Suhas is now21 years old, When he was just 14, this guy from Bangalore, India founded a company called Globals, Inc in San Jose, California. The reason for trying his luck in the United States rather than his native country was because there are laws in India that prevented him — then as a minor — to start a company legally. Starting with only 4 employees, he now employs around 400 students between India and the U.S.A.
He jokingly shares that he wants to retire at the age of 24. Right now, he’s a workaholic and national icon who’s listed in India’s record books as “The World’s Youngest Chief Executive”. He’s also terribly frugal and has shockingly turned down a $100 million investment from a VC firm. So far, he’s doing very well on his own, with 200 clients throughout the world, offices in 11 countries and software products that address market niches such as software for schools akin to an electronic class register that tracks the grades and attendance of students. Another product his company has developed (and is a candidate for a patent), is a data management tool that would help IT companies decrease their workforce and lower their costs.
-ooOoo-
These talented young people have done a lot to attract vast opportunities to their doorsteps. I’m curious to see how their lives and careers will shape up in the following years. If you’ve heard of any other such “super kids” out there, drop me a line here as I’d like to hear about more stories of this nature too. It’s a way of showing our kids — or anyone, in fact — that sky’s the limit. You can do anything if you set your mind to it.
Don’t you wish you could have started so young?
Other Resources:
More on the 13 Year Old Entrepreneur
Technology’s Next Generation
Whiz Kid is a Tech Muse
Full text On:http://www.thedigeratilife.com/blog/index.php/2007/06/11/5-of-the-youngest-entrepreneurs-on-their-path-to-success-and-riches/
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Liverpool Cultural Cafe
The Liverpool Cultural Cafe.
Bowness, a Merseyside native, explains: "After learning about the cultures of Fiji, after bringing employment and investment to that area, I became passionate about doing the same in my home city." His latest project aims to get 25,000 people to pledge a donation of GBP 20. The pooled amount of GBP 500,000 will be used to launch a platform for local talent—musicians, comedians and other artists. A bistro by day and bar by night, the Liverpool Cultural Cafe will be staffed by 12 trainees from low opportunity backgrounds, who will be trained by local businesses. Liverpool Cultural Cafe's 25,000 investors will be able to influence the venture's development through an online community developed for the project.
If the initiative doesn't work out, not much is lost, since investors don't hand over their twenty quid until 24,999 others have agreed to do the same. If it does work, this could be a model for other civic groups to follow to get ventures off the ground without relying on government subsidies. One to watch in 2008!
Website: www.liverpoolculturecafe.com
via-Springwise
Bowness, a Merseyside native, explains: "After learning about the cultures of Fiji, after bringing employment and investment to that area, I became passionate about doing the same in my home city." His latest project aims to get 25,000 people to pledge a donation of GBP 20. The pooled amount of GBP 500,000 will be used to launch a platform for local talent—musicians, comedians and other artists. A bistro by day and bar by night, the Liverpool Cultural Cafe will be staffed by 12 trainees from low opportunity backgrounds, who will be trained by local businesses. Liverpool Cultural Cafe's 25,000 investors will be able to influence the venture's development through an online community developed for the project.
If the initiative doesn't work out, not much is lost, since investors don't hand over their twenty quid until 24,999 others have agreed to do the same. If it does work, this could be a model for other civic groups to follow to get ventures off the ground without relying on government subsidies. One to watch in 2008!
Website: www.liverpoolculturecafe.com
via-Springwise
How to Create Your own Channel
HooQs enables you to enjoy your favorite videos and music straight from your mobile phone or wireless device – without any installation or hassle.
You can build your own channels from various media sources and HooQs delivers them straight to your mobile phone, and creates a personal mobile portal that is tailored just for you.HooQs is a new video app which lets you create your own channels and then send them to mobile devices or enjoy them online. If you’re not creatively inclined, just subscribe to channels already compiled by other users. To find or create channels, simply run a search (by category or keyword). Select the videos or channels you want, and add them to your feed. You can also keep track of what other users are watching by adding them to your watchlist and subscribing to their feeds. It’s also easy to send feeds to mobile phones; just select the “Send to Mobile” option which appears after viewing the video. The site is completely free of charge, and works on any video-enabled mobile device.
More at:http://www.hooqs.com/
You can build your own channels from various media sources and HooQs delivers them straight to your mobile phone, and creates a personal mobile portal that is tailored just for you.HooQs is a new video app which lets you create your own channels and then send them to mobile devices or enjoy them online. If you’re not creatively inclined, just subscribe to channels already compiled by other users. To find or create channels, simply run a search (by category or keyword). Select the videos or channels you want, and add them to your feed. You can also keep track of what other users are watching by adding them to your watchlist and subscribing to their feeds. It’s also easy to send feeds to mobile phones; just select the “Send to Mobile” option which appears after viewing the video. The site is completely free of charge, and works on any video-enabled mobile device.
More at:http://www.hooqs.com/
With Zaloca you can see who will be at your destination resort and when.
Zaloca is an exciting new way to meet people, there is no better way to meet singles than when you're on vacation with friends, with Zaloca you can see who will be at your destination resort and when.Zaloca is the place for you to visit. There you can search who is going where, share who you are and where you're going, and chat with other Zaloca community members. But what's best, you can meet them when you travel.
More at:http://www.zaloca.com/
More at:http://www.zaloca.com/
LectureShare lets intructors post lecture notes to their students—or the world—quickly and easily
LectureShare lets intructors post lecture notes to their students—or the world—quickly and easily. Create an account, create your course, and in only minutes you can be posting announcements, documents, and media that your students can access easily. There's no frustrating software to learn, and no course web page to maintain. We feel instructors’ time is best spent with students, not struggling with problematic course management software or maintaining their own webpages.LectureShare has created a space for professors to share their course information on one single website; course leaders can upload multimedia, documents, and class notes. On the flip side, students can access LectureShare by logging into their account and viewing all the material for all of their courses on one page. Additionally, students can receive course notifications by e-mail, SMS text message, or RSS feed. Site registration is free for both professors and students.
More at:http://www.lectureshare.com/
More at:http://www.lectureshare.com/
How To Manage Your Online Business With GenevateStore Tool
Their goal is to make it easy for you to run your online business. GenevateStore makes it easy to review and improve your store’s performance by offering one of the most comprehensive reporting packages in the industry. They’ve integrated GenevateStore with Urchin’s award winning e-commerce reporting application.
In addition to dozens of advanced e-commerce reports, you’ll receive standard reports on site traffic, and visitor demographics.
They continually strive to provide you with great tools to fuel your success.
Genevatestore.com offers a program where store managers can have their inventory, sales, and statistics all together on one screen in a plain and readable fashion. The main page is a store overview with constant updates on new orders, new customers, edited products, sales, transfers, etc. There is also a statistics section with annual and monthly sales, and total customers. Below this section is the inventory alert where products that are about to run out are posted for re-ordering. These main displays can be modified to suit the needs and brand image of the company. Subsequent pages include detailed accounts of product categories, product data, coupons, content, and reports. The reports offer clients many types of reports that are updated with every transaction and displayed in a professional graph or chart. Order reports, revenue reports, and product revenue reports are available for constant review and will help the company keep a clear view of their progress and direction. Other reports are available including information on clients and traffic.
More at:http://www.genevatestore.com/
In addition to dozens of advanced e-commerce reports, you’ll receive standard reports on site traffic, and visitor demographics.
They continually strive to provide you with great tools to fuel your success.
Genevatestore.com offers a program where store managers can have their inventory, sales, and statistics all together on one screen in a plain and readable fashion. The main page is a store overview with constant updates on new orders, new customers, edited products, sales, transfers, etc. There is also a statistics section with annual and monthly sales, and total customers. Below this section is the inventory alert where products that are about to run out are posted for re-ordering. These main displays can be modified to suit the needs and brand image of the company. Subsequent pages include detailed accounts of product categories, product data, coupons, content, and reports. The reports offer clients many types of reports that are updated with every transaction and displayed in a professional graph or chart. Order reports, revenue reports, and product revenue reports are available for constant review and will help the company keep a clear view of their progress and direction. Other reports are available including information on clients and traffic.
More at:http://www.genevatestore.com/
Upload Free Files
YouSwap.com is a very basic site that doesn’t offer the users extra options. If you want to send you friends a file, do it here. It is free, easy, and hard to mess up.
The site format is utterly easy to use which is great news for grammas and people who have been living under a rock for the past 10 years. There are three steps that are hard to mess up: add files (they suggest selecting multiple files at a time), fill in recipient email address(es), and finally click upload. In the second step the sender also has the option of attaching a message and their personal email address. YouSwap.com does not ask users to register or pay which is a plus. When the user clicks “Upload!” the site shows the progress of the files being sent and then follows up with a page displaying the sent files so users can be sure that the files were sent and which ones they were. YouSwap.com is the tool to keep everyone in touch and updated on families, high school and college friends, travelers, and Internet boyfriends.
more at:http://www.youswap.com/
The site format is utterly easy to use which is great news for grammas and people who have been living under a rock for the past 10 years. There are three steps that are hard to mess up: add files (they suggest selecting multiple files at a time), fill in recipient email address(es), and finally click upload. In the second step the sender also has the option of attaching a message and their personal email address. YouSwap.com does not ask users to register or pay which is a plus. When the user clicks “Upload!” the site shows the progress of the files being sent and then follows up with a page displaying the sent files so users can be sure that the files were sent and which ones they were. YouSwap.com is the tool to keep everyone in touch and updated on families, high school and college friends, travelers, and Internet boyfriends.
more at:http://www.youswap.com/
Monday, August 27, 2007
How 'e' are you? A new research project that aims to track how people are using the internet.
How 'e' are you? A new research project that aims to track how people are using the internet. The site includes an e-test that calculates a user's e-score (0 - 100), places them in an e-group and then suggests sites that they might be interested in visiting next. Over 8,000 people have already taken the test with an average score of 48.
The site's very simple, but includes some great features built by those clever guys at Small Fry. For every completed survey we're giving 5p to Childnet - the charity that works to make the internet a safer place for children.
We've also built our first widget to promote the site - available through widgetbox - if you download the widget it generates an average score for all users that have taken the test from your site. You can see the average score of everyone that's taken the test from here - currently 81 - let's see if it goes up or down.
Hope you like the site, we're really proud of it, we've been talking about it for ages and developing it here and there between other projects, I'll keep you posted about interesting findings, be good to hear some feedback / suggestions.
The site's very simple, but includes some great features built by those clever guys at Small Fry. For every completed survey we're giving 5p to Childnet - the charity that works to make the internet a safer place for children.
We've also built our first widget to promote the site - available through widgetbox - if you download the widget it generates an average score for all users that have taken the test from your site. You can see the average score of everyone that's taken the test from here - currently 81 - let's see if it goes up or down.
Hope you like the site, we're really proud of it, we've been talking about it for ages and developing it here and there between other projects, I'll keep you posted about interesting findings, be good to hear some feedback / suggestions.
MyRealPlace is the complete, realty resource for buyers, sellers, investors and realty professionals alike
MyRealPlace is the complete, realty resource for buyers, sellers, investors and realty professionals alike. We exist to help you buy and sell properties, to learn about trends in your area, to ask questions of the professionals, to search out realty professionals and to provide a meeting place where you can engage with each other. Fundamentally, we are here to give you a voice.
We are not licensed Realtors and nor will we ever be. We simply provide a place where you have access to tools and information that allow you to make informed descions in the real estate process.
This is Your Community, this is Your Real Place.
More at:http://myrealplace.com/
We are not licensed Realtors and nor will we ever be. We simply provide a place where you have access to tools and information that allow you to make informed descions in the real estate process.
This is Your Community, this is Your Real Place.
More at:http://myrealplace.com/
Unusual Business Idea
Consumers who want the luxury of having a second home at the beach or in the mountains, but don't have the money to plunk down on the choicest properties, now have an appealing alternative: half ownership. Like other shared ownership ventures, Halfshare.com gives customers the chance to get a piece of the good life, but at a much lower cost. Unlike traditional timeshares, which pioneered the concept of fractional ownership, Halfshare.com buyers aren't purchasing time in a hotel or resort, but an actual home—and all the benefits that go with owning it. Along with sharing costs, buyers share profits if the value goes up. And depending on the terms both owners agree to, the property may generate rental income, too.
Getting started is as easy as logging onto Halfshare.com, where members can browse listings of available properties throughout North America. Halfshare.com can match them with other prospective buyers based on tastes, backgrounds, interests, hobbies and lifestyles through the Buyer Match Plan. Potential co-owners can arrange to meet one another online, by phone or in person to determine if they’d make a good match. Once buyers select a property, Halfshare.com's Tenants-in-Common Agreement takes care of all the details, formalizing legal concerns and each owner’s rights. “It spells out what is expected in terms of financial arrangements, seasonal time sharing, rental revenues, re-sale, property maintenance and repair, among other pertinent details.”
Although the real estate market is currently in a bit of a slump, demand for sandy beaches, mountain air, cultural attractions and picturesque scenery isn’t likely to wane any time soon. Which means that making vacation homes affordable, fraction by fraction, could be a worthwhile start-up in almost any region frequented by tourists looking to make themselves at home.
more at:http://www.halfshare.com/
Getting started is as easy as logging onto Halfshare.com, where members can browse listings of available properties throughout North America. Halfshare.com can match them with other prospective buyers based on tastes, backgrounds, interests, hobbies and lifestyles through the Buyer Match Plan. Potential co-owners can arrange to meet one another online, by phone or in person to determine if they’d make a good match. Once buyers select a property, Halfshare.com's Tenants-in-Common Agreement takes care of all the details, formalizing legal concerns and each owner’s rights. “It spells out what is expected in terms of financial arrangements, seasonal time sharing, rental revenues, re-sale, property maintenance and repair, among other pertinent details.”
Although the real estate market is currently in a bit of a slump, demand for sandy beaches, mountain air, cultural attractions and picturesque scenery isn’t likely to wane any time soon. Which means that making vacation homes affordable, fraction by fraction, could be a worthwhile start-up in almost any region frequented by tourists looking to make themselves at home.
more at:http://www.halfshare.com/
Google Phone Or G-Phone
Talk of a possible Google phone kicked up again Friday with new rumors coming out of India that the phone could be launched within two weeks.
Rediff.com reported that Google is in talks with two of the three top mobile providers in India, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, to offer the new "Gphone." The article cites unnamed sources who say the phone will also be launched simultaneously in the U.S. and Europe. The only remaining hurdle in the U.S., the story said, is approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which must certify any wireless device sold in the U.S.
Google isn't commenting on the rumors, saying in a statement that the company "is committed to providing users with access to the world's information, and mobile becomes more important to those efforts every day."
Before you get too excited and start queuing up somewhere for one of these phones, let me explain why I think the rumors are bogus. For one, Google has never actually confirmed that it's working on building its own handset. Even though it sounds really cool and sexy for the company to pull an "Apple" by building its own hardware, it just doesn't fit into Google's business model, which is to develop software applications for the Web as a way to sell more advertising.
Google executives, including Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google, have said publicly that they think there is plenty of competition and innovation in the handset market.
"I think there is a healthy environment of competition and innovation in the device market worldwide," Sacca said in an interview with CNET News.com last month. "It's just the channel that discourages that kind of innovation here in the U.S."
And just this week, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, showed off how well Google's applications worked on her iPhone. So I just don't see any reason why Google would want to build an "iPhone-killer."
That said, there's no question Google is hot for mobile. The company has introduced several new mobile products this year. And CEO Eric Schmidt recently said the company will likely participate in the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction early in 2008. Exactly what it will do with the spectrum if its wins licenses is unknown.
I think what's more likely is that Google is working with a hardware partner to develop a smart phone that's optimized and preloaded with lots of Google applications. My guess is that the supposed prototypes that The Wall Street Journal and others have mentioned in recent articles may be mockups the company has developed with partners to demonstrate and test new applications.
So could a Google-powered device made by unknown hardware partners really be ready for launch in two weeks? I think that's probably a little too soon. I checked the FCC Web site Friday and Google has not registered any product to be tested with the FCC. Of course, if Google is working with a partner, as I have suggested above, the phone could be registered in the FCC files under a different company's name.
More at:http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/aug/24gphone.htm
Rediff.com reported that Google is in talks with two of the three top mobile providers in India, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar, to offer the new "Gphone." The article cites unnamed sources who say the phone will also be launched simultaneously in the U.S. and Europe. The only remaining hurdle in the U.S., the story said, is approval from the Federal Communications Commission, which must certify any wireless device sold in the U.S.
Google isn't commenting on the rumors, saying in a statement that the company "is committed to providing users with access to the world's information, and mobile becomes more important to those efforts every day."
Before you get too excited and start queuing up somewhere for one of these phones, let me explain why I think the rumors are bogus. For one, Google has never actually confirmed that it's working on building its own handset. Even though it sounds really cool and sexy for the company to pull an "Apple" by building its own hardware, it just doesn't fit into Google's business model, which is to develop software applications for the Web as a way to sell more advertising.
Google executives, including Chris Sacca, head of special initiatives at Google, have said publicly that they think there is plenty of competition and innovation in the handset market.
"I think there is a healthy environment of competition and innovation in the device market worldwide," Sacca said in an interview with CNET News.com last month. "It's just the channel that discourages that kind of innovation here in the U.S."
And just this week, Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience, showed off how well Google's applications worked on her iPhone. So I just don't see any reason why Google would want to build an "iPhone-killer."
That said, there's no question Google is hot for mobile. The company has introduced several new mobile products this year. And CEO Eric Schmidt recently said the company will likely participate in the upcoming 700MHz spectrum auction early in 2008. Exactly what it will do with the spectrum if its wins licenses is unknown.
I think what's more likely is that Google is working with a hardware partner to develop a smart phone that's optimized and preloaded with lots of Google applications. My guess is that the supposed prototypes that The Wall Street Journal and others have mentioned in recent articles may be mockups the company has developed with partners to demonstrate and test new applications.
So could a Google-powered device made by unknown hardware partners really be ready for launch in two weeks? I think that's probably a little too soon. I checked the FCC Web site Friday and Google has not registered any product to be tested with the FCC. Of course, if Google is working with a partner, as I have suggested above, the phone could be registered in the FCC files under a different company's name.
More at:http://www.rediff.com/money/2007/aug/24gphone.htm
Best4c is a new chart design application that provides a variety of options for many of your chart-creation needs
Best4c is a new chart design application that provides a variety of options for many of your chart-creation needs.
Offering tools for creating flow charts, network charts, and home and office layout designs. As a basic tool, Best4c works well. Its drag’n'drop capabilities make the creation of a chart or layout easy, and other basic functions such as resizing are intuitive. Other features are less intuitive, especially for the creation of a flow chart, where most tools will have more automated features for creating trees, instead of all manual connections that need to be made. The chart creation tools are more useful than the home and office layout options, as the system provided by Best4c is not all inclusive for furnishing designs. That being said, there are no options for room ratio sizing, and limited options for furniture, so you’ll do best by using tools like MyDesignIn and FloorPlanner for home design.
There are also no networking options for Best4c, as it operates more like a desktop application than a collaborative tool, though charts can be shared. This also means you’ll need to go to the “Open file” tool in order to access your previous charts, or use the URL provided upon saving a chart in order to access individual charts later. Nevertheless, you’ll be hard pressed to find other users’ charts (some are shown on the homepage), and there are no profiles for seeing all of a user’s public designs. Should Best4c decide to add in more networking options, having the ability to search, view, share and customize others’ charts would come in handy.
More at:http://www.best4c.com/
Offering tools for creating flow charts, network charts, and home and office layout designs. As a basic tool, Best4c works well. Its drag’n'drop capabilities make the creation of a chart or layout easy, and other basic functions such as resizing are intuitive. Other features are less intuitive, especially for the creation of a flow chart, where most tools will have more automated features for creating trees, instead of all manual connections that need to be made. The chart creation tools are more useful than the home and office layout options, as the system provided by Best4c is not all inclusive for furnishing designs. That being said, there are no options for room ratio sizing, and limited options for furniture, so you’ll do best by using tools like MyDesignIn and FloorPlanner for home design.
There are also no networking options for Best4c, as it operates more like a desktop application than a collaborative tool, though charts can be shared. This also means you’ll need to go to the “Open file” tool in order to access your previous charts, or use the URL provided upon saving a chart in order to access individual charts later. Nevertheless, you’ll be hard pressed to find other users’ charts (some are shown on the homepage), and there are no profiles for seeing all of a user’s public designs. Should Best4c decide to add in more networking options, having the ability to search, view, share and customize others’ charts would come in handy.
More at:http://www.best4c.com/
How To Sketch Face With Flashface
Flashface is a site for those people where visitors can piece together archaic looking yet accurate facial features to form a face. It seems to be in the early stages of graphic development with tiny words and black and white features. The lack of color and pizzazz is off-putting but the truth is that you can make a pretty good police sketch of yourself and people you know. The features that compose the face sketch are: hair, head shape, hairline, eyebrows, eyewear, eyes, nose, mustache, mouth, chin, and beard. In each category there are between thirty and sixty options, which is barely enough to choose a feature that resembles the person you are trying to create. The site has very few preference options but once a face is formed users can save and print the face as well as view the faces in the guestbook. Flashface is a useful site for temporarily curing boredom and sketching a criminal. If Flashface introduced another version with color, more feature options, and way to link the sketch to a blog or website, it could really take off.
More at:http://flashface.ctapt.de/
More at:http://flashface.ctapt.de/
The BUILDhardlink.com site encourages users to build hardlinks for personal or business use
The BUILDhardlink.com site encourages users to build hardlinks for personal or business use and add them to an Open Use Content database that can be freely accessed by anyone with an Internet enabled cell phone.
Just as a hyperlink takes you from web page to web page, a hardlink takes you from a physical object to a data store of information about that object in the form of pictures and text.Physical hyperlinking or hardlinking is a concept that is in the very early stages of emergence in most parts of the world. The way it has traditionally worked is you take a picture of a barcode (QR Code) with your phone camera as might be found on some object, say a movie poster. The result is your phones browser redirects to information about that object.
More at:http://www.buildhardlink.com/
Just as a hyperlink takes you from web page to web page, a hardlink takes you from a physical object to a data store of information about that object in the form of pictures and text.Physical hyperlinking or hardlinking is a concept that is in the very early stages of emergence in most parts of the world. The way it has traditionally worked is you take a picture of a barcode (QR Code) with your phone camera as might be found on some object, say a movie poster. The result is your phones browser redirects to information about that object.
More at:http://www.buildhardlink.com/
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Jitsu contains an integrated set of tools to enable developers to build and deploy sophisticated user interfaces for web applications
Jitsu contains an integrated set of tools to enable developers to build and deploy sophisticated user interfaces for web applications. These include an Xml markup language, page compiler, data binding engine, JavaScript runtime, control library, runtime inspector, animation engine, cross-platform library, Ajax, and back button support. Jitsu apps use DHTML and run in most modern web browsers.Jitsu is open source and free, which means it’s accessible. It’s ideal for building interactive Ajax apps (email, notetaking, blog editors, etc.) which are extremely popular. Jitsu is powerful, and can be used to build some serious apps. It’s an alternative to Adobe Flex and Microsoft XAML.
More at:http://www.jitsu.org/
More at:http://www.jitsu.org/
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Repairwoman Who Made Millions
With a paintbrush in one hand and a spirit level in the other, Kerrie Keeling has found her place in an industry dominated by men.
Her company A Woman’s Touch consists almost entirely of women. Plumbers, painters, electricians – they’re all there, but the difference is, they won’t go for a 2-hour tea break then trudge paint through your hallway on their return.
“My staff have a woman’s eye for detail,” Keeling explains. “They’ll clean up after themselves everyday, even if that takes longer. Your house shouldn’t have to look like a building site for two weeks.”
Keeling’s clients range from women reluctant to let messy workmen in the homes, to DIY-shy men unwilling to admit to another man their inability to fix a tap.
The business, which has doubled its turnover year-on-year since launching in 2003, currently boasts annual revenues of $1000000.
Keeling had always harboured a desire to be her own boss but initially the lure of a comfy salary and solid career path in the City proved too strong.
After seven years working for investment banks, and with a recent promotion under her belt, she decided the time was right to step off the corporate ladder.
“I was getting frustrated with all the backstabbing,” she explains. “I hated the culture and it was so exhausting trying to fit in.”
Her frustration with corporate life coincided with some home renovations she was having done. “The guys that did it left such a mess and bullied me into paying more than they’d quoted.”
Keeling wanted decorators that arrived on time, were polite, tidied up – basically treated the place like their own home. It became obvious the solution was to set up her own decorating company, offering the level of customer service she expected.
Two weeks later, she handed in her resignation. While working her month’s notice Keeling phoned around the competition posing as a potential client to find out what they offered.
Armed with a bonus and reluctant to take on debt, she refused to fund the business through borrowing. Keeling’s only start-up costs were registering the company name and setting up a website – all for under £1,000. She now admits it would have grown much faster if she’d borrowed enough to employ others from the outset, however.
For the first three months, it was just her, a car and her dad’s toolkit, working seven days a week, evenings and weekends – and the only experience she’d had was decorating her own home.
Her first contracts came from her network of city acquaintances and Keeling is a firm believer in word-of-mouth promotion rather than advertising.
It was three months before Keeling employed a professional decorator but the company now boasts a 26-strong army of tradeswomen, despite only recently having moved the business out of her home into an office.
Keeling rarely picks up a paintbrush these days. Her focus rests with expanding the business, and she’s hoping to take it national through a series of branches and franchises.
“I hadn’t grasped just how much work would be involved when I started,” says Keeling. “But I’m actually quite glad because I may not have done it otherwise.
More at:http://www.awomanstouch.org.uk/
Via-Uncommonbusinesblog
Her company A Woman’s Touch consists almost entirely of women. Plumbers, painters, electricians – they’re all there, but the difference is, they won’t go for a 2-hour tea break then trudge paint through your hallway on their return.
“My staff have a woman’s eye for detail,” Keeling explains. “They’ll clean up after themselves everyday, even if that takes longer. Your house shouldn’t have to look like a building site for two weeks.”
Keeling’s clients range from women reluctant to let messy workmen in the homes, to DIY-shy men unwilling to admit to another man their inability to fix a tap.
The business, which has doubled its turnover year-on-year since launching in 2003, currently boasts annual revenues of $1000000.
Keeling had always harboured a desire to be her own boss but initially the lure of a comfy salary and solid career path in the City proved too strong.
After seven years working for investment banks, and with a recent promotion under her belt, she decided the time was right to step off the corporate ladder.
“I was getting frustrated with all the backstabbing,” she explains. “I hated the culture and it was so exhausting trying to fit in.”
Her frustration with corporate life coincided with some home renovations she was having done. “The guys that did it left such a mess and bullied me into paying more than they’d quoted.”
Keeling wanted decorators that arrived on time, were polite, tidied up – basically treated the place like their own home. It became obvious the solution was to set up her own decorating company, offering the level of customer service she expected.
Two weeks later, she handed in her resignation. While working her month’s notice Keeling phoned around the competition posing as a potential client to find out what they offered.
Armed with a bonus and reluctant to take on debt, she refused to fund the business through borrowing. Keeling’s only start-up costs were registering the company name and setting up a website – all for under £1,000. She now admits it would have grown much faster if she’d borrowed enough to employ others from the outset, however.
For the first three months, it was just her, a car and her dad’s toolkit, working seven days a week, evenings and weekends – and the only experience she’d had was decorating her own home.
Her first contracts came from her network of city acquaintances and Keeling is a firm believer in word-of-mouth promotion rather than advertising.
It was three months before Keeling employed a professional decorator but the company now boasts a 26-strong army of tradeswomen, despite only recently having moved the business out of her home into an office.
Keeling rarely picks up a paintbrush these days. Her focus rests with expanding the business, and she’s hoping to take it national through a series of branches and franchises.
“I hadn’t grasped just how much work would be involved when I started,” says Keeling. “But I’m actually quite glad because I may not have done it otherwise.
More at:http://www.awomanstouch.org.uk/
Via-Uncommonbusinesblog
Cludr gives internet users easy access to the most popular web sites in the world
Cludr gives internet users easy access to the most popular web sites in the world.
Cludr began by asking internet users what you would like to have in an online resource. Your response was very clear. With millions of websites “cluttering” the internet, you wanted a place where you could have easy access to the best sites.
That is what you will find on Cludr, easy access to the most popular websites in the world.Their aim is to cut down on web clutter, gleaning away the grist from the mill. To that end they’ve developed a web directory of sorts. You’ll find your basic Google search bar under which are a handful (18 to be exact) of focused categories. Click on health for instance, and you’ll be directed to another list of popular health and medical sites like WebMD and the Mayo Clinic. Click on jobs and you’ll get links to Monster, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Dice, and Indeed among others. Essentially, Cludr acts a straightforward list of bookmarks. If you’re one to abhor those perky social extras, like comments, user submission, ratings, etc. Cludr’s the place to go. You won’t find any clutter there, if anything at all.
More at:http://www.cludr.com/
Cludr began by asking internet users what you would like to have in an online resource. Your response was very clear. With millions of websites “cluttering” the internet, you wanted a place where you could have easy access to the best sites.
That is what you will find on Cludr, easy access to the most popular websites in the world.Their aim is to cut down on web clutter, gleaning away the grist from the mill. To that end they’ve developed a web directory of sorts. You’ll find your basic Google search bar under which are a handful (18 to be exact) of focused categories. Click on health for instance, and you’ll be directed to another list of popular health and medical sites like WebMD and the Mayo Clinic. Click on jobs and you’ll get links to Monster, LinkedIn, Craigslist, Dice, and Indeed among others. Essentially, Cludr acts a straightforward list of bookmarks. If you’re one to abhor those perky social extras, like comments, user submission, ratings, etc. Cludr’s the place to go. You won’t find any clutter there, if anything at all.
More at:http://www.cludr.com/
Web Community For Web Professionals
New name, Jobalize becomes Who's Web.
This name better fits the service: a directory of web talents, for people who works around the web and want to exchange, collaborate or meet locally. Of course all permalinks are still working and are redirect to Who's Web. We added new markers for events like barcamps, local meetings, .... You can see who is coming and from where, so if it's a long distance may be you could do the trip together.
The site is based on a Google map search, where you can enter in a city or zone and see a list of people and events in the area. The locations are tagged on the map and exact directions are available. If a city search does not provide the right results you can improve the search by expanding the mileage of the area. With every search members can view the people and events and their specific purpose. For example, when searching “New York City” the right side of the page lists members and their specific area of expertise. Who’s Web is the new and improved version of Jobalize.com. The differences are that the new version is “two to three times faster” and has a new slick design that is easier to navigate. Additionally, to stay updated there is an RSS feed that notifies members of new subscriptions, tools, and events. Looking towards the future, Who’s Web is planning to provide a custom RSS feed to find out who is joining the site in your own area.
More at:http://www.who-s-web.com/
This name better fits the service: a directory of web talents, for people who works around the web and want to exchange, collaborate or meet locally. Of course all permalinks are still working and are redirect to Who's Web. We added new markers for events like barcamps, local meetings, .... You can see who is coming and from where, so if it's a long distance may be you could do the trip together.
The site is based on a Google map search, where you can enter in a city or zone and see a list of people and events in the area. The locations are tagged on the map and exact directions are available. If a city search does not provide the right results you can improve the search by expanding the mileage of the area. With every search members can view the people and events and their specific purpose. For example, when searching “New York City” the right side of the page lists members and their specific area of expertise. Who’s Web is the new and improved version of Jobalize.com. The differences are that the new version is “two to three times faster” and has a new slick design that is easier to navigate. Additionally, to stay updated there is an RSS feed that notifies members of new subscriptions, tools, and events. Looking towards the future, Who’s Web is planning to provide a custom RSS feed to find out who is joining the site in your own area.
More at:http://www.who-s-web.com/
Now Compare Price And Shop On Your Cell Phone
With mShopper there is no guessing. With mShopper, you always have access to the best Internet pricing right through your phone. After you get your price, just show your phone to the store clerk. If he doesn't match your price, you can actually buy whatever you priced right through the phone in less time than it takes to check out in the store.If you are already registered on the site, buying is as easy as choosing “Buy It Now” and entering you pin number. If not, you can register on mShopper.com simply by entering your cell phone number and waiting for a text message with the link to the application and registering with a security pin code. mShopper.com has already joined forces with big stores such as Macy’s, OfficeDepot, and Target as well as smaller niche companies and is constantly looking for more partnerships. mShopper.com is also into philanthropy and gives users the opportunity to donate money during checkout. While shopping from a cell phone might seem like a logical step from the computer, the truth is that unless you are really trying to save that extra 15% it is more of a hassle to fiddle with your phone than just to buy the item.
More at:http://www.mshopper.com/
More at:http://www.mshopper.com/
Radio Corridor is an online community of people working in the same company
Radio Corridor is an online community of people working in the same company. However it is not affiliated in any way with the companies that are hosted on this site. You may read and post company information that is available to all registered users of your company, or you may exchange messages with only a limited number of interested colleagues. For each message or comment that you write or forward, you can control who sees your name.Users can join existing forums e.g. the forum for ‘Crazy interview stories’, or ‘Customer service: the true story’, or ‘Are we better than the competition?’ or they can create their own. Each company’s network is private, so only company members can join (you’ll need a valid company email address), and even then each member can select who gets to see and read their messages. There is a public lounge which is open to everyone. There’s also a phonebook section where members can leave their contact deets if they please. Radio Corridor is and always will be free.
More at:http://www.radiocorridor.com/
More at:http://www.radiocorridor.com/
Friday, August 24, 2007
Forbes looks at the rise of a business most people thought was dead - the independent video store
Forbes looks at the rise of a business most people thought was dead - the independent video store.
Big video-rental chains have been kicking small shops in the teeth for years-which makes Christine Min's feat all the more impressive. Last month Min celebrated the first-year anniversary of her store, Get Reel Video, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Better yet, she is already in the black.
"We're more of an art-house store," says Min. "We sell 'indie' films, documentaries and foreign films-movies you don't find in Blockbuster or the other independent stores around here."
That is what strategy is all about. You have to figure out what you can offer that your competition can't. If they are niching it out, you should become the one-stop-shop. If they are aggregating everything under one roof, you should niche it out. Most industries play follow the leader, so if you are willing to experiment and try counterintuitive things, you can often stumble on surprising lucrative customer groups that no one else is targeting.
Links-Businesspundit
Big video-rental chains have been kicking small shops in the teeth for years-which makes Christine Min's feat all the more impressive. Last month Min celebrated the first-year anniversary of her store, Get Reel Video, in Brooklyn, N.Y. Better yet, she is already in the black.
"We're more of an art-house store," says Min. "We sell 'indie' films, documentaries and foreign films-movies you don't find in Blockbuster or the other independent stores around here."
That is what strategy is all about. You have to figure out what you can offer that your competition can't. If they are niching it out, you should become the one-stop-shop. If they are aggregating everything under one roof, you should niche it out. Most industries play follow the leader, so if you are willing to experiment and try counterintuitive things, you can often stumble on surprising lucrative customer groups that no one else is targeting.
Links-Businesspundit
Hatch That is for a weekly entrepreneurial interviews
Hatch That is a weekly entrepreneurial conversation, delivered every wednesday fresh to your inbox.
They interview entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries to get insight into how they do their thing.Each Wednesday they dish out a new interview with professionals from all walks of life. This week’s interviewee happens to be Jarrod Brake, founder of Atmosphere DJ’s, an Australian company that’s in the biz of what else but music. Previous featured faces on Hatch include Noah Kagan from Mint, Jason Calacanis from Mahalo and Dan McComb from the social networking site Biznik. The weekly conversation can be delivered straight to your inbox; otherwise you can check out the RSS feed and follow a HatchThat on Twitter. Get the latest business news from people who are in the thick of it, all for free.
More at:http://www.hatchthat.com/
They interview entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries to get insight into how they do their thing.Each Wednesday they dish out a new interview with professionals from all walks of life. This week’s interviewee happens to be Jarrod Brake, founder of Atmosphere DJ’s, an Australian company that’s in the biz of what else but music. Previous featured faces on Hatch include Noah Kagan from Mint, Jason Calacanis from Mahalo and Dan McComb from the social networking site Biznik. The weekly conversation can be delivered straight to your inbox; otherwise you can check out the RSS feed and follow a HatchThat on Twitter. Get the latest business news from people who are in the thick of it, all for free.
More at:http://www.hatchthat.com/
The Litmos online training system keeps elearning simple by providing you with all the tools you need to create customised interactive online training
The Litmos online training system keeps elearning simple by providing you with all the tools you need to create customised interactive online training & assessment modules.
Training programs can be created using a variety of media: videos, flash, surveys, web pages, and assessments. The Litmos interface allows you to manage all your projects from one place. Dropdown menus allow easy formation of module formations. The Slide Editor lets educators incorporate movies, images and flash slides to make learning more engaging. You can create individual accounts for multiple trainers, if necessary. All Litmos license fees are pay-as-you-go and start at $24.95 a month for up to twenty users.
More at:http://www.litmos.com/
Training programs can be created using a variety of media: videos, flash, surveys, web pages, and assessments. The Litmos interface allows you to manage all your projects from one place. Dropdown menus allow easy formation of module formations. The Slide Editor lets educators incorporate movies, images and flash slides to make learning more engaging. You can create individual accounts for multiple trainers, if necessary. All Litmos license fees are pay-as-you-go and start at $24.95 a month for up to twenty users.
More at:http://www.litmos.com/
Precious Time is a personal assistant
Student-owned and operated Precious Time is a personal assistant, errand and concierge service just for college students. Students can become members by charging pre-paid accounts with a minimum of USD 50, and money is drawn from the account to pay for services as needed, plus a percentage for Precious Time's own profit. Services include placement and delivery of take-out orders from local restaurants, grocery shopping, house cleaning, flower delivery and booking tutors.
While a concierge service for college students may seem over the top, education at top colleges comes with a high price tag. So it’s not surprising that some students are willing to buy extra time by outsourcing domestic chores, so that they can fully focus on their studies. The concept could also do well on other campuses, and Precious Time hints at franchise opportunities on their website. What about concierge services tailored to other busy demographics who struggle to find the time for all the items on their ‘to do’ lists, like working parents or small business owners?
More at: www.precioustimeny.com
While a concierge service for college students may seem over the top, education at top colleges comes with a high price tag. So it’s not surprising that some students are willing to buy extra time by outsourcing domestic chores, so that they can fully focus on their studies. The concept could also do well on other campuses, and Precious Time hints at franchise opportunities on their website. What about concierge services tailored to other busy demographics who struggle to find the time for all the items on their ‘to do’ lists, like working parents or small business owners?
More at: www.precioustimeny.com
Get Loan By Just Text Messages
Finnish Ferratum just launched its short-loan service in the Netherlands. Customers can borrow EUR 100, 200 or 300 for a term of 15 days, by texting Ferratum their name, date of birth, bank account and address. If they've pre-registered, the money is in their bank account within 10 minutes. First-time customers have to wait 24 hours. Speedy loans come at a cost: Ferratum charges a hefty 25% processing fee. Which means that consumers who borrow EUR 300 today, owe the company EUR 375 in 15 days time.
In Sweden, Estonia and Finland, where a handful of companies have started offering similar services over the past year, ombudsmen have been pushing for regulation. While critics claim that it's unwise to offer people such effortless methods of sinking (further) into debt, one could also argue that consumers should be able to choose whichever form of credit works best for them. Though the rates smell of shark, the concept is definitely quick and easy ;-) One to look into if you're in financial services or telecom. And for those of you seeking an antidote to fast credit: layaway is back.
Website: www.ferratum.nl
via-springwise
In Sweden, Estonia and Finland, where a handful of companies have started offering similar services over the past year, ombudsmen have been pushing for regulation. While critics claim that it's unwise to offer people such effortless methods of sinking (further) into debt, one could also argue that consumers should be able to choose whichever form of credit works best for them. Though the rates smell of shark, the concept is definitely quick and easy ;-) One to look into if you're in financial services or telecom. And for those of you seeking an antidote to fast credit: layaway is back.
Website: www.ferratum.nl
via-springwise
Create Free Podcast
RunStream offers free accounts and with the free account you are allowed one feed and to track its statistics, if you need more than one feed, RunStream can provide you with an upgraded program starting from only $3 a month and even if you are looking to go all out and get the biger plan with domain mapping and up to 5 feeds, you can still get this service for $5 a month. If you wish to have more than 5 feeds a month, RunStream can help accomodate that, but the prices are not listed.
With so many people starting blogs and websites every day, there is obviously a market for RSS. With RunStream, the service is either free or extremely affordable and accessible for basically any website owner.
more at:http://runstream.com/
With so many people starting blogs and websites every day, there is obviously a market for RSS. With RunStream, the service is either free or extremely affordable and accessible for basically any website owner.
more at:http://runstream.com/
Oddbark Its Different
Oddbark is helping to create the social web by offering an easy to use, free online community service. It allows users to trade their items, meet others, find an apartment, find a job, share their opinion and much more! Oddbark has many unique features that other so-called Classifieds sites do not offer. Oddbark users can post voice ads using Supcast.com phone feature. It also has a special feature where users can receive responses to their ads via SMS (text messaging) on their mobile phones and allows registered users to post audios and videos. Oddbark also informs users when their ads expire, and is currently working on an online voice recording device so users can post voice ads using a mic, directly on the site.One of the few things that make OddBark.com differ from Craigslist is that registered users can upload music and video to the site to accompany the classifieds, this obviously can be very advantageous to the marketing of certain goods and services that couldn't be represented as well without that. Another interesting addition is that you can also make phonecalls to Supcast which will translate your message into text so you can actually post to OddBark via your telephone.
More at:http://oddbark.com/
More at:http://oddbark.com/
"G-Commerce" Play Games Free And Earn Money
The Egglad store, only G-Commerce portal on the web. Here you can redeem your Egglad Chicks to get discounts on huge range of products. The more Chicks you earn, the more discounts you can get on our products. You can get upto 100% discount and can get the products for absolute free of cost. Come and experience the new Gaming Commerce(G-Commerce) only at Egglad store.With egglad play online games for free and in the process of playing these games actually earn points that they can use to purchase other things from the site with. Its a nice way to earn goods right? Play some video games and in the process make some points to buy cool stuff. Seems like a no brainer for kids. The reason that the site is called EggLad, I assume is because the points that you earn are referred to as eggs and chicks, and they can be redeemed for goods sold on the site. Now if you want to buy products with cash on the site, they will facilitate that as well, but they pride themselves on bringing to us what they call G-Commerce (gaming commerce) where the points you earn buy you goods.
More at:http://egglad.com/
More at:http://egglad.com/
Free Press International
Free Press International is dedicated to all sovereign countries and people around the world.The site brings you stories about 9/11, Martial Law, freemasons, the new world disorder, mind control, police state, Yale’s Skull and Bones, Bilderberg, Bohemian Grove, Weather Control among others. If conspiracy facts are your cup of tea, then Free Press International should be your number one destination. They’re uncovering the real truth. The site is basically a blog style news aggregator whose backgrounds and themes can be changed based on your aesthetic preference.
More at:http://www.freepressinternational.com/
More at:http://www.freepressinternational.com/
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Stocks.us automatically filters, aggregates, and sorts financial news to provide a snapshot of the most important stock related news of the day
Stocks.us automatically filters, aggregates, and sorts financial news to provide a snapshot of the most important stock related news of the day. Up to 20 stocks are shown on the home page with links to articles or commentary at the original sources. Information is updated every 15 minutes. The home page resets each morning at 5:00 AM ET. Currently Stocks.us tracks all stocks in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 500.Links to the stories lead directly to news sources which include The Wall Street Journal, Yahoo! Finance, MSN Money, Google Finance, Forbes.com, Reuters, TheStreet.com, CNNMoney.com, NYTimes.com, and many more. This site focuses on business in different sectors from banks to technology and financial groups. Main players include Google, Bank of America, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., Countrywide Financial Corp., E*Trade, Abercrombie & Fitch, and many more. Stocks.us is directed towards people involved in these companies or who have specific holdings in them. Not only is this site perfect for the professionals listed above, stocks.us is a great tool for non-professionals who are interested in how the business news and stocks are shifting. Consistent updates and pertinent links provide all interested parties with clear and direct stock information.
More at:http://www.stocks.us/
More at:http://www.stocks.us/
Online Video Monetizing Solution
In the world of internet no two days is same ,always something happening to engross us now new on list is..Online Video Monetizing Solution -- Make money showing brand name Ads in your video with Adotube's Instream Flash Media Platform. Our solution doesn't disrupt user experience, is simple, flexible and integrates easily into your page. Ads are displayed overlaying the video stream and are demographically targeted and optimized to make you the most money. The idea is that the ads are placed at the bottom of the page and do not disrupt visitor experience unless they are interested and roll over the ad. These roll over ads are also known as opt-in ads because users can choose to see the full ad if they so desire. The advertisements are in Flash format and are easily integrated with a few lines of code, embedded tag, or a link. The ad is only displayed the first time that the page’s video is played to avoid distracting the visitor from their original quest.
If the user dismisses the ad it will not reappear unless the page is refreshed. Ads can be in the form of “in video ads” or “banner ads.” Interested parties must contact adotube.com to set up an account and get started.
more at:http://www.adotube.com/
If the user dismisses the ad it will not reappear unless the page is refreshed. Ads can be in the form of “in video ads” or “banner ads.” Interested parties must contact adotube.com to set up an account and get started.
more at:http://www.adotube.com/
Business Success Story
Young and female, Sophie Hughes and Lucy Cohen were met with a lot of scepticism when they decided to set up Mazuma soon after leaving college.
But one year on, the Cardiff-based 24-year olds now have an office with two additional staff, and revenues are rising impressively.
When did you decide to set the business up?
Sophie: About Christmas 2005. We bumped into each other on a college course. We had been friends in school but had lost touch.
She took on one big client so I started helping out. Then we thought “why not make a day of it, try to find some clients and make it a full-time job. We started going to networking events and picked up a few clients in the first couple of months, so we thought we’d quit our jobs and go for it.
Via-Business Marketplace
So there was no grand plan at the outset to start a business…
Sophie: Not really. We wanted to work for ourselves but didn’t necessarily think we would end up running our own practice.
It must be unusual to do it straight after qualification…
Sophie: I think so, yeah. Neither of us went to uni so I think we have more work experience than people who did; we’re about three or four years up on people our age, so that probably helped as well.
How did you finance the business?
Sophie: Just by working and building it up that way.
To be honest we didn’t really need much. We had to buy licences for software and things, but it wasn’t too expensive, and we worked at home at first, which kept costs down.
The Sun did an article about your start-up and reported that you’re already getting revenues of £120k already…
Sophie: Well, that’s exaggerated… Then again, if we carry on at this rate we will be bringing that in by the end of this financial year.
Have things gone better than you thought?
Sophie: Yeah, much better. I say we’ve been lucky but Lucy always tells me off, saying it’s not luck – we’ve done it ourselves.
Have you been working long hours?
Sophie: Yeah, but it’s not too bad. Before our first member of staff started we were working Saturdays regularly. Luckily it’s now only every now and then.
We now have two accountants working for us.
It’s quite unusual to have a female-owned and run accountancy…
Sophie: Definitely, and that’s probably why we’ve had a fairly good reception.
A lot of younger businesses definitely like us, although we don’t just want to appeal to women. There is a solicitor’s firm local to us which only has women working for it, but we’re all equals so we don’t want to come across like that.
But we do think women are attracted to us because we are female. And younger people seem to like us because we’re on the same wavelength.
Sofa_photo2.jpgHas perceived inexperienced cost you clients?
Sophie: A couple of times I think clients thought we were a bit young. But the one client that really expressed that became a client anyway – a really big one – and equally, people love the fact that we’re younger and have a modern approach.
We put things into plain English as well.
What have you enjoyed most about running your own business?
Sophie: It’s really good when we take on new clients and we’re doing it for ourselves, not someone else. We don’t have employers telling us what to do.
It’s definitely rewarding when you help someone out. When they have a bit of a tax difficulty it’s really nice and you’re like “well done, us!”
Lucy: The element of freedom. We have complete autonomy.
You’re in charge of the decision-making process. I think sometimes the higher up the corporate ladder you go the longer the decision-making process is and the less control you really have.
And I think your work ethic changes. You’re not watching the clock anymore or waiting for payday. You know that every bit of effort you put in directly affects your profit.
Speaking of decision-making, have you had many disagreements over the direction of the company?
Lucy: No, not really. We have a really good relationship.
We’re quite fortunate in that we both tend to like doing different things. Sophie is very good strategically and seeing the bigger picture, whereas I’m very good at the nitty gritty stuff. If one of us has an idea we’ll run it by the other one and I think you can tell straightaway by the look on their face as to whether it’s a good idea or not.
We’re both clear on what we want the company to be and I think we trust each other to make decisions without any comeback. Sometimes you get a phone call and you have to make a decision there and then. You can’t wait, you have to know each other well enough and know what the other one is going to say.
What’s been the most frustrating thing about setting up the business?
Sophie: I think when we first started people were quite dismissive. I think it’s the age thing.
We went to a meeting with someone from Entrepreneur Action one time, and he said “no that won’t work, remember this is a profession and people won’t think you’re taking it seriously…” We came out of that meeting really disheartened.
Sun%20Photo2.jpgBut we proved him wrong, and he actually became a client three or four months ago!
Lucy: I’ve always been the sort of person that wants to run before they can walk. But you can’t just set up a business one day and be turning over millions of pounds the next. That’s not how it works.
You will take knockbacks. You have to have what I call ‘teflon shoulders’ – you have to brush it off and get on with it.
Has anything surprised you about running your own business?
Sophie: The only thing that surprised me is just how small the business world is. Literally everybody knows everybody and I never expected that. I don’t know if that is just a Cardiff thing, but that really surprised me.
It’s pretty much what I was hoping for really, so I have been quite pleased with it.
Any future plans?
Sophie: We want to bring it back to the high street. We don’t want to be like Deloitte’s and have one massive office.
We’re planning on opening more, smaller offices in various cities. We’re opening an office in Bridge End next, because we have quite a few clients over there. We’re certainly not going to have more than five or six members of staff per office.
What advice would you give to someone starting a business?
Sophie: Make sure you do a business plan. It gives you something to measure against what you’ve done.
Another one which Lucy always says is that a lot of people tend to work part-time when they’re setting up their business. But if you do that you can’t focus on your business and it’s never going to be as good as you want it to be. If possible just plunge into it, and if after three months you’re not making any money then fine, get a part-time job. But if you don’t give it 100% commitment right from the beginning then it’s not going to give you 100% reward.
Lucy: Don’t be wishy washy. You have to put in 100% effort, but you also have to be 100% sure. There will inevitably be a time, when you first quit your job, when you wake up at three in the morning thinking “Oh my God, what have I done?”
And money will be tight. You’re always one month away from not being able to pay your mortgage when you’re on a salary so it can be difficult if you have a month without that.
But this is where the planning comes into it. You’ve got to be so good at planning and commit yourself fully to it. You’ve got to go for it.
And another thing. I heard a phrase once and it stuck with me – and that’s to tell the truth in advance. If sales have been a bit slow, don’t go round saying everything’s awful. Next week will be better. Something just happens – your mindset changes and you’ll hit that target. You have to have a positive outlook or you will never succeed.
Don’t listen to your family either! They’re far too invested in your personal interests; they can’t make an impartial view. They want you to be happy, healthy and not struggle for money, which is obviously what parents are there to do. They’ll be there to give you a pat on the back or give you a kick up the arse when you need it. But when it comes to taking risks, be careful about taking their advice because they’re far too worried about your happiness.
It’s one of the most stressful but rewarding things you can ever do. And if you want to do it then go for it, because you can’t spend your life thinking “What if?” can you? If you’ve been bitten by the bug, then at least try.
But one year on, the Cardiff-based 24-year olds now have an office with two additional staff, and revenues are rising impressively.
When did you decide to set the business up?
Sophie: About Christmas 2005. We bumped into each other on a college course. We had been friends in school but had lost touch.
She took on one big client so I started helping out. Then we thought “why not make a day of it, try to find some clients and make it a full-time job. We started going to networking events and picked up a few clients in the first couple of months, so we thought we’d quit our jobs and go for it.
Via-Business Marketplace
So there was no grand plan at the outset to start a business…
Sophie: Not really. We wanted to work for ourselves but didn’t necessarily think we would end up running our own practice.
It must be unusual to do it straight after qualification…
Sophie: I think so, yeah. Neither of us went to uni so I think we have more work experience than people who did; we’re about three or four years up on people our age, so that probably helped as well.
How did you finance the business?
Sophie: Just by working and building it up that way.
To be honest we didn’t really need much. We had to buy licences for software and things, but it wasn’t too expensive, and we worked at home at first, which kept costs down.
The Sun did an article about your start-up and reported that you’re already getting revenues of £120k already…
Sophie: Well, that’s exaggerated… Then again, if we carry on at this rate we will be bringing that in by the end of this financial year.
Have things gone better than you thought?
Sophie: Yeah, much better. I say we’ve been lucky but Lucy always tells me off, saying it’s not luck – we’ve done it ourselves.
Have you been working long hours?
Sophie: Yeah, but it’s not too bad. Before our first member of staff started we were working Saturdays regularly. Luckily it’s now only every now and then.
We now have two accountants working for us.
It’s quite unusual to have a female-owned and run accountancy…
Sophie: Definitely, and that’s probably why we’ve had a fairly good reception.
A lot of younger businesses definitely like us, although we don’t just want to appeal to women. There is a solicitor’s firm local to us which only has women working for it, but we’re all equals so we don’t want to come across like that.
But we do think women are attracted to us because we are female. And younger people seem to like us because we’re on the same wavelength.
Sofa_photo2.jpgHas perceived inexperienced cost you clients?
Sophie: A couple of times I think clients thought we were a bit young. But the one client that really expressed that became a client anyway – a really big one – and equally, people love the fact that we’re younger and have a modern approach.
We put things into plain English as well.
What have you enjoyed most about running your own business?
Sophie: It’s really good when we take on new clients and we’re doing it for ourselves, not someone else. We don’t have employers telling us what to do.
It’s definitely rewarding when you help someone out. When they have a bit of a tax difficulty it’s really nice and you’re like “well done, us!”
Lucy: The element of freedom. We have complete autonomy.
You’re in charge of the decision-making process. I think sometimes the higher up the corporate ladder you go the longer the decision-making process is and the less control you really have.
And I think your work ethic changes. You’re not watching the clock anymore or waiting for payday. You know that every bit of effort you put in directly affects your profit.
Speaking of decision-making, have you had many disagreements over the direction of the company?
Lucy: No, not really. We have a really good relationship.
We’re quite fortunate in that we both tend to like doing different things. Sophie is very good strategically and seeing the bigger picture, whereas I’m very good at the nitty gritty stuff. If one of us has an idea we’ll run it by the other one and I think you can tell straightaway by the look on their face as to whether it’s a good idea or not.
We’re both clear on what we want the company to be and I think we trust each other to make decisions without any comeback. Sometimes you get a phone call and you have to make a decision there and then. You can’t wait, you have to know each other well enough and know what the other one is going to say.
What’s been the most frustrating thing about setting up the business?
Sophie: I think when we first started people were quite dismissive. I think it’s the age thing.
We went to a meeting with someone from Entrepreneur Action one time, and he said “no that won’t work, remember this is a profession and people won’t think you’re taking it seriously…” We came out of that meeting really disheartened.
Sun%20Photo2.jpgBut we proved him wrong, and he actually became a client three or four months ago!
Lucy: I’ve always been the sort of person that wants to run before they can walk. But you can’t just set up a business one day and be turning over millions of pounds the next. That’s not how it works.
You will take knockbacks. You have to have what I call ‘teflon shoulders’ – you have to brush it off and get on with it.
Has anything surprised you about running your own business?
Sophie: The only thing that surprised me is just how small the business world is. Literally everybody knows everybody and I never expected that. I don’t know if that is just a Cardiff thing, but that really surprised me.
It’s pretty much what I was hoping for really, so I have been quite pleased with it.
Any future plans?
Sophie: We want to bring it back to the high street. We don’t want to be like Deloitte’s and have one massive office.
We’re planning on opening more, smaller offices in various cities. We’re opening an office in Bridge End next, because we have quite a few clients over there. We’re certainly not going to have more than five or six members of staff per office.
What advice would you give to someone starting a business?
Sophie: Make sure you do a business plan. It gives you something to measure against what you’ve done.
Another one which Lucy always says is that a lot of people tend to work part-time when they’re setting up their business. But if you do that you can’t focus on your business and it’s never going to be as good as you want it to be. If possible just plunge into it, and if after three months you’re not making any money then fine, get a part-time job. But if you don’t give it 100% commitment right from the beginning then it’s not going to give you 100% reward.
Lucy: Don’t be wishy washy. You have to put in 100% effort, but you also have to be 100% sure. There will inevitably be a time, when you first quit your job, when you wake up at three in the morning thinking “Oh my God, what have I done?”
And money will be tight. You’re always one month away from not being able to pay your mortgage when you’re on a salary so it can be difficult if you have a month without that.
But this is where the planning comes into it. You’ve got to be so good at planning and commit yourself fully to it. You’ve got to go for it.
And another thing. I heard a phrase once and it stuck with me – and that’s to tell the truth in advance. If sales have been a bit slow, don’t go round saying everything’s awful. Next week will be better. Something just happens – your mindset changes and you’ll hit that target. You have to have a positive outlook or you will never succeed.
Don’t listen to your family either! They’re far too invested in your personal interests; they can’t make an impartial view. They want you to be happy, healthy and not struggle for money, which is obviously what parents are there to do. They’ll be there to give you a pat on the back or give you a kick up the arse when you need it. But when it comes to taking risks, be careful about taking their advice because they’re far too worried about your happiness.
It’s one of the most stressful but rewarding things you can ever do. And if you want to do it then go for it, because you can’t spend your life thinking “What if?” can you? If you’ve been bitten by the bug, then at least try.
Deezer is the first juke box on demand totally free in the world
“Deezer is the first juke box on demand totally free in the world!
Their concept is simple:
-Give consumers a full and free access to all their favourite songs
-Pay artists and their producers through a revenue share based on advertising revenues
- Help discovering new artists through a wide audience
Deezer is your community; let's build it together.
The difference lies in Deezer’s on-demand capabilities; unlike Pandora, users can listen to the exact song they have searched for instead of just being provided with a radio channel that plays tonally similar songs. For those worried about legality, never fear: Deezer provides its service without skirting copyright laws by splitting revenue generated from advertising between the artists and the producers. The site operates in several languages, and registration is completely free.
More at:http://www.deezer.com/
Their concept is simple:
-Give consumers a full and free access to all their favourite songs
-Pay artists and their producers through a revenue share based on advertising revenues
- Help discovering new artists through a wide audience
Deezer is your community; let's build it together.
The difference lies in Deezer’s on-demand capabilities; unlike Pandora, users can listen to the exact song they have searched for instead of just being provided with a radio channel that plays tonally similar songs. For those worried about legality, never fear: Deezer provides its service without skirting copyright laws by splitting revenue generated from advertising between the artists and the producers. The site operates in several languages, and registration is completely free.
More at:http://www.deezer.com/
ActionThis is a team execution management tool
"Numerous software applications focus on planning and task management, but they are all fundamentally flawed: they focus on planning; they don’t help people execute; they don’t help people get things done; they don’t help teams learn and improve. We’re all working longer hours than ever before, yet the productivity applications we use are somehow failing us. ActionThis recognizes the challenges facing teams and small businesses today – tighter deadlines, shifting priorities, external dependencies and increasing competition make executing on time more difficult, yet more essential, than ever before.
ActionThis is a team execution management service. The leader in a new breed of software helping teams and small businesses define objectives, assign and track work items, and improve their execution through a continuous improvement process. ActionThis combines project management with collaboration and business intelligence to deliver teams and small businesses greater value from their existing software investments.
. ActionThis helps teams and small businesses accomplish their goals using three easy steps. The first step is Planning, use ActionThis to assign tasks and assignments through Outlook or webased interface. Action items and tasks can be assigned to anyone in the world making it easy to work with partners. The next step is Do It. ActionThis gives reminders about, what you should be doing, when a task is due, so that the job gets done. The last step is Improve, Action This gives the team feedback on its progress so that each team member knows where the team is heading and can give feedback on their status. The service is not available at the moment but will be available in a couple of weeks.
More at:http://community.actionthis.com/
ActionThis is a team execution management service. The leader in a new breed of software helping teams and small businesses define objectives, assign and track work items, and improve their execution through a continuous improvement process. ActionThis combines project management with collaboration and business intelligence to deliver teams and small businesses greater value from their existing software investments.
. ActionThis helps teams and small businesses accomplish their goals using three easy steps. The first step is Planning, use ActionThis to assign tasks and assignments through Outlook or webased interface. Action items and tasks can be assigned to anyone in the world making it easy to work with partners. The next step is Do It. ActionThis gives reminders about, what you should be doing, when a task is due, so that the job gets done. The last step is Improve, Action This gives the team feedback on its progress so that each team member knows where the team is heading and can give feedback on their status. The service is not available at the moment but will be available in a couple of weeks.
More at:http://community.actionthis.com/
Raise Money For Business By Bidding Your Name
The idea: the 23 year old Mr. Oleynick will auction off his name to the highest bidder in order to raise money for an internet project. He will then proceed to get into the infamous Guinness Book of World Record’s by manually typing the words one to one million faster than anyone else. Once he’s gotten into the book, the company after which he’ll be christened will receive buckets of free publicity. The HMR auction will end 100 days from the date of the official launch. Stan will keep his name changed for one year. If he fails to get into the Guinness, he’ll refund all the money. Mr. Oleynick certainly has bravado. Lots of luck to him.
“Hold My Record is a unique, groundbreaking idea destined to turn the marketing world upside down and brings lots of fantastic exposure for one lucky company!
The main motivation behind the idea is to raise some capital for a revolutionary internet project I'm working on (which BTW, officially launches in the beginning of September, this year). The HMR winner will also get a 10% equity stake in the internet project I'm raising the money for, among all the other great benefits.
The idea itself is very simple and can be broken down into three easy steps:
Step # 1: I legally change my name to the company name or website address of the highest bidder on the HMR website.
Step # 2: After the name change process is legally completed (it usually takes around a month to do it), I will attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
Step # 3: If the record attempt is successful, my new name gets recognition as a Guinness World Record holder and is seen everywhere my name and record is, guaranteeing tremendous exposure and unprecedented marketing opportunity for the company that won the Hold My Record auction.”
More at:http://www.holdmyrecord.com/
“Hold My Record is a unique, groundbreaking idea destined to turn the marketing world upside down and brings lots of fantastic exposure for one lucky company!
The main motivation behind the idea is to raise some capital for a revolutionary internet project I'm working on (which BTW, officially launches in the beginning of September, this year). The HMR winner will also get a 10% equity stake in the internet project I'm raising the money for, among all the other great benefits.
The idea itself is very simple and can be broken down into three easy steps:
Step # 1: I legally change my name to the company name or website address of the highest bidder on the HMR website.
Step # 2: After the name change process is legally completed (it usually takes around a month to do it), I will attempt to break a Guinness World Record.
Step # 3: If the record attempt is successful, my new name gets recognition as a Guinness World Record holder and is seen everywhere my name and record is, guaranteeing tremendous exposure and unprecedented marketing opportunity for the company that won the Hold My Record auction.”
More at:http://www.holdmyrecord.com/
FlowPlayer is a free Flash video player
FlowPlayer is a free Flash video player. You can easily embed it into HTML pages to play FLV files. FlowPlayer supports progressive downloading and true streaming. It supports playlists and other advanced features.. The player boasts a variety of options ranging from basic default settings to more advanced streaming options (streaming multiple videos on the same feed, for example). For the skeptical user, FlowPlayer maintains a list of sites that currently use its player, so you can verify its legitimacy and capabilities. Both site registration and then download are free of charge.
More at:http://flowplayer.org/
More at:http://flowplayer.org/
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Venture Out
Metacafe helps viewers to quickly discover short videos online. They have an audience of 16 million unique visitors according to comScore Media Metrix, watching over 400 million videos each month.
They state that they mine the collective wisdom of their audience to filter and surface the most entertaining videos.
Their model, to obtain videos, is to pay those who upload the videos for the number of views they receive. However, the individual must meet their qualifications to enter the program.
They Raised:Metacafe raised $30 Million from Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures.
More at:http://www.metacafe.com/
They state that they mine the collective wisdom of their audience to filter and surface the most entertaining videos.
Their model, to obtain videos, is to pay those who upload the videos for the number of views they receive. However, the individual must meet their qualifications to enter the program.
They Raised:Metacafe raised $30 Million from Highland Capital Partners and DAG Ventures.
More at:http://www.metacafe.com/
Spread For Web Conferencing
Spreed is for those people whose business need often conferencing online .Its 24 hours everyday will be available, Spreed is perfect for employee training, web presentations and demos, sales meetings, web seminars, desktop sharing, and live webcasts and collaboration. Use Spreed to manage conferences, to send out automated e-vites, to present slideshows and Powerpoint, use it for calendaring, for conferencing, use it to boost your productivity. Spreed requires no software or installation. It’s extremely secure and has 99.95% uptime. Meetings for up to three participants are free. Packages are available for single event seminars or conferences. Corporate customers are offered meetings and conferences without time limitations and dedicated meeting rooms.Benefit from spreed Web 2.0 Meetings and Trainings. Whether you want to hold a quick project meeting, train and present online, or support customers, you can do it all-simply and cost-effectively with spreed. With no up-front costs, no servers to maintain, and no software to install or support. With just a web browser you can start using spreed today.
More at:http://spreed.com/
More at:http://spreed.com/
How To Create Unusual Marketing Business Idea
FreeHand Advertising distributes free note-taking paper to students on their way to class. Each page is branded with the same type of horizontal ad you see on websites, only these are visible for at least the duration of a college lecture, and longer if students refer back to their notes (as they should).
FreeHand agents operate at 90 of the biggest college campuses in the United States, reaching up to 3,500,000 students in 32 states, including all major cities. Businesses can select which campuses they want to market to, for local or nationwide campaigns, or to a targeted demographic. Thorough post-campaign reports detail how many sheets were distributed and even include pictures of agents handing them out to students.
Ads can be used to gain visibility, offer coupons, or promote sales, grand openings or other events. Colored and recycled papers are also available, and larger images can be displayed as watermarks. With so many brands and marketers reaching out to this market, note paper is an innovative low-tech solution for grabbing their attention. And free love—giving away ad-sponsored anything—is generally appreciated by those on the receiving side, too. (Related: Free photocopies for students.)
Website: www.freehandads.com
Via-springwise
FreeHand agents operate at 90 of the biggest college campuses in the United States, reaching up to 3,500,000 students in 32 states, including all major cities. Businesses can select which campuses they want to market to, for local or nationwide campaigns, or to a targeted demographic. Thorough post-campaign reports detail how many sheets were distributed and even include pictures of agents handing them out to students.
Ads can be used to gain visibility, offer coupons, or promote sales, grand openings or other events. Colored and recycled papers are also available, and larger images can be displayed as watermarks. With so many brands and marketers reaching out to this market, note paper is an innovative low-tech solution for grabbing their attention. And free love—giving away ad-sponsored anything—is generally appreciated by those on the receiving side, too. (Related: Free photocopies for students.)
Website: www.freehandads.com
Via-springwise
What's the success of serial entrepreneurs?
Five years ago, Tom Scott and Tom First realized they would never have to work again. Friends from college, the pair had launched a juice brand called Nantucket Nectars from the back of their island boat and catapulted themselves -- the self-dubbed "juice guys" -- into the stuff of entrepreneurial legend as their beverage took off nationwide.
They sold a majority of their company to Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., and when Cadbury Schweppes PLC later bought the entire business for an estimated $100 million in March of 2002, both men were set for retirement -- and they were only in their mid-30s.
But there was no retiring in their futures. Today Messrs. Scott and First are both deep into new ventures that, for now at least, appear headed for success. Mr. Scott leads Plum TV, a New York-based company that operates local television channels in historic, affluent markets such as Aspen, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and has had notable investors including Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht, singer Jimmy Buffett and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston.
Mr. First is in the midst of a new start-up: O Beverages LLC, in Cambridge, Mass., which markets a line of naturally flavored waters already sold in nearly 20 states through Safeway, Balducci's and Bristol Farms, among other stores. In between Nantucket Nectars and their current ventures, the two men started a beverage-distribution-software company that was sold to a publicly traded technology company.
"I'm a crazy competitive person, so there's no way I'm stopping," Mr. First says. "I like being in the trenches."
WSJ's Raymund Flandez speaks to New York entrepreneur Ari Meisel, 24, who has founded four companies -- including three before he was out of high school.
Voices of Experience: Perspectives on starting multiple companies from people who have been there as founders or co-founders.
Call them serial-preneurs. While some entrepreneurs struggle their whole lives to bring one idea or product to market, there's another breed: those who do it once, twice or three times more, disproving the notion of beginner's luck. In some cases, the brands and people are household names, such as Steve Jobs with Apple, Pixar and NeXT. But the ranks also are populated with lesser-known entrepreneurs who fly under the radar, hitting one start-up home run after the other.
"I really believe that some people are kind of entrepreneurial adrenaline freaks," says Wayne Stewart, a management professor at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. "They really get their kicks by starting businesses."
In 2000, Mr. Stewart published a study with two other researchers looking for common traits among serial entrepreneurs -- which he defined as those who had owned and operated three or more businesses. Of the 664 entrepreneurs studied, only 12% fit the bill. But those who did scored higher in all three categories examined: They had a higher propensity for risk, innovation and achievement. They were less scared of failure. And they were more able to recover when they did fail.
Beyond that, many serial-preneurs bring tactical advantages from their first venture to apply the second and third time around. For instance, they recruit top talent from their original companies to subsequent ventures. They double-dip financially, getting money -- and connections -- from people who backed their earlier brainstorms. Several lean heavily on a trusted partner for financial, professional and emotional support in whatever endeavor they undertake.
More than anything, however, the greatest, and more crucial, challenge among repeat entrepreneurs is figuring out how to rekindle for future ventures the innocence, love and hunger that fueled their first enterprise. Despite hitting it big early with Nantucket Nectars, Messrs. First and Scott both struggled after the sale to find a business that inspired them as much as being the juice guys.
"A lot of the drive early on was the drive to not have to leave Nantucket, or write the resume, or go do anything else. We were hustlers," says Mr. First. Adds Mr. Scott: "What happened was that while approaching the things we love -- boats, water, weather -- we stumbled on juice. I've learned from this that it doesn't matter what I'm good at. It matters what I like."
What's the Motivation?
So why do some entrepreneurs who strike gold once continue to start over? A general contractor might launch a business because he has certain skills, and then stick with it until retirement. Or a banker will work her way up the corporate ladder, happy with the security of a paycheck and benefits, and retire once she has saved enough. By contrast, serial entrepreneurs' main job is the act of creation -- and thus they keep creating new businesses, often after they no longer need the paycheck.
"Most people can't understand why someone who made $10 million would do it again," says Seth Godin, who founded Yoyodyne, an interactive direct-marketing company bought by Yahoo in late 1998. He's now running a new online venture called Squidoo, a free tool that lets users build Web pages about any topic within a searchable community. "That's because most people don't like working, and they think it's irrational to keep working," he says. "But most entrepreneurs don't care about money; it's a tool."
For instance, Scott Jones was a multimillionaire by age 30, having co-founded the company Boston Technology, maker of a voice-mail system now used by many telephone companies world-wide. He retired, and learned how to fly planes and perform aerobatics, but was quickly bored. So he went back to work and has since co-founded Gracenote Inc., an Internet-accessible music database used by iTunes, as well as a robotic-lawn-mower company and a search engine that uses human guides in real time. Those years not creating, he says, were "the most unhappy years of my life."
Moreover, serial entrepreneurs harbor an unusual appetite for risk -- something they can inherit from their parents. Dan Bricklin, 56, has started four companies in his lifetime; his first Software Arts, was sold to Lotus Development Corp. in the mid-1980s. Mr. Bricklin's father was a small-business owner who ran a printing business, as did his grandfather.
Mr. Bricklin, who now runs Software Garden Inc. in Newton Highlands, Mass., says he feeds on the thrill of starting something new and untested. "It's like that sense of walking across a stream on the rocks -- sort of knowing where you're going, but sort of not." As for risk? "If you actually seen the ups and downs of a business, and your family isn't terrified, that makes it a lot easier to do yourself."
Likewise, Tim Miller caught the entrepreneurial bug at age 18 when he received about $500,000 after his father sold a company. Mr. Miller stashed that money away, planning to invest in his own company one day. Fifteen years later, he dipped into the fund to start a software firm called Avitek Inc. based on an idea his then-employer didn't want to explore. Mr. Miller recalls how family members fretted about the danger of going it alone, with his brother specifically questioning his judgment after he hired his fourth employee: How could he possibly put other people's livelihoods on the line?
"But it never truly occurred to me that I would potentially need to let any of them go at any point," Mr. Miller says, adding that he believes successful entrepreneurs "see opportunities where other see risk." He sold Avitek in 1999 for about $13.5 million, without layoffs, and is now running a venture called Rally Software Development Corp., based in Boulder, Colo.
The Value of Teamwork
Mr. Miller didn't succeed alone; he had a partner, Ryan Martens, who now works with him at Rally Software. Their compatibility is an asset whose value Mr. Miller finds hard to quantify. While Mr. Martens as the chief technology officer is deeply invested in software development, Mr. Miller is the business guy. "I think great leaders build teams," Mr. Miller says, "and those teams have some glue and they tend to stick together."
Whether by design or not, on second and third ventures, serials often surround themselves with familiar faces. Partly it's about familiarity and trust. Messrs. Scott and First both tapped ex-Nantucket Nectar employees for their newest ventures. They typically talk to each other several times a week, and Mr. Scott is an investor in O Beverages. "We've never doubted the other's total respect and having the other person's good interest at heart," Mr. First says.
Repeat relationships are also about expediency. Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin has run four companies, including two advertising agencies and a book-packaging operation. Now 46, she's the CEO of Tribe Inc., a $3 million Atlanta advertising agency that works with brands including Porsche, Home Depot and UPS, and peppered throughout Tribe's ranks are faces from her previous companies. "I think it is a huge shortcut to hire someone you already have a relationship with," Ms. Baskin says.
At age 77, Jack Goeken lays claim to having helped start a string of well-known enterprises: MCI, InFlight Phone, Airfone and several others. Now, he's deeply involved in a new start-up, Polybrite International Inc., a Naperville, Ill., company that produces a screw-in LED light bulb that will fit in normal lamps. His daughter Sandra, 49, has worked with him on every venture since MCI, and says one of her father's greatest strengths is "herding tigers" -- that is, finding entrepreneurial, and sometimes difficult to manage, individuals who can make a project happen, but then making sure they don't stick around too long.
Full Text:http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/successstories/200708221-bounds.html
They sold a majority of their company to Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc., and when Cadbury Schweppes PLC later bought the entire business for an estimated $100 million in March of 2002, both men were set for retirement -- and they were only in their mid-30s.
But there was no retiring in their futures. Today Messrs. Scott and First are both deep into new ventures that, for now at least, appear headed for success. Mr. Scott leads Plum TV, a New York-based company that operates local television channels in historic, affluent markets such as Aspen, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, and has had notable investors including Starwood Capital Group CEO Barry Sternlicht, singer Jimmy Buffett and former Viacom CEO Tom Freston.
Mr. First is in the midst of a new start-up: O Beverages LLC, in Cambridge, Mass., which markets a line of naturally flavored waters already sold in nearly 20 states through Safeway, Balducci's and Bristol Farms, among other stores. In between Nantucket Nectars and their current ventures, the two men started a beverage-distribution-software company that was sold to a publicly traded technology company.
"I'm a crazy competitive person, so there's no way I'm stopping," Mr. First says. "I like being in the trenches."
WSJ's Raymund Flandez speaks to New York entrepreneur Ari Meisel, 24, who has founded four companies -- including three before he was out of high school.
Voices of Experience: Perspectives on starting multiple companies from people who have been there as founders or co-founders.
Call them serial-preneurs. While some entrepreneurs struggle their whole lives to bring one idea or product to market, there's another breed: those who do it once, twice or three times more, disproving the notion of beginner's luck. In some cases, the brands and people are household names, such as Steve Jobs with Apple, Pixar and NeXT. But the ranks also are populated with lesser-known entrepreneurs who fly under the radar, hitting one start-up home run after the other.
"I really believe that some people are kind of entrepreneurial adrenaline freaks," says Wayne Stewart, a management professor at Clemson University in Clemson, S.C. "They really get their kicks by starting businesses."
In 2000, Mr. Stewart published a study with two other researchers looking for common traits among serial entrepreneurs -- which he defined as those who had owned and operated three or more businesses. Of the 664 entrepreneurs studied, only 12% fit the bill. But those who did scored higher in all three categories examined: They had a higher propensity for risk, innovation and achievement. They were less scared of failure. And they were more able to recover when they did fail.
Beyond that, many serial-preneurs bring tactical advantages from their first venture to apply the second and third time around. For instance, they recruit top talent from their original companies to subsequent ventures. They double-dip financially, getting money -- and connections -- from people who backed their earlier brainstorms. Several lean heavily on a trusted partner for financial, professional and emotional support in whatever endeavor they undertake.
More than anything, however, the greatest, and more crucial, challenge among repeat entrepreneurs is figuring out how to rekindle for future ventures the innocence, love and hunger that fueled their first enterprise. Despite hitting it big early with Nantucket Nectars, Messrs. First and Scott both struggled after the sale to find a business that inspired them as much as being the juice guys.
"A lot of the drive early on was the drive to not have to leave Nantucket, or write the resume, or go do anything else. We were hustlers," says Mr. First. Adds Mr. Scott: "What happened was that while approaching the things we love -- boats, water, weather -- we stumbled on juice. I've learned from this that it doesn't matter what I'm good at. It matters what I like."
What's the Motivation?
So why do some entrepreneurs who strike gold once continue to start over? A general contractor might launch a business because he has certain skills, and then stick with it until retirement. Or a banker will work her way up the corporate ladder, happy with the security of a paycheck and benefits, and retire once she has saved enough. By contrast, serial entrepreneurs' main job is the act of creation -- and thus they keep creating new businesses, often after they no longer need the paycheck.
"Most people can't understand why someone who made $10 million would do it again," says Seth Godin, who founded Yoyodyne, an interactive direct-marketing company bought by Yahoo in late 1998. He's now running a new online venture called Squidoo, a free tool that lets users build Web pages about any topic within a searchable community. "That's because most people don't like working, and they think it's irrational to keep working," he says. "But most entrepreneurs don't care about money; it's a tool."
For instance, Scott Jones was a multimillionaire by age 30, having co-founded the company Boston Technology, maker of a voice-mail system now used by many telephone companies world-wide. He retired, and learned how to fly planes and perform aerobatics, but was quickly bored. So he went back to work and has since co-founded Gracenote Inc., an Internet-accessible music database used by iTunes, as well as a robotic-lawn-mower company and a search engine that uses human guides in real time. Those years not creating, he says, were "the most unhappy years of my life."
Moreover, serial entrepreneurs harbor an unusual appetite for risk -- something they can inherit from their parents. Dan Bricklin, 56, has started four companies in his lifetime; his first Software Arts, was sold to Lotus Development Corp. in the mid-1980s. Mr. Bricklin's father was a small-business owner who ran a printing business, as did his grandfather.
Mr. Bricklin, who now runs Software Garden Inc. in Newton Highlands, Mass., says he feeds on the thrill of starting something new and untested. "It's like that sense of walking across a stream on the rocks -- sort of knowing where you're going, but sort of not." As for risk? "If you actually seen the ups and downs of a business, and your family isn't terrified, that makes it a lot easier to do yourself."
Likewise, Tim Miller caught the entrepreneurial bug at age 18 when he received about $500,000 after his father sold a company. Mr. Miller stashed that money away, planning to invest in his own company one day. Fifteen years later, he dipped into the fund to start a software firm called Avitek Inc. based on an idea his then-employer didn't want to explore. Mr. Miller recalls how family members fretted about the danger of going it alone, with his brother specifically questioning his judgment after he hired his fourth employee: How could he possibly put other people's livelihoods on the line?
"But it never truly occurred to me that I would potentially need to let any of them go at any point," Mr. Miller says, adding that he believes successful entrepreneurs "see opportunities where other see risk." He sold Avitek in 1999 for about $13.5 million, without layoffs, and is now running a venture called Rally Software Development Corp., based in Boulder, Colo.
The Value of Teamwork
Mr. Miller didn't succeed alone; he had a partner, Ryan Martens, who now works with him at Rally Software. Their compatibility is an asset whose value Mr. Miller finds hard to quantify. While Mr. Martens as the chief technology officer is deeply invested in software development, Mr. Miller is the business guy. "I think great leaders build teams," Mr. Miller says, "and those teams have some glue and they tend to stick together."
Whether by design or not, on second and third ventures, serials often surround themselves with familiar faces. Partly it's about familiarity and trust. Messrs. Scott and First both tapped ex-Nantucket Nectar employees for their newest ventures. They typically talk to each other several times a week, and Mr. Scott is an investor in O Beverages. "We've never doubted the other's total respect and having the other person's good interest at heart," Mr. First says.
Repeat relationships are also about expediency. Elizabeth Cogswell Baskin has run four companies, including two advertising agencies and a book-packaging operation. Now 46, she's the CEO of Tribe Inc., a $3 million Atlanta advertising agency that works with brands including Porsche, Home Depot and UPS, and peppered throughout Tribe's ranks are faces from her previous companies. "I think it is a huge shortcut to hire someone you already have a relationship with," Ms. Baskin says.
At age 77, Jack Goeken lays claim to having helped start a string of well-known enterprises: MCI, InFlight Phone, Airfone and several others. Now, he's deeply involved in a new start-up, Polybrite International Inc., a Naperville, Ill., company that produces a screw-in LED light bulb that will fit in normal lamps. His daughter Sandra, 49, has worked with him on every venture since MCI, and says one of her father's greatest strengths is "herding tigers" -- that is, finding entrepreneurial, and sometimes difficult to manage, individuals who can make a project happen, but then making sure they don't stick around too long.
Full Text:http://www.startupjournal.com/howto/successstories/200708221-bounds.html
eXpresso brings you eXpresso Spreadsheet Communities, an interactive service which allows workgroups to upload, modify, and compare, and store
The Menlo Park, CA based corporation eXpresso brings you eXpresso Spreadsheet Communities, an interactive service which allows workgroups to upload, modify, and compare, and store their respective spreadsheets. eXpresso Spreadsheets bring several new options to the table which enhance Excel and empower its users. For example, the site’s chat function also allows you to host group chats in which you can exchange opinions and comments, and the “Alerts” function sends you a message every time your spreadsheet is modified or commented on by another group member. Best of all, eXpresso can be accessed anytime, anywhere, is free of charge, and no installation is necessary for those who are already Excel users.
eXpresso is led by an experienced team with decades of collective experience in data management, and enterprise software applications. eXpresso's team comprises Founders and Corporate Executives who have successfully developed and delivered award-winning business solutions for Fortune 500 companies.
More at:http://www.expressocorp.com/
eXpresso is led by an experienced team with decades of collective experience in data management, and enterprise software applications. eXpresso's team comprises Founders and Corporate Executives who have successfully developed and delivered award-winning business solutions for Fortune 500 companies.
More at:http://www.expressocorp.com/
DigitalBucket.net lets you collaboratively share information with co-workers, partners, suppliers, and customers from any Internet connection
DigitalBucket.net lets you collaboratively share information with co-workers, partners, suppliers, and customers from any Internet connection for maximized productivity—files, presentations, spreadsheets, and videos are just a click away. Use DigitalBucket.net as a secure repository for critical business data—and regain peace of mind. Access the information you need to work at peak efficiency—anytime, anywhere. Setup takes minutes—and there’s no software or hardware to buy, install, or manage. Unleash the power of DigitalBucket.net to take your business to the next level.
You can actually create new files and modify existing ones, and share them with friends, family, and business associates. You don’t even need to be registered with DigitalBucket to access and view files, so you can share your data with literally everyone. The application’s privacy controls let you decide who sees what, and when they see it. Registration is currently limited with the Beta version is still in its initial stages of development; though accounts are free, they are limited in space storage.
More at:http://digitalbucket.net/
You can actually create new files and modify existing ones, and share them with friends, family, and business associates. You don’t even need to be registered with DigitalBucket to access and view files, so you can share your data with literally everyone. The application’s privacy controls let you decide who sees what, and when they see it. Registration is currently limited with the Beta version is still in its initial stages of development; though accounts are free, they are limited in space storage.
More at:http://digitalbucket.net/
Mega MP3 Search Engine
Franceradio.net is a mega search engine which brings together at the same time Google, Yahoo! Live...and Altavista that permits the web surfers to extend the coverage of their search by gathering the chief search engines worldwide.The site synchronizes other large search engines in order to generate an enormous list of results. Currently, Franceradio is partnered with AltaVista, Yahoo!, and Google, although the search is by no means confined to just these companies. Each search result page displays not only a list of downloadable mp3s; it also produces several other relevant links (from Google Ads). For example, a query for “Rolling Stones” will give you a list of their songs which you can either download or simply listen to, plus several external links to webpages concerting tours and ticket sales, merchandise, biographical information, etc.
More at:http://www.franceradio.net/
More at:http://www.franceradio.net/
Bet On Your Opinion
BluBet is a representation of the important topics of the day.
BluBet is about collective wisdom. It is about human synergy - people with different complementary skills cooperating. Do you have a question you want answered or a topic you would like to see discussed? BluBet provides a simple and entertaining way to get opinions from literally millions of people.
Simply create a "bet" around your question and express your opinion by participating in the bet. As more and more users participate, your bets, and optionally your story, will rise up in the ranks on the BluBet site.
Are you ready to put your two cents (or in BluBet's case, BluBucks) on what you believe?
Create a BluBet account and you are rewarded
30,000 BluBucks to make your bids with. With each referral of a friend you receive 500 BluBucks. Win your bets and make your BluBuck fortune. Had a stroke of bad luck, don´t worry, if you lost all your money, 10,000 BluBucks will be put into your account, but your bankruptcy will be noted. So how does it work? There are two types of bets. There are polls, Who is the hottest Pussy Cat Doll? then the BluBet users vote. Or there are bets on events or question that have one outcome, Will the Cubs win the wold series? Will Facebook be bigger than MySpace in a Year? You can create a bet in any of the following topics; entertainment, technology, science, world news, business, sports, gaming, and personal. Ask the questions that interest you the most and see what people think.
more at:http://www.blubet.com/
BluBet is about collective wisdom. It is about human synergy - people with different complementary skills cooperating. Do you have a question you want answered or a topic you would like to see discussed? BluBet provides a simple and entertaining way to get opinions from literally millions of people.
Simply create a "bet" around your question and express your opinion by participating in the bet. As more and more users participate, your bets, and optionally your story, will rise up in the ranks on the BluBet site.
Are you ready to put your two cents (or in BluBet's case, BluBucks) on what you believe?
Create a BluBet account and you are rewarded
30,000 BluBucks to make your bids with. With each referral of a friend you receive 500 BluBucks. Win your bets and make your BluBuck fortune. Had a stroke of bad luck, don´t worry, if you lost all your money, 10,000 BluBucks will be put into your account, but your bankruptcy will be noted. So how does it work? There are two types of bets. There are polls, Who is the hottest Pussy Cat Doll? then the BluBet users vote. Or there are bets on events or question that have one outcome, Will the Cubs win the wold series? Will Facebook be bigger than MySpace in a Year? You can create a bet in any of the following topics; entertainment, technology, science, world news, business, sports, gaming, and personal. Ask the questions that interest you the most and see what people think.
more at:http://www.blubet.com/
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Worklight enabling businesses and professionals’ easy access to corporate data
WorkLight is a server-based software product that provides employees with customized and personalized "Web 2.0-style" access to corporate data that reside in enterprise applications.
Worklight uses 2.0 goodies such as RSS and Ajax enabling businesses and professionals’ easy access to corporate data. Other features for info dispersal include desktop and web-based widgets and gadgets, personalized homepages, mashups, IM, and social bookmarks. Information is obtained through the use of adapters which easily plug in to apps and SQL interfaces among others. Worklight essentially makes work drudge-free. Employees can customize how they want their data displayed and define their application feeds. Worklight currently runs on Linux but a Windows version is in the works. The product's license price is based on the number of active users. Evaluation copies are available for qualified organizations.
More at:http://myworklight.com/
Worklight uses 2.0 goodies such as RSS and Ajax enabling businesses and professionals’ easy access to corporate data. Other features for info dispersal include desktop and web-based widgets and gadgets, personalized homepages, mashups, IM, and social bookmarks. Information is obtained through the use of adapters which easily plug in to apps and SQL interfaces among others. Worklight essentially makes work drudge-free. Employees can customize how they want their data displayed and define their application feeds. Worklight currently runs on Linux but a Windows version is in the works. The product's license price is based on the number of active users. Evaluation copies are available for qualified organizations.
More at:http://myworklight.com/
Prospero helps clients make a brand connection
ProsperoTechnologies is the leading provider of community content management solutions for the online publishing industry. We enable organizations to easily, quickly, and
cost-effectively develop branded, integrated communities and social
networks comprised of message boards, blogs, ratings, and chats and to manage them using a single, intuitive platform.Prospero helps clients make a brand connection. Today visiting a website is a different experience that allows you to be part of a community and express yourself. Having these community applications will get your clients involved and Prospero will help you achieve that goal. Prospero caters to both enterprises and small businesses. Some of their clients include well known brands such as America Online, New York Times Digital, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, NASCAR, Disney, ESPN, Fox Broadcasting, iVillage, The Washington Post, Amazon.com, Major League Baseball, BusinessWeek, AOL, and Comcast.
More at:http://www.prospero.com/
cost-effectively develop branded, integrated communities and social
networks comprised of message boards, blogs, ratings, and chats and to manage them using a single, intuitive platform.Prospero helps clients make a brand connection. Today visiting a website is a different experience that allows you to be part of a community and express yourself. Having these community applications will get your clients involved and Prospero will help you achieve that goal. Prospero caters to both enterprises and small businesses. Some of their clients include well known brands such as America Online, New York Times Digital, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, NASCAR, Disney, ESPN, Fox Broadcasting, iVillage, The Washington Post, Amazon.com, Major League Baseball, BusinessWeek, AOL, and Comcast.
More at:http://www.prospero.com/
Velingo has developed a system that finds "related keywords" for Search Engines
Velingo has developed a system that finds "related keywords" for Search Engines. As any Internet user knows, Search Engines are very useful once the user queries with the exact keyword that will trigger the desired results. The slightest change in spelling or verb tense is enough to invalidate the usefulness of a search. Even worse, if the user doesn’t know exactly what to search for, the results often become meaningless. Velingo offers a solution for finding “related keywords.” Regardless of the tense or spelling, Velingo’s results are based on the related concepts, more than the actual keyword.
Their tags are based on user actual behaviors, which means searching is a lot easier. Once you execute a query on Velingo you’ll find suggestions for better keywords and social relevancy rankings. Try it today.
More at:http://www.velingo.com/
Their tags are based on user actual behaviors, which means searching is a lot easier. Once you execute a query on Velingo you’ll find suggestions for better keywords and social relevancy rankings. Try it today.
More at:http://www.velingo.com/
Change Your Written Blog Into Podcast
Ch4tter provides you with crisp voice recordings of your blog for your readers to download and enjoy. With our blog voice recording services we boldly introduce the convenience of mp3 portability -- and iPod compatibility -- with the flexibility of on-the-go blog listening. Ch4tter.com can provide high quality downloadable voice recordings for your subscribers to listen to and enjoy at their own convenience on their iPods or mP3 compatible devices or maybe just on the computer if they would rather listen than read. Ch4tter offers a free sample to show how effective and quality its services are. The prices start off as low as 9.95 a month and the prices vary dependent upon how many different recordings needed monthly and also the length of those recordings.
more at:http://ch4tter.com/
more at:http://ch4tter.com/
Entrepreneur Steve Poland had decided to create a start-up that was entirely ‘Crowd-sourced'
Poland’s idea is still viable. It’s a valuable way for entrepreneurs and anyone curious about the web startup process to learn about everything from ideas to execution. It’s got that hint of democracy and participation that the 2.0 crowd loves.
Entrepreneur Steve Poland had decided to create a start-up that was entirely ‘Crowd-sourced.’ I guess you could say he was taking web 2.0 to its logical extreme. Poland’s ultimate goal was to raise $20,000 ++ in contributions, or donations from blog readers and anyone else feeling particularly generous, whilst blogging about the whole venture. Readers would actually be able to participate in business decisions by taking part in polls and discussion. Originally and aptly titled Ringside Startup, the project has now been renamed WeBothLike. Poland ran into problems raising the money. The scheme and plan remain the same—that is, we, the public will still be able to get all the inside details, however, the venture has already been started. The aim of WeBothLike is to connect like minded people. Poland will keep blogging, he’ll keep his panel of experts, and he’ll continue to accept contributions. Follow his progess and vote on the future of WeBothLike.
More at:http://blog.webothlike.com/
Entrepreneur Steve Poland had decided to create a start-up that was entirely ‘Crowd-sourced.’ I guess you could say he was taking web 2.0 to its logical extreme. Poland’s ultimate goal was to raise $20,000 ++ in contributions, or donations from blog readers and anyone else feeling particularly generous, whilst blogging about the whole venture. Readers would actually be able to participate in business decisions by taking part in polls and discussion. Originally and aptly titled Ringside Startup, the project has now been renamed WeBothLike. Poland ran into problems raising the money. The scheme and plan remain the same—that is, we, the public will still be able to get all the inside details, however, the venture has already been started. The aim of WeBothLike is to connect like minded people. Poland will keep blogging, he’ll keep his panel of experts, and he’ll continue to accept contributions. Follow his progess and vote on the future of WeBothLike.
More at:http://blog.webothlike.com/
"LaunchFeed" a great resource for both the people launching the websites and seeking exposure
LaunchFeed,this site could prove to be a great resource for both the people launching the websites and seeking exposure and also for the people searching for different websites and different services. LaunchFeed is dedicated to showing exactly that, people can freely post their news startup websites and what exactly they do. Its looks as if lately they have been posting anywhere between 1 and 5 startups a day; a number which will surely increase with time and as people become more accustomed to using the site and referencing the site for new websites. Reviews and comments can be added to the startups by members of the service who are logged in, but reviews do not necessarily accompany every startup, only if someone feels compelled to write a review.
More at:http://launchfeed.com/
More at:http://launchfeed.com/
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