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small business growth

Small Biz Dev Hackathon 2015

July 30, 2015 by Zack Duncan Leave a Comment

Small Biz Dev Hackathon Can Help Grow Your SMBAt the Small Biz Dev Hackathon, attendees will be using their technical and design skills to come up with new ways to help small business grow to new heights. Business owners and business experts will be together discussing different obstacles and barriers that are universal throughout the industry, and developers will get a chance to show off their skills and problem-solving abilities to come up with solutions. Winners of the Hackathon will not only change the business world forever but will receive seed money and be entered into AngelHack’s HACKcelerator program.

There are many different problems that small business owners may face, and it is the attendees job to solve at least one of these problems that will be presented at the event. Problems could include anything from financing, finding new customers, managing cash flow, or anything like that.

The solution should be simple and broad enough that any business big or small should be able to take advantage of it. There will be guidance from small business owners and small business experts the whole time to ensure attendees get on the right track and stay on it in order to achieve the best possible results.

The judging criteria will be based on a range of different things. Simplicity is number one. There are 5 point’s to be had in this category. To get the full 5 points, judges will determine if the application is simple to use and if the team can explain it in three sentences or less.

Creativity is next, also worth 5 points. Judges will decide how creative the team was in developing the idea, and how challenging the solution was to come up with.

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Impact and design will also be worth 5 points each. How will the teams solution impact the industry? Is it valuable? Is the design and interface attractive looking?

First place winning teams will win up to $3500 in money and be entered into the AngelHack HACKcelerator program. This is nothing to sneeze at! If you are interested in this sort of thing and think you have what it takes, this is not only a great opportunity, but it will also probably be a fantastic time. You’ll have a chance to be surrounded by like-minded people and probably learn a million things that will stick with you for the rest of your life. The information you could obtain will last forever.

The Pre-Capital One Hackathon session is a virtual session hosted via WebEx on July 29, 2015 from 6:30 pm PST to 8:30 pm PDT at Dignita (for San Francisco event) and on Aug 5th, 2015 from 6:30 pm EST to 8:30 pm EST at 1776 (for Washington, DC event). You can register for the event here.

Posted in: SMB, SMB Advice Tagged: 1776, Capital One, Dignita, San Francisco, Small Biz Dev Hackathon, small business events, small business growth, Washington D.C.

AT&T to Host Web Seminar for Small Business Growth

June 21, 2012 by Zack Duncan 2 Comments

ATT Small BusinessAT&T is working on an ongoing commitment to provide small business owners with new and innovative marketing tools and tactics to help them grow their businesses. As part of this commitment, the company has just announced that it will be hosting a live web seminar on Thursday, June 28 at 1 p.m. ET known as “3 Growth Secrets You Won’t Learn in Business School & Your Competitors Don’t Want You to Know!”

Participants in the web seminar will learn strategies for engaging customers as well as capturing market share with the help of innovative technologies. New York Times Best Selling Author and renowned small business expert Susan Solovic will be there to present her building blocks of small business growth as well as how to survive in a rough economy.

In addition to that, Solovic will discuss tips to boost small business revenues and work your way to the top with a fresh, talented workforce and the latest technology. The web seminar will also share industry expertise on ways to successfully improve and expand your small business footprint with discussions helping you learn how to:

  • Engage Customers
  • Recruit the Right Talent
  • Capture Market Share
  • Use Scalable Technology

As I mentioned earlier, the web seminar is being hosted by AT&T and will take place on Thursday June 28, 2012 at 1 p.m. ET, 10 a.m. PT. If you are a small business owner and you are interested in attending, all you have to do is register for the event by going to this link and filling out the registration form.

Source: Market Watch – AT&T Webinar to Reveal Secrets for Fast-Tracking Small Business Growth

Posted in: SMB, SMB Advice Tagged: 3 Growth Secrets You Won't Learn in Business School & Your Competitors Don't Want You to Know!, AT&T, AT&T Small Business, AT&T Small Business Webinar, small business, small business growth, Susan Solovic

Funding Growth for a Small Business

May 5, 2011 by Zack Duncan Leave a Comment

small business growthOne thing that is great about a big business is that if it wants to capitalize on growth, then it has a vast array of options with which to do so. However, small businesses, which are the backbone of our country and economy, are not so lucky.

In fact instead of having a vast array of options to capitalize on growth, small businesses only have three primary resources: equity capital from the founder or founders and/or an outside investor  or investors; a combination of operating cash flow and profits that are left in the business, like retained earnings; or borrowed funds that are typically acquired through a financial institution like a bank.

Due to the fact that the significant source of capital for a small business is borrowed money, you have to ask yourself, which of these options are you more likely to go with? Recent studies have found that around 13% of small businesses would rely on a large or national bank, 31% would use independent community banks and 22% would use a credit union. 34% of small businesses opted to not use a bank loan at all.

It is not surprising to see that over half of small businesses would prefer to use a local source of capital like an independent community bank or credit union. If you want the most consistent banking relationship, a locally owned institution is your best bet. This was easily seen by looking at the results of the financial crisis which happened in 2008-2009.

This brought to light one very unfortunate truth, that banks which are beholden to Wall Street analysts as well as the computer-generated credit score are not good companions to small business owners. It appears that many small businesses are just not ready to to trust a financial institution to fund growth.

However, any small business, despite its feelings on financial institutions, should have at least one banking relationship with an independent bank or credit union just to be on the safe side.

Source: Forbes – How Does a Small Business Fund Its Growth?

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Posted in: SMB, SMB Advice Tagged: funding small business growth, small business growth, Small businesses

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