Posted April 9, 2010 at 8:14 am
by Business Insider:
A few weeks ago, we highlighted many of the cool startups that have popped up in New York City in recent years.
And now we turn to Silicon Valley.
Over the past few weeks, we’ve asked VCs, angel investors, entrepreneurs, and other tech journalists about their favorite up-and-coming Valley startups. We’ve written about many of these companies before, obviously, and we’ll be writing about many of them again.
In this list, you won’t see companies that have been around for years and raised multiple rounds of capital. Instead, you’ll see the some of the next generation — startups working on ideas so exciting that VCs and angels are lining up to throw money at them.
(We would like to thank Brendan McManus of Startup Digest for contributing to this list, as well as all of the investors and entrepreneurs who provided valuable insight.)
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted April 1, 2010 at 10:32 pm
by Silicon Valley Blogger:
How did I get started on the self-employment track? By accident. And that’s because I’m not really much of a risk taker when it comes to my career and income.
I’m much more willing to take risks with investments, yes. But with my work income? I’m a little bit more nervous about that. So when I tried my hand at an online web experiment, the last thing in my mind was that I’d turn it into a “business” or a new “career path”.
Well that’s what I did with regards to blogging. Becoming a “pro-blogger” was the last thing I’d ever thought I’d become, but not two years later, I guess I’d describe myself as one. Quitting my job and leaving my IT career for now was something I wanted to try, to see if I could sustain my household financially by blogging full time and by doing other independent projects as a freelancer.
So how’s it been so far? Pretty good. It’s done wonders for my overall health and disposition since I’m the only one around who breathes down my back to get things done 
. Income-wise, I can say that I am “getting there” (or getting by…).
I haven’t been in this entrepreneurial mode for too long, but I thought to let you know about some of the things that I’ve learned so far, as someone newly self-employed.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted March 19, 2010 at 12:05 am
from Minyanville.com
It’s been a full decade since investors reached the pinnacle of the high-flying dot-com era. On March 10, 2000, the 
NASDAQ peaked at 5132.52, marking the height of a market colored by all the hallmarks of a bubble: crowds of bullish analysts, valuations based on speculation rather than revenues, hundreds of “virtual” company duplicates, and would-be experts trading with the irrational faith that they’d see the end coming in time to cash out.
Our retrospective package looks back at the crash that followed, taking $5 trillion out of the market over two years. Here, we revisit the wrongheaded ideas, “new economy” language, and big personalities that helped fuel the fire.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted March 3, 2010 at 11:12 am
by Darren Dahl:
via OpenForum.com
If you have ever wondered about the differences in incorporating your small business as either a C-corporation or an S-corporation, pay attention. What follows could save you thousands, if not millions, of dollars if you ever decide to sell your business.
The basic difference between the two business entities really comes down to taxes.
C-corporations pay a corporate tax on their earnings, and their shareholders pay a personal tax on whatever dividend income they receive.
S-corporations, which are also known as flow-through entities, pay out earnings as dividends to their shareholders, who then pay a personal tax on the income they receive.
Ultimately, an S-corporation can be more attractive because you’ll most likely end up with more money after you pay taxes. Here’s how:
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted February 24, 2010 at 9:06 am
by Robert Frank:
So much for the starving artist.
With art prices resuming their upward momentum–after a brief recessionary downdraft–it is now possible for a select group of globally hyped artists to become far richer than their collectors.
According to Artinfo’s list of the seven richest artists, the richest artist in the world is Damien Hirst (he of the diamond skull), with a fortune estimated at $388 million.
He is the only artist assigned a specific dollar amount, which originally came from estimates by the London Times.
The rest is a list of names of “seven of the art world’s wealthiest,” leaving respectable room for..
Continue To full article here…
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted February 21, 2010 at 2:05 pm
by Fred Wilson:
I went down to Philly yesterday and spent the afternoon with students and faculty at Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs, the entity that administers the entrepreneurship major/courses at Wharton and runs a bunch of fantastic“outreach” programs like the Venture Initiation Program.
WEP is run by Professor Raffi Amit and as we were making our way from one meeting to another, I said to Raffi that “you can’t teach people to be entrepreneurs but you can teach entrepreneurs business.” He replied to me that his research into the topic suggests that “there are no unique and defining characteristics of entrepreneurs” which leads him to believe that you can in fact teach people to be entrepreneurs.
That threw me and I’ve been ruminating on his conclusion ever since. I’ve been working with entrepreneurs for almost 25 years now and it is ingrained in my mind that someone is either born an entrepreneur or is not.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted February 21, 2010 at 3:02 am
by Betsy Brottlund
via Openforum.com
With 85% of data breach occurring at the small business level, business owners need to secure online banking and data stringently.
Most of us are aware of the need to take sensible precautions — but how many of us regularly follow through? “I’ll renew the antivirus software later,” or “Let’s back up next week” are phrases often heard, action never taken. Which is why, according to Identity Theft Resource Center, a San Diego-based non-profit group, the business sector data breaches climbed from 21% in 2006 to 41% in 2009, resulting in the worst sector performance ever.
Each year, thieves find new ways to hack small business owners’ computers; lately, many hackers’ strategy of choice falls under the guise of banking Trojans. According to studies conducted in 2008/9 by the FBI, hackers stole close to $100 million.
It’s not just anonymous hackers on the net that are to blame, however. Each year, more and more breaches occur from inside an organization ranging from unhappy employees to human errors (i.e., misplaced laptops, equipment stolen from inside a workplace).
As a business owner, what can you do to be safe and protect your business from hackers and negligent employees? Secure your workplace by putting these 8 protocols in place for you and your employees.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted February 19, 2010 at 12:34 pm
This elite club of preternatural wealth builders managed to cobble million-dollar enterprises before they graduated from college.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted February 8, 2010 at 11:07 am
by Michael McKee:
(Bloomberg) — Small businesses are becoming the Achilles heel of the U.S. recovery by limiting growth and job creation.
Companies with fewer than 500 employees, such as Phoenix Technologies Ltd. and Sonic Corp., helped lead the economy out of the four recessions since 1980. This time, they continue to cut capital spending and dismiss workers, eliminating 3,000 jobs in January, according to Roseland, New Jersey-based Automatic Data Processing Inc., the world’s largest payroll processor.
Improvement in the unemployment rate, which fell to 9.7 in January from 10 percent in December, may stall later this year if these firms aren’t hiring, and growth likely won’t meet the median 2.7 percent annual rate forecast for 2010 by 67 economists in a Jan. 14 Bloomberg News survey.
“Will you have a sustainable recovery a few years down the road without getting some small-business spending? No,” Cary Leahey, senior managing director at Decision Economics Inc. in New York and a former White House economist, said in an interview. “Wall Street gets it.”
The Russell 2000 Index of small-cap stocks has risen 4 percent in the past six months, lagging behind a 6 percent increase in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
Coming out of previous recessions, shares of companies with market capitalization between $250 million and $1 billion generally led markets higher.
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Posted December 29, 2009 at 9:38 am
Think that now is a bad time to start a business? Think again.
According to Entrepreneur, self-employment rates have been increasing at an average rate of 4.5 percent per year since 2000, and the past two years are no exception. Analysts are even expecting to see a possible uptick in the number of small business created in 2009 when those numbers come out.
* Learn to Adapt in the Face of Adversity
* Boosting Business With a Facebook Fan Page
* Integrate Social Media Into Your Website
* Sound HR Practices for Good Times and Bad
* 10 Online Marketing Trends for 2010
Of course, some areas are a better bet than others. Entrepreneur came out with ten business trends that are thriving, not just surviving, in this “Great Recession.”
Filed Under: Lifestyle Design
Category Feed:
To get an emailed digest of all posts, join our free Wealth Wire News Feed
Stay connected to the pulse of Renegade Investing & Wealth Generation
Subscribe to our email wire and receive hand- picked DAILY-updated financial, investing, and economic news that is usable, unique, and timely.
Find Out More
or sign up below
Loading ...
Add Your Comment | 0 Comments