The eco-friendly athletic shoe is made from scraps of leather and synthetic materials and attached to a recycled rubber sole

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[Source: BusinessWeek.com -- Innovation & Design]

Small businesses often shy away from entering foreign markets. Big mistake. New technology makes many old barriers less onerous.

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[Source: WSJ.com: Small Business Link]

Did the VCs Steamroll Zappos? In a word, no. $900 million dollars is not chump change, even for a company as successful as Zappos. But that's not stopping a number of blogs, including Fast Company and .NET, from putting forth a theory that Sequoia Capital forced a low-ball sale against the wishes of CEO Tony Hsieh and other Zappos managers. FC's Kit Easton says "the shotgun of blame points to the VCs," and .NET's Brandon Watson crows, "Zappos Deal Shows VCs Hate Entrepreneurs." These suggestions that Hsieh and the Zappos management team was somehow steamrolled by a bunch of evil VCs seems a bit strange considering that Tony Hsieh was himself a VC prior to joining Zappos. His firm, Venture Frogs, led the initial investment in Zappos and he only became CEO later. Through his company's PR firm, Hsieh responded: The articles and rumors of Sequoia forcing us to sell are simply not accurate. Nobody was forced to sell to Amazon. The Zappos board was united in believing that joining forces with Amazon would be in the best long term interests of our employees, customers, shareholders, and other stakeholders." Bill Gates waxes nostalgic. Closing out Gizmodo's week-long homage to 1979, Bill Gates penned this blog post reminiscing about the state of Microsoft 30 years ago. As he recalls, Microsoft in 1979 had only 13 employees and had just completed a relocation from Albuquerque to Bellevue, Washington. What stands out most for Gates about 1979 was the excitement surrounding the emergence of BASIC as the standard programming language for microcomputers. He cites that development as the catalyst for the possibility of creating software applications that could have a mass appeal to the public. Proof of that came with the launch of Microsoft's Consumer Products Division, which released Microsoft Adventure, an early adventure game that was one of the company's first consumer products. Perhaps the best part of the post is the accompanying photo, which shows Microsoft's 1979 staff, including a fresh-faced Gates, in classic period garb. As Gates points out, "That famous picture provides indisputable proof that your average computer geek from the late 1970's was not exactly on the cutting edge of fashion." How to spot a fake check. Kathy Kristof over at MoneyWatch has a useful piece for any business owner who accepts checks. She interviews Thomas Silvia, the owner of a company whose name has turned up recently on countless forged checks. The only difference between his checks and the fake ones are the company phone number and the signature names, Silvia explains, so if you want to be safe, you're going to have to do some research. Twitter offers a business primer. If the 140-character phenomenon is still uncharted territory for your company, Twitter is there to help. Yesterday the site launched it's guide, "twitter 101," to provide business-owners with tips to leverage tweets, reports TechCrunch. In addition to case studies, the Twitter appendage site lists links to books and blogs on the subject and a handy glossary of ever-expanding "tw" lingo. But beware, this is not for the seasoned pro. Regional banks on the brink. It may be pushed out of the headlines, but in recent weeks, big regional banks have seen their stock prices plummet. That brings back concerns over whether these banks can roll over their debt, bring in customers, and pay for their operations, reports Jon Markman in MSN Money. Investors are pressuring these banks to raise capital, which will prove difficult. As mounting losses from commercial real estate take their toll, banks must build their reserves, which detracts from earnings and further drives down their stock prices. Small businesses that rely on regional banks should be ready for a credit crunch. (via via peHUB) Stop right there. Super-motivated, rapid thinking entrepreneurs can often mistake what Entrepreneur magazine calls "strategic non-action" with laziness. Instead of continually mass-pitching your brand, says columnist David Seaman, whittle and hone your pitch into something that will cause others to do your work for you. "So stop groveling, stop blind pitching, and start crafting," he says. By asking friends and close contacts for advice, you could improve your marketing position to soething that people will want to forward around to their friends and coworkers without your constant prodding. In a zen-like bit of advice, Seaman says that "silence is as important as noise." More from Inc. Magazine: Get this delivered to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter. Friend us on Facebook.

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[Source: Inc.com]

Early in his career as a venture capitalist, Steve Brotman received a knock on his office door and in walked a woman dressed from head to toe in an outrageous green costume. She reached in her bag and served Mr. Brotman a business plan for a company that had ?avocado? in its name.?Regardless of whether I was interested, you lost me at hello,? Mr. Brotman, now the managing director of venture-capital fund Greenhill SAVP in New York, says he told her. ?I?m not about to do a deal with a lady dressed like an avocado.?It takes much more than a gimmick to get the attention of venture capitalists. As a growing number of entrepreneurs compete for a shrinking pool of capital, it?s more important than ever to make a good first impression with an airtight pitch.Venture-capital investment fell about 50% in the first quarter to $3.9 billion from $7.78 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to VentureSource, an industry tracker owned by News Corp., which also owns Dow Jones & Co., publisher of The Wall Street Journal. That was the lowest quarterly total since 1998 and significantly below the $5.95 billion invested in the fourth quarter of last year.Even so, investors say capital remains available for promising start-ups. With that in mind, here is a look at what venture capitalists say are the common mistakes made by entrepreneurs making presentations:Venture capitalists say that they invest in people, not just ideas. Yet the most common mistake entrepreneurs make when pitching to venture capitalists is failing to present themselves well, says Mr. Brotman. ?A pitch is like going on a date,? he says. ?A lot of entrepreneurs don?t introduce themselves. They might give you a name and a business card; other times they?ll go straight into the pitch. That?s like going on a first date and saying, ?Let?s get it on.???If an entrepreneur has been successful in the past, they need to say so, says Mr. Brotman, pointing out that modesty could equal a missed opportunity. ?Seasoned entrepreneurs often downplay their experience and stuff it in the back of the pitch, and they shouldn?t,? he says. ?People buy into other people. They buy their story.?In addition to introducing themselves, entrepreneurs should introduce the other members of their team and allow them to talk. Venture capitalists say they want to know that they can trust the other people involved in the business.
Canaan Partners, a Menlo Park, Calif., firm that invests in technology and health-care companies, says it has endured many bad pitches over the years, including one in which the vice president of sales for a start-up fell asleep just as the chief executive was hitting his stride during a presentation. ?The CEO kept blazing through his pitch, acting like it wasn?t happening,? says Gina Vakili, Canaan?s director of marketing.The firm passed on that deal, but its experience with bad pitches led to the creation of the Entrepreneur Pitch Workbook, essentially a ?Dummies? guide to pitching venture capitalists. Among the book?s suggestions: Practice so that a pitch will last one hour, including time for questions; prepare a 12- to 20-page slide presentation and bring hard copies; arrive 10 minutes early to set up; and dress business casual, unless you?re more comfortable in a suit.When it comes to the presentation itself, venture capitalists say it should be coherent and focused. Don?t dance around questions, especially if they are asked multiple times in different ways. Be thoughtful and willing to explain concerns with the business.?What?s most important is to adequately explain all the assumptions on which the plan [is] based,? says Larry Chaityn, New York chapter president of Keiretsu Forum, a global network of accredited angel investors. ?Less is more. We want them to present a wealth of information in very few words.?Presentations should also avoid jargon. ?I always say, ?Tell it to your mom,??? says Kylie Sachs, a partner at Ascend Venture Group LLC, a private investment-management firm based in New York. ?Explain it like you would explain it to your mother.?Entrepreneurs should assume the investor believes the technology works, venture capitalists say. The presentation should focus on how a solution to a problem makes money, rather than explaining how the science works. ?I want to know about the business of the business, not a tech demo for the first hour of the discussion,? says Jeanne Sullivan, a general partner at New York-based venture-capital firm StarVest Partners LLC.Entrepreneurs could hurt their credibility if they overstate the revenue opportunity for their product or service. That is why it is important that entrepreneurs be able to differentiate between market size and the addressable market for their idea. Take a food maker. The firm?s addressable market isn?t everyone who eats, but rather the people who eat the specific thing it makes. Saying, ?We just need 0.1% of the population of China to be a success? ignores the importance of identifying and describing the target customer, says Ms. Sachs. ?That?s just math that tells me nothing,? she says. ?Also, if you tell me your financial projections are conservative, I?ll look for a way to prove you wrong. I need you to show me how it scales and becomes profitable.?Ms. Sachs advises against revealing a valuation during the initial pitch. For example, don?t tell an investor you are selling 25% of the company for $4 million, she says. Similarly, avoid negotiating too early. Ms. Vakili, of Canaan Partners, says entrepreneurs who come in and say, ?Before we get started, I?d like you to know that we have multiple term sheets on the table? make the firm wonder, ?Then why are we meeting? Why are you here having a first meeting if you?re at the term-sheet stage with other firms??The chance to make an impression doesn?t end when you walk out of an investor?s office. Mr. Brotman says he is often surprised at how many entrepreneurs disappear from his radar screen after the initial presentation. With the number of requests for meetings that investors receive, just getting an invitation to present your idea means there?s genuine interest. Even if they receive a ?no? in the first meeting, entrepreneurs should stay in touch with investors. While the investors may not be interested in backing the start-up, they may share it with others who are.Addressing concerns brought up during an initial meeting is a good way to reconnect with an investor, venture capitalists say, so promptly answer any outstanding questions that came up during the presentation.Finally, when evaluating offers, entrepreneurs should think beyond who will write them a check. ?Take a look at who can give you the best acceleration for your business,? says Mr. Chaityn. ?Not just money, but industry contacts and high-level connections.?
--Mr. McMahan is a reporter for Dow Jones VentureWire in New York. He can be reached at ty.mcmahan@dowjones.com.

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[Source: WSJ.com: Small Business]

BusinessWeek and GreenBiz.com have assembled a list of 25 intriguing energy startups, including young companies that tap geothermal heat, turn waste into biodiesel, and more

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[Source: BusinessWeek.com -- Architecture]