I don’t usually get involved in politics. But this week, Christopher Dodd and Congress have targeted technology start-ups for annihilation by regulation so I’m asking you to join me in taking action to stop legislation that will be devastating for early stage tech companies like mine. Hidden in the big banking regulation & bail out bill that Congress is currently debating, Christopher Dodd has included major changes to regulations for private investors in early stage companies.
Major changes to angel investing hidden in the bill include:
1) the requirements threshold for being an “accredited investor” will be raised from a net worth of $1 million or income of $200,000 to a net worth of $2.3 million or income of $449,000. BusinessWeek estimates that this will make approximately 77% of potential angel investors ineligible.
2) once an investment deal is agreed upon, it forces companies to wait 120 days before they can receive the funds - four months is an eternity for an early stage company.
3) it eliminates Federal regulation preemption for companies who have only accredited investors - this means that small, cash-strapped companies will have to navigate the legal and accounting requirements of both Federal and state regulations - and for multiple states if the investment is syndicated across state borders. Very difficult and very costly.
4) all startups who plan to seek funding will have to register with the SEC, thus incurring significant legal and accounting fees before they even have a chance to attract investment.
Given that banks have virtually nothing to do with the funding of startup companies, it seems very odd that Christopher Dodd would insert such a regulation into a banking reform bill.
I’m asking everyone I know to please help stop this portion of the bill before Christopher Dodd and Congress kill angel investing and an entire generation of baby startups. Starting a company is hard enough - startups REALLY don’t need our own version of SOX!
Data cleaning sucks. But taking the time to clean your marketing data and update your marketing segmentation codes a couple of times a year really pays off.
I just finished a new video with a 10-minute introduction to my marketing data cleaning process. Since I hate cleaning data, I developed the process for using Microsoft Excel to semi-automate the process. So I enjoy the benefits of clean marketing data without spending too much time on tedious data cleaning.
Instructions are included in a new ebook from ChickBiz publishing called Double the Value of Your Marketing Data. In addition to detailed instructions for the cleaning process, the ebook offers tips for marketing data management, recommendations for capturing marketing data from a variety of sources, and coding techniques for effective lead nurturing and segmentation.
This week I applied for The Funded’s Founder Institute, a really exciting, structured four-month training program for new entrepreneurs. One of the questions on the application is “Why do you want to be an entrepreneur?” Wow! Hmmmmm.
In the frenzy of getting a company started, it’s easy to overlook that basic question. Why would anyone want to leave the seemingly safe environment of a corporate job to embark on the crazy adventure of building a company - especially now in such uncertain economic times? It’s a good question.
In my own case, startup addiction, faulty genetics, and a driving obsession are the only excuses I can offer to explain my compulsion to leave a nice, cushy job at a Gartner Cool Vendor to start a new company from scratch in the worst economic downturn of our generation.
After 15 years of working with technology companies – a large chunk of it in tornado-stage startups – I’m obviously addicted to the excitement of building new products at fast-growing companies in emerging industries. Perversely, instead of enjoying the predictable routine of a well-defined job description at a stable, established company, I prefer to spend my days scrambling to solve a variety of challenges using a wide set of skills (some of which might have to be developed on the fly). Life gets crazy in such an environment, but the satisfaction of wringing order and creating value from the chaos is irresistible.
The affliction runs in my family. Four generations of women in the family have started businesses, my father has been building international divisions at tech companies for the past 30 years, my grandfather founded a company in his off hours and sold it to a Fortune 500, and even my little brother has become an entrepreneur.
Given these professional tendencies and familial influences, it was probably inevitable that I would become obsessed when the idea hit me for a new way to use technology to solve problems I passionately want to solve. After filling a notebook for three years with feature ideas, sketches, integration options and data requirements, the obsession to build my apps for real people to use has become overwhelming.
I simply have to do it. That’s why I want to be an entrepreneur. How about you?
The first day of my new life as an entrepreneur is here. I’m at my desk wearing my favorite comfy shorts. Jean-Jacques Goldman is playing on iTunes. This video for inspiration A very good day.
Over the years I’ve watched an interesting—if frustrating—scenario play out at numerous companies. Maybe you’ve seen it too? First, you take a talented, very hardworking woman who’s stretched almost to a breaking point by trying to do far more than humanly possible with very limited budget and resources. She works her butt off, accomplishes miracles considering the lack of resources, but eventually gets laid off anyway. Then, she’s replaced by a man who demands – and gets – twice or three times as many resources (and often a higher salary, too). With a lot fewer gymnastics and a lot less stress, he produces somewhat better results than she did and his managers congratulate themselves on “finally getting the right person in that position.” Good grief!
Here are five tips to help you to ask for and get the resources you need to do a great job. It’s easier than you think. Plus commanding an appropriate level of resources will help you not only produce better results, but also command more professional respect. Continue reading Please, sir, I want some more
Last week at my day job I was awarded the company’s first Golden Hedgehog award for outstanding excellence in sales and marketing. It came with a cool foot-high lucite trophy and a gift certificate to yummy Morton’s. OK, I know it sounds pretty silly, but I was really touched. (A second Golden Hedgehog was awarded to the highest grossing sales rep of the year.)
In most companies the sales team gets all the glory and marketing’s contribution is generally overlooked, but this time my boss the VP of Marketing and the VPs of Sales decided to highlight my work. Even I was surprised to realize that a significant portion of our sales pipeline originated with lead generation programs I developed and implemented and that more than half of our deals this year were influenced by one of my marketing campaigns (either before or after the reps engaged with them).
I really enjoy my work. Our product is amazing. The people are wonderful - excellence is valued, teamwork is rewarded, and the no asshole policy is consistently applied at all levels. After seeing so many crummy, drama-filled startups, it feels wonderful to help build a winner.
How do you know which Web developer to hire when there are so many options? Do you need a marketing consultant or graphic artist who knows how to program HTML or a programmer who can do some graphic art? The first step in selecting a vendor to develop your Web site is to decide what skill sets you need your vendor to have. Three factors shape this decision: 1) the skills of the employees at your company, 2) the skills of the vendors and consultants you already use, and 3) the design and functionality requirements of your new Web site.
Here are the fundamental areas of expertise that companies typically require for developing an effective Web site. First, evaluate what skill sets are available to you within your company. Then, you can establish clear vendor selection criteria based on the supplemental skills you need.
Exhibiting at trade shows and conferences can involve a huge investment—of both human and financial resources. Regardless of how simple or elaborate your display, a little pre-show preparation can make a big difference in the number and quality of the leads you collect. Here are four pre-show efforts that yield big lead dividends: Continue reading Four Ways to Maximize Your Trade Show Investment
When cash is tight and the burn rate is keeping the CFO awake at night, many companies start their belt tightening by eliminating their public relations program. Since PR efforts do not translate into immediate sales leads and publication lead times can be as long as 4-6 months, many startup executives mistakenly believe that eliminating public relations is an easy way to save money. Au contraire! Public relations is the glue that holds a strong marketing campaign together.
A well-executed public relations program is one of the most cost effective promotion programs a bootstrapping company can select – especially when implemented with support from inexpensive targeted direct marketing (email, postcards, and sales letters) and an integrated Web marketing program. In addition to helping build buzz about your company and products, a good PR campaign fuels Web traffic and generates fresh content for your Web site, collateral, and direct marketing pieces. The individual elements certainly don’t have to cost a fortune, but together they deliver much more bottom line value than any single effort.
It is true that working with a traditional PR firm can seem expensive. The minimum monthly fee for many firms that accept startup clients is around $5,000. This typically buys a few hours of consulting from an experienced account executive who manages your program and weekly editorial calendar monitoring and story pitching by a junior associate. Once your startup can afford a $5,000-$10,000 monthly retainer, a good public relations agency can offer outstanding value for your marketing program. Until then, here are a few tips for building your PR program on a tight budget:
1) Do it Yourself via Custom Targeting
Public relations isn’t rocket science and you don’t have to pitch every publication in the known universe to be effective. Target a set of 10-75 publications that cover your market segment and create your own press list. Read the most important publications regularly and familiarize yourself with the editors and reporters who cover stories in your industry. Visit the advertising sales sections of the publications’ Web sites to find their editorial calendars, lists of the features they are planning for upcoming issues. You can use these to pitch yourself as a resource or send relevant product information to the reporters working on stories related to your business.
When you have news, send each reporter on your press list a copy of your press release – call the most important contacts to make sure they received it and to ensure that you’re sending it to the right person. You can also distribute it via a wire service – the two major ones are PR Newswire and BusinessWire. You have to pay a nominal fee to join these services and a fee for each press release they distribute for you. Both services offer flexible programs to meet your distribution requirements. They also host regular “meet the journalist” events that are quite informative and help you get to know journalists in your geographic area. Business Wire’s Web site has exhaustive lists of the publications in their distribution circuits. This can be a very helpful resource for building your own press list.
Initially, bootstrapping your public relations program is a very time consuming process, but if you establish good systems you can manage it eventually.
2) Do it Yourself with Professional PR Tools
For roughly the cost of two or three months’ of public relations firm retainer fees you can subscribe to the press contact and editorial calendar resources that PR professionals use. Bacon’s and Lexis-Nexis both offer large databases of press contacts and editorial calendars. PR Newswire’s ProfNet service will email journalist info requests directly to you several times a day. Using professional tools obviously costs more than the complete bootstrapping approach, but it gives your PR program more reach, allows you to pitch stories more professionally, and takes much less time to manage. I used this technique quite successfully to generate quite a lot of press coverage for a small company in Silicon Valley. Working diligently a little each day resulted in press mentions in Time, CNN, The San Jose Mercury News, CNBC, the Wall Street Journal, and many regional and trade publications.
3) Find an Independent PR Consultant
Hiring a freelance PR professional is an excellent way to build a high quality public relations program with a smaller budget. Many freelancers are senior PR professionals with agency experience. Since they do not have the same overhead costs as the large PR firms, they can charge less for services. If your budget precludes even this option, you might find an independent consultant may at least be willing to develop a press kit and press list for you and periodically send you an editorial calendar opportunity list. You’ll save a bundle if you do your own editorial calendar pitching. Even if you decide to have the consultant do the pitching, you can save time and money by previewing the editorial calendars list and using your expertise in your industry to help target the most promising opportunities and eliminate the less promising ones. (Make sure the consultant has subscriptions to professional tools similar to the recommendations in #2.) You might have to shop around to find someone who is willing to offer bare bones services like this, but keep looking they’re out there.
4) Benefit from Other People’s Public Relations
Be sure to leverage you clients’ and partners’ PR resources. If you do a joint release, work with their PR firm to help get the message out. Many companies – especially other startups – are hungry for regular news and press coverage. Help their marketing and PR teams get coverage and it can help you, too.
5) Submit Your Own Material
Write articles in your area of expertise and give presentations to conferences that have press coverage. The more visible you are, the more likely a reporter will contact you for information. Make sure you put your press kit in the media room at each conference or trade show where you speak or exhibit.
Very cute! -> RT @GuyKawasaki Why you shouldn't use Comic Sans http://idek.net/2r88
@JillStelfox Enjoy Singapore! Hope the founders there enjoy your presentations as much as we did in DC!
Great article! RT @toprank How To Run a Twitter Chat & 8 Marketing & PR Twitter Chats to Follow - Online Marketin.. http://bit.ly/daVWvX
Wish I were one - missing my marketer's crack! RT @Pardot: 58 clients joined Pardot in Q2 -- third straight quarter of 50+ new clients.
RT @pamslim: Awesome, *free* 4-week course: Stress Cure for Busy Moms: http://bit.ly/9M7g1F from wonderful @wellgrounded
"It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat."
