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GH in the news- @Grasshopper
- Interested in getting an 855 number? We're taking reservations now - http://bit.ly/ailETt
- RT @chrisgeyer: excited i get to talk with more of our @grasshopper customers today as well
- RT @melilitts: I use @grasshopper as the main means of communication within my business, since our team is spread all over the US!
Events Archive
Event: How to Build Buzz Around Your Brand
Here at Grasshopper, we are all about trying to find new ways to help entrepreneurs succeed. However, one thing we’ve always believed in since day one is that creating buzz and WOM traffic for your brand is essential. It was crucial in getting Grasshopper off the ground and 7 years later is still a key to our success. In fact it’s so damn important to us that we have gone as far as to create a program to help you, our customers gain press!
To help share some wisdom about creating buzz we decided to partner with MassChallenge, another organization 100% devoted to supporting small business. MassChallenge and our Buzz Team have rallied some local experts together and are putting on a really interactive (and FREE) event for you guys next week.
The event will be MC’ed by our very own Ambassador of Buzz, Jonathan Kay and will include 4 short (10 minute) presentations followed by a Q & A with Jonathan. There will be tons of time to network and the event will be capped off by bringing all of the speakers on the stage for a panel. At this point all questions will come from the audience so really start to think about what information you want to learn from our “experts”! See below for topics, event details, and a link to register:
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Location: Microsoft NERD Center: One Memorial Drive Cambridge, MA
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Date: Wednesday, June 23rd
Grasshopper Invades Canada (Toronto to be Specific)
Well, the Grasshopper Buzz Team is at it again. We are heading to another city (or country in this case) to meet local entrepreneurs and share some free drinks! Only this time it’s a bit more exciting than usual…
For the first time in Grasshopper History (–> Insert Star Wars Theme Music) we’re going to be able to offer Local Canadian Numbers (currently in beta but available to everyone in the next couple of months)!! We decided in honor of the occasion we needed to do something fun.
So what did we do?
We partnered with a great organization and decided to throw a fun event. We joined forces with the Canadian Youth Business Foundation (CYBF). Not only are the folks over there just as passionate about helping entrepreneurs as we are, but they do some great things to inspire & mentor young Toronto entrepreneurs.
On June 1st at 6pm Grasshopper and CYBF will take over the roof deck of The London Tap House. Read more »
10 Business Plan Competitions for Entrepreneurs
Have a great business idea but not sure what to do next? Luckily there are people all over the world who want to help you get your business off of the ground. We have listed 10 business plan competitions that can help you do just that. Get feedback and maybe even some funds to help you make your dream a reality.
Silicon Valley Boomer Business Plan Competition
Who is it for?
Anyone 18 years or older from around the globe with a business plan that shows the 45-plus market as the primary market for the product or service. Current annual revenues must be no more than $1 million.
How to enter?
Executive summary submissions are due via YouNoodle
Deadline: April 23, 2010
Link to competition: Silicon Valley Boomer Venture Summit – Business Plan Competition
Cisco I-Prize
Who is it for? Read more »
Big Omaha 2010: Helping Entrepreneurs Build the Businesses They Love
As you know, we are always trying to make efforts to empower you with the information and tools you need to succeed. Anything from connecting you with companies we think are cool to suggesting interesting books to read. One thing I would personally like to start recommending more of is events and meet-ups where you can meet other entrepreneurs and learn from successful ones.
I know sometimes it seems like all the “cool” things are happening in either Silicon Valley or somewhere in the North East. However, Big Omaha 2010 (http://www.bigomaha.com/) is the exception to this preconceived notion. The Big Omaha is proving that the Midwest is crawling with passionate people. In fact at last year’s inaugural event they brought together over 400 innovators, creatives, and entrepreneurs.
What I love most is their mission: “Inspire attendees to follow their passions, build the businesses they love, and strengthen their creative communities.”
If you are in the area from May 13th-May 15th and can make it I would definitely suggest grabbing a ticket (they are under $300): http://bigomaha.eventbrite.com/
Grasshopper Co-founder and Author of “The Other 8 Hours” Team up for Webinar – Vote Now!
One of my favorite parts about working at Grasshopper, and working with entrepreneurs in general, is the amazing people I get to meet. Entrepreneurs in nature are interesting and adventurous people. But, when you take a sampling of over 30,000 you would be surprised who you meet!
I was fortunate recently to be introduced to Robert Pagliarini, one of the many successful entrepreneurs using our Virtual Phone System. Robert is most well known for writing “The Other 8 Hours”, a book about understanding the critical link between financial results and what employees do offline. In addition to his successes with this book, Robert also wrote the #1 national bestselling personal finance book, “The Six-Day Financial Makeover”.
What’s even cooler is that Robert is equally as passionate about entrepreneurship as we are! That is why when we first spoke we thought it would be awesome for him and our co-founder David Hauser to have a casual conversation about entrepreneurship and make it available for free to all of you. We were discussing potential topics for the webinar when we realized something…if the webinar is for YOU, why should we pick the topic?
It didn’t seem right to us, so we decided to open it up for a vote! We need your opinion, tell us what topic you would be most interested in hearing Robert and David discuss:
Webinar Date / Time: April 6th from 1pm EST to 1:45pm EST
Voting Period Ends: April 2nd at 5pm EST
Free Sign Up / Registration Page: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/262493697
Feel free to reach out if you have any questions or suggestions @grasshopperbuzz or jkay(at)grasshopper.com
How to Create a Big Splash at a Huge Conference (SXSW 2010)
Being in the Buzz, Community, and Viral Marketing world one thing I have always struggled with is how to really get noticed at a big conference. Most recently was South by South West (SXSW), a technology, music, and film festival jammed into one, hosted every year in Austin, TX. In fact SXSW is so big that the technology industry nearly comes to a halt for a week. Even Peter Shankman (founder and writer of HARO) had his publisher send out the updates for him. That never happens!
We knew there would be 20k-30k tech entrepreneurs in the same place, but the question was “How do you compete with the Microsoft, Adobe, Kodak, AOL, and all the college students passing out free Zone Perfect Bars?” The only thing we knew was we didn’t want to give SXSW Incorporated $10-20,000 to have a boring booth or table.
Empowering Young Entrepreneurs to Succeed – GH Goes to DECA
High school kids rock. Especially the ones I had the pleasure of meeting last week at the Massachusetts State DECA Conference in downtown Boston. DECA is an organization that aims to empower young people to pursue careers in marketing, management, and entrepreneurship through education and leadership development events. 185,000 high schools students participate through 5,000 chapters across the U.S.
Along with my colleagues, Jeremy Butler (DECA alumni) and Jon Kay, I served as a judge in the Entrepreneurship category and Grasshopper donated scholarships for the top three participants in our category. The scholarships we gave will help out the winners of our category with travels costs for the DECA National conference. Over the course of three days, we each heard from between ten and fifteen groups of young entrepreneurs who pitched us their entrepreneurial ventures. Their businesses ranged from internet properties to landscaping companies and everything in between. The vast majority were outstanding.
We were also given the opportunity to do a couple of workshops on Friday afternoon. Jonathan presented on generating buzz and Jeremy and I teamed up for a workshop on the basics of ecommerce. The workshops were well received, but at that point I think our audience was ready to go to the pool or go shopping.
These were some of the most ambitious, smart, and outstanding young people I’ve met in a long time. When I was 18, I was, well, not doing anything close to what these kids are achieving. I was impressed by not only the events’ organization and production quality, but also by the sheer size. Read more »
Grasshopper Sponsored Dinner for Customers & Friends
Hi Customers & Friends,
I wanted to share with you a new initiative we are trying here at Grasshopper. It is called “Grasshopper Customers & Friends Dinner” (pretty straight forward right?). If you haven’t realized it yet we here at Grasshopper love interacting with our customers. Not only do we enjoy meeting new entrepreneurs, but some of our best business ideas have come directly from our customers.
If you have seen our “Friday Flix” you also know Grasshopper employees love good food (see Grilled Cheese Wednesday) and the occasional beer (coming soon – view of the office from Beer-Scooter Cam). So we thought, “What could we do to combine all of these things?” Hence, we arrived at “Grasshopper Sponsored Dinner”…because oh ya, everyone loves free things!
As we travel across America going to various conferences/business meetings, we are going to make an effort to have “Grasshopper Customers & Friends Dinners” along the way. Having said that, I leave you with 2 action items:
- If you live in the Greater Boston Area we have our first dinner this Thursday (Nov. 12th), 7:30 pm at Skipjacks Seafood in Newton, MA (on 55 Needham St.)
- RSVP here: http://ghdinner.eventbrite.com
- If you are not in the Boston Area but are interested in this sort of thing please note in the comments section what city you are near and we will try and reach out next time we are there!
Thanks so much, and hope to see you as SkipJack’s on Thursday.
Jonathan
** jkay@grasshopper.com with any questions comments, or concerns **
