What is Spreadable?

If you haven’t heard about Spreadable, it’s a new tell a friend tool from our parent company, Grasshopper Group. But it actually came to be right here on Grasshopper.com.

For those of you who have ever seen or used the Refer an Entrepreneur button on our site, that’s Spreadable!

A few years ago, we wanted a better way for our customers to refer our product. We tried a couple of different tools but nothing really fit our needs, so we built our own. The result?

* A tool that in one year gave us a 20% conversion rate and generated over $100,000 in additional word of mouth revenue! *

And that’s how Spreadable was born. It’s a simple product that integrates with both email and social tools and it’s easy to use. Plus, you can track the results!

It comes with back-end analytics and conversion tracking so you know who’s referring you and what’s happening with those referrals.

I don’t know what you’re currently using for referrals but it’s probably not as awesome as Spreadable. We highly suggest you go check it out!

Over at Grasshopper Group there’s a great post on how to stick to your 2011 resolution of starting a business. We included several tips including “Think big”, “Think small”, “Keep your resolution every day” and finally, “Hold yourself accountable”.

One of the tips under “hold yourself accountable” is to actually do something for your business. Doing something or even buying something tangible can help motivate you and make the process more real.

Below we’ve outlined a few low cost actions that can help you get your business going this year:

1. Register a Business Name

You’ve probably thought about what you would call your business a million times. Now it’s time to take action and actually register it. You want to make sure it’s available and also protect it. Here are a couple of resources to help you:

• Registering Your Business Name
• Steps to Registering a Business
• Register Your Business

2. Create a Logo

A website can be an expensive way to start, so let’s begin with a logo. You may not be a designer but there are a number of freelancers out there who can help and aren’t terribly expensive. Check out 99designs.com, Logoworks, Logo Design Guru or ask around, you may know someone.

3. Purchase a Domain Name

A good domain name is imperative. It will go in your emails, on your business cards and more importantly, its how potential customers will find you. A good domain name should be short, describe your business, be easy to remember and a .com. SEOMoz has a great post, “12 Rules for Choosing the Right Domain Name” you can check out.

As for domain providers, there are a number out there including the most popular GoDaddy, Network Solutions & Yahoo.

4. Get a Phone Number

Starting out you will most likely use your cell phone the majority of the time. But let’s be honest, your current voicemail message probably doesn’t really sound all that professional for a business. Plus, do you really want to put your cell phone number on all of your business materials? No.

A dedicated business phone number is a great way to go and it’s cheap. You can lock down a toll free or local number for $9.95 a month, which includes call forwarding, voicemail boxes, custom greetings and more. You can still get your calls on your cell phone but no one else has to know that.

5. Print Business Cards

You don’t have to print a ton of them but why not get a few? It’ll feel good to see your name and company on a real business card and can act as a motivator. You can get them fairly cheap from a company like VistaPrint or PrintingforLess.

Make it happen

This year, don’t just say you are going to do it, go do it. Starting a business is a big endeavor so focus on doing one thing at a time. Make 2011 the year you stick to your resolution!

Starting a new business can be a turbulent undertaking. For one thing, there are no guarantees of success. Businesses fail every single day, and plenty of entrepreneurs come away with nothing to show for months or years of hard-fought effort. The idea of sacrificing a steady salary for an uncertain, hoped-for payday also tends to provoke anxiety.

While some are undeterred by these obstacles, others opt to play it safe and scrap their business plans altogether. Below are six of the most prevailing reasons why people are afraid to start businesses (and whether they make sense.)

1. The Economy

Some of the most common fears about starting businesses relate to how “the economy” is doing. If the economy is in a lull, many would be entrepreneurs assume that now must necessarily be the wrong time to get started. This belief is reinforced by nay-saying politicians and journalists who exaggerate even the very worst economic news.

Remember, though, that there is no single entity called “the economy.” What is loosely referred to as the economy is really just the vast, interconnected web of buyers and sellers accommodating each other through the market and price system. Moreover, there are two sides to every transaction. While some sectors of the economy may be hurting (such as finance and housing today), those on the other side of the affected transaction (like foreclosure specialists and storage facilities) could be thriving.

2. Uncertainty

Another fear that stops entrepreneurs from getting started is the uncertainty inherent in owning a business. Unlike a salaried job, business ownership provides no immediate or guaranteed pay. Income, if any, is commensurate with the company’s sales or profits. If you have grown accustomed to being paid on a regular schedule regardless of outcome, trading that in for the uncertainty of business ownership can feel like a leap of faith. It is entirely legitimate to wonder if your business will be capable of providing for you or your family.

That said, there is a flip side to the uncertainty. If and when your business does produce an income, no boss or employer can take it away. Never again will you have to plead for a raise or demonstrate why you “deserve” more. In business, your income is entirely determined by what you produce and/or sell.

3. Indecision

Others have reservations because they are undecided about what type of business to start. More often than not, these are people who know they want to be self-employed, but not in what capacity. This, too, can be a legitimate fear to have. If you currently work in a steady career, it is not enough to simply “go into business.” In order to credibly go off on your own, you must be confident about what kind of business you will open. You must also have the skills and expertise to succeed in that business.

Current or previous jobs are a good reference point. If you currently work for an accounting firm, starting your own is perfectly reasonable. Deciding to abruptly change course and buy an Alaskan crab fishing boat might warrant more scrutiny.

4. Debt

Debt can constitute a serious obstacle to entrepreneurship. If you are saddled with student loans or credit card bills, it will be difficult to obtain any start-up financing you might need. In severe instances (such as if your wages are being garnished), any income your business produces will go directly to your creditors anyway.

Needless to say, concern about your pre-existing debt is a completely defensible reason to fear starting a business. Rather than trying to juggle both at once, focus squarely on repaying all of your debts first. Once your financial slate is wiped clean, you can move on to business ownership with a clear mind.

5. Family Obligations

Financial concerns are not the only reason people fear starting businesses. The early years of a new company can be incredibly taxing, and some fear having little time to spend with their families. After all, everyone gets the same 24 hours in a day. There is only so much of yourself to go around, and if you’re putting in ten or twelve hour days at work, there is no way to also spend that time at home. (Unless you have a home office, that is.)

It may truthfully be that family time is a deal-breaker for you. On the other hand, don’t be too quick to relinquish your ambitions. Discuss with your spouse whether arrangements or sacrifices can be made for the early days of your company.

6. No Benefits

Finally, other would-be entrepreneurs worry about what losing benefits, such as employer-provided health insurance or 401(k) contributions, will do to their overall finances. This, too, is a serious concern worth addressing. Perhaps you or a family member has a long-standing health condition. In such a scenario, a sudden lack of coverage could prove devastating.

Not every situation is so dire, however. Retirement accounts (including IRAs, Solo 401(k)s and self-employed pensions) can be opened and funded on your own without the help of any employer. It may also be possible to form a pool with other entrepreneurs and buy health insurance at lower group rates, which is essentially how large employers buy it.

The way to know for sure is to determine what, if anything, such plans do for entrepreneurs. John T. Reed, a Harvard MBA, points out that what actually needs stimulating is business profits, which supply the money for defense, Social Security payments, employee salaries/wages, business taxes and ultimately, the stimulus itself.

What Was Stimulated

The question of whether the stimulus is working, therefore, is really a question of whether it helps entrepreneurs be more profitable. Some aspects of the stimulus do appear to help. Roughly $15 billion in stimulus money was devoted to letting businesses use current losses to offset profits from the previous five years (instead of the previous limit of two years), which made such companies eligible for tax refunds.

Another $11 billion was allocated to help government contractors by no longer withholding 3% of contractor payments to ensure tax compliance. Additionally, $5 billion was spent allowing businesses to speed up depreciation on equipment purchases. Unfortunately, this and other tax relief to businesses totaled just $51 billion out of the entire $787 billion stimulus.

The rest of the bill, as the Wall Street Journal breaks down in chart form, is largely about funding public works projects and government-run social programs. $400 million, for instance, was provided to extend and increase state unemployment payments. Over $5 billion was set aside to modernize and repair federal office buildings. A whopping $29 billion was allocated to highway improvements, while another $26 billion went to extend jobless benefits for up to 33 weeks.

Laid-off workers in the aggregate received a $24 billion, 65% subsidy to continue paying premiums on their old employer’s health insurance plans for nine months. In total, roughly $736 billion of the $787 billion stimulus packages went to social programs, infrastructure improvements and tax relief for low and middle-income workers.

Stimulus or Sedative

Clearly, the bulk of the stimulus bill created incentives for activities other than profit making. Among the specific things rewarded in greater amounts were “core investments” (including over $1 billion to failed government-run enterprise Amtrak), miscellaneous energy projects, education and healthcare.

Regardless of the merits or demerits of these things individually, they are not about entrepreneurs or helping them in any demonstrable way. If it is kept in mind that business profits are the true source of prosperity, it seems that the stimulus has been downright antagonistic to entrepreneurship. Several prominent economists (including Edward C. Prescott, Robert Lucas, Jr. and Vernon L. Smith) said as much before the bill was passed. The Congressional Budget Office likewise concluded that for whatever short-term gains the stimulus produces, there would be a net decrease in GDP by 2019.

A Real Stimulus For Entrepreneurs

A stimulus plan that truly helped entrepreneurs prosper would contain vastly different provisions. Alex Tabarrok of MarginalRevolution.com writes that a real stimulus would be concerned first and foremost with boosting incentives to produce. To that end, Tabarrok proposes that the IRS cut the marginal tax rates of every citizen, not just low and middle-income earners. That would increase the ability of consumers to spend again and would not require any additional government debt.

Another deficit-friendly way to help entrepreneurs would be to reduce or eliminate corporate income taxes. According to the Tax Foundation, the United States taxes corporations at higher rates than any other country, including France and Germany. In an article on what a true stimulus plan would accomplish, John T. Reed proposes (among other things) the following:

• Abolishing the corporate income tax
• Ending all wage and price controls
• Eliminating all tariffs and restrictions on imports
• Limiting the Internal Revenue Code to ten pages in length
• Enacting a “producer-recruiting program” that biases U.S. immigration toward healthy, talented and ambitious foreigners while simultaneously encouraging a “parasite drain” away from the U.S.
• Establishing a Constitutional limit on what percentage of an individual’s income can be taxed

There are also ways for the government to actively help businesses, rather than simply leaving them alone. In The Gridlock Economy, Michael Heller explains that entrepreneurs are routinely thwarted by ownership gridlock, which delays progress on everything from developing blockbuster drugs to ending airport congestion to using more than just 10% of our broadcasting spectrum. Through smart policy, government could encourage the creation of patent pools and other mediums that make it easier for entrepreneurs to innovate.

The Opposite of the Stimulus

Regrettably, while all of these things would be of immense help to businesses, none of them are the focus of this or any foreseeable stimulus bill. As many have pointed out, the various government spending-based activities called for in the stimulus will ultimately come at the expense of entrepreneurs. To the extent the stimulus is funded by current taxes, the nation’s businesses are worse off by that amount. To the extent the stimulus is financed by debt, the same will be true albeit later rather than sooner (as reflected in the predicted net reduction in GDP by 2019.)

Taking all into account, the stimulus package has not only failed to help entrepreneurs, but also arguably made their jobs more difficult. A true stimulus would create lasting incentives to produce and hire rather than just temporary aid to those suffering hardships.

For all the pain and hardships recessions cause, they also create unique opportunities for savvy entrepreneurs in general and certain types of businesses in particular. Today, Grasshopper explores why recessions can be an ideal time to get a business off the ground.

Lower Pressure & Expectations

A common barrier to starting a business is fear of failure. Entrepreneurs are often chastised by friends or family to pursue something more realistic (like a “guaranteed” job or career) than the company they dream of starting. Those who ignore the criticism and start one anyway expose themselves to great scrutiny. And this is why, in one respect, a recession is a perfect time to strike out on your own.

When the economy is booming (think back to the mid-late 1990′s or much of the 1980′s), success is the norm. If you announce intentions of shunning a traditional career for the entrepreneurial lifestyle in such a climate, there will be even more wrath from doubters if you falter. Recessions, on the other hand, are by definition barren of very many “sure thing” career opportunities. It’s tough to fault someone for starting a business when there is no easy job to fall back on.

Furthermore, it is less surprising if you fail because after all, “the economy” is down anyway. Put another way, recessions can actually deflate the intense bubble of pressure and expectations entrepreneurs find themselves in during prosperous times.

“The Economy” is Not Down

Marketing instructor Ken McCarthy once sent an e-mail to his subscribers called “the economy doesn’t exist.” His main point was, as he explains:

“There is no such thing as “the economy.” There’s only your market and your customers, and the whole game of entrepreneurship – the whole game – is adapting successfully to circumstances whatever they may be.”

While it is somewhat oversimplified to say that there is no such thing as the economy, entrepreneurs can learn an extremely valuable lesson from this. The economy is not a a single entity that marches in one direction and drags everyone with it at equal speed. Rather, “the economy” is simply a broad, catch-all term describing the interactions between innumerable people, businesses, industries, markets, products and services. People in different sectors of the economy, consequently, face entirely different circumstances, threats and opportunities. Recessions do not affect all of these people in equal proportion, and in some cases, it barely affects them in any noticeable way at all.

And just like there is no single entity called “the economy”, there is also no single activity called “business.” BusinessPundit.com, for example, refutes the popular statistic of there being a given percentage of “small businesses” that fail. As it turns out, “small business” is another vague phrase which includes “such wholly different and unrelated fields as restaurant operation, self-publishing, plumbing and web design.” Because of the unique market forces and success-determining factors involved in different types of businesses, BusinessPundit concludes, “it means practically nothing to proclaim that “small businesses”, categorically, have a set failure rate that you specifically should be swayed by.”

Counter-Cyclical Industries

Thus far, our discussion has been limited to how businesses can persevere in spite of the recession. But it may surprise you to know that there are entire industries (called counter-cyclical industries) that prosper because of the recession. Which industries these are largely depend on why the recession is happening and what its fallout has produced. The current recession offers several examples. We know that the fallout of the housing bust has been disastrous for over-leveraged home owners, much of the financial sector and certain U.S. automakers.

Remember, though, that there are always two sides to every transaction. While the above parties have struggled, others have feasted, including bank foreclosure departments, foreclosure lawyers, auctioneers, and asset managers of foreclosed properties. Another example of a counter-cyclical industry is personal storage, because layoffs often induce people to move to less expensive areas of the country. In fact, certain segments of the financial sector such as retirement planning often see a leap in business during recessions when people place a higher priority on securing their future livelihoods. For these and other counter-cyclical businesses, recessions are anything but disastrous. Investigate whether the business you are starting does or could have a counter-cyclical aspect that enables you to profit from a downtrodden economy.

It’s Been Done

Perhaps the most convincing case for starting a business during a recession are the many household-name companies that did it before you. Microsoft is the biggest example, but it is hardly the only example. A cursory Google search returns dozens of successful businesses that were founded during tough economic times. CNN explains that Proctor & Gamble, for instance, was founded during The Panic of 1837. Amidst devastating bank failures and what CNN calls “the greatest economic decline since the birth of the country”, P&G adapted to its circumstances and prospered by supplying the Union Army during the American Civil War. Today, Proctor & Gamble sells some of the most recognized products in the world, including brands like Duracell and Pringles. Burger King, IHOP, FedEx, CNN, MTV, Trader Joes, Sports Illustrated, General Electric, and even Wikipedia were all started during various recessions over the last thirty years.

You can be sure that each of these founders were doubted, ridiculed and scorned to one extent or another. But many years later, there they are: not only still around, but in most cases, doing better than anyone could have imagined in their wildest dreams at the time of their founding. The point is not necessarily that you will succeed to the extent these businesses did, but that recessions did not stop those businesses from succeeding and need not stop yours.

The Takeaway

In short, recessions are often the ideal time to get your company into motion. The key is to mostly ignore what politicians, journalists and non-businesspeople say about you or your goals. Train yourself to stop thinking in vague, sweeping phrases like “the economy” and “business.” Instead, resolve to focus on the fundamentals of succeeding in your particular kind of business.

However, for all the hype about cloud computing, few possess an actual game plan for positioning their business to tangibly benefit from it. Below, Grasshopper provides ten specific services you can use to put business functions like bandwidth, e-mail, document creation and budgeting in the cloud immediately – and begin saving money every single day.

Servers and Bandwidth

One of the most substantial costs an Internet business (and many non-Internet businesses) contends with are those involving servers and bandwidth. Innumerable businesses require raw computing power to display web pages, send e-mails, stream audio or video and more. Following are several services that allow you to pay on demand for bandwidth from the cloud.

Amazon S3

Amazon S3 allows anyone to purchase as much storage space as they require, pay only what it costs for that space, and not have to administer any servers or buy equipment themselves. Instead, S3 users simply sign up for the service and pay according to straightforward pricing tiers. As Amazon’s S3 pricing breakdown explains, users are charged one rate for storing data or files in the S3 cloud ($0.150 per GB for the first fifty terabytes per month, at time of writing) and another rate for transfers. Currently, Amazon is offering free transfers into S3 until June 30, 2010, and charging just $0.150 per GB on the first ten terabytes transferred out of S3 per month. Amazon has also taken great care to build security into the S3 platform to ensure business owners that nothing they store there will fall into the wrong hands.

Rackspace Cloud

A similar service business owners can use for their serving and bandwidth needs is Rackspace Cloud. Users are given several server options to choose from with this service, each of which bills a different hourly rate (and thus, monthly rate) for servers with different configurations of RAM and hard disk space. A Linux server with 256MB of RAM and a 10GB hard drive, for instance, can be used for just 1.5¢ per hour, or $10.95 per month. Meanwhile, a server with 15GB of RAM and 620 GB of storage can be used for 96¢ per hour, or just over $700 per month. As with Amazon S3, users are free to choose as much or as little space and processing power as their business requires and be confident that they are not paying for any more than that.

OpenNebula

Not every business can get by using pre-made cloud computing solutions. Some tasks require the ability to create your own cloud that can, “…transform your data center into a flexible and agile virtual infrastructure which dynamically adapts to the changing demands of the service workload”, as OpenNebula puts it. Businesses seeking to develop their own cloud computing solutions will find that OpenNebula is a capable “…virtualization tool to manage [the] virtual infrastructure” that they build. Unlike other cloud platforms, OpenNebula boasts the advantage of being open source and standards compliant, meaning that it will work seamlessly with other cloud computing applications you might already be running in the workplace.

Asigra Cloud Backup

Any business with a lot of important data to store eventually has to decide where and how they are going to back it all up. When it comes to cloud-based backup solutions, however, Asigra Cloud Backup stands out. Besides the standard benefits of cloud computing, Asigra offers business owners three backup options to choose from, depending on their own needs. First, you can opt to backup your data to a public cloud for off-site recovery, a private cloud operated within your own workplace, or a hybrid incorporating elements of each, if that is what you decide is best for your firm. Rather than, “…wasting brainpower and precious resources on what should be a routine task,” (as Asigra describes traditional, pre-cloud backup solutions), investigate the benefits that cloud-based backup can offer.

Document Creation & Collaboration

While it’s quite common to pirate software titles like Microsoft Office, businesses run serious risks by doing so at the corporate level. Nevertheless, businesses still need reliable word processors, spreadsheet and slide show tools for day to day operations. Below are two free or inexpensive cloud alternatives that get the job done for less.

Google Docs

The unquestioned leader in this area is Google Docs. Formerly known as Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Docs allows anyone with a Google account to create and edit any type of document (text, spreadsheet, presentations) that desktop software like MS Office provides – online, and for free. Furthermore, users are also free to share the documents they create with colleagues, business partners or co-workers, who can in turn edit the documents in real time. No matter how many edits are made or how many people make them, the document is always conveniently stored in one place. Plus, all documents created by Google Docs can be opened by those using Microsoft Office. If you have grown tired of shuttling several copies of the same spreadsheet back and forth, or simply want to eliminate the expense of desktop office software from your bottom line, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better solution than Google Docs.

Additionally, many of us have found GMail to be of great use as a personal e-mail account. However, you may not be aware that the same convenience and ease of use GMail provides to individuals can be deployed across an entire business. The official Google Apps For Business website advertises that businesses can get 25GB of storage, compatibility with Microsoft Outlook and Blackberry phones and 99% uptime SLA using GMail For Business. In fact, Google’s entire suite of business apps (which includes GMail, Google Docs, Google Sites and more) can be had for just $50 per month, per user. A 30 day free trial is also offered to those who prefer to test drive before signing up. And, the free versions of Google’s web-based applications, are of course, enough for many smaller businesses just starting out.

Zoho

Zoho offers a web-based document creation and editing solution with similar features. While it isn’t free (pricing details can be found here) Zoho’s true strength is a more powerful sharing system. As Mashable explains, “…not only can you invite others to view or edit documents,” as Google Docs also allows, “…but you can create groups to make them easier to manage.” Zoho also permits users to make documents publicly viewable to anyone via a unique URL and/or RSS feed that gets updated automatically if and when the document in question is changed. Finally, Zoho lets multiple document collaborators chat while they are editing a document, and helpfully archives older copies of documents in case you need to use an earlier version.

Communication

It’s been said that business is about people, and communication is likely an essential ingredient in the success of your business. Below are several web-based services that make it easier to stay in touch with your customers and partners for less.

Flowtown

Flowtown answers the prayers of anyone who has ever stared blankly at an e-mail address and wished to know who was behind it. Essentially, Flowtown encourages users to type in the e-mail address of anyone they wish to learn more about. Then, using only the address you typed in, Flowtown proceeds to discover (among other things) the name, age, gender, and social networks used by the owner of the address. As the business owner, you can then create unique and highly-targeted e-mail messages based on what Flowtown revealed to you about the recipient. This, in turn, boosts the likelihood that your e-mails will get opened, read and acted upon, rather than instinctively rejected as spam.

Hootsuite

Businesses in all fields are beginning to recognize Twitter’s value in building relationships with customers. Unfortunately, most Twitter clients are not suited to the goals or purposes of businesspeople, having been designed instead for casual users of the service. That’s where Hootsuite comes in. As a professional Twitter client, Hootsuite enables Twitter to be used as a relationship-building and marketing tool. Features include: the ability to schedule Tweets for certain dates and times (such as to coincide with an upcoming sale), management of multiple social media profiles from one screen, and monitoring what other people are Tweeting about your brand. Hootsuite is currently free, though the company is, “…currently investigating pricing plans and exciting new features for paid accounts” per its FAQ page.

Microsoft Sharepoint

Microsoft Sharepoint is a popular server-based application enabling networked collaboration in the workplace. In essence, Sharepoint lets businesses establish intranets within which Microsoft Office documents can be shared and collaboratively edited by employees throughout an organization. Traditionally, SharePoint has been an application that businesses ran locally. And while CIO.com once felt that, “…deploying SharePoint in the cloud, either as a standalone or as part of Microsoft’s BPOS, has not provided the level security, compliance, privacy and app compatibility that comes with on-premise deployments”, their opinion has changed with the release of Sharepoint 2010, which CIO finds “…close the gap in functionality” between running SharePoint in-house versus in the cloud. If you have been considering using SharePoint in your business, now seems the ideal time to try it out.

Budgeting and Billing

Ultimately, every business is about making money and spending wisely the money it already has. Luckily, the spread of cloud computing makes it unnecessary to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on elaborate billing and budgeting systems. Below are two services we recommend for meeting your money management needs for less.

Mint

Mint is frequently praised for being an excellent personal money manager and budgeting service. But like GMail and several of the apps we’ve discussed, Mint can be used by businesses as well, depending on size. While it might not be the ideal solution for a company with 500 employees, a small or growing startup can easily use Mint to track the spending activity of corporate bank accounts or credit cards, as well as generate helpful charts and graphs that make spending intelligible. The only essential difference between using Mint for a business rather than for personal use is inputting the account and routing numbers for your company account rather than your own. From there, Mint will function in the same helpful, organized and visually pleasing way you are used to. Best of all, Mint is currently free.

Chargify

Chargify, as its homepage proudly proclaims, allows you to, “…build your business, not your billing system.” Essentially, Chargify is a flexible yet comprehensive billing solution that allows you to start accepting credit card payments, manage recurring subscriptions, and analyze your billing data for trends or patterns that can shape your business decisions. Additionally, Chargify, “…handles free trial periods, one-time fees, promotions, refunds, email receipts and even dunning,” all without making you sign contracts, pay set-up fees or transaction fees. Chargify’s pricing structure is quite flexible as well: free for up to 50 customers, up to $2,499 for unlimited, with several options in between.

In fact, the Twitter accounts of other startups and founders are often treasure troves of relevant, applicable insight. After all, these are folks who have overcome the obstacles you are facing and achieved the goals you are striving for. Who better to learn from? The key to using Twitter productively, of course, is avoiding idle banter and following only those offering concrete, actionable advice. To that end, Grasshopper scoured Twitter for fourteen accounts that any startup founder would be well-served to follow.

Startup Digest

Startup Digest is an awesome service for getting plugged in with your local startup community. They also have a great Twitter list setup for you to follow to filter out some of the noise in your Twitter stream once in awhile and focus on valuable insights from leading tech blogs and entrepreneurs.

Make a Startup

While not itself a startup, Make a Startup‘s Twitter feed is a veritable compendium of startup-specific knowledge. A glance through a typical day’s Tweets turns up such gems as “business models behind the Internet startup” and “3 New Startup Pitfalls to be Aware of.” The ideal person to follow, Make a Startup is someone who wants to understand the deep mechanics of how Internet business and the startup life work. As venture capitalist Paul Graham is fond of saying, “you don’t need to understand physics to be a pitcher, but it never hurts.” That being said, even the “big picture” lessons dispensed on Make a Startup’s Twitter are focused on action, not armchair theorizing.

Perry Marshall

As the world’s premier Google AdWords authority, Perry Marshall works as a marketing consultant to dozens of startups and small to medium sized businesses. The main reason his Twitter is worth following is that he impresses upon readers a constant focus on bottom-line results. While it’s easy to get caught up in fuzzy metrics like “buzz” and “mind share”, Perry’s tweets serve as persistent reminders to focus on whether what you are doing is making money.

His advice on e-mail marketing, split testing and conversion tracking is essential to anyone involved in a startup. Furthermore, his insights on Internet marketing are vital to anyone concerned with bringing more customers into the fray (which, believe it or not, often gets moved to the back burner by startups.)

Startup Report

Startup Report‘s Twitter feed is slightly different than most of the ones we mention, but is eminently worth following nonetheless. Essentially, Startup Report is an up to the minute aggregation of startup news reports – who’s gotten funding, who’s been bought out, who’s gone under, etc. It’s a way for any business owner to take the pulse of what’s going on in the startup world and look for patterns of market activity that ought to influence their decisions. While investors have stock tickers and the Wall Street Journal, those immersed in the startup world have Startup Report.

EntrepreneurUS

EntrepreneurUS is another Twitter account deserving of any founder’s attention. In terms of immediately applicable tips and strategies, it’s tough to beat tweets such as “Watch 25 Entrepreneurs Try To Launch 6 Startups From A Bus In Just 48 Hours.”

EntrepreneurUS also tweets material that is useful to early stage founders, such as how to generate startup ideas if you do not currently have one. And that’s just a sampling of the material submitted on their Twitter on a daily basis. Tune in once in a while and your search for useful business insight will be richly rewarded.

Cool Startups

Described as “a magnet for all the buzz on hot new startups”, Cool Startups is a Twitter feed that is positively packed with valuable how-to information and educational anecdotes on business success. Indicative of the content you will find on Cool Startups are tweets such as “Lessons From Start-Ups on Improving Sales Productivity” and “Startup Professionals Musings: For an Entrepreneur, an MBA is not King.” With such useful advice, it’s no wonder over 2,400 people have decided to follow Cool Startups to date!

Venture Beat

Venture Beat is the Twitter account for those eager to keep up with the latest musings and recommendations of the venture capital industry. While it’s certainly important to absorb all the perspective and wisdom from other founders that you can, it also helps to understand startups as seen from an investor’s point of view. Typical tweets include “an angel investor’s advice for startups” and “Norwest’s Tim Chang wants to invest in the “game-ification” of life.” Perhaps the most useful benefit of following Venture Beat is staying abreast of what types of businesses investors want to invest in.

OfficeDivvy

OfficeDivvy, a startup focused on virtual office solutions, maintains a Twitter feed that offers useful, daily guidance to founders. With tweets such as “Why Business Plans Are a Waste of Time For Startups” and “When to do it yourself, and when to outsource some of your tasks”, founders are sure to find a fresh perspective on the many challenges they face on a regular basis. At time of writing, over 20,000 people have decided that following OfficeDivvy is a worthwhile use of their time.

2BProductive

Some of the more common problems startup founders grapple with are their own mental and habitual roadblocks. No matter how many books or seminars you devour on business strategy, you will never take your business to the next level until you master your own habits as regards time management, goal setting and execution. That’s why 2BProductive is a Twitter feed all of us need to be following.

Every day, 2BProductive dispenses valuable nuggets of insight, including podcasts on action-based agendas, what we can learn from the Olympics for business productivity and more. If you feel that your overall strategy is sound but aren’t sure how to correct unproductive habits, 2BProductive is well worth tuning into.

Daytimer Page

Another Twitter account aimed at providing time management and personal productivity tips is Daytimer Page. While its follower count isn’t astronomical (just over 300 at time of writing) Daytimer Page is a rock-solid resource for anyone looking to improve their own personal effectiveness in the workplace.

Everything from the efficient use of planners to brain dumps to color-coordinated calendars is discussed on a daily basis, resulting in a buffet of tips, advice and strategies for sharp startup founders to choose from. If you feel like time is managing you instead of the other way around, it’s time to follow Daytimer Page and take its advice to heart.

FocusSmallBiz

Focus Small Biz is the ultimate Twitter feed for those seeking hard-nosed answers to practical, immediate questions – such as “what is the best marketing technique for small businesses that budget $50/month?” Other questions tackled by Focus’ daily Twitter feed include “Why don’t banks and traditional lenders provide funds to startups?” and “How to Select a Good Business Webcam.” Why more startups don’t get funding is another frequently addressed topic. Whenever you find yourself struggling to answer a very direct question, it’s a safe bet that perusing the archives of Focus Small Biz will point you in the right direction.

Brand Strategic

For most startups, a social media presence has gone from being “nice to have” to being a baseline necessity. Unfortunately, much of the educational material on doing social media correctly contains more hype and platitudes than actionable advice. A refreshing departure into social media practicality is Brand Strategic, a Twitter feed that dispenses daily tidbits including “11 Free Tools for Social Media Optimization” and “Five insights into the behaviors of social media users.” An occasional glance at Brand Strategic’s updates will leave you feeling confident and ready to implement what you have learned, rather than endlessly searching for answers.

Social Media Solutions

Another excellent Twitter feed to follow with regard to practical social media strategies is Social Media Solutions. Whereas BrandStrategic focuses more on tutorials and resources for using social media for immediate impact, Social Media Solutions tweets examples of major or growing brands using social media in their own activities, allowing you to discern patterns and effective strategies that are working for other businesses.

At time of writing, for instance, readers can learn about Connecticut governor Jodi Rell using social media to release state news, or DirecTV using it in ad campaigns. Those seeking to learn by example from the successful social media pioneering of others need look no further.

VisionQuest MT

VisionQuest MT is a Twitter feed focused on accounting, bookkeeping, and measuring productivity in quantitative terms. Readers will find tweets covering an expansive territory of business topics, ranging from tax breaks to measuring employee productivity to the trade-offs of working at home versus the office. As has been the case with all of the feeds we’ve mentioned, readers can expect a firm focus on actionable tips and wisdom. Most of VisionQuest’s tweets pertain to things you are already doing and have the potential to make an immediate difference for the better.

We’ve gathered 14 tweets from smart people around the web, offering some simple words of wisdom on startups:

• Tech startups – be careful about “geeking out” on sales calls. You’re selling solutions to problems not technology. @byosko



• Just finished a call with a CEO who is delaying fundraising till he gets more traction. Very smart. You can’t raise $ without validation @startupcfo

• Avoid analysis paralysis…been noticing we talk a lot about the interpretation of data, not whether to act…this is the way to do it. @MikeMcDerment

• IMHO an amazing co-founder is invaluable – each step in your startup feels more solid, faster, and well thought out. @danmartell

• I don’t think school has much to do with being an entrepreneur. @jasonfried

• Taking the time to document processes and standards for my own team. Sometimes you need to slow down in order to be able to speed up. @startupcfo

• great product expertise can’t be bought. monetization expertise can be. so you look for the product expertise in the founding team @fredwilson

• It is not written anywhere that raising money is the first step in starting a company. Or any step at all. @ThisisStartup

• Price isn’t the only factor ppl use when buying stuff. Don’t use “lowest price” wins as an excuse. @byosko

• (1) Scratch a really painful itch. (2) Tell everyone your idea. (3) Find the right team. (4) Ask more questions #thisisstartup @thomasknoll

• It’s the constant surge to “WOW” the customer to build trust, make him come back & give confidence that we are here to deliver! @nandinih
• #startup founders: highly recommend getting 1-2 other people to be co-founders. share the burden and share the success. @george_revutsky
• How to Kill a Startup: Hire Executives instead of Entrepreneurs from @VCMike. It is all about timing and stage. @dh

And my favorite:

• I have an idea for a new startup. @Orli

What other words of wisdom have you found on Twitter?