Startups

Aggressive is, indeed, an appropriate word to describe how one emerging power in the mobile payments space is expanding into retail. Quickly becoming a favorite provider among entrepreneurs, independent contractors, and businesses of all shapes and sizes, PayAnywhere announced Monday that its professional grade mobile point of sale solution is more widely available now than ever. This morning, PayAnywhere issued a press release touting a new partnership with D&H Distributing. The partnership takes the PayAnywhere mobile point of sale (mPOS) solution beyond the big box retailers the company announced partnerships with in 2012, and expands availability of PayAnywhere to small and independent retailers through the country’s largest distributors. “The success of PayAnywhere’s initial retail channel rollout, with larger retailers like Walmart, The Home Depot, Office Max, Pep Boys, Meijer and Fred Meyer, has made PayAnywhere readers available across the U.S.,” says Scott Addyman, vice president of sales, PayAnywhere. “PayAnywhere is partnering with D&H Distributing to further expand our retail channel presence and reach by providing a distribution model for smaller regional and independent retailers to utilize D&H for sourcing PayAnywhere.” The PayAnywhere solution is compatible with Apple’s iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, as well as Android and BlackBerry devices.

Over the years I’ve been privileged to work with companies of all sizes… from startups to fortune 500 companies. The reason they typically hire me or other consultants is because their internal marketing campaigns are failing. No matter what size the company is, within three months they cut their new internal marketing initiatives because they feel they aren’t working. And sadly it doesn’t stop with other companies either… your marketing campaigns are likely to fail to. Here’s why: You plan your budgets quarterly Marketing isn’t always a quarterly expense. Some things like SEO can’t be turned on and off like a light switch. You have to continually do them, even when you are losing money in the short run, in hopes that you will make money in the long run. Depending on the type of marketing campaign you are planning, budget it correctly. Don’t look to do something for a few months and then renew it if it is working and cut it if it isn’t. I doubt you’ll get a ROI from your inbound marketing efforts within three months. Now granted, if you are doing a pay-per-click campaign, you can stop it within a few months if you aren’t getting an ROI, but most marketing campaigns don’t work this way. Generally you should plan your marketing spend on a yearly basis and not quarterly. You’re copying your competitors I used to make this mistake a lot when I first started my entrepreneurial career. Instead of being creative, I just looked at what my competitors were doing and I copied it. What works for your competitors won’t always work for you. They may have been doing pay-per-click advertising for years and because their quality score is so high, their cost per click is low. But if you decide to copy their campaigns your quality score won’t be as high when you are just starting out, which means you will have to pay more money per click than your competitors. Don’t look to copy other people because most marketing channels are saturated and expensive. Start thinking outside of the box and consider testing new means that aren’t as easy to copy. A good example of this is content marketing… we have a ton of competitors at KISSmetrics, but we will always generate more traffic than our competitors because we are better at content marketing. And even though many of our competitors have more cash then us, it’s a difficult thing to copy, even if they threw a million bucks at it. We used a creative marketing tactic to succeed versus spending thousands of dollars on the typical channels that our competitors are using. Don’t let money be your excuse because there are always ways to acquire users even when you don’t have a lot of cash. You’re marketing efforts aren’t funding themselves It’s not easy to create a positive ROI in the short run, but it is possible. The way you should be thinking about marketing is to split up your campaigns in two buckets. The first being campaigns that will provide a ROI within a few months and the second group is campaigns that will provide a ROI in the long run. Campaigns like pay-per-per click advertising or remarketing can provide a return within 30 to 60 days. SEO, social media marketing, and content marketing are campaigns that are more likely to provide a ROI in the long run. Before you start any of your marketing campaigns you should ideally tackle a few methods that will provide a quick return. And the reason you have to go after a few tactics versus one is because some won’t work out the way you wanted. Once you start making some money from your current campaigns you can then start investing in long-term campaigns. This way you won’t be losing too much cash because your marketing campaigns are starting to fund themselves. You’re not maximizing your profit The chances are, you are tracking in session ROI and not your lifetime value of your customers. An example of tracking in session ROI is spending $500 on your pay-per-click campaigns and generating $1000 in revenue. Usually you would consider that a successful camp

Microsoft PowerPoint facilitates presentation design with zero constraints. And startups like Prezi provide well-designed templates and other features to help you communicate what matters. Now an Israeli startup called Emaze is trying a different take by offering a much simpler presentation template system that promotes concision. With $800K raised from TheTime.co.il, the company is actually trying to pioneer a new way of communicating. It’s not trying to migrate PowerPoint and Prezi users to its product. Instead, it wants users who don’t do email for a living, and for whom creating a simple 10-slide deck with PowerPoint or even Prezi is a confusing and frustrating experience. Built entirely on HTML5 for PC and post-PC device compatibility, Emaze has the potential to become the “PowerPoint of the Everyman.” It’s quite easy to get going with but the young company has more work ahead of it to truly make the product’s usability dead simple. I do, however, like the approach Emaze takes, unlike Prezi, of limiting users for their own benefit in order to get them quickly from first slide to “wow.” For example, users can’t choose any color they wish for text, or any transition between slides. This is because these are limited by Emaze to best fit the chosen template. Templates, by the way, are a key feature the founders tout as aimed at delivering a high-quality visual impact. There are currently six templates, including 2D and 3D ones. If you’re set on making me puke, there’s the “Desktop” template, which delivers Prezi’s trademark vertigo effect. A couple of Emaze presentation examples are here and here. On the product roadmap are automatic-recommended templates, import from PowerPoint, and dynamic infographics. The current six templates are a nice start, but the product would also benefit greatly from a wider selection of templates. Emaze’s vision reminds me of the early days of another Israeli company, Wix, which set out to create a website authoring tool that was “As easy as PowerPoint, and as powerful as Flash.” In its last funding round Wix was valued at $250 million, and there are whispers of an IPO around the bend. If Emaze has its way, they’d like to follow these footsteps and become the Wix of presentations.

July 9-10, 2013 San Francisco, CA Early Bird Tickets on Sale China’s fast growth in fast mobile subscriptions — and increasing mobile competition among the giant Chinese mobile carriers — will be key factors in driving Apple’s moldering stock price to unseen heights of over $800, one analyst says today. With over three quarters of net new mobile growth in emerging markets, if Apple is ever to get its stock back to the $700 heights of summer 2012, it needs a less expensive and more carrier-friendly product suite. That’s coming this summer, according to Brian White of Topeka Capital Markets, and just in time. The three major Chinese carriers reported subscriber growth for April 2013 today, and wireless subscribers rose 13 percent year-over-year to 1.16 billion. Fast wireless subscribers using 3G connection speeds rose 84 percent to 293.1 million. And that’s the critical number. Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailysublime/6814011513/Competitor Samsung will have something to say about Apple’s success — or lack thereof — in China. The major competition right now between China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom will drive China Mobile, the grandaddy of mobile in the middle kingdom, to finally adopt the iPhone … and offer Apple’s iDevices to its 730 million mobile subscribers. That’s a deal that Apple and China Mobile have not been able to consummate since 2009, and it could be the deal that kickstarts Apple into massive growth outside its U.S. market once again. Especially given the fierce competition between carriers in China. And the competition is all over the 293.1 million 3G subscribers, who are projected to grow to between 375 and 400 million by the end of 2013. China Mobile’s 730 million mobile subscribers includes 120 million of the higher-end 3G subscribers, meaning China Mobile, which has historically trailed Unicom and Telecom in the more lucrative segments of the mobile market, leads the race for 3G subscribers in raw numbers. Unicom and Telecom, however — both of which sell Apple’s iPhone — have a much higher percentage of users on big contracts, giving them better per-user margins. China Unicom has 254.6 million mobile subscribers, including 91.9 million 3G subscribers, and China Telecom has 170.2 million users and 81.1 million 3G users. Cue the lower-priced iPhone, which White believes is coming this summer. That will help Apple finally ink a deal with China Mobile just as the bulk of its 730 million subscribers are starting the switch to faster 3G connections. Which could mean tens of millions of new customers for Apple in Asia, and — with growth in other countries as well — set up a sales growth recovery for Cupertino that, White believes can bring AAPL back to its $700 heights, and beyond, up to his price target of $888. That’s a lofty target, of course, and a lot will have to change between the ears of Wall Street analysts and institutional investors for that to become a reality. Morgan Stanley, of course, has also published an analysis that Apple could triple sales in China with a lower-cost iPhone. Since Apple sold $8.8 billion worth of product in China in the second quarter of this year, out of $43.6 billion in total sales. Tripling that would be $26 billion quarterly, and perhaps as much as $100 billion annually. Those are big numbers, and whether Apple can accomplish that or not, no-one knows. But if it did, that would certainly have a major effect on Apple, its stock, and the mobile markets. Major competitor Samsung, which sold 400 million phones last year and captures 95 percent of all profits in the Android device ecosystem, will have a few things to say about it too. photo credit: wZa HK via photopin cc Filed under: Business, Gadgets, Mobile .blurb-cat-mobile .event-boilerplate-mobilebeat { width:278px; margin:0px 0px 10px 20px; padding:10px; float:right; border:1px solid #e4e4e4;

The rumor mill got it right. Late Sunday, soft confirmations began to emerge that Yahoo’s board had just approved the purchase of blogging site Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash. The mega deal brings into the Yahoo family some 108 million blogging sites on Tumblr. The acquisition instantly makes Yahoo one of the giants in the contemporary social media landscape. Yahoo ‘s plans for Tumblr are fairly straightforward. The company will be independently operated as a separate business “per the agreement and our promise not to screw it up,” both companies said Monday. We’re told that Tumblr CEO and founder David Karp will remain in his position as chief executive. Yahoo Chief Executive Marissa Mayer’s deal for Tumblr gives Yahoo, one of the original big Internet companies, a fast-growing Web service that could fill one of its many holes—namely, the lack of a thriving social-networking and communications hub. Tumblr is popular with many younger adults, in contrast with Yahoo’s older customer base. Tumblr is also growing more quickly on smartphones than Yahoo. According to The Wall Street Journal, this deal “highlights the shifting balance of power in the technology business.” Do you think Yahoo made the right move?

Carrier billing doesn’t have the hype of digital wallets or NFC, but it’s still a pretty convenient way to tackle mobile payments. After all, why enter a new set of credentials when you can simply have something added to your cellphone bill? Payvia, a company that has pushed more than $2 billion through its carrier billing platform, announced today that it has purchased Mogreet, a mobile marketing company that offers text and media messaging for brands. With the acquisition, Payvia will now be able to market products to consumers, as well as offer a way to buy them. It’s a union that makes a lot of sense, especially since carrier billing is expected to move more towards physical goods over the next few years. Payvia claims it’s the largest carrier billing firm in the U.S. with a reach of 120 million mobile users. Naturally, Pavyia and Mogreet will integrate their two services as part of the acquisition. Additionally, Payvia says Mogreet’s customers will see mobile video quality double, as well as faster messaging speeds. Mogreet will now have an international reach across North America, Europe, and Asia. Filed under: Business, Deals, Mobile

The online food delivery service industry is getting a bit smaller. Seamless and GrubHub, the two largest services of their kind in the US, are merging, the companies announced today. The combined company, whose name will be revealed one the deal is approved by regulators, will cover 20,000 restaurants across 500 cities. The companies say that their efforts helped restaurants pull in $875 million in food sales last year, and, combined, they’ll be able to do so much more. “GrubHub and Seamless share a common goal to generate more business for local takeout restaurants while providing the best possible service to diners. By combining our complementary restaurant and diner networks, we are well positioned for continued growth in a massive market,” GrubHub CEO Matt Maloney said in a statement. The merger comes after nearly a decade of competition between the two companies, both of which have been aggressively going after the same market of hungry, busy Americans. Maloney will step up as chief executive of the new company, and Seamless CEO Jonathan Zabusky will serve as president. As far as other competitors go, the new combined company will compete with companies like the aptly named Delivery, Ordr.in, and probably many more. Filed under: Business

There’s a massive amount available on the interwebs on how to improve the odds for success in new ventures. But almost nothing concrete is available on the care and feeding of your investors. You can do all of the Lean Startup experimentation you want, but we’re here to tell you that one of the the easiest and most underrated skills that a startup CEO needs is knowing how to keep your investors updated, excited and engaged. The reason is: The CEO is the investor's user interface into the business. It's how investors see what's going on, and in some minimal ways, interact with the business. We polled several early stage investors (including ourselves) that have 30+ investments each under their belts, and asked them their advice for entrepreneurs on how best to communicate with them and update them on the business. Here are the results. 1) Write your investors consistently. probably every 1-2 months (if you're early stage), and every 2-3 months if you're a bit further along. If you have a regular advisory board or board of directors meetings, that's a good time to send out an update. This is preferable to phone calls, both for you and for them. If you’re smart, you’ll send this letter out, in more or less similar form, not only to your investors but also to mentors, advisors and staff. And if you do ever follow up with calls, they’ll be up to speed and more productive. 2) Keep it short. 2 pages, max. Your investors want to know what’s going on, but they don’t need to hear every detail. 3) Use a template. We like the TechStars one. Katie Rae and Reed Sturtevant of TechStars Boston teach their companies to communicate with mentors in a way such that each letter builds on the previous one. Typically, the letter gives both highlights and low-lights since the previous communication, sets some short term goals, and then reviews the progress—or lack thereof—on the goals set earlier. Just knowing that you will be producing a report card helps focus you on the important stuff and ensures that things don’t get forgotten. Check out the investor update template for a sample. 4) Remind them what you're doing (now). I know this is going to sound strange, but often your investors are not doing as good a job as they could keeping up with all your activities, news, tweets and pivots. Always include a one sentence description of what you're doing (now) just as a friendly reminder. A side benefit to this is that it forces you to write (and read) your one sentence description. This is one of the hardest tasks in startup-land. 5) Tell them the one or two strategic problems you are wrestling with. Got a few hard decisions? You’d be surprised how quickly an investor will respond. And odds are pretty good that they’ve seen this movie before and can help you come to a better decision. If it’s personnel-related, though, you may wish to be more circumspect. 6) Keep it honest, but don’t tell your secrets. Would you be comfortable if this email ended up in public, or in the hands of your competitors? If not, consider editing it down. 7) Always have 1-3 direct asks. Looking for some specific introductions? Ask. Need to source some key personnel? Ask. Want them to share some important news on their social media networks? Don’t be proud, don’t be shy, just ask. 90% of the time, the investor will probably not be able to help, but in the 10% of the time they can help, it's often pure gold. 8) Cast a wide net, but bcc. The more people you can keep up on your company, the more likely it is someone will be able to help you out, and the more you can leverage your network. But respect your investors’ privacy, and make sure you are not revealing any confidences in the letter. (I still screw this up—when in doubt, leave it out.) One idea would be to setup a simple mailing list so you're not trying to type in email addresses manually every time. 9) ARCHIVE all correspondence in a shared folder. Your investors will be grateful that they don’t have to b

Sprint has decided to get deeper into the social and mobile space, announcing today that it has acquired Handmark and its subsidiary OneLouder. THe acquisition is meant to beef up its Pinsight Media+ advertising group, specifically. Through Handmark, OneLouder has built social apps like Twitter clients Tweetcaster and Slices, and Friendcaster, a Facebook client. The acquisition price hasn’t been made known, but its a huge win for the Kansas City tech space, a place that I visited just a few weeks ago. Sprint hopes that this acquisition will bring a more “entrepreneurial spirit” to its mobile program, hoping to lure developers to use its own advertising platform. Mike Cooley, VP of New Ventures at Sprint shared: “The business, culture and technology they bring will be a huge asset to our business, and ultimately the customers of Pinsight Media+.” Through building all of its apps, OneLouder found a niche in advertising, having its own team that has worked on the ad platform and used its own apps to test it out. This deal also brings Sprint some strategic partners like CBS, which has a sports app powered by OneLouder. Tying the work that OneLouder has done on its ad platform with Sprint’s customer base should juice its mobile advertising efforts immediately. The great thing about the acquisition is that Handmark and OneLouder will stay in its current home of Kansas City, serving as an example of what a budding tech hub it really is. Sprint has been trying to get involved with the KC tech crowd, as all of the activity surrounding Google Fiber has inspired companies to be formed and money and time to be spent on building communities and refocusing on making the area attractive to both coasts as an alternative base.

In what can only be called an exodus, WordPress’ co-founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg posted on his blog Sunday night that over 72,000 new blog posts were created within an hour. This is a massive spike considering that WordPress usually just sees 400 to 600 new blog posts on most Sundays. It’s a tiny percentage of Tumblr’s 50.9B posts but it’s an important consideration that Tumblr – and now Yahoo – cannot ignore. Yahoo is officially buying Tumblr for a lot of cash. $1.1 billion to be precise. This move makes a few people very happy and very rich. But Tumblr’s content creators – you and me – are the primary reason Yahoo is buying the site. Unfortunately, that content engine isn’t very happy. WordPress will likely have another banner day as even more Tumblr users look for alternative platforms to host their saucy Brony slashfic. Tumblr is currently an unfettered corner of the Internet. Nearly anything goes, and with that users have enjoyed this freedom to create a vast variety of blogs and sites. Anything from questionable pornography to vegan cooking blogs are hosted on Tumblr. While Yahoo promises to keep Tumblr independent, it’s unclear whether this includes maintaining Tumblr’s loose posting guidelines. This has happened before. A small percentage of Instagram users loudly quit the service when Facebook purchased the social network. Likewise, Facebook is losing users as it becomes an established service. WordPress is likely going to be the largest benefactor of Tumblr’s exodus. As Mullenweg notes, the two services have long enjoyed a close relationship. It only takes a few clicks to import a Tumblr site to a WordPress install. Tumblr users are afraid Yahoo is going to ruin it. After all, Yahoo has set that precedent after scooping up sites like Geocities and del.icio.us only to abandon development and let the sites rot in the Internet sun. But the Yahoo of today is not the Yahoo of yesterday. Yahoo is booming under Marissa Mayer. The company is a on buying spree, scooping up hot startups, resulting in the acquisition of content, talent, and, press coverage. If anything, Wall Street likes what Yahoo is doing as the company’s stock price is up nearly 71% for the year. But despite Yahoo’s frank promise that it will not screw up Tumblr, a social network is only as strong as its users and in a very direct way, Yahoo is already screwing up Tumblr.