We all know jobs have been lost in the downturn. The question is how to encourage innovative, entrepreneurial new companies that could arise and create new jobs. Is your state helping you win in today’s idea-driven economy? A new study from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation reveals where [...]
Read More EntrepreneurshipName: Matt Mickiewicz, 27 Founded: 99designs Pty Ltd, 2008 Business: Marketplace for crowdsourced graphic-design services Location: Melbourne, Australia Matt Mickiewicz started his first business at age 14, filling a need he had for a directory of web-development tools and resources to help him learn how to create the websites he built as a hobby. Within [...]
Read More Small_Business, StartupIf you had just five minutes to devote to social media, who would you reach out to? How would you share your message? Enter: Flowtown. This power-packed tool digs through the data in your network and hand-delivers a goldmine. Enter your e-mail contact list and Flowtown aggregates social-media profile information from your e-mail subscriber list, [...]
Read More Entrepreneurship, social media, social networkingTomorrow is Small Business Saturday, a day to support local businesses. More than 1 million people “liked” the American Express OPEN Facebook page for the campaign in just two weeks. For signing on, which involves offering discounts to Amex card users, 10,000 small businesses received $100 worth of free Facebook advertising. With the big day [...]
Read More Advertising, Entrepreneurship, facebook, social mediaIn our last post, we gave you a rundown of what we heard when we did our social listening for Big Papa’s BBQ — the live test case we’re using to illustrate the power of social media to drive conversation, influence and sales. Today, we’ll tell you about the campaign we’re developing to capitalize on the [...]
Read More EntrepreneurshipHow to Choose the Right Web Server Your website is only as good as the speed and support behind it. Use these tips to find a host that will best fit your needs.
Read More Benefits, Employees, EntrepreneurshipDuke Chung Photo© David Lang Duke Chung was facing a defining decision: Accept a lucrative buyout offer for Parature, the customer-support software company he started as a student at Cornell University, or stay the course and continue to grow Parature with his four co-founders. Plenty of college entrepreneurs would jump at a big payout. But [...]
Read More Entrepreneurship, financingThe Facebook post reads: “Startup medical device company looking for investors.” An eBay ad offers “double-digit growth potential for early investors.” And with loans in short supply, you might be tempted to hang an “investors wanted” sign of your own. But be warned: Selling equity is very different from borrowing from Aunt Sally. And it’s [...]
Read More Entrepreneurship, financingHard to believe, but according to the learned folks at the National Bureau of Economic Research, the economy’s been in recovery since June 2009. Unfortunately, a big reason for the stagnation so far has been, well, you. Tons of people–71 percent, says a recent survey by Discover Small Business Watch–are waiting for economic indicators to [...]
Read More Entrepreneurship, game changersThere’s a lot of buzz these days about the amount of traction Facebook has gained as an advertising platform. According to Hitwise, nearly one in four page views, excluding mobile-generated traffic, in the U.S. now occurs on Facebook.com, and comScore recently reported that 23.1 percent of all online display ad impressions in the month of [...]
Read More Advertising, facebook, social media