Ludovic Biyong Is Helping To Bring News To Cameroon

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Founded by the 29 year old French-born entrepreneur, Ludovic Biyong, Camernews.com is a Cameroonian news and classified ads-based website. A place for Africans to go to find up-to-date local, national and international daily news, from political and economic news through to the latest in sport, art, fashion and culture, it covers all the top trending stories.

A hugely popular site, Camernews.com also features classified advertisements, employment advertisements and even a virtual tour guide of Cameroon, encouraging tourism and investment for the country. And other major developments to help make the site even more user-friendly and reachable are already underway.

Camernews.com focuses on providing trustworthy and reliable news, information and services to every Cameroonian at every level of society, something that has not been readily available to many. Considered one of Cameroon’s top 10 websites, Camernews.com receives thousands of unique visitors each and every day.

With its increasing popularity, Ludovic Biyong has big plans to further expand the site’s influence by offering users useful services other countries simply take for granted. ‘Compared to many Western countries, everyday Cameroonians are fairly new to the vast world of the Internet and everything it has to offe,’ said Ludovic Biyong.

He is soon to launch an all-in-one platform that also provides Android and iPhone applications dedicated to Cameroon as well as a magazine promoting Cameroon and offering tourism information about entertainment, art, culture and fashion in Cameroon. Also soon to launch is the opportunity for Cameroonians to get more involved in their sports, with sport betting and related activities.

ludovicAn entrepreneur himself, Ludovic Biyong was born in France but has strong ancestral roots to Cameroon. Having spent much of his lifetime in Paris and London, Ludovic now bases himself in Cameroon, working in his IT company, PA2M. A renowned computer scientist and IT specialist, Ludovic was inspired by his early visits to Africa, where he felt a huge social responsibility to share his knowledge with the people of Africa.

Having studied Computer Science and then following on to complete a Master’s in Business Engineering, Ludovic Biyong’s extensive career includes working as a network and Software engineer with Unisys and as a research engineer at Winwise. He also is involved in working with AFNOG (African Network Operators Group) and AFRINIC (African Network Information Center), which has allowed him to be a key player in the development and advancement of the African Internet community.

Ludovic Biyong’s desire is to see all African people thrive in the area of technology and commerce by having the opportunity to harness available innovations in IT and computing, electronics and telecommunications. ‘The Internet has been deeply embraced by urban Africans, as they are driven by the need to connect with family and friends and by the increasing affordability and accessibility of Internet-capable mobile phones’, said Ludovic. He goes on to state, ‘building on this, I am focused on solving many of the social problems they face
using digital innovations not only in the areas of business, but also in the areas of health, education and agriculture throughout Africa’. Camernews.com is just one way that Ludovic Biyong is helping his native country.

Ludovic Biyong’s crowdfunding project is just one aspect of what he sees as the future for, not only Camernews.com, but also for his own personal projects with regard to helping Cameroon to move forward in all areas of society. ‘A lifetime goal of mine is to have an online platform, a crowdfunding platform, where young smart Cameroonians can seek investors in order to create and innovate the future of our country’, he said. As a young and successful entrepreneur, Ludovic Biyong believes that entrepreneurs are born, not made.

His desire is to use all his resources, including the success of Camernews.com and his crowdfunding project, to help advance Cameroon’s society at every level and in every industry. Biyong sees among young Cameroonians their hunger for greater involvement in the political, economic, business and cultural scenes of Cameroon. As the Cameroonian people start craving for prosperity in an emerging economy, Ludovic Biyong’s plan is to support the wealth of talent, passion and diversity that the people of his native country have to offer.

As the success and popularity of Camernews.com continues to grow throughout Cameroon and Africa, Ludovic Biyong is confident the people of Cameroon and further afield throughout Africa will benefit from all that the world of Internet technology, telecommunications and business has to offer.

 

Jim McKelvey, Paul Singh + 6 More New Speakers Added to #EETN Lineup

Everywhere Else Tennessee is right around the corner, y’all. We’re measuring the venue, scheduling the parties, and ordering the BBQ.

With tickets already on sale, we’re also signing up some exciting new speakers. Tickets are $150 right now, but the early adopter discount is ending very, very soon. This will be a can’t-miss event for entrepreneurs, investors, and creatives outside Silicon Valley.

Jim McKelvey

Jim-McKelvey

Jim is a General Partner at Cultivation Capital. In 2009, Jim co-founded Square, one of the fastest growing technology companies in the US, which enables anyone to take credit card payments anywhere using their mobile device. Jim now sits on the board of directors of Square. Jim’s first venture was co-founding Mira Digital Publishing in 1990, which is a leader in electronic publishing for scientific conferences. Jim is an advisor to several startups including Kabbage and LockerDome.

In addition to his business ventures, Jim is a published author and glassblowing artist, and has published several books. He is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis.

 

Paul Singh

paul-singh

Paul is the founder of Disruption Corporation which provides tools, research and advisory services to corporations, angel investors and venture capital firms.

Previously, he was a Partner at 500 Startups, a 4 year old “super angel” fund headquartered in Mountain View, CA and has overseen the investments in 500+ companies across 35+ countries. He is currently serving as an Entrepreneur in Residence with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy and DHS/USCIS.

Prior to Disruption Corporation and 500, Paul was the founder of a few other startups (two successful exits and a number of failures in between) and spent some time at PBworks, AOL and Symantec. He can be reached at twitter.com/paulsingh

Nicole Glaros

nicole-glaros

Nicole got her entrepreneurial start in the 4th grade, orchestrating cousins into theatrical plays and charging neighbors admission. From there, she founded three startups which resulted in one win and 2 losses. Since then, she’s spent over a decade mentoring and funding early-stage web software companies. Most recently, Nicole is a Managing Director at Techstars, a startup accelerator based out of Boulder, Colorado.

She’s been with Techstars since it’s early days in 2009, has run 6 programs and has close to 70 companies in her portfolio.

She was named one of the “Coolest People in New York Tech” and an Extraordinary Woman in New York Tech by Business Insider in 2013, Marie Claire named her one of the “NewGuard”, and Entrepreneur Magazine named her One of the Most 7 Powerful Women to Watch.

Nait Jones

naithan-jones

Naithan “Nait” Jones created the AgLocal in late 2011. His dream: to match independent and family meat farms to the wholesale and retail buyers who want to buy their meat directly. Because he is from a family of chefs and farmers, he understands the trials of raising and cooking delicious food. Nait’s professional career is in enterprise technology and technology start-ups including successful stints at Sprint Corporate, Gartner Research and the well- regarded Kauffman Foundation.

We’re also excited to welcome these speakers:

  • Josh Hix, Cofounder, Plated
  • Kevin Lavelle–CEO/Cofounder, Mizzen and Main
  • Tony Montleone–Manager at PERQ
  • Kevin Chick-Dockery–CEO/Founder, Yoddlem

You can see the full list of speakers here, and there are still more to come.

 

How Relocating Could Help Your Startup.

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When it comes to picking a place to start your company, it can helpful to know a region’s strengths. If you’re working on a political or education startup, DC is a great place to be. Adtech finds a great home in New York, and there are various cities around the country that support healthcare or medical device startups.

Innovation driven relocation

Business mobility is necessary not only for profit maximization, but also for reinventing new philosophies. It’s one reason Silicon Valley became such a hub for startups and technology in the 70s and 80s. With so many smart people in the same field in one place, it’s hard to imagine the area NOT reinventing tech.

The common point between Silicon Valley and other ‘attractants’ is the innovation they bring to the market. In 2013, a number of European companies opted to move to the U.S. to leverage cheaper energy rates as well as policy convenience.

The case of German chemicals giant BASF makes it pretty clear that relocation is necessary if it can improve the profit capacity of the company. The company had been making GM crops and the market within Europe wasn’t being flexible. The U.S., with its regulated GM acceptance structure, allowed BASF to make the move and establish its business in there, taking it to newer heights.

Apart from the BASF, Eurofer, the main steel manufacturer within Europe also made a move to the U.S. to extract benefits from the lower gas and electricity rates. This provided them a competitive advantage versus other companies working in the energy sector in Europe and elsewhere.

And when it comes to the mobility needs of companies expanding overseas, international relocation services facilitate the transfer procedures for the kinds of businesses described above. Successful transfers and relocations are dependent on effective resource usage. Outsourcing the service is a professional measure taken by numerous enterprises. It saves valuable time resources and is highly cost efficient.

Moving isn’t really fun, but finding the right location can help a company find a profitable niche for themselves.

It requires a company to have a holistic strategy in order to generate a higher quality of service/product. The scope of business vision is only realized when the enterprise is able to perform its activities in an unbridled manner.

Just a Few #EETN Early Adopter Tix Left & First 4 Speakers Announced

Memphissky

The countdown is on! Have you gotten your tickets to Everywhere Else Tennessee yet? We only have about 12 early adopter tickets left, so don’t miss out on the best price we’ll offer.

Okay now. For our first round of speaker announcements!

scottgerberScott Gerber is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most successful young entrepreneurs,  and author of the book Never Get a “Real” Job. He is also a serial entrepreneur, internationally syndicated columnist, and the host of Founders Forum on Inc.com. Scott has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Bloomberg, Fortune, TIME, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Reuters, Mashable, BBC, NPR, Forbes, The Daily Beast, CBS News, US News & World Report, Fox News, Inc. and Entrepreneur, and has been honored by NASDAQ and the White House. Follow him on Twitter at @scottgerber.

 

johnhall

John Hall is the co-founder and CEO of Influence & Co, where he helps companies position key individuals as industry influencers and thought leaders. Their clients range from startups to fast-growing companies on the Inc. 5000, as well as Fortune 500 brands. John writes a weekly column at Forbes and has contributed to sites like Business Insider, Inc., and The Washington Post, and many other reputable publications. He’s also the co-creator of Contributor Weekly, a weekly newsletter for contributors, keeping them up-to-date on tips and trends for writing, publishing, and sharing their content. He loves speaking and sharing my expertise on thought leadership, content marketing, and entrepreneurship.

 

Think Big Partners

Blake Miller, Partner of Think Big Partners, began his entrepreneurial path as an adolescent. At the age of 14, he had already developed his own web design company, creating web pages for friends and family with local small businesses. Miller attended the University of Kansas, where he studied Marketing and Entrepreneurship, furthering his startup education and fueling his ambitious ideas. Currently, Blake manages many of the technical initiatives at Think Big Partners and is the Managing Director of the Think Big Accelerator.

 

 

c.f98.Jake-StutzmanJake Stutzman is the owner and creative director at Elevate LLC in Omaha, Nebraska. Elevate focuses on helping clients create consistent design across the web. Jake has 14+ years of experience in design for both mobile and the web, working with large companies and startups alike.

Everywhere Else is Back and Coming to Tennessee

Memphis Skyline

It’s been months in the making, but we’re finally ready to announce:

Everywhere Else Tennessee is back!

That’s right: 3 days of startup excitement is heading to the historic downtown Memphis April 30th – May 2nd!

From our speakers and our sponsors to our Startup Avenue alumni and all of you, watching the Everywhere Else community grow over the past year has been nothing short of incredible.

You have taught us so much since our inaugural event in Memphis, and with the help of your feedback and support, we know this is going to be our best yet!
We’ve kept all the things that made you fall in love with our Everywhere Else events in the first place, but we know you’re going to love the changes, too.

Don’t fix what’s not broken:

World Class Speakers–At our past events, we’ve had some of the the world’s top entrepreneurs and investors grace our stages and connect with our community including the likes of:

  • Joe Medved, Partner at Softbank Capital
  • Scott Case, Founding CTO of Priceline.com
  • Andrew Warner, Founder of Mixergy
  • Wil Schroter, Founder & CEO of Fundable
  • Dave Knox, Co-founder of The Brandery
  • Bill Harris, Former CEO of Paypal & Intuit
  • and many, many more.

At Everywhere Else Tennessee, you can expect the same caliber of speakers. We’ll be announcing the 25+ speaker line up over the upcoming weeks. Let just say it’s so good, even we’re a little giddy.

Meaningful Connections–The Everywhere Else conferences have always been great places to make real connections with both the community and our speakers. You’ve actually told us this is one of the main reasons our events are so special.
Besides our daily programming, we’re throwing 3 amazing parties, where you’ll be able to connect with other entrepreneurs, investors, and speakers from all over the country.

Affordable–There are a lot of good startup conferences out there. And you’re free to sell your kidney to attend them, too.
Everywhere Else continues to provide the same quality of content and connections, but we’re doing it at a much lower price so we can provide access to entrepreneurs at all stages of the journey.

Beale Street

Where we’re stepping it up:

Southern Flair: I speak from experience when I say there’s nowhere like the South, y’all! We’ll be shining a spotlight on the Memphis startup scene and the entire South throughout the conference.
We’re celebrating the best Memphis has to offer, including trips to some historic Memphis nightlife spots and sweet BBQ, plenty of BBQ.

Quality Over Quantity: Our last two conferences were big! That was lots of fun, but this time around we want to really focus on facilitating quality connections that will help you move the needle.

No more convention centers for us. 409 South Main is in the heart of the historic South Main Art District and right on the trolley line. It’s wood-y and creaky in all the ways old buildings should be. You’re gonna love it!

We’ll only be releasing 400 tickets total this go round (1/3 of what we did last year) and it’s guaranteed to sell out!

Startup Avenue: We’ve had our Startup Avenue before, of course, with over 100 startups participating to date, but in 2014 we’re focusing our efforts on highlighting only the best startups in the country.
Not to say our previous alumni haven’t been amazing. They’ve gone on to raise over a combined $10m this year alone!

Now startups will apply for a table, and we’ll select only the most promising ones to showcase at Everywhere Else Tennessee. Startup Avenue startups will also have the opportunity to pitch our investor panel for a chance to win the title of Heavyweight Startup Champion of Everywhere Else.

Think your startup has what it takes? Check out the full details and apply here!

Your first shot at tickets!

Early adopter tickets are $150, and they’re on sale right now! We had an amazing response from our newsletter subscribers yesterday. These tickets are going fast, and we only have a limited number. Don’t be left out!

Reserve Your Spot Now ->

Don’t worry though if you do miss out. We’re only releasing a few early adopter tickets, but there will be more chances to participate. This is what pricing will look like for our 3 day conference:

  • $150 – limited number of “early adopter” tickets
  • $225 – regular ticket price
  • $300 – “laggards” tickets
  • $400 – day of tickets

Love for our amazing partners

We’ve been very fortunate to have the support of some awesome organizations that truly are the ones that make this possible. We use each and everyone of their services and could not recommend them any higher.

Please help us say thank you by checking each one of them out, sending them a tweet or just saying hi at the conference.

Many more announcements here soon to come!

It’s still not too late for your organization or company to become a partner as well, please shoot Nick a quick email at Nick@nibletz.com for more details.

 

Nibletz And Everywhere Else Are Moving Out Of Beta

Nibletz Everywhere Else

It’s hard to believe its been almost a year since I came on as Nibetz CEO. In that time, you’ve helped us host not 1 but 2 national conferences, tell thousands of your startup stories and foster countless new friendships.

Like any startup though, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing. We’ve constantly been striving to get better. Your feedback has played an invaluable part in helping us make the necessary changes to continue to improve.

I’m very proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish and the way our team has dealt with obstacles and adversity.

The support I’ve received from those closest to me and from all of you that make up the heart of this new, bustling community has been nothing short spectacular.

Looking back, I’ve come to view the first two iterations of our conferences as our alpha and our beta.

Everywhere Else Memphis taught us the importance of community engagement and rallying behind the local support. Everywhere Else Cincinnati taught us how to deliver great programming and facilitate meaningful connections.

Neither event was perfect, but I am grateful to the advisers and all of you who continued to believe in our mission over the last few months. Your insight has been a driving force to the direction we take take going forward.

With our alpha and beta behind us, I am excited about the coming changes to Nibletz and The Everywhere Else Conference Series.

In order to provide the caliber of experience you would expect from a finished product, we will be moving Everywhere Else Memphis back a few months. You will notice a new emphasis on quality connections and startups over quantity. We will also be highlighting those things we all love about Memphis: Beale Street, blues, and BBQ

Lots more details, including something I’m super excited about (and I know you will be to!), will be released in the next couple of weeks. If you’ve already purchased your tickets, thanks, and we look forward to seeing you at the new and improved event.

The conferences aren’t the only change we’re making, though. Monica Selby has joined me on the founding team as editor-in-chief. Monica is passionate about highlighting the best startups everywhere else, and she has some great ideas for new ways to do that. In the short time I’ve worked with her, I’ve realized that Monica is a great teammate and a huge asset to this company. I am really pumped to call her a partner.

One of the first things she will be spearheading is our new weekly newsletter, which will keep you up to date on our very best startup features as well as our conference plans. Go ahead and sign up on the right, takes 2 seconds.

Like I said, we’ve learned a lot in the last year. I want to thank all of our readers, friends, and partners for all of the support and encouragement. We sincerely would not be where we are without you.

I could not be more excited about the next year and all the changes it will bring. As we continue to learn and grow, we are better able to fulfill our mission as the voice of startups everywhere else.

See you in Memphis.

The Slow Revolution of Private Equity

Jobs Act, Title III, Crowdentials, Crowdfunding, Cleveland startupBy: Rohan Kusre, COO // Co-Founder, Crowdentials

After months of restless anticipation, there is finally some substantial progress towards the implementation of the JOBS Act. It has been exactly one month since the Title II rules- the ones based around general solicitation- went into effect and the SEC is moving forward with implementing the next portion of the monumental legislation.

Title III, the poster child of the JOBS Act, is focused around the sale of private equities in an open market. It is as groundbreaking for the industry as it is controversial in its own right. There are as many proponents of the crowdfunding bill as there are naysayers and today the SEC discussed the proposed rules that would provide the infrastructure for equity crowdfunding to take place.  Platforms such as EarlyShares have been waiting for these exact rules in order to set in motion their part in facilitating the sale of private securities.

There have been claims that equity crowdfunding will result in a ‘ghetto stock market’ due to the high risk of fraud and the low barrier to entry. There have also been concerns about the cost of properly keeping up with SEC regulations. Currently, an investment group will spend anywhere between $50,000 and $100,000 in due diligence and this begs the question of how such practices will be handled at a smaller scale for investments that will be under $20,000.

Well, where there is a will there is a way. Solutions are already in place for companies wishing to utilize the new legislation as the SEC continues to implement it. Companies like CrowdCheck provide quick and secure diligence reports while companies such as Crowdentials assist with making sure your investor is accredited among various other compliance needs. Sure, the waters of the JOBS Act regulations are currently a bit murky but there is a lot of money to be made within these environments and those that take advantage of it will be handsomely rewarded. So when can those interested to utilize the new legislations expect to be able to do so? This is where it gets a bit tricky.

Title II of the JOBS Act, which went into effect one month ago on September 23rd, and it allows for companies that are making a private security offering to be able to use public advertising in order to get the word out. While the JOBS Act itself was signed on April 5th, 2012, the SEC didn’t release the proposed rules until July 10th of this year. This seems to be an ongoing trend as the SEC has delayed the implementation of the whole act by several months multiple times.

There is hope that this trend will be broken as the SEC held a live webcast today where the commission discussed the rules surrounding equity crowdfunding. Once these rules are posted to the Federal Registrar (this usually only takes a few days), they will be open for comment and the ball will be rolling to get this brand new industry up and running.

With industry experts waiting to pounce on the opportunity to help out investors and entrepreneurs navigate through the dense regulations of the JOBS Act, those on the fence about joining the crowd should feel a sense of assurance in doing so. CrowdCheck, Crowdentials, and several other industry leaders are poised to iron out the wrinkles as more and more people get involved with Title II and Title III of the JOBS Act.

After Two Years, St. Louis’ T-Rex Gets Even Bigger

T-Rex, St. Louis startups, startup space

Tyrannosaurus Rex is undisputably one of the biggest dinosaurs in the world. So naturally, St. Louis’ startup hub and incubator, called T-Rex, is just as large.

The T-Rex space in downtown St. Louis already houses 70 startups, five funding and mentoring groups, including the 630 Accelerator, as well as space for entrepreneurial and startup focused events. We’ve covered T-Rex startups quite a bit here at Nibletz.

Now, as the space celebrates its second year and milestones like growing from 6 startups to 70 startups, they’re naturally ready for a big expansion. On Tuesday they announced that they would be acquiring the Lammert Building at 911 Washington Avenue, also in downtown St. Louis, giving them a whopping 160,000 square feet for startup and entrepreneurial greatness.

“Our move to the Lammert Building will provide us with 160,000 sq/ft of space, which we need to continue fostering St. Louis’ entrepreneurial activity and bring more startups to the area,” said Jay De Long, Vice President of the St. Louis Regional Chamber and T-REX Board Member. “A more permanent home will also give us a focal point for new activities that were described in the recent Regional Entrepreneur Initiative.”

“The building will provide opportunities for us to deepen and broaden our mission, which will include a strong focus on digital design,” said Kevin Farrell, Senior Director of Economic Housing and Development for the Partnership of Downtown St. Louis.

As a sponsored project of the City of St. Louis, the Partnership for Downtown St. Louis, and the St. Louis Regional Chamber, T-REX was able to fund its acquisition and renovation of the Lammert Building through a variety of partnerships.

The funding support includes New Markets Tax Credits allocated by St. Louis Development Corporation, which raised a $1.7 million investment by St. Louis-based U.S. Bancorp Community Development Corporation. The New Markets Tax Credits financing enabled T-REX to acquire the building and maintain its ability to provide stable, low-cost, and flexible membership to startup companies. These funds will also provide initial funding for tenant improvements.

“Many non-profits and incubators operate with a debt that hinders or slowly kills their mission,” said Joe Reagan, President & CEO of the St. Louis Regional Chamber. “Similar to the first round of a capital campaign, these tax credits enable T-REX to grow expeditiously and still fulfill its purpose of providing below market-rate space and services to startup companies.”

“T-REX is a game-changer in attracting entrepreneurs to the downtown St. Louis region,” said Otis Williams, Executive Director of the St. Louis Development Corporation. “Because we think that T-REX is a great approach to business development in our area, we have been supportive of its mission with creative financing opportunities, and we’ll continue to support it in the future.”

They plan on starting renovation on the building immediately and plan to move into the building in early 2014.

Find out more about T-Rex here.

T-rex image at top: rickety.us

Boston VC Files To Run For Governor

Jeff McCormick, Saturn Partners, Boston VC, Boston startups, Massachusetts Governor

(photo: saturnasset.com)

Massachusetts has a new candidate for the Governor’s Mansion. The Sentinel Enterprise reported on Monday that Saturn Partners founding partner Jeffrey McCormick has filed papers to run for government as an independent candidate.

McCormick founded venture capital firm Saturn Partners in 1994 to support early stage growth companies. Their portfolio boasts 35 companies that are still active. Crunchbase reports that the firm’s latest startup investment was Oregon-based Chirpify, a company that facilitates financial transactions via Twitter. Saturn participated in Chirpify’s $6 million dollar series A raise back in July. 

McCormick’s firm has a reputation of being hands-on in a good way. According to many online sources, including some of the companies that they’ve supported, Saturn lends their expertise in developing companies in a strategic partnership tied to their investment.

As for the governor’s race, politics is no stranger to startups. Techstars co-founder Jared Polis is a congressman from Boulder who uses his background in startups and investment to help champion legislation that will spur the economy through startups and small businesses.

In fact, McCormick isn’t the only candidate with ties to venture capital. The only Republican candidate at the moment, Charlie Baker, is part of the venture capital firm General Catalyst.

On the Democratic side McCormick is facing off against Attorney General Martha Coakley, Treasurer Steven Grossman, former Obama administration Medicare and Medicaid chief Donald Berwick, biotechnology executive Joseph Avellone, former state and federal homeland security advisor Juliette Kayyem and Sen. Daniel Wolf.

 

Education Startups Have You Applied For LAUNCHedu At SXSW?

SXSWedu, SXSW, Startups, EdtechLast year when we decided to head down a little earlier than we traditionally do for SXSWi, we were quite surprised at what we saw with LAUNCHedu and SXSWedu.  For those unaware, SXSW hosts an entire conference a week earlier than SXSW Interactive, SXSW Music and SXSW Film. That conference, SXSWedu, celebrates education, technology, and edtech startups.

Like the SXSWi accelerator, SXSWedu has it’s own startup track called LAUNCHedu which functions almost like the SXSW Interactive accelerator.

The pitch and startup contest pits the best of the best educational startups from across the country against each other in front of startup influences like Mitch Kapor from Kapor Capital. Many VC’s and angels have found that SXSWedu finds startups on the cusp of greatness.

At last year’s event we met great startups like Common Curriculum, a Baltimore based company that has created an easy to use platform for teachers to develop curriculum. We also got to spend time with MatchBox, a startup that has put the college application process entirely on an iPad. We even got to spend time with Clever, the startup that won the K-12 category at LAUNCHedu. This company provides a platform that connects educational software providers with legacy student information systems and makes it all talk to each other.

If you’re an edtech startup and meet these requirements than you want to head over to the SXSWedu site before November 8th and register. 

It’s been said that SXSWedu is growing faster than the SXSW Interactive festival grew when it was first added. It falls the week before SXSWi in March.

Click here to see our coverage of SXSWedu

 

Choosing The Right Finance Software For Your Startup

Running a small business means that you have to become a bit of an expert in everything. It’s not enough to be good at what your business does, you also need to be able to plan, manage logistics, handle the marketing of the business and perhaps the bit that most entrepreneurs enjoy the least: manage your finances.

 

Startup Tips, Startup Finance Software

(image credit: WikiCommons)

Whether you are a running a small consultancy business or a large scale non-profit, being able to track your spending and income is essential to running your enterprise efficiently.

Using Microsoft Excel is certainly an option that many people go with, but in reality it is not a great option and there are many very cost effective software solutions that will help make your business more profitable and save you time.

Here’s what to consider when looking for finance software for your business:

Do You Want A Hosted Solution?

In the past is was more normal to buy some finance software on a disc and install it on your local computer, but there are now a wide range of accounting packages available which are hosted “on the cloud”.

Buying software outright is still an option, but for most businesses a cloud based accounting package has a few notable advantages:

  • There is a relatively affordable monthly cost
  • Upgrades are regular and often automatic
  • You are likely to have constant technical support
  • You can access your accounts from anywhere
  • Your accounts are automatically backed up online
  • It may be possible to integrate with other services


Talking About Integration

That last point is an important one because many cloud based finance packages will have the ability to integrate with any other services that you may need as part of your business model.

You may think that you only need a stand-alone piece of software to handle your required accounts, but by integrating other services that you use (or may use in the future) you can often automate tasks and at the same time gain some powerful data.

Consider what services you already use online that could be integrated, for instance:

  • Business banking; automatically download your bank statements to fill in new transactions
  • Invoicing and quotes; invoices can be automatically added to accounts and payments tracked
  • CRM software; track your marketing channels, customer relationships and costs all in the same place, giving you a powerful opportunity to marry your accounts and cost of sales to your marketing costs and income.

Even if you don’t use these types of software yet, consider whether you will eventually want to. Many businesses miss out on opportunities because they don’t know what is available or they over-estimate the complexity of getting set up.

Thinking About Features

Finally of course you need to consider what features you want from your finance software. You may not really know what you need, so this exercise will help you to get your head around what actually needs doing.

There are a few features that are common and contained in most solutions and some other more specialist ones that might be helpful. For instance, you might want the ability to track inventory and control stock, or the ability to create invoices within the system and automatically send payment reminders when invoices are due.

The most essential features are likely to be things like reporting of profit and loss and financial analysis which will let you see where your money is going and what level of profit you are making.

If in doubt, look at the feature lists of a few finance options and note down any features that you think you need and any that you might find useful. You can then use these notes to weigh up the cost/benefit of your various options and select the most suitable solution.

Mike Spalding works as an IT technical consultant at Advantage.co.uk. Advantage specialize in business management and finance software for small businesses and social enterprises (learn more about the options here).

Introducing: Startup Community Leader Of The Year

Startup Community Leader Of The Year, Startup CommunitiesNibletz, the voice of startups everywhere else wants to know who you think the startup community leader of the year is. Who is driving entrepreneurship, innovation, and change in your community? Who is serving as a catalyst among the people in your community?

Now we love Tony Hsieh and Brad Feld, but they are very well known community leaders who actually speak about community leaders all the time. We want to know the names of the people in your area that we may not know. Is there a person who takes startups under his or her wing and helps them get to the next level?

Is there a startup founder that has taken his or her good fortune and spread it around the startup community?

We are taking nominees from now until November 15th. Just email your pick’s name and up to three paragraphs about why they would be the Startup Community Leader of the Year. On November 15th we will put the top 10 nominees up for a nationwide vote.

The Startup Community Leader of the Year will get a chance to speak at Everywhere Else Tennessee, February 17-19th 2014, free room during the conference at the Sheraton Downtown Memphis thanks to our friends at the Marston Group, and three extra VIP attendee tickets, one for whoever nominated that person and two for the winners friends, relatives or other startup partners.

Start sending your stories and  nominees to community@nibletz.com, and we’ll get the top 10 posted for voting by November 15th.  Remember we’re looking for strong community leaders in your local community and that’s about the only rule. Oh and you can’t nominate yourself.

The address for nominations again is community@nibletz.com. Don’t forget to add up to three paragraphs about why this person is your nominee for Startup Community Leader Of The Year.

Make sure you’ve got your ticket or Startup Avenue booth!

KC Startup Hoopla.io Is Causing A Ruckus In The Event Space

Hoopla.io, Kansas City startup, startups, event startupTo many the event space is an extremely crowded one for new startups. It seems everyone and their grandmother wants to challenge the stranglehold that LiveNation/Ticketmaster has on the event industry. Others feel that they are safe battling the likes of Eventbrite and TicketLeap, and then there are the dime a dozen startups aggregating events in your local area.

Well when we heard Kansas City startup Local Ruckus was pivoting to something new in the event space we were intrigued.

Basically the problem is that event repository websites are everywhere with none really having that big a piece of the pie. That problem stems from the content. Typically these event sites have a sentence or two about the event leaving potential attendees wondering what the event is really about. Without a more indepth look at the event itself, event organizers are leaving would be patrons on the table, or at least still at home.

Adam Arredondo and Matthew Marcus set out to change the way events are marketed and promoted by putting an emphasis on the content and content distribution.

Here at nibletz we must get 25 emails a day from entepreneurs and event organizers that ask us to publish their event. Well it’s hard to write five sentences much less 300 words on an event when all we get is the name of the event, date, time and if we’re lucky, cost. So unless we want to go digging through the internet to find the relevant information and build a story we have to pass on it, and it may have been an amazing event.

Marcus described Hoopla.io like this: “Many local businesses don’t have the time, money, or expertise to effectively promote their events. Publishers struggle to provide high quality, relevant local events to their audience. With a focus on content distribution, Hoopla.io solves both sides of the problem and will create a nationwide local events syndication network.”

In it’s previous life Local Ruckus was trying to do what many local event sites are doing. While it may not sound like it, Hoopla.io is offering a new, and definitely refreshing approach to local events on a national scale. Local Ruckus had hit a wall that other startups like Louisville’s Impulcity and Nashville’s Wannado have hit. That all changed.

“We had been working on our original startup Local Ruckus for a couple years now, and it hit us that Ruckus didn’t have the scalability or force of disruption needed to spread across the country like we had planned. With that epiphany, we knew we needed to change our direction, and change it fast. Hence, Hoopla.io was conceived and born in the span of two months. With Local Ruckus, our passion to help local businesses better promote their events, and consumers more easily discover local events, was always simmering on the back burner of our minds.  Hoopla.io was created when our goals and mission really started to boil. And everyone knows to take action when things start to boil.” Marcus said in an interview.

Hoopla.io has already received significant validation. They’ve already partnered with Kansas City corporate giant Sprint. They’ve also acquired over $100,000 in non-dilution capital, been named “Best Young Company to Work For” by Turnstone, and they’ve also been accepted into the Digital Sandbox program.

Hoopla.io  is also preparing to pitch in the semi-finals of the Miller Lite Tap The Future startup contest. The contest pits startups against each other in regional pitch offs judged by ABC Shark Tank Shark, Daymond John.  Miller Lite held their first semi-finals in Phoenix Arizona on October 15th. The remaining pitch offs include Atlanta, October 22nd, Dallas Texas, October 30th, Philadelphia , November 1st and Chicago November 5th. Hoopla is pitching at the Dallas event.

Find out more about Hoopla here.

 

 

1000s Of Startups & Small Businesses Vying For Super Bowl Commercial Thanks To Intuit

Intuit, Small Business Big Game, Startup Challenge, Super BowlIntuit, the small business leader in financial management solutions, is holding a pretty big contest for small businesses and technology startups.

The contest, which Intuit calls the Intuit Small Business Big Game, kicked off in August when all those interested in entering had to inspire the folks at Intuit and everyday people across the globe. That round narrowed nearly 100,000 entries down to just 10,000.

The remaining 10,000 companies are using their networks, social networks, friends, and families for an upvoting process. Those 10,000 companies are being dwindled down to just 20 which will be revealed on Monday, October 28th.

The next step in the Small Business Big Game Challenge will have Intuit’s 8500 employees and then a judging panel, narrow those 20 companies down to just four.

In November Intuit will reopen voting globally for the world to vote on the final four contestants in the Small Business Big Game. The company with the most votes will be chosen as the winner and receive a professionally produced television commercial to air on the national telecast of the Super Bowl in February.

The Super Bowl commercial will put the winner in front of over 100 million viewers, many who actually watch the game for the commercials. Last year’s Super Bowl fell just shy of the record for the most watched television program in history and was the third highest rated Super Bowl of all time.

You can stay up to date with Intuit’s Small Business Big Game here.

That’s not the only big thing for startups in February check this out.