Alltopstartups

Social Media Usage Trends And Facts

Thomas Oppong — Tue, 22 May 2012 09:16:25 +0000

Internet usage is growing at a phenomenal rate across all continents. The interesting revealation is that a lot more people are gradually shifting internet access from laptops to portable mobile devices (smartphones and tablets). Popular among sites accessed are social sites. EMarketer predicts there will be a whopping 1.43 billion social network users in 2012, representing a 19.2 percent increase over 2011 figures. This figure could just be the beginning. With the increase in smartphone and tablet usage among internet consumers, the numbers are bound to grow at an amazing rate. Social media is here to stay.This offers opportunities for small businesses and companies that are targeting internet consumers.

Broadband service providers will witness a surge in consumer subscriptions. Companies will keep offering competitive packages to attract the greater percentage of mobile(tablet) internet users. Public(airport, train stations, business streets) WiFi service providers are now thinking of strategic ways to offer mobile internet to tablet users without internet subscription packages.

Facebook is now a public company and a few social services including the fastest growing social network Pinterest could go public in the future as well. Millions of people are now very confident to share personal images and data online with friends and even strangers. Klout, a social platform on authority of digital influence attempts to to help individuals and businesses figure out how influential they are in their social space.

Businesses are beginning to treat social channels more like communication platforms. Social media has become an integral part of customer support. Businesses are now listening and taking feedback from the millions of their prospective customers and customers on social media sites. “While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.” said Senior Research Specialist and report co-author Mary Madden.

Now some social media facts:
-Twitter encountered 16,000 tweets per second in January 2012, almost doubling that of the start of 2011.
-Users spend a total of 6.7 billion hours on social networks towards the close of 2011.
-82% of the worlds online population are using social media networks, boasting 1.2 billion users.
-In December 2011 Pinterest became one of the top 10 largest social networks with 11 million visits per week.
- Youtube records 2 billion views per day.
- Over 250 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every day.

How To Find The Right Startup Incubator To Jump Start Your Dreams

Guest Author — Mon, 21 May 2012 22:40:09 +0000

The biggest obstacle that entrepreneurs face is to rise funding for their startups. Even when they have the capital to start, their lack of experience is something they cannot overcome. Finding the right incubator will swing the odds in favor of the entrepreneurs as they will receive funding and guidance from the top minds in the industry.

What do Incubators do?

Incubators help entrepreneurs develop their business either by funding them or by providing them other resources such as equipment, facility to develop their prototype or even expert guidance. The nature of the incubator varies as some of them are community based non-profit organizations helping budding entrepreneurs realize their dreams and create job opportunities for that community. Others are run by successful organizations or business men looking to invest in new technology and talent. They provide all the support that is needed in the beginning stages of the startup for a portion of the profits.

What to expect from an Incubator?

Some Incubators provide you the office space and the equipment required for a fixed monthly fee. This is perfect for entrepreneurs whose business revolves around interacting with people. Incubators are also known to conduct one on one class with industry experts, which is a paid service. If you are enrolling for this you need to make sure that this service is not merely a text book course rather, one that encompasses the experience of both the incubator and the expert.

Understand the Terms and Conditions clearly

Be cautious before giving away equity shares to the incubator. Thoroughly understand the value an incubator adds to your Organization. The most critical point is the intellectual property right, it is in your discretion and if you feel pressured at any point, know that it is time to bail out. Read through all the agreement carefully before signing it and if you have a personnel attorney ask him to check it before you sign it.

Check for Credentials

It is the duty of the entrepreneur to check whether the Incubator can deliver on their promises. The Incubator’s leadership should be able to raise enough money for you through venture capitalists and angel investors. This can be verified by enquiring about the startups the incubator worked with prior to you. The incubator should have the right network for your startup to become successful.

This is a Guest post by Girish Kumar A M, who is Serial Entrepreneur and Project Manager at www.starting-business.in which provides comprehensive details on starting your own business and running it successfully.

How to Navigate the Online Payment Processing Seas

Guest Author — Fri, 18 May 2012 22:02:06 +0000

Your online business rises and falls on margins. You need to make every penny you can from every transaction, and spending money on merchant fees and payment processing charges eats into your profits. At the same time, you need secure and reliable business partners to work with. Choosing the right payment processor is an important factor in both the stability and profitability of your online business.

Yet, the world of online payment processors isn’t particularly intuitive. There are many choices out there, and what’s right for another business may not be right for yours. Competition can be fierce, and often the loudest voice simply wins. You’ve got to understand the marketplace and made the decisions that are best for your business.

Here are some key factors to consider when choosing an online payment processor:

You need to start by identifying the characteristics of your transactions. By that, we’re talking about having some idea of how many transactions you’re going to need to have processed each month, and how much your average transaction is going to be. For a website that sells a single product, it’s easy enough to figure the average transaction value. For a site that sells a wider range of products, however, it can be a much more daunting prospect.
Processors vary widely on their rates and fees. Once you know what your transaction value and volume are going to look like, you can start to compare apples to apples. Some processors are more geared toward high-volume, low-value sites, whereas other processors are better for high-dollar purchases. Make sure you get a full rate and fee sheet from the payment processor so that you’re not facing surprise fees when it comes to the end of the month.
Look into currency acceptance, as well. Depending on just how international your business is, you may need to talk to your payment processor about foreign currency exchanges. You can take a real hit here if you’re not careful.
Security matters to both you and your customers. Making sure that your payment processor meets industry-standard security specifications is important. Not only will it reduce the risk of chargebacks and other payment problems, having a strong security policy and protocol in place will also help to boost your site’s credibility, and can help to reduce shopping cart abandonment.
Eventually, you might decide a merchant account is best. Using a third-party payment processing company is in many ways ideal for an Internet business. You don’t need to worry about too much in the way of software configuration, for example. But you pay for the convenience; rates and fees may be higher than they would be if you had your own direct merchant account with a bank.

Ultimately, it’s up to you to decide which payment processor is best for you. You need to collect as much data as you can from potential payment processors, compare it with what you know about your business, and pick the processor that best fits your needs and your operations.

Emma Vasar is a finance expert whose passion for small business turned into her compiling a database of valuable information. Read more about it on her blog at http://www.MerchantAccount.net/!

Some of The Best Recruitment Practices For Small Businesses

Thomas Oppong — Thu, 17 May 2012 23:48:26 +0000

Hiring is an important stage in every business. At some stage in your business, you will need smart people to complete the business processes. You should devote quality time to hunt for the best if you have to hire your first employees. Once you have found the need for a new role, identify the job description, person specification. If you will be doing the recruitment yourself as founders you should also have your recruitment procedures handy and you should know about employment contracts.

A lot of startups are now considering new ways to hire talent in addition to the usual ways including contracting a third party agency, Offshore Recruitment with the heavy use of the internet. In recent times, startups now also rely on professional referrals, social network recommendations and social media. social media offers recruiting managers and founders a larger applicant pool to work with.Lots of sites have bben created to handle recruitment for small to large businesses.

A lot of startups fall back to their social profiles and reach out to their followers to help me recruit the very best talent. Build your social following, interact and listen and you will find great value in it when the time comes for you to recruit.

Build your own database of contacts to handle the few good ones as you screed further in the process. There are now even tools to help you manage your recruitment with ease. Make prudent use of your resources when hiring. In a perfect diagram, you can link each of the few candidates selected to the people you know and how they are connected them.

Recruiting for a startup tends to take time and the process is a two-way street because in as much as you expect the your potential employees to impress you and your team, you also have to prove why they should be working with you/why they should choose a startup or an existing corporate enterprise.

You could attract talent to you business or startup by sharing your company culture, values, best practices and what makes you unique with your users, customers or prospective customers. Information about a successful startup are usually shared via blogs, slides, white papers and downloadable materials. Make it easy for people to find you and know about what you stand for.

Japanese e-Commerce Platform Rakuten Invests $100 Million In Pinterest

Thomas Oppong — Thu, 17 May 2012 22:08:10 +0000

Pinterest, the sensational social bookmarking site has raised a whopping $100 million from Japanese e-Commerce Platform Rakuten, at a $1.5 billion valuation today. If you are still new to Pinterst, the social service is a content sharing service that allows members to “pin” images, videos and other objects to their pinboard.

“We see tremendous synergies between Pinterest’s vision and Rakuten’s model for e-commerce. Rakuten looks forward to introducing Pinterest to the Japanese market as well as other markets around the world,” said Rakuten CEO Hiroshi “Micky” Mikitani in a press release.

He further stated that “Initially, the partnership with Rakuten will help support Pinterest’s global expansion,” said Neel Grover, CEO of Rakuten’s Buy.com. “Rakuten’s global investment in e-commerce is illustrated by a presence in 17 countries and regions through 13 group companies. Longer term, there are a number of opportunities for meaningful partnerships between the two companies, as there are tremendous synergies between Pinterest’s vision and our model for e-commerce where both retailers and consumers are more social, interactive and empowered.”

Pinterest had raised about $37.5 million through its Series A, Series B and angel rounds before the latest investment from Rakuten.

Rakuten ranks among the top 10 internet companies in the world. Among its numerous online properties, its flagship B2B2C (business-to-business-to-consumer) model e-commerce site Rakuten Ichiba is the largest e-commerce site in Japan and among the world’s largest by sales.

Is Telemarketing A Good Place For Startups To Start?

Guest Author — Thu, 17 May 2012 19:56:43 +0000

When most people think of telemarketing, they think about making cold calls that really do nothing but annoy customers. Unfortunately, this is a common misconception that takes away from some of the ways that telemarketing can really help a company and a consumer. Telemarketing allows your staff to use lead generation methods, up-selling tactics, and customer satisfaction surveys to help increase your sales. It saves your staff time because they do not need to be sent out to meet with a client or customer.

On that same note, telemarketing makes things easier on the customer. It is much easier for someone to understand complicated information over the phone, and asking questions is an important element that can sometimes be confusing through email. Although chatting over the web is slowly becoming more and more popular, many startup companies are still sticking to telemarketing to meet these needs. There are two types of telemarketing:

Inbound – This refers to putting your company phone number on promotional material such as an email marketing campaign or a newsletter. Consumers will then use the number they see to call and make a purchase and the telemarketer will take down all the necessary information and close the sale.
Outbound – This describes the process of trying to sell a product or service by calling a list of customers and/or potential customers.

Because telemarketing is so cost effective, most companies will actually use both inbound and outbound telemarketing in order to help grow the company. VoIP phone systems are the most popular way to get started with telemarketing although traditional phone systems work just fine for a startup.

However, outbound marketing can fall into the “annoying” stage if done incorrectly. Consider some of the things you should tell your telemarketers before you set them free to talk with consumers:

How to Make Sure Your Telemarketing is Done Right

1. Get the right list of people before you begin making your calls.

It can sometimes take time to figure out who your target audience is and where you can get contact information. You want to get this information organically as opposed to buying it for a better chance of success. If the people on the other end of the phone are quality leads, your telemarketing time will be spent well.

2. Create goals for your telemarketing team.

Telemarketing can be a strenuous job, so it’s important to set achievable goals just as you would in any other department. You want to make sure that each member of your staff has an equal number of people they should be calling in one day. It’s also important that telemarketers get frequent breaks so that they sound energized on the phone.

3. Have a plan for all of the different scenarios that could occur on the phone.

You want to set your telemarketers up right. Make sure that you a have a routine that your employees can use when talking to a potential customer. This will help create a quick response time for customers and will help alleviate some of the stress that often hits a telemarketer. The more knowledgeable your staff, the more apt someone is to choose your company over another. However, it is important to make sure that your staff is not reading off of a script. This is often obvious, so simply make sure this “routine” is nothing but notes and a clear understanding in the employee’s mind.

4. Be prepared for what happens after you make a sale.

Many startups put a lot of time and effort into setting up the call and making the sale. However, it’s also important to be prepared for what happens after a sale. Make sure that your employees are equipped with this knowledge whether it be an immediate email message that must occur, recording something down in a document, or mailing something that day. This will help show the customer that he/she did not make a mistake choosing your company.

5. Always ask questions to determine what it is a potential customer needs.

Some startup companies forget that telemarketing is probably most important because it allows for questions. Always make sure that your employees understand the important of listening while on the phone. This will allow your company to make sure you can give a customer exactly what they need; thus helping improve his/her experience.

Have you used telemarketing as a way to jumpstart your startup? What were your experiences?

Photo Credit: telemarketingdialer.org

Amanda DiSilvestro is a writer on topics ranging from social media to document scanning. She writes for an online resource that gives advice on topics including document software to small businesses and entrepreneurs for Resource Nation.

Startup Funding Roundup: These 8 Tech Startups Scored Over $73 Million This Week

Thomas Oppong — Sat, 12 May 2012 20:47:15 +0000

Another funding week is over, and these 8 startups have secured funding. Funding is a lengthy process but if you do not give up, your startup will be the next one tto raise funds in the near future to take your product to the next level, expand your network and partners and grow your business. But you do not necessarily need funding to succeed. Look into bootstrapping, you could take your business up the success ladder without venture funding. Friends and family are good alternatives to funding as well. These 8 startups are in focus this week.

1. San Francisco-based RichRelevance, which develops personalization software used by e-commerce retailers and others to recommend relevant products, raised $20M in a new funding round. The round was led by Crosslink Capital

2. Gumroad, which is developing mobile payments software to help users sell items using only a simple link, raised $8M in a Series A funding round.

3. Pricenomics, an online site which provides an estimated price of products to users, scored $1.5M in a seed funding round. The funding came from Andreessen Horowitz, Spark Capital and SV Angel.

4. Neuvora, a developer of a big data analytics platform, raised a first round of institutional funding. Size of the funding round was not disclosed. Nuevora said the funding came from Fortisure Ventures.

5. Leap Motion, which develops motion control software, secured $12.75M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Highland Capital Partners.

6. Flint Mobile, a developer of a mobile payments app targeted at small businesses, raised $3M in a Series A round, the firm said today. The firm, which is led by co-founder and CEO Greg Goldfarb, said the funding came from Storm Ventures and True Ventures.

7. Coupa Software, which develops spending optimization software for the business market, raised $22M in a Series E funding round. The round was led by Crosslink Capital.

8. Drawbridge, a developer of mobile advertising targeting software, scored $6.5M in a Series A funding round. The round came from Kleiner Perkins Cuafield & Byers and Sequoia Capital.

Turntable.fm Is Now Available For Your Android

Thomas Oppong — Fri, 11 May 2012 22:32:22 +0000

Turntable.fm, a social media website that allows users to interactively share music has launched its service for Android smartphone users today. Turntable connects you and your friends in a real time music listening experience. Play music together for free on the internet or your iPhone.

Turntable.fm until today was available online and for the iPhone. The Turntable.fm Android app has similar features like the iPhone app.

Turntable.fm lets you play music together with your friends and other people online. Each DJ takes a turn playing a song and the entire virtual room hears the song. You can vote on whether the song is awesome or lame and if it receives too many lame votes, it gets skipped. You can chat with people in your room or fan your favorite DJs so that you can find them later.

Just like in real life, everybody gets to listen and chat with each other, whichever avatar is DJing bobs its head, and everybody knows whether they have a Mac or a PC.

Unlike the desktop version, the Android app doesn’t let you add music to other services such as Spotify and Rdio.

DEMO Launches DEMO Africa, To Be In Kenya

Thomas Oppong — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:23:39 +0000

DEMO, a technology conference for launching innovative companies in enterprise, mobile, cloud computing, consumer, social media and disruptive technologies today announced the launch of DEMO Africa. The conference scheduled for October 24-26, 2012 will be held at the InterContinental Hotel in Nairobi, Kenya. DEMO focuses on showcasing new products from both entrepreneurs and established companies. DEMO has built a track record of selecting, coaching, promoting and making successful innovative technology companies.

Produced by IDG Enterprise in conjunction with VentureBeat, the DEMO conferences in the United States, China, Brazil and Singapore focus on emerging technologies and new product innovations. The DEMO conferences have served as launch pad events for companies such as, Adobe Acrobat, E-Trade, IVideosongs, Salesforce.com, TiVo, VMware and WebEx helping them to secure venture funding, establish critical business relationships, and influence early adopters.

The newest addition to DEMO’s Global Launch Program, DEMO Africa 2012 will provide the most innovative emerging and established companies from African countries the opportunity to launch their products on stage and announce to Africa and the world they have arrived. The event will also act as a platform for companies outside the region looking to launch in the African market.

“Africa is emerging as a hotbed for technology and innovation,” said Neal Silverman, senior vice president, DEMO. “DEMO Africa 2012 allows for a collaborative environment where leading minds and companies from African nations can come together to gain exposure on a global level.”

DEMO also announced at the World Economic Forum today its partnership with the U.S. Department of State, Microsoft, Nokia, African Development Bank, USAID, and Global Entrepreneurship Week to launch the Liberalizing Innovation Opportunity Nations (LIONS@FRICA) Partnership, a new public-private alliance aimed to enhance and deepen Africa’s startup and innovation ecosystems. As part of that partnership, LIONS@FRICA will work with IDG Enterprise and CIO East Africa (publishers of CIO and CIO100 in East Africa) to produce DEMO Africa. All three organizations are determined to connect African innovators and entrepreneurs to the global innovation grid.

Applications are currently being accepted for companies to launch products at DEMO Africa 2012. All interested organizations should submit initial company information via the “Apply Now” button at Demo.com

For more information on the partnership and sponsorship opportunities visit meetthelions.org. You can also follow LIONS@FRICA on Twitter @lionsafrica.

Startups: 5 Things You Should Never Outsource, And A Few You Should

Guest Author — Thu, 10 May 2012 14:18:04 +0000

Whether well funded or on a shoestring budget, financial accountability is the name of the game for all startups, regardless of industry. In streamlining operations, there are some functions that should remain in house, and a few that are best left to experts outside the company – in other words, roles and responsibilities that make good business sense to outsource. Some may be logical, or even obvious, and some may be things seldom considered when outsourcing comes to mind.

Let’s start with intrinsic company roles that should always remain internal:

Executive leadership. Why leadership with no “skin in the game” is not smart: this may seem like a no-brainer, but some startups may bring on serial entrepreneurs or even venture capitalists that do not possess the same vision for the company as the founders. Executive leadership for startups should be lean and uncomplicated. The more cooks in the kitchen can mean a muddled future for a once bright operation.

Marketing and Sales. Having one dedicated marketing director to manage campaigns in key to early promotion and success, and sales execs keep your pipeline full. Quite simply, marketing and sales are the lifeblood of your company’s profits. Innovative and bright marketers are worth their weight in gold, and the same can be said for skilled salespeople. Develop robust bonus and commission programs that attract the best talent and will make pay more performance based than a set salary.

Social media manager. Relying on outside resources for social can get very expensive and user engagement needs to be managed in real time. In today’s digital era, a good social media manager can be found right in your own backyard – in a graduation cap and gown. Today’s college grads have grown up with social media and know its inner workings, unwritten rules, and how to engage fans and build a following. A good social media manager is an invaluable arm of your marketing team.

Customer/client services. Startups need a real voice for their brand, and highly trained client service reps are the front lines. Your company’s first impression to customers and clients should always be stakeholders in your vision – not call center reps located off shore. Outsourced service reps have their place, but entrepreneurs have more risk in the beginning and can’t afford to make their debut in client services a flop.

Termination management. Firing employees is a reality for every business, including startups. To keep things discreet, you’ll want to make sure such moves are handled by insiders “in the know”. Confidentiality is of the utmost importance in these delicate matters, and you want someone who is a part of the team to handle the situation gingerly, but firmly, and with the company’s best interests in mind.

Crucial elements startups should outsource

Legal counsel. To hire a top-notch corporate attorney, a startup would have to cough up a healthy 6-figure salary, a financial stake in the company, and a bevy of benefits. Many legal functions can be accomplished online with pre-drafted forms. This leaves money on the table for strategically sound legal advice when it’s needed, and not on retainer.

Human resources. Compliance is the name of the game in HR, and not knowing HR law inside and out (and most entrepreneurs don’t) could spell trouble. Cover your bases with third party HR management and guidance. Many HR functions can be automated as well. Make sure the firm you hire have experts on staff that know the pitfalls of hiring, firing, discipline, and benefits administration.

Public relations. The need for good PR is vital, but staffing someone full time is neither practical nor fiscally responsible. Hire a firm for on demand PR, only if or when it’s needed, as in managing a sticky service problem that’s gone public. If you have a team member who is also a good writer, press releases can be produced in house. Social media can function as “virtual PR” and executive leadership can speak on behalf of the company to the media.

Information Technology. Let’s face it: developers and network administrators don’t come cheap. Many of these functions don’t require full time staff, especially among developers. Many of these talented professionals prefer to freelance for a few different outfits than be tied to one. In addition, startups can choose cloud-based network options, eliminating the need for dedicated IT staff. Enterprise applications are also more affordable for a flat monthly storage and management fee.

Accounting. You want your company numbers nearby, but not necessarily in-house. An experienced accountant, like legal counsel, will command a hefty salary and benefit package. A key player in your company’s financial wellbeing, a good, outsourced accountant keeps the company visionaries for a startup honest and realistic, and prevent mistakes before they happen.

In conclusion, each startup is unique and will have different attitudes and preferences as to what to keep in-house and what to outsource. The key is to think realistically and also creatively to determine which scenario is right for your company, and to commit to synching both internal and external processes for the best outcome possible.

About the Author: Dylan Mazeika is an online writer with a background in marketing and small business. He enjoys writing articles and guest posts on the latest business and design trends, and helping small business owners with logo maker.