Entrepreneurial

Why the debt ceiling debate won’t stop America’s small businesses

– John Krubski is an entrepreneur and the architect of The Guardian Life Index: What Matters Most to America’s Small Business Owners. He is currently working on his next book, “Cracking the America Code: How to Get US Back on Track”. –

As recently as April of this year, the Amex Open Survey announced that “For the first time since 2006, growth has surpassed survival as the number one priority for entrepreneurs… Perhaps further evidence that economic recovery is reaching Main Street, more than one-third (35 percent) plan to hire, the highest level since the fall 2008 survey.”

Just a few short months later, the headlines were filled with gloom and doom about the impending, “unprecedented” default of U. S. debt, followed quickly by predictions of a “double-dip” recession.

The truth is that, for America’s small business owners, the debt issue is an old tune, perhaps with a few new lyrics. We began as a debtor nation – dependent on a creditor country across the sea – and printed a currency without much prospect of making good on either its value or the debt incurred. In fact, the “continental dollar” printed during the Revolutionary War was worth one penny by the end of the war. Thousands of tradesmen and farmers were literally left holding the empty bag of the American government’s promises. Eventually, our national finances straightened out. However, until that time, the many small businesses that funded the Revolutionary War had to rely on themselves to figure out a viable route to survival.

More than two hundred years later, it’s still the same story for America’s entrepreneurs and owners of small enterprises. After the market crash of 2008, a key “national problem” was the availability of credit. As money for loans became more available, the problem then became “qualifying for loans.” However, as many small business owners know, the only way to get money from banks is to prove in the application process that you don’t need it in the first place.

Now, with the downgrading of America’s credit rating, the concern is not just about the availability or the qualifications, but about the cost of borrowing. Throughout this very public national “crisis,” it is important to realize that credit has never been the typical small business owner’s major concern or strategy for making his or her business work. To the contrary, most small businesses that stand the test of time rely on their own resources, live within their means and effectively adapt to changing circumstances.

The first and second of these – relying on yourself and living within your means – are the key attributes that make it possible for a small business to survive infancy and continue through even the hardest times. If you start your business with the assumption that you aren’t going to get help from anyone else, your model automatically requires a commitment to living within your means. It becomes not only a mindset, but a powerful strategy for success.

At the end of the day, while the national dialogue is being dominated by gloomy statistics and debt ceiling controversy, America’s small business owners have – as always – self-reliantly sustained their enterprises, started new companies and created new jobs. Join Discussion

Startup adds Hollywood flare to small business videos

Small businesses have been fast to tap social media platforms like Facebook, but their efforts to provide compelling video about their products and services have fallen short.

That’s the view of L.A.-based entrepreneur and media attorney Sam Rogoway, who is launching Near Networks, a national video service to improve those efforts, while keeping production within the budgets of many local companies.

“We saw this growth in local content and video had not caught up,” said Rogoway, 32. “Given how production costs have dropped, we thought there would be an opportunity to develop not commercials for local business, but real programming.”

Near Networks has developed a system of freelance videographers around the country who are available to shoot documentary-style video on location at restaurants (see video below of L.A.’s Tavern Restaurant), retailers, spas and other small businesses. The footage is then sent to L.A. for editing by a small staff production team.

“They shoot the video in the business after we’ve done a lot of pre-production work,” said Rogoway, noting that on the Internet documentary-style content is more compelling than traditional commercials. “(Businesses) know what to expect.”

Rogoway previously developed TripUp, the first online travel community to feature user-generated videos about destinations, which was sold to Sidestep in 2007.

Small businesses have been fast to tap social media platforms like Facebook, but their efforts to provide compelling video about their products and services have fallen short. Join Discussion

from MediaFile:

Inkling launches digital textbooks 2.0 for iPads

Apple dominates the tablet market -- its iOS tablet software accounted for more than 60 percent of the tablet market in the second quarter, while Google's Android made up about 30 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. So it's no surprise that more than 40 educational institutions  in the United States either require or recommend in-coming freshman or first-years come equipped with an iPad.

For example, that list includes  the medical schools at Brown, UC Irvine, Cornell and UCF; undergrads at Boston University, Abilene Christian University and Georgia Perimeter College; business students at Hult Business School, Lamar Business School and Seton Hill. Even prep schools are in on the act including South Kent, Princeton Day School and Madison Academy.

Certainly it's appealing to slip an iPad into a backpack rather than massive tomes that students need to lug around campus.

One e-book company based in San Francisco  is betting that more educational institutions adopt this line of thinking.  Launched a year ago and backed by venture capital such as Sequoia Partners and text book publishers like McGraw-Hill and Pearson, the e-text book company Inkling recently released its 2.0 version of textbooks for iPad. Some key features let co-eds make notes, ask questions and add comments anywhere in the book to be shared among classmates or the wider community using the same material across other campuses.

The e-books can save a student as much as 40 percent off the dead tree version and Inkling allows students to purchase the book by the chapter for a few bucks each should they choose to do so.

"I think this fall is a turning point," said Matt MacInnis, Inkling founder and CEO, about iPad adoption.  "Enough people are going to know someone else using an iPad (for content) that it will reach a tipping point."

Apple dominates the tablet market -- its iOS tablet software accounts for more than 60 percent of the tablet market in the second quarter, while Google's Andorid makes up about 30 percent, according to Strategy Analytics. So it's no surprise that more than 40 educational institutions in the United States either require or recommend in-coming freshman or first-years come equipped with an iPad. Join Discussion

Why governments don’t get startups

– Steve Blank is a serial entrepreneur. He teaches at Stanford University, U.C. Berkeley’s Haas Business School and at Columbia. He is the author of “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” and “Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost”. This article originally appeared here. The views expressed are his own. –

Not understanding and agreeing what “Entrepreneur” and “Startup” mean can sink an entire country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.

I’m getting ready to go overseas to teach, and I’ve spent the last week reviewing several countries’ ambitious attempts to kick-start entrepreneurship. After poring through stacks of reports, white papers and position papers, I’ve come to a couple of conclusions.

1) They sure killed a ton of trees

2) With one noticeable exception, governmental entrepreneurship policies and initiatives appear to be less than optimal, with capital deployed inefficiently (read “They would have done better throwing the money in the street.”) Why? Because they haven’t defined the basics:

What’s a startup? Who’s an entrepreneur? How do the ecosystems differ for each one? What’s the role of public versus private funding?

Six Types of Startups – Pick One

Not understanding and agreeing what “Entrepreneur” and “Startup” mean can sink an entire country’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Join Discussion

The No. 1 predictor of startup failure: Premature scaling

— Joanna Glasner is a contributor to PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here. –

In the wake of Solyndra’s revelation of an impending bankruptcy filing, the latest report from The Startup Genome Project makes for a timely read.

The report, published this week, crunches data from a set of more than 3,200 companies, seeking to identify the qualities that make startups most likely to either succeed or fail.

Researchers found that certain factors – such age and gender of founders, location, and previous entrepreneurial experience – have little bearing on a startup’s likelihood of failure. The most consistent predictor of failure, rather, was a startup’s propensity to engage in premature scaling.

What is premature scaling? The authors define it as “focusing on one dimension of the business and advancing it out of sync with the rest of the operation.”

For example, a startup may overspend too early on customer acquisition, hire too many employees, or focus too much on engineering at the expense of customer development. It can also raise too much money too early, a problem that one of the researchers’ interviewees, venture investor Michael A. Jackson of Mangrove Capital Partners frames in automotive terms: “Getting venture money can be like putting a rocket engine on the back of a car,” he said. “Scaling comes down to making sure the machine is ready to handle the speed before hitting the accelerator.”

The report estimates that 70 percent of companies studied exhibited some form of premature scaling. They also estimate that 74 percent of high growth Internet startups fail due to premature scaling. A common mistake, they note, is confusing a few early adopters with a market.

A report, published this week, crunches data from a set of more than 3,200 companies, seeking to identify the qualities that make startups most likely to either succeed or fail. Join Discussion

Do you want to sell sugar water or do you want to change the world?

– Chris Dixon is the co-founder of Hunch and of seed fund Founder Collective. This blog originally appeared here. The views expressed are his own. –

“Do you want to sell sugar water for the rest of your life or come with me and change the world?” – Steve Jobs

I sometimes wish that instead of working on Internet and software projects, I worked on cleantech or biotech projects. That way, when I came home at night, I’d know that I had literally spent my day trying to cure cancer or prevent global warming. But information technology is what I know, and it’s probably too late for me to learn a new field from scratch.

That doesn’t mean information technology can’t improve people’s lives. Google’s search engine helps people find information, which, for example, makes cancer and cleantech researchers more productive. Skype (Dixon is an investor) allows companies to collaborate remotely, and connects people with friends and family around the world. In the area of information technology, we create infrastructure and hope that people use it for more good than bad.

That said, the best entrepreneurs seem to follow a path of increasing gravitas. Scott Heiferman started out selling online ads and is now creating new communities. Jack Dorsey created Twitter and is now democratizing payments so sole proprietors can compete on a level playing field with large companies. Elon Musk started with online payments and is now developing electric cars and space programs.

Founders of large companies sometimes also follow the path of increasing gravitas. Google is developing new energy technologies, self-driving cars and other world-changing technologies. Bill Gates devotes almost all of his time and money to charity.

The tech press is preoccupied with investments, trends, exits, and other “inside baseball” topics. But these are all means to an end. Investments provide fuel for entrepreneurs to convert ideas into products. Trends shape the terrain that entrepreneurs navigate. Exits provide financial incentives for investors and entrepreneurs.

The tech press is preoccupied with investments, trends, exits, and other “inside baseball” topics. But these are all means to an end. Investments provide fuel for entrepreneurs to convert ideas into products. Join Discussion

Sittercity founder to launch “social recommendation engine”

– Connie Loizos is a contributor for PE Hub, a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here. –

Genevieve Thiers is not a household name in Silicon Valley, but many Chicagoans know her as the founder of Chicago-based Sittercity, a 10-year-old online subscription-service that marries families to caregivers around the country for help with their children, pets, and aging parents.

Thiers is also among a small, but growing number of second-time entrepreneurs beginning to emerge from Chicago’s young, but maturing tech scene. Next month, Thiers officially launches her newest startup, Contact Karma, with co-founder Maureen Wozniak (no relation to Apple co-founder Steve).

Her timing looks ideal. Sittercity appears to be on solid footing. It lists more than 2 million caregivers; its corporate customers include the Department of Defense, which uses the service to assist military families; and in April, it raised $22.6 million led by New World Ventures, bringing its total funding to date to $30 million. According to Thiers, Sittercity, along with the well-financed restaurant discovery and ordering service GrubHub, may not be far behind their local peer Groupon in filing for a public offering.

“There are a number of (Chicago-based) companies that could very well IPO if they wanted in future years,” she said.

Now, Thiers — who is expecting twins in November and passed along Sittercity’s CEO role to the company’s COO last year –- is hoping to create a second, long-standing Chicago company with Contact Karma, which Thiers and Wozniak characterize as a “social recommendation engine.”

For the last few months, the two have been creating a database of recommended service providers that businesses can find both by surfing Contact Karma’s platform, as well as through daily deals that Contact Karma sends out via email. Want a marketing pro for a particular project? You can visit Contact Karma and see who comes recommended and by whom. Meanwhile, you can probably land a cheap company lunch through an emailed coupon for group takeout.

Next month, Sittercity founder Genevieve Thiers officially launches her newest startup, Contact Karma, which she characterizes as a “social recommendation engine.” Join Discussion

The entrepreneur’s equivalent of “10,000 hours”

– Mark Suster is a former serial entrepreneur and a partner at Los Angeles-based GRP Partners. This article originally appeared on his blog “Both Sides of the Table”. The views expressed are his own. –

50 coffee meetings. It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. For getting outside of your comfort zone. For starting relationships today that won’t pay off for a year. It’s the entrepreneur’s equivalent of “10,000 hours.”

Anybody who has spent any time with me in person will be tired of this advice because I give it so frequently. It’s a piece of actionable advice that if you put into practice starting next week, will start paying dividends in the near future. There’s a direct correlation to your future success.

5 meetings/week = 250/year.

Imagine the human progress you could make with 250 short, relationship-focused meetings.

Here’s why it’s critical:

1. Recruiting. Are you looking for great engineers? Talented brand sales people? A smart young marketing exec? If you wait until you need to fill somebody in a roll, you’re losing valuable time as an entrepreneur. You should always have a steady stream of “friend of the firm” hanging around your company. You invite them to cocktail parties. You send them update emails. You don’t have a budget for them – not yet. But when you do, you’re ready to go.

50 coffee meetings. It should stick in your head as a metaphor for networking. For starting relationships today that won’t pay off for a year. It’s the entrepreneur’s equivalent of “10,000 hours.” Join Discussion

Blind entrepreneurs boost eBay sales

EBay is recruiting an unlikely group of new entrepreneurs into its selling ranks – the visually impaired.

Blind citizens have staggeringly high rates of unemployment, with some 70 percent of working-age, legally blind adults out of work, according to the National Federation of the Blind.

So the online marketplace, in partnership with NFB, began recruiting test sellers in the blind community late last year. In February, it began a pilot program with 15 blind entrepreneurs. In total, they have sold more than 2,100 items, including everything from packing tape to clothing and makeup.

“We have a commitment to making our pages accessible,” said Jonas Klink, senior product manager of accessibility for San Jose, California-based eBay. The company was also the title sponsor at NFB’s national convention in July.

“These 15 pilot program participants have been selling above and beyond even the majority of our sighted community,” said Klink, adding that word has spread through the blind community. “A number have become top-rated sellers.”

The blind sellers use enhanced tools such as screen access software that verbalizes content on the Internet, which has primarily been designed for sighted participants.

“When you look at the Web as a whole, you’re looking at a very visual medium,” Klink said. “Designing for the visually impaired is in some cases harder because you don’t have the luxury of well-known graphics.”

EBay is recruiting an unlikely group of new entrepreneurs into its selling ranks – the visually impaired. Join Discussion

7 business mistakes you ought to avoid

– Neil Patel is a serial entrepreneur who blogs about business at Quick Sprout and is the co-founder of KISSmetrics. This article originally appeared here. The views expressed are his own. –

After 10 years of being an entrepreneur, you probably think that I have everything figured out, right? Sadly, I don’t. Don’t get me wrong, to a large extent I know what I’m doing, but just like my first day as an entrepreneur I’m still making mistakes.

The mistakes aren’t the same rookie ones I’ve made before, but instead they are bigger mistakes. Here are some of the mistakes I’ve made over the last few years that you should avoid:

Business mistake No.  1: Don’t get too personal with your employees

I love helping my employees out. When they are happy, it makes me happy. But over time what you’ll realize is that the closer you get with your employees, the more likely they’ll push their problems onto you.

I don’t mind helping people out with their problems, but if they can’t learn to solve them by themselves, how will they ever grow as individuals? So instead of babying people 24/7 make sure you help them out a bit, but don’t be afraid to watch them fall. When they fall, they learn how to pick themselves back up, and hopefully prevent it from happening again.

Business mistake No. 2: Don’t be too generous

After a decade of being an entrepreneur, KISSmetrics co-founder Neil Patel says he still makes mistakes. Following is a list of the biggest mistakes he's made and how to avoid them. Join Discussion