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Ramon Ray - Epson Workforce WF-3540
Is your printer on its last few prints Looking to get a new printer Epson’s Workforce WF-3540 could be just the thin for you.
This multi-function printer is fast, wireless and has a touch screen.
It’s also ideal for printing from your mobile devices to the printer.
Check out Ramon’s video review of it here or below:
Ramon Ray - Epson Workforce WF-3540
Is your printer on its last few prints Looking to get a new printer Epson’s Workforce WF-3540 could be just the thin for you.
This multi-function printer is fast, wireless and has a touch screen.
It’s also ideal for printing from your mobile devices to the printer.
Check out Ramon’s video review of it here or below:
Why Industry estimates suggest that $250 billion is lost by businesses each year due to infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights in international markets.
While copyright laws can provide protection in foreign markets, patents and trademark protection are often a matter of geography. Even if your invention, products and logo are protected under U.S. law, they aren’t automatically afforded protection overseas. You’ll need to register them in those international markets where you choose to expand your business.
IP law can be confusing at the best of times, but here’s what you need to know about protecting your intellectual property rights in these foreign markets, along with resources and tools that can help you.
Determine If You Need to File for IP Protection Overseas
Filing for protection may not be appropriate for every business. The circumstances for determining what type of IP protection is best for your business may be complicated and will differ for each individual business. Furthermore, international protection can be costly. Some issues to consider when making this decision are:
Factors to Consider When Planning Your Overseas IP Protection Strategy
Many small businesses find it challenging to protect their IP rights abroad and are unaware of the processes to obtain and enforce their rights in foreign markets. Some basic, often low-cost steps small companies should consider include:
How to Register your Trademark, Patent or Copyright Abroad
So how do you register your IP abroad
If you plan on selling, distributing or sourcing your products abroad, you should consider registering or filing with each country’s IP authorities. However, if you are seeking protection in many countries, you can take advantage of The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which has streamlined the process of filing patents in multiple countries. You can now file one patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and simultaneously seek protection in up to 144 countries.
Likewise, if you want to get trademark protection in multiple countries, under the Madrid Protocol you can file for trademark registration in multiple countries. By filing one trademark registration application with USPTO, U.S. applicants can concurrently seek protection in up to 84 countries.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce has worked with the U.S. embassies in a number of countries to develop “IPR toolkits†which provide a wealth of detailed information on how to protect and enforce your IP rights in those specific markets.
When it comes to copyright protection, although most countries do not require copyright registration in order to enjoy copyright protection, registration can offer several benefits, such as proof of ownership. The United States has copyright relations with most countries throughout the world, and as a result of these agreements, the copyrights of our respective citizens and businesses are honored.
Take Advantage of Government Tools and Resources
While you may be the first line of defense, the U.S. Department of Commerce, via the Stopfakes.gov website, does offer small businesses numerous tools and resources to educate themselves about their global IP rights and the process of registering for IP protection worldwide:
Have Questions
Check out these FAQs for business owners on Stopfakes.gov.
Copyright Protection Photo via Shutterstock
Why Industry estimates suggest that $250 billion is lost by businesses each year due to infringement of intellectual property (IP) rights in international markets.
While copyright laws can provide protection in foreign markets, patents and trademark protection are often a matter of geography. Even if your invention, products and logo are protected under U.S. law, they aren’t automatically afforded protection overseas. You’ll need to register them in those international markets where you choose to expand your business.
IP law can be confusing at the best of times, but here’s what you need to know about protecting your intellectual property rights in these foreign markets, along with resources and tools that can help you.
Determine If You Need to File for IP Protection Overseas
Filing for protection may not be appropriate for every business. The circumstances for determining what type of IP protection is best for your business may be complicated and will differ for each individual business. Furthermore, international protection can be costly. Some issues to consider when making this decision are:
Factors to Consider When Planning Your Overseas IP Protection Strategy
Many small businesses find it challenging to protect their IP rights abroad and are unaware of the processes to obtain and enforce their rights in foreign markets. Some basic, often low-cost steps small companies should consider include:
How to Register your Trademark, Patent or Copyright Abroad
So how do you register your IP abroad
If you plan on selling, distributing or sourcing your products abroad, you should consider registering or filing with each country’s IP authorities. However, if you are seeking protection in many countries, you can take advantage of The Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT), which has streamlined the process of filing patents in multiple countries. You can now file one patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) and simultaneously seek protection in up to 144 countries.
Likewise, if you want to get trademark protection in multiple countries, under the Madrid Protocol you can file for trademark registration in multiple countries. By filing one trademark registration application with USPTO, U.S. applicants can concurrently seek protection in up to 84 countries.
In addition, the U.S. Department of Commerce has worked with the U.S. embassies in a number of countries to develop “IPR toolkits†which provide a wealth of detailed information on how to protect and enforce your IP rights in those specific markets.
When it comes to copyright protection, although most countries do not require copyright registration in order to enjoy copyright protection, registration can offer several benefits, such as proof of ownership. The United States has copyright relations with most countries throughout the world, and as a result of these agreements, the copyrights of our respective citizens and businesses are honored.
Take Advantage of Government Tools and Resources
While you may be the first line of defense, the U.S. Department of Commerce, via the Stopfakes.gov website, does offer small businesses numerous tools and resources to educate themselves about their global IP rights and the process of registering for IP protection worldwide:
Have Questions
Check out these FAQs for business owners on Stopfakes.gov.
Copyright Protection Photo via Shutterstock
Check out these interesting and educational events - ideal for networking and making contacts, too. Â Sign up yourself or send one of your staff.
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February 19, 3013, Seattle, Atlanta, Chicago
WOMMfest is a coast to coast event celebrating the first ever National Word of Mouth Marketing Day. Anchor events will take place in Atlanta, Chicago and Seattle, with smaller local celebrations by Word Of Mouth Marketing Association members nationwide.
February 27, 2013, Philadelphia
Join Gene Marks and Todd Cohen for this half day seminar and learn:
February 27-28, 2013, New York City
Learn how Fortune 500 Corporations are using crowdsourcing to out-innovate, out-process, & out-engage their competition. Companies like GE, Microsoft, Walmart, eBay & many others.
Produced by the leading voices in crowdsourcing, David Bratvold and Daily Crowdsource, Crowdoplis was created to show both corporate leaders and small businesses that crowdsourcing is replacing outsourcing to translate millions of words in mere minutes, invent products that sell out before any costs are incurred, and create national award winning TV commercials for $20.
March 8, 2013, Online
This free virtual conference is designed to address the specific digital marketing concerns faced by marketers in today’s consumer-based and retail sales industries. Reserve your spot now and get ready for three actionable sessions, including:
1. Give your Email Programs a Dynamic Boost with Customer Data
2. Believable Business Blogging
3. Engaging Customers Before, During, and After the Sale
Multiple cities & dates, March - July 2013
Led by Tory Johnson, the jam-packed, high-energy two-day event enables you to experience big breakthroughs in your business and yourself. This two day conference arms current and aspiring small business owners with the tools, strategies and support to make more money now.
March 11-13, 2013, San Jose, CA
The landscape of search and search engine marketing changes constantly.
To keep up, stay ahead, grow your business, and get more (and better) traffic to your site, you need the right help.
Search Marketing Expo is a conference that offers more than 50 cutting-edge sessions (as well as invaluable networking opportunities) covering the search marketing strategies and tactics you’ll need to thrive in 2013 and beyond.
Whether you are a beginner or a search marketing expert, whether you work at (or with) an agency or manage search marketing in-house, SMX West has programming to fit your needs.
March 21-22, 2013, Mountain View, CA
BlogHer Entrepreneurs ’13 is BlogHer’s third annual event designed for women who want to start something, whether their goal is to strike out on their own with a brilliant idea, or to bring an entrepreneurial approach to innovation within a company.
London - March 25-27
Minneapolis - June 3-5
Atlanta - November 11-12
As the leading conference of its kind, Confab: The Content Strategy Conference brings together professionals everywhere who realize the value of content. User experience. Marketing. IT. Business management. This is one big party for content-loving folks who value smart thinking, voracious learning, and constant improvement in the workplace and beyond.
March 27-29, 3013, Scottsdale AZ
InfusionCon is a must-attend event for all Infusionsoft customers. There are a variety of sessions geared towards business owners, marketing and sales strategists, developers, administrators and more. Session topics cover a diverse range of topics relevant to small businesses, including Infusionsoft training, marketing strategy, social media, company culture, business management, automation, branding, copywriting, affiliate marketing and more.
Join 1,000 fellow marketers at the mega-conference designed to inspire and empower you with social media marketing ideasâ€"brought to you by Social Media Examiner.
 Web.com Small Business Forum
Lafayette, LA March 21, 2013
Midland, TX Â April 11, 2013
Valdosta, GA  April 25, 2013 … and more
Web.com will be traveling to cities near you during 2013, in partnership with SCORE, for 2-hour sessions designed to help local small businesses learn how to successfully market their businesses online. Â Various dates and cities during the year. Sessions are free.
Inc. GROWCO
April 11-12, 2013, New Orleans
Inc. created GROWCO, a three-day conference, for business leaders who want brass tacks advice to achieve the next level of growth. GROWCO speakers include founders and CEOs of fast-growing companies, icons in the business community, and authors of definitive business tomes. Learn how to develop a vision, manage a team, create a brand, get the most for your marketing dollar, connect with customers, close deals, and find capital.
April 29 - May 1, 2013, Washington, DC
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s annual event will allow you to access the experience and perspective of hundreds of small business owners facing the same challenges you face and get the tools, strategies, and best practices to compete successfully in today’s rapidly changing business environment. You will boost your impact with ideas from successful entrepreneurs, corporate leaders, top caliber keynoters, and chamber executives.
May 3-5, 2013, Chicago
SOBCon is a 2-day interactive business “think tank†that moves ideas to action. During the conference, attendees increase their business IQ in an engaging and positive learning environment. They take away an actionable and measurable business plan, along with invaluable business strategies and skills, increased confidence, and a network of connections to drive their companies forward.
This year’s Chicago theme is “The Customer Centered Business†- talking and masterminding about strategies that will engage your customers and grow your business.
May 15-18, 2013, Columbus OH
The Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo attracts more than 1,200 attendees annually. Entrepreneurs from all over the country come together to take in everything the conference has to offerâ€"from informative sessions, high-powered speakers, networking opportunities, to essential tools for emerging and established entrepreneurs. As the country’s premier business conference and networking event for African American entrepreneurs, corporate executives, and professionals, The Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference is the only venue where leaders of the nation’s largest black-owned businesses gather at one place, one time, and with one purpose.
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The Small Business Expo
June 20 - Dallas
October 17 - Boston
November 7 - Los Angeles
January 16, 2014 - Miami
Small Business Expo is a nation-wide B2B tradeshow, conference and networking event for small business owners. Business owners browse the exhibition hall filled with exhibitors showcasing products and services to help their businesses grow, attend small business workshops, seminars and meet-ups, and network with others in various areas, including speed networking areas.
May 20-27, 2013
Since 2008, Internet Week has taken place all over the city, thanks to our many partners hosting diverse events in different locations.The result is a critical mass of web-focused events that raises the profile of NYC’s industry as a whole, as well as the partners who participate.
June 22-24, 2013, San Francisco
During this three day conference within the HOW Design Live Conference, Veteran freelancers and expert consultants will arm you with all the practical information you need to set goals for growthâ€"and give you the confidence and information you need to achieve them.
To find more small business events, contests and awards, visit the Small Business Events Calendar.
If you are putting on a small business event or contest, and want to get the word out, please submit it through our Events & Contests Submission Form (it’s free). Only events of interest to small business people, freelancers and entrepreneurs will be included.
Brought to you as a community service by Small Business Trends and Smallbiztechnology.com.
Below is an exclusive interview I conducted with him via email:
Question: How do you like to be introduced since you’re a man with many hats
Kawasaki: My self-identity is a father and husband. As a father and husband, one of my roles is a provider. My speaking, writing, advising, and investing are all means to an end-that of adequately providing for my family.
Question:  Your bad experience with trying to order 500 eBooks from your publisher prompted you to write this book. Tell me why that was such a big deal. Don’t publishers screw up all the time
Kawasaki:  More accurately, the 500 eBook order prompted me to write What the Plus!, a self-publishing that book showed me how hard the process was, and this made me decide to write APE. The 500 eBook order was a big deal because I couldn’t comprehend why it was so hard to fill. An order like that is something to cherish, not throw to the wind.
Question:  Do you think everyone has a good story to tell Won’t there be a lot of junk, poorly written, self-published books if everyone writes one
Kawasaki: Â Not everyone has a good story to tell. Not every musician has a good song. Not every artisanal baker, brewer and winemaker makes good stuff. Not every Indie film producer makes good movies. All these paths produce lots of crap. But at least the barriers to entry are lower so that more people can publish books, write songs, bake, brew and make movies.
The world is a richer place when the barriers are lower because no one knows (including editors) who will produce the next great piece of literature. No matter how much crap comes out because of self-publishing, that’s still better than six companies in New York deciding what people should be able to read. The democratization of information is an irresistible force.
Question: Â What are the biggest disadvantages of self-publishing
Kawasaki:  The biggest disadvantages are the lack of an advance, responsibility for all aspects of publishing including writing, editing, designing, and marketing, and the feeling of loneliness when you’re doing most of this by yourself. However, self-publishing still beats total rejection by traditional publishers and never getting your book out.
The advantages of self-publishing are that you can control the entire process. You can get your book to market much faster and you make more money per copy.
Question:  Don’t some people need hand holding
Kawasaki:  People don’t need hand holding as much as information, because they’ve never gone through the process before. We wrote APE to help all these people. Think of APE as “what to expect when you’re publishing.â€
Question: Â Will you ever work with a traditional publishing house again
Kawasaki:  Sure, all it would take is a huge advance.  So huge that I don’t care if the procedures of a traditional publisher puts a 500 copy eBook order in jeopardy. There are only two kinds of authors - those who want a big advance, and those who are lying.
Question:  What’s your beef with ghostwriters I know a very successful one who works with thought leaders who can’t write but need books.
Kawasaki:  Call me idealistic, but a book should be a piece of your soul. It should represent your blood, sweat, and tears. It’s very hard to dictate a piece of your soul. It’s like a person saying to a ghost musician, “I’ll hum a tune. You make it into a song and write the words.â€
Question: Â How much money should you set aside for editing, design and the back end production Do you have a ballpark estimate
Kawasaki: Â Our guideline is that it takes about $4,000 to content edit, copy edit, design a cover, and layout the book. Really great marketing costs another $20,000. This makes the total cost approximately $25,000, worst case. There are ways to cut this to $2,000 by paying for professional copy editing and cover designing only. But $25,000 would pay for doing everything in a first class way.
Fortunately, this amount of money, $2,000 to $25,000, is fundable using websites such as Indiegogo or Kickstarter. The probability of raising $25,000 using Indiegogo or Kickstarter is much higher than the probability of a novice author finding a traditional publisher.
Question:  What’s next for you Another book
Kawasaki:  I’ll be marketing APE for quite a while doing webinars and speeches about the topic of artisanal publishing. This is another advantage of artisanal publishing - a traditional publisher, best case, markets your book for two months and then moves on. An artisanal publisher can market his or her book forever.
Unfortunately, no matter how well you build your reputation, there are going to be people who will try to tear you down. They could be disgruntled former employees, dissatisfied customers, online reviewers and bloggers or even your competitors.
What can you do to protect yourself and your business from these online onslaughts
There is no magic wand that will make all of the negative comments go away, but there are practices and procedures that will help you to minimize the damage.
Step 1: Get Yourself Some Listening Tools
The only way to truly protect your reputation is to know what is being said about you or your brand (and who is saying it). Negative statements, lies, rumors can spread in an instant. The longer you wait to deal with these comments, the more damage will be done.
Fortunately, there are many tools out there that will help you to monitor what is being said about your brand, your executives, your products and your employees.
The most basic listening tool of all is an Internet search. If you’ve never monitored brand sentiment, simply search your company name and see what comes up. Google’s advanced search helps you see what’s being said in the news and in blogs.
To get notifications sent to you by e-mail, set up Google Alerts for your company name, executives’ names and for product names. Google Alerts sends you a notification when you have been mentioned in articles, blogs, etc.
Some more sophisticated (but still free) listening tools include SocialMention, Technorati (great for mentions in blogs), Twilert (like Google Alerts, but for Tweets) and Klout.
If you are a major brand, need more sophisticated monitoring and have the budget to pay for it, you can get extremely detailed and informative results that not only show where you’ve been mentioned, but give you valuable data on brand sentiment. Some of the leading tools include Cision, Radian6, and IBM Cognos® Consumer Insight (CCI).
Step 2: Take a Deep Breath Before You React
The Web has given people enormous power to damage a brand. Negative reviews on sites like Yelp or Angie’s List can crush a business.
Nobody likes to be criticized. If you are in business, though, it’s going to happen and it’s going to happen often. How you react to such criticism can be the difference between a meaningless annoyance and a full-blown crisis.
The key here is to keep a cool head and analyze the situation. While there is no single formula, here are a few things to think about before reacting:
Step 3: Be Civil
There is a reason why they call it social media. The Web is a place where communities are created, where conversations take place and where relationships are established. As in any community or relationship, there will be disputes. Handle them professionally, civilly, with grace and even with humor.
This will humanize you and your company and only serve to establish you as positive member of the Web community.
Step 4: Learn from the Experience
Conversations on the Web are always evolving. As in any crisis situation, try to learn from your mistakes and use that knowledge to improve the way you do business. If there were complaints about your products, listen to them and fix the problem. If there were complaints about your services or your employees, take those complaints to heart.
Think of social media as a massive focus group. Criticism can be very healthy for a business owner. It can provide a wake-up call and it can be a great test of your customer service, your flexibility and your leadership.
Reputation Photo via Shutterstock
InSync Tech-Fin Solutions
One of the winners was InSync Tech-Fin Solutions, founded in 2009 to help eCommerce merchants worldwide to increase their efficiency by presenting an integrated solution between Magento and SAP Business One. Through their flagship product, SBOeConnect, the company provides both the capability of back office ERP Systems that today’s eCommerce solutions lack, as well as a compelling form of integration.
Atul Gupta’s move to Kolkata in 2006, combined with his computer science background and passion for information technology, provided the inspiration to serve Indian SMBs locally. It was through a focus on both service and product that Atul found the need for SBOeConnect. Initially, the finances for Atul’s venture came from family funds - InSync now operates on cash flow. And with a potential total addressable market of $95 million and a target of established and emerging eCommerce merchants, InSync is already profitable in the realm of $500,000, and has 80 paying customers to date.
iQeCommerce
Next we have the 2006-founded iQeCommerce, a hosted solution providing easy and efficient setup for small business owners in need of an eCommerce store online. Essentially SaaS via an eCommerce website, what began with the single site design of a collage website has evolved past a freelancing portal into a functional business.
iQeCommerce offers, among its services, custom store design, professional setup and pay-per-click (PPC) setup, with quotes provided based upon services requested. The company aims to develop a solution that maintains a high level of quality, thereby establishing long-term bonds with their clients. Additional claims include ensuring the customer is provided all required tools to compete in their respective market; considering iQeCommerce enters a competitive market itself, working against the likes of BigCommerce and Volusion, it’s an ambitious goal.
Founders Nilmoni Basak and Abhisek Kumar are longtime business partners, counting iQeCommerce as their second startup. Abhisek brings six years of experience in Project Management and Delivery, customer handling and troubleshooting to the venture, while Nilmoni’s past experience includes frontend design and working with the technical team to execute the product. Together, they hope to acquire 1,000 customers on iQecommerce within the next eight to ten months.
Over the past six years, the company can count over 500 customers served, and have designed and developed over 1,000 sites. Product revenues have exceeded the $200,000 mark.
Debate.fm
Working to the principle, “keep it simple,†the relatively new Debate.fm is reinventing the previous conceptions of online forums by featuring three full layers of user engagement and is heavily integrated with social media. Founded in May 2011, the startup presents an online platform that allows its users to start a debate in three easy steps, and to continue discussing their ideas with even greater facility. Founder Kamanashish Roy wanted to give debaters simple and varied means to make their ideas heard; moreover, his site provides a more anonymous means of sharing and discussing culturally sensitive issues than popular online communities such as Facebook.
Kamanashish is no stranger to the media space, with degrees in Journalism and Mass Communication as well as professional experience in online marketing. He was inspired to discuss a first post with his partners after watching a televised debate regarding a nuclear power plant in the spring of 2011. Their first prototype launched with just a single debate to widely popular reviews. Debate.fm currently acts as an offering of Kamanashish’s current company, WebPrachar.com, which offers similar services to offshore clients.
ShopOffice
Another budding venture, ShopOffice, is an online provider of office supplies, designed to serve the needs of small businesses. Under the slogan “you click we deliver,†ShopOffice is intended to be a one-stop-shop to order needed materials online for delivery, with no hassle.
Founder Rohit Singh became deeply interested in entrepreneurship while still completing a degree in computer engineering, and through his research was exposed to leading office supply providers Office Depot and Staples. Upon discovering that the concept had yet to be introduced in Eastern India, he set out to fill the niche.
Now, let us also look at the companies that are taking off in Bengal.
Indus Net Technologies
Founded in 2002, Indus Net Technologies provides end-to-end Web and mobile technology solutions and digital marketing services - specifically application development for web and mobile, integrated digital marketing and web design with specific work in SEO and SEM. The majority of Indus Net’s business lies in emerging companies, closely followed by digital agencies and enterprise; the company empowers small businesses and startups through the Indus Net Express program.
After purchasing a book on HTML and attending an exhibition on the subject in his hometown of Kolkata, founder Abhishek Rungta used the connections he made and the knowledge he acquired to make his way into the Internet business. Indus Net is a fully bootstrapped venture of over 500 full-time professionals and boats an annual turnover of over $5 million.
Virtual Information and Communications (VirtualInfoCom)
Another Kolkata company, Virtual Information and Communications (VirtualInfoCom) offers all manner of animation and graphics, counting among its accolades the title of India’s first game development training course, India’s first smart phone application training institute and creator of India’s first mythological PC game. In 1999, when the company was founded, animation in India was relatively new. As founder Arijit Bhattacharya was continuously approached by job seekers, he eventually decided to convert the demand into a training institute.
In addition, a team of 91 now spans three separate offices; services offered now include game development, mobile gaming and ad promotion, visual and special effects, Web page design, software development, and many more.
Games are created, sometimes from the concept stage, for sale through resellers, at which time VirtualInfoCom receives royalties for each download. Today, the company has over 175 resellers for their products, providing 60% of the company’s revenue - which has nearly hit the $4.8 million mark. This combines with additional revenues from training institute enrollments and site traffic from an online gaming portal.
Pinnacle Infotech
Next we have Pinnacle Infotech, providing CAD design, modeling and drafting solutions since its launch in 1992. Using the latest technologies, Pinnacle provides Building Information Modeling (BIM) services for the architecture, engineering, construction, electrical, and plumbing segments, and many more. The company is comprised of a team of 500 engineers, architects, and CAD professionals.
Founder Bimial Patwari began work in management consulting after a degree in electronics engineering, but realized his real passion was for entrepreneurship. After becoming an AutoDesk certified partner and providing training to engineering students in AutoDesk products, he realized the need for AutoCAD design services, which provided the basis for Pinnacle to go global in 1998.
The company has been entirely bootstrapped to the $6 million revenue mark, and continues to grow at a rate of 35% per year. Projects have shifted to larger scale designs such as airports, hospitals and convention centers.
A1 Future Technologies
Another Web design specialist, A1 Future Technologies, was born out of freelance work and gained momentum by specializing in corporate identity solutions.
Founder Srish Agarwal began as a freelance graphic designer while still in college, running a cyber café, during which time he became exposed to and learned web design. He then went on to create his Elance profile and began bidding in 2002. After hiring eight to ten young, fresh designers, he had built himself a team to work on the design projects that were increasing in volume. Once client began offering projects to Srish directly, he felt the time was right to break away from the exchange.
With revenues at $1.25 million in 2011 and a total of 60-65 projects per day, as well as an affiliated animated video site set to launch soon, A1 is doing steady business.
FusionCharts
Finally on our long list of Bengal-based startups is FusionCharts, a software suite that allows customers to create Flash charts: animated and interactive charts for use in Web and enterprise applications. Using a combination of Microsoft ASP and Flash technologies, the company offers 14 separate data visualization products that integrate with enterprise applications, PowerPoint and SharePoint, as well extensions for other applications such as Dreamweaver.
FusionCharts co-founder Pallav Nadhani developed and successfully launched the company while still in high school, drawing upon his father’s enthusiasm for technology and the convenience of their longtime home computer. Through a self-taught series of computer skills, Pallav learned that no user-friendly forms of data visualization yet existed.
Today, the company is fully bootstrapped to its current revenue mark of $7 million. Over one billion charts are created each month by 21,000 customers in over 115 countries.
So next time someone tells you that there are no entrepreneurs in Bengal, you can comfortably introduce them to Pallav, Bimal, Srish, Arijit, Abhishek, or Atul.
And in due course, many hundreds of others.
India Photo via Shutterstock
You know the importance of a business tablet as your company becomes more mobile, but the question persists: Which tablet will give you the best performance for your investment A recent survey of information workers gives an answer you might not expect.
Out of 9,766 information workers surveyed worldwide in Forrester Research’s annual Mobile Workforce Adoption Trends, 32% said they would prefer a Microsoft Surface Pro tablet while 26% said they would prefer an iPad. Just 12% showed interest in an Android tablet.
Launched Feb. 9, Microsoft’s Surface Pro has met with lack luster response, but several aspects of the new mobile tablet might explain its appeal and why small business owners might also want to give these devices a second look.
First, the Surface Pro includes Microsoft Office software, long the standard in business. This makes it appealing to companies large and small.
Second, Apple has a reputation for doling out its innovations incrementally. This could be bad news for companies seeking a business tablet as a good investment for long term use.
As Shwetika Baijal observes in PolicyMic, Apple didn’t include a front-facing camera in the first iPad in 2010, although the company included the camera feature on its iPhone 4 released just two months later.
Baijal suggests Apple made the conscious decision to withhold the feature from the first iPad even though the company likely already possessed the capability. She suggests the decision is part of a business strategy intended to keep prices and demand high for each new model.
While the recent survey suggests the Surface Pro may be more in demand with enterprise users and so perhaps an investment to think about for small business owners too, challenges remain.
Mary Jo Foley of ZDNet reports Microsoft failed to take orders for the new device ahead of time and in some cases sent insufficient numbers to retailers to meet demand.
Baijal says other obstacles are the Surface’s lack of apps, about 10,000 compared to the iPad’s 300,000+, and the unfamiliarity of the new Windows 8 operating system.
In a review in The Wall Street Journal, Walt Mossberg calls the Surface Pro heavy and expensive. (It weighs two pounds and starts at $899.) But Mossberg also points to another feature that may appeal to business users. The Surface Pro is able to operate like a conventional laptop, even though it is considerably more portable. But it also runs Microsoft’s new touchscreen tablet interface, making it a hybrid of both devices and a versatile choice for a business tablet.
The results tell an interesting story. While many Americans are adversely affected by energy prices and health care costs, a higher fraction of small business owners feel that taxes and government regulations are hurting them.
The Comparison is Admittedly Imperfect
Gallup interviewed small business owners between January 7th and 11th and American adults between January 21st and 22nd. More importantly, small business owners were asked about whether different situations were hurting or helping “the operating environment†of their businesses, while people in general were asked whether the situations were hurting or helping their “finances.â€
Nevertheless, the data provide insight into the ways that political and economic conditions affect small business owners and non owners.
The two groups had statistically similar concerns about energy prices, with 79 percent of American adults and 77 percent of small business owners telling the interviewers that energy prices are a problem. (For both the surveys, the margin of error is +/- 4 percentage points.) Health care costs are also hurting both groups, with 73 percent of small business owners and 68 percent of American adults reporting this to the surveyors.
And both groups assessed the impact of the federal government’s debt ceiling similarly, with 56 percent of adults and 63 percent of small business owners saying it was harmful.
The two groups had similar views about the effect of federal spending cuts, though fewer members of both groups saw these as harmful: 46 percent of American adults and 40 percent of small business owners.
The small business owners differed from the overall sample in how much taxes, government regulation, credit, and immigration policies hurt. While 69 percent of American adults said that taxes were hurting their personal finances, 80 percent of small business owners said that taxes were hurting the “operating environment†of their companies.
Similarly, 72 percent of small business owners said that government regulations were a problem, while only 48 percent of American adults said so.
Fewer small business owners thought that immigration policies were harmful than American adults (38 percent to 25 percent). By contrast, 47 percent of small business owners felt credit availability was was a problem, as compared with 30 percent of American adults.
While the surveys don’t tell us whether small business owners think differently from other Americans or whether the situations affect small business operations more than personal finances, the differences are intriguing. Taxes and regulation are problematic for a larger fraction of small business owners than Americans overall.
We all know Pinterest can drive a lot of traffic; Therefore making sure your images will be pinned and (what’s more vital for this very article) re-pinned is well worth the effort.
Pinterest grabs all your friend’s images together, resizes them into thumbnails and throws them to your friend stream. Whenever you login and go to your home page, you just scan through those images as you scroll.
If there is anything blurry and unclear, you won’t probably waste your time on it. Therefore, make sure your image is readable when it’s 192 pixels wide.
Compare:
Pinteresting Image tip: When optimizing your images for web publishing, do a quick exercise by resizing your image to 192 pixels and make sure it looks good.
One point to add here: Of course, there’s no rule to fit all cases. I am pretty sure some blurry images are clicked because the user is just curious what’s there. However, clear image thumbnails are important if you care about your followers’ user experience and want more positive action on the image.
Whenever your Pinterest friends go to their Pinterest homepage, all they see is the collection of images. One of these images is yours.
Do you want to stand out
Many eye-tracking heatmap studies (including a Pinterest-specific one) will offer you a solution: a human face will draw the most attention.
Pinteresting image tips:
1. Brand your business team faces: Create lots of team pictures and incorporate them into your blog and content strategy. This way, more and more faces will make it to your pinners’ streams (which may result in more re-pins and better branding):
2. If you create infographics, make sure they contain clear faces pointing your reader’s attention in the right direction:
Color theory is not easy: There are a lot of “it depends†factors to keep in mind. Color preferences may depend on age, country, niche and even current mood of the viewer. But one color proves to work in most cases: orange.
Orange has long been considered the most effective call-to-action color: Whenever you want a person to act (click, like, re-pin), try using orange.
Pinteresting Image tip: Use these search by color tools to get orange inspired. There’s no need to make all your images orange, but it’s something worth testing.
Do you have any tips to make your pins stand out and increase their click-through and “viral†potential
How good the acquisition will be for small merchants and consumers remains to be seen. One thing seems clear: this Google ecommerce play will likely help the search giant compete against Amazon and eBay in ecommerce.
Channel Intelligence (CI) helps retailers sell their products online through various channels and services. Simultaneously, it tries to  make it easier for consumers to find products they want to buy.
Services offered by CI include “where to buy†buttons that sellers can include on their websites. Their services also help merchants to promote their products and get found on shopping search engines such as Google Shopping.
CI and Google have already worked together for years, as CI was one of the original Google Shopping launch partners.
If you, like Google, owned a shopping search engine, wouldn’t you want to discourage shoppers from going directly to competing ecommerce sites like Amazon and eBay â€" and encourage them to instead search Google  The more consumers who search Google Shopping and find what they want, the more valuable that shopping engine becomes.  CI’s technology and know-how are a path to increase that value.
With CI’s technology and services, Google Shopping will be in a position to provide more marketing and selling tools to businesses that use the platform. This will make Google Shopping more attractive to merchants.  And that of course, means more revenue for Google.  Google Shopping switched over to having exclusively paid listings in September 2012. So the only products featured on Google Shopping are those from merchants who pay for the privilege.
Also, as Search Engine Land notes, it is likely that eventually CI’s services will be available only for Google Shopping, and not competing shopping engines. That could give Google Shopping an edge against its competitors.
Net result: Google gets a bigger slice of the ecommerce pie.
In a post on the company’s blog, the CI team said that it will continue offering its services to clients. It doesn’t say clearly whether such services will be exclusive to Google Shopping or available for other competing search engines and shopping services. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of this year.
ICG Group Inc. and Aweida Capital Management are currently the joint owners of Channel Intelligence. The company is based in Florida and has additional offices in Phoenix, London and Shanghai.
