Author Archive: Espree Devora

Being an entrepreneur is about, “The journey through the ‘NO’ to get to the YES’ ” said by Ryan Caldbeck, CEO of CircleUp, on a panel at the Connections Conference in Indianapolis. CircleUp is an online social marketplace that supports direct equity investments from individual investors to small private consumer and retail companies. He was talking about the history of VitaminWater and how the creator went through bankruptcy, had a failed marriage and spent years going from local mom n’ pop to mom n’ pop store trying to convince each one to carry Vitamin Water out of his car… eventually it went national as we all know

Jackass, TheDudesons, America’s Funniest Home Videos. Normal people get paid every day by TV networks wanting to get a hold of stunts, pranks and home videos that tickle your funny bone. Question is, how do these non celebrity everyday people form relationships with the TV execs and what exactly are those execs looking for? I had the opportunity of interviewing some key people in the world of video licensing to explore how the industry works.

Even though Lyft nor Sidecar presented at TechCrunch Disrupt 2012 they need to be mentioned as they were a huge time saver both getting from after party to after party and also to get to the airport.

Lately there has been a non cab, “hire your neighbor”, kind of transportation craze. Here in LA we have a towncar service called Uber that with a tap of an app we can get a door to door town car service ride.

It’s unbelievable how often start up founders stifle their company from growing by not knowing how to effectively communicate their brand. From devising a tweet length pitch to having an easy to remember name, each branding opportunity is a touch point for a new customer to be attracted to what you have to offer. In this article the focus will be on how to successfully attract media attention.

When on long drives or stuck in LA traffic a lot of business owners rely on the radio and books on audio to keep them entertained and distracted from the bumper to bumper grind.

Viddy, called by many as the new Twitter, but for video, had a #splashmob this weekend at Santa Monica Beach. They partnered with Uber to drive people to and from the event. Uber is an easy to use door to door car service knocking out the need for taxi cabs like bumper cars. After enjoying the heat wave in the ocean bouncing Waboba balls on the water, yes the balls bounce on water! the Viddy crew headed to the Arbor Collective showroom on the Venice boardwalk for an exclusive party.

All you hear about these days is Mobile. Companies are spending more time and money on their mobile sites than their full-fledged website. It’s hard to even watch a TV commercial without some sort of mobile app shout out. You read in newspapers that app downloads hit an all-time high, nearly every week (now at 1 billion in a week iOS + Android). Yet did you know that only 38% of adult Americans even have a smart phone?

Recently when at Blog World I got an advance copy of “Laughing at Wall Street” by Chris Camillo. He teaches how to take the risk out of being risky. Where was he when I was 18 and just starting out!? A little bit about the author Chris Camillo

I am a raving fan of AppSumo.com. NOT just because they have the best deals on web based business tools. NOT because the founder of the company has an established credibility working for both Facebook and MINT when those companies were in infancy.

Getting “Leads” does not mean money in the bank. Having paying “Customers” is what makes the cash register roar. This article will cover two things; First, the top mistakes small business owners make that end with inquiries leading you to the exit door before making a sale. Second, how to get leads.