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Photograph by Martin Adolfsson/Gallery Stock
Your Small Business Questions, Answered
Send us your questions on challenges you face in your business. Journalist Karen E. Klein will interview experts and distill their insights into answers.
Recent
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Financing
Kabbage Expands Its Cash Advances to Brick-and-Mortars
As banks lag in small business lending, alternative financing providers are hoping to eat their lunch -
Financing
Pitching a Startup While Pregnant
"Either you just had a big meal or you're pregnant." Tech entrepreneurs who pitched to outside investors while expecting recount their experiences -
Technology
A Business Accelerator to Rethink 'How We Pay for Health Care'
Startups finishing a year-old program are taking aim at health care's hardest tech problems -
Policy
What Do a Chemical Engineer and a Pizza Maker Have in Common?
A new report says government policies around the world often undermine entrepreneurs with potential to create high-growth ventures -
Facebook
Facebook Scores a Victory Over FaveHook and Its Ilk
Soundalike cybersquatters lose in federal court -
Policy
Overlooked in the Online Sales Tax Bill: Free Tax Software
Tax collection is too complex for retailers, say opponents of a proposed law scheduled for its final vote in the Senate in May. Free software is intended to make it easier -
Financing
Venture Capital Firms Are Disappearing. Why Do VCs Think Things Are Looking Up?
About 400 firms have stopped investing or gone out of business since 2000, by one count, but VCs are optimistic about the next 18 months -
Apps & Software
Infer Promises More Sales Through Better Math
The startup says its software mines the Web for data on buyers, assesses attributes, and points sales people toward customers most likely to buy—and spend more -
Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Financing
VCs That Back Women Beat Those That Don't
The least-connected venture capital firms are the most likely to invest in women-led companies -
Profiles
How Three Social Ventures Look Beyond Profits
A look at a few of the companies that made B Lab's "B Corp Best for the World" list -
Marketing
Online Sellers Experiment More With Brick-and-Mortar Shops
Online businesses are opening brick-and-mortar locations to build brand awareness and test new retail strategies -
Technology
At Rally.org, Fundraising for Charitable Causes Is Big Business
A website that channels political donations finds a new calling -
Profiles
Don't Throw That Out! LeanPath Harnesses Data to Fight Food Waste
A small company's simple technology entices kitchen workers to waste less, saving big food-service operations money -
Financing
Crowdfunding's on Hold. So Is Crowdfunding Fraud
Predictions about a robust new source of capital for entrepreneurs and a flood of fraudsters preying on gullible investors haven't materialized
Read
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Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Financing
Pitching a Startup While Pregnant
"Either you just had a big meal or you're pregnant." Tech entrepreneurs who pitched to outside investors while expecting recount their experiences -
Financing
Kabbage Expands Its Cash Advances to Brick-and-Mortars
As banks lag in small business lending, alternative financing providers are hoping to eat their lunch -
Technology
Yale Startup GoBlue Offers a Tobacco Cessation App
Quit-smoking apps get hot in a $1 billion market -
Profiles
Wal-Mart Taps a Startup for a Window Into Bangladesh Factories
The retailer is hiring Silicon Valley's LaborVoices to connect it with workers in its 279 supplier factories in Bangladesh -
Marketing
How to Run an Effective Social Media Program
Which platforms work best? Manage them yourself or delegate? Spend time or money? As social media grows in influence, businesses need to answer these questions -
Advice
Integrated Marketing: If You Knew It, You'd Do It
The glut of places to advertise makes it easy to confuse customers with contradictory messages. Execute a strategy that integrates all your efforts -
Technology
How Small Businesses Use Big Data
Startups and small companies are finding ways to use voluminous data sets to gain insights into customers, employees, and products -
Technology
Ten Fantasy Gadgets That Could Come True in 2013
Crowds funded these ideas. Now their makers have to deliver -
Advice
How Social Media Is Changing CRM
New customer relationship management tools are letting companies communicate with customers rather than just thrust messages at them -
Financing
Crowdfunding's on Hold. So Is Crowdfunding Fraud
Predictions about a robust new source of capital for entrepreneurs and a flood of fraudsters preying on gullible investors haven't materialized -
Marketing
Online Sellers Experiment More With Brick-and-Mortar Shops
Online businesses are opening brick-and-mortar locations to build brand awareness and test new retail strategies -
Financing
VCs That Back Women Beat Those That Don't
The least-connected venture capital firms are the most likely to invest in women-led companies -
Advice
When Should Domain Names Match Company Names?
For businesses selling to other businesses, it doesn't much matter. Even most ventures targeting consumers shouldn't sweat it in their early days -
Advice
How to Protect Your Company's Data
Most small businesses do not adequately plan for data loss. Experts offer advice on putting a system in place
Shared
-
Financing
Pitching a Startup While Pregnant
"Either you just had a big meal or you're pregnant." Tech entrepreneurs who pitched to outside investors while expecting recount their experiences -
Technology
Yale Startup GoBlue Offers a Tobacco Cessation App
Quit-smoking apps get hot in a $1 billion market -
Technology
A Business Accelerator to Rethink 'How We Pay for Health Care'
Startups finishing a year-old program are taking aim at health care's hardest tech problems -
Financing
VCs That Back Women Beat Those That Don't
The least-connected venture capital firms are the most likely to invest in women-led companies -
Profiles
Wal-Mart Taps a Startup for a Window Into Bangladesh Factories
The retailer is hiring Silicon Valley's LaborVoices to connect it with workers in its 279 supplier factories in Bangladesh -
Marketing
How to Run an Effective Social Media Program
Which platforms work best? Manage them yourself or delegate? Spend time or money? As social media grows in influence, businesses need to answer these questions -
Financing
Kabbage Expands Its Cash Advances to Brick-and-Mortars
As banks lag in small business lending, alternative financing providers are hoping to eat their lunch -
Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Manufacturing
Small U.S. Manufacturers Give Up on 'Made in China'
Put off by piracy and quality problems, small companies are returning to U.S. factories -
Technology
How Small Businesses Use Big Data
Startups and small companies are finding ways to use voluminous data sets to gain insights into customers, employees, and products -
Advice
Integrated Marketing: If You Knew It, You'd Do It
The glut of places to advertise makes it easy to confuse customers with contradictory messages. Execute a strategy that integrates all your efforts -
Technology
Waiting for the Accelerator Bubble to Pop
Programs to seed startups are sprouting everywhere, from ocean liners to prisons. Investors expect a shakeout -
Profiles
Portland Bike Maker Sees Made-in-USA Demand from Overseas
About 99 percent of bicycles sold in the U.S. are made in Asia. One Portland (Ore.) manufacturer still makes everything here and is riding a wave of foreign orders -
Marketing
Online Sellers Experiment More With Brick-and-Mortar Shops
Online businesses are opening brick-and-mortar locations to build brand awareness and test new retail strategies -
Financing
Crowdfunding's on Hold. So Is Crowdfunding Fraud
Predictions about a robust new source of capital for entrepreneurs and a flood of fraudsters preying on gullible investors haven't materialized
Discussed
-
Marketing
It's Getting Harder to Make Money on YouTube
More than a million video makers have signed up for the site's ad revenue-sharing program, but ad rates have been falling -
Technology
A Business Accelerator to Rethink 'How We Pay for Health Care'
Startups finishing a year-old program are taking aim at health care's hardest tech problems -
Financing
Kabbage Expands Its Cash Advances to Brick-and-Mortars
As banks lag in small business lending, alternative financing providers are hoping to eat their lunch -
Financing
Pitching a Startup While Pregnant
"Either you just had a big meal or you're pregnant." Tech entrepreneurs who pitched to outside investors while expecting recount their experiences -
Profiles
Wal-Mart Taps a Startup for a Window Into Bangladesh Factories
The retailer is hiring Silicon Valley's LaborVoices to connect it with workers in its 279 supplier factories in Bangladesh -
Profiles
A Digital Tip Jar and More Apps for New Orleans Crowds
The city's tech community is launching apps for Super Bowl fans hungry for New Orleans food and music -
Advice
Small Business and Daily Deals: The Affair Is Over
A majority of small merchants are disenchanted with the online coupons -
Advice
Integrated Marketing: If You Knew It, You'd Do It
The glut of places to advertise makes it easy to confuse customers with contradictory messages. Execute a strategy that integrates all your efforts -
Profiles
Game Makers See Jackpot As States Make Online Gambling Legal
Entrepreneurs are investing in play-money casino games that can be switched over to real money when states loosen betting rules -
Policy
Overlooked in the Online Sales Tax Bill: Free Tax Software
Tax collection is too complex for retailers, say opponents of a proposed law scheduled for its final vote in the Senate in May. Free software is intended to make it easier -
Small Business
EBay Changing Fees, Questioning TOMS Shoes, Making It in America: March 20
A daily roundup of the most compelling stories about small business and entrepreneurship
Feed
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Surprise: The Small Business Administration's disaster loan programs cover small businesses—and homeowners
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