Month: January 2012

Every entrepreneur has met them. Big company executives with big company swagger. They ignore you. They dismiss the business problem you spent your life solving. They think they can crush you.

Then the tables turn. They push for strategic relationships. They want to give you money, frequently at irrationally high valuations. Finally they shell out enough scratch to buy you.

It is no easy task turning big company hesitation into commitment. But several key steps will help you manage this potentially make-it-or-break-it relationship. Through it all, be sure to drill into their heads every step of company progress as sales begin to multiply.

via www.aonetwork.com

A great article that every entrepreneur should read. Good stuff.

Warren Buffett has said that when he is looking at his leaders for companies, he evaluates three categories of characteristics:

— Intelligence

— Energy

— Integrity

His fundamental belief is that if a person has 2 of these, the lack of the third can kill a business. Do the fast math on the negative side of the equation:

— Low integrity, high energy and high intelligence and you have a smart, fast-moving thief

— Low energy, high intelligence and integrity and you have a shop keeper, not an engine of growth

— Low intelligence, high energy and integrity and you have strong functionary, but not a great problem solver or visionary

via www.cbsnews.com

I 100% agree!!!!

After a very successful HubSpot Twitter chat on Tuesday (join us for the next one on January 24th at 3:30 PM EST!) about business blogging and content creation, one discussion point stood out among the rest: everyone we spoke with acknowledged the importance of business blogging for inbound marketing success, but many people said that, despite their best efforts, it's really hard to find enough time to do so on a regular basis.

It's a common refrain, and this wasn't the first time we'd heard the complaint. But over the years, we've figured out some creative ways to keep our blog fed with content even on days that are jam packed with meetings, weeks with days lost to vacations and holidays, and times when we're just plain not feelin' it.

Because we really want our readers to adopt business blogging as part of their daily (or weekly, depending on your competitive needs!) regiment, we'd like to share with you some of the tactics that can save you some significant time when creating blog content. We still recommend writing pieces that are further outside your comfort zone and really require that you set aside time for critical thinking. But for those days when you just don't have the time for it, these tactics will help you publish valuable content to your blog and keep your content creation machine chugging along at a consistent rate.

via blog.hubspot.com

Good advice here. A blog can be very valuable on the SEO front and in positioning your company as a subject matter expert. Every company should make it a part of their weekly routine to write at least one, simple blog post per week. Again, good advice.

Let’s face it: The Internet is a staple in the lives of today’s kids—and as a result, stranger danger has taken on a whole new form. Mobile phones and social networks make it all too easy for kids to get online—and even easier for them to find themselves in unsafe situations. Cyberbullies, internet predators and viruses abound! Luckily, parents are making it their business to be in the know. Not only are they aware of their kids’ online activity, but many are even implementing rigid household rules when it comes to Internet usage.

But are these rules enough for parents to really know what kids are doing online? Find out more stats about kids and cybersafety in this infographic.

via www.onlineschools.com

A very interesting infographic about kids and their digital safety.

The U.S. Department of Education released today Analysis of State Bullying Laws and Policies, a new report summarizing current approaches in the 46 states with anti-bullying laws and the 41 states that have created anti-bullying policies as models for schools.

The report shows the prevalence of state efforts to combat bullying over the last several years. From 1999 to 2010, more than 120 bills were enacted by state legislatures from across the country to either introduce or amend statutes that address bullying and related behaviors in schools. Twenty-one new bills were enacted in 2010 and eight additional bills were signed into law through April 30, 2011.

Out of the 46 states with anti-bullying laws in place, 36 have provisions that prohibit cyber bullying and 13 have statutes that grant schools the authority to address off-campus behavior that creates a hostile school environment.

"Every state should have effective bullying prevention efforts in place to protect children inside and outside of school," said U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. "This report reveals that while most states have enacted legislation around this important issue, a great deal of work remains to ensure adults are doing everything possible to keep our kids safe."

via www.ed.gov

In my experience, exceptionally bright, driven, visionary people commonly share a particular attribute: a high need for control. These characteristics are also hallmarks of the startup founder, who brings maniacal focus, evangelical passion and a penchant for multi-tasking to the table. As they bring on co-founders and early employees, you can often find the founder speaking with investors, working on the product, writing code, recruiting, and spending time with early customers. This is the province of the Founder CEO and is the right way to be early in the game, both out of necessity and in order for there to be a “single point of failure” with responsibility for the early product and customer experience. However, as businesses scale, functional specialists are increasingly retained to drive specific aspects of the operation, e.g., VP Engineering, VP Sales, VP Product, etc.  This makes sense as the complexity of servicing a rapidly expanding set of customers explodes, while also continuing to iterate on the product and scaling the back-end to meet these challenges. In other words, it takes a village to ramp a start-up, and part of this necessarily means that the Founder CEO give up a measure of functional control in order to lead an integrated organization forward. But this is easier said than done.

via informationarbitrage.com

As a serial entrepreneur, I have learned and relearned this lesson a number of times. This is a good article for every startup founder to read and reflect upon.

Instant messages are ubiquitous and convenient, but something primal may be lost in translation.

When girls stressed by a test talked with their moms, stress hormones dropped and comfort hormones rose. When they used IM, nothing happened. By the study’s neurophysiological measures, IM was barely different than not communicating at all.

“IM isn’t really a substitute for in-person or over-the-phone interaction in terms of the hormones released,” said anthropologist Leslie Seltzer of the University of Wisconsin, lead author of the new study. “People still need to interact the way we evolved to interact.”

via www.wired.com

A very interesting study about the power of the voice in communications.

What are the conditions of giving your child a cell phone? Whatever is acceptable for your child, it’s important to clearly communicate those rules in a parent/child cell phone contract.

As adults, we have to sign a “terms of use” agreement for pretty much everything we do. It lets us know what’s expected of us and what happens if we break our word. Kids who receive a cell phone from their parents need exactly the same thing. They’ll roll their eyes at the idea of having to sign a contract before they get their hands on a shiny new cell phone, but it prevents misunderstandings later on.

Whenever giving your child a phone, especially a smartphone with camera or wireless capabilities, work together to create a “terms of use” agreement that outlines how the phone is supposed to be used. Some things to consider:

via www.uknowkids.com

Another interesting uKnowKids.com article for moms and dads of digital kids.

Tweens and teens often spend hours grooming their blog or Facebook profile until it perfectly reflects their personalities. In fact, that is today’s teenager’s preferred form of self-expression. But is there a way for your kids to do it safely?

via www.uknowkids.com

This uKnowKids.com article provides parents with tips on how kids can blog safely. Good stuff for moms and dads of digital kids.