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5 startup 'rules' entrepreneurs should ignore

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5 startup 'rules' entrepreneurs should ignore
Typically, startups focus on “brand new” ideas and markets, which require quick adoption and leads to big payouts. Small businesses, however, usually attempt to build a business that can last so they can provide a dependable livelihood to the founders …
Read more on The Next Web

Understanding the New Battle Over Net Neutrality
The Federal Communications Commission is expected to issue new proposed rules this week on “network neutrality,” the principle that broadband Internet service providers can't discriminate among the content that runs through their pipes. Early …
Read more on blogs.hbr.org (blog)

Founders Network Hosts Inaugural fnDemo Startup Competition

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San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) May 20, 2013

Founders Network (http://www.foundersnetwork.com), a peer mentorship organization that includes more than 350 tech startup “founders helping founders,” today announced the inaugural fnDemo, a virtual tech startup pitch competition featuring more than 30 of the network’s member startups.

Starting today, the participating Founders Network members from Silicon Valley, LA, New York and around the world will virtually pitch their startups to leading investors, media and fans who can vote for their favorites. Two categories of winners will be announced when voting concludes this Friday, May 24 at 12pm PDT: 1) the fnDemo Champ who generates the most social shares via the Fandrop platform and 2) the Judges’ Pick who earns the most votes from a panel of 10 judges representing leading angel and venture capital investors.

“fnDemo showcases not only the Founders Network members that make up our committed network of tech startup founders, but also the collective power of our peer mentorship community,” said Kevin Holmes, Founder & CEO of Founders Network. “We are excited to see such an impressive set of members participating in the inaugural contest and to have the support of such an esteemed panel of judges from the venture capital and angel investor community.”

Powered by viral marketing platform Fandrop, fnDemo offers Founders Network members the opportunity to gain recognition and attention for their innovative startups across industries ranging from education and entertainment to real estate and retail.

“We are thrilled to be working with Founders Network on an event that will help game-changing new companies get the awareness and accolades they deserve,” said Ken Zi Wang, Co-Founder & CEO of Fandrop and a member of Founders Network. “Without Founders Network, and the advice and support of its accomplished members, Fandrop would not be where it is today. We are honored to be able to give back to the community by serving as the technology partner for the inaugural fnDemo.”

Founded in 2011, Founders Network helps members efficiently solve startup problems through a private member site while building long-term, trusted relationships through in-person meetings in San Francisco / Silicon Valley, Los Angeles and New York City. All members are vetted through an approval process that only admits experienced founders who expressly commit to the success of the group. For more information, please visit http://www.foundersnetwork.com.

Participating investors:

Howard Hartenbaum, August Capital; Stephanie Palmeri, SoftTech VC; Ben Parr, DominateFund; Laurel Touby; Gil Penchina; Marlon Nichols, Intel Capital; Ben Narasin, Triple Point Capital; Arif Janmohamed, Lightspeed Ventures and Rishi Taparia, Matrix Partners.

Participating startups:

AbbeyPost, AHHHA, aMAP.to, BlogMutt, built.io, Cloudability, Dealingers, Dishcrawl, EEME, Etceter, Fiverun, Fleksy, Good.Co, GradFly, Graphdat, HungryGlobetrotter, Indiloop, Karma Store, Merxz, MyFit3D, Pogoseat, Relevance, RentHackr, RivalMe Trivia, Samepage.io, Sher.ly, SportsLab, Spreeify, Turnyp, Venturocket, Vuact.

Sponsors and Partners:

First Republic Bank, Guderson Dettmer, SoftLayer, BWK New York Public Relations, Betts Recruiting, Fandrop, VerbFactory.

About fnDemo

Hosted by Founders Network, a peer mentorship organization of more than 350 tech startup “founders helping founders,” fnDemo is a virtual tech startup pitch competition for leading investors, media and prospective customers and employees. Powered by viral marketing platform Fandrop, fnDemo enables Founders Network members to present their startups and lets fans and judges — representing angel and venture capital investors — vote for their favorite companies. For more information, please visit fnDemo.







AccelerateOTT: Revving Up Ottawas Startup Engine; a Community Led Event Hosted by Invest Ottawa and the C100

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Ottawa, ON (PRWEB) May 22, 2013

AccelerateOTT will bring together entrepreneurs, students, researchers, investors and thought leaders to celebrate the past, present, and future of Ottawa’s startup community.

Entrepreneurs and innovators are wealth creators and the keystone to Ottawa’s future economic prosperity.

Keynote speakers include: Jason Calacanis, founder and CEO of Inside.com, an active angel investor and host of the popular podcast “This Week in Startups”; Chamath Palihapitiya, Founder and Managing Partner of The Social+Capital Partnership, who was previously a long-term member of Facebook’s senior executive team and C100 Charter Member; branding guru Jeff Swystun, President and CMO, Swystun Communications and formerly head of DDB Worldwide’s branding and marketing; and Tobi Lütke, CEO and Founder, Shopify.

“Sharing ‘war stories’, best practices, and inspiration from others who have been there before is invaluable for any entrepreneur,” said Harley Finkelstein, Chief Platform Officer at Shopify and the lead of the AccelerateOTT planning committee. “Entrepreneurs take risks every day. Having someone share their experiences can help validate assumptions and provide others with the motivation needed to keep ‘hustling’, even when things aren’t always going as planned. This event will provide incredible value to our startup community.”

The event program on June 14th also includes a “lessons learned” panel discussion featuring three local startup successes – Blaze Software’s Michael Weider, FastLane Technologies’ Eric Kitchen and TravelPod’s Luc Levesque.

A celebration of Ottawa’s startup community wouldn’t be complete without a showcase of the city’s promising and high-potential new companies. The ‘Startup Showcase’ will open the event and pitch sessions are incorporated throughout the day’s agenda. Companies interested in participating in the showcase should contact Invest Ottawa.

“We are excited to host our first C100 Accelerate event in Ottawa,” said Atlee Clark, Executive Director, The C100. “Ottawa is prime to breakthrough as one of Canada’s top startup communities. The city’s history as a technology hub combined with the new technology leaders that now call it home make for an exciting time and place. We’re happy to celebrate and support that ecosystem in any way that we can.”

About The C100

The C100 is a Silicon Valley-based, non-profit organization that supports Canadian technology entrepreneurship through mentorship, partnership and investment. The C100 Charter Membership is a vibrant and highly sought-after network of successful Canadian technology leaders. C100 Charter Members include startup CEOs, top executives from technology leaders like Google, Salesforce.com, Oracle and Apple and venture investors representing more than $ 17 billion in capital. C100 members are passionate about leveraging their collective experience, expertise and relationships to help grow the next generation of global, billion dollar Canadian technology companies. For more information on The C100 visit: http://www.thec100.org

Media contact: Atlee Clark, Executive Director, C100, 415-781-9093

About Invest Ottawa

Invest Ottawa delivers export-oriented economic development programs and initiatives that increase entrepreneurial momentum, wealth and jobs in the City of Ottawa and its surrounding region. Its goal is to make Ottawa the best place in Canada to start and grow a knowledge-based business. Invest Ottawa services include startup incubation and mentorship, acceleration for existing companies, global business attraction and local business retention, targeted sector development, commercialization, and marketing Ottawa’s diversified economy and high quality of life. http://www.investottawa.ca

Media contact: Jon Milne, Director of Marketing, Invest Ottawa, 613-828-6274 x201







Facebook Marketing Startup 22Social Gives Users Websites

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(PRWEB) April 21, 2014

22Social, a San Diego social media marketing company, has just launched a solution to a common dilemma many tech-unsavvy small business owners run into: “How In The World Do I Make A Great Website (*breathe* 2 second pause) For Free Or Very Cheap?”

At first 22Social’s new solution, software that runs completely inside of Facebook fan pages, doesn’t seem to easily solve this challenge – after all their fan page app doesn’t actually make websites.

22Social Marketing Director Jerry Rocco was recently quoted at Traffic & Conversion Summit 2014 loudly proclaiming, “You do not need a website. We do not need a website. nobody needs a website in 2014! With our tool you can turn your current un-amazing Facebook fan page into an ever-growing, lead-capturing asset that also functions as the beautiful online face of your business.”

“Now you too can tap into the massive existing user base of Facebook rather than wasting time and resources trying to build your own stand-alone online platform without the skill set to do so, in addition to building your business. Focus on what you’re good at and let our technology support the rest!” touted Rocco, working himself into a passionate frenzy praising the benefits of social media marketing and demoing their Facebook marketing tool for event attendees walking by.

Across many industries, thought leaders are taking notice and adopting the platform. From best-selling authors like futurist Lon Safko, to members of the adtech scene like Zeal Caiden of the seemingly underground content marketing agency Zealous Influence, many early-adopters are using the platform to get great results.

When contacted, Caiden offered, “I used to get mad, literally so mad at how hard it was to make beautiful Facebook fan page apps that convert. 22Social came and turned that around, [they] gave us a conversion lift from test one. Plus it makes mobile easy. I love those guys.”

Even the renowned Facebook fan page gallery Facebook Designs, frequent design muse of TechCrunch and Smashing Magazine, has decided to hop on the “22Social no website bandwagon” and has repurposed their site to exist entirely on Facebook, even heavily promoting the use of 22Social and their social media marketing plan templates on their new, possibly too ironic “How To Make A Website” fan page.

View Facebook Designs’ Interesting “Not Website” Live Here – http://facebookdesigns.org.

*Note to those interested in 22Social for Personal or Business Use – Try Facebook Designs’ above social media campaign URL for an example of a marketing plan that works on your mobile device, whether or not you are logged in to Facebook. No other fan page software gives you 22Social’s device delivery intelligence, and at the time of publish many Fortune 500 haven’t even adopted this level of societal marketing and targeting yet.

Despite what seems to be growing enthusiasm about their company in the marketplace, it remains to be seen if 22Social will stand the test of time and emerge as a world leader in social media marketing or crumble by the wayside like so many other social startups before it.







BGP Forges Billion Dollar Brain Alliance in Los Angeles Startup Industry

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Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) May 23, 2013

Los Angeles’ leading tech incubator/accelerator Be Great Partners (BGP) has just announced the latest addition to their team of ten highly experienced and successful mentors: Joel Holland, Alex Zhardanovsky, Darcy Wedd, Gautam Gupta, Michael Krieger, David Santulli, Michael Orza, Alexander Debelov, Michael Mothner, Ola Danilina, Jeff Fissel, and Jeff Avallon. These professionals’ backgrounds will offer the portfolio companies under Be Great Partners great insight into their respective industries’ business development.

“We wanted to bring in a high caliber of professionals to help guide the vision, strategy, marketing, and development of our portfolio companies to build them into successful ventures,” says Lin Mao, CEO and Founder of Be Great Partners. “The team of mentors we have assembled have the potential to grow these startups to multi-million dollar companies, only furthering BGP’s mission to cultivate Los Angeles’ economic and technology sector.”

Joel Holland grew Video Blocks, the first subscription-based provider of stock video and audio, to the #4 Fastest Growing Media Company according to Inc. Magazine, making the prestigious Inc. 500 list. Holland has been named among BusinessWeek’s “Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25” and the United States Small Business Administration’s “Young Entrepreneur of the Year.”

Alex Zhardanovsky is an avid angel investor, having invested in over fourteen businesses and grown his past company he co-founded, Epic Advertising, to over $ 200 Million in annual sales. He is now Co-Founder of one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies, PetFlow.com, which is projected to reach over $ 50 Million in sales in its third year of operations.

A seasoned mobile executive with over sixteen years of experience, Darcy Wedd is the CEO and Founder of PayVia. Wedd holds past experience as a founding member of one of the fastest-growing carrier billing companies in North America that ultimately resulted in the creation of North America’s largest operator network billing provider.

Gautam Gupta is the Co-Founder andCEO of NatureBox, one of Be Great Partners’ newest portfolio companies’ CEO. Gupta is offering his knowledge to Be Great Partners. While a Principal at General Catalyst Partners, Gupta sourced and was involved with the investments in GoodData, PlumDistrict, BigCommerce, Shareaholic, Honest Company and FriendBuy. He has also worked at Proctor and Gamble, building his knowledge in brand strategy and consumer preferences.

Working with some of the largest wireless data communication, printer, and server synchronization clients as part of Kirton McConkie, Michael Krieger has practiced and perfected international intellectual property law. He is one of Utah’s Legal Elite and a Mountain States Super Lawyer for Intellectual Property.

Founder and Executive Director of United Planet, David Santulli is well versed in international affairs and business, having traveled to over 100 nations. He created the concept of Relational Diplomacy as a practical method to improve intercultural relations.

With BGP hosting many technological companies, Michael Orza is a key player as Founder and CEO of Webair, a service that provides businesses with viable web hosting, web development, and managed solutions for companies of all sizes. Webair is a global leader in the industry with datacenters located in New York, Los Angeles, Montreal and Amsterdam.

Demonstrating outstanding entrepreneurial understanding, Alexander Debelov, CEO of the online video advertising network Virool, was recognized as Babson College’s Most Outstanding Entrepreneurship Student, #1 place winner of John H. Muller Undergraduate Business Plan competition, and was named Top 5 College Entrepreneurs by Entrepreneur Magazine.

Leading the world’s top search engine marketing firm, Michael Mothner, CEO and Founder of Wpromote, launched a company that has been a member of the 2007, 2008, and 2009 Inc. 500/5000 list, with over 3,300% revenue growth from 2003 to 2008. Mothner was part of the “30 CEOs Under 30 To Watch” in 2007 by Inc. magazine, and the 2008 recipient of the PriceWaterhouseCoopers Entretech Award for Entrepreneurial Spirit.

Ola Danilina is the CEO and Founder of PMBC Group, a multi-tier public relations agency specializing in Corporate Communications PR and Technology PR. Whether the goal is to attract investors, excite shareholders, go public, go global, or build a brand, her company is the catalyst to a client’s public relations’ success.

Co-Founder of a software development company, Jeff Fissel serves as the Vice President of Business Development at KZO Innovations, playing a key role in select strategic accounts and corporate development activities. He is a member of the development team for the KZO technology, with his expertise in interactive streaming media technologies.

Jeff Avallon is the Co-Founder of an innovative and environmentally responsible whiteboard paint called IdeaPaint that transforms virtually any surface into a high-performance, dry erase canvas. With over 75,000 successful installations worldwide, IdeaPaint is the gold standard for dry erase performance, flexibility and environmental responsibility.

About Be Great Partners

Be Great Partners (BGP), the leading technology incubator in Los Angeles, has an active $ 6 million fund to expand LA’s startup ecosystem and bring the most talented tech startups and continued long-term job growth to Los Angeles, specifically its Miracle Mile. The company is seeking big data projects to invest an average capital ranging from $ 25,000 to $ 50,000, while providing the startups with strong mentorship, world-class facilities and a team of 25 innovative developers. Be Great Partners works directly with entrepreneurs to develop their project’s full potential.







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HATCH Pitch Startup Competition Announces SXSW Finalists

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Houston, TX (PRWEB) February 14, 2014

A handful of startups now have four minutes to win it. HATCH pitch, the revolutionary startup pitch competition, announced today the finalists for its upcoming March 10 event at SXSW Interactive Startup Village.

Applications were received from early stage tech startups in 14 countries and 17 US states. Finalists were selected based on a range of criteria including how revolutionary the idea is, how the company is making life better, what’s great about the startup founders and team, and how scalable and sustainable their product is. Each participant will present their business plan to a panel of corporate, angel, and venture investor judges in front of a well-connected audience at SXSW Interactive on March 10, 2014.

“We are overwhelmed by the quality and diversity of the startups who applied,” said Greg Wright, HATCH pitch founder. “I am excited to see the impact these young companies will have on their respective industries.”

The 2014 HATCH pitch SXSW finalists are:

Bit6 – With just a few lines of code, Bit6 lets developers add communication capabilities to any app.

bop.fm – Creates a home for every song on the internet and lets you easily share it with anyone.

BRCK – It’s the easiest, most reliable way to connect to the Internet, for people and things.

ePatientFinder – Empowers physicians to connect patients with tomorrow’s treatments today.

idealAsset – The match.com for innovation and intellectual property.

Neural Analytics – Simplifying brain injury diagnosis using healthcare informatics.

Ranku – Search engine for 100% online degrees from traditional universities. Kayak 4 degrees.

Seratis – Makes team transparency and healthcare coordination easy. Find out who else is looking after your patient and send secure messages.

SmartestK12 – Make your classwork and homework assignments smarter with SmartestK12.

SupaPass – Musician’s subscription fanclub: SupaFans fund new music for special access to favorite bands.

Virtuix – Virtuix Omni Fully Immersive Gaming Platform.

YouEarnedIt – A simple, fun, and flexible way to recognize your people and foster happiness at work.

The selected companies will each have four minutes to pitch their revolutionary startup before fielding questions from the judges, including Nicole Glaros (Managing Director Techstars NY), Rahul Sood (General Manager, Microsoft Ventures), John Frankel (Partner, ff Venture Capital), Kerry Rupp (CEO, DreamIt Ventures), Blair Garrou (Co-founder and Managing Director, Mercury Fund), Balaji Gopinath (VP of Emerging Technology, Turner Broadcasting/Media Camp), Rick Pleczko (Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Austin Ventures), Unity Stoakes (President and co-founder, StartUp Health), Neal Murthy (Managing Director, Indalo Solutions), Rami Essaid (CEO and Co-Founder, Distil Networks and HATCH pitch 2012 winner), and MC Missy Krasner (Exec in Residence at Canvas Venture Fund).

For those who did not make it to the finals, HATCH pitch and Qukku have partnered to host the “Are you HATCH-worthy?” crowd-voted video contest. Winning videos will be played at the HATCH pitch event. In a one-minute video, contestants should present their company and vision in a fun and entertaining way. This contest is open to any early-stage startups. For more details and to apply, visit Qukku (http://qukku.com/contests/AreyouHATCH-worthy93). Contest submissions and voting end on March 3.

HATCH pitch is open to all SXSW Interactive, Gold, or Platinum badgeholders.

About HATCH pitch

HATCH pitch is the revolutionary pitch competition for tech startup companies making life better. Playing to capacity audiences at SXSW in Austin the past two years, HATCH pitch returns to SXSW Interactive on March 10, 2014. Previous winners Distil Networks, RideScout, and Realty Mogul have garnered phenomenal attention from the press and investment communities. Distil received a $ 1.8 million seed investment from a HATCH pitch judge after winning HATCH pitch 2012. To learn more go to http://www.hatchpitch.com or connect with us on twitter @HATCHPITCH and Facebook at facebook.com/HatchPitch.







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