Friday 30 November 2012

Startup Profiles - IslandX.Com

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http://www.islandx.com/

Name:Marius Hjelset
Age:30
Company:IslandX
Staff numbers:Three
Company description:A network for people moving abroad

Tell us what your business does

IslandX is a international lifestyle and relocation network; or in other words, a social network for people who want to work, study or live abroad. We help people find information about places they are interested in moving to using a social experience.
Where did the idea for your business come from?

I have spent most of my life living abroad. Having moved around many places with my parents when I was younger, I always had an interest in continuing to experience different countries. However, as an adult I found that moving countries was a lot more difficult when you have to organise everything yourself! So I decided to start building a social network that can help with the relocation process.
How did you know there was a market for it?

There was a great deal of market validation in place already by way of hundreds of different forums and information sites for people who are moving. However, we found these to be outdated either in content or design. Also, we found that they didn't take full advantage of the social web that people are familiar with.

In addition, the sheer number of sites already out there makes for a fragmented user experience, something we feel we can solve. Statistically, international migration is constantly increasing.
What were you doing before starting up?

I have been working in the technology sector for the past seven years in project and product development roles. Most recently I was leading the technical development on a global project for Vodafone, developing a web hosting and email service for small businesses.
Have you always wanted to run your own business?

Yes, ever since university I have had an interest in developing new services and creating something that builds value beyond that which one person can put into it.
How did you raise the money?

IslandX has been self-funded to date. We have also been in touch with investors as part of our launch build-up and we anticipate that we will start a fund-raising round in the near future to fund additional resources and accelerate our growth.
What challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?

There are probably more than I can remember! Running a web start-up is a constant rollercoaster ride, with periods of immense feeling of achievement followed by feelings of insecurity and defeat.

Our biggest challenge is and always will be attracting enough users to engage online, help build content, and to come back again. That's why we spend time on PR and brand building, and we have had some good press coverage as a result.

How will you make money?

The service is entirely free for users. IslandX aims to make money by providing access to qualified leads to a wide array of companies involved in different parts of the relocation lifecycle. This will allow us to provide targeted support to our members who wish to work, study or live abroad.
What was your first big breakthrough?

Making it to our launch. Before launch we were doing early market validation with a test user base. If we didn't see enough of an opportunity based on their reactions we probably would have stopped right there.

It's now 10 days since launch, and we've had a great response from new members. We are adding new members every day, and more and more content is being added.

What advice would you give to budding entrepreneurs?

To achieve your dreams, be stubborn. Don't give up: persistence and hard work will pay off.

When building your business, don't be stubborn. Evolve your product or service as much as is needed to get the desired behaviour from your customers.

Where do you want to be in five years' time?

In five years we want IslandX to be recognised as the tripadvisor of the relocation world. In other words, the number one place people go to for information about moving countries.

[Via - Startups.Co.Uk.]
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Friday 23 November 2012

10 Great Books About Underground Economy, Working Under The Table And Surviving When Economy Sucks

1. Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor
In this revealing study of a Southside Chicago neighborhood, sociologist Venkatesh opens a window on how the poor live. Focusing on domestics, entrepreneurs, hustlers, preachers and gangs linked in an underground economy that “manages to touch all households,” the book reveals how residents struggle between “their desires to live a just life and their needs to make ends meet as best they can.” In this milieu, African-American mechanics, painters, hairdressers, musicians and informal security guards are linked to prostitutes, drug dealers, gun dealers and car thieves in illegal enterprises that even police and politicians are involved in, though not all are criminals in the usual sense. Storefront clergy, often dependent “on the underground for their own livelihood,” serve as mediators and brokers between individuals and gang members, who have “insinuated themselves—and their drug money—into the deepest reaches of the community.” Although the book’s academic tenor is occasionally wearying, Venkatesh keeps his work vital and poignant by using the words of his subjects, who are as dependent on this intricate web as they are fearful of its dangers.
2. Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Economics is not widely considered to be one of the sexier sciences. The annual Nobel Prize winner in that field never receives as much publicity as his or her compatriots in peace, literature, or physics. But if such slights are based on the notion that economics is dull, or that economists are concerned only with finance itself, Steven D. Levitt will change some minds. In Freakonomics (written with Stephen J. Dubner), Levitt argues that many apparent mysteries of everyday life don’t need to be so mysterious: they could be illuminated and made even more fascinating by asking the right questions and drawing connections. For example, Levitt traces the drop in violent crime rates to a drop in violent criminals and, digging further, to the Roe v. Wade decision that preempted the existence of some people who would be born to poverty and hardship. Elsewhere, by analyzing data gathered from inner-city Chicago drug-dealing gangs, Levitt outlines a corporate structure much like McDonald’s, where the top bosses make great money while scores of underlings make something below minimum wage. And in a section that may alarm or relieve worried parents, Levitt argues that parenting methods don’t really matter much and that a backyard swimming pool is much more dangerous than a gun. These enlightening chapters are separated by effusive passages from Dubner’s 2003 profile of Levitt in The New York Times Magazine, which led to the book being written. In a book filled with bold logic, such back-patting veers Freakonomics, however briefly, away from what Levitt actually has to say. Although maybe there’s a good economic reason for that too, and we’re just not getting it yet.
3. Ragnar’s Guide to the Underground Economy
Through detailed case studies Ragnar shows you how carpenters, woodcutters, farmers, housecleaners, computer consultants, mechanics, lawyers, vendors, locksmiths and others are cashing in on today’s booming economy - and keeping what they earn by not paying taxes. From these undergrounders you’ll learn how to locate work, get paid without supplying identifying numbers, prepare a realistic budget, advertise your services or product and finance your project when you can’t go to the bank. You’ll also learn the pitfalls of working off the books and what you can do to prepare for them.
4. How to Survive Without a Salary: Learning How to Live the Conserver Lifestyle
I thought that this book was so funny in places that I haven’t laughed so hard, so much, for a long time. Charles is a skilled writer; the book is very readable, intelligent, thoughtful,and well organized. It contains a copious (even prodigious) amount of tips, for a 200-page book. Very practical, and at the same time touches on abtruse philosophical areas, especially at the end of the book.
Hey, I used to think I was cheap. This guy is CHEAP. His anecdotes include waiting for it to rain to take a shower instead of installing indoor plumbing. He had a big hole in the floor of his entryway, or somewhere in his house, into which the kids and a few guests fell. He refused to spend one cent covering the hole, until a neighbor told him about a steel grate they threw away years ago, so he went to the dump and found it.
The point is that you can learn from a top-notch “conserver”; an applied example I would give is to buy two gallons of milk when it’s on sale and freeze one for later use (works well!). This guy probably drinks powdered milk though.
I disagree with his economic analysis; prudence CAN be a vice, as any virtue most certainly is in its extreme, or even overdone. But Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations is not just about “McPimple Burger” or keeping up with the Joneses. Any system on a mass scale is going to have gaping faults, and the weaker of us might succumb to our basest impulses. But perhaps Long goes a bit too far the other way…
At any rate, he sounds like an economic anarchist. Very well thought out book, great advice.
5. Gang Leader for a Day: A Rogue Sociologist Takes to the Streets
In Freakonomics, many people were fascinated by a section that described how most crack cocaine dealers lived at home with their mothers. Why? They make less money than minimum wage. The source of that factoid was research conducted on site by Sudhir Venkatesh, author of Gang Leader for a Day, who describes in this book how he did that research and came to make decisions one day for part of the Black Kings gang in Chicago.
In the process of reading this book, you’ll learn more than you ever expected to know about the ways that the poorest people support and protect themselves. You’ll also find how drug-dealing gangs are both a help and a hindrance to the poor.
More powerfully, you’ll be exposed to the great difficulties involved in observing the lives of the poor and the gangs that spring from them. The moral and ethical dilemmas this book presents are almost beyond belief.
6. Under the Table and Into Your Pocket: The How and Why of the Underground Economy
Under The Table And Into Your Pocket: The How And Why Of The Underground Economy by Bill Wilson will provide the non-specialist general reader with a complete education on a facet of the American economy rarely (if ever) covered in school. Beginning with an introduction to just some of the ways governmental regulations strangle business, overtax the little guy, and enable Washington to be the drunken big spender that it is today (if you overpay your taxes by $7,000 and don’t reclaim it within three years you’re out of luck - but underpay it by $7,000 and the IRS can and will come after you no matter how much time has passed!), Under The Table proceeds to demonstrate how the little guy can circumvent taxes by doing business away from Big Brother’s prying eyes. From boarding houses and flea markets to roadside merchants and dominatrix work, Under The Table covers the benefits, disadvantages, tips, tricks, techniques and much more of common underground ways to earn a living. Under The Table is emphatically not a legal guide; neither the author nor the publisher assume any responsibility for the use or misuse of information contained within - but the eye-opening ins and outs of a truly free economy make for quite fascinating and advantageous reading.
7. Deep Inside the Underground Economy: How Millions of Americans are Practising Free Enterprise in an Unfree Economy
Are you fed up with giving so much of your hard earned cash to the government, then watching it get spent on ridiculous pork-barrel special-interest projects? Would you like to hold on to more of your money for your own special-interest boondoggles? The underground economy continues to grow in spite of ever-widening atttempts by the government to regulate and tax everything we do. Millions of Americans are practising fee enterprise in today’s increasingly unfree tax society. This is the most comprehensive how-to book ever written for those entrepreneurial individuals who have decided to end their slavery to a wage and to government taxation as well. Discover how you can keep more of what you earn for yourself. Here you will find complete and up-to-date information on the ins and outs of guerrilla capitalism and the underground economy in this country.
8. Empire of Scrounge: Inside the Urban Underground of Dumpster Diving, Trash Picking, and Street Scavenging.
In December of 2001 Jeff Ferrell quit his job as tenured professor, moved back to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, and, with a place to live but no real income, began an eight-month odyssey of essentially living off of the street. Empire of Scrounge tells the story of this unusual journey into the often illicit worlds of scrounging, recycling, and second-hand living. Existing as a dumpster diver and trash picker, Ferrell adopted a way of life that was both field research and free-form survival. Riding around on his scrounged BMX bicycle, Ferrell investigated the million-dollar mansions, working-class neighborhoods, middle class suburbs, industrial and commercial strips, and the large downtown area, where he found countless discarded treasures, from unopened presents and new clothes to scrap metal and even food.
9. McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld
In McMafia, Misha Glenny draws the dark map that lies on the other side of Tom Friedman’s bright flat world. That connected globe not only brings software coders and supply-chain outsourcers closer together; it’s also opened the gates to a criminal network of unsettling vastness, complexity, and efficiency that represents a fifth of the earth’s economy, trading in everything from untaxed cigarettes and the usual narcotics to human lives and nuclear material. Glenny’s a Balkans expert, and he begins his story there, with the illicit–but often state-sponsored–underworld that grew out of the post-Soviet chaos, but he soon follows the contraband everywhere from Mumbai and Johannesburg to rural Colombia and the U.S. suburbs. It’s not just a hodgepodge of scare clips, though: Glenny reports from the ground but follows the leads as high as they go, showing how the dark and bright sides of the flat world are more connected than we imagine.
10. Living Well on Practically Nothing
Living Well on Practically Nothing: Revised and Updated Edition is for people who need to live on a lot less money. If you have been fired, demoted, retired, divorced, widowed, bankrupted or swindled - or you just want to quit your job and remain financially self-reliant - this book is for you. In it are hundreds of tips, secrets and necessary skills for living well on little money. Chapters include: Save Up to $37,000 a Year and Live on $12,000 a Year; Low-Cost Computers for Fun, Profit, and Education; Some Ways to Live on No Money at All; A Day of Cheap Living; A New Career or Business for You; Fix Things and Make Them Last; and Protect Your Investments and Make Them Grow. From cover to cover, this book is stocked with proven methods for saving money on shelter, food, clothing, transportation, entertainment, health care and more. The author left the “system” in 1969 and has worked for himself ever since. Let him show you how you, too, can live happily, comfortably and with complete financial freedom.

Friday 16 November 2012

Startup Buzz - Zozi.Com

Link of the day - If You Sell Links On Your Site, I Will Buy Them Off You


http://www.zozi.com/

Twenty people tore up Squaw Valley with Olympic gold-medal skier Jonny Moseley. National Geographic explorer Mireya Mayor led a small group on a wildlife "safari" through California's wine country. A group of thrill-seekers sharpened their whitewater skills in Nevada's Truckee River with world-record kayaker Tao Berman. These are the types of once-in-a-lifetime adventures, guided by celebrity gurus, that have helped drive zozi to rapidly multiplying revenue, backed by $11 million in venture funding.

"No other company has built an online platform that easily connects anyone to some of the most unattainable people in the world to go on experiences that will give you a lifetime of stories to tell," says T.J. Sassani, founder of the San Francisco-based company. "Zozi is ultimately a discovery engine that makes bite-sized adventures accessible to all kinds of people."

When the site launched in 2010, it specialized in discounted nonguided quests, like a tour of medieval castles in Ireland, a five-day surf and spa retreat in Baja or the chance to hang glide to a beach picnic. But Sassani says he's growing the business to also focus on unique, full-price celebrity excursions, starting at $300. Zozi's niche is in creating short adventure trips that aren't available anywhere else.

The site operates in 19 U.S. markets, and its user base is approaching 1 million. Sassani will not disclose revenue, which comes through shares with merchants and partners, but says it grew 700 percent last year.

Venture capitalists are clawing for a piece of the exploding tech travel sector. Last year zozi raised $7 million in Series B funding from investors that included LaunchCapital; meanwhile, San Francisco-based travel search site Hipmunk raised $4.2 million and Seattle-based flight tracker Yapta locked down $5 million, though they are threatened by recent JetRadar success.

LaunchCapital co-founder and managing director Elon Boms says his firm was looking for a concept that could be a category leader through true innovation. "They've done just that. Zozi is unlike any other company in the tech travel space," he says. "Zozi is pioneering the future of travel and entertainment, and as VCs that excites us." He adds that leadership in the fragmented but huge U.S. travel activities market--worth $26.8 billion in 2009, according to PhoCusWright, host of the annual Travel Innovation Summit--will be "driven by a brand that both customers and merchants embrace, one that stands for quality and is used not as a bargain hunter but as a tool for discovery."
PhoCusWright senior technology analyst Bob Offutt agrees that the time is right for investment in travel companies with a tech component. "There's a sense that there's some gold to be found if you mine the right mines in this category," he says. "VCs feel there's opportunity to move the needle and come up with new ideas that will shift share to something more appropriate for the 21st century."
[Via - Entrepreneur]
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Friday 9 November 2012

The Slow Growing Startups - MyWedingWorkbook.com

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http://www.myweddingworkbook.com/

Company: My Wedding Workbook
Location: Denver, Colo.
Annual sales: "Low six figures."
When a local angel investor expressed interest in funding the development of their web-based project management software called Planning Pod in April 2011, business partners Jeff Kear and his co-founder Steven Feingertz got excited. They were taking on well-established competitors like Basecamp and could have used the money. But it turned out that the investors, who were going to pony up $20,000, wanted a 20% the company in exchange, plus 20% of annual revenues; the investor would have four additional opportunities to buy 5% of the firm for about $5,000. Their instincts told them to back away. "It would really cripple us," says Kear.
The two entrepreneurs had been investing revenues from their first successful product, My Wedding Workbook, into building the new one. "I would rather bootstrap it and use the revenue we're already bringing in to bump it along," he says. And that's what they did, offering their tech contractors equity instead of paying development fees. "Our developers now have a vested interest in the success of the company and have shown great initiative," says Kear. Plus, the four-employee firm has freed up cash for marketing.
[Via - CNNMoney.Com]

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Hot Startups - Bitrix24.Com

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Bitrix24.com is a new SaaS (software as a service) cloud based social intranet platform that makes corporate intranet easily available to smaller companies. It does not take any time to deploy (everything is already installed and set up) and doesn’t cost anything if it’s used by companies with fewer than 12 employees.

At first, Bitrix24 looks like corporate Facebook – there is the wall or activity stream where different employees engage in discussions and vote by ‘liking’ ideas, documents or workgroups. There are also instant messenger and photogallery. This is where the similarities end.



The first important Bitrix24 module is free CRM (customer relationship module) that comes with a database for clients and prospects that are easily sorted by events (phone call or meeting, for instance). Next comes the sales funnel that divides clients into easy-to-work-with groups - new prospects, first contact, requested quote, scheduled meeting, negotiations and sales, for example (the actual setup is customizable). Bitrix24 free CRM is designed for easy interactions with clients. For example, you can send an e-mail to a certain group as well as import/export any client information. You can also set Bitrix24 to automatically import ‘leads’ that are generated by any site into the CRM.



The second important module is document management. This module allows storing, editing and collaborating on various documents with co-workers. The documents can be made private (visible to document owner only) or shared. Bitrix24 also tracks version history, making it possible to revert to older version of the document, if necessary. Importantly, you can map a single document library or all of your document libraries to a network drive on your local machine literally in 2 clicks using WebDav. That means that whether you use Windows, Mac OS, or Linux, you will be able to see the documents in the intranet locally through your file manager.



Third and fourth are planning and task/project management modules. These include calendar, work reports, absentee charts, meeting scheduler, personalized to-do lists, time management tools, even Gantt charts for easy visualization of progress made on specific projects. The employees are split into workgroups and access rights are assigned to each individual. For example, the department head may see work reports of his subordinates only, while vice-president is able to view every work report made by any employee.



Because companies tend to outsource or hire outside contractors/freelancer Bitrix24 allows one to easily integrate those into workgroups and give non-employees access to corporate intranet with restricted rights specified as necessary. Also, for higher mobility, Bitrix24.com can be easily accessed via iPhone, iPad or any Android based device.

As mentioned, Bitrix24.com is free when used by 12 employees or fewer. Bitrix24.com can be used by unlimited numbers of workers for $99 a month. Unlike other similar services, Bitrix24.com doesn’t charge extra for each additional employee, since it is cloud based and ample storage is available. The premium version is priced at $199 a month.

[Via - MadConomist.com]

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Friday 2 November 2012

Hermitage Jewelers Review

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http://www.hermitagejewelers.com/

If you’re somebody who’s into carefully hand-crafted jewelry that you know will last a lifetime, chances are you might have a stash of authentic, luxury Swiss watches and fine jewelry in your little treasure chest somewhere. But if you don’t and want a few pieces for yourself or the people who matter to you, Ermitage Jewelers might just have the perfect ones for you in stock.

Ermitage Jewelers is a respected name in authentic, luxury Swiss watches and fine jewelry, and had been buying and selling Swiss watches and jewelry for almost 30 years now. Rolex or whatever luxury brand, you also have an option to trade in an old timepiece of yours.

Peter, Ermitage Jewelers’ chief watch specialist, is the grandson of the very same guy who opened the first Ermitage outlet in Russia in 1915 and served as master jeweler with New York’s Baume & Mercier for seven years in the 1970s. Every client is guaranteed to receive personal attention from Peter himself, and the store’s state-of-the-art repair shop ensures quick turnaround time.

In addition to a retail store in Atlanta, Georgia, the company’s website, www.ermitagejewelers.com, provides the same quality of service and selection as in the actual store. Every piece Ermitage Jewelers sells is new-looking and authentic. You can rest assured the store never sells replicas of any form. The company’s philosophy is simple: Commitment to quality, service and value results in satisfied customers who are sure to come back time and time again.

[Via - MadConomist.com]

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