What if you could predict which conversations online are going to become important days before they do? Well, blabpredicts.com is a service meant for just that.

The service allows you to discover which topics and conversations, even surrounding your brand, are gaining momentum online, allowing you to track which ones are worth paying attention to.

To me, the concept makes perfect sense. Freelance bloggers such as myself pride ourselves in talking about content before everyone else is, and the staggering potential for businesses is pretty obvious.

From crisis communication to brand management, or even community building, Blab boasts an opportunistic approach for brand managers who want to target audiences where they are ending up online.

Is it gimmicky or the real deal? Unfortunately, I haven’t had the opportunity to demo the product myself, but Blab has been pretty straightforward with explaining how the site uses large amounts of data it collects from you in order to chart accurate results.

Basically, you’re hiring Blab to do the research and management that you don’t have the time or the ability to do. It’s a great concept that has yet to be fully explored in such a concise package.

Expect blabpredicts.com to be making waves in the social media monitoring world soon.

Though the streaming radio startup has been around since 2009, it has recently managed to reach international fame and status through high crowdfunding achievements (up to $9 million), so this is definitely a tech idea worth reviewing.

I was actually introduced to Jelli through my employer, who is a veteran with radio broadcasting but not too impressed with streaming stations like Pandora and Spotify. In fact, our office is pretty obsessed with determining which streaming radio service is best, with me advocating for Slacker, others for Spotify, and there is this one guy who actually likes Rdio (I’m kidding, it’s a great service if it could only work on my phone).

So, researching and identifying the value of Jelli has been a high priority for me.

The basics: Jelli differs from any other streaming radio service I know of. Rather than dictate song choices through a DJ or randomized computer, users vote for which songs they want to play next. It’s almost like the turntable app on Facebook  You can have favorite stations, each with a community more in tune with your tastes. You can then have input in your music experience by voting for which songs appear on the playlist.

You can use Jelli on iPhone, Android, and on your desktop for free at any time. What’s really unique is that many live fm radio stations actually use Jelli’s programming for their music.

The general idea is to combine the benefits of FM radio with streaming radio (and even some elements of satellite radio). You have the accessibility and vast array of options that streaming radio has, but with more specific choices you can get from satellite. Combined with the community-oriented approach of live radio, we have something completely new.

Jelli is growing fast and is well-loved by its base, earning a solid 5 stars on the Android market at the time of this article. One of the main reasons for this is because the site is well-monetized through advertising and programming fees radio stations must pay, without cluttering the actual user experience.

Do I prefer Jelli? I’m someone that loves having music on-demand. I use my iPod nano for most of my musical choices. When it comes to streaming, I have not yet converted fully from Slacker to Jelli, though I’ve only used the latter for about a month. The main reason is because with Slacker Premium, I can listen to full albums on-demand, which is not in Jelli’s nature. Jelli, however, is the best music discovery app I’ve come across.

This is because these stations are perfectly filtered. Only the best songs make the cut, and there are features such as “rocketing a track” that encourage and incentivize voting for new, unfamiliar songs. Yes, I have come across stations that only have hits on them, but there are far more stations that are niche and play songs I’ve never heard of that are very good.

What if a bad song creaks to the top? Users can actually vote if a song “rocks” or “sucks” while it’s playing. If it’s voted “sucks” enough times, it will be pulled off the air immediately, even on fm radio. I find that fantastic, though it doesn’t seem to happen much.

Due to its current momentum, I predict that Jelli will become more recognized in the coming months, if only because it’s unique service seems to really resonate with people. Time will tell if it becomes a household name for me as well.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me) 

All new UK businesses need to register with Companies House, a register of companies that operates under the remit of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills . While  US companies are incorporated at the state level, in the UK they are incorporated at national level. Businesses based in England and Wales must register to the office in Cardiff, while those in Northern Ireland use the Belfast address and those in Scotland register with the Edinburgh office.

When registering, you will need to choose a structure for your business. The four most common are public limited companies (PLCs), sole proprietorship,  partnerships and limited liability companies. There are also other structures available such as co-operatives and franchises. Most of these operate in the UK in the same way as they do in the USA. However, it’s important to note that PLCs are subject to a higher degree of scrutiny and are more complex to set up and administrate than other types of company. Just like in the USA, where there are services such as BizFilings and LegalZoom to guide entrepreneurs through the formation process, the UK has services like The Formations Company that do the same thing – these may be particularly useful if you are not familiar with UK company law.

You will need to complete an annual return every year and submit it to Companies House – these can be filed online for a charge of £15, or in paper form for £30. Your accountant will also need to send your annual accounts, also known as a financial statement, to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). Again, just like in the USA, tax authorities in the UK are very stringent – it’s vital to ensure everything’s in order or you may receive unwelcome attention from HMRC.

There are other regulatory considerations to make – for instance, if your company’s product is taxable by Value Added Tax (VAT), you may also need to register additional forms with HMRC, and you will need to apply Pay As You Earn tax and national insurance to your employees’ salaries. Once you have taken care of these, you’ll find running a business in the UK very similar to your experiences in the USA . As always consulting a native experienced attorney is recommended, we wish you the best of luck in you UK ventures!

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many new businesses are choosing to operate virtual offices instead of carrying out day-to-day business in the traditional office environment. Commuting costs, travel expenses and the desire to have flexible work schedules are all contributing factors to the rise in virtual offices. A virtual office has many advantages, but there are weaknesses to consider for individual business needs. Read on to find out what we consider to be the pros and cons of running your own virtual office.

Pros:

Save money on rent, utility bills and commuting. You will still need a PO Box to direct any mail to, but this address now does not need to accommodate all of your staff, which means space and rent is no longer an issue and you can increase the size of your workforce without the financial worry.

Your staff members are likely to be much happier knowing they can have the flexibility of working from home and without the stress of the daily commute. Happier staff means better productivity.

Be more environmentally friendly, as less paper waste is created along with the fact that the environment is not being damaged by transportation to the office.

Services like Skype and Google Hangouts now allow us to hold video conferences over the internet, and smart phones mean employees can be reachable anytime anywhere via email, text or a phone call.

”I’m snowed in”, “My car won’t start”, “The bus didn’t turn on”… how many times have heard this? With your team working from home, you won’t have to deal with these problems.

Cons:

-    Technology allows us to run a virtual office, it is not fail-safe. What happens if one of the key members of your team are unable to work due to their laptop breaking? Their internet connection going down? Ensure you have enough IT technicians on staff to be able to travel to each staff member who is experiencing technical problems.

-    How do you know your staff are really working at home? Make sure you employ people you can trust, and be prepared to establish a time tracking methods through cloud based software.

-    Lack of direct interaction can mean that certain tasks cannot be carried out in a virtual office. What about team projects? Documents that need signing off by more than one person?

-    Some industries are less suited to virtual offices than others. Think about whether you need your team all in one place in order to carry out simple day-to-day tasks

So, in conclusion, virtual offices definitely can work, just be prepared to spend some time weighing the advantages and disadvantages It all boils down to your business type an cost-benefit analysis.

* Guest Post *

The startup Yapp, is offering its users the ability to create their own personal apps that they can share with friends. It is not a service designed for more interactive apps. For the purposes of this review, I will highlight both the potential and the limitations of Yapp.

I experimented with the beta version of Yapp several months ago and walked away from it unimpressed, mostly because the official service had not yet launched, so I did not see the value in creating something that would not be seen. Well, that all changed when Yapp announced their official launch the other day, so I though it fitting to delve into the service once again and develop a full critique.

It is essential to mention that Yapp is targeted at event-planners, especially weddings. You have several tools at your disposal to cultivate an event invitation. Some cool features include the ability to integrate a Twitter newsfeed into your app, which would allow planners to have streaming info that would stem from either a Twitter profile or a selected hashtag. This is one of the highlights of the experience, leaving room for even more social integration that would make this worth your while.

Because I’m not getting married anytime soon (and I have no events worth making an app for), I decided to use Yapp as a business development tool, making my own business card accessible as an app. Why do this? Well, Yapp gives you your own QR Code that allows you to share your app. It is also advantageous because Yapp allows you to send the link via email or SMS, so all you need is a fellow colleague’s contact info to send your own along. I can definitely see this being handy at conferences when I routinely run out of business cards.

The only limitation with this feature is that you don’t necessarily have your own app. Your app is only accessible through the YappBox app, which the link prompts you to download. The problem here is that you have another barrier to cross before finally getting someone to your app, a hurdle that can potentially halt a connection with the person you want to view your app. 

Another limitation in general is the current inability to really customize your content. To date, you can really only add photos and text along with your Twitter feed. You can’t customize the layout, making your design selection slave to the handful of default skins presented to you. My hope is that this builds in time, which would lend the kind of high-quality content that your app would need to have to maintain real stickiness with browsers.

For my business card, I added contact information, a brief synopsis, and my personal logo. In the end, it looked pretty and can serve the purpose of making me looking trendy (if that really is a good thing). After reading some reviews online about the app’s versatility as an invitation tool, I think it’s safe to say that the app-building service does this well and is worth checking out if you want to get a little creative with invitations. Other than that, I can only recommend this as a fun experiment that may surprise you, but I don’t see much value using this as something effective to market.

Oh, and I would be remiss to not include the link to see my new app! You can scan the QR code or simply follow this link on your mobile phone: http://my.yapp.us/Z4ZKFG

“Social News” is definitely a marketing term that carries little meaning. After all, don’t we already have a huge influx of news being pushed through our various social networks?

Well, here’s a somewhat novel idea: social news that only covers people you follow. With Newsle, you can import your friends from Facebook and LinkedIn (Sorry Twitter!) and track when they have been mentioned in the news.

You can also track when your own name has come up in the news. It took about 30 minutes for my social networks to import, and when they did, I was I able to see various news stories about my friends and contacts. It was exciting to read about previously unknown accomplishments my friends have made and was more useful than a simple Facebook status.

This literal “newsfeed” definitely has a fresh interface with sticky content. On my own stream, I was able to read an article featuring one of my public relations mentors in American Thinker, a Facebook friend who had just been mentioned on NBC for his latest college football accomplishment, and a post about one of my former professors getting her class to design iPhone cases as a project, which was featured on Tech News.

I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of content the site was able to generate, and it is certainly impressive that founders Axel Hansen and Jonah Varon were able to execute such a precise algorithm for finding the right friends for each article.

The site is pretty easy to navigate, with the main Newsle header following you as you click on news links. This header gives you the option to share the article via Facebook or Twitter, but the LinkedIn plugin is noticeably absent. You can also declare an article to be “Awesome,” a feature akin to a Facebook “like.”

As usual, I will also voice my various concerns with the platform. Many have pointed out that this concept has been tried before through Angstro, which failed to gain any traction and was eventually bought by Google in 2010. While I personally believe it mostly had to do with the less-than-stellar brand name, it is reasonable to point out that finding your friends in the news can be difficult for some people who may not have many prominent friends or contacts.

Newsle attempts to get around this obstacle by encouraging you to follow public figures and celebrities that you can see articles about, almost like a hybrid of LinkedIn and Twitter. While I’m not personally sold on the concept, I can see this being enticing for teenagers and superfans. Still, the design and feel of the site lends more to professionals and LinkedIn aficionados, rather than pop culture targets.

One of my biggest questions is what we can really use the site for. Some may see it as a way to track people in the news that they are just researching that would be more effective than Google Alerts. From what I can see, this would come in handy for a variety of reasons, but I’m not sure many people will take the time to try it out for themselves and experiment.

There are plenty of features I didn’t even get to that I highly encourage you to discover for yourself (I am still finding new things to do), and be sure to voice your own opinion in the comments. I leave you with this question: Does Newsle have what it takes to build a large, loyal network?

English: YouTube business model canvas sketch by Alexander Osterwalder (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The word Business Model gets tossed around often in the startup community but few people truly take the time to understand the term and analyze it like a system. The Business Model Canvas as seen below is derived from the Business Model Generation Book by authors Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur (which is awesome by the way).

When I’m evaluating a company for investment or analyzing one of my own startups, I find myself constantly using the one-sheet canvas. Click the link to download your PDF copy. It’s a simple but invaluable tool.

The Business Model Canvas provides a visual look at the 9 building blocks of an effective business plan mapped out in a restructured canvas. Understanding each component is crucial in building your canvas model.

• Key Partnerships – Determine who your key partners are as well as suppliers. In addition look at what resources you will need from them and what resources they in turn will need from you. One of the most important things to keep in mind with your key partners is making it clear what activities you will expect them to perform.

• Key Activities – Key activities play a role in most of the 9 building blocks. Deciphering what key activities are required for each of these building blocks will get you one step closer to a successful business model.

• Key Resources – Your Key resources like your Key Activities need to be identified within each segment. Some questions to ask yourself are: What Key resources will your value propositions require in order to be successful. What Key resources are needed for your distribution channels, customer relationships, as well as your revenue streams.

• Value Propositions – Your customers will be looking for the value you can provide them. They have issues and needs that they are looking for you to solve. Your value proposition is necessary if you want to be set apart from competitors.

• Customer Relationships – Integrating your customers into your business model is critical. Look at what relationships you have established and how those relationships are benefiting both you and your customer. You will also be able to determine what is working, what is not, and where you need to improve with regards to building stronger rapport with new and existing customers.

• Channels – Channels are important in determining how you will reach your customer segment. What channels will you utilize? What are you currently using to reach them? How are you integrating your channels and which ones work best and are most cost-effective?

• Customer Segments – Without customers your business will not thrive. Research different customer segments, niches, and markets and decide who will receive the most value.

• Cost Structure – Determine what the most crucial costs inherent to your business model will be. Look at what key resources and activities are most expensive.

• Revenue Streams – Where is your current revenue stream coming from? Your target market is currently paying for something so determine what that something is. You also need to look at how they are paying and whether they are happy with the method they are currently paying. Lastly, ask yourself how much each Revenue stream is contributing to your overall revenues.

You will see each segment provides some kind of value proposition; whether for you the entrepreneur, your partners, your customers, or all persons’ involved. When building your Business Model Canvas you need to be concise, focused on each point, and keep it simple.

Once you master and understand the Business Model Canvas I recommend looking at integrating The Value Proposition Canvas. This plug-in for the Business Model Canvas was developed by Alexander Osterwalder. It is meant to be used in conjunction with the Business Model Canvas not to replace it.

While the Business Model Canvas encompasses your overall company’s plan, the Value Proposition Canvas aims to look at the Value Proposition and the Customer Segment and the relationship between the two analyzing how they work together. By analyzing these two building blocks you are able to achieve a more detailed powerful structure. This will allow you to test both building blocks and how they can fit together to meet your customer’s needs. We will touch on the Value Proposition in another post.

Hopefully you find the business Model Canvas as useful as I do in quickly vetting the strengths, weaknesses and viability of a business model.

Conducting research is one of the fundamental principles of good business, no matter if you’re entering into a partnership or testing the market for similar brands. A unique selling point is as important as proving there is demand for your product, particularly considering the high-risk nature of start-up companies. There is scarcely a better way to gain a competitive advantage than to investigate the market you are entering into.

An important area to focus is analyzing a company’s successes and where its’ strategy has fallen down including the more costly mistakes. This not only means researching a company’s accounting history but any dealings with other partners in the past like legal cases, ratings and credit scores.

There are a number of courses of action you can take. In terms of secondary research, many resources will enable you to get a picture of the competition, such as business periodicals and newspapers. This may give you insight into a particular competitor’s current status and their history through reasonably impartial comment and analysis. Finding and aggregating these sources can take a lot of time and money, however.

Undertaking research by talking to customers and other businesses about their opinion of a certain company is the most direct approach, but this is not always possible for foreign businesses or subsidiaries. Credit histories and other information can be discovered by credit services which charge you a regular fee to monitor a company’s financial profile. Some really useful paid and free tools you can use to investigate a company’s financial history is Edgar or Bizminer. If you happen to be UK based than Duedil has a database of companies providing access for up to 20 years of financial history and credit scores. Furthermore, you can search for particular documents filed against a company’s name and check their background for things like insolvency.  There are extra options which allow you to download things like mortgage details and past reports for free.

A company’s public face is a good litmus test as well, so check Google, web forums, relevant local press and networking sites like LinkedIn to verify how the company is received. Government statistics on your field of industry can be helpful along with journals and podcasts from universities. Business schools are constantly updating their research and allow free access to information for start-ups online as well.

Grabbing an a competitive edge is a good deal easier if you’re well-informed. The more successful your rival, the more essential it is for to you learn why.

This will be my first contributing post on Startup Addict, so I thought it would be fitting to talk about a social media startup that has just graced its way into my daily routine: Pinbooster.

This brand new startup went public just a few days ago and is looking to make a big impact on the Pinterest network, notably using the Pay-Per-Tweet model to cash in on influential Pinterest users. Put simply, brands can now sponsor/promote their pins by paying influential pinners to share their content.

It’s a brilliant idea considering the virility of image-based content and could shape entire advertising campaigns in the near future. Getting set up as an advertiser or paid pinner is beautifully simple, since all you need is a Pinterest account.

If you’re there as a pinner, Pinbooster will analyze your influence based on their own algorithm and determine what you should charge advertisers per each pin (with the price starting at $1). So far, one of the most impressive payouts has been the sum of $1,000 for a re-pin, but small-time pinterest users will probably expect sums much lower.

One of the main reasons I am excited about this startup is because of the impressive results from beta testing, which are showing that this new tool is on the path to being extremely useful in getting Pinterest on the marketing map.

I’ve written on my own blog about how inherent obstacles among the Pinterest experience can inhibit companies from taking huge risks with the platform, as we see with Volvo’s “JoyRide Campaign”. That said, a Pay-per-pin model can help brands break through the most challenging obstacle on Pinterest, which is building a huge following quickly and driving traffic.

Image via CrunchBase

Now, there is still a bit of controversy surrounding whether or not Pinterest actually has high conversion rates, but what we do know is that people spend more on Pinterest according to this RichRelevance study. When you consider just how engaged users are with Pinterest content, the floodgates could be opened for advertisers looking to find a cheap way to channel their content through something besides a Facebook page.

Of course, I wouldn’t be very fair if I didn’t address some issues I foresee with the service. One main complaint we can expect is that this will downgrade the quality of pins tremendously, which is a huge draw for Pinterest. Another potential problem is that advertisers could be disproportionate to pinners, as you would reasonably expect. Plenty of people will be willing to sign up and await their angel investment, but how many advertisers can we really expect to jump on board?

At any rate, I expect this project to at least build a model of hope for marketing on Pinterest, and we have to start somewhere. Let me know what you think in the comments, and be sure to visit the site here and see if you have what it takes to be a Pinbooster success story.

English: Sharjah, United Arab Emirates (UAE). (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The setting up, relocation or expansion of any business is a decision investors and business people should not take lightly – unless of course there are ample returns and profits to be made which makes such a proposition worthwhile. Setting up shop in a foreign land is even more daunting a prospect, filled as it is with so much uncertainty (see commerce in China). However, it helps to know thousands of others have gone before you and successfully made the transition. The United Arab Emirates or (UAE) is where foreign businesses both new and old are reaping huge rewards.

UAE is centrally placed to take advantage of emerging markets to the east and west of the country is a major reason why businesses want to locate there. But there are other important reasons, too, not least a stable government which actively supports a liberal business regime renowned the world over for its minimalist red tape and bureaucracy. It’s a relationship which is gaining ever greater currency given the impact of the global downturn.

Before any move can be properly contemplated, the financial imperatives for doing so must be fully scrutinized  Luckily the UAE comes complete with a business banking infrastructure which is sound and filled with the expertise you’ll more than likely need. A UAE bank like HSBC, which has a long and illustrious association with the region stretching back many decades. You can explore further interest here to view business bank accounts from HSBC..

They’ll help with payments and cash management, factoring, shipping guarantees, letters of credit and much, much more. In other words, you won’t have to worry about your international banking needs. What you might worry about is where exactly is the best place to set up a business and what form should it take? And basically, perhaps simplistically, there are two choices – free zone, or partnering with a UAE national.

The basic difference between the two is one of ownership because it also depends on whether your intended market is a local one or is international. If you’re aiming to sell or serve the local market then you’ll need a partner who is also a UAE citizen. He, or she, will have to own 51% of the business, while you, as a foreigner, can only ever own up to 49%. These are the rules.

The situation is completely different when setting up a business in a free zone. There are dozens of them spread throughout the UAE and they’re sector-specific, too, with all the required infrastructure in place, ready to use. The question often asked is what does the UAE get out of it all? The answer is straightforward – reduced unemployment locally, the raising of the skills base, greater productivity levels, and the generation of taxes through the setting up and licensing of businesses.

What you get in return is a taxation system so relaxed that it demands no personal tax or corporation tax from you! There are no foreign exchange controls either, or trade barriers or quotas to worry about. Add in competitive energy, real estate and financing costs and you’re in the kind of business environment you’ve always dreamed about. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Find out more about setting up a business in a UAE free zone