October 2012
14 posts
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Hiring Platform The Resumator Raises $2.1M Series...
Hiring platform The Resumator has raised a $2.1 million Series B round led by Birchmere Ventures,Rincon Venture Partners and Salesforce.com. Innovation Works and ff Venture Capital also participated in this round. Rincon Venture Partners was also the lead investor in The Resumator’s $700,000 Series A round in 2011. The company, which was founded in 2009, also previously received seed funding...
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ShopperTrak Aims To Improve Its In-Store Analytics...
ShopperTrak, a company analyzing foot traffic data for retailers, just announced that it has acquired surveillance analytics startup ReTel Technologies. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In the press release announcing the deal, ShopperTrak Chief Marketing Officer Ed Marcheselli described ReTel as “an ideal complement” to the company’s existing services. The startup uses human...
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Twitter Now Has “Over 2,000 Ways” To Interact And...
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Today, Twitter gave us an update on how the company is doing on its “expanded tweet” program. Right now, the company says that there are over 2,000 unique ways to engage and interact with a tweet:[[MORE]]
Earlier this summer, we introduced the ability to expand Tweets to see content previews, photos and videos right within a Tweet. At that time, we were working with a small group...
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Amazon Reveals How It Views Google’s Cloud Efforts...
Amazon has revealed a bit of detail for how it views Google’s cloud efforts in a lawsuit filed against a former employee on grounds he violated a non-compete clause.
Amazon filed the lawsuit on behalf of Amazon Web Services, claiming Daniel Powers, its former vice president of sales, has violated a severance agreement by taking a new job at Google as a director of cloud platform sales. In June,...
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Airbnb Says Today’s $117M Form D Filing Is Part Of...
In September we broke the story about how the short-term accommodation-sharing site Airbnb was in the process of raising a significant third round of around $100 million. A Form D filed with the SEC today shows that it’s raised north of that: $117 million (or $117,051,696, to be exact). Airbnb says that this filing, although made only today, is part of last year’s Series B. The company has raised...
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Skype Gets Retina-Ready, Adds Multi-Window Chat...
Skype hit version 6 today, with a rare simultaneous release for both Windows and Mac. This brings a whole bunch of new features to the table, including single sign-on with both Facebook and Microsoft credentials, so that new users don’t even have to sign up for Skype itself, Retina display compatibility for Macs, and multi-window chats, so that you can have conversations going in multiple windows...
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Salesforce.com Laying Off Radian6 Employees As...
Two of Salesforce.com’s most high profile “social media” acquisitions are showing signs of trouble. At Radian6, Salesforce.com is reported to be laying off “less than 100 people.” And at Buddy Media, the company amended its 8-K, which shows $20 million in net losses for the first six months of the year.
Salesforce.com acquired Radian6 in 2010 for $326 million and Buddy Media earlier this year for...
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Zynga Makes Its First Move Into ‘Real Money’...
I’ve a feeling we’re not in Farmville anymore. Zyngaannounced today its first concrete move into “real money” gaming, in other words, gambling-oriented games that let people both win and lose actual cash with each other.
Zynga announced this afternoon it has inked an exclusive partnership with bwin.party, the Gibraltar-based online gambling company, to offer real money online poker and casino...
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Zynga Announces $200M In Share Buybacks In Its...
Zynga is giving another carrot to investors. The company is kicking off a $200 million share repurchasing program. It’s the first time Zynga has ever done this.
The news comes on the heels of fresh cost-cutting with layoffs for 5 percent of the company’s workforce and potential closures for international offices in the U.K. and Japan. At the same time, the company just unveiled what could be a...
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Clearing Up The Confusion: It’s “The New Windows 8...
Ever since we heard the first rumors about Microsoft dropping the “Metro” moniker for its new touch interface and its app, there has been a lot of confusion about what the new interface should be called. Is it the new Windows UI? Windows 8-style UI? The modern UI? Are these Windows 8 apps or Windows Store app? Is it still Metro and all the rumors were false? Even just a day before the launch of...
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Twitter’s Number One Gift To The World Is The Art...
I’ve been using Twitter for just about six years now, someone on Twitter informed me. Naturally. There are quite a few things that I’ve enjoyed about the service over the years, including the ability to connect with people all over the world in real-time.
But do you know what I appreciate about Twitter the most? Ushering in the notion of “brevity” for the entire Internets. Not sure what it means?...
10gen Staffsup for Bigger Mongodb Push
10gen, the company behind MongoDB, the NoSQL database used by companies from Craigslist to Foursquare to Disney to Thrillist, is adding some serious enterprise and open-source software talent to its executive roster to help build momentum worldwide.
The new faces include Ed Albanese, who headed business development for super-hot Hadoop startup Cloudera and is now VP of business development for...
7 Things we Learned at Structure Europe
Facebook’s breaking up with hardware OEMs, Europeans distrust the cloud and it’s anyone’s guess whether there will be an Amazon of Europe. Those were among the key takeaways from the first-ever Structure Europe event in Amsterdam last week.
photo: Flickr /Peverus
Hundreds of cloud computing purveyors (or would-be purveyors) and customers gathered in Amsterdam last week to discuss the state...
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Streaming TV Startup Aereo Files Appeal In Network...
The legal battle between major broadcast networks and TV startup Aereo continues to unwind, as Aereo has filed a brief with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. According to the 84-page briefing filed on October 19, Aereo’s position in this case is identical (in every relevant way) to Cablevision’s in the mid-2000s, when the cable provider won a case against major broadcast...
September 2012
17 posts
How Young Treps Can Participate in the Clinton...
It’s one thing for political powerhouses like Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Mitt Romney to discuss some of the world’s most pressing social challenges alongside leaders of developing countries, major non-profits and big private-sector businesses. But it’s quite another when they’re also discussing you — or more precisely, how societies around the world can encourage social entrepreneurs and...
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Is Your Business Ready for an Incubator? 5 Tips...
It’s the dream of many entrepreneurs to get into anincubator program where they could hone their business model, get advice from mentors, and get connected to angel investors or venture-capital firms. However, as Bloomberg TV’s TechStars reality show revealed, simply getting into an incubator is no guarantee of success.
Several of the budding businesses in the New York round of...
Internet Explorer Users Face Security Risks and...
People spend hours on Facebook interacting with their friends, posting pictures, “liking” companies and celebrities, and outlining their interests and hobbies.[[MORE]] Now it appears that Facebook is in the process of building a search-related tool using the information it has collected about its users. At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco recently, Facebook co-founder...
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How a Facebook Search Engine Could Change the Way...
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People spend hours on Facebook interacting with their friends, posting pictures, “liking” companies and celebrities, and outlining their interests and hobbies. Now it appears that Facebook is in the process of building a search-related tool using the information it has collected about its users.[[MORE]]
At the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in San Francisco recently, Facebook...
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How Chobani Yogurt Used Social Media to Boost...
Greek yogurt producer Chobani has achieved an active cult following for its active cultures. The New Berlin, N.Y.-based company—which is approaching $1 billion in annual revenue after only seven years in business—has tapped into a highly effective marketing and social media strategy that has catapulted it to the top of its industry.[[MORE]]
Chobani was started by Hamdi Ulukaya, who...
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Finding Start-Up Success Through Serious School...
While a student at the University of Oregon, Abraham Choe wanted to show some school spirit by decking out his laptop in a UO case. But, to his surprise, he couldn’t find one anywhere. So he slapped a university decal on a plain laptop sleeve and the response from his classmates was overwhelming. Everyone wanted to know where they could get their own UO-branded laptop sleeve.[[MORE]]
Choe’s...
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Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook's Triumphs and...
Sometimes the road to the top is full of bumps and potholes. No one knows this better than Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.
In his first public appearance since the company’s IPO this summer, Zuckerberg was interviewed this week by Michael Arrington at TechCrunch’s Disrupt conference in San Francisco. Among a number of topics, the outspoken tech leader touched on the...
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Students, Here’s How to Kick-Start Your Personal...
The most beneficial action young job seekers can take while still in school is to pay attention to what’s happening online.
These days, an impressive resume might get you noticed, but it won’t necessarily land you a job interview on its own. You’ll need a well-rounded web presence, as well.[[MORE]]
“The first thing an employer is going to do is Google you,” Alexandra Levit, generational speaker...
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Google Testing New Search Feature for Gmail Users
If email is one of your primary communication tools then your inbox is probably a treasure trove of valuable information for your business. Search giantGoogle is testing a new search function that could make finding information in Gmail accounts even easier.[[MORE]]
Right now, if you think you had an email exchange days, weeks or months ago with a customer or colleague on a specific topic, your...
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5 Things Startups Can Learn From 'Great American...
Every new small business that an entrepreneur starts faces daunting challenges. If you’d like to see them all summed up in a single hour, consider tuning in to Great American Food Truck Race, the popular Food Network show that recently kicked off its third season.[[MORE]]
Hosted by celebrity chef Tyler Florence, Great American Food Truck Race gives eight teams a tricked-out food truck...
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5 Ways to Use Your Network to Grow Your Business
Have you ever sought advice from the people in a business network you belong to? If not, you are missing out on one of the secondary benefits of being involved in a networking group.[[MORE]]
Sure, the primary reason you’re networking is to get referrals, but you also gain access to professionals in almost every type of business. Every good network can actually become a type of “mastermind”...
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5 Technologies Changing the Restaurant Industry
The foodservice industry is poised to outpace the economy for the 12th consecutive year with sales expected to reach $632 billion, a 3.5 percent increase over 2011, according to the National Restaurant Association. And restaurants will reinvest a lot of this money in technology that gives them an edge.[[MORE]]
Customers already are signing credit card bills with their fingers on touchscreens and...
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5 Tips and Tools to Create a Company Culture When...
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At Facebook headquarters, their company values are written right on the wall. Slogans like ‘Move fast and break things’ or ‘What would you do if you weren’t afraid?’ encourage employees to be aggressive, fearless, and innovative — the hallmarks of Facebook culture.[[MORE]]
But, for those who run a virtual business, company culture is much more difficult to establish. Technology, rather...
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4 Ways to Stop Making Excuses and Follow Your...
Remember waking up before dawn to jump into the lake at summer camp? The hardest part was the moment right before you jumped, when you knew the water would be freezing cold but didn’t yet trust that you’d acclimate. For would-be entrepreneurs who want to follow their passion but haven’t made the leap, the fears about starting a new businesscan feel just like staring at that...
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Creating Your Company's LinkedIn Profile
In his book Ultimate Guide to LinkedIn for Business, author Ted Prodromou describes how best to leverage the networking site as a business tool. In this edited excerpt, the author details the key elements of a company profile page.[[MORE]]
LinkedIn company pages are like a personal profile for your company. Your company page is a mini-website for your company, but it’s located on LinkedIn...
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Young Entrepreneur Creates a Multimedia Music App
Remember record albums packaged with bold cover graphics, liner notes and band photos? Jeremiah Seraphine does … and he misses them. The former DJ, record producer and performer wanted to turn his passion for old-school LPs into a high-tech experience.[[MORE]]
“We lost the record-album experience when we moved to digital media,” says Seraphine, who recently graduated from...
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Apple vs. Google Maps Battle Revs Up Local Search...
In a move meant to compete directly with Google Maps, Apple is expected to come out with its own mobile maps application this fall. This means big changes are in store for how customers will find and learn about your business.[[MORE]]
Tech giants are turning maps into location-based experience services. Apple is already bragging that its new maps app will be “the most beautiful, powerful...
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Facebook To Roll Out Email- and Phone Number-Based...
Facebook will be launching new features next week that allow advertisers to target their ads to customers based on contact information that the advertiser has already collected. It’s a way for businesses to connect their Facebook ads with the customer lists they may have built up elsewhere.[[MORE]]
Inside Facebook first reported on the feature after tipsters saw it go live temporarily. A...
August 2012
13 posts
2 tags
5 Ways to Position Your Brand for Pinterest
In their book Pinterest for Business: How to Pin Your Company to the Top of the Hottest Social Media Network, authors Jess Loren and Ed Swiderski detail how to make Pinterest work for your company. In this edited excerpt, the authors offer advice on how to make the most of Pinterest by first defining your brand.[[MORE]]
When starting on Pinterest, keep in mind that a company is only as strong...
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Two Young Entrepreneurs Get Their Hands Dirty With...
Nikhil Arora, 25, and Alejandro Velez, 24, didn’t plan on being mushroom farmers. In 2009, during their last semester at the University of California, Berkeley, Arora lined up a corporate consulting job and Velez nabbed one in investment banking.[[MORE]]
But a lecture on sustainability in a business ethics class changed all that. Their professor mentioned that he had heard it was possible...
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What PayPal's Partnership With Discover Means to...
The announcement last week that PayPal is partnering with Discover Financial Services to offer a retail “digital wallet” payment option could result in a windfall for millions of brick and mortar merchants who already accept the Discover Card.[[MORE]] Beginning in May of 2013, PayPal’s 50 million customers in the U.S. will be able to use their service as a payment option at any of the 7 million...
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What Can I Do When a Customer Relationship Gets...
Having a conversation with your customer would most likely be your first move.
Sometimes nuance and certain hints in conversations can be missed. If the person has someone else to answer to, and he or she is on the spot, the person might go into “flight mode” rather than fight for you.[[MORE]] Here’s what you need to think about:
Is this relationship a major account that I need...
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Should My Website and Online Store Be Connected?
A good website exists for one reason: to convert visitors into paying customers. Whether you convert visitors to customers by a link to a separate online store or by driving directions to a physical store shouldn’t matter much. What does matter is whether your website content and the user experience work in tandem, making it compelling and easy for visitors to make a purchase.[[MORE]]
From...
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Marissa Mayer’s First 30 Days
On my last visit to Yahoo at the end of July, it was as if a dark cloud had been lifted. Employees enthuastically lined up to enter the cafeteria in the first week of “Free Lunch”. URL’s, Yahoo’s main cafeteria, was more packed than a typical Tuesday. Many expressed how excited they were about the future of their company.[[MORE]]
“I used to worry about my team quitting; not anymore!” said an...
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Does Your Startup Pitch Suck? Call PitchPhone And...
Um, we leverage crowdsourcing and um, like, people’s social graph to like find out about new discoveries and the people and places you might find interesting. Right, OK. But what do you actually do? We tap into Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn to personalize our recommendation engine which generates the topics. And then, you know, you can like follow those and learn new things. It’s really...
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This New Tool Could Be the Future of Measuring...
Business owners might soon have a new way to interpret content on Twitter that’s related to their brand.
Emoto 2012 — a collaboration between U.K.-based digital art festival FutureEverything and MIT’sSENSEable City Lab — is a new tool that is being used to interpret the global response to the London Olympics. It analyzes tweets for both specific content and the emotions...
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Microsoft’s New Bing Fund Announces Its First Two...
Just about a month ago, Microsoft officially announcedits Bing Fund angel fund and incubator program. Today, Bing Fund announced that it has enrolled its first two companies: app development service Buddy andPinion, an advertising service with a focus on gaming communities.[[MORE]] Both companies hail from Microsoft’s own home state of Washington and will, among other things, get subsidized use...
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After Leaving The U.K. For Boston, MarketMeSuite...
Social media dashboard maker MarketMeSuite, which targets SMBs with tools that help them better manage their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn postings in order to target leads, has raised $1.1 million in new funding today, in a round led by Boston-area VC Jeff McCormick of Saturn Venture Partners. [[MORE]]The company also recently uprooted from its home base of Norwich, U.K. to set up shop in...
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What You Need to Know About Pricing
In Impact Pricing: Your Blueprint for Driving Profitsfrom Entrepreneur Press, pricing expert Mark Stiving offers practical advice to business owners on how to price products and services. In this edited excerpt, he explains several important pricing concepts.[[MORE]]
Price may not be the basis of your corporate strategy, but you must have a pricing strategy to implement your corporate...
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The New Face Of Ad Tech Goes Consumer: Emotion...
The worlds of ad technology and consumer engagement in games and other online activities moved a little bit closer together today. Affectiva, a startup spun out the MIT Media Lab with a way of measuring emotional responses from online users by tracking their faces, is today announcing a round of funding worth $12 million. It will use to take its technology, first implemented to measure the...
July 2012
31 posts
2 tags
What Venture Capitalists are Investing in Right...
When you are looking to raise venture capital for your startup, you will likely have a better chance if you are in an industry that VCs are hot to invest in. Right now, that means mobile technology, cloud-computing technology, and social computingcompanies, according to the most recent MoneyTree Report from PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association.[[MORE]] These types...
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VINCI Launches First Kid-Focused App Library, Woos...
Like many parents, Dan Yang was fascinated by her young daughter’s obsession with her iPhone. As she went through the process of planning the best way to introduce her to technology, apps, and games, she quickly became frustrated with the lack of educational technology made specifically for children.[[MORE]] Unlike most parents, however, Yang is an entrepreneur and optical engineer, so she...
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Mark Cuban Leads Mobile App Marketplace Apptopia’s...
Apptopia, the marketplace where developers can sell their mobile apps, is days out from closing a $1 million seed round of financing, with Mark Cuban leading the investment. Cuban went in for $500,000 himself, and Apptopia’s initial investor,Expansion VC, contributed $400,000. The rest of the round was filled out by angel investors from N.Y., Boston and San Francisco. Apptopia founder Jonathan...
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Cooliris Brings Its 3D Photo Wall To iPad...
Cooliris, if anything, knows how to adapt and keep moving forward. Founded in 2006, the company is best known for its 3D browser add-on which created an immersive photo-viewing experience on the web. But maybe that technology was just a little ahead of its time. Because, out of all the products the company has launched since -3D mobile ads, an Android Gallery app, a social media sharing service...
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Google Cloud Platform Program Shows Drive To Take...
Google has a new cloud partner program that shows the company’s drive to go after old IT.
In a blog post today, Google provided some details about it with a link to a list of the technology and service providers that are part of the program.[[MORE]]
It’s a short list but here’s what they are offering. Service providers deliver consulting services for the various Google Platform Cloud products....
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Does Personalities harm your Business?
The candidate Pierce Howard interviewed for a sales position at his consulting firm, CentACS, won him over with her work experience, friend-of-a-friend connection and good looks. But it didn’t take long after she started working at the Charlotte-based firm for her to prove herself a nightmare employee.[[MORE]]
She refused to write sales proposals even after Howard sent her to a $5,000...
