The StartUp Blog at PartnerUp

I’ve been a political junkie for a long time now. So when I come across a story like “More Regulation, Fewer Entrepreneurs”, from the U.S. News and World Report business blog Risky Business, I instinctively start considering the political implications, particularly where upcoming elections are involved.

The article highlights a recent study by Silvia Ardagna of Harvard University and Annamaria Lusardi of Dartmouth College, and the results basically say that the larger the amount of government regulation, the smaller the amount of entrepreneurial activity.

Not surprising.

The depth and breadth of the study, however, give these results some clout. They also give us a chance to reflect on the upcoming presidential election. (more…)

I try really hard to bring you useful, relevant content and as much of it as I can. But let’s get real, I’m not Wonder Woman (although that would definitely make my day, and my life for that matter). So if you’re looking for additional small business/startup content or any kind of content, I’ve got an awesome resource for you.

Alltop.com, created by the founders of Truemors (Guy Kawasaki, Will Mayall, and Kathryn Henkens), is a new site that highlights great blogs and news sites under 10 different categories and more than 100 subcategories. You can look under “Work” and find the “Small Business” category, or you can look under “Interests” and find the “Motorcycles” category. Once you’ve clicked on the area that interests you, the site will give you a ton of blogs and news sites to choose from, and it lists for you the last five stories on each. All you have to do is click to read them.

It’s super easy to use. I went on the site last week, and it sucked me in YouTube-style. I just wanted to see what it was about and ended up spending WAY too much time reading up on all of my interests. So I encourage you to check it out. It’s pretty cool. 

I first read about the big Cold Stone controversy early last week on Independent Street. Then Business Pundit added to the debate yesterday. Now I feel compelled to contribute my two cents as well.

So here is the gist of the story. A group of Cold Stone Creamery franchisees are attempting to file a class-action lawsuit against the parent company, Kahala Corp., claiming “potential revenue numbers were misleading,” among other things. Cold Stone, on the other hand, suggests the franchisees were not fit to run a business, and that’s why so many franchises are failing. So who’s the culprit, corporate or the franchisees? (more…)

I’ll level with you. I hate business jargon. It’s misleading, confusing, boring and, to me anyway, it can be gibberish. But that doesn’t mean that I don’t know what I’m talking about; I understand business concepts completely. It’s the lingo that occasionally trips me up. I realize that sometimes it’s perfectly OK to dish out words like monetization or amortization, like when you’re speaking with colleagues and those within your particular industry. In fact, it’s good to know the language for instances just like those. But when you’re speaking with clients, it sounds a little pretentious—or at least that’s the way I view it.

Part of the job of a business owner is to clearly communicate with clients, using words that both parties understand. If I walked into a place of business where the owners or some customer service representatives attempted to “wow” me with their mouthful of industry-specific terms, I’d give them an earful of my own and walk right out the door. Actually I probably wouldn’t go that far, but you get the point. I would feel like I was being manipulated or talked down to, as I’m sure many other clients would. To me it feels more like it’s about impressing people rather than helping them. (more…)

“I’m too busy right now.” “I don’t know that much about business.” “I don’t have the money.” Sound familiar?

Everyday thousands of people are struck with great ideas. Many of those people are even gutsy enough to do something about it. If you’re one of those entrepreneurial go-getters, then I’m not talking to you. I’m talking to the excuse makers. You know who you are—the people with killer ideas who reason their way out of risk every chance they get. If you have no desire at all to start or run your own business, then I’m not talking to you either. In fact, why are you even reading this blog (it’s about entrepreneurship and small business if you haven’t figured that out yet)?

So if you do fall in to this excuse-making-but-still-want-to-start-a-business category, then my point with all of this is to tear you down and then build you back up. (more…)

As many of you may already know, the culture within a startup is kind of a cool thing. I had never worked for a startup prior to PartnerUp, which is now well into its fourth year, but I quickly learned that it’s not your typical corporate America, 9 to 5 type of gig. It’s something better.

Startups, or at least good ones, have a team-like atmosphere. The level of communication is above and beyond anything I have ever seen. Team members have strong work ethics because they feel pride and ownership in what they do. Things get done, and they get done fast. I could go on and on, but what I love most about them is that they’re fun to work in.

Corporate culture, on the other hand, works at a snails pace it seems sometimes.  Employees can feel detached from their work and not feel like they contribute, causing them to loose motivation. And as far as communication is concerned, let’s just say that the throngs of people can cause it to be a bit of a three-ring circus.

Basically what I’m saying is that startup culture could totally beat up corporate culture. Throw them in a ring together and corporate culture would be down for the count in no time. (more…)

Verizon Wireless released a press release today headlined “Verizon offers small businesses unlimited wireless.”

Unlimited wireless you say? Sweeeeeet!

Oh wait…never mind. You have to subscribe to its “Freedom for Business” unlimited long distance service to be eligible. If you do subscribe, you can only get unlimited calls to phone numbers on the same carrier. Oh, and if you want to make calls to landlines, you can do so for no more than five of them at $4.99/month per landline.

What a let down (not that I’m surprised). The offer could very well be a great deal for many small business owners, I’m not debating that. But fine print like that always makes me angry. Angry enough to say “no thanks, I don’t need your stupid deal.” With so many stipulations I think it’s harder to do the math and figure out if you’re actually getting a deal. At that point it doesn’t even seem like a deal anymore; it seems more like homework. Maybe I’m too simplistic, but as a consumer I get annoyed with that kind of marketing. Am I alone in my thinking? How do the rest of you feel about it?

And if anyone with Verizon would like to offer a defense, I encourage you to do so.

Cisco yesterday introduced Enterprise TV, a new video posting and viewing service for businesses. The Enterprise TV platform will allow employers and employees to create capture or play videos of things like meetings, product demonstrations or trainings.

As a YouTube fanatic I think anything involving video rocks! But as a journalist in the multimedia age, I know that video is only one form of media. And it should only be used when it’s the best avenue for getting your point across.

Employee collaboration tools are becoming increasingly popular and are also important for easy dissemination of information and materials; Enterprise TV is just another example of that. But what business owners need to understand is that video, though a huge craze right now, is still just one of many mediums. (more…)