Startups

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  • 6 Tips to Boost Your Web Presence

    Inc.com
    Jeff Haden
    16 May 2012 | 12:45 pm
    If these tactics worked for LanceArmstrong.com, they can work for your business.If you built your website a few years ago it's time for an update, if for no other reason than the fact that usage patterns have changed dramatically: The number of mobile Internet users is expected to surpass the number of desktop users in the next two to three years.That means your website is unlikely to be as effective a marketing tool as it once was, especially if your site doesn't automatically resize and rearrange content for all possible devices. (Go ahead: Check out a few sites on your mobile phone. Find…

  • The Rule of 10 for Product Design

    Up and Running
    David Schroeder
    15 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    In product design, mistakes are costly, and the longer it takes to discover a problem, the more costly it becomes. I came across an article written by Dr. David M. Anderson about Design for Manufacturability where he talks about “The Rule of 10“.  He claims that it costs 10 times more to find and repair a defect at the next stage of assembly, and then it costs 10 times more at each subsequent stage of assembly. So following his rule of 10 it goes something like this… Level of Completion Cost to find & Repair Defect the part itself X at sub-assembly 10 X at final…

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

    Thisisgoingtobebig.com
    Charlie O'Donnell
    14 May 2012 | 6:45 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…

  • How to generate startup ideas

    swombat.com
    Daniel Tenner
    16 May 2012 | 8:15 am
    Wesley Tansey proposes a number of techniques for generating startup ideas. The techniques are useful tools to expand your repertoire of techniques, but the key point, in my opinion, is after the list: One important thing to remember is that these are not meant to be options that you choose at the start. Rather, consider each of these strategies to be a background process that runs continuously in your mind. Every time you encounter a problem, if it may be solvable by one of these strategies, that’s a potential startup idea! This echoes what I've pointed out before: the way to generate…

  • Fostering a Strong Company Culture

    OPEN Forum Articles
    16 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    From Alexandra Levit: Greg Smith, formerly of Goldman Sachs, recently wrote an op-ed in The New York Times about why he was leaving the company. The piece is an eloquent testament to how a strong culture affects organizations. Goldman would probably prefer to block out this PR nightmare, but Smith put it out there: "Culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for…
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    Fast Company

  • How To Make The Most Of Your Too-Short Work Break

    Kevin Purdy
    16 May 2012 | 12:17 pm
    If you’re not the type who can sit on a park bench and contemplate nothing, and the conversation around the Keurig machine bores you, what can you do with 15 minutes that isn’t really work but pays off in productivity?After 90 minutes of meeting, working, thinking, and pushing emails, your glucose is in a bad place. That’s what project management consultant Tony Wong tells his clients. And everyone from NASA to the Berlin Academy of Music have run tests that prove you truly need the equivalent of a smoke break, a shift change, whatever you want to call it. But let’s say you’re…

  • 5 Ways Process Is Killing Your Productivity

    Lisa Bodell
    16 May 2012 | 11:51 am
    If your team spends its days asking for permission before executing, taking an hour to complete expense reports or time sheets, attending redundant meetings, or answering irrelevant emails, you’ve got a problem.Processes are supposed to help organizations scale up, improve efficiency for new hires and existing employees, and so on--but they can quickly get out of control. In a study of U.S. and European companies, The Boston Consulting Group found that “over the past fifteen years, the amount of procedures, vertical layers, interface structures, coordination bodies, and decision approvals…

  • Fab.com: Ready, Set, Reset!

    Adam L. Penenberg
    16 May 2012 | 10:34 am
    How Fab.com pivoted from a failed social network for gays to a retailing powerhouse valued at $200 million in less than 6 months. The third in our Pivot series. Bradford Shellhammer and Jason Goldberg realized it just wasn't working. Their gay social network, Fabulis, a mashup of Facebook, Yelp, Trip Advisor, and Foursquare, wasn't exactly failing but it was exhibiting the telltale signs of mediocrity. Like most entrepreneurs, they started out thinking they had a winner when they launched in April 2010, a clear niche they could serve. While there was Grindr and plenty of porn, there was no…

  • Social Ad Spending To Reach $10B Soon, But How Much For Facebook?

    Kit Eaton
    16 May 2012 | 9:32 am
    News updates all day from your Fast Company editors.A new survey from BIA/Kelsey has looked at the trends in advertising on social media and concluded that by 2016 it'll be a market topping $10 billion per annum, mainly as display ads. For context, some $3.8 billion was spent on these ads in 2011, so phenomenal growth is predicted. In the very week Facebook IPOs this sounds like great news, except for different data coming from Wordstream that suggests Facebook's adverts have less reach and are less effective in generating click-throughs than traditional web ads served up by Google. Meanwhile…

  • Will Fab Get Social Shopping Right?

    E.B. Boyd
    16 May 2012 | 9:28 am
    Facebook's Beacon was a bomb. Will this e-commerce site figure out the right way to let friends see what friends are buying?Four and a half years ago, Facebook launched Beacon, a feature that showed users what their friends were buying. The social network thought the idea would be a hit, but it backfired (and quickly folded) after users felt like their privacy was being violated.Today design e-commerce site Fab is launching a similar feature, but it thinks it's actually going to get the idea right. "Beacon was a good idea horribly implemented," CEO Jason Goldberg tells Fast Company.Starting…
 
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    VentureBeat

  • Whoops! VeriFone’s Sail user agreement ripped off Square’s

    Devindra Hardawar
    16 May 2012 | 12:37 pm
    VeriFone’s Sail mobile payments platform was clearly a Square wannabe from the beginning — now it seems that’s more true than we initially thought. VeriFone apparently lifted significant chunks of its user agreement from Square, GigaOm’s Ryan Kim has discovered. While there are other competitors similar to Square, like PayPal’s Here and Intuit’s GoPayment, VeriFone is a latecomer to the mobile credit card swiping game. I gave Sail flack for not bringing anything new to the market, but today’s revelation makes it even clearer that VeriFone is more…

  • A Windows racket: Microsoft will clean crapware off your PC for $99

    Ricardo Bilton
    16 May 2012 | 12:10 pm
    The PC crapware problem has finally gotten bad enough that Microsoft is now charging users to fix it. For $99 Microsoft is now offering to strip consumers’ Windows PCs of all unnecessary software pre-installed by PC makers, AllThingsD reports. Affectionally dubbed “crapware”,  the software  is installed by PC makers in exchange for cash from vendors and is almost universally hated by owners of new Windows PCs. This makes the removal program an arrangement bordering on a racket: PC makers get paid to put the software on computers, and Microsoft gets paid to remove it.

  • Web typography: create “art from code”

    -
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    This sponsored post is produced by CASCADE SF. Thanks to CSS3 web design techniques and font-foundries, the ability to create gorgeous typography and beautiful design for browsers, is more accessible than ever. The Web is about content–finding it, delivering it, exploring it, and experiencing growth and possibility within it. What’s the fun of using a site that takes forever to load and is difficult to read? A poorly designed product can be the single deciding factor for whether a user stays on your page or makes a dishearteningly rapid exit. Fortunately, with the use of new code,…

  • Today, Google web search is getting a new, bigger, better brain

    Jolie O'Dell
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Finally, Google’s search algorithm is getting a huge boost from a source we can actually trust. No, it’s not your dimwit friends and their Facebook shares. It’s Knowledge Base, a semantically structured body of data 500 million items strong and growing. With Knowledge Base plugged into Google Search, Google is going to get a heck of a lot better at knowing what things (not just what words) you’re searching for and delivering better results — more useful, more visual results. How Google’s new brain works Briefly, Knowledge Base is Google’s attempt to…

  • Electric Imp unveils cloud-based home automation: now you can burn your toast from Tokyo

    John Koetsier
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Home automation is a hot category that just got even hotter. And possibly, just a bit easier. Today Electric Imp is announcing the Imp, a cloud-based approach to monitoring and managing everything you own. The venture-backed startup in Los Altos, California, is taking a manufacturer-centric approach to the automation market — so don’t expect to be able to buy an Imp to retrofit existing devices tomorrow. Electic Imp is releasing a developer preview bundle in June, giving manufacturers the tools to make their devices Imp-compatible. The Imp chip Think pre-warming your house when…
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    Inc.com

  • How I Use YouTube to Market My Small Business

    Tim Rice
    16 May 2012 | 1:40 pm
    Terrence Kelleman, owner of Dynomighty Design, a product development firm, found a huge audience on YouTube. Here's how.

  • How to Ask Better Questions

    Erik Sherman
    16 May 2012 | 1:38 pm
    You may have what sounds like the best idea in the world. But before you do anything else, try to poke as many holes in it as you can.Some newfangled ideas are just too tempting to pass up. So entrepreneurs and managers rush to jump on them. Never mind asking key questions like, "How exactly will this work?" and "What do we want to accomplish?"Take C&A Brazil, a South American clothing store that recently launched an interesting marketing campaign. Customers can go to a special collection online and press a Facebook "like" button on specific articles of clothing. The votes get tallied and…

  • Inc. Business Owners Council holds its first CEO Roundtable and announces its third event for 2012!!

    Alf Nucifora
    16 May 2012 | 1:24 pm
    15 members get to discuss burning issues at the top of San Francisco!On April 19th, fifteen business owners gathered on the 59th floor of the luxurious and newest high-rise in San Francisco, One Rincon Hill at 489 Harrison St. Besides the spectacular views, the participants engaged in a meaningful, moderated discussion on challenges they face in their respective businesses. This CEO Roundtable is a feature of the Inc. Business Owners Council and brings together CEOs and business owners in a confidential setting where they can discuss burning issues they face in their businesses and/or give…

  • 6 Tips to Boost Your Web Presence

    Jeff Haden
    16 May 2012 | 12:45 pm
    If these tactics worked for LanceArmstrong.com, they can work for your business.If you built your website a few years ago it's time for an update, if for no other reason than the fact that usage patterns have changed dramatically: The number of mobile Internet users is expected to surpass the number of desktop users in the next two to three years.That means your website is unlikely to be as effective a marketing tool as it once was, especially if your site doesn't automatically resize and rearrange content for all possible devices. (Go ahead: Check out a few sites on your mobile phone. Find…

  • Facebook Predictions: 6 Things to Know Now

    Michael Mothner
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    Back in early 2011, I predicted Facebook's $100 billion valuation. Here's what I think is coming next.In January 2011, I wrote what was at the time an outlandish prediction: that Facebook Will Be the Next $100 Billion Company. While I was right about the outcome, I was wrong about was how it would get there; it turned out to be pure user growth—riding investor enthusiasm and pent-up Wall Street demand.Trouble is, that's not a good recipe for Facebook out of the gates of its IPO; I expect rough waters ahead.Here are my predictions for Facebook after this week's IPO, as a public…
 
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    OPEN Forum Articles

  • Special Feature: A Winning Company Culture

    16 May 2012 | 9:15 am
    From Erik Rhey: Culture affects so many aspects of your business, including profitability, turnover, employee satisfaction and your own happiness. That's why we are tackling the big issue of company culture in our May Special Feature. In Part 1 of this series, our experts show you how to define “company culture” and its impact on your business. Management and culture expert Bruna Martinuzzi explores the four kinds of cultures that exist and tells you how to determine which model fits you. And our Culture Beat columnist, Alexandra Levit, will give you tips on building a strong…

  • Fostering a Strong Company Culture

    16 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    From Alexandra Levit: Greg Smith, formerly of Goldman Sachs, recently wrote an op-ed in The New York Times about why he was leaving the company. The piece is an eloquent testament to how a strong culture affects organizations. Goldman would probably prefer to block out this PR nightmare, but Smith put it out there: "Culture was always a vital part of Goldman Sachs’s success. It revolved around teamwork, integrity, a spirit of humility, and always doing right by our clients. The culture was the secret sauce that made this place great and allowed us to earn our clients’ trust for…

  • What Culture Is Right for Your Business?

    16 May 2012 | 8:45 am
    From Bruna Martinuzzi: “If you do not manage culture," says Edgar Schein, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, "it manages you. And you may not even be aware of the extent to which this is happening.” Culture has a significant impact on a company's long-term economic well-being: A 2000 study published in the Harvard Business Review found that company culture can account for nearly a third of financial performance. This is too high an impact to ignore. An encrusted culture can sometimes impede a company's adaptability and prevent it from changing course in order to…

  • Chef Thomas Keller on Building a Supply Community

    16 May 2012 | 8:30 am
    From Donna Fenn: There are plenty of entrepreneurs who will tell you that corporate culture informs every facet of how they manage their companies.  But those who walk that walk are rare. And those who extend that philosophy to their suppliers and business partners are even rarer. Count Thomas Keller among them. Keller, the owner of two Michelin three-star restaurants–The French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., and Per Se in New York–knows that the fishermen, foragers, gardeners, and farmers who supply his restaurants with the freshest ingredients are an integral part of the…

  • Chef Keller's Kitchen: A Collaborative Environment

    16 May 2012 | 8:15 am
    From Donna Fenn: Don’t call Thomas Keller a “celebrity chef.” He bristles at the term. “You wouldn’t call Tom Cruise a celebrity actor, would you?” he asks. “I’m just a chef.” Well, not exactly. Chef Keller sits at the helm of the Thomas Keller Restaurant Group, which includes two Michelin three-star restaurants: The French Laundry, a Napa Valley gem; and Manhattan-based Per Se, where I recently chatted with Keller about his journey as an entrepreneurial chef. “I think I've always been an entrepreneur,” he says. “I have…
 
 
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    TechCrunch

  • Third Pivot’s The Charm? Events Site Ravn Becomes Flash Sales Site Touch Of Modern

    Ingrid Lunden
    16 May 2012 | 1:34 pm
    No one ever called a limit on the number pivots a company can do, right? So here’s the latest at a company we’ve been watching for a while now. RAVN, an event planning and sharing app that itself was the product of a pivot from the developers behind “experiences marketplace” Skyara, has sent a letter out to its users telling them that the app is getting shut down at the end of this month. In RAVN’s place, the founders are starting up yet another business — their third — also loosely based around events but with a decidedly more commercial bent: a…

  • This Won’t End Well: Toyota Connects With Nintendo DS For In-Car Navigation Interface

    John Biggs
    16 May 2012 | 1:31 pm
    For some inexplicable reason, Nintendo and Toyota have teamed up to turn the Nintendo DS into a navigational remote control, thereby allowing drivers (although I hope passengers do most of the fiddling) to set their routes using their game consoles. The service, called Kuruma de DS lets you see map and destination info as well as tour information as you drive through town. The service slightly gamifies the experience by adding a POI saving option. The compatible Toyota Smart Navi system costs about $3,000 while the game itself costs $92 – quite a bit of cash to simulate the map screens…

  • Forrester: 32.1 Million U.S. Households Now Access Online Video On Their TVs

    Frederic Lardinois
    16 May 2012 | 1:04 pm
    Almost 115 million households in the U.S. currently own at least one TV set and 36 million own four or more. That’s a huge market and as Apple, Google and Microsoft try to wrestle more of this business away from the traditional content and hardware players, the old-school cable and satellite providers now suddenly have to content with this new group of challengers that, until now, barely registered on their radars. According to Forrester analyst James McQuivey, it’s Microsoft that’s winning this platform war so far. Why? Microsoft, MCquivey argues, currently has a massive…

  • Verizon To Axe Unlimited Data Once Their New Data Share Plans Go Live

    Chris Velazco
    16 May 2012 | 1:01 pm
    Verizon Wireless has been working on bringing shared data plans to market for months now, but it turns out not everyone may enjoy making that transition. Verizon CFO Fran Shammo said at an investor conference earlier today that users on those wonderful old grandfathered unlimited data plans will soon have to give them up if they want to move into a 4G device. “A lot of our 3G base is unlimited,” Shammo remarked. “As they start to migrate onto 4G, they will have to come off of unlimited and go onto the data share plan. That’s beneficial for us for many reasons.”…

  • Funny Or Die Gets Strategic Investment From Turner, Looks To Accelerate Growth

    Ryan Lawler
    16 May 2012 | 12:39 pm
    Independent online video company Funny Or Die is about to get a lot of help from a traditional TV company, as it’s struck a strategic partnership with Turner Broadcasting to collaborate on multiplatform video content. As part of the deal, Turner is taking a small minority stake in Funny Or Die — terms of which have not been disclosed. “We’re at an inflection point with digitally distributed video,” Funny Or Die CEO Dick Glover told me by phone. He says that as a result, the timing of the deal is poised to coincide with that inflection point and catalyze further…
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    Knowledge@Wharton

  • Everyone's Problem: Looking Beyond the Wal-Mart Bribery Case

    9 May 2012 | 4:05 pm
    In a case that continues to reverberate across borders, Wal-Mart Stores, the world’s largest retailer, announced recently that it has started its own probe into allegations that executives at its Mexican operations made hundreds of illegal payments to help expedite the opening of new stores. According to legal and ethics experts at Wharton and elsewhere, the case raises broader questions about how multinational companies conduct business in foreign countries.

  • State of the Unions: What It Means for Workers -- and Everyone Else

    9 May 2012 | 4:05 pm
    Labor unions have long had a position of prominence in American business and political life. But their influence has been on the decline in recent decades as membership ranks have dwindled. The increasing irrelevance of unions will have far-reaching implications, Wharton experts and others say, including the loss of one of the few ways that working class Americans can engage in the political process and become educated about labor laws. Corporations will feel the effects as well -- and they won't necessarily be positive, experts add.

  • Special Report: Europe Struggles to Hold Itself Together

    9 May 2012 | 4:05 pm
    Dramatic economic and financial developments in Europe never seem to quit. In the latest news, several eurozone countries have slipped back into recession, bringing a backlash against austerity policies into full swing. Now, the election of Socialist President Francois Hollande in France may offer a path to more growth-oriented policies, but big questions remain about which ones are economically -- and politically -- viable. To help clarify the implications for business and investors, Knowledge@Wharton has prepared a special report on the challenges facing Europe.

  • Etsy Seeks Scale without Losing Its 'Street Fair' Aesthetic

    9 May 2012 | 4:05 pm
    Etsy was launched as a ragtag website for artists and craftspeople to sell their wares. Today, it has become one of the Internet's most prominent tastemakers. As the company grows, experts caution that it must be careful not to alienate its faithful shop owners and customers by going too commercial and straying from its independent, artsy roots, or by becoming bogged down in privacy and seller credibility concerns.

  • Investor Sentiment and Stock Prices: Explaining the Ups and Downs

    9 May 2012 | 4:05 pm
    Academics, traders and money managers are forever trying to figure out what makes stocks rise and fall. Some influences are clear, like the price gain after a company reports strong earnings. But other behaviors are mystifying. For example, why do shares of companies with fast asset growth sometimes do better than expected according to standard measures like earnings? And why do they sometimes do worse? New research by Wharton finance professor Robert F. Stambaugh and two colleagues shows that market-wide investor sentiment is a key influence in such stock return anomalies.
 
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    swombat.com

  • The bastards book of Ruby

    Daniel Tenner
    16 May 2012 | 1:15 pm
    The best way, and reason, to learn a programming language is to do something with it. Here's a book that describes itself thus: The Bastards Book of Ruby is an introduction to programming and its practical uses for journalists, researchers, scientists, analysts, and anyone else whose job is to seek out, make sense from, and show the hard-to-find data. This does not require being "good at computers", having a background in programming, or the desire (yet) to be a full-fledged hacker/developer. It just takes an eagerness to be challenged. This practical focus (also mentioned in comments on HN…

  • How to generate startup ideas

    Daniel Tenner
    16 May 2012 | 8:15 am
    Wesley Tansey proposes a number of techniques for generating startup ideas. The techniques are useful tools to expand your repertoire of techniques, but the key point, in my opinion, is after the list: One important thing to remember is that these are not meant to be options that you choose at the start. Rather, consider each of these strategies to be a background process that runs continuously in your mind. Every time you encounter a problem, if it may be solvable by one of these strategies, that’s a potential startup idea! This echoes what I've pointed out before: the way to generate…

  • Cold calling versus AdWords

    Daniel Tenner
    14 May 2012 | 2:15 am
    Here's a great article by Robert Graham, where he explains how he developed a cold-calling approach to generate early leads and enable himself to figure out what his intended customers wanted. Robert takes us through the evolution of his cold call pitch, culminating with a win-win approach that worked out for him: Sure enough, each and every prospect, skeptical or not, I used this pitch on agreed to have me out. I booked a week of appointments in a handful of calls. I was so successful, I was forced to start telling people I would contact them the following month to set a date. I had too many…

  • How to scale a development team

    Daniel Tenner
    14 May 2012 | 12:15 am
    Here's an interesting article by Heroku founder Adam Wiggins on managing the expansion of a startup's development team through its life, using Heroku as an example. Some thoughts: The light touch approach early on feels right to me based on my management experience. More formal processes are more likely to hurt a small team than help it. That said, that depends on the team, and also on whether that team is distributed. If you don't get to be in the same room every day, even with just 3 people you probably need to put in place some kinds of processes to keep everyone in sync. The split into…

  • The right kind of ambition

    Daniel Tenner
    11 May 2012 | 1:15 pm
    A comment by Marcus Frödin pointed me to this excellent article by Ben Horowitz, that I somehow missed when it came out. Ben offers some great advice on how to select the right kind of people to join your company, particularly when it comes to salespeople: People who view the world through the me prism might describe a prior company’s failure in an interview as follows: “My last job was my e-commerce play. I felt that it was important to round out my resume.” Note the use of “my” to personalize the company in a way that it’s unlikely that anyone else at the company would agree…
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    VatorNews.tv

  • Q1 2012: Number of tech M&As are down, but value is up

    16 May 2012 | 1:25 pm
    Tech deal volume may have dropped 7% since last quarter, but 9 deals were multi-billion dollar M&As  Even as we see an overall decline in M&A deal volumes, technology companies continue to lead other sectors in U.S., according to PwC’s US technology M&A Insights report that came out today.  This report reflected that, while technology companies are pursuing larger acquisitions, the volume of these acquisitions has decreased since the last quarter of 2011. PwC’s US technology M&A Insights is a quarterly analysis based on data for transactions with a disclosed…

  • Smartphone users spending more time on apps than Web

    16 May 2012 | 9:50 am
    The Android Market, App Store are shifting how smartphone owners use their phoneAs the market shifts toward a smartphone-only environment, with now more than 50% of mobile users buying a smartphone, apps have become more central in this technology shift. Nielsen released some data this morning that is showing how reliant people are becoming on apps, and their ability to personalize their smart device to manage their entertainment and lives with the swipe of a finger. This new data compared smartphone users to see just where the app and smartphone shifts were occurring. Last year smartphones…

  • Today's Entrepreneur - Today's Entrepreneur: Eman Talei

    16 May 2012 | 9:37 am
    No. 1 mistake: Falling in love with their idea and jumping into it without researchToday's Entrepreneur is Eman Talei, CEO of Jeebster.com. According to his VEQ Eman is good at negotiation, networking, sales management. 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 entrepreneurs an opportunity to showcase themselves and tell their story. So if you are an…

  • Facebook adds 25% more stock to sell 2 days before IPO

    16 May 2012 | 9:24 am
    Facebook shareholders are looking to pocket more cash as the big day inches closer  Facebook has, once again, updated its S-1 filing on Wednesday morning to add more shares to the Friday IPO. While, earlier this week, the company added 50.6 million, this morning's update bumps it up another 25% to 421.2 million shares, which could raise an additional $3 billion to make the initial share sale worth as much as $16 billion.  If the company does end up selling its available share on Friday to the tune of $16 billion, it would be the largest tech IPO in history, and the third largest…

  • Fotopedia wows once more with latest app, Morocco

    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    The company sees a 70% jump in traffic in just the last monthWhat’s a fancy pants Retina display without pretty pictures to look at?  Fotopedia, the company that brought you mesmerizing photographs of sites as near and far as Paris, Japan, and North Korea (among others), shines again with another gem.  The company released its latest app, Morocco, Wednesday.  The app is the first from Fotopedia designed specifically for the Retina display on the new iPad. The company also announced that page views have jumped 70% just in the last month and is now serving up 200 million…
 
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    Small Business Labs

  • Super Temps to the Rescue

    Steve
    16 May 2012 | 3:00 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…

  • Grim Job Market Continues for Young Americans

    Steve
    15 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    Although the overall labor market continues to improve, there isn't a lot of good job news for young Americans.  The Economic Policy Institute's The Class of 2012 lays out how the job situation is for those 25 and younger. The key data is the current unemployment rate for workers under the age of 25 is 16.4%.  A couple of other data points of interest are: For high school grads under 25 the unemployment rate is 31% For college grads under 25 the unemployment rate is 9.4% Useful data for parents trying to show the value of a college education to their kids.  But even…

  • Cleveland's Startup Accelerator Program

    Steve
    14 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    Shaker LaunchHouse is a 23,000 square foot startup accelerator located in Shaker Heights, a suburb of Cleveland. They are sponsoring a 12 week residential accelerator program that will provide $25,000 in funding, classes on entrepreneurship, mentoring and networking for 10 startup teams.  The program begins on September 3rd and is held at LaunchHouse (bring your long johns, winter starts early in Cleveland). You need to apply by July 1st.   Their press release provides the following program description: The LaunchHouse Accelerator program aims to help entrepreneurs take their…

  • Offices Going to the Dogs

    Steve
    11 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    For the 2nd week in a row, we have story on dogs.  Workforce's Pet Projects (registration required) covers the growing trend of employers letting employees bring pets to work, especially dogs.   The article says pets in the office reduce stress and increase employee loyalty.   As proof, the article cites a study showing that "pets in the workplace reduce stress, absenteeism and turnover and improve morale." In addition to allowing pets in their offices, companies are starting to offer pet benefits. Examples from the article include:  - Home…

  • Is the Venture Capital Industry Broken?

    Steve
    9 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    According to the Kauffman Foundation, the VC industry is very broken. Their report "We Have Met the Enemy ... And He Is Us" is a damning analysis of Venture Capital as an asset class and the Venture Capital industry in general. The news here isn't that the VC industry is broken.  This has been actively discussed for years.   The news is who's saying it's broken.   The Kauffman Foundation has long been a close friend of the VC industry.  In addition to investing many millions of dollars with VCs, Kauffman's mission of supporting…
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    Ben Parr's Entrepreneurial Musings

  • What is your favorite airline?!

    Ben Parr
    15 May 2012 | 6:57 pm
    Tweet

  • Quora’s Worth $400 Million Now

    Ben Parr
    14 May 2012 | 4:22 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…

  • Had Sex With Tim Tebow? Congrats, You’re a Millionaire!

    Ben Parr
    11 May 2012 | 3:06 pm
    Tweet Yes, this is real. The infidelity dating site AshleyMadison is offering a million dollars for evidence of Tim Tebow straying from the righteous path (he claims he’s a virgin). Great PR stunt for both Rewarder and AshleyMadison. I highly, highly doubt they will uncover any evidence of Tim Tebow… indulging himself. But if they do… well damn, that’d be one hell of a story. via @meganberry

  • One Minute Startup Tips: First Video

    Ben Parr
    9 May 2012 | 3:16 pm
    Tweet

  • May 18 Is the Facebook IPO

    Ben Parr
    1 May 2012 | 5:29 pm
    Tweet BREAKING: Facebook’s IPO is set for May 18. The IPO roadshow will start on Monday. on.wsj.com/97vJbq — Wall Street Journal (@WSJ) May 1, 2012 I predict Facebook will be worth $130 billion before the end of the summer, if not sooner. Let the fun begin!
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    Business tips for startups by proven entrepreneurs - Mixergy

  • The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future – with Chris Guillebeau

    Andrew Warner
    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    How do you build a profitable startup startup for $100? Chris Guillebeau spent even less than that to build his business, which includes Unconventional Guides, a site that helps people do more of what they’re excited about, like traveling the world. And a blog, called The Art of Non-Conformity. His latest book is called The $100 Startup. 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.   About Chris Guillebeau Chris Guillebeau is the author of The $100…

  • Optimizely’s Founder is volunteering to help you get more leads and customers

    Andrew Warner
    15 May 2012 | 11:22 am
    Do you have a web page that you’re using to get sales or leads? Can I help you get MORE? I want to show your page to Dan Siroker, Optimizely‘s founder, and ask him what changes he’d make to get it to convert better. Optimizely is the conversion tool that many founders I interviewed on Mixergy use to increase their conversions. Dan wants to show you how what’s working for them will change your results. I’ll do it too. I’m going to show him the “welcome mat” that new visitors see when they come to Mixergy.com. Want to participate? In the comments,…

  • How to get people to do what you want

    ArieSaint
    15 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    This guide is based on Mixergy’s interview with Mark Goulston. After coaching clients who had trouble managing other people, Mark Goulston wrote a book about how to get people to do what you want. It was all done using psychological techniques, so we invited him to teach you how to do it. Mark is a psychiatrist, a consultant, a business coach, and is the author of Just Listen, a book that teaches people how to get through to others. Here are the actionable highlights from the interview. 1. Stay cool in tough situations so you can find a solution to your problems rationally Mark…

  • The Power Of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business – with Charles Duhigg

    Andrew Warner
    14 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Have you ever wanted to exercise more, or make more calls to clients, or just avoid junk food? And instead of supporting you, your mind and habits stop you from making these improvements? You’re about to find out how to take control of your habits and have them lead you to the life that you want. Charles Duhigg is the author of The Power of Habit. It’s a book that will change your life and your startup’s chances to achieve your vision. In this interview, I want to show you how habits are controlling you today and give you an understanding of how you can control your own…

  • How to find great mentors, even if you’re an introvert

    ArieSaint
    11 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    This guide is based on Mixergy’s course with Ruben Gamez. As an introvert, Ruben Gamez couldn’t connect with anyone he met at a three-day conference, so instead he built online relationships with mentors that helped him increase conversions by 10 percent. It was all done using networking techniques for introverts, so we invited him to teach you how to do it. Ruben is the founder of Bidsketch, a proposal software application that lets website designers create, track, and customize proposals in minutes. Here are the actionable highlights from the course. 1. Send short emails so people…
 
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    Tony Wright's Startup Front-EndTony Wright's Startup Front-End -

  • A Grand Experiment: Farewell Seattle, Hello Silicon Valley

    admin
    7 May 2012 | 11:12 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 | 7:00 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 | 12:15 pm
    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 | 12:15 pm
    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 | 12:48 pm
    (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…
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    The Businessmakers Radio Show

  • Women Mean Business - Ann Compton

    The Businessmakers Radio Show - Leisa Holland-Nelson
    12 May 2012 | 3:30 am
    Women Mean Business host Leisa Holland-Nelson, president of ContentActive, interviews ABC News Washington correspondent Ann Compton.

  • Tim Berry - Palo Alto Software

    The Businessmakers Radio Show - Russ Capper
    12 May 2012 | 3:30 am
    Our ONE THOUSANDTH interview and it’s a biggie! Russ interviews Tim Berry, founder of Palo Alto Software, co-founder of Borland International, blogger and evangelist for business planning and entrepreneurism. Berry is a major participant in many assorted entrepreneurial competitions; he is being interviewed in Austin, TX where he is serving as a judge at the University of Texas Venture Labs Investment Competition. At one time, Berry thought he was going to be a writer. He quickly determined that he didn’t want to WRITE about business, he wanted to be IN business. It’s a wild story of an…

  • PKF Texas: The Entrepreneur’s Playbook® - Scott Soles

    The Businessmakers Radio Show - Greg Price
    12 May 2012 | 3:30 am
    The energy industry has unique issues and risks to mitigate. Greg Price interviews Scott Soles, Energy Practice.

  • School of Business 05/12/2012

    The Businessmakers Radio Show - Russ Capper|Leisa Holland-Nelson
    12 May 2012 | 3:30 am
    Russ and Leisa host the show that features those that make it happen: the entrepreneurs, and the real business makers. It’s our 1,000th guest interview, and we’re celebrating! Includes: the BusinessMakers Quote of the Week—more awkward truth from comedian Steven Wright; This Week in Business History includes big moments like the founding of the Mississippi River Steamboat Service, the introduction of Spam and SpaghettiOs and the U.S. files an antitrust case against Microsoft; and the Jargon Challenge Round—trendy technospeak that YOU should know.

  • Women Mean Business - Moira Forbes

    The Businessmakers Radio Show - Leisa Holland-Nelson
    5 May 2012 | 3:30 am
    Women Mean Business host Leisa Holland-Nelson, president of ContentActive, interviews Moira Forbes, Forbes Woman.
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    Up and Running

  • The Rule of 10 for Product Design

    David Schroeder
    15 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    In product design, mistakes are costly, and the longer it takes to discover a problem, the more costly it becomes. I came across an article written by Dr. David M. Anderson about Design for Manufacturability where he talks about “The Rule of 10“.  He claims that it costs 10 times more to find and repair a defect at the next stage of assembly, and then it costs 10 times more at each subsequent stage of assembly. So following his rule of 10 it goes something like this… Level of Completion Cost to find & Repair Defect the part itself X at sub-assembly 10 X at final…

  • Building Trust with Quality Website Content

    Tara Hornor
    14 May 2012 | 9:40 am
      When asked what’s the most important thing to a website owner for building their site, often the response revolves around ad revenues or social media management tools. But both of these answers ignore the most fundamental part of ensuring long-term growth: trust between the site and the visitors. Without trust, why should readers return? Why would they give you an email address or open an email from you? Trust is critical, and the best way to earn it is with quality website content that readers or customers can rely on. Bear in mind that building trust with quality website…

  • Does Your Company Meet Just to Meet?

    Dave Thomas
    11 May 2012 | 9:45 am
    All companies have their own way of going about meetings. In some cases, businesses have the employees in their different departments meet on a regular basis in order to make sure everything is in order, people are handling their individual responsibilities, and any and all questions can be asked and hopefully answered. In other instances, companies will rarely bring their employees together to meet, leaving lots of unanswered questions, and an atmosphere of uncertainty. So, which road should your business take to best position itself for success? In looking at the pros and cons of meetings,…

  • Tim Berry to be Featured on BusinessMakers Radio Show

    Jay Snider
    10 May 2012 | 5:30 pm
    The BusinessMakers Show will broadcast an interview with Palo Alto Software founder and president, Tim Berry, on Saturday, May 12. Tim will share his experiences and expertise on business planning as well as his personal experiences as an entrepreneur. The discussion will also look at the importance of succession planning, recounting Tim’s transfer of management of Palo Alto Software to his daughter and current CEO, Sabrina Parsons. The BusinessMakers Show will follow up with an interview with Ms. Parsons that will broadcast on May 19. Starting this Saturday, you can listen to the…

  • The leap from employee to entrepreneur – Small Business Spotlight

    Jay Snider
    10 May 2012 | 9:30 am
    It’s never easy to leave a stable job to launch a startup. But sometimes circumstances align and a budding entrepreneur just knows that the time is right to make the leap. Ben Lamson and Sulaiman Sanni, WeDidIt cofounders Sulaiman Sanni and his partner Ben Lamson were both working  for Meltwater Group, a large, well known Software as a Service company, Su as a social media consultant and Ben as a sales manager. As Su says “We were both in good positions. We were doing well and we liked working there.” But at the same time, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding were getting…
 
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    Tech Cocktail

  • Who’s Seattle’s Hottest Startup? [Poll]

    Frank Gruber
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    As we prepare for the upcoming Tech Cocktail Seattle Mixer and Startup Showcase later this month (register here), we’re curious who is Seattle’s hottest startup?  As the headquarters of a number of iconic companies such as Amazon, Starbucks and Microsoft plus newer companies like Zillow, Redfin and Cheezburger, Seattle also hosts a top 15 accelerator program (TechStars Seattle – #7) and Startup Weekend HQ- so obviously the Seattle startup scene is teeming with potential. We want you to weigh in. Who is Seattle’s hottest startup?  Let us know by making your…

  • Find On-Street and Garage Parking Easily With the ParkMe App

    Monika Jansen
    16 May 2012 | 10:54 am
    When we last covered ParkMe, they were known as Parking in Motion. While the app still uses technology to help you find parking spaces, this young startup has made quite a few changes so they can better capitalize on their potential: “The end game is to not think about parking.” And they have a lot of potential.  Not only are they Series A funded, they are about to close another round in the coming weeks. Some of their funding is from Fontialis Ventures, which was founded by Bill Ford – as in Ford Motor Company – who wants to get ParkMe’s technology into cars. ParkMe is also…

  • Fantasy Politics Games Proliferate: Fanitics Launches This Month

    Gulnara Mirzakarimova
    16 May 2012 | 10:00 am
    Just last week we covered Fantasy Politics, a game that takes fantasy football to a whole new level.  Now we have Fanitics, a Facebook application that tracks presidential candidates, governors and Congressional members on metrics like media mentions, facts, fundraising, polling, bill tracking, Twitter followers, etc. It’s free to play and the rules are the same as for fantasy sports games. You can join a public league or create your own, where you can draft, trade and bench your players. The premise for the Fanitics was born during a fantasy baseball game among JD Chang, the founder, and…

  • College Professors Build ‘Disruptive’ Imaging Technology; Interview with Arqball Founder Jason Lawrence

    Zach Davis
    16 May 2012 | 7:46 am
    It’s not uncommon for great product ideas to come from the university.  The following story falls under this category. What makes this story interesting, however, is that the innovators aren’t the ones sitting in the lecture hall’s seats – they’re standing behind the podium. Arqball‘s co-founders, Jason Lawrence and Abhi Shelat, are both professors at the University of Virginia. Their first product, Arqball Spin, integrates their native mobile app (free on iTunes) with a smartphone’s “computational photography” to create a 360-degree,…

  • Tech Tips: Avoiding Intellectual Property Issues on Twitter

    Antigone Peyton
    15 May 2012 | 4:00 pm
    Startups use free advertising channels like social media to get the word out about their company, and their employees tend to be active and avid Twitter users. So do the standard intellectual property rules apply to Twitter? After all, how much trouble can you get into with 140 characters? Answer: A lot. You can even get into trouble based on how you set up a company or personal Twitter account and description before you send your first tweet. The law’s still gelling in this area, but here are 3 solid don’ts you can take to the bank: 1. Don’t set up account names and descriptions that…
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    Forbes - Entrepreneurs

  • Qualtrics: Tech's Hidden Gem In Utah

    Victoria Barret
    16 May 2012 | 1:26 pm
    How a family in Provo built one of the fastest-growing, most profitable software firms no one has ever heard of apart from its fanatic customers.

  • Gimme, Gimme, Gimme -- Millennials in the Workplace

    Ty Kiisel
    16 May 2012 | 1:25 pm
    According to Dan Schawbel there are about 80 million millennials and 79 million boomers in the U.S. today with about half of the younger generation in the workforce. "All in all, it’s a pretty bad time to be a young worker (or aspiring young worker) in America," write Schawbel. "Unemployment and

  • Google And Bing Search Engines Get Smarter, More Social

    TJ McCue
    16 May 2012 | 1:22 pm
    As Google and Microsoft plan to make the search experience better for consumers, small business will benefit. Some call it a search engine war. It is more like a search engine extravaganza. Read on. Google calls its new work the “Knowledge Graph” perhaps similar to Facebook’s Social Graph, but Google wants to inventory the 3.5 billion connections between the millions of “things” on the web and in the real world. Microsoft’s Bing rolled out its Social Search on May 15.

  • How to Turn a Financial Crisis into a Business Opportunity

    Dan Simon
    16 May 2012 | 1:20 pm
    Believe it or not, when we founded our US business seven years ago, banks were thought of as boring, ‘the 1%’ referred to low-fat milk, and Wall Street was a place young graduates lined up to work, not occupy.

  • In praise of Legal Aid lawyers (by a white collar criminal defense practitioner)

    Lawrence Bader
    16 May 2012 | 1:12 pm
    Who are some of society’s most under-appreciated members?  Teachers always seem to be at the top of the list, and with good reason.  We put our cherished children in their capable hands and pay them a fraction of what “professionals” like lawyers and doctors make.  Teachers, however, have the pleasure of helping children learn, which can be among the most rewarding feelings imaginable.
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    Startup Professionals Musings

  • Know the Right Resources for Your Startup Stage

    16 May 2012 | 8:30 am
    Some entrepreneurs start polling venture capitalists for that multi-million dollar investment before they even have a business plan. That’s like trying to sell part of something to a stranger for big money when you haven’t fully defined it yet. It won’t work, it costs time and money, and hurts your credibility for when you need them later. Every entrepreneur needs help and support along the way, from developing the initial idea, to selling off the successful business (exit strategy). The challenge is finding and using qualified affordable support organizations for each stage. Don’t…

  • Great Businesses Evolve Innovation to a Revolution

    15 May 2012 | 8:30 am
    Great businesses these days start with innovation, and then take it up a few notches to make it a revolution. An example is Google, who turned a new search technology into a tool that most of us couldn’t live without. As an entrepreneur, how do you know if you have the potential to innovate, and what are the steps to get from innovation to revolution? While digging into this subject, I came across a recent book by Patrick J. Howie, called “The Evolution of Revolutions,” which makes the points that resonate with my experience. He starts with a discussion of the Big Five personality…

  • Test Your Business Model Against These 10 Elements

    14 May 2012 | 8:30 am
    You can’t succeed in business without an operational model that delivers value to customers at a reasonable price, with an underlying cost that allows you to make a profit. There are no “overrides” – for example, businesses don’t thrive just because they offer the latest technology, or because everyone wants to be “green, or because their goal is to reduce world hunger. I expect that should seem intuitive to all entrepreneurs, but every investor I know has many stories about startup funding requests with major business model elements missing. The most common failures are solutions…

  • Successful Startups Often Come With a High Price

    13 May 2012 | 9:31 am
    Most entrepreneurs expect to face the “normal” challenges of starting a business, which include finding the right opportunity, building and executing a winning plan, and financing their venture. But many forget the pitfalls associated with traditional business jobs which can apply even to the smartest and most dedicated people running their own business. Often these facets of entrepreneurship don’t rear their ugly head until well down the road. Yet before you start, you should think about what the impact might be on your psyche, and how to neutralize these challenges in your own plan.

  • Smart Entrepreneurs Plan Multiple Rollout Iterations

    12 May 2012 | 10:05 am
    The traditional mode of starting a company is to plan a serial process, where you complete only once all the steps, leading to the “big bang” launch of the company. I strongly recommend a dramatic departure from this model, called “planned iteration,” where you assume you won’t get it right the first time. This idea was well articulated by Paul Graham in an old essay, called “Startups in 13 Sentences” in which he talked about “making a few people really happy rather than making a lot of people semi-happy.” One of his key points is that “launching teaches you what you…
 
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    Great Demo!

  • Great Demo! Public Workshop May 23

    Peter E. Cohan
    2 May 2012 | 12:55 pm
    [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 | 6:21 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 | 1:45 pm
    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 | 10:49 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 | 1:36 pm
    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!
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    The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com

  • Randy Swopes, Illinois Man Who Sewed Son's Buttocks Shut, Takes Alford Plea

    The Huffington Post News Editors
    16 May 2012 | 1:28 pm
    A northeast Illinois man who stood accused of using a needle and thread to sew his son's buttocks shut has accepted a plea agreement and will not spend any time in prison.Randy Swopes, 52, of Waukegan, entered an Alford plea Friday to aggravated battery. In an Alford plea, a defendant does not admit guilt but acknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence to possibly win a conviction. Swopes was sentenced to 24 months of probation and 250 hours of community service.Swopes' son reportedly suffers from Crohn's Disease. According to WebMD, the condition is an inflammatory bowel disease that…

  • Richard Klass: Vampires and Mattresses

    Richard Klass
    16 May 2012 | 1:26 pm
    There it was, that thing that could not be killed. A vampire was staring directly at me. In the full glory of a New York Times headline it glared at me through my computer screen: "Republicans Pledge New Standoff on Debt Limit."Speaker John Boehner is promising a rematch of last summer's debt ceiling fight. You remember. The brawl that shook the financial markets and caused a downgrade in the debt rating of the United States of America is up for a rematch. Once again, the hapless Speaker is playing the mouthpiece to his Tea Party irredentists. His stand? Unless the amount of the debt ceiling…

  • Healthy Food Isn't Necessarily More Expensive Than Junk Food, Study Finds

    The Huffington Post News Editors
    16 May 2012 | 1:26 pm
    WASHINGTON -- Is it really more expensive to eat healthy?A new Agriculture Department study counters a common perception that junk food is cheaper than a nutritionally balanced meal.Read More... More on Video

  • Mitt Romney's Gay Rights Views Caused Family Friction In 2002

    The Huffington Post News Editors
    16 May 2012 | 1:25 pm
    WASHINGTON -- As complicated as the politics of gay marriage have been for President Barack Obama to navigate, they have proven problematic for Mitt Romney as well.Immediately after the president announced his support for marriage equality, his re-election campaign went on the offensive, charging Romney, the presumptive Republican nominee, with being more regressive on LGBT rights than former President George W. Bush."If the Republican Party thinks this is a great issue they sure are looking reticent about it," one top Obama strategist told The Huffington Post. "I think Romney, like [with]…

  • Post-It Note Prank At Cascade High School Leaves Students Suspended, Janitor Fired (VIDEO)

    The Huffington Post News Editors
    16 May 2012 | 1:25 pm
    A senior prank has led six Cascade High School students in Clayton, Ind., to be suspended, caused one custodian to be fired, and sparked outrage among their classmates this week, WISH-TV reports.Students said the prank, which involved sticking 12,000 Post-it notes to the windows and walls of the school, was intended to be harmless.“We figured it's cheap, easy, creative, it doesn’t damage anything,” Anthony Canaday, one of the suspended seniors, told WISH-TV.Read More... More on Video
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    youngentrepreneurfoundation.wordpress.com

  • Best of Young Entrepreneur Foundation Blog – Part 1

    kathykormanfrey
    30 Apr 2012 | 7:48 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 | 3:51 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 | 11:54 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 | 12:44 pm
    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 | 3:29 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…
 
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    Where Young Entrepreneurs Meet and Start-Up » Blog

  • Online Education for Young Entrepreneurs: Worth Your Time?

    Lambeth Hochwald
    16 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    Kersten Kelly never thought she’d get her MBA online. It was only when the 25-year-old owner of a resume-reviewing service, TheResumeReviewer.com, and regional sales manager for a private-label biscuit company, got a job that required her to relocate to a remote part of the country that pursuing an online MBA made sense. “I wanted to enhance my theoretical skills while continuing to build my in-field experience,” says Kelly who got her MBA from Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, which is located in Bloomington, Ind., four hours away from where she lived in South Bend,…

  • Shaping Crowdfunding 2.0

    Catherine Clifford
    15 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has the delicate task of writing guidelines for the next generation of crowdfunding, so that investors are protected and yet preserving its benefits to companies seeking to raise money. Crowdfunding has been mostly restricted to artists and business owners accepting small donations in exchange for things like tote bags and CDs. But the JOBS Act, signed last month, will let entrepreneurs sell pieces of their business (equity) to non-accredited investors via crowdfunding. The SEC is expected to release its guidelines early next year. The crowdfunding…

  • Entrepreneurship as a Career Choice for New Grads Gets Some Respect

    Diana Ransom
    14 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    Just when you thought the employment picture for recent grads couldn’t get any worse. A report out today shows that students are increasingly having trouble landing internships — making the experience gap between recent grads and older workers even more pronounced. Fifty percent of employers haven’t hired any interns in the past six months, according to a survey of 225 employers by the Boston-based Gen-Y consulting firm Millennial Branding, using data from career-services operator Experience Inc. The survey also shows that 91 percent of those employers think that students…

  • A Young Entrepreneur’s Best Friend is His. . . Mom?

    Adam Toren
    13 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    In starting a business, entrepreneurs often find themselves having to rely on their families — for everything from start-up capital to moral support. And while parents and loved ones often do this gladly, it can be an undeniably tough call. After all, most businesses fail — and giving a young son or daughter cash to start up a business can require a whole different level of trust than simply shelling out for a pair of Air Jordans. When my brother Matthew and I purchased a bar and pool hall in Vancouver at just 20 and 19 years old respectively, not getting our mom’s approval…

  • A Young Fitness Business Inspired by Mom

    Dinah Wisenberg Brin
    12 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    Giving Mom a big ‘Thank you’ on Mother’s Day is always a sweet idea. But for the 28-year-old fitness trainer and author Dustin Maher, he should show his appreciation every day of the year. After all, Maher’s mom inspired his business, a mini empire focused on getting moms in shape and helping them connect with each other. Maher, of Madison, Wis., has big plans for his business, which currently includes local MamaTone fitness classes, outdoor Fit Fun Bootcamps at 11 sites, his Fit Moms for Life: How to Have Endless Energy to Outplay Your Kids book and a workout-DVD…
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    Grade A Entrepreneurs

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

    admin
    12 May 2012 | 10:16 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
    2 May 2012 | 1:04 am
    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 | 8:05 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 | 8:08 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 | 6:07 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…
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    silicontap.com - Silicon Valley High Tech News

  • Facebook Expands IPO Size

    16 May 2012 | 10:50 am
    Under what looks to be a severe oversubscription to Facebook's upcoming IPO, the company filed a new S-1 this morning, saying that it will now offer up 421,233,615 shares of its stock in its IPO offering, expected to price Thursday evening and trade Friday morning. The company, which will trade on the NASDAQ Global Market as FB, is set to be worth over $16 billion, making it the largest ever technology IPO. The new shares would come from existing shareholders. READ MORE>>

  • Simplee Tracks Down $6M

    15 May 2012 | 1:42 pm
    Palo Alto-based Simplee, which develops an online service to help patients track, review, and pay medical claims and bills online, said today that it has raised $6M in a Series A round worth $6M. The round came from Social+Capital Partners, as well as Greylock Partners. Simplee said that Social+Capital Partnership's Ted Maidenberg and Greylock's Tilli Kalisky have joined the board with the funding. Simplee is headed by Tomer Shoval. READ MORE>>

  • ModCloth Sews Up $25M

    15 May 2012 | 1:26 pm
    San Francisco-based ModCloth, an online retailer which sells vintage fashion and decor, said today that it has raised $25M in a funding round. The round was led by Norwest Venture partners, and also included existing investors Accel Partners, FirstRound Capital, Floodgate, Harrison Metal, and Jeff Fluhr, the founder of StubHub. As part of the funding, Josh Goldman of Norwest Venture Partners will join the company's board. ModCloth was founded by husband and wife Eric Koger and Susan Gregg Koger. READ MORE>>

  • Lightbox Acquired By Facebook

    15 May 2012 | 12:33 pm
    Lightbox, a developer of photo sharing services for Android, is being acquired by Facebook, the company told its users Tuesday morning. Financial terms of the buy were not announced. According to Lightbox founders Thai Tran and Nilesh Patel, the firm will be shutting down it services, allowing its users to download photos until June 15th, and will open source portions of the code it has written for the service. The two said they will be working on Facebook's mobile products. Lightbox had been backed by Index Ventures, Accel Partners, SV Angel, 500 Startups, as well as other angels. READ…

  • Facebook Ups IPO Pricing Range

    15 May 2012 | 7:56 am
    As the frenzy towards the IPO of Facebook builds, the social networking site said in a filing that it has raised its initial public offering price to between $34.00 and $38.00 per share. The pricing range is up significantly from its initial estimates of $28.00 to $35.00 per share, which it set on May 3rd. Facebook is widely expected to hit the markets this week, on the heels of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's birthday. READ MORE>>
 
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    Austin Startup

  • BuildASign Continues Rapid Growth, Moves to New HQ

    Bryan Menell
    15 May 2012 | 5:40 pm
    BuildASign.com, a leading online custom printing provider, today opened the doors to its expanded office and manufacturing spaces following a year of incredible business growth. An official ribbon cutting ceremony was hosted by BuildASign.com CEO Dan Graham and Phyllis Snodgrass of the Austin Chamber of Commerce Tuesday afternoon at the new location in North Austin. The expanded facilities more than double the company’s space, with over 80,000 square feet split between its corporate office and manufacturing space. Continue reading →

  • Infoglide and BusinessForensics Partner

    Bryan Menell
    15 May 2012 | 10:59 am
    BusinessForensics, the new leader in risk, fraud and compliance management software for financial institutions, Government agencies and corporations today announced it is enhancing its core application sets by incorporating Infoglide’s market-leading Identity Resolution Engine® (IRE) software. Continue reading →

  • Austin Tech Happy Hour on May 24th at Molotov

    Bryan Menell
    14 May 2012 | 3:03 pm
    We're pleased to announce the next Austin Tech Happy Hour on Thursday, May 24th at Molotov from 6pm - 8pm sponsored by Hostway! Continue reading →

  • River City Circle Hosts Tweetup May 24

    Matt Scherer
    10 May 2012 | 11:31 am
    The River City Circle will hold a tweetup May 24 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Geekdom, 112 Pecan Street. Investors in the group will celebrate the San Antonio debut of Lobo and Lobo Negro brewed by the Pedernales Brewery, based in San Antonio. "We're celebrating what I would term a Populist form of fund raising to begin operations," Jim Montgomery, one of the River City Circle's founders, said. Investors bought one to two shares valued at $10,000 each to fund the brewery, Montgomery noted. Austin and San Antonio investors who want to know about the funding process behind the River City Circle can go…

  • CopperEgg Announces $2.1Million in Funding, New CEO

    Bryan Menell
    8 May 2012 | 12:55 pm
    CopperEgg, a cloud monitoring and analytics company, today announced the addition of tech industry veteran Bob Quillin as CEO, as well as an additional $2.1M to complete their Series A Funding round. Silverton Partners was the lead investor and is joined by a group of new venture and corporate investors including Webb Investment Network, the investment fund of former eBay COO Maynard Webb, and several private investors including Asana executive Kenny Van Zant; bringing total financing to $4.1M. Continue reading →
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    Escape From Cubicle Nation

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

    ssanders
    16 May 2012 | 12:56 pm
    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 | 4:04 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 | 1:14 pm
    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 | 6:04 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:…

  • Calling on your inner badass to step up to the plate

    Pamela
    24 Apr 2012 | 1:52 pm
    Dine’ (Navajo) Chief Manuelito In the seven years that I have been parenting, I have had a few less than proud moments. Like the potato chip for dinner situation. And the losing the birthday invitation that my 4-year old had been looking forward to all week, resulting in a missed party. And, well, I don’t want to make this too long of a blog post. You get the idea. But sometimes I have what could be construed as a not-so-proud moment with one of my kids that turns into something that is actually quite profound. The potty mouth badass recognizing moment The other day, I was driving…
 
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    Rajesh Setty » Blog

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

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    11 May 2012 | 1:39 pm
    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…

  • The 110% Question

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    10 May 2012 | 1:04 pm
    Giving your 110% to something or the proverbial “walking the extra mile” is generally good. There is one dilemma that comes with it. If you don’t notice it, you may end up putting your energy in the wrong place. The Wrong Question The dilemma or the catch is in situations where you have to stretch and go beyond the call of duty. Let’s take a hypothetical situation where you are bringing your 110% into the game. Unfortunately, the situation is such that your 110% is not sufficient to make things happen. It requires a lot more from you. One option is that you keep giving…

  • The curious case of “Show, Not Tell”

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    10 May 2012 | 1:22 am
    “Show, not tell” is something that works every time like a charm. This is simply because the burden of proof is no longer in question once you show. Even people who just “tell” know that “show, not tell” is better. The Articulate Incapable A class of people who are “articulate incapable” are creating a new kind of problem for everyone else. Once someone has had a bad experience with one or more “articulate incapable” people, they suspect everyone else. Because they don’t know whether you belong to the class of “articulate…

  • Burden for Some or Blessing for Many?

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    9 May 2012 | 1:59 am
    Ask anyone a simple question: Do you want to be a 1) burden for some OR 2) blessing for many Rarely will anybody pick the option 1. Nobody wants to be a burden for some. Besides, it would be politically incorrect to pick that choice, don’t you think? So, it is safe to assume that 99.9% of the people will pick option 2. They want to be a blessing for many. In other words, intention-wise, we are all doing good. Majority of the people want to change the world for the better. Then, why do you think we have so many problems? The answer is in the old adage – “knowing is not doing…

  • My job is done!

    thinksulting@gmail.com (Rajesh Setty)
    7 May 2012 | 9:18 pm
    The real problem is not with the problem who don’t get their job done. They will be weeded out sooner than later. The problem comes when people just get their job done AND nothing else, consistently and over a long period of time. Think about it. It seems like unfair to complain about people who get their job done. Why blame them? The birth of mediocrity Mediocrity is not meeting the standards expected. That would be non-performance. Mediocrity takes birth when people choose to do JUST what is required of them. If everyone in a department, takes that approach, the choreographer (the…
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    Get Elastic Ecommerce Blog

  • The Business of APIs: Interview with an API Evangelist

    Linda Bustos
    16 May 2012 | 3:03 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 | 6:42 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…

  • How Mobile Influences the Customer Journey [Infographic]

    Linda Bustos
    11 May 2012 | 3:02 am
    Is it the year of the mobile yet?Perhaps tablet penetration is only 13%, but 69% of tablet owners make a purchase from their device every month.This week’s infographic is courtesy of Mobtext and inMobi: The Role of Connected Devices in the Customer Sales Journey. It breaks down how tablets, laptops and mobile phones are used at home, at work and on the go throughout the purchase funnel.Click to enlarge infographic to full sizeSurprised that tablets are rarely used in the purchase funnel on the go? Not so surprising when you consider 9 out of 10 tablet owners prefer wifi to 3G.

  • 5 Tips for Custom Facebook Open Graph Buttons

    Linda Bustos
    9 May 2012 | 3:03 am
    Since reporting late last year that Facebook sharing buttons, through the Open Graph, will morph into a variety of creative verbs and nouns beyond Like, Share and Recommend, custom integrations have been gradually popping up around the Web.Custom Facebook buttons enhance the connection between consumption and social networking, allowing consumers to express how they feel about brands and products – a trend that’s catching on thanks to Pinterest.But just having buttons isn’t enough – like any call-to-action, they should be optimized.5 Tips for Custom Open Graph Facebook…

  • Why Upgrade? How to Convert More Free Users to Premium

    Linda Bustos
    7 May 2012 | 3:04 am
    In a recent Get Elastic post we looked at the business model of freemium, and 9 strategic mistakes to avoid.Today we drill down into the challenge of converting free users to premium — with tips to maximize your potential.Note: this article focuses on freemium models with premium “upgrades,” rather than free apps with add-on options that may be purchased to enhance user experience.Stop selling freeThink it’s easy to turn a free user to a paying customer once they get hooked on your product? Not necessarily. If your product offers free and paid versions, users who…
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    Planning Startup Stories

  • Some Suggestions for Family Business

    Tim Berry
    15 May 2012 | 10:49 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…

  • Is Venture Capital Gone Forever

    Tim Berry
    14 May 2012 | 10:35 am
    I completely agree with Steve King of Small Business Labs, in Is the Venture Capital Industry Broken? He says: The news here isn’t that the VC industry is broken. This has been actively discussed for years. The news is who’s saying it’s broken. Which is, in the flap this month, the Kauffman Foundation. The Kauffman Foundation has long been a close friend of the VC industry.  In addition to investing many millions of dollars with VCs, Kauffman’s mission of supporting entrepreneurs and high growth companies has resulted in them closely collaborating with the VC…

  • 3 Essential Truths About Startups and Investment

    Tim Berry
    11 May 2012 | 10:45 am
    Today I’m answering, with this post, a lot of similar questions I get often in email, where somebody is asking me how to get connected to or hooked up with or recommended properly for angel investment. Here are some unpleasant and unpopular facts about startups and investment. Only friends and family believe in you and invest in you because you’re you. And that’s if your friends and family do believe in you; that’s not true for everybody. Outside investors, in sharp contrast to friends and family, either believe in your business prospects, your market, and your team, or they…

  • The Mac vs. Windows Rivalry is Dead. Apple Won.

    Tim Berry
    10 May 2012 | 10:32 am
    Whoops. It suddenly occurred to me: the old Mac-Windows rivalry is dead. There goes a bit of industry history.  It used to be fun, back in the old days, when it mattered. If you’re old enough you’ll remember the famous 1984 Macintosh ad. I was generally forgiven by the Mac zealots for my weakness for Windows, but only because I also used Macs and recognized their superiority. My Mac friends treated my sympathy for Windows systems as a forgivable flaw in my character.  I used to tell this modified version of an old joke:  Somebody dies and goes to heaven. On arrival, St. Peter…

  • Will Success Spoil Ted.com?

    Tim Berry
    9 May 2012 | 10:50 am
    I’ve watched dozens of TED talks online and never seen a bad one. TED stands for Technology, Education, and Design. It started in 1984. Since 1990 it was located in a conference center outside of Monterrey CA. Since 2001 it’s been curated mainly by Chris Anderson. Most TED conferences were amazing. I’ve never been, but what I’ve seen is a collection of excellent presentations about compelling ideas and information delivered by the best and the brightest in the world. If you’ve been reading this blog you’ve seen TED talks off and on. Since I first…
 
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    KK Lifestream

  • This network equity is made possible by...

    16 May 2012 | 8:00 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 | 9:35 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…

  • Networks promote this equity culture.

    14 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Originally posted in New Rules The ownership of organizations is distributed and decentralized into a thousand points. The transactional costs of owning a tiny share of someone's else's dreams and ambitions continues to drop so that it becomes feasible to possess, directly and indirectly, small parts of many companies. When you invest in a mutual fund, you invest in hundreds of thousands of other people's work. You use the wealth that your own ambition has generated to seed the generation of prosperity by others. You may own only some minuscule portion of an enterprise, but you can easily own…

  • The sources of capital, which in the industrial age...

    11 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Originally posted in New Rules ...were once consolidated in a few banks and individual "capitalists," are now fragmenting into millions of networked bank accounts, mutual funds, and private investments throughout society. Elite, centralized banks used to have a monopoly on capital--the engine of capitalism. Bankers loaned their assets as debt, and from this debt, industry rose. But with increased knowledge and communication, investors realized that partnerships--or investments where the investor shares risk--yield significantly more wealth in the long run. Technology has accelerated the…

  • The network economy will unleash opportunities...

    9 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Originally posted in New Rules ...on a scale never seen before on Earth. But the network economy is not utopia. It is a unique phase of economic development much like adolescence--a thrilling, disorienting, and never-to-be repeated time. The planet can progress only once through the stage when it is first completely wrapped by networks of thought and interaction. We are now at that moment when a cloak of glass fibers and a halo of satellites are closing themselves around the globe to bring forth a seamless economic culture. This new global economic culture is characterized by decentralized…
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    Preneur Marketing Blog - Pete Williams | Author Entrepreneur

  • LD Magazine – Exclusive To The Apple Newstand + MagCast

    pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)
    16 May 2012 | 3:21 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 | 4:49 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 | 4:22 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,…

  • Managing Your Inbox: My Email Rules of Engagement

    pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)
    7 May 2012 | 4:20 pm
    I’ve held back writing on this subject because I didn’t want to just add another blog post to the millions that already talk about productivity and time management But I’m going to go ahead anyway because, frankly, there is too much advice out there that is either bad, or just pointless, abstract ideas. I’m probably partly to blame because I encourage people to position themselves as a market leader by writing articles and blog posts, and adding their voice to the online conversations that are taking place. (Apologies there!) The trouble is… Too many people are writing, without…

  • Built to Sell: A conversation with author John Warrillow

    pete@preneurmarketing.com (Pete Williams)
    6 May 2012 | 7:42 pm
    I wrote about one of my favourite books of 2011, Built to Sell by John Warrillow, on the blog while ago. (You can check out the review here.) It’s such a fantastic book for any entrepreneur building a business, whether you want to exist via a sale or just have a business that can work without you. As I said in the original post: In Built to Sell, he tells the story of a hypothetical business owner, Alex Stapleton, owner of the Stapleton Marketing Agency, a graphics design house. Alex is just like most service-based business, struggling for leverage, passive income (in the corporate…
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    Signal vs. Noise

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

    Jason F.
    14 May 2012 | 12:18 pm
    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…

  • Taking the Pain Out of MySQL Schema Changes

    John
    14 May 2012 | 8:53 am
    A common obstacle we face when releasing new features is making production schema changes in MySQL. Many new features require additional columns or indexes. Running an “ALTER TABLE” in MySQL to add the needed columns and indexes locks the table, hanging the application. We need a better solution. Option 1: Schema Change in Downtime This is the simplest option. Put the application into downtime and perform the schema change. It requires us to have the application down for the duration of the “ALTER TABLE”. We’ve successfully used this option for smaller tables…

  • Basecamp in Antarctica

    Shaun
    10 May 2012 | 9:39 am
    We have customers around the world doing extraordinary things with our software, but Ben Saunders is taking it to a whole new level. Ben and his team are using Basecamp to organize an expedition to the South Pole and back, unsupported and on foot. This is the same journey Captain Robert Scott died trying to achieve 100 years ago, and no one has attempted it since. Ben has been a professional polar explorer for more than 10 years and is one of only three people to complete a solo journey to the North Pole. He will be joined by Alastair Humphreys, who has cycled 46,000 miles around the world,…

  • Sortfolio: Going once, going twice...

    Jason F.
    7 May 2012 | 5:19 pm
    A year ago we put Sortfolio up for sale. We entertained a variety of offers, met with a few potential suitors in person, and negotiated numbers. Ultimately nothing came together. Then we shelved the process so we could focus all of our efforts on designing and building the new Basecamp. Sortfolio continued to run itself for another year, generating over $200,000 in profit for us during that time. Our paying customer count continues to hover consistently in the 170s, each paying $99/month to be listed as a premium member. The price We’ve put Sortfolio on the clock: We either sell it by…

  • VIDEO: Keynote by David from RailsConf 2012 on progress…

    David
    1 May 2012 | 2:05 pm
    Keynote by David from RailsConf 2012 on progress, curiosity, fear, and the danger of easy-bake ovens.
 
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    OnStartups

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

    Dharmesh Shah
    2 May 2012 | 1:25 pm
    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 | 2:57 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 | 10:20 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 | 10:40 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…

  • Avoiding Founder Failure: 26 Quick Tips and Real Data

    Dharmesh Shah
    26 Mar 2012 | 8:20 am
    Several years ago, I met with Noam Wasserman who had recently joined Harvard Business School as a professor.  I initially came across Noam because he was doing some fascinating research on startups -- particularly in the arena of founder relationships.  When I met him for lunch, he brought up some of the toughest issues I've ever encountered in my entrepreneurial career: Should you start a company with a close friend or family-member?  Is it wise to divide equity in the startup equally among the founders?  If you had to pick, do you want the cash (get rich) or the control…
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    Growthology

  • Bromides

    Jared Konczal
    14 May 2012 | 12:59 pm
    From a commencement address the Kauffman Foundation's president and CEO, Benno Schimdt, delivered two weeks ago (copy released today), an amusing quip: Chris Whittle and I were once criticized by our Board for having no strategy beyond survival. Chris had a great response: “First of all, I’m not sure survival is such a bad plan.…” The speech is entitled "Benno's Bromides" and I had to confess I had to search for a definition. It contains some other pieces of advice recent college graduates and young entrepreneurs might find useful.

  • Put Away the Axes

    E.J. Reedy
    11 May 2012 | 12:40 pm
    Read these other recent postings on this subject: http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/05/11/annual-census-at-risk-in-house-budget-bill/ http://community.amstat.org/AMSTAT/Blogs/BlogViewer/?BlogKey=05b8d607-c521-4d51-8228-b6b2f0826073 http://www.theatlanticcities.com/politics/2012/05/what-ending-american-community-survey-would-actually-mean/1993/ Original Post Something has been happening in DC that has gone almost unnoticed in the mainstream press – the gutting of American statistical agencies. On Wednesday, May 9, the House voted to eliminate the American Community Survey (ACS). This…

  • Impact of Occupational Licensing on Entrepreneurs

    Dane Stangler
    10 May 2012 | 8:18 am
    In the survey that Thumbtack released the other day, they found that business owners cite licensing restrictions as a burden far more often than they do anything tax-related. On the heels of the Kauffman Foundation's License to Grow report released in January, and terrific work by Morris Kleiner, the burdens and benefits of occupational licensing are finally getting more attention. And, this week, the Institute for Justice released a terrific report and helpful video that focus on the impact of licensing restrictions on low-income entrepreneurs--individuals trying to start businesses in…

  • Entrepreneurs Still Feeling Headwinds

    E.J. Reedy
    9 May 2012 | 10:22 am
    In a new report out today from the Kauffman Firm Survey, the largest and longest survey of new businesses in the world, young firms in the U.S. report a rising problem in their operations - customers paying late or not making payments.  While slow or lost sales have been at the top of young companies' list of challenges for the past few years, its impact is declining: fewer respondents cited sales as their primary business challenge in 2010 (44 percent) than in 2008 (53 percent). On the other hand, entrepreneurs who said their biggest challenge was customers paying late or not making…

  • Thumbtack Survey of Small Businesses

    Dane Stangler
    8 May 2012 | 9:51 am
    The intrepid entrepreneurs at Thumbtack have today released a fantastically detailed and informative survey of small businesses across the United States. The full results are here, and for each state, the survey provides a detailed regional breakdown as well as specific comments from business owners. Outstanding stuff.
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    Silicon Moon

  • FreeConferenceCall Launches in Korea

    9 May 2012 | 1:47 pm
    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 | 8:25 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 | 4:14 am

  • HopeMob & Shaun King on CNN

    20 Apr 2012 | 1:50 am

  • Shaun King's, HopeMob CEO, Interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien

    18 Apr 2012 | 11:47 am
    Before the meeting at Google Christine and I are hosting on Thursday, Shaun King will be interviewed by Soledad O'Brien in the morning. Check it out if you can!More from Shaun..."It's Official! We're going to be on CNN @ 8am EST w/ Soledad O'Brien CNN THIS THURSDAY (Launch Day) to discuss HopeMob!! Share this & Get Ready!!!"The launch of HopeMob is open to the public this Thursday, but please get there ahead of time to go through the security check in. You can learn more about HopeMob and meet three of the co-founders (Shaun, Dave and Sam).
 
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    Leveraging Ideas

  • Reflecting on a Life Lesson: Changing People

    Sam
    12 May 2012 | 12:13 pm
    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 | 9:49 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 | 11:58 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 | 10:15 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…

  • Hard-to-Define Jobs and Why Productivity is a Bad Metric

    Sam
    18 Sep 2011 | 10:59 pm
    During my weekend readings I came across two snippets that present an interesting take on what the future of work holds. I’m fascinated by the future of work and I’m glad to see some refreshingly unique perspectives on what to expect in terms of evolution… First Kevin Kelly on why ‘productivity’ is a worthless metric to be optimizing for: There is more to be gained by producing more opportunities than by optimizing existing ones. Productivity, however, is exactly the wrong thing to care about in the new economy. The problem with trying to measure productivity is…
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    The Startup Pitch

  • Pitch for leemail.me

    public
    16 May 2012 | 12:58 pm
    Company / App Name: leemail.me https://leemail.me/r/THESTARTUPPITCH Twitter – @leemailme What does it do? leemail gets rid of any worry about what’s going to happen to your email when you sign up to a new website. leemail works with the email you have now. You can use leemail on every website on the internet today. Why do we need it? Because we never know if a website will sell, lose or abuse our email. With leemail, if a website leaks your email you will know, and you can just switch them off. Problem solved. Who is it for? leemail is for anyone who ever hesitates before giving their…

  • Pitch for CodeNgo

    public
    16 May 2012 | 8:58 am
    Company / App Name: CodeNgo http://www.codengo.com Twitter – @AppSubmissions What does it do? Our Appstore Submissions Service allows developers to submit to multiple appstores and manage their developer accounts all from one location allowing developers to save time and ensure that their apps are available wherever consumers shop. Why do we need it? Developers want to make more money and currently it\’s cumbersome and time consuming to support lots of AppStores. This means that developers miss opportunities to get their apps in front of consumers by just focusing on the big…

  • Pitch for MapZart

    public
    14 May 2012 | 1:41 am
    Company / App Name: MapZart http://mapzart.com What does it do? MapZart enables website owners to quickly add Google maps to their sites with just two line of HTML… no programming required! MapZart even allows site visitors to dynamically add their own map points and can support multiple locations. Why do we need it? MapZart\’s API allows non-programmers to quickly add muti-location maps to their sites. What\’s more, MapZart gives site visitors the ability to add their own map points. Who is it for? Mapzart is perfect for websites that want to give thier site visitors the…

  • Pitch for BontQ

    public
    13 May 2012 | 9:41 pm
    Company / App Name: BontQ http://www.bontq.com Twitter – bontq What does it do? Bontq is a web based service, that allows you to manage projects, track bugs, add tasks and even host your SVN/GIT repositories. It even offers a dedicated app for video recording, screenshot capturing and an integrated team chat. Why do we need it? It helps you to manage your team efficiently and optimize your work process in a couple of simple steps. Who is it for? Project managers, developers, designers, engineers and even lumberjacks. What makes it stand out from the crowd? Its main advantage over the…

  • Pitch for WizeNation

    public
    13 May 2012 | 2:17 am
    Company / App Name: WizeNation http://wizenation.com What does it do? WizeNation is a location based social bulletin board where users can connect with their neighbours, local businesses, and people with similar interest and skills. Why do we need it? People need to connect with their local community. They dont need to send a friend request or follow someone from their neighborhood or city to connect with their locals. Who is it for? Everyone. What makes it stand out from the crowd? No other website offers the ability to build relationship with your neighbors and local community like…
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    Campus Entrepreneurship

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

    David J. Miller
    11 May 2012 | 7:07 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 | 9:55 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 | 5:36 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 | 1:11 pm
    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…

  • The Case for a Trillion $ BoP Housing Market | #socent #socinn

    David J. Miller
    28 Apr 2012 | 11:43 am
    Just read about a new e-book, The BIG IDEA: Global Spread of Affordable Housing from the Next Billion and their partners at Ashoka. Global housing (think slums, lack of legal rights, utilities, etc.) is an enormous issue with huge opportunities for social entrepreneurs and innovators. From SocialEarth: Several months ago, NextBillion teamed up with one of our Content Partners, Ashoka Full Economic Citizenship, for a Twitter chat. Our mission: Source the most innovative and successful thought leaders and practitioners addressing the multiple challenges and market solutions to affordable…
 
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    TheFunded Founder Institute News

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

    15 May 2012 | 10:05 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…

  • Free #Startup Events in May from the Founder Institute

    15 May 2012 | 1:00 pm
    We will be hosting a number of free events over the next few weeks, across several cities and countries.  These "Startup Bootcamps" are hands-on, intensive workshops that are modeled off a real Founder Institute session. In just three hours, the Founder Institute and leading local entrepreneurs will help you improve your ideas and pitching skills, come up with new ideas, and even recruit potential cofounders.  The Startup Bootcamps come in two different flavors; the Startup Ideation Bootcamp, which focuses on analyzing and dissecting your startup ideas; and the Startup Pitch…

  • Questions About Applying? Ask Adeo on Q&A Conference Calls

    14 May 2012 | 10:25 am
    In the next couple of weeks, there are Application Deadlines approaching for Tel Aviv, Singapore, Puerto Rico, and Silicon Valley. If you or someone you know could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup, then click here to apply today. Joining the Founder Institute is a potentially life-changing decision, so if you have any questions about the program please join one of our Q&A Conference Calls below and get them answered directly from our Founder, Adeo Ressi. Simply dail-in at one of the times below to participate. Account: PHONE:…

  • Silicon Valley Grad @Skydera Profiled by @Scobleizer

    13 May 2012 | 9:30 pm
    Silicon Valley Founder Institute Graduate Skydera, and Founder & CEO Lecole Cole, were recently interviewed by tech writer Robert Scoble on Building43.com. Skydera provides advanced software tools for management, automation and compliance for all the top public and virtual private cloud providers.  According to Scoble, "Skydera C3 is the breakthrough cloud automation and management environment designed from the ground up to deliver easy-to-use Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for the age of cross-cloud IT. In addition to providing full-featured cloud application deployment and lifecycle…

  • #FounderShowcase Global #Entrepreneurship Panel Video

    12 May 2012 | 6:51 am
    At the 10th Founder Showcase on April 24th in San Francisco, we hosted a panel featuring top international technology founders from Asia, South America, and Europe to discuss the issues and trends surrounding global entrepreneurship - including Andy Zain (Founder & CEO of PT Numedia Global, and Leader of the Jakarta Founder Institute), Heiko Rauch (Owner at Globumbus.com, Co-Founder & CEO at Zanox.de), Tim Delhaes (CEO of mon.ki), Camilo Gomez (Co-Founder of SnappyGo), and Tuan Pham (Chairman at the TOPICA Education Group, and Leader of the Vietnam Founder…
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    OnlyOnce

  • Learning Through Extremes, or Shifting Gears part II

    Matt Blumberg
    10 May 2012 | 2:00 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 | 2:00 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 | 2:00 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 | 2:00 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…

  • Alter Ego

    Matt Blumberg
    12 Apr 2012 | 2:00 am
    Alter Ego A couple people have asked me recently how I work with an Executive Assistant, what value that person provides, and even questioned the value of having that position in the company in an era where almost everything can be done in self-service, lightweight ways. At my old company (in the 90s), each VP-level person and up had a dedicated assistant – the world certainly doesn’t require that level of support any more.  In our case, Andrea has other tasks for the company that take up about half of her time. I happen to have the absolute best, world class role model assistant…
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    Startup Weekend

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

    Mitchell Cuevas
    26 Apr 2012 | 10:00 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 | 1:09 pm
    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 | 4:28 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 | 1:15 pm
    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 | 1:10 pm
    “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…
 
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    Startup Houston

  • Entrepreneur Events: Social Media Breakfast

    Jeff Reichman
    11 May 2012 | 2:28 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…

  • Whimseybox accepted into Excelerate Labs

    Javid Jamae
    7 May 2012 | 9:04 am
    Houston startup Whimseybox was recently admitted into the summer 2012 accelerator program of Chicago-based Excelerate Labs. We met up with founder Alicia DiRago to find out more about how she got started with Whimseybox and what she hopes to get out of the program. Here is the interview: [STARTUP HOUSTON] Tell us a little bit about Whimseybox. [ALICIA DIRAGO] Whimseybox is the subscription for the DIY and craft community. Every month we’ll ship you 4-5 craft-product samples for just $15. Rediscover craft with a fun and beautiful reminder to express your creativity! If you need…

  • GrubSquad.com Launches with a great video

    Marc Nathan
    19 Apr 2012 | 12:29 pm

  • Think Like an Entrepreneur Event with Gary Hoover

    Marc Nathan
    7 Apr 2012 | 7:38 am
    Think Like an Entrepreneur – Presented by nContacto at the Houston Technology Center on April 24th at 6pm More information and RSVP here: http://think-like-entrepreneur.eventbrite.com/ Description: In this intense, information- and idea-packed presentation, serial entrepreneur and world-renowned speaker Gary Hoover will talk about what are the characteristics of successful entrepreneurs, what are the key questions an entrepreneur must ask themselves when embarking on a new enterprise, and what makes for a great company.  This program will be “like drinking from a fire hydrant.”

  • 25% off the AgileDotNet Conference

    Javid Jamae
    6 Apr 2012 | 8:09 am
    I’ve obtained a discount code for the AgileDotNet conference on April 20, 2012, that I was told I could share with people in the tech and startup community. AgileDotNet is a one-day conference for people who are involved in Agile software development or are interested in the Microsoft development platform. The event is being held at Minute Maid park with free access to the baseball game that evening. This link will give you a 25% discount off the $75 ticket price, brining your price down to $56. Please feel free to pass this coupon code along to anybody you know who is a Microsoft…
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    TechStars

  • Breaking Down Pitches, an Interactive Video by FlixMaster

    Clare Tischer
    16 May 2012 | 11:00 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 | 4:00 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…

  • Andy Sack: The Iron Man of Startups

    Clare Tischer
    11 May 2012 | 12:13 pm
    photo by Annie Laurie Malarkey Below is a guest post by the wonderful Rebecca Lovell, mentor to TechStars. Author’s note: Rebecca Lovell is the Chief Business Officer of GeekWire, which acquired Seattle 2.0 and as such is now producing and presenting the beloved Startup Awards. Rebecca is a returning mentor to the Seattle TechStars program, and teaches a class on Venture Capital investing in the UW MBA program. In a world where startups need every ounce of passion and insight they can muster, and where Andy Sack means so much to so many of them, on May 3rd the Seattle community added a…

  • Job Openings at TechStars companies this week

    David Cohen
    4 May 2012 | 4:00 pm
    .@torbit is hiring a big data engineer and performance engineer – help make the web faster! http://t.co/wwokiYeq # Backend Java Developer at BISON, a @TechStars Company at @BISONplatform in #Cambridge MA http://t.co/UKYTgbwq # Digital history! Social media and community manager at @rewind in #NYC http://t.co/hCjcY2Ix # Show them your art. @Piictu is hiring an amazing Visual Editor http://t.co/1gh4qcJP # @Kentriggs Thanks for the RT, Kent! in reply to Kentriggs # @Kentriggs NYC. in reply to Kentriggs # .@SideTour is looking for someone to grow the community of hosts and experiences!

  • This Week in TechStars #36: Brad Feld and David Cohen Breakdown of Kapost’s Demo Day Pitch

    Clare Tischer
    20 Apr 2012 | 4:26 pm
    Brad Feld stops by the studio to join David, breaking down Kapost’s demo day pitch from Boulder’s 2010 summer program. View all the past episodes at our ThisWeekIn page or subscribe below.
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    Business Owners

  • Soak product on BNN The Pitch actually WORKS!

    8 May 2012 | 2:29 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 | 11:44 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 | 8:26 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 | 4:41 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…

  • Exempt market dealers struggling with compliance obligations

    22 Mar 2012 | 1:46 pm
    As the exempt market continues to come under regulatory scrutiny, dealers are being urged to ensure their suitability, marketing and other compliance practices are up to standard.At the Strategy Institute's Registrant Regulation Compliance Strategies Summit in Toronto on Wednesday, regulators said they're heavily focused on ensuring exempt market players are familiar with, and complying with, the applicable regulations."We're trying to understand our exempt market. We're also trying to bring into registration those who should be registered," said Mark French, manager of regulation and…
 
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    Posts from the Econsultancy blog

  • Making tag management work for you: new report & infographic

    Heather Taylor
    16 May 2012 | 10:34 am
    The digital world is complicated and website tags sit at the heart of online businesses and marketing. In fact, effectively managing website tags, or tracking pixels, is fundamental to digital marketing.  In the ROI of Tag Management, a new report released today in partnership with Tealium, we explore the role, challenges and opportunities for technology in handling vendor website tags.The tracking pixel enables communication between vendors and websites and is key to most digital marketing technologies. Site analytics, optimization and personalization all depend on them, and while these…

  • More than a third of Homebase customers research online before going in-store

    David Moth
    16 May 2012 | 7:01 am
    More than a third of Homebase customers research online before going to a bricks-and-mortar store, according to the retailer’s head of multichannel. During a speech at the E-Commerce Futures Conference this morning, Andy McWilliams said it highlights the need for a joined up approach in-store and online. Even if you think you’re a multichannel retailer, online and offline often act almost independently. You get different offers online vs. offline. They have to be the same, and communication has to be the same. One of Homebase’s key multichannel tools is reserve and…

  • How to be a formidable content curator: a 17-step guide

    Chris Lake
    16 May 2012 | 6:25 am
    Over the past few years I must have heard the phrase ‘everyone is a publisher nowadays’ a thousand times or more. It’s largely accurate, due to the rise of social media, but I think we are mainly ‘curators’, as opposed to ‘publishers’. Content curation is something that many of us will be familiar with, even if we don’t think of ourselves as curators. We instinctively find and share interesting content with our personal and professional networks. We follow others who share the kind of links that engage and entertain. Yesterday the clearly…

  • Online shoe fitting app reduces returns by 23%

    Graham Charlton
    16 May 2012 | 6:14 am
    An app which allows customers to find more accurate information about the shoe size they need to order has managed to reduce fit-related returns rates by 23% US retailer Running Warehouse has been using the Shoefitr app on its product pages since 2010, and the tool has been very popular with consumers.  By reducing fit-related returns, the app has enabled Running Warehouse to increase its profit margins by 2.5%. Previously, around 65% of the retailer returns were due to size related issues, but now 20% of orders come in from customers that have used the app. …

  • 18m UK consumers have used social media for customer service

    David Moth
    16 May 2012 | 5:17 am
    More than a third of UK consumers (36%) have engaged with brands through social media, according to a survey from Fishburn Hedges. This has doubled from 19% since August 2011 and equates to around 18m people. The increased interaction appears to be driven by the widespread belief among respondents (40%) that social media improves customer service, compared to only 7% who feared it would harm service. In fact 68% of those who have engaged with brands through social media believe that it “allowed them to find their voice.”More than two-thirds (65%) also believe that it is a better…
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    The Freestyle Entrepreneur

  • DEFINE SUCCESS

    John Ingrisano
    14 May 2012 | 4:15 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 | 8:50 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 | 9:52 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 | 2:08 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.

  • BURN YOUR SHIPS!

    John Ingrisano
    14 Feb 2012 | 5:24 am
    You know as well as I that successful business owners are dedicated … sometimes maniacally so.  They give it their all … and they succeed.  It is not about luck; it is the result of ferocious dedication. So, do you want to be a success?  Here is how:  Burn your ships! In 1519, the Spanish Conquistador Hernando Cortez landed his small force of 500 soldiers and 100 sailors on the shores of the Yucatan Peninsula in what is now Mexico.  They arrived in 11 ships, and they were far, far from their homeland thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean.  (This was only 27 years after the…
 
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    I Will Teach You To Be Rich

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

    Ramit Sethi
    13 May 2012 | 11:35 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 | 5:00 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 | 4:00 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…

  • This is officially the cutest photo on the Internet

    Ramit Sethi
    6 May 2012 | 1:35 pm
    Look at this photo from Friday’s New York Times: My parents are in the New York Times in an article called “How to Raise a Financial Wizard,” and I could not be prouder. Funny backstory: it was originally titled “How to Raise a Financial Guru” as you can see from the NYT URL, but apparently it could seem politically incorrect to have “guru” next to my dad’s turban. So the title was changed. HAHA As you know, my parents had a huge influence in my life. Much of what I teach on IWT, I learned from them. No, they didn’t teach me about automation or peer-reviewed psychology…

  • A confession about gender and money…

    Ramit Sethi
    4 May 2012 | 4:17 pm
    I’ve wanted to write about money and gender for YEARS. I have the most RIDICULOUS set of stories about friends, marriage, dating, salaries, negotiating, and investing between men and women…plus, books and books of academic studies I’ve read. Examples: What do women think when they hear a guy wants someone “who can take care of the house”? What do men think when they meet a girl who wants a “big ring”? Who handles money better? Under what circumstances? What happened when I met my first official gold-digger? Who’s better at negotiating — and why? But I’ve…
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    Results Junkies

  • Transparency Goes Both Ways

    Paul Singh
    15 May 2012 | 5:28 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 | 1:55 pm
    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 | 6:35 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 | 6:03 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 Product Development Tips

    Paul Singh
    22 Oct 2010 | 4:32 pm
    I spoke at a Founder Institute DC event last night along with Gabe Zichermann (by the way, you’re missing out on some seriously good stuff if you haven’t seen Gabe speak elsewhere) and Matt Howard. If you’re in the startup trenches, these tips are for you. FI: Product and Service Development View more presentations from paulsingh.
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    startup hustle

  • Apple’s WWDC Logo Steps Up

    tyler
    26 Apr 2012 | 11:07 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 | 2:19 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 | 8:05 am
    Who approved this? Where is the news?

  • Sparrow for iOS is DOA

    tyler
    21 Mar 2012 | 6:04 am
    When I heard that Sparrow came out with an email client for the iPhone, I downloaded without hesitation. What? $2.99. That is nothing for the products that team has produced. Sparrow for OS X is great. After I downloaded the app I was confused, then sad. What? No Push notifications? So I only know if I have new mail after I open the app. That is a waste of time. I want to look and see the number in the little red circle on the upper right hand corner of the app logo. If that number is higher, I’m all over it. If not, then I move on. Not having Push at launch is a big miss. Next up, no…

  • SXSW 2012 Recap

    tyler
    16 Mar 2012 | 8:08 am
    SXSW 2012 was my second venture through one of the largest interactive conference in the US. I broke the conference down by the themes that occurred during the week below. The Weather The big story for the first 2 1/2 days was the crappy weather. Schedules were based on how intense the rain was between sessions or whenever you had to venture outside. The rain was coming down in buckets and many, including me, did not have the proper attire to swim from venue to venue. The rain was good for Austin and the state of Texas however. The region has had record droughts and a lake north of Austin…
 
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    Start Up Blog

  • Experience vs Youth

    Steve Sammartino
    16 May 2012 | 1:42 am
    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 | 11:41 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…

  • The truth

    Steve Sammartino
    3 May 2012 | 2:46 am
    There are many business models that are under attack. The landscape is changing and their future is dim. If we face this reality, the most important thing we can do is not pretend it is just a phase. And if we are the disruptor, then we must continue even if the movement is slower than we expect. I think Winston Churchill said it best with this quote: The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.

  • The waiting game – Eye on Australia

    Steve Sammartino
    30 Apr 2012 | 8:25 pm
    Grey Advertising just conducted it’s Eye on Australia sentiment study for the 21st year. The study focuses on how Australians are feeling socially and economically with view points on various industries and demographic groups. This year the results have been complied in a cool animated info graphic below. A great snapshot for marketers and entrepreneurs alike. Enjoy!

  • Being unscripted

    Steve Sammartino
    29 Apr 2012 | 9:19 pm
    The really great words, expression and soundbites can only come from an unscripted scenario. This news report is a classic example of a human expressing herself with all her heart, and I love it. In fact her entire body was talking. I reckon life and communication is much better when it is unscripted and real. It makes me wonder how we can be more ‘real’ when pitch for business? Then, we must consider the meme element. If we ever your brand or idea or self to be ‘meme-ified’ then it is never going to happen unless we ‘let ourselves go’ just a little……
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    Springwise

  • Dating service matches cash-strapped travelers with those willing to accompany and pay

    Springwise
    16 May 2012 | 4:34 am
    We have already seen Shoe Dating on our virtual pages — a service matching women to potential partners who share their taste in shoes and are willing to pay part of the bill for the footwear. Taking this concept to the extreme, Miss Travel is offering a service enabling “attractive” people to get their travel dreams paid for by moneyed users who will accompany them on their trip. With the slogan ‘Who needs money, beautiful people travel free!’, the site pairs up men with money and women with looks as a new twist on online dating. Founded by Brandon Wade, who has…

  • Speaking robot vacuum cleaner has its own personality

    Springwise
    16 May 2012 | 4:19 am
    Robotic vacuum cleaners which clean the home with minimal human interaction seem impressive enough and we have even seen the technology transferred to lawn mowers with Sweden’s Husqvarna device. Japanese appliance manufacturer Sharp, however, believes that there are still improvements to be made on the indoor variety and is set to launch the COCOROBO, which is the first robot of its kind to have a personality, as well as the ability to respond to homeowners’ spoken prompts. Due onto the Japanese market in early June, the COCOROBO is an automatic household vacuum cleaner in the…

  • Job-hunting app matches candidates’ personalities with vacancies

    Springwise
    16 May 2012 | 3:45 am
    This post is sponsored by Skype. It’s time to say more and stay human. It’s time for Skype. Job hunting can be a daunting prospect – with the modern job market offering a variety of careers that can leave prospective applicants bewildered by the diverse choice on offer. In the past we’ve come across systems that simplify the process for employers, with sites such as Unrabble, and now we’ve come across something similar to help those looking for work. Apply App.ly makes job seeking less daunting by narrowing down the choice and matching candidates with vacancies,…

  • Vibrating telepresence robot baby is designed for hugging during phone conversations

    Springwise
    15 May 2012 | 11:10 am
    Telepresence robots have already appeared on our virtual pages on several occasions before, but typically they’ve focused on commercial and industrial purposes. The Hugvie, on the other hand, is an uncharacteristically soft, cuddly creation that’s designed to give consumers a more complex feeling of interaction with those they speak to by phone. The brainchild of Japan’s Osaka University and Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International (ATR), the Hugvie is designed with a minimalistic, child-sized human form that could be associated with either gender.

  • Bone-marrow registry kits included inside packets of bandages

    Springwise
    15 May 2012 | 8:57 am
    Some 10,000 people in the US alone need bone marrow transplants each year, yet fewer than half receive them. Aiming to minimize the barriers that prevent healthy individuals from registering as potential donors, New York-based pharmaceuticals firm Help Remedies has come up with a solution: Include registry kits inside its packages of bandages, so consumers can simply swab a small sample of blood from a cut that’s already made before bandaging it up. Launched in February, Help’s new bandage brand is entitled, “Help, I’ve cut myself and I want to save a life.” Accordingly,…
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    entrepreMusings

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

    Aruni
    12 May 2012 | 9:09 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 | 7:05 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 | 9:00 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 | 3:56 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…

  • Founder Dating And Other Interesting Links

    Aruni
    29 Apr 2012 | 9:31 pm
    I saw this hit the Bootstrap Austin list a week or so ago: Founder Dating.  If you want to start a company right now but don’t know how to find the right co-founder, then this site might be for you.  I haven’t used it so I can’t personally vouch for its efficacy, but if I did want to start a company right now (which I don’t), I’d certainly check it out.  My main start-up ventures at the moment are my two kids.  I would definitely work for a start-up/fast growing company, but my founder status is tied to my kids for a while. Have you ever thought about forming…
 
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    The Next Web

  • Monmouthpedia: The World’s first Wikipedia town, is set to go live

    Jamillah Knowles
    16 May 2012 | 1:33 pm
    The Internet of things is becoming easier to grasp as household appliances, pot plants and other objects are connected to the Internet to let us know more about them or update on environmental changes. Though the appearance of the Internet of things is still a bit patchy, it just took a giant leap with the first Wikipedia town going live on May 19th. We looked at Wikipedia’s first entirely wired town of Monmouth (Trefynwy) in Wales when the idea was first mooted. It seemed to be an interesting and ambitious project but as that idea comes to life it gets more and more impressive. The…

  • Soluto now lets you set up Dropbox accounts for others remotely

    Paul Sawers
    16 May 2012 | 12:58 pm
    We first covered Soluto last year, a startup with $18million in funding behind it and a crack team of PC enthusiasts. The platform allows Windows users to help other PC users with their machine remotely, and it moved its entire product to a browser-based solution. We also reported on its arrival on Windows 8 at Mobile World Congress earlier this year. Now, the Israel-based company has announced an interesting integration with Dropbox, designed to make it simpler for users to install the file-sharing app remotely on machines belonging to their friends, family and colleagues. Say what? This…

  • Say hello to Zuckerberg: The Musical

    Alex Wilhelm
    16 May 2012 | 12:52 pm
    This will be by far the best thing that you have seen today, if you’ve been keeping clear of archived Metallica concerts. Ladies and bruces, we have the Zuckerberg Musical for you. Employing a great number of scenes, each based on a tune from a musical that you have heard, the short clip walks through the history of Facebook, up through its coming IPO. Yes, it’s well done, and yes, it’s hilarious. Love Facebook or hate it, this is going to make you laugh: H/T Orli for sharing the link on Twitter.

  • Comcast rolls out Skype on Xfinity in Boston, Seattle today for $9.95/mo and 8 other markets this week

    Matthew Panzarino
    16 May 2012 | 12:33 pm
    Skype is launching its previously announced partnership with Xfinity today in two markets, Boston and Seattle. The video-calling-via-TV service will also be available to Xfinity subscribers in Detroit, Indianapolis, Miami, Atlanta, Augusta, Chicago, Pittsburgh and Harrisburg, PA this week. The service allows Xfinity subscribers to make Skype video calls right on their TV, as well as send instant messages over the network, with the help of a hardware kit obtained from the cable provider. The kit contains an HD camera, Skype adaptor and a remote with a full keyboard. The service will run $9.95…

  • Pinterest set to announce new funding at $1 billion valuation, with an eye on ecommerce

    Drew Olanoff
    16 May 2012 | 12:29 pm
    There’s been considerable speculation that social media sensation Pinterest is preparing to raise additional funding as it marches towards dominating a massive new vertical on the web. The pinning site is set to announce its third round that will value it at more than $1 billion by the end of this week, a US-based source close to the deal revealed to us. To date, Pinterest has raised a total of $37.5 million. We’re told that the deal gives Pinterest a valuation “slightly in excess” of $1 billion, and those putting into the round include FirstMark, Bessemer, Andreessen…
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    Pop17

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

    Sarah Austin
    30 Apr 2012 | 5:20 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 | 6:45 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 | 4:47 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 | 1:17 pm
    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 | 1:38 pm
    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
 
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    The Product Guy

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

    Jeremy Horn
    7 May 2012 | 2:37 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 | 11:59 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 | 10:02 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
    16 Feb 2012 | 1:12 am
    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 | 10:58 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…
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    Ben Casnocha

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

    Ben Casnocha
    14 May 2012 | 11:48 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 | 5:11 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 | 9:48 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…

  • Simile of the Day

    Ben Casnocha
    4 May 2012 | 4:08 am
     The plastic scoop lying in a can of weight-gain powder “like an abandoned beach toy.” It’s quoted as a positive example in The Art of Fielding of good prose in this otherwise negative review of the book. Those who effectively deploy metaphor and simile tend to be effective communicators overall. I sometimes wonder about how one can become better at the art of metaphor…

  • People Don’t Want to Be Blamed for Giving Bad Advice

    Ben Casnocha
    1 May 2012 | 1:55 am
    Sometimes, when facing a hard decision in our career or in a relationship, we just want someone to tell us what to do. Or, if not tell us exactly what to do, at least to proactively assert ideas for what we may want to do. But you’ll find that thoughtful advice-givers are sometimes reticent to proactively assert very much. Rather, they ask, “What do you want to do? What are you passionate about?” Then, once you express a preference, they figure out how they can help you realize your goal. Based on your existing inclinations, they’ll amplify what they see are the…
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    infoChachkie

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

    John Greathouse
    14 May 2012 | 7:00 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 | 7:00 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 | 10:00 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 | 8:00 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…

  • Steve Blank Discusses The Origin And Future Of The Lean Startup Movement

    John Greathouse
    16 Apr 2012 | 11:00 am
    Article first published as Steve Blank Discusses Origin And Future Of Lean Startup Movement on Technorati. I recently spoke with Steve Blank, author of the new book The Startup Owner’s Manual. Steve is also a Stanford Professor and noted marketing entrepreneur. He is credited with pioneering the Lean Startup Movement in 2005 via the publication of his bestselling, Four Steps To The Epiphany. No matter how much you think you know about Steve’s lean startup philosophy, Eric Ries’ contributions to the movement, or the methodologies by which companies have put lean startup tenets into…
 
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    Start-up

  • Facebook IPO Got You Eyeing Entrepreneurship?

    Michael Alter
    16 May 2012 | 9:30 am
    Some guidelines to help you decide if this is the time to jumpstart your new venture.Facebook's IPO will likely spawn a new generation of entrepreneurs. A number of Facebook alums have already invested in their own start-ups, but there are millions more young people who will now look to create the next big thing.It's an exciting time to be a young entrepreneur, given how easy technology can make running a business. But first you have to ask yourself: Do I have what it takes? Do I really want to start a business? Is now the right time? Is it too risky?No one can tell you the answer. There's no…

  • Can This Start-up Shake Up the Art World?

    Jon BurgstoneBill Murphy, Jr. and
    16 May 2012 | 9:06 am
    Consumers can already rent dresses, cars, and DVDs by the day. Why not fine art?Everyone wants nice things. The problem is, most people can't afford everything they want.That's a basic, simple example of customer pain—and as an entrepreneur that should get you really excited. Especially so, because there's an obvious cure: the rental business model. (Sometimes it's referred to as collaborative consumption.) Instead of selling new goods, some smart entrepreneurs have built businesses around the idea of renting them in bite-size morsels.Think about it: Rent the Runway, as the name…

  • Getting to the 'Ahhh' Moment With Customers

    Steve Cody
    16 May 2012 | 8:20 am
    What's better than data to a marketer? Getting a true emotional response from your audience. Here are the questions you need to ask first.Marketers are positively drowning in data. You don't need to take my word for it: A recent survey of some 1,700 chief marketing officers worldwide by IBM Consulting said marketers are being in some ways paralyzed by the reams of research they're being provided. Aside from eye strain, migraine headaches, and other occasional physical side effects, the mounds of data are impairing, if not disabling, the one quality great marketers (and entrepreneurs for that…

  • How It Feels to Be an Overnight Success

    Clarissa Cruz
    16 May 2012 | 7:49 am
    This restaurant went from being a quiet nook New York City's West Village to an always-packed hotspot, overnight. Here's how its owner dealt with the good and the ugly of being an instant hit.When an accolade comes—whether it's a glowing New York Times review, a shout-out from Anthony Bourdain, or a twinkly new Michelin star—a restaurant needs to be prepared. Takashi went from being a quiet Japanese eatery in New York City's West Village to an always-packed hotspot after Anthony Bourdain tweeted it was the "most exciting cooking" he's seen in a long time, and featured it on his…

  • Advertisement: Avoid the waste of sheet labels.

    16 May 2012 | 7:19 am
      Say goodbye to sheet label hassles. The DYMO® LabelWriter® 450 Turbo creates labels with customizable, individual addresses. No more blank labels on a sheet that are difficult to reuse. Dymo.com Ads by Pheedo
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    Street Smarts | Inc.com

  • Buying a Business? Expect the Unexpected

    Norm Brodsky
    30 Apr 2012 | 11:00 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 | 11:00 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 | 11:00 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 | 11:00 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 | 11:00 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…
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    Young Upstarts

  • 15 Secrets Of The Most Successful Self-Learners

    Contributor
    16 May 2012 | 8:30 am
    For many curious folks, their impassioned yearning to soak up as much of the world’s wonders as possible completely transcends the boundaries of a traditional classroom. Armed with an insatiable lust for knowledge, they set out to acquire it on their own terms, although a few pointers obviously can’t hurt before departure and landing! Not every possible technique will necessarily stick with all self-motivated learners, of course, but the only way to find out is to test them. Try some of the following and experiment with what works in a more independent educational setting: Take advantage…

  • Say What? Five Quick Scripts For Responding To Customer Complaints

    Contributor
    16 May 2012 | 3:30 am
    By Ron Kaufman, author of “Uplifting Service: The Proven Path to Delighting Your Customers, Colleagues, and Everyone Else You Meet” The last thing a customer with a complaint wants to hear you say is: “You’re wrong.” What they want to hear is that you understand them, appreciate them, and agree with them on the importance of the value they have cited in their complaint. Here are a few quick scripts to use when responding to customer complaints: Customer Complaint: Rude Service Your customer says: “Your staff was rude and totally unprofessional.” You say: “You are right…

  • 5 Traits Of Successful Entrepreneurs

    Contributor
    15 May 2012 | 10:30 pm
    by Abby Evans Starting your own business doesn’t happen over night. It takes hard work, a leap of faith and a lot of heart. During the beginning stages of your business you will have to wear multiple hats: innovator, marketer, accountant and even custodian. Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur, but if you think you have what it takes, read the traits below and decide how you can utilize them: Resourceful. Unless you are blessed with a wealthy background, most entrepreneurs are forced to build something out of nothing. Being resourceful is a must in the entrepreneurial world. How…

  • Pure Fix Cycles – Fixated On Fixies

    Daniel Goh
    15 May 2012 | 9:30 am
    Many businesses start as an idea in the dorm room – one of the more popular examples is social networking site Facebook, whose inception by founder Mark Zuckerberg was immortalized in the movie The Social Network. Other examples may be more humble, but no less inspiring. Let’s take the example of the founders of Pure Fix Cycles. The four childhood friends in one college dorm room could have been up to plenty of mischief, but instead Zach Schau (24 years-old), Austin Stoffers (23), Jordan Schau (23), and Michael Fishman (23) were discussing the cycling phenomenon in Europe. They…

  • Steps To Making Your Own Business Successful

    Contributor
    15 May 2012 | 1:30 am
    by Candace Hobson The idea of being your own boss is appealing to most of us. Beyond the obvious financial rewards that come with creating a successful business, there is also that added benefit of accomplishment and freedom that working for someone else rarely provides. You can also have the pleasure of working from home if you choose. However, there are several important steps that you should take before embarking on the path to starting a new business. While any new business is a gamble, you can stack the odds in your favor by observing these key steps to success: Capital. One of the…
 
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    ArabCrunch

  • Cairo Based Startup Accelerator Flat6Labs Joins Global Accelerator Net

    news
    14 May 2012 | 11:58 am
    Flat6Lab’s most recent demo Day l was highlighted by an array of announcements one of which was their official induction into the Global Accelerator Network (GAN). GAN is the largest and most prominent network of accelerators in the world. Championed by TechStars, the Global Accelerator Network was created in 2010 under the management of some of the top accelerator programs and alongside the White House’s Startup America Initiative. With that, Flat6Labs becomes the first accelerator in Africa to join GAN. By joining GAN, Flat6Labs would have expanded its network and reach from a regional…

  • Saudi Arabia Plans $109 Billion Investment in Solar Power

    news
    13 May 2012 | 1:36 pm
    Saudi Arabia is looking for investors for a $109 billion plan to create a solar industry that generates a third of the nation’s electricity by 2032 according to bloomberg. The plan is to have 41,000 megawatts of solar capacity within two decades, nuclear, wind and geothermal would contribute 21,000 megawatts. The government is targeting 25,000 megawatts from solar thermal plants, which use mirrors to focus the sun’s rays on heating fluids that turns a power turbine. Another 16,000 megawatts would come from photovoltaic panels Ka-care a government agency set up in April 2010 to oversee the…

  • Queen Rania Center For Entrepreneurship Launches its 5th Business Plan Competition

    news
    6 May 2012 | 7:54 am
    Queen Rania Center for entrepreneurship (QRCE) a not for profit organization based in Amman, Jordan and aims to spread entrepreneurship in Jordan has announced yesterday that it launched its 5th business plan competition: Queen Rania National Entrepreneurship Competition (QRNEC.) Unlike last year this year competition is aimed at students at universities and not open for non students except if they were teachers and applying teams have members who are students. Application submission is open now till mid-may 2012. QRNEC awards amount to over $30,000, awarded to projects in the fields of ICT,…

  • (infographic) Startups exposed: What does the typical startup look like?

    news
    3 May 2012 | 8:56 am
    Focus.com has made an informative infographic about startups and how they look like in 2011 and how startup form and grow. The infogrpahic answers questions about : who the startups are? What are they doing? What are they spending? How old are they? What are they doing? Who will break even? What problems are they facing? Here the infographic and its details you can leave a comment if you found something interesting.

  • The End of Cycle 1: Cairo Startup Accelerator Flat6Labs’ Second Demo Day Presents 7 Startups

    news
    1 May 2012 | 6:45 am
    In the presence of representatives from Sawari Ventures and the American University of Cairo, School of Business, Entrepreneurship & Innovation Program (EIP), Flat6Labs Cairo based startup accelerator celebrated the end of its second cycle with its teams’ Demo Day. In line with the startup accelerator’s aims, the event was a final opportunity for its cycle’s seven teams to present and demonstrate the potential of their respective projects to an audience of entrepreneurs and investors. In attendance at the Demo Day were the Flat6Labs mentors and staff, reputed IT figures…
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    StartupCFO : Mark MacLeod

  • Opportunity Cost

    mark
    10 May 2012 | 8:03 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 | 12:47 pm
    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 | 12:48 pm
    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 | 7:47 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.

  • Sustainable Startup Pace

    mark
    10 Apr 2012 | 7:38 am
    This feels like an appropriate post to be writing coming off a long weekend… Startups are male-dominated. Goto any VC/ startup event and its 90%+ male. Tackling that is not the aim of this post (though as an aside, I will share that I am involved in a project that is addressing this head on – more on that later…). Whether it’s this male domination or the fact that most startups have short half lives or whether there’s just more competition so that speed becomes more important than ever, or all of the above – most startups have an intense, always on…
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    WordPress.com News

  • Stay In The Conversation

    Beau Lebens
    15 May 2012 | 6:01 pm
    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 comments by default, they are more likely to stay engaged and come back and comment more on your blog. With that knowledge, we’ve changed the default comment following behavior to help you get more conversations going on your blog. We made the initial changes last week and after great feedback from you we just launched an update. Here’s how it works: By default, posting a comment…

  • Look at These Gorgeous Blogs

    Sheri
    15 May 2012 | 1:05 pm
    We’ve added a user showcase where you can view stunning customizations made by people just like you. From complete redesigns with CSS to adding pizzazz with Custom Fonts to clever use of options like background and header, this showcase will spark your imagination and inspire creativity. Discover details about what each showcase blog is doing with WordPress.com themes and customizations by clicking a thumbnail to see a colophon-style list of credits on the left. We’ve also updated footer links so blog owners can show off the types of customizations they’ve made and visitors can…

  • Photo Blogging 101, Part 1

    Erica V.
    14 May 2012 | 10:00 am
    Spring is in the air. With the weather warming up, now is a great time to get started on a photo blog. Creating a photo blog is a wonderful introduction to blogging on WordPress.com or an opportunity to refresh your current site. Ready to get started? You can sign up for a new blog right over here. Getting started Photo blogs, sometimes called phlogs, use pictures instead of words. While many photo bloggers choose a type of photo that they want to focus on, such as portraits, others use their photo blog to document their life’s events. Photo blogs come in a variety of styles, including…

  • New Themes: Just Desserts and Oxygen

    Michelle Langston
    10 May 2012 | 8:11 am
    Happy Thursday! We’ve added some exciting new themes to our ever-growing collection, and we’re happy to tell you all about them. First out of the oven is…Just Desserts. Yep, that’s a theme! Designed by Andy Rutledge, Just Desserts is a deliciously stylish premium theme that’s perfect for blogs centered on food. With its responsive, single-column layout and unique presentation of images and posts on the front page, Just Desserts gives you a delectable canvas on which your mouthwatering photos and text can really shine — even when viewed on smaller mobile devices…

  • Find Friends Who Use WordPress

    Nick Momrik
    1 May 2012 | 2:32 pm
    Are you curious to see how your friends are using WordPress? Give the new and improved Friend Finder a try to connect with your Twitter, Facebook, and Google contacts who have WordPress sites! After authorizing WordPress.com to use your Twitter, Facebook, or Google account to find your friends (don’t worry — none of this account information is saved!) you’ll see a list of people you know who have WordPress sites. Click Follow and each time your friend publishes a new post it will show up in your Reader under Blogs I Follow. If you have multiple blogs, make sure to set the…
 
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    47 Hats

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

    Bob Walsh
    27 Apr 2012 | 3:10 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 | 6:23 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…

  • Google Docs – get a little style!

    Bob Walsh
    2 Apr 2012 | 7:38 pm
    Matt Williams (an “avid” reader of this blog) emailed me this morning. Who’s Matt Williams? a) He’s the guy who added a little style to Google Docs – specifically this nice OS X-like Linen Background script and, b) He’s the guy who got a post about a) in TechCrunch about his “make it pretty” effort in under 10 minutes after posting. “I have always been passionate about useful and well designed tech. When i designed the Google Docs iOS Linen Background, i honestly just wanted to share it with others who would appreciate it. I told my…

  • I’m starting a Mastermind Group – who’s up for it?

    Bob Walsh
    28 Mar 2012 | 7:16 pm
    The hardest part of building a startup isn’t coding, marketing, building the web site, finding your market, defining your product, raising seed money, raising equity money, getting press attention, building a Twitter or Facebook or Google+ following, finding a URL, setting up a VPS, getting approved by Apple, finding a co-founder, making a YouTube video, writing marketing copy, building a blog, deploying to your server, scaling your servers, managing your cashflow, doing your business taxes, or getting Robert Scoble to notice you. It’s dealing with the doubts, fears, objections…

  • JOBS bill passes – New era for startup funding starts now.

    Bob Walsh
    27 Mar 2012 | 5:03 pm
    If you’ve founded a startup, or are thinking of founding a startup, your API to OPM (Other People’s Money) just got earthshakingly easier to use. Sitting in President Obama’s inbox this afternoon is HR 3606 – the JOBS act – ready for his signature, SEC rulemaking, and going into production. Three startup constituencies are going to get some good stuff from Washington: Angels and Angel Groups will be able to do much more business, easier, and actually solicit business much more directly and publicly, The onramp for taking successful startups public just got much…
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    Polygraph Media Blog

  • On the Facebook IPO

    Chris Treadaway
    15 May 2012 | 4:10 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 | 10:04 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 | 2:21 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…

  • Snap Reactions to February 29 Facebook Announcements - Ads & Pages

    Chris Treadaway
    29 Feb 2012 | 9:36 pm
    Some quick snap reactions to the February 29 announcements today at the Facebook Marketing Conference: The Timeline for Pages features seem to be a matter of both give and take.  Pages get Timeline functionality, which is now the standard view of both Pages and Profiles.  Users can interact with local businesses, brands, non-profits, and people using the same look & feel. This is a huge investment in this new structure... Facebook will be very motivated to (over time) make Timeline the default structure for all Pages & Profiles, whereas it is a choice right now.  It's just…

  • The Future of News is Now, and it's Tiger Teams

    Chris Treadaway
    24 Feb 2012 | 9:59 am
    News media has always been an interest to me going back to my time as sports editor of my high school newspaper, The Northwestern, in 1991.  I was deeply involved, maybe even instrumental, in converting Stratfor from a consulting business to a web publisher in 1999.  And our first go-to-market strategy for Notice Technologies in 2009-2010 was to partner with local newspapers and the families that owned them.  So I have a professional curiousity about local media that I can't quite shake, even if it isn't the best business decision. The other day, I read an update posted by my…
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    Digging In

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

    Charlie Crystle
    14 May 2012 | 12:03 pm
    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 | 7:25 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 | 8:33 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 | 12:35 pm
    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.

  • You're So Cool

    Charlie Crystle
    30 Apr 2012 | 9:34 am
    I wrote a snarky (and not very deep) song one night back in 2002 or so after hanging out with some oh-so-hip acquaintances:you're so cool I want to be near you I want to be just like you where'd you get those shoesEverything they did or said projected how cool they were (or wanted to be; I stopped hanging out with them at just about that moment).have hipsters lightened up corporate life?You know what it's like--it's everywhere these days, it seems. Makes me long for the Mennonite kids I went to church with when I was young.You're Not Cool. Yet. I'm noticing a lot of…
 
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    Business of Software Blog

  • Something is going to change.

    Mark Littlewood
    30 Apr 2012 | 2:44 pm
    Can you guess what...?

  • What do Business of Software attendees want to talk about?

    Mark Littlewood
    3 Apr 2012 | 12:15 pm
    Want do Business of Software attendees want us to talk to them about this year? These are the most common words used by Business of Software delegates this year when asked, 'Talk to me about' to be put on their badges. Here is a 'Wordle' of the first 150 responses... In other words, tea is a more popular subject than VC. I guess it is in Boston. We will have ourselves a tea party. #BoS2012 takes place over 2 and a half days 1st-3rd October, 2012, at the Intercontinental Hotel, Boston. We advise booking accommodation early, whether you stay at the…

  • BoS 2012 Speaker updates & Early Bird Extension to midnight PST April 3rd

    Mark Littlewood
    2 Apr 2012 | 6:57 pm
    I want to apologize to you if you tried to register for Business of Software 2012 over the weekend to take advantage of our first Early Bird offer. Our event registration system was down for routine maintenance on Saturday and we have received a number of emails from people who were unable to register. Given the circumstances, it seems fair that we extend the deadline for registration and have done so to midnight PST on Tuesday April 3rd. We also have some brilliant new speakers who have confirmed their participation at Business of Software 2012...  Joel…

  • BoS 2011 Lightning Talks: Corey Reid, Freshbooks; Karl Treier, Prospect Stream; Justin Goeres, JKI; Patrick Foley, Microsoft; Tyler Rooney, 4ormat.

    Rachel Salmon
    30 Mar 2012 | 11:48 am
    Below are the lightning talk videos from five speakers at the Business of Software conference 2011, starting with the winning talk by Justin Goeres of JKI. Lightning Talks are terrifying and very hard to pull off - each speaker was allowed 15 slides with 30 seconds for each slide. That's 7 minutes and 30 seconds in total. Done.  Don't forget, registration for BoS 2012 is open now. We hope to see you in Boston October 1st-3rd 2012 and the first EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT tickets run out on March 30th. Save $900 on full registration. Confirmed speakers this year include…

  • We believe in sharing, we don't necessarily believe in paper

    Mark Littlewood
    30 Mar 2012 | 11:10 am
    Nice to see some proof that sharing some of the BoS love brings more cool people to the physical event. Just got this note... "Just ordered my ticket, and am really looking forward to it. I attended live stream from my living room couch last year. It was great, but felt like I was missing out on the networking and interaction. One question. It says the ticket should be printed. Will it be possible to show the ticket on my iPhone instead? Thanks,KR" Look forward to seeing you there and, 'Yes', you can bring the paper ticket with you if you wish but as long as your phone has a…
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    Gregg Fraley » Blogg

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

    GREGG FRALEY
    14 May 2012 | 1:02 pm
    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 | 10:41 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 | 7:49 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 | 8:54 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…

  • Ohio Innovation, Gonzeaux #3 — Avoiding a Beating in Over-the-Rhine

    GREGG FRALEY
    9 May 2012 | 11:31 am
    Cincinnati, Ohio — Wednesday May 9, Gonzeaux #3 After one of the prettiest drives you can imagine through southern Indiana east into Ohio, I find myself this morning in the very urban, once blighted, “Over-The-Rhine” neighbourhood of Cincinnati. This is clearly an Ohio innovation success story, in more ways than one. I would not have predicted it. I nearly lost my life here. Flashback 1974: I’m driving my beater 1960 Dodge Valiant through this neighbourhood with my dog Peaches sleeping in the back seat. It’s early evening and stopped at a red light, the Valiant…
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    Dr. Jeff Cornwall

  • Finding a Small Business Friendly Bank

    Jeff
    15 May 2012 | 8:23 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 | 7:56 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 | 7:34 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 | 5:56 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…

  • Muddled Structure can Block Growth

    Jeff
    23 Apr 2012 | 6:30 am
    The organizational structure of the typical small business evolves from a series of specific decisions to help manage the challenges presented by growth. When there becomes too much else to do, the entrepreneur finally decides to stop doing the books and hires a bookkeeper. As demand increases and more sales opportunities arise, a salesperson is hired to help. When more and more workers get hired, a supervisor is named to manage day-to-day operations. And when a new location is opened, a manager is brought in to help run it. With each of these decisions the entrepreneur starts to create an…
 
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    Become a Young Successful Entrepreneur

  • How to optimize a WordPress Blog for traffic and pageviews

    Jun Loayza
    10 May 2012 | 8:00 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 | 8:00 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 | 8:00 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 | 8:00 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…

  • How to turn criticism into a partnership

    Jun Loayza
    24 Apr 2012 | 8:00 am
    Last Thursday I held a webinar alongside FastCasual.com about How to use BIG DATA to influence customer behavior. After the webinar, a professional, lets call him Steve, promptly emailed me to schedule a phone conversation to talk about a potential partnership between our two companies. The email was structured in a way that made me assume he had an established company and was looking to use our sales channels to expand rapidly in the US. However, I quickly realized during our conversation that he was an early-stage entrepreneur who had not yet validated his product. Our call turned from a…
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    Entrepreneur Bootcamp

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

    Del Williams
    14 May 2012 | 8:13 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 | 8:56 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 | 12:37 pm
    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 | 8:25 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 | 11:34 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…
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    Shalabh Pandey on Ideas, Inspirations and Innovation

  • Creating real value through content

    buzzoptima@yahoo.com.sg (Shalabh Pandey)
    9 May 2012 | 10:52 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 | 8:58 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 | 9:03 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 | 4:07 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 | 2:57 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)
 
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    Growthink blogs

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

    Jay Turo
    14 May 2012 | 11:28 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 | 7:42 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…

  • The 5 Key Stages of Equity Funding

    Dave Lavinsky
    10 May 2012 | 11:31 pm
    When seeking equity investments, the source of capital is, for the most part, tied to the stage of capital being raised. You see, equity capital is raised in stages or rounds. The five main stages include the following:1. Pre-Seed Funding2. Seed Funding3. Early Stage Investment (Series A & B)4. Later Stage Investment (Series C, D, and so on)5. Mezzanine FinancingMost companies that raise equity capital and are eventually acquired or go public receive multiple rounds of financing first. Do you intend to go big before selling or becoming publicly-traded?No right or wrong answer here, but if…

  • Entrepreneurial Elation

    Jay Turo
    7 May 2012 | 12:18 pm
    One of the hardest challenges of those leading a business is keeping its “star players” happy, productive, and aligned with the mission and key objectives of the company.This challenge is compounded exponentially in the Internet age - with fast shifting competitive and marketplace realities naturally necessitating that tomorrow’s key priorities and objectives will most certainly NOT be those of today. As a result, it is almost impossible for everyone every day to be on the “same page.” Even and especially when doing so seems to many in the company as being contrary to their personal…

  • Removing the Biggest Obstacles to Strategic Thinking

    Dave Lavinsky
    6 May 2012 | 9:14 pm
    Every business needs a vision - a clear definition of what you'd like your business to become in the future. And, every business needs a set strategy - a definition and plan of how your business is going to reach this vision. All the key elements -- what you sell, to whom, for how much, what you promise, etc. -- they are all part of your company's strategy or direction towards creating the business you want. My last article covered how to set this strategy so that the rules of the game are tilted in your favor.When you've chosen a direction and vision, the next step is strategic planning -…
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    crowdSPRING Blog

  • Small Business Pinterest Starter Guide

    Ross
    16 May 2012 | 9:46 am
    Are you wondering how you can leverage Pinterest for your small business? Pinterest is currently one of the hotest websites. For some businesses, Pinterest is delivering more user trafic than Google+, YouTube and LinkedIn combined. For those of you who haven’t heard of Pinterest, here’s a brief summary: Pinterest is a free social sharing site launched in 2009. Pinterest invites people to “pin” images and videos from all over the web, to pinboards directly on Pinterest. You can, for example, pin images of your favorite wedding dresses if you’re preparing for a…

  • Small Business Spotlight of the Week: AppMonsta

    Amanda
    16 May 2012 | 12:05 am
    I was recently blessed with an iPhone and have fallen into the world of apps.  Lord knows all of us here at the cS offices love our apps.  Just last week Ross insisted all of us download SayHi Translate and speak to him in Swedish.  This is a true story, I encourage all of you to tweet at him for the details. This week, my app honoree is AppMonsta.  If you and/or your company are in the process of developing a mobile app, look no further than this company.  AppMonsta is truly a one stop shop when it comes to brainstorming, researching, and developing.  Businesses are able to identify…

  • Dear Mentee

    Mike
    15 May 2012 | 12:05 am
    Hi. I’m Mike. Yesterday Amanda posted an article in which she talked about the experience of professional life for a young person just starting out in her career. Well, as of tomorrow Amanda has been working at crowdSPRING for one year (note to self: get cake for Amanda); for the first few months she was an unpaid marketing and PR intern but was ultimately promoted to the position of underpaid marketing and PR intern. She and I have worked closely together during this time and have gotten to know one another well, developing an appreciation for the other’s sense of humor and…

  • Dear Mentor

    Amanda
    14 May 2012 | 12:05 am
    Hi.  I’m Amanda. I know you’ve seen me in and out of these parts for a little over a year now, but here’s a formal introduction: I’m 22-years-old and I just graduated from college.  I’ve been fortunate to have three internships during my undergrad years.  My tenure at crowdSPRING has included working on PR, marketing, and mastering our co-founder Mike’s filing system.   This is the first of two blog posts reflecting on the mentor-mentee relationship and how both sides can gain insight and experience success.   Dear Mentor, First of all, thank you so much for…

  • Twitter Link Roundup #130 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

    Ross
    11 May 2012 | 9:52 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 an ad created by TBWA for Moustaches Make A Difference – a campaign to raise support for prostate cancer research. More interesting ads in the Social Media and Marketing section below. Growing Your Small Business…
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    Our Startup Story

  • In Defense of Business Plans

    John
    15 May 2012 | 12:02 pm
    (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 | 9:43 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 | 9:08 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 | 4:01 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 | 5:18 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…
 
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    Journey of a Serial Entrepreneur

  • Charting the Course

    Usman Sheikh
    28 Apr 2012 | 11:46 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 | 3:31 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 | 3:10 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 | 11:20 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
    1 Jan 2012 | 12:59 am
    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…
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    The Mogul Mom

  • The 3 Rules of Target Markets

    Dawn Martinello
    15 May 2012 | 3:40 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 | 12:20 pm
    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 | 2:28 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…

  • Could This Be You? 4 Real Life B-School Success Stories

    Heather Allard
    8 May 2012 | 11:02 pm
    You know me. I love the “real life” kinda stuff, especially when it comes to real life business success stories. So I am totally digging this new video from Marie Forleo with not one, not two, not three…but FOUR real life B-School success stories. In this video, you’ll hear incredible stories from four women who’ve made major increases in income and impact in their business with the mad marketing skills they learned in B-School. You’ll meet: A PR Coach who made an additional $150,000 A professional astrologer whose income grew by 600% A jewelry designer…

  • Can You Start A Business With $100? Chris Guillebeau Thinks So.

    Heather Allard
    7 May 2012 | 6:08 pm
    Like most of the “original gangstas” I followed online, I can’t remember exactly when I discovered Chris Guillebeau. What I do remember is how struck I was by his post, The Case for the $100 Business, written back in 2009.  So much so, that I was inspired to write a post of my own called 5 Ways to Start a Business for Under $1000 about a week later. Mine and Chris’s posts got 105 and 63 comments respectively, proof that starting a business on a shoestring budget is a hot topic. I had the great pleasure of meeting Chris, a gentleman, world traveler and entrepreneur,…
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    The Entrepreneurial MD

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

    Philippa Kennealy
    11 May 2012 | 10:56 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 | 12:00 pm
    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 | 9:44 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 | 8:22 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…

  • Networking your way efficiently to a new non-clinical position

    Philippa Kennealy
    13 Apr 2012 | 10:04 am
    I recently received this communication via my other website (Women Leaving Medicine) and thought it pointed enough of a question and commentary that I decided to share a portion of it and my response with you.
 
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    SoftwareCEO - Latest Forum Threads

  • Motorola MT917 ---------------- $ 380.00Motorola XT928

    16 May 2012 | 8:59 am
    ---------- MAZLEY LTD® ------------------WHY BUY FROM US?-------Lowest Prices Checked,Huge Product Range, 24/7Online Support, Fast Shipping Guaranteed, Safetyand Security Assured. MAZLEY LTD® is a leading provider of GSM phones, accessories and more electronics.Our business is founded on the ethos of creating customer satisfaction not by just providing the most competitive prices around but by also providing a level of service second to none. Order from us today and save 10% or more on all your order ------ MAZLEY LTD® -----------100% *OFFICIAL* AUTHORIZED DEALER100% Brand New in…

  • she felt the cheeks burning fever

    12 May 2012 | 12:25 am
    occasions so embarrassed, she felt the cheeks burning fever. Near all the young men went to Chen Nantou eyes to kill some people have begun to move here. Chen Nan channel: "Little Devil Do not forget to trapped God refers to the force of your body is only able to resolve, you look out for themselves." He looked at college students gathered around, and those who take the test brush down the youth, put on a polite look and said: "Phoenix Miss another day and then accompany you to walk, I have something to go to the trouble after you cheap nfl jerseys take care of my sister, sister, do not think…

  • Tips To Purchasing fashion lids Online.

    7 May 2012 | 9:55 pm
    The actual urban clothes scene isn't complete without an accumulation of fitted less difficult. Fitted hats also called a "fitted" tend to be baseball caps that have no sizing adjustment. Knit Hats They match snuggly on your own head and still have a much better appearance as you'll find no straps in the back. These hats are incredibly popular among the young masses and within urban fashion. They come in hundreds associated with styles as well as colors. Many downtown outfits are not considered complete minus the wearing of an fitted. Tall men and women, unfavorable don tall canister cap, cap…

  • Lead generation

    7 May 2012 | 9:38 am
    Hi Can anyone tell me the process for lead generation for IT Services company Thanks and regards, Satishkumar.M satishmuth@gmail.com 9840932454[Read more]

  • How to Start a Non Voice/inbound call centre?

    2 May 2012 | 1:42 am
    I want to start a Non voice/inbound call centre in my home town and Data entry work also. My question is how will start?what will be my first step and how I'll get project? Thank you[Read more]
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    Xconomy

  • Hutch, UW Scientists Find Elusive Cancers With Adaptive Diagnostic

    Luke Timmerman
    16 May 2012 | 1:00 pm
    Luke Timmerman Doctors often ask themselves, after a leukemia or lymphoma patient gets high-dose chemotherapy, whether they really wiped out every last rugged cancer cell in the patient. That’s always been a difficult question, but now a team of Seattle researchers is showing they might have found a powerful new technology to consistently deliver that answer. Scientists at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, the University of Washington and Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies are reporting they’ve found what could become a more clear and consistent way to spot “minimal…

  • Mining “Happiness Moments” at Mobile-Rewards Startup Kiip

    Wade Roush
    16 May 2012 | 8:30 am
    Wade Roush Whatever you do, don’t tell Kiip CEO Brian Wong that he’s in the advertising business. Yes, if you’re playing a mobile game that uses Kiip’s service, you’ll see pop-up screens offering rewards from big brands like Pepsi, Disney, and Best Buy. But these aren’t ads, Wong insists. They’re moments of reciprocity prompted by an achievement on your part, like shooting the boss zombie. And they might just signal the end of an era for traditional online marketing. Wong is one of several startup founders striving to blow up the whole traditional banner-advertising model in Web…

  • Vertica/HP Veteran Chris Lynch Joins Atlas for Big Data Investing

    Erin Kutz
    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Erin Kutz Chris Lynch, the tech exec who said venture capital was not for him, is the newest member of the technology team at Atlas Venture, the Cambridge, MA-based firm announced today. In March, Lynch left his role as CEO of Vertica Systems, a year after the data analytics company was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $300 million. At the time of his departure, Lynch told my colleague Greg Huang that he was looking to work hands-on with Boston-area big data entrepreneurs, but not in a VC role. So what changed? “I’ve seen so many more deals than I ever thought I would,” Lynch says. “I…

  • The Skqueak That Roars: New App Combines Drawing, Audio, Images

    Bruce V. Bigelow
    16 May 2012 | 2:08 am
    Bruce V. Bigelow What began as an effort by a couple of San Diego engineers to bring computer vision to the iPhone has resulted instead in “Skqueak,” a mobile app that enables users to sketch over photos and videos on their iPhones. The Skqueak app is now available in Apple’s iTunes App Store. Sanjay Nichani, who moved to San Diego in 2006 after working at Cognex (NASDAQ: CGNX) the Natick, MA-based pioneer in machine vision, says he founded Pelfunc (Skqueak’s parent company) with Ray Fix, another former Cognoid, in mid-2010. The original idea was to develop an app capable of…

  • Targeted Cancer Drugs With Punch: The Next Big Class of Antibodies

    Luke Timmerman
    16 May 2012 | 2:05 am
    Luke Timmerman One of the big dreams in biotech over the past 35 years has been to make drugs that work like “smart bombs” by destroying tumors while minimizing collateral damage. Scientists have learned this is no easy thing, but now that a couple of these types of drugs have been shown to work, a new wave of companies is emerging to see if they can finally turn this vision into reality. Targeted antibody drugs have been around for a long time, and have been shown to do a lot of good for patients. Some of the world’s best-selling medicines are designed to specifically hone in on cancer…
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    Internet Marketing for Business - Jim Kukral - Small Business Web Consultant

  • How To Write A Best-Selling Book Training

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    15 May 2012 | 12:25 pm
    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 | 12:44 pm
    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 | 1:35 pm
    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 | 5:19 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.

  • Free Book Marketing Training Videos

    jim@jimkukral.com (Jim Kukral)
    9 Apr 2012 | 12:17 pm
    Ever wanted to write and market a book? As I said in my guest post, The Secret to Overnight Book Marketing Success, it’s not that easy. Having overnight success of your book would be like winning the lottery; the odds aren’t great to say the least. Just like in life and in business, there are a very few select group of people who “hit the winning ticket” by accident or luck. As I wrote in my book Business Around a Lifestyle, Volume 1, “Some people are born into money and success. Some just get lucky. The rest of us, well, we all have to work to get where we want…
 
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    Thisisgoingtobebig.com

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

    Charlie O'Donnell
    14 May 2012 | 6:45 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 | 11:23 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 | 8:59 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…

  • Thinking About Berlin: Unleashing a Creative Opportunity

    Charlie O'Donnell
    7 May 2012 | 6:45 am
    On Saturday morning, I stepped onto continental Europe for the first time in just over 20 years.  I hadn't been here since I was 12, when I did a week long exchange program in Italy.  I'll admit to not being particularly well travelled--I've never lived outside the five boroughs.  I don't know any other languages.  It's not that I don't like new places--I've just spent a lot of time diving pretty deep into my own city and going all in on a career based off of being rooted in NYC.  That's why I thought it was a bit of an odd choice to be asked to comment on the Berlin…

  • What to blog about when you have nothing to say

    Charlie O'Donnell
    2 May 2012 | 7:59 am
    1. Comment on a series of posts other professionals in your area of expertise seem to be talking about. 2. Read something in a totally different genre like philosophy or history and try and put it in the context of your job. 3. Blog some rhetorical questions that are on your mind. 4. Ask 4-5 smart people for a tip or best practice around something everyone in your area needs to know. 5. Take a look at your resume and write some first impressions/common misperceptions of yourself. How does this differ than what impression you wish people got and what steps or projects can you take on to bridge…
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    Entrepreneurs-Journey.com by Yaro Starak

  • I Just Don’t Feel Like Working Today

    http://ReplytoYaro.com (Yaro Starak)
    15 May 2012 | 3:47 am
    Many years ago I lived in a share house in the inner city suburb of West End in Brisbane, Australia. Although I prefer to live alone, I appreciated living in a share house with other people because it gave me some kind of socialization during a period of my life when I was largely spending the rest of my time … Read the rest of this entry »

  • An Unusual Interview With World Traveling, Book Writing, Internet Giant, Chris Guillebeau

    http://ReplytoYaro.com (Yaro Starak)
    11 May 2012 | 3:21 am
    Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link. Download the MP3 [ 56 Minutes - 27 MB ] Subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes. This is no ordinary podcast interview with Chris Guillebeau. I say that because you have probably seen a lot of interviews surfacing with … Read the rest of this entry »

  • Can You Apply The Minimum Viable Product Principle To Information Products?

    http://ReplytoYaro.com (Yaro Starak)
    8 May 2012 | 12:59 am
    I recently listened to the audiobook version of the Lean Startup by Eric Ries. My motivation for “reading” it is to help with the development of CrankyAds, my software startup. Lean startup principles are particularly good for a software company because of the unlimited features you could develop (given unlimited resources) contrasting with the need to just get … Read the rest of this entry »

  • How A Guy With A Full Time Job Built A $2,000 A Month AdSense Income Niche Site And Then Sold It For $200,000 – Patrick Meninga Tells His Story

    http://ReplytoYaro.com (Yaro Starak)
    1 May 2012 | 7:03 pm
    Press play to begin streaming the audio or right click the text link and choose save as or save link. Download the MP3 [ 60 Minutes - 29 MB ] Subscribe to this Podcast in iTunes. Apologies for the tiny bit of static that came through in the recording. This is one great interview if you are looking for a … Read the rest of this entry »

  • How A Holiday To Brazil Helped Me Climb Out Of A Creativity Rut

    http://ReplytoYaro.com (Yaro Starak)
    30 Apr 2012 | 5:52 am
    In my experience, one of the main reasons many entrepreneurs seek the freedom of working for themselves is because they crave variety, stimulation, and the ability to grow organically in their career. Employees who are stuck in the 9-5 routine dream of entrepreneurship as a way to set themselves free to the uncharted possibilities of a fabulous life… I … Read the rest of this entry »
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    Men with Pens

  • How to Get Your Blog Back On Track

    James
    14 May 2012 | 9:05 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
    9 May 2012 | 12:00 am
    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 | 2:42 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
    7 May 2012 | 12:00 am
    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…

  • How to Get the Most Out of an Online Course or Info-Product

    Agent X
    4 May 2012 | 12:00 am
    Did you know that roughly 20% of people might pay for a course and NEVER sign in? That’s what happened to Jon Morrow with his Guest Blogging course. Roughly 2 out of 10 students paid $500 for his course and then flushed the money down the toilet by never showing up to it. If you’re going to spend that kind of money, you should do everything you can to get the most value possible. So to help you dramatically increase the value you get from an online course, here are several best practice suggestions: 1. Go Through ALL the Course Content It never ceases to amaze me at how many people…
 
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    OnStartups

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

    Dharmesh Shah
    2 May 2012 | 1:25 pm
    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 | 2:57 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 | 10:20 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 | 10:40 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…

  • Avoiding Founder Failure: 26 Quick Tips and Real Data

    Dharmesh Shah
    26 Mar 2012 | 8:20 am
    Several years ago, I met with Noam Wasserman who had recently joined Harvard Business School as a professor.  I initially came across Noam because he was doing some fascinating research on startups -- particularly in the arena of founder relationships.  When I met him for lunch, he brought up some of the toughest issues I've ever encountered in my entrepreneurial career: Should you start a company with a close friend or family-member?  Is it wise to divide equity in the startup equally among the founders?  If you had to pick, do you want the cash (get rich) or the control…
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    The Marketing Zen Group

  • The Dos and Don’ts of Pinterest for Marketing

    Amy Rose Brown
    8 May 2012 | 11:21 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 | 1:35 pm
    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 | 12:26 pm
    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 | 1:20 pm
    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 | 1:24 pm
    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…
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    Niall Kennedy

  • Nielsen U.S. smartphone statistics

    Niall Kennedy
    16 May 2012 | 12:45 pm
    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 | 3:40 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 | 2:33 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 | 1:20 pm
    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 | 3:41 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;…
 
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    Blogtrepreneur | Entrepreneur Blog

  • Get Leadership Right from the Start

    Guest Post
    16 May 2012 | 6:00 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 | 2:56 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…

  • Good Business Practices – You have to be More than a Geek

    Matthew Toren
    11 May 2012 | 9:54 am
    A friend of mine was looking at online guitar lessons for her husband’s birthday. Janine is a serious geek with a career in computers that involves over a decade and budgets in the millions. She is also a serious shopper, having learned hand-in-hand with her mother as they ran from store to store. She told me about the process she took to select the right online option, and I realized that it was a powerful learning lesson for any entrepreneur with an online portal. There were three options that looked promising. Janine decided to evaluate their knowledge of technical issues and their…

  • Scribendi: Helping you Write the Right Words Right

    Adam Toren
    9 May 2012 | 6:00 am
    An interview with Chandra Clarke, founder of Scribendi, an editing company that recently started a plug-in editing program on WordPress. It’s not just what you have to say but how you say it that matters. Even in this age of fast communication, incorrect grammar or typos still damage your credibility. Husband and wife team Chandra K. Clarke and Terence W. Johnson started Scribendi to help writers get it right, and their blogger’s services are now available as a plug-in on WordPress. We talked with Chandra recently about the business and their approach to entrepreneurship. Blogtrepreneur:…

  • 4 Tips for Getting Back Up when Life Knocks You Down

    Matthew Toren
    7 May 2012 | 8:34 am
    When life happens, entrepreneurs don’t have the option to call in sick or ask for some time off.  Whether you’re sick, have suffered a business setback, or just having a really bad day, an entrepreneur can’t usually just walk away for a period of time without damaging their business.  But just because you’re self-employed doesn’t mean that you don’t still need some mental breaks. If you ignore problems and push through, it will eventually catch up with you. Here are 4 simple tips for entrepreneurs to get that well deserved break we all need from time to time. 1. Small Steps…
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    The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss

  • Tim Ferriss: A Day In The Life

    Tim Ferriss
    24 Apr 2012 | 1:15 pm
    (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 | 9:01 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 | 9:03 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 | 9:00 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…

  • Reinventing the Office: How to Lose Fat and Increase Productivity at Work

    Tim Ferriss
    12 Mar 2012 | 3:33 am
    (Photo: watz) If you’re a white-collar worker, hacking your body isn’t limited to the gym. In fact, what you do outside of the gym might be more important that what you do inside the gym. Recent research suggests that those who sit from 9-5 (more than 6 hours daily) and exercise regularly are more likely to have heart disease than those who sit less than 3 hours per day and don’t “exercise” at all. ff Venture Capital, a New York early-stage technology venture capital fund, recently moved into a new NYC location, and they’ve documented their experiments and…
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    IMAutomator blog

  • IMAutomator Now Has Full Spintax Support!

    admin
    1 May 2012 | 8:17 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 | 12:37 pm
    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 | 5:11 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 | 12:27 pm
    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 | 7:02 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…
 
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    TylerCruz.com: An Internet Entrepreneur's Journey

  • The GeoEdge Worldwide Internet Proxy Network

    Michael Kwan
    14 May 2012 | 9:12 pm
    The 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 dramatic effects on all your web-based ventures. Want to promote an affiliate program in Denmark but you want to make sure that your landing page is…

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

    Tyler Cruz
    4 May 2012 | 4:10 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 | 7:35 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 | 4:00 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 | 2:04 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

  • Chinese RoboCop Keeps An Electric Eye On Crime

    China.new
    15 May 2012 | 11:00 pm
    A robot policeman equipped with a CCTV cyclops eye and a navel-mounted panic button is the new face of crimefighting in China. Though fixed to the pavement and unable to chase feeling suspects, the ersatz RoboCop nonetheless has brought peace to the mean streets of Kunming.

  • Apple To Replace Google Maps With C3 Tech In iOS 6

    Rey M.L.
    14 May 2012 | 5:00 am
    Though the default Google Maps software that comes loaded on Apple's iDevices is enough for most people, the company is still looking to replace it with advanced, 3D-accelerated goodness from C3 Technologies.

  • Japan's First Police Cat Rats Out Criminals

    Steve Levenstein
    13 May 2012 | 3:00 pm
    Beware the long paw of the law! Potential lawbreakers in Kyoto, Japan had better think twice before engaging in criminal acts because Iemon, Japan's first police cat, is on patrol... when he's not curled up asleep at the station, that is.

  • iPhone 'Mug Case' Helps You Get A Grip On Your Calls

    China.new
    12 May 2012 | 10:34 am
    Tired of being put on hold? Get a handle on your mobile conversations and hold ALL your calls, all the time, with the self-standing silicone Mug Case for the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S.

  • To Hood Or Not To Hood, That's The $100 Billion Dollar Question?

    Ron Callari
    12 May 2012 | 7:58 am
    With Facebook heading into it's historic IPO this week, and valuations some have estimated as high as $100 billion, one's hard pressed to figure out how fashion (or lack thereof) figures into the equation. Even the NY Times' editorial gave ink to the question, "Who could have thought a hoodie could mean so much?" Of course, we're talking about the "Zuck" and his signature apparel.
 
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    Force of Good: a blog by Lance Weatherby

  • Is Facebook A Fad?

    Lance Weatherby
    15 May 2012 | 5:01 pm
    That is what the survey says.

  • Buying

    Lance Weatherby
    14 May 2012 | 11:00 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 | 5:24 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.

  • They'll Ruin It

    Lance Weatherby
    10 Apr 2012 | 7:42 am
    So the big news is that Facebook acquired Instagram for a cool $1 billion dollars (I can't even type that without thinking about Dr. Evil). A billion dollars is a lot. It's big. To put it in context here is how it stacks up with other photo acquisitions over the years. I mean it is big. And it is big because the future of social is mobile and the essence of Facebook is sharing pictures. Regardless of the price I can see why they did the deal. Insta was becoming a threat to Facebook. I first noticed this during a trip to my nieces Bat Matzvah two months ago. Insta was becoming the…

  • Video Battle

    Lance Weatherby
    29 Mar 2012 | 11:31 am
    Who wins, Georgia or New York?
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    The Next Women - Business Magazine

  • G(irls)20 Summit: 3.5 Billion Ways to Change the World

    Bethpitts
    16 May 2012 | 8:07 am
    In advance of the G20 Leaders’ summit scheduled for June in Mexico, 21 young women representing the G20 nations and the African Union will gather in Mexico City from May 23rd to 31st, for the third annual G(irls)20 Summit. Launched in 2010 at the Clinton Global Initiative, the G(irls)20 Summit highlights ways in which girls and women can play a leading role in global economic development and progress and generates tangible, practical recommendations for the G20 leaders to act upon. “If G20 leaders are serious about economic growth, political stability and social innovation,…

  • Susan Cooney, Co-Founder, MahiFX, on Margaret Thatcher and Peppa Pig!

    Bethpitts
    16 May 2012 | 8:04 am
    Susan Cooney is Co-Founder and Head of Marketing & Sales at MahiFX, a new proprietary-built foreign exchange trading platform which launched earlier this year and gives retail FX customers access to same tight spreads and cutting edge technology as institutional FX traders. Prior to founding MahiFX, Susan worked in forex trading at investment banks. In mid 2004, whilst she was working at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein selling e-FX technology to UK banks, Susan was asked by colleagues David Cooney and Tim Cartledge to join the team moving across to Barclays Capital. David was…

  • Ask a CEO: How Can I Break In to Big Companies (When No One Answers the Phone)?

    She Takes On The World
    15 May 2012 | 7:17 am
    Breaking in to big companies. It’s the fastest, easiest way to increase your profits, make a difference in lots of people’s lives, and grow your business beyond just the solo-entrepreneur or independent consultant model. So how do you do it? The obvious answer would seem to be: ask for the big opportunity.read more

  • Support a Documentary on Women Entrepreneurs

    Bethpitts
    15 May 2012 | 7:14 am
    She Means Business is a documentary about women entrepreneurs. This is from their campaign on Kickstarter: Women Entrepreneurs are trailblazers.  We create businesses… and the jobs, salaries, economic growth, and futures that follow have a powerful but little-known impact.  As entrepreneurs ourselves, we are amazed at how rarely the media tells the incredible stories of women braving new frontiers, succeeding (and sometimes failing), and building legacies.  We want to bring some of these astounding journeys to the screen.  SHE MEANS BUSINESS is a documentary…

  • Kathy Douglass, CEO, The Greensheet: Following In An Entrepreneurial Mother's Footsteps

    Bethpitts
    14 May 2012 | 7:39 am
    Kathy Douglass is CEO of The Greensheet, a Texas-based publication connecting local buyers and sellers, with nearly a million readers - the largest free weekly circulation in the state. The Greensheet was founded in 1970 by Kathy Douglass’s mother Helen Gordon, a tough entrepreneur who faced incredible resistance from the male-dominated Texas business network. Ms. Gordon showed great resolve in getting the company off the ground and turned The Greensheet into a classified publication powerhouse By the time she retired, Ms. Gordon had grown the company to one of the most successful in…
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    Active Garage

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

    Gary Monti
    15 May 2012 | 3:13 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 | 1:14 pm
    “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…

  • Dilemmas of Being in Business #16: What to Do When There is Nothing to Do!

    Rosie Kuhn
    10 May 2012 | 2:20 am
    A client of mine in Toronto, Frank, is challenged in this moment with an interesting dilemma. His project is stalled due to a number of factors outside his area of responsibility. He’s in a “wait and see” place, and what he’s finding is that he’s experiencing a lack of motivation, a sense of inadequacy and he’s questioning his competence. “Something must be wrong with me or the way I’m doing my job.” Frank says, as he’s struggling to find what’s missing in order to get some momentum going for his project. “On the one hand, I know there’s nothing for me to do but to…

  • The Soul of a Project #14: Anchor Yourself and Stay Clear

    Gary Monti
    8 May 2012 | 6:49 pm
    Ever have to deal with politics? You know, those situations that can pull on you, the team, and the project. It can be crazy-making. What to do? If you’ve been reading this series you can guess the answer. Keep it simple. The next question is, “How?” Let’s take a look. But, before giving the solution, going through what didn’t work can help show the value of what does. Over-studying the situation. This involves going deeper and deeper into the details trying to find the solution. Over-thinking. Here the catch is over-analysis, believing that rummaging through all the connections…

  • Time For a Change #13: Making Your GOALSCAPES Visually Dynamic

    William Reed
    3 May 2012 | 8:00 pm
    A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words According to neuroscientists, vision is central to our senses, and is closely integrated with our other senses in terms of spatial orientation, balance, and other ways in which we navigate our environment. Thomas Politzer, O.D., wrote in an article entitled Vision is Our Dominant Sense,  that “Research estimates that eighty to eighty five percent of our perception, learning, cognition and activities are mediated through vision.” If that be the case, it makes enormous sense that we integrate more visual elements into our note taking and communications.
 
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    The Wright Place TV

  • Money for your Art(business)

    Dr. Letitia Wright
    12 May 2012 | 12:57 am
    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 | 10:32 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 | 5:13 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 | 4:43 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 [...]

  • What Crowd Funding is Really Like

    Dr. Letitia Wright
    27 Apr 2012 | 4:27 am
    I know a lot of people think its like this: But it’s really more like this: and your actual video will be somewhere between the two….
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    Steve Blank

  • 9 Deadliest Start-up Sins

    steveblank
    14 May 2012 | 8:00 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 | 8:00 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 | 8:00 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 | 8:00 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…

  • Blinded by the Light – The Epiphany

    steveblank
    3 Apr 2012 | 8:00 am
    Epiphany e·piph·a·ny  noun /iˈpifənē/ A moment of sudden revelation or insight We now know how to teach entrepreneurs how to think about business models and use customer development to turn hypotheses into facts. But there is no process to teach how to get an epiphany. We can only try to create the conditions where this might occur. ————- It All Just Came to Me In a Flash Luis, one of the CEO’s from our first National Science Foundation class, came in to speak to our next class. We had a couple of minutes to catch up between sessions and the conversation got…
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    First Class Fashionista

  • Top Foods for Healthy Hair

    First Class Fashionista
    15 May 2012 | 7:00 pm
    As men and women with hair, we all have to deal with the daily issues our locks may bring. Don’t let it be a bad hair day because most of us will be quick to throw on a hat! The main concerns we are likely to have are: thinning, breakage, dry, flaky scalp, etc. So let’s review the top foods to turn around those problems. Salmon- Full of Omega 3′s which supports scalp health and also contains B-12 and iron Dark Green Vegetables- Amazing sources of Vitamins A & C which helps your body produce sebum. Beans- They’re good for your heart the more you eat them the more…

  • The Bachelorette Begins with a Bang!

    First Class Fashionista
    15 May 2012 | 6:27 pm
    Part cheesy entrances, helicopter landings and over confident suitors, the new season of the Bachelorette is sure to be a crowd pleaser! This season’s gorgeous and bubbly southern belle Emily Maynard, knows all too well the craziness that goes into the show. The then contestant won the heart of both at-home audiences and Season 11 Brad Womack, but was devastated when the proposal quickly ended. Several years later she’s back at it, and this time hopes to find a true lasting love. The single mother’s tragic background was addressed, and soon she was whisked away to a private…

  • Summer Fashion Trend: Button Down Tunic Dress

    First Class Fashionista
    15 May 2012 | 5:20 pm
    Easy, Multi-Purpose Button Down Tunic Dress! While flipping through the June issue of Glamour Magazine, I noticed a re-occurring trend on a bunch of celebrities; including cover girl Carrie Underwood. As featured in the mag, the idea of a button-down tunic dress seemed like the perfect summer outfit idea to me! Most tunic dresses are made in a light, chiffon or cotton fabric, which makes them perfect for hot summer days on campus or at work. The button details down the front, like this one I found on www.intermixonline.com, make the piece very versatile. Charlie by MZ Button Down Short…

  • Mother’s Day Brunch and Activity Ideas

    First Class Fashionista
    11 May 2012 | 4:57 pm
    In honor of Mother’s day, we at “First Class Fashionista” have put together a few ideas on how to give back to the woman who gave you everything! Not all things need to be expensive or lavish gifts, taking the time out to put together a special thank you is all that’s needed. Prepare a Sunday morning brunch. Have the family go to work by assembling a hearty meal of mom’s favorite breakfast foods. Quiche’s are a great center point to a meal. You can create your own combination of ingredients to add, and serve it with roasted potatoes and a fresh fruit…

  • Dove Clear Tone Product Package Winners Announced!

    First Class Fashionista
    11 May 2012 | 2:15 pm
    To help celebrate the launch of the new Dove Clear Tone Deodorant, we teamed up with Dove to give three lucky “First Class Fashionista” readers a Dove product package, which includes the Dove Clear Tone Skin Renew, Dove Clear Tone Clinical Protection and a $25 Visa gift card to purchase a razor and shaving cream. Thanks to all who entered for a chance to win! This giveaway ended yesterday, May 10th. Winners were selected randomly using Random.org. Congratulations lala r, Amanda Sakovitz and Roxann, you won a Dove product package! We will be contacting you via email. Please allow…
 
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    Begin the Begin

  • My new obsession

    jeffhilimire
    16 May 2012 | 7:10 am
    Coconut water. Crazy awesome.

  • Another “we are the media” indicator

    jeffhilimire
    15 May 2012 | 4:47 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 | 11:44 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…

  • Ha, Atlanta by Sturgess Fillmore

    jeffhilimire
    11 May 2012 | 9:43 am
    Thanks to @angela_ann for alerting me to this. Very funny.

  • Some thoughts on leadership coming out of the 2012 Chick-fil-A Leadercast event

    jeffhilimire
    10 May 2012 | 5:16 am
    I was really excited to be able to attend Chick-fil-A’s Leadercast event last week. They always get incredible speakers and, while they are all obviously focused on leadership (notes from a past session I took by Seth Godin), they all have a theme and this one was on the power of choices. A few of my notes: Angela Ahrendts, CEO of Burberry, said: “The biggest mistake a leader can make is not listening.” While I’m not going to argue the importance of listening, I don’t think its the biggest mistake. In my opinion, the biggest mistake a leader can make is NOT…
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    TheFunded Founder Institute News

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

    15 May 2012 | 10:05 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…

  • Free #Startup Events in May from the Founder Institute

    15 May 2012 | 1:00 pm
    We will be hosting a number of free events over the next few weeks, across several cities and countries.  These "Startup Bootcamps" are hands-on, intensive workshops that are modeled off a real Founder Institute session. In just three hours, the Founder Institute and leading local entrepreneurs will help you improve your ideas and pitching skills, come up with new ideas, and even recruit potential cofounders.  The Startup Bootcamps come in two different flavors; the Startup Ideation Bootcamp, which focuses on analyzing and dissecting your startup ideas; and the Startup Pitch…

  • Questions About Applying? Ask Adeo on Q&A Conference Calls

    14 May 2012 | 10:25 am
    In the next couple of weeks, there are Application Deadlines approaching for Tel Aviv, Singapore, Puerto Rico, and Silicon Valley. If you or someone you know could benefit from expert training and feedback to launch a technology startup, then click here to apply today. Joining the Founder Institute is a potentially life-changing decision, so if you have any questions about the program please join one of our Q&A Conference Calls below and get them answered directly from our Founder, Adeo Ressi. Simply dail-in at one of the times below to participate. Account: PHONE:…

  • Silicon Valley Grad @Skydera Profiled by @Scobleizer

    13 May 2012 | 9:30 pm
    Silicon Valley Founder Institute Graduate Skydera, and Founder & CEO Lecole Cole, were recently interviewed by tech writer Robert Scoble on Building43.com. Skydera provides advanced software tools for management, automation and compliance for all the top public and virtual private cloud providers.  According to Scoble, "Skydera C3 is the breakthrough cloud automation and management environment designed from the ground up to deliver easy-to-use Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) for the age of cross-cloud IT. In addition to providing full-featured cloud application deployment and lifecycle…

  • #FounderShowcase Global #Entrepreneurship Panel Video

    12 May 2012 | 6:51 am
    At the 10th Founder Showcase on April 24th in San Francisco, we hosted a panel featuring top international technology founders from Asia, South America, and Europe to discuss the issues and trends surrounding global entrepreneurship - including Andy Zain (Founder & CEO of PT Numedia Global, and Leader of the Jakarta Founder Institute), Heiko Rauch (Owner at Globumbus.com, Co-Founder & CEO at Zanox.de), Tim Delhaes (CEO of mon.ki), Camilo Gomez (Co-Founder of SnappyGo), and Tuan Pham (Chairman at the TOPICA Education Group, and Leader of the Vietnam Founder…
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    A Smart Bear: Startups and Marketing for Geeks

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

    wpengine
    15 May 2012 | 8:45 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 | 8:45 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 | 9:00 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 | 8:45 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…

  • “She doesn’t deserve to be alive”

    Jason
    9 Apr 2012 | 9:15 am
    “She doesn’t deserve to be alive” — this is how my late grandmother “complimented” Nigella Lawson.And why does she not deserve life?“Well look at her, she’s beautiful, she’s rich, she’s smart, she’s an amazing cook, and did it all with with kids. No one should have all that.”I think this all the time. David Heinemeier Hansson doesn’t deserve to be alive either for instance — he makes millions of dollars at his bootstrapped, profitable, beloved business, he’s honored by geeks for creating Ruby…
 
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    CurrentMom

  • Where Working Moms Live . . .

    Stacy Feuer
    16 May 2012 | 9:29 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...

  • My Mommy Double-Standard

    Melody Bakeeff
    15 May 2012 | 11:05 am
    (Un) Tech Tuesday A few weeks ago my daughter's school had a festival on Saturday. Since she is in Kindergarten and I haven't been terribly involved other than chaperoning one field trip, this was it. My first time to get...

  • Colorful Caprese: The Taste of Summer

    Emily
    14 May 2012 | 1:00 pm
    Meal Monday I know it's trite, overdone and proffered at every pretentious corner trattoria, but I don't care. Nothing says summer to me like an insalata caprese. I am, of course, something of a snob about the five simple ingredients...

  • A Mother's Day Ode to My Daughter's Other Moms

    Karen Paul-Stern
    10 May 2012 | 5:56 am
    Truth Thursday My just-about teenage daughter has the great fortune, at a young age, to have the benefits of other “moms” in her life who offer comfort, companionship, and safe and comfortable places to land when she’s feeling a bit...

  • Mothers Day and Cheating Dads

    Julie Bindeman, Psy-D
    8 May 2012 | 5:31 am
    Therapy Tuesday Photo by: www.chromoz.com via Flickr Cheating isn't anything groundbreaking. Maybe it's not exactly the topic that a woman wants to think about, especially the week leading up to Mother's Day. So it's interesting timing that AshleyMadison.com is "reporting"...
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    thriveal.com

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

    Jennifer Blumer
    14 May 2012 | 7:46 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 | 7:27 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 [...]

  • Community Call #8: What Is Onboarding?

    thriveal
    30 Apr 2012 | 4:05 pm
    “Do you run a small business? Do you have a pulse? If you answered yes to either of these, you may be the perfect client for us! We don’t even know your name, but we can definitely do whatever it is that you want us to do.” While you may not have stooped to this [...]

  • THRIVEcast Episode 10 Now Available

    thriveal
    28 Apr 2012 | 2:26 pm
    Check out THRIVEcast Episode 10 with special guest Michelle Golden. Now available on iTunes and Stitcher.   Wanna come to a live recording of the THRIVEcast? We’ll be in Las Vegas on June 13th recording an interview with Tom Hood and Mark Koziel. Find out how you can join us for this free event here. [...]

  • Platform Thinking

    thriveal
    24 Apr 2012 | 9:24 pm
    Platform thinking – that phrase was in the title of a recent blog post and podcast on the Duct Tape Marketing blog.  John Jantsch interviewed Phil Simon, author of The Age of the Platform on how businesses are changing to a community mindset and sharing collaboratively with others to get better business done. Fascinating. Simon [...]
 
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    Carol Roth » Business Unplugged

  • Exclusivity: You’re Doing it Wrong

    Carol Roth
    16 May 2012 | 6:03 am
    Retailers use all kinds of methodologies to create perceptions to drive sales.  Sometimes it’s the perception of exclusivity or limited items to create demand.  Other times it’s creating the illusion of a bargain or a “must-have” deal.  However, there is a new methodology that I came across while shopping the other day:   If you [...]

  • The Chutes and Ladders Guide to Business Success

    Carol Roth
    15 May 2012 | 6:05 am
    Do you remember the board game of Chutes and Ladders?  I often feel like the path to success is very much like that. Moving along through milestones in your business journey is like advancing a space on the Chutes and Ladders board. There are certain opportunities that can create a shortcut for you if you [...]

  • Get Fresh with Your Business

    George and Mary-Lynn
    14 May 2012 | 6:00 am
    A lot of people talk about emotions when it comes to choosing your life’s work. So, you took their advice – you followed your passion and started a business. Ah, young love. Life is great. Business is fun. It’s new and fresh. But you don’t hear much about what comes next – courtship is one [...]

  • The Real Reasons You’re Not Getting the Sales You Want

    Charlie Gilkey
    11 May 2012 | 6:00 am
    Most people aren’t happy with the sales their business is getting. If they’re not getting sales, they’re obviously uncomfortable with it, but even if they are getting decent sales, most people still aren’t happy with it because they want more. It’s rare that a business is getting more sales than it can handle; those rare [...]

  • Big Data: Google Thinks That I’m a Dude and Target Thinks That I’m Pregnant

    Carol Roth
    10 May 2012 | 6:04 am
    In the era of Big Data, companies are making a fortune out of selling information to other companies.  However, what are those companies really paying for?  Is it worth it and what does it do to customer relationships? I don’t mind getting information for stuff that I want, but when I am barraged with things [...]
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    Lessons Learned

  • A new field guide for entrepreneurs of all stripes

    unknown
    9 May 2012 | 9:38 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 | 10:36 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 | 9:13 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 | 9:58 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 | 8:25 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…
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    Master of 500 Hats

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

    Dave
    3 May 2012 | 5:24 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 | 7:35 am
    i look kinda scruffy in this Fast Company intvw, but it's mostly on target.

  • Blogging Hiatus

    Dave
    28 Aug 2011 | 5:12 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 | 11:57 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 | 11:15 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!")
 
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    Big Red Tomato Company

  • 7 Business lessons from Caine’s Arcade

    Matthew Needham
    2 May 2012 | 12:00 am
    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
    16 Mar 2012 | 12:00 am
    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 | 11:00 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 | 11:00 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…

  • Weekend Round up January 28

    Matthew Needham
    28 Jan 2012 | 5:00 am
    Welcome to Weekend Roundup. This is a collection of some great posts that I’ve come across over the previous week. I don’t go into major depth on each one, but encourage you to check them out if they sound interesting: Make sure your tweets are being seen  with business owners trying to get their message out, how can you be sure they are being seen? Here’s some tips to make sure your tweets get read. What’s in a business name? 20 considerations for getting it right When you start in business, you may have decided what you’re going to sell or what you’re…
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    David Cancel

  • What Matters

    dcancel
    11 May 2012 | 3:02 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 | 4:41 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 | 4:02 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 | 4:14 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 | 7:37 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.
 
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    The Entreprenette Gazette

  • Seasonal roll-outs

    Sarah Shaw
    1 May 2012 | 7:00 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 | 7:00 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 | 7:00 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 | 7:00 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 | 6:00 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

  • Why Spain Is Still A Great Place To Live

    Entrepreneur Solo
    13 May 2012 | 4:44 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…

  • How To Make The 16 Hour Workday Into The Four Hour Workweek

    Entrepreneur Solo
    22 Apr 2012 | 4:13 pm
    For many years working as an estate agent in the Spanish property market a 16 hour day was considered for wimps. 18 hours a day 7 days a week and no holidays was the norm. We were so busy that we literally had no time to build a business and therefore when things slowed down of course the business didn't work too well.

  • You Are Not Alone

    Entrepreneur Solo
    22 Apr 2012 | 4:13 pm
    The Spanish 30DCHome crew had a meeting this weekend. We talked, discussed, brainstormed and more and out of it has come a solid plan which will be presented on Tuesday. Already got a lot of actionable steps to take in the next few days and we feel that the whole could be a lot greater than the sum of its parts.

  • Flogging A Dead Horse and Picking The Right Path

    Entrepreneur Solo
    22 Apr 2012 | 4:13 pm
    Just before starting this rant I really want to emphasise something, I am not talking about me here, I am just not. However I will use some of my experience with one particular project (Which shall remain nameless) to tell you when it's time to call it a day. I see so many people flogging a dead horse online these days that sometimes I just want to scream at them "Just give it up" However I do want to emphasise one thing here, this should not be done if you haven't really followed through. Lots of people give up just before they would have struck gold because they haven't really done…

  • Facebook Are Looking For Beta Testers

    Entrepreneur Solo
    14 Apr 2012 | 4:56 am
    Facebook are looking for beta testers for a new product. You need to be able to write authoritatively about subjects, mmm I wonder why? Oh yeah, Facebook Wiki. Anyway if you think you can write in an authoritative way then look at the questions below. I have placed my answers in there to give you an example.
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    Matt Crowe

  • The Future of Business

    matt crowe
    19 Apr 2012 | 8:35 pm
    I can say two things for sure – 1.) The sun sets in the West and 2.) Crowdsourcing is the future of business.
 
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    Meylah

  • How to Effectively Imitate And Not Steal

    15 May 2012 | 11:34 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 | 9:09 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…

  • 4 Tips For Increasing Your SEO & Getting More Visitors

    10 May 2012 | 10:13 pm
    Want more visitors to your online store?  Of course you do...we all do!  So, how do you get them...the answer is increasing your search ranking or search engine optimization (SEO) so people searching Google will find you.Here are 4 tips to increase your SEO and drive more traffic to your online store:Tip #1: Name the product image files that you upload into your product listings with a specific and relevant file name related to your product as it will help you in search rankings.  Files with titles from camera default like "IMG050426.jpg" do nothing for you and it might be better to rename…

  • 10 Creative Ways To Market Your Online Store

    8 May 2012 | 6:17 pm
    It’s never been a better time to sell handmade products! Thanks to sites like Meylah, you can create an online store and sell your products all over the world.  But, you still have to get those customers to find your online store...so how do you do it?Marketing can be expensive and is often a gamble until you figure out which tactics work for you. Before spending your hard earned money on marketing, try this mix of 10 very affordable and easy ways to attract new customers:1. Create a NewsletterKeep your shop in the minds of your customers by landing in their inbox. Don’t just sell -…

  • Lessons from a Life Coach: The Benefits of Using Total Choice

    7 May 2012 | 8:32 am
    What is total choice? Total choice is not something you have to earn or go looking for...just as you are right now you have total choice in your life and business. Being aware of this remarkable thing means having that awareness for options that can create the business of your dreams.Living with total choice means knowing you are responsible for the great things you brought to your life and for the circumstances that just seem to “happen to you.” Granted, there are scenarios in our life we simply don’t plan, BUT you have the choice to either react without believing you have options, or…
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    i-netpreneur

  • 5 Social Networks to Promote Photo Sites

    cyrus
    4 May 2012 | 9:18 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 | 10:01 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 | 8:08 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 | 9:01 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…

  • 4 Awesome AdSense Apps for iOS and Android

    cyrus
    6 Apr 2012 | 9:54 pm
    Creating websites and making money from them only from AdSense is not exactly a bulletproof business model. But many online marketers rely on AdSense to keep their businesses afloat. Google already has a sophisticated reporting system for the AdSense program. These 4 iOS and Android apps allow you to check your AdSense earnings on the go: QuickAdSense: uses OAuth to authenticate with AdSense and show your revenue reports. It has an elegant interface too. myRevenue AdSense App: shows your account statistics on your iPhone. It works in portrait and landscape modes. It is pretty fast too.
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    blog.officelinks.com

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

    admin
    16 May 2012 | 6:00 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 | 6:00 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 | 5:45 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…

  • Welcomed Guests?

    admin
    8 May 2012 | 6:32 am
    Non-paying guests in top U.S. markets are setting up their offices in hotel lobbies. Fed up with the crowds and noises at coffee shops, mobile professionals on the hunt for free Wi-Fi and a comfy chair are leaving Starbucks behind and are working from hotel lobbies.  While this movement may not be suitable for all properties, some hoteliers are embracing their new temporary visitors.  Hotel managers in city centers have suggested a lobby that’s abuzz with activity and people could be good for business and bring in more revenue.   Could there be drawbacks to this trend? “If you are…

  • Yoga in the Park is Back!

    admin
    3 May 2012 | 6:11 am
    Did you know that yoga can reduce your stress levels, lower your blood pressure, and help you get more quality sleep, all while building strength and increasing your flexibility?  And now that spring is here, that means you can experience a yoga class like no other: Bryant Park Yoga. Today, Thursday, May 3, 6-7 pm, take a free yoga class in Bryant Park on the Lawn.  Led by expert instructors, provided by lululemon athletica, free yoga classes are held at Bryant Park on Tuesdays on the Upper Terrace from 10-11 am and Thursdays on the Lawn from 6-7 pm through the spring, summer and fall.
 
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    Under30CEO

  • The Daunting Task of Merging Companies as a Young Entrepreneur

    Under30CEO
    16 May 2012 | 10:30 am
    Company mergers require gutsy decision-making and strategic relationship-building. For young startups, expanding business operations is usually the ultimate goal, and mergers are an effective way to accomplish this objective. Herein lies the problem. The expansion dreams of hundreds of young entrepreneurs are blocked by the fact that they are, indeed, young entrepreneurs. I know from experience that age can be a daunting barrier when looking to expand in the business world.Why Age Can Be an Entrepreneur’s ProblemObviously, with experience comes expertise. I’d pick a dentist with 30 years…

  • 11 Things Not to do When Trying to Raise Capital From Family or Friends

    Under30CEO
    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
     Q. What’s one thing NOT do when trying to raise capital from family or friends for your startup?The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only nonprofit organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. The YEC promotes entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment and provides entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of their business’s development and growth.A. Don’t Rely on Memory AloneDo not do business with friends or family…

  • Pros and Cons of Hiring Consultants For Your Startup

    Under30CEO
    15 May 2012 | 2:07 pm
    As more and more startups are finding, it is getting increasingly difficult to find and retain quality engineers. Some engineers are hopping onto the next project, which they hope might become the next Pinterest or Instagram. Some engineers are more interested in pursuing their own ventures or joining a company at a stage where they can be off more value. Others pursue their own ventures for no reason other than to avoid a technology stack they hate, or to have increased flexibility in their work arrangement.Savvy engineers are leveraging the current state of hiring engineering talent to…

  • 5 Steps for Creating a Pre-Launch Ambassador Program

    Under30CEO
    15 May 2012 | 10:30 am
    1) Have a “Why?” – All great organizations have a “why?”. While every organization knows what they do, very few know why they do it. Simon Sinek’s TED video taught us the importance of answering the question “why?” when looking to inspire action.  We worked hard to come up with ours and landed on something great that is easy for people to get behind: We believe that every activity is more fun when it’s a competition.  While we haven’t launched yet and have publicly shared few details about ChallengeLoop, we’ve found that…

  • What’s Your Toughest Business Question? Ask and Enter to Win an iPad 3

    Under30CEO
    15 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Every day at Under30CEO we publish articles to help entrepreneurs get answers and build better businesses. Now, we want to know exactly what your questions are.What’s your biggest business challenge?What do you need more advice on?What do you need tips on to get your business to the next level?Under30CEO has partnered with HighTable to collect these questions from the Under30CEO community. The HighTable community is made up of close to 300,000 consultants, executives, and top entrepreneurs ready to help get you the answers you need and foster your success.We want your questions! These…
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    Small Business, Entrepreneurship & Startup Blog | Sprouter

  • How Twitpic’s Founder Built on Twitter’s Success

    Jon Spenceley
    16 May 2012 | 10:00 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 | 10:28 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…

  • Win a Free Ticket to the mesh12 Conference!

    Jon Spenceley
    14 May 2012 | 12:55 pm
    Update: We’ve picked our lucky commenter! Thanks to everyone who commented, and we’ll post the details once we’ve confirmed all the info! With mesh12 just around the corner, we wanted to give you an opportunity to get in on the action! If you’ve never been before, here’s the skinny on the mesh conference: mesh is a two-day conference held in Toronto that explores the different ways  the internet is changing how we live, work and play. mesh gathers together leading thinkers and talented innovators who have earned their stripes doing great digital work, and…

  • From Accidental Entrepreneur to Google Acquisition

    Jon Spenceley
    9 May 2012 | 10:06 am
    BumpTop founder Anand Agarawala didn’t always want to be an entrepreneur. In fact, he initially felt that business and wealth would get in the way of raw creativity. But building a business with close friends changed all that. “After having a built a business with an awesome group of friends and having times we’ll never forget, I’ve changed,” he said in interview. “Business doesn’t have to be dirty, economics are a necessary part of the equation when you’re doing anything at scale that touches lots of people.” Agarawala’s company BumpTop provides a desktop…

  • CTA@NYC Entrepreneurs

    Jon Spenceley
    3 May 2012 | 10:13 am
    As a follow-up to our coverage of the CTA@NYC startups from earlier this week, we wanted to share the pitch videos each entrepreneur recorded for the launch of the Canadian Technology Accelerator program. Chris Ye – Uken Games Click here to view the embedded video. Cassandra Girard - Buyosphere Click here to view the embedded video. James Prudhomme – Recoset Click here to view the embedded video. William Mougayar – Engagio Click here to view the embedded video. Peter Evans – Speakerfile Click here to view the embedded video.
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    Think Traffic

  • Why “Follow Your Passion” is Flawed Advice – and What to Do Instead

    Corbett Barr
    15 May 2012 | 7:45 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 | 7:45 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 | 7:45 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…

  • The Real Truth About Blog Comments (When They Matter and When They Don’t)

    Corbett Barr
    1 May 2012 | 7:45 am
    If you’re a blogger who doesn’t receive many comments on your blog posts, you might be feeling inadequate. Your favorite big blogs have heaps of comments, so you should too, right? Not exactly. In this post, I’m going to tell you why it’s crazy for some kinds of blogs to care much about the number of comments they receive. And if you run one of these kind of blogs that naturally doesn’t receive many comments, I’ll show you what else you should be doing instead of worrying about comment numbers. First, The Problem With Vanity Metrics Let’s talk about…

  • How Backlash Beer is Redefining “Social Drinking” with Social Media

    Caleb Wojcik
    24 Apr 2012 | 7:45 am
    A couple months ago, Steve Kamb from Nerd Fitness told us about his friend in Boston who successfully launched a beer company through social media. Now that’s unique. Helder Pimentel built the brand and demand of Backlash Beer purely through social media. And they sell out of each batch to bars and liquor stores within days. One of which sold out in just 4 days. We just had to hear this story first hand from Helder, so keep reading to find out how he has carved out a piece of the highly competitive beer market in New England by using Twitter and Facebook. Caleb Wojcik: What made you…
 
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    War Room

  • INFOGRAPHIC: Americans Create 543,000 New Businesses Every Month

    Ashley Lutz
    16 May 2012 | 2:18 pm
    Entrepreneurship is alive and well in America, with 543,000 new businesses created every month, according to docstoc. This infographic shows useful information for would-be entrepreneurs like the hottest industries and the best states for getting started. Correctional facilities are in the top 10 fastest-growing industries, as are more hopeful endeavors like wind mills and internet publishing.   by Docstoc. Browse more Business infographics. SEE ALSO: Signs America's Prison System Is Out Of Control > Please follow War Room on Twitter and Facebook.Join the conversation about this story…

  • 14 Sad Facts About How Americans Are Ridiculously Overworked

    Ashley Lutz
    16 May 2012 | 2:07 pm
    Since the recession and mass layoffs, Americans are working harder than ever to keep their jobs. American worker productivity has increased 60 percent in the past 20 years. Wages have stagnated. That means workers are doing much more for less. All the extra hours and responsibilities are leading to health consequences: both physical and psychological. Chronic illnesses and obesity are on the rise. Here are some crazy facts that show the toll work is taking on Americans.39 percent of people work more than a typical workweek (40 hours) Source: American Psychological Association The average…

  • 29 Smart Answers To Tough Interview Questions

    Vivian Giang
    16 May 2012 | 11:54 am
    In her book 301 Smart Answers to Tough Interview Questions, Vicky Oliver says jobseekers need to treat interviews like a final exam, because it's "rigorous" and "psychologically draining." "Make no mistake: in order to prevail, you are going to need to trounce your competition. You could be competing against someone with three times your experience, or conversely, against someone who can do the job at half your salary level," Oliver says.  We compiled some of the toughest questions from her book accompanied with smart answers that will help you survive the elimination…

  • PRESENTING: The End Of The Retail World As We Know It

    Kim Bhasin
    16 May 2012 | 11:16 am
    Retail is changing fast. New pressures are taking their toll on the industry, and retailers have to adapt if they want to survive. Competition is more intense than it has ever been. With all the new channels for selling that are now available, retailers have a huge number of ways to reach consumers. Magnus Ohlsson, founder of retail management firm MORM, has posted a great presentation about the future of retail on his blog Retailomania. "Some of the brands of yesterday will die," says Ohlsson in his presentation. "Some with a bang and some slowly as if from an incurable…

  • This Man Lost Out On $3 BILLION By Following His Father's Advice

    Alyson Shontell
    16 May 2012 | 10:46 am
    When Joe Green was at Harvard, he was roommates with Mark Zuckerberg. He and Zuckerberg created Face Mash together, which got the pair in trouble with the university. Green's father, a professor at UCLA, cautioned him not to work with Zuckerberg anymore. " I don’t think you should do any more of these Zuckerberg projects,” he told his son. So when Zuckerberg asked him to run Facebook's business side, he declined. The position would have granted him about 4 or 6 percent of the company, Green estimates, which would have made him worth at least $3 billion. He still scored some…
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    BitMethod

  • Change's Debut / BitMethod's Birthday Bash

    Daniel Shipton
    9 May 2012 | 4:27 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 | 1:56 pm
    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 | 10:20 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 | 10:28 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 | 8:06 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…
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    Mini Sprout

  • How entrepreneurs overlook one crucial detail when planning their website

    alex
    14 May 2012 | 9:56 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 | 9:58 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 | 9:00 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 | 7:38 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 | 5:49 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…
 
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    800 CEO Read

  • Jack Covert Selects – The Good Food Revolution

    800-CEO-READ
    10 May 2012 | 5:49 pm
    Tweet The Good Food Revolution: Growing Healthy Food, People, and Communities by Will Allen, Gotham Books, 272 pages, $26.00, Hardcover, May 2012, ISBN 9781592407101 For an average-sized book, there is a lot within this one. From the title, one might expect sociological research on trends in organic food, or an analysis of a health food business and how they became successful. While it certainly has traces of those things, it is so much more. This book is by and about a man named Will Allen, who grew up around farming, played professional basketball, managed a chain of restaurants, was an…

  • Jack Covert Selects – The Reinventors

    800-CEO-READ
    10 May 2012 | 5:43 pm
    Tweet The Reinventors: How Extraordinary Companies Pursue Radical Continuous Change by Jason Jennings, Portfolio, 256page, $26.95, May 2012, ISBN 9781591844235 The once vital Main Streets of America are all but out of business, boarded up or filled with antique stores shopping the delights and detritus of another era. Jason Jennings visits the main street of his own abandoned hometown at the beginning of The Reinventors to use it as a metaphor for “what will happen to you, your job, and your business unless you become a reinventor completely committed to constant radical change and…

  • Jack Covert Selects – How Will You Measure Your Life?

    800-CEO-READ
    10 May 2012 | 5:38 pm
    Tweet How Will You Measure Your Life? by Clayton Christensen, James Allworth & Karen Dillon, Harper Business, 240 pages, $25.99, Hardcover, May 2012, ISBN 9780062102416 Clayton Christensen is a business theorist who, in 1997, wrote the renowned Innovator’s Dilemma which introduced the idea that most well-established companies are overtaken not by behemoth competitors but by “disruptive” innovations that rise up and cut down giants in part because the giants were oblivious to the threat, and/or unable to invest in new emerging technologies. Christensen is also a dedicated professor…

  • LeaveSmarter: Stephen Shapiro

    Jon
    10 May 2012 | 4:09 pm
    TweetYesterday, Stephen Shapiro was in town for our private LeaveSmarter event, sponsored by BMO Harris/M&I Bank and Whyte Hirschboek Dudek. His talked focused on ideas from his recent book, and 800-CEO-READ Business Book Award winner for 2011, Best Practices Are Stupid: 40 Ways to Out-Innovate the Competition. According to Shapiro, the main problems we have with being innovative, is how we think about things, the kind of questions we ask, and what we already know about the challenges we face. Here’s a clip from his talk that gives examples of this:   Following this, Shapiro…

  • ChangeThis: Issue 94

    dylan
    9 May 2012 | 4:43 pm
    Tweet Unleashing the Creative Reservoir: The Rise of the Creative Class, Revisited by Richard Florida “A new social compact—a Creative Compact—can turn our Creative Economy into a just and Creative Society, in which prosperity is widely shared. While driven and shaped by economic logic, the key institutions and initiatives of the future will be shaped, as they always have, by human agency.” Build This: Your Culturematic Laboratory by Grant McCracken “Ruled by pragmatism and play, your laboratory is fast becoming the place you come to look out into the future. This the bridge from…
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    Business Planning by

  • Low-Cost Startups and Business Plans by Rolfe Larson

    Rolfe Larson
    18 Apr 2012 | 6:31 pm
    Not every would-be entrepreneur has deep pockets, or rich friends and family, to get their business started.  Indeed, most small businesses are started on the cheap.  Here are some tips on how to start your venture with minimal cash. Pick your venture carefully Service businesses tend to be cheaper to start up than product-based ventures.  They have less overhead, and rarely require large investments for equipment and inventory. Consider a service for people (or companies) to do what they don’t want to do themselves.  Doggy daycare and pet cleaning services come to mind, both fast…

  • Why Complaints Are Gifts by Rolfe Larson

    Rolfe Larson
    6 Mar 2012 | 5:31 pm
    Let’s face it; it’s no fun when someone complains. Some people, the saying goes, just like to complain. Best to give them what they want and send them away, right?  Not really.  Complaints can provide such valuable market feedback that you’ll want to include strategies in your business plan for dealing with them.  Most of the time, when customers complain, there’s a germ of truth — and useful information — in what they say. My father-in-law, a former business executive of a large communications company, says his company viewed complaints as invaluable…

  • Business Plan in A Weekend? by Rolfe Larson

    Rolfe Larson
    8 Feb 2012 | 12:28 pm
    There’s been a fair amount of interest lately in how to write your business plan quickly, say in a weekend.  The most well-known is called Startup Weekend, which promises to turn strangers into teams with a completed business plan in an intensive 54-hour weekend marathon.  Is this a good idea? There’s also a new book, Startup Weekend: How to Take a Company From Concept to Creation in 54 Hours, that provides some useful information but is largely a sales tool to get readers to sign up for a Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend While I have not attended a Startup Weekend, I do like…

  • Why So Many Startups Fail by Rolfe Larson

    Rolfe Larson
    11 Jan 2012 | 5:01 pm
    US Bureau of Labor Statistics research indicates that almost 60% of businesses shut down within the first four years of operation.  Why?  Most fail for one of these reasons. 1. No viable market for their products Many businesses start with the strong conviction that customers will want their products, but without solid experience or data to back that up.  Sure, a few with good instincts and even more good luck, succeed anyway, but most fall by the wayside.  Market research is indispensable, and that usually involves  talking with real customers to find out what they really want.  The…

  • Congress Gets Crowdfunding (finally) by Rolfe Larson

    Rolfe Larson
    28 Nov 2011 | 5:14 pm
    You might find this surprising, but last week a bi-partisan US House passed a bill that actually had some substance to it.  One that could actually help entrepreneurs and small business owners.   Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act The bill, called the Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act, passed the House 407 to 18.  That’s the kind of vote you expect for apple pie appreciation month.  This bill would encourage small businesses to use crowd funding to raise capital, by eliminating many of the security fraud regulations designed to protect investors from unscrupulous scam artists.  If…
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    The Grain

  • The Future of Manufacturing is going all digital

    22 Apr 2012 | 10:39 am
    The Economist has [a great survey](http://www.economist.com/node/21553017) this week on the future of manufacturing with some really interesting articles on short-run digital manufacturing, labor arbitrage opportunities (potentially moving manufacturing back from China), and collaborative manufacturing in the age of collaborative consumption. Overall as with their recent [interest 3D printing](http://www.economist.com/node/18114221), these guys seem very bullish on the future of additive manufacturing technologies such as FDM and SLA. One interesting fact mentioned a few times is that the…

  • On how Kickstarter is like Groupon

    21 Apr 2012 | 5:58 am
    First let me get this out of the way though: I love Kickstarter. As content, it is a geek's version of InStyle magazine— something you can mindlessly browse in front of the television while "trying on" the various projects you might buy into. What's more, at $300M of capital committed thus far, there is no way that it is not a fantastic platform for artisans and other types of makers. Having said that, it bothers me that everyone seems hell bent on describing Kickstarter as the next step in the evolution of funding for new ventures, or more specifically, in referring to it as the next step…

  • The Stacks and their attack surfaces

    2 Apr 2012 | 5:48 pm
    [The Stacks](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/bruce-sterling-sxsw-2012_n_1343353.html), they are a pain. If you've never heard the term, it is in reference to the walled gardens controlled by Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Credit goes to sci-fi author/futurist Bruce Sterling who [used it in his closing SXSW keynote](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/13/bruce-sterling-sxsw-2012_n_1343353.html) this year. Here it is from the horse's mouth: "[There's] a new phenomena that I like to call the Stacks [vertically integrated social media]. And we've got five of them --…

  • The beginning of the end for the free riders from the social exhaust

    31 Mar 2012 | 10:58 pm
    The [Girls Around app fiasco](http://www.cultofmac.com/157918/creepy-girl-stalking-app-girls-around-me-has-been-yanked-from-the-app-store/) is breaking a story (long in coming) about the implications of the data exhaust we create on social networks being something that could be put to somewhat questionable use. Four Square, the primary vector for location in this particular case, has shut them down already and the news cycle is such that this broke at a point where it will probably fail to jump from the tech press to the mainstream early next week, but this is by no means the last we've heard…

  • On the magic of version 3 (quick thoughts on the new iPad)

    25 Mar 2012 | 7:07 pm
    The iPad 3 adheres to the old saw in technology that there is magic in version 3. While it is true that this is in part due to how wonderfully rich the app ecosystem has become, from a pure hardware perspective, the combination of a 264 dpi display and a lightning fast cellular network is about as magical as the many reviews have claimed. At HP, the ink and paper crowd was always obsessed with what was known as the "300 dpi barrier," the thought being that until affordable displays got there, there would still be plenty of room for consumers printing the stuff that wasn't going to get stuck…
 
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    Passive Panda

  • 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 | 9:18 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 | 12:07 pm
    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 | 2:06 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 | 10:37 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…

  • The Truth: Why Trading Time For Money is the Best Way to Make More Money

    Danny Iny
    25 Apr 2012 | 10:44 am
    Do you want to stop trading time for money? Yep — you, and everybody else. Thanks to the Tim Ferriss and his band of passive income pursuers, “not trading time for money” has become the rallying cry of people who are stuck in a job that they don’t like, and want to create the freedom to quit and do something different. They say it with pride, confident that they are making the smart, strategic choice that their corporate colleagues don’t have the guts or foresight to make. But most of the time, they go about it all wrong. Most of them never see a dime, and years after they’ve…
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    Alltopstartups

  • Startup Funding Roundup: These 8 Tech Startups Scored Over $73 Million This Week

    Thomas Oppong
    12 May 2012 | 3:47 pm
    Another funding week is over, and these 8 startups have secured funding.  Funding is a lengthy process but if you do not give up, your startup will be the next one tto raise funds in the near future to take your product to the next level, expand your network and partners and grow your business. But you do not necessarily need funding to succeed. Look into bootstrapping, you could take your business up the success ladder without venture funding. Friends and family are good  alternatives to funding as well. These 8 startups are in focus this week. 1. San Francisco-based RichRelevance,…

  • Turntable.fm Is Now Available For Your Android

    Thomas Oppong
    11 May 2012 | 5:32 pm
    Turntable.fm, a social media website that allows users to interactively share music has launched its service for Android smartphone users today. Turntable connects you and your friends in a real time music listening experience. Play music together for free on the internet or your iPhone. Turntable.fm until today was available online and for the iPhone. The Turntable.fm Android app has similar features like the iPhone app. Turntable.fm lets you play music together with your friends and other people online. Each DJ takes a turn playing a song and the entire virtual room hears the song. You can…

  • DEMO Launches DEMO Africa, To Be In Kenya

    Thomas Oppong
    10 May 2012 | 11:23 am
    DEMO, a technology conference for launching innovative companies in enterprise, mobile, cloud computing, consumer, social media and disruptive technologies today announced the launch of DEMO Africa. The conference scheduled for  October 24-26, 2012 will be held at the InterContinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. DEMO focuses on showcasing new products from both entrepreneurs and established companies. DEMO has built a track record of selecting, coaching, promoting and making successful innovative technology companies. Produced by IDG Enterprise in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO…

  • Startups: 5 Things You Should Never Outsource, And A Few You Should

    Guest Author
    10 May 2012 | 9:18 am
    Whether well funded or on a shoestring budget, financial accountability is the name of the game for all startups, regardless of industry.  In streamlining operations, there are some functions that should remain in house, and a few that are best left to experts outside the company – in other words, roles and responsibilities that make good business sense to outsource.  Some may be logical, or even obvious, and some may be things seldom considered when outsourcing comes to mind. Let’s start with intrinsic company roles that should always remain internal: Executive leadership.  Why…

  • The World Wide Wait

    Thomas Oppong
    10 May 2012 | 7:28 am
    Have you tried to visit a Web site and waited . . . and waited until after over 30 seconds before something appeared on your screen? Industry experts say that people won’t wait more than 8 or 10 seconds for a site to load. I hope by now, if you own an online business, you have thoroughly tested the speed of your site and how long it takes for it to load. Customer experience begins the moment a user hits enter and waits to see what you have to offer. Remember there are hundreds if not thousands of other options for most internet users. “Slow” should be the last word on a…
 
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    Startup Blog

  • OutSourcing Clinical Trial Presentation

    TaffyWilliams
    16 May 2012 | 7:45 am

  • Words and Experiences Are Important to Communication - Who Is On First?

    TaffyWilliams
    7 May 2012 | 8:53 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 | 11:56 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…

  • FOUNDER’S DISEASE

    TaffyWilliams
    30 Apr 2012 | 1:30 pm
    A friend recently sent me some slides for an upcoming presentation.  Included in the presentation was a slide titled, “Founder’s Disease.”  He defined Founder’s Disease as the “Lack of Timely Decision Making, in a Thoughtful and Logical Manner.”  He further indicated that the result of the disease is “the Singular Cause of Delays, Wasted Effort and Needless Expenditures in Product Development.” Founders sometimes are not familiar with the processes involved in developing their products and often, they lack the experience to price or manage the development…

  • Interpretation Please!

    TaffyWilliams
    26 Apr 2012 | 8:51 am
    Managers with employees often have relationships that seem strange.  This assumes the manager is aware of the fact the staff are acting in a manner that suggest problems.  Actually, as a manager, it is common to be stuck on what your needs and goals are and miss all the signals emanating from the staff. Take for example a strained relationship where the employee thinks you are like Scrooge.  It is very unlikely anyone on your team will bring this to your attention by a direct statement because people feel that providing negative input can result in loss of their job.  When…
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    CollegeFallOut

  • 5 Habits Every Blogger Must Foster

    Vivek Krishnan
    6 May 2012 | 1:45 pm
    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 | 2:18 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 | 1:40 pm
    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 | 1:36 pm
    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…

  • Move over Emoticons, Make Way for Humoticons

    Vivek Krishnan
    28 Apr 2012 | 12:52 am
    This is the next level of personlization, the emoticons that we love so much are soon going to be passe. Because Skype has rolled out their Humoticons app on Facebook. You can now use your own face to depict your reactions such as LOL, angry or sad, instead of the typical emoticons. This is a whole new level of customizing your conversations to a personal level. You can add up to 5 expressions as humoticons to use in your conversation. You can find the but the entire Humoticons campaign is housed on a Facebook page. You can find it here. It is a great initiative by Skype to make…
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    Yourstory.in

  • 5Shells: Aiming to be the Kingpins of Gaming

    Jubin Mehta
    16 May 2012 | 6:34 am
    This is a story of a hobby transforming into a passion and also a means of living; maybe this is what you’d call the pursuit of happiness. One might fail but there’s no regret because you gave it your all. Rahul Bendre, founder at 5Shells, along with his friend Kshitij Saxena, started out by creating a board game when in college at IIT Kanpur in 2007. Rahul Bendre Fests and events are the heart of every college and this where the board game found its value. The strategy game they made (called Kingpin) was used in the business event at the college for 3 years and the thought of starting up…

  • mCommerce to Get a Boost: Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank Join Hands

    Jubin Mehta
    16 May 2012 | 6:00 am
    Bharti Airtel and Axis Bank announce strategic alliance for financial inclusion Bharti Airtel, through its wholly owned subsidiary Airtel mCommerce Services Limited, and Axis Bank today announced a partnership for extending banking and payment services to India’s unbanked millions through the ubiquitous mobile platform. This alliance will leverage the companies’ respective strengths in telecom and banking sectors to empower financially excluded citizens of India with banking products and services towards enhancing their livelihood and quality of life. Key Points Combine strengths of…

  • Dasra to Host Social-Impact Nexus in Bangalore On May 24th, 2012

    Vallabh Rao
    16 May 2012 | 4:13 am
    Strategic Philanthropy Foundation Dasra is hosting Social-Impact Nexus where social entrepreneurs, funders, investors and sector experts come together to catalyze social change. Dasra is India’s leading strategic philanthropy foundation, working with philanthropists and successful social entrepreneurs to bring together knowledge, funding and people as a catalyst for social change. Dasra Social-Impact is an executive education program that provides promising non profits and social businesses with the business skills and funding networks to help build sustainable, scalable organizations…

  • Prana Technologies: Specialists in ERP Implementation and Mobile Application Development

    Siddharth Krishnaswamy
    16 May 2012 | 3:42 am
    Success in the software services industry is by no means easy. One would definitely require the right blend of technical strength and marketing abilities to pull it off and come good in this highly competitive arena. Prana technologies, a software solutions provider that took off in 2007 claims that unlike other technology businesses, they not only provide technology solutions, but offer complete business solutions packages. “IT services, business solutions, and outsourcing bring you a level of confidence in our product,” says Founder and Director, Sriram Bharadwaj. Talking about the ride…

  • Fashion Downtown Aims to be a One-Stop-Easy-on-the-Pocket-Shop for all your Fashion Needs

    Meghna Chhabria
    16 May 2012 | 3:34 am
    The Indian youth (18-25 years), an early adopter of technology, contributes a major chunk of 44% in internet usage. This is followed by young men (age group 25-35 years), who contribute 28% in internet usage. Together, the youth and young men contribute to a 72% internet usage.  Given that the most ardent e-shoppers come from the 17- 35 age bracket, Fashion Downtown, an online retail store (with, as the name suggests, a fashion focus), was launched with a focus on this 72% of the internet-using population in India. Offering international and local brands across women’s wear, menswear,…
 
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    StartUpLift

  • Aspindle – Affordable, Creative eBooks

    StartUpLift
    16 May 2012 | 9:42 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 | 8:21 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 | 5:07 am
    5 Awards. Closes 13 days, 19 hours, 48 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 | 6:55 pm
    5 Awards. 13 days, 19 hours, 48 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?

  • ContactBubble – Live Communication

    StartUpLift
    18 Apr 2012 | 1:50 pm
    5 Awards. 14 days, 19 hours, 48 minutes, 42 seconds ago. Contact Bubble is a simple web application offering a new communication channel for visitors of your webpage. Target Audience: People who own a webpage and want to support their clients online. Website URL: http://www.ContactBubble.com Feedback sought: 1) Visit http://www.ContactBubble.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 a free trial/free account? If not, why? 3) Register and create your own link of Contact…
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    The Metropreneur Columbus

  • Jersey Watch gives youth sports orgs robust web presence

    Melanie McIntyre
    16 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    A former Ohio University football player has channeled his passion for athletics into a new online network designed to give youth sports organizations a web presence, and engage players’ parents and fans. David Carter knew the downturn in the economy had placed a tremendous strain on an already financially-challenged youth sports industry. “Budgets are tight [...]

  • At Work: Cement Marketing’s new space on Gay Street

    Anne Evans
    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    It’s been just a little over a year since we spoke to Alaina Shearer and toured Cement Marketing’s space. Now, the company has found a new home on the second floor of 15 E. Gay St. and its staff couldn’t be happier. (To the right is a picture for the postcard project the company did [...]

  • Thurber Center class offers tips for marketing writing through social media

    Melanie McIntyre
    15 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    A Thurber House master class taught by Geben Communication President Heather Whaling will offer attendees tips on how to use social media to promote their writing. The one-day class, titled “Marketing Your Writing Through Social Media,” will be held from 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday at Thurber Center, located at 91 Jefferson Ave. in [...]

  • Kristen Easterday of the Columbus Chamber: Your Questions Answered

    Melanie McIntyre
    14 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    The Columbus Chamber has reaffirmed its commitment to public policy and cultivating local relationships in order to stay on top of legislative issues affecting its members. In fact, that commitment lead the Chamber to hire Kristen Easterday earlier this year as director of local government relations. Herewith, Easterday, an Ohio University graduate and former executive [...]

  • Spacejunk Media acquires Los Angeles based studio

    Melanie McIntyre
    11 May 2012 | 7:00 am
    Columbus-based Spacejunk has acquired Los Angeles-based Nylon in an attempt to enhance both studios’ creative reach. Spacejunk −a live action, motion design and animation studio founded by managing directors Robb Dierken and Mike Blosel in 2006− produces broadcast, digital/web, documentary, long format, event, and brand videos for agency and direct clients. Spacejunk and Nylon −founded in [...]
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    Visionwiz » Business and Technology blog, venture funding and Start ups

  • Now College Students Can Get Huge Discounts Via CollegeBudget

    VisionwizTeam
    16 May 2012 | 3:56 am
    Every college students should use College Budget if they want to get huge discounts. What Is College Budget? CollegeBudget is an exclusive college student-only shopping network. CollegeBudget negotiates huge discounts– usually 50-90% off at popular businesses. They send these deals to thousands of students in their free daily email, which sends businesses a ton of good publicity and new customer. Easy To Use: Each day, CollegeBudget features an unbeatable deal on cool stuff for college students. If you find a deal you like, click “BUY”, and they email you a deal code which…

  • Now Monitor Your Children & Their School Buses Via NorthStar

    ajay
    16 May 2012 | 1:43 am
    NorthStar is a new platform that monitors the safety, security, well-being and location of children and buses. NorthStar consists of hardware, software and machines that work together to deliver value to customers. How It Works: NorthStar works by capturing location, spatial, vector and scalar data from devices implanted in buses or carried by children. It’s custom-built devices transmit data to the control center over GPRS every 5 seconds. At the control center, a set of powerful, patent-pending algorithms analyze millions of packets of data every second, thus providing customers with…

  • Three Upcoming Beta Startups

    VisionwizTeam
    16 May 2012 | 1:07 am
    Three Upcoming Beta Startups 1. UrbanTG UrbanTG is new apps that suggest personalized itineraries according to your budget and interests, plan a visit using an integrated powerful “ToDo” functions, 100% offline maps and hundreds of hand-picked urban places across the most fascinating cities. 2. Quotefish Quotefish is a location-aware web application that allows consumers to quickly and easily get in touch with local businesses by posting their job online. The job is then emailed to any number of local, relevant businesses who pay a small fee to quote on the job and receive the…

  • How To Turn Your Startup From Innovation To Revolution?

    Martin
    15 May 2012 | 9:46 pm
    Great businesses these days start with innovation, and then take it up a few notches to make it a revolution. An example is Google, who turned a new search technology into a tool that most of us couldn’t live without. As an entrepreneur, how do you know if you have the potential to innovate, and what are the steps to get from innovation to revolution? While digging into this subject, I came across a recent book by Patrick J. Howie, called “The Evolution of Revolutions,” which makes the points that resonate with my experience. He starts with a discussion of the Big Five personality…

  • Discover Places Based On Your Unique Tastes Via Ness

    Vineet
    15 May 2012 | 1:33 am
    Ness is a new way to discover places you’ll love based on your unique tastes. It learns what you like – and what you don’t – to deliver restaurant recommendations that are just right for you. In Company’s Own Words: Ness Computing’s mission is to make search personal. By applying its expertise in search, recommendations and social networking to human behavior, Ness helps people discover experiences they’ll love. How It Works; Ness is powered by the Likeness Engine, which delivers search results that are uniquely relevant and personal. Ness is sophisticated…
 
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    RizzoTees Blog

  • What is Wrong With This Picture?

    Chris Reimer
    8 May 2012 | 10:10 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 | 8:52 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.

  • What’s Going On With Rizzo Tees? An Update

    Chris Reimer
    1 May 2012 | 4:38 pm
    I started Rizzo Tees back in 2007 with the entrepreneurial dream of growing it out of control. I wanted to build a big, strong, healthy business, and of course I wanted to leave my CPA/Accounting life behind. While Rizzo Tees remains small today, I was able to escape the accounting world over two years ago. I’ve mentioned this several times (here and here), but I can say it once more: you have no idea what this career change has truly meant to me. What of Rizzo Tees now? I’ve had a few people tell me they’ve noticed a change in my content output over the last year. They say…

  • I Only Want Positive Comments on my Blog

    Chris Reimer
    25 Apr 2012 | 2:44 pm
    The grisly details (before they delete the post). Thanks to Scott Stratten for bringing this to our attention.

  • Pinterest – My Appearance on Fox 2 TV

    Chris Reimer
    21 Apr 2012 | 8:02 pm
    Thanks again to Angela Hutti and Fox 2 TV for having me in. This time we discussed the social media phenomenon known as Pinterest. A link to the story on Fox 2′s site is here, and you can follow me on Pinterest here.
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    EpicLaunch

  • Assemble! Rackspace and Redapt Link Up

    lindsey
    14 May 2012 | 12:43 pm
    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.

  • MySocialCloud Makes Your (Online) Life Easier

    Stephen
    13 May 2012 | 1:03 pm
    I am very interested in internet startups and technology in general. And what they means for me is that I am always signing up for different services and websites just so I can try them out. On top of that, I have about 5 different emails that I have to check, a Facebook, a Twitter, a Google account, a Pinterest, etc. The list of sites that I have an account with goes on and on. But with all of these accounts comes a huge problem: Remembering usernames and passwords. It seems as if each different website has it’s own view on how long your password should be or how many letter vs numbers…

  • An Interview with Max Borges, Founder of Max Borges Agency

    Ben Lang
    13 May 2012 | 10:04 am
    Today we’re talking with Max Borges, founder of Max Borges Agency, one of the top consumer tech PR agency’s for clients with innovative products & services. How and where did you get the idea for your company? I wish I could say I always had the idea of starting a PR agency but the truth is, 10 years ago I was flat broke, looking for a job and I couldn’t get anyone to hire me. One company gave me some part-time marketing consulting work. That’s where it all started. I just kept signing more clients and hiring people. All the while trying to figure out what the business was…

  • 3 Ways To Stay Motivated On the End Goal

    lindsey
    10 May 2012 | 7:50 pm
    When people engage in goal setting and begin a new endeavor, they commonly are filled with excitement and motivation. As time passes, however, enthusiasm can wane and the individual working toward the desirable end can lose sight of the goal completely. When goal-setters lose their motivation, they run the risk of getting completely off track. It’s vital to fight through and bring the end goals back into sight, since without a set plan these objectives will almost certainly not be achieved. Regardless of the nature of the goal, be it completing a rigorous online MBA program or trying to…

  • How to Motivate the Crowd With a Motivation Wheel

    Stephen
    9 May 2012 | 3:49 pm
    The following infographic explains how a differing factor among various projects and organizations is what motivates them. It was sent to us by the Founder of IdeasWatch.com, Michal Hudeček and we are happy to have it here on EpicLaunch to hopefully help you make your own motivation wheel. Let’s us know what you think about it in the comments below. Created and designed by Michal Hudeček.
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    Internet Entrepreneurship skills to Make Money Working Online | Its not just about Making easy Money Online

  • 4 Tips to Consider Before Starting a Blog to Make Money Online

    Guest Blogger
    16 May 2012 | 12:33 am
    This is a guest post by John on things to consider when starting a make money online blog. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. Blogging is the most popular and the best online profession nowadays. Are you also one of those who are here to make money online and are passionate about writing their blogs? Here I will discuss few tips that can help you to become a successful blogger. Hold on, these are not ordinary tips that such as how to bring traffic and what type of content you must upload on your blog. First of all, keep in mind that blogging is…

  • Why you should branch out beyond Twitter and Facebook?

    Guest Blogger
    15 May 2012 | 1:13 am
    This is a guest post by Susan on alternate Social Media Networks. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. Twitter and Facebook: they’re the undisputed kings of the social media industry whose names are practically synonymous with the web. Thousands upon thousands of blog posts are dedicated to the sole purpose of getting web users to maximize their potential on Twitter and Facebook for personal gain, for sharing a blog URL, or for helping out a small business. The huge amount of time that we dedicate to talking about these two services is…

  • How to Secure Your PayPal Account from Hacking

    Guest Blogger
    14 May 2012 | 1:04 am
    This is a guest post by Susan on securing your PayPal account. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. PayPal is today one the most sought after payment system. If you are an affiliate marketer, I am sure you will prefer a payment mode through PayPal, primarily because of the low fees and charges. Other modes of payment like Wire Transfer and Direct Deposit involves a lot of charges which means that your commissions effectively are lower than it actually was. But is PayPal a safe method? While statistics say that PayPal is safe, it is extremely…

  • 5 Twitter Accounts Every Online Entrepreneur Should Follow

    Guest Blogger
    12 May 2012 | 10:31 am
    This is a guest post by Francesca on some Essential Twitter accounts to follow. You can read the guidelines for guest posting at our guest posting guidelines page. When the topic of using Twitter for business comes up, most people would automatically get into utilizing it to promote your brand or connect with customers. And while the microblogging site is indeed great for self-promotion and talking to customers, don’t forget that it’s equally important to listen to what others have to say. As an entrepreneur, it’s extremely important to learn about the most innovative business tools out…

  • Learn Affiliate Marketing Easy Way – AffiloBlueprint 3.0 Review

    Dilip
    11 May 2012 | 5:11 pm
    Affiliate Marketing has changed in the past couple of years. Some ideas of promoting affiliate products do not work anymore. New ways of promoting affiliate products have come up and a lot of affiliates who did not change their promotion methods have started to see the pinch. I had seen one of this situation about an year back and it took me more than 3 months to come back on track. My affiliate income dipped and since I was not a million dollar earning affiliate, the setback created a serious dent in my income. But fortunately for my marketing efforts I was able to recover in time. So what…
 
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    Fadzuli.com

  • Basic Internet Business Workshop in June

    Fadzuli
    30 Apr 2012 | 9:47 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 | 8:45 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 | 6:46 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 | 11:13 pm

  • The Science of Following Up

    Fadzuli
    15 Apr 2012 | 8:47 pm
    Following up is a cycle of activities that a lot of marketeers dread to do. Even myself at times because it is draining but is it important yes. Reason:  1) Most people don’t buy at the first opportunity that you present to them your offer. 2) Many people forget what you say the first time round. 3) Perhaps at that point of time, they don’t need your services/products even if they are from the target group.   So Following up with a client/customer is key to achieving your sales objective.  Here’s some tactics that I use to get people to tune in to me. 1) Give them an…
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    Entrepreneurs Unpluggd

  • Tickets Are On Sale For June’s Event About Turning Passion Into Real Business

    Tim Jahn
    16 May 2012 | 9:00 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…

  • Starting Up? Avoid These 3 Common Mistakes

    Tim Jahn
    15 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    (photo credit) This is a guest post from Abbie Steinbacher, who is CEO and founder of the kids wellness company, My First Yoga. My First Yoga provides kids yoga outreach to schools and has a growing line of kids yoga products. Abbie and MyFirstYoga have been recognized in outlets such as The New York Times, BusinessWeek, Parenting Magazine, Parents Magazine, Yoga Journal and The Boston Globe. Abbie has a degree in Psychology from Harvard, and is a certified adult and children’s yoga instructor. The opposing forces of the economy tanking and technological advances soaring have created a…

  • Code Academy Week 5: Embracing Vulnerability to Grow

    Stella Fayman
    14 May 2012 | 3:07 pm
    (photo credit) A few weeks ago, I watched a TED talk that won’t escape my mind. It was about embracing vulnerability, something seemingly simple, but actually extraordinarily difficult. See people have a hard time dealing with emotion and expectations. They are much more likely to put something they can’t deal with in an emotional jar rather than confronting it. For example, people thrive on connection. Yet they are afraid to make connections (like go out and join a club) because they are afraid of rejection. If they can overcome the fear of rejection, they can embrace…

  • 3 Cool New Working Spots in Chicago

    Stella Fayman
    11 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    Enerspace I’m always on the prowl for a new spot to plug in, get my caffeine, and work. Luckily, three new Chicago spots have recently opened that offer an alternative to Starbucks. 1) Topics- Nestled on Halsted Street between name brand shops, Topics is the work of a real estate broker turned entrepreneur when he became frustrated that traditional coffeeshops lacked necessary business tools like copy machines. “I wanted to create a place that had the casual feel of a coffeeshop with the practical tools an office would have,” said Lou Vidaillet, owner of Topics. While art…

  • 3 Pieces Of Startup Advice That Stuck With Me

    Tim Jahn
    10 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    (photo credit) This is a guest post from Shama Kabani, the award winning CEO of The Marketing Zen Group, a full service online marketing firm in Dallas. She is also the author of the bestseller, The Zen of Social Media Marketing (2nd edition, 2012) and an international speaker. Being an entrepreneur is similar to being a newlywed: everyone has a piece of advice to “gift” you with. Some are helpful—hire people who have a proven track record; some aren’t—don’t be an entrepreneur, you’ll never have a life! Some advice will be just plain weird—spray your…
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    Wikindu

  • 25trends.me

    admin
    15 May 2012 | 8:35 pm
    25Trends is a twitter analytics tool which provides the user with loads of information from twitter such as trending topics, top links, top tweets and top users on twitter, also it let you know the mood of people right now.

  • Universitysms.com

    admin
    15 May 2012 | 8:29 pm
    UniversitySMS helps group leaders instantly connect with their group members. Group leaders can quickly add members to their network with the easy web interface or by texting the group number. Added members can then stay up to date with the group text message alerts sent directly to their phones. Group leaders can then view replies and reply to all members, sub groups, or individual members.

  • Matchmate.me

    admin
    15 May 2012 | 8:23 pm
    MatchMate.Me reduces the awkwardness and complexity of matchmaking. The service – distributed through web, mobile and social platforms – turns users into matchmakers, helping everyone match up the people they know with the people they don’t.

  • Crowdsend.com

    admin
    15 May 2012 | 3:40 pm
    We are organizing what’s inside the world’s images to make it relevant and useful. Looking for beta testers right now. Contact us with #wikindu and we’ll speed up your invite

  • Bitrix24.com

    admin
    14 May 2012 | 11:58 pm
    Bitrix24.Com is a SaaS startup that offers free online intranet, CRM, task and project management for companies with 12 or less employees. The service costs $99 a month for larger companies and $199 for the premium version.
 
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    Start Up Donut blog feed

  • Storage Tips for Start Ups

    D Davies
    16 May 2012 | 3:47 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 | 4:08 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 | 6:58 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…

  • How to survive beyond the start-up stage

    johnsollars
    10 May 2012 | 3:40 am
    In the past 30 years I’ve set up three businesses. I started my current business, Stinkyink.com, on 22 April 2012 (yes, we were ten years old last month!), knowing nothing about ecommerce. To make matters much worse, within months of starting the business I was almost bankrupted by a national ring of scamsters who defrauded me out of £32,000 using stolen credit cards. The police could do nothing and I was at a very low ebb. But I’m not a quitter. I discussed it with my dog and decided to carry on! That really coloured the first four years of the business because it made it hard to get…

  • How (not) to motivate your employees

    The Business Therapist
    8 May 2012 | 4:43 am
    Shocking news for most small-business owners – it’s not about the money. In the discussions I have with the majority (but not all) of small-business owners, there is an assumption that employees are motivated most by money. “If I give them a pay rise, they will work harder”. Unfortunately, I have also heard, “I gave the employee a rise and they didn’t work any harder!” In his great book Drive, Dan Pink explores the rift between what science says and business does. The reality is, money is more a satisfier than a motivator. Every person needs enough money for their basic needs…
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    SKMurphy, Inc.

  • Tristan Kromer Joins Book Club’s Panel on Networking Skill Development

    Sean Murphy
    15 May 2012 | 9:07 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 | 3:36 pm
    Call-in Book Review on Wednesday, May 16, 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 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…

  • Seth Godin “Trust Is Even More Scarce Than Attention”

    Sean Murphy
    10 May 2012 | 1:23 am
    Here are my top seven from Seth Godin’s list of 21 ways to make money online. (original numbering preserved). 3. Get rich slow. [link added] Slow means that you are not impatient and don’t cut corners. It also means you are confident 4. Focus on the scarce resource online: attention. If you try to invent a way to take cheap attention and turn it into cash, you will fail. The attention you want isn’t cheap, it’s difficult to get via SEO and it rarely scales. Instead, figure out how to earn expensive attention. 5. In addition to attention, focus on trust. Trust is even…

  • Three Tips from Sid Faulkner For Preparing To Sell Your Startup

    Sean Murphy
    3 May 2012 | 2:01 am
    Sid Faulkner, CFO of Ciranova gave a talk today on “Navigating the Treacherous Path of Mergers and Acquisitions” at an event at Abbot Stringham and Lynch. Mr. Faulkner was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Oak Technology, Inc. where he led the 1995 initial and secondary public stock offerings, established an active program of intellectual property protection, and participated in the acquisition of four companies. He was also CFO at Altos Design Automation when they were acquired by Cadence, CFO at Gemini Design Automation when they were acquired by Synopsys, and CFO at…

  • Quotes For Entrepreneurs–April 2012

    Sean Murphy
    1 May 2012 | 1:55 am
    You can follow @skmurphy to get these hot off the mojo wire or wait until the end of the month when they are collected on the blog. Enter your E-mail if you would like Feedburner to deliver new blog posts to your inbox. “To offer a man unsolicited advice is to presume that he doesn’t know what to do or that he can’t do it on his own.” John Gray “Nothing is so exhausting as indecision, and nothing is so futile.” Bertrand Russell “You don’t drown by falling in the water; you drown by staying there.” Edwin Louis Cole “Just about every…
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    Flock Free Nation

  • Canada Working on Startup Visa For Immigrant Entrepreneurs

    Scott
    2 May 2012 | 1:09 pm
    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 | 6:06 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 | 10:33 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 | 11:31 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 | 10:05 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

  • Assemble! Rackspace and Redapt Link Up

    lindsey
    14 May 2012 | 12:43 pm
    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.

  • MySocialCloud Makes Your (Online) Life Easier

    Stephen
    13 May 2012 | 1:03 pm
    I am very interested in internet startups and technology in general. And what they means for me is that I am always signing up for different services and websites just so I can try them out. On top of that, I have about 5 different emails that I have to check, a Facebook, a Twitter, a Google account, a Pinterest, etc. The list of sites that I have an account with goes on and on. But with all of these accounts comes a huge problem: Remembering usernames and passwords. It seems as if each different website has it’s own view on how long your password should be or how many letter vs numbers…

  • An Interview with Max Borges, Founder of Max Borges Agency

    Ben Lang
    13 May 2012 | 10:04 am
    Today we’re talking with Max Borges, founder of Max Borges Agency, one of the top consumer tech PR agency’s for clients with innovative products & services. How and where did you get the idea for your company? I wish I could say I always had the idea of starting a PR agency but the truth is, 10 years ago I was flat broke, looking for a job and I couldn’t get anyone to hire me. One company gave me some part-time marketing consulting work. That’s where it all started. I just kept signing more clients and hiring people. All the while trying to figure out what the business was…

  • 3 Ways To Stay Motivated On the End Goal

    lindsey
    10 May 2012 | 7:50 pm
    When people engage in goal setting and begin a new endeavor, they commonly are filled with excitement and motivation. As time passes, however, enthusiasm can wane and the individual working toward the desirable end can lose sight of the goal completely. When goal-setters lose their motivation, they run the risk of getting completely off track. It’s vital to fight through and bring the end goals back into sight, since without a set plan these objectives will almost certainly not be achieved. Regardless of the nature of the goal, be it completing a rigorous online MBA program or trying to…

  • How to Motivate the Crowd With a Motivation Wheel

    Stephen
    9 May 2012 | 3:49 pm
    The following infographic explains how a differing factor among various projects and organizations is what motivates them. It was sent to us by the Founder of IdeasWatch.com, Michal Hudeček and we are happy to have it here on EpicLaunch to hopefully help you make your own motivation wheel. Let’s us know what you think about it in the comments below. Created and designed by Michal Hudeček.
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    Startup Baltimore

  • All Aboard! Geeks on a Train is Happening May 24th

    Mike Brenner
    8 May 2012 | 5:14 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 | 3:55 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 | 2:15 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 | 9:06 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 | 3:25 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

  • Obtaining a Patent or Trademark

    Howard Greenstein
    1 May 2012 | 3:21 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 | 11:43 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 | 8:41 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 | 2:26 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…

  • Insurance-A Must Have for Business

    Howard Greenstein
    24 Jan 2012 | 10:44 am
    Did you hear the story about the wholesale Bakery that was on the 2nd floor? They didn’t have flood insurance, because they’re on the 2nd floor. Then the company above them had a pipe burst. Water flooded their space. While equipement wasn’t ruined, this violated the health code, and they not only had to sterilize all their equipment but get re-approved by a department of health notorious for getting to things in their own time. It took several weeks before the bakery could again produce food as a supplier. In the meantime, workers salary and other bills piled up.
 
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    Start-Up Smart

  • A Kick-A** Business Plan Template to Get You Going

    Bryan Janezcko
    8 May 2012 | 4:06 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 | 4:59 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 | 4:22 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 | 11:58 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…

  • Authentically You…

    Bryan Janezcko
    6 Apr 2012 | 11:13 am
    Last week, I was at a conference in Las Vegas speaking about the importance of vision and core values to a group of entrepreneurs.What I realized, as I was talking about my own vision and core values, is that I kept coming back to the theme of authenticity. It’s authenticity that’s been driving my vision and my core values, especially as I create and build each new business. Being authentic means being real about who you are and translating that into your product or service. Authenticity is important for three reasons: 1) It’s a reflection of you and it’s how you execute your passion.
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    Start Up

  • A Start-Up Ecosystem Forms in Chicago

    admin
    9 May 2012 | 10:25 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 | 9:16 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 | 8:34 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 | 8:05 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

  • What Are The Start-Up Funding Rounds? – Ask Jay

    admin
    4 Apr 2012 | 7:23 am
    Successful entrepreneur and CEO, Jay Adelson, demystifies the start-up process by providing advice, tips, and answering questions. Today he discusses the nomenclature around raising money and what the different “rounds” of funding are called and why. Have a question about launching a business that you want answered? Comment or add a video response! Jay’s Twitter: www.twitter.com EMail Your Questions: askjay@revision3.com Never Miss An Episode! Subscribe Here: www.youtube.com More AskJay Episodes: www.revision3.com ABOUT ASK JAY: Entrepreneur, CEO, and business owner Jay…
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    Alastair Banks, Devon based Entrepreneur, Social Media and Online Marketing Consultant, Lover of West Ham and Poker

  • How I give ownership to my team

    Banksy
    20 Apr 2012 | 4:25 am
    Have you ever wondered why a member of your team hasn’t done something you wanted, or perhaps they have, but you get the feeling that it’s been done with the least effort required to get the job done? I’m sure we’ve all been there. What I want to talk to you about today is how you can create an environment where people want to work for you and want take pride in their work. Its the ONLY way you can grow your business. Over at Optix Solutions everyone we employ is awesome at their jobs. These are people who have studied the internet industry for many years (in some cases since it…

  • Honesty is the best policy, Transparency is the key

    Banksy
    23 Mar 2012 | 10:57 am
    Yesterday I was lucky enough to watch a presentation from a client and friend of Optix who has taken his business from a couple of million turnover to 30+ in just 6-7 years. Oh and the best bit – he only has around 40 staff. He talked about his meteoric growth and the lessons they learnt along the way. Some of the stories were gob smacking to say the least. I live to learn from people like this. I think anyone who can’t sit and soak in that kind of information is missing such a trick. If you get the chance to talk to people who’ve ‘been there, done that’ take it with open arms,…

  • This blog is now featured on Alltop

    Banksy
    10 Feb 2012 | 12:39 pm
    Howdy folks, you may just have noticed this lovely badge to the right hand side of my blog. If you don’t know, Alltop aim to bring the best blogs to our attention in a number of different categories. I’m incredibly chuffed that they’ve added mine to the ‘startups’ section. If you’ve not visited Alltop before then I encourage you to do so – there is soooo much great content to feast yourself on. While you’re there you can create your own ‘MyAlltop’ page and add feeds (including mine hopefully) to your dashboard. If you know of other…

  • 8 of my top articles, all in one place…

    Banksy
    3 Feb 2012 | 5:18 am
    One of the things its easy to forget when you’ve been blogging for a long time is all the great posts and content you’ve put together over the years. All that effort you put in, potentially lost in the mists of time. Unless a user finds your posts by a search engine, its unlikely they’ll navigate back over years worth of content – lets face it, who has the time for that? There is an easy solution to this though – A ’round up’ post. A collection of posts from your blog linked to from another post just like this. It could be your ‘favourite 5…

  • 2011 – 7 Things that changed my life….

    Banksy
    1 Jan 2012 | 12:08 pm
    Hey folks, firstly a very happy New Year to you all. I wish you the very best for 2012. If you do one thing this year make it your objective to go out of your way to help others succeed with their goals and yours will follow on. So in the now great tradition, here is my summary post of the last year and the things both in and out of work that changed my life for the better. Remember this isn’t just about me telling you how great 2011 was for me, it’s written because if just one of the things that had a huge impact on my life, could affect yours in the same way then it will have…
 
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    The Startup Slingshot

  • How To Raise Startup Funding in Atlanta With Sanjay Parekh of Startup Riot

    William Griggs
    2 May 2012 | 4:24 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 | 9:15 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 | 10:40 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 | 9:56 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 | 4:45 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…
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    techhustlers.com

  • Jason Cohen Shows Us Why He Really Is “A Smart Bear” & Has Made Millions Without Debt or VC

    ericestrait
    15 May 2012 | 1:53 pm
    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 | 11:19 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 | 2:20 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 | 10:38 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 | 3:45 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…
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    Startup Company Law Blog | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP

  • King County Tax Amnesty

    Joe Wallin
    14 May 2012 | 4:23 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 | 6:47 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 | 5:36 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 | 6:10 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:…

  • President Obama signed the JOBS Act! Now what?

    Joe Wallin
    23 Apr 2012 | 8:28 am
    In the last couple of weeks I’ve received the same two questions from numerous people: Can I start using my Twitter, Facebook, or LinkedIn account (etc.) to raise funds for my company? Can I start crowdfunding my company? The answer to both questions is a resounding NO (at least not yet). The SEC still needs to amend its current rules and issue new rules to put these provisions of the JOBS Act into action. The JOBS Act removes the prohibition on general solicitation and advertising in offerings made under Rule 506 solely to accredited investors (subject to certain limitations).  Recall…
 
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    Anthill Magazine » Venture Capital

  • Three things to never say to an Australian venture capitalist

    James Tuckerman
    13 May 2012 | 6:06 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 | 7:46 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 | 4:02 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 | 10:02 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 | 4:32 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…
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    tech.li

  • WordPress Gets Its Own App Store, Sort Of

    Jason Rowley
    16 May 2012 | 12:00 pm
    It seems like every company out there is building their very own app store; first Apple, Amazon, then Google, now Facebook… all of tech’s biggest players are getting in on the action. And now WordPress — the ridiculously flexible, free, and open source blogging platform -slash- dynamic content management system that powers, like, most of

  • Monterey Bay Engineers Developing Massive, DARPA-Funded “Power Buoy”

    Corey Cummings
    16 May 2012 | 11:00 am
    Engineers at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) are developing a “power buoy,” which will utilize ocean waves in order to generate electricity in greater capacities than ever before. The project is currently being funded by DARPA, which hopes to one day use the technology for military purposes. Andy Hamilton, a MBARI engineer working

  • Nokia Moves To Sex Up The Candybar Phone

    Jon Christian
    16 May 2012 | 10:00 am
    Remember feature phones? They were usually shaped like candy bars, and they didn’t have the new-fangled touch screens, accelerometers and processing power that now characterize smartphones. But feature phones are still big sellers, especially in developing markets. That’s why Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia is trying to breathe new life into the non-smartphone handset market with

  • Google TV Isn’t Dead Yet, According To LG

    Jon Christian
    16 May 2012 | 9:00 am
    Google TV isn’t dead yet, at least according to manufacturer LG. The South Korean conglomerate is expected to demonstrate a new smart TV this week based on Google‘s beleaguered media platform . “LG Electronics USA is conducting live demonstrations of LG’s highly anticipated Google TV models at Internet Week New York,” reads a press release

  • Facebook “Acquihires” Photo-Sharing Site Lightbox To Bolster Its Mobile Team

    Jason Rowley
    16 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Lightbox, the rather beautiful photo sharing startup, announced on its company blog that the team will be joining Facebook. It indicated that it will work with the Facebook mobile team to improve user experience. We started Lightbox because we were excited about creating new services built primarily for mobile, especially for the Android and HTML5
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    JUAN GREAT LEAP

  • My Post-surgery Paradigm

    Peter Cauton
    15 May 2012 | 7:41 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 | 9:01 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 | 8:04 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…

  • Humble Pie is essential to the Entrepreneur’s diet.

    Peter Cauton
    7 May 2012 | 4:01 am
    We all know that confidence and having cajones is a big part of being a successful startup founder or entrepreneur. You simply cannot make the leaps and bold decisions necessary without that certain confidence. What I am discovering more and more though is that confidence’s seeming polar opposite, humility, can be just as critical. Here’s why: 1) Humility Enables Learning Learning is the new metric for growth. The faster you learn, the faster your startup develops. If you are able to create an internal system which systematizes learning, then you are halfway there. Take a look at…

  • Are you picking a passion, or a mere interest?

    Peter Cauton
    4 May 2012 | 12:49 am
    I’ve been talking to an increased number of people now with regards to their startup ideas. Will this work? What about this? Could you rank these five ideas? You know what? It really depends on you. Are you passionate about one of these ideas? If you are, then even if any expert or investor tells you your idea sucks, you’ve got a good chance of proving them wrong. Isn’t this the story of so  many successful startups? Passion fuels great execution. And execution is everything. What is interesting is that one person’s multiple ideas can encompass a wide variety of…
 
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    Blog

  • The Perfect VC Pitch

    Keith Cline
    14 May 2012 | 8:16 pm
    Release Date:  Wed, 05/16/2012 Author:  Mike Hirshland - Founder, Resolute.vc Thumbnail:  Teaser:  Ok, sure, there obviously is no such thing as a perfect pitch, I’m just trying to get better at using titles that actually attract readers (I’m gonna do a summer internship at... Ok, sure, there obviously is no such thing as a perfect pitch, I’m just trying to get better at using titles that actually attract readers (I’m gonna do a summer internship at Business Insider to really master the art). But I just received a pitch deck that was so clearly a really…

  • Think Twice Before Starting a Company

    Keith Cline
    14 May 2012 | 7:25 pm
    Release Date:  Tue, 05/15/2012 Author:  Rob Go - Co-Founder and Partner, NextView Ventures Thumbnail:  Teaser:  I sent a tweet out last week that resulted in some healthy debate:  “three years ago, I was telling everyone I met to start companies. These days, I’m telling everyone to think twice... I sent a tweet out last week that resulted in some healthy debate: “three years ago, I was telling everyone I met to start companies. These days, I’m telling everyone to think twice” Of course, it’s not fair to give general advice like that.  But what I meant…

  • Plate Techtonics - When unstoppable forces meet immovable objects

    Keith Cline
    14 May 2012 | 7:01 am
    Release Date:  Mon, 05/14/2012 Author:  Jesse Waites - Founder, PNTHR.com Thumbnail:  Teaser:  Aloha. My name is Jesse Waites, and I am going to be communicating to you regularly, through text, via this column for a little while. Why, you may ask? The answer to that... Aloha. My name is Jesse Waites, and I am going to be communicating to you regularly, through text, via this column for a little while. Why, you may ask? The answer to that is that we are living in a very exciting time. Old business models are crumbling before our very eyes (the newspaper industry is just one…

  • Raising VC money: getting a strong start with your VC

    Keith Cline
    11 May 2012 | 6:42 am
    Release Date:  Fri, 05/11/2012 Author:  Jo Tango - Partner, Kepha Partners Thumbnail:  Teaser:  This is the eighth and final post in a Friday series on “raising VC money.” I hope the series has been helpful to entrepreneurs. If you liked it, please consider Tweeting it or linking... This is the eighth and final post in a Friday series on “raising VC money.” I hope the series has been helpful to entrepreneurs. If you liked it, please consider Tweeting it or linking your blogs to it, so that other entrepreneurs can find out about it? Today, we’ll cover the topic…

  • Play On: Accelerate your Gaming Venture at Betaspring this Fall

    Keith Cline
    9 May 2012 | 4:49 pm
    Release Date:  Thu, 05/10/2012 Author:  Melissa Withers - Chief of Staff, Betaspring Thumbnail:  Teaser:  In 2012, Betaspring expanded it's focus on accelerating gaming-related companies.  Building on a strong design/CS... In 2012, Betaspring expanded it's focus on accelerating gaming-related companies.  Building on a strong design/CS community and mentors with expertise in the industry, we're growing a roster of alumni companies pursuing gaming-related ventures. And we  look forward to welcoming more gaming-related companies into our fall session, which…
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    Startup Addict

  • Free Social Media Icons

    Tod Whipple
    9 May 2012 | 7:07 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 | 9:03 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 | 1:37 pm
    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 | 5:15 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 | 5:38 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…
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    Michael Holmes-Biblical Startup Strategies

  • The One Thing God Cares More Than Your Christian Business

    Michael
    2 May 2012 | 9:08 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 | 7:14 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 | 5:44 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 | 6:00 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 | 7:00 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…
 
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    Webeneur Post

  • Engrade is launching many new features

    admin
    4 May 2012 | 8:58 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 | 10:01 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 | 9:09 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 | 11:47 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 | 4:54 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…
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    Verge Startups

  • The Innovation Showcase: A Startup Tradeshow on Steroids

    Matt Hunckler
    2 May 2012 | 10:42 am
    Last year, close to 1,000 people traveled from around the country to pack the walls of a 30,000-square-foot warehouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. They came to talk with over fifty Midwest entrepreneurs and around one hundred business investors at The Innovation Showcase, an annual conference that combines a startup tradeshow with a 50-startup pitch competition. This year, the Showcase will burst beyond the walls of DeveloperTown and also fill Indy’s hot new co-working space, the Speak Easy. Attendees can expect the energy and experience to reach a new high: Why This Startup Tradeshow…

  • 4 Reasons Indiana Entrepreneurs Rock

    Matt Hunckler
    17 Apr 2012 | 11:54 pm
    They’re everywhere. Driven entrepreneurs infuse Indiana business with new life. Here’s why Indiana entrepreneurs rock: 1.) Indiana entrepreneurs have created a vibrant community. Organizations like DeveloperTown and SproutBox help grow early and idea stage companies into thriving startups. They’ve even begun to open the floodgates to the general public by generating enormous local press and helping startups get national exposure to help grow their businesses. With the opening of the Speakeasy in Indianapolis and a number of other startup co-working spaces around the…

  • Founder Story: The 5 Startup Principles of Successful Entrepreneurs

    Matt Hunckler
    9 Apr 2012 | 12:49 pm
    I grabbed sushi with David just days before he took the stage in front of two hundred hungry software entrepreneurs. What was intended to be a quick meet and greet turned into a 3-hour information lunch. That’s because over the past fifteen years, David DeRam founded and grew six successful software companies including Progeny, which helps securely store genetic data. This dude is smart and if you’re not careful, he’ll drop knowledge on you like a ton of bricks. In our fireside chat on stage, David was able to distill his entrepreneurial knowledge into 6 high-impact principles of…

  • Founder Story: How MyJibe Got Acquired Less Than a Year After Launching [Video]

    Matt Hunckler
    4 Apr 2012 | 8:26 am
    “A lot of luck,” co-founder Mike Langellier will tell you. But there’s a lot more that went into the startup success of MyJibe—a personal finance management app that launched last January and was acquired just nine months later. So, how do you launch and grow a software startup outside of Silicon Valley and without external investors?  I recently had a chance to sit down with cofounders Mike Langellier and Brandon Dewitt to get their reflections on the experience. It was only fitting that we unraveled the story of this bootstrapped upstart amidst the commotion of a founder-favorite…

  • Leap Lets you Challenge Your Friends and Lock Down Your Bragging Rights [Pitch Video]

    Matt Hunckler
    2 Apr 2012 | 9:56 am
    Now we’re importing startup pitches form other Midwest startup hubs. At our last Indianapolis startup event, one founder drove from Cincinnati to share his story about Leap — an iPhone app that after only one month in the iTunes store already has 20,000 active users. Here’s the pitch: Leap lets you challenge your friends, record points through photos, and share with others. WARNING: If you’re the competitive type, you may get addicted to this app. All bragging rights aside, there are tons of engaging features like photo sharing (but with richer context) and deep Facebook…
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    CliqFlip Blog

  • CliqFlip Rising

    rob
    9 May 2012 | 3:55 am
    On the path to millions billions of dollars and social media greatness we continued to add features leading up to where we are today.  Today I’m going to chit-chat about a few things we added a few months ago as well as a new feature we added just a couple days ago.  Put on your spectacles cause I’m about to drop some knowledge on ya. Unhelpful Highschool Teacher says it's time for you to put on your pay-attention pants. A few months ago we examined our market strategy.  We need to know who to talk to, who to target and who to spend our extremely valuable time courting so…

  • Bookmarklet 101 – How to make yourself more awesome with this tool

    Andrew Gale
    7 May 2012 | 4:08 pm
    The Bookmarklet tool is used to grab images off of any website and upload them to your interest. Eventually it will support videos/audio/links and more. Step one to using it is dragging it into your bookmark bar Drag to bookmark bar Step two is finding a website with the image you want. Find a website you want the images from Step three click the bookmarklet in your bookmark bar Step four click the image you want Step five click the interest you want the image under and give it a description   Step 6 load up all your interests with some cool stuff and now you can start showing off your…

  • Back to the Middle – CliqFlip’s Secret Past!

    rob
    2 May 2012 | 9:17 pm
    So we’d promised at the outset that we would enlighten our amazing readers as to how we got where we are.  Though we’ve now released a private Beta, today we’re going to turn back the hands of time and tell you a little more about some of the things we worked on a few months ago.  Illustrated with pictures this blog post will be your best read, probably ever. "Great SCOTT! You had sex with her back in 1955!?!" asked Doc Brown in bewilderment. "Correction, CALVIN KLEIN had sex with her. No harm no foul," answered Marty nonchalantly. "P.S., I visited…

  • Rush BETA (Beta Launch)

    rob
    16 Apr 2012 | 12:34 pm
    Since November we’ve come quite a long way and this weekend we reached our first major milestone of a private Beta release of CliqFlip.  We even bought a pet to commemorate the event. We named him CliqFlipper, yes he's a Betta fish. You knew we were going to do this. Unlike typical Betta Fish however, CliqFlipper plays well with others, has a 1.5M valuation and makes your wildest dreams come true.   For the initial phase of CliqFlip Beta we are allowing users to get their hands on the site.  We want to know what you like and also what you don’t.  We have a backlog of…

  • The Best Damn Startup ToolBox Ever!

    Andrew Gale
    11 Apr 2012 | 4:45 pm
    Here is a comprehensive list of what tools the team at CliqFlip uses and how we use them. Adobe After Effects This is what our video was made in ( http://youtu.be/RuN0OlWby6Y ). Wouldn’t suggest learning it if you have no background in any of the Adobe products but, it is pretty easy to learn. Just time consuming.   If you don’t want to learn Adobe After Effects but, still want a awesome video, you can always pick one up from http://fiverr.com/categories/video/order/latest/pages/1 which will also have some other types of videos you can buy for $5 (like weird people singing…
 
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    Startup Flavor

  • An Indie Developer On How To Live The Dream

    Dave Stevenson
    9 May 2012 | 3:00 am
    Dave Stevenson is the man. He is an accomplished entrepreneur with over 13 years in the technology industry. Dave currently runs Stevenson Software, a mobile application publisher. Prior to Stevenson Software, Dave had started and sold three successful internet based businesses. In addition to his entrepreneurial experience, Dave has held leadership positions in various real [...]

  • Different For All The Right Reasons

    Alex Lawrence
    6 May 2012 | 2:24 pm
    I’m really lucky. I get the good fortune of watching and working with a variety of interesting people. My gig at Weber State University allows me to meet and get to know engineers (software, electrical and mechanical), doctors (medical and PhD), software developers (all kinds of languages/platforms), designers (product, software, UI/UX), politicians (local, state and [...]

  • Experience Required

    Austin Craig
    4 May 2012 | 8:00 am
    Two days ago Austin Craig reminded us that every company needs a story. You might even remember the incredible story of how hard his sister worked to get on Ellen DeGeneres’ show. Now to finish off the week right we have him again, this time writing about the importance of creating an experience for your customer. [...]

  • Every Company Needs a Story

    Austin Craig
    1 May 2012 | 4:38 pm
    We have a celebrity amongst us! Austin Craig is best known for starring in the Orabrush YouTube videos, which collectively have been viewed more than 30 million times. After 8 years of pounding the pavement the Orabrush inventor decided to look for help at Brigham Young University’s Marriott School of Management, and through the grapevine [...]

  • Hackathons Saved My Life

    Jimmy Jacobson
    23 Apr 2012 | 11:58 pm
    Today we are stoked to have Jimmy Jacobson of Zappos fame writing as the latest guest blogger here at StartupFlavor. If you’ve ever met Jimmy, you know how awesome he is to hang with. He’s a talented developer and, as you’ll learn, taught himself to code when he was only in the 8th grade! After [...]
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