The US Debt Limit made simple sums up in 5 minutes what this country has done since 1917 in regards to higher spending, raising debt and adding special interest programs. I usually try not get too political on Startup Addict Musings. However, this Debt Limit made simple video is a sobering message any American should watch regardless of what side of the aisle you sit politically.
US Debt Limit made simple
December 17, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Business in East Asia
November 16, 2009 By 2 Comments
I just returned from business in East Asia with stops in Seoul, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Hong Kong and Taipei Taiwan. The photo to the left is a photo I took from a boat on the Han River in Shanghai. Shanghai is an amazing city essentially the size of two New York cities growing 10% annually. China in general continues to grow at an alarming rate. The sheer amount of infrastructure and real estate development is mind boggling. 1.5 Billion people in the country with 22 million in Shanghai alone. It is no mystery why China has become 1/3 of the United States’ GDP over the last 20 years. China will more the likely surpass the United States GDP in the next 20 years. Making China the leading economic engine in just 40 years as well as the focal point of Business East Asia.
One of my favorite stops on the business trip was Hong Kong. The best way to describe Hong Kong would be to imagine if Las Vegas and New York City had a child in Asia. It is very westernized and a great place to conduct business.
If you are thinking about doing business in East Asia you should entertain stopping at the cities I described at the beginning of this post. You will need to make trustworthy contacts and friendships before you will be able to conduct any real business. The relationship is paramount before the deal.
Facebook buys friendfeed
August 10, 2009 By 3 Comments
Facebook buys friendfeed for an undisclosed amount. This makes the second acquisition for Facebook and has propelled the founders of Friendfeed to Facebook’s engineering team. The four founders of Friend feed were former Google employees and started the company in 2007 proving why droves of entrepreneurs left Google when the going was good and formed social startups ripe for acquisition.
So it’s only a question of when not if Twitter will get acquired….and will it be by a likely candidate like Google, Facebook or Microsoft or a left field surprise that only Internet can deliver.
Amazon buys Zappos
July 22, 2009 By Leave a Comment
Amazon buys Zappos for just shy of a Billion dollars in a move to capitalize on market share for in the shoe market or more importantly a dedicated loyal fan Zappos fan base that generates revenue north of a billion dollars for the shoe company.
Zappos has built an incredible brand through fierce customer service along brilliant and successful marketing across all media platforms. According to Compete’s latest search numbers Zappos was pulling in close to 6 million unique visitors a month.
The initial scoop was reported by reuters.
Top Franchises in 2009
June 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment
The top franchises of 2009 (300 total) by AllBusiness has been chosen. The list is a wide range of likely and unlikely candidates from Subway in the #1 slot to Allover media bringing up the rear at number 300.
Here are the 300 franchise companies that our editors and experts chose as the “best of the best” for 2009.
See all 300 listed here
100 best web apps for entrepreneurs
April 4, 2009 By 1 Comment
Calling all startups and small businesses be sure to add these100 best web applications for entrepreneurs to your toolbox.
Whether you are looking for the ideal desktop collaboration software or trying to find online storage solutions, this list will have you up in running effectively on a “no to low budget”. Enjoy the list and please add your favorite apps by posting your scores in comments.
30 great moments in entrepreneurship
April 1, 2009 By 1 Comment
Came across a great article over at Inc about 30 great moments in entrepreneurship from 1979 -2009.
Go to the link and click on a year and see the great entrepreneurial successes for that respective year.
Twitter hype continues to soar
March 25, 2009 By 2 Comments
Twitter continues to be Silicon Valley’s microblogging platform of choice. As Twitter turns 3 years old (a teenager in Internet years) a very mature ecosystem is emerging and is becoming more of a disruptive technology rather than a novel add-on widget for traditional blogging sites and social networks.
A tell tale sign you’re dealing with a heavy weight startup contender is when FM throws a right hook with @exectweets and rumors swirl of a Facebook killer or Google acquisition. As history has taught us before, Twitter will continue to morph into the most simple and effective form before the content can be monetized and the dollars roll in. It’s never easy to predict but always fun to watch.
Check out the usual suspects for more deets.
VentureBeat
Mashable
Battelle
United States national debt clock
March 7, 2009 By 1 Comment
The United States national debt has reached nearly 11 trillion dollars and counting. I have been tracking the government’s mindless intervention into the private markets like most of you.
What is truly astounding is how trivial a trillion dollars has become in reference to a normal denomination. A trillion is the new billion in terms of throwing numbers around in conversation. Just to put it in perspective…if you started counting to a trillion dollars when you were an infant, it would take 4 generations to count to a trillion.
It’s easy to print money today, it’s not so easy to pay it back tomorrow.
Doba vs Shopster
December 23, 2008 By 16 Comments
Anyone who has inquired about getting into the drop shipping arena has probably asked themselves about Doba vs Shopster. Many of you may remember the four-part series I did on Doba not long ago.
Both companies aggregate hundreds of wholesalers and allow you (as the entrepreneur) to sell products of your choosing. So let’s jump right in and see the fundamental differences I uncovered.
Shopster has an amazing backend interface with an intuitive web 2.0 feel. The web newbies and less web savvy will find solace in Shopster’s 5-step program on getting started. Literally within 15 minutes you can be online and selling products with the sitebuilder.
The sitebuilder is huge for the average joe without web skills. Doba does not offer a sitebuilder and is partnered with a company called 3XP web solutions that will cost you more money on top of your monthly subscription to get up and running.
I created two sites to see where the rubber meets the road in terms of usability. I created Dealflicker.com (Doba) and trimslimusa.com (shopster). I built dealflicker with open source Creloaded 6.2 and shopster with the built-in sitebuilder tool.
Shameless plug – If you need open source webdesign (drupal, megento, oscommerce, drupal) you should be using Hyperactive media’s web services.
Because of the custom nature of building Dealflicker, I immediately faced product distribution problems (not Doba’s fault….but lack of sitebuilder is). I had to do csv exports and custom formatting to get products out to 3rd party distribution channels like google base, pricegrabber, bizrate etc…Shopster on the other hand was a joy, I clicked on the 3rd party export channel and had 7 preformatted exports for various distribution channels.
Inventory management was the other shortfall I saw in custom building a site for Doba. Again, it would have been easy to build a custom module or add some code to facilitate inventory management, but that limits the average entrepreneur for an out-of-the-box solution. The inventory quantity seamlessly intergrates into the website to montior out-of-stock etc…
The one drawback I saw with Shopster compared to Doba was the breadth and range of products available for sale. Doba has an impressive inventory of products available to drop ship compared to Shopster’s smaller inventory. A relatively easy solution to solve for Shopster I’m guessing, as products are continually being added.
Ebay Features
Both sites had the push to ebay features where products are selected and formatted on the fly and sent to ebay for live auction. Again, the Shopster really shined in terms of interface here, although both sites were effective in terms of functionality.
Education features
Both sites had ample education resources, with Doba having more educational resources than Shopster but not necessarily presented as effectively as Shopster.
Support
Shopster was genuinely interested in making sure I had the resources needed and solving my problems. Doba was helpful as well, but leaned more toward online resources and upselling my account and 3XPservices.
Overall UI (user interface) and usability was obviously a big design choice for the folks at Shopster where as Doba was about functionality and content and large inventory, both valid approaches. I think Doba could benefit tremendously with the addition of a sitebuilder (acquisition of 3XP maybe?). Shopster could benefit from a larger inventory. In the end both are formidable drop shipping solutions but I think Shopster gets my vote in the end with the ease of use, comfort level and affordability.
Word to the Wise
Profit margin and shipping costs and fees remain to be a problem with the “drop-shipping clearing-house” space in general. It remains a challenge to turn a profit with so many mark-ups before the end user. Reason 101 of ecommerce tactics…don’t compete soley on price.
Although the ebay features are nice to haves, ebay has proven time and time again to fail as a money maker for the average drop-shipper.
