Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Cyber Squatters
August 2nd, 2007
MatthewI received a few calls this week in regards to “cyber-squatters” There’s a new batch of scams going around now that can damage your company as domain "squatters" steal your domain name.
In an effort to assist, I was able to find the following resources:
If you find yourself a victim of domain hijacking, there is hope for correcting the problem.
For a more formal explanation of the legal aspects of this problem, visit: http://www.llrx.com/congress/100200.htm
For specific information on the UDRP (Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy), the procedure for taking domain names that are being used in violation of a trademark, see http://wipo2.wipo.int/process1/index.html .
For information on taking action under the Anti-Cybersquatting Act (A US law that provides for damages in addition to the less severe penalties of the UDRP) contact us.
Business Mail Solution
July 22nd, 2007
MatthewAs much as e-mail and digital documents have become mainstream, most entrepreneurs still rely on the U.S. Postal Service to accomplish key tasks. But that’s not to say technology can’t boost your company’s efficiency in your daily use of the good old-fashioned mail.
The latest DYMO Desktop Mailing Solution is a $240 hardware and software package that lets you weigh, calculate and print postage and labels. There is no monthly fee, and the system keeps track of changes in postage rates–meaning no more trips to the post office for stamps.
The kit includes a LabelWriter Twin Turbo thermal printer, a USB-connected postal scale, DYMO Stamps software, DYMO LabelWriter software, and starter rolls of address and postage labels. The Stamps software comes from internet postage vendor Endicia, is both Windows- and Mac-compatible, and generates stamps approved by the USPS. The LabelWriter software ties in with programs like ACT!, Goldmine Outlook and QuickBooks and cross-checks your addresses against a USPS database. All told, the DYMO system is an easy solution for automating address labels and mailings. See dymo.com for more details.
Business Success
July 22nd, 2007
MatthewMike Walrath, 32, founded Right Media Inc. in 2003 as a New York-area consulting firm for buyers and sellers of internet advertisements. It wasn’t long, though, before he created an online network where buyers and sellers could come together in a real-time internet ad auction. The concept caught on, and in 2005, VC firms started funding the company. After two rounds of venture financing, Right Media sold to Yahoo this spring for about $720 million. "We see this as the next logical step," Walrath says. "We don’t talk about this as an outcome or an exit."
For the VC funds that nurture companies such as Right Media, however, acquisitions are typically an exit. Even with IPOs showing a small resurgence this year, M&A remains by far the most common exit strategy for venture-backed companies. "Even during the dotcom boom, more VCs were exiting through M&A than through IPOs," says Kurt Roth of Intercap Merchant Partners, a merchant banking firm. "That’s always been true."
What has changed are the sectors likely to find M&A suitors and, by extension, VC funding. Historically, software has vacuumed up the largest share of VC dollars, but it was toppled early this year by life sciences. Sectors likely to be attractive in the coming years are medical device makers, media and entertainment (internet-related and downloading companies), green energy, and telecommunications (alternative communication networks).
Walrath says the best strategy for attracting VC dollars and, ultimately, generating a good outcome is to be an expert in your industry. "[If you’re] in an area you care passionately about," he says, "you’ll discover things that aren’t intuitive to others but that are fairly obvious to you."
Virtual Tradeshows
July 22nd, 2007
MatthewVirtual trade shows, expos and conventions are coming into their own. While event producers all insist that virtual shows won’t replace real-world shows, there are some decided advantages to attending, hosting or exhibiting at online events. Entrepreneurs save on the costs of travel, booth materials and employees’ lost productivity.
Robin Cowie, president of WorldwideBrands.com, a Maitland, Florida, wholesale and drop-ship resources provider, went from attending virtual B2B e-commerce trade show eComXpo to hosting a booth at the show. "We treat it like a normal convention," says Cowie, 35, whose company reached more than $3 million in sales last year. "We have three staff members dedicated to it. They’re constantly chatting and exchanging information during the show, and I don’t have to pay for travel."
Virtual trade shows have a lot in common with their physical counterparts. There are exhibit halls, educational seminars, booths manned by live staff and networking lounges. Events run the gamut from business trade shows, consumer-oriented trade shows, job fairs and corporate training to events that are open for up to a year. "We’ve built mechanisms to do very complex reporting and analytics for lead qualification ranking," says Brent Arslaner, vice president of marketing at Unisfair, a virtual event solutions firm.
The cost savings and ease-of-use are compelling arguments for virtual events and for virtual online components to physical events. "Physical events are becoming much more tightly coupled with virtual events," says Arslaner. Already, these virtual trade shows and conventions are morphing into business communities–entrepreneurs are using them for ongoing networking and education.
Grow Your Home Business
July 13th, 2007
MatthewOnce you’ve got your home business up and running, many of you may reach a point where you’ve hit a plateau. At the beginning of your venture, your income stream might be inconsistent – maybe you’re working all hours just to get your business off the ground. Once you’ve gotten past that initial period, you may find that your business has stopped growing. After all, there is only a finite amount of time that you can put into it, especially if you’re working full-time or have other obligations.
Create a Business Plan
To grow your business further, start by creating a business plan that makes it clear where you want your company to be, by when, and how it’s going to get there
It’s always helps to have a roadmap for your future. Also, take a good look at your finances and see what money could be reinvested so that your business can generate even greater profits.
Get Help with Time-Intensive Tasks
If you feel like you’re “maxed out” on the amount of time you have, you might want to look into hiring an employee to help you. Hiring somebody on a part-time basis to take care of the time-intensive work that needs to be done but doesn’t result in increased revenue can dramatically improve your bottom line. This is especially true if your marketing involves a significant amount of time-consuming phone prospecting. With your advanced business skills and experience, your time may now be your most important resource! By freeing yourself up to do the more critical tasks that really bring in the profits, you can grow both your business and your profit margin. You’ll probably have more fun with your work and be more relaxed as well.
Get Help to Generate More Profits
Let’s say your business advances to the next level, but even with someone doing all your cold calling or “light work,” you find that your profits have again stopped increasing. Well, as problems go, this is a good one to have!
The answer might be to hire someone to do some profit-generating work. This may be a more difficult cost to swallow, because a skilled assistant will usually command a higher wage than administrative help.
One way to make sure that you’ll have the right person to advance your business is to find people with the same entrepreneurial spirit that you have and allow them to make commission. This will guarantee that your new employees will work hard to generate profits for you and provide the motivation to keep your business on the right track – towards bigger and better things.
Create a marketing plan
is the web all that it appears
July 2nd, 2007
admin
Internet advertising is huge
With the growth of information on the internet, the amount of time people spend on it has grown as well, which has in turn generated a new market for internet advertising. Some of the wealthiest companies in the world have made sure that they get a piece of the internet marketing pie, and for a good reason.
Internet advertising is targeted
As a company looking for advertising opportunities to a specific market, internet advertising offers some targeting methods that insure that those who see your ads are the ones most likely to buy. Programs like Google’s AdWords and AdSense match up advertisers with content that their target market peruses regularly. Forget the costly machine-gun strategy of newspaper advertisements, internet advertising is targeted towards the clients you hope to reach!
Internet adverting enables good conversion tracking
It’s impossible to get a good idea of how many people see advertising through traditional means. Tracking the reach of newspaper and television advertisments is difficult. However, internet advertising allows the advertiser to track the number of impressions an ad gets (how many people see it), and how many visits their business web site gets from particular ads, making it easy to see what kind of conversion rates internet advertisements are getting.
Internet advertising has a lower entry-level fees
If you have a limited budget, internet advertising can be much more in reach than traditional methods. A small yellow-page ad can cost several hundred dollars. However, you can bid for advertisements on Google and Overture on a performance basis. That means that you only get charged when visitors click on the advertisement, and bidding starts at a nickle or dime a pop.
Internet advertising can be much cheaper
Because of the targeted nature of internet advertising and the ability to track the effectiveness of ads, conversion rates from internet advertising is typically much better than traditional mediums.
Internet advertising has greater range
One more benefit is that, since the internet spans the globe, pockets of your target market scattered around the world can all be targeted at once, rather than trying to find different publications, radio stations and television stations that cater to a particular geographical area.
On the whole, internet advertising can be a great way to get the word out there about your service or product in a cost-effective, efficient way.
Prosper.com: The ebay of loans?
June 28th, 2007
MatthewE-Loan co-founder Chris Larsen’s online marketplace matches lenders and borrowers. Banks and “payday” outfits alike will be watching closely A decade ago, when Chris Larsen co-founded online loan broker E-Loan, he purposely took aim at traditional mortgage lenders, many of which he thought deceived borrowers and charged too much. Now, he intends to shake up a whole new swath of the financial services business. With Prosper Marketplace, a San Francisco startup he’s launching Feb. 13, Larsen aims to carve out a new business — this time by doing a number on check-cashing “payday” lenders that charge usurious interest rates.
Essentially, Larsen hopes to create an eBay (EBAY)-style loan marketplace. Prosper matches people who need small loans, but can’t get them from traditional banks, with willing lenders. Says Larsen: “We let people on both sides, borrowers and lenders, participate in the credit marketplace directly.”INVESTING IN PEOPLE. Indeed, the notion is not just to provide a new way for individuals to get small loans. It could also turn anyone with a little money into a banker. Potentially, lenders can earn an annualized 6%-and-up in monthly interest payments from a range of borrowers, providing an addition to stocks, bonds, real estate and the like. “People who have money can invest directly in other people and diversify their investments,” he says.
It’s a bold idea — so bold that it’s certain to draw naysayers who may wonder why anyone would lend to people they don’t know. So far, only one other company, Zopa, currently operating only in Britain, has tried something like it, analysts say.
“At first, I was skeptical,” says Asaf Buchner, a financial services analyst with JupiterResearch. But now, he thinks the notion could have legs if it follows the same virtuous cycle as eBay, which flourished as buyers flocked to where the sellers were and vice-versa.
ON THE BLOCK. Some consumer advocates are already cheering. “I think this could be David’s stone hitting the banking industry between the eyes,” says Jamie Court, president of The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights, a nonprofit consumer-advocacy group in Santa Monica, Calif. “Chris is stripping the banks and other middlemen out of the business. It should be a huge, transformative event.”
Here’s how Prosper works: People who want a loan of up to $25,000, for whatever purpose they state, put it up for bid at a maximum interest rate they’re willing to pay. Although they can remain anonymous to everyone but Prosper and regulatory authorities, they must submit to having their credit record checked and their credit grades — determined from their so-called FICO credit scores — displayed on their listing. They also can provide their annual income, so a debt ratio can be determined and also displayed.
People who want to lend money bid in increments starting at $50, usually just for a portion of the loan, to reduce risk. They also can have standing orders to provide loans of a certain size to borrowers with specific credit grades, interest rate requests, and other criteria.
PAYMENT PROCESSING. Prosper provides borrowers and lenders information on standard interest rates and default rates associated with the various credit rating levels, so they can make judgments about reasonable payments and risk levels.
When the listing ends, the bids with the lowest rates are combined to produce a single loan that’s repaid over three years. Prosper draws payments from the borrower’s bank account and sends them monthly to the various lenders’ accounts. For its cut, Prosper charges borrowers a fee equal to 1% of the funded loans, as well as a 0.5% annual loan-servicing fee to lenders.
The site went up a week ago, with no publicity, so only about 20 loans are listed currently. They range from a request from a top credit-grade borrower for $5,000 at 6% interest to pay off a credit-card balance (eight bids) to a request by a “high risk” borrower for $10,000 at 13% interest to pay for a surgical operation (five bids). So far, according to Prosper, most of the lender bids are coming from Prosper insiders as a way to seed the market.
GROUP DYNAMICS. If a borrower fails to pay, Prosper turns the matter over to one of several collection agencies chosen by lenders. But Prosper has a new wrinkle intended to avoid bill collectors in the first place. People can form groups of borrowers — for instance, a PTA group or alumni of a university whose collective repayment record is made public. When a group member misses a payment, the group leader is contacted first, before the collection agency.
The idea is that people are less likely to default if they know their delinquency will hurt a group of people they know, and that the group leaders will be inclined to make sure members don’t miss payments. “Credit markets have destroyed the sense of commitment and shame if you don’t pay,” says Larsen. “So we try to make sure buyers are tightly associated with a group, whose reputation is directly impacted by one person not paying. That should dramatically lower default costs.”
Some fledgling group leaders have high hopes. Jeff Dannewitz, a mapping engineer in Chandler, Ariz., just formed a small group that he hopes will include both borrowers and lenders. “It’s just like being a banker, but I do it from home,” he says. “I’d rather have a little more control over what and who I’m investing in than just put money in a mutual fund.”
FEAR FACTOR. Some reckon they might be able to make a living as group leaders. Groups get cash incentives when a loan gets funded or an on-time monthly payment is made, and leaders can choose to keep or share rewards with the group. Gary Richardson, who sells sunglasses and goggles on eBay, hopes to have as many as 10,000 members in the group. In essence, groups could become virtual credit unions.
That’s if everything goes as well as it did at eBay. Yet loans are clearly a more serious proposition than Beanie Babies or even Manolo Blahnik shoes for people on both sides of the transaction. The loans not only can involve thousands of dollars, but the consequences of nonpayment for the borrower are more severe: Prosper will report defaults to credit agencies.
Even a few high-profile defaults could scare off new lenders, just as fraud on eBay keeps some potential buyers and sellers away. Richardson, for one, believes that lenders will simply shy away from the dodgier loan requests. “There’s going to be people on there who won’t get loans,” he says.
eBAY’S EXAMPLE. Still, there’s reason to think the idea’s time has come. For one, in an era when eBay has become one of the world’s largest e-commerce hubs, the idea of person-to-person lending may not sound as farfetched as it once might have. After all, eBay drew many of the same doubts but has continued to thrive. So did the eBay unit PayPal, which has become the Web’s largest person-to-person payment service and is now moving to become a broader alternative to credit cards online.
Plus, there’s some track record now. Zopa, which started last March with a similar service in the UK, plans to enter the U.S. market sometime this year, says CEO Richard Duvall. He says that so far, the service has had no defaults thanks to rigorous screening of borrowers, while providing lenders an average 7% return. “The eBay phenomenon made people realize they could do business with people they don’t know,” he says.
Prosper has some seasoned backing, too. Early eBay investor Benchmark Capital has invested in Prosper, as well as eBay founder Pierre M. Omidyar’s mission-based investing group Omidyar Network. Other investors include Accel Partners and Fidelity Ventures. Total venture funding in the 20-person company is about $20 million.
BANKS, TOO. Although Larsen clearly intends Prosper to be a for-profit enterprise, he hopes Prosper will put a dent in payday lenders that he thinks too often exploit low-income people. These are the storefront operations that often set up shop in strip malls and charge interest rates upwards of 300%, with marketing tactics aimed specifically at folks with bad credit histories or who don’t have bank accounts.
Indeed, the Federal Trade Commission warns people away from them. And New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has forced several payday lenders to pay refunds to borrowers and stop doing business in the state. Will they be happy with this new competition? “I hope not,” Larsen growls. If he gets some traction, banks may not be too happy either.
Start Up Idea
June 23rd, 2007
MatthewMobile Advertising: If you want to market your business, forget the Super Bowl. Instead, spread your message on the small screen–the really small screen, as in cell phones. With nearly two-thirds of our nation’s population owning cell phones, according to CTIA Wireless, it’s hard to imagine staying competitive if you don’t. For businesses looking to capitalize, the cost of mobile marketing varies from very cheap (sending SMS messages) to expensive (sending video commercials). According to RBC Capital, U.S. spending on marketing and advertising over wireless networks is expected to reach $1.5 billion by 2010.
Google Buys FeedBurner
June 5th, 2007
adminGoogle announced its acquisition of FeedBurner on Friday, adding the major RSS feed distributor to its portfolio for a rumored $100 million. FeedBurner CEO Dick Costolo called the pairing “a natural fit.” The acquisition will allow Google to enter the rapidly growing online channel of RSS, a tool that provides subscribers with automatic updates of the latest news headlines or blog posts. Many advertisers value RSS as a way to reach niche audiences. And Google AdSense advertisers hope to expand their advertising reach through access to FeedBurner’s extensive content library, which includes content from the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press. The company hopes to integrate FeedBurner publishers into AdSense and tie in FeedBurner Stats with Google Analytics.
Womenbiz.gov
June 4th, 2007
adminThe National Women’s Business Council has redesigned and launched womenbiz.gov to assist women-owned businesses with federal government contracting. The website expands on existing content to provide valuable information and tips specifically targeted at women-owned businesses. The site also lists resources, conferences and events, news, and more for women business owners interested in doing business with the federal government.