Interview with MindtheBridge.org business plan winners

On Thursday February 9, 2012, Nicola Allieta of MindTheBridge.org was a guest and spoke about the organization and its mission to bridge the gap between startup companies in Italy and the resources available to startups in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Nicola introduced us to the founders of two of the winners of MindTheBridge’s 2011 Business Plan Competition. First was Luca Rossenttini of D-Orbit. D-Orbit, as the name implies, is developing technology to safely remove debris from space. Next was Francesca Cavallo of Timbuktu Labs. Timbuktu is creating the next generation of editorial products that connect kids and grown-ups.

RC Williams, Francesco Baschieri and I also discussed the operational implications of various choices of structuring a business either as a corporation, LLC or sole proprietorship.

You can hear a replay of the program here.

The Free COO program airs live on Thursdays at 4:00pm on Spreaker.

Interview with Stewart Sonnenfeldt on my Spreaker show

Here is a replay of my Interview with Stewart Sonnenfeldt from February 2, 2012 on Spreaker.

We discussed funding startups, how to create an advantage or “form-factor” for your company and many more insights from Stewart’s career as an Investment Banker and entrepreneur.

Facebook IPO filing dispels first mover advantage myth, again

In the summer of 2011, a panel of distinguished VC’s was convened for a typical Silicon Valley morning symposium on the state of funding for startups. In early 2011, it seemed like every entrepreneur was pitching an idea or shifting their startup’s strategy to offer a Groupon-like service. In their opening remarks, each VC quipped to the audience of aspiring entrepreneurs, “don’t bring me another coupon deal”. Were they acting in a manner any less herd-like than the entrepreneurs? No.

The VC’s were really saying, “If your company is not the first to market with an idea, we’re not interested”, the conventional “first mover advantage” theory. Read more…

The Free COO Podcast Now on Spreaker

I have launched a live broadcast of The Free COO on Spreaker. Each show we’ll offer advice for building and growing your startup business; plus we’ll have guest COOs, entrepreneurs and other people who will share their advice and experiences with you.

You can listen to the Premier show here:

Follow our show on Spreaker, Facebook or @thefreecoo to receive notification when the show goes live. We’ll typically broadcast on Thursday afternoon around 4:00 pm Pacific time (+/-).

You can join the discussion in real-time by sending emails to thefreecoo@spreaker.com or send a Skype connection request to thefreecoo. On Skype you can text message your question and then we’ll call out to you when we’re ready to take callers.

I welcome your feedback on the show both positive and negative. Your comments and suggestions will make the show better since, this is a new endeavor for me. Send me your recommendations for guest COOs or other interesting people and we’ll do our best to book them on future shows. If you have access to people who might be of interest to you and our audience, please send an introductory email to me and the other person and we’ll be sure to give you a shout-out on the show for making it happen.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you and speaking with you on Spreaker.

Starting your own business for less than $200

Thinking of taking control of your life’s destiny by starting your own business? Go ahead and do it! For less than $200 you can be set up as a legal business entity in a couple of hours all by taking this first step, registering a fictitious business name. Read more…

Using search engine optimization for generating new customers

Driving new customers to a company by the internet requires a three-pronged approach of search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and affiliates. Of the three approaches, SEO can be the most cost effective means of generating a sustainable long-term flow of new customers for any business.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization
SEO is the art of creating content on the internet that, when indexed by search engines, will show up at or near the top of the results page for a given search keyword or phrase. To show up near the top of a results page the content needs to be rich in relevant keywords, readable by search engine robots and referred to by links from external websites. Read more…

Escrow Services – Insurance for Intellectual Property Transactions

Software, Web Services, Data Services and Fabless Semiconductor ventures are all examples of attractive opportunities for entrepreneurs. They all have low capital requirements for launching because the primary asset is IP or Intellectual Property. True, there is often someone’s personal savings, angel funds or perhaps even VC money needed to launch a company, but for startup companies producing IP it’s largely the human capital of dedicated and smart entrepreneurs that is the largest input factor.

Once your product is ready for market, the challenge of selling even the best IP can often be more difficult than creating it in the first place, particularly if your target customer is a medium to large enterprise. The sales cycle for enterprise B2B software or to get a fabless semiconductor design embedded in a larger SOC or System On a Chip, can be at least six months and often more than one year. Even after your product passes all the technical due diligence, it turns out that one of the main reasons a sale falls through is that it’s difficult for a startup company to convince the decision maker of a large enterprise that your company is viable enough to warrant a strategic relationship. Read more…

Hiring Contractors – Part 1

Independent Contractors or Independent Consultants are people who do work for your company who are not employees, corporations or LLCs. Hiring independent contractors is attractive to startups because it allows them to quickly bring on talent without the headache of setting up payroll and benefits. Independent contractors also make it easy to bring people onboard for as long or as little as needed without worrying about employment laws that apply to hiring and discharging of regular employees. Without the added expense of benefits, matching FICA payments, and perhaps even office space and equipment, independent contractors can offer real savings and cash flow benefits to a startup organization.

But there are some legal pitfalls to hiring independent contractors that most startups (and many established companies for that matter) don’t understand. This post is the first of a three part series that helps to explain some of those potential pitfalls, so that you can make an informed decision before hiring an independent contractor. Read more…

Justifying Your Pay – An Imperative for the COO and Every Employee

If your manager was faced with a force reduction decision, would he or she be able quantify your contribution and justify your position? In other words, does a cost-benefit analysis of your job result in a net positive? Even if it does, have you made the data necessary to prove it readily available?

In a period of high unemployment, outsourcing, cost-cutting and general economic uncertainty every employee needs to be keenly aware of their value to their organization. They should also be able to easily point to solid data that proves their worth. The ability to do this well, could make the difference between you being someone who is indispensable or someone holding a pink slip. If you are not your own best advocate, you should be. Read more…

Setting Up HR – In-House or PEO

Human resources encompasses a broad array of business functions. There is the obvious sourcing, hiring and firing of employees. However, retaining employees, training employees, managing benefits, setting compensation policy, overseeing contractors, new hire orientation, managing corporate culture and a host of other functions also fall into the domain or share a dotted line to the HR function.

One of the first questions a startup venture needs to address – at least as soon as the founders hire their first employee or contractor – is who will be responsible for the HR function. Getting this right is critical to the success of a venture, as it is the first five to ten people in an organization that will establish the company’s culture for years to come. Read more…