Sat.Nov 24, 2012 - Fri.Nov 30, 2012

article thumbnail

Are You In Control Of Your Business?

YoungUpstarts

by Monica Shepherd, TradeGecko. Are you in control of your business? I don’t mean are you the person calling the shots. I mean as in, if you had to make some critical snap decisions, do you know your business well enough that you could you make them with total confidence? In order to be able to make these sound, informed business decisions you need an accurate and efficient operating system.

article thumbnail

Don’t Pass this up: Getting your business on Apple’s Passbook, DIY style

The Next Web

The long-term overall impact of Apple’s Passbook has been a hot topic over the last two months since it was launched with iOS 6 on the iPhone and iPod Touch. But one thing is for sure: if you’ve got a business — small, medium or large — where getting people in the door is important, and are looking to follow in the footsteps of the likes of McDonalds , United Airlines , Eventbrite , MLB , Starbucks , American Express and others, you should at least be looking into

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

The Collaborative Web: Github is the New Flickr

This is going to be BIG.

I can't take credit for this meme, even though I've already invested in it.twice. (Once with Docracy, once with a super cool company launching in the first quarter of 2013.). I was chatting with Thor Muller a couple of weeks ago about web trends--and he made a very insightful point as I talked about how I see more and more models around getting people to work together in different ways.

Web 120
article thumbnail

Twitter Link Roundup #156 – Small Business, Social Media, Design, Copywriting, Marketing And More

crowdSPRING Blog

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!

article thumbnail

Building Healthy Innovation Ecosystems for Your Projects

Speaker: Nick Noreña, Innovation Coach and Advisor, Kromatic

Every startup and innovation project exists within an ecosystem that either helps or hurts that project. As innovation managers, we need to keep a pulse of that ecosystem and make sure we're helping those innovation projects we're managing every step of the way. In this webinar, Nick Noreña will walk through an Innovation Ecosystem Model that he and his team at Kromatic have developed to help investors, heads of product, teachers, and executives understand how they can best support innovation in

article thumbnail

Choosing The Right Cloud-Based Accounting Software For Your Business

YoungUpstarts

by Monica Shepherd, TradeGecko. It’s a no-brainer that keeping track of your incoming and outgoing finances is a critical part of not only keeping your business running, but also of ensuring your business grows and prospers. Therefore you need accounting software that reflects an effective and efficient business – meaning, you’re going to have to upgrade from that spreadsheet.

Cloud 162
article thumbnail

Don’t Pass this up: Getting your business on Apple’s Passbook, DIY style

The Next Web

The long-term overall impact of Apple’s Passbook has been a hot topic over the last two months since it was launched with iOS 6 on the iPhone and iPod Touch. But one thing is for sure: if you’ve got a business — small, medium or large — where getting people in the door is important, and are looking to follow in the footsteps of the likes of McDonalds , United Airlines , Eventbrite , MLB , Starbucks , American Express and others, you should at least be looking into

More Trending

article thumbnail

How To Choose A Market For Your Startup Or Small Business

crowdSPRING Blog

I’m rarely surprised when a young entrepreneur or small business owner hasn’t fully identified how their new business will make money. But I’m always surprised when that entrepreneur or small business owner has a tough time describing the potential customers for their new business’s products and services. After all, without customers, there is no revenue.

article thumbnail

Musings on the tension between trust and anonymity

The Equity Kicker

Google just changed the Google Play store so that reviewers’ Google+ name and profile picture are visible, with no option for anonymity, writes Techcrunch. I think this is a good move because identity engenders trust and the lack of trust on the web relative to offline is one of the things that holds people back from using and enjoying the web more.

article thumbnail

Time to sell your site? Here’s how to get started.

The Next Web

You’ve put years of work into your website or blog, but now you’ve decided that it’s time to sell. Maybe you’re not getting the satisfaction you used to from the pursuit. Maybe it’s not making as much money as you had hoped and you want to get something out of all that effort. Maybe you just want to see the site do well under the management of a more experienced, better-funded enterprise.

article thumbnail

It Happened To Me: My Small Business Was Hacked!

ReadWriteStart

Last September, shortly after the attacks on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, a company tweeted me that they were going to make our site, SmallBizDaily.com , their “small business resource of the day.” My joy was short-lived when the next morning they tweeted that my site had been hacked. I quickly checked (it was still early morning on the West Coast, where we’re located) and sure enough, instead of the usual array of small-business content I was greeted by an unfamiliar image of a Mid

article thumbnail

Open Source Entrepreneurship

Steve Blank

One of the great things about being a retired entrepreneur is that I get to give back to the community that helped me. I assembled this collection of free and almost free tools, class syllabi, presentations, books, lectures, videos in the hope that it can make your path as an entrepreneur or educator easier. Free: Startup Tools. If you’re building a startup, the Startup Tools tab on the top of this page has curated links to hundreds of startup resources.

article thumbnail

The worlds largest outsourcer you never heard of

deal architect

Quick, name the outsourcer which comes to market with A $ 140 billion services backlog. A relentless focus on guaranteed performance and improved outcomes for customers, not just standard SLAs or fixed price contracts Deep vertical knowledge in oil and.

Vertical 308
article thumbnail

Every Entrepreneur Needs to Master Public Speaking

Startup Professionals Musings

As a mentor for aspiring and early-stage entrepreneurs, I talk to a fair number who may have a great vision and a strong engineering background, but have a negative interest in the role of public speaking in business. In fact, they often claim to be part of the survey group that fears public speaking more than death, but I’m not sure how anyone could validate that survey.

article thumbnail

How To Get The Most Out Of A Startup Accelerator

ReadWriteStart

Startup accelerators: There are more of them – and more demand to land a spot within one – than ever before. But how can you make sure your company gets the most out of the accelerator experience? To find out how real startup founders dealt with the accelerator issue, we asked eight successful entrepreneurs from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) to share their experiences – and their advice for other founders considering a startup accelerator. 1.

article thumbnail

Cubes Are For Squares: The Startup/Corporate Matrix – Where Do You Fit?

YoungUpstarts

By Melissa Thompson , CEO of Talk Session. Everyone wants his or her dream job, but few have the courage to take big risks. Two years ago I attended my Business School reunion and it was clear that I was part of the 1% who effusively loved her job. I was also in the 1% of alumni who had a salary of zero dollars per year. Now, eighteen months after graduation, my classmates are leaving their jobs in droves to similar roles that with a slight change in name, title and uptick in optimism.

article thumbnail

The art of storytelling

deal architect

Abe Lincoln inspires a whole range of emotions in people. One aspect of his life I was not very familiar with till I saw the Spielberg movie was his endless stream of stories and his wicked sense of humor even.

299
299
article thumbnail

10 Avoidable Mistakes Cause Entrepreneurs Much Pain

Startup Professionals Musings

I’ve been advising and mentoring startups and growth companies for years, and find myself always pushing them to try something new, for the sake of growth and survival. When you try new things, you make mistakes, and I’ve seen many. Smart companies learn from their own mistakes, but some don’t pay enough attention to other people’s mistakes. In the spirit of saving you a few lifetimes of pain, here are some common mistakes that seem to happen routinely: Wait until your company is up and growing

article thumbnail

Are You Using Organic SEO?

Rembrandt Communications

Search Engine Optimization Offers a Competitive Advantage Many people often ask me to set up their SEO pay-per-click advertising strategies and campaigns. But one of the first things I ask is… What about organic SEO? Organic search engine optimization (SEO) is when you get a lot of people to visit your site without paying for [.].

SEO 186
article thumbnail

Competencies vs. Behaviors

YoungUpstarts

by Dr. Andrew L. Thorn, author of “ U-wun-ge-lay-ma “ I recently ran a marathon in Death Valley, California. The brutal course was made even worse by a nasty rain storm. As I struggled through the uncharacteristically cold and wet weather in the lonely desert, I found myself thinking about the loneliness of leading. The faces of the many leaders I have worked with and their individual leadership styles were the scenes that played across the miles.

article thumbnail

East Coast Offense

deal architect

In Walter Isaacson?s biography of Steve Jobs, Isaacson describes the time that Jobs cold called Wendell Weeks, the CEO of Corning, Inc., to learn about Gorilla Glass (which is now used in more than 500 devices). Weeks? assistant refused to.

Global 286
article thumbnail

10 Rules of Thumb for Startup Investment Valuation

Startup Professionals Musings

Once you have a potential investor excited about your team, your product, and your company, the investor will inevitably ask “What is your company’s valuation?” Many entrepreneurs stumble at this point, losing the deal or most of their ownership, by having no answer, saying “make me an offer,” or quoting an exorbitant number. I’ve written about this before, but it’s a mysterious subject, and I’m always learning more.

Valuation 270
article thumbnail

Snapchat posts more photos than Instagram

Lightspeed Venture Partners

We seed funded Snapchat , a terrific mobile photo sharing app, back in April when it had less than 200,000 installs. My partner Barry Eggers came across the app when his daughter told him it was one of the three most popular apps at her highschool. The other two were Instagram and Angry Birds. When we met the team and heard their vision and saw how much users loved using the app, we were hooked.

Turkey 167
article thumbnail

Build Entrepreneurship Communities With Crowd Valley

YoungUpstarts

Entrepreneurship communities and crowdfunding platforms designed to support entrepreneurs are popping up left, right, and center all around the world. This is a good sign. What may not be ideal, however, is that there’s much diffusion in the tools and platforms being used to connect entrepreneurs and that can create separate ecosystems that don’t talk to one another.

Community 187
article thumbnail

Citizenship to the Cloud

deal architect

I had a manager at Gartner who had weaned paper out of his life. He would review tons of our draft research papers on a good old screen. And this was 15 years ago. Dennis Howlett says he has similarly.

Cloud 257
article thumbnail

8 Ways Entrepreneurs Seek Real Paradigm Shifts

Startup Professionals Musings

What sparks paradigm-shifting innovation in any business? It’s a special mix of entrepreneur and company, regular in every respect except for having the courage and foresight to make an idea happen that was supposed to be impossible. As an entrepreneur in a startup, how do you know if you have this potential, and what are the steps to get from an innovation to a revolution?

article thumbnail

KQED Forum + conference update + a chance to win tickets

Startup Lessons Learned

I've done a seemingly endless stream of TV, radio, podcasts, webinars, hangouts in the past year. And I've mostly refrained from posting about them here, but today I'm making an exception. Plus, I have very cool conference updates (our full conference program + more than 300 simulcast locations!) and a chance to win free tickets, if you keep reading.

article thumbnail

“Un-spoil” Your Kids: A Holiday Message For Parents Of Entitled (And Financially Clueless) Children

YoungUpstarts

by Gregory Downing, author of “ Entrepreneur Unleashed “. The holidays are upon us, and rumor has it we’re supposed to be joyful. But if you’re one of the millions of American families caught in the economic crunch, you’re anything but. Your kids expect the moon for Christmas, and like George Bailey in “ It’s a Wonderful Life “, you’d love to lasso it for them.

article thumbnail

More New Renaissance

deal architect

On the innovation blog A grudging hat tip to O’Hare Field EcoATM: Kiosks to recycle your electronics The mother of all salvage operations You’ve got Nobel Kind of like fixing the Hubble telescope Apple in China Tampa Bay’s Image Uptick.

Tampa 239
article thumbnail

5 Military Lessons For Entrepreneurs Raising Money

Startup Professionals Musings

Don’t charge the hill until you are “ready.” This probably seems obvious to military types, but I see entrepreneurs violating this rule all the time. They approach key potential investors way too early, trying to talk their way up the hill, with no supporting business plan, and before they have a support team around them. Needless to say, they usually get shot down, and get no second chance.

article thumbnail

Jeff Bezos attended 60 investor meetings to raise $1m from 22 people, just to get Amazon started

The Next Web

If you think startups have a tough time today, making ends meet and raising the necessary capital to take things to the next level, here’s an interesting little nugget courtesy of “Mr. Amazon” himself, Jeff Bezos. Speaking to US talk-show host Charlie Rose , Bezos delved deep into everything from the Kindle and industry disruption, to the early days of his e-commerce empire.

Framework 156
article thumbnail

[Infographic] The Decline of American Entrepreneurship

YoungUpstarts

We often hear that entrepreneurship in America is alive and well, thanks to the amazing growth in the Valley’s startup scene and (no thanks) to the flagging economy that’s forced many to take up entrepreneurship as a last recourse. But the numbers don’t lie – entrepreneurship in America has actually declined over the decades.

article thumbnail

More New Florence

deal architect

on the innovation blog Guy Kawakasi: The art of innovation in 10 steps “Chasing Ice” Sandy in full fury and glory How do they feed everyone at industry events “Rental Nation” Trick or Track Bluebird by Amex The Unwatering of.

article thumbnail

Entrepreneurs Love the Learning and Ramen Noodles

Startup Professionals Musings

Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley and elsewhere. On the average, the entrepreneurs I know are living on Ramen noodles. But one thing they all seem to have in common is a love for learning and change. They rush in with a passion to better the world, and money is just an indication of their progress.

article thumbnail

Metrics and Compensation for SaaS Inside Sales

For Entrepreneurs

The Bridge Group have recently published a report titled: Inside Sales for SaaS Metrics and Compensation Report for B2B technology companies The report is based on a survey of 197 B2B technology companies, and covers topics such as: Ramp and Retention Compensation and Quota Activity and Infrastructure Inside Sales Management Management’s top challenges They [.].

Metrics 153
article thumbnail

Should Your Small Business Engage In Newsjacking?

YoungUpstarts

By Jeremy Goldman, author of “ Going Social: Excite Customers, Generate Buzz, and Energize Your Brand with the Power of Social Media “ To newsjack or not to newsjack? For many young entrepreneurs and small business owners, that’s becoming an increasingly important question with respect to their social media activities. For those of you not familiar with newsjacking, it’s the act of taking advantage of momentum from a breaking news story by creating real-time content somehow relating

article thumbnail

Thanks to BitTorrent, The 4-Hour Chef goes from being boycotted by Barnes and Noble to a bestseller

The Next Web

Self-help guru Tim Ferriss may have had a troubled start with his latest book, The 4-Hour Chef , but now it’s flying off the shelves. The book in question has gone from being boycotted by Barnes and Noble to becoming the first BitTorrent bestseller. Here’s the story. The book is published by Amazon Publishing, which signed the back in August 2011.

New York 127