August, 2013

article thumbnail

How to Get Busy People to Take Action When You Send an Email

Both Sides of the Table

'We all get a lot of email. And we send off scores of them, too. For important emails we hope for replies or action. If you do the math on the number of inbound emails you get multiplied by the time it would take to read them all and respond to those that expect a reply you would be astounded. It is simply unmanageable. Yet some simple techniques can help massively improve your ability to get people to take action on your important emails.

Email 415
article thumbnail

How Luxury Link Is Growing Its Travel Marketplace, With Scott Morrow

socalTECH

'Scott Morrow is an Internet and startup veteran, having run such companies as Oversee.net and ThisNext, and headed up product marketing for IAC/Citysearch. He''s now transforming Luxury Link (www.luxurylink.com), a local luxury vacation travel company, and ramping up the service in a world where online travel marketplaces (HomeAway, AirBNB, and others) have been growing like crazy.

Pricing 256
Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

VidCon Proves YouTube Stars Are A New Breed Of Celebrities

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. VidCon''s format facilitates a number of opportunities for fans to connect and interact with their YouTube idols. For the uninitiated, VidCon is a mashup between the Consumer Electronics Show and E! Entertainment. Inspired by ComicCon, VidCon is an annual convention centered around the online video community.

Hollywood 237
article thumbnail

Create and nurture your collective intelligence.

Berkonomics

'At the MIT Center of Collective Intelligence, professors and graduate students are wrestling with an important opportunity – and gaining ground. With new collaborative tools available for use in the cloud, people are no longer isolated in their creative endeavors. Some label this “crowdsourcing,” a term used to describe one form of this new empowerment.

article thumbnail

Can You Ask for Office Rent Relief? How to Manage Your Lease During COVID-19

Office leases are one of companies’ largest expenses, and if your whole team is working from home with no clear end in sight, you may be wondering what to do about your lease.

article thumbnail

How Long Should It Take For a Startup to Succeed?

Startup Professionals Musings

'Every startup founder knows implicitly that startup success is a long hard road. Yet we always dream that we are the exception to the rule. So once in a while it’s good to look at some facts to temper our imagination. I was reading an old article written by marketing guru Seth Godin a while back where he mentions that “it takes about six years of hard work to become an overnight success”.

Startup 118
article thumbnail

YouTube Marketing | Top 8 Tips to Increase Sales with Video

Tech Zulu Event

'Advertising your brand utilizing YouTube could increase revenue by millions in under a year. Billion dollar brands like GoPro built their empire marketing with video, but we don’t all have a sea of extreme sports athletes to upload thrilling footage. So here are the top 8 tips from 2 successful brands on what we can do to create engaging content and market our brands using YouTube as our platform.

More Trending

article thumbnail

Elon Musk Unveils Hyperloop, A New Vision For Transportation

socalTECH

'Not one to be shy about grand visions, technology mogul Elon Musk unveiled his plans this afternoon for Hyperloop , a system for transporting people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in mere minutes, using aluminum pods which are sent at speeds of up to 800 miles per hour between the cities. In plans he released Monday afternoon, Musk said that Hyperloop would transport people between San Francisco and Los Angeles in only 30 minutes, using an elevated track above the I-5.

SpaceX 245
article thumbnail

Did You Just Fail The Partnerhip Idiot Test?

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared on Forbes. If your company has said "Yes" to any of the following requests, you have effectively failed the partnership idiot test. If you haven''t already subscribed yet, subscribe now for free weekly Infochachkie articles! Exclusivity. The Ask: "We love what you are doing so much that we have to work with you exclusively.".

Startup 236
article thumbnail

Measuring your power in the Internet marketplace.

Berkonomics

'There are a number of key performance indicators that help new generation company management see more clearly their progress and corporate health. The old measures, including return on investment, percentage of profit against revenue or employee count, and more, obviously are still relevant. But businesses that expose their story to tens of millions of potential customers through the Internet need additional tools.

article thumbnail

10 Cash-Flow Surprises That Could Kill Your Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

'The sad truth is that cash flow surprises kill many startups, even though they should have been adequately funded to survive. Overall, 90% of small business failures are caused by poor cash flow, according to the D&B Small Business website. Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so this is not the place for shortcuts and sloppy practices.

Startup 114
article thumbnail

Be Great Fest | Celebrating Los Angeles’ Startup Ecosystem

Tech Zulu Event

'Meet the next generation of startup success stories at Be Great Fest in Los Angeles. On Sept. 17, entrepreneurs, investors, civic leaders and other key players in the tech industry will gather at the historic Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, Calif. Their mission: to support a charity, savor the hot SoCal nightlife, and transform Los Angeles into the startup capital of the world.

article thumbnail

Bring Me Your Accents. Immigration Fuels Innovation

Both Sides of the Table

'I have lived (England, France, Italy, Spain, Japan & the US) and worked (Ireland, Germany, India) around the world. I adore accents. I listen not only for the country but the region. I became engrossed with the origins of both accents and phrases. One of most fascinating & enjoyable books on the topic is Bill Bryson’s “ Made in America ,” which demystifies the origins of the English language and why Americans speak more traditional English than the English do.

Startup 391
article thumbnail

Flywheel Expands Into Los Angeles, Ramps Up Taxi vs. Rideshare Battle

socalTECH

'The fight between Los Angeles taxicab drivers and services like Lyft and Uber haas just gotten even more interesting, as mobile app developer Flywheel said it has launched in Los Angeles. Flywheel develops a mobile app which lets users hail local taxi companies, track locations, and pay with their smartphone, and says it has launched its service across Los Angeles, starting with Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, San Fernando Valley, and Pasadena.

article thumbnail

Stealth Mode Is Bull$hit

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared in Inc. A Wantrepreneur is a well-intentioned person who wants to be an entrepreneur. They enjoy discussing their startup ideas and revel in the positive social status afforded entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, they lack the skills, personality and risk profile to successfully start and operate a business. Not surprisingly, wantrepreneurs enjoy operating in perpetual stealth mode.

article thumbnail

Create a Powerful Dashboard.

Berkonomics

'From sports car to aircraft to super tanker, successful operation depends upon the pilot’s understanding and urgent timely use of a dashboard. Real time information is critical to real time decision-making, and increasingly in the modern business world, decisions are made by management without extended meetings or discussion with others. And with the rise of modern technology-driven businesses, the same is true of management in the business world.

Metrics 184
article thumbnail

10 Keys to Managing the Business After the Startup

Startup Professionals Musings

'Entrepreneurs often have formidable technical expertise, key to developing a new product or service, but a great naïveté in management skills. They run into difficulty when their business reaches the $1-2 million annual sales range, or their employee count exceeds 5-10. It’s here that entrepreneurs must shift their thinking from tactical and operational, to strategic and managerial.

Startup 109
article thumbnail

Making Money on YouTube | Audience First, Cash Second

Tech Zulu Event

'The brands at the 4th annual VidCon weren’t there to learn video keyword strategies, they weren’t there to pretend to be cool, they were there to understand their audience. To immerse themselves in the culture where their potential customers are actively involved = YouTube. It’s a conference about the community, not as much a business conference. Nick Tran, Social Media Director for Taco Bell said, “The new entertainment for teens is YouTube.

article thumbnail

The Perils of Shiny New Objects

Both Sides of the Table

'I have a saying that I employ as a powerful metaphor at every startup with whom I work – “beware of shiny new objects.” It is one of the easiest pieces of advice to give as it is almost always valuable if entrepreneurs follow it as a guideline. Yet sadly most startups have “shiny object” obsessions. In today’s uber-connected, social media, everything-is-public, people tell you there’s killing it with these new features, investor & mentor whiplash &#

Course 368
article thumbnail

PromoJam Launches New Social Marketing Tool

socalTECH

'Venice, California-based PromoJam , the social marketing startup headed by Matt and Amanda MacNaughton, said this week that it has launched a new tool for launching social, direct, and mobile marketing campaigns. The startup said its new Be Social platform allows marketers to create branded campaigns and promotions, providing ability to create and design campaigns without having to engage a graphics designer.

Tool 225
article thumbnail

Asking Questions Is a Powerful – and Constructive – Form of Communication

Frank Addante

'About a month ago, I e-mailed our employees and asked them to participate in a company survey. It wasn’t a perfectly formed survey, but these were questions that I constantly ask myself. I wanted the team to think about, and ask, the same questions I ask myself. Some of this was to gauge how aligned we are in that thinking; and some of it was for me to understand where we aren’t aligned, and how to communicate or explain why we may be making decisions, or why we’re not.

Journal 94
article thumbnail

Don’t be greedy even if you have the power.

Berkonomics

'Sometimes the end game or sale of the company is not a happy event. Especially when outside investors, venture capitalists, or angels, have put in substantial money and the sales price is less than the value of their investment. Most all experienced VC and angel investors have found themselves in such a situation, since it is the unfortunate truth that half of their investments fail, on average, within the first several years of the investment.

Sales 166
article thumbnail

10 Rules For Working Less And Getting More Done

Startup Professionals Musings

'Every startup founder feels the pressure of the thousands of things that need to get done, all seemingly at the same time. There is just not enough time! The real solution is better productivity and less procrastination, to put you back in control of your business. You need to spend time on important things, as well as the urgent. Many entrepreneurs waste too much time on low-priority administrative tasks, procrastinating on higher priority but tougher tasks, resulting in last minute crises, an

Product 108
article thumbnail

SnapMyAd Wants You To Monetize Your Instagram Pics

Tech Zulu Event

'SnapMyAd is an iOS app that allows Instagram users to monetize their smartphone photos if they let brands use them in their promotional campaigns. The free iOS app connects consumers with their favorite brands on Instagram and rewards them for their best Instagram photos. Consumers have complete control over which brands they interact with, for what perk or reward and which photos they are willing to exchange for those brand perks.

article thumbnail

The Best Pasadena Tech Company You’ve Never Heard Of

Steve Reich

'Why are there great tech companies in Pasadena that no one has heard of? Sometimes the answer is that the team is too busy building a great company to worry about generating press outside their own industry. One example is Bluebeam. They are revolutionizing the Architecture, Engineering and Construction industries by eliminating the need for hard copy blueprints.

article thumbnail

Naki Laundry Expands Into San Jose, Eyes San Francisco

socalTECH

'Naki Laundry , the smartphone driven startup which has been offering up pickup, cleaning, and delivery of laundry, has expanded into San Jose, and is looking to expand to San Francisco next month, according to the company. The startup--which currently offers services in Santa Monica, Santa Barbara, and a number of other locations, also said it plans to expand services shortly to Brentwood, Westwood, Beverly Hills and West LA.

article thumbnail

Advertising Automation Goes Well Beyond RTB

Frank Addante

'I spent a few days in New York last week with members of the press and industry influencers and realized that RTB is getting a lot of attention. But RTB isn’t the only thing that matters when it comes to advertising automation. There’s also static bids, programmatic guarantee, and direct order automation. RTB is less than half of the total automated advertising market.

article thumbnail

Marketing Mistakes Serial Entrepreneurs Only Make Once

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared in The Wall Street Journal. A startup''s marketing launch strategy should resemble an inverse funnel. As the launch proceeds, the degree of influence of the parties exposed to your solution should commensurately grow. This approach allows your venture to "fail in the small" and make course corrections before spending significant marketing resources.

Marketing 247
article thumbnail

Every Startup Needs Six Social Media Initiatives

Startup Professionals Musings

'An all-too-common question I get from startups and small businesses is “Which is the right social media platform for my business?” Is it Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or one of the other 200 active platforms vying for attention these days? The right answer is that not all of these are worth your attention, but it’s probably more than one. The “Tyranny of the OR” is a concept from the business best-seller “ Built to Last ,” by James C.

article thumbnail

Werner Herzog’s “From One Second to the Next” Premiere at the Pacific Design Center #ItCanWait

Tech Zulu Event

'In West Hollywood, Los Angeles last night, Werner Herzog’s new documentary, “From One Second to the Next” premiered at the Silver Screen Theater located within MOCA’s Pacific Design Center followed with Q&A from the legendary director himself. As part of the “ It Can Wait ” movement, sponsored by AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile; this film won’t be shown in any theaters but screened across over 40,000 high schools as well as being made publicly availabl

Design 98
article thumbnail

The 7 “Free” Ways to Get Traffic on the Web

Jason Nazar

'The 7 Ways to Get (unpaid) Traffic on the Web. “If You Build It…They Will Come”, may work for historical baseball ghosts, but it’s not a strategy you can rely on when starting an internet company.Driving traffic to your website is a formula that can be reverse engineered. Other than paying for traffic with advertising, there are only so many ways to get people to show up at your door.

Web 61
article thumbnail

Radical.FM Takes On Music Streaming For iOS

socalTECH

'A Los Angeles startup has launched itself into the streaming music fray today on iOS, saying it has debuted an iOS version of Radical.FM , a new music streaming service offering up a catalog of 25 million songs--and including such artists as The Beatles, AC/DC, and Bob Seger. The Venice, California startup, led by Thomas McAlevey, said it differentiates itself from the current crop of streaming music services by offering up a human algorithm, rare online tracks, and "pay-what-you-can" music str

Startup 223
article thumbnail

A New Project Incubator For New Innovations

Frank Addante

'Last week, we rolled out nine initiatives as part of our strategy that balances innovation and scale. Every initiative has a clear owner and dedicated teams; and each one is fully aligned and has the same goals. We have four major initiatives and the rest are going into the Rubicon Project Incubator, where projects will be managed like a start-up. We don’t expect all of the incubator’s innovations to work.

article thumbnail

Here Is What You Missed At VidCon 2013

InfoChachkie

'A version of this article previously appeared in Forbes. If you were not walking the halls of the Anaheim Convention last week, you missed a whole lot at the VidCon 2013. What follows is a blow-by-blow account of the convention''s Industry Day keynotes, which focused on the current and future status of the online video ecosystem. Never heard of VidCon?

Course 190
article thumbnail

7 Tips For Entrepreneurs Who Like To Work Alone

Startup Professionals Musings

'You can’t win as an entrepreneur working alone. You need to have business relationships with team members, investors, customers, and a myriad of other support people. That doesn’t mean you have to be a social butterfly to succeed, or introverts need not apply. It does mean that you need to look, listen, and participate in the business world around you, and network through all available channels, like business-oriented social networks online (LinkedIn), local business organizations (Chamber of C

article thumbnail

The Talent Tourniquet | Making Los Angeles Startup Friendly

Tech Zulu Event

'One of the hotter topics at the last Silicon Beach Fest (SBF) in Santa Monica was the exodus of homegrown tech talent. Some refer to it as “brain drain.” Others call it “talent flight,” while academics coined the phrase “mind migration.”. Whatever clever moniker one employs, the issue of keeping engineering talent from fleeing the area is a topic that’s creating an unfamiliar feel on the shores of Silicon Beach.

article thumbnail

Friday Infographic: LA Accelerators and Incubators

socalTECH

'Confused about the myriad of incubators and accelerators in the Los Angeles area? A new infographic, released this week, has summarized some of the local startup incubators and accelerators in Los Angeles, plus detailed some of the terms of their investments in companies. We''ve reprinted it below. The infographic was created by local high tech video production creative and strategy, and content syndication company 4WT Media , along with partner Fresh Development.

Incubator 222