Tags: succesful startups

.CO Exclusive

SXSW Insights – From Our Startup to Yours

03.23.12 By Linda Koritkoski

.CO Exclusive Linda Koritkoski is the Director of Marketing for .CO Internet

In 2011, .CO had barely just launched, and our marketing team (myself included) assumed SXSW would be just another sponsored event. We set up some unique activities and sent a few of our team members to attend. Boy, did we underestimate the power of SXSW! While what we did was still amazing, we came back knowing that the SXSW monster needed far greater firepower if we were to battle it again. So this year, nearly our whole team was sent to Austin, and this time we were armed and ready to squeeze every last drop of opportunity out of SXSW. You can learn a little bit more about what we did here and here. Read more from Linda Koritkoski

.CO Exclusive

Thinking of Starting a Business? Don’t Forget These Five Essentials

02.14.12 By Rebecca Malik

.CO ExclusiveRebecca Malik is the President at 17thandRiggs.com, an online source for contemporary furniture and lighting, where she helps you create a fresh, modern space.  Her site has been featured in well-known publications such as Southern Living and online with sites such as the popular Daily Candy. She is a blogger for WomenGrowBusiness.com, where she shares ecommerce and small business management tips.

As a small business owner since 2008, I’ve encountered an array of frustrations and roadblocks in running and growing my company.  I must admit that my response to many of these hiccups has been more reactive than proactive.  However, these hasty actions can be avoided and you can operate more effectively if you start off on solid footing.  To that end, consider the following five fundamentals when in the planning stage of your business. Read more from Rebecca Malik

Get Inspired

Secrets of Succesful Startups: The Treats Truck

12.15.11 Posted from CBS MoneyWatch

In 2007, Kim Ima bought and rehabbed a truck that she drives around New York City, selling homemade cookies and other sweets. The Treats Truck is now a successful business. She tells hosts Laurel Touby and Jennifer Hill how she generated national publicity, landed a book deal and more. Read more on CBS MoneyWatch

Startups

Do You Have a Good Startup Idea?

10.31.11 Posted from The Founder Institute

George Deeb, Managing Partner of Red Rocket Ventures and Founder of iExplore, shares his advice on determining whether or not you have a good business idea, with a good revenue model in a sizeable market. You can read the full post here, which is part of George’s “101 Startup Lessons – An Entrepreneur’s Handbook.” Below is an excerpt.

“I am always asked what are the key drivers of success for a start-up.  And, honestly, there is no single right answer to this question.  But, what I have boiled it down to, is the fact that most start-ups require the right mix of: (1) a good business idea/revenue model in a sizeable market; (2) an experienced, hungry management team with the right skills for the job; and (3) the right market timing with a little bit of luck.  And, not necessarily in that order. Read more from George Deeb

.CO Exclusive

Steps to Use Your Professional Network for Growing Your Business

10.24.11 By Raj Malik

.CO ExclusiveRaj Malik is CEO & Co-Founder of KikScore, an exciting startup that helps small online businesses use their own track record of reliability and trustworthiness to increase sales and close more leads. Raj is a contributor to his company’s blog, a past speaker at SXSW and is passionate about helping small business and entrepreneurs succeed.

We are all busy with operating, managing and running our businesses.  Just recently, we here at KikScore have been busy shuttling between lunch meetings, phone calls, various team check-ins, touch points with partners, drinks with our corporate development friends and meetings with colleagues, friends and family that at times double as advisors.  When you are in the midst of similar activities, do you stop to consider who or what the source of that activity is?  Essentially, who sparked the activity, meetings, partnerships etc that are so critical to the growth of your business? Read more from Raj Malik

Get Inspired

Success? It’s Just a Decision Away

10.13.11 Posted from BNET

True story: I’m eating dinner with two old friends. (It’s a downer when you realize “old friends” doesn’t just indicate length of relationship but our respective ages.)

One says, “I hate being fat. I’ve tried everything but can’t lose weight. What do you think?”

“I don’t think you want to lose weight,” I said. (I know, kind of blunt. Normally I would deflect and evade, but I know he wants to hear what I really think.) Read more from BNET

Startups

5 Startup Tips for Non-Technical Co-Founders

10.10.11 Posted from Tech Cocktail

If you are a non-technical person ready to put together a startup, there are some very important things you must do before you start to look for a technical co-founder, though in fact, you can launch your tech startup without one.

One of the first things I did when I left my  job at Goldman Sachs was to start looking for a technical co-founder.  I read multiple blog posts and commentaries about the difficulty of finding a technical co-founder.  Some were nicer than others.  But the less encouraging ones put zero value on being a business co-founder.  The comments section for many of these posts were filled with “How could you possibly think someone will want to join you?”

But then I realized why. Read more from Tech Cocktail

Startups

Students Helping Startups: Free Social Media Marketing Program – Apply Now

08.13.11 Posted from Tech Cocktail

Students Helping Startups is an innovative new program at Howard University in Washington, DC. Here’s the concept: There are lots of students learning about marketing and social media, and they need projects to take on for the semester. At the same time, Professor Angela Hausman noticed there are lots of startups out there who may enjoy some help marketing their product or service. So why not match them up?  Students get real-world experience and startups get actual help. Read more from Tech Cocktail

.CO Exclusive

Real FAQs about Business & Success

07.08.11 By Isha Edwards

Isha Edwards is an idea catalyst whose skills and experience enables her to implement a brand-driven approach to establishing, operating, and growing a business.

So you want to start a business. In order of priority, perhaps you believe you need a business plan, money, time, space, people and passion—right? Actually, the most important thing to have before starting a business is an exceptional idea. After all, it is the idea that provides the potential to generate revenue or resources-in-kind. Having an exceptional idea also justifies your endeavor. The following are answers to real FAQs about business and success.

Read more from Isha Edwards