All posts from The Business Insider: Strategy

A few weeks ago, I ran across a box full of photos I had taken a while back. Actually, they were color slides, which should give you some idea of how old they are. Many of them were of people, events and even documents (photos of documents? Don’t even ask, I can’t remember why) from my second startup (actually, my third, but it was the second one I founded). The company was originally named Qualogy Technology, but wiser minds prevailed and it was later changed to Viewlogic Systems.
Viewlogic/Qualogy was started by a gang of five (including me) out of Digital Equipment Corporation. We worked for a full year refining the idea, testing the market and looking for money before we finally got funded. We knocked on many doors, gave fewer presentations, discussed our plan with even fewer semi-interested VCs and seriously talked with only a handful of potential investors. We rewrote the business plan so many times, I think I had every word memorized. We changed our revenue model, sales model, marketing plan and development schedule, but never changed our fundamental idea. We stuck with it because we believed in what we were doing and always thought that we could convince someone with money that we and our ideas were worthy of investment.
After a full year of effort, we finally beat someone into submission found an investor who believed in us and our plan. What did that initial deal entail? A total investment of only $50K (see the checks above [Editor's note: on Will's blog] – $25K from two VCs). My friend Dave points out that it amounts to a little over $100K in today’s dollars – not much money. In retrospect, the term sheet was crappy – contingencies, ratchets, board control issues and so forth. But none of that really mattered, we were on our way. If we had to make some additional sacrifices to be successful, they were acceptable. It was all about having the opportunity to execute our dream.
In the end, it worked out pretty well for all concerned. While not an insane, Harvard Business Review case study, cover of the Wall Street Journal, blowout success, the company did pretty well. Viewlogic went public and then sold a few years later for a little over half a billion dollars. Before it sold, it employed about 750 people, had direct sales worldwide and roughly $170M in revenue.
These days, I see startups often putting in even a greater levels of effort and dedication than we did in forming Viewlogic. The focus and intensity of these young companies is really outstanding. Frequently, though, I see a do or die mentality when it comes to getting funded at relatively high levels. Entrepreneurs think of big funding events as milestones and measurements of success instead of just being part of the process of initially refining and focusing their ideas and later growing them. Funding shouldn’t be the goal, it should be an accelerant to help a company achieve its real goals.
With that in mind, young companies should always look for alternatives to the classic substantial (relatively speaking) first round. Can they self fund? Can they get to positive cash flow earlier? Can they do some custom projects (adaptations of the company’s product or service) for specific early adopters? Can they simply take less money to bridge them to more success and further funding down the road?
Don’t get me wrong, time is against almost every company. Getting things done faster is important and having money to spend makes that much easier. Starting on a shoestring, with less money, or even no money, doesn’t prevent success, though. And, sometimes, it can even enhance it. It’s worked before.
This post was originally published on Will's blog, 2-Speed. It is republished here with permission.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:100 Things Every Young Entrepreneur Should Know How Angel Investing Is Different Than Venture CapitalWhat To Do If Your Startup Is About To Go Bust

Note: This article was originally published on Entrepreneur.

A tour through the New Belgium Brewing Company's sunny, Fort Collins, Colo., headquarters starts with an invitation to taste what the company's all about--literally.
"We're going to drink five beers this size over the course of the tour," says tour guide Marie Kirkpatrick as she passes around 4-ounce glasses of spiced ale to the dozen or so visitors. "Is everyone OK with that?"
Over the next hour and a half, visitors will not only get to taste five craft beers brewed on site, but also peer into the giant canisters where barley is cooked into beer, smell the fruit peels and spices that flavor the brews, and go for a ride down the corkscrew slide meant to remind employees to have fun.

Though the wine industry was the first to capitalize on the concept of the "experience economy" --the idea that consumers crave experiences rather than just products or services--entrepreneurs in a variety of fields are now finding success by opening their doors and inviting customers to see, smell, hear and touch their wares.
Here's how to incorporate the concept into your own business.

Click here to see 6 ways to capitalize on the new experience economy >

 
 
 Join the conversation about this story »See Also:6 Keys To Connecting With Your CustomersHow To Build Customer Loyalty7 Insanely Useful Ways To Search Twitter For Marketing

Note: This post was originally published on OPEN Forum.
All sales start with a simple conversation. It may be a conversation between you and a potential client or customer, between one of your clients and a potential referral, or between one of your colleagues and a potential referral.
An effective sales cycle is based on turning these simple conversations into relationships of trust with your potential clients over time. We know that people buy from those they like and trust, and you'll begin to earn this trust when you're able to answer the following key questions.

Who is your target customer?
What are they looking for?
When do they look for you?
Where do they look for you?
Why should they choose you?
How do you want them to engage with you?

Click here to learn more about these keys to better customer connections >Join the conversation about this story »See Also:10 Ways To Stay Ahead Of The Competition7 Insanely Useful Ways To Search Twitter For Marketing10 Real Online Startups Founded By Real Offline Celebrities

In a series of two articles for Forbes, entrepreneur and investor Shaun Rein discusses a few widely-held misconceptions about what it really takes to start a successful business.
Many entrepreneurs delay their startup plans or are eventually derailed because of these common business "myths."
Don't fall into that trap! Rein advises all would-be entrepreneurs to beware the following ideas:

You need to spend a lot of time preparing a detailed business plan.

You need to have a perfect, mind-blowingly innovative product.

Being the boss means you can give everyone else the hard work to do.

You have to spend money to make money.

You have to have an MBA or tons of past experience.

Raising money from venture capitalists is the best way to go.

Read the full articles over at Forbes by clicking here and here.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:What It's Like Being A VC100 Things Every Young Entrepreneur Should Know Dirty Tricks To Help Your Startup Get Ahead

I recently wrote a piece for Mashable on how to create a company blog.  Since it’s already written (and since I promised not to republish on my blog other than a summary) if you’re interested please have a read over there.  I have a very detailed article that covers stuff I won’t cover in detail in this post.
Summary notes and then I’ll extend:
Should you blog? Yes.  As Brian Solis is fond of saying, “PR stands for public relations, not press release.”  That’s right.  In the era of two-way communications people expect an authentic voice and not the Wizard of Oz pulling levels behind the curtains.  Blogging is an important way to build an audience and also drive SEO traffic.  It’s also a great way to build relationships with people interested in your topic area.
What should you blog about? Define your customers, partners and other relevant people to your organization (e.g. analysts, journalists, potential employees) and blog about what you want to communication with them.  Don’t blog about what you think would be “cool.”  I don’t think that most startup blogs should be about how to build a startup.  That’s blogging to the echo chamber unless they’re your target customers.  And if they are I suggest your revenue stream is likely to look a bit skinny.  If you’re a financial services firm blog about personal finance.
How to find your “voice”? Be authentic.  Don’t try to sound too smart or too funny.  Just be yourself.  People will see who you are in your words.  If you try to make everything too perfect you’ll never hit publish.  If you try to sound too intelligent you’ll likely be boring as shite.  Most blogs are.  Be open and transparent.  Get inside your reader’s minds.  Try to think about what they would want to know from you.  In fact, ask them!  Don’t be offensive – it’s never worth it to offend great masses of people.  But that doesn’t mean sitting on the fence.  I have a point of view and I’m sure sometimes it rankles.  But I try to be respectful about it.  Sitting on the fence on all issues is also pretty boring.  But unless you’re a political or religious blog stay out of all the stuff that you were taught not to talk about at cocktail parties.  And don’t blog drunk.  Mostly, have fun.  If you can’t do that you won’t last very long.
OK, that’s my summary and I don’t want to violate my terms with the people at Mashable who were very generous with me so I’m now into new territory.  But if you like this topic please consider reading the Mashable article.  I put much time into it.
The new stuff:
How do I get started? First, you’ll need a platform.  I use Wordpress and am very happy.  In this genre there is also Typepad although I find less people using it these days.  Blogger kinda sucks IMHO.  There are the new tools like Tumblr and Posterous.  I’ve played with both and they’re pretty cool.  They’re more light weight, easier to use and more social.  But for my “professional” blog I’m quite happy with Wordpress for now.  Then you need to decide whether to use the “hosted” version or the “installed” version.  At least that’s true in Wordpress.  The advantage of the hosted version is that it’s easier to get started.  The disadvantage is that you can’t install a lot of additional tools that use Javascript.  Actually, that’s kind of lame.  I started with the hosted version and then migrated to an installed version so I could use Google Analytics and some other products.
You then need a URL.  It’s true you can be msuster.typepad.com or similar ut that’s kind of lame so I wouldn’t recommend it.  Just get a real URL.  I think it’s important to think about what image you want to portray when you pick your URL name.  It doesn’t need to be short.  You’re not trying to build a consumer website like Mint.com.  My website is a pretty long URL but people manage to find it.  Much of my traffic is through referring websites and/or social media. Some search.  But I chose the URL of the brand that I want to portray.  Both Sides of the Table.  I was an entrepreneur.  Now I’m a VC.  Not rocket science.  What are you trying to convey?  What will be your unique positioning?  Don’t just write a carbon copy of what somebody else is doing.  That’s boring.
So I wrote a post, now what? OK, well, actually the first thing I did is come up with a list of 50 posts that I wanted to write.  I planned it out a bit.  I didn’t want to run out of things to write about in the first 6 months.  So I created a “series” that I could talk about in a theme.  My first series was the slides that go into a PowerPoint presentation.  Since there are 10-12 slides this gave me my first few weeks.  Don’t blow your load on your first post.  Slice it up enough to do many posts.  I think most blogs are between 600-1000 words / post.  I’m long winded – usually 2,000 words.  I know.  I know.  Once you’re written a few posts don’t try to make the flood gates open at once.  Slowly build your audience.  Make it organic.  If you write good content and consistently you’ll build an audience over time.  I’m now at about 70k monthly uniques put the growth has been gradual over the past 9 months – not one great spurt.
How do I build an audience? So you have a few posts live and want some readers.  The obvious starting point is to email a few friends and let them know you have a new blog.  Don’t be overbearing – just an email saying, wanted to let you know about my new blog.  I also recommend you put it under your email signature in a color other than black.  You also should have it be what your Twitter page links to.
Every time I write a post I send it out on Twitter.  I try to send out the Twitter link when more people are online.  I currently do this using CoTweet, which allows me to schedule when the Tweet goes out.  I’ll frequently send two Tweets – one in the morning and one in the evening.  Not everybody sees the first one.  I try to vary the copy sometimes so that it isn’t boring if somebody sees it twice.  Make sure your blog has Tweetmeme or similar.  This means if somebody likes your post and wants to Retweet it they can by simply clicking a button.  To add a post to Facebook button I use a tool called fbShare.me.  You can also sign up for Tweetpost to have your Twitter account automatically update Twitter.  Also, make sure to sign up with Feedburner.  That way people who want to get your blog by RSS and/or email can do so. Make sure your blog also has a Follow Me on Twitter button so people who find you can easily follow you.
The great thing is that the more compelling content you write the more people Retweet you, which drive more traffic to your blog.  Twitter is, after all, about link sharing.  The more they go to your blog and like it, the more will follow you on Twitter.  As you build up that following you have more people to drive to your blog going forward.  Virtuous circle.  That’s the basics.  I’ll write about some more advanced “hacks” at the end of the post.
How much time will it take? If you plan out what you want to write about in advance then it’s really about writing.  I tend to write an outline before I write the actual post so that my writing will have some structure.  I write for about 45 minutes to an hour in the first pass.  I usually then re-read, edit, spell check and add links.  This usually takes another 20-30 minutes.  I then always add an image.  I think this is a nice touch.  Just staring at text is a bit boring and I find that the image can add humor and/or drive people in.  I used to add 2-3 images but that proved too time consuming.
I get most of my images from iStockPhoto.  There are placed to get free images but I don’t like to deal with the creative commons wording and linking and potential that I got it wrong.  I’m fine paying $1-2 / picture.  I know the free option would work well so if you’re on a budget go down that road.  I’ve often thought about trying to crowd-source a copy editor.  I think I would improve my posts if somebody could edit them and make them shorter.  For now, I hope it’s good enough.
Then there’s comments.  You HAVE TO respond to comments.  First, it’s the most fun part of blogging.  It’s addicting like Twitter.  It’s where you exchange ideas with other people.  It’s where your community gets to know you.  It’s where you build loyalty and relationships.  I have met many people in person who were first commenters on my blog.  I find it frustrating if I leave comments on somebody’s blog and they never respond.  I don’t expect responses to each and every comment but there should be some interaction.  Unless, of course, I’m posting comments on a blog like TechCrunch or the Washington Post.  But I remember in the early days Michael Arrington used to respond to comments on his blog a lot.
I’m very particular to Disqus as my commenting platform.  I like the interactivity and ability to have nested responses.  I like being able to have authenticated responders and images.  It helps to get to know people better.  Native commenting systems mostly suck.  Use Disqus.
How frequently should I write? Tough question.  I’m going to assume that like me you have a day job.  If you’re a full time blogger and reading this then you need to go get a real book on how to blog.  This is directed at part time people who are building a blog to support their real business.  I think you should commit to one post per week.  I recommend writing 8-10 before you get started so that you have a backlog in case you get busy.  Sometimes I write 4 or 5 on a weekend when I get time so that I have them for weeks where I’m busy.  One time I set my alarm for 5am and blasted through 12 posts in two mornings and I had fodder for weeks.  That was my “Entrepreneurial DNA” series.  I wrote it on two mornings during Thanksgiving holiday.  Then later I just added images and edited.  Right now I’m writing about 3-4 times / week.  I can’t commit to every day like some bloggers.  And I reserve the right to drop back to 1-2 posts some weeks if I feel busy or burned out.  But my personal SLA right now is once / week minimum.
FWIW, It’s 11:41PM right now.  I wrote this post at about 6:30PM.  I’m editing in bed.  Probably shouldn’t be.  I’m sure if I bought my WakeMate already they’d be telling me not to!
How can I track my performance? First, most blogging tools have analytics built in.  Wordpress does.  Then you can install Google Analytics to your website.  This will give you more realistic stats.  When you Tweet you should use a URL shortener tied to an analytics platform.  The most common is Bit.ly.  I use awe.sm.  Awe.sm allows me to track more granular details about my campaigns than I can currently on Bit.ly and it’s where I got my custom URL’s grp.vc and bothsid.es.  You can also track how many people sign up on Feedburner.  I try not to obsess too much about the ins-and-outs of daily or weekly performance.  I just want to know that I’m building up a slow and steady audience. It’s a marathon and not a sprint.
Appendix: Traffic Hacks:

Commenting on other blogs – you need to comment on other people’s blogs.  First, it is a place where your comment will often link back to your blog (such as on TechCrunch) where it can drive traffic.  Occasionally, and not overtly, and only if relevant you can provide a comment with a link back to an article in your blog.  Don’t do this often, don’t be blatant and make sure it’s relevant.
Linking to other blogs – For example, many people know that I love VentureHacks because it’s a great resource for entrepreneurs and I finally met Babak Nivi (aka Nivi).  Notice I’ve linked to his website.  If he tracks his blog (which I’m sure he does) he’ll see this link.  If he has a Google Alert on his name (everyone does) then he’ll also get that.  Don’t stalk people and link all the time.  If you do link make it relevant.  Don’t be over the top gushing and creepy.  Be subtle.  Link to different blogs.  Don’t overtly tell everyone you link to, “I linked to you, check out my article!”  Assume that over time if you write compelling content they’ll eventually check you out.  I do notice when people link to me or write about stuff I’ve written about.  I try to check out most of them.  Sometimes I get busy.  Every few I try to stop by and leave a comment so that they’ll know I’ve been there and I appreciate the coverage.  Sometimes I just read the blog and file it away in memory to check out another time.
Covering relevant people in your blog in an authentic way – If your blog covers topics in your industry it’s likely that you’ll be able to write about some people and companies that you want to be aware of your blog.  Yesterday I wrote about Plancast.  I love their product.  I don’t have any reason to drive Mark Hendrickson to my blog but using him as an example, writing a story about Plancast would make it more likely that the founder would find his way to my blog.  I chose not to write about companies for a long time on my blog.  My strategy was to keep it advice based for the first 6 months so I never really employed this as a strategy to drive traffic.  But I know it works.
Tweet support - What I DID do in the early days is enlist Tweet support.  I would occasionally ask people that I was close with to retweet my posts.  I tried to mix it up in order to not ask the same people often.  I would send out emails with the Tweet text already written so that they just had to cut-and-paste.  As my blog started getting authentic traffic I stopped asking for this help.
Guest authoring – Once you have a bit of credibility as a writer a great strategy to drive traffic is to write guest posts for relevant bloggers in your sphere of influence.   If you run BakeSpace and blog about food why not contact some of the local food blogs and see whether you could submit guest articles.  Most people are delighted to have the free content.  In return all you ask for are links back to your blog and to your Twitter account.  Slowly and surely these will add users, of which some will come back on a regular basis.

Mark Suster is a former entrepreneur and currently a partner at GRP Partners. This post was originally published on Mark's blog, Both Sides of the Table. It is republished here with permission.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:What It's Like Being A VC7 Insanely Useful Ways To Search Twitter For MarketingThe 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should Monitor

Two weeks ago I posted a poll which surveyed readers about their perception about the relative attractiveness of their regional venture community. Now that about 1,500 questions have been answered and post is no longer in the top portion of my blog it’s time to share some of the results.
I created the poll on a service called Urtak which enables people to both answer and create questions. I like this functionality because I often feel like surveys are not asking all of the right questions. This was true in the case of this survey – readers added questions that perhaps I should have included initially. There’s nothing like the power of the crowd.
A few readers pointed out that the survey didn’t follow protocol. Some questions were probably leading, others may have confused readers. Furthermore, the number of responses from each population may not have been statistically significant. Nonetheless, people from each region answered the same questions and there were enough answers from Boston, Silicon Valley and New York to make the results interesting, if not scientifically accurate.
Lastly, before I share the results, there were a few regions included in the survey, such as Atlanta, Israel and the EU, that didn’t get enough responses to report here. If they accrue more responses over time, I’ll report back.
The Takeaways: Comparing Perceptions of Silicon Valley, Boston and New York
The big picture: The responses to most questions (there are a few exceptions) illustrated less difference between the perceptions of the various regions then one might have expected. If you take the average percentage of respondents answering ‘yes’ to the 7 most interesting questions (the ones which I’ll discuss in this post), NY, the Valley and Boston averaged 74%, 77% and 84%, respectively. That’s a pretty tight clustering given the sample size. This is a finding in and of itself as it could suggest that the banter in the blogosphere and conference circuits about the relative attractiveness of the various startup regions might be more hype than reality.
Entrepreneurs love their hood: Consistent with the big picture takeaway mentioned above, there was a very positive and consistent response to the question “Is your region a great place to start a company?” Despite the variances across a few of the questions I’ll describe below, about 90% of respondents from all three regions answered ‘yes’. Whether this questions appealed to the regional loyalty of the entrepreneurs or it indicates that the negative marks that the entrepreneurs gave their region in other categories receive less weighting in their evaluation, entrepreneurs from all three regions appear pretty happy to be based where they are.
It’s easier to find mentors & partners in New York & Boston: The respondents indicated that it’s easier in NY and Boston to find mentors or partners for your startups. Note that respondents from the Valley do still give the valley a pretty strong overall rating on this front – 75-80% of respondents indicated that they could find mentors and partners, respectively. A hypothesis - the relative shortage of mentors and partners could be from the relatively higher population of entrepreneurs in the Valley. Finding mentors and partners could be easier in regions where a smaller percentage of the population is starting a company.
Finding engineering talent is easier in the Valley, but not difficult in Boston & New York: While all of the respondents from the Valley indicated that they could find engineering talent, >85% of respondents in both Boston and New York claimed they could find engineering talent in their region. I suspect as the startup ecosystems continue to proliferate that gap will increasingly close over time.
Boston perceived to be the most affordable region; New York and Silicon Valley on par with each other: 80% of respondents from Boston felt that their region was an affordable place to start a company (taking rent and labor expense into account). While both New York and Silicon Valley were a step down from Boston; receiving only 42% and 47% of respondents saying each region is affordable respectively, it’s good to hear that New York is considered on par with Silicon Valley. With often less expensive startup engineering talent and startup hubs in low cost parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, this poll (albeit limited in its scope) supports the viewpoint of many New Yorkers that choice between starting a company in New York and Silicon Valley shouldn’t be based upon cost.
Perceived shortage of capital in New York – investors flocking: When asked “Is finding early stage capital appropriately easy in your region?”, 60% of respondents from Boston said ‘yes’, 53% from Silicon Valley and 44% from New York. I interpret this metric to speak to the relative shortage or surplus of capital. While the Valley has lots of capital it also has lots of entrepreneurs – the demand for capital may outpace the supply. Boston also has a relatively established venture capital industry, but may have a relatively less developed startup ecosystem. If there is less competition for term sheets, money is easier to come by. As for New York – it’s not surprising to hear about perceptions that capital is harder to come by. The venture capital industry here is trying to keep up with the rapidly developing entrepreneurial ecosystem. The shortage of capital has already attracted at least a dozen firms from the Valley, Boston and beyond.
Founders pick the home for their startups based upon a lot of different reasons including personal/ family considerations, existing business ecosystems and networks. While there are arguably pros & cons to each of the regions evaluated here, my big take-away from this poll was that perception that Silicon Valley, Boston and New York are all pretty good places to start a company.
Mark Peter Davis is a New York City VC and member of the DFJ Gotham Ventures team. This post originally appeared on his blog, and it is republished here with permission.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:5 Common Misconceptions About Building A Startup In NYCOK, Fine: NYC Isn't Great For Startups (Yet), But It's Going To BeSilicon Valley Isn't New York's Enemy -- Wall Street Is

Note: This article was originally published on OPEN Forum.
The last thing a small business needs now is fraud. Moderately-sized companies are already struggling enough in the fragile economy. Getting ripped off can be a crippling blow. Fraud of American companies isn't pocket change: a 2008 survey by the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners estimated that U.S. organizations lose 7% of their annual revenues to fraud -- nearly $100 billion in 2008. The damage is the worst among small businesses, where the median loss suffered by organizations with fewer than 100 employees was $200,000. True, the time and funds it takes to to prevent fraud can seem intimidating. But taking basic precautions and making a small investment early on can pay big dividends. “Even though time and resources are scarce when you’re a small business owner, you should make fighting fraud a priority because, in a tough economy, you literally cannot afford to fall prey to scammers," says Alison Southwick, a Better Business Bureau spokesperson. "Preventing and deterring fraud is much more effective than trying to recover losses after the fact. The economy is showing signs of recovery, but damaging fraud schemes can compound the financial woes of a struggling organization," adds Bruce Dorris, ACFE's program director. So, what to do? Leaving aside employee fraud, here's a brief guide to protecting against outside threats.
Click here to see our tips for avoiding corporate fraud >Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Dirty Tricks To Help Your Startup Get AheadDon't Let Your Interns Destroy Your Company10 Ways To Stay Ahead Of The Competition

The recent Toyota recall catastrophe has many people wondering the how upper management at the gigantic automaker managed to botch this situation so badly.
But, while it's easy to be critical of Toyota's poor decisions, many small business owners might find themselves in a similar position should they be faced with a crisis of their own.
Dealing with a major product defect, especially one that could harm your customers, is a major task that every business owner should be prepared for.
"Have a product recall plan ready to use anytime, one that covers the operational, legal and public relations (internal and external) components of making a recall," advises Jonathan Bernstein, President of Bernstein Crisis Management. "'We'll wing it' is not a product recall plan."
You obviously can't plan for every detail, but it's crucial to have at least a basic crisis-management strategy in place -- before one happens.
Some of Bernstein's essentials for dealing with a recall:

Sooner is always better. You should make a public announcement, "the moment you know there may be a threat to public safety – not merely after you’ve already confirmed it!"

You can't change what's happened, so take responsibility and minimize the damage. "Public backlash can occur for two principal reasons:  distress that a product is somehow defective, and distress at the matter in which the recall was (or wasn’t) communicated.  You minimize public backlash by being proactive and transparent, virtually eliminating the second principal cause of distress."

Use every possible communications channel. "Recalls related to public safety should be made using every possible communications channel, on- and offline.  It’s better to over-communicate rather than take the risk that important stakeholders miss the message."

Empower all employees with accurate information and consistent messages. Every employee is now a PR rep for your company. Don't try to control damage by restricting the flow of information internally -- be sure every member of your organization is equipped with the information necessary to represent the situation accurately and appropriately to anyone who asks.

Don't wait for regulatory agencies to get involved. Bureaucratic government processes "can often delay how much time passes before product consumers and distributors are notified -- a delay which, in worst-case scenarios, can cause injuries or deaths."

Finally, remember that the safety of your customers is your number one priority. Bernstein adds, “CEOs need to remember that the public expects them to do what’s right, not just what’s required... Companies like Bridgestone/Firestone, and Merck, learned that lesson the painful way.”Join the conversation about this story »See Also:How To Fire An Employee The Right WayTiger, Take Note: 10 Celebrities Who Came Back From Total PR Ruin To Kick Ass AgainThe 15 Biggest PR Disasters Of The Decade

I recently wrote about how New York lags behind the West Coast in terms of knowing all the tricks it takes to drive a web business.
The article generated a lot of comments as to what these secrets are, with most people focusing on the most obvious ones, black hat SEO. Now before I divulge, let me state that I don't know all the secrets. I probably don't even know 10% of them. We don't use any of them at our company. And I'm not saying that any of them are good. In fact, they suck and they hurt honest companies who are trying to do the right thing.But what I am saying is that some of the biggest, and most venture backed companies have used all sorts of traffic and acquisition tricks over the last few years to drive their numbers up. For some it has not worked. But for others it has, especially when numbers are needed to show VC's or advertisers. Some of the biggest websites in the US use this stuff and have folks (often with such titles as VP of shady business) who know all the tricks. Rather than focus on whether you should run your startup in NYC or the West Coast, I try in this article, to point to where on the web others have exposed some of these tricks and where they hide.This then becomes instead a story with lots of footnotes, featuring IM bots, anonymous proxy servers, meta refresh, pop-unders, pornography, fishy downloads, chinese traffic drivers, fake user emails and so forth. While I don't pursue these strategies, and I don't recommend them, if you're in the game, you should be cognizant of how the game can be played.Porn based traffic - Remember those old AOL chat rooms? Or the now hot Chatroulette? It's no secret that porn drives traffic and everyone from Yahoo, to Google to Ning have thrived in its wake.Porn driven traffic - There's no traffic like porn traffic. It's cheap to buy and can generate a lot of clicks. One previous NYC high flying media company with significant A level venture backing was known to be the master at monetizing porn traffic arbitrage, buying it for cheap and reselling their own landed on pages for much more. Want to buy some?Traffic robots and meta refresh - This stuff requires only the most basic of programming skill and is in fact so easy that it makes you wonder if anyone's time on site can be trusted. More traffic bots and fake traffic - This type of stuff is generally used by smaller mom and pop entities but scripts to fake and drive your numbers are readily available on the interwebs, and some people will even translate the Chinese for you.Fake activity on a dating site - Lots of sites and social networks make it appear that members are reaching out to you. Wondered why so many folks were checking you out on that latest hot dating site, driving your activity? It's all fake.Pop unders - While pop unders are much less present now, they had their day in the Silicon Valley sun driving huge traffic spikes.Facebook already knows you -  Go to facebook. Sign up with your work email or any email that you use but is not your main facebook email. Create a bogus account with that email. Name it whatever you want, Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny, whatever. Be shocked how it instantly recommends people you know and how you start adding friends. Even though you didn't do anything, didn't give it information, it already has lots of information stored on you. How's that work? I'll leave that one to you to figure out.Join the conversation about this story »See Also:When To Raise MoneyWhy You Need Some Overcapacity In Your BusinessThe 6 People You'll Meet On Twitter

From BuzzMachine:
I used the opportunity of a TED event to question the TED format, especially in relation to education, where — as in media — we must move past the one-way lecture to collaboration...
[From the lecture:] Why should you be sitting there listening to me? To paraphrase Dan Gillmor, you know more than I do. Will Richardson should be up here instead of me. And to paraphrase Jay Rosen, you should be the people formerly known as the audience.
But right now, you’re the audience and I’m lecturing.
That’s bullshit.
Read more at BuzzMachine >Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Paid Content on paid contentNext to the gallows: Newspaper couponsStop Selling Scarcity

Customer service doesn't have to be difficult.
Relatively small touches in the way you interact with your clients can make a huge difference in whether or not they'll return.
FastCompany suggests seven key principles you should adopt to make your customers love you more... and want to come back again.
In summary:

Focus on the first and last moments of your customer's experience with you.
Be speedy, and never be late.
Encourage personal interaction online and over the phone.
Keep track of personal customer details.
Use language that's in line with your brand.
Learn to "anticipate a customer's wishes."
Find and keep employees who have outstanding customer service skills.

Read the entire article at FastCompany >Join the conversation about this story »See Also:7 Insanely Useful Ways To Search Twitter For MarketingThe 10 Social Media Metrics Your Company Should MonitorHow One Small Business Does Social Media Right

If you see trouble for your startup looming on the horizon, strategically choosing where you make adjustments could mean the difference between success and failure.
In a recent post from Entrepreneur, startup veterans suggest five specific areas of your biz plan where agile changes should offer you the greatest opportunity to save your company:

Product direction
Cash burn rate
Business model
Potential new markets
Management team

The article cites a few examples of floundering companies that have saved themselves by adjusting their strategy in one or more of these areas.
From Entrepreneur:
National Payment Network, an online bill pay service system used by consumers to pay off auto loans quickly, was severely impacted by the unexpected downturn in the auto industry.
Based on total 2007 and first-quarter 2008 revenue, NPN built a large internal sales and customer support department to meet growing demand. By mid-2008, the company's cash burn rate had ballooned to more than $600,000 a month... National Payment Network CEO Steve Baus knew that for the company to survive he would have to do two things: slash the cash burn rate and find new markets for NPN's services.
Within 90 days of identifying the changing market conditions, Baus was able to cut the company's monthly burn rate to $25,000 by dismantling NPN's sales organization, outsourcing customer support and cutting all employee salaries--including senior management's--by 30 percent. The leaner, more efficient NPN was able to diversify into new vertical markets such as home mortgages, student loans, personal loans and credit repair services. Baus' quick action saved NPN from going bankrupt, and the company was able to raise another round of investments shortly after the reorganization.
Read the entire article at Entrepreneur >Join the conversation about this story »See Also:Feature Overload: How Competitive Analysis Can Hurt YouDon't Let Your Interns Destroy Your CompanyAim For Two Markets And You Might Get None