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December 24, 2008
Today's news
Community Banks, Viral Marketing and More Spending Declines
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 10:21 AM
Small banks forced to cut back. The Wall Street Journal has a great piece today about how community bankers are being forced to resist their inner Jimmy Stewart. As the economy sours, local bankers, who are often a lifeline for entrepreneurs, are tightening lending standards and forgoing the relationship-based deals they're known for. Here's an interesting tidbit: "Some community bankers say their regulators are leaning on them to be tougher on borrowers. At CorTrust Bank National Association in Mitchell, S.D., President Jack Hopkins says his federal regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, in September required that in lending to commercial real-estate developers, he must demand more capital if projects stall. The new rules have discouraged some would-be borrowers, he says: 'When you show them what you're expecting, they back away pretty quickly.'"
They're coming to America - for the bargains. Somewhere Lou Dobbs is fuming. In a bit of currency arbitrage, well-to-do and middle class Mexican families are coming to the U.S. to buy goods this holiday season, reports the New York Times. The Mexican peso has dropped 30 percent relative to the dollar, and U.S. retailers have wider selection of products than their counterparts south of the border.
Jargon, defined. On his blog, marketing guru and author Seth Godin demystifies the overused, misunderstood term viral marketing. "Something being viral is not, in an of itself, viral marketing" writes Godin. "Who cares that 32,000,000 people saw your stupid video? It didn't market you or your business in a tangible, useful way."
From the Department of More Bad News. The outlook for M&A in 2009 still looks grim, per Breakingviews.com. Meanwhile, consumers cut spending .6 percent in November, the fifth straight month of declines. Not only are consumers spending less, they're also stealing more, says the Washington Post. And remember how it was a great idea to start selling overseas? Well, the dollar's rallied, causing overseas sales to slump.
The iPhone app that made $10,000 per day. Entrepreneurial ventures take many shapes, forms and, as it turns out, many sounds. (via VentureBeat).
[Holiday note: We'll be blogging sporadically during the holidays. But check back at Inc.com regularly for more staff blogs, entrepreneurial news and Inc. features.]
December 23, 2008
Technology
Last-Minute Gifts for the Office
Posted by Hannah Clark Steiman at 11:26 AM
Today, most offices are winding down in preparation for the holidays. And, let's face it, we've all been thinking a little too hard about the recession. My chiropractor says business is booming because everyone's so stressed out. So I decided to make a modest contribution to the nation's mental health. Instead of writing about deals & discounts for business owners, I figured the Dec. 23 edition of our series should focus on the topic that's foremost in our minds right now: Churches going bankrupt. Um, sorry, I mean, last-minute gift ideas.
Best Buy is offering a pretty great deal: an Acer Aspire One netbook for only $299, compared with $379 and up at Amazon. If you order by 3 p.m. local time on Dec. 24, you can pick it up in the store that day (stores close at 5). This is a better deal than the one that Radio Shack offered for the Aspire One--which, by the way, Laptop Magazine calls "nearly irresistible."
If you are, however, able to resist it, there are other stores offering free overnight delivery, as long as you act soon. Brad's Deals has this handy chart featuring the deadlines for Christmas delivery at various stores. Apple is offering free next-day shipping upgrades, as long as you order by 10 a.m. PT today--in other words, in the next 70 minutes. Home and kitchen store Frontgate gives you a little more time; it's offering free next-day delivery if you order by 9 p.m. ET tonight. And Zappo's will give you until 4 ET today. Don't want to deal with shipping at all? Print out an Amazon.com gift certificate.
For more on deals for business owners, check out our previous entries here and here. Happy holidays.
Today's news
Arianna Huffington and Om Malick Share Their Tips on How to Blog
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 11:18 AM
Arianna and Om go a bloggin'. Farhad Manjoo at Slate talks to half a dozen of his favorite bloggers and borrows the best tips from HuffPo’s new guide to blogging (including advice from Arianna Huffington and Om Malick). Now you’re all set to check blogging off your New Year’s resolutions. Maybe we should forward this link to Scoble.
Robert Scoble’s cry for help. By Michael Arrington’s calculation Robert Scoble has spent 2,555 hours this year (that's 555 hours more than your average full-time job) reading and writing messages on Twitter and Friendfeed. He may have boosted those companies' valuations, but his blogging and assorted punditry have sufferd. "It’s time for an intervention. "
Joel Spolsky redesigns. Inc.'s columnist and the host of the popular blog Joel on Software has decided to give his eight-year-old site a new look. What will you find there now? Glossy pictures from Fog Creek Software, many lists of related content that Joel has personally curated, and his e-mail address attached to the bottom of every page (a throwback to the early days of the web.) To read Joel's explanation of various design elements, click here.
Strengthening dollar causes small companies to scramble. Earlier this year, the weak U.S. dollar earlier gave even small companies entree into in overseas hot spots like Dubai or Russia. But in recent weeks, with the dollar’s rise against major U.S. currencies, those foreign companies are no longer buying. Small businesses that looked to emerging markets to boost slow domestic sales are now floundering in wait-and-see mode, reports the Wall Street Journal.
Hold Steady. Tempted to cut prices? Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow has a podcast at Knowledge@Wharton in which he breaks down the top marketing mistakes companies make during a downturn (Via the Amex OPEN Forum).
Credit crunch hastens China’s assent to the top. Ernst & Young’s ITEM Club says China will be the biggest economy in the world by 2019, instead of 2025-2030 as forecasters had been predictment. Geez, thanks a lot, credit crunch.
A baby bubble bust? The Chicago Tribune speculates that fewer couples will decide to have children if the recession proves to be long and severe, changing consumer buying habits and demand in industries ranging from retail to packaged foods. (Via Politico’s Playbook.)
Viral marketing is not free. The folks at Marketing Sherpa tackle the question of the return on investment one gets from a viral marketing campaign. The conclusion: viral campaigns can produce a great ROI but they are never as cheap as you think—and you should approach a viral campaign with realistic expectations in terms of costs. Bonus tip: the same thinking obtains for house e-mail marketing campaigns.
Franchises are flat. Out of the University of New Hampshire, there's word that franchises are out performing the S&P 500 in the third quarter of 2008. Ok, so outperforming may be putting it the wrong way: The S&P dropped 8 percent in the third quarter, whereas UNH's Rosenberg Center's Franchise 50 Index, dropped just .4 percent. The best performing franchise was Buffalo Wild Wings, which had a 62.3 percent increase in value.
Nicholas, Patron Saint of the Self-Employed. Santa Claus-as-entrepreneur by Jeremy Hanks, the founder the Orem, Utah-based drop shipping company Doba. The argument in a nutshell: killer technology, no competition, and an unbeatable workforce.
December 22, 2008
Today's news
Digg, Credit Cards and Cutbacks
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 8:53 AM
How big is Digg? Amidst the wreckage of the recession, even Silicon Valley start-ups as hot as Digg are struggling, reports BusinessWeek. Kevin Rose's uber popular web company raised another $28.7 million from investors, at just a $167 million valuation. This is certainly a far cry from Digg's rumored $300 million valuation. For more on Digg and Kevin Rose, check out Max Chafkin's story from earlier this year. (Via TechCrunch)
Relief for entrepreneurs who rely on credit cards. The government has moved to ban a practice common in the credit-card industry of raising interest rates on existing account balances. Going forward, the AP reports (via the NYT), the credit-card companies will only be able to raise rates on future balances or future purchases. This is good news for entrepreneurs who use their personal credit to fund start-up expenses. How has the world of credit cards changed during the recession? Inc.'s Kasey Wherum answers that here.
Death by a thousand cuts. Want to give your employee a pay cut on the sly? Are layoffs too embarrassing? More and more companies are cutting benefits, reducing hours or forcing workers to stay home. (In the euphemism of the day, The New York Times calls these involuntary leave of absences "furloughs.") Disturbingly, even in the normally recession-proof gambling industry, Nevada casinos are shifting workers to four-day work weeks. Meanwhile, there's got to be a lot of great talent looking for a job. Per the WSJ's take on the job market, there were 3.3 unemployed people for every open job in October.
Have no fear. If there was a common refrain in the business press in 2008, it can probably be succinctly summed up by the word fear. Fear makes credit dry up, it makes customers skittish, it encourages cutbacks and generally kills growth. TechCrunch has a nice discussion of the tactics you can use to keep your start-up humming along during the downturn.
Reacting to a slam on twitter. Writing for Ad Age, Sapient's Freddie Laker talks about how he decided to respond to following tweet: "I thought Sapient was a mgmt consulting co? They're the booth next to us at Adobe Max and they're complete clowns" --Message posted on Twitter by [name withheld], November 19, 2008.
December 19, 2008
Technology
The Best Tech Idea of 2008?
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 2:33 PM
David Pogue doles out the fourth annual “Pogie Awards” for the best ideas in consumer electronics (no trophy, but Pogue’s imprimatur is likely worth its weight in holiday sales). Coming in at the top of his list is . . . the cellphone App store!
“What a concept,” says Pogue, “An online software catalog, stocked with thousands of wildly creative, visually stunning, free or cheap new programs that download directly to your phone, no computer needed.” It didn’t take long after Apple opened its iPhone App Store in July for the concept to go viral. Google launched the Android Market in October, the Palm App Store opened this week, and the BlackBerry Store is slated for March. Steve Jobs’ claim that the iPhone App store could soon be a $1 billion marketplace certainly didn’t hurt.
Pogue is spot on, as usual, in citing the App Store as the tipping point in turning smartphones into the pocket laptops we were always promised--“a stamp of individuality, an indispensable companion. It becomes the reason you buy one of these machines in the first place.” But we think its winning formula isn’t just on the consumer-facing side.
By opening up its software-development-kit for developers to build apps native to the iPhone, Apple was able to generate interest from an army of developers eager to find ingenious and insipid uses for the 3G’s multi-touch interface, GPS, accelerometer, and real-time 3-D graphics. Hello, free content providers, welcome to our niche market. (Apple’s restrictive NDAs, however, which ban developers from sharing tips or discussing code or programming in forums, blogs, or over email ended up stoking the ire of that same community.)
In our November issue, I took a quick look at some intriguing start-ups vying for piece of the iPhone App Store’s $1 billion. Keep an eye out for a handy chart comparing the iPhone 3G, the Storm, and the T-Mobile’s G1—from a busy entrepreneur’s point-of-view, naturally—in our January/February double issue. Consider it a belated Christmas present.
Today's news
New SBA Head, Bailouts and the Best Biz Blogs
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 10:47 AM
Obama names SBA administrator. It's Karen Gordon Mills, a private equity executive from Maine. Inc.'s Robb Mandelbaum is worried: "[I]t's not exactly an ideal resume for working with and advancing small business." Mandelbaum thinks that Obama will likely restore the post to cabinet level status.
Where’s my bailout? This morning, President Bush announced a $17 billion bailout of the Detroit automakers. “The U.S. Lends To The Big Three. What About The Small Thousands?” asks Slate’s BizBox blog, which points out that given that the government has opted to lend money “directly to retail businesses,” the next logical step may be a lending program for companies losing less than billions of dollars every quarter. What do you think? Are you in a favor of a government-mandated low-cost loans for small companies?
Master of the Obvious Award. Goes to the National Association of Venture Capitalists, who released a survey this morning that 2009 will be, um, "difficult.". And yet...
Scribd grabs $9 million. Even as observers are bracing for fallout in the world of internet startups, they seem to keep getting funded. Last week it was Tumblr, grabbing $4.5 million. This week, word comes from Techcrunch, that Scribd just raised $9 million. The company, which is based in San Francisco and started in the Y Combinator program, allows users to quickly upload PDFs.
Credit Crunch: The Board Game. The Economist presents what just may be the most depressing board game of all time.
Massive discounting expected. Not rich enough to buy a stake in a tech startup? How about a really cheap pair of designer trousers? The Wall Street Journal reports that retailers are slashing prices to "salvage a so-far disastrous holiday season." Barney's has cut prices by as much as 75 percent, for instance.Some retail analysts are saying the prices will actually be lower next week than on back Friday.
Video on demand. According to ComScore, YouTube now accounts for 25 percent of web searches in the U.S., reports TechCrunch.
Best of the blogs. BusinessPundit has a lengthy, if somewhat incomplete, list of of some of the best business blogs out there. And, if you're still wondering how to blog, Slate talked to some of the world's most influential bloggers and got their tips.
December 18, 2008
Update
22-Year-Old Tumblr Founder Raises $4.5 Million
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 1:29 PM
Venture capital is supposed to have dried up. So how did microblogging platform Tumblr pick up $4.5 million in a Series B round late last week? Fred Wilson’s Union Square Ventures and new media enthusiasts Spark Capital, who also led Tumblr’s $750,000 Series A round a year ago, obviously see something in 22-year-old Tumlbr founder David Karp. We did too.
Karp’s wunderkind status (the man’s been working full-time on one tech project or another since he dropped out of Bronx Science at 15)—not to mention Tumblr’s viral popularity as the liberal elite’s platform du jour—have made him something of a media darling, if not fodder for the gossip blogs. But Tumblr’s elegant interface and success in building a community are hardly a lucky accident. Indeed features that allowed users to easily post music, links, and photos and “follow” other tumblrs were integral to Karp’s vision of creating a page online that users can “live on”. Now, Tumblr is now up to 500,000 users and averaging 61 million page view a month, says Karp. Media Memo estimated that Tumblr’s investors value the company at around $15 million. Of course, the start-up has yet to break even. And, as the experts have attested, the time to monetize is nigh.
Karp spoke to Inc. about his plans to grow revenue, how exactly the company will spend that $4.5 million, and what it’s like to hire to your old boss to work for you. “I was very nervous about the idea of turning into a bigger company. It was one of the things I was freaked out about when we raised money the first time,” he says, “Do we have to have a PR person? Do we have to have a weird business arm? They said, ‘No, this is so you can keep doing what you’re currently doing and not have to worry about where the money’s coming from.” Sounds downright rosy in this economy.
First up for Tumblr’s lastest infusion of cash? New talent.
Continue reading "22-Year-Old Tumblr Founder Raises $4.5 Million"
Today's news
News: Employee Alumni Networks and More
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 12:37 PM
The place to find hidden talent. The newly laid off are flocking to corporate alumni networks, says Ross Mayfield, the co-founder of Socialtext and one of the web's first bloggers. PeopleSoft has an alumni network that’s registered as a non-profit, has 3,000 members and gets tapped by over 800 recruiters.
I’ll take a tenth of that Super Bowl ad for $300,000, please. The going rate for a 30 second Super Bowl ad? $3 million a pop. That didn’t stop unabashed publicity hounds Weatherproof Garment Co. from taking a shot at 3-second slice. They’re not the first small company to make a play for those 97.5 million eyeballs. Inc. 500 alum Go Daddy, which helps consumers register domain names, has advertised in the past four games. Last year our experts voted Go Daddy's Danica Patrick ad one of the night’s best. Definitely better than the SalesGenie pandas.
The Five Stages of Twitter Acceptance. By marketing guru Rohit Bhargava .
Rocco DiSpirito’s faustian bargain. DiSpirito was an obsessive and inspired chef, and his skill (core competency in business parlance) gave him entrée into the world of reality TV guest spots and corporate spokesmanship. Now, that’s pretty much all he does. A cautionary tale on brand extension from the New York Times that we thought some entrepreneurs out there might be able to relate to. Yes, Gurbaksh Chahal, we’re talking to you.
Slump-a-nomics. Quoting an Inc. story from earlier this year, Slate's BizBox discusses why downturns are a great time to start a company. Here's our full guide to starting a business during a recession, and check out this timeline of great companies founded during slumps.
Coupons that take calls. Two new startups are bringing coupons to your cellphone. Don't expect big savings, and right now only a handful of retailers except cell-based coupons.
LinkedIn founder takes back the reins. A shakeup at yet another Silicon Valley company: Reid Hofman is back as CEO of LinkedIn, the business oriented social network, Techcrunch reports. The 41-year-old founder, whose portfolio of angel investments includes Facebook and Digg, stepped down in 2007 and turned the reins over to Dan Nye. Things seemed to be going well at LinkedIn as late as this summer, when the company raised $53 million and began talking up a possible IPO.
"To get rich is glorious." The Christian Science Monitor marks the 30th anniversary of China's policy of market-oriented socialism with a profile of one of the nation's first entrepreneurs, a restaurateur named Guo Peiji .
No, like a real drill sergeant. A former Marine who worked for Dell in marketing talks about the virtues of marketing discipline; reminds us of a somewhat similar cover story David H. Freedman wrote for Inc. a decade ago.
A Ticket To Ride? The Private Equity Council has helpfully compiled a list of priorities for the incoming Obama administration. They love the idea of massive spending on infrastructure. As an aside, they'd also like for the country to deregulate mass transit.
Boom times for batteries. A few days back we told you about Intel founder Andy Grove's agitation for batteries. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports, 14 companies, including big companies like 3M and startups like Mobius Power, plan to seek $1 billion in federal loan guarantees. Last year, congress passed legislation setting aside $7 billion in guarantees for battery plants in the U.S.
Banks still stingy. Despite the Federal Reserve's dramatic rate cut earlier this week, credit is still tight for most companies. The New York Times reports that banks have brought back strict lending standards for small business loans—requiring a 20 percent down payment in most cases. A banker quoted in the article says, “Our banking sins are coming home to roost.”
Technology
Aeron chair discounts, cheap shipping & more
Posted by Hannah Clark Steiman at 10:59 AM
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
I want an Aeron chair
Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells
And some QuickBooks software
Yes, dear Inc. reader, there is a Santa Claus. He comes during recessions, toting sacks full of discounted office chairs, memory cards, and restaurant coupons. He’s even offering free webinars on government contracting. We thought that was weird--Santa isn't known for bringing webinars. But hey, in tough times, you take what you can get. Read on for the latest in our series on discounts & deals for business owners.
Deals for yourself
Memory cards are getting cheaper and cheaper. Last week I saw a 2GB card for $12.75, but refrained from buying it. Good thing; today there’s a 4GB card for $8.75 with free shipping. (Newegg is selling it; thanks as usual to Brad’s Deals for pointing it out.) Get yours quickly, before I buy them all and resell them at Best Buy for $27.99.
Deals for your employees
Those cheap Restaurant.com coupons are now even cheaper. You can get a $25 gift certificate for only $2 by using the code SANTA when you check out, according to Brad’s Deals. Make sure to read the fine print though; there are usually a lot of restrictions.
Deals for your company
If you have a lot of shipping to do, check out ShippingSidekick.com, where you can compare prices from DHL, FedEx, UPS, and the U.S. Postal Service. The site used to charge a subscription fee, but now it’s free. Also, check out the rates offered at EShipper.com. It can access the same discounts that big corporations get, because it ships large volumes.
In one of my posts last week, I highlighted an Office Depot coupon giving customers $45 off a purchase of $225. The coupon expires Dec. 31, and doesn’t apply to tech products. In case you don’t need $225 worth of printer paper, the store is now offering $10 off $30 with this coupon. It expires Dec. 22 and comes with a host of restrictions—including the fact that it can only be used in-store.
We don’t want OfficeMax to feel left out—they’re offering a bunch of deals, including up to $125 off a variety of office chairs.
Have you been thinking of switching to Intuit? On Monday, the company announced a 20 percent discount for companies that switch to QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions from Sage MAS 90 or BusinessWorks Accounting by Jan. 31. (By the way, if you are pondering such a move, please tell us why in the comments section below—we’re always looking for entrepreneurs’ opinions on business software.)
Make a New Year’s resolution to break into the government’s supply chain. First, read our September advice column on selling to the government. Then head over to GiveMe5.com, where OPEN from American Express is offering free government contracting webinars and podcasts. Topics include “The ABC’s of Government Contracting” and “Four Easy Lessons in Free Market Research.”
Office Designs has a variety of deals on Aeron chairs, including a customizable chair for $674, marked down from $749, and a Mirra chair for $539, marked down from $599. You can even get free shipping! The sale ends Dec. 20.
December 17, 2008
Today's news
A Danish scam, deflation, and letdown at Macworld
Posted by Max Chafkin at 12:22 PM
High-flying Danish firm exposed as a sham.The Wall Street Journal has a front page story on Stein Bagger, a former bodybuilder and, until recently, a celebrated entrepreneur. Unbeknownst to KPMG, which was auditing the books for Bagger's company, IT Factory, and the Ernst & Young, which named Bagger its "Entrepreneur of the Year" last month, Bagger was the alleged architect of a $185 million fraud. Ninety-five percent of the company's reported business was made up, and victims include Denmark's biggest bank and a professional cycling team.
More on the Great Cheapening. Although consumer prices have fallen dramatically in the last three months, New York Times columnist David Leonhardt reports on one category of prices that is likely not to fall: wages. Thanks to the "sticky-wage theory" pay cuts are rare during a recession. That means that while most of your costs should decrease, payroll won't go down much. And if you're still having trouble understanding the ins and outs of inflation, check out this hilarious Depression-era video. A sampling: "To understand inflation, we must understand money. This is a cow!"
Happy thought of the day. if you're feeling a little glum amid all the bad economic news, remember that a down economy can actually be good for startups. "[G]ood ideas are still getting funded and some businesses are even reporting surprising growth," according to this article, published by Wharton's entrepreneurship department. Of course, if you read our May cover story on how to start a business in a recession, you already knew that. If you missed it, check it out.
California rolls out green products regulations. "Is that laundry soap truly 'environmentally friendly'? Was that mattress treated with toxic chemicals? Is that sweatsuit fashioned from organic cotton? Is that lipstick 'natural'?" asks the Los Angeles Times. The newspaper reports on "a sweeping green initiative" to regulate labeling on consumer products. If the program becomes law, companies will be required to figure out the amount of pollution created in the making of each product.
Indian business owners agitate for security. Just as the 9/11 attacks were a blow to New York City's economy, businesses in Mumbai are struggling in the aftermath of last month's terrorist attacks, according to the Washington Post: "In the wake of the Mumbai attacks, the new mantra in the weekly meetings of several companies is 'security preparedness,' and foreign clients are insisting that they subject their facilities to thorough searches, screen employees and vendors and beef up safety drills."
Jobs won't speak a Macworld. Apple made the unexpected announcement yesterday, and the New York Times has some nice analysis. Though the keynote speaker at a trade show might seem like a minor announcement, among Apple aficionados, who follow the event with near-religious fervor, the news that the founder of Apple will not speak is devastating. (It also seemed to devastate investors, with Apple's stock down 7 percent late this morning.)
Googling for low-cost TV time. Last year, Google made a splash when it announced it would be brokering advertisements for cable television and making it easy for small companies to create 30 second spots. Some speculated that Google's auction model could drastically change the way TV time is bought and sold. It's fair to say that the market is still nascent. Valleywag brings word of a 24 year old online poker player who spent just $500 to create an ad and reach 330,000 viewers, roughly one quarter what a typical ad buy of that size would cost. If you want to take advantage of this bargain, go here.
Do non-compete agreements stifle innovation? A Massachusetts state legislator plans to introduce a bill banning them. Boston VC Bijan Sabet of Spark Capital thinks non-competes are a bane for entrepreneurs.
Welcome to Facebook. You've been served. An Australian couple who defaulted on a home loan was served legal notice via Facebook, after the Australian Capital Territory Supreme Court deemed the husband and wife's birth dates, names, and virtual friendship status was sufficient evidence that the attorney had found the right people. The upshot: you might want to think twice about friending your partners in crime. But you can always friend Inc. magazine!
December 16, 2008
Today's news
Deflation, Facebook and Scrabulous
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 10:26 AM
The great cheapening. Consumer prices fell for the second straight month, reports the Wall Street Journal. Deflation is looming, as consumer prices fell 1.1 percent from a year ago.
Recession to last another year. This, according to a Duke University/CFO Magazine survey of CFOs more than 1,200 CFOs in the U.S. The biggest concern is weak consumer demand, and 62 percent of the CFOs surveyed say they can't get the credit they need. (Via The Big Picture).
Facebook comes back down to earth. A year ago, Microsoft invested in red-hot social network company Facebook at the eye-popping valuation of $15 billion. At the time, we speculated that the valuation was artificially elevated by Microsoft's desire to outflank Google in the online advertising market and many questioned whether Facebook was really worth that much money. Well, the answer seems to be no. Valleywag reports that shares owned by Facebook employees are trading for between $2.50 and $5.50, implying a valuation somewhere between $1.3 and $2.3 billion.
Real, actual doldrums. Among the other effects of the worldwide economic downturn: the marine shipping industry has "seen a perfect storm" (Wikipedia's cliché, not mine). The Baltic Dry Index, as the Bespoke Investment Group explains, indicates these are truly bad times for shipping.
The year in lists. Now that countless companies are cutting back their marketing budgets, what will happen in social media in 2009? Former Forrester analyst Peter Kim talked to 14 social media experts and got their predictions. Interestingly, many of the analysts think that 2009 will be the year where social media is finally asked to deliver real, measurable revenue.
Laptops are hazardous to your health. That pain you're feeling right now—it may not be caused by the poor holiday season, the rapidly deteriorating economy, or your now-worthless investment in a Ponzi scheme. According to the Wall Street Journal, it may be your laptop. "Laptops are inherently unergonomic—unless you're 2 feet tall," according to a physician quoted in the article. Potential problems include carpal tunnel syndrome, pain in the temporomandibular joint, and myofascial trigger points. What to do? The article recommends investing in laptop stands, an external keyboard and mouse, and a keyboard tray.
Hasbro drops lawsuit against Scrabulous creators. Game giant Hasbro, which publishes Scrabble, has dropped a lawsuit against RJ Softwares, makers of the wildly popular Scrabulous game. When Hasbro took legal action against the small software company in July, Scrabulous was one of the most popular games on Facebook. The company tweaked and renamed the game, which has since lost popularity and stoked a backlash against Hasbro in the form of "Save Scrabulous" groups on Facebook. According to VentureBeat, that was enough for the game giant to give up on legal action. Writes Tam Vo: "Hasbro is happy to avoid drawn-out and expensive litigation. Because lawsuits are F-U-N."
How to avoid a holiday party disaster. Good news for HR folks everywhere! The bad economy has forced many companies to cancel their holiday parties, which tend to cause a disproportionate number of sexual harassment claims, accidents, embarrassing situations. But if your company still has enough good news to justify one, you may want to read these warnings on how to avoid a lawsuit. Check out Inc.'s coverage of the office party beat here and here.
The year in lists, vol. 2. Fast Company has a solid list of the best business books of 2008.
December 15, 2008
Neeleman's New Venture Takes Flight
Posted by Jason Del Rey at 6:28 PM
Leave it to JetBlue founder David Neeleman to push up the launch of a new venture despite the current economic climate. Today, Neeleman announced that his new low-cost Brazilian airline Azul had taken flight with an inaugural trip from Campinas to Salvador de Bahia, a few weeks ahead of schedule. Neeleman reportedly moved up the launch to take advantage of the busy holiday travel season.
Neeleman, who was ousted as CEO of JetBlue following a service meltdown on Valentine's Day 2007, was born in Brazil while his father worked as a journalist there and holds dual citizenship. I spoke to him in the spring about his new venture as well as his departure from JetBlue. While it was clear that he would have loved a do-over at JetBlue, he seemed invigorated by the prospect of leading another start-up. You can find the extended version of the Q&A, which ran in our June issue, here.
Today's news
Joel Was Wrong, Arrington Gets Uninvited, and This Wink Will Cost You
Posted by Nitasha Tiku at 12:29 PM
Dear Michael Arrington, Please don’t come back. Sincerely, Europe. The TechCrunch founder lives the high life in Paris at the Le Web conference, but finds two hours lunches at odds with the start-up mentality of doing whatever it takes to succeed. A rankled conference organizer asks his readers if they think Arrington should even be invited back next year (they don’t), and the Silicon Valley guru cries censorship.
Joel on Timesheets. Our man Joel Spolsky has a theory about timesheets as a performance metric: bad idea.
Did you just ;-) at me? Make the check out to Oleg Teterin. Hoping to cash in on the popularity of the wink emoticon “;-)”, Teterin trademarked the series of punctuation marks with Russia’s federal patent agency. Good luck enforcing that.
"FWD – Re: You're Fired.” Laid off by email? Find out your company was downsizing on Valleywag before you heard it from your boss? The Big Money splices together a video on layoffs in the digital age.
Leaner, Better, Cheaper Solar. The solar industry has seen roughly $4.5 billion distributed among 150 solar start-ups in the past four years. But with at least one analyst predicting a 40 percent drop in financing for alternative energy in 2009, the sector is committed to going lean. One company’s aim? To make solar “as cheap as coal.”
Does Display Advertising work? Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures blogs about the pros and cons of search vs. display ads on the web. The takeaway: display ads may not lead to immediate clicks, but they can still boost traffic to your site up to four weeks after the ad’s been viewed. He recommends a mix of both.
South Dakota or bust. The conservative Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council releases its annual report on the states with the highest tax burdens for small companies. At the top of the list is South Dakota, followed by Nevada. The costliest states for doing business? New Jersey (no. 50) and California (no. 49).
Angels get their wings clipped. The results aren’t finalized yet, but a recent survey from the Angel Capital Association shows that thus far angel investments have dropped at least ten percent from 2007 to 2008. The average size of an investment went up 6 percent to about $280,000 per deal, but the number of investments per group plummeted 16 percent.
You are what you search. Yahoo and Google release their top 10 search terms for 2008. Yahoo’s skews a little more low-brow with Britney Spears and WWE at the top of the list. Google skews millennial with Obama and Facebook.
December 12, 2008
Technology
A great $3 gift for your employees
Posted by Hannah Clark Steiman at 1:27 PM
In the second installment of our series on great deals for business owners, we’ve got free software, an idea for a cheap holiday gift, and (finally!) a $100 computer.
The $100 laptop
Are we on the cusp of a new business model for laptops? RadioShack is selling the Acer Aspire One—a mini notebook with an 8.9-inch screen—for $100, as long as you sign up for a two-year contract for AT&T mobile broadband service, which costs $60 a month. You can check it out online, but the deal is only available in stores. With the mobile broadband connection, you can access the Internet as long as you’re within range of AT&T’s network. Read more about the deal here.
The Acer Aspire One has gotten good reviews, but here’s the problem: most business owners would use a netbook as a supplement, but not a replacement, for a more powerful laptop. And why would you pay $60 a month for Internet access on a laptop that isn’t your primary computer? Our advice: if you were, for some reason, planning to get a netbook with mobile broadband access, then go ahead and jump on the deal. Otherwise, ignore it. Still, this does open tantalizing possibilities for the future of computer sales. Will laptops eventually be sold cheaply or even given away for free with broadband contracts?
Employee gifts
Looking for some inexpensive gifts for your employees (or anyone else)? Restaurant.com already sells $25 gift certificates for $10. Now, you can get another 70 percent off with the coupon code ONLINE, according to Brad’s Deals. Yes, that’s $3 for a $25 gift certificate. We won’t tell anyone.
Continue reading "A great $3 gift for your employees"
Today's news
Scare tactics, phantom laptops, and Andy Grove on Intel
Posted by Max Chafkin at 12:58 PM
Fear Factor. Fortune polls prescient thinkers like NYU's Nouriel "Dr. Doom" Roubini and Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Meredith Whitney—one of the first to warn that the big banks were in danger—to get their predictions for the state of economy in 2009. What does the good doctor see in his crystal ball? "There's no going back, and there's no bottom to it." Just in case, you wanted to feel a little worse.
Andy Grove has just one word for Intel. Batteries! The company’s 72 year old founder, who retired in 2005, "is urging the chief executive, Paul Otelli, to steer the company into battery production as a way to diversify business as well as fill a strategic niche as automakers shift to production of plug-in electric vehicles," according to today’s Wall Street Journal. The suggestion makes some sense: there are no major U.S. manufacturers building the next generation of car battery and Intel has plenty of cash on hand, $12 billion.
How Coby beat a viral rumor. When "news" broke last week that Coby Electronics was poised to release a $99.95 computer in time for Christmas, the tech blogosphere went crazy. But, as AdAge.com reports, the story was a hoax, leaving Coby with a public relations quandary. How should it tell enthusiastic customers that the highly anticipated product did not exist? First, the company issued an internal statement. Next, Coby’s PR firm started calling tech blogs to ask them to take their posts down. The story was contained, but the idea of a $100 laptop may not have been so crazy after all. Acer announced earlier this week that it would offer a so-called “netbook” computer for $99.99 at Radio Shack stores. (But you have to buy a $60 a month Internet plan.)
The allure of the going out of business sale. When your competitor around the block goes out of business, that's a good thing, right? Not if you're in retail. When stores close up for good they typically hire a liquidation specialist to try to unload inventory and draw in bargain-concsious shoppers. "In a vicious cycle, the 'everything must go' banners and ads are siphoning off shoppers from already struggling retailers, further weakening their results," according to the Wall Street Journal's Ann Zimmerman. It's been happening a lot lately, as stores like Circuit City, Linens 'n Things, and, most recently, KB Toys go under. Adding insult to injury, the sales aren't always really sales. In the early weeks of the Linens 'n Things closeout sale, prices were slightly higher than before. And Circuit City has seen sales spike despite some price increases. A 42 inch TV is 30 percent off right now, but that's still $100 more than it cost several weeks ago. LAST CHANCE, ACT NOW!
FCC vote could make or break startup. The Federal Communications Commission will decide next week on a plan to offer free (and pornography free) wireless internet access for most of the U.S. If approved, the likely beneficiary is M2Z Networks, a Silicon Valley startup backed by heavyweight VC Kleiner Perkins. But Stacey Higginbotham of GigaOm is skeptical, citing high costs and slow speeds. And so is the Bush Administration.
Big media finally gets something right. When News Corp. and NBC announced a joint venture to form an online video site called Hulu, TV fans and techies groaned. After all, YouTube was pretty good already, and was the clear market leader. Not so fast, reports the Big Money: "Hulu is coming up fast on YouTube's flank," logging an impressive 24 million users last month with an average viewing time of 12 minutes. Do your part—and revel in budget jokes—by checking out this instant classic from The Office.
A new model for startup creation. James Siminoff has a proposal for how to fund startups in a tough economy: "I would buy a hotel that is about to go bankrupt (there are a lot of these right now) in the bay area. I would then create in that building a fully self contained incubator; food, shelter, office, Internet, etc. You could then take the young, creative, smart entrepreneurs that have been blocked from funding and put them in your fully contained incubator for them to build their businesses." Although the provocative title of the post is "Y Combinator is Dead," Siminoff's proposal actually has a lot in common with Y Combinator, the Cambridge-based incubator that Ryan McCarthy wrote about here.
Where to get seed funding. If you're interested in other sources of seed funding, check out this roundup from ReadWriteWeb, and, of course, Inc.'s guide to angel investors.
Weekend reading. Check out our feature in this month's print magazine (also available here) on the "Education of an Educated CEO." It's holiday-appropriate—who doesn't enjoy mixed nuts in December?—and it'll make you smarter.
Right now reading. Inc. is now on Twitter, blasting news, updates, and nonsense all day. Follow us and say hello. (Just put @IncMagazine in your tweet and we'll find you.)
December 11, 2008
Recruiting with Tacos, Cuba and McCain
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 11:16 AM
A look at today's headlines from the entrepreneurial world:
An Inspiration. Alison Schuback is Inc.'s Entrepreneur of the Year. In our December issue, Leigh Buchanan lays out Alison's touching and inspiring story here.
Mr. Obama, Tear Down that Wall! Per Reuters, several business groups are hoping that the incoming Obama administration will loosen trade restrictions with Cuba. For more on this issue, check out Sarah Goldstein's piece in Inc. which discusses what a post-Castro Cuba could mean for U.S. entrepreneurs. What's your take? Are these Cold War era restrictions still needed?
What Me Worried? Small companies are cutting back spending in response to slowing sales according to the NFIB. Check out Angus Loten's story on the NFIB's optimism index.
Taco recruiting. Yesterday's Yahoo layoffs were a sad day in Silicon Valley, prompting blog post eulogies and tweets of solidarity. But for Tokbox it was an opportunity. The San Francisco-based video chat startup parked a taco truck outside of Yahoo's headquarters and handed out Mexican fare and job applications, TechCrunch reports. The stunt, an attempt to fill five vacancies, was similar to one tried by Cake Financial earlier this year, which involved a bit of restroom subterfuge.
Is YouTube finally helping to launch small companies? Well, sort of. As The New York Times reports, if you're creative and have mastered the elusive art of the viral – or have a snarky take on celebrity news – the the answer might be yes. One entrepreneur in Connecticut said he's pulling in over $100,000 per year making comedic YouTube videos.
McCain: His Prices are INSANE. "Run, don't walk, to John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign headquarters in Arlington, Va., for an amazing Blowout Sale! Computers, blackberries, televisions, desks, you name it—everything must go," writes Mary Ann Akers of the Washington Post. You don't have to be a former McCain staffer to get in on the action and credit cards are accepted! A sampling of the deals: a BlackBerry 8700c for $30, Dell laptops starting at $417, and folding chairs for $3.60 a pop.
Sign of the apocalypse, part I. A business group has cut an ad in praise of taxes. Advertising Age reports on a 60-second TV spot produced by the International Council of Shopping Centers which encourages consumers to shop in stores—rather than online shops—on the grounds that local governments need the sales tax revenue: "The group hopes to educate consumers about the importance of sales taxes to their communities, saying that more than 33% of a municipalities' annual revenue is generated by sales taxes and those funds go toward schools and hospitals, as well as police and fire departments." The spot stars, of all people, the mayor of Trenton, New Jersey, who proclaims that sales tax revenue is a community's "lifeblood."
Sign of the apocalypse, part II. The hottest company in Silicon Valley needs a bailout. That's the word from Silicon Alley Insider, which reports that Accel Parters, a high flying venture capital firm, just raised two more funds worth $1 billion. The blog predicts that one of those funds should give Facebook a cushion to get through the recession.
Layoff Central. Need the skinny on the latest layoffs? BusinessPundit has a compilation of the sites tracking layoffs and busted start-ups.
Look to Africa for growth. That's the message from the African Business Forum, held last month at the Wharton School: "Just as the African continent has enjoyed proportionally little of the global development that has ignited the economies of other developing regions in recent decades, it has also been slower to suffer the debilitating effects of the world financial crisis—so far."
A Christmas Rebranding. Working with Studio 360 and the journalist Kurt Andersen, the folks at Pentagram Design have given some classic Christmas images a makeover. More on Pentagram Design from Inc. here and here.
What a difference a (really awful) year makes. The New York Times checks back in with three start-ups they profiled in the beginning of 2008. A quick tally: one business failed, one's struggling and one is brimming with confidence.
What's the best corporate structure? A handy chart via Ask the VC.
December 10, 2008
Technology
Where to spend your last budget dollars of 2008
Posted by Hannah Clark Steiman at 2:51 PM
There’s one good aspect to this gloomy recession: you can save on stuff for the office. We scoured discount and coupon websites to find the best deals for business owners. Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks, including tips for saving on shipping.
Laptops, cell phones and gadgets
Get $423 off Dell’s 13” XPS and Vostro laptops. Expires today.Get $50 off a Garmin GPS at Best Buy, with this printable coupon from Brad’s Deals. It expires Dec. 31.
Tech Bargains is offering a Blackberry Bold free with mail-in rebate (and a contract, of course). Find other cell phone deals from Tech Bargains here.
Check out Dell’s 12 Days of Deals, with different discounts every day. Right now, through Dec. 12, get $289 off a Studio 17 laptop.
OnSale is offering MacBook Air laptops for as little as $1149.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate.
Epson is offering a deal a day until Dec. 15. Today it’s a $100 discount on a MovieMate projector.
As always, check out the Apple Store for deals on refurbished Macs and accessories.
Continue reading "Where to spend your last budget dollars of 2008"
Today's news
The New Bebo, Yahoo Layoffs, and Bailouts
Posted by Max Chafkin at 1:06 PM
$850 Million later, AOL has a plan for Bebo. Nine months after agreeing to pay nearly a billion dollars for Bebo, which is the third most popular social network, AOL has revealed what it plans to do with the site, Boomtown reports. Bebo has rolled out a bunch of new features including media recommendations and access to outside email accounts. It's hard to say whether any of this will help the site jumpstart growth, which has stagnated of late as Facebook surges. But it's safe to say that founders Xochi and Michael Birch made out like bandits. Check out Jason Del Rey's Q&A for more.
How to do layoffs, the Yahoo edition. I'm not sure if this advice is worth following. After all, given Yahoo's recent troubles, it seems wise to approach any advice dispensed by its executives with a measure of skepticism. But in case you're wondering how the beleaguered Internet giant plans to lay off 1,500 employees today, Valleywag has the answer. Based on the documents it looks like Yahoo is using firing consultants to smooth things over once the deed is done, a practice you can read more about here.
Wait, is the millennial generation entrepreneurial? In our October cover story, we said yes. Forbes.com says not so much. Writes Steven Berglas: "The oft-raised question—and it's a big one for the U.S.—is whether millennials (also known as 'The Everybody Gets A Trophy' generation) have been so coddled, so inoculated against insults and injury, that they are now too, well, soft to achieve entrepreneurial success." I've heard this cliché before, but I suppose Berglas hasn't heard of Facebook, Meraki, Borrego Solar, or the dozens of companies that have graced our annual 30 under 30 list.
Bailouts, bailouts. So it looks like GM and Chrysler are close to getting $15 billion in short term loans. And, according to the Wall Street Journal, Italy is scrambling to bailout the Parmesan cheese business (though this bailout is a lot cheaper: just 100,000 wheels of cheese, or €50 million). Got a better use for $15 billion and all that Parmesan? Tell us.
December 9, 2008
Today's news
Is Sam Zell an Entrepreneur?
Posted by Max Chafkin at 6:31 PM
Or is he just an investor?
Maybe that's a silly question to ask, but I think it gets to the heart of what's happening at the Tribune Company. The troubled publisher of the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times filed for bankruptcy yesterday.
I don't have anything against investors, and Zell is obviously a brilliant one. He sold Equity Office Properties Trust, the country's largest Real Estate Investment Trust, to Blackstone for $39 billion just before the mortgage meltdown. REITs—like many of Zell's investments—are extremely tax efficient. In fact, much of Zell's career has been about finding brilliant (if sometimes questionable) ways to protect himself and his companies from governmental interference.
Continue reading "Is Sam Zell an Entrepreneur?"
Today's news
The SBA, Bad ESOPs and More Twitter
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 12:01 PM
Credit crunch hits SBA lending. The SBA's Community Express loan program has been drastically cut back in recent months because of the credit crisis and a rule change, the Journal reports. Community Express loans, small loans that are 85 percent guaranteed by the government and require no collateral, have been increasingly popular as other sources of credit dry up. But a rule requiring that the loan program only account for 10 percent of all of the SBA's 7(a) loans has forced the agency to institute strict caps that are leaving some companies out in the cold. In other news, Washington inched closer to
SBA Administrator to become a cabinet position? Sen. Olympia Snowe thinks that's just one of several changes that should be brought to the SBA.
When ESOPs go bad Employee Stock Ownership Plans or ESOPs have long been touted as a way to get your workers (literally) invested in your company's performance. One downside of an ESOP, of course, is that much of your company's financial risk is shifted to your employees. Your company fails and your workers pay. Case in point, per The New York Times: The now-decimated employee holdings at the Tribune Company, which filed for bankruptcy on Monday. More on ESOP's here from Jack Stack, CEO of SRC Holdings, last year in Inc.
What to do when your startup dies. The author of Diary of a Failed Startup, a blog about the history of a dot-com that was not to be, writes about coping with failure, trying to figure out what's next, and lessons he has learned. "The big one: startups are out there, not in your head. You get ideas by engaging with the world around you. That can mean potential customers, or experts in the field, or lead users, or friends, or even potential investors. It's really tempting to hole yourself up in your room
and code, but unless your idea is spot on (and almost no ideas are), this is
a recipe for failure." Sound advice.
Annals of human resources. A front page story in the Wall Street Journal details the curious—some might say creepy—HR policies of Emirates, the state airline of Dubai. "The airline meticulously recruits attractive young men and women from around the world," the Journal reports. "High heels are a must when...in uniform even on the ground. Both men and women are expected to get manicures and facials. Innocuous onboard flirting is condoned: Emirates' rules require attendants to politely accept a business card if it's proffered by a passenger."
Twitter as the leading edge of customer service? Silicon Valley VC guru Guy Kawasaki has a great breakdown of how to use the micro-blogging service as a business tool. And Kawasaki takes a peak into the culture at Zappos.com. (See Inc.'s coverage of Zappos' use of Twittter here, and check out Max Chafkin's story on Twitter's founder, Evan Williams here).
Annals of travel. For other airlines in search of new revenue streams, Joe Sharkey of the New York Times proposes (in jest) a novel idea: airlines charge $15 per passenger not to have one's stuff stolen. The TSA has fired 465 officers for theft in the past 5 and a half years, and paid out $1 million this year in claims for missing or damaged baggage. And even if your iPod makes it through security, you may be losing money on your frequent flier miles. Historically,
December 8, 2008
Employees
Laid Off, But Sticking Around
Posted by Bobbie Gossage at 6:52 PM
Some of the 250 employees of Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago have been staging a sit-in since the factory was closed down on Friday. The employees say they are owed vacation pay, and they weren't given the 60-day notice required by the federal WARN Act.
Like many companies that service the housing market, Republic has been struggling lately. But some at the company blame its shut down on Bank of America, which allegedly cut the company's operating credit and then rejected a plan that would have given employees their vacation pay. Company leaders released this statement today detailing their version of events with the bank.
Also today, Bank of America released its own statement, saying that Republic Windows and Doors closed because it can't operate profitably, and that the bank does not dictate which financial obligations Republic should pay.
What do you think? Did Bank of America do anything wrong?
Today's news
Hot: Virtual goods, Egypt; Not: The Economy
Posted by Max Chafkin at 11:43 AM
A roundup of today's entrepreneurial headlines:
Only the beginning. Stocks may be responding well to the news of a possible auto industry bailout this morning, but the New York Times reports that all other signs point to a long recession. How long? "This recession, which officially began in December 2007, now appears virtually certain to be the longest downturn — and possibly most severe — since the end of World War II." Meanwhile, online consumers are cutting back. The average value of purchases made after Cyber Monday was down 12 percent from last year. But—good news!—sales of virtual goods, like clothes for avatars, are still strong.
Egypt is the new India? At the BusinssPundit blog, there’s a quick discussion of the benefits of outsourcing to Egypt, which was named the 2008 Outsourcing Destination of the Year by the National Outsourcing Association.
The "end" of venture capital. Bold words from Erik Schonfeld at Techcrunch, who connects Paul Graham's essay on startups saying no to venture capital and this post on TheFunded about VCs and their investors. Investors are increasingly unable to meet VC's capital calls and are unloading their investments at "deep discounts," raising the prospect of the shutdown of weaker venture firms. This, Schonfeld says, could hasten a "decoupling" of the venture industry from entrepreneurial tech companies.
The Deep Throat of the banking world? Even regular bank loans may drying up. On Joe Nocera’s blog, a reader known only as “Anonymous Banker” has an interesting treatise on why small companies with great credit can’t get loans right now. The banker’s discussion is fairly technical, but he reports that an entrepreneur of a very credit-worthy medium-sized company—with a credit score of 750, no less—had his line of credit slashed almost overnight.
Website calls out companies that employ illegal immigrants. Perhaps drawing inspiration from the success of DontDateHimGirl.com, a website WeHireAliens.com, allows anonymous posters to expose companies that they believe are violating immigration laws. The Dallas Morning News reports that the accused companies, which contend that their labor practices are sound, are up in arms. But like the alleged Lotharios on the dating website, these companies can't do much to counter the accusations.
The next boom market? One word: infrastructure. Bloomberg reports that the Obama administration plans between $500 billion in infrastructure projects. Look for a boom in state and federal contracting. There’s certain to be controversy over small business set-asides in this process.
PR stunt of the day. Want to make your website “sticky”? Have your CEO let people smack him in the face with a fish.
Flow chart of the day. Another cheeky chart from Indexed.
December 5, 2008
Today's news
Bad News for Facebook, Unemployment and Bratz
Posted by Ryan McCarthy at 12:05 PM
A look at today's headlines from the entrepreneurial world:
More bad news on the economy. "The recession deepened last month," reports the Wall Street Journal. Companies cut more than 500,000 employees from their payrolls, pushing the unemployment rate to 6.7 percent, the highest since 1993. Inc. 500 alum Liquidnet responds by postponing its planned IPO. And oil prices keep going down. Happy Friday!
Wait, small companies are hiring? Small businesses have actually been adding employees for 24 straight months, according to data from a November 2008 survey from SurePayroll. The survey looks at payroll data from over 20,000 small businesses. Earlier this week, payroll giant ADP, for its part, released a report which said small companies shed some 250,000 jobs in November. Check out Angus Loten's rundown of the small business employment landscape.
Facebook calls off sale of employee-held stock. CEO Mark Zuckerberg emailed employees yesterday with some bad news: the company won't be buying their stock. Tech blog Valleywag, which first reported the news, blames the economy and says it's "a crushing blow to morale at the company that was once Silicon Valley's highest-flying startup." (Meanwhile, watch out for Facebook messages from mysterious sources that compliment you on your performance in that Web video. A nasty virus is making the rounds.)
Donald Trump says Donald Trump's condos are too expensive. So reports the New York Times. "But he isn’t cutting the prices," the Times writes. "He says the banks won’t let him." So he's filed suit to avoid paying a $40 million personal guarantee to Deutsche Bank; he wants them to pay him $3 billion.
A recession, a credit crunch and, ah, Twitter? 2008 was - how shall we put it? - eventful. Check out Inc.’s look back on the entrepreneurial year that was.
Bratz gets grounded. A big, shocking blow to Issac Larian, the entrepreneur behind MGA Entertainment, the maker of Bratz Dolls. MGA is actually the world’s largest privately held toymaker, and may now be forced to give up the billion-dollar Bratz brand.
The demise of a family-owned bank. The Washington Post's Steven Pearlstein (a former Inc. editor) eulogizes Chevy Chase bank. After more than a 100 years in the banking business the Saul family has sold out to Capital One at what Pearlstein says was a fire sale price. "With no disrespect meant to Capital One, yesterday's sale of Chevy Chase Bank was a sad day for Washington and the Washington business community," he writes.
Get your marketing moving. Should your CMO be the only one who knows how to market your brand? John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing has a nice rundown of how to get your entire company to buy in to your marketing manifesto.
Whither VCs? Will venture capitalists go the way of The Big Three? The always prescient Paul Graham, the founder of the influential web incubator Y Combinator, argues that the economy is going to help make start-ups less dependent on big-pocketed backers. And, from Austin, there’s more word that green-minded VCs may be staying on the sidelines.
Cash, as you may have heard, is still king. It’s one thing to think you have an killer idea for a world-beating start-up; it’s another thing entirely to be cash-flow positive. Susan Schreter of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer has some helpful tips on how to get from idea to income (via The Entrepreneurial Mind)
One industry that's not hurting: the scooter business. The weak economy has sent scooter sales skyrocketing. They're up 50.6 percent this year, according to the Los Angeles Times. Cheap, fuel efficient mopeds are all the rage at this year's International Motorcycle Show.
December 4, 2008
The Davos Gang Makes Us Look Smart
Posted by Max Chafkin at 1:03 PM
The World Economic Forum—the non-profit best known for it's annual star-studded gathering in Davos, Switzerland—just named the winners of it's 2009 Technology Pioneers competition, an annual innovation award. Etsy, the online market for handmade goods, and Mint.com, the personal finance website, were among the honorees. Coincidentally enough, both companies' founders—Rob Kalin of Etsy and Aaron Patzer of Mint—were among the up-and-coming entrepreneurs we featured in our October cover story. (Kalin appeared on the cover.) The honors are well-deserved. Etsy is a revolutionary company that combines the power of e-commerce and social networks with the ancient idea of craftsmanship. And Mint offers a powerful way for people to keep track of their finances—a worthy goal in our debt ridden society.
Continue reading "The Davos Gang Makes Us Look Smart"
December 2, 2008
What Happened to Pownce?
Posted by Max Chafkin at 8:21 PM
Yesterday, the blogging company Six Apart announced that it had acquired the micro-blogging site Pownce. Pownce will cease to exist as a standalone website and cofounder Leah Culver, who was one of the entrepreneurs under 30 profiled in our October issue, will be moving to Six Apart and shutting down her own website. No financial terms were disclosed but considering the current economic climate, the dominance of Pownce's main competitor Twitter, and the fact that Six Apart just laid off a bunch of people, it’s unlikely this was a huge exit—if cash changed hands at all.
Continue reading "What Happened to Pownce?"
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