Archives: July 2008

Angels to the Rescue?

Posted by: Amy Barrett on July 30

It's hardly news that it's always been tough for startups to obtain financing. But a shift in venture capital investing in recent years has made it particularly difficult for seed...

Bennigan's franchisees on their own

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 30

Bennigan's is out of business -- sort of. The restaurant chain, along with the associated Steak and Ale chain, filed Chapter 7 liquidation yesterday, WSJ reports. But while 200 corporate-owned...

Letting go of your business: Etsy founder steps back

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 29

Etsy founder Rob Kalin is climbing out of the CEO’s chair. The online craft market has grown from four to 63 employees in three years, raised some $31 million...

Entrepreneurs' Ideas vs Big Companies: Be Careful

Posted by: Stacy Perman on July 28

Following my blog post on the legal ruling between Mattel and MGA Entertainment, I spoke with Lawrence Apolzon, a trademark and copyright lawyer and co-author of the book From...

Do you feel the credit crunch yet?

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 28

How badly has the credit crunch hit small companies? The Times leads today with a story about banks clamping down on business loans. Peter S. Goodman writes: But recent signs...

Girls Inc. entrepreneurs pitch their companies

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 25

Girls Inc., the nonprofit that brought 20 teens to New York for entrepreneurship camp last week, has put videos of the team's presentations up on YouTube. These presentations capped off...

C.F.I.M.I.T.Y.M.

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 25

Ken Morse, director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, dropped by for a chat today, and passed along an acronym every entrepreneur should learn: CFIMITYM. That is, "Cash Flow Is More...

No Help From Uncle Sam

Posted by: Amy Barrett on July 23

Government regulators wasted no time in hatching a rescue plan for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac-long run by well-connected Beltway insiders. And given the key role Fannie and...

Pitch Online, Get Funded?

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 22

Springwise, an invaluable ear to the ground, reports on cmypitch.com, a new site for entrepreneurs in the U.K. to upload elevator pitch videos for potential investors to watch. You can...

In The Valley of The Dolls, Mattel Prevails Over Bratz

Posted by: Stacy Perman on July 18

After a seven week trial in U.S. District Court, yesterday a jury ruled in favor of giant toymaker Mattel in its federal copyright infringement case against MGA Entertainment, the...

Women: Speak up!

Posted by: Amy Choi on July 17

One of the biggest takeaways from Springboard's venture capital bootcamp this week in Manhattan is that women, we don't brag enough. We get nervous about speaking about ourselves, we hesitate...

Cure for the Credit Crunch?

Posted by: Amy Barrett on July 16

Small business owners have never had it easy when it comes securing financing. But there's no doubt things are worse now than ever. Ed Harycki, CEO at Swift Financial, a...

VCs bet on iPhone apps makers

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 16

A glance at the top 10 iPhone apps this morning shows eight that come from startups and only two -– Reuters and ESPN –- from big companies. I forgot...

Entrepreneurs eye iPhone apps

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 15

The iPhone apps store opened last week, and Steve Wildstrom takes a look. As of Monday Apple said there were 800 programs available, about a quarter of them are free...

Credit Cards Crunching Small Business Owners

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 11

I just caught this piece by Simone Baribeau in the Washington Post last week on small business owners caught in credit card debt: Entrepreneurs have long used credit cards as...

Young Women Entrepreneurs

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 11

Ever have to write a business plan, take it to New York, and present it four times in one week, including to folks from Goldman Sachs? That’s what 20 teenage...

The Day After the Big Box Comes to Town

Posted by: Stacy Perman on July 10

After talking to filmmaker Hanson Hosein about the march of Big Box stores in post-Katrina New Orleans, I got to thinking. Obviously, the long-held belief is that when the Wal-Mart’s,...

Should You Worry About a Talent Gap?

Posted by: Amy Barrett on July 09

There's been a lot of debate about the looming “talent shortage”. Some experts predict a major shortfall in skilled and reliable workers as the boomers head for retirement. Meanwhile others...

Still Looking For Independent America

Posted by: Stacy Perman on July 08

In 2005, the husband and wife film making team of Hanson Hosein and Heather Hughes chronicled their road trip across 32 states to see how mom and pop shops were...

Crowdfunding for Startups

Posted by: John Tozzi on July 03

I'm fascinated by crowdsourcing and the new business models it enables. Companies have been tapping crowds for product design and customer service for some time now. It's much trickier to...

Another Look Inside

Posted by: Jeremy Quittner on July 01

It pays to be an inner city small business these days, especially if you’re green. Helios Coatings, in Canton, Ohio, recently closed a $4 million investment round from venture capital...