TODAY'S COCKTAIL OF TECH STARTUP STORIES:
The latest cocktail of emerging technology news, people, startups, products, and innovations for the true tech enthusiast.
| How Gab Plans to Bring a More Meaningful Experience to Social Media |
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The Internet is full of noise. Nowhere is this more apparent than on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. How often do you share an article on Facebook, get a few likes, and it's forgotten within an hour? How about the thousands of pins you save on Pinterest that you never revisit (okay.maybe that's just me)? And don't even get me started on Yelp reviews written by strangers with an axe to grind. Founders Ben Poch and Kapil Khanna have taken on the task of reducing the noise. They've created Gab, a platform that attempts to remove the hoarding aspect of social media and helps users focus on what is important to them. Their goal is to create a more meaningful experience by harnessing the opinions of friends and those within the user's circle of trust. These are the five main actions that people can take: - Search: Search for various articles, places, products, and events using Gab's intelligent search function.
- Share: Share your thoughts, ideas, and opinions on various topics with the Gab community.
- Discover: Follow your friends, family and those you trust, and view their opinions and recommendations on new products, movies, travel destinations and more.
- Organize: Categorize your content into "gab bags" and access all of your favorite things in one place.
- Inspire: Add emotions and reactions to your Gab — be inspired and inspire others with new articles, topics, products, and reviews
They are also working on a "relationship" feature which will allow links to be built between different Gabs that have a common denominator. Gab is currently in beta, but I was granted access to play around with it a little and check out the different features. The homepage looks a lot like Pinterest, but one major difference is the content that each piece of media or "Gab" contains. Each Gab gives you the option to save it, comment on it, and rate it. It also shows you what other people are saying. When you click on the Gab, it opens up a window that allows you to see additional information such as how other people rated it, a link to the website, and other pertinent information and opinions. One thing that sets Gab apart from its competitors is its emphasis on the community with whom you share and gather information. Similar to Twitter or Pinterest, you choose who to follow and who follows you. These are the people who can see what you share and comment on, which makes it much easier to get reliable information and opinions from people you know and trust. Gab was one of the featured startups at the Tech Cocktail Mixer and Startup Showcase in Dallas on August 29th. I look forward to following them and seeing where they go–who knows, maybe we've finally found a cure for social media ADD. Guest author Kristin Pryor @kristinpryor is an archeologist by day and budding entrepreneur by night who is enthusiastically navigating her way through the DC startup space. She has an unending passion for learning and is never satisfied with the status quo. Her current obsessions include wine, hiking, and Downton Abbey. The post How Gab Plans to Bring a More Meaningful Experience to Social Media appeared first on Tech Cocktail  |
| For Startups, the French Government Lags Behind |
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France Digitale, an association of entrepreneurs and investors, had two demands for the French government as they began Les Assises de l'Entrepreneuriat, a series of talks about the effect of government policies on entrepreneurship. First, the capital gains tax had to be on the agenda. And second, Les Pigeons – the grassroots movement to defend entrepreneurs' interests – had to be allowed to participate. "We said that we don't want to speak about entrepreneurship if you maintain a tax scheme that would result in a dramatic decrease of investment in companies, because for startups capital is really like water," explains Jean-David Chamboredon, a spokesperson for Les Pigeons and a board member of France Digitale. "If you don't have capital, you die."
Capital gainsMinister delegate Fleur Pellerin accepted those terms, and the debates began in January. Three months later, French president Francois Hollande got up on stage to announce the new measures that the government would put in place to support entrepreneurs. They included more tax breaks for startups, a startup visa, benefits for student entrepreneurs, and – thankfully – a simplified and lower capital gains tax than originally proposed. It was a big step for France, but some entrepreneurs believe it must go further. Alice Zagury, cofounder and CEO of TheFamily, got passionate and insistent when she spoke to me about France's entrepreneurial future, alternating between English and French. When she thought of starting an accelerator, her friends and colleagues told her that the opportunity was elsewhere, outside of France. But she felt like a revolution was coming, and she wanted to be there to take part. "This is just the beginning," says Zagury, referring to Hollande's announcement. "They are a little bit lost in the changes that are happening. I think they just don't get it, and there is a lack of action and lack of anticipation and a lack of openness. . . The problem is that you still have old guys keeping the doors locked at every stage of the innovation process." "This is the fight," she adds. "It's to really help entrepreneurs grow from our country, and to be proud of it, and to encourage it, and to help young students to learn how to code, to place value on entrepreneurship."
"I hope that they put things into play," says Roxanne Varza, a former TechCrunch France editor who runs Microsoft BizSpark in Paris. "It's one thing to talk a nice talk, but I really hope that they execute on it." Employment laws But before they even look to raise funding, startups have to decide who to hire. And that decision can be fraught with worries and complications, thanks to the French droits du travail, or employment rights. Many American employees are accustomed to "at-will employment," which basically means that you can get fired for almost any (non-discriminatory) reason – particularly if you're not performing well. Not so in France, where the laws make it much harder to fire. If you have to dismiss someone for personal reasons (as opposed to economic ones), you have to have a "real and serious" reason and discuss that reason with the employee in a formal meeting. You must also send them a letter stating that reason. "Just referencing the seriousness of the charges, a loss of confidence, or poor performance is not a sufficient reason," the government's website explains. If the employee has worked for you for over two years, you must give them a notice of one or two months. If you dismiss someone for economic reasons, you'll have to offer severance pay amounting to 1/5 of their monthly salary times the number of years they've been working for you. (For example, if they earn $50,000 and have been working for you for two years, that's $1,600.) You still have to go through the meeting and letter process, and respect the "order of layoffs." Even if you're firing just one person, you must have taken into consideration things like their seniority, age or disability that makes it harder for them to find another job, and family expenses (like those of single parents). Though these are firing rules, their effects reach all the way back to hiring – and they aren't particularly good. Laurent Kretz, the organizer of monthly Start In Paris events and cofounder of 365Apps, says that he's at a point where he might hire three people. But since he's not sure how long their positions will last – depending on how well his startup does – he decided not to. And he says that even part-time employees come with their own regulations and requirements. Auto-entrepreneur Another government policy that has a direct effect on entrepreneurs is the auto-entrepreneur or sole proprietorship/self-employed status. Entrepreneurs can sign up online in 15 minutes to register as a one-man or one-woman company. As an alternative to forming a full business, it allows you to pay simpler and reduced fees. But the auto-entrepreneur status is only useful up to a point: now, up to precisely ?32,600. Above that, and you have to register as a full business and pay higher and more complicated fees. Not only that, but the government is thinking about reducing that limit. "They want to lower the cap from ?30K to ?20K, and you can imagine that with ?20K it's difficult to live," explains Chamboredon. ?20,000 euros is around $26,000. And while this will only officially affect one-man businesses, in practice it actually affects all startups. Although auto-entrepreneurs are supposed to have multiple contracts (if they're working for other people), in practice some auto-entrepreneurs basically work as startup employees. But since they technically don't have employee status, the startups are able to bypass the complicated employment laws. If the government lowers the auto-entrepreneur cap, the pool of attractive startup employees decreases. Benefits for entrepreneurs Of course, the picture is far from grim. The government is also putting its money to work to help entrepreneurs, as best it can. The flipside of all those onerous employment laws is unemployment benefits. (Since it's so hard to fire, they can pay more to those who do get fired.) People who are unemployed and want to start businesses are entitled to unemployment insurance that runs the same amount of time they were employed (from four months up to as long as three years). For example, Wimi president Lionel Roux took advantage of unemployment benefits for a full 16 months. "That alone tremendously reduced my personal risk and critically helped the company cash flow in the early stage," he says. Entreprenreurs can also try for a variety of loans or grants. Oseo, for example, is a program that offers loans for innovative companies with no interest and no personal guarantee. It's administered by Bpifrance, a public holding that reports to two French ministries. Since 2005, they've also offered grants and joined private investors in funding startups. Samantha Pastour, the cofounder of Bill'iz, got ?30,000 from Oseo and says "it's easy in Paris to make a startup." Inspired by Tech City in London, the government is also working on an initiative called "Quartiers Numeriques," which translates to something like "Digital Neighborhoods." The government announced it in October 2012 and has dedicated at least ?200 million to the project, which hopes to aggregate support and services for startups in one area of Paris and make the French digital sector more attractive internationally. The government is currently considering proposals. Finally, France's research tax credit – or Crédit d'Impôt Recherche - is boasted to be one of the best in Europe, paying small and large companies to do innovative research. But according to Chamboredon, some reasonable applications have been refused and entrepreneurs have been forced to return the money. "It's a significant amount of money for startups – it’s probably close to ?20-25K per engineer per year. If you don't know if you will get the money, by definition it's difficult to hire people, it's difficult to grow – it's difficult to manage your business, basically," he says.
Perhaps this is why some French entrepreneurs would prefer that the government just leave them alone, laissez faire. "I'd like them to do nothing – not help us or not un-help us," says Kretz. And perhaps the most entrepreneurial attitude of all comes from Jean-Daniel Guyot, cofounder of Capitaine Train. "It's the people who don't succeed who think the French government is a big problem," he says. "I think blaming the government is just their excuse to do nothing." In other words, as we like to say in the US, just do it. The post For Startups, the French Government Lags Behind appeared first on Tech Cocktail  |
| 5 Ways to Save Money on Your Hiring Strategy Now |
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Ask your average corporate recruiter, and they'll scoff at startups having trouble hiring great talent. But what they don’t realize is the numerous obstacles that face growing companies when it comes to hiring the best people. Startups are burdened by a lack of time to devote to the hiring process. And in many cities, they often have trouble finding highly skilled technical talent willing to take a risk and join a startup – even one with incredible potential. Plus, it's really hard to compete against big, local brands offering higher pay, fewer hours, and better benefits. And technical talent often prefer the flexibility of freelance roles where they can manage time, costs, and the type of projects they work on. Startups often turn to headhunters in desperation. But there's one problem: headhunters cost an arm and a leg. Specifically 15-30 percent+ of the new hire's salary. For a developer, that can run more than $10,000 or more based on the level and the city. Plus they aren't always looking out for the startup's best interests. They want to make the placement and get the cash. They're not incented to care about long-term fit or performance. Instead of passing the buck and sucking up the contingency fees, there are cheaper and easier ways to find the talent you need: 1. Hire an internal recruiter or twoIf you're going to hire at least two people in the next 12 months, it's a worthwhile investment based on what you'll spend for a headhunter. It takes the burden of managing the process off of the leadership team, and the recruiters can also begin to help you manage the team and growth. 2. Use sourcing tools and searchesForget expensive job boards. Use your current developers to use unique search strings and do some advanced online searching for candidates you wouldn't find otherwise. For example, one of Facebook's best engineers came from a small, no-name web shop in Maine who wouldn't have been found locally. Or, make a small investment in a tool like RemarkableHire that combs niche tech sites like StackOverflow and Dribbble to find actual evidence of performance and tech knowledge rather than the self-professed Hadoop expert you find on LinkedIn. 3. Get the whole team involvedThis isn't an employee referral contest. Require team members to participate in the search for every new hire and offer up three candidates for each open position. In a startup, sometimes it's all hands on deck, and hiring is no exception. It will help everyone become involved in what matters to the team, and they'll help create better networks of talent you can tap into in the future. 4. Look outside your zip code and sell your cityIt's not that there's a nationwide skills gap, but there is one in your city. As you're searching for and attracting talent, consider bringing in talent from other cities. The cost of relocation will still be cheaper than a headhunter. That said, you'll have to sell the virtues of your city compared to bigger startup scenes like Silicon Valley and New York. Focus on cost-of-living and unique attributes of your locale. 5. Be ridiculously honestYou won't get great talent by spinning a fantastic tale. You'll piss off new hires during month one when they realize the honeymoon is over. Instead, be honest up front and reinforce that you're being honest compared to other companies. You'll get major points for not trying to put lipstick on a pig. If candidates know what sucks about working for you and they still want to, then score. Susan Strayer LaMotte is the founder of exaqueo. She helps startup and high-growth companies develop cultures, build employer brands, and create strategies for talent recruitment and retention. Follow her @SusanLaMotte. The post 5 Ways to Save Money on Your Hiring Strategy Now appeared first on Tech Cocktail  |
| When Should You Sell Your Old iPhone? The Answer Will Surprise You |
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Millions of students want it. Millions of businesspeople need it. And at cash registers across the world, billions of dollars are spent on it. Everyone, it seems, wants the new iPhone model. With the entire tech world eagerly waiting for Apple’s expected announcement on September 10, the question on many consumers' minds right now is when they should get rid of their old smartphone. Unbeknownst to them, waiting too long to get rid of their iPhone could mean losing out on a substantial amount of money. Instead, what we have found is that you should already be locking down a good rate for your old iPhone clunker as soon as possible – and definitely not wait until the new release. So how do we know this? Recent used iPhone sales and depreciation data suggests that instead of waiting to sell your old iPhone, you should actually be locking in a higher sell price BEFORE the new model launch – and then using the proceeds to help fund the cost of your new iPhone. Recently, we examined hundreds of used iPhone sales on our uSell.com website following the 2012 iPhone 5 launch. By aggregating this price depreciation data, we found a surprising result. Old phones lose a great deal of their value each week after the new iPhone launch – starting at just seven days after the new model announcement date. Interestingly, one week after a new iPhone launch, old iPhones lose about 5 percent of their value. By two weeks after launch, old iPhones depreciate about 12 percent. By weeks 3 and 4, old phones are worth about 20 percent less. That's a huge depreciation in only a few weeks. So how much more can you get for your old phone if you sell or lock in your rate now? We ran the numbers: - An iPhone 5 is potentially worth $72 more (compared to 3 weeks after launch)
- An iPhone 4S is worth $46 more
- An iPhone 4 is worth $29 more
So by locking in a sale price BEFORE an upcoming iPhone launch (many platforms like uSell.com, which I founded, offer 30-day price guarantees), you can substantially increase its value. So the key is not to wait. Even a few weeks will bring down the value of your phone substantially. And why sell it for less if you don’t have to? Guest author Nik Raman is chief operating officer of uSell.com, an online marketplace that helps you sell your used electronics in three minutes or less through a network of professional buyers who competitively bid on your gadgets. Nik is an expert on the used iPhone industry and helps create the user experience for uSell.com's smartphone marketplace. Nik’s path in the “re-commerce” industry began as founder of EcoSquid in 2010, an electronics trade-in and recycling aggregator that uSell.com acquired in 2012. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School. The post When Should You Sell Your Old iPhone? The Answer Will Surprise You appeared first on Tech Cocktail  |
| Celebrating The Startup Life: Gina Bianchini on Social Media, Failure, and Misconceptions |
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How do you Celebrate your startup’s success? In a world where hustle is the mantra, sometimes taking the time to pause, reflect, and commemorate is more beneficial to your team’s morale, and consequently your long-term success. On October 23 – 25, we invite you to Downtown Vegas to Celebrate entrepreneurship at Tech Cocktail Celebrate, a three day national startup showcase, inspirational speaker series, and parties. The event will feature a slew of big-name speakers and judges. Included on this list is Gina Bianchini, former CEO and co-founder at Ning (purchased by Glam Media for $150M), current founder and CEO at Mightybell, who also spent time serving as executive in residence at Andreesen Horowitz. Bianchini has been featured as one of NPR's "5 Nerds to Watch in 2013," Fortune Magazine's "40 under 40," Huffington Post's 10 technology "Ultimate Game Changers," and 7×7 magazine's "Hot 20" list. I had the chance to catch up with Gina to learn more about how she Celebrates the startup life. Our conversation is below. Interview with Gina BianchiniTech Cocktail: What’s the biggest difference between being an executive in residence and an entrepreneur? Are the motivations wildly different?  Gina Bianchini: Being an EIR (either as an executive in residence or entrepreneur in residence) without having been an executive or entrepreneur would be a bit weird. An EIR is just an entrepreneur planning their next move and helping other entrepreneurs out in the process. In my case, I used the EIR time to help a few companies and then founded Mightybell to be a place for communities to learn and share together in groups.
Tech Cocktail: What will the future landscape of social media look like over the next 2-3 years? Bianchini: I believe the next wave of social media will be about taking action and organizing communities towards goals, not just being satisfied with collecting passive followers. In this context, I think social will also get a lot more specialized and vertically focused. Tech Cocktail: What’s the grand-scale vision with Mightybell? How is it different from Ning? Bianchini: We want to be the platform for organized social, which means delivering the ability to people to meet other relevant people based on your interests, passions and goals faster and more efficiently than what is possible today. Tech Cocktail: What has been your biggest failure as an entrepreneur? What did you takeaway from the experience? Bianchini: I am both tenacious and patient, which happens to be a very good combination to have as an entrepreneur. I have had more product failures than successes and the one thing that I have learned: if you choose to get better based on every experience – good and bad – and keep following your mission, it will eventually work no matter where you start. Tech Cocktail: What’s the biggest misconception about being an entrepreneur / starting up? Bianchini: That it is sexy. Most of the time, it is a slog. As evidence of this, the best entrepreneurs I know aren’t out at every tech start-up networking event. However, the part I love about the start-up life is getting to work with a killer team of equally passionate believers everyday towards a big goal. When you like your team, this path is awesome. Tech Cocktail: Give an example of a time you’ve celebrated your startup’s success? In your mind, why is celebration important? Bianchini: As I write this, I have had an awesome start-up day. That is after three months of hard, focused work where I barely went outside. And it is summer in California. The key is in both cases to just keep going. What do I mean by keeping going? I’m here filling this out at 8pm and have more to do, but I’m doing it smiling. That’s the celebration. Oh, and I bought a new keyboard because I spilled water on my other one. Technically this means I gave myself a gift too. Want to get your Celebration on? Join us in Downtown Vegas for Tech Cocktail Celebrate! The post Celebrating The Startup Life: Gina Bianchini on Social Media, Failure, and Misconceptions appeared first on Tech Cocktail  |
WAYS TO WORK TOGETHER
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