Cloudability recently announced that it will be acquired by Apptio, owned by Vista Equity Partners. Cloudability is the market leader in multi-cloud financial management and FinOps, serving hundreds of customers around the globe. 

Due diligence is a key component of every successful private equity transaction. Cloudability recognized the importance of delivering analysis to help with this process and hired SGC Ventures to complete a Market Opportunity Analysis for investor prep. 

The engagement delivered on the following due diligence objectives:

• Market Sizing: Determine the Total Addressable Market for cloud financial management and segment market by customer type
• Customer Satisfaction: Qualitatively and quantitatively determine satisfaction levels
• Industry Trends: Assess factors influencing the market size and opportunities
• Competitive Landscape: Identify key competitors, significant differentiators, and the threat of new entrants

The analysis helped to present data private equity investors would be seeking in an acquisition and to more quickly determine fit with Apptio and Vista Equity Partners. ​

About Cloudability:
Cloudability’s Financial Operations (FinOps) Platform manages more than $9 billion in enterprise cloud spending across AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud. Cloudability leverages data science, machine learning and automation to improve the unit economics and business agility of the cloud. For more information, please visit Cloudability.com.​

About Apptio:
Apptio fuels digital business transformation. Technology leaders use Apptio's machine learning to analyze and plan their technology spend so they can invest in products that increase the speed of business and deliver innovation. With Apptio, they translate raw costs, utilization, and billing data into business-centric views that help their organization optimize spending, plan strategically, and drive digital strategy that funds growth of the business. Technology leaders can gather instant recommendations that result in 30% saving on cloud services. For more information, please visit www.Apptio.com.

About Vista Equity Partners:
Vista Equity Partners is a U.S.-based investment firm with offices in Austin, Chicago, New York City, Oakland, and San Francisco with more than $46 billion in cumulative capital commitments. Vista exclusively invests in software, data, and technology-enabled organizations led by world-class management teams. As a value-added investor with a long-term perspective, Vista contributes professional expertise and multi-level support towards companies to realize their full potential. Vista’s investment approach is anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions, and proven management techniques that yield flexibility and opportunity. For more information, please visit www.vistaequitypartners.com.

​​Investors and others are increasingly utilizing expert networks like Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) and AlphaSites to instantly get answers to key questions. It's like calling a friend in the business, but these calls are highly regulated to ensure compliance with confidentiality requirements. The results are quick and actionable - particularly when paired with analysis on trends and market data (SGC Ventures provides this service).

​​Bloomberg published this article, "Investors Are Paying $1,300 Per Hour for ‘Expert’ Chats (click here)" earlier in the year, describing the process and its growing popularity. A few excerpts are included below.

Experts On Demand
Research spending on expert networks to soar past $1 billion in coming years. Now that banks have stopped giving equity research for free under a new European Union law, some money managers are opting instead to spend their cash speaking with experts in fields as trendy as artificial intelligence or as niche as sausage packaging.

​“They seem to be contacting everyone like mad,” said Phil Chapple, the chief operating officer at London-based hedge fund Monterone Partners, who at some points this year was getting at least two calls a day from networks trying to sign him up. While they used to look expensive, “now if you look at some of the pricing coming out of banks, it does get into the table more,” he said.

The likes of Gerson Lehrman Group, the dominant American expert network, and European rivals Third Bridge or AlphaSights all compile their own private databases of consultants from around the world. Some basic packages charge $100,000 per company for the service of pairing employees with the right experts, which can be topped up if they need more phone time. Fees of the most sought-after consultants give high-flying lawyers a run for their money.

Access article here.

​Strategic planning is an annual exercise at most successful organizations. This process is essential to discovering new areas of growth and establishing a road map for future development. Consumer demands are changing every day – often fed by rapidly evolving technologies. Keeping up with these changes is essential, but often difficult while immersed in day to day operations. 

One way to keep current with the changing landscape and infuse new thinking into strategic planning is to start with an analysis of best practices. I recently completed a benchmarking and best practices analysis for a Fortune 100 company eager to improve their performance in customer service. We worked together for several months completing a robust assessment that resulted in new inspiration for the department with clear takeaways to apply to their own business. 

Understanding best practices is important because it can help catapult performance to another level – if applied appropriately to an organization. 

Key elements to conducting a successful best practices analysis include:

1. Verify the Leaders – Begin by identifying the leaders in the chosen space. Make a list of those companies admired both inside and outside of the relevant industry. Verify the leaders by searching for those companies who have won awards for best performance, or who are consistently ranked as best in class. Check with publications like Fortune, Forbes and Tech Crunch, or industry research groups like J.D. Power and Gartner.

2. Collect the Data – Begin researching the identified leaders in the field. Read articles, examine annual reports and record available information about how they pushed to the top of the heap. There will be important similarities between the leaders and key differences. Analyze the trends. If possible, work with an expert network like GLG to quickly access relevant professionals and set up conversations to gain more knowledge. Make a list of best practices, which companies embrace them and how these practices drive results.      

3. Measure Your Performance – Establish metrics to measure your company performance and compare to the leaders. Data is sometimes hard to find, but there are resources to help such as: Similar Web to compare website traffic, NPS Benchmarks to compare Net Promoter Score, and data from annual reports of public companies to compare financial and other performance ratios. 

4. Identify Gaps – Compare the approach and performance of the leaders to your company. Realistically identify the best practices that could be applied. Make a list of quick wins and longer-term aspirational goals.

5. Make it Yours – Each company culture is unique. Share the best practice research with your team and begin discussions about how to adjust and apply these practices. Armed with this research, the team will enter the strategic planning process sharper and more focused on what will drive innovation and results.
​
Taking time to reflect on past results and plan for the future is critical for all companies. Starting the planning process with an analysis of best practices will inspire the team with new ideas and a fresh perspective on growth. 

​Contact us to discuss.

 The burning question for many private-equity investors is - "How big is the market?" In an era where entrepreneurs are breaking ground in new markets daily, this question is difficult, but not impossible to answer. 

Experts are predicting some of the hottest tech trends for 2017 will be

• Internet of Things (IoT) and Smart Home Tech
• Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality
• Machine Learning
• Automation
• Humanized Big Data 

Each of these markets has the potential to reach billions in market size. There are research analysts crunching the numbers on overall size today and projected growth over a 5-10 year horizon. However, most companies are competing in specific segments of these larger new markets and calculations of market size are usually nonexistant. 

As an example, the Internet of Things promises to materially disrupt our economy with the connectivity of everyday devices, allowing them to send and receive data. Private-equity companies and others are investing heavily in promising IoT technologies. Business Insider predicts that nearly $6 trillion will be spent on IoT solutions over the next five years. The overall market size will be large with McKinsey estimating the total IoT market to grow from $900 million in 2015 to $3.7 billion in 2020 (33% CAGR). 

Although the research powerhouses have analyzed the overall market size and provide credible direction for growth, there is little published on niche markets within IoT. For example, how about the size of IoT analytics in a specific vertical like vineyard management? Traditional analytics vendors like IBM, SAP and Microsoft, or cloud service providers like AWS may try to enter this space; however, upstart pure-play vendors may be able to quickly capture market share. What are the opportunities in this market? Does it make sense to enter - organically or through acquisition? The market must be properly sized to answer these questions.

Calculating the Total Addressable Market (TAM) for niche, new, or relatively unknown markets is always challenging. However, it must be done with a degree of precision to understand value and opportunity. We broke the process down into five steps:

1. Compile Existing Secondary Market Research - Although these markets are new, pull all surrounding data. It helps to know the size of adjacent markets, the trends in adjacent markets and perspective on influencing factors. We start with Forrester Research, due to the breadth and credibility of their analysis. A new favorite research tool is Statista, not as comprehensive, but very quick and easy to use. 

2. Analyze Top-Down - This takes us back to our McKinsey/BCG consulting interviews with questions like, "How many telephone poles are there in North America?" Start with a verified macro number, like population, then segment the market. Who uses the product? How often? At what price? Provide a source for every assumption you make. For example, if trying to calculate the market for IoT analytics within the agricultural vertical - vineyard management specifically - one approach might be to start with the overall value of IoT in agriculture. Determine the relative percentage that vineyard management represents. Triangulate this with the number of connected devices - total revenue per connected device in total, for agriculture and again for vineyards. Calculate the number of vineyards who could be customers. Apply a price. Are analytics sold per connected device? Price times volume equals revenue. Work on credible estimates for both sides of the equation. 

3. Analyze Bottom-Up - This approach is usually more detailed than the top-down. Determine specifics of production and then calculate this number across the market. For example, if trying to calculate the market for IoT analytics at vineyards, you could start with one vineyard. Understand the economics for IoT analytics within a single market. Annual reports of public companies are usually a wealth of information for this analysis; websites and press releases of private companies often include one or two key pieces of data helpful for market sizing and benchmarking. Call vendors to check pricing. Build up the market size piece by piece and then triangulate with your other sources. Is it in the same ballpark as your top-down analysis? Does it make sense given the size of the macro or adjacent markets from the secondary research findings?

4. Verify with the Experts - As much as possible, reach out to experts in the market. Sense check your assumptions. Trade Associations are often incredibly helpful. Always be mindful and specific that you are not looking for confidential information. When working with GLG Strategic Projects, we utilize the GLG expert network to reach out to leaders in their field to verify assumptions and learn more.   GLG is a fantastic resource for connecting quickly and professionally with experts. If you are not a client, you can utilize your own LinkedIn network, or make contacts directly. 

5. Calculate Sensitivities - Markets are always changing. New markets are especially sensitive to growth assumptions and pricing projections. How do your numbers look if growth happens earlier, or later than expected? What if the market growth and opportunity attracts large entrants that drive prices down? Calculate (and graph) a market range based on the key variables that will impact value. 

Entrepreneurs are pushing boundaries on new markets every day. As you look at these opportunities, make sure that market value is calculated with a detailed, analytical and credible approach. There probably isn't a research report available for most of these new, niche markets, but even if there is, it's important to understand and verify the assumptions that drive the calculations to truly understand the market opportunity.

What an honor to be a part of this year's Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, a unique initiative spearheaded by Michelle Obama through her Let's Move Campaign. My daughter Hannah was Oregon's winner of the recipe contest - selected from over 1,200 recipes nationwide. 

All Kale Caesar (click here for the recipe, featured in The Oregonian) was Hannah's golden ticket - inspired by her love for Caesar salad and her hungry belly. 

We had an amazing trip and learned a lot in the process.

In the barrage of news about shaky political campaigns, terrorist attacks and general atrocities, we were impressed that our community took a moment and promoted an issue important to families nationwide - healthy kids! One in three kids in America is either overweight or obese. We have to get moving (and eating properly) to reverse this trend. 

Thank you to all who jumped on board this initiative and gave voice to some of the solutions that can make a healthy difference. 

Special thanks to KPTV Fox 12, Good Day Oregon, Senator Jeff Merkley, Dave's Killer Bread, KATU, AMNW, The Oregonian and the Portland Tribune for your coverage (click links to view). The feedback we've received from our community is inspirational. Let's get healthy!!

The Healthy Lunchtime Challenge could not have happened without the support of its sponsors. Thank you to United, The Westin, Newman's Own Foundation, Rachel Ray's Yumm-O and more. We so appreciate your commitment to improving the lives of our children - one healthy lunch at a time. 

Wow, Michelle Obama is an inspiration. Smart, funny, down to earth and compassionate. She launched the Let's Move Campaign in 2010 to unite the country around kids' health. Boy, has she moved the needle on an awfully big challenge. 

Click here to read about the successes of the program. Go Michelle, go! 

According to a study cited in Harvard Business Review, 75% of the S&P 500 will turn over in the next 15 years. Will your startup transform your market to skyrocket to the top? Can you continue to push innovation, disruption and transformation through your organization (big and small) to delight your customers year after year?

Don't just "go digital" to solve old problems. Create transformation to reinvent your growth engine. 

Read more here.

2. Unsplash 

Long gone are the days of heavy text—a picture is now worth thousands of words. Unsplash is a free photo site that offers the best of high quality, striking images from around the world.

Every day new photos are shared and you can get lost in flipping through the beauty of these images. If you’re short on time, try the search function. I find it’s getting better every day as more photos seem to be properly tagged.

For example, if your brand is “place of Zen”--all about finding peace and stillness for your customers—search for “Zen,” or “quiet” and see what comes up.
Most of the Unsplash photos are landscape-type shots dotted with people. If you need high quality photos of people, especially in a particular action (riding a bike, in a hospital, and so on), you should check some of the other paid photo sites like iStock to supplement your Unsplash finds.

Another drawback of using the Unsplash photos (and most stock photos) is that you will see them other places. I’ve noticed several of my favorite Unsplash photos used in articles on Flipboard and other places around the Web.

​See Also: Take the Big Brand Challenge
​

New technology is making us faster, smarter, smaller, and more efficient.
While it’s not always easy to learn new systems, some are just too good to pass up. We’ve selected a few of our favorite tools to make your life easier.

But don’t just take our opinion—we’ve also researched what others are saying and doing. We referenced two recent surveys to reinforce our top picks.

One survey, published earlier this year in Inc. Magazine by SurePayroll, asked 350 small-business owners nationwide for their favorite online tools; another survey we accessed interviewed over 500 entrepreneurs to find their favorites.

We bring you the best of these lists—with our endorsement of how this technology is changing our small business life.

Communication and Meetings

​Google Hangouts: At Prestobox, we use Google Hangoutsevery day. It’s an easy way for us to have “face to face” meetings when we can’t be there in person. Sometimes we share our screen and do training with customers on Skype. Other times we gather our remote team for internal meetings.

We use Google Calendar as well, so we send out meeting requests that automatically have a link included to the Hangout. It makes it so easy to click on the link and join in. We’ve had meetings with people around the world and it feels like they’re next door. And it’s free.

Skype: This is our backup. We have Skype accounts in case a customer prefers Skype, but don’t find it quite as easy, or full functioning (easy screen share, multiple participants) as Google Hangouts. However, we are including it on this list because in the surveys we referenced, many small businesses do use and enjoy Skype.

See Also: 85 of the Best Tools for Startups

File Storage

Box: This is a great cloud-based storage system that allows you to securely share, store, and manage all your company’s files. Your team can access your files anywhere and they are securely backed up. We use their starter package for $5/month/user. We came to Box after a few heart-stopping moments with Dropbox where we lost files, or functionality. That might have been our user error, but it scared us enough to make the switch. Box is also on the Inc. list of favorite tools.

Google Drive: Lots of our partners use Google Drive, and we’re on here too. We don’t find it quite as easy to use as Box, but it’s also free and probably easier to set up. Google Drive is also recommended in the other two surveys we referenced.

See Also: 34 Educational Resources for Aspiring Entrepreneurs

Organization 

Trello: Trello is a visual project management system. It allows you to see how you are progressing through a series of steps. Your entire team can access it, write notes and instantly see where things stand. We use this with our tech team to identify what needs to be accomplished each week, and to track progress. Trello was also selected as one of the best online tools in the Inc. poll.

Evernote: Evernote is a nifty way to take notes across different devices. You download the app onto any device you use—your phone, your computer, your tablet—and then it all syncs together so your notes are always up to date and accessible. The search function in the notes also works well so you can find what you’re looking for. No more scraps of paper; it’s all organized online. We use the free version of Evernote. The surveys we referenced agree with us too; many small businesses swear by this app.

See Also: 19 Funding Resources for New and Existing Businesses

Marketing Tools

Moz: If you want a quick hit to your search engine rankings, try Moz Local. They push all of your contact and location information to the major data aggregators. Then, the search engines can find you more quickly and your customers can find you.
We recommend this to our website customers, and have found that the results are fairly instant and dramatic. Access to Moz is $84/location.

Weebly: We use Weebly technology for the backend of the websites we create, and we love it. There’s really no need for custom coding for most websites anymore.
Weebly’s platform creates mobile-enabled websites that are as easy to create as a Powerpoint doc. Intro websites (you don’t get your own URL) are free.

PrestoBox: Full disclosure, yes this is our company and we created it with the sole purpose of automating branding for small businesses. Our “Brand Genie” software quickly identifies your colors, fonts, images, and brand personality. Then you create a logo, business cards, and a website. Our websites are on the Weebly platform with your brand on top. What used to take months of time and cost thousands of dollars, now happens in a snap. The Brand Genie is free; logos are $9; custom websites are $345.

Canva: Canva was called “the easiest to use design program in the world” by the Webbys, which gives awards for best on the internet.
They have turned me into a designer. I’m still not as good as a pro, but the Canva online platform features all sorts of pre-loaded graphics and tools that make design simple for everyone. The tool is free to use with minimal charges if you use certain graphics.

See Also: 3 Tools That Will Turn You into a Designer

Managing a small business is always a juggling act, and if you’re like the majority of small businesses, you’re the sole proprietor. That means you don’t have employees that specialize in whatever it is that needs to get done. You usually have to do it yourself.
​
These online tools are here to help. Each one should help you become more productive and free up more of your time—without impacting your budget. We hope these tools make your small business life easier.

Happy New Year. Thinking ahead to what's hot for business in 2016? This Fast Company list has some gems that I agree will define our 2016 work lives.

A few of my favorites:

More Female Founders - "[There is] a growing recognition that it’s not just one or two or three female entrepreneurs who can be successful, as in the old days of one-seat-at-the-table-for-a-woman in corporate America. Instead, there is room for the pie to grow and for us lift each other up."

A Growing Demand for Gigs - "Professionals are increasingly choosing freelance jobs in order to gain more control over their lives, have flexibility, and be their own boss. The rise of this trend is attributed to many factors, including increased access to technology, the impact of the recession, and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act that has imposed new costs on employers. The ‘gig economy’ has allowed employers to hire on-demand, lower cost talent and has given rise to entrepreneurial entities such as Uber."

More Diversification - Terrorism, the presidential election, and the federal government’s interest rate hike are combining to make 2016 a year of uncertainty. CEOs are going to be looking for additional streams of revenue.  They will be opening new divisions and offering new services—something to bring in additional money outside of their primary area of business, so if there is a temporary dip in the economy or their industry sector, the additional money will help provide a cushion."

For the full list, click here to read "10 CEOs Make Predictions" at Fast Company.

​Professor Pian Shu tackles one of the most difficult questions in the startup world: How can you tell if a new business will succeed?

​In 2008, entrepreneur Brian Chesky and his two San Francisco roommates made the rounds of Silicon Valley VC firms with what they thought was a great idea: a website and mobile app that would allow homeowners to open their homes to strangers to sleep on their floor while traveling, in exchange for a nightly fee.

Of course, now we know the idea as Airbnb, a $10 billion business with 1.5 million listings around the world. But back then it must have seemed crazy. The liability issues alone seemed insurmountable—to say nothing of the likelihood that people would be willing to give the keys of their houses to total strangers who may or may not be serial killers.

Five VC firms rejected the nascent company’s pitch outright, and another two didn’t even bother to reply. “Investors must have thought, who would ever do this?” says Assistant Professor Pian Shu, a member of the Technology and Operations Management unit at Harvard Business School. “They didn’t know it would turn out to be a multibillion dollar industry.”

Click here to continue reading the article on HBS Working Knowledge.

​If you are trying to become the firm of the future and connect with new clients, you need to look the part. You can’t sell CFO services when you look like a bookkeeper. Put on a tie. Button up. And build your brand. 
​
Your brand is what the outside world thinks of you. It’s a collection of impressions you build up over time. These days your first impression is often made online. You need a website and your website needs to be a great reflection of you. A branded website.

Here’s what your clients do:
​
-    87% check out your website before meeting with you

-    96% admit the website highly affects whether they choose your service

-    100% admit, “I have left a website because it was poorly designed or difficult to use”

Clearly a website has an important impact on your business. When your clients search for you online you need to be there. But you can’t just be there in a bland, or unprofessional way. You need to look the part. Looks matter.

A branded website will instantly build your credibility. Your clients will be more likely to choose you – and trust you when your website reflects your best self.

Here are the 6 rules of a branded website:

1.    Define Who Your Are and What You Look Like – This is Branding 101. Know who you are. Your customers can’t begin to understand your unique sales position if you don’t. Write down 5 words to describe yourself. Then narrow it down to one. Keep this word in mind as your mantra when you are building your website. For example, the one-word mantra for a Nordstrom-type practice might be “quality”. A Nike-type practice might be “leading”. Then figure out what this looks like. Look at some companies you admire. What colors and fonts do they use to convey their brand? What images? Put all of these details into a document together and call it your brand guide. Share it with your staff and select clients for feedback.

2.    Create a Logo – Keep your logo simple. Some of the world’s leading brands stick with stylized type. If you do add a symbol, it does not have to mimic what you do. Mercedes doesn’t have a car. Amazon doesn’t have a book. Your logo does have to convey the spirit of your brand and speak to your target customer. If you need a logo and know just what you want, contact a freelancer to complete it. If you need help and have a big budget, contact a branding agency. If you need inspiration and affordability, check out the online logo builder at PrestoBox, SquareSpace, or Vistaprint.

3.    Choose Great Photos – Images convey emotion. Choose the right ones for your brand. Ideally these are images that you have professionally taken of your company, your products and your happy customers. There are also several free and affordable online resources for stock photos. We like Unsplash, iStock, and MorgueFile. Please don’t use any clipart on your website. 

4.    Keep Your Website Simple – Make it easy for your clients to find what they are looking for. Use a lot of white and not a lot of words. Simpler sites – with small splashes of color and great photos – look more sophisticated and visitors are more satisfied because they can find what they want. The more color and light variations on the page (complexity) the more work your eye has to do to send information to your brain. Take your inspiration from Google – our favorite example of online simple (and so effective).

5.    Make it Mobile – Your branded website needs to be mobile. Your clients are increasingly attached to their phones. In fact, 91% of adults have their phones within reach 24/7. When your clients search on their phones, 70% of the time they take action within 1 hour. Another clincher, Google announced this year that non-mobile responsive websites would rank lower in search results.

6.    Be Found Online (SEO) – When your clients search for you, you need to be there. Identify your key search terms. These will probably be your business name, location, services and names of your key staff.  Setup your website with tags for these phrases and use them in content throughout your site. Most small firms are found by searching for the primary accountant’s name. If your name is Robert Smith, for example, use your full name in content on the site. Using abbreviations like Robert, or Mr. Smith won’t be as effective to get into the search results.

Follow these 6 rules to help you better understand who you are and how to communicate that online. Your branded website will be the gateway to your firm of the future. In fact, 80% of people surveyed chose one service over a competitor because it had a better website. Make it your firm they choose.

Comments from Sara Conte on leadership lessons from World Cup.

The Women's World Cup victory was historic. Loved this article from Inc. about leadership lessons we need to learn from the win. Good for all startups and entrepreneurs!

Click here to read the article on Inc. 

The U.S. Women's World Cup team wasn't without its controversy. But its consistent wins demonstrate uncanny leadership principles.
  
 BY CHRIS MATYSZCZYK Owner, Howard Raucous LLC

Perhaps you leaped on the bandwagon late.

Perhaps you were there all along in spirit. Or at least on Twitter.

Perhaps you haven't gone to bed yet, after many rousing hours of celebration and patriotic fervor.

Whatever your current state (mental or physical), the U.S. Women's World Cup team showed us a thing or two about winning leadership.

1. Secure Your Foundation Before Becoming Too Aggressive.

Critics were saying in the group rounds that the U.S. couldn't score goals. The truth was that few teams could score goals against the U.S. The team understood that the World Cup, not unlike business in general, can be a grind rather than a single glamorous event. In the six games before the final, the team had conceded one goal. It played for 540 minutes before conceding. That's like Congress sitting for 10 years before agreeing on anything. Praise might be heaped on goalkeeper Hope Solo, but no goalkeeper looks good in front of a porous defense. Organize the foundation of your business first and more exciting things might follow.

2. Ignore Obvious Injustice and Adversity.

FIFA, otherwise known as the Church of the Blatter Day Saints, decreed that the whole World Cup would be played on artificial fields. This is the equivalent of playing the World Series in a gym. Oh, the U.S. team fought against this venal insult. But when they knew they couldn't win, the players still played soccer as it should be played, rather than hoofing the ball and hoping for a fortuitous bounce. (There are many fortuitous bounces to be had on plastic fields.) The players could have let the turf warp their perspectives, just as so many businesspeople blame unfair business conditions or plain cheating. The U.S. women could have used the turf as an excuse. Instead, they just played. And just won.

3. Let Talent Do its Thing.

A tempting strategy in both business and soccer is to fill your team with workhorses--efficient players who don't possess too much inspiration or imagination but will get the job done. The U.S. had a lovely balance between the trickery of Alex Morgan and the work rate of Megan Rapinoe. Against both Germany and Japan, when many might have thought the team would play even more defensively, the talent on the team was given the confidence to go forward and create. When you're at the critical juncture that might divide success from failure, let your talent do what your talent can do. That's when those with true ability want to shine most.

4. Don't Make Changes When You're Criticized. Make Them When They Feel Right.

Against Germany in the semi-final, U.S. coach Jill Ellis brought on Tobin Heath and pushed Carli Lloyd further forward. Potato-headed critics on couches make terrible coaches. Yet many suggested far more changes when the team seemed shy in front of the goal. At some point as a leader, you have to accept that yours is a lonely task. It can be even more miserable than having your online date not turn up. You can listen to advice. You might even listen to your critics--which doesn't mean agreeing with them. When it comes down to it, you will be judged by your decisions. Make sure those decisions are yours.

5. When You're Winning, Shoot From Midfield.

Few more glorious goals have ever been scored in any World Cup final--men's or women's--than Carli Lloyd's third. Her effort from somewhere near Edmonton was pure judgment, pure talent. To enjoy that level of confidence is rare. To enjoy that level of confidence in the most important game of your life shows that somewhere in that team was a winning mentality and a leader who encouraged bravado, rather than made like an actuary. Once a business leader can see that she's ahead, there's a certain swinging for fences unimagined that can bring not only more success but true, lasting glory. Every businessperson deserves to enjoy the feeling of glory just once.

A Loteria app — a Mexican game similar to bingo — targeted at English and Spanish language learners took home the overall prize at Portland’s first Startup Weekend Latino this weekend.
Ninety people participated in the event that aimed to bring the Startup Weekend model to a population of entrepreneurs who might not otherwise have known about the resource.

Participants arrived on Friday at the Portland State University Business Accelerator and pitched ideas to the group. Seven teams then formed to spend the weekend building and gathering customer validation. By the end of the 54-hour challenge, the teams pitched to a panel of judges.

Team creations ranged from apps, such as Loteringo, to a food business, an apparel brand and an Internet of Things application for agriculture.

Juan Barraza, one of the event organizers, said the weekend required more education for entrepreneurs to introduce them to the concept of Startup Weekend. The whole point was to offer an entrance into the network of startup resources in Portland. Once word got out, sign-ups took off in the last week or so before the event, he said. He added that 75 percent of the participants were Latino.

The judging panel consisted of: Marcelino Alvarez, founder and CEO at Uncorked Studios; Stephen Green, entrepreneur and assistant vice president at Albina Community Bank; Sara Conte, co-founder and president at PrestoBox; Junea Rocha, founder and CEO at Brazibites; Paola Moretto, CEO at Nouvola; and Genevieve Morganstern, CEO at Sadie.

Barraza is already busy planning next year's event. “We want to build a following. What we did was set up and get a community into place to participate,” he said. “The call to action is there,” he said, making reference to diversity efforts in the startup and tech community in Portland. “The Latino community needs to answer.”

Following the weekend activities, teams are invited to participate in two more events. One takes place next month on how to pitch to investors, held at Quick Left and supported by Portland Seed Fund, TiE and the Portland Development Commission. The other occurs in August, focusing on one-to-one work on legal, accounting and go-to-market strategy. The second event is slated for the eBay Community Lounge and supported by Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and the PDC.

The next Startup Weekend in the region is slated for the weekend of July 24 — Startup Weekend Vancouver, at Clark College.

Do you want to learn how you can get big brand value on a small business budget? What can you do to increase customer loyalty, and get the recognition your business needs?

Discover what a brand is, why it matters, and how easy it is to create one for your business.

If you completed our Big Brand Challenge (it’s ok if you haven’t yet), then your brand is ready to conquer the world! Now get ready to connect with customers in a whole new way.

Join Sara Conte, small business branding guru, on Friday, June 19 at 12:30pm EST for a webinar that’s chock full of insider tips to get your business noticed.

A long-time branding expert, Sara has worked with hundreds of small businesses to get them ready for launch. Sara will review key learnings from the Big Brand Challenge and share her checklist for liftoff including top technologies to make your life easier. And then, get ready for blast-off to a new stratosphere of business success.

Space is limited, so register today!

Click here to register »About Sara Conte:  Sara Conte is the Co-Founder and President of PrestoBox, the world’s first automated branding agency. The “Brand Genie” software instantly determines your brand and creates a logo, website, business card, and brand guide that all work together. Click here to learn more about the Brand Genie.

Sara’s helped build businesses big and small since the first Internet boom. She loves learning new tricks every day in SEO, customer service, sales, growth hacking, analytics and the art of partnership.

Welcome to Day 5 of the Big Brand Challenge—the last day!

On Day 1 and 2 of the challenge, you laid the foundation for your brand. On Day 1 we defined who we are, on Day 2 we defined what we looked like, on Day 3 we created (or updated) your logo, and on Day 4 we outlined those essential marketing materials you needed to create. Now it’s time to prepare your brand for liftoff!

Branding might get you ready for the date—but marketing gets you the date. Before you are ready to move from the branding to the marketing phase, you need to follow these five steps.

How the challenge works

If you’ve signed up to take part in the challenge, each day you’ll receive an email with a link to the relevant article. Each article will contain a worksheet in a few different formats: written out, as a PDF download, or as an infographic. How you choose to work through the challenge is up to you.

Once you’ve finished with the entire 5 Day challenge, you will need to submit your “before and after story” to PrestoBox.

Welcome to Day 4 of the Big Brand Challenge

On Day 1 and Day 2 of the challenge you laid the foundation for your brand. On Day 1 we defined who we are, on Day 2 we defined what we looked like, and on Day 3 we created (or updated) your logo. Now it’s time to update your marketing materials!

How the challenge works

If you’ve signed up to take part in the challenge, each day you’ll receive an email with a link to the relevant article. Each article will contain a worksheet in a few different formats: written out, as a PDF download, or as an infographic. How you choose to work through the challenge is up to you.

Once you’ve finished with the entire 5 Day Challenge, you will need to submit your “before and after story” to PrestoBox.

However, for the moment don’t worry about that, we will remind you at the end. Just focus on figuring out who you are and who your company is. Above all, enjoy yourself!

For Day 4, you’re going to work through creating or updating your marketing materials. Let’s get started.

Episode 11: Sara Conte: Build a Brand that Creates ‘Loyalty Beyond Reason’

In this episode, co-founder of PrestoBox Sara Conte shares some of the growth strategies PrestoBox has used to build their customer base.

Sara also talks about the psychology of brand strategy and how even the smallest business can start with a brand that connects with the personality of the company.

Businesses that last and create loyalty and stand out in a crowded world need a brand that is memorable. If you want know more about creating a brand that communicates who you are, you’ll want to hear what Sara has to say.

Welcome to Day 3 of the Big Brand Challenge

In Day 1 and 2 of the challenge, you laid the foundation for your brand. On Day 1 we defined who we are, on Day 2 we defined what we looked like. Now it’s time to bring it to life with your logo.

Your logo is the core representation of your brand. It doesn’t have to be fancy. In fact, simpler is often better. However, it must be consistent with the values you have defined.

Start with this worksheet to define what you look like. Then see how your results compare with the magic of the Brand Genie.

How the challenge works

If you’ve signed up to take part in the challenge, each day you’ll receive an email with a link to the relevant article. Each article will contain a worksheet in a few different formats: written out, as a PDF download, or as an infographic. How you choose to work through the challenge is up to you.

Once you’ve finished with the entire 5 Day challenge, you will need to submit your “before and after story” to PrestoBox.

However, for the moment don’t worry about that, we will remind you at the end. Just focus on figuring out who you are and who your company is. Above all, enjoy yourself!

For Day 3, you’re going to work through creating or updating your logo. Let’s get started.

Welcome to Day 2 of the Big Brand Challenge

On Day 1, we defined who we are. Now we need to know—what do we look like?

Take out your worksheet from yesterday and review your responses. The images you selected begin to define how your brand might look to the outside world. But you need to create a brand guide so you have a roadmap of what this really looks like.

Think of creating your brand like dating. The date has a higher chance of going well if you’ve carefully chosen your outfit, brushed your teeth, and showered. Once you have defined your brand with colors, fonts, images, and personality, dates with your customers will also be much more likely to go well.

Start with this worksheet to define what you look like. Then see how your results compare with the magic of the Brand Genie.

How the challenge works

If you’ve signed up to take part in the challenge, each day you’ll receive an email with a link to the relevant article. Each article will contain a worksheet in a few different formats: written out, as a PDF download, or as a graphic. How you choose to work through the challenge is up to you.

Once you’ve finished with the entire 5 Day Challenge, you will need to submit your “before and after story” to PrestoBox.

However, for the moment don’t worry about that, we will remind you at the end. Just focus on figuring out who you are and who your company is. Above all, enjoy yourself!

For Day 2, you’re going to work through answering some key questions about your “look.” Let’s get started.

Welcome to Day 1 of the Big Brand ChallengeToday we focus on the core of branding—defining who we are.

Take a good look at your business. Your customers can’t begin to understand your value proposition unless you know it yourself.

How the challenge works

If you’ve signed up to take part in the challenge, each day you’ll receive an email with a link to the relevant article. Each article will contain a worksheet in a few different formats: written out, as a PDF download, or as an infographic. How you choose to work through the challenge is up to you.

Once you’ve finished with the entire five-day challenge, you will need to submit your “before and after story” to PrestoBox.

However, for the moment don’t worry about that, we will remind you at the end. Just focus on figuring out who you are and who your company is. Above all, enjoy yourself!

For Day 1, you’re going to work through answering some key questions. Let’s get started.

We are so happy to have Sara Conte (joining our Latino Startup Week as a judge. Sara is co-founder of PrestoBox, the world’s first automated branding agency. Sara’s resume is impressive: she is has earned experience in many industries (including venture capital and e-commerce), she sits on the board of many organizations and she is a prominent fixture in the Portland startup community. Her background helped to prepare her for her current challenge of running her own startup – where she learns new lessons each day about sales, customer service, analytics, technology, SEO, social media and the art of partnerships.

Don’t miss the opportunity to get valuable insights from people like Sara. See you at Startup Weekend Latino!

PERSONAL:

Q. What are you passionate about?


A. I’m passionate about building businesses – especially ones that utilize technology in new ways to solve problems and create value. Also super passionate about raising smart, healthy girls.

Q. If you could give advice to your 10 year old self today, what would you say?


A. I am living with my 11 year old self – my mini me daughter Hannah! I tell her to have fun, work hard and be kind.

Q. What’s the best advice you ever received?


A. My parents taught me to keep reaching for the stars – and enjoy the journey.

Q. What is your personal mission statement?


A. Have fun, work hard and be kind.

REGARDING STARTUP WEEKEND LATINO:

Q. What compelled you to participate in Startup Weekend Latino as a Judge/Mentor?

A. Juan Barraza’s big smile, hablo un poco español and a fire to help entrepreneurs from all walks launch successful ventures.

Q. What excites you most about participating in this event?

A. I’m hoping to help get some new ventures launched! And fingers crossed we have good salsa.

Q. What advice would you give to participants of Latino Startup Week?


A. As you develop your ideas, remember to put the customer first. Quickly identify your core customer and prove that your product will delight them.

REGARDING DIVERISTY:

Q. What is your opinion of the current state of diversity in the entrepreneurial community?


A. Entrepreneurs come in every shape and size. We shouldn’t cookie cutter our impressions of who’s going to succeed.

Q. What is the biggest factor limiting diversity in entrepreneurship?

A. Know your market and sell to them. Take a risk. Support your friends.

Q. What would you do to ensure increased diversity?

A. Access to training and capital for diverse communities.

Q. What advice would you give someone interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

A. It’s a journey and a leap of faith. Make sure you’re wearing the right pack with the right partners – on the right trail. Know your customer.

Get your tickets to Startup Weekend Latino today!

Building a brand that’s authentic, consistent, and rooted in a distinct personality separates you from the competition and allows your customers to connect with you on a more meaningful level.

Building a brand can feel daunting. In fact many small businesses feel like it’s something that only the “big guys” can afford. But branding is something that every company can do if you follow a few basic rules.

Step 1: Remember that a brand is more than a logo.A brand is a whole ecosystem of how you communicate with the outside world. In a nutshell, your brand is a promise to people about the way you will do business. This promise affects how you build your website, how you create your business card, even how you answer the phone—because the style, colors, and words you choose should reflect the emotions your customers will have when they use your product.

Tip: Look at your logo and write down five values that your logo will stand for. This is what people should remember about your business. Make sure these values are carried out in everything you do.

Step 2: Define the “head” of your brand system.Who’s your target audience? Why is your product or service better than the competition? What do you do that no one else can do? One great way to cull this information is to ask your customers why they do business with you.

Tip: List the types of people you want to target who would resonate with that promise. Create an exact model of your perfect customer. What do they look like, act like? Where do they shop?

Step 3: Define the “heart” of your brand system.As much as we like to think that humans are rational beings, we take action based on emotion. Building your brand is about creating a living and breathing persona that customers will fall in love with. That is the stuff that creates long-time loyalty and will get you through the natural ups and downs of any economy.

Tip: List the emotions your customers will feel when they experience your products or services.

Step 4: Find your brand voice.
Once the “head” and “heart” of your brand framework are defined, it’s time to define your basic brand personality. Are you bold? Are you funny? Are you trustworthy? Are you conscientious? Choose the adjectives that underlie your brand voice and make sure your voice is consistent in every branding and marketing piece you create. If your company became a person, what would that person be like? Brainstorm a list of personality traits and qualities. Be as specific and quirky as you like.

Tip: Play the celebrity game. If your brand came to life as a historical figure, sports figure, movie star, etc, who would that be? Think about what your company would eat for breakfast. Think about how your company is with kids. Think about what clothes your company would wear.

Step 5: Collect your brand images.
Photography can truly capture the imagination—and wallets—of potential customers. Well-chosen photographs with a consistent theme make a big difference in how your brand is perceived. Just think about Nike and how powerfully their brand photography conveys their brand message. Browse a few photography sites like Getty or iStock and start building a collection of photographs that represent your brand. Plug in the key words that you identified in Step 1 and Step 3. You can use this imagery in promotional materials, on your website, and it should give you ideas when you design all of your branding materials.

Tip: Be consistent in how you apply this imagery. Don’t forget about how you photograph people in your office. Make sure it fits within your brand ecosystem.

Step 6: Choose your brand colors.Finding the right shade of green, or the right shade of red, or just the right combination of yellow and grey can do wonders in anchoring an unassailable position in your customer’s mind. It’s important to build a system of brand colors that include core driver colors in combination with bold accents. Look over your emotions list from Step 3 and your photo collection from Step 5 and choose a few colors for your brand color palette.

Tip: For additional inspiration, go through pages of magazines and tear out pages of colors that you like. You can match these colors to actual Pantone number codes (listed for free online) for reference with designers.

Step 7: Select your type styles.Typography is a subtle but highly influential way to convey your brand message. A modern sans-serif type tells the world you’re innovative and ready to find unexpected solutions. A traditional serif type tells the world you’re dependable and trustworthy. You can even experiment with a combination of serif and sans-serif type styles to create a totally unique brand expression. Find websites, print ads and brochures of companies with a brand similar to yours and look at the fonts they selected.

Tip: Try a few different styles until you find the ones that fit. There are fewer type styles online, so be sure to combine both online and offline sources.

There it is! The components of a successful brand including your brand voice, your brand photography, your brand colors, and your brand type styles—all wrapped up into a smart and utterly compelling brand system.

Easy? No. Fun? Yes. Worthwhile? Absolutely.  If you take a look at any of the rockin’-the-world companies like Apple and Starbucks and Nike you’re bound to find a well-thought-out and strategic brand system in place. Just keep these basic brand tenets in mind and you’ll have the foundation in place for a business that can truly stand the test of time.



Read more: http://articles.bplans.com/the-definitive-guide-to-building-a-brand/#ixzz3e1CDHOcH

It doesn’t matter what type of business you’re running, your website has to perform. If your website doesn’t come up in Google, you may as well not exist. And if your customer does find your website, you have 15 seconds to capture their attention – or they’re gone.


We create branded websites for small businesses and help our customers wrestle with these challenges. Online visibility and performance is an art. It takes a lot of work – every day – to really stand out online. But here are three quick fixes that make a lasting impact.

1. Set Your Title Tags

Our first quick fix – set your title tags.  The title tag is the most important element on your web page to search engines. But most small businesses don’t set them – or even know what they are.

What are title tags? They are the words used to describe each page of your website. Look at the top of your browser. Hover your mouse over the open tabs. The words that come up are your title tags. This tells the user and search engines exactly what the page is about.

What to include in the title tag? The most important words on the page – and those words that your customers will use to search for you. Usually this includes your company name and what you do. For local businesses, this usually includes your location (“Indian Restaurant in Portland, Oregon”). For many entrepreneurs this will include their name (“Susan Smith Coaching, Austin, Texas”). Set a specific title tag for every page of your website –based on the content.

2. Get Mobile Friendly

Our second quick fix – get mobile friendly. More people on our planet own mobile phones than toothbrushes. Your website must work on mobile.  Here are some additional stats to prove this point:

• 91% of adults have their mobile phone within arms reach 24/7.
  
• The average person checks their smartphone 221 times per day.
  
• 70% of all mobile searches result in action within 1 hour.
  
• Mobile search is predicted to pass desktop search in 2015.
  

So what do you do? Find out if you’re mobile compatible already. If you’re not the solution may not be as quick, but will still be very worthwhile. A good place to start is with Google – placing more emphasis on mobile compatibility. They sent shock waves to webmasters everywhere with their notices sent out in January and February about mobile compatibility. Google is now testing your website for mobile and will rank it lower if it finds any “mobile usability errors”. The good news is, Google has lots of tools to help you fix the problems. Start there to find specific instructions on switching your website to mobile.

3. Cut Your Text

Our final quick fix –cut your text.  Less than 20% of content on an average web page is read. People are constantly skimming. They get bored in 15 seconds. So you need to make it really easy on them to get the points on your page.

Instead of writing out paragraphs of information, summarize your main points into a couple of words. Use these as your headings in easy to read fonts. Combine this with a visual that also makes your point. Take a look at some of the big brands you admire online. Examine how they get their points across. It probably doesn’t include a lot of text.

Check out the most popular website in the world – Google. They’re popular for many reasons - including the elegant simplicity of everything they do. The Google homepage feels refreshing and easy at each visit. Today I counted 12 words on the page. Also look at some of their supporting content pages (my current favorite Google site is Google Trends) for inspiration. You won’t see a lot of text.

Look at your own website. If you’re like most small businesses, you should probably cut your text in half – and then in half again. “If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter.” This famous quote may have been introduced as early in 1657 – and is even more relevant today. Take the time to write shorter letters on your website. Your customers will thank you for it.