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| Check in at Foursquare's Swanky New HQ [PICS] | |  The Startup Spaces Series is supported by Turnstone, a Steelcase brand. Running a small business is hard enough, having a great space to work in should be easy. myturnstone.com. Checking in to Foursquare HQ is so meta -- and it's really flippin' awesome, too. The geolocation startup recently moved its HQ from New York's Cooper Square to a ginormous space -- two floors of 28,000 feet each -- joining other startups Thrillist, ZocDoc and 10Gen at 568 Broadway. It's no surprise that Foursquare is growing -- the platform has 15 million users and more than 1.5 billion check-ins, and Foursquare is seeing more than 5 million check-ins each day. To help fuel this growth, Foursquare's team recently surpassed 100 people, who are split between New York and San Francisco. But despite the 3,000 miles between these offices, the team is able to keep in touch via big-screen videochats and a tight-knit company culture. The New York office is littered with references to badges, Foursquare swag (Snuggies, anyone?) and plenty of treats in "Fat Denny's" cafeteria. Mashable went on a tour of the new digs, which houses the startup's 85 New York employees. The company just moved in in January, so there's more decorating to be done, but you can get a sneak peek at the team's design and decorating process and get a sense of what's to come. Trust us, after looking through these photos, you might want to apply for a job there. Series supported by Turnstone
The Startup Spaces Series is supported by Turnstone, a Steelcase brand. Turnstone, ready when you are. For more information please visit Turnstone. |
| Facebook Teams Up With Mobile Carriers for Payments | |  Facebook has inked deals with some top wireless carriers to facilitate mobile payments, the company announced Monday. The company's new partners include AT&T, T-Mobile USA and Verizon, among others. Under the new deal, consumers will be able to pay for their Facebook Credits via carrier billing. Speaking at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor (pictured) said the payments experience on the web is "broken" and added, "Even with operator billing support most require a step called SMS device verification. That means if I'm in the middle of the game and want to pay 99 cents, I have to wait for an SMS to arrive," according to Inside Facebook. In a further annoyance, Taylor said that after the SMS arrives, the user has to verify that their device is connected to their Facebook account. "Then I have to awkwardly memorize the code and resubmit the transactions," he said. "If I manage to make it this far, then I can finally go back to playing the game." Facebook reps could not be reached for further comment. The announcement comes as Facebook is prepping for its $5 billion IPO and is said to be setting its sights on monetizing its mobile operations via advertising. It's not clear what Facebook's stake in mobile payments would be. According to reports, Facebook is promising the telecoms a greater share of revenues and influence that the current mobile titans -- Apple and Google -- offer. Taylor also told The Telegraph that if Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook today it would be a mobile app, rather than a web-based entity. Image courtesy of Flickr, Jolieodell |
| Zmags Unveils Shopping Tool to Reach Tablet, Smartphone Users | | 8:52:41 AM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Zmags launched an online shopping environment on Tuesday, aiming to blend the physical store experience with that of flipping through a magazine or catalog. The media merchandising company has created a beautiful platform for merchants called Zmags Convergence that takes the user interface of a tablet, smartphone, Facebook brand page or website to introduce shoppers to a world beyond what's traditionally seen on e-commerce sites today. The company -- which worked with Dick's Sporting Goods, Kenneth Cole, Lenovo, Celebrating Home and Pearson to create and build the product -- designed the platform primarily with the iPad in mind, but it works with various devices. When a shopper visits a participating retailer on a mobile device, the ZMags user interface presents a virtual table of contents that allows users to find and browse the items they want. It aims to invite shoppers to discover new products, encourage engagement and ultimately make a purchase. The platform also includes a page-turning feature, similar to flipping through a catalog or magazine, and allows shoppers to easily drop items into a shopping cart, share findings on social networking sites and make purchases. Zmags seeks to make the most of the trend of more customers turning to social and mobile channels to shop, according to W. Sean Ford, the company's COO and CMO. "Most retailers have treated the Facebook experience as an extended blog and if it doesn't work for them, they think there is a flaw with the channel," Ford said. "ZMags is taking different channels and packaging them in a way that is appealing to customers and how they want to shop." The move is indeed a part of a growing trend among retailers to implement news kinds of commerce strategies to appeal to tablet, smartphone and social shoppers. "It will be important to design natural shopping experiences that mirror the way consumers like to browse and shop rather than forcing them down non-intuitive paths,"Van Baker, Research VP of Gartner, Inc., said in a statement. |
| Zmags Unveils Shopping Tool to Reach Tablet, Smartphone Users | | 8:52:41 AM | Samantha Murphy |
|  Zmags launched an online shopping environment on Tuesday, aiming to blend the physical store experience with that of flipping through a magazine or catalog. The media merchandising company has created a beautiful platform for merchants called Zmags Convergence that takes the user interface of a tablet, smartphone, Facebook brand page or website to introduce shoppers to a world beyond what's traditionally seen on e-commerce sites today. The company -- which worked with Dick's Sporting Goods, Kenneth Cole, Lenovo, Celebrating Home and Pearson to create and build the product -- designed the platform primarily with the iPad in mind, but it works with various devices. When a shopper visits a participating retailer on a mobile device, the ZMags user interface presents a virtual table of contents that allows users to find and browse the items they want. It aims to invite shoppers to discover new products, encourage engagement and ultimately make a purchase. The platform also includes a page-turning feature, similar to flipping through a catalog or magazine, and allows shoppers to easily drop items into a shopping cart, share findings on social networking sites and make purchases. Zmags seeks to make the most of the trend of more customers turning to social and mobile channels to shop, according to W. Sean Ford, the company's CEO and CMO. "Most retailers have treated the Facebook experience as an extended blog and if it doesn't work for them, they think there is a flaw with the channel," Ford said. "ZMags is taking different channels and packaging them in a way that is appealing to customers and how they want to shop." The move is indeed a part of a growing trend among retailers to implement news kinds of commerce strategies to appeal to tablet, smartphone and social shoppers. "It will be important to design natural shopping experiences that mirror the way consumers like to browse and shop rather than forcing them down non-intuitive paths,"Van Baker, Research VP of Gartner, Inc., said in a statement. |
| Have Facebook? You Can Now Check In to the Future With Forecast | |  Foursquare tells people where you are. A new mobile app called Forecast, which is opening to Facebook users on Tuesday, instead tells them where you will be. Here's how the free app for iPhone and Android works: Users make "Forecasts" that include what they plan to do and what time. Those Forecasts are broadcast to their friends, and can serve as informal invitations to join. Friends can accept them by clicking a "me too" button, and when they arrive, they can check in the same way that they do on Foursquare. Pinnell says more than 80% of forecasts are followed through to the check-in. "The special thing about the future is that it hasn't happened yet," explains CEO René J. Pinnell, "which means you can change it." This thing is especially special to advertisers. It's the reason that Google makes so much money off of search ads. When advertisers can reach people at a time they are making a decision, like searching for a dentist or declaring their desire to go out for pizza, they can influence that decision. Targeted deals and suggestions for complementary activities are both business models that work nicely with the future checkin. For this reason, Forecast isn't alone in its pursuit of what I call the "preemptive checkin". Ditto, Hotlist and Crowdbeacon are just a few others. None of these, however, dominates the concept in the same way Foursquare dominates the real-time checkin. Pinnell says that about 100,000 beta users have signed up to use the app, which launched in beta after his previous app, a group messaging app for planning parties called Hurricane Party, failed to translate well outside of South by Southwest, where it launched. Currently, it's only been available to Foursquare users. In time for South by Southwest 2012, Forecast is opening the app up to Facebook users as well -- a much bigger potential userbase. Will you join? Let us know why or why not in the comments. Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, mattjeacock |
| With Second Cohort, NewMe Continues Accelerating Minority Entrepreneurship | | Monday, February 27, 2012 11:33 PM | Sam Laird |
|  In a tech world where just 1% of startup founders are African American, it's easy for young minority entrepreneurs to feel discouraged trying to navigate Silicon Valley. But that sense of alienation is on its way out if the digital minds behind the accelerator NewMe have their way. With its second group of budding startups one week into the three-month program, NewMe is poised to continue making progress in its mission of broadening and demystifying the path to startup success for African American, Hispanic and female founders. "A lot of them can't go to their parents or immediate network and say, 'Hey, I want to start this app or this website, how do I get started?'" NewMe founder and CEO Angela Benton said in an interview. When NewMe's first group of startups finished the program's inaugural session last summer, 60% were able to secure an average of $92,000 in investment money from outside funders, Benton said. The group's journey was also documented by Soledad O'Brien in the CNN documentary Black in America: The New Promised Land: Silicon Valley. NewMe's current class of seven founders is farther along with with their products going in than the first group was, Benton said. The group is working out of a co-working space in San Francisco and being put up communally in a house in the city. NewMe has also attracted a growing list of sponsors for the accelerator, including Google, the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, and the social discovery site Tagged. A Network of Opportunity NewMe participant Amanda McClure is co-founder of the startup Kairos, which aims to leverage augmented reality technology for the day-to-day interactions of the enterprise market. She said she was attracted to NewMe both for the issue it addresses and its moment of inception. "Women aren't really encouraged to start a business," she told Mashable. "But I think now the team is ripe because people are getting a little more irritated with working for a big company and not being able to innovate." Fellow accelerator participant Naithan Jones of the startup AgLocal said the key to making NewMe a tool for progress is companies like his and McClure's actually getting off the ground. "It's not just a happy-to-be-here thing," said Jones, whose company intends to create an online marketplace for restaurants and consumers to buy locally-raised meats. "We need to create venture-backed, customer-backed companies that are successful. Then we can really impact this." NewMe takes a small equity stake in its participating startups, but unlike many accelerators, does not itself provide them with investment capital. Benton said NewMe invests sweat equity in its startups and provides them with something more valuable than additional funding -- a network of mentors and advisers. "A founder of a new company needs that exportable network," Jones said. If the experience of McClure, Jones and their cohort is anything like Curtiss Pope's NewMe experience, the twelve weeks will be time well spent. Pope's company, AisleFinder, essentially works as a Google Maps for supermarkets, directing shoppers to the items on their lists. Pope said NewMe opened a world of networking and feedback that would have previously taken much longer to access. "I think having something of your own is what everyone wants," Pope said. "But to have the confidence and execution to make it happen is an important piece. A vehicle like NewMe, where you have that support, is huge." Creating a New Cycle Pope is now a member of the new crop's network of feedback and advice. He spent time at the group's house shortly after they arrived in San Francisco, giving honest reactions to their apps and business plans. But NewMe also strives to create a longer tail of influence than simply former participants advising current ones. NewMe partner Wayne Sutton said he's seen a couple similar programs launch since NewMe began. And, while in the program, participants give talks and share their own experiences with younger minority students who may have tech or business dreams. At a recent event at Tagged, NewMe's entrepreneurs enjoyed snacks and conversation with a group from a program for African American students at San Jose City College. The students go to school near the tech world's epicenter but are often a world removed, said program coordinator and professor of African American Studies Khalid White. "To see people from NewMe who look like them and share some of the same interests merging their passion with their profession adds a real sense of relevance," White said. "It kind of put the students in the mind-set of, 'This is possible for us, we could also do these kinds of things.'" With that kind of long-range impact, that 1% number won't last long. Image courtesy of NewMe |
| This Calendar Fills Itself Based on What You Like | | Monday, February 27, 2012 10:46 PM | Joann Pan |
|  The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: UPlanMe Quick Pitch: UPlanMe is an online notification system that filters upcoming events and specials based on what you like into one place for your viewing pleasure. Genius Idea: Instead of searching blogs, websites, magazines and newspapers for local events, simply unlock a category of interest -- sports, music, shopping, food, nightlife and T.V. -- to collect new events and local news on a customized events page. For those of us who don't have access to human lint rollers (ahem, Sean "Diddy" Combs at this year's Oscars) or personal assistants, say hello to UPlanMe. This free product will save the social lives of busy bees. UPlanMe is called the "Pandora of calendars" for a reason. It tailors your events calendar based on what you like on Facebook, what categories you have unlocked and prior events you've noted as interesting. If you say Bloomingdale's sales on UPlanMe are appealing to you, similar related shopping experiences at Sak's Fifth Avenue, Barney's and other high-end retailers will show up in your queue. If your Facebook page says you "like" Jeremy Lin, it will remind you when New York Knicks' games are airing on television or when front-row tickets are available on Ticketmaster.com. The site pulls from various APIs for events and special happenings. Sports fans will appreciate the latest game updates from ESPN, CBS Sports and other national networks. Fashionistas will hear the first word about sample sales, store openings, and beauty events in their area. There's also a television section, so people can keep up with when their favorite shows and movies air. This is why we would suggest logging into the site with a Facebook account. It will incorporate Facebook likes and interests into the UPlanMe system to improve social suggestions. "We like to think of the platform as a giant switchboard," UPlanMe co-founder Brian Kantor told Mashable. "Users can turn on or turn off what they are interested in to personalize event calendar. Users can then share events on Facebook and Twitter, and sync with whatever calendar client they use most." "A lot of brands and businesses are creating Facebook events to connect with users, but there is somewhere around 1% engagement," said Sean Barkulis, CEO and co-founder of UPlanMe. The website will give businesses a step up by reaching online audiences that are truly interested in their brand. UPlanMe provides a free, embeddable calendar for business and brand websites, promotions on the discovery page and demographic data on existing customers to tell you what events and specials to plan next. UPlanMe just launched a couple of weeks ago, but it already has a social media reach in the millions. It's gaining page views by working with businesses who self-promote on Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. The New York City-based startup hopes to gain about 500,000 new users by the end of their first year. The current business model is based on revenue from music, shopping, sporting event ticket sales and website promotions of different brands and businesses. "In general, it's really about bringing people closer and connected with brands and businesses they love," Barkulis said. "We are trying to excel beyond anything that came before us." Image courtesy of Flickr, vonSchnauzer Series Supported by Microsoft BizSpark
The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today. |
| How Startups Can Build Lasting Relationships With Journalists | | Monday, February 27, 2012 7:12 PM | Dmitry Dragilev |
|  Dmitry Dragilev is the marketing lead at ZURB, the interaction design firm behind ZURBapps, a suite of apps that helps people quickly design great products through rapid prototyping, iteration and user feedback. It's a week before launch and you're hoping to score some awesome traffic from a well-known publication. Here is what usually happens: You send a PR release to a bunch of publications, you pay big bucks for PR agency representation, you tweet the day of the launch, and you hope your story gets picked up. Be honest -- how well did this approach work for you the last time you tried it? Lots of effort, but my guess is you were probably disappointed with the return. Instead, approach reporter interactions as you would an actual relationship. 1. Date Before You Pitch Most of us decide to pitch journalists right before a product launch launch or announcement, shooting out a press release and hoping to score great articles. This is the worst thing you can do. Don't expect to pitch someone who doesn't know you or your product, in the hopes that person will understand the story and details just right -- all in a few days. Instead, build a strong relationship that benefits both of you -- it's the only way you can ensure great news coverage of your product launch. After all, you don't pitch a VC or angel investor cold, expecting to earn funding, right? These days, you don't apply to a job cold and expect to get hired. As you know, relationships are everything when you are trying to build a company. A strong relationship with the press is just as important as maintaining relationships with your investors. Before you can even pitch to a reporter, you'll have to spend months of hard work, maybe even years, building a strong relationship. Here are some specific tips on how to build genuine relationships with journalists. 2. Courting First, you need to have a good idea of who your paying customers might be, where they tend to gather on the web. Which news publications/blogs do they read? Look at the comments on articles and figure out which publications you want to target. Once you determine the correct reporters/publications, build a relationship with reporters almost exactly like you would build a relationship with a potential spouse. Research what catches the reporter's eye, both personally and professionally. Have at least three points you want to genuinely talk about, none of which relate to your product. Reach out and give the reporter something first (e.g. send in a story tip, for instance) before asking him for anything. Remember, you aren't looking for a "one night stand;" you are courting for a long-term relationship. 3. Dating This isn't an "adult" friend finder service; this is eHarmony. Develop your reporter relationship over months: Help him out and show your interest in his beat. Show how the reporter can benefit from your help: Bump a reporter's stories to the top of Techmeme, tip him off about breaking news, talk to him about his articles, respond to his questions in articles and via social media. 4. Getting Serious You've already built a solid and genuine relationship with your reporter. By the time you ask for coverage, you should have helped him out a number of times. You've initiated multiple discussions that cover a variety of topics. You'd be comfortable meeting up and grabbing a drink with your reporter. From here on out, you need to be extra careful. Around the time you're attempting to seal the deal, your actions are critical to achieving awesome results. 5. The Actual Pitch By now, you can determine your reporter's interests and beats. Your pitch should be connected with at least two articles the reporter has written. If it doesn't, you're pitching the wrong person. Your story must have a hook; in other words, it must relate to current trends or events. Most bloggers and news sites won't be interested in a product that's off-trend. Stay super simple. Practice your pitch and wording before you talk to people. Think of it this way: Would your grandmother be able to understand what you're taking about? Remember, you're competing with a million other things that might grab a reporter's attention. If you aren't crystal clear, a reporter can get distracted or bored with what you are saying. Connect your product to trends and show how it stands out from others in this area. You should be able to pause after the first sentence of your pitch, confident that the reporter already partly understands what you're talking about. It's good if the reporter asks a question back. If you receive a confused response (or none at all), you probably need to make it simpler. Here are a few sample pitch sentences we used when launching our app. App X helps you see if ads are getting in the way or if content isn't getting read. App X is a another tool to supplement surveys, feedback forms and chat. App X can help you test landing page performance - it's a guerrilla marketing tool. App X helps you determine if your brand is headed in the right direction. 6. Ongoing Relationship Your relationship with a reporter or blogger doesn't end after the pitch. You want it to be in it long-term, like a marriage. Like a real spouse, you'll have to invest in the marriage, maintaining it over time. After all, you've spent months and months courting this reporter --- you don't want to toss him aside once the story is published. Keep the lines of communication open, and you won't be without a date the next time you launch a product. Image courtesy of iStockphoto, wellphoto, Flickr, thinkpanama |
| U.S. Online Retail Sales to Reach $327 Billion by 2016 [STUDY] | | Monday, February 27, 2012 5:55 PM | Lauren Indvik |
|  The future of ecommerce looks bright. After topping $200 billion for the first time, online retail sales in the U.S. are forecast to reach $327 billion by 2016, a study from technology and market research firm Forrester says. Overall share of the retail market is expected to increase from 7% to 9% during that period. What's driving the growth? More consumers are shopping online every day. Last year, 167 million consumers -- 53% of the U.S. population -- purchased something online. That number is expected to grow to 192 million, or 56% of the population, by 2016. The study also projects that consumers' average yearly online spending will increase from $1,207 per person in 2011 to $1,738 per person by 2016. Consumers are also becoming increasingly comfortable purchasing a wider variety of categories online. In a 2001 survey, Forrester found only three of the 30 retail categories were able to attribute more than 20% of sales to online channels. That number grew to eight categories in 2011, and is expected to increase to 14 categories by 2016. U.S. shoppers are also now finding it easier to shop than ever before, thanks to improvements in mobile and tablet shopping capabilities. Innovative shopping models and loyalty programs -- think flash sales sites like Gilt and Woot as well as subscription loyalty programs like Amazon Prime -- and aggressive promotions are drawing sales away from brick-and-mortar operations. This was especially true during big discount periods such as Black Friday and Cyber Monday, during which approximately 75% of consumers said they shopped online because the deals were better. Meanwhile, online sales in Europe are expected to amount to 171 billion euros ($230 billion) in Europe by 2016 up from 96.7 billion euros ($130 billion) in 2011, according to Forrester's estimates. Image courtesy of Flickr, andrewarchy |
| Email Overload? This Startup Lets You Unsubscribe to All Mailing Lists at Once [INVITES] | | Monday, February 27, 2012 5:18 PM | Sarah Kessler |
|  Yesterday I was subscribed to 271 newsletters. Today, after putting about 10 minutes of effort, I'm subscribed to just the 17 of them I find useful -- and they arrive at my inbox packaged in a single email. Hallelujah. Unroll.me, which started as a simple hack for unsubscribing to emails, is the startup behind this improvement, and it's launching a redesigned product on Monday. For the first time, users can compile the newsletters they do want to receive into a one-email-per-day digest. Here's how it works: After you grant Unroll.me access to your inbox (only gmail, MSN, Yahoo and AOL are compatible for now), it searches for the newsletters you receive on a regular basis. A 2003 law that requires newsletters to include certain language makes this easier for the startup to spot them. Through the Unroll.me dashboard, you can then opt out of each newsletter it detects with a single click (for sites like LinkedIn or Facebook, Unroll.me directs you to the appropriate settings page). You can also add any of them to a daily digest newsletter with one click. That's it. Eventually the site hopes to make money by building an index of newsletters. It could help newsletters acquire new subscribers by suggesting them to users who subscribe to similar ones, and it would charge them for the service. Unroll.me is currently offering newsletter recommendations to users, but none of them are sponsored. Despite the lack of income, the service is free to use -- but there is a catch. After unsubscribing from four lists through Unroll.me, you need to tweet, post or email friends about the service before you can continue purging your inbox. Considering the benefits of the service, however, a social plug is a small price to pay. Unroll.me is still in private beta, but the first 5,000 Mashable users who sign up at this link can skip the line. |
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