The StartUp Blog at PartnerUp

I’m thrilled to announce today that PartnerUp has been acquired by Deluxe Corporation (NYSE: DLX), a Twin Cities-based Fortune 1000 company that offers small businesses products and services to help owners manage, grow and promote their businesses.

So what does all of this mean for you? Well, on the one hand it means nothing. I’ll still be running the business, the entire PartnerUp team is staying on and will still be working to grow the business and help our customers, and together we’re still going to provide you with all of the useful tools and content that we have been all along.

On the other hand, Deluxe is presenting us with the opportunity to give you even more. Deluxe has been around for more than 90 years, generates $1.6 Billion in annual revenue, employs more than 7,000 people, and has more than 6 million small business customers.

With these additional resources from Deluxe, we’re going to do things bigger and better, and we’re going to keep doing them just for you without changing our focus one bit. In addition, by welcoming Deluxe’s more than 6 million small-business customers to the PartnerUp community, we hope to greatly boost the number of people, opportunities and resources that you’ll be able to find on PartnerUp.

Why did we decide to sell PartnerUp? The answer is mostly Lee Schram, the CEO of Deluxe, and the team that he’s assembled. In my career, I’ve had an opportunity to meet a lot of CEOs and leadership teams, but I’ve never met a management team who so passionately recognizes where they want to be, has such a strong sense of urgency, and is willing to commit the resources necessary to get there. Lee and his team truly understand PartnerUp and our model, and their excitement about our business was one of the key factors in our decision to sell to Deluxe.

This is an exciting time both for everyone here at PartnerUp. We look forward to taking things to the next level here and working hard to give you the tools and resources that help you do the same with your company.

I’m almost always against shameless self-promotion on this blog. Quite frankly I think it’s a little tacky. But I wear multiple hats here at PartnerUp, one of which is as public relations manager. And as such I’m willing to momentarily shed my distaste for the self-plug and share with you all that PartnerUp made the Wall Street Journal today. It’s not some big feature story or anything; it’s really just a mention. But I still thought it was cool. So check out the article; we’re all pretty excited. Thanks Kelly Spors, you rock!

You may have noticed some changes on the Startup Blog during the past two weeks or so. Posts are becoming more frequent, and content is hopefully becoming more engaging.

Well I will gladly take credit for that (unless you don’t like the changes, in which case it was someone else’s fault). As of today I am fully in charge of the blog, and along with that I am looking to kick it up a notch.

From now on posts will be daily, Monday through Friday that is. I’m a firm believer in working hard during the week and living it up on the weekend, so don’t expect anything out of me Saturday or Sunday, or any time after happy hour starts on Friday.

I’m also looking to tweak the content a bit. My goal is to provide you with material that is engaging and current. There are tons of issues plaguing entrepreneurs and small business owners these days, so if there’s a pressing matter that I’m neglecting, I encourage you to let me know (email me at: startupblog at partnerup dot com). I promise I won’t be offended.

I also welcome your comments—good or bad. Nothing drives discussion like a good debate. I’m not afraid to unapologetically go round-for-round with you, so don’t be afraid to do the same with me. I really do enjoy it. Honestly!

Now that I’ve outlined the “new and improved” Startup Blog, I suppose it’s time to do the obligatory “tell you a little bit about myself.” Well, I have a B.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Minnesota. My background is in all-things writing, but not necessarily small business writing. Since I’ve been working at PartnerUp, however, I’ve learned more than I ever expected about the fast-paced, innovation-driven world of small business and entrepreneurship. I swear, you people are machines—in a good way of course. I also hate acronyms, am obsessed with checking the weather. Oh, and if you didn’t already catch it in the byline, my name is Megan.

So I guess that is my “in a nutshell” introduction. I look forward to writing for you, and I sincerely hope that I can live up to any expectations that I may have set with this post.

PartnerUp’s chief product officer was rear ended by a man checking his email on his BlackBerry while driving a few weeks ago. She was stopped at a red light when the guy, driving a Chevy Suburban, slammed into her at roughly 40mph.

Fortunately she’s fine (her car wasn’t quite as lucky), but the accident brings up an interesting point. What is so important that it is worth putting our and others’ lives in danger?

Om Malik nailed it on the head in his GigaOM post earlier this week, “Driving While TXTing (DWT) Is Stupid.” Talking on your cell phone while driving is probably not smart, yet we all do it. But texting or reading your BlackBerry while driving takes stupidity to another level. At this point, not only is your mind not focused on the road, but neither are your eyes.

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