first period was half over, have a 3-2 edge in the series and can advance to face the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup finals with a win at home on Friday night. If the Rangers can stay alive then, Game 7 would be back in Madison Square Garden on Sunday.Read More... More on Hockey

• Udonis Haslem Suspended For Game 6 Of Heat-Pacers, Dexter Pittman Out 3 Games

  The Huffington Post News Editors

  23 May 2012 | 7:29 pm

  MIAMI -- Udonis Haslem insists he meant no harm. The NBA deemed otherwise, and the Miami Heat will be without one of their co-captains when they try to close out the Indiana Pacers on Thursday night.Haslem was suspended for Game 6 of the Miami-Indiana Eastern Conference semifinal series, a matchup where emotions boiled over in a runaway Heat victory on Tuesday night. The NBA also said Miami reserve center Dexter Pittman will miss three games in response to his flagrant foul against Indiana backup guard Lance Stephenson in the final seconds of Game 5.Read More... More on NBA

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  youngentrepreneurfoundation.wordpress.com

• Best of Young Entrepreneur Foundation Blog – Part 1

  kathykormanfrey

  30 Apr 2012 | 5:48 pm

  This multi-part series features some of our most popular posts of all time. Best-Of celebrates the re-launch of our free entrepreneurship curriculum. It’s updated, and available to you here, free brought to you by an award-winning team. In addition to our free curriculum, use our blog posts as a mini-exercises with up-and-coming entrepreneurs, or a training discussion during the last 20 minutes of your company meeting. Today’s theme: Thinking Big. Topic one. Global Business. A few months ago, we ran a “The World Is Flat” series showing the ways in which businesses…

• How Small Businesses Can Protect Ideas: Trademarks, Servicemarks, Patents, and Copyrights

  kathykormanfrey

  30 Mar 2012 | 1:51 pm

  The scenario Patrica had just landed the largest account of her life with a multi-billion dollar corporation. She’d been waiting for this a long time. She “repped” (or, represented) the lines of several manufactuers and sold them to companies who might want to use them at events and conventions. Right as she was getting ready to process the order, she got a call from the client. Client: “We can’t process one of the five products.” Patricia: “What happened? Is something wrong?” Client: “We just got a letter from someone saying they have a…

• Meeting New Business Partners is Just Like Asking Your Crush on a Date – Intimidating But Worth It!

  mollyvyoung

  28 Feb 2012 | 9:54 am

  By Molly Young Dating can be intimidating.  Asking someone out for the first time, taking them on a date, filling hours of conversation, and then following up with a phone call or a text the next day so that you can hopefully go out again sometime all takes guts and determination. But dating is necessary to find the person you want to spend the rest of your life with. Dating can also be fun. Learning more about a person that intrigues you, sharing a fun experience together, and holding the hand of the person you really like all give you butterflies in your stomach while you are in the midst…

• Mentoring and Reverse Mentoring: The Key to Entrepreneurial Self-Confidence. 10 steps for Parents, Teens, and Gen Y at Work and at Home

  kathykormanfrey

  24 Jan 2012 | 10:44 am

  Jordan grew up in the generation in which – stop me if you’ve heard this, “Everyone got a trophy.”  What does this mean, exactly? A recent article in the Washington Post citing learning mastermind Dr. Carol Dweck helps us understand that “self-esteem on a platter” is not cutting it, and how important the feedback and correction cycle is to building true effectiveness for the next generation. Feedback? Correction? This is the kind of thing entrepreneurs focus on every day. These exact lessons – the ones entrepreneurs are forced to experience daily – are the exact model…

• Top 5 Resources for Young Social Entrepreneurs

  kathykormanfrey

  22 Dec 2011 | 1:29 pm

  The buzz of social entrepreneurship is on. It inhabits dormitory halls and high schoolers’ texts. It’s well beyond a trend. Social entrepreneurship is a movement. Well-known leader of the pack Ashoka has the following thought-provoking statement on its website: Over the past two decades, the citizen sector has discovered what the business sector learned long ago: There is nothing as powerful as a new idea in the hands of a first-class entrepreneur. Here are some go-to places, in key must-know categories, to keep yourself apprised of developments in the social entrepreneurship…

• 

  Where Young Entrepreneurs Meet and Start-Up » Blog

• A Not-so-nutty Idea

  Margaret Littman

  23 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  When Justin Gold first moved to Boulder, Colo., to ski, bike and decide what he wanted to be when he grew up, he did what most underemployed twentysomethings do: He found roommates. And they did what most roommates do: They took his stuff without asking. That stuff included Gold’s homemade almond butter, which he relied on to increase his protein consumption before long bike rides. Eventually, tired of his roommates’ pilfering ways, Gold scrawled his name on his nut-butter containers. But today Gold is grateful to those former roomies, because Justin’s–yes, he still…

• At College Pitch Contests, Giant Companies Are Listening

  Lauren Cannon

  22 May 2012 | 3:44 am

  You’ve heard of public/private partnerships. How about public/private pitch events? Telecom giant AT&T teamed up with Baruch College to host a fast-pitch session where last week eight New York-based college entrepreneurs vied for seed funding and a possible spot within AT&T’s Foundry, a network of innovation centers founded in 2011 and based in Palo Alto, Calif., Ra’anana, Israel, and Plano, Texas that seek to nurture innovative ideas for the advancement of the AT&T company, namely in the mobile marketplace. The two-month competition, AT&T and Baruch College…

• What Makes Facebook Worth So Much

  John Patrick Pullen

  21 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg says the popular social network was not created to be a company. “Simply put: we don’t build services to make money,” the CEO writes in Facebook’s SEC filing. “We make money to build better services.” Regardless of how the boy billionaire views his stacks of cash from the company’s historic IPO, he’s soon to be the envy of nearly everyone who’s ever hung out a shingle. What makes this social media venture worth so much? When you’re talking about a company as complex as Facebook and sums of money as…

• Branding’s Big Guns

  Paula Andruss

  19 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  There's no better way to dissect the how-tos of branding than to dig deep into the companies everybody knows and trusts. To accomplish this, Entrepreneur teamed with The Values Institute at DGWB, a Santa Ana, Calif.-based think tank that focuses on brand relationships, on a consumer survey that explored the reasons some brands manage to stay on top. What became clear: Though they may not have the biggest sales or market share in their categories, today's most trustworthy brands have created relationships with consumers through experiences that trigger a visceral response.

• Is Pivoting a Smart Strategy for Young Entrepreneurs?

  Annie Mueller

  18 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  It’s hard to flip open a newspaper or click on a website without reading about how some founder saved his or her business by pivoting. From Fab.com to Fair Trade USA, this kind of business switcheroo is certainly a hot topic these days. But is it relevant for young entrepreneurs? In a word: yes. First, what does it mean to pivot? To pivot is simply to switch from the original vision of the business to something different. The key is that the new focus is somehow related. According to Forbes.com and YoungEntrepreneur.com columnist Martin Zwilling, the term pivot “is properly used…

• 

  Grade A Entrepreneurs

• K.S. Krishnan, scientist and citizen, a Renaissance man in 20th century India

  admin

  12 May 2012 | 8:16 am

  On June 1946, at Buckingham Palace, a little kid born in Vizhupanoor in 1898 and who spent his early childhood in Watrap (both places now part of the Virudhunagar district in Southern India) became Sir Kariamanikkam Srinivasa Krishnan for his scientific contributions. Just one honor among multiple other national and international recognitions: the first was the Liège University Medal in 1937 and the second was his election to the fellowship of the Royal Society in 1941 (thus joining an exclusive group of only three other living Indian scientists, C.V. Raman, M.N. Saha and Birbal Sahni). His…

• The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk

  admin

  1 May 2012 | 11:04 pm

  San Francisco welcomed Jean-Paul Gaultier with open arms for the arrival of The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk, an exhibit originally created at the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM) in 2011 by Nathalie Bondil. The collection, which has already been shown in Dallas, will be at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco until August 19, then in Madrid from September to November 2012, and in Rotterdam from February to May 2013. Go catch it if you can! An installation rather than a retrospective The exhibit isn’t merely a retrospective, but rather an art…

• Women, Invent Your Future: Attend Ruth Stergiou’s conference in Sunnyvale (CA) this week!

  admin

  18 Mar 2012 | 6:05 pm

  Invent Your Future is the name of a Conference that Ruth Stergiou co-founded with Denise Brosseau in 2005 and of which Ruth is the CEO. The event will take place on March 22, 2012, at the Santa Clara Convention Center. I like the phrase: “Invent Your Future,” as even though women have come a long way over the last 50 years, we still have a lot to accomplish! Recent political events show that women might easily be dragged into the past, and we will once again face an uphill battle if we do not take control over our future. We must realize that “The Game is Changing,”…

• The New Relationship Marketing by Mari Smith: High Tech and High Touch

  admin

  27 Feb 2012 | 6:08 pm

  Mari Smith, probably the ultimate Facebook guru (see my review in March 2011), is also the author of The New Relationship Marketing that came out last October. Social networks tend to be perceived as channels, or as conduits that enable us to broadcast information in order to attract attention, and more often than not we may forget the key premise of social networking that Mari Smith’s book reminds us of: “People do business with people they know, like and trust.” So the whole point is: how do you get to be known from people, how to you get them to like you and how to you…

• Klip launches privacy circles for mobile video (available for iPhone on the App Store)

  admin

  2 Feb 2012 | 4:07 pm

  Numbers speak by themselves: Klip surpassed 1 million downloads in just over 100 days. That simple. Even if mobile video and video sharing are the rage, it’s still spectacular. Power Engineering = Ease of Use : A rather late comer to the app (no excuse when the founder is an old friend, Alain Rossmann), I must admit that I am blown away: it’s the highest quality video streaming around for mobile device with a fantastic recommendation engine suggesting videos, users and topics to follow; it includes SMS and iMessage to invite and tag friends. Klip stores my videos in the cloud and…

• 

  silicontap.com - Silicon Valley High Tech News

• HP Lays Off 27,000

  23 May 2012 | 2:35 pm

  Palo Alto-based HP announced today that it is laying off 27,000 employees, or approximately 8 percent of its workforce. According to HP, the move is part of a "multi-year productivity initiative", and will save it $3.0 to $3.5 billion annually in its fiscal year 2014. HP said the move includes early retirement, and will affect its workforce globally. READ MORE>>

• Google Simplifies iPhone Search App

  23 May 2012 | 11:01 am

  Mountain View-based Google said today that it has "completely redesigned" its interface for the iPhone, updating its Google Search app for the phone to provide a simpler way to find results and access Google apps. Among the changes are faster autocompletion of search suggestions, faster page loading, and access too all of Google's unified services from a single screen. READ MORE>>

• AirTime Takes $25M

  23 May 2012 | 10:54 am

  San Francisco-based AirTime, a stealth startup headed by Sean Parker, has raised $25M in a second round of funding. The round was led by Kleiner Parkins Caufield & Byers, and also include as Andreessen Horowitz, Accel Partners, Google Ventures, and Social+Capital Partnership. AirTime also has acquired ERly, a developer of social software. FInancial details of that buy were not disclosed. READ MORE>>

• Oracle Acquires Social Marketing Software Firm Vitrue

  23 May 2012 | 10:48 am

  Redwood Shores-based database giant Oracle announced this morning that it has acquired Atlanta-based Vitrue, which develops social marketing software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Vitrue's software helps marketers runs campaigns on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Google+. Vitrue was venture backed by Advent Venture Partners, Comcast, Dace Ventures, General Catalyst Partners, Scale Venture Partners and Turner Broadcasting. READ MORE>>

• Seagate Buys Controlling Stake In LaCie

  23 May 2012 | 10:44 am

  Cupertino-based disk drive maker Seagate Technology said this morning that it is acquiring a controlling interest in French storage products maker LaCie, in a deal worth approximately $186M. According to Seagate, it will acquire the shares of Phillipe Spruch, LaCie's Chairman and CEO, along with shares in his affiliates, which represent 64.6 percent of the company. Seagate said the deal would combine two "highly complementary" product and technology portfolios. LaCie is a provider of consumer hard disk drives, network attached storage, and software. READ MORE>>

• 

  Austin Startup

• Austin Tech Happy Hour is Tomorrow (5/24)

  Bryan Menell

  23 May 2012 | 12:42 pm

  Last change to pre-register and buy the cheap tickets to happy hour tomorrow. It's $7.50 if you pre-register, $10 at the door, and we give everyone two drink tickets. We'll be at Molotov from 6pm - 8pm with all your friends from the Austin tech scene, so please come on by and say hello! Continue reading →

• Sailpoint Continues Growth, Acquires CloudMasons

  Bryan Menell

  22 May 2012 | 3:27 pm

  SailPoint, the leading provider of governance-based identity management solutions, today announced it has continued to grow at a record pace, nearly doubling its bookings in Q1 of 2012 compared to the same time last year. In the last six months, the company has added dozens of Global 1000 customers, including three of the United States’ 10 largest companies. SailPoint now counts eight Fortune 20 companies and a fifth of the Forbes Global 100 companies as customers. As part of the company’s accelerated investment in cloud identity solutions, SailPoint announced that in January it acquired…

• Flash Valet Launches Mobile App

  Bryan Menell

  22 May 2012 | 2:26 pm

  Every driver has wanted to drop their car off with the valet on a night out but couldn’t because they didn’t have any cash. And every business owner has wanted to know what the night’s business looked like in real time without waiting for a lengthy report to be produced the next day. Convenience for the customer and control for the business owner – this is what Flash Valet introduced today for the parking industry. If you live in Austin, you might have noticed your parking receipt, or the valet stand having the "Flash Valet" logo for the past several months. Today it officially…

• Why I Chose Austin – More Recently

  guest

  22 May 2012 | 12:47 pm

  I met guest blogger Ben Dyer before he moved to Austin, since he runs the Atlanta version of AustinStartup, which is named TechDrawl. As a more recent transplant, he has a great perspective on our theme of the week, "Why I Chose Austin." Continue reading →

• Polygraph Media Announces Launch of its Big Data Analysis Tool for Facebook Marketing

  Bryan Menell

  22 May 2012 | 8:30 am

  Polygraph Media today announced the launch of its Polygraph™ Reports -- data mining and analytics for Facebook. With a data science approach, Polygraph works in real-time to collect data from Facebook Pages and subscriber-enabled Profiles, and quantifies it in over 40 charts, graphs, and data visualizations to give marketers actionable intelligence to inform marketing campaigns and strategies. As a “truth detector” for Facebook marketing, Polygraph Reports are ideal for brands with a major Facebook presence and the agencies or consultants who work with them. Continue reading →

• 

  entrepreneurship Resources | ZDNet

• London's thriving cloud start-up scene

  Phil Wainewright

  22 May 2012 | 6:33 am

  There's a sudden flourishing of cloud start-up talent in the UK. What's brought it about?

• Small cities, smart technology, big opportunities

  Andy Smith

  18 Apr 2012 | 1:15 pm

  Young entrepreneurs across the globe see additional opportunities for local governments to play a pivotal role by fostering and encouraging their efforts on a large scale.

• Internet castaways of BBC's Apprentice

  Phil Wainewright

  22 Mar 2012 | 10:22 am

  Lord Sugar's apprentices are learning how to be entrepreneurs in a parallel, non-digital reality where no one ever dreams of using their smartphone to look something up on Google

• Andrew Breitbart dies at 43

  Andy Smith

  1 Mar 2012 | 7:52 am

  Controversial Internet activist Andrew Breitbart died Wednesday night. He was 43.

• Student entrepreneurs develop ID badge alternative

  Charlie Osborne

  22 Feb 2012 | 1:53 pm

  Could mobile apps replace security ID badges?

• 

  Escape From Cubicle Nation

• Grow your business through referrals: expert interview with Bob Burg

  Pamela

  21 May 2012 | 3:16 pm

  This is the week of talent show finals: Dancing With the Stars contestants will be smiling and swirling on stage tonight, and American Idol contestants will sing their hearts out tomorrow for the grand prize. If there were a reality show for  Nicest Person on the Internet, Bob Burg would be in the finals, graciously Tweeting and writing his way into the hearts of millions. Professional speaker and author of bestselling book Endless Referrals, and co-author The Go-Giver, Go-Givers Sell More and their newest book, It’s Not About You, Bob has built his career around teaching people that…

• Announcing … Fantastic lineup of Spring classes from Power Teaching students

  ssanders

  16 May 2012 | 10:56 am

  In April, I ran another session of my Power Teaching class. Another extremely smart and enthusiastic group joined in intensive study of effective training design and development, and worked on real, live classes that they are launching this Spring. I love teaching this class for three reasons: It is exceptionally energizing to share my passion for teaching with completely open and eager participants They really worked their hearts out to apply great design to their classes, ensuring a superior learning experience for their students They were extremely generous with each other, sharing ideas…

• Expand your comfort zone, expand your market

  Pamela

  14 May 2012 | 2:04 pm

  Isn’t it wonderful to get to a place in your business or career where you don’t have to work very hard to make a happy, healthy living? Jim Collins calls it the “sweet spot” and Martha Beck calls it “The Promise Land” in her four-square model of change. Before you get to this spot, you long for it. You work hard to make it happen. And then when you reach it, and hang out there for awhile, a funny thing happens: you get itchy to get to a new place. You start to yearn to grow, and to leverage the success you have had to date in new and interesting areas. My…

• How blogging changed my life

  Pamela

  27 Apr 2012 | 11:14 am

  Once upon a time, I was sitting in my home office in Mesa, Arizona with a tiny baby boy in my arms, and a big idea in my head. “What if I could help all those people I met in my years consulting in large corporations who wanted to start a business?” It felt like crazy talk. I imagined disguising myself and going into the cafeterias of Silicon Valley companies and handing out flyers. I had no idea where to begin. Thankfully, through Andrea Lee, I met Suzanne Falter-Barns. Her course about building an online presence had an assignment to start a thing called a blog. I didn’t…

• Small Town Rules That Can Help Your Business, No Matter the Size

  Pamela

  26 Apr 2012 | 4:04 pm

  Becky McCray and Barry Moltz have just released their new book Small Town Rules: How Big Brands and Small Businesses Can Prosper in a Connected Economy. It is a fascinating resource with genuinely new insights for everyone in business. In my 20-minute interview with Becky McCray, we discuss: Common misconceptions people have about small, local businesses What large corporations can learn about branding from small business The formula for instant social media success (I am only sort of kidding – the way that Becky explained it made so much sense!) Download the podcast here:…

• 

  Rajesh Setty » Blog

• Business Cards Designed to Make You Think

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  19 May 2012 | 10:20 pm

  The consulting side of my life (Foresight Plus) is a combination of enough left brain mixed with a lot of right brain thinking. It’s about bringing creativity, storytelling and leverage to the marketing side of any business. So, my cards for Foresight Plus had to have a mix of all of them. A pack of 100 cards comes with 100 mini sagas (stories in exactly 50 words). Each story is fictional at the same time comes with a life or business lesson. I call these ThinkCards – business cards that make you think. Recently, Prashanti Ganesh from The New Indian Express interviewed me for her…

• Lessons from Facebook IPO that Startups Can Use

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  16 May 2012 | 8:25 pm

  Warning: This is blog post #1762 on this blog. This blog post falls into the 0.1% of the posts that fall under the “controversial” label. The profound lessons that startups can learn from Facebook IPO NONE! Yes, I am exaggerating this and I am intentionally doing this to make a point in the end. I will also keep this short else it will contradict my own point in the blog post. Reverse Engineering the Facebook Story Tomorrow is the Facebook IPO and I am not expert enough to predict what is going to happen. There are enough people out there who are qualified to construct a theory…

• Boundary Conditions

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  14 May 2012 | 6:02 pm

  While Sumukh was looking for some school supplies, I was browsing through the aisles of OfficeMax and ended up at the CLEARANCE section. As you can imagine, I was expecting rock bottom prices on the Clearance items. One of the clearance items caught my attention for a totally different reason. Here is the ticket for your reference: As you can see, the original price is $229.99 and the clearance price is $229.00. You will save a whopping 99 cents if you buy the item in clearance. Hmm.. Obviously, that item does not belong there and it makes no sense to announce a GRAND SALE that will save the…

• History in the Making

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  13 May 2012 | 6:39 pm

  Just imagine you get to work on a project of your lifetime. You know that this is history in the making and if you do well, it would give immense satisfaction. You know that it would be lot of hard work. Burning the midnight oil would be default on a few days. There would be sacrifices for sure and a price has to be paid. But you don’t mind paying that price as you know that the stakes are high enough in this game. Support Eco-System: People who love you are there to support you and deep in their heart they want you to do very well. After all, why would they not want you to make the…

• 9 Ways to Ensure that You Don’t Get Good Help

  thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)

  11 May 2012 | 11:39 am

  Here are 9 ways to ensure that you DON’T get good help: 1. You Feel entitled to receive help This is the number one reason most people go wrong. Nobody is entitled for anything. An exception may be with members of your circle of love but other than that you got to earn your way into getting good help. 2. Your timing is Wrong Mediocre help is everywhere and good help will ALWAYS be scarce. This means people who can provide good help are busy. Sometimes they are VERY busy. You catch them on those times and your chances will be slim. 3. You are an opportunity cost rather than an…

• 

  Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog

• Monetizing Commerce APIs [Video]

  David Chiu

  23 May 2012 | 1:03 am

  I recently had the opportunity to sit down with Matt McLarty of Layer 7 Technologies‘ Tech Talk Tuesday to discuss the monetization of APIs, and particularly talk about DCAPI (digital commerce API), the first “intelligent API” for ecommerce.Susbcribers, can’t see video? View this post on GetElastic.comInterview highlights / summaryWhat is the background on the Elastic Path story with APIs?At Elastic Path, the history and legacy of the company is the conventional ecommerce platform for retail, with a Web storefront, order capture, monetization etc. But one of the…

• 7 Wicked Ecommerce Applications of Shopping APIs

  Linda Bustos

  22 May 2012 | 1:03 am

  Ever wonder how Facebook Timeline and Twitter apps like Hootsuite and Klout are made possible? These social networks have made their APIs public (application programming interfaces), enabling developers to access their content and data in order to build their own unique experiences. In turn, these apps drive more traffic and usage to the social platforms, ensuring their long-term success (at least for the foreseeable future).Some APIs are even monetized. Google Maps is a “freemium” API, API access is free if the application built will be free for all users, or licensed if the…

• Why Web Users Don’t Click on Banner Ads [Infographic]

  Linda Bustos

  18 May 2012 | 1:04 am

  This week’s infographic explores who looks and clicks on banner ads. Continuing the theme of consumer fears about privacy, it’s not just lack of interest that causes users to shun banner ads. Consumers believe banner ads will prove to haunt them long after the click:31% are worried that their internet behavior will be tracked54% don’t trust most online banner ads they see55% are worried about getting a virus57% are afraid of receiving spam from advertisersClick image to enlargeNevertheless, ad spend is expected to grow by 23% this year, and Facebook will pull in $5B in ad…

• The Business of APIs: Interview with an API Evangelist

  Linda Bustos

  16 May 2012 | 1:03 am

  I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kin Lane, an API Evangelist, blogger at KinLane.com and API Evangelist, contributor to Programmable Web, and all-around expert in APIs.Kin is an engineer who has been building database driven web apps for 12 years, and working with data for over 20. Watching API usage really rise in the last few years and seeing it drive innovation in social, cloud computing and more, and so much talk on the technical side of the world, Kin began to explore the business side of APIs. What does it take to deploy, what business elements do you need to support an API? Not…

• EU Cookie Law: 4 Tips For Crafting Your Opt-In Request

  Linda Bustos

  14 May 2012 | 4:42 pm

  The May 26 deadline for compliance with the EU cookie law is rapidly approaching, and my heart goes out to all our friends affected by this ridiculous “solution” to a poorly defined problem.For a refresher on what the new law is about, check out Silktide’s brilliant (and humorous) explanation of it.I was asked in an interview by Mike Arsenault of Rejoiner last week what I thought of the law’s impact on personalization. My biggest concern is that consumers unreasonably fear cookies and their impact on privacy, without understanding how they make life easier for web…

• 

  Planning Startup Stories

• Copromotion Rant: Do Your Homework First, or Why Content is Like Children

  Tim Berry

  23 May 2012 | 8:39 am

  Please: before you send somebody an email about bundling your product with theirs, do your homework. Look at that target product’s specifications. Look at how and where it sells. Go to the company website. Look for ways that your product can enhance their product. Figure out ways that both sides can win with what you’re suggesting.  Don’t waste your time or anybody else’s proposing useless bundles. I really hope that I never again have to look at a proposal from somebody suggesting that I take my content, that I own , and substitute that for their content, that they…

• Quick Funny Disruptive Game Changing Paradigm Shift Video

  Tim Berry

  22 May 2012 | 10:27 am

  In my post here yesterday I questioned the value of the phrases “game changing” and “disruptive” for what every startup promises investors and few really offer. Right after posting I caught Sramana Mitra’s fun video cartoon here, a quick riff on the similar phrase “paradigm shift.” Aside from the fun video, I’ve mentioned Sramana before on this blog and I’m happy to mention her again in this post because the world of startups and entrepreneurship needs to be more aware of her 1M/1M program to help people succeed with startups.

• Do You Have What Investors Want?

  Tim Berry

  21 May 2012 | 8:41 am

  What do investors want? I’ve read more than 100 business plans in the last two months. Entrepreneurs are overwhelmingly predictable on this point. Investors want disruptive. Investors want game changing.  But not just saying it. Being able to believe it. Two of every three plans says it. Only a very few make it actually believable.  And believable, in this context, is still a matter of huge uncertainty. Nothing in startups is fully believable. The closest you get is an interesting market story about solving a real problem and doing something important differently, and a team that…

• Interesting Idea for a Hybrid Crowdfunding Solution

  Tim Berry

  18 May 2012 | 8:33 am

  This is interesting: what if some crowdfunding sites limit the investing to so-called “accredited investors” as defined by the SEC. I just read David Rose’s take on this at Quora. David mentions two sites, his own gust.com and angelist, that already group accredited investors. Up to now they work as platforms for getting investors together to look at deals, submitting deals to investors, and managing communications, research, and so on. But they could also register under the JOBS act, as he suggests:  … fully registered Broker/Dealers and actively facilitate…

• Some Suggestions for Family Business

  Tim Berry

  15 May 2012 | 8:49 am

  I’ve done business with my wife, daughter, son-in-law, and various mixtures of those. Of course the classic advice on this is not to mix business with family. But people do. I read somewhere that 62 percent of the gross national product of the Western world is produced by family businesses. Furthermore, I don’t believe (much) in general rules or best practices. But here are some suggestions that might help you manage the mix between family and business relationships. Beware of the crossover. The cause of most family business problems is the crossover between different…

• 

  KK Lifestream

• Third, the same type of fine-grained...

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Originally posted in New Rules ...decentralization is about to happen in publicly traded companies. During the 1990s approximately 4,000 companies "went public" in the United States. These corporations were newly funded by the investment of many small shareholders, who collectively contributed about $250 billion to these companies' equity. Right now, very old-fashioned hurdles prevent many smaller companies from accepting equity investments by the public. Some of these hurdles are legacies from the industrial era when communication and information were scarce. Some obstacles are simply the…

• Second, as the ease and price of transactions drop,...

  21 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Originally posted in New Rules ...the spread of ownership becomes fine-grained and ever wider. Smaller and smaller investments into more and more varieties of endeavors are possible. Several banks are following the lead of the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and offering microloans. These loans amount to U.S. $100 or less, and are made to third-worlders who use the money to buy a cow, purchase some yarn, or begin some other microentrepreneurial dream. The payback rate is around 95%, making these almost as risk-free as bonds. As one banking report says, "Lending to poor people in the shanty towns…

• First, the spread of ownership is becoming global,...

  18 May 2012 | 9:09 pm

  Originally posted in New Rules ...just as the economy itself is. In the last few years, Europe has suddenly sent a mind-boggling infusion of money into the stock markets. Europeans discovered equity culture and overnight invested hundreds of billions of dollars of their old wealth into the network of ownership. At the same time, hungry investors are pouring billions into the coffers of Asian and Latin American "emerging markets." Today, almost any investor in mutual funds, whether he knows it or not, has a stake in a company operating in a nation outside his own.

• This network equity is made possible by...

  16 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Originally posted in New Rules ...the same network technology--shrinking chips and expanding communications--that creates wealth in the first place. The tracking, accounting, and transmission of each person's wealth and slivers of ownership can happen only because computation and telecommunication have reduced the cost of a transaction to insignificance. Today there are 7,000 mutual funds--7,000 ways to divvy up the equity of wealth creation. And there are a similar number of publicly traded companies that have, in effect, divvied up their wealth to many owners. There are several trends in…

• Rules for Radicals

  15 May 2012 | 7:35 am

  Originally posted in Cool Tools Herein are pragmatic tactics for radicals and wannabe radicals of all stripes. Originally written for hippie revolutionaries in the 1970s, today both Tea Party and Occupy folks are quoting and studying it. The "rules" really work, but they are pretty ruthless. Think of this advice as anti-state Machiavelli. -- KK Rules for Radicals Saul D. Alinsky 1971, 224 pages $11 Available from Amazon Sample Excerpts: I present here a series of rules pertaining to the ethics of means and ends: first, that one's concern with the ethics of means and ends varies inversely with…

• 

  Preneur Marketing Blog - Pete Williams | Author Entrepreneur

• Preneur Community Survey Results

  pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)

  19 May 2012 | 8:22 pm

  Episode 54 of PreneurCast answers a bunch of the questions you all asked. If you’re interested in the platform we used for the survey check out Wufoo.com Preneur Community Survey Results is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams Don't miss out on the comments people like you have left, view this post online here: Preneur Community Survey Results

• Screwing Up? It’s a Matter of Perspective…

  pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)

  17 May 2012 | 2:22 pm

  All marketers love to talk about success. Especially bloggers! Nothing makes us happier than the opportunity to share tales of epic product launches, multi-million dollar handshakes, and awards that we’ve won, no matter how small. (Yes I see the irony – save the comments) But the failures..? Not so much. It’s not that they don’t exist. Every successful business owner will have plenty of battle stories to tell of bad business decisions, cash flow nightmares, and missed opportunities. It’s just not as much fun to talk about as the good times. Which is crying shame, not just because it…

• LD Magazine – Exclusive To The Apple Newstand + MagCast

  pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)

  16 May 2012 | 1:21 am

  Apparently when you launch a book or app these days you need a ‘trailer’ – Here’s a quick look at the 1st draft of ‘LD Mags’… Check Out The LD Mag App In The iTunes Store LD Magazine – Exclusive To The Apple Newstand + MagCast is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The Blog of Entrepreneur Pete Williams Don't miss out on the comments people like you have left, view this post online here: LD Magazine – Exclusive To The Apple Newstand + MagCast

• The 7 Levers: Increasing Your Prices

  pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)

  14 May 2012 | 2:49 pm

  Just wanted to share a video version of a recent PreneurCast episode Dom and I did about ‘Increasing Your Prices’ Raising your prices by 10% is an important lever in the 7 Levers of Business – and in this episode we introduce the concept of “price elasticity” and talk about 6 factors that can help you when putting your prices up. You can get the transcript of this episode and all the past PreneurCast episodes over at http://www.preneurmedia.tv/preneurcast/preneurcast-047-pricing/   The 7 Levers: Increasing Your Prices is a post from: Preneur Marketing - The…

• Creativity Through Routine: The Science of Momentum

  pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)

  11 May 2012 | 2:22 pm

  While planning for a recent working vacation (all vacations are working vacations, right?), I had to make a decision between taking my laptop, or my iPad plus a wireless keyboard. Knowing my weakness for cutting-edge technology… You’ll probably be surprised to discover that I opted for the laptop. I made the decision, not because I couldn’t get work done on an iPad, but because I simply wouldn’t be as efficient. I’d be messing around trying to figure out how to do stuff that I take for granted on my laptop. While poolside in Bali, I‘d be limiting myself to two hours work per day,…

• 

  Signal vs. Noise

• A good day's work

  David

  22 May 2012 | 10:09 am

  It’s easy to convince yourself that working until your eyes bleed and your fingers cramp is simply what must be done when starting something new. You can dangle yourself the carrot that it’s just until you get out of the first hole: “Once we’re live, it’ll all calm down and I’ll be able to relax”. But that’s rarely how it goes. The reality is that you’re never going to be done. There’s always more work. New initiatives, new customers, new competition, new technology, new ideas. Unless you learn to set healthy boundaries early on, human biology will set in and carve those…

• You only get one chance to be a beginner

  David

  21 May 2012 | 6:35 am

  When you’re new to something, all the pain is out in the open. You stub your toes until they’re black and blue on things the veterans have all learned to avoid. This is both a curse and a gift. A curse because it’s hard to make progress when you’re constantly getting snagged. Frustration is high and defeat feels scarily near. You might well give up entirely before you know the dance of the natives. But a gift, too, because you have the clarity to make things drastically better. You won’t miss the non-sense the veterans have long since accepted as the norm. Once you’ve acclimated…

• All the oxygen trapped in a bubble

  David

  17 May 2012 | 8:42 am

  There are many good reasons to be concerned about whether the internet industry is in another bubble. Once shaky, unproven businesses hit the NASDAQ, the chance that granny is going to lose her pension fund goes up big time. That’s the direct economic consequence that you’ve probably heard already. What hasn’t been discussed as much are some of the secondary effects that a bubble has on the industry. Like how it gets harder to hire good people as a consequence. Sure, you may have heard of The War for Talent, but it’s much deeper than that. This is not simply about the latest tech…

• Three quick Rails console tips

  Nick

  17 May 2012 | 6:59 am

  I was bouncing around the Rails API documentation yesterday, and I noticed a few rails console tricks I haven’t seen before. There’s been plenty of posts about irb and Rails before, but I’m hoping you’ll learn something new here. The following console samples were taken with Basecamp Next on Rails version 3.2.3. Dive into your app Running the app method in rails console gives you an integration session instance, so you can use it just like when you’re a normal integration test for Rails. >> app.class => ActionDispatch::Integration::Session Generating…

• We're hiring: Help us significantly improve conversion and retention

  Jason F.

  14 May 2012 | 10:18 am

  We’re looking for another teammate. This time we’re looking for someone who is completely focused on improving conversion and retention. You love moving the needle, one small step at a time. This job is all about seeing untapped potential. Conversion could be financial (get more people to start a trial or complete it – what we consider a “sale”), or outcome-based (inspire people to create more Basecamp projects by showing them creative ways to use Basecamp they never thought of before). Or something else. Retention could be reducing cancellations, or reducing…

• 

  OnStartups

• Freemium Pricing for SaaS: Optimizing Paid Conversion Upgrades

  Dharmesh Shah

  22 May 2012 | 7:11 am

  The following is a guest post by Rishi Shah, Co-Founder of Digioh and 500 Startups Mentor. Join his newsletter and get his eBook "10 Paying Customers in 10 Days" for free. I've been building a new product and I'm almost ready to launch it. However, I'm having a really hard time figuring out the right pricing structure so I'm going to analyze my favorite Freemium SaaS businesses. Here is what I know I want: A free plan. Since we are just starting out I really want people to use the product for free (no credit card required). I'm okay with killing off the free plan if it isn't working…

• Building It Is Not Enough: 5 Practical Tips On User Acquisition

  Dharmesh Shah

  2 May 2012 | 11:25 am

  The following is a guest post by Brian Balfour, Co-Founder and CMO of Boundless. You can read more of his writing on his blog at BrianBalfour.com. Stories about the growth of "hot" startups such as Facebook, Instagram, AirBNB, and others have created a belief that if you build the right product, customer acquisition will be easy. Don't be fooled. These stories are the exception, not the rule, and don't tell the entire story of the immense effort it took to grow their customer bases. Finding scalable acquisition channels is a time consuming and strategic effort. If you build it, they may not…

• Startup Founders: Don't Freak Out

  Dharmesh Shah

  26 Apr 2012 | 12:57 pm

  When I was working on building my first startup, Really Bad Things(TM) happened on an alarmingly regular basis. I was in my early 20s and living in Birmingham, Alabama (where there was no startup ecosystem at the time). So, when something happened that we thought would quite possibly kill the company, one of us (I had a co-founder) would freak out. Sometimes, both of us would freak out. Sometimes, we would freak each other out. Then, we would ultimately decide to take the Scarlett O'Hara (Gone With The Wind) approach — “I'll think about that tomorrow” and get back to work.

• Don't Make Raising Angel Funding Your Plan B

  Dharmesh Shah

  16 Apr 2012 | 8:20 am

  The following is a guest post by Chris Sheehan. Chris is a seed stage VC and angel investor at CommonAngels. You can follow him on Twitter at @c_sheehan and his blog Early Stage Adventures. I wear two hats one as a general partner of a couple of seed stage VC funds, the other as an occasional angel investor. Wearing my angel-investing hat, I wanted to highlight an issue that I encourage founders to be careful about when pitching. There are variations on the theme, but essentially it's a line that goes something like: “…we've talked to some VCs who are really interested, but they…

• Fall In Love With Your Business, Not Your Business Plan

  Dharmesh Shah

  30 Mar 2012 | 8:40 am

  That business plan, that business plan, I do not like that business plan. I do not like the writing part, I do not even like to start. I do not like them at a bar, I do not like them from afar. ~Dharmesh (with h/t to Dr. Seuss, who I read every day to my son) My feelings on business plans varies: from extreme dislike to just mild irritation. I don't think business plans are completely useless, just mostly so. And sometimes, they're even dangerous. Here's why… 1. Business plans are energy-depleting exercises. When I went to MIT Sloan for business school, I took what was (and is) one of…

• 

  Growthology

• Startup Act 2.0 Announced

  Jared Konczal

  22 May 2012 | 12:58 pm

  In 2011, the Kauffman Foundation presented a proposal of ideas we called the Startup Act that offered policy reforms to make it easier for new firms to start and grow. Some of these ideas informed the development of the Startup Act legislation brought forth by Senators Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.) in December 2011. Today, Moran and Warner, along with Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Chris Coons (D-Del.), unveiled the Startup Act 2.0. A press release from the Kauffman Foundation is available here. More information about the legislation is available on Moran's website…

• It Was (Is?) a Small Business Recession

  E.J. Reedy

  22 May 2012 | 8:20 am

  In the Washington Post Peter Orszag argues that this past recession was a small business recession. Others have been saying basically the same thing but what Orszag was really pointing to was that 1) it was a small business recession and 2) it has been a big business recovery.  Indeed, I would take it a step further than Orszag and say that these small businesses continue to operate like they are in a recessionary period.   Using experimental data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), Peter shows that big firms - those bigger than 5,000…

• Post-IPO Employment and Revenue Growth

  Robert Litan

  21 May 2012 | 12:43 pm

  The Kauffman Foundation released today a new study by Martin Kenney, Don Patton, and Jay Ritter on the employment and revenue growth of all companies that have made initial public offerings over the past 14 years. The report and press release are available here. The slump in IPOs, also shown in this study, has already been documented elsewhere, for example in previous work by Ritter. The new contributions from this study pertain to post-IPO revenue and jobs. As expected, after the IPO, firms experience significant increases in revenue and employment, especially if they are younger firms,…

• Attribution of Job Creation

  Robert Litan

  17 May 2012 | 2:49 pm

  Brad DeLong relays a piece in the National Journal that reproduces a TED talk from Nick Hanauer. Hanauer is an entrepreneur and venture capitalist from Seattle who offers some pointed thoughts on job creation, taxes, and inequality. Hanauer’s speech is brief, so do read it to judge for yourself. He seems to imply we incorrectly deify entrepreneurs as job creators. I say imply because Hanauer doesn’t actually use the word entrepreneur—instead he uses the terms “businesses” and “capitalists,” and it’s unclear to me if he’s primarily targeting his remarks at rich investors or…

• Global Container Shipping

  Dane Stangler

  17 May 2012 | 11:48 am

  This is awesome. HT: Big Picture.

• 

  Silicon Moon

• Introducing the Knowledge Graph From Google

  16 May 2012 | 10:53 pm

• FreeConferenceCall Launches in Korea

  9 May 2012 | 11:47 am

  HatTip to Carl W. I assume the response will be good. More from the wires, but the last line is amusing and wonder if they specifically put that in because it's Korea...FreeConferenceCall.com Launches Service in South KoreaFreeConferenceCall.com announced today that the company's free conference calling services are now available in South Korea. FreeConferenceCall.com, which has revolutionized the way domestic and international teleconferences are organized, offers a high-quality, reservation-less conferencing service that is currently used by approximately 15-20 million callers around the…

• Biz Dev Positions at Korea's Coupang

  1 May 2012 | 6:25 am

  Posting for Kevin Chung, who I've known for years:Coupang is one of the fastest growing e-Commerce companies in Korea. With over 11 million users, they have already achieved an annual revenue run rate of $700 million to date.OpportunityCoupang is looking to build a team of top talents and provide them with an unparalleled experience in eCommerce with the longer-term objective of creating the next generation of leaders for Coupang’s future businesses. For more detailed information on Coupang, please visit our website at www.coupang.comJob DescriptionBusiness Development Team will be…

• Best Job | P&G London 2012 Olympic Games Film

  30 Apr 2012 | 2:14 am

• HopeMob & Shaun King on CNN

  19 Apr 2012 | 11:50 pm

• 

  Leveraging Ideas

• Drivers of Technology Valuation Multiples

  Sam

  17 May 2012 | 8:23 am

  Interesting graphic from a write up by Blackstone on what is driving high p/e ratios for public technology companies  

• Reflecting on a Life Lesson: Changing People

  Sam

  12 May 2012 | 10:13 am

  I recently listened to a friend give a post-mortem on ending a business relationship he’d worked on developing for quite some time. As we were talking, we got into observing some life lessons and out of nowhere I realized that one particular lesson has continued to hold disproportionate weight in my life — that people don’t change. Or put a different way: you can’t change people. Now of course it’s possible that people can change: perhaps slightly, or in a way that becomes suitable or compromise-able, but my personal experience always seems to be that such a…

• Richard Feynman on Observing The World

  Sam

  8 May 2012 | 7:49 am

  One of my former consulting clients turned me onto Richard Feynman several months ago. This series of short interviews with him  is one of my favorites.

• Quora as Brand

  Sam

  6 May 2012 | 9:58 pm

  I’m back! In 2009 I wrote a post about why I thought Facebook was going to be HUGE (like Bible huge) by noting that Facebook was the most searched for term on the web. Well it’s 2012 and now I am super impressed with Quora. No, it’s not a Facebook scale company in the making — but here is why I believe it’s disruptive. Quora is a brand that stands for the best answer. Now I am biased because I work in tech and have a disproportionate number of questions and information I seek that relates to the type of information Quora caters to. That said, in at least 30-40%…

• The 20 Percent

  Sam

  28 Nov 2011 | 8:15 am

  If you simply read the headlines, you’d think that the economy — or at least spending by the average consumer — is on the comeback: Thanksgiving Day saw an 18% increase in online spending to $479 million. U.S. consumers have spent $12.7 billion already in the first 25 days of the November to December 2011 holiday season, up 15% from the corresponding days last year. Sounds good, until you remember that the income gap is real and the average consumer doesn’t matter so much in the broader context: When discussing “the consumer,” it is important to remember that in…

• 

  The Startup Pitch

• Pitch for EasyOfficeShare.com

  public

  20 May 2012 | 11:27 pm

  Company / App Name: EasyOfficeShare.com https://www.easyofficeshare.com What does it do? Easy OfficeShare is a saas application that helps people manage office expense sharing. We support expense creation via web or email; calculate splits and generate statements for you; store all your expense related data. Why do we need it? We make it easier for companies to manage office expense sharing, cut down the amount of time it takes to generate statements by hand, help eliminate the dreaded task of complicated calculations. Who is it for? Anyone who need to manage office expense sharing. (Ex. Law…

• Pitch for FindOfficeShare.com

  public

  20 May 2012 | 5:27 pm

  Company / App Name: FindOfficeShare.com http://www.findofficeshare.com What does it do? FindOfficeShare.com is a free website which connects individuals and companies who have extra office space with people who are looking to rent that space. Why do we need it? Quick and efficient way to list and find office shares. Who is it for? Office share listers and office share renters. What makes it stand out from the crowd? 100% Free, proximity based search, easy to use. What’s next? We will continue to enhance our product based on user feedbacks. Pitch Video http://findofficeshare.com

• Pitch for Mobile Time Clock

  public

  18 May 2012 | 7:29 pm

  Company / App Name: Mobile Time Clock http://www.mobiletimeclock.co.nz What does it do? Track employee time using QRCode based time cards and your mobile phone. Removes the hassle of printed timesheets for teams of workers on site away from your office. Why do we need it? To eliminate the hassle of printing paper timesheets, filling them in, sending them back to the office and manually entering them into payroll. Who is it for? Contractors, Field workers, anyone who tracks time with a paper based timesheet because they aren\\\\\\\’t in a fixed position. What makes it stand out from the…

• Pitch for SurveyLegend

  public

  18 May 2012 | 12:29 am

  Company / App Name: SurveyLegend http://www.surveylegend.com/ Twitter – SurveyLegend What does it do? It’s simple. We were fed up with online surveys that effectively put the user to sleep, so we built something new. SurveyLegend is a survey tool that approaches things differently by focusing on relaying information visually. Why do we need it? Traditional surveys of the pop-up-into-your-face variety are boring and annoying, yes. Especially for the end user, who’re put through page after page of questions. Thats good for you as a creator and for the respondents who will be ha Who is…

• Pitch for wordonthewire

  public

  17 May 2012 | 7:29 pm

  Company / App Name: wordonthewire http://wordonthewire.com Twitter – wordonthewire1 What does it do? wordonthewire is a web application that allows users to display results from multiple platforms in a single search. Why do we need it? We believe that an app like this could be extremely handy for web users, given the fast paced nature of the web today. People want to know what is going on with a certain topic, and this will let them know instantly. Who is it for? wordonthewire is aimed at providing the savvy web user with a multi-platform search tool, all neatly packed into one…

• 

  Campus Entrepreneurship

• University Efforts Grow in Support of Student Entrepreneurship | Chronicle of Higher Education

  David J. Miller

  19 May 2012 | 3:56 pm

  I was fortunate to speak with Beckie Supiano of the Chronicle of Higher Education as she put together a piece on the efforts of various universities to support student entrepreneurs. From Supiano’s To Develop Student Entrepreneurs, Colleges Incubate Their Idea (sub required): Beyond student demand for entrepreneurship training, worries about the weak job market are driving colleges’ response. Teaching students to start their own businesses is one way to give them a leg up after graduation. And some institutions see a responsibility to foster job creation more broadly, especially…

• Microgrants at U. of Michigan Will Spark Innovative Research | The Chronicle of Higher Education

  David J. Miller

  11 May 2012 | 5:07 am

  We recently reported that the University of Michigan was offering a masters in entrepreneurship (joint program from business and engineering). Michigan is going deeper into the innovation and collaboration world with the announcement of microgrants to interdisciplinary teams to pursue new areas. From Paul Basken at The Chronicle of Higher Education: Under the plan, which begins today, all Michigan faculty will be eligible for a $20,000 credit that can be redeemed only if they work with two other faculty members, including one outside their academic field. The idea, which appears to be unique…

• 7 New Educational Startups | TechCrunch

  David J. Miller

  9 May 2012 | 7:55 am

  Interesting piece at Tech Crunch by Wayne Sutton on 7 new educational startups. Some cool companies in here no matter the founders’ backgrounds. From Sutton at TechCrunch: So where are all these startups hiding you ask? Well here are seven up-and-coming educational startups founded by minorities that I believe will have an significant impact in the educational space – not just for minorities but for anyone looking to learn online, current students and teachers alike. 1. UniversityNow The mission of UniversityNow is to help ensure that affordable, high quality post-secondary education…

• Disruption in Higher Education | Thank You Steve Blank

  David J. Miller

  4 May 2012 | 3:36 pm

  In my 6 years at GMU I have been fortunate to participate in many discussions regarding disruptions in higher education and even Mason’s specific opportunities. I’ve been bewildered by the bureaucracy and slow pace of modern universities a few times in regard to online education. Steve Blank has an interesting post, Why Innovation Dies,  highlighting the dangerous, bureaucratic, but professional approach that many universities are taking to online opportunities and challenges. Moreover, Blank offers an online education infographic (see below). Thank you Steve Blank, I hope this…

• Civic Startup Accelerator | #Socent #Socinn | AcceleratorDirectory.com

  David J. Miller

  1 May 2012 | 11:11 am

  Apply now!! In a conference call this am the participants including me, discussed the growth accelerators, seed funding, and lean startup methods. There is now a new accelerator, the Civic Startup Accelerator, from Code for America. Application deadline is June 1, 2012. For those accepted: trips to Silicon Valley, $25,000 in funding and great membership are in the offer! So add this to your list of accelerators all your social entrepreneurs and innovators. (btw, the url AcceleratorDirectory.com is for sale): From the Growthology blog: Code for America, a national nonprofit backed by the…

• 

  TheFunded Founder Institute News

• Grad Profile: @Nexercise Transforms Workout Regimens into Interactive Games

  23 May 2012 | 10:15 am

  Grad Profiles highlight the personal and professional stories of Founder Institute Graduates from across the globe.  This profile on Nexercise, a Graduate of the Washington DC Founder Institute, was written by Emma Tzeng. Co-Founded in 2010 by Benjamin Young, Nexercise is an iPhone application that rewards users who complete at least a few minutes of physical activity each day with virtual badges, prizes, and fitness-related discounts. Applications to the Autumn 2012 Washington DC Founder Institute are now open. Click here to apply early for your best chance of…

• Grad Profile: @Identifi wants to put self-searching before career-searching

  20 May 2012 | 8:08 am

  Grad Profiles highlight the personal and professional stories of Founder Institute Graduates from across the globe.  This profile on Identifi, a Graduate of the Singapore Founder Institute, was written by Emma Tzeng. Founded in 2010 by Usman Sheikh, Identifi uses personalized online testing to help young adults discover career fits based on personality, experience, and social media reach. In 2011, Identifi won FI's Best Graduate in Asia Award.  Applications to the Summer 2012 Singapore Program are open now. Final Applications are due by this…

• Grad News Roundup: May 18th, 2012

  18 May 2012 | 2:39 pm

  Below is a roundup of Founder Institute Graduate news over the past two weeks:  Denver Grad @Blogmutt Announces Funding from FI Directors (FI): Blogmutt, an FI Denver Grad, helps business bloggers curate and generate original, weekly blog content at a pre-determined monthly rate. The startup recently received $250,000 in funding from local technology magnates. Read the press release here. Blogmutt and its founders are Graduates of the Denver Founder Institute. San Fran FI Grad @Piggybackr demos at AngelPad Spring 2012 Demo Day (TechCrunch): Piggybackr, a fundraising platform aimed…

• Inside FI: 'How to Hire Methodically for your #Startup' by @apatzer

  18 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Inside FI gives you exclusive access inside the training sessions of the Founder Institute. To get updates when we release new videos, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.  Attracting the best talent is a necessary yet arduous challenge for startups. Although many view the hiring process as vague and subjective, as Aaron Patzer explains in the video below, “there is a rational, methodical, and repeatable way to hire people successfully.”  Aaron Patzer is the founder and CEO of the personal finance management platform Mint.com, which was…

• 'What I've Learned Running the Singapore Founder Institute' by @jpaine

  15 May 2012 | 8:05 pm

  In a post on the Battle Ventures Blog, Jeffrey Paine, Executive Director of Battle Ventures and the Local Director of the Singapore Founder Institute, recounts what he's learned about founders in directing four Singapore FI programs, and comes to the realization that, in helping people chase their dreams and launch companies, he has "the most remarkable job description in the world." The Final Application Deadline for the Founder Institute is this Sunday, May 20th. To get expert training and feedback to launch a startup in 2012, apply today at http://fi.co/apply/singapore. You can…

• 

  Don Dodge on The Next Big Thing

• About Last Night... the social network for nightlife

  DonDodge

  22 May 2012 | 8:42 am

  About Last Night, the social network for nightlife, launched today at Techcrunch Disrupt, and is available for download on the AppStore. Its about the party last night, the concert last night, your date last night, or any event last night. It is an iPhone app that is photo centric and location based. It is similar in design to Path, but the sharing model is more like Twitter, and the posts are totally focused on nightlife. About Last Night posts are headlined with the location where the photo was taken. The person who created the post is listed below the photo. All posts from all…

• I could build Instagram in a week

  DonDodge

  11 Apr 2012 | 6:22 am

  I could build Instagram in a week. How many times have you heard someone say "I could build [insert hot startup name here] in a week"? I hear it all the time. But, I have yet to see one of these delusional wizards actually do it. They are obviously too busy inventing the next big thing. They fail to realize that building a successful consumer web or mobile product takes more than great technology. A lot more. Success looks easy from a distance. Technology seems simple if the design is great. Attracting great founders and early employees just means rounding up some of your friends. Raising…

• Why Instagram is worth $1B to Facebook, Web 2.0 just went mobile

  DonDodge

  10 Apr 2012 | 6:24 am

  Facebook announced that it acquired Instagram for $1 Billion. The company is less than two years old, has no revenue, and about a dozen employees. Remember, acquisitions are about what the acquirer can do with the company in the future, not some multiple of revenues or profits today. Why is Instagram worth $1B? Facebook acquired Instagram for about $30 per user, or $1B. ($30/user X 33M users = $1B) Facebook is valued at about $100 per user or $80B ($100/user X 800M users = $80B). Other popular social apps are valued around $20 to $50 per user. The monetization models need to work out about…

• How to name your company and product

  DonDodge

  19 Mar 2012 | 8:32 am

  Company names and product names can be a very expensive and time consuming process. It shouldn't be because company names and URLs don't matter. One of the first things you do when starting a company is come up with a name. Most times the name you come up with is already taken for the .com URL. Much angst and frustration follows. Don't sweat it. Be more creative in your name selection process. Lets look at some very successful companies and their names. Cisco is the most successful networking company in the world. Is Cisco a word? Does it have anything to do with network gear? No. Cisco is…

• Why company names & URLs don't matter

  DonDodge

  15 Mar 2012 | 5:21 pm

  Some founders agonize over the name of their company and pay big bucks to purchase the domain name. Save yourself lots of time and money because it doesn't matter. At least not the way you might think it matters. The best names start without any meaning at all. Brand names become recognizable because we make them mean something. Two startups I worked with provide good examples; AltaVista and Napster. These words had no real meaning before we started using them, but became some of the most memorable and recognizable names and logos of that time. Google, Yahoo, Zappos, and Cisco are further…

• 

  OnlyOnce

• You Can’t Teach a Cat How to Bark, But You Might be Able to Teach it How to Walk on its Hind Legs

  Matt Blumberg

  17 May 2012 | 12:00 am

  You Can’t Teach a Cat How to Bark, But You Might be Able to Teach it How to Walk on its Hind Legs My co-founder George and I have had this saying for a while.  Cats don’t bark.  They can’t.  Never will.  They also don’t usually walk on their hind legs in the wild, but some of them, after some training, could probably be taught to do so. Working with people on career evolution sometimes follows that same path.  Lots of the time, an employee’s career evolution is natural and goes well.  They’re playing to their strengths, in their sweet spot, progressing along nicely. …

• Learning Through Extremes, or Shifting Gears part II

  Matt Blumberg

  10 May 2012 | 12:00 am

  OnlyOnce is 8 years old this week, which is hard to believe. So it is fitting that I got halfway through a new post this morning, then a little alarm bell went off in my head that I had written something similar before.  The topic is around moderation versus extremes.  I first wrote about this topic in 2005 in a post called Shifting Gears but I have thought about it more recently in a different way.  Instead of phrasing this as a struggle between “Meden Agan,” which is Greek for “everything in moderation,” and “Gor oder gornischt,” which is Yiddish for…

• Skip-Level Meetings

  Matt Blumberg

  3 May 2012 | 12:00 am

  I was talking to a CEO the other day who believed it was “wrong” (literally, his word) to meet directly 1:1 with people in the organization who did not report to him.  I’ve heard from other CEOs in the past that they’re casual or informal or sporadic about this practice, but I’ve never heard someone articulate before that they actively stayed away from it.  The CEO in question’s feeling was that these meetings, which I call Skip-Level Meetings, disempowers managers. I couldn’t disagree more.  I have found Skip-Level Meetings to be an indispensable part of my management and…

• Book Short: Required Reading, Part II

  Matt Blumberg

  26 Apr 2012 | 12:00 am

  Book Short:  Required Reading, Part II Every once in a while, a business book nails it from all levels.  Well written, practical, broadly applicable to any size or type of organization, full of good examples, full of practical tables and checklists.   The Leadership Pipeline, which I wrote about here over six years ago, is one of those books — it lays out in great and clear detail a framework for understanding the transition from one level to another in an organization and how work behaviors must change in order for a person to succeed during and on the other side of that…

• The Art of the Quest

  Matt Blumberg

  19 Apr 2012 | 12:00 am

  Jim Collins, in both Good to Great and Built to Last talked about the BHAG – the Big, Hairy Audacious Goal – as one of the drivers of companies to achieve excellence.  Perhaps that’s true, especially if those goals are singular enough and simplified enough for an entire company of 100-1000-10000 employees to rally around. I have also observed over the years that both star performers and strong leaders drive themselves by setting large goals.  Sometimes they are Hairy or Audacious.  Sometimes they are just Big.  I suppose sometimes they are all three.  Regardless, I think…

• 

  Startup Weekend

• Guest Post | Email: 5 Things You Probably Haven’t Considered, But Should

  Mitchell Cuevas

  26 Apr 2012 | 8:00 am

  This post comes courtesy of our great friends at SendGrid! They rock and so does this post, they really know their email stuff! When you think, “email”, your mind likely drifts toward the marketing messages you often subscribe to, forget about, and suddenly discover in your inbox one day. These newsletters, some including special offers and valuable content are certainly important – after all, they are effective tools to encourage future purchases and inspire customer loyalty. But in reality, the most important email that a company sends are the less promotional, but more essential…

• Insight: How Does Your Startup Weekend Team Get Judged?

  Mitchell Cuevas

  25 Apr 2012 | 11:09 am

  If you’re wondering just how your Startup Weekend team will be judged come Sunday evening, look no further! Below is a great post from Startup Weekend Manila offering some awesome insight on what the panel will look for in teams and companies. The universal Startup Weekend judging criteria is broken up into three sections. Teams are judged according to the following 3 criteria (weighed equally): Business Model The heart of it all. If you haven’t got answers to these questions, you’ve spent too much time on frills & features and need to get back to the basics: Who is your…

• Guest Post: The 8 Top Things I Learned At Startup Weekend

  Mitchell Cuevas

  19 Apr 2012 | 2:28 pm

  We’ve had Allison Way on the blog before and she’s back again with a radio spot talking about the things she learned at Startup Weekend Kansas City. Be sure to check out her previous piece on 5 Things You Will Gain at Startup Weekend (Kansas City). Here is a link to the audio to check out the interview and be sure to check out Think Big Kansas!

• My Story: Pollarize.me Wins Startup Weekend London

  Mitchell Cuevas

  18 Apr 2012 | 11:15 am

  Guest Post by Michael Hobson, follow him on Twitter @TremulantDesign! The original article can be found right here on his blog. A couple of weeks ago, I won a ticket to attend “Startup Weekend London” – a 54 hour ‘hackathon’ event at Google’s new Campus co-working space in Shoreditch – and won! Our team of 4 went up against 140 other participants to conceive, plan, and create a start-up over a long weekend of designing and coding, to be pitched to and judged by a selection of top-dogs in the tech world, such as Eze Vidra of Google, Jemimah Knight of The Next Web, and Philipp…

• Crowdfunding: The Quest For Capital Leads to the Capitol

  Mitchell Cuevas

  16 Apr 2012 | 11:10 am

  “Startup Weekend provided the ultimate customer validation.  Not only does their model stress the importance of customer validation but the other entrepreneurs in the room were the very people we were hoping to serve.” The journey from Miami to Washington DC has been a long one for the Legalize Crowdfunding team.  Back in November 2010 Sherwood (Woodie) Neiss attended and won Startup Weekend Miami with an idea to use smart phones for instant polling.  Unfortunately, capital to fund the idea was scarce.  So Woodie returned to Startup Weekend in May 2011 with an ambitious goal: update…

• 

  Startup Houston

• StartupTexas – Houston Happy Hour May 31st

  Marc Nathan

  22 May 2012 | 3:55 pm

  Startup Texas is our region’s lifeline to the Startup America Partnership (http://www.s.co/). Come celebrate the arrival of Startup Texas at a happy hour for the startup community! StartupTexas Houston Happy Hour May 31st 2012 5pm-8pm Berryhill Baja Grill 1717 Post Oak Blvd, Houston, TX 77056 [map] The $10 cover gets you 2 free drinks and a truckload of new friends. RSVP: http://www.meetup.com/leanhouston/events/65870882/ Facebook Group Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/313585105388868/ Startup Texas connects entrepreneurial hotbeds across the state, from Dallas to Austin to El…

• Science Hack Day – May 26

  Jeff Reichman

  21 May 2012 | 2:35 pm

  Mark your calendars!  On Saturday, May 26, Science Hack Day comes to Houston.  According to the organizers, it’s a “24-hour marathon for developers, designers, scientists, educators, and the community to come together to collaboratively create something awesome.” Held at Caroline Collective, Science Hack Day is open to “anyone with a passion for making cool things.”  And anyone familiar with Caroline Collective knows that the venue tends to draw smart, open minded people. Come to watch or participate. Just don’t forget to register – it’s…

• Thomas Knoll – Building Communities (a Houston Lean Startup Circle recap)

  Javid Jamae

  18 May 2012 | 12:48 pm

  Last night’s Houston Lean Startup Circle meetup was a great success. The speaker was Thomas Knoll who was the co-founder of LaunchRock and a community architect for Zappos, UserVoice and Seesmic. The meeting was held at the ChaiONE offices. The conference room was packed, and people were sitting in the lobby area with their heads peeking around the wall to hear the discussion. Thomas provided many insights into building communities. One key takeaway that tied the concepts of Lean Startups back in to community development was his assertion that customer development *is* community…

• Entrepreneur Events: OpenCoffee

  Jeff Reichman

  17 May 2012 | 9:13 am

  Today’s OpenCoffee brought new and familiar faces to CoffeeGroundz.  For the uninitiated, OpenCoffee is a free-for-all networking event.  All you need is a cup of coffee, some business cards, and something to talk about.  And while it attracts all kinds of entrepreneurs, the event is heavy on tech talent. Event organizer Austin Fatheree (of Rivvir Consulting) encourages newcomers to avoid obsessive and self-centered pitching.  Instead, he says, “try to talk about something other than just yourself and use this time to form strong, long-term relationships.”  Wise words for sure.

• Entrepreneur Events: Social Media Breakfast

  Jeff Reichman

  11 May 2012 | 12:28 pm

  Today’s Social Media Breakfast was an overview of the recent Social Media Analytics Summit, presented by Kami Huyse of Zoetica Media. She gave us a rundown of the current trends in social media analytics, including “big data” management, relationship mapping, and goal-setting in an enterprise environment. Kami presents to 80+ attendees of Social Media Breakfast Houston. Entrepreneurs take note!  There is a growing industry of software companies targeting SMB, midmarket, and enterprise users.  Kami walked us through a few customer segments and niches, and she polled the audience about…

• 

  TechStars

• Bart Lorang, CEO and Co-founder of FullContact, On the Value of Getting into TechStars

  Clare Tischer

  21 May 2012 | 10:49 am

  Is TechStars the 2012 equivalent of winning Willy Wonka’s golden ticket? Bart Lorang, CEO and co-founder of FullContact, answers the tough questions: Follow @fullcontactAPI

• Job Openings at TechStars companies this week

  David Cohen

  18 May 2012 | 2:00 pm

  .@PrecogIO is looking for a talented, ambitious individual to lead technical marketing for Precog in the USA. #Boulder http://t.co/vCBQ1Cvy # UX/Senior Product Designer wanted @CrowdTwist in #NYC There will be nerf gun battles. http://t.co/jo3WjpXq # Engineers for Big Data and Performance needed @Torbit in #Sunnyvale http://t.co/Ki9Xc1EL # .@GoChime needs software engineers with 3+ yrs experience building web apps w/ Rails or major web dev frameworks. http://t.co/QYtTyZj3 # .@PrecogIO is looking for a highly-talented software engineer with a strong background in computer science in #Boulder…

• Give a warm welcome to the TechStars Boulder 2012 Class!

  Nicole Glaros

  17 May 2012 | 1:04 pm

  TechStars in Boulder kicked off on Monday, which feels very appropriate given today marks the opening of Boulder Startup Week.  It was a great day, including a visit by our own Congressman Jared Polis and TechStars CEO David Cohen. The teams blew off some steam with a very lively game of rock-paper-scissors, we learned about how to engage great mentors, we learned how to navigate the insanity that is TechStars, and we learned about each other. Learning about each other is no small task. There are over 40 founders here, including 3 HackStars, 3 Summer Associates, and 2 Mentors In Residence.

• Breaking Down Pitches, an Interactive Video by FlixMaster

  Clare Tischer

  16 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  Thank you so much to the rad team at FlixMaster, a company that came through the Boulder TechStars program last year. They put together a fun video of our pitch breakdowns in an interactive format. Budding entrepreneurs should check out the below video and choose your own adventure to learn more: Next Big Sound pitch breakdown with David Cohen and Clare Tischer SendGrid pitch breakdown with David Cohen Kapost pitch breakdown with David Cohen and Brad Feld If you’re really observant, you will find two linkable Easter eggs within this video. You can create your own interactive projects at…

• Job Openings at TechStars companies this week

  David Cohen

  11 May 2012 | 2:00 pm

  JavaScript Developer needed at @Torbit http://t.co/Ki9Xc1EL # Job openings @techstars companies this week http://t.co/9Hu0TYRn # .@SideTour is looking for a Senior Rails Dev. Amazing opportunity to be part of #NYC #039;s most promising startups. http://t.co/zTCM92NN # .@Mocavo is looking for a front-end engineer who has a passion for pushing the boundaries of the browser. http://t.co/2MuM7wuf # @cofounderslab Not sure, contact them! in reply to cofounderslab # Frontend and Go Developers needed @Torbit! Get to it: http://t.co/6LZGZHjb # Do you live and breathe the web? Content and community…

• 

  Business Owners

• Pension funds, unions invest in companies like Bain Capital.

  21 May 2012 | 6:46 am

  Visiting Toronto and speaking at a Private Equity conference, David Rubinstein of Carlyle Private Equity spoke about how private equity is under attack. David worked for Carter so should be on Obama's side,  but he did stand up for the Private Equity industry saying it did a great deal for companies that would have not got further or gone under. As a Canadian, the American election campaign is hard to take when private equity is slammed to make political gains. Cory Booker spoke up for private equity and said a common theme - Unions have their pension invested in…

• Soak product on BNN The Pitch actually WORKS!

  8 May 2012 | 12:29 pm

  Dry cleaners seem to have the whole cleaning business wrapped up - that is until I met SOAK on BNN The Pitch.Jacqueline Save is the quirky entrepreneur running this washing product which just requires you to fill a sink, mix in some SOAK and then add your garment. I tried it on my cashmere blanket which was looking quite shabby. Shazaam - the dirt floated off and after drying, the blanket had recovered its early sharp colours and soft texture.My picky mother then tried it on her white scarf and the brilliance of the white was impressive. I then did my winter coat which was looking mucky and…

• Andrew Bell says Your Cell Phone is Totemic

  8 May 2012 | 9:44 am

  The word of the day on the TV stage for BNN was "Totemic" - "the emblem of a clan or family and sometimes revered". It was Andrew Bell, the amiable host for BNN The Pitch, who commented that Smart Casing had an exciting product concept that was totemic. Branding the cell phone case is attractive as the phone is important to the user. Think about having the Maple Leafs on the back of your cell phone, or for the big banks, they could get more branding by having employee phones come in their corporate colours. (Although, TD green might not look too chic.) Pranav Sood got ribbed about…

• My Experience Mentoring TheNext36, They Can Pivot

  3 May 2012 | 6:26 am

  Mentoring TheNext36 team yesterday was a free flow of big ideas. You do have to plant many flags to get a business going and the team triumf discussed a range of ways to focus their start up technology business. The two enthusiastic entrepreneurs, Paul Lee and Ethan Baron, had all the characteristics needed to succeed, particularly the ability to listen and add in their views. Having listening skill means they will be highly likely to be able to pivot the focus of their business as they get it running.It reminded me of YouTube that began as a dating site and Twitter which…

• Govt. Loan given to Innovative Auto Technology Made in Markham

  11 Apr 2012 | 2:41 pm

  Novo Plastics Inc. is advancing the development and production of its innovative plastic muffler system for local and international markets, thanks to a federal investment of up to $975,000 announced today by Paul Calandra, Member of Parliament for Oak Ridges-Markham, on behalf of the Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario).“Our government is proud to invest in helping this made-in-Ontario technology reach global markets,” said MP Calandra. “Novo…

• 

  Gawker

• Bow Before Your New Idol, America [American Idol]

  Caity Weaver

  23 May 2012 | 8:12 pm

• India Legalizes 'The Most Dangerous Game' [India]

  Caity Weaver

  23 May 2012 | 7:20 pm

• Men Like Their Women Like They Like Their Coffee: Sleepy, Dumb, and with Lots of Slutty Friends [Men]

  Caity Weaver

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 pm

• Government Bans Fly Orgies in Beijing Public Restrooms [Beijing]

  Caity Weaver

  23 May 2012 | 4:00 pm

• BREAKING NEWS: Jim Parsons is Still Gay [Jim Parsons]

  Neetzan Zimmerman

  23 May 2012 | 3:50 pm

• 

  Posts from the Econsultancy blog

• Ballmer's bold prediction: up to 500m Windows 8 users in 2013

  Patricio Robles

  23 May 2012 | 11:15 am

  According to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Windows 8 represents a "rebirth" of Windows and it's the "deepest, broadest and most impactful" version of the operating system his company has yet created. Those are strong words from a man whose legacy may hinge upon Windows 8's success. But Ballmer apparently isn't afraid to use them, or to offer up bold predictions about how fast Windows 8 will find its way onto consumer devices.As reported by AFP, the Microsoft chief believes that up to 500m users will have a Windows 8-powered device in 2013. Yes, there's the "up to" caveat, but Ballmer isn't shy…

• Oracle goes social with Vitrue acquisition

  Patricio Robles

  23 May 2012 | 8:43 am

  It's been a rough week for the world's most prominent social networking company, Facebook, and the week isn't over yet, but that doesn't mean that social media is going away any time soon. That explains why software giant Oracle has purchased cloud-based social marketing platform provider Vitrue.According to Oracle, "The proliferation of social media has changed the way that organizations and consumers interact" and combining Vitrue's platform with Oracle's existing offerings, the company will be to drive "meaningful customer engagements with consistent brand experiences across all channels…

• LOVEFiLM and Netflix save BSkyB from regulator sanctions

  David Moth

  23 May 2012 | 5:39 am

  The Competition Commission has changed a ruling on BSkyB’s dominance of the pay-TV film market thanks to the growth of digital services such as LOVEFiLM and Netflix. In an abrupt u-turn, the CC said that Sky Movies no longer provides Sky with an advantage over its pay-TV rivals. It reversed a ruling from last year which found that the satellite broadcaster’s deals with major Hollywood studios effectively gave it a monopoly on the market and caused higher prices for consumers.The CC’s revised report states that it had previously: ...overstated the importance consumers attach to being…

• App review: eBay's revamped iPad app

  David Moth

  23 May 2012 | 4:36 am

  Earlier this month eBay overhauled its iPad app to offer users a range of new functions and hi-res images. The app now has a customisable homepage, back button and new ways to view search results. eBay appears to have taken the liberty of giving itself five stars in the product description, but are the upgrades actually an improvement?  User reviews in the App Store show that opinion is fairly polarised: 362 people give it five stars but 265 give it one star.I gave the app a test run to see how user-friendly it was for an eBay amateur. Homepage The homepage is uncluttered and easy on the…

• STUDY: Noise, promotion and spam will reduce your Twitter followers

  Chris Lake

  23 May 2012 | 4:03 am

  Following somebody on Twitter is always a small leap of faith. Sometimes it just doesn’t work out, for whatever reason.  A couple of days ago I created an online poll to try to identify the common reasons for unfollowing people on Twitter. More than 500 votes have since been cast and as such we can now start to analyse the results.Based on the survey, it would appear as if the worst crime you can commit as a Twitter user is to be too noisy. This was the number one reason cited by respondents for clicking the ‘unfollow’ button. 52% of people said they had waved goodbye on this basis. In…

• 

  The Freestyle Entrepreneur

• SUCCESS IS ABOUT PEOPLE SKILLS … DUMMY!

  John Ingrisano

  23 May 2012 | 6:51 am

  SUCCESS:  IT’S ABOUT PEOPLE SKILLS … DUMMY! by John Ingrisano The Freestyle Entrepreneur “The greatest ability in business is to get along with others and to influence their actions.” – John Hancock Genius is no guarantor of success.  Neither is hard work by itself.  I teach a one-day seminar for Fred Pryor/CareerTrack called “Dealing with Difficult People.”  One of the things I stress is that the genius, the brainiac-Mensa candidate, the man or woman with more sheer intelligence than the rest of the team combined … this person almost always ends up working for the one…

• DEFINE SUCCESS

  John Ingrisano

  14 May 2012 | 2:15 pm

  by John Ingrisano The Freestyle Entrepreneur “In accomplishing anything definite, a man renounces everything else.”  — George Santayana Back in my lean, mean, meat-eating younger days, I would have agreed with the above quote from Harvard Philosopher (no, not the musician) George Santayana.  I was maniacally dedicated.  Business was my king … almost my god. No, I was not ruthless; I never cheated anyone.  But I was relentless, and I always drove a hard bargain.  I worked myself hardest of all; I routinely worked 80 to 100 hours a week, doing the work of three or four…

• MOTIVATING LOOKERS TO BECOME BUYERS

  John Ingrisano

  19 Apr 2012 | 6:50 am

  by John Ingrisano The Freestyle Entrepreneur A few years ago, having decided to run away from the States for a while, I started a store on St. Thomas in the Caribbean that sold Jimmy Buffet shirts and other island-dream paraphernalia.  I studied when to help customers and when to stand back and let the sales cycle run its course. One thing I learned was that when a customer seemed uncertain about buying one island shirt versus another, for example, I would approach and say something like, “Two beautiful shirts, don’t you think?”  Then, pointing to one, I would add, “This is one of…

• KEY CONTACTS KEY TO BUSINESS GROWTH

  John Ingrisano

  10 Apr 2012 | 7:52 am

  by John Ingrisano The Freestyle Entrepreneur   Building up a customer/client base can be hard work … until you get it down to a system.  One effective system is to establish half a dozen or so mutually beneficial relationships with what are known as “Centers of Influence.” These are people who can send customers your way.  But it goes beyond just sitting back and waiting for them to show up.  Instead, get names and contact them. A good Center of Influence can provide you with names of men and women you can approach on a favorable basis, often simply by saying something like:…

• BUILD UP YOUR GLOBAL NEIGHBORHOOD … AND YOUR SALES

  John Ingrisano

  8 Mar 2012 | 12:08 pm

  One of the keys to success for many businesses is to create/promote a sense of belonging, of community, even if the business is far-flung and worldwide. We see this in “buy local” campaigns. We also see it in expansive chains such as Starbucks, which creates an atmosphere of the neighborhood coffee shop … even in busy airports. We see it when business people think to offer referrals, not just request them. It works in small towns. It also works globally. The premise is that we enjoy working with people we know, people we like, and people with whom we feel comfortable. People we trust.

• 

  I Will Teach You To Be Rich

• The 3 Most Effective Ways to Earn More Money

  Ramit Sethi

  21 May 2012 | 2:00 am

  When I went on book tour in 2009, I met readers from all over the country: Seattle, Minneapolis, LA, and all over. I remember meeting them and asking what they wished I wrote more about. The responses surprised me: “Your automation stuff is great,” they said, “but I want to know how to earn more money.” This was the most popular request in every city I visited, and is still one of the most popular questions I get from new visitors to IWT. There are lots of ways to make money, and there’s a ton of advice — much of it contradictory and just plain bad. Most “experts” have…

• Smart Women Marry For ______

  Ramit Sethi

  18 May 2012 | 2:00 am

  “I’m going to marry for love” is such a deeply held belief that’s become an invisible script. After all, who wouldn’t want to marry someone they love? But “love marriages” are only a recent development. Throughout history, marriages were made for strategic alliances, economic gain, familial ties, and a variety of other unromantic reasons. The push and pull of our modern love-based thinking sometimes clashes with our history. For example, I know a lot of guys who think that once they start making “serious money,” women will be more interested in them. Inevitably, even if they…

• Case Study: How Mike earned an extra $6,065 in 8 weeks

  Ramit Sethi

  13 May 2012 | 9:35 am

  A classic line from people starting to try to earn money on the side: “I had a lot of people that were interested, then they would disappear and never take me up on my proposal.” Some people have tried freelancing on their own, but can’t figure out how to turn their sometimes impressive technical skills into actual paychecks. Most have the same problem — they don’t know how to sell their services. That’s why they end up wasting hours pursuing deals that never close. And when they do find potential clients that WANT to buy their services, they often botch the sale.

• How much should a man spend on an engagement ring?

  Ramit Sethi

  11 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  Here’s one of my favorite money and gender questions: How much should a man spend on an engagement ring? Out of curiosity, I once asked this at the dinner table, and my entire family put their forks down and stared at me. Not good. I like this question because it highlights the gap between rational answers and emotional responses. Whenever people talk about engagement rings on the internet, here is exactly what happens: PERSON 1: “Hey guys! I’m going to buy an engagement ring for my girlfriend next month. How much should I spend?” PERSON 2: “Ugh! What a heteronormative paternalistic…

• Why Most People Fail at Making Online Products (And How You Can Win)

  Ramit Sethi

  8 May 2012 | 2:00 am

  A confession: I’ve left millions of dollars on the table by not developing a course about how to build your own online product and sell it on the Internet. My courses have sold well over $100,000 in one hour, and I get asked about how I did it over and over. It would be relatively easy to teach. I could build a product teaching you how to build a product (now we’re getting meta), including sharing actual sales data, the tactics I use for product launches, my sales copy, the biggest mistakes I’ve made, and conversion rates for various techniques. The product would handily make me 7…

• 

  Results Junkies

• Startup Founders: Stop Worrying About Your Local Startup Scene, Focus On Your Business

  Paul Singh

  22 May 2012 | 2:44 pm

  This post was inspired by a discussion on Facebook where I started a comment with this: in 2012+, why does it matter where anyone’s located anymore? It used to be that startups had to chase the money/investors and, because travel was usually expensive, they had to look in their backyard or move elsewhere. These days, that balance has shifted: cross-country flights can be obtained for <$500 roundtrip and capital is following the talent, regardless of location. In the case of 500 Startups, we’re deploying everywhere – domestic and international – and you’re…

• Transparency Goes Both Ways

  Paul Singh

  15 May 2012 | 3:28 pm

  If you’re an investor, it’s harder than ever to be a big fish in a small pond. If you can’t (or won’t) fund a company on fair terms, someone else will. If you’re a founder, it’s harder than ever to raise money on a mediocre idea. After all, if I see a company with more traction halfway around the world, why wouldn’t I invest in it instead? As much as AngelList has helped founders obtain capital from investors that may not be in their physical backyard, it’s important to recognize that AngelList has given investors the ability to see deals that…

• Startup Traction and Defensibility

  Paul Singh

  9 May 2012 | 11:55 am

  In the past, it was often the case that the skills required to build online startups were hard to find. If you could find the people with those skills and subsequently build something, you’d tell potential investors that you had some sort of secret sauce (read: intellectual property) that sets you apart. Today, it’s not hard to build, test and launch a startup within a weekend. More importantly, it’s become easier than ever to obtain paying customers in that same timeframe. That’s not to say that technology or the skills required are a commodity. In fact, it’s…

• On Investor Differentiation

  Paul Singh

  1 May 2012 | 4:35 pm

  Earlier today, VentureBeat wrote about the dirty secret behind the incubator boom. Francisco raises an important point: other than initial money, what do these incubators bring to the table? The broader question is, what value do all investors bring to the table? As access to early stage deal flow opens up to more potential investors (see: AngelList), investors are being forced to prove their value. Especially if you want to get into the best deals. For early stage investors, differentiating on access to capital is no longer enough — focus on building a solid brand. As my partner Dave…

• Early Stage Fundraising Tips

  Paul Singh

  25 Apr 2012 | 4:03 pm

  If you’re trying to raise money today, the fact of the matter is that it’s getting harder: as the web gets bigger, the world gets smaller. More founders, from all over the world, are going after the same pool of money. (As an aside, crowdfunding may make the initial round a little easier to raise but I suspect it will actually raise the bar for folks trying to raise a subsequent round from “traditional” investors. You’ll have even more founders, many with crowdfunded initial rounds, competing for the same pool of investor money. This flood of inbound interest is…

• 

  startup hustle

• Why you shouldnt get stock tips from friends, or Twitter

  tyler

  21 May 2012 | 7:21 pm

  The hype around the Facebook IPO was a bit crazy. Everyone became a stock expert. To drive some attention from the event, a site called facebookipodayclosingprice.com asked individuals to predict the closing price of the stock on the IPO launch day (May 18th). Out of 2,261 participants, only 26 picked the correct closing amount, or 1.15%. Even the “winning” $38 closing price of the stock was artificial. Morgan Stanley continued throughout the day to buy the stock to keep it above $38. At the end of Monday (May 21st) the stock fell to $34.03, which is probably closer to where it…

• Google Launches Knowledge Graph, Steals Pageviews from Wikipedia

  tyler

  17 May 2012 | 5:15 pm

  Google is launching a new feature called the Knowledge Graph that will be incorporated into the search engine result pages (SERPS). What it basically does is replace Wikipedia…I mean, give you simple, relavant facts about the topic you are searching. For example, dates and locations when searching an individual or place. So, the exact instances that I go to Wikipedia. The funny part, Google is using Wikipedia data (among others) to populate the results.

• Apple’s WWDC Logo Steps Up

  tyler

  26 Apr 2012 | 9:07 am

    I don’t pay particular attention to Apple’s logos for WWDC, but this years really caught my eye. I think the logo alone is why WWDC sold out in 2 hours, which is 6x faster than last year. The event sold out by 5:30 AM PST, which sucks for everyone on the west coast that hadn’t woke up yet and the event takes place in California. The logo may have also possessed a man to offer to legally change his name for a ticket to the event.

• “iPhone Will Fail” in a heap of FLAMES!

  tyler

  19 Apr 2012 | 12:19 pm

  An interesting article from Bloomberg has been circling the web the past couple of days. It was written in January 2007 after the original Apple iPhone was announced. Author Matthew Lynn thought Apple’s new phone would never be a concern for Nokia or Motorola and only fanboys would buy the device. Hindsight is 20/20, but you still read articles that question the new iDevices as they are released. The updates are minor, not worth an upgrade and the same Apple fanboys will run out and buy it. The “fanboy” population has really exploded. Currently one in every three high…

• Really CNN? Really?

  tyler

  28 Mar 2012 | 6:05 am

  Who approved this? Where is the news?

• 

  Start Up Blog

• The truth about secrets

  Steve Sammartino

  21 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  Secrets kills us. They eat at our souls and disrupt our emotions in a negative way. We very rarely feel good about secrets because by nature we are social creatures that rely and need each other to survive. Collaboration is what put us atop of the food chain and that means we must share. I’m certain the feeling we often get when we hold secrets is our genetic code telling us that secrets are not cool and generally don’t lead to ideal outcomes. So it got me thinking about the nature of secrets and the different types of them. There are many types of secrets, but these 2 are…

• What is evaporating?

  Steve Sammartino

  20 May 2012 | 9:27 pm

  We are trained to look for and focus on everything that is new. What technologies are emerging and how are we using them? What we are not so good at doing, is observing the things which are only noticeable by their increasing absence. Very often it’s the most important trend because it is less product oriented and more human oriented. Which means that well before we know who or what the new winner is, we will know who or what is no longer fulfilling our needs and is being made obsolete. In a rapidly changing world of near disposable technology the list of dying technologies is already…

• Meet Alistair

  Steve Sammartino

  17 May 2012 | 10:05 pm

  Meet Alistair Leathwood. Alistair is the Managing Director of a large research firm. Research is a typically conservative industry, which for good reason is filled with conservative individuals. The type of individuals that are diligent, thoughtful, sedulous, hard working and considered. Alistair is also one of these people. The interesting thing about Alistair is that he doesn’t let the reality of hard, thoughtful and considered work get in the way of fun. Alistair knows that it is possible to display personality, have fun and actually still get work done in a professional manner. And…

• Experience vs Youth

  Steve Sammartino

  15 May 2012 | 11:42 pm

  I was recently reading an article which asked advertising people if they had to choose youth or experience what would they choose. Ogilvy executive chairman Tom Moult sited the exemplar below. There’s an old David Ogilvy story. He was looking at some creative work from a junior. He asked how the guy how he knew the ads would work, the junior explained that he was sure they would as his intuition told him so. Ogilvy said, “Imagine your appendix ruptures right now, and I rush you to hospital. There are two surgeons available, one is an experienced surgeon, and the other one is new…

• How to sell a website

  Steve Sammartino

  6 May 2012 | 9:41 pm

  While there are many examples of startup entrepreneurs selling dominant websites for a gazillion dollars. A less known fact is that small, or even micro websites can be sold. In fact, there is a thriving private market for sites which fill particular niches or have the potential to be much more than the founder could manage. In the spirit of demystifying this process of selling any website, big or small, I’ve developed a list 4 simple things that are key to selling digital assets such as sites and apps. It’s important to note that we don’t need all 4 to make a sale, very…

• 

  Springwise

• Wifi-blocking wallpaper makes networks more secure

  Springwise

  23 May 2012 | 7:06 am

  The rising number of smartphone users has increased the demand for wifi capability for all, and we’ve recently covered new ideas providing internet access in parks — via dog owners — and even embedding the technology into sidewalk paving. However, those with private networks concerned about a secure connection may benefit from new wallpaper technology developed by Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble (INP), which can block wifi signals being broadcast outside of the user’s vicinity. Researchers at the French engineering university have collaborated with Centre Technique du…

• Deliberately late pizza deliveries raise awareness of world hunger and money for charity

  Springwise

  23 May 2012 | 6:22 am

  We’ve already seen food outlets in the US doing their bit to tackle global hunger with the Halfsies initiative, which donates to charity when customers order half-sized meals. Now a risky advertising campaign cooked up by agency ONIRIA/TBWA has seen two pizzerias in Paraguay provide a deliberately slow service to raise awareness of hunger. Teaming up with the Food Bank Foundation, the agency persuaded the “two most important pizzerias in Asuncion” to accept delivery requests from customers, advising them that the food would arrive within 45 minutes. Feigning bad service, all…

• Californian lemon tree growing now gamified

  Springwise

  23 May 2012 | 5:56 am

  We’ve already seen public transport and library indexing both gamified, so it is perhaps no surprise to now see that same thinking applied to lemon trees. Aiming to encourage existing food growing in urban areas, Lemonopoly is an online game that also serves to locate, preserve and distribute the wealth of citrus fruit naturally found in California. Created by designer Chacha Sikes and programmer Anselm Hook during the Creative Currency hackathon in San Francisco recently, the game places local residents into three teams based on city – San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. The cities…

• Wise Words with John Roa

  Springwise

  23 May 2012 | 4:04 am

  Rambler aims to pair inquisitive travelers with unique experiences — gamifying travel with a points system to offer something a little different from well-worn tourist trails. Founder John Roa first came up with the idea when, after extensive traveling, he realised that there was no easy way to find out what was going on off the beaten track. Tired of arriving in a new country without any good local recommendations to guide him, he set up the company with the aim of widening a traveler’s experience through scavenger hunts in new locations. When we first came across Rambler in March of…

• Circuitboard kit turns any object into a computer touchpad

  Springwise

  22 May 2012 | 8:18 am

  It’s not just smartphone screens that can be used as touch-based sensors – as we’ve recently seen with On/Off paint, enabling homeowners to control electric appliances such as lights without the need for switches. Using similar technology, MaKey MaKey is a set of components that turns almost any object into an input tool, allowing users to invent their own devices. Having already easily passed its funding goal on Kickstarter, the kit consists of crocodile clips, a USB cable and pre-built chip board. One of the crocodile clips is connected to the user and the other to any object…

• 

  entrepreMusings

• Letting Go Of Perfection And Checklists

  Aruni

  17 May 2012 | 7:15 am

  It’s hard to say if letting go of perfection and checklists are related or not, unless of course you put “be your silly self even if someone looks disapprovingly your way or feels threatened by your authenticity” on your checklist. A friend posted a 2010 article on facebook recently called Want to be happy? Stop trying to be perfect.  It’s so true.  I don’t know where we get that intense fear to be perfect and do it all correctly based on some model someone or a group of people or some stupid TV show put in our mind.  I think part of the reason reality TV…

• Happy Mother’s Day 2012 – Keep Up The Good Work

  Aruni

  12 May 2012 | 7:09 am

  Happy Mother’s Day to all you fabulous mothers out there!  Being a parent and especially a mother these days is probably one of the hardest jobs on the planet.  Unlike an OB doctor, who can be liable for a kid’s physical health until they are 18 or sometimes 21, mother’s can be blamed or praised for their kids successes or failures until they die. I have been blessed with great women friends who are amazing mothers.  Most of the older women I know have stood by their now mostly-out-of-the-nest kids through many ups and downs even if their own parenting styles and home…

• Very Interesting And Provocative Blog Posts

  Aruni

  10 May 2012 | 5:05 pm

  I wish I had more time to come up with compelling, informative posts, but one must prioritize.  So instead, I’m fortunate enough to happen upon some interesting ones Eleven Compelling Startup Pitch Archetypes (with examples from YC companies).  A really easy to read summary of the types of pitches based on the type of company.  A must read for all entrepreneurs trying to fundraise. Same Sex Marriage on AVC by Fred Wilson on President Obama’s support of same sex marriages. Unforgiven: Inside America’s Student Loan Bubble about the student loan crisis. Love And 6 Other Things…

• How To Copyright A Song

  Aruni

  5 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  Well, we finally did it.  Brett Jason Wintermeyer, my songwriting partner and fellow Metaphor Maniac (link to facebook page that we haven’t actively publicized yet, but hope to soon), finally filed a copyright on 4 of our songs last week.  We were trying for a 5th, but we kept getting stuck so we gave up in the hopes we’d be inspired later.  4 is a lucky number, right? It’s important to keep in mind that all artists own the rights to their works and have immediate copyright protection even if they don’t submit for a copyright registration.  Having a copyright…

• 3 Quirky Business Ideas That May Just Be Brilliant

  Aruni

  2 May 2012 | 1:56 pm

  Following is a guest post by Amanda Green.  Amanda writes extensively on the subjects of business and personal finance. 3 Quirky Business Ideas That May Just Be Brilliant Great ideas come from anywhere. You can be standing in line for ice cream and voila—new business plan. That’s part of the glory and excitement of entrepreneurial thinking. It’s like magic sometimes! Lately, I’ve had a few quirky little ideas pop into my hopper that I think may actually be borderline brilliant business models—sorry if that sounds arrogant. The following are my latest offerings to…

• 

  Financial Times - Entrepreneurship

• Coalition puts foot on Growth Accelerator

  23 May 2012 | 2:47 pm

  Programme will focus its efforts on the estimated 26,000 companies in England that have genuine potential for rapid and sustainable growth

• The digital career switchover

  23 May 2012 | 9:47 am

  Opportunities for power and influence are luring tech entrepreneurs to take up senior roles at blue-chip companies, writes Maija Palmer

• Choose enterprise over the ivory tower

  22 May 2012 | 8:53 am

  Too many higher educational establishments fail to spot entrepreneurial talent. If they do notice them, they have little to offer, writes Luke Johnson

• A money man’s transfer to Nigeria

  22 May 2012 | 8:53 am

  Tayo Oviosu enjoyed his life in Silicon Valley but he returned to Lagos to make his mark in Nigeria’s mobile payments sector, writes Xan Rice

• Ten Questions - Gail Romero

  22 May 2012 | 6:52 am

  The chief executive believes we need more leaders in the pipeline to become entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs

• 

  The Next Web

• Panic launches two new Web development apps: Coda 2 for Mac and Diet Coda for iPad

  Harrison Weber

  23 May 2012 | 8:19 pm

  Panic has just released two brand new apps today:Coda 2, the long awaited update to the popular Mac Web editor, and Diet Coda, a wonderfully slimmed down Web editor for the iPad. Both apps feel entirely fresh and are sure to make waves in the front-end development community. As any fan of Coda would know, this update has been a long time coming. Lucky, it looks like Panic truly has spent countless hours honing every little detail. After using the app myself (note: Coda 1 was my personal go-to editor for Web dev), I can say outright that this major update should not disappoint. Coda 2 So…

• Apple’s latest iPhone 4S commercials features actor John Malkovich using Siri

  Jon Russell

  23 May 2012 | 6:58 pm

  The latest in Apple’s series of TV commercials promoting the iPhone 4S Siri through celebrity users sees actor John Malkovich take to the small screen with the device and Apple’s virtual personal assistant. The two adverts, branded with logos from Apple’s US carriers Verizon and AT&T, see the Of Mice and Men star use a number of features. In the Verizon ad, Malkovich uses Siri to plan his evening as he checks the weather and his calendar, searches for restaurants and, finally, asks it to tell him a joke. The AT&T commercial sees the star ask the iPhone 4S’s…

• Who’s the big winner in the release of Yahoo! Axis? Microsoft’s Bing

  Drew Olanoff

  23 May 2012 | 6:34 pm

  Now that we know what Yahoo! Axis is, and that it’s a pretty good product from what I can tell so far, there’s a huge winner. That winner? Microsoft’s search engine Bing. Since the desktop version of Yahoo! Axis is simply a browser extension, that means that Yahoo’s search deal with Bing drops its search box on top of whatever page you’re on. Instead of building its own desktop browser, which would have taken quite a long time and been a nightmare to support, Yahoo! decided to skip all of that and slip in the backdoor, by making itself extremely prominent. If,…

• Daily email service Timehop now includes the text messages you sent last year

  Drew Olanoff

  23 May 2012 | 6:06 pm

  My favorite service on the Web right now has to be Timehop. The premise is simple, the service sends you daily emails about all of your social activities that happened the year before. I look forward to waking up to my Timehop email, which includes tweets, Facebook updates, Instagram photos I’ve posted, and foursquare check-ins. How could it get any more awesome? It found a way, because the service can now include text messages that you sent the year before. In the announcement on the Timehop blog, the team calls text messages its “favorite feature yet”: That’s right! Your…

• Google’s Eric Schmidt: “Music may be the food of love but engineers make the instruments”

  Jamillah Knowles

  23 May 2012 | 5:46 pm

  As part of a wide ranging tour, Google’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt gave a talk at the Science museum in London. Dressed in a smart grey suit and frankly looking pretty unruffled by the heat in the city that evening, Schmidt laid out a few visions of the future for different technological adoption rates, education and the battle for the web. Schmidt opened by establishing the importance of science and engineering. With an audience of geeks sitting in the Science Museum, this is of course preaching to the choir, but there were interesting and poetic points made. The Google top man…

• 

  Pop17

• Interview with Hooman Khalili, Co-Director of ‘Olive’

  Sarah Austin

  30 Apr 2012 | 3:20 pm

  Hooman Khalili, known San Francisco radio personality, sits down to discuss his new role as a feature-film co-director. ‘Olive’, which Khalili co-directed alongside Pat Gilles is the first film shot completely with a cell phone to receive theatrical release. ‘Olive’ is the only film that qualified for the 2012 Academy Awards that received no studio support. The half a million budget needed to complete the film was independently raised. The film, which stars two-time Academy Award nominated actress Gena Rowlands (‘The Notebook’, ‘A Woman Under the…

• Interview With Murray Newlands

  Sarah Austin

  23 Apr 2012 | 4:45 pm

  Murray Newlands originally from the UK in the USA on a O1 visa (alien of extraordinary ability) is a reporter for and host of http://performinsider.com – TV , he is also a regular contributor to adrants.com and Adotas.com among many other publications.

• Ad:Tech And The Future of Advertising

  Sarah Austin

  5 Apr 2012 | 2:47 pm

  In 2010 businesses in the US spent $142.5 billion on advertising. Sarah Austin stops by Ad:Tech – one of the biggest and most relevant interactive marketing events of the year. What lies ahead for this massive market? What will be the impact of the rapid advancement of technology? We’re here to find out. Be sure to follow us on Twitter! And check us out on Facebook

• The Beauty Queen Of YouTube – Michelle Phan

  Sarah Austin

  3 Apr 2012 | 11:17 am

  Michelle Phan is the number one most subscribed female on youtube with millions of subscribers and half a billion video views. What started as a hobby creating makeup tutorials in her bedroom has turned this 24 year old into a media mogul. Her success ranges from Vanity Fair features to becoming the face of Lancome cosmetics. Michelle Phan is here to stay. Be sure to follow us on Twitter! And check us out on Facebook

• Startup Bus 2012 Winner: Cerealize

  Sarah Austin

  2 Apr 2012 | 11:38 am

  Pop17 went to Austin Texas this month to check out SXSW interactive. Last week we told you about one the most interesting events we saw – Startup Bus. The fan favorite and eventual winner was the team from Silicon Valley. Their startup was Cerealize: A website that lets build your own customized cereal and delivers it to your door. Since winning the competition, Cerealize has received some notable media attention from the likes of ABC, TechCrunch, Mashable, and many others. Check out Cerealize at http://cerealize.com Be sure to follow us on Twitter! And check us out on Facebook

• 

  The Product Guy

• Brand Management, Lively Everyday Health, and More Togetherness in June!

  Jeremy Horn

  7 May 2012 | 12:37 pm

  Thank you to everyone who made it to our latest consecutive record breaking roundtable meet-up of The Product Group at MTV Networks / Viacom, as well as to our sponsors, Balsamiq Studios, Sunshine Suites, and Ryma Technology Solutions. Over the course of the night a few of the highlights were… Featured Product: Everyday Health exploring the product, its challenges and successes, from mobile strategies to pay models (thanks to Deepesh Banerji and the Everyday Health Product Team) Brand Management from consistency to reputation The Product Groupmeet-ups are an opportunity for Product…

• Limited Resources, Finding the Way with CityMaps, and March More!

  Jeremy Horn

  5 Mar 2012 | 9:59 am

  Thank you to everyone who made it to our latest consecutive record breaking roundtable meet-up of The Product Group at MTV Networks / Viacom, as well as to our sponsors, Balsamiq Studios, Sunshine Suites, and Ryma Technology Solutions. Over the course of the night a few of the highlights were… Featured Product: CityMaps exploring the product, its challenges and successes, from evolving the business model to going mobile (thanks to Aaron Rudenstine and the CityMaps Product Team) Managing with Limited Resources from expanding the pool to driving customer priorities The Product…

• TBPP2011: Looking Foward with Chris Sarette

  Jeremy Horn

  20 Feb 2012 | 8:02 am

  What has quickly become a tradition, we are finishing off the first series of the year looking at our most recent annual winner of The Best Product Person. Chris Sarette, The Best Product Person of 2011, is the estimable subject of this series. Over the past weeks I have shared segments from a Q&A session I had with Chris — lending some insight into why Chris truly is The Best Product Person of 2011.  In this final installment of the series we explore the path leading from here. Looking forward… > What trends do you see in product management? positive trends? any negative…

• TBPP2011: Advice from Chris Sarette

  Jeremy Horn

  15 Feb 2012 | 11:12 pm

  What is quickly becoming tradition, we are kicking off the first series of the year looking at our most recent winner of The Best Product Person. Chris Sarette, The Best Product Person of 2011, is the estimable subject of this series. Over the coming weeks I will be sharing a segments of a Q&A session I had with Chris — and lending some insight into why Chris truly is The Best Product Person of 2011. Advice… > What is the best career advice you received as you entered product management? Engineer excellence. Don’t think of quality as something you check for at the end of an…

• Invisible Children, Mend, and BridesView

  Jeremy Horn

  7 Feb 2012 | 8:58 pm

  Thank you to everyone who made it to our latest consecutive record breaking roundtable meet-up of The Product Group at MTV Networks / Viacom, as well as to our sponsors, Balsamiq Studios, Sunshine Suites, and Ryma Technology Solutions. Over the course of the night a few of the highlights were… Featured Product: BridesView exploring the product, its challenges and successes, from branding to understanding the market (thanks to Alex Toplier and Danny Maloney) The Best Product Person of 2011 Chris Sarette of Invisible Children and Mend The Product Groupmeet-ups are an opportunity for…

• 

  Ben Casnocha

• Mike Moritz is Chasing Daylight — The Adjustments He’s Making As a Result

  Ben Casnocha

  21 May 2012 | 1:43 pm

  Mike Moritz, one of the most successful VCs in Silicon Valley history, announced he’s been diagnosed with an incurable illness and has been told his quality of life will likely decline significantly in the next 5-10 years. Very sad. Moritz says he will continue to do investing but also make some changes in his life: I will use twelve to fourteen weeks – sprinkled throughout the course of each year – for various pursuits, diversions and trivial indulgences. Reading this sentence gave me pause and caused me to reflect. Among other things, I was reminded of the classic 2005 Alex…

• Quick Impressions of Italy, 2012 Edition

  Ben Casnocha

  17 May 2012 | 8:04 am

  I spent last week in Italy (Milan and Naples) launching the The Start-Up of You there. It was my second visit to the beautiful country. Some quick impressions / thoughts: Unemployment / career anxiety in Italy. I was told 1 in 3 young people are unemployed in Italy right now. Young people are feeling like they need to break into the “digital economy,” not work in a legacy manufacturing industry. Meanwhile, a lot of the historic craft businesses are struggling, and the entrepreneurs there are trying to figure out how to survive in a global economy. Apparently, many entrepreneurs…

• If You Could Be Brutally Honest With Your SO, What Would You Say?

  Ben Casnocha

  14 May 2012 | 9:48 pm

  Rely on Reddit for such a stimulating and often funny thread: If you could be brutally honest with your SO what would you say? A rather serious entry has one person confessing that s/he would say: You don’t love me as much as I love you, and every time you say those three little words, it breaks my heart. To which a commenter wisely replies: One always loves more than the other, and it always hurts. The gap in that love is proportional to the pain it causes. In a healthy relationship, the gap is small and easy to forget. But for the rest, it is a measure of the inevitable end, and a…

• The Loneliness That Should Worry Us

  Ben Casnocha

  11 May 2012 | 3:11 pm

  Claude Fischer tries to rebut the recent slew of articles suggesting loneliness is at all-time highs. In fact, the “studies” that conclude there’s a loneliness epidemic among Americans — and which serve as the basis for many of the popular writing on the topic — are dinky, Fischer says. The final paragraph of his piece is the best: Loneliness is a social problem because lonely people suffer. But it’s not a growing problem. Moreover, the loneliness that should worry us is not generated by a teen’s Facebook humiliation, a globetrotter’s sense of…

• Start-Up of You: Odds and Ends

  Ben Casnocha

  5 May 2012 | 7:48 pm

  A few odds and ends: – We were pleased to see a favorable review of the book in The Economist. Check it out: “IF YOU start me up. If you start me up I’ll never stop”. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards probably did not have career advice in mind when they wrote these lyrics. But thinking like a start-up seems to be an excellent way for workers to prosper in a world in which the notion of a job for life has been consigned to the scrapheap. By being on the lookout for new opportunities all the time, changing course if markets shift and tapping professional contacts for advice and…

• 

  infoChachkie

• 6 Steps To Raising Venture Capital – Hint: Preparation Matters More Than Your Pitch

  John Greathouse

  22 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  “One of the big misconceptions in baseball is that playing the game keeps you in shape to pitch. I wish that was true. It’s not.” Steven Ellis, Professional Pitcher Major League baseball pitchers spend far more time preparing to pitch than they actually do pitching. The same should be true of an entrepreneur who is attempting to secure money from sophisticated investors. The steps outlined below represent an ideal approach to raising capital from sophisticated investors. Unfortunately, your fundraising efforts will be less linear. You might be at Step 2 with one VC and Step 3 with…

• When Intent And Content Align, Online Ads Suck A Whole Lot Less

  John Greathouse

  14 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  During my tenure at Expertcity (creator of GoToMyPC and GoToMeeting), one of my responsibilities was leading our online marketing, a role I retained until our eventual acquisition by Citrix. When we launched GoToMyPC in 2001, the rules of online marketing were still being written. Along with GoToMyPC, companies like Netflix, Classmates and ZoneLabs were learning from each other. Since then, the craft of advertising online has matured from an art to a science. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! This latest wave in this…

• Don’t Pitch Your Idea To Venture Capitalists, They Don’t Care

  John Greathouse

  7 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  This entry originally appeared on Forbes HERE Although it is tempting to overly intellectualize modern-day venture capital, its underlying construct has been part of human society for thousands of years. From the earliest days of seafaring traders, affluent dilettantes have been entrusting their capital to less-affluent, enterprising workers willing to share a portion of the resulting gain with their benefactors. Two early venture capitalists were King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, who backed Christopher Columbus. The traits these royal investors sought in Columbus are surprisingly similar to…

• Discover The Hidden Persuasion Techniques Concealed In Online Ads

  John Greathouse

  30 Apr 2012 | 8:00 am

  In his book Enchantment , Guy Kawasaki encourages entrepreneurs to immerse their audience in their “cause”, in order to enchant them. One of the immersion techniques Guy promotes is to offer a hands-on trial, in which the prospective customer can touch, feel and experience your product before purchasing it. If you care to learn more about the enchantment process, you may want to watch my interview with Guy HERE, in which he provides a number of enchanting tips and tricks. If you haven’t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Characteristics Of…

• Why A Prominent Startup Executive Wants You To Fail, Get Fired And Focus

  John Greathouse

  24 Apr 2012 | 6:00 am

  Article first published as Why A Prominent Start-up Executive Wants You to Get Fired and Fail on Technorati. Kim Kovacs, Founder and CEO OptionEase, recently spoke to a class of emerging entrepreneurs at UC Santa Barbara. With over 700 customers, OptionEase has become the leading enterprise class SaaS solution for stock option and equity compensation tracking and compliance. Kim shocked some of the students by telling them that she hopes they fail. In this 8-minute video excerpt from her talk, Kim describes why, “failure is my favorite word at my company now.” Kim also discusses the…

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  Start-up

• 6 Tips for Getting Government Contracts

  Bill Murphy, Jr.

  23 May 2012 | 8:05 am

  The SBA brought together government contractors and entrepreneurs for nearly four hours of instruction in how small businesses can go to work for Uncle Sam. Here's what we learned.Federal spending is up. No matter how you might feel about that politically, it means great opportunity for government contractors. And that in turn means unprecedented opportunity for small and emerging businesses.Here at National Small Business Week, the SBA set up a total of nearly four hours of training on how to compete for federal government contracts—with panelists including top SBA officials,…

• Never Be an Employee Again

  Clarissa Cruz

  23 May 2012 | 6:20 am

  Kevin Meehan had climbed the ladder of the culinary scene, but yearned to be his own boss. Now he's broken out and is pioneering a whole new movement in dining.Chef Kevin Meehan, 35, did all the right things for success in the restaurant world: He studied at Johnson & Wales, apprenticed at a Michelin-starred establishment in Europe, and worked his way up at chic Los Angeles restaurants such as L'Orangerie, Bastide, and Patina before landing the executive chef job at Café Pinot. Why did he decide to give it up to launch a 10-seat pop-up called Kali Dining in February? To find…

• Advertisement: Save space and archive your files.

  23 May 2012 | 6:20 am

    Avoid unnecessary clutter by archiving files. With the DYMO® Touch Screen™ label maker, you can use the full color touch screen to add graphics or barcodes to your labels for detailed archiving. Dymo.com Ads by Pheedo

• The Importance of Giving Back

  Joe Reynolds

  23 May 2012 | 6:01 am

  We volunteer at soup kitchens. We tutor kids. We donate. Not only is helping your community the right thing to do--it's also good business.I was urgently needed to attend a meeting downstairs. Something seemed odd—I didn't remember planning a meeting—but I went with it.Seconds after I arrived downstairs, 10 people dressed in capes came marching into our office banging drums. One of them stood on a desk and unrolled a long scroll and read the message from Rick Shadyac, the CEO of ALSAC (the fundraising arm of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital). We had surpassed $1 million…

• Turn Your Interns Into Killer Employees

  Jessica Stillman

  23 May 2012 | 5:56 am

  Run your internship program right and it won't just be an exercise in fetching coffee and making copies. Instead, it will be a great pipeline to the brightest young talent.Sure, sometimes internships amount to little more than free grunt work for employers. But yours isn't like that. For one, you know that programs asking for free work in exchange for limited learning, while sadly common, are also probably illegal, strictly speaking. Two, you want to offer a quality experience to your interns, because—three—an inspiring internship program is a great way to get your hands on the…

• 

  Street Smarts | Inc.com

• Buying a Business? Expect the Unexpected

  Norm Brodsky

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:00 pm

  If you're considering buying a business, consider veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky's advice first.Dear Norm,Last May, my husband and I purchased the assets of a failing catering company that we believed had a strong client base and a great deal of potential. We're still in business, but we're struggling. Although I believe labor cost is the main issue, I'm afraid that if we lay people off, we won't have enough staff to meet demand. To make matters worse, our overhead is higher than we expected, because the figures we were given by the previous owner were not accurate. (For example, he showed…

• How to Deal with Late Payments

  Norm Brodsky

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:00 pm

  When times are tough, customers take longer to pay their bills. You can count on it. Veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky says that's the wrong time to start thinking about how to deal with it.Most of the entrepreneurs I know have been having a tough time getting customers to pay on time, which always happens in a bad economy. Some people get so nervous that they plead with, or even start harassing, their customers. That seldom works and invariably creates resentment on both sides. After all, customers are also under pressure. And they have extra reason to be annoyed if you've never discussed…

• How to Handle Employee Sabotage

  Norm Brodsky

  30 Apr 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Not all employees resign gracefully. Some try to sabotage your company on their way out. Here's how veteran entrepreneur Norm Brodsky deals with it.Dear Norm,I have a problem with some former employees who've started a business that directly competes with mine. Not that I mind healthy competition. In fact, I welcome it. But I do object strongly to the way these people conducted themselves as they were leaving. It began with a manager who, I later discovered, was starting a business and working on it while he was still my employee. He then began to recruit away other employees in key positions…

• When You Know It's Time to Throw in the Towel

  Norm Brodsky

  2 Apr 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Giving up isn't something that comes easy to entrepreneurs, but sometimes, giving up might just be the best move.Giving up isn't something that comes easily to entrepreneurs. We're stubborn and incurably optimistic. But sometimes, throwing in the towel might be precisely the right move.I recently spent a long time talking to my friend Tom, who has been struggling for several years with his business. On the positive side, he puts out products that customers love, and his company has had a great impact on its community. Unfortunately, he's running a for-profit business, not a charity. Three…

• The Commodity-Pricing Trap

  Norm Brodsky

  2 Apr 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Norm Brodsky advises on how to avoid the race to the bottom.Dear Norm,My partner and I have a business that rents photo booths for weddings, parties, and corporate events. My partner has developed software that uses blue-screen technology to create thousands of different backgrounds for the photos, which adds a whole new level of fun. As far as I can tell, we are the only company that offers this. I recently started another business that sells photo booths equipped with the software to people who want to start their own rental services. A large competitor of ours has sold a lot of standard…

• 

  Young Upstarts

• The New Networking: Ultimate LinkedIn Guide For 2012 Grads

  Contributor

  23 May 2012 | 7:00 pm

  (We’ve looked) at how social media sites can be used as powerful networking tools for new college graduates, sharing our best picks for tips, tools, and more for Facebook, Twitter, and now, LinkedIn. Today, we’re exploring LinkedIn for new grads. We’ve saved the best for last: this site was created with professional networking in mind, and it’s our top pick as the most effective resource when it comes to making meaningful professional connections. Check out our guide to find great ideas for making the most of this great tool, as well as groups to check out and insightful posts for…

• Online Gaming, Mobile Entertainment And The Land Of Opportunity In Video Game Design

  Contributor

  23 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  by Alanna Hardy Online Gaming, Mobile Entertainment and the Video Game Design Boon Technology has done wonders for the world; it has eradicated disease, brought man to the moon (and soon Mars) and increased living standards across the globe. But its shining achievement doesn’t involve the medical sciences or space travel; it is the invention of the video game. From its earliest manifestations in the 1950s – 1960s, video games have given ceaseless joy to generations of children who in turn pass their passion for gaming on to their children. Furthermore, this same generation that grew up…

• [Review] Retail Truths

  Daniel Goh

  22 May 2012 | 11:30 pm

  I have a tendency to speed read and skim certain sections when reviewing books. But once in a while, you encounter a really engrossing book that makes you want to reread lines over and over again because of the inherent truths buried in those words. I had that experience with “Retail Truths: The Unconventional Wisdom of Retailing” by Chip Averwater, who discusses nearly four decades of experience gleamed from helping run his family’s fourth-generation musical instrument store. In “Retail Truths“, Averwater offers over 400 individual insights for running a retail…

• [Singapore][Event] SuperHappyDevHouse 2

  Daniel Goh

  22 May 2012 | 6:30 pm

  SuperHappyDevHouse (SHDH) is back! If you’re not familiar with SuperHappyDevHouse, it’s a social, hacker culture-type event and party that started in Silicon Valley in 2005 and today takes place all around the world for creative and curious people interested in technology to share knowledge, collaborate and generally have a great time creating new products. After a successful introduction in Singapore last year, SuperHappyDevHouse 2 – Singapore’s and Asia’s second SHDH – will take place on Jun 9-10 at co-working space The Hub Singapore and should again see…

• Eight Books That Shaped American Industry

  Contributor

  22 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  Put down that trashy romance novel. Stick a bookmark in that sci-fi page-turner. Take a break from your normal literature, and check out some of these books that have influenced our lives. There are plenty of books out there that make us think about life in a new way or feel something we haven’t felt before, but some books have the power to overhaul an entire industry. Industry practices in the U.S. would be very different were it not for the influence of these great reads. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair. When Upton Sinclair started writing this novel in the early 1900s, he meant for it to…

• 

  ArabCrunch

• After Being Blocked For Years Google Offers Google Earth, Picassa And Chrome for Download in Syria

  Gaith Saqer

  23 May 2012 | 7:20 am

  As A U.S companies Google has been in compliance with US export controls and sanctions programs against countries that does not follow the US policy. In Syria all google software and google code was blocked in the country due to those US government sanctions programs. We at ArabCrunch wrote about how these sanctions affect the average innocent user in Syria, Sudan, Iraq, North Korea and Cuba, specially with the blocking of open source software repository sourceforge. Today Google announced the good news as it made Google Earth, Picassa And Chrome available for download in Syria. The…

• Mixed Dimensions raises a funding round from several Jordanian investors

  news

  23 May 2012 | 6:06 am

  The Bedaya Business Angel Network, in cooperation with El Hassan Business Park in Amman Jordan announced its latest start-up business to successfully secure angel investment through Bedaya’s networks. These investments in Mixed Dimensions, a leading provider of technology and tools for interactive entertainment developers, hope to ensure the company’s successful global product launch in spring 2012. Amount of the deal was not disclosed. Mixed Dimensions CEO, Muhannad Taslaq, was thankful for the advice and assistance he received from the Bedaya Angel Network. “Their continuing efforts…

• Google Celebrates Egypt’s Presidential Elections with a Doodle and Launches a News Site for the Elections

  news

  23 May 2012 | 5:51 am

  Google has celebrated today’s Egyptian presidential election with a doodle at google.com.eg the doodle features each letter of Google participating in the election by standing in line then writing the name they will vote for and then submitting the vote. Also google has launched a news site that enables users to follow election’s news in general or by the presidential candidate. In this section like Google news google compile the list of news stories from news sources across the web, be it a newspaper online magazine or a news portal.

• Win 50,000 EP with Fekraty Business Idea Competition For Egypt

  news

  21 May 2012 | 6:31 am

  The American University in Cairo’s School of Business – Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program is organizing Fekrati a national business idea competition open for Egyptians with a prize for top winner of 50,000 Egyptian pounds. The aim of this competition contribute to the entrepreneurial ecosystem in Egypt by helping the country’s next generation create and lead their own successful business ventures. The competition application deadline is in 5 days, it is open to Egyptians between the age of 18 and 30 and is open individuals or teams. In case of a team, the maximum number of…

• Shoutit a social marketplace to trade and connect with your local community

  news

  19 May 2012 | 4:37 am

  Shoutit is a social marketplace to trade that is an evolution of classified listing, it takes classified concept to new grounds buy offering social aspect such as folowing of people and stuff that maters to you. On Shoutit users can post a request (shout) be it a good service or help they need and the amount they request and the local community and respond. They call also offer things for sale too. Shoutit also helps you to build your shopping profile listening (following) to stuff that you like, and then it will try to always show you recommendations based on what you listened to (interested…

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  StartupCFO : Mark MacLeod

• M & A: The VC Perspective

  mark

  17 May 2012 | 5:42 pm

  I was in Toronto this week to speak along with Dan Martell on M & A at PwC’s Vision to Reality Conference. It was a great event capped off with a key note by Mr. Lean Startup himself – Eric Ries. My job was to look at M & A from the VC or investor perspective. Here are the slides. I have heard videos from the day will be up soon. Pwc exit presentation mac leod-may 15 2012 View more presentations from Mark MacLeod

• Opportunity Cost

  mark

  10 May 2012 | 6:03 am

  What’s the difference between founders and professional managers? While they differ in many ways from experience to risk tolerance, etc, you can boil them all down to one element – opportunity cost. According to Wikipedia, opportunity cost is “the cost of any activity measured in terms of the value of the next best alternative forgone (that is not chosen)“. As a founder, you probably have no opportunity cost. It’s not that your time is not valuable. It’s not that you couldn’t get a job. But if you are truly on a path to building something of value,…

• Getting Investor Ready

  mark

  3 May 2012 | 10:47 am

  This morning I gave a talk to the Founderfuel teams on how to get investor ready and more importantly – how to get funded. Demo day is May 23rd, so everyone is gearing up for fundraising. Here are the slides: Getting investor ready View more presentations from Mark MacLeod

• Hacking Legal Fees

  mark

  28 Apr 2012 | 10:48 am

  Startup life often boils down to a few key moments. From incorporation to first hires, securing investments, key partnerships and hopefully a big pay day down the road. What all these moments have in common is that they involve lawyers. I have worked with some great lawyers over the years but I have never once enjoyed paying a legal bill, even reasonable ones. Since legal bills are unavoidable here are some tips for hacking them down to size: Choose the right lawyers: while your cousin Vinny might have a small practice and charge a low hourly rate, he’s not the person you want as legal…

• Vision can come later…

  mark

  13 Apr 2012 | 5:47 am

  What do Acquisio, Freshbooks, Hootsuite and Shopify all have in common? Well, for one, they are all kick ass, high growth Canadian startups. For another, they all started out as web agencies. i.e. service companies. Each has a different story for how they transitioned from services to product. But each one had the benefit and luxury of starting from an existing, profitable business and taking the time that was needed to develop and validate their vision. None of them approached VCs out of the gate. And for those that did raise VC, I’m pretty sure they had a (relatively) easy time of it.

• 

  WordPress.com News

• 7 Food Blogs to Follow This Summer

  Erica

  23 May 2012 | 1:54 pm

  With the official first day of summer right around the corner, now is a great time to start collecting recipes for your favorite warm-weather treats. You’ll find endless inspiration by browsing through topics like recipe, grilling, and summer in the WordPress.com Reader, and discover tons of great ideas by exploring our collection of recommended food blogs. Here are seven mouthwatering recipes from a handful of fantastic blogs that are sure to delight all summer long: The Patterned Plate Mango and Coconut Ice Cream We Call Him Yes! Chef! Grilled Skirt Steak and Artichokes The Faux…

• Photo Blogging 101, Part 2

  Erica V.

  21 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Now that you’ve been snapping away, you’ll want to build your photographic following. WordPress.com has an excellent photo blogging community, which you can tap into by following these tips and tricks. Tags, topics, and phloggers, oh my! Tags work to connect your blog to the larger WordPress.com community, so you can see others who are writing, or photographing, the same subjects as you. By tagging your post as “Photography” or “Black and White,” your posts will be included in the respective Topic page so that other viewers can find your site. If you…

• Look Before You Leap

  Jane Wells

  18 May 2012 | 12:31 pm

  Trying out new themes is fun, isn’t it? I think so! The thing about changing my blog’s theme that has traditionally bugged me, though, is the 10-15 minutes right after you click “Activate” when you have to rush through uploading a new custom header, maybe resetting the background, fiddling with a new sidebar configuration, and other transition adjustments so that people won’t see your site in a half-switched state. Maybe I’m overly sensitive to that — I don’t like to leave things half-painted either — but luckily for me we’ve just…

• New Theme: A Simpler Time

  Philip Arthur Moore

  17 May 2012 | 7:48 am

  There’s something about this time of year that always makes me wistful for the good old days—the simpler times, if you will—when all that mattered were family, friends, and a whole lotta blogging about everything under the sun. I miss those days, don’t you? Fear not, my fellow blogging friends. We’ve got you all covered today with a theme that will make you want to stop time and write about everything in your lives until you can’t write anymore. A Simpler Time, designed by Denise Chandler, is a theme that’s beautiful, bold, and memorable—pretty much exactly…

• Stay In The Conversation

  Beau Lebens

  15 May 2012 | 4:01 pm

  Update (May 17): Since this feature went live we’ve had a bunch of feedback and it looks like following comments by default is not a good fit for a lot of bloggers (and their readers) after all. We looked at a few different options, but for now we’ve just changed things back to how they were before. To follow a conversation, make sure you check the box when you post a comment. It’s now much easier for you and your commenters to keep track of the conversations you’re involved in across WordPress.com. Some recent tests have shown that by subscribing commenters to new…

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  47 Hats

• So what’s Silicon Valley like?

  Bob Walsh

  22 May 2012 | 8:45 am

  I was chatting with Alvin of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia this morning on my site – he’s a law student thinking about doing a startup. He wanted to know: what’s Silicon Valley is like? Having lived in the Bay Area and worked in the tech industry 30 years, I’ve got a pretty good sense of that. The good news re SV is that now it’s digital and online: it’s all available to everyone on the planet. What you need to pick up on if you want to succeed is the habits, mindsets, techniques that work in the Valley and make the Valley work. Other answer – lots of tech…

• Results I like to hear about…

  Bob Walsh

  17 May 2012 | 5:28 pm

  I’m running my brief semi-annual secret MicroConsult sale right now for past clients and their friends and checking in on how past and recent clients are doing. Two bits of feedback that were the kind of results I like to hear: “Thank you for the help you provided earlier with the 2 MicroConsults.  It helped me get to the point of quitting my full time job and then adding my first employee. ” - “Tom Esposito, Founder | bridallive.com . “A year into my start-up venture I booked a microconsult with Bob. Well I should have done that much sooner! His experience…

• 6 reasons to use Asana to build your startup.

  Bob Walsh

  16 May 2012 | 11:57 am

  So you want to successfully build your startup and that means building systems that get all sorts of work done. If you’re funded, you can hire someone to define all the task, marketing, support, recruiting, planning, agile project management and operation systems you need. If you’re bootstrapping, you are that person. In that case, let me recommend a task management system I’ve been using every day, all day long for the past several months. Now before you scream your eyes will melt in your head if you read about one more damn Getting Things Done web/iOS/android/paper system,…

• Scalable content generation using DBpedia (and a hint of oDesk)

  Bob Walsh

  27 Apr 2012 | 1:10 pm

  By Dan Gravell, Founder, elsten software Content marketing is a cheap way to attract visitors to your site, but how can you achieve a long tail content marketing strategy as a single founder? As a single founder of Micro-ISV, I wanted to develop a scalable way to attract both visitors and inbound links. I came up with a way of combining Wikipedia, the software I sell and oDesk to generate hundreds of pages of useful content that has seen an increase in visitors to my website. You see a lot of discussion about content marketing nowadays. Content marketing is an approach to marketing where you…

• They’re back!

  Bob Walsh

  11 Apr 2012 | 4:23 pm

  The cold zombie hand of those who want to save you from the evils of the Internets are back: CISPA (Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) will keep you safe from evil cyberterrorists, pornographers and copyright infringers. Just close your eyes, shut up, do as we say and go shopping. Or not. Spencer Belkofer of Lumin Consulting is ringing the alarm bells with this great infographic:   You’re reading They’re back! from: 47 Hats. If you like this post, there’s plenty more! Want more sales for your startup? Stop by and let’s chat, or consider a Microconsult…

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  Polygraph Media Blog

• The Origins of Polygraph Facebook Data Mining Analytics

  Chris Treadaway

  23 May 2012 | 10:18 am

  First a quick thanks to all of you who visited the blog yesterday.  Our blog traffic exploded yesterday, which means I'll be writing here frequently. :-) Today, I thought I'd talk about where we got the idea for Polygraph and the feedback we heard from the marketplace in the 9 months preceding our launch. As some of you may know, our company's origins came from the couponing world.  Our first product was a couponing system that businesses could use to publish coupons on the Web, Facebook, Twitter, and to e-mail lists.  We built this as a DIY system for local businesses and…

• Polygraph Facebook Data Mining, Analytics Launch!!

  Chris Treadaway

  22 May 2012 | 11:15 am

  Howdy everyone.  Today is an exciting day for us at Polygraph -- we've released our first product into the marketplace! First of all, congratulations to our team.  We ran hard to the deadline, and released something that I'm very proud of, especially for a v1.  Now everyone is pretty much exhausted, but I suppose that's par for the course. We're excited about our mission to democratize access to social data -- and make it easy for marketers to truly understand the competitive landscape on Facebook.  There are a lot of companies doing deep analytics on Twitter, but not…

• On the Facebook IPO

  Chris Treadaway

  15 May 2012 | 2:10 pm

  Lots of thoughts on this... let me try to be brief.  And my opinions on this should not be considered as investment advice, but rather my observations following up on my interview with WebProNews earlier this year.  I am a marketer and practitioner, not an investment professional.  The Facebook IPO is the apex of this cycle.  Finally, we can all buy & sell shares of the world's dominant social property.  Woohoo! The Facebook price range was increased today, which will value the company at roughly $100b when it begins trading.  Unreal -- although this was inline with where the…

• Big Social Data & the Peak of Rick Santorum

  Chris Treadaway

  2 Apr 2012 | 8:04 am

  February 8th was a watershed day in the US Presidential campaign of Rick Santorum.  The Pennsylvania conservative picked up a sweep of somewhat unexpected wins in Colorado, Minnesota, and Missouri.  Pundits and news sources called the outcome "devastating" for the Mitt Romney campaign and a "shot in the arm" for Rick Santorum.  Romney went on the offensive, launching attacks against his Republican rival weeks after the event. All of this would be great, with the exception that February 8th was actually the statistical peak of the Rick Santorum campaign.  We can prove…

• SXSW Interactive 2012 Observations

  Chris Treadaway

  14 Mar 2012 | 12:21 pm

  Some thoughts following the blur that was SXSW Interactive 2012: I very much agree with the sentiment that "nobody won SXSW" this year, but I also don't think you can expect that every year.  Twitter "won" the conference in 2007.  4sq arguably stole the show in 2009.  GroupMe "won" in 2011.  In my mind, the latter won it only because the tech press had to give the title to *someone*.  But also look at the years... in the even years nobody "won" at all per se.  You don't have a  "press-designated" winner every year and this…

• 

  Digging In

• What Building Eden Taught Me About Leading

  Charlie Crystle

  23 May 2012 | 11:55 am

  Back in February I got the crazy radical idea of starting community gardens here in the hometown, the center of the best farming soil in the anywhere ever. People have talked about it for years, and two people tried to get one at a nearby park, but the city nixed it at the last minute.start with an empty fieldI wasn't having a great winter (lousy rotten winter, but the weather was great!), and suddenly I decided that I should start it.And that's always a dangerous thing; my VP of Engineering at ChiliSoft, Russ, once said to me "The thing with you, Charlie, is you never finish anything."Well,…

• Punt: Great Kodak Camera...(soon to be limited edition)

  Charlie Crystle

  14 May 2012 | 10:03 am

  Today's punt is to a sad, sad story of Kodak, as told by commerce site Woot in what appears to be a moderately humorous offer for a very good camera."Soon to be limited edition..."Not quite lol, but amusing. 

• On Hiring, Briefly

  Charlie Crystle

  7 May 2012 | 5:25 am

  Fred over at http://avc.com will be talking about HR over the next few weeks on Mondays.In 2003 I did an interview with Business Week about the subject, which you can read here.Since then, my hiring has been hit or miss. At Mission Research I tolerated mediocre performance by really nice people I liked much longer than I should have. Nine years after the article, I'm looking forward to my next hires because I'm adapting a better hiring process and employment principles (work in progress).People will likely be your biggest expense, and greatest asset. The best thing you can do as a startup…

• Your Highest Self

  Charlie Crystle

  4 May 2012 | 6:33 am

  The beach brings back a lot of memories for me. Over the weekend I learned that my friend and neighbor from there was in his last weeks of a cancer battle that he lost after 6 years.I lived there for 3 years in the early 2000s, and despite our completely opposite political views, we developed a friendship that continued beyond that. It cracked him up when I showed up one day during my Senate campaign with a huge Crystle for Senate stuck to the minivan, my big stubbly face taking up a third of the side. "Don't you liberals know how to shave?"I planned to drive down Tuesday to say goodbye, but…

• Draft Posts

  Charlie Crystle

  3 May 2012 | 10:35 am

  There are posts that never see the light of day--my draft posts. Today's was one of those. Maybe tomorrow I'll get it right.

• 

  Business of Software

• Tobias Lutke, CEO, Shopify at Business of Software 2011: “How we can build businesses that people in 100 years won’t be embarrassed by?”

  Mark Littlewood

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Tobias Lutke, founder and CEO of Shopify, wants people to make sure their business is on the right side of history through code and culture. Quietly spoken, Tobias offered one of the most thought provoking talks of Business of Software 2011 by asking the question, “How we can build businesses that people won’t be embarrassed by in 100 years?” Tobias is CEO and co-founder of Shopify, the marquee shopping cart system of the e-commerce industry. As a programmer Tobias has served on the core team of the Ruby on Railsframework and has created many popular open source libraries…

• Business of Software – where entrepreneurship is catching apparently…

  Mark Littlewood

  21 May 2012 | 12:54 am

  Anyone who has been to Business of Software will have bumped into our amazing camera guy, Lerone Wilson at some point in the course of the event. There was us thinking we were paying him to make those awesome Business of Software videos that you can view at your convenience post event but NO! In one of the most blatant and audacious rip-offs of our intellectual property you could imagine, Lerone has actually been listening to the talks and learning stuff. Not only has he watched them all at least three times, he has now got off his butt and taken action. This is a guest blog from Lerone…

• Should you come to Business of Software if you are a small, bootstrapped business?

  Mark Littlewood

  17 May 2012 | 6:28 am

  I thought this would be a good opportunity to run this guest blog from Stephen Kellett of Software Verify, prompted by a note I received this morning… I haven’t had permission to publish the details of the email so I have removed any personally identifiable information. The essence of the question though is, ‘Should bootstrapped businesses come to BoS?’ “Mark I run a small bootstrapped software company. We have a samll US team of 2 employees (me & wife, and some part time contractors)  and have a remote team that is full time from India. I am trying to…

• Peldi (@balsamiq), Balsamiq at Business of Software 2011: Interview with John Nese of Soda Pop Stop.

  Mark Littlewood

  16 May 2012 | 7:09 am

  Giacomo ‘Peldi’ Guilizzoni is the founder and CEO of Balsamiq, makers of Balsamiq Mockups, the instantly-useful, forever-loveable wireframing software. Balsamiq is a tiny, nine-person multi-million dollar multinational, based out of Italy, France, New York and California. A programmer turned entrepreneur, Peldi lives to learn new skills and to share what he learns, be it via his blog, giving public or mentoring other software startups. More at Balsamiq. John Nese owns and manages Soda Pop Stop. He is devoted to the art of soda pop and supporting the small businesses behind  each…

• Professor Clayton Christensen asks, ‘How will you measure your life?’

  Mark Littlewood

  16 May 2012 | 4:09 am

  It might just be possible that one of the world’s leading management thinkers, Professor Clayton Christensen, author of the ‘Innovator’s Dilemma‘ and other extraordinary books will be remembered principally, not for his contribution to innovation and management thinking which is immense, but for the ideas he shares in his latest book, ‘How will you measure your life?‘ It does contain lots of great ideas about management, but more importantly, some brilliant ideas about managing and thinking about your own life and what is really important. “Over the…

• 

  Gregg Fraley » Blogg

• Gonzeaux #8 — Florida

  GREGG FRALEY

  21 May 2012 | 8:48 am

  I spent most of the past week in the great state of Florida. While I hardly exhausted the potential of it’s vast expanse and endless coastline, I did get a gonzeaux dose of it. The FEI 2012 Conference lived up to it’s billing and reputation as the “serious” innovation conference. Hard to summarise, but let me try: great, insightful, relevant speakers, interesting interactions with both participants and vendors, and lots of fun and conversations around the edges. All about innovation of course. It’s expensive, but it you’re serious about innovation at your…

• Alabama Innovation, Gonzeaux #7 — Birmingham’s Future

  GREGG FRALEY

  14 May 2012 | 11:02 am

  Photo by Bill Hudson Birmingham Alabama — Monday May 14th, 2012, Gonzeaux #7 It’s an image that was so arresting and shocking at the time that I’ve never forgotten it. It stained my memory like indigo on fine white linen, never to be washed out. I was nine years old. I’m talking about the sight, on national television, of black people being attacked by German Shepard’s in the Birmingham, Alabama race riots of 1963. The high-pressure water hoses were cruel, but the dogs, those vicious dogs, made my skin crawl, and it flipped a switch in my head. From that point…

• Tennessee Innovation, Gonzeaux #6 – Persistence Personifies Nashville

  GREGG FRALEY

  13 May 2012 | 8:41 am

  Nashville, Tennessee — Saturday May 12, Gonzeaux #6 Nashville is throwing the recession out of town. The building boom cut short by the downturn seems to be back in full swing here. A huge new convention centre is going up, downtown residences, and an extension to the already way cool Country Music Hall of Fame is nearly done. Good stuff, but for me, beside the point — not Gonzeaux Innovation material. The innovation story here has more do do with persistence of effort and entrepreneur’s who simply don’t stop until they make something happen — persistence…

• Kentucky Innovation, Gonzeaux #5 — Marijuana & Other Secrets

  GREGG FRALEY

  11 May 2012 | 5:49 am

  Elizabethtown, Kentucky — Friday May 11, 2012, Gonzeaux #5. I’m sworn to secrecy. As I sit here in Ruby Tuesday’s enjoying a petite sirloin and free wifi, I contemplate the secretive nature of innovation. Open innovation is all the rage isn’t it? You hear all the time how much it makes sense to have a generous attitude about ideas. The paradox is, some innovations need to be kept secret, or, the innovator loses advantage. Or worse, loses freedom. Do you think Pixar is sharing early rushes of their latest movies with just anybody? Or is Apple giving us any sense of…

• Breakthrough or Broken Head? — Gonzeaux #4

  GREGG FRALEY

  10 May 2012 | 6:54 am

  Visiting with Mike Bott, General Manager at The Brandery accelerator in downtown Cincinnati, you actually see what the “Front End of Innovation” looks like — two or three people, over-caffeinated and urgent, clustered around a couple of basic desks working out the details of a business plan, or creating a brand new product. Due to the training they’ve been given at the accelerator, they know a bit about innovation process, branding and fund raising — and the focus is still entirely on the doing. It’s small, it’s uncomplicated, it’s informal, and…

• 

  Dr. Jeff Cornwall

• Business Model Course Available

  Jeff

  17 May 2012 | 4:56 am

  Want to learn more about business modeling? Why not learn from one of the best.  Patrick van der Pijl, CEO of Business Models Inc. who is part of the core team behind Business Model Generation, is now offering an on-line course. The first course is six modules on The Design.  I have already signed up.  (Full disclosure — I am a full paying customer!!) The objectives of the course are to facilitate the design of gamechanging business models with teams, startups and major organizations using powerful visual facilitation tools and techniques. Interested in learning more about the course…

• Finding a Small Business Friendly Bank

  Jeff

  15 May 2012 | 6:23 am

  “There is a bank on every corner.  If you don’t like the answer you get from one, go to the one across the street.” That is the advice my late father gave me a long time ago about finding a small business friendly bank. Now there is a new tool to help make this process easier for small business owners. “One of the biggest challenges that small businesses face is access to capital,” says Ami Kassar, CEO of MultiFunding, a small business financial advisory firm.  “We decided to give small businesses a gift this year and help them find local banks that are friends of…

• We are all gnats

  Jeff

  14 May 2012 | 5:56 am

  “You are gnats! You are like annoying little gnats flying around in the face of consumers.” This is a message that I consistently tell aspiring first-time entrepreneurs. Why the harsh words? Most first-time entrepreneurs have so much enthusiasm that they can become blinded to the reality of the challenges that every new business faces. I tell them to think about the last few hours. How many small businesses did you go past without even really noticing them? What about all of the products in the convenience store where you got gas this morning? How many of the service businesses that had…

• Then Comes Generation Z

  Jeff

  9 May 2012 | 5:34 am

  USA Today ran a story by Rebecca Walker on the entrepreneurial nature of Generation Y.  They have three interesting profiles on Gen Y entrepreneurs. Here are my thoughts that I shared with the author for this story, which regular readers have heard me say many times: Generation Y is the most entrepreneurial generation ever. Parents raised their children to be independent. This generation feels a general sense of distrust for large organizations and government. What will be really interesting to watch over the next decade or so is the next generation coming along — Generation Z. These…

• Small Businesses Still not Hiring

  Jeff

  1 May 2012 | 3:56 am

  It is getting to be a broken record — we need small businesses to lead us into a real recovery that is based on job growth, but small businesses are just not ready to increase their workforces. Two job indexes released this week show mixed results. SurePayroll Scorecard data shows that month-over-month, hiring is down -0.1% and average paychecks are down 0.3%.  Looking at this year compared to 2011 at the same time, hiring is down 1.3% and paychecks are down 1.3%. The same survey showed a drop in optimism among small business owners to 65%, down from last month’s 70% finding. Like…

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  Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur

• How to launch a Press Release

  Jun Loayza

  22 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  My team and I recently launched a press release unveiling RewardMe from stealth mode.  We spent 3 days and $499 writing the press release and achieved the following results: 59,000 impressions 1,500 reads (landed on our PR Web press page) 114 online pickups (there were 114 online articles written about our press release) Overall, my team is very satisfied with the results because of the media hits, inbound leads we’ve received, and the inbound links from external publications linking to our website: useful for SEO. Who should read this post: the marketing lead or department at a…

• How to optimize a WordPress Blog for traffic and pageviews

  Jun Loayza

  10 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  I recently updated the design and features for my blog and have received plenty of emails with questions about how other bloggers can do it as well.  I decided to create a blog post describing in detail how I made the changes and why I did it. Before we dive into the how-to part of this post, lets talk about the results so far: Note: all stats compare March 2012 to April 2012 Traffic: increased by 6.5%  - I think mostly due to the guest blog posting I’ve recently done Pageviews: increased by 10.3% Time on site: increased by 7.8% I don’t have any conclusive data yet because…

• RewardMe video case study for Fraiche Yogurt

  Jun Loayza

  8 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  I’m very happy and proud to finally show you a video of our product in action! Our video highlights Patama of Fraiche, a yogurt shop in the Palo Alto, CA area.  As you can see on the Yelp review page, Fraiche is extremely popular and gets over 500 transactions a day.  That’s why it’s so important that our product is fast and easy to use for all customers and cashiers. Let me know what you think of the video and of our product! If you’re an interested investor, agency, or potential partner, read further to learn more details about our product. What is RewardMe…

• Podcast with Mike Krass: learn how to land your first client

  Jun Loayza

  3 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Click the play button below to listen to the podcast Download podcast Mike Krass – Founder of MKG Media Group MKG Media Group Twitter Blog mikejkrass [at] gmail.com A west coast transplant from Minnesota, Mike made his bones optimizing search campaigns & delivering social analytics reports for WDCW, a full service agency based in Seattle. The clients Mike supported included Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Epson, Western Digital, uSamp, Qliance, Phoenix Children’s Hospital & more. Since then, Mike’s interests have piqued by display media planning & buying along with heavy…

• Video interview with Ryan Paugh from YEC

  Jun Loayza

  1 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Ryan Paugh – Chief of Staff at the YEC Twitter YEC About ryan@theyec.org Ryan is the Founder of Brazen Careerist, voted the #1 social network for Generation Y. He is currently serving as the Community Director and Chief Of Staff for The Young Entrepreneur Council (Y.E.C.), an invite-only community of the world’s top, young entrepreneurs. I’ve known Ryan for several years now and he never fails to amaze me with his work ethic and ability to build community.  Sure there are many people out there that are “community managers”, but Ryan is able to share a vision…

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  Entrepreneur Bootcamp

• CYBHER – The First UK All Inclusive Event For Women Who Blog

  Del Williams

  14 May 2012 | 6:13 am

  Copyright by Cybher Cybher is the first all-inclusive female blogger event of its kind in theUK. It took place on the 12th May 2012 at 8 Northumberland Avenue in theheart of London. This one-day event brought together the most influentialbloggers and speakers from all corners of the blogosphere to network,inspire, share and learn.Cybher is the brainchild of Siân To who after 15 years PR experience wentsocial when she started blogging in 2009. In January 2010 she foundedCyberMummy and in August that year she embarked on a life changing journeyas an ambassador for Save the Children, that took…

• Eight out of 10 PR professionals work with bloggers to gain coverage

  Del Williams

  29 Mar 2012 | 6:56 am

  More than eight out of 10 (82%) PR professionals work with bloggers toprovide coverage for clients, while 98% find bloggers useful or invaluable,according to new research from DWPub.Results of the survey of 252 PR professionals conducted in March 2012accompany a new whitepaper called ‘The smart PR’s guide to bloggeroutreach’. The whitepaper, which assesses the importance of working withbloggers and offers practical tips, is written by freelance writer andblogger Sally Whittle.Of the 18% of PRs who don’t work with bloggers, 54% find it difficult toevaluate the usefulness of a blogger,…

• My Sales Call From Hell With a Narcissist

  Del Williams

  7 Mar 2012 | 10:37 am

  I am not a novice when it comes to making a sales call, but the one I had the other day took the cake. By the time the sales call was over I needed a shower, it was that vile. First a little background. As CEO of Del Williams Media, we have lots of media assets and properties, one being a channel with over 2 million viewer minutes. I decided I wanted to add to the roster so reached out to someone who had video and has a story to tell. I won't mention his name since that is not the purpose of this post and I don't want to give him traffic from my nice audience. Anyway, it went like this. I…

• Target Garners Free Advertising Since Flash Mobs Love Them

  Del Williams

  14 Feb 2012 | 6:25 am

  We see advertisements often from Target, but they could save their money with all the free advertising flash mob give them. Yes you heard me. Flash mobs love Target as you can see from  the videos below. Zumba Flash Mob Senior Citizen Flash Mob Beyonce "End of Time" These videos have garnered millions of views which translates into millions of potential customers. It seems Target takes it all in stride, particularly since flash mobs don't last long. 

• What I Have Learned Through Social Media

  Del Williams

  10 Feb 2012 | 9:34 am

  Everyone has a platform or the ability to build one with a click of a mouse. We call that social media. Fill in few lines, upload a picture (real or imaginary) and they have a space. Now what they do with that space is rather interesting. 1. Soapbox- It doesn't matter what it is, they think their audience wants to hear it. We are not talking once in a while, but often enough that you tend to unfollow or ignore their posts. 2. Complainers- This is an interesting group because sometimes their complaints are valid, but what is not valid is using their posts as a way to manipulate companies…

• 

  Shalabh Pandey on Ideas, Inspirations and Innovation

• Creating real value through content

  buzzoptima@yahoo.com.sg (Shalabh Pandey)

  9 May 2012 | 8:52 am

  Newspapers and magazines and TV stations create Paywalls. A subject much derided, that, apparently, is the single biggest source of new revenue for these business entities.It is proving to work. And I agree. The time for subscription based business models is ripe. The days when people expected all content on the Net to be free are gone. People are paying for content now. At least the more mature... Click the title for complete post. (twitter.com/shalabhpandey)

• Launchhouse Accelerator offering $25,000 to 10 entrepreneurial tech teams

  buzzoptima@yahoo.com.sg (Shalabh Pandey)

  8 May 2012 | 6:58 am

  OK this is the first time ever on Chasing The Storm- but I am going to publish a Press release verbatim.But some things are better heard from the horse’s mouth. Directly. So here it is: Launchhouse Accelerator have been in touch with me regarding this initiative, and I think it is an interesting story to tell. The amount is not big but there are other perks valuable for... Click the title for complete post. (twitter.com/shalabhpandey)

• Mobile Marketing Association: MMA Forum Singapore 2012

  buzzoptima@yahoo.com.sg (Shalabh Pandey)

  22 Apr 2012 | 7:03 pm

  MMA Forum Singapore 2012: Smarter Tomorrow Off to MMA Forum today. After a long time, hope to be in a conference that enables you to meet thought leaders in the digital space, specifically mobile marketing. (Shoutout and thanks to Rice Communications) I will be posting some insights from 23rd April’s workshops and hopefully would be attending the next two days intermittently (loads of stuff... Click the title for complete post. (twitter.com/shalabhpandey)

• This market. Is Dead.

  buzzoptima@yahoo.com.sg (Shalabh Pandey)

  19 Apr 2012 | 2:07 am

      This market. Is dead. The digital ‘market’. In Asia. It’s booming- you say. Growth continues. Well, depends on the lens you put on. Let’s come down from a macro viewpoint- to some factors that could have driven this market, its people, its place. Instead- we choose Same old rhetoric. Same old routine. Chronically. Media Chronic ‘Ad sales’ focus-... Click the title for complete post. (twitter.com/shalabhpandey)

• Slang Wisdom: Indian slangs that start-ups can learn from

  buzzoptima@yahoo.com.sg (Shalabh Pandey)

  28 Mar 2012 | 12:57 am

  Slangs, sayings, songs. India is full of them. Everything has a metaphor. Never taken seriously- but they pack a punch. Express more in fewer words. In one of those intellectual moments- Here are some Indian (Hindi) slangs that start-ups, entrepreneurs and everyone else can learn from: 1) Jo dikhta hai wo hi bikta hai Translation: What sells- is only what can be seen.  Implication: if you or your... Click the title for complete post. (twitter.com/shalabhpandey)

• 

  Growthink blogs

• Where does Facebook go from here?

  Jay Turo

  21 May 2012 | 9:32 am

  Obviously the Facebook IPO has absolutely dominated the business news this past week, and for very good reason.Not only was it the biggest technology IPO in history, but the company in just a few short years has embedded itself into the very fabric of the lives of hundreds of millions of people worldwide.And the tale of Mark Zuckerberg and that of the founding and the beyond supersonic growth of the business is exactly the kind of feel good, incredibly inspirational entrepreneurial success story that America and the world desperately need.So yes, the Facebook IPO is greatly inspirational.And…

• Target Customer Demographics: Knowledge is Power

  Dave Lavinsky

  20 May 2012 | 6:18 pm

  To be effective, your marketing efforts depend on targeting the specific customers (and potential customers) who will produce the best results for your business. No company, no matter how big their budget, can afford to spend precious marketing dollars on too wide of a group of people. You just can't be everything to everyone.You can create fast and cost-effective growth however by identifying your core customers and focusing your marketing activities on them - attracting them, selling to them, and providing the right customer support and retention.This doesn't necessarily mean to focus on…

• How to Discover Your Most Profitable Marketing Combinations

  Dave Lavinsky

  17 May 2012 | 7:50 pm

  Below is an easy exercise that will boost your profits.First, list your products and/or servicesCreate a spreadsheet. In Column A type the names of each product or service you offer. Second, list your market segments (customer groups)In the first row of columns B, C, D, etc., write the names of the different types of customers you serve.For example, if you have a walk-in store as well as a website set up for e-commerce, you will have at least two groups of customers - those who come in to purchase and those who buy online.Or you may sell to consumers and businesses.Or you may sell to affluent…

• The IPO Market: Is Larry Bird Walking Through that Door?

  Jay Turo

  14 May 2012 | 9:28 am

  One of the key objectives of the recently passed JOBS act is that it will “open” the now 11 years and counting "shut” window for initial public offerings.Hopefully, it will help. Because golly, when it comes to the IPO market and public market returns in general, help is needed in a big way.How bad is it? Since the Internet bubble burst in 2001, the number of IPOs hasn’t recovered to even 1980s levels. That's 30 years ago, folks.For perspective, before 2001 over 40% of all venture capital exits were via initial public offerings. By 2010, that percentage had declined to a mere 3%.Or,…

• Finding Angel Investors & Convincing Them to Give You Funding

  Dave Lavinsky

  13 May 2012 | 5:42 pm

  In your business experiences, you may have noticed that "selling" is not particularly hard when you have the right product positioned correctly, in front of the right person who wants it NOW. But, when one of these factors are "out of whack," it can be a much tougher sale to make.Getting funding from angel investors is the same way. It's not so much about how good of a presenter or salesperson you are (though those qualities help). Because the most important time you spend influencing potential investors is done long before you present to them, even long before you even contact them; it's…

• 

  crowdSPRING Blog

• What Small Businesses Can Learn From The World’s Best Brands

  Ross

  23 May 2012 | 6:55 am

  We’ve previously shared lessons that small businesses can learn from the world’s best brands. For example, we wrote about five common lessons small businesses and startups can learn from the world’s best Brands, the 10 key learnings from PSFK’s Good Brands Report 2009, and the lessons for small businesses and startups from Interbrand’s Best Global Brands 2011 report. Market research firm Millward Brown has  published its annual BrandZ study, ranking the world’s leading brands. Interestingly, four of the top five and seven of the top ten are technology…

• Small Business Spotlight of the Week: Penn Brewery

  Amanda

  22 May 2012 | 10:05 pm

  For some reason (probably age discrimination), I have the reputation at the office for being a booze hound. But in reality, I have one true love: beer.  If you haven’t gotten the memo, craft beer is is a huge movement in the United States.  The Brewer’s Association reports that in 2011, craft beer had blossomed into an $8.7 billion industry. There were almost 2,000 craft breweries or brew pubs in operation, which is the highest that’s number been since the 1880′s.  That means no matter what region you live in, there’s probably a local brew pub with unique…

• Are Facebook Investors Playing Russian Roulette?

  Ross

  22 May 2012 | 10:35 am

  Although Facebook’s stock price has fallen well below its IPO price of $38 per share, many people agree that the stock is still significantly overpriced. Facebook stock is trading at 57 times projected earnings (compared to 14 for Google and 12 for Apple). There is precedent for a high forward-year projected earnings (P/E) ratio. For example, Amazon has a forward-year P/E ratio of 182 and Salesforce.com is trading at 89 times forward earnings. Both stocks have enjoyed strong growth this year. Amazon has spent aggressively on Kindle and other programs and stands to reap huge benefits in…

• Small Business and Startup Tips: Analyze This (a Data Primer)

  Mike

  20 May 2012 | 10:05 pm

  Our awesome Customer Service Master, Bianca, came to me last week with a simple request: “Let me have more responsibility.” Well it’s not everyday that a member of the team asks for the opportunity to do more, and it’s not every person in the world who expresses interest in learning new skills. We had a short conversation about ways she could contribute more and about skills she’d like to develop and one of the areas we discussed was, hold on to your hats, data analysis. That’s right – it turns out that Bianca likes numbers and that she’d like…

• Twitter Link Roundup #131 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

  Ross

  18 May 2012 | 6:55 am

  Every day on the crowdSPRING Twitter account and on my own Twitter account, I post links to posts or videos I enjoyed reading or viewing. These posts and videos are about logo design, web design, startups, entrepreneurship, small business, leadership, social media, marketing, and more! Here are some of the links that I’ve liked and shared this past week! The image above is The Hulk, one of the characters in the film The Avengers (released a few weeks ago around the world). It’s a phenomenal film – I definitely recommend you see it. Look in the Other section below for an in depth…

• 

  Our Startup Story

• In Defense of Business Plans

  John

  15 May 2012 | 10:02 am

  (I’m cross posting this from my Blog since I think it makes sense here too) An interesting conversation took place at DOCC (Denver Open Coffee Club) that easily could have filled that hour. It was about Business Plans. Those in favor of them were in the minority by a large margin. WHile I’m not 100% business plans are evil, I think they’re a crutch like Brain crack. I didn’t chime in during the conversation, because as I said that topic alone could have filled that hour, and I love DOCC for it’s variety. That doesn’t mean i can’t expand here tho :)…

• Our Startup Story: Introducing Uncubed (Denver Coworking)

  John

  6 Jul 2011 | 7:43 am

  This post won’t mean much to you if your’e not in Denver. Though if you ever find yourself passing through, know that there’s a desk waiting for you, no charge.   I haven’t gotten bored of 360|Conferences yet, in fact after a successful and profitable 360|Flex 2011 I’m very much excited for the future of 360|Conferences. That doesn’t mean I can’t explore new avenues. Last week we signed a lease for a large warehouse. Large like 6000 sq/ft. It’s going to be called Uncubed, and it’s a coworking (among other things) space. There’s…

• Our Startup Story: No Money, No Problem

  James Kim

  1 Jun 2011 | 7:08 am

  You’ve got the idea and you know all about the business solutions that are available to help get your business off the ground. Trouble is, you don’t know where to get the money. To help get your dreams of starting a new small business on track, here are some of the most common ways to get funding:   Personal Before looking anywhere else, you’ll want to figure out what your options are personally. You can go to a site like guidantfinancial.com to learn how to get money through loans against your 401K or IRA funds. In addition, you can just take the traditional approach…

• MileTrackGPS.com

  Andrew

  31 May 2011 | 2:01 pm

  Yawn! Welcome me back from hibernation. It’s good to be awake. I’ve not posted for over a year on this site but it’s good to be back. Although, I haven’t really been asleep, but rather extremely busy. If you don’t remember, I’m with the startup that was working on the GPS Device. The device itself is still having some kinks worked out with the housing, but is coming along nicely. I’ve been actively tracking my business mileage driven with it since Oct. 2010. The first market I’ll be going after is small business owners who need a pain-free way…

• Digital Analog – 2010 Year End Review

  Ben

  22 Dec 2010 | 3:18 pm

  I’ve been making a living as a Flex consultant for a number of years, but in 2010 I made it official by starting a company called Digital Analog, LLC. In honor of that achievement and in the spirit of being open with the development community, I’m “open-sourcing” my revenue numbers for 2010. I can’t give you the full line-by-line details of course (client confidentiality), but I am posting summaries of a few key areas below. If you find this post useful, educational or at least entertaining please consider recommending Digital Analog for any projects that pass…

• 

  Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur

• Charting the Course

  Usman Sheikh

  28 Apr 2012 | 9:46 pm

  “Controlling your direction is better than being controlled by it.” Jack Welch An entrepreneurs’ journey is riddled with potholes and unexpected events at every turn. Controlling your direction is not as easy as charting a plan and then sticking to it irrespective of what happens along the path. However, having a clear idea about the direction you are going in and why, is mandatory. It is critical on this path that the entrepreneur is adept and adaptable enough to be able to maneuver the direction of this ship. The word “pivot”  is fast becoming a word with over…

• Culture & Performance

  Usman Sheikh

  24 Apr 2012 | 1:31 am

  A recent article in Fortune by Jack and Suzy Welch in which they say: “Soft culture matters as much as hard numbers. And if your company’s culture is to mean anything, you have to hang — publicly — those in your midst who would destroy it. It’s a grim image, we know. But the fact is, creating a healthy, high-integrity organizational culture is not puppies and rainbows. And yet, for some reason, too many leaders think a company’s values can be relegated to a five-minute conversation between HR and a new employee. Or they think culture is about picking which words — do we…

• Performance Optimization

  Usman Sheikh

  23 Apr 2012 | 1:10 am

  Great leaders have an inherent ability to distill complexity into simplicity. A great story which reflects this talent is attributed to steel magnate Charles M. Schwab. One day one of his floor managers came to him complaining about varied schemes he had attempted in order to increase the average output per shift, without any luck. After having listened to his strategies Mr. Schwab simply asked him one question “How many heats has the day shift completed?”. When he got “6″ as the answer he simply took a piece of chalk and wrote a big “6″ on the entrance…

• The Importance of Core Values

  Usman Sheikh

  29 Jan 2012 | 9:20 am

  Understanding the importance of core values is something that I have been fascinated with ever since I read Jim Collins book, Good to Great. Core values form the foundation for businesses that persevere through time and major changes. An apt analogy is that of the growth of a tree; some trees have a quick growth spurts and on the surface seem majestic and beautiful. However, these trees have roots which do not support their level of growth and this impacts their ability to persevere over extended periods of time. Core values act as roots for companies, laying the foundation as it were. In an…

• Lessons Learned in 2011

  Usman Sheikh

  31 Dec 2011 | 10:59 pm

  As the clock turned to midnight, I paused for a moment and thought to myself, I wouldn’t trade places with anyone else at this moment in time….. I am pretty certain that in time when I look back at my journey as an entrepreneur, 2011 will be a defining year. It will be an year about which I will recount hundreds of stories and incidents that shaped and lay the foundation of things to come. This year has had its share of extreme highs and scary lows. It was a year in which I definitely felt alive every single day. A year I pushed myself to go outside established comfort zones and…

• 

  The Mogul Mom

• Outsourcing: A Mom Entrepreneur’s Answer to Overwhelm

  Prerna Malik

  22 May 2012 | 12:01 pm

  After I’d spent yet another hour of precious work time trying to design a MailChimp sign up form that looked presentable, I vowed, “Never again!” As mogul moms, time is our most precious commodity. Even more precious than money. Our time comes at a premium, and spending that time struggling with tasks that aren’t our core competencies or those that suck away at our energy without really building our business only leads to overwhelm and exhaustion. After my two-hour stint as a form designer, I needed an hour away from the laptop. Could I afford it? Not really. What I could afford is…

• 3 Reasons Why Your Business Needs Philanthropy

  Guest

  17 May 2012 | 1:36 pm

  This is a guest post from Erin Giles of ErinGiles.com. As moms and business owners, we often wonder…am I making a difference in the world?  Even after our hard work pays off and we feel great about our successful business, we sometimes feel like something is still missing. I’ve been there, and I decided to do something about it. I took on a philanthropic project that changed my life and business forever. Today I am here to break down, why this is one plan you need in your business model. Let’s start off with a quote from the man of all business men, Richard Branson. “We must…

• The 3 Rules of Target Markets

  Dawn Martinello

  15 May 2012 | 1:40 pm

  Every month I give a seminar on target markets to budding young (and old) entrepreneurs at the Self Employment Business Program. And every month they hustle in the door expecting some boring speech on determining the basics behind your target market complete with charts, graphs, and who knows what else. At the end of the two hours, I have a sky-high stack of evaluations with remarks like “ooh, who knew target marketing could be fun!” and “holy crow, I can’t believe I didn’t think about this before”. So it got me thinking – there are probably a few…

• The Best Places for Mom Entrepreneurs to Work It

  Holly Hanna

  13 May 2012 | 10:20 am

  Being a home-based mom entrepreneur has many benefits; a casual dress code, lots of flexibility, a travel-free commute to your office, and most importantly, getting to do something that you truly love each and every day. But no matter how happy you are working from home, there will come a time that being cooped up at home isn’t working. Whether it’s distractions, isolation, or having to meet a client, there are going to be days when working at your kitchen table just isn’t going to cut it. So when these times happen, use some of the suggestions below to keep yourself productive, sane…

• Are You Going To Start Cheating the Day After Mother’s Day?

  Guest

  10 May 2012 | 12:28 pm

  On the day after Mother’s Day, there’s a spike in registration of married women to infidelity-matchmaking services. Kind of amazing, but the day after mothers are supposed to be celebrated, appreciated and fêted for doing all that they do, they are actively seeking appreciation and adoration from someone else – someone who’s not their spouse! Clearly, something is amiss with Mother’s Day. But is it really just about Mother’s Day? Mother’s Day carries big expectations of wanting to really be acknowledged for all the zillions of things we do as mothers. And when we don’t…

• 

  The Entrepreneurial MD

• Preventing physician burnout - is there a secret recipe? Part 1

  Philippa Kennealy

  23 May 2012 | 2:12 pm

  Physician burnout may be preventable by applying what we know from neuroscience.

• Is it time to pull the plug on your physician business marketing activity?

  Philippa Kennealy

  11 May 2012 | 8:56 am

  Physician marketing activities need regular critical evaluation for their effectiveness. The Entrepreneurial MD needs your feedback!

• This CEO enables physician collaboration via your "virtual back office line"

  Philippa Kennealy

  8 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  How many steps does it take you to reach your referring physician colleague to give feedback regarding your recent consultation with his or her patient? Do you have to dictate a letter that must get into the hands of the physician? Must you have your staff get him or her on the phone?  What is involved in finding an expert who can quickly answer your pressing clinical question while the patient is still in your office? How do you find that expert, and then actually reach him or her? And, most importantly, how much productive time are these activities costing you each week or a month, as…

• Could You Turn Your Medical Knowledge to Copywriting?

  Philippa Kennealy

  4 May 2012 | 7:44 am

  Medical copywriting is a medical communication skill that offers yet another non-clinical career option

• Use the power of the visual to communicate with your audience

  Philippa Kennealy

  25 Apr 2012 | 6:22 pm

  I get sent a lot of content, aimed at physicians, to potentially post on The Entrepreneurial MD Blog and most of it is irrelevant or way too cheesy for the likes of you, dear reader. Once in a while however, something piques my interest as it is thoughtful or provocative. This time it's an "infographic" (contemporary lingo for cool images that are designed to convey information quickly) that caught my eye.  The information is largely "duh" for most of my physician readers (although I found some of it interesting) but I offer it to you as a way to stimulate your thinking about the ways in…

• 

  SoftwareCEO - Latest Forum Threads

• CEO Survey: What's your sales model?

  21 May 2012 | 1:15 pm

  [Read more]

• How to make promotion software?

  21 May 2012 | 1:46 am

  Has anybody got any knowledge about software will be able to use to submit PAD files? Would also like to learn about any techniques, for example, the PAD submission to software download sites? Any ideas to sell my software ? Software submission is an excellent marketing solution that's targeted mostly at shareware authors, designers and suppliers who would like to save enough time and efforts when marketing the program product. How to sell my software ? PAD Submit Worker will promote your product by posting it to 1000 download websites and could save you much money and time. You're going to…

• Buy Gmail Accounts | Buy PVA Gmail Accounts | Buy Phone Verified Gmail Accounts

  20 May 2012 | 10:05 pm

  Buy Gmail Accounts | Buy PVA Gmail Accounts | Buy Phone Verified Gmail Accounts For more details, please visit site: http://getbulkaccounts.com/ we resell both PVA and Non-PVA Accounts to our customer in a cheap price. PVA (Phone Verified Account) is now become a trend to stop spamming, fraudulent and illegal account creation. We sell accounts of Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Hotmail, Yahoo, AOL, Craislist, Youtube, and Google +1. Youtube Accounts:- 100 Youtube Accounts $20.00 250 Youtube Accounts $40.00 500 Youtube Accounts $60.00 1K Youtube Accounts $90.00…

• Software submission

  18 May 2012 | 2:09 am

  People either look for selling software in search engines like Google or perhaps in reliable software installing sites. By posting your software in certain software installing websites, you are able to boost the visibility from the software program. Besides offering better exposure for the software product, software directory submission may bring an impressive rise in the amount of download. However, your software product needs to be listed correctly in appropriate category for growing acceptance rate so far as possible. Being conscious of the significance of proper submission of software…

• using software submission to software download websites?

  16 May 2012 | 10:55 pm

  For those who have software to market, have you contemplated using software submission to software download websites? It does not only appear type of programs you sell, your companies, personal use, or something like that among. If you wish to improve your software sales here, improve your website rankings, read onto the following info and find out how to succeed at selling software online. Make software promotion by submitting to software archives, often be offered with a high-touch searches by potential clients. Yet, in some way, use the above mentioned methods can Increase your business…

• 

  Xconomy

• MediciNova Misses Primary Goal in Mid-Stage Trial of IV Asthma Drug

  Bruce V. Bigelow

  23 May 2012 | 4:58 pm

  Bruce V. Bigelow It was clear that San Diego’s MediciNova (NASDAQ: MNOV) had a lot riding on the outcome of a mid-stage trial of the company’s lead drug candidate, bedoradrine sulfate. As I reported recently, MediciNova has been developing the compound to treat acute asthma attacks that are not responsive to standard therapy. So shareholders registered their disappointment in preliminary results that MediciNova released today after regular Nasdaq trading ended—sending shares of MediciNova down by roughly 50 percent in after hours trading. Less than two hours after the news hit the…

• What’s New With Loveland Technologies, Axonia, 3D Biomatrix?

  Sarah Schmid

  23 May 2012 | 2:43 pm

  Sarah Schmid Don’t you hate it when you read an article about a promising new company and then you never hear anything about it again? We do too, which is why we’ve checked in with Loveland Technologies, Axonia Medical, and 3D Biomatrix for updates on the state of their operations, new milestones, and future plans. Loveland Technologies: Projects Covered in ‘Awesome Sauce’ Loveland Technologies, a Detroit IT company started by San Francisco transplant Jerry Paffendorf whose motto is “changing the urban landscape with community maps, fundraising, and a dash of awesome sauce,” has…

• Analytic Software Wins Janssen Prize to Reduce Hospital Readmissions

  Bruce V. Bigelow

  23 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  Bruce V. Bigelow A team developing analytic software that scores patients for the risk they pose to being readmitted within 30 days after being discharged from a hospital is the winner of the inaugural Janssen Connected Care Challenge. The prize is sponsored by Janssen, a unit of New Brunswick, NJ-based Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) . Kim Park, a founding partner with Janssen Healthcare Innovation, declared the Discharge Decision Support System (D2S2) as the winner this morning at the 6th Annual Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA) Convergence Summit in downtown San Diego. The D2S2 team…

• Thomas Massie, SensAble Founder and MIT Grad, Wins GOP Primary in KY

  Gregory T. Huang

  23 May 2012 | 6:57 am

  Gregory T. Huang The votes have been tallied, and the winner of the Republican primary in Kentucky’s 4th congressional district is…Thomas Massie. With 45 percent of the popular vote, Massie, a Tea Party constitutional conservative, fended off a couple of establishment-backed competitors in the race. That means he will be the heavy favorite (in the red state) to win the general election for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. (More national political context here.) Why should we care? Because Massie is the founder of SensAble Technologies, the venerable Boston-area firm that was…

• MakeDirect Turns $2M Series A Round from DFJ into a Fresh Start

  João-Pierre S. Ruth

  23 May 2012 | 6:56 am

  João-Pierre S. Ruth Taking another crack at building a company, Duy Huynh thinks MakeDirect, his latest New York-based startup, can scale up quickly by breaking old traditions in manufacturing. The company’s e-commerce site lets consumers buy furniture direct from the factory, but moreover, Huynh is shaking up his own strategy to exploit opportunities for growth. MakeDirect’s site launched earlier this month with a $2 million Series A round of funding from DFJ VinaCapital, part of the Draper Fisher Jurvetson investing network. The website offers deals on furniture such as $199 for a…

• 

  Internet Marketing for Business - Jim Kukral - Small Business Web Consultant

• How To Blog A Book

  jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)

  21 May 2012 | 9:31 am

  Here is an interview I did with Nina Amir, author of How To Blog a Book. This is a really smart way to write a book, believe me. Grab a copy of Nina’s book and get writing! Listen to this podcast first to get some more tips.

• How To Write A Best-Selling Book Training

  jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)

  15 May 2012 | 10:25 am

  The Great Big Publishing Lie… When I wrote my first book for a big name publishing house, I foolishly believed that the book would sell tons of copies and I’d see my book featured in bookstores all around the world. I also believed that my publisher would market my book for me and help me make it a best-seller. Unfortunately, I learned the hard way that that’s not how the book business works for the majority of new authors. More importantly, I learned the most valuable lesson that I never expected. You don’t write a business or industry book to sell millions of copies. You write it to…

• Don’t Fall Into The Trap

  jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)

  17 Apr 2012 | 10:44 am

  The trap of trying to emulate other people’s successes. The trap of spending so much time looking at what others have done that you don’t do anything on your own. Otherwise known as paralysis by analysis. The trap of changing YOUR brilliant idea because you saw someone else do it differently successfully. I’ve written about this before in my post here. There’s a severe disadvantage when you have too much influence. Sure, having smart and successful people around you is VERY important. However, when you begin to let their influence overwhelm your gut ideas and thoughts and…

• I’m Not Super Rich Because…

  jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)

  16 Apr 2012 | 11:35 am

  Because I refuse to lie to people. I’m not going to create a product that promises you can make your book a “best-seller” and you can make millions from it, because you probably won’t/can’t. Very few authors will be able to do that. But there are twenty “gurus” behind me who will sell you that rubbish. Most of us will have amazing levels of success and do very well with our books, but we’re not going to be the next huge overnight success story. Because I refuse to lie and tell you that you can make money overnight. I will not create a…

• All My Books Free Today Only (April 12, 2012)

  jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)

  12 Apr 2012 | 3:19 am

  All of my books are free today only. Grab a copy of each one for your Kindle or Kindle app here. So far my books have been downloaded over 30,000 times on Amazon. Please enjoy, and consider writing a review on Amazon when you’re done? Also, go ahead and share this post via Facebook, Twitter, Google+ or any other way you wish. Thank you. Note: You DO NOT have to have a Kindle to view the books. Did you know you can download a Kindle app for free on your phone, or iPad, or even your Mac or PC. Yep, free! You could be reading books in minutes.

• 

  Thisisgoingtobebig.com

• What the Facebook IPO means: 10 things

  Charlie O'Donnell

  18 May 2012 | 5:54 am

  1) Expect the angel and seed stage market to continue to stay hot. Newly wealthy Facebookers will likely contribute massively to early stage companies, which means building relationships with companies early and actually rolling up sleeves to add value will be a must for investors. If you're just money, you are toast.2) Facebook will be hungry for growth in its ad business, and since it is running out of internet connected humans to connect to, it will need tools to make more out of each person. This will be a huge boon for companies like 33Across that monetize social data without being…

• A framework to think about pricing seed, angel, and venture capital rounds

  Charlie O'Donnell

  17 May 2012 | 10:09 am

  How do you price a round? Its one of the most often asked questions and yet I've never seen a great answer given. It seems to me that the most important factor in pricing your round isn't your progress or your idea. It seems to come down to two things: 1) How much do you want to raise? 2) Supply and demand of capital willing to invest in your company. The second is pretty obvious, but what about the first? So the more you want to raise, the more your company is worth? Kind of, actually...but how much money a team gets has to do with a number of factors that reflect things like trust in the…

• How VCs, Accelerators, and Coworking Spaces Put Communities in Buildings vs. Buildings in Communities

  Charlie O'Donnell

  14 May 2012 | 4:45 am

  I'll bet you don't know where the Center of NY's Tech Community and Center of Creativity is. Give up? It's in the Financial District--right at 55 Broad Street.  It says so right on their website.  In fact, it is "well-known internationally as the original home of New York's technology community." I'll bet you didn't know that--mostly because it never was.  Back in the late 90's, a lot of money and real estate brokering went into trying to make it so, however.  Names like Sun and Cornell (ironically, given the new tech campus) were brought in to try and tech-ify NYC's…

• The Screwy Logic of Crowdfunding and Venture Fund Regulation

  Charlie O'Donnell

  11 May 2012 | 9:23 am

  Fact: Thanks to the new crowdfunding legislation, it will soon be easier for any entrepreneur trying to build Instagram for Cats to raise $10 million than it is for an experienced investor to raise a fund to invest in the next 25 new businesses as well as support their growth with strategic advice, help with hiring, PR, business development, and connections to future capital. In fact, thanks to increased scrutiny of investment funds in a post-Madoff world, this imbalance will probably get bigger and bigger.  The laws are written seemingly with the view that it's worse to lose your money…

• First Round Capital is a Firm with No Principals

  Charlie O'Donnell

  9 May 2012 | 6:59 am

  It's true.  With the ascension of Kent Goldman and Phin Barnes to Partner, Christine Herron leaving to join Intel Capital and me starting Brooklyn Bridge Ventures, there are no longer any people at the Principal level. Oh, did you think I meant something else?  :)  I just thought today was Salacious Headline Day in the VC blogging world so I thought I'd chime in. In all seriousness, Kent and Phin are two of the most principled professionals I know in the venture capital world--and their promotions are well deserved after four years of hard work at one of the most principled…

• 

  Men with Pens

• The 2-Word Solution for Every Blocked-up Genius

  Agent X

  20 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  Get a pen ready. You’ll want to write this one down. You’re writing a masterpiece. It’s going to be the best thing written, ever, by anyone. It’ll be epic and entirely original. Every sentence will flow with wit, while being as tight and crisp as the prose of Hemingway. If world-shattering wasn’t a cliché, that’s what this writing would be. “Eat this, Willy Shakespeare,” you’ll say when you’ve finished. Every publisher will want a piece of you. You won’t have to do any marketing besides sending your finished piece to the first…

• How to Get Your Blog Back On Track

  James

  14 May 2012 | 7:05 am

  Let’s talk about your blog. I know. It’s a painful topic for many of you. You don’t know what to write, you don’t feel confident about what you DO write, and frankly, you’d rather not be blogging at all. It’s nerve-wracking, stressful and not as much fun as you thought it would be when you started it. You’re behind on your blogging schedule… and it’s been a while since you’ve written a post. It’s been even longer since you’ve actually ENJOYED writing a post. It doesn’t have to be that way. Writing a blog post…

• Your Sneak Peek Behind the Writing Course Doors

  James

  8 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  Damn Fine Words is the writing course that changes businesses – and even lives. Students who’ve taken the course rave about how it’s opened up a whole new world of opportunities for them and how their perspective on writing for their business has brought them all sorts of fantastic results. Now, that all sounds nice, but if you’ve never taken the course, you might be curious: what’s inside? What will you learn? What’s waiting for you? Here’s your sneak peek inside Damn Fine Words. You’ll learn the power of writing using just three sentences. There’s a secret content-creation…

• Announcing the DFW Writing Contest Winners

  James

  7 May 2012 | 12:42 pm

  It’s time to announce the winners of the Damn Fine Words writing course contest… and boy, was it EVER tough to choose just two names from the 20+ submissions we received. Entrants fought hard to get into the Damn Fine Words writing course. Some posts were straightforward. Some were thoughtful. Some touched our hearts. It wasn’t an easy choice, and we wished we could offer everyone a place in the course. After great deliberation, several shortlists, and many discussions, the judges and I narrowed it down to two lucky winners. Congratulations to: Scott Lesovic of Magic Bash Mary…

• Damn Fine Words Writing Course Open for Registration

  James

  6 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  Every single business owner, no matter what their industry, needs to be able to write well to be successful. And if your business has a website, a blog, or operates online, then writing skills are crucial. If you’re completely confident that your writing has never, ever lost you a client, then you don’t need to worry. But if you know you’re not sure what to write in emails to clients, if you’ve ever thought your website copy might not be very great, if you’ve ever noticed your blog doesn’t get many comments or that your newsletters never really get opened much… You’re missing…

• 

  OnStartups

• Freemium Pricing for SaaS: Optimizing Paid Conversion Upgrades

  Dharmesh Shah

  22 May 2012 | 7:11 am

  The following is a guest post by Rishi Shah, Co-Founder of Digioh and 500 Startups Mentor. Join his newsletter and get his eBook "10 Paying Customers in 10 Days" for free. I've been building a new product and I'm almost ready to launch it. However, I'm having a really hard time figuring out the right pricing structure so I'm going to analyze my favorite Freemium SaaS businesses. Here is what I know I want: A free plan. Since we are just starting out I really want people to use the product for free (no credit card required). I'm okay with killing off the free plan if it isn't working…

• Building It Is Not Enough: 5 Practical Tips On User Acquisition

  Dharmesh Shah

  2 May 2012 | 11:25 am

  The following is a guest post by Brian Balfour, Co-Founder and CMO of Boundless. You can read more of his writing on his blog at BrianBalfour.com. Stories about the growth of "hot" startups such as Facebook, Instagram, AirBNB, and others have created a belief that if you build the right product, customer acquisition will be easy. Don't be fooled. These stories are the exception, not the rule, and don't tell the entire story of the immense effort it took to grow their customer bases. Finding scalable acquisition channels is a time consuming and strategic effort. If you build it, they may not…

• Startup Founders: Don't Freak Out

  Dharmesh Shah

  26 Apr 2012 | 12:57 pm

  When I was working on building my first startup, Really Bad Things(TM) happened on an alarmingly regular basis. I was in my early 20s and living in Birmingham, Alabama (where there was no startup ecosystem at the time). So, when something happened that we thought would quite possibly kill the company, one of us (I had a co-founder) would freak out. Sometimes, both of us would freak out. Sometimes, we would freak each other out. Then, we would ultimately decide to take the Scarlett O'Hara (Gone With The Wind) approach — “I'll think about that tomorrow” and get back to work.

• Don't Make Raising Angel Funding Your Plan B

  Dharmesh Shah

  16 Apr 2012 | 8:20 am

  The following is a guest post by Chris Sheehan. Chris is a seed stage VC and angel investor at CommonAngels. You can follow him on Twitter at @c_sheehan and his blog Early Stage Adventures. I wear two hats one as a general partner of a couple of seed stage VC funds, the other as an occasional angel investor. Wearing my angel-investing hat, I wanted to highlight an issue that I encourage founders to be careful about when pitching. There are variations on the theme, but essentially it's a line that goes something like: “…we've talked to some VCs who are really interested, but they…

• Fall In Love With Your Business, Not Your Business Plan

  Dharmesh Shah

  30 Mar 2012 | 8:40 am

  That business plan, that business plan, I do not like that business plan. I do not like the writing part, I do not even like to start. I do not like them at a bar, I do not like them from afar. ~Dharmesh (with h/t to Dr. Seuss, who I read every day to my son) My feelings on business plans varies: from extreme dislike to just mild irritation. I don't think business plans are completely useless, just mostly so. And sometimes, they're even dangerous. Here's why… 1. Business plans are energy-depleting exercises. When I went to MIT Sloan for business school, I took what was (and is) one of…

• 

  The Marketing Zen Group

• The Dos and Don’ts of Pinterest for Marketing

  Amy Rose Brown

  8 May 2012 | 9:21 am

  By now, we feel safe in saying that Pinterest is here to stay. If you’ve decided that Pinterest is the next step for your business, you may be confused about where to begin – after all, the site is still relatively new, especially for marketers. However, there are a few distinct dos and don’ts of the platform that you should be aware of before you sign up for an account. Do make separate boards. Since Pinterest lets you make individual boards for various topics, it behooves you to take advantage of this functionality. Often, those new to the site forget about this very basic…

• 4 Reasons Why Your Twitter Marketing Isn’t Working

  Amy Rose Brown

  4 May 2012 | 11:35 am

  If you expected signing up for Twitter to be the most difficult part of implementing a Twitter marketing campaign, you’re in for a rude awakening: it’s all uphill from there. Even if you have put in the effort, you still may find yourself wondering what’s going wrong – why isn’t Twitter the answer to all your online marketing problems? More often than not, it’s for one of four major reasons: You’re boring. People don’t use Twitter because they want to sit by and idly receive marketing messages. People use Twitter for any of the following…

• Creating Blog Content that People Will Actually Read

  Amy Rose Brown

  1 May 2012 | 10:26 am

  How many websites do you think there are on the Internet today? Go ahead, guess. If you answered approximately 644 million, you’re correct! With half a billion sites to choose from, how does your blog rank? Is your content compelling enough to get visitors to stick around, or do you bore them to sleep right there at their computer monitors? If you suspect your readers are heading to your site to help remedy their insomnia, it’s probably time to reevaluate your efforts with the following tips. Discover your voice If you’re writing a blog post, the last thing you want to do is…

• Is Your Website Damaging Your Credibility?

  Amy Rose Brown

  27 Apr 2012 | 11:20 am

  Your website reflects your brand and philosophy, and is the greatest online marketing tool you will ever have. Well, it can be the greatest online marketing tool you’ll ever have – if you’re doing it right. If you’re doing it wrong, you could be presenting an image of yourself or your company that differs greatly from how you’d like people to see you. What does that mean? If you have an awful website, you’re going to lose customers. How do you know if your website is awful? If one or more of the following applies to you, you may be in trouble: Your content…

• The Five Commandments of Mobile Marketing

  Amy Rose Brown

  24 Apr 2012 | 11:24 am

  Even if you don’t own an iPhone, Android, or Blackberry, chances are at least one person in your home or office does – after all, 35 percent of American mobile phone owners possess one with smartphone capabilities. Beyond their normal calling and texting functions, most smartphone users consume data on a daily basis – through gaming, app downloads, and Internet browsing. If you haven’t started marketing to mobile users, you’re missing a major market segment. Following are five of our dos and don’ts of mobile marketing. Make your website mobile-friendly. You…

• 

  Niall Kennedy

• Nielsen U.S. smartphone statistics

  Niall Kennedy

  16 May 2012 | 10:45 am

  Research firm Nielsen released updated statistics on smartphone application usage in the United States. There are a combined 84 million Android and iOS users in the United States. The average user spends an average of 39 minutes inside one of their 41 smartphone applications each day. Facebook is the top application not already bundled with the operating system.

• LinkedIn engineering’s client-side template evaluation

  Niall Kennedy

  25 Jan 2012 | 1:40 pm

  LinkedIn shares their evaluation process for choosing a client-side templating solution from 18 different options across 15 formal metrics. They ultimately chose dust.js to replace their Java Servlets and JSP. [W]e found that for any non-trivial view, none of the templating options worked well across client and server unless the server could also execute JavaScript. A useful read when evaluating dynamic HTML templates.

• Map input autocomplete types in Chrome 15+

  Niall Kennedy

  25 Jan 2012 | 12:33 pm

  Chrome 15 and above supports mapping input fields to specific types of data to improve the accuracy of autofill tools. Typically an autofill tool, either bundled with the browser or a third-party add-on, scans the page’s <input>s and attempts to derive some meaning from the field’s name attribute and new HTML5 input type attribute values such as email or tel. The new WHATWG autocompletetype attribute proposal from Ilya Sherman of Google proposes 36 mapped tokens and two sections for autofill agents entering name, address, contact, credit card, business, or birthday data in a…

• Open Graph protocol 1.1

  Niall Kennedy

  24 Jan 2012 | 11:20 am

  Facebook completed its rollout of Timeline profiles and Open Graph activity aggregation last week, completing a set of changes announced at their f8 developer conference in September. Facebook also switched over to a new version of Open Graph protocol, the metadata language used to connect web pages in the public Internet with the sharing activity happening inside Facebook’s walls. In this post I will highlight some of the major features of Open Graph protocol 1.1 affecting how your web pages display and rank inside Facebook news feeds, Google+ streams, Mixi social streams, and LinkedIn…

• Google searches smartphone web as an iPhone

  Niall Kennedy

  15 Dec 2011 | 1:41 pm

  Google’s mobile search engine crawler now uses an updated User-Agent string designed to trigger iPhone-specific renderings of web pages. The Googlebot-Mobile crawler is building a smartphone web index based on iOS 4.1 responses including redirects. Webmasters with smartphone-specific content may finally have a reason to generate mobile sitemaps. Googlebot will skew your iOS usage numbers if not properly treated as a robot. Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; U; CPU iPhone OS 4_1 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/532.9 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0.5 Mobile/8B117 Safari/6531.22.7 (compatible;…

• 

  Blogtrepreneur | Entrepreneur Blog

• How Basecamp Can Salvage Your Work (Or, How Basecamp Can Keep You from Going Berserk)

  Guest Post

  23 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  We’ve all been there – an important project is due soon, and you just can’t seem to find the email between you and your partner, a prospective buyer, or your development team. Part of your team is working with one set of assumptions, while the other half has completely different assumptions. You’ve got to figure out the requirements, and the deadline is right around the corner. Using a project management tool like Basecamp does one big thing to help solve this – it pulls you out of email. Email is a poor tool for team communication because it’s one-to-one, and it’s hard to keep…

• Page Speed: Why It’s a Big Tool in Your Page Ranking

  Guest Post

  18 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  By now, you’ve heard of the importance of SEO for business owners. Get a high page rank, and your business can be easily found on search engines sites, especially the mammoth, Google. But have you heard the new ways Google is deciding these search engine rankings? It’s not all about link-building. Recently, Google has decided to integrate page speed and quality scores of pay-per-click landing pages in their search engine rankings. What does this mean for business owners? How fast your website downloads now impacts your page rank online. Although it is just one factor among over…

• Tinychat: Nothing Tiny About It Anymore

  Matthew Toren

  17 May 2012 | 8:37 am

  From its start in 2009, Tinychat has grown beyond most expectations. The Internet chat service that allows users to talk with up to eleven other people at a time now has over 20 million registered users, up from only one million two years ago. Tinychat operates on the freemium approach, which allows users to sign up for free but provides the option of upgrading to a pro account that provides better video quality and eliminates the ads. With 400,000 users on Tinychat daily and the addition of about 50,000 new users registering every day, the site has crossed the line to profitability. This is…

• Get Leadership Right from the Start

  Guest Post

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  As a child I can still remember the musical strains of Broadway plays wafting through our home. My mother seemed to believe that all children should be continuously exposed to such music. To this day it amazes me that little pieces of those songs still march their way across the screen in my mind. Why is that important? Because the foundation, or the start, of an entrepreneurial venture is forever tied to the initial vision of the prospective enterprise. And much like the old refrain “let’s start at the beginning, a very good place to start,” you only get one shot to create the first…

• Thinking of Buying or Selling Your Website? 7 Important Criteria to Consider!

  Adam Toren

  14 May 2012 | 12:56 pm

  My brother, Matthew, and I have been internet entrepreneurs for over 12 years now. In that time, we’ve learned a lot about what works and doesn’t work for making money online. We’ve also learned that what worked yesterday might not work today. But one area that has remained fairly consistent is buying and selling internet properties. We’ve found that, as when buying any business, you must complete your due diligence and consider several key factors when looking at a website for purchase. Most people who want to sell a website are honest, but to avoid the others, and to really…

• 

  The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

• Neil Gaiman – The Best Commencement Speech You May Ever Hear (20 Minutes)

  Tim Ferriss

  22 May 2012 | 12:53 am

  This will be a short post as, sometimes, brevity counts. I want to let Neil Gaiman speak in this instance. Neil is one of my favorite authors, and I first became fascinated by his imagination with The Sandman comics in the 90′s. So much so, in fact, that I imported The Sandman from different countries to help me learn languages. The Sandman from Brazil. Wonderful for studying Portuguese, as I have identical English editions. My love for his work grew from there. From Anansi Boys (my favorite audiobook of all time) to Neverwhere, the list of favorites is long. The above commencement…

• Tim Ferriss: A Day In The Life

  Tim Ferriss

  24 Apr 2012 | 11:15 am

  (Trouble viewing? See Tim Ferriss: A Day In The Life on Hulu. If you’re international, try using Hotspot Shield first.) I’m often asked, “What does your typical day look like?” In an attempt to answer this difficult question, I met up with Morgan Spurlock’s film crew for an episode of “A Day In The Life.” The full Friday we shot (I reserve Fridays for in-person meetings) reiterates a point I’ve driven home before: The 4-Hour Workweek is, and always has been, about using time optimally, not being idle. It also shows how much I love my POS VW…

• How to Build an App Empire: Can You Create The Next Instagram?

  Tim Ferriss

  22 Apr 2012 | 7:01 pm

  Chad Mureta runs his seven-figure app business from his iPhone. (Photo: Jorge Quinteros). I first met Chad Mureta in Napa Valley in 2011. Two years prior, he had been in a horrible car accident. He’d lost control of his truck in at attempt to avoid a deer, hit a median, and flipped four times, nearly destroying his dominant arm in the wreckage. While in the hospital for a lengthy recovery, a friend gave him an article about the app market. Shortly thereafter, Chad began designing and developing apps. His results? “In just over two years, I’ve created and sold three app companies…

• Richard Feynman: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

  Tim Ferriss

  19 Apr 2012 | 7:03 am

  Many times in the last five years, I’ve been asked: “If you could have dinner with anyone in history, who would it be?” My answer is always the same: Richard Feynman. Right alongside Seneca’s Letters from a Stoic, Feynman’s book Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! (Adventures of a Curious Character) hugely impacted every aspect of my thinking when I first read them circa 2005. Since then, I have studied Feynman’s letters, teaching style, discoveries, and beyond. How many Nobel Prize winners also safe crack and play bongos in bars for fun? The above…

• Playing B-Ball with Obama: 6 Steps to Crossing Anything Off Your Bucket List

  Tim Ferriss

  4 Apr 2012 | 7:00 am

  Let us start with a quote, often misattributed to Goethe: “Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or…

• 

  IMAutomator blog

• IMAutomator Now Has Full Spintax Support!

  admin

  1 May 2012 | 6:17 am

  IMAutomator now supports Spintax on every one of the 4 submission tools so it is now available for all members – Light & Pro alike! All of the submission tools work in exactly the same way so we now have a training article explaining how to use it in the general section of the training page. Note that due to the different way in which Spintax jobs are stored and handled in the database, previous regular jobs cannot be edited to have spintax put on them. You have to choose the spinning type when creating a new job. However, I know a lot of existing members have been waiting for this…

• Spinning Now on Directory Submitter

  admin

  27 Apr 2012 | 10:37 am

  Today we’ve extended the Spintax functionality to include the Directory submitter – only RSS left to do now! It works the same as all the others, training articles to follow in due course.

• Spinning – Please Ensure {} Groups Are Properly Closed

  admin

  27 Apr 2012 | 3:11 am

  We have noticed a problem in a few cases where the spintax that has been submitted has not been properly closed. This seems to happen in extreme cases where there is so much spintax in the source text that it exceeds the maximum field size and gets truncated. We have extended the size of the input fields to accomodate spintax (they are three times larger) but there are still limits so before submitting your jobs please ensure that your text fields are fully entered and have not been truncated. Note that jobs will only be spun enough to as many versions as there are sites, which for articles…

• Bookmark Spinning is Live!

  admin

  26 Apr 2012 | 10:27 am

  After ironing out a few minor glitches with the Article spinning functionality, it has now been implemented on the Bookmarker which is of course available to ALL members – both Light and Pro. I haven’t put up a training article yet but if you read the one for the Article spinner that I posted yesterday it works in exactly the same way. Spinning support for the Directory and RSS tools will be following in due course!

• Fixed a Couple of Spinning Bugs

  admin

  26 Apr 2012 | 5:02 am

  We found a couple of minor issues with the Article Spinner that was released a few days ago. The maximum size permitted for fields has now been increased on spintax jobs to allow for all the extra word combinations, an error with spintax detection in a non-spintax bug has been fixed and we’ve also increased the storage capacity as we’d under-estimated it and it was only storing about 20 article versions for longer articles. Other than that, it is looking good and the next tool to get it will be the Bookmarker which will of course allow all of the Light members to use spintax as…

• 

  TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's Journey

• The GeoEdge Worldwide Internet Proxy Network

  Michael Kwan

  14 May 2012 | 7:12 pm

  подаръциикона за подаръкThe following is a paid review for TylerCruz.com written and reviewed by Michael Kwan. It is completely of Michael Kwan’s opinion and is not influenced by being paid. If you’re interested in having your site or product reviewed, please view my advertising page The world wide web, by its very definition, spans the entire world. That doesn’t mean that the same Internet is seen by everyone across the globe, though, and this can have…

• I Made $9,000+ the Past 6 Days with PeerFly

  Tyler Cruz

  4 May 2012 | 2:10 am

  I’ve been preaching how good an affiliate network PeerFly is for 3 years now. I’ve made countless references to them on my blog and have encouraged you guys to sign up with them left and right. Perhaps this post with give those of you who still haven’t signed up with them yet, a push to do so. Over the past 6 days, I’ve made over $9,000 with PeerFly ($9,065.68 to be exact). Below is a screenshot from my Dashboard, taken a few minutes ago: Now, just because I’ve been having an unordinary fantastic run on my affiliate marketing campaigns recently doesn’t mean…

• Another Affiliate Marketing Record: $2,341.10 in 1 Day

  Tyler Cruz

  1 May 2012 | 5:35 am

  I posted just two days ago how I had set a new personal affiliate marketing record by bringing in a total of $1,671.82 in 1 day. It had beaten my previous best day by $167.82, and was fairly close to setting a new net profit record as well. I had mentioned in the post, which was written the day after, that my goal for that day was to break the $2,000 mark. While all sources pointed that I was on pace to meet that goal, I was still really hoping to make it as it’s a nice little milestone. Fortunately, I ended up making the $2,000 goal and actually smashing it, bringing in a grand total…

• New Affiliate Marketing Record: $1,671.82 in 1 Day

  Tyler Cruz

  29 Apr 2012 | 2:00 pm

  The last update on how my personal affiliate marketing campaigns were going was made nearly a month ago, so here’s what’s new. Since the title of this post gives it away, I’ll just get straight to it. Yesterday, I set a new personal record on my affiliate marketing campaigns by bringing in a total of $1,671.82. My previous best was $1,500.00 (exactly), but was made back on January 2, 2012, so I’m happy to set a new one. That is gross, however. While I’d love for all of that to be profit, it doesn’t include my costs. Whenever you read an affiliate marketer…

• Million Dollar Domain Names and How to Get Your Own

  Zac Johnson

  20 Apr 2012 | 12:04 pm

  The following is a guest post by my friend and well-known blogger Zac Johnson. So you’ve been thinking about selling your web site or blog? When it comes to talking about the value of property on the internet, there is nothing more exciting that talking about domain names and the how they continually increase in value over time. The bottom line is, domains are all unique and there is only ONE domain name for every word in the world, and ".com" domains will always prevail as the most valuable. Let’s take a look at some of the most valuable and top selling domain names of all…

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  Inventor Spot - Inventions, Innovations, and Interesting Ideas for the Inventor in All of Us

• Coin Laundry Calls When Your Clothes Are Clean

  Steve Levenstein

  23 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Kyoto Laundry Service announces "Hello Call”, Japan's first coin-operated laundry voice information service. Got things to do and people to see? No problem, your machine will phone when it needs more detergent, more change or more repairs.

• Facebook's IPO Morality Tale: If The Green Shoes Fit, Wear Them?

  Ron Callari

  23 May 2012 | 10:05 am

  Facebook's reversal of fortunes in such a short span of time has played out almost like a modern-day morality tale.  The fall-out of the social network post-IPO, after such an enthusiastic build-up was telling. While it lined the pockets of some (namely investment bankers), it deprived the 99 Percenters (or Dumb F*cks as Zuckerberg so adroitly labeled them back in 2004) full-disclosure, resulting in a subsequent short-fall on their FB investment.

• Chengdu's Love Zebra Crossing: Street Hearts for Sweethearts!

  China.new

  22 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Cross your heart and hope to... live? In an effort to ensure the often bumpy road to romance gets off to a smooth start, the Chinese city of Chengdu has provided a Love Zebra Crossing painted up in lovely red & white.

• Self-Stirring Pot Puts New Spin on Stove-top Cooking

  Steve Levenstein

  22 May 2012 | 9:22 am

  Is stuck pasta your kitchen nightmare? A Japanese dentist has created a stir with Kuru-Kuru Nabe (“Pot Round and Round”), a cooking pot with sculpted sides. Turn up the heat and watch basic thermodynamics go to work so you don't have to!

• FCC Takes Transformer Pad Infinity For A Spin

  Rey M.L.

  21 May 2012 | 3:36 pm

  Those waiting for the upcoming high-DPI Asus tablet computer should not have to wait much longer.

• 

  mokoyfman.com

• "Le Bernardin’s four-star rating in The New York Times has been confirmed every time the restaurant..."

  22 May 2012 | 9:21 am

  “Le Bernardin’s four-star rating in The New York Times has been confirmed every time the restaurant has been assessed, from 1986, when it opened, through 2005, when Frank Bruni wrote its most recent review. Why wait to say it: today I fall in line, happily, with my predecessors.” - Restaurant Review - Le Bernardin in Midtown Manhattan - NYTimes.com

• (via Restaurant Review - Le Bernardin in Midtown Manhattan -...

  22 May 2012 | 9:20 am

  (via Restaurant Review - Le Bernardin in Midtown Manhattan - NYTimes.com) The Master at work.

• Ahead of today’s epic Facebook IPO, I shared some thoughts...

  18 May 2012 | 4:24 am

  Ahead of today’s epic Facebook IPO, I shared some thoughts on Bloomberg TV.

• Sonic Youth, Pattern Recognition

  15 May 2012 | 5:25 am

  Sonic Youth, Pattern Recognition

• My kind of fuse box. (Taken with Instagram at WorkMarket.com)

  9 May 2012 | 10:24 am

  My kind of fuse box. (Taken with Instagram at WorkMarket.com)

• 

  Force of Good: a blog by Lance Weatherby

• One Year Later

  Lance Weatherby

  20 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Last week I celebrated my first full year at Half Off Depot.  It has been a pretty amazing first year. Some of the stuff we have accomplished, purposely partially masked through statistics. We raised $7 million via venture capital and $1.5 via venture debt. Subscribers have grown by 450%. Over 200% in 2011 and over 150% YTD in 2012. We expanded from two MSAs in which we are actively marketing local deals to nine today. We also extended into national product deals. Revenues doubled in 2011 from 2010 and are a pretty solid growth path for 2012. Employees went from 21 then to forty something.

• Facebook Is Overvalued

  Lance Weatherby

  18 May 2012 | 5:53 am

  Before I go any further I want to give some kudos to Facebook. More than half the people in the United States use the social network. I think the number something is like 900 million worldwide. Facebook is an important consideration for any marketer. And you have to give it to Zuck. Despite donning a hoodie at inappropriate times he has matured as a business leader. He is completely in control of Facebook. And a billionaire before 30.  So great job to all the good folks that work at Facebook, their investors, and the founders. At 11:00am today Facebook is going to go public and their life…

• Is Facebook A Fad?

  Lance Weatherby

  15 May 2012 | 3:01 pm

  That is what the survey says.

• Buying

  Lance Weatherby

  14 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  About a month ago Half Off Depot announced that it had acquired Dealster. To quote the release: "Dealster marks the first acquisition for Half Off Depot. In addition to its membership base, Dealster’s value to Half Off Depot lies in its proprietary platform, which includes social elements for customers and merchants as well as other features currently on the Half Off Depot product roadmap." The key word being first. One of the big outcomes of Groupon mishandling its IPO process was that the financial community lost interest in the entire online deal space. As I wrote at the time,…

• It's Been A Month

  Lance Weatherby

  10 May 2012 | 3:24 pm

  Golly, someone pointed out to me that it had been a month since a updated FoG. Been a little busy. I will do better.  Starting next week.

• 

  The Next Women - Business Magazine

• New BBC TV Programme Seeks UK Business Owners With 20+ Staff and/or £1m Turnover

  Bethpitts

  23 May 2012 | 5:51 am

  The BBC is looking for UK companies with 20+ employees and/or turnovers of over £1m who are perhaps encountering challenges in the current economic climate, to appear in a new television programme.The BBC are hoping the new series will replicate the success of its Dragon's Den programme, one of its flagship business shows, which regularly draws in 4m viewers. And your business could be starring in it!read more

• BethAnn Lederer: CEO Working Wonders, Top Ten Sustainable CEO

  Bethpitts

  23 May 2012 | 5:46 am

  BethAnn Lederer has built Working Wonders into one of the leading resources for green interior design material and products for the home and workplace.In 2010 she was named one of the Top Ten Sustainable CEOs alongside big names such as John Mackay of Whole Foods and Yvon Chouinard of Patagonia.BethAnn spent over 18 years in the healthcare sector working as an educator, marketer, and advocate for both childbirth and geriatric care services. She started two non-profit organisations for promoting the wellness approach to maternal-child and integrative healthcare. She carries a…

• Starting and Running an E-commerce Business in India

  85Broads

  22 May 2012 | 6:01 am

  85 Broads commenced its programme in Delhi last week with a discussion on starting and running an e-commerce business in India, led by the charming CEO of Crazeal.com, (Groupon India) Ankur Warikoo.  You may be surprised that we had chosen a man to kick-start our Delhi programme, as indeed were the educated professional women in our audience. Ankur is of course a fantastic speaker, with a sense of humour combined with experience and insight – any organisation would be lucky to have him as a presenter. Yet, a women’s network, aiming to promote women’s achievements, being introduced…

• Do You Live Your Brand?

  Paul Writer

  22 May 2012 | 5:59 am

  The death of Steve Jobs of Apple lead to an outpouring of grief on the internet. Many who used his devices felt it as a personal loss.  Others referred to the movies, such as Toy Story, created by Pixar, as having babysat their kids.  And yet, in the midst of this praise, there were a few dissenting voices.  Had he paid child support for his first child?  Was he sometimes rude to employees?  Did he contribute to charity? What’s that got to do with the product? Nothing, but it is part of our overall perception of the brand.  It is a testimony to his superb…

• Cecile Reinaud: Founder, Séraphine Maternity Wear: Dressing the Bumps of Angelina Jolie & Halle Berry

  Bethpitts

  21 May 2012 | 6:06 am

  Entrepreneur and designer Cecile Reinaud is the founder of international maternity fashion label Séraphine and co-founder of patented shoe brand, ShoeTherapy.    Cecile has always had a passion for creating clothes and founded Séraphine in 2002 after several pregnant friends approached her to tailor clothes to suit their bumps. Spotting a business opportunity, Cecile's first creation for Séraphine  was a pioneering pair of maternity jeans, the first of their kind, which she made simply by adding a jersey panel along the waistband. The now award-winning range of comfortable…

• 

  Active Garage

• The Soul of a Project #16: Stand Your Ground

  Gary Monti

  22 May 2012 | 10:44 pm

  That phrase, “Stand your ground,” has been big in the news lately. Let’s take a look at it from a professional position. A little background first will help. Consulting can create a love-hate relationship with clients – both management and employees. In fact, that is the norm and it should be unless working with an abbey of Zen Buddhists. One scenario goes something like this: At first the employees are hesitant, wondering how long the engagement will last and if it will have any effect. They are skeptical, believing senior management comprises “breathe-holders” who will wait…

• Thought Readership #6: The Curse of the Fledgling Author: “Textbook Creep.”

  Liz Alexander

  21 May 2012 | 12:05 am

  Think back to your days in college or high school. You’re sitting in a lecture hall or classroom. The speaker is droning on and on using confusing vocabulary. Your mind drifts. You know you should be paying attention but you can’t. Remember what that was like? Then hold that experience in mind next time you write. Especially when you sit down to write a book. Because you can’t mandate that your readers will, like dutiful students, force their way through to the end like they had to in those interminably dull college lectures. They’ll shut your book and be done with it. How do you…

• Time For a Change #15: Finding Your 80/20 Path

  William Reed

  18 May 2012 | 9:54 am

  The unlikely economist turned philosopher It seems unlikely that an economist would have an insight that ultimately inspired a philosophy of living, but that is exactly what happened. In 1906 an Italian economist named Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the land was owned by 20% of the population, and that this ratio seemed to recur with regularity even in nature. This observation was picked up by management consultant Joseph M. Juran, who named it the 80-20 Rule, or Pareto Principle. Also know as the law of the vital few, it has become an accepted phenomenon that in business 80% of your…

• The Soul of a Project #15: Find Your Place in the Project Universe

  Gary Monti

  15 May 2012 | 1:13 pm

  Everything is simple but one has to learn to deal with complexity: that is an apparent paradox that may have struck you as you read this and previous entries in this and other blog series. So where does the truth lie? The answer might be found in a word: Universe. The first thing to notice is the word itself is universe, not duoverse, or trioverse. The implication with “uni” is the existence of one underlying set of principles, matter, you name it. The second part “verse” comes from the Latin word “versare” meaning to stir or churn. This gets to the diversity on your project, the…

• Time For a Change #14: Collaboration through Active Listening

  William Reed

  11 May 2012 | 11:14 am

  “Nature has given us two ears, two eyes, and but one tongue— to the end that we should hear and see more than we speak.” ~Socrates (c. 469 BC – 399 BC) There is nothing more timely than ancient wisdom. What was true in Socrates time over 2400 years ago, must be even truer today in our age of Internet, Satellite television, Skype, Facebook, smart phones, and talking heads shouting in our ears. Those who seek sanctuary to meditate and quiet the mind find it next to impossible in a world in which constant chatter invades our private space. To avoid drowning in the noise, people talk back…

• 

  The Wright Place TV

• Check list

  Dr. Letitia Wright

  20 May 2012 | 7:16 pm

  Get a checklist for your Crowd Funding Campaign! I’ll send it to you via email!

• Money for your Art(business)

  Dr. Letitia Wright

  11 May 2012 | 10:57 pm

  Who says there is no money for the arts? Kickstarter- a crowd-funding platform has given over $150 million dollars to art projects. That’s more than the NEA! People still care about art. And now social media has given everyone a chance to take it directly to his or her audience and make it happen. Art [...]

• Brooklyn Warehouse raises $21,000 in 60 days

  Dr. Letitia Wright

  9 May 2012 | 8:32 am

  In just 60 days, its first time using crowd funding, they got 103 contributors who helped the Windsor Street eatery raise $21,450, or 71 per cent, of the original goal. The money is earmarked to help cover a $30,000 renovation that once complete, will replace the restaurant’s summer patio with a permanent, all-season atrium and [...]

• TCE 2012 Conference!

  Dr. Letitia Wright

  4 May 2012 | 3:13 am

  TCE Career & Biz Conference and Awards Luncheon”Perceive — Think — Act” Saturday, June 23, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM (ET) Virginia Beach, VA The 2012 TCE Career, Life & Business Conference (includes VIP Friday Evening Reception @ 7pm) will deliver vetted, authentic  21st century intelligence/technology that WILL increase your purpose, positioning and profit [...]

• $50k goal

  Dr. Letitia Wright

  4 May 2012 | 2:43 am

  In the last 8 months I have helped put $29,755 into the hands of people through crowd funding. My goal is to help people get $50,000 in the next 4 months. If you are not sure what crowd funding is, please check out some of the articles on this site. If you have questions, you [...]

• 

  Steve Blank

• Why Facebook is Killing Silicon Valley

  steveblank

  21 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win… John F. Kennedy, September 1962 Innovation I teach entrepreneurship for ~50 student teams a year from engineering schools at Stanford, Berkeley, and Columbia. For the National Science Foundation Innovation Corps this year I’ll also teach ~150 teams led…

• 9 Deadliest Start-up Sins

  steveblank

  14 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Inc. magazine is publishing a 12-part series of excerpts from The Startup Owner’s Manual, the new step-by-step “how to” guide for startups. The excerpts, which appeared first at Inc.com, highlight the Customer Development process, best practices, tips and instructions contained in our book.  Feedback from my readers suggested you’d appreciate seeing the series posted here, as well. ———– Whether your venture is a new pizza parlor or the hottest new software product, beware: These nine flawed assumptions are toxic. 1. Assuming you know what the…

• Why Innovation Dies

  steveblank

  1 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Faced with disruptive innovation, you can be sure any possibility for innovation dies when a company forms a committee for an “overarching strategy.” —– I was reminded how innovation dies when the email below arrived in my inbox. It was well written, thoughtful and had a clearly articulated sense of purpose. You may have seen one like it in your school or company. Skim it and take a guess why I first thought it was a parody. It’s a classic mistake large organizations make in dealing with disruption. The Strategy Committee Faculty and Staff: We believe online…

• Five Days to Change the World – The Columbia Lean LaunchPad Class

  steveblank

  28 Apr 2012 | 6:00 am

  We’ve taught our Lean LaunchPad entrepreneurship class at Stanford, Berkeley, Columbia and the National Science Foundation in 8 week, 10 week and 12 week versions. We decided to find out what was the Minimum Viable Product for our Lean LaunchPad class. Could students get value out of a 5-day version of the class? The Setup At the invitation of Murray Low at the Entrepreneurship Center in the Columbia Business School, we went to New York to find out.  We were going to teach the Lean LaunchPad class in 5-days.   I was joined by my Startup Owners Manual co-author Bob Dorf, Alexander…

• How to Build a Billion Dollar Startup

  steveblank

  19 Apr 2012 | 6:00 am

  The quickest way to create a billion dollar company is to take basic human social needs and figure out how to mediate them on-line. (Look at the first wave of the web/mobile/cloud startups that have done just that:  Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Match.com, Pandora, Zynga, WordPress, LinkedIn.) It’s your turn. Hard-wired This week I’m in New York teaching a 5-day version of my Lean LaunchPad class at Columbia University.  While the class teaches a process to search and validate a business model, it does not offer any hints on how to create a killer startup idea.  So after teaching…

• 

  First Class Fashionista

• This Summer’s Hottest Movies!

  First Class Fashionista

  23 May 2012 | 5:08 pm

  After laying out by the pool all day, getting your tan on, grab your friends and check out some of this year’s hottest flicks! Action-packed films of all kinds are set to hit theaters this summer, including “The Amazing Spider-man”, “The Avengers”, “Prometheus”, and “The Dark Knight Rises”. Along with the studs we drool over, some prominent Fashionistas are making appearances on the big screen as well. “The Amazing Spider-man” is another rendition of the classic comic book tale we all know and love, which is scheduled to hit…

• Pamela Love For J.Crew Debuts in Stores!

  First Class Fashionista

  23 May 2012 | 3:08 pm

  Known for her distinct edgy design aesthetic, Pamela Love takes on a new challenge for a J.Crew collaboration. The designer was awarded the jewelry sponsorship from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, which afforded her the freedom to design pieces that embodied both her own and J.Crew’s aesthetic. The 3-piece collection emphasizes Love’s American Southwest inspiration. A sturdy cropped sleeve denim jacket plays host to a selection of bronzed pins. The piece goes along with the current Aztec and tribal hype that is playing out in a number of designer’s Spring/Summer collections.

• First Class Fashionista Says Goodbye to Donna Summer

  First Class Fashionista

  23 May 2012 | 2:33 pm

  Credited as the Queen of Disco, Donna Summer was an influential powerhouse in the music industry. Summer died in her Naples, FL. home on Thursday, May 17th, after her on-going battle with lung cancer. Her family released a statement saying, “Early this morning, surrounded by family, we lost Donna Summer Sudano, a woman of many gifts, the greatest being her faith.” They went on to say, “While we grieve her passing, we are at peace celebrating her extraordinary life and her continued legacy. Words truly can’t express how much we appreciate your prayers and love for our family at…

• What’s With the Sneaks? Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel at Versailles

  First Class Fashionista

  22 May 2012 | 4:27 pm

  One of my favorite movies of all time, “Marie Antoinette”, came to life as Karl Lagerfeld debuted Chanel’s 2012 cruise collection at the Versailles Palace in France. Drawing directly from the history of the palace and it’s inhabitants years ago, the entire line was reminiscent of Versailles’ hey day, pairing dark colors with frilly, girlish details. What amazed me the most about the front-row shots of the collection was Chanel’s use of platform sneakers on nearly half the models! The sneaks were an interesting twist, giving the outfits a very modern and…

• 65th Cannes Film Festival Arrivals and Movies

  First Class Fashionista

  22 May 2012 | 2:29 pm

  65th Cannes Film Festival kicked off last Wednesday! The festival is host to twenty-two films this year, some who offer all-star casts. Twihard fans have something to look forward to, both Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart will be at this year’s festival. R-Patts and K-Stewart have leading roles in two different films. Kristen will be staring in Jack Kerouac’s On The Road, where she will share the screen with Amy Adams, Kirsten Dunst and Garrett Hedlund. As for Robert Pattinson, he is the main attraction in the movie Cosmopolis, a futuristic film about a young man with power.

• 

  Begin the Begin

• Some interesting statistics for this blog

  jeffhilimire

  22 May 2012 | 2:50 am

  I’ve been in a bit of a slump lately in terms of blog posts. Not sure why. Things are busy at Engauge, sure, but that’s not really anything new. I guess there are times when you just don’t have a lot to say, so my typical 4-5 posts a week have been 1-2 posts over the last month. I was digging around on the analytics for my blog in hopes of spurring myself out of this rut when I came upon some interesting statistics. Over the last month, 25% of the traffic to my blog has been from the UK. 4% has come from Australian and another 4% from Canada. Contrast that with last year…

• Some Marvel fun

  jeffhilimire

  21 May 2012 | 4:11 am

  Thanks to @davis_danny for passing me this awesome Marvel cartoon.

• My new obsession

  jeffhilimire

  16 May 2012 | 5:10 am

  Coconut water. Crazy awesome.

• Another “we are the media” indicator

  jeffhilimire

  15 May 2012 | 2:47 am

  Yesterday I pointed out a new startup called, Refer.ly, that aims to reward people for referring products and services to their friends. I just saw a commercial for Directv, which has a referral program that is pretty awesome. If you refer someone to Directv, you get $10 off of your bill…every month. Presumably as long as your friend stays a subscriber to Directv. The commercial shows a dude that gets $30 off a month on his bill because he referred three friends. That’s awesome. I love this trend. I’ve long thought that this is a far better use of “marketing”…

• This is a tiny peek at the future

  jeffhilimire

  14 May 2012 | 9:44 am

  This is the future. I’ve been waiting for this for five years. We will become the media and Refer.ly is a tiny peek at what that will look like. Here’s a snippet from an article I was interviewed for back in 2010: “Advertisers aren’t really giving incentives to Facebook users — and they should,” Hilimire said. “People are writing up movie reviews or posting links to their new Apple computer just for fun, but if companies start building this into their marketing programs by offering credit, discounts or free small gifts for sharing their thoughts, the impact could be…

• 

  TheFunded Founder Institute News

• Grad Profile: @Nexercise Transforms Workout Regimens into Interactive Games

  23 May 2012 | 10:15 am

  Grad Profiles highlight the personal and professional stories of Founder Institute Graduates from across the globe.  This profile on Nexercise, a Graduate of the Washington DC Founder Institute, was written by Emma Tzeng. Co-Founded in 2010 by Benjamin Young, Nexercise is an iPhone application that rewards users who complete at least a few minutes of physical activity each day with virtual badges, prizes, and fitness-related discounts. Applications to the Autumn 2012 Washington DC Founder Institute are now open. Click here to apply early for your best chance of…

• Grad Profile: @Identifi wants to put self-searching before career-searching

  20 May 2012 | 8:08 am

  Grad Profiles highlight the personal and professional stories of Founder Institute Graduates from across the globe.  This profile on Identifi, a Graduate of the Singapore Founder Institute, was written by Emma Tzeng. Founded in 2010 by Usman Sheikh, Identifi uses personalized online testing to help young adults discover career fits based on personality, experience, and social media reach. In 2011, Identifi won FI's Best Graduate in Asia Award.  Applications to the Summer 2012 Singapore Program are open now. Final Applications are due by this…

• Grad News Roundup: May 18th, 2012

  18 May 2012 | 2:39 pm

  Below is a roundup of Founder Institute Graduate news over the past two weeks:  Denver Grad @Blogmutt Announces Funding from FI Directors (FI): Blogmutt, an FI Denver Grad, helps business bloggers curate and generate original, weekly blog content at a pre-determined monthly rate. The startup recently received $250,000 in funding from local technology magnates. Read the press release here. Blogmutt and its founders are Graduates of the Denver Founder Institute. San Fran FI Grad @Piggybackr demos at AngelPad Spring 2012 Demo Day (TechCrunch): Piggybackr, a fundraising platform aimed…

• Inside FI: 'How to Hire Methodically for your #Startup' by @apatzer

  18 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Inside FI gives you exclusive access inside the training sessions of the Founder Institute. To get updates when we release new videos, follow us on Twitter or subscribe to our weekly newsletter here.  Attracting the best talent is a necessary yet arduous challenge for startups. Although many view the hiring process as vague and subjective, as Aaron Patzer explains in the video below, “there is a rational, methodical, and repeatable way to hire people successfully.”  Aaron Patzer is the founder and CEO of the personal finance management platform Mint.com, which was…

• 'What I've Learned Running the Singapore Founder Institute' by @jpaine

  15 May 2012 | 8:05 pm

  In a post on the Battle Ventures Blog, Jeffrey Paine, Executive Director of Battle Ventures and the Local Director of the Singapore Founder Institute, recounts what he's learned about founders in directing four Singapore FI programs, and comes to the realization that, in helping people chase their dreams and launch companies, he has "the most remarkable job description in the world." The Final Application Deadline for the Founder Institute is this Sunday, May 20th. To get expert training and feedback to launch a startup in 2012, apply today at http://fi.co/apply/singapore. You can…

• 

  A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

• The mid-market briar patch

  Jason

  22 May 2012 | 6:45 am

  During the summer, one of the Capital Factory companies developed a plan to sell into the “mid-sized” corporate market. Uh oh.The startup graveyards are littered with companies who tried to target this seemingly alluring market segment — customers small enough to be intelligent and nimble, young enough to embrace new technology, yet big enough to spend real money to alleviate real pain.It sounds like it’s best of both worlds. But the reality is it’s the worst of both worlds.They’re not “small enough to be nimble,” because at fifty employees…

• Smart Bear Live 4: Nick from PinfoB.com at AZ Disruptors

  wpengine

  15 May 2012 | 6:45 am

  We’re back in gear with the podcast! We’ll be more regular now.  Here’s the deets if you’re unfamiliar with how this works.Audio attached here, downloadable on iTunes or below, and transcript below.Listen to this episode with Nick from PinfoB.com to learn how to tell customers no.Transcript Automated transcription services provided by: Announcer:  Welcome to Smart Bear Live with Jason Cohen. In this episode, Jason speaks to Nick from PinfoB.com at the AZ Disruptors Kickoff meeting in December with co-host, Hamid Shojaee. Nick:  The name of the…

• How do I stop “analyzing” and pick between two good choices?

  Jason

  8 May 2012 | 6:45 am

  This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. To get your question answered, email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com.Embarras de Choix writes:I have a startup with thirty paying customers. We’ve been bootstrapping up to this point.I think there’s a big opportunity to raise money, but also I could continue as I have been. I don’t know way to go.I already know the pros and cons of the decision, so don’t lecture me about that. I just don’t know how to pick!This…

• Which is better: Many customers at low price-point or few at high price?

  Jason

  1 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  The results of a serendipitous live experiment were recently published as guest posts on this blog. Sacha demonstrated the benefits of selling many copies of an eBook at a low price, while Jarrod pointed out the advantages of higher prices, bringing in more revenue with 1/6th the number of units sold.The ensuing discussion swirled around the merits of selling more units (i.e. maximizing reach) versus selling more expensive units (i.e. maximizing per-unit profitability). This is a choice that every startup founder must make, so I’d like to dig in deeper.To clarify the discussion,…

• Should I invest my savings in this startup?

  Jason

  24 Apr 2012 | 6:45 am

  This is part of an ongoing startup advice series where I answer (anonymized!) questions from readers, like a written version of Smart Bear Live. To get your question answered, email me at asmartbear -at- shortmail -dot- com.Employee-Investor writes:I’ve been invited to join as startup as employee #1. They’re giving me a salary and an OK stock grant, but I want more stock.I have $95,000 saved from a previous exit. I don’t need the money in savings because I’ve been making $150/hour as a consultant so my “plan B” is fine.Should I invest my $95k at a $1m…

• 

  CurrentMom

• The Mommy Gospel

  Julie Bindeman, Psy-D

  22 May 2012 | 3:42 am

  Therapy Tuesday Photo by: Wonderlane Periodically, it seems that motherhood was actually inscribed as a "how to" manual, like The Bible. Of course, there are many interpretations, and many devotees proclaiming that they have The Answers if you follow their...

• S'Mores Pie -- There's Nothing Wrong with This!

  Emily

  21 May 2012 | 10:30 am

  Meal Monday Honestly, I do put a lot of thought into the nutritional value and caloric content of my cooking. The fact that my son refuses to eat anything other than about ten items notwithstanding, I think we manage to...

• The Dark Side of Motherhood

  Rogue Housewife

  18 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  Yesterday, I learned of two moms who killed themselves this week. They had a lot in common. Each had four children, with nearly identical ages, ranging from preteen to seventeen years old. Each was estranged from the father of her...

• The Top Twelve Things I Learned from My Daughter's Bat Mitzvah

  Karen Paul-Stern

  17 May 2012 | 5:22 am

  Truth Thursday 12. It’s a lot more fun to plan a party to celebrate such a milestone when the honoree is excited and interested in the details. My daughter and we had a great time choosing everything from the invitations...

• Where Working Moms Live . . .

  Stacy Feuer

  16 May 2012 | 7:29 am

  Work Wednesday For many years, if you asked me where I live, I would say, "Oh, just outside of Washington, D.C." I would simply omit the name of the suburb where I live in favor of the Capitol City. Even...

• 

  Sramana Mitra

• Roundtable Recap: May 22 – Winners Of TechHub-A&N Media Battle Of The Startups Contest In London Win 1M/1M Scholarships

  Sramana Mitra

  23 May 2012 | 1:32 pm

  Last night, at a packed event in London’s TechHub, A&N Media awarded five yearlong 1M/1M scholarships. The judges for the contest were Kevin Beatty, CEO of A&N Media, Dominique Trempont,... ___

• May 31: Opportunity For Entrepreneurs To Pitch At 128th FREE Online 1M/1M Roundtable

  mkelly

  23 May 2012 | 9:43 am

  Entrepreneurs are invited to the 128th FREE online 1M/1M roundtable on Thursday, May 31, 2012, at 8:00 a.m. PDT/11:00 a.m. EDT/8:30 p.m. India. If you are a serious entrepreneur, register to “pitch”... ___

• Thought Leaders in Mobile and Social: Bernardo de Albergaria and Tommy Ahlers of Citrix Online (Part 1)

  candicearnold

  23 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Santa Barbara, California–based Citrix Online is a division of Citrix Systems with branch offices all over the world. Citrix Online’s cloud service offerings – GoToMeeting, GoToWebinar, GoToMyPC,... ___

• Thought Leaders in Cloud Computing: Adam Miller, CEO of Cornerstone OnDemand (Part 3)

  candicearnold

  23 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Sramana Mitra: That’s not entirely fair. These are not ERP solutions; they are best-of-breed solutions as well. Adam Miller: Well, they used to be. SM: They’re not ERP solutions. They’re... ___

• LegalZoom.com Flourishes, with Bumps on the Way

  MitraSramana

  23 May 2012 | 3:00 am

  According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, legal services in the country were a $266 billion market in 2010. There is a big demand for legal services by small and medium businesses. A study... ___

• 

  thriveal.com

• Journal of Accountancy Podcast Series with Blumer and Kyte

  thriveal

  23 May 2012 | 4:50 am

  Greg Kyte, CPA and Jason M Blumer, CPA.CITP finally made it into the Journal of Accountancy.  After insulting the Journal initially, they finally let Greg Kyte in a podcast.  Listen to Greg Kyte and Jason Blumer in part one by clicking the image below (see if you can find the secret words Jason and Greg [...]

• THRIVEal Software Week Recap

  Guest Blogger

  21 May 2012 | 7:53 pm

  THRIVEal just wrapped up Software week and I think my brain is still hurting. We were able to see a demonstration of 8 different products in 5 days (May 14-18, 2012) and get a feel for the culture of each company. Each company has different strengths, weaknesses, target markets, and overall outlook on what accounting [...]

• Rethinking the Resume

  thriveal

  18 May 2012 | 6:57 pm

  As I began hammering out a hiring process for our CPA firm, I realized about half way through that nowhere in the process had I even considered requesting a resume. Later, I did insert that as an optional step about halfway through the process. But why? (Always start with why!) The more I thought about [...]

• Help Wanted: Oh, No! What Do We Do Now?

  Jennifer Blumer

  14 May 2012 | 5:46 am

    Have you ever had to fire a team member? It is truly one of the most miserable parts of a business owner’s job. If you have never had to do it, consider yourself blessed. You may have to fire someone one day, but you can lessen that risk if you hire correctly. Don’t make [...]

• How To Turn Smart People Stupid

  Greg Kyte

  5 May 2012 | 5:27 am

  I suck donk at taxes. I take too long. It’s because I try to clean everything up and tie everything out. What the hell kind of upside-down world is this where other accountants condescend to me because I’m too much of a perfectionist? It’s like fat people turning on you because you like donuts. I thought we [...]

• 

  Carol Roth » Business Unplugged

• Customer Service: 4 Easy Ways to Deal with Difficult Customers

  Carol Roth

  23 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  If you are familiar with my work at all, you know that I talk a lot about providing outstanding service to your customers and building customer loyalty. But it can be a big challenge for any business to provide that high level of customer service when they are faced with the dreaded “difficult customer”. You [...]

• The Prima Donna Factor

  Catherine Morgan

  22 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Occasionally, people ask me about breaking into ghostwriting books, which is something that I actually do a lot of (and sorry, if I told you which books they would have to shoot me). But hidden in their questions – and my answers – is actually a very important success secret for your small business. Take [...]

• Three Free Google and Facebook eBooks to Supercharge Your Business

  Carol Roth

  21 May 2012 | 4:04 am

  If you follow me regularly, you know that I am into providing value.  So, through a partner of mine, I have gotten access to three different eBooks that focus on leveraging Google and Facebook in your business.  Note, this is an affiliate relationship, but the books are free to you! Free eBook #1: An Introductory [...]

• Business Strategy: Zig When They Zag

  Brad Shorr

  18 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Or thoughts on going against the grain. When everybody thought the Internet was a toy, they pioneered e-commerce. When everybody was obsessing over quarterly results, they stuck to a five-year profitability plan business strategy. When everybody was going vertical, they went horizontal. Yes, Amazon.com can teach us a lot about going against the grain. If [...]

• Eight Ways to Harness the Power of Your Customers

  Margie Clayman

  17 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  A lot of people have been talking about the great social media revolution for the last few years. They’re not wrong. Social Media has changed a lot about how we think, certainly about how we communicate, and also how we frame our relationships with our customers and prospects. However, just looking at the social media [...]

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  Lessons Learned

• A new field guide for entrepreneurs of all stripes

  unknown

  9 May 2012 | 7:38 am

  TLDR: Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits, authors of The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development are back with a new book called The Lean Entrepreneur. Illustrations by FAKEGRIMLOCK. You can pre-order it starting today. It's been just about two years since Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits released their self-published book The Entrepreneur's Guide to Customer Development (you can see my original review here). It took the idea of Customer Development and made it accessible to a whole new audience. Since then, Brant and Patrick have been…

• Founder's Dilemmas: Equity Splits

  unknown

  24 Apr 2012 | 8:36 am

  The following is an excerpt from HBS Professor Noam Wasserman’s new book, The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup. Noam is one of a rare breed of business academics: he studies entrepreneurship using a rigorous empirical approach. The book taps Noam’s analyses of data on 10,000 founders, plus the personal stories of Evan Williams of Twitter, Tim Westergren of Pandora, and two dozen other founders. As an example of the kind of insight that this data makes possible, take a look at this diagram, which is one of my…

• Doing > Talking

  unknown

  19 Mar 2012 | 7:13 am

  I had an incredible couple of days at SXSW. The Lean Startup track was successful beyond my wildest imaginations (we'll have video up soon). My personal highlight was watching newly-appointed United States CTO Todd Park receive a standing ovation from a crowd that is decidedly skeptical about government. What inspired the crowd that day was not just his personal charisma or what he said, but rather, what he had done. He told us stories of specific examples of "lean government" in action, ranging from HealthCare.gov to a new approval process for medical devices at the FDA. And many in the…

• SXSW Update

  Eric

  9 Mar 2012 | 7:58 am

  Greetings from Austin, TX! For those of you on your way to SXSW, I wanted to give a few updates of opportunities to say hello. All of these events are free with a SXSW badge, none will be livestreamed (that I'm aware of), and a few are open to those without a badge. See you soon... Friday March 9 3pm: I'll be signing books at 3pm at the SXSW Bookstore (Ballroom G Foyer in the Convention Center). Come say hi. 5pm: My Featured Session talk is in the big room, Ballroom D at the convention Center. I'm especially honored that Steve Blank will be introducing me! In the evening, come…

• The Lean Startup at SXSW 2012

  unknown

  5 Mar 2012 | 6:25 am

  SXSW is less than a week away. Lean Startup ideas will be a big part of the festival this year. Last year SXSW invited me to produce an official Lean Startup track for the conference, which I did in partnership with 500 Startups. For those that were able to join us, you'll recall that we were in a pretty small venue far from the center of town. Apparently, they liked what they saw, as we've been seriously upgraded this year. And so I've once again partnered with 500 Startups in an effort to bring you the most comprehensive Lean Startup event ever. First off, SXSW has asked me to introduce the…

• 

  Master of 500 Hats

• Congrats SlideShare + LinkedIn -- Best Wishes Rashmi, Jon, & Amit :)

  Dave

  3 May 2012 | 3:24 pm

  This is a very special post for me to write, to congratulate some good friends on a job well done. I first met Rashmi many years back at TagCamp while i was still working at Simply Hired in 2005, then again at Dana Street Coffee in early 2007 when i was consulting for Mint.com. I think Mike Arrington had written one of the very first TechCrunch posts on SlideShare in late 2006, and i was an immediate fan and user soon after. Upon seeing Rashmi again at Dana Street a few times we became fast friends, and i asked her and her co-founder Jon if i could become an investor/advisor to the company.

• The Fail Factory

  Dave

  16 Nov 2011 | 5:35 am

  i look kinda scruffy in this Fast Company intvw, but it's mostly on target.

• Blogging Hiatus

  Dave

  28 Aug 2011 | 3:12 pm

  i'm not doing much blogging at the moment, as you can probably tell from this site. apologies however i've been kinda busy getting 500 Startups off the ground the past year or two. besides, the commenting system here is crap & i've been overdue on a redesign for about 2-3 years. for some of my more insane / incendiary rants, check out Best of 500 Hats for more recent perspectives from the 500 Startups network, visit our company blog at http://blog.500startups.com/ and if you really have nothing better to do, you can check out my incredibly tedious & profane tweets at…

• Thoughts on Angel List, "Social Proof", "Spray & Pray", & The Network Effects of Large Scale Investing

  Dave

  27 Feb 2011 | 9:57 am

  (ok folks, i've gotta take the kids to basketball practice in a few hours, so will try to power through this -- that means limited crazy fonts, profanity, wild pix... sorry little monsters, next time ;) 3 major points i plan to cover in this post: 1) Angel List Fucking Rocks. Period.  it's the single greatest innovation in our industry in the last 5 years (aside from LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, & Quora) and it's great for almost all participants. and while social proof can be abused / misused, so can gasoline... doesn't mean you shouldn't fill up your gas tank…

• Startups to Customers: "I Wanna FIGHT Your Father." (Father = Incumbent Solution)

  Dave

  26 Feb 2011 | 9:15 am

  Passion is what being a startup entrepreneur is all about. Great entrepreneurs are passionate about customers and solving their problems -- so passionate sometimes, that they will take on ridiculous odds to have a shot at fighting Goliath. This video by The Rubberbandits captures it perfectly: (Hey Startups: "I Wanna Fight Your Father!")

• 

  Hiten Shah's Tumblr

• It’s warm, sunny and beautiful in Boston today (Taken with...

  12 May 2012 | 12:13 pm

  It’s warm, sunny and beautiful in Boston today (Taken with Instagram at Microsoft New England Research & Development Center)

• It’s warm, sunny and beautiful in Boston today (Taken with...

  12 May 2012 | 12:13 pm

  It’s warm, sunny and beautiful in Boston today (Taken with Instagram at Microsoft New England Research & Development Center)

• Start Up Success Shirt #RamenCamp (Taken with Instagram at...

  12 May 2012 | 8:35 am

  Start Up Success Shirt #RamenCamp (Taken with Instagram at Microsoft New England Research & Development Center)

• Rip. Scoop. Eat. (Taken with Instagram at Oren’s Hummus...

  29 Apr 2012 | 8:48 am

  Rip. Scoop. Eat. (Taken with Instagram at Oren’s Hummus Shop)

• "Finish each day and be done with it; you have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities..."

  28 Apr 2012 | 9:46 pm

  “Finish each day and be done with it; you have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson (via trevorloy)

• 

  Big Red Tomato Company

• Why Instagram’s sale to Facebook is bad news for startups

  Matthew Needham

  20 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  On April 9th 2012 Facebook announced that it would acquire Instagram for $1bn. An impressive sum for a company less than 2 years old and with fewer than a dozen employees. An even more impressive sum when you realise that Instagram had no clear revenue plan. According to some reports Instagram co founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, who owns 40% of the company, stands to make $400m from the sale before taxes. Instagram is a great app for the iPhone  (and now the Android) which allows you to take photos and apply cool filters to them to give them the look of photographs taken on a 1970′s…

• 7 Business lessons from Caine’s Arcade

  Matthew Needham

  1 May 2012 | 10:00 pm

  Just a few days ago one of my Facebook friends posted a link to the story of 9 year old entrepreneur Caine Monroy who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s auto part store. With the words: “This. Story. Is. Awesome! If you haven’t heard of Caine’s arcade, you’ve got to check this out. [URL] Go Caine!” So I thought I’d take a look. And you know what? It was awesome. But when I came to show the video to my wife,  I couldn’t remember the URL, so I went to Google and typed in “Caine’s Arcade” and I was stunned at…

• Branson backs loans for student business plans

  Matthew Needham

  15 Mar 2012 | 10:00 pm

  Billionaire entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, has this week backed a plan for school leavers who opt not to go to university but start a business instead. Branson’s plan, which is currently under review by the UK Government ahead of the Budget, is being quoted by Branson as “a great way of kick-starting thousands of new businesses”. Branson’s idea, which is supported by a host of entrepreneurs, including Dragon’s Den star Peter Jones, Members of Parliament and backed by business groups and charities such as the Prince’s…

• When to kill a project

  Matthew Needham

  5 Mar 2012 | 9:00 pm

  When running a project and it’s running behind plan when should you quit and when should you carry on? Here’s a technique you can apply to the projects you’re working on to decide when to quit and when to carry on. Earned value analysis One way of using numbers to help support decision making is borrowing a technique from project management called earned value analysis. Basically it works on the principle that the project spend should be aligned to the value delivered by the project. If the amount of spend exceeds the amount of value created at each of the milestones, then…

• Why the best plan is to have no plan at all

  Matthew Needham

  26 Feb 2012 | 9:00 pm

  In this post we look at why a great idea or a good business plan is no substitute for taking action.   “Too much talk, too little do” Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence In 1982, Tom Peters along with Bob Waterman wrote the business classic In Search Of Excellence: Lessons from America’s Best-Run Companies. In that book they identified 8 themes which they argued were the foundations of success of the companies  in the study. The first theme was a bias for action – active decision making – “getting on with it”.  At the time Peters and Waterman…

• 

  David Cancel

• What Matters

  dcancel

  11 May 2012 | 1:02 pm

  It’s easy to get caught up reading about the startup that codes from the beach, or the other startup that was featured  in [insert name here], or that other startup that raised a bunch of money and was valued at a billion dollars (in make believe money that is).Blah blah blah. Those are not accomplishments that matter. Raising money and getting a high valuation is not a milestone worth celebrating — it’s a reason to get to work. Don’t waste your time reading about them. Don’t waste your time trying to emulate them.What matters is creating something that…

• Why I Hire People, Not Skills

  dcancel

  10 Apr 2012 | 2:41 pm

  Note: This post was originally posted on BostInno.com on April 13th, 2011 but never cross-posted on my own blog. I find this post to be even more relevant today at HubSpot as we transform our team into the greatest engineering team I have ever seen; I hope you find it useful.—Companies change. Products evolve. Approaches get thrown out the window. The centrifugal force alone of that kind of rapid development is enough to throw anyone off center. Throughout my experience, one guiding rule on team building in fast-moving companies has emerged: hire people, not skills.It can be tempting…

• Creating a Data-Driven Business

  dcancel

  3 Apr 2012 | 2:02 am

  I finally got around to uploading my presentation on Creating a Data-Driven Business today.I gave this talk last fall at the Business of Software Conference here in Boston. The talk is a variant of my Creating a Data-Driven Startup version.Since Performable was acquired by HubSpot last June (2011), news here and here, I’ve had the chance to learn a lot about creating and scaling a highly data-driven business. I hope you find the presentation useful.

• Our Startup’s Secret Weapon

  dcancel

  8 Jun 2011 | 2:14 pm

  Looking back at the last 1.5 yrs since we started Performable, one thing is very clear: the single best decision we ever madewas to make customer service everyone’s job.Everyone on the team is assigned a day on our support calendar when they answer the phones, reply to all emails and proactively reach out to customers to see if they can be helpful. This customer service focus has grown from a company mantra to a company religion. Obsessive customer focus shapes everything we do, from how our dev team builds our product to how we recruit new team members.Yesterday my co-founder, Josh…

• Building the Salesforce.com of Marketing

  dcancel

  28 Mar 2011 | 5:37 am

  At Performable we are building the Salesforce.com of Marketing.Along the way we have expanded our service to better meet the needs of our customers. Lots of startup people viewed this evolution as “pivots“, a term made famous by Eric Ries and the Lean Startup movement.I didn’t really see our evolution as a series of “pivots” but I can see how others saw them as such.At SXSW this year I presented the following Case Study on Performable and our early evolution:Please let me know if you found this presentation useful.

• 

  The Entreprenette Gazette

• Seasonal roll-outs

  Sarah Shaw

  1 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Seasonal roll-outs are really important to stay on top of. Be sure to find out when the tradeshows and market weeks are going on throughout the year for your particular product line and make sure you are approaching buyers accordingly. The more experienced you "appear", the more seriously buyers will take you.  Each product line has it's own "life span"……do you follow traditional seasons, Hallmark Holidays, or major trends……perhaps you dip your toe in some or all?  Whatever it is, you want to stay on top of it by marking all of these…

• How to make your booth dazzle

  Sarah Shaw

  24 Apr 2012 | 5:00 am

  Dear Sarah, I am doing my first trade show in a few months.  I wondered if you know the best way to set up the lights in order to showcase my products. Thanks so much – Jon Margalit Towelmate.com Dear John, I reached out to my friend Emily at Pegasus Lighting as she is a real expert in booth lighting. You’re smart to consider your lighting needs ahead of time! Trade show lights are crucial to make your product stand out to attendees in a sea of options. Your goal should be for the lighting in your booth to naturally attract people – that way, it’s doing some of…

• Pinning to Profit

  Sarah Shaw

  16 Apr 2012 | 5:00 am

  So you've heard of Pinterest right?  Perhaps have signed up to reserve your name but aren't quite sure what to do with it?  Are you totally into it already?  I'd have to say I am somewhere in the middle as far as expertise but I am using it and loving it, have the icon on my website but still consider myself a newbie.  It is totally fun, can be way to totally loose yourself in time……but I am starting to see how it can really help your business gain more traction and get more eyes on your product! I reached out to my friend Lynn Steinberg of Goodies…

• What PR can do for your brand

  Sarah Shaw

  5 Apr 2012 | 5:00 am

  Learning how to leverage good PR for yourself is a total MUST to keep any business afloat!  Once you have some PR, it will give you credibility which makes buyers feel more comfortable about buying from you – especially if you are a new brand. Staying on top of your media calendar is the key to a successful PR campaign.  Be sure to look at all the magazine websites and click on the media kit tab and make a calendar you can follow to pitch on target each month. Here are a few to get you started: Condenast.com Select magazine and media kit – most have editorial calendars…

• What a celebrity can do for your brand

  Sarah Shaw

  1 Mar 2012 | 4:00 am

  Getting products to celebrities can be very exciting! It can bring you major brand recognition, possibly get you on TV, attract wholesale buyers, boost online sales, start new trends, and give you awesome credibility! Choosing the right celebrity for your brand depends on who your target market admires, so be sure to approach celebrities that will entice your buyers.

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  Entrepreneur Solo

• Gone Fishing In The Wrong Pond

  Entrepreneur Solo

  20 May 2012 | 8:22 am

  The last five months have been rather hectic in my property businesses, Valencia Property and Houses for Sale in Spain. While the Spanish economy burns around me and I have been asked many times by other agents how are you doing it? How are you so busy and making sales while we are sat around wondering when the next client will walk in through the door? About 80% of Spanish Estate agents have closed down and more are closing on a weekly basis as the harsh reality of a market that has contracted greatly since the boom days of the early 2000's were around. To answer this we need to go back to…

• Planning a Month Ahead Is Sometimes Difficult

  Entrepreneur Solo

  13 May 2012 | 2:44 am

  I have been trying to plan August. Between client visits, holiday, a visit to England to take my eldest to University and a whole heap of work things are starting to get a little complicated. The truth is that at times i actually have a problem planning a day or two ahead because of the nature of what I do. New shiny things come up every day that may need my attention and there are always loose ends to tie up on current projects.

• More On Procrastination. Is There An App For That?

  Entrepreneur Solo

  13 May 2012 | 2:44 am

  Yesterday morning I just couldn't get going. I was in a fug of indecision over what to do. There were so many choices of things I could have done of course, isn't that always true as an entrepreneur?

• Why Spain Is Still A Great Place To Live

  Entrepreneur Solo

  13 May 2012 | 2:44 am

  With the news coming out of Spain at the moment anyone might be forgiven for thinking that Spain is not a great place to live. Certainly for a lot of people things are hard at the moment in Spain and it doesn't look like there is any chance of a quick economic recovery especially when you consider we probably have the most inept government ever seen on the face of the planet. Without an economic recovery things will continue to be difficult on the jobs front without a shadow of a doubt. However Spain can still be a great place to live for a variety of reasons as long as you have the basics in…

• A Short Post About Productivity

  Entrepreneur Solo

  22 Apr 2012 | 2:13 pm

  Are you productive in what you do daily? Do you use your downtime in a productive way? I only ask because I wrote a blog post yesterday on my Mac as I arrived 20 minutes early for an appointment a previous appointment didn't take as long as I thought it would.

• 

  Meylah

• 6 Social Media Tips To Improve Your Art & Craft Business

  22 May 2012 | 6:54 pm

  Social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and now Pinterest are fantastic mediums to help artists and crafters gain exposure and build relationships that eventually turn into sales.The key to using these social media channels is to be your authentic self and understand that it is a process.  Just like building any great relationship, it takes time, effort and honesty.  Success is built with dedication and passion and although we may see overnight success, a long term approach is usually more effective.Here are 6 social media tips to improve your art & craft business:1. Start Slow: Start…

• A Mid-Year Checkup For Your Business Finances

  18 May 2012 | 9:27 am

  Mid-year, what do you mean? I just got used to writing 2012 as the date! The year just started! No my friend, it’s May, and it’s time for you to take a look around at your business and figure out where you’re at. And one of the most important areas to inspect is your financial health!But, where to start your investigation? And, how do you fix anything that needs restructuring? If you had New Years’ resolutions to get your money in order in 2012, you’re six months away from not being able to check off that box, so let’s get started!Dealing With DebtWhether you took a loan from a…

• 4 Basic Tips For Selling Your Products Online

  17 May 2012 | 3:49 pm

  Are you selling your products online?  Technology is making it easier and more affordable every day to create an online store and start selling your products. With that said, you still need to bring some basic business principles from the real world into your online business.  So, here are 4 tips for selling your products online:Tip #1: Be yourself when selling your products online...it's the most important thing because people (potential customers) want to connect with the person they're buying from so tell your story and stay true to what you love.Tip #2: Develop consistency around your…

• How to Effectively Imitate And Not Steal

  15 May 2012 | 9:34 pm

  There has been a ton of talk on the interwebs lately about the “stealing” of work & ideas...at least in the entrepreneurial circle. I think it’s really important that the conversation around this topic opens up, especially for you creative entrepreneurs who design your own products.Firstly, I’d like to see if we agree on two statements:1. There are really no new ideas.2. The greatest thing about being a creative is that we can draw inspiration from anyone & anything.Let’s just take the first, because I can definitely see how that could raise a few eyebrows.  I honestly believe that…

• Common Financial Terms for Online Craft Sellers: Defined!

  12 May 2012 | 7:09 am

  A seller who’s brand new to the biz or even an old pro in the crafting world will occasionally run into a financial term they don’t know. It’s nothing to be ashamed of; there are so many and we don’t all have accounting degrees! Here’s a quick list of some of the more common financial terms you may encounter during your time as a craft seller.Revenue: This is all the money you earn before taking anything else into account. This money can come from sales of your stuff, investments, or even donations to your company.Expenses: That $30 for yarn? The shipping costs that seemed to go up…

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  i-netpreneur

• How to Publish WordPress Posts to Google+ and Vice Versa (3 Plugins)

  cyrus

  18 May 2012 | 8:13 pm

  Google+ is one of the top social networks you can’t afford to ignore as a business owner. The more active you are in the community and the better connections you make, the more success you will achieve through this community. You can always import your G+ activities to your blog or publish your latest posts to Google+ to gain more traffic. These plugins help you handle those jobs: Google+ Crossposting: lets you import your public activities from Google+ into your WordPress blog. This plugin automates this process. WP Google Plus Connect: connects your blog to your Google+ account. Lets…

• 5 Social Networks to Promote Photo Sites

  cyrus

  4 May 2012 | 7:18 pm

  In the age of social media, promoting your photos and images is much easier. Being active on Facebook and Twitter can help. But there are plenty of other social networks you need to be involved in. Here are 5 social networks you can take advantage of to promote your photo sites: Pinterest: a fast rising social network to promote photos, infographics, and other types of visual content with. It is a social e-board which can drive a considerable amount of traffic to your site. Google+: not a site just for photo sharing, this amazing social network can help you improve your site’s ranking…

• Turn your Smartphone or Tablet into a Scanner: 4 Apps

  cyrus

  27 Apr 2012 | 8:01 pm

  We all digitize some of our most important documents at work. Unfortunately, scanners are not always portable or easy to carry around. There are portable scanners available on the market but you will have to pay a considerable amount of money to get your hands on a quality model. These 4 apps let you use your iPhone, iPad, or Android device as a scanner: Scanner Pro: one of the best scanner apps on the market for iOS devices. It scans your documents and processes images smartly. You can protect your documents with passwords and send them to your Mac or PC easily. The app supports Dropbox,…

• 5 Must Try Google+ Plugins for WordPress

  cyrus

  20 Apr 2012 | 6:08 pm

  Unlike some so-called gurus have claimed, Google+ is not a ghost town. It is a growing community with millions of members. As a business, you can’t afford not to be involved on the site. Google has already integrated Google+ in many of its services. That will only continue in the upcoming months and years. Most bloggers use WordPress to run their websites. The good part about that is you won’t have to struggle to find plugins that could add necessary capabilities to your site. These 5 Google+ plugins for WordPress help you better take advantage of this community: Floating Social…

• 5 Cool Image Optimization Tools for the Web

  cyrus

  13 Apr 2012 | 7:01 pm

  As a webmaster, your goal should be to provide your visitors with the best content possible. Their experience on your site matters too. If your site is slow, it could turn them off. There are plenty of ways to speed up your website. The easiest way to do so is by reducing the average size of images used on it. These 5 image optimizers help you do that fast: Smush It: a brilliant tool by Yahoo! that reduces the size of each image you provide it with. It is a lossless tool so your images won’t show a dramatic drop in quality. Kraken: a user-friendly tool to optimize your GIF, PNG, and…

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  blog.officelinks.com

• Hotels Court Business Travelers

  admin

  22 May 2012 | 4:53 am

  The old hotel business centers are gone.  These spaces are getting a makeover and road warriors now have access to office space that helps them get work done while on the road. Westin Hotels & Resorts has introduced rooms that serve as office and meeting room space.  Called “hive” these workspaces can be booked by the hour and can be configured to suit a variety of business needs.   The hotel chain just rolled out prototypes in Boston and Arlington, Va.  Plans are in the works to introduce “hive” to all properties by next year. The offices have all the amenities a business…

• Draw Up a Chair: Battery Park Chair Competition

  admin

  17 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  We know this is a few weeks away, but we wanted to give you time to put your thinking caps on! Just over ½ a mile away from Officelinks’ Wall Street offices, you’ll find a New York landmark: Battery Park, aka The Battery, the 25-acre park at the tip of Manhattan, which annually welcomes six million visitors. The Battery Conservancy has announced that it will be inviting students and professionals from the Americas (North, Central, South and the Caribbean), to design an iconic moveable outdoor seating element.The winning design will be fabricated for use in The Battery. Let’s get to…

• Carey Bertolet, a Recruitment Executive with Laurence Simons, Shares Advice for the Global Job Seeker

  admin

  16 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  Global employment issues are making headlines daily.  Earlier this year the New York Times reported a record 22.8 percent unemployment rate in Spain with one of the highest levels of youth unemployment; one-third of Spaniards under the age of 30 are without jobs.  Here in New York City, the unemployment rate was reported by the New York State Department of Labor to be 9.7% in March 2012.  Meanwhile, according the Wall Street Journal, unemployment rates in emerging markets are expected to be less than in the United States. What do these statistics mean for job seekers?  These are times of…

• Floating Office Space

  admin

  15 May 2012 | 4:00 am

  A sure fire way to stand out from the competition is to tell clients and potential employees that your company’s offices are on a boat.  One Cleveland-based software firm, LeanDog, can now make that claim.  As part of Cleveland’s ambitious lakefront development plans, the city is hoping LeanDog will soon have plenty of neighbors as the “office harbor” takes off.   LeanDog along with a marketing firm will soon house 50 workers aboard a 19th century vessel in the city’s harbor. A former restaurant barge is undergoing a $600,000 renovation to repurpose the vessel to house its new…

• Chicago Craft Beer Week Kicks Off Thursday, May 17

  admin

  10 May 2012 | 3:45 am

  You are invited to experience “Chicago: A City of Neighborhoods,” the 3rd Annual Chicago Craft Beer Week, May 17-May 27. The Craft Beer Week will divide Chicago into nine neighborhoods plus the suburbs so that you – and all Chicago beer lovers – have the opportunity to explore the depth and breadth of local craft beer. More than 200 venues are expected to participate this year, offering special $4 tastings of rare beers and other special events throughout the week. Festivities will begin with the “Beer Under Glass” event at Garfield Park Conservatory and end with the closing party…

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  Under30CEO

• How to Score a High Profile Mentor in Your Field

  Under30CEO

  23 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  “Pick their brain until it bleeds.” Hollywood’s Michael Ovitz, my mentor since I was 19 years old, advised me to do just that when I find someone whose career I want to emulate. Of course, you’ve got to have a little more tact than simply that, but you get the picture.The best way to get a leg up and put your success on the fast track is to find and secure a high profile mentor in your field. A mentor will show you the ropes, teach you the insider tricks, and tell you where they screwed up and wasted time as well as what worked most effectively and efficiently.Looking the PartMore…

• What’s the ROI of Your Personal Finance Strategy?

  Under30CEO

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  I thought I had the world figured out when I moved to New York.  The apartment I rented had bathroom tiles imported from Spain that made it feel like I was showering in a tropical grotto.  While the yearly rent was 1/4 of my yearly pre-tax salary, I wanted to and felt like I was living the dream.At the end of the first few months, I would end up with less than $50 dollars in my bank account.  Reality woke me up when I almost had to borrow some money from a friend to make ends meet one month.  So much for having the world figured out!  My “living the dream” was fast becoming a…

• Find an Accountability Parter and Get More Done

  Under30CEO

  22 May 2012 | 10:07 am

  It’s a fundamental component of life – action.  I always tell my clients, friends, family, colleagues; to get what you’ve never had you must DO what you’ve never done.  So, my question for you is, what have you been putting off doing, knowing that by doing it you would advance in the direction towards something you wish to be, do or have?It’s no secret that human beings are creatures of habit and that we operate the majority of our life on somewhat of an autopilot. We are often consciously unaware that we are doing the same things, thinking the same thoughts…

• 21 Free Tools to Help Your Small Business Succeed

  Jared O'Toole

  22 May 2012 | 6:17 am

  As small business owners we are always looking for tools to help get the job done at a low cost. Well nothing beats free! It’s truly amazing how powerful some of the free online small business tools are out there. If you’re not taking advantage of at least a few of these resources then you are missing out. These tools cover a variety of topics but almost every business probably uses their services in some way. Enjoy and let us know what tools you use in the comments.1. DropboxThis powerful product ends the challenge of storing and syncing files and documents on different devices…

• Cell Phones at the Dinner Table – Are the Times Changing?

  Under30CEO

  21 May 2012 | 10:00 am

  Are cell phones appropriate at the dinner table? For many, the answer is an obvious “no.” Not only answering a call or viewing a text at a meal, but also placing the phone on the table or refusing to turn it on silent are considered rude gestures while dining. Yet for a younger generation constantly connected through text messaging or email via cell phones, perceptions of what is rude and what is acceptable vary greatly. Feelings are mixed as to whether the presence of cell phones at the dinner table truly are inappropriate, and to what degree it is proper to use them. What constitutes…

• 

  Small Business, Entrepreneurship & Startup Blog | Sprouter

• Building a Business on Helping Companies Hire Smarter

  Jon Spenceley

  23 May 2012 | 8:30 am

  ClearFit founder Ben Baldwin always knew he wanted to be an entrepreneur, although he wasn’t always sure that this attitude was a good thing. “I’ve never really fit into the way other people think/act and I have a real problem with authority,” Baldwin said in interview. “I kinda thought that I was screwed professionally, until I started my own thing.“ ClearFit, a software product that helps businesses hire new employees based on cultural fit and experience, was created out of a passion to help entrepreneurs tackle their biggest challenge. “My background is in building…

• Sprouter Weekly Hot Startups: Where Are They Now?

  Jon Spenceley

  18 May 2012 | 8:22 am

  Since the first issue of Sprouter Weekly, we’ve been hunting down the newest, most exciting startups each week, and serving up four of them straight to your inbox. The thing about startups is that usually launch day is only the beginning. Here’s a look at some of the Hot Startups we’ve profiled over the years, and where they are now. The Acquisitions  We introduced Rypple in the March 28 2010 edition of Sprouter Weekly, and knew this performance management system was big news. We profiled their founders in December of 2010, and founder Daniel Debow said 2011 was going to be…

• Looking Back at 100 Founder Profiles

  Jon Spenceley

  17 May 2012 | 8:32 am

  Since 2009, we’ve been interviewing different founders every week, and bringing their story to you. We wanted to take a walk down memory lane, and revisit some Founder Profiles from days past: June 2010, Gary Vaynerchuk When we interviewed Gary, his company VaynerMedia was only a year old, but he had already appeared on Ellen, The Today Show, and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Gary had also just signed a  seven-figure, 10 book deal with HarperStudio, and Crush It! (his first) was a New York Times Bestseller. August 2010, Aaron Patzer Mint.com was 4 years old when we interviewed…

• How Twitpic’s Founder Built on Twitter’s Success

  Jon Spenceley

  16 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  Twitpic founder Noah Everett is no stranger to start-ups. He founded his first startup in his late teens, a music site called Indiefy. “It was a way for independent artists to sell their music online.” Everett said in interview. “I built it, but I didn’t put a lot into getting it out there so it fizzled out.” His current startup, popular photo-sharing site Twitpic, was built out of his own personal need. “I wanted a way to share my own photos so I spent the weekend coding up the first version of Twitpic for me and my friends to use.” Twitpic filled a niche that Twitter had…

• Celebrating The 100th Issue of Sprouter Weekly

  Jon Spenceley

  15 May 2012 | 8:28 am

  This week represents a pretty big milestone – 100 issues of Sprouter Weekly! From the very first issue back in March 2010, we’ve been sending you Hot Startups, insightful Founder Profiles, useful startup articles and great events every week, and we’re eternally grateful that you’ve been reading them for over two years. Our first issue was a great success – on March 11th, 2010, we interviewed Canadian entrepreneur Dan Martell, featured startups Groupon and crowdSPRING, and looked at events all over the world. Since then, we’ve been doing our best to find…

• 

  Think Traffic

• 19 Women Who Will Teach You How to Kick Ass Online

  Corbett Barr

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  We noticed something unacceptable about the articles and interviews we’ve posted here at Think Traffic over the past couple of years: we haven’t featured nearly enough successful women bloggers and online entrepreneurs. Consider this an official apology to our female readers and fellow entrepreneurs. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up talking about people of your own gender. Let’s change that here starting today. There are TONS of incredible women entrepreneurs who we follow and admire. Below are 19 who will teach you how to kick ass online. Each of these women are…

• Behind an Insane Single Day 50 Guest Post Blitz: the Strategy and the Results

  Adam Costa

  17 May 2012 | 5:45 am

  This is a guest post by Adam Costa of Trekity.com. Crazy, huh? I mean, 50 websites – each with your byline and link to your site – all going live the same day? And even if you could coordinate something as massive as this, you’d still have to write 50 guest posts (while still adding content to your own blog)… something most bloggers aren’t too keen on. But here’s the thing: guest posting (even 50) all at once is do-able.  In fact, it’s MUCH more effective than publishing one post at a time. Why? Because all those posts give the impression you are EVERYWHERE. It practically…

• Why “Follow Your Passion” is Flawed Advice – and What to Do Instead

  Corbett Barr

  15 May 2012 | 5:45 am

  Last month we asked you “what is the most tired or cliched advice online?” One phrase came up over and over again: “follow your passion.” People are tired of hearing “follow your passion.” You’ve heard it. You know you should to do what you love. The real question is: now what? How can you follow your passion AND earn a living? How can you know if your “passion” is worth following? How can you know if it will make a good business or career idea? What if you want to don’t want to risk ruining your passion by turning it into a business…

• How to Get Your Site Featured on the Biggest Blogs on the Web (83 Times in One Year)

  Corbett Barr

  10 May 2012 | 5:45 am

  Imagine if your site was featured regularly on some of the biggest sites on the web related directly to your site’s topic. What might that do for your profile and your traffic? What if you were featured 83 times in less than a year on huge sites like CopyBlogger, Freelance Switch, ProBlogger, Get Rich Slowly, Smashing Magazine, DIYThemes, Stepcase Lifehack, Daily Blog Tips, KISS Metrics and even little old Think Traffic? That’s exactly what happened to Danny Iny in 2011. Actually, I shouldn’t say “it happened to” Danny, because all of this was very planned and…

• Think Traffic Monthly Report – April 2012 (Compound Revenue and The 4 Points of Leverage)

  Corbett Barr

  8 May 2012 | 5:45 am

  Welcome to another Think Traffic monthly report! April was a fantastic month. We had record revenue in April owing mostly to the launch of Traffic School. This was the third time we have offered the program, and it was the third time it has sold out (in record time this launch, just 32 hours). I’ve realized something over the past year about growing revenue for a business like we run at Insanely Useful Media (the “umbrella” business name that includes Think Traffic and our other sites). In order to grow an online business beyond a modest income, on the level of what you…

• 

  War Room

• Playing Online Games Could Get Way More Addictive For College Students

  Jill Krasny

  23 May 2012 | 3:01 pm

  A San Francisco startup called Grantoo bets it can make a killing on millennials' addiction to playing online games.  On the site, students play customized, branded games like virtual Scrabble and poker for cash prizes between $75 and $5,000. And here's the kicker: They can put that prize money toward paying off debt. Co-founder Dimitri Sillam told BI the concept came to him around college when he realized how easily his friends wasted hours playing games such as "Farmville" and "Angry Birds," but still mooched off Mom and Dad.  "Everyone was playing games every day, but…

• MIT Students Have Figured Out An Amazing Way To Get Ketchup Out Of A Glass Bottle

  Theodore Ritz

  23 May 2012 | 2:50 pm

  This is "LiquiGlide," a coating of non-toxic materials that allows every single drop of your favorite condiment to flow effortlessly out of the bottle. LiquiGlide was invented by MIT PhD candidate Dave Smith, along with a team of mechanical engineers and nano-technologists, according to the story, first reported over at Fast Company. The team, part of the Varanasi Research Group spent the last two months holed up in MIT's labs developing the amazing substance. Check out the video: Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story »

• This Interactive Burger Joint May Be The Future Of Fast Food

  William Wei

  23 May 2012 | 2:28 pm

  One of the restaurants that's finally taking advantage of today's high tech advances is 4food – a trendy, futuristic burger joint located in the heart of midtown Manhattan. The restaurant has an interactive build-your-own-burger ordering system, and customers can trademark their creations and even get royalties if someone else orders their burger. The chefs at 4food use a modified Japanese donut machine to make their patties, and track the inventory of fresh ingredients so that if they run out of an item, it's automatically reflected on the interactive menu online and in the…

• Too Much Stress And Staying Up All Night Are Making You Poor

  Stacey Bumpus

  23 May 2012 | 2:27 pm

  It’s no secret that a lack of sleep along with high levels of stress can have an adverse effect on your life, whether you’re trying to function at work or effectively raise your children. But many don’t know that living a lifestyle that includes little sleep and/or high levels of stress can also impact your financial decisions and ability to save money. Of course, making bad financial decisions can create sleepless nights and a cycle of stress that will guarantee you never find peace of mind. So how can you ensure you don’t find yourself tangled in this web? Learn more…

• Thousands Of Retailers Want To Offer Free WiFi To Get You To Buy More Stuff

  Rob Wile

  23 May 2012 | 2:24 pm

  SmartMoney's Quentin Fottrell reports thousands of salons, clothing stores and amusement arcades are trying to ink free Wi-Fi contracts with cable companies to get more shoppers through the door. According to Steve Herz, president and founder of New York-based marketing firm IF Management, free Wi-Fi and comfy chairs are still the simplest and easiest way to keep customers browsing," Fottrell writes. On May 21, the country's major cable providers announced a new project, "CableWiFi," that enables their respective high-speed Internet customers to access their home Wi-Fi networks, totaling…

• 

  BitMethod

• Change's Debut / BitMethod's Birthday Bash

  Daniel Shipton

  9 May 2012 | 2:27 pm

  It’s here! After incubating Change the past few months in our nest atop the Liberty Building, we are finally ready to deliver a bouncing new baby point of sale system to Mars Cafe. Not only are we celebrating the birth of a new product, but BitMethod is also turning three. This means there will be lots of cake! Come join us next Thursday, May 17th, from 6:30pm-8:30pm, at Mars Cafe, as we bring our first version of Change into the world and introduce it to its happy new family. To give everyone a chance to see Change in action, Mars is working on some sweet beer specials just for the…

• Eat Sleep Featured in the App Store for Mother's Day

  Igor Dobrosavljević

  8 May 2012 | 11:56 am

  Over the weekend, our app Eat Sleep was featured in the Apple App Store for Mother’s Day under apps for “Moms on the Go.” The first person to notice was @norahcarroll, our friend from LavaRow. We’re so glad her shout out on Twitter gave us the heads up. The most exciting part for us was seeing the hockey stick growth on our daily downloads chart. In the first two days, downloads quadrupled and we are excited to see next week’s numbers after being featured for an entire week. We put a lot of love into our little passion projects, so we’re incredibly proud to…

• BitMethod's Upcoming 80/35 Sprint Weekend

  BitMethod

  19 Apr 2012 | 8:20 am

  Recently, we've had a lot of people express interest in not only what we do at BitMethod, but how we do it. They often want to learn more about our process and what goes into creating mobile apps. If you’re one of these people, we have some good news for you. Remember those apps we made last year for the 80/35 music festival? Well, July is quickly approaching and we're ready to update the crap out of those things, but this time, we want to share our process with others. If you're interested in participating in our upcoming 80/35 Sprint Weekend, shoot us an email (hello@bitmethod.com). Tell…

• Book Review - A Project Guide to UX Design [1]

  Daniel Shipton

  12 Apr 2012 | 8:28 am

  Our good friend Russ Unger recently sent us a copy of his newly released book “A Project Guide to UX Design,” co-authored by Carolyn Chandler. Now in its second edition, this book is packed full of little UX gold nuggets. If you’re looking for an awesome guide to help you design user experiences, it would be “A Project Guide to UX Design.” Russ and Carolyn provide several strategies for tackling the user experience of projects both big and small. For every step of the process, they dish out advice on incorporating research, workflow analysis, personas and insight on how to build…

• What We Can Learn From Draw Something [1]

  Amanda Morrow

  5 Apr 2012 | 6:06 am

  As I’m sure many of you have heard, OMGPOP, the company who created Draw Something, was purchased by Zynga for $210 million back in March. For those unfamiliar with the game, found on both the iOS and Android platforms, it’s a play on Pictionary. Users choose a word, draw it for a friend, and get them to guess the word by spelling it out from a dozen letters at the bottom of the screen. The app launched February 1, 2012, and now boasts close to 50 million downloads. While it may seem like Draw Something has been a bit of an overnight success, the actual game is the third iteration of…

• 

  Jian Small Business Blog

• What is an Executive Executive Summary?

  asherman

  23 May 2012 | 11:02 am

  The Executive Summary is the most important part of your business plan. It’s the first part that potential investors will read, and if written poorly, it could be the last!It is wise to complete your plan first, and always come back and do your Executive Summary last.  Some people use the Executive Summary to get them started and revisit it at the end to make any adjustments.This section should offer a brief synopsis of key ideas about your business proposition. A good Executive Summary explains your business in a way that piques readers’ interest and inspires them to read on…

• Sales and Marketing: Finding Customers Through Local Results Based Searches

  Andrew Bloo

  7 Dec 2011 | 7:22 am

  Part (2 0f 2)In case you missed the first part click here to read: Your Customers Are No Different! How do customers find your business?One of the first specific questions you should ask yourself is how customers find your business. If you don’t know the answer to this question, take a break from reading this and go ask your customers. Nothing is going to be more important to your future than the right answer to this question!If it’s foot traffic, then make sure your store front is as inviting as a designer can make it.Let’s face it: you’ve got enough on your plate, and window…

• Sales & Marketing: Your Customers Are No Different!

  Andrew Bloo

  6 Dec 2011 | 7:16 am

  Let’s face it, this past year has been a difficult one for all of us. It’s forced us to rethink just about every piece of our businesses—what’s working, what’s not, and how we can do more with less while still achieving a positive outcome for 2012. JIAN.com is no different: we’re a small business, too, and we’ve asked ourselves these same questions and had to work through some difficult decisions to keep our own business healthy.What We DiscoveredHere are a few of the most important things we learned as we reevaluated our own business, lessons that we think are relevant for…

• HR: Department of Labor wants your money

  Andrew Bloo

  5 Dec 2011 | 6:32 am

  Department of Labor Investigates — and wants your money Department of Labor statistics show 73% of its investigations result in violations. Four areas that regulators focus on—and that you need to double-check: (Let’s see… We need to look at just 4 areas of any business and we have a 73% $ucce$$ rate…) Employee records retention. States vary widely in how many years you are required to hold records: 1    Year: Louisiana, Utah 2    Years: California, Colorado, Idaho, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, West Virginia, Wyoming 3    Years: Alaska, Arkansas,…

• Times are tough, your business needs to be tougher!

  Andrew Bloo

  4 Nov 2011 | 1:07 pm

  Join Fran Tarkenton and Scott Miller in a dynamic, live coaching program designed to help you compete in today’s difficult business environment. OneMoreCustomer Coaching, produced and delivered by Tarkenton & Miller, gives you and your business the winning edge. As a business owner or manager, you need to be fast on your feet and ready to change directions at a moment’s notice – who better to show you how to do this successfully than Fran Tarkenton!?Click Here to RegisterFran has built more than 20 successful small businesses in his career. He knows how to give a small business the…

• 

  Mini Sprout

• How entrepreneurs overlook one crucial detail when planning their website

  alex

  14 May 2012 | 7:56 am

  Website mockups focus on the layout, design and user experience. But the most influential part of any website is the text. Why is it mockups use “Lorem ipsum” as placeholder text yet still claim to have designed the customer’s experience? Here’s an example of a website’s text that doesn’t improve the customers’ experience. A bank’s credit cards section of its website promotes the five benefits of their preferred credit card. The benefits are listed as top-level headlines, like “No annual fee for your first year.” Clicking the…

• Tell your users where to click

  alex

  11 May 2012 | 7:58 am

  Every visitor to your website is looking for an excuse to leave. Don’t like the layout? Click the back button. Is the content not relevant? Click the back button. That button doesn’t serve merely as a way to leave the site. Rather, it acts as a lifeline to get users back to familiar ground. Why would any website give users a reason to leave? Because it wasn’t built from the perspective of the user. Here’s a website submitted to Mini Sprout. Users can choose from 40 different links in this screenshot alone. But since the layout of the website does not seem to guide…

• Don’t fight the patent. Fight the infringement.

  alex

  10 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  Drew Curtis serves as an inspiration for many small businesses and inventors — he went up against a patent troll and won. The founder from Fark.com tells his story on how he defeated a lawsuit against a frivolous patent. When other companies settled, Curtis stood strong and refused to pay them anything. How did Curtis win? He fought the infringement, not the patent. During the discovery phase of the lawsuit, in which either party can obtain evidence from the other side, Curtis’ team asked for screenshots proving Fark.com infringed on their patent. The plantiff’s lawyer…

• How a simple design decision made Pinterest a household name

  alex

  7 May 2012 | 5:38 pm

  In the two years since launching, Pinterest has grown incredibly quickly to become the third most visited social network in the US, only behind Facebook and Twitter. One of Pinterest’s most recognizable features is its layout. Photos seem to spread out like they were individually placed on a light board. But the layout is not the secret to their success. So, what did Pinterest do differently? They featured social interactions. On every Pinterest page, social interactions — repins and comments — take up just as much space as the content itself. Profile photos cover the website,…

• Why no one cares about Yahoo! CEO’s fake degree

  alex

  3 May 2012 | 3:49 pm

  An investment fund known as Third Point LLC, which owns a little less than 6% of Yahoo!, issued a press release about Yahoo!’s chief executive. According to their findings, CEO Scott Thompson lied about holding degrees in both accounting and computer science. Mr. Thompson only holds a degree in accounting. From Third Point LLC’s press release issued on May 3, 2012: If Mr. Thompson embellished his academic credentials we think that it 1) undermines his credibility as a technology expert and 2) reflects poorly on the character of the CEO who has been tasked with leading Yahoo! at…

• 

  800 CEO Read

• The $100 Startup

  Jon

  22 May 2012 | 9:52 am

  TweetChris Guillebeau was in Milwaukee last night as part of his $100 Startup tour. The full room of people who traveled from as far as Chicago got exactly what they hoped for: Hearing Chris share some of the most interesting stories from the book, a discussion of idea navigation, free copies of his book, and personalized signing by Chris. What they also got was a great space, cupcakes, Milwaukee Beer, and pizza arranged by the great folks at Translator. Appropriately enough, Translator is a company whose story would fit right into the $100 Startup. Like many people/companies profiled in…

• Work with us!

  Jon

  22 May 2012 | 9:27 am

  TweetLocated in Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward, 800-CEO-READ has been in the business of business books for over 25 years. Over the past decade, we have concentrated on two things: moving bulk orders of business books around the world, and spreading great business ideas online. More info can be found at www.800ceoread.com. We are seeking candidates for a Special Projects Coordinator position. If you’re committed to excellent service, are highly organized, have a bit of sales drive and are interested in working for an extremely fun company, we’d love to hear from you. This…

• KnowledgeBlocks

  800-CEO-READ

  21 May 2012 | 2:34 pm

  Tweet We’re very pleased to announce the official opening of KnowledgeBlocks, a subscription-based service and online resource that gives readers access to quality content and business resources, a way to save, organize, and customize the information that is important to them, and engages business authors and thought leaders to help solve business problems and build new knowledge. Among the key features of the site, subscribers have access to the following: Explorations: Every month we publish three business book explorations that examine a narrow subject within a broader business…

• Friday Links

  dylan

  18 May 2012 | 8:40 pm

  Tweet➻ Shawn Coyne recently wrote a review of Bryce Hoffman’s American Icon (one of Jack’s favorite books of the year so far), and how the lessons reflected from Ford CEO Alan Mulally’s leadership in the book contains in them the ideas espoused in Pressfield’s The War of Art. Discussing Alan Mulally’s leadership of Ford Motor Company, the implications that has for the future of book publishing, and When the Ladder Becomes a Wheel, Shawn writes: Analog hierarchies use the pursuit of the fruits of labor—money, status, Big Kahuna-ship—to “incentivize”…

• The Finch Effect

  Jon

  17 May 2012 | 10:06 am

  TweetCharles Darwin once noticed that finches adapted their beak structures over a few generations to deal with changes in their environment. These adaptations were essential for the birds to survive. They weren’t quick fixes, but necessary ones, which helped them find new food sources while other species slowly died off. These skills informed Darwin’s theories of survival, and today provide a metaphor that author Nacie Carson uses in her new book, The Finch Effect: The Five Strategies to Adapt and Thrive in Your Working Life. There are more people in the workforce today than ever…

• 

  Mass High Tech Newspaper | Mass High Tech: The Voice of New England Innovation

• Alere recalls 800,000 heart tests, stock drops

  22 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR) has recalled 803,000 heart tests following a U.S.Food and Drug Administration inspection of its San Diego plant raised concerns over quality control processes. The company’s stock was down more than 3 percent in morning trading Wednesday, after the announcement.Alere Inc. (NYSE: ALR) has recalled 803,000 heart tests following a U.S.Food and Drug Administration inspection of its San Diego plant raised concerns over quality control processes. The company’s stock was down more than 3 percent in morning trading Wednesday, after the announcement.

• Promedior plans move to Boston by end of summer

  22 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  The new CEO of biotech company Promedior Inc. says she plans the company’s move to the Boston area to be complete by late summer, and said she will likely be hiring up to 10 new employees as a result.

• Aveo starts Phase 1 trial of solid tumor treatment

  22 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Aveo Oncology (Nasdaq: AVEO) said it put its third molecule in the clinic today by starting a Phase 1 trial of its AV-203 drug candidate along with exploratory biomarkers in patients with advanced solid tumors.

• Serial entrepreneur opens startup hatchery

  22 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Bob Caspe knows a thing or two about startup businesses. Caspe, a serial entrepreneur and professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College, has co-founded Wellesley-based IEC Partners LLC and launched the International Entrepreneurship Center.

• Alnylam gets RNAi patent from Plant Bioscience

  22 May 2012 | 9:00 pm

  Alnylam Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY) of Cambridge has been granted a non-exclusive license from Plant Bioscience Ltd. of Norwich, UK, for the Baulcombe patent for use in human therapeutics.

• 

  Passive Panda

• The Real Truth About Overnight Success (It’s Possible, but Only if You Do This…)

  James Clear

  23 May 2012 | 1:05 pm

  OK, so you want to be successful. That’s good. And you’d like to be successful as soon as possible. Nothing wrong with that. Here’s the problem: It’s hard to be successful when there are good people and bad people lying to you at the same time. And that’s happening to you right now. Let me explain… Overnight Success The idea of “overnight success” is everywhere. It doesn’t matter where you look — fitness, finance, romance, etc. — you will find products, services, and people claiming that you can get what you want faster,…

• How a Stay–At–Home Mom Went From Struggling to Pay the Bills to Making an Extra $3,000 Per Month

  James Clear

  14 May 2012 | 7:18 am

  If you heard about a stay–at–home mom that was struggling to make ends meet and then started making $2,000 to $3,000 in extra income each month, would you be interested in learning more about her story? A few days ago, a Passive Panda reader reached out to me and said that she had done just that. Here’s what happened… From Struggling to $3,000 Per Month A few days ago, I received an email that said the following… Hi James! I wanted to thank you for your post about side hustlin’. This one: http://passivepanda.com/freelance-writer The two links provided in…

• How You Can Live Rich and Travel for Free (Plus, a Passive Panda Giveaway: Win Free Travel!)

  James Clear

  7 May 2012 | 10:07 am

  Did you know that there are a few simple strategies that will allow you to travel for free, meet incredible people, and see the world? Let me show you how I have done just that… and I’m also going to give you the opportunity to win some free travel right now. Here’s what you need to know… How to Live a Rich Life There is much more to living a “rich” life than being rich. In many cases, you don’t actually need money to enjoy a rich lifestyle. For example, when I was a poor graduate student, I traveled to Switzerland on a free flight, stayed for free in…

• The Simple Blueprint to Getting Started (Plus, 7 Ways to Consistently Make Good Choices)

  James Clear

  29 Apr 2012 | 12:06 pm

  There is a way for you to earn more money without working too hard or getting incredibly lucky. Would you like to know what it is? It can be summed up in three simple words: be more consistent. How do you do that? Keep reading and I’ll tell you. How to be more consistent The secret to earning money is not luck or intelligence or creativity — it’s consistency. The people who are the most successful are the most consistent. This is true whether we are talking about money or sports or art or anything in between. You must show up each day, do the best work you can, and then do the…

• How to Get 283 Free Business Leads Every Month, Rank #1 in Google, and Get 91% More Traffic to Your Website

  James Clear

  28 Apr 2012 | 8:37 pm

  How’d you like to learn about one quick action you can take that will bring hundreds (or even thousands) of customers straight to your website for free? I bet that sounds good — possibly even too good to be true — but I’m going to show you exactly how I do it every single month. Now, this takes a little bit of technology, but don’t let that intimidate you. Just one year ago, I knew absolutely nothing about this process and now I get thousands of visitors for free every month. After this post, you’ll know everything you need to know. The Power of Blogging for…

• 

  Alltopstartups

• Key Legal Considerations For Startups

  Thomas Oppong

  22 May 2012 | 2:08 pm

  It’s important to set up all the legal structures of your business right from the beginning to avoid running into problems going forward. If you are running a lean startup or bootstrapping your business, you can consult a business law firm or starup lawyer to help you put together the proper legal framework for your new business. This way, you will protect your business now and in the future. A startup lawyer advice becomes even more crucial if you intend to seek funds from angels or venture capitalists. The simple legal consideration here is that do not  front-load unnecessary legal…

• 7 Practical Career Change Tips You Need

  Thomas Oppong

  22 May 2012 | 9:02 am

  Changing careers is a an important step in every person’s life. You have to get it right, otherwise you may look back and think you should have never taking that decision. But for some reason you have to move on and you need to make that decision. A lot of things could go wrong and a lot of things could go right.The uncertainty of what lies ahead prevent lots of people from making that decision. If you no more find your current job interesting, you should think about how to make that decision now. The decision becomes even much more difficult if you have to move from one industry to…

• Social Media Usage Trends And Facts

  Thomas Oppong

  22 May 2012 | 2:16 am

  Internet usage is growing at a phenomenal rate across all continents. The interesting revealation is that a lot more people are gradually shifting internet access from laptops to portable mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). Popular among sites accessed are social sites. EMarketer predicts there will be a whopping 1.43 billion social network users in 2012, representing a 19.2 percent increase over 2011 figures. This figure could just be the beginning. With the increase in smartphone and tablet usage among internet consumers, the numbers are bound to grow at an amazing rate. Social media…

• How To Find The Right Startup Incubator To Jump Start Your Dreams

  Guest Author

  21 May 2012 | 3:40 pm

  The biggest obstacle that entrepreneurs face is to rise funding for their startups. Even when they have the capital to start, their lack of experience is something they cannot overcome. Finding the right incubator will swing the odds in favor of the entrepreneurs as they will receive funding and guidance from the top minds in the industry. What do Incubators do? Incubators help entrepreneurs develop their business either by funding them or by providing them other resources such as equipment, facility to develop their prototype or even expert guidance. The nature of the incubator varies as…

• How to Navigate the Online Payment Processing Seas

  Guest Author

  18 May 2012 | 3:02 pm

  Your online business rises and falls on margins. You need to make every penny you can from every transaction, and spending money on merchant fees and payment processing charges eats into your profits. At the same time, you need secure and reliable business partners to work with. Choosing the right payment processor is an important factor in both the stability and profitability of your online business. Yet, the world of online payment processors isn’t particularly intuitive. There are many choices out there, and what’s right for another business may not be right for yours. Competition can…

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  Startup Blog

• Even a Blind Squirrel Can Find Nuts

  TaffyWilliams

  18 May 2012 | 9:21 am

  There was a time of transition where I was seeking to find a company to run.  I was eager to obtain an opportunity where I could make a difference and get involved in a startup.  The search was exhausting and took extensive time to seek and review opportunities.  I was on the phone and sending email every day for several months.  It was during this time that I began to think the opportunity did not exist or that no one would allow me to have one.  I was speaking with a trusted advisor and he offered me the following advice; “Even a Blind Squirrel Can Find…

• Angel Education is Sometimes Required

  TaffyWilliams

  16 May 2012 | 1:12 pm

  Angels are qualified investors willing to take a risk and invest their money in an early stage company or startup.  They may have made money in the field of the investment but this is not necessary.  They may or may not even know about the space they are investing.  Angels may wish invest but they can be very unfamiliar with investing in private companies.  Thus, some Angels require help in understanding the business and investment criteria. Educating any investor on the business is customary.  The company is the expert in the space and has done all of the work to…

• OutSourcing Clinical Trial Presentation

  TaffyWilliams

  16 May 2012 | 5:45 am

• Words and Experiences Are Important to Communication - Who Is On First?

  TaffyWilliams

  7 May 2012 | 6:53 am

  Words are not the only part of communication and their interpretation depends on prior leaning experiences.  It is amazing that some people and cultures are able to relay exact messages but with some degree of effort, it is possible.  Communication between investors, partners, or staff is complex.  Even the most experienced managers, negotiators, or diplomats have problems at times.  Your goals in a startup must always be to provide clear communication and understanding with all those around you. One way to show differences in interpretations comes from a discussion I had…

• Working with Dr. NO

  TaffyWilliams

  1 May 2012 | 9:56 am

  You may have seen the James Bond movie with Dr. No.  Well, Dr. No is real and you will likely have one affiliated with your company or at least in a prospective partnering company.  Dr. No as the name implies is always the one that finds ways to complicate everything and finds it easier to say NO.  It is difficult to deal with these types of negative people and in many cases the best way to handle them is to just go around them. Gus Levy recently was quoted as saying “Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do; Tell Me What I Can Do.”  This is not the first time I have heard this…

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  CollegeFallOut

• List of 50 Best Dofollow CommentLuv Blogs

  Vivek Krishnan

  22 May 2012 | 11:08 am

  There are many lists for dofollow commentluv blogs that are running on the internet. However, most of the links on them are outdated. Most blogs on those have increased or decreased in Pagerank and so on, so forth. So this is a new list of the best blogs that will give you a dofollow backlink for commenting at their site. Moreover, I could definitely have had numerous number of blogs, but I decided to stick to 50 blogs so that you can have manageable and only the best blogs. Instead of having hundreds of links that are time-consuming to explore. All blogs below have niche in Blogging,…

• 5 Habits Every Blogger Must Foster

  Vivek Krishnan

  6 May 2012 | 11:45 am

  This is a post that is applicable to bloggers at all levels. You may be professional blogger or you might be someone who blogs for pleasure or part-time. Whatever your level might be, fostering these habits is must (mentioned in the post) in yourself can really help you grow as a blogger as well as a person. You should probably make a sincere attempt to make use of the mentioned tips and incorporate the same in your daily routine. Blogger habits Habits Every Blogger Must Foster The habits of the person that will define his/her success. Good habits will give you positive results and bad…

• 5 Lessons on Surviving the Blogging World

  Vivek Krishnan

  4 May 2012 | 12:18 pm

  I started my blog a couple of years back as a blue-eyed boy who wanted to make it big in the blogging world. The drive to create a splash was so intense that I was ready to pour in hours of hard work into my blog to make it the next big thing. The aspiration to make a living from my blog was really big. I knew I was a good writer with a decent IQ, what more could be required – after all blogging is all about writing and sharing ideas – I could do that! More than two years down the line, I realize I could not have been farther from the truth. Surviving blogging What I have realized…

• List of Common Mistakes New Bloggers Make

  Vivek Krishnan

  2 May 2012 | 11:40 am

  New bloggers are everyday entering into the competitive blogosphere. It is like the Klondike Gold rush when everyone wants a piece of the internet lifestyle. While many bloggers make it, there are many who don’t. The are many new bloggers who enter the blogging scnee with a lot of hopes, only to crash and burn. What causes them to fail is worth analyzing. This is a post listing the common mistakes new bloggers make. Enjoy and learn from it. Comparing with other blogs This is a common mistake that many new bloggers make. They will compare themselves to blogs that have become successful…

• How to Make Your Blog Attractive to Advertisers?

  Vivek Krishnan

  30 Apr 2012 | 11:36 am

  Advertising is a big part of blogging. Many bloggers are making a full-time income out of the advertising revenue generated. So it is important you know how to make your blog attractive to advertisers. Selling ad space on a blog is challenging unless you have a remarkable traffic number. Advertisers today are spoiled for choice. Attract advertisers But if you are the owner of a blog, then you have to figure out a way to sell advertisements and gain sponsors. If you are not making a cent out of your blog, it can be pretty demotivating. Especially if you are blogging for profits. How to make a…

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  Yourstory.in

• TechSparks Twitter Chat Summary : Scaling Indian Product Tech Startups

  Vallabh Rao

  23 May 2012 | 9:25 pm

  On 23rd May 2012 we organized a Twitter based virtual forum, a first of its kind initiative in the Indian startup ecosystem on ‘Scaling Indian Product Tech Startups’.  Here is the Storify Summary of the Twitter chat. Some of the experts and panelists who joined us included : Soumitra Sharma: Soumitra Sharma is part of the Investments Team at IDG Ventures India, a US$ 150 million venture capital fund focused on investing in Indian technology and technology-enabled businesses @soumitra_sharma Aditya Kulkarni: A technologist and blogger with over a decade of experience with…

• Kae Capital and YourNest Angel Fund join VentureNursery

  Team YS

  23 May 2012 | 8:37 pm

  VentureNursery, India’s first angel-backed start-up accelerator, today announced that two of India’s premier early stage venture funds – Mumbai based Kae Capital and Delhi based YourNest Angel Fund – have joined its Charter Angels program. The Charter Angels program is an anchor element of VentureNursery’s value proposition and is meant to give a platform to graduating start-ups to pitch for on-going mentoring and seed funding by seasoned and active angel investors. Commented Shravan Shroff, Co-founder, VentureNursery, “We welcome Kae Capital and YourNest to our Charter Angels…

• Avoidable Mistakes During Fund Raising

  Team YS

  23 May 2012 | 7:30 pm

  Today, there are so many opportunities. Entrepreneurs are popping up left and right, but great ideas don’t automatically translate into great businesses and are not enough to secure venture capital funding. As an entrepreneur, it is necessary to evaluate your venture from an investor’s perspective to ascertain your fundability. A true entrepreneur is someone who can convert a great idea into a great business. a) Is your venture disruptive enough? A disruptive venture is one that overturns existing business practices and dislodges status-quo technology or products. After the launch and…

• Mobile Apps: Opportunities and Challenges

  Ashok Varma Kucharlapati

  23 May 2012 | 5:12 am

  The rise of smartphones and mobile apps offer some interesting and unique means to disrupt established industries. Although games have played a major role till now, app usage is surpassing time spent on games. There will still be break out hits like “Angry birds”,”Temple run”,”Draw something” etc. but it’s time to start betting on mobile apps. Here I am going to be talking about the changes that mobile has brought and the opportunities that they offer. Opportunities offered by mobile New form of content generation Traditionally images were added to content to make it…

• Get Set for a Power-packed Panel Discussion at TechSparks Mumbai

  Shradha Sharma

  23 May 2012 | 3:19 am

  Keeping our commitment to bring meaningful opportunities for startups, we are delighted to bring to you an engaging conversation around what is the smartest way to scale your startup. Clearly, there is no one answer but it’s a fundamental question which all of us as startups need to ask – how do we scale in a smart, fast and in a sustainable manner. We have limited resources, but unlimited will power; how  do we achieve success despite our constraints. I am happy to share that we have people with extensive experience in this space come and share with you some real valuable…

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  StartUpLift

• Wallpoper – High Quality Wallpaper Database

  StartUpLift

  21 May 2012 | 11:46 am

  Wallpoper simply described as high quality wallpapers database which is searchable by keyword, color and resolution. Target Audience: Computer users Website URL: http://wallpoper.com Feedback sought: 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see? Does the site look trustworthy? 2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was the process straightforward? 3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you tell us why (or why not)? 4) Go…

• Aspindle – Affordable, Creative eBooks

  StartUpLift

  16 May 2012 | 7:42 am

  10 Awards: Top 5 Feedback Providers & 5 Consolation Awards. Aspindle sells affordable ebooks to help motivate and inspire your creativity. Target Audience: Creatives, artists, writers, bloggers, inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs Website URL: http://aspindle.com Feedback sought: 1) If you visit our website homepage, is it clear what we’re offering and how it can help you?2) Does the website give you all the information you would need or want to make a purchase? 3) What do you think is missing from our website, if anything? 4) Can you name any competitors to Aspindle? If yes: would…

• MyParichay – India’s #1 Job Networking Site and Hiring Solution on Facebook

  StartUpLift

  13 May 2012 | 6:21 am

  5 Awards Available. MyParichay connects 35 million professional on Facebook in India to +1 million open posiitons. Target Audience: Recruiters, Human Resource, Hiring Managers, India Website URL: www.MyParichay.in Feedback sought: 1) Look around the home page – what is your initial impression of what you see? Does the site look trustworthy? 2) Think of something you want to find on this website. Now try to find it. Did you find what you were looking for? Was the process straightforward? 3) Are you encouraged to (create a new account, subscribe, sign up for a free trial, etc.)? Can you…

• appto.us – The Apps API Company

  StartUpLift

  20 Apr 2012 | 3:07 am

  5 Awards. Closes 18 days, 23 hours, 8 minutes, 42 seconds ago. appto.us is an open database of apps and app developers. Target Audience: app developers Website URL: http://appto.us Feedback sought: 1) Visit http://appto.us/ . What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not? 2) What kind of developers this service fits and whom it does not? 3) Are you encouraged to sign up for a free trial/free account? If not, why? 4) Does sign up and publishing your apps seems easy or difficult? 5) Please share any additional…

• Fishdox – Sales Proposal Process Made Easy

  StartUpLift

  18 Apr 2012 | 4:55 pm

  5 Awards. 18 days, 23 hours, 8 minutes, 42 seconds ago. Fishdox enables salespeople to easily manage deals, share customer files, develop a sales forecast based on file tracking and real-time deal updates. Target Audience: Salespople Website URL: http://www.Fishdox.com Feedback sought: 1) Visit http://www.Fishdox.com/. What is your initial impression of what you see? Are you immediately drawn to click any of the buttons? Why or why not? 2) Are you encouraged to sign up for an account? If not, why? 3) What competitors of fishdox come to mind? 4) If you are in sales would you use this product?

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  The Metropreneur Columbus

• Solar Café coming to Hilliard

  Melanie McIntyre

  23 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Hilliard will soon be home to a café that serves sun-roasted coffee. Set to open this summer at 4006 Main St., Solar Café will be the first licensee in the eastern United States for Solar Roast Coffee, as well as the base for its eastern wholesale and distribution operations. Brothers David and Michael Hartkop founded Solar Roast [...]

• FreshGames still going strong after 10 years in the online game development biz

  Melanie McIntyre

  22 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  It’s no secret that Central Ohio is home to many thriving technology-based companies, but it’s likely many people would be surprised to learn that one of those companies is an online game developer. Launched in Columbus a decade ago, FreshGames was by founded by two industry gamers: Kevin McCann and Stephan Smith. Today, McCann serves [...]

• Catering company branches out with food truck business

  Walker Evans

  22 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Angela Petro knows how to keep busy. As the owner of Two Caterers, she has been steadily growing her business in 2012, first through a collaborative relaunch of the Oakhurst Country Club in Grove City in February and now with the launch of Sweet Carrot, the company’s new food truck. We recently spoke with Petro [...]

• Increase CDC moves to new location

  Melanie McIntyre

  21 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  Increase Community Development Corp. recently moved from its offices at 3146 Agler Rd. to a facility at 2215-A Citygate Dr. in Columbus. The new location is large enough that the faith-based nonprofit, which provides business training and capital for entrepreneurs and startups in Central Ohio, will be able to host training workshops, networking events, and other business [...]

• Columbus to host 2013 Black Enterprise Conference + Expo

  Melanie McIntyre

  21 May 2012 | 5:00 am

  One of the nation’s largest events for African-American business owners is coming to Columbus in 2013. The Black Enterprise Conference + Expo will be held at the newly constructed Hilton Columbus Downtown May 15-18. It is expected to draw more than 1,500 entrepreneurs from across the country. “Bringing the Entrepreneur Conference to Columbus and the Buckeye [...]

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  Visionwiz » Business and Technology blog, venture funding and Start ups

• Some Tips For Your Startups Survival

  Martin

  23 May 2012 | 8:26 pm

  Continuous innovation is required to survive in all businesses, beginning with a startup, and increasing in importance as your business matures. Technologists often insist that new things can’t be invented on a schedule, but successful companies seem to be able to do it on a regular basis. Many people have tried to define a process for innovation, but most are too abstract for me. I like the easy to remember approach found in “Robert’s Rules of Innovation: A 10-Step Program for Corporate Survival,” by Robert F. Brands. It seems to be more concrete, and chronicles several decades of…

• Winners Of TechHub-A&N Media Battle Of The Startups Contest In London Win 1M/1M Scholarships

  Guest Post

  23 May 2012 | 7:50 pm

  1M/1M Roundtable for Entrepreneurs: Winners Of TechHub-A&N Media Battle Of The Startups Contest In London Win 1M/1M Scholarships Last night, at a packed event in London’s TechHub, A&N Media awarded five yearlong 1M/1M scholarships. The judges for the contest were Kevin Beatty, CEO of A&N Media, Dominique Trempont, Board Member of DMGT (parent company of A&N Media), Bill Raduchel, Strategic Advisor to DMGT, Alberto Torres, former EVP and GM of Nokia’s MeeGo division, and me. Let’s review the businesses we saw. goCarShare Drummond Gilbert, pitched goCarShare to connect…

• Got a Startup Idea? Need Funding? Then Try Fundable.com

  VisionwizTeam

  23 May 2012 | 12:32 am

  Fundable: Fundable is a new crowdfunding platform that aims to help startup companies to raise funds. They help entrepreneurs find idea stage capital by presenting great ideas in front of interested backers. In Company’s Own Words: Fundable makes the process of reaching out and raising capital far more effective. Startups can now present their ideas in a clear, public manner and solicit funding from any source for any amount. Easy To Use: Startups create a funding profile that provides an overview of their company, their fundraising goals, and the rewards they are willing to provide…

• Now Trade Your Knowledge Via 2 Tangos

  Vineet

  22 May 2012 | 10:51 pm

  2Tangos: 2Tangos aims to bring 2 People get together, each carrying a particular skill of the others interested, and they teach each other. How It Works: Once you submit at least 1 thing you’d like to teach, and at least 1 thing you’d love to learn or do. Then you enter your city, and connect either one of your social networks and submit. Once they found somebody that has entered interest similar to yours they will send both of you an email with a link to a match page. Depending on how many people in your city share your interest, your wait time might vary. It is always useful to…

• ÜberConference is a new audio conferencing startup

  ajay

  22 May 2012 | 10:09 pm

  UberConference: ÜberConference is a new audio conferencing startup that aims to help you know who is in the conference and who is speaking, and you can even control the conference with a number of call management features. Starting an ÜberConferencee is simple. You just add participants and set a time, and ÜberConference will send out notifications to participants and authenticate them when they dial in. Conferences are saved in your history, so you can recreate them in the future with a click. There are also several ways to import contacts to make it even quicker to add people to…

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  RizzoTees Blog

• We Used To

  Chris Reimer

  22 May 2012 | 9:18 am

  We used to sacrifice humans to appease the gods. We used to think the Earth was flat. We used to have witch hunts and we’d burn the ones we caught. We used to practice bloodletting, extracting tiny quantities of blood from a patient in order to cure disease. We used to often lobotomize crazy people, and shock them with electricity too. We used to enslave Africans. We used to take some of those slaves as concubines. We used to allow children to work long hours in factories. We used to prevent women from voting. We used to involuntarily sterilize people for eugenic purposes. We used to…

• KTCO – My Appearance with Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge

  Chris Reimer

  22 May 2012 | 5:23 am

  Thanks to Chris Brogan and Joe Sorge for inviting me on the show. This was my third appearance on KTCO, and it was unlike the first two. This one seemed a bit more unstructured, or as I told Bob Burg on Twitter, “happily discombobulated.” They emailed me a show outline beforehand, and we didn’t stick to it at all! For me, that made it a blast. Thanks again guys. Link to the show, in case the embedded video above does not work for you.

• If You Work in Social Media, What Should You Be Called?

  Chris Reimer

  16 May 2012 | 12:38 pm

  image courtesy of CatherineKaputa.com I prefer “new media strategist” or “social media strategist.” Those both sound reasonable, and that’s what I’ve been telling people lately. What are the best and worst social media job titles? Are there any reasonable choices down in the list below? (I believe there are a few good ones). Which ridiculous ones am I missing? Please let me know in the comments section below. I’ll add good (and bad) ones to the list. (Note: the Twitter handles you see next to some of the names are not necessarily the job title that…

• What is Wrong With This Picture?

  Chris Reimer

  8 May 2012 | 8:10 am

  This is an email I received from Martha Stewart’s company. If you can’t read it, you can click the picture to make it larger. 1. The email’s subject line portends serious problems ahead. Interruption of online access! 2. BUT…. we have some exciting news to share! Huh? 3. Martha Stewart is now posting for stock photography shots. 4. Oh, and by the way, Mother’s Day is coming up, but we’re taking all of our sites down for maintenance during this most crucial time of year, so don’t try to access your info on the sites. We know Mother’s Day is…

• Great TV Commercial from The Guardian – The Three Little Pigs

  Chris Reimer

  8 May 2012 | 6:52 am

  I like this TV ad because it tries to capture the full range of communication outlets that now contribute to the development, dissemination and reach of information.

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  EpicLaunch

• 6 Conferences for Self-Made Entrepreneurs to Visit in 2012

  Ann Smarty

  23 May 2012 | 1:32 pm

  Being a successful self-made entrepreneur is nothing to sneeze at, placing you on a list of driven individuals with unique insight into the inner workings of business. An entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t come without risks, however, and today’s goldmine can quickly become tomorrow’s forgotten product, bringing down both spirits and finances in one fell swoop. With the understanding that being a successful self-made business person requires constant learning, improvement and innovation on your part, consider attending one of these six conferences for self-made-entrepreneurs in…

• Making a Difference while Making Money

  Jordan Guernsey

  22 May 2012 | 12:44 pm

  What is the main reason most people want to start a business? It’s okay to say it: to make money! You don’t have to be ashamed of wanting to make a few more dollars for yourself through your business. With that being said, you can also use your money-making venture as a vehicle to make a difference in people’s lives and in the community. One great opportunity I’ve had with my business, Molding Box, is teaming with the Utah Defendant/Offender Workforce Development (UDOWD) Task Force to staff my business and give people a second chance to contribute to society and regain their lives.

• Facebook Store – Why And How To Use Facebook To Sell Your Products

  Divya Rawat

  18 May 2012 | 2:12 pm

  Until now, we had graduated from using Facebook for socializing to using it for advertising; and then we went on to use it for brand building and promoting our websites. Now the time has come to bring your shop down to Facebook. Make this the one – point – medium of contact, selling, buying, and talking! Everything’s possible on facebook. Here’s why and how: Why Build Your Shop On Facebook? 1. Your Audience Is On Facebook. Ultimately when users are interested to make a purchase they follow a few steps. They click on something they want to purchase and they have to: a. Navigate out of…

• 25 Quotes That Will Make You a Better Entrepreneur

  Tyler Scott

  16 May 2012 | 2:54 pm

  I have often heard that just a few words can inspire more thoughts than a few pages can. Well, maybe that’s because we are often too lazy to read whole pages when we can always opt for a shorter synopsis. Or, the more likely reason, it’s because we are drawn in by key words that inspire us to take action. Anyhow, whatever your reasoning, here is a list of some unique quotes that will just maybe make you a little livelier when it comes to being an entrepreneur. Enjoy, they are some of my favorites. 1. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that…

• Assemble! Rackspace and Redapt Link Up

  lindsey

  14 May 2012 | 10:43 am

  There is a raging debate over the use of private cloud vs. public cloud computing solutions. Since the cloud is not a one-size-fits-all solution for enterprise data management, it’s likely that most businesses can benefit from a hybrid approach. Still, for many businesses dealing with massive sets of data requiring extra layers of security, migrating to a private solution not only makes perfect sense but is an essential element of efficient business practice. Rackspace, perhaps the most widely used private solutions provider, fully understands the pain that is internal cloud installation.

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  Internet Entrepreneurship skills to Make Money Working Online | Its not just about Making easy Money Online

• What do you Mean by a Meme?

  Guest Blogger

  23 May 2012 | 4:21 am

  This is a guest post by Ann on what is meme? You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. Richard Dawkins may have claim to coining the name for memes, but this viral form of communication has been around practically since man first discovered how to make tools. A meme, as defined by Merriam Webster Dictionary, is “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” Think of the red-and-white-striped pole spinning outside of a barber shop, or the use of the colors green for go and red for stop. These are…

• Readymade Unique Affiliate Review Sites For Sale

  Dilip

  21 May 2012 | 11:51 am

  Creating Product Review sites is one of the best mode of affiliate marketing. But most affiliate marketers are driven away by the thought of creating these websites. I have done this hard work for you here. On offer today is 12 Product Review Websites complete with all pages and a review post. These are review sites for highly in demand products in the internet marketing niche. Check out these websites below - EXITPLANPROFITSREVIEW.ORG GPLUSOWNAGEREVIEWED.COM NETSPACEPROFITS30REVIEW.COM SOCIALMETRICSPROREVIEWS.COM STREETSMARTPROFITSREVIEWED.COM ACOMMISSIONVANTAGEREVIEW.COM…

• How To Become Successful in Online Publishing Business

  Guest Blogger

  21 May 2012 | 8:18 am

  This is a guest post by Halen on how to become successful  in online publishing business. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. The century we are living in is the century of the internet. Nowadays no one can even imagine of living without the internet, especially the business community where it is as important as the oxygen for the living beings. From learning, training, shopping, marketing and even publishing, it’s all done on the internet. It is now considered as the fastest way to reach the desired targeted audiences, clients or customers.

• The Advantages of Live Chat for your Online Shop

  Guest Blogger

  20 May 2012 | 1:04 am

  This is a guest post by Pascal  on live chat for online shop. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. Although online shopping is gaining more and more ground, it marked by a big inconvenience: the absence of sales assistance. Where in a regular store one can rely on the employees for help or advice, in an online shop you are generally left to find things yourself. No welcome, no assistance, no goodbyes. Of course most online shoppers are used to this status quo, but it does lead to lost sales in situations where regular stores would have captured…

• Why Bloggers Should Allow Guest Posters

  Guest Blogger

  19 May 2012 | 12:35 am

  This is a guest post by Laura on why bloggers should allow guest posters. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. If you’ve been blogging or reading blogs for any amount of time you’ve likely heard how beneficial it can be to write guest posts for other bloggers. Aside from getting your name out there in the blog world, it works wonders for driving new and targeted traffic to your website and capturing new readers, which are things that any aspiring blogger wants. But what about the bloggers who allow guest posts? Why do they do it? What do…

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  Fadzuli.com

• Why Do You Need to Understand People?

  Fadzuli

  19 May 2012 | 4:55 am

  Human beings are complex, unlike machines we don’t behave specific ways that people might think. We can be that kind of person and be another kind of person at different points of times. However we can still do a study of characteristic so that we can approach it differently at different points of time. But why do we need to understand people?  Well imagine this, if you know what people want and what people need, wouldn’t it be easier for you to serve them? Yes its really simple but how many of us would go to that extent to learn about people. All we care is what “I…

• Basic Internet Business Workshop in June

  Fadzuli

  30 Apr 2012 | 7:47 pm

  Did you missed it the last time round? No worries I am running another round of this workshop this June. And I am trying something different this time round. Insyallah we’ll be expecting a bigger turnout this time round.

• An Awesome Thursday..

  Fadzuli

  26 Apr 2012 | 6:45 pm

  The day started meeting  TJ Hussin  for the photographs he had taken of Suria Mohd, Noor Muhammad and myself two weeks ago.  See above. If you are wondering what the images are for… Let’s say it’s a secret for now.. Thanks to TJ again. In total we have more than 1000 digital shots for the day. Plenty of shots for a marketing campaign. Next stop was to meet the Mentor Abang Abu. He called me on Wednesday to conduct a class yesterday. It was to be presented to 20 plus students from Andalus/Al Zuhri in his Entrepreneurship class. Fortunately I had materials from the Basic…

• 2 Posters and the Buzz..

  Fadzuli

  24 Apr 2012 | 4:46 pm

  I’ve created two posters for the publicity of this event.. Both of them are targeting two different groups of people. See below.. To target parents. To target the busy people that needs a break!

• Hoot! Hoot! – Social Media Automation Strategy

  Fadzuli

  17 Apr 2012 | 9:13 pm

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  BestVendor Business Blog

• 5 Productivity-Enhancing Apps to Try

  megan

  22 May 2012 | 9:42 am

  When you have colleagues who pass around crazy videos like this one, it can be hard to focus on work. It’s the paradox of the Internet: it creates fun distractions AND awesome productivity solutions. The solution for us is constant, semi-obsessive productivity tune-ups. If you could use one of those right now (you know who you are), here are five tools to check out:DivvyDivvy is a window management tool that allows you to quickly “divvy up” your computer screen into segments. A single click-and-drag in the Divvy interface, and your window will be resized and moved to the corresponding…

• Hosting a Remote Whiteboard Session? Try These

  Rick Broida

  12 Apr 2012 | 8:23 am

  Whiteboard sessions are great for brainstorming and planning, and we love tools like IdeaPaint  that make it easy. But what do you do if you’re, say, brainstorming new product designs but your team is spread across the globe? Face-to-face isn’t an option, so how can you collaborate visually?This is where virtual whiteboards come in. With a laptop or tablet, you can host a whiteboard session from anywhere with Internet access, and share it with just about anyone. Here are three tools worth checking out:Jot! Whiteboard for iPadAn iPad is practically a whiteboard already, so it’s…

• The 10 Best Chrome Extensions for Work

  Jeff Giesea

  11 Apr 2012 | 7:05 am

  People like Google Chrome for its speed and simplicity. But there’s another advantage to using it: the vast array of extensions. Extensions are custom tools that integrate with Chrome or Gmail, giving you easy access to tools no matter where you are on the Web. Here at BestVendor, where we obsess about finding better business tools, we surveyed the team on Chrome extensions they couldn’t live without. Here are the top 10.1Password1Password gives you one-click access to all your passwords and makes it super-easy to create and store new ones. If you’re already a 1Password user,…

• Dropbox fans: Get Double the Free Storage

  Rick Broida

  5 Apr 2012 | 7:56 am

  You know an app is hot when Bono invests in it, as a tweet from Dropbox announced earlier this week. Turns out Bono is almost as avid a startup investor as Ashton.But for users, there’s even better news from Dropbox, currently the top-ranked storage service on BestVendor. And no, I don’t mean the Android loophole. Starting immediately, Dropbox is doubling the free space you get when you refer a friend.In other words, when a friend or co-worker signs up using your referral link (like this one), you get an extra 500MB of storage… and so does your compatriot. And…

• 7 Business Apps That Look Amazing on the New iPad

  Rick Broida

  2 Apr 2012 | 5:00 am

  According to a ChangeWave survey of new iPad users, the No. 1 most loved new feature on the iPad is the high-resolution retina display. We can see why — literally. The sharper display is not just pleasing to the eye, but a boon to a lot of business apps, from handwriting recognition to video conferencing. Here’s a round-up of seven favorite iPad apps that look particularly good.Daedalus TouchCalling this a text editor really undersells its capabilities. Daedalus Touch is that, but it’s also the ultimate minimalist word processor, with a gesture-based interface that keeps screen…

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  Entrepreneurs Unpluggd

• How 20 Entrepreneurs Got Ahead Early (and You Can Too)

  Tim Jahn

  22 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  Question: Share one thing you did at the beginning of your career that is helping you succeed today? Get to Know Others “I networked like crazy, went to events constantly, and got my name out there. As a result, in a few years, people started saying, “You know everyone!” I always connected interesting people together too. So whenever I’ve needed an important contact, I’ve always had people bend over backwards to help me out! To this day, I’m still blown away by the people I meet and things I get to do.” - Jennifer Kushell | Founder & President,…

• The ING Experiment: Baristas as Bankers?

  Stella Fayman

  21 May 2012 | 7:04 am

  Hidden away in the Gold Coast lies an experiment in marketing that is gaining momentum in scope. ING Direct, known before its acquisition by CapitalOne to be the irreverent, “cool” online bank, has a bank branch. This isn’t just any bank branch…in fact it’s a coffeeshop with free WiFi, computers, cheap coffee, and good food. It’s also a community educational space with workshops on financial literacy, social media, etc. held regularly. Schools are welcomed to hold workshops in the classroom space with TVs blaring CNBC, all wrapped in ING’s signature…

• A Motto to Adopt: Create Unexpected Joy

  Stella Fayman

  18 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  The motto “create unexpected joy” hangs on a poster that is visible all over the office at one of my favorite startups, GiveForward. It’s such a simple idea, but it actually drives the success of many concepts (and companies). For example, there is a great TED talk on why some videos go viral (and why most don’t), done by the trend master at YouTube. One of the key factors in most viral videos is “unexpectedness.” Why do we love to see kittens and puppies so much? Most of the time they do things that are completely out of the blue…like acting human,…

• 6 Lessons Learned From Big Omaha 2012

  Tim Jahn

  17 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  Last week, I had the opportunity to attend the 4th annual Big Omaha conference in Omaha, NE, organized by the awesome folks at Silicon Prairie News. If you’re not familiar with Big Omaha, you can read why I love this entrepreneurship conference so much here and here (this was my third time attending). In addition to an amazing group of entrepreneurs attending the conference, this year’s festivities included a fantastic group of speakers. Below are the 7 big lessons I took away from this year’s Big Omaha conference. 1. Determine your why. from Sahil Lavingia (founder of…

• Tickets Are On Sale For June’s Event About Turning Passion Into Real Business

  Tim Jahn

  16 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  (photo credit) We’re excited to announce that early bird tickets are now on sale for our June Chicago event entitled “Make Your Passion Your Next Startup“.  Join us the evening of June 19 at the Chopin Theatre in Chicago to hear 3 amazing entrepreneurs share stories about how they turned their passions into real businesses. Click here to buy your early bird tickets now and save 33% off the door price! Join us for an intimate evening of networking, quality Q+A, and real stories from real experiences.  You’ll learn actionable lessons and get great advice from: Jake…

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  Wikindu

• Appsplit.com

  admin

  23 May 2012 | 9:51 am

  Appsplit is a web platform that allows users to fund, sell and develop apps through appsplit campaigns. Fund campaigns enable users to raise funds and allow then to turn a great idea for an app into a fully developed or enhanced app. Sell campaigns enable users to sell their apps. Develop campaigns enable users to find freelancers to help develop their apps with code, writing or design.

• Userreport.com

  admin

  22 May 2012 | 2:32 pm

  UserReport is a free online service for making quick and fun online surveys and collect user feedback. The online survey gives you fast answers to almost anything. UserReport even integrates with Google Analytics which allows you to segment your visitors by demographics. The user feedback forum enables your visitors to engage with your website and post new ideas for improving the website.

• Blinkcollective.com

  admin

  21 May 2012 | 12:39 pm

  We’re Blink: a marketplace to buy and sell local UK experiences. We help passionate people, like you, to find and sell; fun, authentic, local experiences. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, so why not join us?

• UniQuestions.com

  admin

  20 May 2012 | 5:40 pm

  Imagine everything that one can learn, read or find, now all in one place. By creating a socially collaborative community where academics, professionals, enthusiasts and students themselves interact; UniQuestions will grow a collection of knowledge.

• Devvox.com

  admin

  19 May 2012 | 2:20 pm

  Devvox is an online community that gives you the voice you should have for anything you want to share, discuss and get social. Invite Link: http://www.devvox.com/get_invited

• 

  Start Up Donut blog feed

• What can your business learn from a grocery store in Sedona, Arizona?

  The Business Therapist

  21 May 2012 | 2:46 am

  Why is it that we can look at another small business and see what they are doing right or wrong so easily? I was looking for a grocery store in Sedona, Arizona. The store in the plaza only has the name on the façade as signage. I could clearly see if they added the word ‘groceries’ to their sign they would get more business from the out-of-state tourists who didn’t recognise the brand name.But when was the last time I carefully considered the sign on my own building?So how does the trick work? Easy: As you go about your day, analyse all the businesses you interact with. How did they do…

• The Apprentice: Lesson nine - more cheese less wine

  rachelm

  18 May 2012 | 3:07 am

  We’re in another transport hub this week on The Apprentice — and still no sign of an away-day anywhere. Lord Sugar has called the troops together at the champagne bar at St Pancras station. It’s six in the morning. Bit early isn’t it Lord S? This week’s task is to raise the profile of English sparkling wine. Know-it-all Tom can’t hide his excitement — he’s a wine connoisseur. Ricky, meanwhile, says he’s only had a couple of glasses of wine in his life. “I hate the stuff”, he says. Guess who the project managers are this week? Yes that’s right. It’s Ricky and Tom—…

• Storage Tips for Start Ups

  D Davies

  16 May 2012 | 1:47 am

  Whether you're starting a business or looking to grow an existing one, space is an important factor. And storage is key to ensuring your work area remains clutter-free, whether that’s in your home, premises or another location. Knowing your storage options – and the benefits/risks – can help you choose the most effective storage solution for your business. Keep it dry It's no use storing something if it ends of getting damaged by mould. If you have equipment or products to store at home, make sure that the room is dry (avoid storing things directly on concrete floors can help stop them…

• Recruitment tips - the induction plan

  The Business Therapist

  14 May 2012 | 2:08 am

  Do you have a formal induction plan for new recruits? An induction plan will help ensure that the initial impressions on the first day of a new job are positive and that the new employee starts off productively. Here are some points to consider as you develop an induction plan for your business: 1 Identify key current employees to be ‘buddies’ with, or provide hands-on training to the new recruit. You want to be proactive in freeing up time and resources for the ‘buddy’ to be effective and train the new person to be productive as soon as possible. 2 Have a checklist of items to have…

• The Apprentice: Lesson eight - the art of selling

  rachelm

  11 May 2012 | 4:58 am

  The candidates on The Apprentice are going to Waterloo Station this week to hear about the next challenge. They’re obviously hoping for a nice day out somewhere but Lord Sugar, Nick Hewer and Karren Brady are waiting for them in a smelly old railway arch that’s covered in graffiti. Their mission, should they choose to accept it, is to sell urban art. Of course they accept it, even though Adam claims he had never heard of urban art until now. In sharp contrast, Tom rates himself as a bit of a graffiti guru and is soon voted project leader on team Pheonix (with Laura, Adam and Jade). On…

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  SKMurphy, Inc.

• Great Demo Workshop on October 10, 2012

  Theresa Shafer

  23 May 2012 | 10:07 am

  Create and Deliver Surprisingly Compelling Software Demonstrations “Do The Last Thing First” — the recipe for a Great Demo! When: Wednesday, October 10, 2012 8 am – 5 pm Where: Moorpark Hotel, 4241 Moorpark Ave, San Jose CA 95129 For out of town attendees: The Moorpark is located 400 feet from the Saratoga Ave exit on Hwy 280, about 7 miles from San Jose Airport and 35 miles from San Francisco Airport Hotels Near Great Demo! Workshop Cost: $620 Before September 24: $595 This is an interactive workshop with Peter Cohan geared especially for you who demonstrate B-to-B software to your…

• Founder as Change Agent from Reamde

  Sean Murphy

  23 May 2012 | 6:43 am

  “It had taken him a while to decode it [...] but he’d eventually figured out that this, in the end, was the reason that Corporation 9592 had no choice but to keep him around. Every other thing that he had done for the company [...] could be done better and more cheaply by someone who could be recruited by a state-of-the-art head-hunting firm. His role, in the end, had been reduced to this one thing: sitting in the corner of meeting rooms or lurking on corporate email lists, seeming not to pay attention, growing ever more restless and surly until he blurted something out that offended…

• Book Club: Chapter 6 The Innovator’s DNA

  Theresa Shafer

  21 May 2012 | 1:48 pm

  Call-in Book Review on Wednesday, June 20, 2012 12:00 PM Pacific / 9:00 AM Hawaii 1:00 PM Mountain / 2:00 AM Central 3:00 PM Eastern / 8:00 PM London 9:00 PM Paris/Berlin Access: GotoMeeting VoIP or dial-ins in 17 countries. Chapter 6: Discovery Skill #5 Experimenting The Innovator’s DNA by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen Practical and provocative, The Innovator’s DNA is an essential resource for individuals and teams who want to strengthen their innovative prowess. The authors outline five discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from…

• Tristan Kromer Joins Book Club’s Panel on Networking Skill Development

  Sean Murphy

  15 May 2012 | 7:07 am

  We continue our review of “The Innovator’s DNA” by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen with a focus on networking, which the author’s define as seeking serious conversation with individuals from diverse backgrounds, experiences, and expertise.  Here is a  quote by Ronald Burt on creativity from idea brokerage  (condensed from page 117): “People connected to groups beyond their own have early access to diverse, often contradictory information and interpretations, which gives them competitive advantage in seeing and developing good ideas. This is…

• Book Club: Chapter 5 – The Innovator’S DNA

  Theresa Shafer

  14 May 2012 | 1:36 pm

  Call-in Book Review recorded on May 16, 2012 Tristan Kromer, Steve Hogan and Sean Murphy discuss the book and specifically Chapter 5 on networking. Chapter 5: Discovery Skill #4 Networking The Innovator’s DNA by Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton M. Christensen Practical and provocative, The Innovator’s DNA is an essential resource for individuals and teams who want to strengthen their innovative prowess. The authors outline five discovery skills that distinguish innovative entrepreneurs and executives from ordinary managers: Associating, Questioning, Observing, Networking, and…

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  Flock Free Nation

• Canada Working on Startup Visa For Immigrant Entrepreneurs

  Scott

  2 May 2012 | 11:09 am

  The Federal Government is going to launch consultations to develop a startup visa to attract entrepreneurs. It is important to understand what this means in the context of the different types of entrepreneurs. Details on this startup visa are still scarce but it seems that the government will be looking for scalable startup entrepreneurs rather than the more common small business entrepreneurs that are currently accommodated under existing entrepreneurship programs. Entrepreneurs under this program will likely need to arrange venture capital investment before immigrating. This will mean that…

• Good Money Impact Venture Challenge

  Scott

  27 Feb 2012 | 4:06 am

  Vancity is sponsoring a competition to help post-secondary and recent post-secondary graduates grow for-profit businesses that have a positive social or environmental impact. Applicants must submit an 8 page business plan that includes a description of the positive environmental or social impact of the business. Vancity personele will judge the plans based on their merits and up to 10 applicants may be selected to move on to the next phase of the competition. All qualified applicants will get feedback on their business plans, regardless of their ranking by the judges. The application deadline…

• Saskatoon Entrepreneurship Contest For Prospective Retailers

  Scott

  24 Jan 2012 | 8:33 am

  The Centre shopping mall in Saskatoon is running an entrepreneurship contest for Saskatoon entrepreneurs. The contest is eligible to Saskatoon area residents over the age of 18 who have a business plan and the financial backing to start their business. The winning business must be able to be operated at The Centre. Prices include 3 months of rent-free retail cart space, a Web Presence Business Starter Plan from BlackSun, and a $500 signage start up among others. The winning entrepreneur will be required to participate in the media campaign surrounding the contest. In many ways, this exposure…

• Try Before You Buy

  Scott

  5 Jan 2012 | 9:31 am

  It turns out that we aren’t very good at predicting the future. A sober look at the predictions of economists, political pundits, and sportscasters reveals this lack of foresight. What is more surprising, is that we do a very poor job of predicting our own futures. It’s difficult to predict how much we will like a certain situation. Part of the reason for this is that we are unable to completely imagine all the details of a certain situation. If you are imagining running your own business, you might be thinking of how much fun it will be to design products or come up with clever…

• Bank Of Canada Leaves Interest Rates Unchanged

  Scott

  6 Dec 2011 | 8:05 am

  The Bank of Canada announced today that it is leaving its overnight lending rate at 1%, which is what is has been all year. Governor Mark Carney commented that economic uncertainty had increased in the past few weeks and that the recession in Europe was more pronounced than expected. Canada’s big bank economists expect the rate to remain at this level throughout most of 2012.

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  EpicLaunch

• 6 Conferences for Self-Made Entrepreneurs to Visit in 2012

  Ann Smarty

  23 May 2012 | 1:32 pm

  Being a successful self-made entrepreneur is nothing to sneeze at, placing you on a list of driven individuals with unique insight into the inner workings of business. An entrepreneurial spirit doesn’t come without risks, however, and today’s goldmine can quickly become tomorrow’s forgotten product, bringing down both spirits and finances in one fell swoop. With the understanding that being a successful self-made business person requires constant learning, improvement and innovation on your part, consider attending one of these six conferences for self-made-entrepreneurs in…

• Making a Difference while Making Money

  Jordan Guernsey

  22 May 2012 | 12:44 pm

  What is the main reason most people want to start a business? It’s okay to say it: to make money! You don’t have to be ashamed of wanting to make a few more dollars for yourself through your business. With that being said, you can also use your money-making venture as a vehicle to make a difference in people’s lives and in the community. One great opportunity I’ve had with my business, Molding Box, is teaming with the Utah Defendant/Offender Workforce Development (UDOWD) Task Force to staff my business and give people a second chance to contribute to society and regain their lives.

• Facebook Store – Why And How To Use Facebook To Sell Your Products

  Divya Rawat

  18 May 2012 | 2:12 pm

  Until now, we had graduated from using Facebook for socializing to using it for advertising; and then we went on to use it for brand building and promoting our websites. Now the time has come to bring your shop down to Facebook. Make this the one – point – medium of contact, selling, buying, and talking! Everything’s possible on facebook. Here’s why and how: Why Build Your Shop On Facebook? 1. Your Audience Is On Facebook. Ultimately when users are interested to make a purchase they follow a few steps. They click on something they want to purchase and they have to: a. Navigate out of…

• 25 Quotes That Will Make You a Better Entrepreneur

  Tyler Scott

  16 May 2012 | 2:54 pm

  I have often heard that just a few words can inspire more thoughts than a few pages can. Well, maybe that’s because we are often too lazy to read whole pages when we can always opt for a shorter synopsis. Or, the more likely reason, it’s because we are drawn in by key words that inspire us to take action. Anyhow, whatever your reasoning, here is a list of some unique quotes that will just maybe make you a little livelier when it comes to being an entrepreneur. Enjoy, they are some of my favorites. 1. “Entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so that…

• Assemble! Rackspace and Redapt Link Up

  lindsey

  14 May 2012 | 10:43 am

  There is a raging debate over the use of private cloud vs. public cloud computing solutions. Since the cloud is not a one-size-fits-all solution for enterprise data management, it’s likely that most businesses can benefit from a hybrid approach. Still, for many businesses dealing with massive sets of data requiring extra layers of security, migrating to a private solution not only makes perfect sense but is an essential element of efficient business practice. Rackspace, perhaps the most widely used private solutions provider, fully understands the pain that is internal cloud installation.

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  Startup Baltimore

• All Aboard! Geeks on a Train is Happening May 24th

  Mike Brenner

  8 May 2012 | 3:14 pm

  Back in November on the Baltimore Tech Facebook group, developer Mike Subelsky suggested a radical idea to bridge the underrepresented communities of the East Coast corridor by organizing a mobile tech event via the Amtrak rail system. It wasn’t long after that the gb.tc heard this call and decided to help organize such an event. Geeks on a Train is taking place on Thursday, May 24, 2012, where there will be a rolling tweetup (#geektrain) on Amtrak headed north from DC to Boston. Everyone is asked to purchase their own train ticket down, optional lodging, and return trips but…

• 5 Lessons from an English Major Turned Entrepreneur

  Greg Cangialosi

  7 May 2012 | 1:55 pm

  I recently gave a talk to a group of students, faculty & staff who participated in Career Week at my Alma Mater, UMBC. The talk was titled: “Blue Skies & Beyond: 5 Lessons from an English Major Turned Entrepreneur.” The theme was “real life after graduation.” I was not only honored by the opportunity & experience, but it was also an amazing opportunity to look back on life a bit, and think about some of the important things that I’ve learned along the way. The list began to get very very long, so I had to force myself to filter the list down to a few key lessons that are…

• Tech Cocktail’s Baltimore Mixer & Startup Showcase

  Mike Brenner

  12 Apr 2012 | 12:15 pm

  It’s time for another Tech Cocktail Baltimore startup mixer event! Join Tech Cocktail for an evening of fun mingling with other technology enthusiasts, investors, bloggers, and entrepreneurs as we showcase local technology companies and take a closer look at their latest achievements. What to expect? Startups demoing in a casual expo style. Tech enthusiasts enjoying conversation and rallying on startups. Libations served. Event Location and Time Wednesday, May 2, 2012 6:30pm – 9pm Mother’s Federal Hill Grille 1113 South Charles Street Baltimore, MD 21230 Startups! Apply now…

• Startup Baltimore + Technically Philly = Technically Baltimore

  Mike Brenner

  11 Apr 2012 | 7:06 am

  In late 2010 I began a journey to discover all that Baltimore has to offer for a startup entrepreneur. I began organizing the monthly Startup Breakfast as a way for me to meet other likeminded entrepreneurs and would invite VC’s, lawyers, and other growth resources in the region to come talk with us. Realizing that our conversations were quite valuable, I launched this online publication as way to document those conversations and shine a light on other events in the early-stage tech and innovation community. While writing about events and news in the community, I became interested in…

• Rocket Packs for Startups Helps Baltimore Tech Take Off

  Mike Brenner

  2 Apr 2012 | 1:25 pm

  Earlier this year, business magnate Mark Cuban argued that “startups should never hire a PR firm.” Among his reasons, he noted that CEOs of startups should be in touch with their industry media, and that PR firms are too expensive. Both of those thoughts certainly have their merits, but here in Baltimore, there’s one PR firm who’s been making waves for some local tech companies. And doing it quite affordably, too. Meet Evolve Communications. Founded in late 2009 by Daniel Waldman, Evolve Communications recently launched Rocket Packs for Startups, a suite of low-cost marketing…

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  10 Steps to Start-Up

• Risks and Contingencies in a Business Plan

  Howard Greenstein

  22 May 2012 | 1:39 am

  Nobody likes to think about the “what ifs” of business. There you are, pitching your heart out, asking for funding, convinced that your company is the next Facebook or Virgin or Apple, and yet somehow they expect you to give a set of “what ifs” about your business. This is called the Risks and Contingencies section of a business plan, and it is important to show investors you’ve done your homework. Some of the elements that could cause your business to operate different than you expected include market risk, competition, operational risks, legal risks,…

• Obtaining a Patent or Trademark

  Howard Greenstein

  1 May 2012 | 1:21 am

  As you finalize your business’ infrastructure, one of the last steps will be obtaining a patent, or trademark – if relevant to you. These are both broad protections of your company’s IP or intellectual property. In a previous two-part post, I discussed the question, “Should I file a Patent?” The two posts go through the types of patents available, and the challenges and advantages in filing for one. Trademarks are another important IP asset. According to the US Patent and Trademark Office: A trademark is a word, phrase, symbol, and/or design that identifies and…

• Management Team

  Howard Greenstein

  17 Apr 2012 | 9:43 am

  When you create your business plan, one of the sections will be about the “Management Team.” This isn’t just  asection to show that you know how to make a cool management structure graphic in Microsoft Word, or to include the resumés of your employees. Any investor or advisor of your business wants to see  the people who you’ve picked to fill key roles for your team, including their backgrounds and abilities. Use summaries and bullet points to highlight the background of your key hires to match their roles and show why they’ll be able to perform in an…

• Setting Up Your Office

  Howard Greenstein

  3 Apr 2012 | 6:41 am

  Having the right setting for your office space can be critical to your success. Having the right amount of room (if you can afford it), thecorrect balance of privacy and togetherness, and the right neighbors can all add to the fun, sanity and success of your business. Home Office There are several ways to go if you’re not running a retail, restaurant or manufacturing business that requires a specific footprint. In many cases, people are starting businesses from home. I’m writing this piece in my home office, which I use one or two days a week since my schedule allows for…

• Small Business Licenses and Permits

  Howard Greenstein

  14 Feb 2012 | 12:26 am

  Image by Flickr user woody1778a Keeping your business legal and in compliance can be a difficult but important chore. There are many different kinds of licenses and permits, and they vary depending on the kind of business you run. As a basic rule, every business needs a tax identification number from the federal government as well as the state where the business operates. This simple questionnaire lets you know if you need a Federal Employee Identification Number (EIN). This simple Small Business Administration chart has links to the business and permit site for every state. It also has a…

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  Start-Up Smart

• Work Less & Earn More?

  Bryan Janezcko

  20 May 2012 | 1:03 pm

  You hear about the horror stories all the time of entrepreneurs toiling 24/7 for months if not years on end to make their  business a success. Some people think that’s how it has to be. Well, certainly for a time, while you’re figuring things out, you’ll have to dig deep to find your groove. However, there is no reason for you to have to run your business this way for the long term! I know from my earlier days when I started NuKitchen, an online gourmet food retailer, I was exactly this ‘horror’ story- working nonstop for a couple of years- risking my health, my relationship, my…

• A Kick-A** Business Plan Template to Get You Going

  Bryan Janezcko

  8 May 2012 | 2:06 pm

  Every business needs a plan of action; at the very least a 12-month roadmap of where you’re going. Now, if you’ve got a great idea and you’re just getting the business up and running then a plan is even more essential. The value of a business plan has been debated but the skinny is that a good plan highlights the business strategy, direction, and key deliverables for the next 1 to 3 years, with a specific emphasis on the next 12 months.  This is so that the management team, key stakeholders, and potential investors can get in alignment. Notice I didn’t say a long business plan,…

• 3 Things That Make A Startup Work- Eric Kuhn of The Founder’s Card

  Bryan Janezcko

  3 May 2012 | 2:59 pm

  Many entrepreneurs, including myself, think big- really big. Everyone has ideas and some of them are actually quite good but usually they’re too big and broad to actually execute. If you’re serious about building a great business, you’ll need to be incredibly focused to make it happen. Otherwise, your idea will never have a chance of leaving that cocktail napkin. From my experience, the only way you’ll actually get going is by taking many small steps to stay focused. These steps, one by one, will collectively build your foundation for a successful business. Save the world but start by…

• 10 Social Media Tips For the Startup

  Bryan Janezcko

  26 Apr 2012 | 2:22 pm

  If you’re a startup owner and you want people to find you, then social media must be a solid part of your strategy for attracting and retaining customers. Think about it, how often do you use Google or another search engine to find a business? The more online presence your company has, the better chance you’ll have of attracting customers. Today’s environment is all about making it easy for the right customers to find you. For example, if you’re selling organic baby food, then making sure that you gain exposure to new moms and moms-to-be is key. One option is to increase your web…

• Don’t Look For An “Office”… Opt For A “Community” Instead.

  Bryan Janezcko

  20 Apr 2012 | 9:58 am

  Don’t settle for renting or leasing an office when you can get so much more. As an entrepreneur, you can feel completely alone when you’re starting or growing a business. In the first business that I started, I felt as though I was the only one going through the challenges of hiring, doing way too much work, micromanaging, keeping the books, finding funding, running the business, etc. Given all of this- I had la lot of anxiety and drama running through my head, which was actually more perceived than real. It didn’t matter because it wasn’t productive.  The first office I rented was…

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  Start Up

• 2011 Maserati Gran Turismo C Start Up, Exhaust, and In Depth Tour

  admin

  23 May 2012 | 9:48 am

  In thisvideo I give a full in depth tour of the 2011 Maserati Gran Turismo Convertible (GranCabrio for Non US spec. cars). I take viewers on a close look through the interior and exterior of this car while showing details, over viewing of features, and noting unique styling cues to the vehicle itself. I also show the engine and the details of it, start it up and see how it sounds under acceleration. A thorough tour/review of this car designed to give others a greater overall appreciation of the vehicle. Video Rating: 4 / 5

• A Start-Up Ecosystem Forms in Chicago

  admin

  9 May 2012 | 8:25 am

  Chicagoans would like to create a breeding ground for the next Groupon Inc. by creating collaborative work spaces for tech start-up founders. One cavernous co-working space for digial entrepreneurs– with reserved desk space and rentable lockers– is under construction now at Chicago’s Merchandise Mart and will open this spring. Sarah Needleman has details on The News Hub. Video Rating: 5 / 5

• 2011 Rolls Royce Ghost Start Up, Exhaust, and In Depth Tour

  admin

  25 Apr 2012 | 7:16 am

  Although not entirely “all new” for 2011, the Rolls Royce ghost was introduced in 2010 as an all new model in the Rolls Royce lineup, the smaller sibling if you will to the phantom. It boasts it’s own unique variation of styling, but doesn’t fall short of borrowing some styling cues from the phantom. The Ghost also shares the BMW 7 series platform and contains a lot of the similar telemetrics interfaces as the 7 series making it quite easy to get the hang of if you’re familiar with the systems. Itake viewers on a close look through the interior and exterior of…

• 2011 Dodge Durango 5.7 Citadel Start Up, Engine, and In Depth Tour

  admin

  18 Apr 2012 | 6:34 am

  In thisvideo I give a full in depth tour of the 2011 Dodge Durango Citadel 5.7. I take viewers on a close look through the interior and exterior of this suv while showing details, over viewing of features, and noting unique styling cues to the vehicle itself. I also show the engine and the details of it, start it up and see how it sounds under acceleration. A thorough tour/review of this suv designed to give others a greater overall appreciation of the vehicle.

• 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71 Start Up, Engine, and In Depth Tour

  admin

  11 Apr 2012 | 6:05 am

  In thisvideo I give a full in depth tour of the 2011 Chevrolet Tahoe Z71. I take viewers on a close look through the interior and exterior of this suv while showing details, over viewing of features, and noting unique styling cues to the vehicle itself. I also show the engine and the details of it, start it up and see how it sounds under acceleration. A thorough tour/review of this suv designed to give others a greater overall appreciation of the vehicle. Video Rating: 4 / 5

• 

  The Startup Slingshot

• How To Raise Startup Funding in Atlanta With Sanjay Parekh of Startup Riot

  William Griggs

  2 May 2012 | 2:24 am

  If you are looking to raise money in Atlanta, this is the interview for you! Today’s guest is Sanjay Parekh. Sanjay is the founder of Startup Riot and ShotPut Ventures and past co-founder of Digital Envoy. On this episode, I am going to talk with Sanjay about the fundraising landscape in Atlanta for seed, angel and VC level funding. Questions Asked Seed How many seed stage investors are there in Atlanta? • Who are they? • How are they structured? • What do they like to fund? • How much money are we talking? (What level of funding) • When would I approach one of these investors?

• Top 12 Toilet Entrepreneur February Posts

  Andrew Bonasso

  17 Apr 2012 | 7:15 am

  The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur is a small business blog run by Mike Michalowicz, author of the cult classic book by the same name. As a speaker, author, businessman, and entrepreneur, Mike uses his knowledge and prowess to spread the word about entrepreneurship. Listed below are his top 12 posts from February. Get reading!   1) How Much To Pay Yourself When You Own A Business 2) Better Questions Bring Better Solutions 3) Why Business Plans Can Actually Hurt Business Progress 4) How To Properly Define Your Brand 5) A New Way To Get Innovative 6) When Is It Time To Seek Financing?

• Want More Customers? — PodCamp Nashville 2012

  William Griggs

  13 Apr 2012 | 8:40 pm

  How To Build Your Customer Acquisition Blueprint In Under 1 Hour It’s easier than you think and I will help you do it. Overview In this session I will walk you through a framework for finding and landing customers. If you want more customers, sign up for this session. Still not convinced? To sweeten the deal, I will also share with you 11 ways I’ve found to harness my current customers to land new ones. My Presentation Want more customers? – pcn12 View more presentations from William Griggs. About Me: I am a startup marketing nerd that helps startups craft and implement…

• Startup Advice From A Serial Entrepreneur – With Mark Montgomery of FLO {thinkery}

  William Griggs

  12 Apr 2012 | 7:56 am

  Have you ever wondered how an experienced entrepreneur goes about building a new business? Having previous entrepreneurial experience is quite an advantage, an advantage, today’s guest, Mark Montgomery wants to share with you. During his career, Mark has co-founded several companies including echo, which he sold to Ticketmaster and has held a board seat on several companies including StudioNow. Most recently, Mark founded a company called FLO {thinkery}. On this episode, I am going to talk with Mark about what he learned during his career that led him to launch FLO {thinkery} and how he…

• 8 Lessons From Internet Marketing Guru – Marketing Pilgrim

  Andrew Bonasso

  10 Apr 2012 | 2:45 am

  MarketingPilgrim has consistently been a top-rated media and marketing blog offering news, rumors, and reviews related to internet marketing and online advertising. No marketing experience? Just starting out? Have no idea what this new-fangled jargon means nowadays? Don’t worry. MarketingPilgrim is here to help and The Startup Slingshot is here to point the way. Below are articles for all walks of experience, whether you’re refreshing what you already know, learning for the first time, or just trying to expand your knowledge. Get in the know!   1) Google+ for Business…

• 

  techhustlers.com

• Jason Cohen Shows Us Why He Really Is “A Smart Bear” & Has Made Millions Without Debt or VC

  ericestrait

  15 May 2012 | 11:53 am

  Jason Cohen Shows Us Why He Really Is “A Smart Bear” & Has Made Millions Without Debt or VC My day is great with I get to sit down with cool down to earth geniuses like Jason Cohen. After you watch this interview, you will begin to be amazed at Jason’s metacognition skills and begin to clearly see how he was able to be a single founder and make millions without debt or VC. Jason previously founded Smart Bear Software and co-founded ITWatchdogs, both of which were bootstrapped to profitability, grew to millions in revenue, and were sold. Jason Cohen is a mentor…

• Juan Calle and Lori Anne Wardi Discuss Creating One of the Most Successful Domain Registries in Internet History

  ericestrait

  6 May 2012 | 9:19 pm

  Juan Calle and Lori Anne Wardi Discuss Creating One of the Most Successful Domain Registries in Internet History Juan Diego Calle, a serial entrepreneur, is the founder and CEO of .CO Internet S.A.S, the company that runs the .CO top level domain. Under Juan’s leadership, .CO was launched internationally in July of 2010, and has quickly become one of the most successful domain extensions in history, with more than 1 million domain names registered by people and companies in 200 countries worldwide. At the age of 20, Juan co-founded TeRespondo.com, the largest pay-per-click network in…

• Over 5 Million Downloads, 2.4 Million Monthly Active Users, & a Top 5 Photo App by Ching-Mei Chen & the Team

  ericestrait

  24 Apr 2012 | 12:20 am

  Over 5 Million Downloads, 2.4 Million Monthly Active Users, & a Top 5 Photo App by Ching-Mei Chen & the Team Former Economist to current PicCollage co-founder, Ching-Mei Chen, not only learned quickly how to be an entrepreneur but how to be a successful entrepreneur. I was truly thrilled to sit down and discuss her teams current success with  their current popular photo app PicCollage. PicCollage is not only free, but it is a top 5 iPhone/iPad photo app in the US and top 10 photo app in over 20 countries, that lets you combine and clip photos to create collages to share with…

• Nick Kellet, Former Party of the Year Game Winner Talks about His Current Venture, List.ly

  ericestrait

  16 Apr 2012 | 8:38 am

  Nick Kellet, Former Party of the Year Game Winner Talks about His Current Venture, List.ly Meet the inventor of GiftTRAP, Party Game of the Year in the United States, Germany, and France. Nick is also the former VP, New Markets at Business Objects, Founder of Next Action Technology, creator of AnswerSets, British-born, Canadian-adopted family-guy. Ever the hustler and adventurer, Nick has decided to enter the tech startup game as Co-Founder of their new list social curation tool List.ly. The Next Web says “List.ly makes curating lists of things simple and interactive for…

• Founder & CEO Heather Hiles Discusses Pathbrite’s Recent Series A Round, & Her Proven Success

  ericestrait

  9 Apr 2012 | 1:45 am

  Founder & CEO Heather Hiles Discusses Pathbrite’s Recent Series A Round, & Her Proven Success Pathbrite Heather Hiles, Founder & CEO of Pathbrite sat down to discuss her new startup Pathbrite. Pathbrite delivers next-generation solutions that help students, and learners of all ages, collect, track and showcase a lifetime of achievement, and recommend pathways for continuous success.  We do this by documenting, analyzing and mapping individual achievement of all kinds against individuals’ goals and those of their peers – what’s called a Knowledge Graph. Students use…

• 

  Startup Company Law Blog | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

• The Troubles With The New Crowdfunding Law


  Joe Wallin

  21 May 2012 | 1:31 pm

  Everyone is very excited about the new crowdfunding-for-securities law. Crowdfunding is a great idea–in concept. And now we have a new law which is about to make crowdfunding for securities a reality, at least in some sense. The trouble? The law is onerous. It is going to be difficult and expensive to comply with. The burdens of the new law are plenty, but the benefits of the new law are capped. In short, the crowdfunding law as currently written is, in my opinion, needs to be fixed.
I don’t mean to be just negative here. Crowdfunding enthusiasts should take their enthusiasm back to…

• King County Tax Amnesty

  Joe Wallin

  14 May 2012 | 2:23 pm

  Complying with every applicable tax law can be a daunting obligation even for a taxpayer well versed in tax rules. For start-ups, the task can be more than daunting when the taxing authorities do not tell you about your reporting obligations. This can frequently happen with city business taxes on gross receipts or the peculiar Seattle square footage tax. Another such tax is the property tax on personal property. Non-businesses do not have property taxes on their personal belongings, because the state exempts them. Non-businesses typically pay “in lieu of” taxes instead of property taxes.

• The Social Purpose Corporation, or the SPC

  StartUpAdmin

  8 May 2012 | 4:47 pm

  By John Reed and Ame Wellman Lewis With increasing frequency, companies are seeking to build social values into corporate identities. Starting June 7, 2012, Washington State will recognize “social purpose corporations,” a new form of for-profit corporation. While the primary objective of a traditional business corporation is to create economic value for its shareholders, the social purpose corporation now gives companies the latitude to also promote one or more broader goals of social responsibility, such as environmental sustainability or committing to improve other aspects of…

• The SEC, Accredited Crowdfunding, And The Art Of Hair Splitting

  Joe Wallin

  8 May 2012 | 3:36 pm

  Summary of Remarks of Joe Wallinto Section 201 of the JOBS Act Given at a Presentation to the Angel Capital Association, Northwest Regional Meeting, held in Seattle, Washington, on May 2, 2012. Last week I spoke on a panel with Dan Rosen,Tom Alberg, William Carleton and Gary Kocher at the Northwest Regional Meeting of the Angel Capital Association. I put together these materials as a guide to my remarks. After I prepared them, the Federal Regulation of Securities Committee of the Business Law Section of the American Bar Association (ABA) submitted its comments to the Securities and Exchange…

• Despite the JOBS Act, the Old Rules Still Apply For Now

  Joe Wallin

  1 May 2012 | 4:10 pm

  As we wrote last week, the most exciting provisions of the JOBS Act, at least for private companies–the repeal of the ban on general solicitation in all accredited offerings and crowdfunding–are not yet effective and won’t be effective until the SEC issues new regulations. On the same day we published that post, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a notice reminding everyone that crowdfunding is still unlawful until the SEC adopts new rules implementing the JOBS Act’s crowdfunding exemption. The SEC Reminder The SEC notice is short and to the point stating:…

• 

  Anthill Magazine » Venture Capital

• Three things to never say to an Australian venture capitalist

  James Tuckerman

  13 May 2012 | 4:06 pm

  Not only does Adventure Capital’s Stuart Richardson have a great hairdresser (we share the same barber) but he knows a thing or two about pitching for venture capital. This is because he lives at the receiving end of hundreds of pitches every week. Some pitches are sophisticated and require 20 minutes in a boardroom. Others are casually thrust his way during social gatherings, like so many under-cooked snags on a backyard weber. In this three minute video, Richardson reveals three don’ts (and one do) when speaking with an investor. 1. Don’t ask for ‘just a little bit…

• Spruce up your video pitch for Innovation Bay’s next Angels Dinner

  Anthill Magazine

  8 Jan 2012 | 5:46 pm

  The good folk at Innovation Bay are calling for video pitch submissions for its next Angels Dinner on February 21, 2012. For those of you who’ve not had the pleasure, Innovation Bay’s Angel Dinners bring together angels and entrepreneurs. To date, the organisation has assisted entrepreneurs raise over $10 million in seed investment as a result of these dinners. (Heard of Spreets? Yup? Innovation Bay kick started the group buying behemoths capital raising endeavours.) Are you an entrepreneur in the high-tech space? Fancy a bit of funding? Then you may well be interested in pitching at this…

• Why start-ups fail: a roundtable discussion on venture capital in Australia [PODCAST]

  Contributor

  8 Jan 2012 | 2:02 pm

  Talking Business is a podcast review of the Australian economy, presented by seasoned business journalists Leon Gettler and Garry Barker, produced in association with the RMIT College of Business. It features interviews with prominent business leaders and expert analysis from RMIT academics. Start-ups and venture capital: a roundtable discussion How great of a challenge do Australian entrepreneurs face in trying to set up their own businesses? Successful start-ups depend on venture capital to grow and thrive, yet many innovative idea-smiths fail to impress investors with an inadequate…

• Bubble Gum Interactive’s investment adventures (including a handwriting test that earned them $100k)

  Natalie Chandler

  28 Aug 2011 | 8:02 pm

  Any start-up that’s had to raise funds via Angels and VCs will tell you it’s a white-knuckle ride. Independent game development studio Bubble Gum Interactive (BGI) is no exception. The Australian start-up’s tales of capital raising include near-hypothermia, an encounter with Interpol, and a handwriting analysis test (that they passed and scored $100k.) Given that the company is due to launch it’s very own virtual world in late-2011 – a social, multiplayer online game for children called Little Space Heroes – all the trials and tribulations have paid off. But what advice do the…

• Australian upstart 99designs raises $35 million from Facebook’s VC outfit [ANTHILL EXCLUSIVE]

  Anthill Magazine

  28 Apr 2011 | 2:32 pm

  Today, 99designs, the world’s largest online marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design services, announced a $35 million first-round investment led by Accel Partners, with participation from angel investors Michael Dearing (eBay, Harrison Metal), Dave Goldberg (Survey Monkey), Stewart Butterfield (Flickr, Tiny Speck), and Anthony Casalena (Squarespace). In this exclusive podcast for Anthill, 99designs co-founder Mark Harbottle speaks with James Tuckerman about the deal and what it means for the three year-old Melbourne company and its 26 employees. Accel Partners invests in 99designs…

• 

  tech.li

• Kinect SDK Update Adds Face Tracking, Language Support, Overall Improvements

  Corey Cummings

  23 May 2012 | 9:00 am

  This week the Kinect for Windows team released a blog post detailing many new features available to developers in a 1.5 software development kit update. In addition to expanding Kinect’s availability into 15 new countries around the world, the team has introduced several new features that will allow developers to create even more interesting applications

• New Tiny Computer Is Almost As Cheap, Almost As Small As Raspberry Pi

  Jon Christian

  23 May 2012 | 8:00 am

  Taiwanese hardware manufacturer VIA announced a $49, Android-powered PC system Tuesday that invites comparison to the diminutive Raspberry Pi, an educationally-focused computer system developed and sold with the backing of a nonprofit organization. Both devices run low-power ARM processors, and fall well below the standard price and footprint ranges for home computers. It’s not clear

• Accelerator Scorecard – Part II

  Jennifer Beese

  23 May 2012 | 7:30 am

  This is a guest post written by Richard Komaiko, co-founder of AttorneyFee.com. By now I imagine most people in the Chicago startup community have seen my article in NBC Inc Well.  The article generated a fair amount of controversy, but I’m no stranger to controversy.  As one of the co-founders of AttorneyFee, I run a

• Google’s Motorola Acquisition Is About Android

  Jon Christian

  23 May 2012 | 7:00 am

  Search giant Google closed a deal Tuesday to acquire consumer electronics developer Motorola, Inc., in a bid to reemphasize the company’s commitment to Android, a popular mobile operating system in which Motorola has already invested heavily. “[A]s a company who made a big, early bet on Android, Motorola has become an incredibly valuable partner to

• US Navy Launches MMO Wargame To Help Brainstorm Energy Solutions

  Corey Cummings

  23 May 2012 | 6:00 am

  On Tuesday, The Navy Energy and Environmental Readiness Division, along with the Office of Naval Research, will be launching a Massive Multiplayer Online Wargame Leveraging the Internet (MMOWGLI). The game encourages players to imagine a very near future where military operations are limited and prioritized by the diminishing fuel supply, and energy consumption must be

• 

  JUAN GREAT LEAP

• To ensure success, go DEEPER not wider

  Peter Cauton

  21 May 2012 | 6:08 pm

  Okay, so you are a startup owner. Chances are great that you have limited resources. Understanding that you cannot be everything to everyone, you identify a niche and concentrate on that. I am now getting more and more convinced that the niches we think are specific enough are STILL oftentimes too broad. We have to go deeper. When STORM was originally conceptualized, we wanted to be a technology firm which specialized in HR. Soon enough we found out that was too broad. So we thought of specializing on benefits. You know what? Still too broad. This year, our big decision is just to concentrate…

• Assemble Your Avengers! An interview with the best startup recruiter there is, Nick Fury

  Peter Cauton

  16 May 2012 | 4:39 am

  A JUAN GREAT LEAP EXCLUSIVE: An interview with General Nick Fury himself, credited with starting two very successful startups: SHIELD, where he now serves as Director, and more recently, The Avengers. Peter Cauton: Uhm, thank you very much, Director for allowing us an audience. The Juan Great Leap community is ecstatic for this opportunity to learn from you. General Nick Fury: Good for you this is part of the community service sentence they gave me, you know, when it was found I had something to do with the destruction of New York. Let’s get on with it, son.  Nice hairstyle. PC: Uhm,…

• My Post-surgery Paradigm

  Peter Cauton

  15 May 2012 | 5:41 pm

  Last Friday morning, I was wheeled into an operating room. They strapped my arms in crucifix position. (yep, apparently they strap your arms). Then the doctors came in and introduced themselves to me. They were about to perform laparoscopic cholecystectomy. I was having my gall bladder removed due to stones and a polyp. “Hi, I’m Dr. _____ assisting me is Dr. _____. Your anesthesiologist is here, Dr. _____. In a few seconds, you will fall asleep, by which time we will proceed to cut you up”  - yup, this is what basically happens   One doctor explained that she was now…

• Interested in $25,000.00 funding and the chance to go on a US-based 12-week accelerator program?

  Peter Cauton

  9 May 2012 | 7:01 am

  Hey people! Got a tech startup? Need funding and guidance? This might be interesting…  Ohio-based Launchhouse is launching the Launchhouse Accelerator Program. The LaunchHouse Accelerator is inviting the world’s brightest entrepreneurs to participate in a 12-week Accelerator program. Selected teams will receive $25,000 in funding and will be surrounded with experience-based lab sessions, world-class mentors from their specific industry, an innovative work environment, dinners with successful entrepreneurs, and networking with mentors. To apply, entrepreneurs need to be in a…

• Generate Startup Ideas Using Tourist’s Eyes

  Peter Cauton

  8 May 2012 | 6:04 pm

  When we are travelling for the first time in a foreign location, time seems to slow down, and we get to absorb all the juicy details. There is no little thing which escapes us: how the air is different what clothes people are wearing how the food tastes how people greet one another how clean (or dirty) things are what people listen to how people drive how people eat how the architecture is different Isn’t it interesting that we are suddenly ultra-aware of the things around us. We find our heads and eyes ever-circling and observing, trying to take all the detail in. We look at the world…

• 

  Blog

• What every entrepreneur can learn from DollarShaveClub.com

  Keith Cline

  22 May 2012 | 2:17 pm

  Release Date:  Wed, 05/23/2012 Author:  Matt Douglas - Founder and CEO, Punchbowl.com Thumbnail:  Teaser:  A few months ago, the entrepreneur/tech world was rocked by the awesome launch of DollarShaveClub. If you haven't heard of them, or haven't yet seen the launch... A few months ago, the entrepreneur/tech world was rocked by the awesome launch of DollarShaveClub. If you haven't heard of them, or haven't yet seen the launch video, take a moment to watch this: What a funny, brilliant launch video. And it took the Internet by storm. As of this post, there have almost 4.6M…

• Boards and Advisory Boards: Different Animals

  Keith Cline

  22 May 2012 | 5:14 am

  Release Date:  Tue, 05/22/2012 Author:  Christopher Mirabile - Managing Director, Launchpad Venture Group Thumbnail:  Teaser:  New entrepreneurs show a lot of confusion on the subject of advisory boards and corporate boards of directors. It’s justified; there is some conceptual overlap. But they... New entrepreneurs show a lot of confusion on the subject of advisory boards and corporate boards of directors. It’s justified; there is some conceptual overlap. But they are very different animals.  Think of it as a superset/subset relationship: a good board will…

• Why Churn is SO critical to success in SaaS

  Keith Cline

  20 May 2012 | 12:46 pm

  Release Date:  Mon, 05/21/2012 Author:  David Skok - General Partner, Matrix Partners Thumbnail:  Teaser:  Summary: Illustrates graphically why churn is a huge problem a SaaS company gets larger. It also looks at a very surprising factor that can massively accelerate SaaS... Summary: Illustrates graphically why churn is a huge problem a SaaS company gets larger. It also looks at a very surprising factor that can massively accelerate SaaS growth: negative churn. (This article  is applicable to any recurring revenue business, not just SaaS.) Introduction As a SaaS…

• Why Product Management Should Be Its Own Department

  Keith Cline

  16 May 2012 | 2:16 pm

  Release Date:  Thu, 05/17/2012 Author:  Sarela Bliman-Cohen - President, Boston Product Management Association Thumbnail:  Teaser:  In my 15+ years in technology I have had the privilege of working as a product manager who reported to various department heads. In some cases I reported to engineering... In my 15+ years in technology I have had the privilege of working as a product manager who reported to various department heads. In some cases I reported to engineering, in other cases to marketing, and more recently to the head of product management. Why isn’t product…

• 5 Tips to Recruit a Star Candidate

  Keith Cline

  16 May 2012 | 2:12 pm

  Release Date:  Fri, 05/18/2012 Author:  Keith Cline - Founder, VentureFizz Thumbnail:  Teaser:  You know the scenario: You have a mission-critical position open at your company, and the right candidate has been impossible to find.  You might be looking for the... You know the scenario: You have a mission-critical position open at your company, and the right candidate has been impossible to find. You might be looking for the head of product with specific industry experience, the sales person who blows out her numbers every year, the engineer who knows how to properly…

• 

  Startup Addict

• Free Social Media Icons

  Tod Whipple

  9 May 2012 | 5:07 pm

  MediaLoot is a Designer’s Dream and you can browse through thousands of icons, vectors and UI design elements. If your anything like me you’ve scoured the Internet looking for worthy free social media icons that are actually useful and current with today’s design standards. Enter MediaLoot.You can have the most amazing content and if it’s not paired with awesome visual presentation you will not see the kind of traffic you expect and deserve. People are very visual creatures and this is something you will need to exploit on your blog. Once you’ve set up your website or…

• SEO Best Practices Checklist

  Tod Whipple

  2 May 2012 | 7:03 am

  You might be new to internet marketing or finally scored a great domain name. Either way you are probably ready to launch a website and give some real thought to a SEO best practices checklist.Keyword Research Now that you’ve got your business up and running, and your website is being built (or maybe you’ve already got one online, good job!) you’re ready to begin your keyword research. You may even want to consider keyword research before you construct your website. Often times keyword opportunities will present themselves that will affect how you structure your website hierarchy. To…

• Page Speed Test for SEO

  Tod Whipple

  25 Apr 2012 | 11:37 am

  When Google announced Page speed as a an SEO ranking factor on websites I was a bit skeptical about how much weight was really being placed on the “speed” factor. Google has over 200 ranking factors in its’ algorithm and unless your site is deathly slow does it really make a difference?I decided to put the question to the test and hopefully speed up this site in tandem. In order to get a baseline I ran a page speed test over at Pingdom to find out how Startup Addict stacked up against the rest of the web.As you can see above SA was approximately 59% faster than all…

• Tips for Unique Article Content

  Tod Whipple

  23 Apr 2012 | 3:15 am

  We have all heard the cliche “Content is King” but in the age of content marketing unique content is king! Unique article content is the name of the game when it comes to internet marketing and search engine love. The SERPS and Google’s famous algorithm can spot duplicate content a mile away.It’s still laughable to see people paying money for nifty spinning programs that mangle the English written language in hopes to automate blog posts. Content marketing is a long-term strategy not the “sugar high” spinner programs offer. If your serious about becoming an…

• MEGA Startup Weekend 2012

  Tod Whipple

  19 Apr 2012 | 3:38 pm

  Last weekend (April 13 – 15) the 2nd annual MEGA Startup Weekend got underway and was a big success in Silicon Valley with technology innovation coming out of the Mircrosoft office in Mountain View, CA. Yes, that is correct…I said the Microsoft office. MEGA Startup Weekend had a great lineup of speakers including Dave McClure from 500 Startups, Scott Case from Startup America, John Cabrera writer for the Warner Brother’s H+: The Digital Series and last but not least Hiten Shah from Kissmetrics.Photo/image credit © Erica Kawamoto HsuThere was also a slew of mentors to…

• 

  Michael Holmes-Biblical Startup Strategies

• The One Thing God Cares More Than Your Christian Business

  Michael

  2 May 2012 | 7:08 am

    Sometime ago I was coming from church. I had to take the train back, was by myself, had my phone, and wanted to finish reading some strategies for traffic generation. A lady sat next to me. I didn’t notice her. She had a had a brace on her right hand and had a walking stick. She was attractive–I’m not even going to lie. She look mid to late 30′s (even though she later told me she was 41). She had her church attire on and I had on my suit. She started talking to me. Now normally random women don’t start conversations with me on the train. They really…

• 28 Thought Leaders for Christian Business Owners and Entrepreneurs

  Michael

  29 Apr 2012 | 5:14 pm

    I kept looking for a list of of thought leaders of Christian Entrepreneurs and Business Owners. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find it. So what do you when you can’t find something you want? You already know the answer. That’s right: your create it! So that’s what I did. How cool is that?! So I decided to group them all here. Some are people I read, some are friends I know, and most are people I want to know. (Obviously, if you see any I miss you can tell me in the comments) I’m going to sort these leaders by their site/blog and Google + …if they don’t…

• How to Rediscover the Lost Art of Focus

  Michael

  11 Apr 2012 | 3:44 pm

  It’s so easy to go after everything (or everyone) at once, wear ourselves out, and say we’re giving our best. But there are two things life (and failure) has taught me: Activity doesn’t always equate to productivity–1000 sales calls means nothing without sales Not everyone likes me The first is pretty self explanatory, but what do I mean about the 2nd? It’s simple: not every one is going to like you. They’re not going to like you, your company, your cause, your products, and/or services…no matter how much you think they should. Sucks, but its true! Hence, the lost art of…

• How to Become a Best Selling Ebook Author in 9 Months: The Experiment Continues

  Michael

  28 Mar 2012 | 4:00 am

    After I pressed “publish” and put up the last post I felt nauseous. “What was I thinking?!!!!” But there’s no going back now–”the experiment” has commenced. Again: the purpose of these posts are to outline my steps, successes, failures, and etc in becoming a bestselling author. I’m going to be as transparent as possible. I’ll express my doubts, fears, frustrations, and etc. In fact, just the other day I was thinking how much of a failure I was and why this really may not work. So let’s dig into this: My motivation…

• What’s Gods Opinion of Your Leadership

  Michael

  26 Mar 2012 | 5:00 am

  It’s amazing how any opinions people have. Don’t believe me? Look at the volatility of the approval ratings of past presidents. The numbers change everyday because opinions change everyday. We care a lot about how people perceive our leadership–but rarely do we ask God His opinion. Because He does have an opinion: “But Zechariah was an evil king in the Lord’s opinion, just like his ancestors.”–2 Kings 15:9 TLB) “Hezekiah was twenty-five years old when he became the king of Judah…his reign was a good one in the Lord’s opinion, just as his ancestor David’s had…

• 

  Webeneur Post

• Engrade is launching many new features

  admin

  4 May 2012 | 6:58 am

  Bri Holt founded Engrade in 2003 while still in high school. He became increasingly frustrated that he wasn’t able to easily access all his grades when he wanted. Once he built the web site he took on other projects over the course of seven years then decided to come back to Engrade with some help. Over the course of about 18 months he turned his simple grade viewing platform into a robust educational platform. Since 2003 Engrade grew its user base to around 4.5 million teachers, admins, students, and parents. Engrade is being used in all 50 states and 150 countries. For the…

• Noodgee Helps You Succeed With Resolutions

  admin

  1 May 2012 | 8:01 am

  Ever set a resolution and ended up forgetting all about it? That’s when Noodgee comes in, to make sure that doesn’t happen so you can reach success with all your resolutions that you set for yourself. When you look at your resolution, like most, it’s a huge picture and often a daunting task. Noodgee allows you to break it down into different categories that you choose and creating baby steps making it easier to succeed. Not only can you break down your resolutions you can connect with other users where you can share and often take on other’s resolutions and tweak it to…

• Just Eat Serves Food to Your Doorstep

  admin

  30 Apr 2012 | 7:09 am

  Just Eat is all about making ordering your favorite food from your favorite restaurants easy and convenient. Sometimes you don’t want to cook and prepare a whole meal that may take an hour, that’s when Just Eat comes in to help easily order your food and have it sent right to your door step. Originally founded in Denmark in 2001 it was created by two different groups Just Eat led by Christian Frisdmodt and FoodZoom led by Jasper Burch. The current CEO of Just Eat is Klaus Nyengaard at the global headquarters located in London. Why use Just Eat? The future is here and millions of…

• Tumblr President Steps Down

  admin

  29 Apr 2012 | 9:47 am

  President of Tumblr, John Maloney,  just recently announced that he will be stepping down from his position from a day to day operational roll with the company. He did say, however, he will be sticking very close to Tumblr’s founder/CEO David Karp because there is more work to do with Tumblr and he wants to be able to help see through it. Maloney also mentioned there is a new package of goodies coming out next week for bloggers at Tumblr. Of course he left it a mystery as to what it could be, but that’s all the fun right? ANTICIPATION… As of right now Tumblr is worth right…

• Eventbrite Launches Ticketing for Sporting Events Called Endurance

  admin

  28 Apr 2012 | 2:54 pm

  Eventbrite is an online service that provides tickets to any event imaginable whether it’s an art event or to a concert people can use Eventbrite to create, share, and join any event that’s being offered. Just recently Eventbrite just launched a new feature called Endurance where people can search for different kinds of sporting events whether it be a marathon, 5k, or lessons on learning how to surf. Eventbrite has sold well over 57 million tickets and has hosted over 500,000 events all across the nation. They are still working to bring more events to the table in certain…