The Meteoric Rise of Draw Something
by Tony Shin of MBA Online
Why did Zynga snap up OMGPOP for bundles of cash? Well, here’s your answer…
Created by: MBAOnline.com
Teamitt – Unleash the Passion of Employees
As part of our Founders Spotlight, we like to highlight promising startups. This week we’re shining our light on Teamitt.
Teamitt helps companies unleash the passion of employees along with helping employees realize their purpose at work. Teamitt simplifies creating engagement with your employees, customers and at events. It not only allows you to set engagement goals but also allows you to measure and reward engagement.
In the existing models, motivating employees lies in the hands of their managers. As we all know, not every manager is an expert in the art of motivating employees, and even if they are, it is not humanly possible for a manager to motivate all employees on a daily basis and in a consistent manner.
How to Gamify Your Start-up
What: Vator Spark
When: Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Where: Berkeley Skydeck, 2150 Shattuck Ave, Penthouse Floor, Berkeley, CA
Get Game: How to Gamify Your Start-up
If you’re not incorporating gamification into your business processes, you’re not fully engaging today’s consumers. Consumers are playful and want to be recognized. Give them a goal – and you’ll tap into their loyalty. Vator Spark is bringing together top-level innovators and investors in the industry to explore how to incorporate the best practices around product, design, marketing, fundraising and more.
Register here with the discount code “foundersspace” for 15% off.
Attracting Top Talent and Co-founders to Your Team
Topic: Attracting Top Talent and Co-founders to Your Team
Presenters: Carl Showalter of Opus Capital, Tom Furlong of Granite Ventures and Lowell Ness of Orrick.
For early stage entrepreneurs, one of the most important aspects of developing and continuing success is the addition of talented people, whether co-founders, technical professionals (engineers e.g.) or sales-related professionals (marketing, business development, etc.). To attract talent that will enhance business, founders need to not only look in the right places, but also to ask the right questions. Our panel of experts will help guide you with insights from their many years of experience in the startup space.
How to Get More Media Coverage via Relationship Marketing
Lyne Noella
by Lyne Noella, CEO, WavePlay LLC
Are you interested in gaining more media coverage without spending an extra penny? Understanding the basics of relationship marketing can help you reach that goal. I’m going to assume that you know the basics of writing and distributing a news release. If not, have a member of your staff enroll in a local community college to ensure your approach is in line with what editors expect. That being said, the best way to get ink is to invest in quality relationships.
Have A Great Time Excelling On The Job and In Sports
Raj Gavurla
by Raj Gavurla of LiiiVEN, Inc.
Statistics show the majority of people aren’t enthralled with their work. Interpreting the statistics meaning forces me to come to the conclusion it’s difficult for them to have a great time because instead of excelling they reached a plateau which causes static thinking, worry, stress, or tiredness. One way to break anhedonia is by applying the following peak performance structure to improve your mindset, mood, and motivation.
Home Routine
Selvz – Reinventing the Avatar in a Mobile World
As part of our Founders Spotlight, we like to feature new and interesting startups. Today, we’re taking a look at Selvz.
In a world that is about to be radically altered from physical to digital, Selvz is introducing an ecosystem that combines the strength of technology, community and entertainment to give rise to a new form of communication and commerce.
Selvz is a new way for people to discover, express and experience authentic and meaningful connections. It’s based on who you are through your personal digital avatar in a world that is always on and always with you via smartphone, tablet or any web format.
WavePlay’s Financing Secret Sauce: Funding
Here’s the first installment in WavePlay’s new Secret Sauce Series. In this video, Waveplay interviews some of Silicon Valley’s top VCs and asks them how entrepreneurs should go about getting funded. Check it out…
12 Most Relevant Things To Do When Creating an Online Marketing Strategy
Suzen Pettit
by Suzen Pettit at Omaginarium
3 weeks ago I ran a contest asking for great idea’s to help me get my blog onto 12most.com, a website that has taken over my brain. I had to have my blog published there. Why? Who knows; I love the concept and the creativity, and the writers are top notch. And I got some great responses, although it was hard, wasn’t it, coming up with topics that weren’t just 12, but 12 MOST….that tripped most people up. I also promised that the winner of my little contest , should it get me accepted into 12most.com would win either a multi page, in depth website analysis, or if the winner could care less about the optimization of their website or a website at all, a 30 minute marketing consultation on the subject of their choice.
6 Free Techniques to Bring Traffic to your Blog
Suzen Pettit
by Suzen Pettit at Omaginarium
A year ago, In February of 2011, I wrote an amazing article titled : “It’s a New Dawn; Protect Your Online Reputation”. It was one of the first blogs I’d written and I was filled with great confidence about the vast value it was going to offer my “online community”. After all, I have awesome services to sell, and I knew people would hungrily sign up for them, and most definately hire me to protect their online reputation. I was targeting a strategic market, offering services at a competitive price and providing interesting content on various platforms. All the stuff the big gun Joe Pulizzi talks about.
Eye Capture is like QR Codes on Steroids
As part of our Founders Spotlight series, we cover new, promising startups. This week we’re featuring Eye Capture, a free mobile app designed for magazines that acts like QR codes on steroids — only without the QR codes or the steroids.
With Eye Capture, you take a picture of the entire page — no tiny QR codes or hidden codes or any codes — and are presented with an screen full of images and magazine-approved links of content that’s directly related to what’s on that page.
The Funding Landscape – Which Companies Are More Likely To Receive Funding in 2012
Topic: The Funding Landscape – Which Companies Are More Likely To Receive Funding in 2012
2012 is officially in swing. Get insights from top investors about their outlook for 2012; which companies are more likely to receive funding in 2012, and which market spaces may be getting too crowded.
Presenters: Peter Craddock of Shoreline Ventures, Dave Feinleib of VCDave, and Steve Bernardezof Onset Ventures.
Peter Craddock of Shoreline Ventures, Dave Feinleib of VCDave, and Steve Bernardez of Onset Ventures.
Dollar Shave Club cuts a Sharp Launch Video!
Dollar Shave Club gives us a clean cut example of how to make a razor sharp video for launching a site.
Can you top this hilarious startup video? If so, send it our way!
Geek Gear: ScreenFlow is a Powerful Tool for Startups
Okay, so you’re a startup and you’re launching a new website or app. How do you communicate this to users, journalists and investors? ScreenFlow makes it easy by allowing you to create screencasts, including tutorial videos, training videos, how-to lessons, marketing videos, and product demos.
With ScreenFlow you can record the contents of your entire monitor while also capturing your video camera, microphone and your computer audio. The easy-to-use editing interface lets you creatively edit your video, and add additional images, text, music and transitions for a truly professional-looking video. The finished result is a QuickTime or Windows Media movie, ready for publishing to your Web site or blog or directly to YouTube or Vimeo.
HatchMe – Incubator focused on University Startups
HatchMe is a startup incubator with a focus on incubating university entrepreneurs’ ideas and school projects to build the next big thing to improve the world.
Their main initiative is to discover talented entrepreneurs from all colleges and universities who by themselves don’t have the time, resources or connections to bring their ideas to life. HatchMe partners with influencers, educators and financiers in the entrepreneurial ecosystem to transform ideas to startups to success.
From what we can tell, this incubator is pretty new. They don’t have a lot up on their website yet, but you can check it out at http://hatchme.com/
Co-working Spaces for Startups in Cities Across the USA
Co-working is a style of work which involves a shared working environment. Unlike in a typical office environment, those co-working are usually not employed by the same organization.
We’re focusing here on co-working spaces targeted at the nomadic internet entrepreneur, seeking an alternative to working in coffee shops, garages and living rooms.
We’ve compiled a list below of coworking spaces in major cities across the United States. If we missed any coworking spaces, please add them in the comments section below!
Arizona
Gangplank
http://optinlearningcenter.com/co-working-env
260 S Arizona Ave
Chandler, Arizona
Optin Learning Center
1440 S. Country Club Mesa
Mesa, Arizona
Co-working Spaces & Shared Offices in San Francisco
We keep getting asked about co-working and shared office space in San Francisco. Let me tell you, there is an abundance of places to choose from.
Parisoma
http://www.parisoma.com/
Citizen Space
http://citizenspace.us/
Sandbox Suites
http://sandboxsuites.com/
NextSpace
http://nextspace.us/
Hub Bay Area
http://bayarea.the-hub.net/
Founders Den
http://www.foundersden.com/
Reactor
http://reactorsf.com/
SomaCentral
https://twitter.com/#!/somacentral
WeWork
http://www.weworknyc.com/
People Browsr Labs
http://www.peoplebrowsr.com/labs
RocketSpace
http://www.rocket-space.com/
And this probably isn’t even all the spaces!
Life Science Collaboration Agreements
by Richard Hsu at One Page Blog
Inspired by the music from Steve Jobs 1984 introduction of the Macintosh, I have put together my nuts and bolts of a Life Sciences Collaboration Agreement.
LaunchRock – Landing Pages Made Easy & Viral
LaunchRock helps you instantly build a prelaunch landing page and adds all the hooks so that it can go viral.
Here’s some adivce they give on their site:
Five lessons for a friend-fueled viral launch page:
1. Ask for help: Your friends care about you and want to help you succeed.
2. Lines, Not Dots: Share a story line with friends not just a snapshot.
3. Snipers, Not Shotguns: Target small circles of friends with catered emails.
4. Keep it fresh: Continually show your friends how your business works.
5. Don’t be annoying: Be comfortable asking for help, but don’t over do it.
Startup Incubator for Teens — Teens in Tech
What’s next — an incubator for those over 70? Probably not, but Teens in Tech is a good idea. Get kids when they’re young and teach them valuable lessons in business.
The Teens in Tech Incubator is an eight week hands-on program for entrepreneurs between the ages of 13-19 who are serious about building products and learning about entrepreneurship.
Through the eight-week program, teams will experience what it means to start a company and build a product. With over 60 top startup mentors around the world, seed funding, an amazing office in the heart of Silicon Valley, and a vibrant community of entrepreneurs, we help our companies succeed through hands-on experience.
Bolt – An Accelerator for Physical Products
Ben Einstein
So if you have any wild ideas for physical products, this might be your chance. The only catch is that you’ll have to be in Boston. That’s where the accelerator will be located.
How to Market & Promote iPhone, iPad & Android Apps (Part 5)
Steve Hoffman
by Steve Hoffman, Publisher of Founders Space
Okay, your app is now live. Here’s what you need to do to keep your app visible and healthy.
Post-Launch Phase – Marketing & Promotion
- Take advantage of services like TapJoy and Millennial Media to buy installs and boost your app’s rank. But don’t get carried away. These guys can cost you a bundle, and unless your app performs, it can be a waste of money.
- Avoid advertising on the Web. These clicks seldom translate into mobile downloads.
- Look for new partnership opportunities.
What’s the Science behind a Startup? An LA Incubator Thinks it Knows
A hot new incubator hits LA… This time it’s Science. It’s the brainchild of Color cofounder, Peter Pham and former MySpace CEO Mike Jones. With their connections and Silicon Valley money, they should do alright.
Here’s their pitch:
Science creates, scales and acquires successful digital businesses by bringing together the best ideas, talent, resources and financing through a centralized platform. Science focus’s on three things: developing new businesses, providing emerging startups with operational strategy and capital, and transforming later-stage Internet ventures with new talent and innovations.
Here’s their roster:
TEDxSheffield – Alan Moore’s No Straight Lines
If you haven’t heard of No Straight Lines, you’re missing out. Allan Moore is onto something big. He calls himself a Creative Destructionist, and below is his wonderful talk at TEDxSheffield:
Given this year’s theme of ‘Disrupt’ Alan’s a wonderful addition to TEDxSheffield. Alan is a noted expert on disruption particularly in a nonlinear world. He’s the author of ‘Communities Dominate Brands’ and he has a new book coming out in October entitled ‘No Straight Lines’ which originally came to fame as a hugely popular talk delivered at SXSWi in Austin, TX.
Founders Spotlight: Hear It Local
We’ve got another great startup for you: Hear It Local. Hear It Local’s mission is to help musicians secure more local gigs and to help fans get the inside scoop about local shows.
This video was produced by our good friends and collaborators Lyne and Peter at WavePlay as part of their What’s Hot Now series. It features Matt Lombardi and Glenn Shope, cofounders of Hear It Local. Enjoy!
Geek Gear: Gamecom 780 with Dolby 7.1 by Plantronics
As part of our Geek Gear series, we’re happy to let you know about Gamecom 780. If you’re looking for a headset for both work and pleasure (a.k.a. games), it’s the perfect combo. We tested it out on everything from Skype to World of Warcraft, and this baby is a keeper.
The GameCom 780 has a retro look, a bit bulky, but it’s surprisingly light weight. The nice thing is that it’s not flimsy. We like the high quality construction — the materials are superb. It feels great to put those cups over your ears, like you’re heading off to another world.
How to Market & Promote iPhone, iPad & Android Apps (Part 4)
Steve Hoffman
by Steve Hoffman, Creator of Yumby
The day your app hits the App Store, you need to be ready to respond to anything and everything. This is your biggest single day for marketing and promoting your app, and here’s what you need to do.
Launch Phase – Marketing & Promotion
- Upon launch, email blast all the journalists you didn’t contact ahead of time. Point them to the press release and the App Store, so they can download your app. Also include a link to a video of your app. Journalists are lazy and often won’t download your app unless they find the video compelling.
How to Market & Promote iPhone, iPad & Android Apps (Part 3)
Steve Hoffman
by Steve Hoffman, Publisher of Founders Space
Right before your app launch is the most critical time for marketing and promoting it. You need to cement all the key relationships and make sure everyone knows your app is about to hit the App Store. If you do a good enough job and are lucky enough to get on Apple’s radar, the chances of getting featured go way up.
Prelaunch Phase – Marking & Promotion
