Venture capital – Small business – Grotech Ventures – Don Rainey – Business

If the job market doesn’t turn around soon, many recently laid-off workers are prepared to take matters into their own hands. According to a new CareerBuilder survey, more than a quarter of workers laid off in the past six months said they are considering starting a business of their own.The survey of nearly 4,500 workers also revealed that 96 percent of those who started their own small business in the last year have another job besides their Start-up. A sample of the businesses ranged from bakeries and board game design to scented candles and sports camps for kids.”The intellectual capital that companies were forced to lay off over the last 18-24 months was substantial and it is not surprising that many individuals are using their business skills to create their own opportunities,” said Brent Rasmussen, president of CareerBuilder North America, in a press release.The same survey %26ndash; which also included some 1,400 hiring managers %26ndash; showed many small businesses plan to hire new employees during the second half of 2010.Nearly a third of small businesses with 500 employees or fewer are planning to add to their staff before the end of the year. Twenty-one percent plan to add full-time positions and 11 percent expect to add part-time help. Another 6 percent will bring on private contractors.Among small businesses with fewer than 50 employees, nearly a quarter (24 percent) plan to hire in the second half of 2010.Small businesses have accounted for 64 percent of new jobs in the U.S. over the past 15 years, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Small firms currently employ more than half the country’s entire workforce, says the SBA.Small business hiring can be seen as a sign of economic recovery. Meanwhile, a separate %26ndash; and global %26ndash; study shows small business confidence around the world is rising. What HSBC calls the “index of confidence” at small and medium-sized businesses in 21 markets rose to 118 in the second quarter from 111 in the fourth quarter of 2009. In North America specifically, the index jumped from 107 to 119.

Small business – Business – United States – Small Business Administration – Employment

Small business – Business – United States – Small Business Administration – Employment

When Brian Pettigrew sent a job offer to a recent recruit from the East Coast, he included an unusual guarantee at the bottom of the e-mail: at least seven months of blue skies. “I was being funny, but at the same time, this is one of the biggest benefits of being based in L.A.,” says the VP of Operations for The Visionaire Group, a digital creative agency that does promotions for the movie industry. “I told him that this is the kind of weather you go on vacation to get.”Great weather and Hollywood are two of L.A.’s biggest draws, but for entrepreneurs in the nation’s second largest city, there’s more than meets the eye. The Visionaire Group is just one of a new breed of innovative digital media companies that are thriving in Los Angeles. “The great thing about being in L.A. during the recession is that studios keep putting out movies,” Pettigrew says.The good times don’t stop on the red carpet: The $830 billion economy of the Los Angeles metro area is chock full of opportunities for the entrepreneur. The traffic on the 405 Freeway at rush hour, however, is an indication that you’re probably not the first to realize the advantages of doing business in Los Angeles.Despite the competition, there’s still plenty of room for new companies to thrive in Los Angeles. We talked to successful L.A. entrepreneurs to figure the best way to start a business in the land of the rich and famous. Here’s how to get started.Starting a Business in Los Angeles: Do Your ResearchThe business ecosystem of the Los Angeles metro area is as diverse as you’d expect from the nation’s second most populous city. L.A.’s gross metropolitan product in 2008 was $831 billion, which places the metro area as the third largest economic center in the world. But before you jump into a business opportunity in Los Angeles (or any city, really), you should be armed with a knowledge of what industries are thriving there. The entertainment industry %26mdash; movies, television, music, and gaming %26mdash; is the city’s claim to fame and arguably still its most prominent industry. But L.A. is also home to a burgeoning technology industry. That hasn’t always been the case. “In 2000, the tech companies coming out of L.A. were a joke,” says Francisco Dao, president of The Killer Pitch, a Public Relations firm based in Tarzana, California. Dao also organizes the Los Angeles technology conference Twiistup. “It was just laughable.”Fast forward 10 years, and Los Angeles has become one of the leaders in the digital media industry, says Mark Suster, a Los Angeles entrepreneur, venture capitalist at GRP Partners, and organizer of Launchpad L.A., a program to mentor Start-up CEOs. “The first phase of the Internet is about building infrastructure,” he says. “All those successes came from Silicon Valley. Now, the next phase is about content. People on the internet are going there to be entertained. That’s where L.A. is uniquely positioned.”A number of successful companies that have also seen successful exits helped propel the thriving digital media and technology industry in Los Angeles, starting with Myspace, which is headquartered in Beverly Hills. Others include Lowermybills.com, Overture, and AOL. Demand Media and Hulu are two of the largest players today.Other strong L.A. industries to build a business in or around include the textiles and garments industry, the fashion industry, the auto industry (Toyota and Honda’s North American headquarters are both in the Los Angeles suburb of Torrance), the defense industry, and the advertising industry. International trade is also significant %26mdash; the port of Los Angeles and Long Beach is one of the busiest in the world.Dig Deeper: Top L.A. businesses from the Inc. 5000Starting a Business in Los Angeles: Scout a Location Now that you’re more familiar with the local economy, the next step is to take out a map and get your bearings. The first thing you’ll notice is that Los Angeles is a sprawling metropolis (the inspiration for the term urban sprawl, in fact), which can make deciding on a location a more difficult endeavor than meets the eye. Unlike more traditional cities, downtown is most often not the most central location.The good news is you’ve already picked an industry, so you can look to a few big hubs for each. Start-ups, especially technology and media firms, tend to be clustered in Santa Monica and neighboring areas on the West Side of Los Angeles, says Tyler Koblasa, a Los Angeles entrepreneur and organizer of Start-up Weekend L.A. and Start-up Nights, programs to create a community of Los Angeles entrepreneurs. Another, smaller, tech hub is in Pasadena (home one of the country’s top technology schools: Cal Tech). Fashion and textiles are traditionally downtown, while defense businesses tend to be clustered in the South Bay.If you’re starting a retail business, the West Side of Los Angeles, is typically the most high demand area, says Richard Rizika, an executive vice president for retail at Los Angeles-based commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis. (The West Side is typically defined as the area around the 405 Freeway, including neighborhoods such as Century City, Westwood, and Venice Beach. It also includes the cities of Beverly Hills, Culver City, and Santa Monica, among others.) Prices in that part of the city will reflect its popularity: it’s not uncommon to see an asking price in excess of $10 per square foot a month, according to Rizika.Prices for office space are also most expensive on the West side, averaging $3.40 per square foot a month in the second quarter of 2010, according to a report by CB Richard Ellis. “If you want a very central location in the middle of clients, it’s going to cost you a lot more,” Pettigrew says. “You have to weigh the pluses and minuses. We considered Santa Monica, but it was unrealistic for us.” The Visionaire Group is located nearby, near the Marina del Rey neighborhood.If a prime piece of real estate is still a must this year, you might be in luck. “In the past, new businesses found it very difficult to secure those opportunities because were absorbed the fastest, especially with existing businesses trying to trade up to those locations,” Rizika says. “This is a good time to get in the market.”Still, it could end up working to your advantage to look beyond the West Side and other popular areas, like the South Bay or west San Fernando Valley. After a lengthy search process, Jean Shim-Min and her husband Craig Min settled on the Silver Lake neighborhood, towards the east side of the city, for their first retail location for their wholesale coffee business, Lamill Coffee.”On the West Side, you find a lot of places for a great sandwich, or a great cup of soup,” Shim-Min says. “The East Side was much more limited. I felt that was a shame, and so we wanted to provide something for people on the East Side. Financially it made much more sense for us, but we just love the community of Silver Lake. You don’t find many real communities like that.”Dig Deeper: Inside a Digital Media CompanyStarting a Business in L.A.: Build Solid RelationshipsWhen starting a business in any city, building relationships is critical. “Tapping into the right network of individuals who can help you succeed is one of the biggest determinants for success or failure of any early stage business,” Suster says.At first glance, a city the size of Los Angeles would appear an intimidating place to start building that network. However, many L.A. entrepreneurs have found the opposite to be true. “I find the venture capitalists in LA a lot more accessible, especially compared to San Francisco,” Dao says. “The community is smaller, and pretty tight knit. It’s easier to build relationships.”Programs like Dao’s Twiistup conference, Koblasa’s Start-up Weekend LA and Start-up Nights, and Suster’s Launchpad L.A. certainly help make L.A. feel smaller than it is, at least for a Start-up. Case in point: Koblasa’s latest Start-up Ming.ly, a personal relationship manager, got a big boost by participating in the Twiistup conference. “It was a great opportunity to present our business and get valuable feedback,” Koblasa says.It’s not Silicon Valley, but venture capital and angel networks are still relatively strong in Los Angeles. “There is a reasonably mature VC structure here,” Dao says. “There is money here. It seems to be that people move to L.A. when they’ve made it.”L.A. Start-ups are slightly different in character from their neighbors to the north in Silicon Valley. “What’s unique about raising money to start a business here is that most Southern California investors expect to see immediate monetization,” Suster says. “They’re willing to give you less capital than you might be able to rase in New York or San Francisco, but you find a lot of early stage companies that find ways to make money fast.”Obviously, venture capitalist funding isn’t for every type of business. That’s why Suster suggests you shouldn’t start there. “Start with the experts in your own industry,” he says. “Not only are they going to help you with the experiences they have learned, but they often serve as a board of advisors and your initial source of capital.”Dig Deeper: How to Purchase Commercial Real EstateStarting a Business in Los Angeles: Prepare for the ChallengesDon’t let the sunny skies and sandy beaches fool you: Building a business in Los Angeles does come with its fair share of challenges.The vast geography of L.A. and its surrounding cities, as well as the notoriously clogged freeways that connect them, is one of the region’s major obstacles. “I’ve missed meetings and had to reschedule because of the 405,” Pettigrew says.California isn’t one of the easiest places to set up a business, either. “California is the least friendly business state in the country in terms of regulations, taxes, and the cost of workers comp,” says David Glickman, founder of Hometown Telecom, a international telecommunications provider based in Los Angeles. “The cost of living is high. Taxes in the city of Los Angeles are pretty high too. But despite that, the talent of the workforce and the entrepreneurial spirit of L.A. outweighs the difficult business environment.”Another challenge is competition, not just among businesses but even for that top talent Schofield values. “Competition for talent in L.A. is intense,” Pettigrew says. “Often newer businesses will overpay for employees which can artificially drive up salaries to levels that are not warranted, even with the higher cost of living in LA.”Despite the challenges, don’t be afraid of them. Rather, try to use them to your advantage. “There’s definitely a lot of competition in L.A.,” Koblasa says. “But the good news is that you immediately have access to those networks of people to learn how to build your business better.”Dig Deeper: How to run a virtual company.Starting a Business in L.A.: A Creative City at Your FingertipsLos Angeles is the creative capital of the world. Well, at least according to a 2009 report on the creative economy by Otis College of Art and Design, which found that one out of every six people in the region is employed in a creative field. So, there’s a lot of creative energy pulsating throughout the city, leaving you a good chance to being inspired.Some inspiration will definitely come in handy to overcome the region’s challenges. Hometown Telecom, for example, uses telecommuting to solve the traffic puzzle. The company has no physical office space or administrative support staff %26mdash; only five principals who manage the day-to-day operations of the company from their homes. “I can’t imagine doing this in any other city than L.A.,%26rdquo; Glickman says. “There’s an entrepreneurial, ‘yes we can’ spirit here.”Worried about the cost of rent, but still want an office? Co-working spaces are also becoming popular. Koblasa rents space at one for his latest Start-up venture, Ming.ly. Talent is one of the most important concerns for Start-ups. If you’re doing business in L.A., then you’re in luck. “There is tremendous talent here, especially if you’re starting a small company,” Glickman says. “Southern California is really a mecca of small and medium sized companies, with lots of resources, especially talent.”You don’t have to stay local, either. Calling Los Angeles home base has its advantages when recruiting from other cities and internationally. “There’s a very diverse culture here, and we see that as a big advantage for recruiting international talent,” Pettigrew says. “It’s easier to get them here, rather than if we were in Detroit or Denver.”The diversity of the Los Angeles metro area has fostered an open-mindedness unique to Angelenos. When Doug Zell was looking for another city to expand his Chicago chain of specialty coffee stores, Intelligentsia Coffee, he saw Los Angeles as a natural fit. “I find it refreshing that it’s a market where people are willing to embrace new ideas and new products very openly,” he says. “It’s a place that’s built around that.”"There is so much diversity in Los Angeles,” Suster says. “We are not in the group tank like Silicon Valley. There is more than one way to build a company here.”Dig Deeper: How to Attract Talent to Your Start-up

Los Angeles – United States – San Fernando Valley – California – AOL

Business – Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation – Johns Hopkins University – Education – Andrea Kalyn
How to Start a College Entrepreneurship Club

That’s so this year. What’s that? Silly Bandz? Twilight? As Mark Cuban writes on his blog, “Location check in is so 2010.” Cuban explains that he just invested in a company that, through video footage, determines how many people are in a given area at a time, ostensibly for security and traffic-pattern analysis. For now anonymity is given to crowd members, but Cuban wonders if adding facial recognition software would allow locations to forego checkin applications because “we would already know you are there.” Sound a little like Minority Report? TechCrunch thinks so. “It sounds like a future we’re inevitably headed toward.”Behind the scenes at Gilt Groupe. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Alexis Maybank shares the story of how she and co-founder Alexandra Wilkis Wilson built Gilt Groupe, the online flash sales site for men’s and women’s luxury fashions. The company, founded in 2007, reported $170 million in revenue last year and now boasts three million members who shop for designer brands at up to 70 percent off retail prices. Maybank talks about the challenges of getting the word out there, signing up initial designers, and raising VC as a woman. She explains to the Journal that “it’s an old boy’s network, and that’s intimidating for a lot of women. So when explaining fashion to a bunch of men in khaki pants and blue button-down shirts, their response was always ‘Oh, let me see if my wife thinks if this is a good idea.’ But it worked.”Our annual 30 Under 30 list. They’re running innovative companies, they’re building communities, they’re setting trends, they’re giving back–and they’re all under 30. Here’s this year’s winners, from Sprouter, to Agile Sports, to The Man Registry. Did we miss anyone? Let us know in the comments.Foursquare is prowling for a partnership. Yet another 30 Under 30 winner is making headlines this morning as it attempts to snag a whale of a partnership. Foursquare, the game/ social network that recently raised $20 million in Series B funding, claims it is in talks with Google, Yahoo and Microsoft about deals involving their location-based data (via GigaOM). While the novelty of being the mayor of your local mall might gradually wear off it can still be a useful tool to make money for your business. Also, this type of partnership is what catapulted Twitter to profitability.Facebook’s co-founder on the Facebook movie. When you’re trying to revolutionize social networking while you’re still at Harvard, you’re probably not thinking about how Aaron Sorkin might portray your life in a feature film six years hence. In SocialBeat, Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz, gives his take on the silver screen adaptation. In short: it overplays the sex and booze. “It is interesting to see my past rewritten in a way that emphasizes things that didn’t matter . . Other than that, it’s just cool to see a dramatization of history. A lot of exciting things happened in 2004, but mostly we just worked a lot and stressed out about things; the version in the trailer seems a lot more exciting, so I’m just going to chose to remember that we drank ourselves silly and had a lot of sex with coeds,” writes Moskovitz, who is currently working on a productivity startup Asana, backed by Benchmark Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. As for Zuckerberg, he adds, “At the end of the day, they cannot help but portray him as the driven, forward-thinking genius that he is.”What financial reform means for angel investing. In a guest post at VentureBeat, Scott Walker, CEO of a law firm that specializes in entrepreneur representation, breaks down the impact of the financial regulation bill on angel investing. The verdict: it’s a mix of good and bad. Renting a room to save a home. Today’s BusinessWeek explains how San Francisco-based startup AirBnB is helping homeowners escape foreclosure. The site allows people from 142 countries to rent out empty rooms and pull in a little extra income. One New Yorker tells BusinessWeek, “This has been our stimulus package…we were going to lose our house.” Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia say they got the idea for the company when they were cash-strapped, themselves. After renting out space in their own home, they decided to turn the idea into a business, enlisting the help of their friend Nathan Blecharczyk. All three founders made it onto our 30 under 30 list this year, having seen a tremendous amount of growth since the site launched just two years ago.More from Inc. Magazine:Get this delivered to your inbox. Or get it on the KindleFollow us on Twitter or Tumblr.Friend us on Facebook.Apply now for the 2010 Inc. 500|5000.

Facebook – Google – Mark Cuban – Benchmark Capital – Dustin Moskovitz
Mark Cuban: Check-Ins Are “So 2010″

There is nothing worse than looking at a company and having no idea what they do. Every company and product should have a single line that describes it. If your company will get less than 15 seconds to make an impression it is imperative to know why you are doing each task you claim to be doing. Every word should be chosen carefully.

Keep your primary message short and simple. Go as far as to make sure you are capturing your message in less than a 140 characters (this makes you Twitter-friendly). Twitter is a great tool for you to get short snippets of information out about your organization. Your company can launch weekly specials or provide basic communication. Whatever the source of your utilization of Twitter – make sure you stay on message. You message should be branded consistently on everything you do!

Facebook is another great tool to utilize for your business growth. Once again – does your facebook page reflect the message of your company. Clear consistant messages on all your marketing efforts will help potential clients/customers stay on track to find you. Be clear about who you are and what you do.

Visit Central Synergy at www.CentralSynergy.com for more great ways to learn to grow your business. Central Synergy is the home of Business Growth 2.0.

Color can cause a visitor/customer to pass by your business, or leave your website altogether. For this reason, deciding on a color scheme for your business image is a very important first step.

BOLD

Warm colors such as red and orange are typically associated with boldness and strength. In web design, black can also trigger a feeling of strength.

PEACEFUL

Cool colors in the blue family conjure feelings of peace and calm. Purples are considered playful.

PROSPEROUS

Green and shades of it, cause most people to think of money, good health, nature, and/or prosperity.

PROFESSIONAL

Muted primary colors such as red, navy, or green along with black and dark gray convey a sense of professionalism.

You should avoid overuse of colors that cause a negative reaction such as bright (neon) purples, pinks, and yellows. Unless you are looking for a specific reaction, avoid using these as the main colors on your website.

COLOR IN YOUR LOGO

The color of your logo should arouse the same feelings you wish your products to instill. As a general rule, a logo should not contain more than 4 colors. Many times even a black and white image is all that is necessary to achieve the desired response to your image.

PRINTING

You should always keep in mind that the colors on your screen most likely will not match the colors (exactly) that come out of your printer. Your computer monitor displays colors in RGB (red, green, blue), while your printer prints out either in CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) or PMS (Pantone Matching System) colors. These are two different color spaces, which is why they display colors so differently.

WEBSITE BACKGROUNDS

While backgrounds that contain images can be pleasing, one should make certain that the background image chosen is not too busy, and does not cause a perceived “confusion” in their visitor’s mind. Examples of confusing background images can be those that are bold colors and repeat too often, or those that do not create a consistent pattern when repeated across a page. Background images can also cause page load time to increase, which is very undesirable. In most cases, a solid colored background is considered more professional.

Use this Online Color Chooser to help you find color codes for your projects.

So, what information should one include on their business card?

~Logo: be sure that you have a printable version of your logo to use, as many web versions are not in a high enough resolution to print clearly (and they will look “fuzzy”).

~Company Tag Line or Slogan: after all, you came up with one to help market your business–your business card is the best place to use it!

~Your Name: this should be prominent, as it’s the reason you have a business card…to introduce yourself.

~Your Title: whether you put CEO, President, Owner, or the title of your trade (such as “graphic designer”), this lends credibility to your card. Your title should be approximately 2 font sizes smaller than your name.

~Contact Information: This can include your mailing address, your website address, your email address; but it should definitely include at least one phone number.

Don’t forget about using the back of your business card! It can be a great place to put a coupon, a map to your place of business, a calendar, an appointment area, or a list of your specialties. The sky is (almost) the limit on the back of your card–be creative!

The most important thing to remember is balance, color, and clarity. Your business card is your own little diamond to show the world how important you are!

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© Nola Cooper

If you’ve decided to take your business online, then you understand that in today’s business climate it’s important to have a web presence. Along with that you should also understand that just “having a website” is not the end of the journey. The first step to owning and running a successful website is understanding that you don’t just buy a domain and put something on it. The website you offer your customers and potential customers should be informative, dynamic (a blog is a great way to offer ever changing content), and should be optimized to draw in the traffic that will grow your business.

The following questions should be asked of any designer you are considering for your project.

• Will you use a pre-designed template or site builder for my website, or will it be an original design?

Designers who use pre-designed templates are not all bad. Some folks have spent their time learning the ins and outs of specific site builder, or specific types of website templates. If they know what they’re doing, their work should show this…in the look of the site. Keep in mind, that many sites done with pre-designed templates or site builders will have what’s referred to as a “cookie cutter” look to them, especially if the “designer” doesn’t know how to make many changes.

COST: You should expect to pay MUCH LESS for a site that uses a pre-designed template or site builder, than you would for an original design. Especially, if there aren’t many changes made to the basic template design. Basic changes you should expect would be use of your logo and color scheme, and insertion of your graphics and photos.

Original website designs typically begin from a blank page, and are hand coded by the designer. Finding a designer who does this means that you have someone who at least knows html very well, and in today’s online climate, a PHP programmer/developer would be ideal (PHP allows for so much more functionality).

Custom designed templates are typically the same as an original design…hand coded and designed just for you, but using a template to affect better load time and smooth transitions from page to page.

• Will my website look the same in all browsers?

Most web surfers are still using either Internet Explorer or Safari. But Firefox is very quickly gaining ground as the browser of choice. Because of this, it is VERY important that your designer (whether they use a template or they design an original design) guarantee what’s called “Cross-Browser Compatibility”, and that compatibility should be checked for every page of your site. Many designers design for only one browser, and this can be problematic…your site can look COMPLETELY different in 2 different browsers.

• When my site is complete, will I have access to the “backend”?

If you don’t have the time or inclination to do your own website updates, this probably isn’t important. However, if you want to be able to change things like phone numbers, email addresses, or simple wording on your site (to test SEO), you’ll want to make sure that you not only have access to the backend, but that you are provided with instructions for that access.

Hosting control panels can vary widely from one hosting company to the next. If your designer is also providing your hosting, they should be able to train you on how to add things like email addresses, email forwarding, and auto-responders…PLUS how to access your website stats and invoicing.

It’s probably a good idea to discuss this up front with your designer, to make sure at least SOME training will be provided, if necessary.

WordPress websites are built on an excellent platform for Content Management, and provide the owner with the easy ability to update content, optimize for the search engines, and more. If your designer does not offer training for your WordPress site, there are many places to go online with video tutorials and more.

• If there are any issues after the site is complete and has “gone live” (is online)-do you charge to troubleshoot them?

A good designer will test your site design BEFORE going live to be sure that everything works properly, and thus shouldn’t need to troubleshoot. Occasionally, there will be issues, however, and you should find out up front what this type of “website maintenance” will cost you.

If you were provided with a “design mockup” of your site at the beginning of the process, your site layout SHOULD LOOK EXACTLY LIKE THAT MOCKUP (minus any graphic or photo changes, of course). Good website designers know how to program their sites to look like the design they created. You should insist that your site look exactly the way you expected it to. Your designer should work diligently until it does, without charging you extra.

• Will you do anything to my website that will help it to start being recognized by the search engines?

Most designers do not include keyword research as a part of your design. However, if you or your marketing team have done some research, it’s important to know how much your designer will charge you to add basic Search Engine Optimization to your site. I typically will include basic keywords and meta tags (as provided to me by my client) in my final design, to help my clients at least get a start with the search engines.

Knowing what you’re paying for up front, will not only help you to compare rates more accurately, but will also insure that you are getting the best your money can buy when it comes to your website.

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© Nola Cooper