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8 Cool New Social Startups

June 13th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

If there’s any doubt that social media is just a trend, the startups that are sprouting around the country are quickly squashing that idea. We’ve been writing about a lot of cool social startups over at Tech Cocktail this spring. Here are 8 of my favorites:

1. Trendrr

Whether or not you are in marketing, you know that keeping up with social media in real-time is an extraordinary, time-consuming challenge. NYC-based Trendrr is a business intelligence platform that helps you listen, measure and respond to the conversation about your brand, media property, service or product as it’s happening. Sign up for a free 14-day trial to see how it works, or check out their managed services, which include a social media audit, reporting services, API access, information graphics and data visualization.

2. Hail to the Mayor App

Another NYC-based startup, Ludicast, which develops Web-based tools and apps, recently introduced a Foursquare app called Hail To The Mayor. You can use it to add your “anthem” to the jukebox of a bar when you check in.

3. StagePresence

Nuvixa, a Champaign, Illinois-based startup, has a really cool product called StagePresence that embeds video of you right into an online presentation. The result is a much more engaging visual communication tool that allows your body language and enthusiasm to add dynamism to your on-line presentation. It can be used for sales presentations, lectures, seminars, webinars, webcasts or video conferences. You can download StagePresence to try it out.

4. Weave the People

Weave the People also wants to make online communications more interesting, though their product was designed to increase the productivity of meetings, connect people, and provide an engaging way to view all of the attendees in a conference room. Weaves can also help conference organizers enhance delegates’ experience, increase sales, create a sponsorship opportunity, and provide a better networking experience.

5. Flimp Media

Boston-based Flimp Media has developed technology that allows companies to create interactive video brochures, thus making it possible to take the deep connection and engagement of video and convert it to sales leads. Flimp generates 4-7 times higher response rates compared to email marketing or static brochures, and viewer engagement is 1.3 minutes, 10 times higher than print, web pages, or email marketing.

6. Social Guide

Brooklyn-based SocialGuide wants to do two things: make TV-viewing a more social experience and help you find programs to watch when you are channel surfing and coming up empty. Their first real-time social programming guide tells you what the most popular programs are based on what people are watching and discussing.

7. SweetBaby

New parents, this one’s for you. Turn piles (or files) of photos of your child (or children) into an interactive, portable, and creative baby book with Sweet Baby, an iPad app you can download from the iTunes story today!

8. Addieu

Addieu is a new iPhone app that offers a quick and simple way to connect with everyone you meet on multiple social networks, including Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare, as you meet them.

Image by Flickr user Melissa Sanders (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Addieu, Flimp Media, Hail to the Mayor app, Innovation, Social Guide, social startups, StagePresence, Startups, SweetBaby, Tech Cocktail, Trendrr, Weave the People
Posted in Innovation | 1 Comment »

Will the R&D Tax Credit Be Extended Again?

April 21st, 2011 :: Karen Axelton

By Karen Axelton

A movement to make the R&D tax credit permanent seems to be gaining momentum, according to the Kauffmann Foundation. Originally created in 1981, the Research & Experimentation Tax Credit has been renewed 14 times so far, most recently when

President Obama signed the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010 in December.

True to form, the most recent renewal still allows the tax credit to expire at the end of 2011. But now, both political parties and a host of business interests are working to make the credit permanent so that businesses could enjoy the benefits without the uncertainty of wondering if or when the credit will be renewed.

Kauffmann cites a White House fact sheet which says the R&D tax credit directly supports jobs in the United States as well as U.S.-based investment and a 2010 study by the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) which found the credit spurs job creation. Organizations ranging from large companies like Ernst & Young to smaller entrepreneurial companies support the extension of the credit.

President Obama is seeking to expand the credit by about 20 percent (which would be the biggest increase in its history) and simplify the credit so more firms will be likely to take it. Even if expanded, the R&D credit would still be behind many countries nationwide in terms of tax credits offered to businesses that invest in research and development.

The American Research and Competitiveness Act of 2011 (H.R. 942), currently under consideration by Congress, would expand the credit and make it permanent. The bill was introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and has earned strong support from both Democrats and Republicans so far.

We still have eight months until the credit expires, but if your business will benefit from extension of the credit—and an end to the uncertainty—let your elected representatives know how you feel.

Image by Flickr user Richard Chen (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Innovation, r&d, small business tax credits, Technology
Posted in Accounting and Taxes, Compliance, Innovation, Technology, Uncategorized | No Comments »

Are You Looking to Hire? Consider Ruralsourcing

March 31st, 2011 :: Karen Axelton

By Karen Axelton

The economy is slowly (fingers crossed) starting to turn around, and that means your business might be getting more business. But even if your current employees are overloaded with work, with the recovery still uncertain, you’re probably not quite ready to hire full-time employees just yet.

What’s a smart solution? One approach more small businesses are taking is outsourcing—but with a new twist. While outsourcing is often thought of as sending work overseas to China or India, outsourcing in the U.S. is growing as well, but with a twist.

The trend of “ruralsourcing”– outsourcing jobs to small and rural U.S. communities—is growing. Recently oDesk, an online global employment platform, reported that small towns are outperforming larger cities both in the number of online contractors and the number of hours worked per contractor. “Online Employment Report” shows that towns with populations under 15,000 have higher “actively working” online populations than big cities in terms of hours worked per online contractor.

Contractors in small towns worked an average of more than 175 hours in January—far surpassing workers in New York City (70 hours), San Francisco (54 hours) and Los Angeles (23 hours). “Workers in small towns need access to jobs, and the Internet can put them in consideration for job opportunities on a global scale,” said Gary Swart, oDesk CEO.

If you’re looking for contract workers to handle tasks online, you’re not alone. oDesk reports demand for online work reached record highs in January, when some 71,000 online job opportunities were posted. The most popular postings involved Web development/IT, writing/blogging, graphic design, SEO and administrative assistants, showing that a wide variety of jobs can now be outsourced remotely.

Are you interested in ruralsourcing? Check out GrowSmartBusiness editor Rieva Lesonsky’s post about “ruralsourcing” for more.

Image by Flickr user Ben Heine (Creative Commons)

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Tags: ruralsourcing, small business hiring, Workforce
Posted in Innovation, Small Business, Workforce | 1 Comment »

No Right Brain Left Behind Fosters Innovation

February 7th, 2011 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

There’s a creativity crisis happening in U.S. schools—and that matters to small business because, if tomorrow’s graduates don’t know how to think creatively, our businesses will be left without an important source of innovation.

What can you do to help solve the problem? Stopp Inc., an international digital creative agency, is sponsoring a challenge called No Right Brain Left Behind (NRBLB) in collaboration with Social Media Week (February 7-11), the program’s goal is to address the creativity crisis in U.S. schools by tapping into the power of businesspeople in creative industries.

NRBLB challenges the creative industry to come up with ideas that will foster and nurture creativity in the school curriculum. “While the power of ideas and creativity is undisputed, the current school curriculum is all about standardized testing, deemphasizing the importance of right brain skills like creativity, inventiveness, empathy and other soft skills,” Stopp Inc. explained in announcing the challenge.

Teams from across the creative community are invited to participate in the five-day challenge, which begins today. Participants will be briefed today at Social Media Week in New York City, and can submit ideas online for the rest of the week. (You don’t have to attend Social Media Week to participate—you can find out more about the program online by viewing the NRBLB presentation, then sign up and submit ideas at the NRBLB site.

An expert panel will judge submissions and select three winning ideas that will be featured online, with the goal to implement the ideas as pilot programs in the 2012 school year.

“This collaboration will demonstrate the ability of our leading creative minds to develop innovative and thoughtful solutions where conventional thinking falls short,” notes Viktor Venson, Creative Director of Stopp LA and creator of the NRBLB initiative. “It is not about creating more artists. It’s about giving teachers and students tools to efficiently and creatively approach today’s problems.”

Inspiring student creativity is not only a noble goal, it’s a key step in keeping U.S. businesses competitive in the world of global innovation. I hope you’ll check out the NRBLB program and participate!

Image by Flickr user Yepy Rustam (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Innovation, small business success
Posted in Innovation | No Comments »

Intuit 2020 Report: 20 Trends That Will Shape the Next Decade

January 3rd, 2011 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

As we head into 2011, one way to help ensure business success is to stay on top of trends. Trendwatching doesn’t just mean paying attention to today’s fads—it means looking far ahead into the future. To help, Intuit recently released its Intuit 2020 Report: 20 Trends That Will Shape the Next Decade. The report, based on several years of research from the Institute for the Future and Emergent Research, is a broad overview of trends affecting business in the next decade.

“Effects of the Great Recession will continue to reverberate globally, with slower growth, less credit and greater uncertainty churning the marketplace,” the report states. “Yet, in spite of this turbulence, a new economy will grow, one that holds promise for businesses large and small, and consumers around the world.”

Here are some of the key trends:

Big and small businesses will collaborate. Big companies will get even bigger, but they’ll also reach out to small ones in new ways. “Small firms will contribute innovative practices with market agility and customer knowledge that big firms can’t easily achieve. Big firms will offer small businesses marketing and distribution power, enabling them to penetrate broader markets more effectively.”

Small businesses will become more flexible. Credit shortages will continue to affect small businesses, but they’ll be able to work around and find cheaper methods of operating, including “enhanced cloud services, a broader contingent workforce and greater options for plug-and-play manufacturing. Small businesses will rely on variable cost business models to adapt, respond and adjust.”

Niche businesses will rise. As niche businesses become more prevalent, “Small businesses will proliferate,” the authors write. “The Web and mobile technologies will become the great equalizer of big and small, with customers no longer knowing – or even caring – about the size of the firm that provides their goods and services.”

Business and life will go mobile. “As technology prices fall, highly sophisticated mobile technologies will become pervasive,” the report predicts. “Smartphones and other mobile devices will emerge as the new standard for everyday computing, often replacing or completely bypassing desktop and laptop computing.” Not only will your business be able to take advantage of smartphone and mobile computing power, but you’ll also need to adapt to the many ways your customers—whether businesses or consumers—are using mobile in their lives.

Innovation will increase. With equipment and technology costs dropping, it will become easier and cheaper to test new ideas, launch new products or expand your business into new markets.

Read the full Intuit report for much, much more.

Image by Flickr user Steve Dean (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Innovation, small business, trends
Posted in Innovation, Small Business | 2 Comments »

Business Lessons From This Season’s Hot Holiday Toy

December 10th, 2010 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

It’s becoming rarer these days to hear of a small business triumphing over the giants. That’s why I was delighted to read this New York Times story about Squinkies, a hot kids’ collectible that’s taking the holiday shopping season by storm.

If you don’t have any kids on your gift list, here’s a quick rundown of Squinkies: The tiny, plastic characters, packaged in plastic bubbles, sell for $10 for a pack of 16—making them an affordable gift for cash-strapped parents. If you do have kids who love Beanz, Polly Pockets or other tiny toys, you can clearly see the appeal.

There are several lessons any growing business that’s trying to launch a consumer product can draw from the Squinkies story.

Stay on top of trends. Squinkies creator Bill Nichols’ 8-year-old company, Blip Toys, has only 16 employees but has had hits with several novelty toys in the past. Nichols was trying to get an idea for a low-cost toy, so he strolled the aisles at Toys R Us to see what small toys existed. He saw there wasn’t a lot that was new (Polly Pocket, a main competitor, has been around for a while).
Know what your target customers like. Nichols learned from connections in Wal-Mart’s Japanese division that vending machine toys are popular there. He also saw they were popular at malls, amusement parks and elsewhere in the U.S., so he decided to package Squinkies in a plastic bubble, just like vending-machine toys—creating instant familiarity for kids.
Fit the product to the need. There are still plenty of high-priced toys out there, but parents watching their budgets are desperate for affordable items that still pack enough punch to be exciting. At $10 for 16 Squinkies, the product fits the bill.
Spur desire for more. Squinkies are collectible—each one is different—so no kid is going to want to stop at that first pack of 16. Like Bandz (those rubber wristbands that come in different shapes) Squinkies are a cheap way to satisfy kids’ urge for more, more, more.
Use influencers to spread the word. Before the product hit shelves in August, Nichols targeted influential “mommy bloggers” by sending them test product. He garnered tons of reviews that helped spread the word.

End result? Squinkies are in such high demand that stores are already running out and were nominated for a Toy of the Year award.

Image by Flickr user Alan Cleaver (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Innovation, inventors
Posted in Innovation | No Comments »

6 Steps to Spotting Trends Your Business Can Profit From

December 6th, 2010 :: Rieva Lesonsky

By Rieva Lesonsky

As a small business owner, you may not think of yourself as a trend-watcher. Truth be told, spotting trends is a key ability small business owners must possess. Whether you’re starting a new business or growing your existing one, you need to know what products and services are hot (and becoming more so), what kinds of customers have money to spend and what industries are growing…or declining. Tracking trends can keep you on top of all of these things.

Try these 6 tips to boost your trend-spotting skills.

Keep up with industry news. The first step to trend-watching is keeping on top of your industry news. Read the major trade publications and websites; sign up to get e-mail newsletters or RSS feeds on topics of interest.
Stay in the loop. Join industry-related social networking groups, whether on Facebook, LinkedIn or more industry-specific sites. By regularly chatting about what others in your industry are doing, you’ll stay on top of trends.
Think like your target market. Next step: Expand beyond your industry to learn to think like your target customers do. If you market to moms, read mommy blogs and parenting magazines. Find out what magazines, websites, social networks, TV shows and radio stations your customers are into, and learn from them.
Think outside the office. You can read, e-mail and tweet all you want, but there’s no substitute for getting out in the real world. Make it a point to regularly go where your target customers hang out, whether that’s a downtown business area, a local mall or a hip restaurant row. Sit and observe; listen in if you can. Take note of what types of products, fashions, gadgets and foods you see.
Think city. Let’s face it – most trends don’t start in Des Moines; they start in big urban areas. Pay attention to what’s going on in New York City, Los Angeles and Miami. Also think further afield. Tokyo, Paris, London and other key cities abroad are places to watch for new ideas. It’s easier than ever to find out what’s going on worldwide by regularly checking global websites.
Mix it up. No matter what your business or industry, it’s important to introduce an element of freshness into your thinking. Check out hip, edgy or youth-oriented websites and magazines from time to time. Even if you sell office copier products to corporate purchasing agents, you just might get a smart idea on how to redesign your company’s website or repackage your products from reading a surfer magazine.

Image by Flickr user Dan Quieroz (Creative Commons)

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Tags: Innovation, trends
Posted in Innovation | No Comments »

Book Review: The Power of Pull

October 27th, 2010 :: Monika Jansen

As I read through The Power of Pull, I realized something: This is written for people who work for or lead medium-sized to large companies, because we small business owners and entrepreneurs already know everything in this book. As fabulous as it is—it is very well written and has some awesome endorsements from Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and Eric Schmidt, among other big names—you don’t need to read it.

In the book, authors John Hagel III, John Seely Brown and Lang Davison argue that we’re moving from a push world to a pull world. In marketing, we talk about push and pull often. In the old days, companies pushed messages out to a huge audience, some of whom were in their target market, some of whom were not. You just hoped your potential customers were getting it. Now, companies pull in their target market to their messages via social media, blogs, and interactive online experiences, like games.

So, we’ve been living in a push world, where needs are forecast, efficient systems are designed, and scripted and standardized processes are de rigueur. (Think the public school system.) The pull world, on the other hand, in the one small business owners and entrepreneurs live in: It is flexible, changes quickly, and uses digital technology to turn challenges into opportunities.

An entire section of the book, in fact, could have been titled “Why You Need to Network.” Instead, it was devoted to three definitions of pull:

Pull helps us find and access people and resources when we need them. We use platforms like social networking and search engines to significantly increase our access.
Pull is the ability to attract people and resources to you that are relevant and valuable, even if you’re not looking for them. This is more about serendipity than search: Simply increase the number of encounters you have (more networking!) and then set up meetings with the people you could potentially partner or work with.
Pull is tapping into our ability to achieve our potential and grabbing onto new opportunities, partnerships, and collaborations that emerge.

As I said, we small business owners and entrepreneurs are already doing all of the above. But here’s something to keep in mind. There are three factors that feed into the power of pull: trajectory, leverage, and pace. In other words, we need to know where we’re going (have your business and marketing strategy in place!), be able to connect with others when needed (be an active player within your network, and for Pete’s sake, keep networking!), and move as quickly as the change that’s happening around us (social media and technology, anyone?).

P.S.—Eric Schmidt, mentioned in the first paragraph, is the Chairman and CEO of Google. But you knew that, right?

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Posted in Entrepreneurs, Innovation, Marketing, Resources, small business, social media | No Comments »

Founder at Work: Tim Brady, First Non-Founding Employee, Yahoo

September 13th, 2010 :: Monika Jansen

Last month, I decided to start sharing insights gleaned from the book Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. The interviews (with founders of technology companies from 37 Signals to Trip Advisor) provide an educational, behind-the-scenes look at how start-ups grew into huge companies. Because I like to learn from others, I’ve decided to turn this into a monthly series.

First, a little background on Yahoo and Tim Brady:

Yahoo started out in 1994 as a bunch of links to research papers. One of the two founders, Jerry Yang, was roommates with Tim Brady during their undergrad days at Stanford. Jerry and David Filo, Yahoo’s other founder, asked Tim to write a business plan for Yahoo while he was getting his MBA at Harvard. Once the business plan was finished, David and Jerry asked Tim to join Yahoo.

What you can learn from Tim Brady (2nd from left in photo), Senior VP of Network and Commerce Services at Yahoo, launch date 1994:

Advertising as business model. From the very beginning, they knew they were a media company first and a web portal/search engine second. As a result, their business plan was based on advertising to generate revenue. HotWired, Wired Magazine’s online site, sold ads on their site, so the Yahoo team adopted the strategy for themselves.

Smart partnerships. Netscape was the only browser back then, and they were only in the game so they could sell space on their servers. They happily added Yahoo to their directory button, which sent Yahoo’s traffic through the roof.

Branding via graphics. To build their brand, Yahoo added graphics. I know, today it sounds so obvious, but in 1994 adding graphics to a website was a new concept. Internet connections via slow-as-a-snail-stuck-in-molasses dial-up modems caused web pages tricked out with graphics to download even slower. Yahoo knew that great graphics were integral to their branding, so they launched both graphics and ads at the same time to make a big impact.

Do what it takes to help your customers. Unlike AOL, Yahoo understood that the Internet was (and still is) an open system and erecting walls was not the smartest operating plan. If you couldn’t find something using Yahoo’s search capability, you were given the option to try searching on a competitor’s site, like Excite. (I actually remember this feature!) By helping their customers, Yahoo clearly conveyed that they had their users’ best interests in mind.

Seize new opportunities. Yahoo is now known for its news, but they stumbled upon the business opportunity by accident. Their first foray into News came the day Prime Minister Rabin of Israel was assassinated in 1995. They placed the assassination on their front page, got great feedback, and pursued the opportunity to become a news outlet.