Archives: March 2010

The Demise of the Mad Men

Posted by: Nick Leiber on March 31

With the rampant digitization of advertising and the explosive growth of performance-based marketing, the nerds are taking over advertising This is a post by guest blogger Jeff Bussgang. It is...

Credit Card Over Limit Fees Persist for Small Businesses

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 29

The credit card reform Congress passed last year ended "over limit" penalties –- typically $35 fees applied when cardholders charge more than their credit lines allow -– unless customers opt...

Health Reform Expected to Untether Job-Locked Entrepreneurs

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 26

As the health reforms signed into law this week begin to take effect over the next four years, one consequence to watch is to what extent would-be entrepreneurs feel comfortable...

Tuesday Links: Fading Manufacturing

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 23

A trade group says roughly 15% of tooling and machining companies closed doors last year, reports WSJ's Kris Maher. The industry wants federal loan aid and faster payments from customers...

Monday Links: After Health Reform

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 22

The House passed the Senate health reform bill Sunday night. Good explainer on what health reform means to businesses by Peter Grier in the Christian Science Monitor. More from Inc's...

Advanta Bank Closed by Utah Regulators

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 22

Advanta Bank Corp., the small business credit card lender that last year settled "unfair and deceptive practices" charges with regulators over rate hikes imposed on small business customers, was seized...

Weekend Links: Take Back Your Time

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 19

Advice on how to keep your clients from taking over your personal time, by WebWorkerDaily's Meryl K. Evans. Accountant Bill Bischoff, writing in Smart Money/WSJ, explains the self-employed deduction for...

The Entrepreneurs and VCs I Interviewed for My New Book

Posted by: Nick Leiber on March 19

I mentioned in my last post that I decided to write a book about venture capital and entrepreneurship, which is coming out next month. In this post, I wanted to...

Wednesday Links: What Can You Start for $100?

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 17

Take a look at a sampling of bootstrap business ideas from Pamela Slim and Chris Guillebeau's $100 Business Forum. Umair Haque sizes up his (widely panned) SXSW interview with Twitter...

Tuesday Links: What To Measure

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 16

Seth Godin muses on the drive-by culture of the Web: "Just because you can measure eyeballs and pageviews doesn't mean you should." Expanding exports as much as the Obama administration...

What A Good Company Looks Like

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 15

Twitter co-founder Evan Williams today declared at SXSW that the company's first principle is to "be a force for good." Like Google's longstanding "don't be evil" slogan, it's a fine...

Weekend Links: A New Web Apps Directory

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 12

The Small Business Web, a network of integrated apps from dozens of companies that play well together, just launched a directory, Simon Mackie reports at WebWorkerDaily. (My story from last...

Still Seeking Promising Social Entrepreneurs

Posted by: Nick Leiber on March 11

Just a reminder, Dear Reader, that we're still looking for your suggestions for our annual roundup of America's most promising social entrepreneurs (the suggestion period wraps up Friday, March 26)....

Wednesday Links: Not Optimistic

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 10

Small business optimism is down, the NFIB's latest survey indicates, but the job openings subindex ticked up. More from Real Time Economics and The Economist. The Guardian's Bobbie Johnson tries...

The VC Author

Posted by: Nick Leiber on March 10

Although VC money is not a fit in all cases, the lessons from VCs and the entrepreneurs they work with are useful in a broad range of businesses This is...

Tuesday Links: Protecting Social Ventures

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 09

NPR's April Dembrosky examines efforts to create laws that protect social ventures from having to sell out values for shareholders' benefit. FDIC Chief Sheila Bair says banks that aren't lending...

Chase's Ads: How Many Businesses Sought "Second Look?"

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 09

JPMorgan Chase has been trumpeting increases in lending to small businesses in full-page print ads. One running today in The New York Times describes the bank's new policy to give...

Monday Links: Who Answers Your Phone?

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 08

The Boston Globe's Scott Kirsner explains why startups should have someone answering the phones and greeting visitors who walk in the door. (H/t VC Dispatch) Businesses continue to use microfinance...

Weekend Links: Avoiding Auditors, Fact-Checking the Banks

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 05

Five ways to cut your risk of a tax audit, by Susan Berson at Slate's BizBox. The AP's Rachel Beck scrutinizes banks' claims that they're expanding small business lending, and...

Why the Google-Italy Privacy Case Matters to Your Business

Posted by: Nick Leiber on March 03

What makes this event so troubling, and important not just for multinational corporations like Google but small startups, is that none of the three men had any connection with the...

Tuesday Links: Seed Rounds Made Simple

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 02

Simplified legal documents aim to make seed stage investments easier, Pui-Wing Tam reports at VC Dispatch. (More from BW's Olga Kharif here.) WebWorkerDaily's Dawn Foster on the dark side of...

Monday Links: No Layoffs, Ever

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 01

The WSJ's Bob Tita reviews Spark, the story of Lincoln Electric Co., a Cleveland manufacturer employing 3,300 workers that has had a no-layoffs policy in place for most of the...

Do SBA Guarantees Increase Net Lending?

Posted by: John Tozzi on March 01

Reuters' Felix Salmon raises a good question at the end of a post about whether governments can actually sway banks to lend more. He writes: [W]hen the government guarantees loans,...