Nibletz Staff - 69/87 - Serious Startups

Greek Startup Mageca Builds the First App Store for Interactive Apps

What’s your startup called and what’s your big idea?

Mageca is the first app-store for interactive applications using 3D Sensors that recognize gesture, voice & vision. Our main goal is to create a web space where applications for a variety of uses can be found from the end-user. The latter can vary from a parent playing with its kids at their living room or a healthcare institute that needs a touchless solution for the sterilized environment of an operating room.

Mageca’s mission is to bring HCI technologies into people’s everyday life. We aim to become the reference point for Human Computer Interaction. We strongly feel that touchless technologies, gesture control & motion recognition enabled devices will become the next big thing regarding the way people interact with machines.

What’s the story behind your idea?

The marketplace aims to incentivize developers through offering them a space to promote their work while creating a community between sensors manufacturers, users and creators for the first time.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

We are a team of 3 enthusiastic entrepreneurs that came together 2 years ago. Antonis, is the founder of the company along with his 3 brothers that for the last 14 years have been working together for the last 14 years, building their company from scratch. It all started when they started the process of developing an application (using kinect) for their store- a virtual fitting room.Through this process we realized not only the great capabilities of the new technologies but the pain of users and developers that dont have a specific marketplace.

Galateia joined the team after she came back from London, having graduated from UCL with an Msc at TE Entrepreneurship, given her genuine interest in gesture- recognition technologies and experience working with startups at UK. Mariana, with an experience of 7 years in the retail industry and working as a costumer for the past 5 she is giving her valuable inputs regarding sales.

Our 2 great advisors: Savvas Georgiou, CTO at Daily Secret and Suneil Mishra, working with Primesense the past years are continuously helping with their contacts and deep knowledge of the industry we are operating in.

Where are you located, and what is the ecosystem like there?

Mageca is located in Greece, Athens. The start-ups scene has really exploded here over the last couple of years, and it’s been a real pleasure to watch. In 2013, Greek startups raised more than 55 million dollars in capital.

The country’s economy has been spiraling downwards for the last four years. That, has forced businesses and innovators to aim globally and think big.

Why now?

For Mageca, we believe that this is the ideal time & place to pursue our vision and embrace the opportunity arising around touchless technologies and be first movers in the industry.

What milestones have you reached?

Since we have been running the company since May 2013 we are proud to say that we have already reached significant milestones.

We have already established a network of 750 developers nationwide along with a base of registered users. Another major achievement is the support we have these 2 years from major companies operating in the industry. Microsoft, Intel, Tobii & Softkinetic are the companies providing us with developer’s kits for their new products, to review and use before their official launch.

Furthermore, we have managed to participate in worldwide events presenting our work, such is “TEDxAcademy”, “TEDxAUEB”, “Startup Turkey”, “Startup Berlin”, “Rising Ideas” and we were also sponsoring HackaNUI”. The past 3 months we were one of the winning startup companies participating in the biggest accelerator in Greece: “Cosmote Startup”.

What are your next milestones?

The goals we are aiming to achieve within the next 6 months is to secure a funding round that will enable us maintain the quality of application uploaded on site and further enhance the marketplace with new tools and services responding to the needs of our network of developers and sensors’ manufacturers. We are aiming to have 35 brand new applications uploaded on site within this period and extended customer base, including business clients such is hospitals and schools.

Our new redesigned website and appstore is about to be launched within May, with new apps and our blog with all the news and hot picks to keep an eye on around gesture recognition.

Where can people find out more?

We are always happy to get to know you!

You can reach us via

• Facebook : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mageca/566846519998879

• Twitter: @MagecaLabs

• E-mail: info@mageca.com

and of course through the website: http://www.mageca.com/

5 Reasons Startups Should Never Work in Coffeeshops

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For many entrepreneurs that are tired of working from home, the corner coffee shop has become a haven for getting plugged-in to get productive with laptops out and headphones on. I can see why many entrepreneurs make coffee joints their place of biz; they’re from open morning til night, offer a warm atmosphere and have plenty of startup fuel flowing. However, I personally have never been a fan of this work environment and have not fallen under the spell of the cafe mystique. Leaving reeking of the smell of coffee grounds is not all it is cracked up to be. I say its time to realize what the coffee shop is good for: grabbing a cup of coffee, and conversing with friends, or reading a book in leisure. Its not the place to get your startup started and I have five reasons why.

1. It’s Distracting – All entrepreneurs can agree that focus is key to success. How can anyone concentrate for a full work day in an environment of chatting, bean grinding, and brew wooshing? Not to mention the overly-loud music filling the room; most prominent at Starbucks where music labels are forcing music down your ear canals in hopes of a purchase with your latte. If you do plan to work in these distractions, invest in some noise-cancelling headphones and blinders to keep your eyes on your laptop. Just pray no one bumps the back of your chair, asks to sit at your table or spills something on you.

2. It’s Unprofessional – I have never been a fan of taking meetings at coffee shops, mostly because of reason #1 above, but in all seriousness, its just unprofessional. Sure, it depends on whom you’re meeting with and your relationship with them. I would hope entrepreneurs would never schedule an investor pitch meeting at a Caribou. Coffee shops can be a logistical nightmare for meetings, even if they’re quick. There’s nothing worse than scheduling a meeting, showing up and not having a place to sit to conduct your meeting. Fail.

3. It’s Un-Collaborative – There may be other startup junkies in your vicinity at Intelligentsia, but since they are also desperately trying to stay focused they’re not exactly open to having collaborative discussions. Contrast to the environment at a real co-working space that promotes and breeds collaborative behavior like 1871 or the Inspire Business Club. There, it’s acceptable to join forces with other startup geeks and not have to worry about someone stealing your seat if you need to use the rest room.

4. It’s Expensive – The average latte in Chicago costs $4 and if you buy one a day that adds up to be $120/moth and $1460/year. That’s an expensive habit for bootstrapping entrepreneurs. With that money you’re spending on coffee you could afford most open-seating co-working spaces and those typically include a warm caffeinated beverage. Good luck trying to get away without making a purchase, they’ll toss you out for loitering.

5. It’s Lacking Resources – I have yet to see a barista hand over an entrepreneur mail deliveries with his caramel mocchiato. Not gonna happen. You can’t have mail sent to Starbucks; you wouldn’t use their address for your business; and they probably don’t have a fax machine you could borrow. Sure they have free Wi-Fi, but its not and will never be an office. Try reserving group of tables ahead of time to have a group brainstorming session. Nope!

These reasons may be my opinions, but you gotta admit, they have some merit. I’m not saying to not frequent coffee shops, they are local businesses that need our support. I’m just saying to think twice before working there. A coffee shop may be a fine escape every once in a while, but I recommend to find a place that you can be most productive with your startup. Kudos to you for at least getting out of the house.

Tim Hines is a serial entrepreneur, consultant and keynote speaker specializing in social media, mobile technology and entrepreneurship. Based in Chicago, Tim has been working in marketing, social media and the corporate travel industries for over ten years with companies such as the Tribune Company, TicketMaster and the CIA.

3 Bonus Speakers + Your Startup Avenue Fan Favorite

T-minus 15 days until the kickoff of Everywhere Else Tennessee.

And, like all great events, we have a few surprises in store!

First, we’ve added 3 new speakers to the lineup.

Danny Boice, CTO/Cofounder Speek

danny-boice Danny Boice is the Co-Founder & President of Speek. Speek lets users do conference calls with a simple link (speek.com/YourName) rather than using phone numbers and PINs. Danny attended Harvard, is a Forbes columnist, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown and was recently named a Tech Titan by Washingtonian Magazine. You can find Danny on Twitter @DannyBoice or LinkedIn here.

Steve Repetti, Managing Partner Crunch Fire Ventures

steve-repetti Steve has more than 25 years’ experience as an executive, inventor, investor, software developer, and technologist in the computer industry. On top of being the author of several award-winning programs, he is also the managing partner of the startup fund RadWeb Technology Partners, investor member of New World Angels, board member of the Miami Innovation Fund, and sits on the board of the Silicon Valley-based non-profit International Data Portability organization. He is also a member of the OpenAjax Alliance and the OpenWeb Foundation and frequently speaks on topics related to startups, crowd-funding, financing, advanced technology, Web 2.0, open source, data portability, and the real-time web. He also rode, and made the first investment in, the very first Startup Bus.

Jon Carnage

Startup Avenue Fan Favorite

There are some amazing startups in the Startup Avenue at Everywhere Else Tennessee. You met them last week, and spent the week voting on your favorite.

And, man, did y’all vote! 24,000 votes were cast, and it was a tight race. Congratulations to Wannado for being chosen as the Startup Avenue Fan Favorite. Wannado will join 3 other startups in a Pitch Competition on Friday, May 2.

We’ve also added one last startup to the Avenue.

Musistic is a Memphis-based music technology company whose product allows musicians to record with anyone, anywhere, anytime regardless of which recording software is being used. And the forthcoming Co-Lab, will allow musicians to expand their musical network by creating a global market place for musical talent and collaboration.

Meet all of our speakers and startups in just 2 short weeks. Grab your tickets here, if you haven’t already.

The Heartbleed Checklist: Your Guide to Life After Heartbleed

Unless you’ve been living under an Internet rock, you’ve heard about the Heartbleed bug.

If you haven’t heard about the biggest threat to the Internet since the NSA, here’s a good primer.

Oh, and speaking of the NSA, they’re involved, too, naturally.

So, what can you do about the Heartbleed bug? Yeah, not much, unfortunately. Common advice as been to change your passwords, but even that won’t matter very much after the fact.

Not every web service was affected by the bug. Big companies like Apple, Netflix, and Amazon say they were not affected because they don’t use Open SSL for security encryption. (Amazon Web Services, however, was affected.)

Check out the infographic below for more details on which companies were affected and what they’ve done so far:

Explore more visuals like this one on the web’s largest information design community – Visually.

3 Simple Strategies for Fearless Delegation

Female business team of four working together to achieve good re

At first glance, not doing something yourself feels risky: What if it doesn’t get done? What if it’s not quality work? But done correctly, delegating can actually lower the risk in your business. By delegating, you are decreasing the chance that you’ll burn out and that important activities only you can do won’t get done. Real control comes from managing risk and releasing control in appropriate ways. Here’s how to change your approach to delegation to maximize business results.

Identify Where to Focus

To help you let go of projects other people can do, you need to understand what exactly should fill the majority of your time. Where can your contribution make the biggest impact? For most business owners, these activities include strategic thinking about new business opportunities, building relationships, sales, and specific elements of operations.

Unfortunately, most owners find that the most essential business building activities never happen because they get so swallowed up in day-to-day operations. Take a moment to step back and think about where you can provide the highest value. Everything outside your core strengths and role should be activities that others can do.

Name the Fear

Vague feelings of discomfort can stop us from moving forward. But when we clarify what actually bothers us, we can then address the issue and breakthrough to the next level. Name your fears. To help you get started, I’ve listed out some common concerns in each category.

Delegating the Work

The work won’t get done.
The work will not get done well.
I feel bossy/mean.
I’m worried I’m inconveniencing others.
I feel out of control.
The work won’t get done the way I like it to be.

Doing the Work Yourself

I feel stressed.
I feel sleep deprived.
I’m frustrated.
I feel like my opportunities for growth are lost.
I am out of control.
I am limiting others’ growth.

After each bullet point, name in specific detail the perceived risks associated with both allowing others to participate and doing the work yourself.

Minimize the Risk

Once you have a detail list of perceived risks, take the opportunity to address each issue. Figure out how you can minimize the risk when someone else does the work. This will allow you to put the appropriate checks and balances and safeguards into place.

For example:

Perceived risk: The work won’t get done.

Risk mitigation strategy: Set up a follow-up system for each task. Make a running task list or hold meetings to review deliverables. Use tools like followupthen.com to remind yourself to ping someone.

Perceived risk: The work will not get done well.

Risk mitigation strategy: Take time to think through the work that you pass off to others. Identify whether you’re in the direction, coaching, support, or straight delegation stage – both with the individual and with the task. Tailor your management approach accordingly. Always factor in buffer time for work to be reviewed and edited.

By following this three-step strategy, you can delegate effectively and invest your time in growing your business — without burning out.

Elizabeth Grace Saunders is the founder and CEO of Real Life E®, a time coaching and training company, and the author of “The 3 Secrets to Effective Time Investment: How to Achieve More Success With Less Stress.”

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

How to Make the Best Startup Decisions

Senior businessman thinking and making choice while looking up

I have unwittingly made some bad decisions in my 28 years on this earth, but every day I make better ones. Reflecting on this, it is clear that making the right calls, large and small, requires certain prerequisites and a thoughtful decision-making process. These considerations are especially important in a startup, where you will never have perfect information when making a decision.

The success or failure of your startup results from nothing more than the series of small, medium and large decisions that you act on . Make more right decisions than wrong ones and your startup will be more likely to succeed. In my experience, the best startup decisions are the result of a carefully thought out process, as follows.

First, the Prerequisites

The conditions below must be met before you start the decision-making process. This is imperative, as most bad decisions are made inadvertently because some or all of these conditions are not met first.

Follow your passions. For most world-class entrepreneurs, passion does not come primarily from the prospect of financial gain or personal notoriety; it comes from an innate desire to change the world. To make the right decisions for your startup, you must believe that if your startup succeeds, you will change the world in the ways you desire. The more your startup aligns with your passions, the more confident you will feel that you are making the right decisions for the right reasons.
Embrace the reality. You have to be able to properly assess and accept reality. Smart entrepreneurs do not see the glass as half-full or half-empty; they see a glass with a certain amount of water. Then, they decide to drink the water, or fill up the glass with more water. To make the right decisions, you must first see things as they really are.
Practice some balance. Your mind, body, and soul must be balanced before you can make good decisions. This is perhaps the most important prerequisite, and one that most entrepreneurs brazenly ignore. Startup culture encourages over-work and over-play; to be balanced you must also be mindful of your health and spiritual life, not just stimulating your mind.

The Decision-Making Process

Only after you know that the above prerequisites hold true, you can move on to the decision-making process. Below is the step-by-step process that works for me (inspiration), but you may follow a different process.

Let’s set up a scenario and walk through it. In our sample scenario, we are trying to figure out the primary customer type to market your startup’s solution to.

Identify the decision. Clearly identify the single decision you want to make and do not let extraneous things fog it up. In the sample scenario, you might ask yourself, “Out of my entire market of potential customers, who is my startup’s one highest-revenue-generating customer?”
Identify your options. Lay out the different options you have based on your own knowledge, keeping in mind the values that are important to your startup. In our example, you will now identify the different customer types that can generate revenue for your startup. And if we’re being realistic, you might eliminate certain customer types at this step as they are not feasible to reach.
Gather information. Collect as much information as is pragmatic about your options. In our setup, you might research different customer segments to gain further insight into your startup’s market and reduce your blindness. Utilize emerging tools such asClarity.fm to talk with the right experts and Compass.co to help put market data into the right context for your startup. After conducting research, you may end up eliminating a certain revenue-generating customer type, because it doesn’t match your startup’s vision or the context you are working within.
Make and implement the decision. Finally, the fun part: You get to make a decision and act on it! The decision should incorporate the information you have gathered, your gut instinct and your startup’s vision. In our example, you would make a firm decision on which customer segment you will target and start marketing to that segment (the marketing strategies you use may be a separate decision).
Evaluate the outcomes. Evaluate objectively if you made the right decision. Some questions you can ask in our sample scenario include: Is my startup solving a real need for this customer? How much revenue has been generated? Am I convinced that this was the right customer to target or should I target another customer? If you have balance in your life when thinking through such questions (i.e. your mental well-being is not solely dependent on startup success), you can make a proper evaluation. If you conclude you made the wrong decision, assure the prerequisites are really met and start over from step one.

In a startup, as in life, you will seldom have enough information to conclusively make the right decisions. To a certain extent, you have to rely on your gut instinct, especially as most decisions are interdependent (i.e. picking the highest revenue-generating customer may not lead to the most cost-effective marketing strategy).

When decision time comes, regardless of whether it is a small or a significant decision, make sure that you are passionate for the right reasons, thinking realistically, practicing balance in your life and following a thoughtful decision-making process. If you do these things, you will you make the right calls more often than not, and your startup will be better for it.

A version of this article originally appeared on Medium.

Naveed Lalani is the Founder and CEO of Portable Boutique Inc., a company that creates Plug & Play Bitcoin Widgets. Previously, Naveed was Chief Strategy Officer at DonorNation.org, and Co-Founder at Rally.org. Naveed gives back by advising the Thiel Fellowship and leading entrepreneurship initiatives at the Ismaili Professionals Network.

Flashnotes Helps Students Study–And Make Money

If you’re the smart kid in class, it’s time to stop doing everyone’s studying for free.

Flashnotes.com is a peer-to-peer marketplace for college notes and study guides. Students post their guides on the platform, and each sells for around $10.

Started by Mike Matousek during his senior year at Kent State, the company has grown quickly in the last few years.

In February they closed a $3.6 million Series A led by Stage 1 Ventures.

And, yes, you really can make money selling your notes online. According to the leaderboard on the Flashnotes homepage, Tony2050 from Florida State has pulled in almost &12,000 so far. That’s better than your average part time job!

Check out our Q&A with Mike below:

1) What’s your startup called?

Flashnotes.com is a Boston-based startup that is becoming an influential leader in the higher ed tech space.

2) What’s your big idea and how does it work?

Flashnotes.com is the student-to-student study materials marketplace. The online platform allows college students to buy and sell course specific study materials — study guides,notes, flashcards, video tutorials, and live video help. My company is on a mission to provide college students with the two things they need most – more money & better grades. Our Pays2Study™ approach empowers smart college students to make money from their own study material, while helping other students study smarter to get better grades.

At Flashnotes.com, we want to create an environment that allows college students to have access to the information they need to be successful in their courses. Currently, 42% of college students drop out and it’s often because they are falling behind. Flashnotes.com is on a mission to provide these students with the materials they need to get over that hump by serving content in a variety of forms.

3) What’s the story behind your idea?

I founded Flashnotes.com in 2010, when I was a senior at Kent State University. My idea for the company came when I was taking a statistics class that many of my classmates struggled with. The course came naturally to me, and it wasn’t long before students were hunting me down for my study guides and notes. Soon after, Flashnotes.com was born, and is now used by college students at universities and colleges across the country.

4) Who are the founders?

As mentioned previously, I founded Flashnotes.com while I was a senior at Kent State University.

5) Where are you located?

Flashnotes.com is located in Boston’s Faneuil Hall marketplace.

6) What’s the startup scene like there?

Boston’s innovation economy is thriving, and it really is a hub for technology startups and young entrepreneurs. In recent years, an entire Innovation District has emerged along the South Boston Waterfront, and with so many local colleges and universities, there’s no shortage of talent for the city’s burgeoning community of web and technology startups.

7) What milestones have you reached?

In the last year, Flashnotes.com has seen rapid adoption at colleges and universities across the country with a 175% growth in users. In the last two months we also raised $3.6 million in Series A venture funding and acquired Moolaguides, an online study materials marketplace with a strong user base in Florida.

8) What are your next milestones?

This year, Flashnotes.com is focused on expansion to additional colleges and universities across the U.S. We’re also looking to empower students with registered disabilities with our online marketplace and are actively looking to work with universities’ disability offices to offset program costs, increase note-taker retention throughout the semester, and enable these students to have access to critical course material.

9) Where can people find out more?

To find out more information about Flashnotes.com, readers can visit our website at www.flashnotes.com, like us on Facebook, or follow us on Twitter, @Flashnotes.

Silicon Beach: California’s Other Tech Hub [Infographic]

Everyone wants to be the next Silicon Valley. Across the world, startups are trying to recreate the feel and success of the Bay Area.

350 miles south of the Valley, Los Angeles is already well-known for gorgeous beaches, perfect weather, and Hollywood. But, in the recent years the area–dubbed Silicon Beach–is making a name for itself in the tech world.

For one thing, there are currently 30 incubators in LA. (A few of them gave us some suggestions for getting in to the accelerator program here.)

There are also well-known, outspoken advocates for the area, like VC Mark Suster.

But, let’s not forget the acquisitions. One common test for an ecosystem’s maturity is the number and dollar amount of acquisitions. With last month’s Facebook acquisition of Oculus Rift for $2B, Silicon Beach is holding its own.

No place is really the next Silicon Valley, though. Every city is unique and, when they’re doing it right, bring their own flavor to starting up.

In LA, the average founder age is 38, four years older than their Silicon Valley peers.

Startups from Silicon Beach are also less likely to raise VC money. In 2013 Silicon Valley raised $12 billion from venture capitalists, compared with only $1.7 billion raised in Los Angeles. Whether this is by choice or necessity is a little harder to know.

Check out LA startup MovieLaLa’s infographic below for more details on the emerging Silicon Beach.

MovieLaLa_Silicon Beach Infographic

Chef’s Roll Makes Chefs’ Online Presence As Fancy As Their Cuisine

There are a lot of startups catering to the social media needs of a niche population. Skills that many take for granted in the tech world often don’t easily fit into the lives of other professionals. But, that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t have a sufficient online presence.

San Diego-based Chef’s Roll is looking to help chefs create a stellar web presence, helping them network and possibly gain the attention of shows like Top Chef.

Check out our Q&A with Chef’s Roll below:

What is your startup called?

Chef’s Roll

What’s the story behind your idea?

The founders of San Diego-based Chef’s Roll have always been passionate about the culinary industry, but it was only recently that they made a rather surprising discovery: the quality of a chef’s online presence almost never matches the quality of their cuisine.

That’s where Chef’s Roll comes in: to help these time-oppressed culinary artists look as brilliant as their food tastes. The culinary world is “hungry” for this tool.

With this kind of need, the sky’s the limit for this company!

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

The founders are:

Thomas Keslinke: A 13-year hospitality industry veteran, Thomas is co-founder of Chef’s Roll, an online platform for chefs across the globe to showcase their talents, career achievements and unique style through professional profiles. It’s a visually-stunning Linkedin for chefs. He was formerly CEO and executive chef at the gourmet catering and private dining company Eat Prive. Earlier in his career, Keslinke was a conference and event manager for Deloitte and also a consultant for award-winning restaurants, including top dining establishments in the Cayman Islands and the Virgin Islands and was restaurant manager of the famed Willard Intercontinental Hotel in Washington, D.C. Keslinke earned his degree in Hospitality and Tourism from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale.

Frans van der Lee: Frans van der Lee has 15 years of experience in web development, databases and UX design, including stints at start-ups, large technology companies and the US Army. He is the technical co-founder of Chef’s Roll. He has lived and traveled all over the world and being a home chef and BBQ champion, he is as passionate about the subject matter as the mechanics.

Where are you based?

We are based in San Diego.

What’s the startup scene like where you are based?

San Diego is a very different startup scene than most cities. There’s a unique camaraderie among startups, with incubators emerging as people want to see San Diego get a more active investor community. In fact, Forbes Magazine just ranked San Diego one of the best places for startups.

There are resources and money to be invested — and a friendly atmosphere for new business. The vast

majority of startup companies in the San Diego area are chipmakers and Biotech, which makes Chef’s Roll a unique find. People get excited about Chef’s Roll because everyone loves food and wine.

What problem do you solve?

Working chefs often don’t have the time or budget to create a customized web portfolio, and existing job sites don’t have the tools to bring a chef’s unique skillsets and experience to life. To solve this widespread challenge, Chef’s Roll was born.

“Presentation is everything” is true for all chefs, and Chef’s Roll’s mission is to advance the culinary profession by helping to promote the chefs that are making it happen. From executive chefs to culinary students, Chef’s Roll welcomes you to the table.

Why now?

The social media revolution has created a very real opportunity for Chef’s Roll to become THE worldwide network for professional chefs. With social media channels starting to also move into niche trade areas for professionals, it’s time for chefs to have a resource like this one.

Meanwhile, with the rapidly changing evolution of the job market in the culinary industry, “I’m too busy” is no longer a good enough excuse for a chef not to have a clean, cutting-edge professional profile. With the easy tools available now, chefs can finally get a profile page up both quickly and with knowledge that “presentation is everything.”

What are some of the milestones your startup has already reached?

We were very proud to have the smash hit reality show Top Chef contact one of the chefs listed on our site for one of their upcoming programs. We have already added hundreds of new profiles and received overwhelmingly positive response about the site’s clean look and design. From Michelin-starred toques and celebrity chefs to emerging chefs and culinary students, the culinary community is very excited about this new platform.

What are your next milestones?

The next step is literally to break out on a global scale, and become THE worldwide network for professional chefs. We want our job board to be the industry leader because that’s where the top talent will be. It’s important for us to bridge the gap between true talent and open positions. As a tech company, we also want to foster a passionate and influential social media following, inclusive of top toques, internationally.

Where can people find out more? Any social media links you want to share?

Any interested readers should look us up right away at: ChefsRoll.com.

Chimpmint Takes on Buffer, Feedly, and All Those Other Guys

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Those of us in the tech world know all about social media marketing and finding and sharing content online. We know that it’s good for our brands and reputations, and a lot of us think carefully about how we want to handle social media.

Your average small business? Maybe, but maybe not. And without some level of social media savvy, they can get lost in the crowd.

That’s where Chimpmint comes in. They’re looking to curate and share content for small businesses who don’t necessarily have the time or motivation to learn social media marketing. There are plenty of tools that do what they do, but Chimpmint is honing in on the customers who will be overwhelmed by the more popular tools.

They face a few challenges, though. Most significantly, marketing to small businesses–and convincing them they need this–could prove difficult. The companies they’re talking about can often be averse to the Internet in general, much less social media.

Also, you know, Buffer, Feedly…

Check out Chimpmint’s Q&A below. Then hop over and let them know what you think.

What is the name of your startup?

Chimpmint Content Curating & Sharing

What’s your big idea?

If traditional marketing is land and social media is the ocean, then many startups, small businesses, and personal brands are lost at sea.
Every brand, at one point or another, has the same two core problems when it comes to social media marketing:

I don’t know what to post on social media to build my follower base and to engage with them.
I don’t have the time to post.

So how does Chimpmint help? To solve the first problem, we search, find, and present related content to that brand. Doesn’t matter what you sell, if you have a brand, then we have quality articles, images, and videos that relates to what your brand. To solve the second problem, Chimpmint helps you share efficiently. Already in our first release, we’ve gotten great feedback on the simplicity of our scheduling feature. And like an infomercial, it gets better! Our next upgrade is coming soon and it’ll will be a game changer. We plan to make social media management as relevant to a business owner as checking an email.

What’s the story behind your idea?

Once upon a time, about 11 months ago, my partner Maurice Prosper and I were working in the web development. One of our early clients, Stacy, owned a small furniture store. To our surprise, just a month after finishing Stacy’s new website, she left us a message stating her dissatisfaction.

What was wrong? The website worked like a well oiled machine.

So we asked Stacy. She told us she feels the site isn’t worth the cost since the traffic to the site stayed the same. So we started our search on Google for a product that can drive traffic to Stacy’s website with social media. Right away, we knew it had to be simple, because Stacy didn’t want to learn social media marketing, and preferably a ‘Smart Software’ that educated users while getting the job done. Unfortunately, we never found this magical software. That’s when we had our “aha moment”.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds?

Maurice Prosper and Michael Tibebu. We met in Mr. Thomas’s history class in high school. Good ‘ole times.

Where are you based?

Chimpmint is based out of Austin, Texas but we service any and all businesses since we provide our services via the internet.

How are you different from the competition? Buffer comes to mind…

We simplified our software while being able to improve efficiency. Our competitors see the demand but see only one layer of the problem. As stated in Question[1], just a scheduling feature isn’t going to cut it for Stacy the store owner. Neither is a bare content aggregate. Chimpmint is the only web application that solves both those problems, while keeping simplicity of the product for our user’s learning curve and user experience.

What milestones have you reached so far?

We just celebrated our 3 month anniversary. That being said, since then we’ve gotten users on Chimpmint giving us great feedback and advice. We’ve legitimatized our online brand @Chimpmint with well over 400 followers. All of which we’ve attained by using our own product. Our blog (blog.chimpmint.com) returning readers. We also showcased at South by South West in Austin, Texas in front of thousands of tech lovers and investors.

What are your next milestones?

Chimpmint next milestone is to reach our goal of signing up our first 1000 businesses. We still have spots open. Sign up at www.chimpmint.com we wont disappoint.

Where can people find out more?

People can find out more about Chimpmint by emailing hello@chimpmint.com.

They can also reach us via our feedback button located on the bottom right corner on www.chimpmint.com

Our first 1000 businesses get a year long free subscription to Chimpmint. Don’t miss out guys, it’s a good time to register at www.chimpmint.com.

How Incorporation Can Help a Startup

stock1 Startup founders face many questions during the process of turning their dreams into a viable, money-earning business. One of the most important questions that must be addressed in the process involves the legal structure of the company. Business owners need to decide whether or not to incorporate their business.

Types of Corporations

No two business models are exactly the same. For this reason, there are several types of corporation structures to accommodate every owner’s needs. The IRS allows businesses to choose to be taxed as either a “C corporation” or an “S corporation,” according to LegalZoom. Both structures have their benefits and disadvantages.

The S corporation structure is popular with many small-business owners because it has only one level of tax. Companies in this structure pass corporate income, deductions, losses and credits to their shareholders for federal tax purposes, according to the IRS. When setting up an S corporation, business owners should check with their state to understand what the exact requirements are.

Another common type of corporate taxation structure recognized by the IRS is the C-corporation. This structure is somewhat similar to an S corporation. However, there are also some significant differences. The most important difference between the two is that C corporations are subject to double taxes. This means that not only are the company’s shareholders responsible for paying taxes, but the company is as well. In this structure, the shareholders are responsible for taxes on the company’s dividends. At the same time, a business in this structure must pay taxes on its net income. As with S corporations, business owners looking to form a C corporation should consult and understand their state’s requirements to do so.

Benefits of Corporations

Determining the legal structure of your business is an important step to take when turning your dreams into a reality. There are several types of corporations recognized by the IRS, and the benefits of setting up one of these structures are almost endless.

There are five reasons why small businesses should incorporate. Perhaps the most significant is that a corporation protects the entrepreneur’s personal assets if debts or legal judgments are claimed against the business, according to E.J. Dealy of Fox Business. In essence, becoming a corporation allows for business owners to thrive while protecting their own assets in the event of an unfortunate incident.

Another major benefit of becoming incorporated is the increased exposure. When a business is first starting out the number one task is to attract customers and stand out above the crowd. One way to do that is by incorporating your business. As an incorporated entity, it may become easier to attract the clients and vendors needed to help your company succeed.

Becoming an incorporated business not only affects the present status of the company, but it may also impact its future. Taking the steps to incorporate ensures that the business can remain open in the event of major changes.

Incorporated businesses have the opportunity to make use of tax deductions for normal business expenses. Whether the business is a flower shop or a photography studio, owners have the opportunity to deduct supplies and other necessary purchases from their taxes. There are 75 business-related expenses that companies may be able to deduct from their taxes, according to Mark J. Kohler writing for Entrepreneur.

Prior to submitting a tax return, business owners would benefit from combing through their business expenses with a certified public accountant. This should be done to ensure that no deductions are missed and that all deductions are legitimate.

The business world is constantly changing. The benefits of incorporating may be applied to a company that is currently operating under a sole proprietor status and wants to change to a corporation. They can also be applied to a corporation that is just in the process of forming for the first time.

The Next Step

Once business owners have chosen the corporation structure they wish to enter into and have considered its benefits, it is time to put their wishes on paper legally. There are many forms that need to be created, signed and filed during the process of forming a business for legal recognition. Some business owners may choose to file this paperwork on their own. If an owner prefers to have help with these documents, they may choose to use a service such as LegalZoom to complete the process for them.

Establishing the legal structure for a small business is important. The type of structure determines the types of protection afforded to business owners, both personally and professionally. Choosing to operate as either an S or C corporation can offer many benefits to both the owner of the company as well as its shareholders. These benefits can affect the company in the present and may also help preserve it for the future.

Lumiary Gives Indie Retailers a Shot at Competing With the Big Guys

Indie retail (think Etsy and Shopify) is becoming a big deal these days. With these revolutionary platforms, every day entrepreneurs and makers can sell products direct to consumers. By cutting out big retailers, these individuals and small companies have higher profit margins and better chance at success.

But, they still lack one thing.

Marketing.

Lumiary, founded by several tech veterans including Etsy’s former head of analytics, solves that problem for them. Their system creates a marketing dashboard that can compete with big companies.

Check out our Q&A with Lumiary below:

1) What’s your startup called?

Lumiary

2) What’s your big idea?

Independent retail has lost half its market share over the past 30 years. At Lumiary, we believe independent makers and brands are now producing some of the best products out there. And because of the internet, they can reach just as many shoppers as large retailers. When it comes to marketing themselves, however, they are wildly outgunned when it comes to budget, data, and expertise. So even with a superior product, independent retailers are being left behind.

Our mission is to help makers and independent brands compete with big brands by leveraging their more personal relationships with their customers, fans, and followers. Lumiary is an integrated marketing platform for indie ecommerce brands that works just like the big data dashboards that all the big guys have, but is tailored for their unique strengths. Currently, the only analytics, marketing, CRM options for these small businesses are point solutions, forcing busy entrepreneurs to pull data from multiple platforms on their own and then attempt to make sense of it.

3) What’s the story behind your idea?

Each of the Lumiary founders approaches indie brand marketing from a different perspective. Carrington comes from Etsy, Charles consulted for American made indie brands, and Matt built multichannel merchandising technology for small retailers. We came together when we collectively realized the widening gap in product quality, originality and authenticity between the big brands and independent ones. We felt more shoppers should be buying products from independent retailers, and our mission is help them take back market share.

4) Who are the founders?

Carrington Williams, formerly head of analytics and business development at Etsy, and Product Manager at AOL

Matthew Knight, formerly from Reconstrukt, EMC and Computer Associates

Charles Valentine, formerly a vice president at Discovery Communications and advisor to Northern Grade and Pierrepont Hicks

5) Where are you located?

Richmond, Va.

6) What’s the startup scene like there?

The startup scene in Richmond is quickly growing and changing. New incubators have popped up in the past 2-3 years, we are a part of one called 80amps, backed by the nationally recognized Martin Agency. And there is a huge creative/maker culture coming out of VCU Design and Brand schools.

7) What milestones have you reached?

We have just now come out of our beta, and now have our first paying customers. We’ve also gone through the painstaking work of establishing critical integrations with the leading ecommerce platforms, social networks and analytics tools, including Shopify, Big Commerce, Magento, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram and Google Analytics.

8) What are your next milestones?

Up next we’re going integrate with Etsy stores, so we can offer our easy to use marketing platform to the millions of amazing stores on Etsy. We’re also launching soon our customer micro-segmenting tool to allow brands be more personal in customer communications and thus increase sales from email campaigns.

9) Where can people find out more?

www.lumiary.com

Can Hackers Ruin Your Online Reputation?

Can Hackers Ruin Your Online Reputation?

Remember earlier this month when the Fox News website went temporarily nuts? How about when PBS’s website was changed to feature the top story “Tupac still alive in New Zealand?” What about earlier this year when Burger King’s Twitter account got hacked?

It seems like every few months there’s a new case of high-profile hacking. Even in the case of Fox News, which claimed an “internal production problem” during routine site maintenance, a single misstep in security and oversight made it the temporary laughingstock of the internet. All it takes is one weak point — a cracked password, a backdoor vulnerability, a website glitch — and your company’s brand is suddenly out of your control.

Luckily for Fox, PBS, and Burger King, these trusted brands are unlikely to suffer any permanent reputation damage. How about you? For many small businesses, a single mistake is enough to sink them permanently.

Many hacks are invisible to the outside observer

Consider the recent WordPress Pharma Hack, which affected many businesses that had custom WordPress.org websites. This hack was designed to remain invisible, both by disguising its code to make it difficult to locate, and also by only appearing via search engine. When you pull up your company’s website, it looks great. When a potential customer finds you via Google, your website turns into a pharmaceutical ad. Do you have any idea you just lost a customer? Probably not. Is your potential customer going to trust your brand in the future? Absolutely not.

The Pharma Hack isn’t the only hack that’s designed to be invisible to the website owner. Other hackers exploit vulnerabilities and then lie in wait, choosing to eschew basic games like turning your website into a pharmaceutical ad in favor of tracking your — and your customers’ — valuable personal information.

Social networks make businesses even more vulnerable to hackers

Even if your website is completely secure, hackers still have access to your brand via social networking programs. More and more threats are coming in through social networking systems such as Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. If your business’s Twitter password got compromised through a twishing attack, would you know? What would you do if you woke up to find your Facebook account spamming your fans, or promoting incendiary material? At best, you’ll become that day’s internet joke; at worst, you’ll lose all of the brand loyalty you’ve worked so hard to gain.

Prevention requires constant vigilance

How do you stop hackers from turning your business into their own personal playground? If PBS and Burger King can’t prevent hackers, how can you? Well, you start with a good defense: an internet security program like Trend Micro, a well-built website hosted on a secure server, additional plugins such as Akismet to deflect spam comments and potentially malicious links. (Nothing says “don’t take my brand seriously” like a blog section where all the comments are spammers chatting about someone’s sister’s friend making $600 an hour working online.)

Then, you apply constant vigilance. If your business is large enough, hire an IT team to monitor your server or your website for unusual usage spikes. (Many hackers live overseas, meaning that a savvy IT team is able to notice that people are manipulating your website during odd hours.) You keep track of the latest hacks, the latest phishing threats, and the latest social networking compromises, so you can avoid them. You also develop a plan for contacting customers and clients if you do become hacked, to explain the situation, reassure them that their personal information is safe, and maintain the integrity of your brand.

Will hackers continue to find ways of sneaking onto websites? Undoubtedly. But you’re the only one who can make sure they don’t destroy your business. Don’t let the hackers take control; whether or not your site gets hacked, you are always responsible for your business’s online reputation.

32 Reasons Why You Should Attend Everywhere Else Tennessee

Starting up outside Silicon Valley has plenty of challenges. Without the density of a startup community, it can be hard to find the education, inspiration, and connections you need to get your idea off the ground.

From April 30 – May 2 in Memphis, TN, that starts to change.

Everywhere Else Tennessee is coming to Memphis with 3 action-packed days of speakers, startups, and parties. We’ve got 30+ nationally recognized keynotes on the schedule, 10 of the most promising startups in the country pitching in our Startup Showdown, and 3 truly unique parties that provide the relaxed environment you’re looking for to connect with the speakers, mentors, investors and potential partners that will be in the room.

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Still trying to figure out why you should join us in Memphis April 30 – May 2? I’m sure you’ll find more than one reason below.

And don’t forget to get your ticket below, too. You don’t want to be kicking yourself when the event is sold out and you missed your chance to get your ticket! There are just a hand full of tickets still available.

Startups

Meet & talk to investors
Apply for a booth to showcase and pitch your product
Find new talent
Learn from our amazing speakers
Close new deals & partnerships

Entrepreneurs

Learn from other top founders & investors
Find out about the latest trends
Meet the speakers & investors
Find a co-founder
Forge new partnerships

Investors

Find the hottest startups
Hangout with other investors
Meet awesome entrepreneurs
Enjoy great content
Learn from like minded investors

Developers & Designers

Meet cool startups
Learn from the best
Find new customers or jobs
Network and party
Improve your skills

Corporate Execs & Marketers

Find new partnerships
Top notch networking
Meet decision makers
Find news customers or jobs
Dip your toes into entrepreneurship
Discover the latest trends

Students

Boost your CV
Meet your next employer
Be amazed by our speakers
Learn about top startups
Make important contacts
Kickstart your career

Get more info on Everywhere Else Tennessee here.

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