The Frugal Startups - 29 Bootstrapping Resources That Will Save Your Startup A Ton Of Cash

Just launched a startup? Chances are you are on a very tight budget, counting every penny, bootstrapping anything and everthing you can and reading every 'frugal' column and blog post you can find. Here's a big list of bootstrapping resources that can save a ton of cash for pretty much any startup.

1. Bitrix24.com - Free CRM, planner, project manager, document sharing (limited to 12 employees)
2. PickyDomains.com - Pay per result naming service, $50 for domain/name/product line, slogan.
3. Reddit/Freebies - Community moderated daily updated freebies list.
4. AppSumo.com - Groupon clone for buying enterprise software.
5. JetRadar.com - Low airfare meta searchengine (searches through 700+ airlines to find best deals normally available through direct purchase on airline sites only).
6. SideJobTrack.com - Free invoicing.
7. MoneyBookers.Com (Skrill) - PayPal alternative, cheap way to accept online payments/credit cards (25 cents + 3%, please refer to site for exact details)
8. Kodesk.com - Office sharing. You can both buy and sell extra office space, including by the hour.
9. PRLog.com - Free press-release distribution.
10. InternMatch.com - Own slaves legally.
11. RetailMeNot.Com - Discount coupons, business section available.
12. OpenOffice.Org - Free MS Office alternative.
13. WaveAccounting.com - Free online accounting SaaS
14. SysAid.com - Free helpdesk software. ZenDesk.com is worth paying for.
15. CouchSurfing.com - Yes, I do want to let complete stranges sleep in my house for free (so I can do the same when I travel).
16. SubmitYourStartup.Com - Partly outdated list of sites that accept startup submissions.
17. Vator.Tv - Social network for startups
18. LowerMyBills.com - Loan/Insurance/Internet Provider/Phone Carries comparison service.
19. Score.Org - Free consulting from retired entrepreneurs (available in certain areas only).
20. Logaster.com - Free logos. Bad English gratis.
21. 99Designs.com - Cheaper alternative for design work. Designers hate the site, so it must be good.
22. MinuteBox.com - Hire doctor/lawyer/coffee enema expert - pay by the minute. Lots of experts, typical pay is around $2.50 a minute. Not sure, but there’s probably some sort of minimum required.
23. HelpAReporter.Com - Free publicity (pitch your business directly to journos working on certain stories).
24. AVG - Free antivirus.
25. Weebly.Com - Free website creator.
26. GotFreeFax.com - Send free fax online. Limited to 3 pages, US and Canada only.
27. RememberTheMilk.com - Free To-Do list, iPhone and Android support.
28. Zamzar.com - Free online file converter. Let’s pass a law that mandates that only one extension (how does .file sound) is allowed!
29. Join.Me - Free webcast/webconference SaaS.

P.S. I have not included eBay, Skype, etc. since everybody knows about those. Did I miss something? Send me a message.

[Via - NicheGeek.com]

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

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Floridian Startup PrePaidAutoClub.com Offers Traffic Ticket Insurance

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://PrePaidAutoClub.com

Commuting on Florida's highways often feels like bumper cars with Ferrari engines. So what would happen if those heavy-footed douches no longer faced the specter of speeding tickets?

Thanks to a couple of enterprising young entrepreneurs, we might just find out.

Indian River County's Ian Sidles, age 25, and Dustin Boring, 30, incorporated Pre-Paid Auto Club in August. The company provides "speeding insurance." Pay dues starting at $9.99 a month, and when you receive a moving violation, the club takes care of associated fines, traffic school costs, and legal fees.

It's like the Hair Club for Men. Sidles and Boring are not only presidents of the firm, but they'd also make good clients. Sidles says epiphany struck when he was nailed for speeding twice in a week. He says he was wrongly accused of blasting his Dodge Charger past a police radar gun at 90 mph in a 70 mph zone. (Besides two speeding tickets in Vero Beach, Sidles's driving record also includes operating a vehicle without a valid registration and not wearing a seat belt.) "I told Dustin: 'Dude, there should be insurance for this kind of thing,'" says Sidles, an IT guy who declined to name his regular employer because they don't know about his new business.

His partner, Boring, is also the founder of iLoveDrinks.com, LLC, according to state corporation records.

Their speeding-insurance business model works like this: "Basic" members are allowed to submit claims every 60 days, there's no limit for "premium" members, and the company won't reimburse tickets for zooming more than 19 mph over the limit or violations in a school zone. "We don't want to encourage bad driving," Sidles explains. "But people make mistakes. We just want to take some of the burden off of drivers."

When we talked to Sidles last week, he told us the firm only recently began operating and has just two members. But the novel concept has many more fans — 1,774 on Facebook, to be exact.

Don't count former Florida Highway Patrol spokesman and trooper Pat Santangelo among them. One thing the Pre-Paid Auto Club can't do anything about: expensive points on a driver's record. "Unless they're taking care of those points, you're wasting your money," Santangelo, who's now a spokesman for Miami Mayor Tomás Regalado, grumbles when told of the concept. "Nice try, though."

[Via - MiamiNewTimes.com]

VHS May Be Dead, But iMemories Found A Way To Make Profit From Old Tapes.

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Is your small business ready for social collaboration?

iMemories review

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://imemories.com

A lot of people go to great lengths to capture memories that are worth remembering – weddings, anniversaries, birthday celebrations, little Janey’s first steps, her first day in kindergarten, the list goes on and on. 

The problem with these old films, videos and photos, however, they are rarely shared and are likely tucked away in the basement fading away and waiting to be sorted and/or converted to digital format one day. And if one isn’t so lucky, natural disasters such as fire or flooding may just speed up the “fading away” process.

iMemories, recognizing this innate human need to stay connected to fond memories that can be relived over and over, is a startup that digitizes old photographs, VHS videos, slides and films, and gives the user the option to edit and share, and finally, have them burned onto crystal-clear and cinema-quality DVDs.

With the help of modern technology, iMemories includes quality enhancement, making those hazy photos and videos clearer and looking far better than ever. With iMemories, old memories become a fresh source of revenue stream.

iMemories offers the following services:

• Cloud storage. Once your photos and videos are converted to digital format, you're free to share them with family and friends via a secure high-quality video sharing website.
• Home movie transfer. iMemories transfers your home movies (8 mm, 16 mm, Super 8, Hi8, VHS and MiniDV) to DVD before the heat, dust, humidity and the years themselves take their toll.
• Photo transfer. iMemories scans your scattered old photos and unlabeled digital photo collection and creates a digital library that's easy to manage and share.

To get started, below are the steps to follow:

• Search those dusty boxes in the basement and gather your originals.
• Send them to iMemories via UPS.
• After they're converted and digitally preserved, you may watch and share them online via a secure and private account.
• You can then create your own custom DVDs.
• Your DVDs, along with the originals, are shipped back to you. If you still want your photos and movies available for sharing and easy access online, you're free to do so for $7.99 per month or $59.99 annually (or use this coupon for free trial).

Because analog media digitization is such a viable business model, perhaps the only way to chase iMemories out of business is poor customer service quality or mismanagement. Majority of iMemories users are raving about the service so far. Whether or not it sustains its winning streak and not turn into a bad memory someone would rather forget, only time will tell.

[Via - NicheGeek.com]  

How BikeCaffe's Mike Ash Sells Lattes From A Bike

Beyond Facebook – Twenty Some Social Tools Your Business Should Be Using

Will Social Intranet Gobble Up CRM? Yes, And It’s Only A Matter Of Time

Duda Mobile Takes On iOS And Android

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions

Yammer Alternatives

Integration with social networks in Bitrix24

How to make $20-$75 coming up with cool domain names

Are you good with domains, names or slogans? PickyDomains.com wants you. You'll get $20-$75 for each cool domain you come up with (and our clients decide to use). A perfect gig for your inner writer!

How (Smart) E-Mail Marketing Increases Profits

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming agency

http://mailigen.com
Regardless of size, shape or form, whether that’s a mom-and-pop shop you’re running or a conglomerate, marketing is an integral part of any business. One marketing strategy that works, if properly implemented, is e-mail marketing. If that got you furrowing your eyebrows in protest, and since I’m a betting man, I’d bet that you’re one of the many people who think spam has killed the effectiveness of e-mail campaigns. Viagra, Bangkok pills … I’m sure you’ve got your fair share already.

The very purpose of e-mail marketing can be broken down in four: maximize your ROI (return on investment), build a trustworthy brand, drive sales and boost social interaction. Inasmuch as a good percentage of the global population is equipped with a working e-mail address, e-mail marketing is one of the simplest and most cost-effective marketing methods. But remember, it has to be done properly and a trustworthy e-mail marketing software definitely helps.

A web-based online marketing application, Mailigen helps you create (surveys, newsletters, sign-up forms) and analyze (through real-time reporting tools and Google Analytics integration) your e-mail marketing campaigns. It provides a wide range of templates to choose from and an option to create your own. Other features include:

• easy-to-navigate design editor powered by drag-and-drop technology, eliminating the need for coding and other design skills
• auto-responder
• API (application programming interface) integration for managing lists, sending out campaigns and gathering data
• targeted e-mail campaigns, meaning, you send out certain newsletters to certain groups depending on their interests
• setup wizard for creating lists and campaigns
• social media sharing buttons
• high deliverability rate stemming from trusted ISP relationships
• customer-centric support team

Depending on the number of subscribers you have, Mailigen pricing starts at $10 monthly. You also have an option to test drive the software for 30 days absolutely free. You can choose to pay monthly or as you go. For longer-term sign-ups, discount rates are offered, too – 10% for 6 months and 20% for 12 months. SMS/text messaging can, as well, be included in the subscription. Message rates, of course, vary by country and provider.

If you’re too busy to personally manage your e-mail marketing campaigns, Mailigen offers pro services like campaign management, e-mail marketing audit, e-mail template design, segmentation and list management, dedicated IP and IP certification. You can even subscribe to its standard features for free forever by creating a 5000 Epic Free Account.

[Via - NicheGeek.com]

How BikeCaffe's Mike Ash Sells Lattes From A Bike

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://bikecaffe.com

Mike Ash, who had worked in restaurants since he was 15 and earned a degree in hospitality management, hoped to one day open his own eatery. But as the years went on and he managed various restaurants and cafeterias, Ash, now 35, figured he was unlikely to ever save enough money to open his own place.

Then, flipping through a Costco circular in 2010, he saw an ad for the BikeCaffe, a British franchise concept that had recently come to the U.S. The idea was as simple as the name--a mobile coffee shop mounted on a four-wheel cycle, complete with Astoria espresso machine, blender, pastry bin, refrigerator and sink.

Ash signed on as one of the first U.S. franchisees and began fueling up downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. Today you can find him on the corner of Fourth Street and Central Avenue--or sometimes, especially if it's extra hot or rainy, inside the BB&T bank building. On weekends Ash sets up his mobile java machine at festivals and events.

Eventually, Ash hopes to step back from the grinder. "I would love to own multiple carts and spend my time marketing them," he says. "But until then, I still enjoy it. It's a pretty awesome job."

He filled us in on what it's like to be the go-to guy for to-go coffee in downtown St. Pete.

Coffee from a bike?

That can't be very good. The coffee is really, really good! It's all fair-trade organic tea and coffee, and I think we're the only place in downtown St. Pete that carries that. The biggest comment I get is, "You can't make all that stuff on your bike, can you?" Our menu is the same size as Starbucks'; we can make macchiatos, lattes, chai--everything. We also make smoothies.

All the drinks are made to order. It's a little slower than pouring drip coffee, but the quality is 10 times better.

How do you like making your own schedule?

It's kind of weird to start a business thinking you can work your own hours. But you end up working the same number of hours as before, usually more. At the same time, it's kind of cool that it's yours, and what you put into it, you get out of it. I'm always working. I get here at 6:20 a.m. to set up and leave around 4:30 p.m. I also work weekends, so at least 50 hours a week. In 16 months, I've missed only three days.

What's your biggest seller?

Lattes are always popular. People also like my seasonal drinks. I have a chalkboard and carry three or four specials per day. I usually create them myself, things like eggnog lattes, mocha peppermint hot chocolate or caramel toffee nut lattes. We have a lot of freedom to experiment.

Do you get a good workout riding the bike?

Well, the thing weighs about 400 pounds. I don't think I've ever ridden it more than half a mile at a time. It's geared super low, so if there are no hills or rough terrain, it's easy. You wouldn't win any races on it. Florida is pretty flat, so I'm lucky with that.

What's the biggest misconception about your BikeCaffe?

People assume I sell hot dogs. Every day someone comes up asking for one.

[Via - Entrepreneur.com]

Beyond Facebook – Twenty Some Social Tools Your Business Should Be Using

Will Social Intranet Gobble Up CRM? Yes, And It’s Only A Matter Of Time

Duda Mobile Takes On iOS And Android

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

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Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

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Yammer Alternatives

Integration with social networks in Bitrix24

Beyond Facebook – Twenty Some Social Tools Your Startup Should Be Using

You know about Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. You might be using them every day for business and consider yourself a social media professional. The fact is there are a lot more social tools that aren’t social networks, and quite a few of those definitely deserve your attention.

1.       Social Intranet.

What if Facebook included all the elements of SalesForce, Dropbox, Google Calendar, BaseCamp, RememberTheMilk and WhatsApp? That’s social intranet for you – a private corporate social network that helps you work with clients, collaborate with co-workers, share files, exchange ideas and vote on next week’s cafeteria menu – accessible 24/7 from PC, mobile phone or iPad. Social intranets come in different shapes and sizes – some are small business friendly with a generous free package (like Bitrix24), while others are created for Fortune 500 type companies and can easily cost over a million dollars (like Jive Software).

2.       Social Bookmarks.

Reddit, StumbleUpon, Delicious and Digg are just two examples of social bookmarking sites. While they are fun just to browse, they do have a business angle to them. First, influencers (journalists, bloggers, early adopters) read them. Second, they (especially Reddit) are capable of driving tens of thousands of visitors to your site in a single day – that is, if the news about your website or service makes it to the front page. Finally, most social bookmarking sites offer very affordable (3-5 cents per click), ultra-targeted PPC campaigns that you can run in relevant subsections.

3.       Social HR

Social HR solutions tend to fall in two categories. The first kind, like TribeHR, is a lot like social intranet, making it easy for workers to communicate with their HR departments online for things like vacations, benefits and sick days. The second kind, like TalentBin, are used mostly for recruiting. They scan social networks, like Facebook, Twitter, Klout, LinkedIn and suggest candidates who have the biggest social footprint in the field you are interested in.

4.       Social Outsourcing.

OK, so it’s really called crowdsourcing – but since you have multiple applicants with ratings and different feedback mechanisms, that’s what modern crowdsourcing is – social outsourcing. Unlike social networks, where bigger is better, you’ll get the most value from relatively small highly specialize sites. Need cool domain name? For 50 bucks, the crowd at PickyDomains will generate hundreds of awesome unregistered suggestions and you only pay if you decide to use one of them. Need a new T-Shirt design? Yes, there’s a crowdsourcing service that does just that called Threadless. Ran out of marketing ideas? IdeaBounty to the rescue.

5.       Social CRM

Customer relationship management solutions that integrate social media (Nimble, Insightly, HootSuite) are now growing faster than traditional CRMs. Suppose you are about to meet a new client. What’s on his or her mind? With social CRM, with one click of a button you’ll see the last 10 tweets, Facebook posts and LinkedIn updates made by that person. Social CRMs are also capable of instantly notifying you when your company is mentioned in social media. You can also set it up to alert you of certain keywords, like ‘trademark lawsuit’ (if you are a lawyer) and create your own list of prospects as soon as these people need your services.

6.       Social Learning

While a lot of people think that the term ‘wiki’ comes from Wikipedia, the opposite is true – wikis were first and Wikipedia came later (the first wiki was called WikiWikiWeb and debuted in 1996). Modern social learning management systems (like Litmos, Moodle or Outstart) go way beyond simple wikis, and incorporate all the advantages of social networks into the learning process. You can use them to store knowledge inside the company, create learning materials, and test your employees.

7.       Social Reviews

While website owners tend to ignore social review sites like Yelp and Qype, talk to any restaurant owner and they’ll tell you how much their business can be affected by a single Yelp review. Social reviews are starting to play an important role internet based businesses as well. Rotten Tomatoes and MetaCritic, for instance, already have a visible effect on Netflix rentals and game sales. As with crowdsourcing – watch for small niche sites that can be highly relevant to your line of business.

See also:

Will Social Intranet Gobble Up CRM? Yes, And It’s Only A Matter Of Time

CRM basics: Converting Leads and Business Processes

Duda Mobile Takes On iOS And Android

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions

Yammer Alternatives

Part-Time Entrepreneurs

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 
 

Name: Melissa Tomkiel

Day job: Lawyer

Side business: Fly The Whale

 

Melissa Tomkiel handled a variety of small business and startup clients as an attorney with a law firm in Manhattan. That experience came in handy when she helped a friend start a private charter airline company, and eventually gave up her job to became its co-owner.

"My father said I would always have my law license. But that I only live once and I should go for it," she said. With her aviation company up and running, Tomkiel is also making time to practice law again.
Said Tomkiel: "I love doing both things. I probably would have made a lot more money working at a law firm full time but not as much fun as I have owning my business."

Name: David Plafchan

Day job: Senior copywriter at Deutsch Inc.

Side business: Co-owner of The Bouqs

 

"In advertising, you're always creating and communicating for someone else," said David Plafchan, a copywriter in Los Angeles. "In the end, you have to let your creation go."

Hoping to build something more lasting, three months ago he co-founded The Bouqs. It's an online flower seller that delivers flowers cut fresh on an eco-friendly farm the company owns in Ecuador. Arrangements sell for a flat price of $40, including shipping.

"I want to be a part of its growth and feel like I am creating something more permanent," he said. He's also glad to have a chance to develop new skills. "I am being a leader," he said.

Name: Chakri Paila

Day job: Consultant

Side business: Hagar Collars

 

As an independent business consultant, Chakri Paila is an expert in solving other companies' problems. "It's always easier giving advice to someone else than being the one who needs the help," he said.

That changed when Paila acquired a struggling startup, Hagar Collars, last year because he felt passionate about their product -- a first aid brace for pets that's an alternative to the traditional lampshade collars, which can be restrictive and uncomfortable.

"Hands down I enjoy being an entrepreneur more," said Paila. "Every time an order comes in I get so much satisfaction. I want to grow my business and do it full time."

[Via - CNNMoney.com]

Business Ideas - Tap Into BitCoin Craze

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Duda Mobile Takes On iOS And Android

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

DoNanza - Freelance Startup That Broke All Rules

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions

 

Yammer Alternatives

BizHacks - How To Use Bitrix24.Com As A Free CRM, Intranet And Task Manager.

Profiting From Bitcoin Craze

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming agency

https://www.expensify.com/

Paul Ford writes eloquently in this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek on the rise of Bitcoin, the “media-friendly, anarchist crypto-currency” whose value jumped as the European financial crisis landed on the doorstep of Cyprus’s banking system.

For the unfamiliar, Bitcoin is a form of virtual cash that’s made secure by complex computations (that’s the crypto part) and isn’t backed by any government (the anarchistic aspect). To Ford, Bitcoin is an “excellent indicator of anxiety,” often most popular with those who’ve lost trust in the world’s monetary institutions.

But the virtual currency may have another thing going for it: practicality. Yes, Bitcoin can be difficult to wrap your head around, and it’s not the best solution for buying a quart of milk. But for fast, no-fee money transfers, it can’t be beat.

That’s the point recently made by Expensify, a four-year-old company that creates expense reports for more than 200,000 small- and medium-sized businesses and that Wednesday began offering Bitcoin to lower costs of international transactions.

Expensify hopes Bitcoin will help businesses deal with a common problem: banking regulations that make direct payments impractical for companies reimbursing workers in foreign countries. Tony Vakula, Expensify’s vice president of core engineering, says Expensify customers have typically used PayPal (EBAY) for international transactions, but the processing fees commonly stirred complaints.

Enter Bitcoin, which can be transferred instantaneously, at no charge, among accounts all over the world. It’s far too soon to say whether Bitcoin will prove popular with Expensify’s customers—or even how many of Expensify’s customers will know what Bitcoin is. At the moment, Bitcoin might not be accepted widely enough to support a population of workers who want to be paid in virtual currency—even if it saves them a fee.

Still, it’s noteworthy that the currency is finding relevance beyond Internet subcultures as a way to better serve Main Street. “We’re basically trying to help solve a business problem with it,” says Vakula.

[Via - BusinessWeek.Com]

CRM basics: Converting Leads and Business Processes

(Fake) Kidnapping As Business

SaaS Marketing - Five Killer Tips For Marketing Your New SaaS.

Duda Mobile Takes On iOS And Android

PickyDomains - startup that caught everyone by surprise

From 0 To $30,000 A Month With Dropshipping

Off the Books: The Underground Economy of the Urban Poor

DoNanza - Freelance Startup That Broke All Rules

How TribeHR Turned Simple Idea Into Millions

 

Podio Alternatives

SaaS Marketing - Five Killer Tips For Getting Your Saas Covered By Press.

Software as a service is a multibillion dollar industry that has grown by leaps and bounds since its inception. In several industries, like customer relationship management, the SaaS model has taken over traditional software distribution and has new players entering every day, trying to become the next Salesforce. Unfortunately, even with ample venture capital available, some companies keep making the same mistakes over and over when trying to market their services. Here are five such common mistakes when marketing SaaS.

1. Measure EVERYTHING.
What gets measured gets improved. There are certain standard metrics used for measuring SaaS – CAC (customer acquisition cost), MRR (monthly recurring revenue), LTV (lifetime value), NPS  (net promoter score) and a few others. That’s a good starting point, but it’s not enough. The real critical metrics is HOW your service is used.  What’s the main difference between free users and paying clients? Which features are most used? Which modules are underused? How many people are using mobile or desktop apps? Which countries/languages convert best? Where are your most profitable clients come from? Having answers to all these and other questions not only help you increase your revenue or generate ideas for news releases, they will actually help your SaaS stay ahead of competition by tracking changes real-time.

2. Thinking that a free plan will take care of marketing
The freemium model is very seductive. A lot of startups think that adding a free plan option will do all the heavy lifting for them – that is that people will start talking about the service all over the internet and recommend it to friends and colleagues, resulting in a flood of traffic, a fraction of which will convert to a paying customer base. Nothing could be further from the truth. If anything, you have to do MORE marketing in a freemium model. First, you have to convince folks to even try your free version, then you have to convince them to KEEP USING your free service, then to upgrade to a paid plan, then you have to convince to keep paying – the process never ends. Here is a golden rule for SaaS marketing – if nobody wants to pay you now, adding a free option won’t solve your problems. If you had no traffic when you were just trying to sell your service, a free plan won’t fix this problem. Finally, in order to be truly successful, your free version should be worth paying for. Ideally, your free plan should be better than most paid options available on the market.

3. Failing to provide a box/self-hosted version of your SaaS (when appropriate).
This is a really, really big mistake that a lot of services make.  Bitrix24 generates over 30% of revenue through sales of the self-hosted version. And it’s not just the money. People worry about the safety of their data and if you don’t offer a self-hosted version, these clients are knocking on a locked door. Certain countries, like Germany, have very strict personal data laws that can put a high cost on conformance for cloud services. A self-hosted version can offer more customization options – and almost every large client will want to change something in order to better fit their organization. Having a (much) more expensive self-hosted version will help you grow your partner network, because there is a big difference in getting paid $100 a month for referring a client and $10,000 contract for deploying a custom solution. Finally, some of your best cloud clients will quickly outgrow your SaaS and unless there is a self-hosted version available, you are nurturing your best clients for competition.

4. Not offering personal support to new clients.
Unless your service is very basic, chances are it will be misunderstood. We’ve had a lot of clients who stopped using Bitrix24 after a day or two, because it could not do something they wanted. Except that it could. Sure, you have ‘Contact Us’ and ‘Help’ page, but new clients probably won’t use them. It might be impractical/impossible to offer a personal touch to all comers, but sorting out your key prospects and sending a personal email or calling them is essential – answering their first question and proactively asking whether they have more. They will. We now have several clients who said that the reason they decided to use our service because they knew there’s a specific person who’d quickly get them the right answer or solve the problem. A customer’s first week of using SaaS is critical. If a company stays with you for a week, they’ll probably stay with you much longer. It’s much better to introduce yourself right away, than to try to establish yourself after a client has come across a difficulty or even stopped use.

5. Get press coverage.
Public relationships are very important, especially if your SaaS is working in the enterprise segment. The problem is that no major publication will cover you unless you are very big, raised a lot of money, got bought/acquired by someone or GIVE A REASON to write about your service.  And to give a reason, you need to stick to a specific format, namely you have to think like a journalist and provide NEWS. For example, we offer our product to startups for free. But our press-release title was “Bitrix24 Announces $2.4 Million Program to Popularize Social Intranet Among Startups.” That was newsworthy and we got covered.  We’ve also released a report and infographic called ‘How small businesses use social intranet’ and again this resulted in multiple publications. Let’s say your SaaS has mobile apps for iPhone and Android. You can pitch your apps to mobile editors, but good luck with that. However, you can analyze use of those apps, as in Point 1. Let’s say you find out that iPhone app users generate 3 times more revenue than Android users. That’s news.  Lots of iOS journalists/bloggers will cover how iPhone isn’t just about technology, it’s also about the audience. What about if your iPhone user revenue is identical to Android user? That’s news too, as lots of Android editors will be happy to write an article how Android’s reputation of ‘hard to monetize’ is actually a myth. Stop bugging editors with your press-releases. Become news provider instead.

Crazy Business Ideas - Fake Kidnapping

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming agency

Need something to do this weekend? Extreme Kidnapping is a company that will kidnap you ta gunpoint, tie you up and hold you for ransom. Being abducted, gagged and bound is all part of the game.
A GQ reporter recently tested out their service:

I had to fly all the way to Detroit to get kidnapped. Extreme Kidnapping is a company operated by Adam Thick, an entrepreneur and convicted counterfeiter from Oakland County, Michigan. Thick founded Extreme Kidnapping in 2002 after being inspired by the old David Fincher movie The Game. (SPOILER: It was all a game!) For $500, Adam and his crew will abduct you at gunpoint and hold you hostage for four hours. A thousand bucks gets you ten hours, along with a bit of customized sadism. GQ was curious to see what $1,500 would buy me.
If it strikes you as obscene that people would pay to be kidnapped at a time when it happens routinely to other people for real, the fact is that we live in an age when a normal life simply isn’t enough for many Americans. If you watch enough movies and TV (as I do), you end up yearning for a life that is more cinematic than blissful. Experiences are the newest, hottest luxury items. I looked at it like I was paying for a memory implant, Total Recall-style. But the one thing that didn’t make sense to me was how Adam could pull off the trick of making a kidnapping feel real when his client knows it’s not.

Their prices range from:

• The Econo-Kidnap; lasts 4 hours, cost $500
• The Standard Kidnap; lasts 10 hours, cost $1000
• The Deluxe; lasts however long you want, cost ?? (Call for price quote)

(the deluxe is for people that want longer durations of captivity, more complex scenarios, additional kidnappers, and whatever else they come up with.)

More:

You can still choose to be kidnapped by the Henchman, or the Elite Girls Team. The Henchman provide the most realistic, HARDCORE, movie-style kidnappings in the country and allowable by law.
The Elite Girls Team provide the sexiest kidnappings and will certainly fulfill your fantasy of getting kidnapped by a group of hot chicks. You can choose what they will wear, in most cases, and they are fully capable of providing a realistic kidnapping or whatever scenario you come up with.

[Via - Business-Opportunities.Biz]  

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http://chefdup.com/

A private, unique and memorable dining experience for your guests at your next dinner party doesn’t have to mean booking a reservation at an upscale restaurant or finding somebody good enough to cook for a crowd (if a group of eight to twelve can be considered a crowd). And that’s thanks to Chef’d Up, a startup founded by three Harvard guys: David Snider, John Feeney and David Werry.

With Chef’d Up, you get to bring home premier chefs in the Boston area that include Danya Bader-Natal, a former Clio chef, Katie Barry, former Rialto chef and currently with Lumiere, and Jitti Chaithiraphant, formerly with Radius and Lumiere and now with Franklin Café South End. Chef’d Up has a total of 10 chefs in its roster at the moment.

To book a chef for your event, first, browse through the chef’s profiles, including reviews from previous guests who have experienced receiving the chefs in their homes. Once you’ve selected a chef, you’re ready to provide the initial details of your event on a request form. Your chef will then contact you to discuss the event, the menu and the event price. Once the details are in place, your chef will confirm the agreed-upon event price in the Chef’d Up system, and you finalize the booking by paying via the site prior to the scheduled event.

On the day of the event, your chef will acquire the ingredients, prepare the meals in your kitchen, even clean up if you wish, allowing you to concentrate on hosting.

Chef’d Up, according to co-founder Snider, is a unique way to make high-end dining accessible to a larger part of the population.

Except for a $5,000 award from Harvard Business School’s FIELD program, Chef’d Up is mostly bootstrapped. The company makes money by receiving a portion of the fee paid to book a chef.

[Via - NicheGeek.com]

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