Posts Tagged ‘startups’

5 things that suck (about hiring new employees) and 10 things companies can do about it

Mike | February 28th, 2011

We hear all the time about the importance of hiring the right people and the expanding universe of advice can be overwhelming; hire slow and fire fast, only hire the “right” candidate; ask probing questions; check all references; blah blah blah. For a small business with constantly-strained capacity it can be incredibly difficult to post a [...]

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Small business and startup issues: net neutrality and H.R. 1

Mike | February 21st, 2011

Small businesses which are built on the Internet and dependent on it for their livelihoods are threatened by an amendment to the spending bill passed by the House last week. The amendment introduced by Oregon Representative Greg Walden, specifically prohibits the FCC from enforcing its Net Neutrality rules, passed late last year. These rules would [...]

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Tips for small business and entrepreneurs: the right customer service when things go wrong

Mike | February 14th, 2011

Ross wrote a short post the other day about a funny customer service request we received  and mentioned that we have handled well over 100,000 customer service contacts since we launched less than 3 year ago. I looked at that number and my jaw dropped; I know intellectually that we handle a huge volume of [...]

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10 things that entrepreneurs can learn from dogs

Mike | February 7th, 2011

Some months back I wrote a post about how, as entrepreneurs, we have much to learn from our kids. Lots of you chimed in about your own experiences and about how much you, too, have learned about business from children. Well, as I was pondering what to write about this week, our family dog, Epee´ [...]

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Lean Marketing: Public Relations strategies for small businesses and startups

Mike | January 31st, 2011

One of the least expensive and most effective ways that small businesses can grow is through the strategic application of public relations. PR can be executed on a modest budget, and the awareness and word-of-mouth that can be attained is priceless for a small company. PR is typically a mix of social media, community participation, [...]

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Lean Marketing 101: Setting Goals

Ross | January 18th, 2011

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Lean Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses and Startups. That post resonated with small business owners and entrepreneurs looking for inexpensive ways to market their businesses. Many asked if we could share more lean marketing strategies and tips. Today’s post starts a new series in the crowdSPRING Blog – Lean [...]

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Traveling lean: tips for small businesses and entrepreneurs

Mike | January 17th, 2011

(Fortunately) we don’t have to travel a great deal here at crowdSPRING; we do the bulk of our communication with partners, funders, and customers over the phone, via email, or on Skype. However, when we do travel we are ever constrained by our limited travel budget, over-extended scheduling, and our pesky insistence on convenience,  creature [...]

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The State of the Crowdsourcing Union, 2011

Mike | January 11th, 2011

Later this month President Obama will deliver the annual State of the Union address. In the address the President will discuss the relative strength of our economy, our institutions, and our relationships with other nations and our current standing in the world. I thought it appropriate , at the beginning of this new year, to [...]

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Five Designs Small Businesses and Startups Should Crowdsource

Ross | January 4th, 2011

Only several years ago, many startups and small businesses could not effectively compete against larger and better financed competitors. Today, inexpensive and free small business marketing tools, outstanding small business programs from Google, and crowdsourcing have made it possible for startups and small businesses to level the playing field. In this post, we’ll discuss five [...]

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Three economic trends for 2011 (fueled by startup goodness)

Mike | January 3rd, 2011

2011 is going to be a great year for entrepreneurs – even better than 2010. The past year saw startups on the rise, an increase in venture capital funding (both in real dollars and numbers of companies funded), a resurgence of IPOs, and the rise of David against Goliath, as best represented by Groupon’s spurning [...]

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