Cincy Startup Pingage Changes Name To Ahalogy

2011 Brandery graduate Pingage has picked up a lot of steam. Since their graduation, from Cincinnati’s prestigious branding-focused accelerator, the Cincinnati Business Journal reports that the startup that helps people get the most out of Pinterest has scored Proctor & Gamble as a client and secured an $850,000 seed round led by CincyTech.

So with all of this traction in such a short period of time, the cofounders decided to change their name from Pingage to Ahalogy. Ahalogy is a made up word that, according to the company, allows us to better communicate our unique positioning and vision. Ahalogy gets its name from that “Aha!” connection made by the company’s new Ahalogy Content Network.

Ahalogy has created a content network that gives leading content creators free use of the company’s Pinterest management tools. In exchange leading brands repin their content on their own Pinterest accounts. This two way content sharing network gets brands great content and content creators awesome tools and additional traffic.

Ahalogy cofounder Bob Gilbreath told the Cincinnati Business Journal: “Most users would agree that Pinterest itself is about the delight of discovery and inspiration. We, in turn, use data to uncover when, where, and why delight and discovery happen, then we help brands and content creators better deliver those ‘Aha!’ moments.”

“Branded content and pins are important, but authentic blogger content is often much more effective in driving engagement,” Gilbreath, said in a statement. “In addition to providing the much-needed content volume brands are seeking, the Ahalogy Content Network also provides a way for brands to engage with Pinterest users in a more genuine way, while delivering win-win benefits on both the brand and the content owner side.”

Are you a content creator? Check out Ahalogy here.

See how this Cincinnati startup went from Startup Weekend to the TechCrunch Battlefield.

DC Mayor Vincent Gray Celebrates, Speek, DC Tech and 1776

“I think I’ve been here every week since it opened,” DC Mayor Vincent Gray told a standing room only crowd at the Speek launch and thank you party held at 1776DC on Friday evening. Gray and Newark Mayor Cory Booker are two politicians very friendly to startups.

Gray and his constituents working on DC’s economic development were instrumental in helping 1776DC secure their prime real estate at 1133 15th Street in Northwest Washington. The center, directed by Donna Harris and Evan Burfield, is the epicenter of startups in DC and the go-to place for some great startup events and parties. “1776 sure knows how to throw a party,” Gray told the audience.

“We’ve got it down to a science,” Burfield told us in regards to flipping the space from mega co-working to a great place to party. Walls, desks, and even mock windows are all on wheels which makes the space customizable for anything from hackathons (Angel Hack is being held there this weekend) to small strategy meetings, to parties with upwards of 500.

And that’s exactly what happened Friday evening.

As for Gray, the very active mayor arrived early and stayed late, making sure to speak with anyone who wanted his attention. Gray, who proudly sported a 1776 DC Tshirt at SXSW earlier this year, was enthusiastic about everything having to do with DC startups.

“There were 75 startups knocking at the door when 1776 opened,” Gray told the crowd during his official remarks. Burfield quickly piped up to announce that the final number of startups at launch, a little over a month ago, was actually 103.

Gray said that for DC to continue in the right direction they need to reinvent the economy and startups play a big part of that. Gray said that over 600,000 people live in the district and he wants more to live, play, and work in our nation’s capital.

Gray was very enthusiastic about Speek, the gamechanging technology that is making conference calls easier. Gray told Nibletz that his job dictates that he’s always on conference calls. In our informal conversation Gray was able to cite details about 1776 and startups (by name) without a crib sheet. Gray also mentioned the dedication of DC entrepreneurs to their companies and their city, laughing about the dedication of Speek’s co-founders and this tattoo stunt from SXSW.

As you’ll see in the video, the Mayor of DC is also the Mayor of DCTech and as such, a very enthusiastic cheerleader for all DC startups.

Start Up Superpowers: Offline Branding & Marketing

Online interactions may reign supreme in today’s marketplace, but it doesn’t hurt to unplug the digital umbilical cord to promote start-ups.

Customers may submerse themselves in social media, online videos and ecommerce, but they live beyond the computer screen. This means the poster in the storefront window or brochure in the local coffee shop hold exclusive opportunities for a captive audience to your brand.

Printed marketing materials remain a valuable asset to attract and promote a target audience. They extend the reach of your business, expand your creativity and generate interest from new areas.

An iProspect study revealed two-thirds of online users are motivated to search by offline messages. Before you rely solely on the web to keep your start-up afloat, consider how offline branding can take you to the next level.

Why Offline Marketing Can Excel

Offline branding opportunities include posters, brochures, flyers, newsletters, magazines and booklet printing. These methods can be a critical tier of visibility to your business that you can’t get online. They are a tangible and personal way to reach out to potential clients.

Casting a wide customer net can fall short on bottom-line impact when compared to fishing for the right customer. While you may not be guaranteed a search engine query will lead a customer to a first-page Google result of your business, a brochure or business card in the right location provides localized, high-quality traffic.

These mediums engage audiences in a way that boosts your start-up’s credibility. They give people something tangible, with a physical address and phone number rather than just another unknown page in an infinite cyberspace.

If you integrate your branding into the fabric of the community through local team sponsorships or exposure in other trusted, established businesses, you increase brand awareness beyond your website.

Creative Offline Inspiration

For offline branding to thrive, promote where and how other competing start-ups fall short, and how your company can do better. Printed marketing materials can be creative, multi-dimensional and interactive.

Guest posts, startups,startup tips, marketing for startups

Photo by Sashi Bellamkonda via Flickr

This unique business card distributed at South by South West adds a new element to the traditional format. The promotional material provides a sample of the product along with a quirky message. This business can stand out among other cards because it provides a memorable experience to associate with the brand. You won’t soon forget this marketing tactic— that is, unless you have too many of these “business cards.”

Photo by Alan Levine via Flickr

The actual business card can be multipurpose. This USB business card offers a tongue-in-cheek approach to technology expertise while doubling as a means of digital storage. A user has a subtle brand reminder every time it’s plugged into a computer, which benefits the business.

Takeaway Tips for Offline Branding

Before starting an offline branding campaign, consider these tips that are applicable to any print platform:

Consistency is key. Be sure that logos, typeface and colors match your website as well as the products and services offered.
Maximize space by keeping things simple. Don’t clutter offline branding with too much information to confuse the audience, since you have finite space to work with. Don’t let verbose copy or convoluted design get in the way of what you’re trying to sell and how you can be contacted.
Offer a discount. Nothing works better than an incentive to walk through your doors or visit your site. Discounts are also a great way to generate word-of-mouth.

Offline marketing may seem like the older, less cool sibling of online branding. But never dismiss a medium that still has the ability to reach people and create impact.

About the author:

Catherine Draper

Cath has been working in SEO and Social Media since before Twitter was invented, although she loves the great outdoors just as much as surfing the net. Writing is just one of her many passions.

Want more on communicating for startups? Check out: When it comes to communications, startups need the whole package.

13 Powerful SEO Tools For Startups

Question: Which SEO tools have been most helpful to your business?

SEOMoz for Everything

“SEOMoz’s suite of products has essentially provided us the value of our own personal SEO consultant. We use their tools track keyword rankings, rate on-page optimization, and track links to our site. They also regularly post great tips on their blog and have a Q and A section. By using their tools, we’ve increased our monthly search traffic 10x in the last year.”

– Bhavin Parikh | CEO, Magoosh Test Prep

Raving About Raven Tools

“I love Raven Tools. It is one of the key reasons why my company’s website ranks either first or second for most keywords related to our niche. Their research analysis and link-building tools allow me to find untapped niches and capitalize on them through effective organization for outreach.”

– Lawrence Watkins | Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers

Install SEO for Chrome

“SEO for Chrome is the go-to tool that I use. It allows me to easily see Page Rank, backlinks, estimated traffic, and even conduct keyword research for a website, all through my Chrome browser. It’s very important to get backlinks for SEO; I use this Chrome app to determine where I will invest my time to develop links back to my site.”

– Jun Loayza | President, Ecommerce Rules

Scribe for Content

“Scribe is a great tool for SEO-ifying content. We run all of our blog posts through it to make sure that they’re not only educational, but will all be found in the search engines. Right now, we receive more than half of our traffic from relevant Google searches.”

– Laura Roeder | Founder, LKR Social Media

Can’t Go Wrong With Google

“SEO is all about content and links, but equally important are the keywords you choose to target. Don’t assume what your users are searching for. Instead, use Google’s free Keyword Tool to determine monthly search volume for keywords in your industry. Once armed with this data, create content and obtain links targeting these keywords and watch your SEO traffic soar.”

– Warren Jolly | Co-founder, Affiliate Marketing

Two Birds With One Stone

“YouTube has helped me rank high on certain Google keywords. Not only is it the second highest search engine ever, but it also helps my audience see me and my photography in a more personal setting.”

– Angela Pan | Owner/Photographer, Angela B Pan Photography

Join the Fight With Market Samurai

“Ever since I started doing SEO years ago, Market Samurai has been the backbone of my keyword research and analysis process. It is much easier to use than Google’s Keyword Tool and less expensive than other products on the market.”

– Sean Ogle | Founder, Location 180, LLC

Open Up Open Site Explorer

“Information is key in improving your SEO efforts; if you don’t know where your inbound links are coming from and what keywords are providing the biggest boost to your search efforts, you can’t work to improve them. Open Site Explorer lets us check which inbound links are giving us the best SEO benefits, perform competitive research, and check backlinks and anchor text almost effortlessly.”

– Lauren Fairbanks | Partner, Stunt & Gimmick’s

Go Real-Time on Rank Checker

“I’ve been using Rank Checker, the simple browser plugin for over three years now and haven’t had a need for much else. It’s free and you can download and set it up in a few minutes. You can create multiple website profiles that you want to track keyword SERPs for. It’s super simple and it gives you the most up-to-date results each time you run it. You can also schedule it to run automatically.”

– Matthew Ackerson | Founder, Saber Blast

Wordtracker Cuts Out Extra Work

“When it comes to researching which keywords are the most searched for, and how much competition they have, Wordtracker is the way to go. You can find out how many clicks you’d likely get if you got to the front page of Google, and whether it’s worth targeting this keyword or not.”

– Nathalie Lussier | Creator, The Website Checkup Tool

Add Platinum SEO to WordPress

“Many of my sites run on WordPress so I use WordPress plugins on them. The best one of these plugins for SEO is definitely Platinum SEO.”

– Ben Lang | Founder, Mapped In Israel

Site Strength Indicator Delivers Results

“Site Strength Indicator from SearchEngineNews has been incredibly helpful, as it provides a very detailed breakdown of the most important SEO factors and how your site rates for them”

– Nicolas Gremion | CEO, Free-eBooks.net

Forget SEO and Hit the Books

“The best SEO tool I’ve ever encountered is The Purple Cow, a book by Seth Godin. This book makes the case that investing your resources into developing an amazing and viral product is better than any marketing or SEO campaigns. Instead of gaming SEO, focus on building a product that goes viral.”

– Eric Bahn | Founder, Beat The GMAT

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Now read: 4 Startup Lessons You Won’t Learn In Business School

Image: TopSEOPicks.com

New York Startup Wants You To DoItInPerson

There’s a new kid in town in the event space, and it’s New York startup DoItInPerson.

Founder Aron Schoenfeld realizes that the event space is very crowded but it’s also very fragmented. There are event discovery startups, event community startups, event social networking startups, and event ticketing startups. DoItInPerson is taking all of these fragmented pieces and putting them together in one platform. Their all in one platform promises one place to go for managing, promoting, and discovering events and communities.

Schonfeld has covered everything about an event with DoItInPerson. Using their platform you can create and manage your community, find and book speakers and sponsors, create and sell tickets, create partnerships, invite attendees, and monitor how it all fits together. Schonfeld found, through putting his own events together, that he was using different tools for each thing.

There are already a handful of great event organizers who have turned to DoItInPerson and discovered that the platform delivers everything they say it will.

(Disclosure: We’re using this product to help organize our Everywhere Else Conference and it’s been extremely helpful.)

What is your startup, what does it do?

DoItInPerson.com is an online event platform that allows people to create, manage and promote events and communities. It brings all of the fragmented pieces of the event space together; from creating and managing your community, sending newsletters, booking speakers, selling tickets, adding sponsors to managing partnerships. Our goal is to simplify the event process and create data around events and communities that will help organizers sell more event tickets.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds

The company was founded by Aron Schoenfeld. Aron is an accountant by trade and has worked on multiple startups. His first startup, which he still currently runs, is DreamArtists Studios, a boutique music production company that has composed theme music for shows such as ABC’s Good Morning America and 20/20 and ESPN’s Year of the Quarterback.

Where are you based?

We are based in NY

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

Very intense. Everyone wants to work on a startup and there is a lot of hustle going on. Unfortunately, I think that in NY we see more ideas and less actual startups than in other cities.

What problem does your startup solve?

Our company aims to solve and eliminate the fragmentation in the event space to make it easier for organizers to create, manage, and promote their events in a way that adds meaning and relevance to their events. Currently organizers are forced to use multiple sites and platforms, which leads to a lack of cohesive data across the event space. Through consolidation, we will be able to provide organizers with the data they need to create better events and collect more event registrations.

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

Getting people to see the value proposition and why we are different then our competitors. Many people are familiar with other ticketing sites or other community management sites. We spent a lot of time refining our message to show people we are not just a ticketing or community platform.

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

We recently had our 100th event run on the site and have had over 1000 registrations.

What are your next milestones

Our goal now is to hit 500 events, get more activity in the community aspect of the site and focus on having people use the speaker portion of our site more, which I believe adds tremendous value to the events and seems to be a lot of people’s favorite feature.

Who are your mentors and role models?

My mentors include Sergio Fernandez de Cordova, who taught me a lot about what I know about entrepreneurship and has helped me any time I have had questions or issues.

My role model is my father who as a salesman, worked extremely hard all the time to make sure we had whatever we needed, but more importantly, always put family first. Whether driving to the Catskills in traffic every Thursday night in the summer to spend the weekends with us, or never missing a school event, he put family first, no matter how busy work was.

What’s next for your startup?

We just launched a redesign for the site and are focusing on making the site a more responsive design. We also plan to launch 5-6 new key features to give the site broader appeal and are hoping to get 4-5 large conferences using the site over the next few months.

Where can people find out more?

doitinperson.com

Speaking of events did you see these 50 startup stories from TechCrunch Disrupt NY

Window Shop Through Your Friends’ Lives With Chicago Startup flik

Chicago-based husband and wife team Chris and Tracy Hayes have launched flik, a new startup that promises to bring the best of Vine, Pinterest, and Yelp into one unique experience.

Using your iOS device’s camera, flik captures short video clips between 5-8 seconds. Then they are instantly shared across your social channels. But unlike Vine, the clips are full clips rather than snippets of video looped together. Flik is designed for users to create original content around the products and places they love. Nothing says review better than a quick video.

While the company is just now launching, flik had a very interesting set of beta testers. Hayes used his network of professional baseball players in both the minor leagues and Major League Baseball (MLB) and their wives to test out the new app. They all reportedly loved it.

Hayes has been a career baseball player since graduating college from Northwestern University. Hayes started his minor league career with the Burlington Bees, an A league affiliate of the Kansas City Royals in 2005. At age 29 in 2012 he played with the Long Island Ducks in the Atlantic League.

While other players talk shop, watch tape, and goof off while traveling, Hayes took it upon himself to learn how to code.

He handled all of the coding for flik, while the business operations, marketing, and “everything else” was done by Tracy. Tracy also attended Northwestern, but a few years earlier than her husband.

What does your company do?

flik is an iPhone app that allows users to upload short videos showing products and places they love.

Who are the founders, and what are their backgrounds?

The co-founders of flik are a married couple, Chris and Tracy Hayes. Chris is a professional baseball player who has a degree in Computer Science from Northwestern University who coded several web and iOS apps during his days as a ball player. He was the weirdo sitting at his locker, working on his computer in the clubhouse and on buses and planes. He is self-taught in iOS, but incredibly anal retentive when it comes to coding. His engineering brain is a nice complement to his wife, Tracy, who is much more of a big picture, out of the box thinker. Tracy also went to Northwestern, but she robbed the cradle a little bit, so they never met in college. Tracy has worked in Research & Information at McKinsey & Company and ran a successful consulting business before launching flik. Tracy and Chris equally came up with the idea for flik (but when asked separately, they would each tell you that they came up with the idea on their own and the other person had nothing to do with it), but Chris does all the coding, Tracy does everything else (including writing this Q&A … in the third person, of course).

Where are you based?

flik is based out of Chicago, but has been lucky enough to have a team of people all over the country (West Coast, Midwest and East Coast — with a special shout out to the app’s beta users in the South. Thanks y’all!).

What problem do you solve?

flik solves a problem for both consumers and for businesses. Oprah isn’t the only one who has a list of favorite things and, until flik, there hasn’t been an appropriate place for regular people to share the things they actually have and love with their social network. For businesses, there really hasn’t been a great way to get truthful, real-time feedback from their customers.

Why does it matter?

The video space is hot right now and users are craving purposeful videos that are also easy to create. There are a lot of really amazing apps out there that allow people to share aspirational things they love, but users aren’t posting their own stuff on those platforms because it can be intimidating to create professional-looking content. The awesome thing about flik is it’s not asking its users for artsy-fartsy, it’s looking for REAL. flik is an app for real people who use real stuff in their real lives and that’s what sets it apart. It’s a jeans and t-shirt kind of app — casual and laid-back, allowing people to connect through things they love and places they go. At the same time, flik is your favorite jeans and t-shirt kind of app — not some crappy t-shirt you got when you signed up for that airline rewards credit card. So the content on flik is real and its real-ness invites users to post original content, AND at the same time, it’s all cool stuff–stuff flik users love. Don’t care who you are, that matters, right there.

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

The flik team has been lucky enough to beta launch within the Major League Baseball community of players and wives and get key feedback from people who travel a ton, have cool stuff, and are on social media all the time. flik’s users have viewed fliks over 20,000 times (the flik team thinks that’s pretty impressive for a small beta group!) and flik has just launched a pretty awesome new website and cool video. Also, within a day of our public announcement, we began receiving emails about being pre-approved to become Nigerian millionaires if we just send a small check to some random address. So, it looks like things are moving along smoothly.

What are your next milestones?

flik is looking to build out its website to be a fully functional web platform and release an Android version of the app as well as bring on a few pretty awesome fliksperts, (experts in a particular area) to share their favorite things. There may be a trip to Nigeria in there as well.

Where can people find out more?

flik’s new website is pretty awesome – the video is worth watching, especially the hair dryer who says, “Tell them how hot I get”. Here’s flik’s website: flikapp.com, our social media: @flikketyflik and facebook.com/flikapp.

When you say Jump, this Florida startup literally asks you, how high?

Kansas City & Kauffman Foundation To Host Teen Conference

One of the big benefits to growing your startup in Kansas City is the proximity to the Kauffman Foundation. The group is constantly backing, helping, and innovating in the startup community space. Kansas City often gets the earliest access to the Foundation’s newest programs like 1 Million Cups.

Now, our friends at Silicon Prairie News are reporting that KC is about to see a new one day seminar/conference program geared towards teenagers.

William Robison, a Kansas City-based self proclaimed “Solopreneur,” came up with the idea for Teen Idea Labs when his own kids started asking questions about owning and starting their own businesses.

“As a business owner, for as long as they can remember, they have only witnessed this side of the world,” he told SPN. “As they mature, I challenge them to explore opportunities of their own.”

Robison took the idea to Kauffman Foundation’s Nate Olson, and now the all-day program becomes a reality.

The first Teen Idea Labs will be held at the Kauffman Labs next Wednesday, June 12th and will kick off with the teenage attendees taking part in that morning’s 1 Million Cups meet-up.

“These younger minds are willing to challenge these belief systems and develop with better forward thinking minds. These are the next generation of incubator and Kansas City Startup Village residents.” Robison told SPN’s Megan Bannister

Interested teenpreneurs and innovators can find out more at Silicon Prairie. They can register free here at eventbrite.

LaunchTn Reveals All 50 Startups In The Southland Startup Village, 17 From Nashville

Launch Tennessee the private/public partnership designed to support 9 accelerator regions for startups in entrepreneurship across Tennessee is highlighting the entire south east region, it’s culture, technology and startups at the upcoming Southland Conference in Nashville in two weeks.

Of course the day and a half long conference, being held at The Cannery Ballroom and Mercy Lounge in Nashville’s historic Cannery Row District, is going to feature some great keynotes, like a fireside chat with Sarah Lacy, author, technology writer and founder of Pando Daily interviewing Gary Swart the founder of oDesk. The next 30 hours after that are packed full of great talks, performances, pitches and an exhibition Startup Village.

For their Startup Village, Launch Tennessee used an application and vetting process. Originally, startups that submitted had to have raised or made at least $250,000 that was quickly rescinded based on the work of startups statewide going through or just recently completing accelerator programs.

With that requirement out of the way, Launch Tennessee took a hard look at just about every state in the Southeast from Virginia to Florida and of course as far west as Tennessee to fill the booths of the Startup Village.

Over 11 states are represented from a mix of technology spaces including social, mobile, media, health tech, ed tech, social entrepreneurship and even consumer packaged goods. Nashville had a whopping 17 startups make the startup village.

Here’s the entire list, congratulations to all:

Company Name	City	State	About
American Songspace	Nashville	TN	American Songspace is an online platform for songwriters.
Angel Eye	Little Rock	AR	Angel Eye is a camera that allows parents to see their kids in the neonatal ICU unit from their mobile device or computer.
ArchiveSocial	Durham	NC	ArchiveSocial archives businesses’ social media data.
AspirEDU	Tampa	FL	AspirEDU is educational analytics software with performance metrics used by education administrators and teachers.
AudiencePoint	Chattanooga	TN	AudiencePoint provides smart email marketing/connection to social media.
Banyan	Chattanooga	TN	Banyan is software for scientists to collaborate.
Beam Technologies	Louisville	KY	Beam Technologies makes the first connected toothbrush with sensor embedded in the brush.
BioNanovations	Nashville	TN	BioNanovations provides a device that allows you to monitor the progression of bacteria in cultures.
Cardagin Networks, Inc.	Nashville	TN	Cardagin Networks provides a customized mobile-enabled customer loyalty program for large and small businesses.
Checkd.in	Nashville	TN	Checkd.in helps companies effectively use multiple social media marketing platforms via their application and consulting work.
Consensus Point, Inc.	Nashville	TN	Consensus Point provides crowd-sourced prediction software.
Creative Allies	Asheville	NC	Creative Allies is a crowdsourced merchandise design business used by musicians.
Distil Networks	Arlington	VA	Distil is a content protector network/cloud-based intelligent gatekeeper.
Do 5 Things	Knoxville	TN	Do 5 Things is a marketing optimization platform.
Everly	Memphis	TN	Everly makes drink flavor packets.
Evermind, Inc.	Nashville	TN	Evermind is a consumer-friendly senior monitoring system.
Facedeals	Nashville	GA	FaceDeals allows users to check in to a location on Facebook through facial recognition scanning.
Fuelzee	Nashville	FL	Fuelzee is a product development stage app that allows users to identify cheap gas and rewards associated with gas and then check in to specific gas stations to redeem these awards.
Gamemaster	Greenville	SC	Gamemaster is a scavenger hunt business platform.
Gastke Inc.	Greeneville	SC	Gastke is a cloud-based accounting software.
iCitizen	Nashville	TN	iCitizen is a social media platform connecting constituents to local leaders.
Kufikia	Memphis	TN	Kufikia is a code school for experienced programmers.
LeanKit, Inc	Franklin	TN	LeanKit is a workflow IT system for large businesses.
Maxx Tech d/b/aBarMaxx, LLC	Fort Lauderdale	FL	Maxx Tech is a liquor inventory management system that works on mobile devices.
NextGxDx	Nashville	TN	NextGxDx is an online marketplace for genetic testing.
Oqulus	Gainesville	FL	Oqulus is a medical imaging analysis company for detecting eyesight related issues for diabetics.
OverDog, Inc.	Nashville	TN	OverDog connects fans with athletes via video games.
PatientFocus	Nashville	TN	PatientFocus is a health care billing company.
Populr.me	Nashville	TN	Populr.me allows users to easily create and share single web pages.
PowWowHR	Atlanta	GA	PowWowHR provides online benefits administration, including HR & payroll.
PushLocal	Natchez	MS	PushLocal is an application that allows you to send daily specials to your followers.
Quickcue	Chattanooga	TN	Quickcue is an app that handles a restaurant waitlist, reservation system and table notifications.
RedeApp	Louisville	KY	RedeApp is a mobile messaging service for large companies to send secure messages to various audiences, including employees.
RidePost Inc	Greeneville	SC	RidePost is an online transportation company.
Sagent Partners, LLC	Nashville	TN	Sagent Partners is a vendor-buyer procurement matchmaking service.
ScrewPulp	Memphis	TN	Screwpulp is a platform for online publication for independent authors.
Sideqik	Atlanta	GA	Sideqik is a web platform that allows marketing teams of different companies to cross-promote their products or services and track how many leads are coming to their Sidequik designed landing page.
Skuid	Chattanooga	TN	Skuid is a tool that layers on top ofsalesforce.com to simplify user experience and improve user interface.
splitsecnd	Nashville	TN	splitsecnd is a plug-in crash detection device.
Streamweaver	Nashville	TN	Streamweaver is a mobile video app capable of split screens.
The Royalty Exchange	Raleigh	NC	The Royalty Exchange is a marketplace to buy and sell royalties from movies, music, etc.
Variable, Inc.	Chattanooga	TN	Variable is an expert technology and network security consultant.
Vatex Explorations LLC	Cocoa Beach	FL	Vatex Explorations provides blister packs with chips embedded providing data via GPS system to know when the medication was opened and how frequently.
Vendor Registry	Knoxville	TN	Vendor Registry is an online portal connecting vendors and buyers that matches vendors and buyers by type of service.
Verdeeco	Atlanta	GA	Verdeeco is a smart grid analytics company offering big data solutions for utilities.
viaCycle	Atlanta	GA	ViaCycle is a bike sharing system.
VIPAAR	Birmingham	AL	VIPAAR is remote presence software.
VoiceHIT	New Orleans	LA	VoiceHIT is an emerging electronic health records (EHR) and clinical documentation software provider with a mission to use technology to drive improvements in care quality, coordination and collaboration.
World Housing Solution Inc.	Orlando	FL	World Housing Solutions provides reusable, energy efficient housing structures.
Yellow Jacket, LLC	Baton Rouge	LA	Yellow Jacket is a stun gun iPhone case.

Source: VentureNashville.

Check out ScrewPulp one of the three startups selected from Memphis Tennessee.

Buffalo Startup GripeO Is The Complaint Market Place

Have you ever had a girl that you tried to date… oh wait that’s not I was writing.

Have you ever been upset with something, be it customer service, product selection, feature selection or just any normal complaint? Has that complaint ever been enough to tick you off but not piss you off? Well with complaints like those they often die in your head. You may forget them later on, only to have them resurface the next time you go to that restaurant, store, or business or use that product. Then, you quickly remember that complaint.

Now, on the other hand if you feel you’ve ever been just totally wronged, or get really pissed off at a company, you may go through the motions of seeking out a contact form, email address or phone number and actually move forward with your complaint. This process can take a while and it too can be interrupted and die out.

A Buffalo based startup called GripeO is here to change that and disrupt the complaint space with a complaint market place that’s both easy to complain on and easy for companies to find their complaints. But lets establish one thing from the get-go and that’s the fact that GripeO is not a place to just bitch about everything under the sun.

“GripeO is a website and mobile application startup that’s going to disrupt complaint management. Consumers (people like you and I) can quickly and easily submit product or service complaints in one consolidated location. We notify and authenticate businesses who are then able to mediate the complaint via our system. During the process we encourage businesses to close as many complaints as possible with new savings and discounts. This won’t work for everyone, but for those that do it benefits both parties because it has the ability to please consumers yet drive new sales to the business. The real magic happens though when complaints are left open. The fact is, that information is far more valuable then people often realize. You have a qualified consumer who is frustrated with a business. GripeO offers those ignored complaints in a Complaint Marketplace where competitive businesses can search for complaints in an ad-market style and use our system to entice and lure those qualified leads away via our system. This is the revenue generating portion of GripeO and something that makes us truly unique.” GripeO co-founder and team lead, Mike Klanac Jr told us in an interview.

We’ve seen a few complaint platforms over the years but it seems that the founding team behind GripeO have worked out a lot of the kink and are poised to become the goto destination to sound off complaints and ultimately get them resolved. Check out the rest of Klanac’s interview below.

Who are the founders and what are their backgrounds

Our team is comprised of 6 co-founders who each are responsible for a different functional area. They include Mike Klanac (CEO/Team Lead), Nicholas Campanile (Finance and Business Development), Stephen Makula (System Architecture), Richard Panek (Development Lead), Jim Proux (User Experience), and Mark Taylor (User Interface and Mobile). The group has all worked together in the past and that’s really what ties everyone together. The corporate backgrounds of everyone actually created quite a link; working together in that environment allowed everyone to identify the best resources in their respective positions. When the idea and opportunity arose the team fell together quickly and naturally based on a mutual respect. Some of the other work the team has collaborated on includes Ellucian Inc., SimpleApply LLC, and ProfileFly.com.

Where are you based?

Our headquarters are in Buffalo, NY however we also have one co-founder in Boulder, CO and one in Houston, TX. We strongly believe that remote companies are the way of the future and actively debate the merits of Marissa Mayer’s decision to call all the cattle home. Our geographic location is also strategic. The core of our development is together, and we recently secured incubation and seed funding from Z80Labs Technology Incubator in Buffalo, NY giving our team a unified location to work from. Having strategic business representatives in Boulder, CO and Southeast Texas allows us to tap into the well established startup communities in those areas.

What is the startup culture like where you are based?

Buffalo, NY’s start up culture is actually very exciting right now. In fact, I’d go so far as to say it’s about to “pop” as a tech hub. For the longest time Buffalo has been a source of great technical talent coming out of the high density of Colleges in western New York. Unfortunately there just hasn’t been the jobs to keep them around. As organizations like Z80Labs start to develop the city is going to really be able to capitalize on the local technical talent pool.

What problem does your startup solve?

For consumers, we make it much easier to submit complaints, as well as more worthwhile. The fact is, searching through websites, filling out long forms, and wasting your time is something you only do if you’re extremely pissed off. With GripeO, a complaint can be filed in under 1 minute, from the convenience of your phone, right after the food comes out cold, the part is missing, or the airline delays. For businesses, we offer up a completely free way to manage complaints and provide instruction based on data trends on how to most effectively close out gripes. Lastly, competitive businesses are always in need of effective ways to generate new business. With pure advertising, your company can get completely lost in the ether. GripeO presents a strategic opportunity to target a prime consumer, ready to change vendors, who is also flush with demographic information.

What is one challenge that you’ve overcome in the startup process?

For us, it’s always been about generating the often talked about “warm introduction”. Unless you’re in the business, I can’t imagine a lot of developers are walking around with a rolodex of VCs and Angels. Let’s be honest – the whole concept is awkward, difficult, and quite frustrating. We’ve managed to break down some doors by doing several things. First, we started geographically. The people often willing to give you a first shot are the ones who are doing it for reasons outside of making money. Buffalo has a lot of economic initiatives and stimulation going on and that is an opportunity for us. Secondly, we try to be respectful and friendly to everyone in the startup space. We’re all people, and friends do friends favors. Finally, one tactic we’ve found to work quite well is to start small with a cold contact and build up. Rather then ask, “will you fund my startup with $500k?” a first contact might be more like a paragraph explaining the business, an attached executive summary, and one very simple request, “as we progress through build, beta, and traction, can I tell you more?”

What are some of the milestones your startup has achieved?

Finishing our web based MVP was a big step for us. It was kind of like the birth of a baby. So much time was spent preparing for it, yet once it came around you immediately start to realize the diapers are in the wrong location. Another major milestone was receiving our first term sheet. We try to leverage our talking points as much as possible. Telling one VC that you have a term sheet from another tends to pique their interest.

What are your next milestones

Right now we’re focused on getting the MVP ready for BETA testing and raising our remaining seed round. There is a lot going on – more so then at any other time in our existence. When I started preparing for this process I had read feedback from several entrepreneurs who’d had successful exits. Almost always you’ll hear the words “pivot” and “agile” in those interviews. With the amount of documentation, promotional sites, and network to keep apprised, that month 3 change to your revenue model means a lot of updating. Expect it.

Who are your mentors and role models?

Dan Magnuszewski and Jordan Levy at Z80Labs Technology Incubator has been great to us. It sounds kind of weird but we also let zeitgeist and data mentor us. I think it’s important to prolifically read Techcrunch, Mashable, Nibletz, and VentureBeat. Our role models tend to be operations that are mobile leaning or have innovative approaches to existing models. We like Mint, Groupon, Twitter, and Instagram.

What are some of the advantages/disadvantages growing your startup outside of Silicon Valley.

I’ll be honest here; I don’t know. I’ve never been to Silicon Valley. I would imagine a disadvantage is the investment strategy. To use a baseball analogy, regional Angel Networks go for hits. Institutional Investors swing for the fences. The reason is they get more at bats. Being out of the bubble is an advantage in itself. I think you’re able to rise up based on a micro level need or problem, whereas in the bubble your building around investment criteria “we’re a geo-targeted, mobile, big data, smart object”. What?

What’s next for your startup?

We’ve applied to pitch at Techcrunch Austin Meetup “1 minute pitch off” and SXSW V2V. We’re knee deep in MVP refinement and starting some planning to begin letting our BETA users try the system. We’re also ramping up mobile development a bit behind the web in order to follow its lead, and continuously meeting with investors to find the right fit.

Where can people find out more, and what is your Twitter username?

If you’re interesting in learning more about the product or being a tester, please LIKE our facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pays.to.be.heard We’re also on Twitter: @gripeo and of course you can always visit www.gripeo.com

Crowdfunding For Charity Gone Wild With Chicago Startup VideoJuice

The latest innovative startup coming out of the windy city is a video startup focused on crowdfunding for charity. The company, called VideoJuice, is helping people raise money for their favorite charities through “challenges” or “stunts”.

With videojuice, if you’ve got an idea and a cause you can make a quick “video juice” video to encourage people to donate money on behalf of your cause. If you raise the money you set out to raise, you fulfill the challenge and your charity gets the money.

For example, Startup Grind Chicago organizer Tom Denison was one of the first to upload a “video juice” for his he wants to raise $1,000 for the Susan G Komen foundation. If he raises that money, through crowdfunding on the videojuice.co website, Denison will have to color his hair pink for a month.

Their hilarious promotional video shows people running in a Leukemia benefit in skin tight orange suits. Another one of the challenges in the video is a young man who picks up trash in a park wearing a french maid’s uniform.

Videojuice encourages users to be as creative and daring as possible. Presumably, the more interesting, or crazy, your stunt is the more likely it is to raise more money. There’s even a videojuice posted right now where the person who created has pledged to play golf in a dress and high heels if he can raise $1000 for the Jimmy V cancer foundation.

So what’s your cause and what are you willing to do for it? Head over to videojuice.co

VideoJuice and Startup Grind Chicago were major sponsors for our TechCrunch Disrupt NY 2013 Coverage.

The Startup Fred Wilson And Union Square Ventures Would Back Right Now

The startup and venture capital world breathed a sigh of relief earlier this month when New York based venture capitalist, blogger extraordinaire and managing partner at Union Square Ventures, announced he was investing in Coinbase a startup that helps facilitate Bitcoin transactions. Sure Bitcoin is a hot commodity these days, just ask Ashton Kutcher, but there was more to it than that.

For many, Wilson’s investment in Coinbase was one of those big “signaling issues”. As most know, Wilson has been in a two year slump with investments while he tried to figure out what the next big thing was.

His firm, Union Square Ventures, did just fine with investments and made some great bets during Wilson’s cool period.

So what’s next more Bitcoin startups? Wilson has always been one to go ahead of the curve, so undoubtedly whatever he invests in next will go to that record. Wilson just saw an exit with Tumblr, for which he was an early investor. Some of their other great investments include Boxee, Turntable.fm, Twitter, Twilio and countless others.

Regardless of what’s actually in the pipeline, we can tell you for certain, if you read Wilson’s personal blog, avc.com, if you’ve got a team of college graduates who’ve developed the next thing that’s going to stop Google, and big hint here’s it’s not Bing, Wilson would go all in.

In a tribute to his daughter Jess who just graduated from College earlier this week, Wilson acknowledges the fact that he and USV often bet on college drop outs but he writes;

“Dropping out of college is all the rage today in startup land (even dropping out of high school). And when it comes to our business, we really do not care if someone went to or graduated from college. We have funded many college dropouts and will continue to.

But there is also something to finishing something you started. ”

So just to be clear, Wilson will still bet on dropouts but I’m willing to bet a college graduate team may have a special place in his heart these days.

As for what’s stopping Google, Wilson also wrote a short, sweet and to the point post called “Running the table”. In the post he talks about how Microsoft “ran the table” with desktop computing, Apple did it with mobile computing and Facebook did it with social networking. That was until Apple and the internet stopped Microsoft and Twitter stopped Facebook.

As for Google, Google is trying to run the table with the “entire fucking internet” and Wilson wants to know “Who Will Stop Google”.

So if you’ve got a college graduate team ready to stop Google, you better get that deck in front of Wilson.

Read Wilson’s blog avc.com daily. Got that startup ready, make sure your business plan submission includes a clear description of your operations and current progress and take it on over to Union Square Ventures, 915 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10010, make it interesting, Wilson’s a busy go.

Here are Wilson’s Venture Capital Do’s & Dont’s

Startup Tips: How To Know When You Need A Contract

Do you sometimes lie awake at night wondering what will happen if your biggest customer doesn’t pay you? How about if the vendor handling your website upgrade takes off with your thousand-dollar down payment? These scenarios would be a nightmare for any bootstrapping entrepreneur — and they happen all the time.

The Problem

Here’s a pretty typical scenario. One of my clients, who owns an Internet-based consulting firm, was hired to create a new website for a client a few months back. He received a $500 deposit for several thousands of dollars worth of work. Then he hired a web coder, with whom he had a good relationship, to handle certain aspects of the design. He and the coder completed the work, and guess what happened next?

The client stiffed him. And not only him, but also his colleague, because he didn’t have the money to pay the web coder out of his own pocket. This caused a strain in the relationship between the consultant and his coder, and a major strain on his pockets.

Several months later, the consultant hired me and I used my magical lawyer ways to collect all of the money from the client. (Note: magical lawyer ways = calling the client, announcing that I am a lawyer and demanding payment. Okay, okay, it was more complicated than that but, most importantly, it worked). He was happy to get fully paid, but the strain on the relationship could not be erased, he lost the time value of the money he was paid in January instead of August, he spent a lot of time chasing this guy instead of working on other projects, and he was out the attorney’s fees he had spent, too.

The Solution

How would this scenario have been different if the consultant had a contract for both relationships? First of all, in his initial strategy session with me, I would have advised him that his payment collection method wasn’t working and we would have set up a better payment system. Additionally, the client contract would have required the client to pay interest on late payments and court fees plus attorney’s fees if he wound up having to take him to court. This makes it really easy to sue and win.

With such a contract, the chances of getting an enforceable judgment (read: getting paid) jump sky-high — and it won’t cost you money, since the client has to pay your lawyer’s fees.

The lesson? When you show clients that you are professional and serious about your business, they will think twice before trying to stiff you.

Regarding his relationship with the developer, an independent contractor agreement that stated that the coder would get paid when the business owner gets paid would have eliminated the bad blood between the parties.

So, Do You Need a Contract?

I often tell my clients, “Everyone is an enemy to your business!” Your business partners, customers, vendors, employees, etc. all have the ability to screw your business over. So you have to treat everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) like an enemy on paper. Only then are you free to treat them like a friend in person.

How do you do that? By having a contract for every relationship your business enters into.

Here’s my rule of thumb that will protect your business from all manner of headaches, financial loss, emotional distress and yes, lawsuits as well: Have a contract for every single relationship your business enters into. You and your buddy starting a new business? Create a contract that governs that relationship. Selling your new widgets in that new widget store up the street? Draft an agreement between you and the widget store owner. Setting up a website to advertise and/or sell your services? Have a privacy policy and/or terms and conditions to govern your relationship with people who check out your website.

These contracts do not have to be complicated. In fact, they can be pretty simple, but they do need to protect you from all (or at least most) of the ways the relationship can go wrong. And please don’t forget the all-important boilerplate at the end of the contract, because it provides lots of protection and will save you money, time and headaches.

Once you have an agreement with your independent contractors, vendors, clients and business partners, you can go back to getting enough sleep at night because you know you’re well-protected in any situation.

Note: This article is a resource guide for educational and informational purposes only and should not take the place of hiring an attorney. No information in this article creates an attorney-client relationship between the author and the reader.

A version of this post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Rachel Rodgers is a business lawyer for women and/or young entrepreneurs. She runs her practice, Rachel Rodgers Law Office, entirely online. In addition to practicing law, Rachel blogs about virtual law offices and teaches a popular workshop for women lawyers who want to practice law online through her website, Her Virtual Law Office.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

Now check out these startup marketing tips from everywhere else.

12 Of The Hardest Questions Venture Capitalists Will Ask You

What Is Your Hole?

“The classic VC role is that of an interrogator, trying to break you for a key secret. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Folks who watch the TV show “Shark Tank” know this feeling. Time after time, a well-rehearsed entrepreneur goes through his pitch, and everyone loves it. But the Sharks (VCs) keep poking at the startup until they finally find a hole. Maybe the company has zero revenue, a poor growth strategy or a weak CEO. Know your weaknesses better than your strengths. Before our first VC meetings, my team sat down and asked each other “gotcha” questions until we were all experts.”

– Neil Thanedar | CEO and Founder, LabDoor

How Are You Different?

“With proper due diligence and competitive analysis, you should be able to make a case for how you differ from other folks in the marketplace. How can you prove that you have a truly unique value proposition? What is it about your offering, your approach, your technology and your team that makes your company able to achieve and execute on this opportunity? ”

– David Ehrenberg | Chief Financial Officer, Early Growth Financial Services

How Much Is Your Company Valued at?

“The reason why determining the valuation of your company is so difficult is because there is no right answer. On the one hand, you need to be realistic, but on the other hand, you do not want to undervalue your company, as the VC may think something is wrong. The best way to handle this question, and most others that arise when negotiating with a VC, is to do all you can to have several VCs interested in your company. Like in most negotiations, if you have several interested parties, they may bid against each other, which will allow you to obtain the best terms for you and your company.”

– Doug Bend | Founder/Small Business & Startup Attorney, Bend Law Group, PC

What’s Your Customer Acquisition Cost?

“The best way to tackle this question is to show reasonable estimates for customer acquisition, using well-researched numbers and reasonable conversion rates. If you can’t explain how you are going to acquire customers for less than what you sell them on average, at a fundamental level, you have failed to explain your business.”

– Patrick Curtis | Chief Monkey and Founder, WallStreetOasis.com

When Are You Paying Me Back?

“There are many entrepreneurs with amazing ideas. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but execution is everything. Every investor will ask you when and how he will recoup his investment. What experience do you have? What is your track record? Before going into a meeting with a VC, make sure to tell him about your experience, your track record and, most importantly, how you will recoup his money. Lots of people pitch the idea before the finances. Pitch the finances and how the VC will make money; if he asks you a question, then you got him to bite — now it’s all about your elevator pitch. ”

– Ak Kurji | Chairman & CEO, Gennex Group

Why Won’t a Huge Corporation Build Something Like This?

“VCs will ask, “Why won’t a huge corporation build something like this and use their existing customer base and capital to capture market share?” The best way to defend against this is to have technology and intellectual capital that the company will want to acquire, rather than destroy. ”

– Matt Wilson | Co-founder, Under30Media

Why Hasn’t This Worked Before?

“Zaarly raised $14.1 million in a Series A in fall of 2011. But it was a question earlier that spring from Marc Andreessen in our pitch meeting that gave our founding team the most pause, “Why do you think this hasn’t worked in the past?” We didn’t have a great answer — more of a hunch really that mobile technology didn’t exist to allow distribution of information in real time previously. But the question forced us to examine our predecessors who had tried and failed to learn what landmines to avoid. Our lesson: Know your landscape and learn from prior failures and success. ”

– Eric Koester | Founder, Zaarly

How Do You Define Success for Yourself and Your Company?

“VCs want to invest in founders who are dedicated to “hitting a home run.” If you’re satisfied with building a small company, that’s a big red flag for VCs. As we’ve all heard, a number of founders have said yes to exits their VCs wanted them to say no to. Other founders have taken the middle ground by cashing out some of their shares to secure their personal finances, and then continued to go big. Either way, VCs want to invest in founders who are focused on a disruptive, game-changing product/idea. This is a vital point to keep in mind as you consider whether funding is right for you.”

– Mitch Gordon | CEO/ Co-Founder, Go Overseas

Do You Know [Insert Company]? Why Not?

“Anytime a VC throws out the name of a potential competitor that you don’t know or haven’t looked into, it can throw you off balance for a minute. The fact is, it may be a company that you don’t think is a viable competitor, so you don’t know much about it. The best way to tackle it: Tell them the truth, “We looked at our key competitors and that company did not meet the criteria. But we’ll look into it further after this meeting.” The key is to maintain control of the conversation because it shows you can handle a curveball. ”

– Benish Shah | Co-Founder/CEO, Vicaire Ny

What Is Your Plan To Grow?

“The most difficult thing to explain to an investor is your plan to grow. They want to know how you’ll outdo everything you’ve already done. Prep by picturing your future: What staffing or product creation will help you have the business you want to have?”

– Brian Moran | Founder/ Director of Online Sales, Get 10,000 Fans

Why Haven’t You Gotten Traction?

“The best way to handle that question is by not approaching VCs until you have achieved traction. Venture capital should be looked at as an accelerator for existing success, not as a runway extender to get it right.”

– Brent Beshore | Owner/CEO, AdVentures

Debt or Equity?

“Many investors will know going into a deal whether they want preferred stock or a convertible note. Sometimes, however, they will leave it up to the company. Angel investors, in particular are likely to leave it up to the company as the more sophisticated party. For the company, this is an opportunity to maximize the value of the investment, but they must also be wary of getting off on the wrong foot with the investor by being overly aggressive or appearing uninformed. A crash course in VC deals and a good deal lawyer will make sure you maximize the former and mitigate the latter. ”

– Peter Minton | Founder & President, Minton Law Group, P.C

Now check out Fred Wilson’s Venture Capital Do’s And Dont’s

4 Decisions Every Startup Should Make Before Launching

Owning and operating your own business is exhilarating. It’s a time to work as your own boss and create a successful path for yourself. Yet, starting a business is also quite daunting. While every business owner shouldn’t hold back in terms of goals or strategy, he or she should also take plenty of time to get a deep understanding of what having a business actually means. This includes all of the caveats, legal responsibilities and financial risks that come with it. Before launching your start-up, make these all-important decisions

When you have your own business, it’s tempting to simply write off everything and anything at tax time. Deciding ahead of time what to write off will eliminate any confusion from business owners and employees on what is a practical write-off, and in effect, reduce the chances of getting audited come April 15^th.

Travel, cell phone use, home office, rent and business supplies are all popular write-offs, but the important thing is to decide on a policy, and understand the regulations, up front. Preparing your taxes at the end of a new business’s first fiscal year is no joke and making the right preparations months in advance is crucial in helping owners avoid financial issues down the road.

How will you structure your business?

In the beginning stages, a decision about business structure has to be made. Ask yourself these important questions about how you’ll structure your start-up business:

Do you want to have a business partner?
How much liability do you want to have personally versus liability for your business?
Do you want yourself, and any partners, to have a lot of flexibility in the handling of the business?
How many tax liabilities do you want to be responsible for?

Depending on the answers to these questions, you might be looking at forming a Limited Liability Company, a Standard Corporation, a S-Corporation, a Professional Limited Liability Company, or something similar. Each option incurs different taxes and has its own caveats and structures. It is wise to consult professional help to see exactly which structure is right for your business.

Which banking option is for you?

In the time leading up to starting a business, it’s important to create a cushion for yourself. After all, many start-up businesses fail and it’s important to have a back-up plan or exit strategy should your business model go south. Start off by looking into the rates, yields, minimums and other options for different banking accounts. Setting up the right type of banking option can make help to alleviate some of the financial risks that come with launching a new business.

Each bank offers its own set of advantages for business owners. For example, those who choose to do online banking at Discover Bank can opt-in for various rewards and cash bonuses for making businesses expenses. By establishing a financial cushion and working with companies you trust is one of the most sure-fire ways to stay afloat in the awkward launch process.

Who will you employ?

After deciding on the industry of your business and going through the preliminary steps, it’s time to decide who you’ll hire and what those individuals will be doing. It’s a very delicate line when trying to hiring a proper amount of people to complete all tasks.

Hire too little and you risk exposing your team to over-extension leading to faster burnout and lower employee retention. Hire too many and you run the risk of confusion over responsibilities and a bloated payroll you can’t justify. The best course is to find qualified individuals for the job who you know you can trust. A few bad eggs can take down companies with even the most sound business models.

Even though launching a start-up isn’t the easiest of tasks, especially among the new information and rules that need to be learned and understood, decisions made ahead of time will make the process as simple as possible. Tasking yourself with making these important decisions from the beginning will help you draw a navigable path into the future.

About the author

DJ Miller is a graduate student at the University of Tampa. He is an avid gadget geek who spends most his time writing on anything tech related. In his spare time he likes to travel, play soccer, and watch movies. You can follow him on twitter @MillerHeWrote