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6 Cool Startups That Can Help Your Small Business Grow

October 13th, 2011 :: Monika Jansen

As editor at Tech Cocktail, I get to learn about a lot of really interesting startups, so I thought I’d share six companies that we’ve recently covered that can help your small business grow.

1. Qidiq: For Surveys

If you want to survey your customers, prospective customers, vendors and/or employees, try out Qidiq. Their platform lets you survey people via email and see the results nearly instantly.

Simply put together your list of questions and send them off via email or text. Your questions can be answered yes/no, with a 5-star rating, or as multiple choice. No matter which method you use, your respondents can answer with one click and add a comment. Unlike standard surveys, the question is right in the email.

The best part? You can space out your questions over several days so you are not overwhelming the people on your list.

2. Yesware: For Sales

Want to close more business? Silly question – of course you do! Yesware is an email productivity service that integrates into Gmail and your mobile phone and provides email analytics, customizable templates and more to help salespeople respond to customers more effectively.

Want to save time? Yesware also helps reduce data entry into CRMs like SalesForce, Sugar, Zoho, Basecamp, Landslide and others.

3. Ohours: For Office Hours

The founder of Tech Cocktail just tried this out in New York City at the Ace Hotel Lobby Bar, and I actually got to see it in action when I stopped by to say hi. He loved it so much that I’m going to try it when I am in Chicago, Denver and San Francisco this fall.

Ohours makes scheduling office hours super easy. Sign up via Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn and schedule blocks of time that you can tweet or share. Anyone can sign up to meet with you.

4. OneSky: For Translation

If you want to go global, check out OneSky, which helps streamline the translation of websites and apps by connecting you to translation agencies. They also have a really cool crowdsourcing option. You can ask for smoother, more seamless translations, which then get voted on. If you’d like, you can then use the new text that wins the most votes.

5. Profitably: For Business Planning

If you want to succeed, you need to have a plan, but putting one together, well, it usually takes a backseat to other stuff – like doing what you actually do. Profitably is a Web-based platform that can help you plan for the future. You can try out its revenue forecasting and planning features for free, but if you want to really go beyond the basics and include measurement and tracking features, you can sign up for a plan for as low as $33.33 a month. Not much of an investment for doing something that can ultimately pay huge dividends.

6. Onepager: For Setting Up a Website Fast

If time and budget constraints have stopped you from putting together a website, why not put together a simple landing page? Onepager is a very easy and simple way to create and maintain a visually appealing website. Just enter your company name, logo, tagline, content about who you are and what you do, and you’re good to go. You can customize the page a bit with themes, style and layout options, and also add photos, a newsletter sign up, hours, contact info and social media buttons. I tried it out, and it took me all of 10 minutes.

Onepager is really inexpensive, too: only $10/month for a month-to-month subscription or $8/month if you sign up for a whole year. That price includes hosting and unlimited bandwidth, which is a great deal.

Image by Flickr user joiseyshowaa (Creative Commons)

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Tags: business planning, email, office hours, Ohours, OnePager, OneSky, Profitably, Qidiq, sales, small business resources, surveys, Technology, translation services, Website, Yesware
Posted in Small Business, Technology | 3 Comments »

Planning a Business with a Sale in Mind

August 10th, 2010 :: Thursday Bram

When you start a new business, you can have a variety of exit strategies in mind. They can vary from leaving it to the next generation to going public. But one of the most common scenarios you can be planning for is to sell your business once you’ve built it up. Maybe you’re planning to sell when you’re ready to retire, maybe you know that you enjoy what you’re doing now but after a few years you expect you’ll be ready for a change. No matter the reasons, putting your business in a position that you can sell it easily simply makes sense.

Planning a Sale from Day One

Not all entrepreneurs think about their exit strategy when they’re starting a new business. After all, it makes more sense to think about a sale when you’ve actually got the company up and running. But the way you start your business can have a major impact on how you will be able to leave it. Something as simple as the business structure can slow down a sale, especially if there’s another party involved in the ownership (a partner or an investor). While thinking about a sale may not make you avoid partners, thinking ahead will allow you to set up a contract or an agreement that can minimize problems down the road.

Similarly, the processes and systems you put in place to operate your business can make a buyer more or less interested in taking over the management. The tools you use, in particular, are worth considering. For instance, you can put together a custom website for your business that requires a personal knowledge of HTML and more than a few hacks to work. Or you can make the whole thing easier to hand over to a successor whenever you choose to sell by using a well known content management system to create your site and make sure that everything about the site is by the book and easy to update.

Delegation is the Key

Ultimately, your ability to step back from the business and have it run itself will be one of the most important factors in the sale of your company. While you can sell a business that requires close supervision from the owner, buyers are likely to offer lower prices. That’s because it always takes a new owner some time to get up to speed — time that can translate to lost money if the business can’t hum along on its own. The more processes and systems you can put in place to make your business automatic, the easier it will be to sell.

As you plan your business, spend some time thinking about how vital you are to the process. If, for instance, you’re a consultant and the business is based on your abilities as a principal, you’re going to have to problems to overcome if you want to be able to sell your business eventually. That may mean hiring some staff who can handle the same projects you do or automating the process.

Image by Flickr user Ian Muttoo

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Tags: business planning, sale
Posted in Entrepreneurs | 2 Comments »

How to Include Retirement in Your Business Planning

January 28th, 2010 :: Thursday Bram

As a business owner, retirement often seems like something that other people do. After all, you’ve got your own company — you’ve built it up from the ground, so why would you ever want to leave it? And, on the off chance that you decide to retire, you can always sell your business and retire on the proceeds. But the fact of the matter is that retirement planning can play an important role in your business planning. It can offer opportunities to minimize your tax burden, build additional assets and make sure that if you do find yourself ready to retire down the road, you’ll be in a comfortable position to do so, no matter what.

Adding Retirement to Your Business Planning

There are a wide variety of retirement accounts created by the government to encourage everyone to save for retirement, even if you don’t have an employer offering you a 401(k) plan. But it’s not always clear which plans are best for a business owner — there are all sorts of rules and regulations based on how much you earn, how much you want to contribute to your account and other factors. It’s worthwhile sitting down with someone who can walk you through your options. Rather than a financial planner, though, a CPA is probably your best option.

A CPA can tell you not only about how you can save money towards your retirement, but can also help you determine how you can best benefit your business with your retirement plan. For instance, if your tax burden is significant, opening a tax-advantaged retirement account can help you reduce the taxes you’ll need to pay come April 15th. Your CPA can also help you decide how much you want to save, from the point of view of your business. Because a retirement account is not nearly as liquid as other savings options, it is important to make sure that you have the necessary cash flow to keep your business healthy now, as well as plan for the future.

With the option to open retirement accounts online through many banks and brokers, you can often keep expenses to a minimum: you’re likely already working with a CPA who knows your business well, so you won’t need to find a financial planner in addition. Online account management tools bring the costs of operating a retirement plan to a minimum, as well.

It’s Not Just Your Retirement at Stake

If your business employees anyone, it may be worth looking into retirement options that you can help them with. Your CPA may be able to direct you to options that not only help out your employee, but offer you a benefit as well — offering a retirement plan can be an alternative to offering a raise or a bonus to that employee and may have a lower final price tag. You may also be able to minimize overall costs if you’re already opening a retirement account for yourself.

Photo — Chispita_666

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Tags: benefits, business planning, ira, retirement
Posted in Accounting and Taxes | 1 Comment »