When I worked at Microsoft, we were always getting tipped into new up and comers around the Seattle area and I thought in my gray Seattle haze that Seattle was the Tech Mecca, oh, but after living here in Boulder I find I was indeed wrong in that assumption!

I have bumped into many techies in the local coffee houses and as well have discovered other networking opportunities by way of TechCocktail.com and the very well renowned Boulder start up kings TechStars – who with their 10,000 sq foot office (The Bunker) on Pearl street in the heart of Boulder help new technology start ups get funded, get off the ground, and learn from the best mentors in the industry! The impressive list of mentors at TechStars includes team members from Foundry Group a venture capital firm that focuses on investing in early stage information technology companies, which also happens to be located in Boulder. TechStars was founded by David Cohen, Brad Feld, David Brown, and Jared Polis in 2006. In the Tech Stars mentor spotlight they have tech giants such as: Matt Mullenweg Founder, Automattic (Wordpress.com, Akismet), Jeff Clavier Founder, SoftTech VC, and Eric Marcoullier Founder, MyBlogLog. TechStars takes only ten companies each summer. If you have an amazing web-based or software idea, applications for the next round open on January 20th. Details here.

A few of my favorite tech start ups and tech companies I know of, or have run into here in Boulder/ Denver area include the following:

Brightkite - Location-based social networking (Folks ya gotta see this!) See where your friends are and what they’re up to, in real time.
Eventvue - The best conferences include great networking. EventVue helps your attendee’s network and find their next business partner, customer, or employee at your conference.
Filtrbox.com - Filtrbox is the media monitoring service of choice for savvy professionals.
foodzie.com - an online marketplace where consumers can buy food directly from small artisan producers.
GNIP (guh – nip)– in fact one block away from me, is this up and coming start up that will have you all banging on their doors – they make data portability suck less.
ignighter.com – Incredible idea! Group dating, safer, less awkward and more fun!
Lijit.com - Lijit allows you to easily create your own search engine. One that searches your blog, bookmarks, photos, blogroll, and more. By offering the Lijit Search Wijit on your blog.
Rally Software - From small pilot projects to distributed, multi-team programs, Rally’s family of Agile lifecycle management solutions give teams the visibility and collaboration needed to formalize and scale agile development practices that deliver high-value software in rapid iterations.
Socialthing.com – Socialthing was acquired by AOL in August, 2008.! Congrats! - Socialthing! Makes it easy to see all the things your friends are doing. It’s a news feed for every site that you use in one place.
SurveyGizmo - SurveyGizmo is a creative platform for your marketing, lead generation and research projects. Create surveys, landing pages, polls, quizzes, contact forms, ticketing queues and mobile marketing campaigns.
Syntryx.com – Often called “a deal flow engine,” Syntryx provides powerful research tools, internet asset valuations and publisher acquisition solutions for every major online market. Syntryx.com is the advanced competitive analysis tool extraordinaire.

“The Western frontier is open, and geeks are populating the range.” A quip from Ben Casnocha in his latest article “Start-Up Town” posted on Sept 10th on the Amercian.com. “Start – Up Town” is an infectiously exorbitant article written for The American with the candor and splendor of amazing author Ben Casnocha . Ben also authored the bestselling business book My Start-Up Life: What a (Very) Young CEO Learned on His Journey Through Silicon Valley, which the New York Times called “precocious, informative, and entertaining. This amazing article highlighted my suspicions that I am not alone here (as far as geeks go) and tackles the fair rundown of the last 15 years of how Boulder managed to accomplish its place as a leading tech start up town.

A few great resources for technology companies in Colorado are as follows:

CSIA Colorados Technology Association

Next Event for CSIA - COLORADO SOFTWARE AND TECHNOLOGY SHOW - DEMOGala 2008, October 2nd The event runs all day long. More than 100 speakers from 100+ companies.

http://csiaonline.com/Events/DEMOgala/tabid/192/Default.aspx

Colorado Start Ups

W3W3 - Colorado’s Voice of the Technology Community

Blog Post Written by: Heather Paulson, President of www.PaulsonManagementGroup.com

There are other tools out there that are similar in function, however the best part about iSpionage.com for me is the ability to get frequent data updates, the ability to download data into excel, AND I am able to monitor affiliate usage of brand and trademark terms in all three engines.

Competitor alerts such as a new competitor in your territory, new competitor keywords or ads or iSpionage.com allows you to set multiple alerts for each of your trademarks (i.e.: URL, trademark product names, etc.)
The pricing starts at $39.00 and is well worth it, anyone in the affiliate management or paid search management space would do well by checking this company out – Well I’ll be seeing you… literally.
iSpionage.com Check out the features -

Highlights of this tool include

1) PPC Competitive Intelligence

2) Affiliate Research

3) Competitor Alerts

4) Research competitors’ keywords

Breaking news as first reported by Linda Buquet at 5StarAffiliatePrograms.com, Internet retail giant Overstock who most recently dismissed their estimated 3,400 New York affiliates from their affiliate program which I had written about in a previous post Overstock.com Terminates All NY Affiliates has recently filed suit with the Supreme Court to fight the New York Tax Law, which went into affect June 1st 2008.

The Overstock press release is quoted as follows, “Overstock.com, which is based only in Utah, has no operations in New York, and sells exclusively through the internet, views the new law as unconstitutional under both New York and federal constitutional provisions, including due process clauses under both constitutions and the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution as well.” [Overstock May 30th press release]

Mark Griffin Overstock.com general counsel stated in the press release, “I am confident of our position in the suit.” [Overstock May 30th press release]
Overstock’s commitment to fighting this tax is a positive step in assisting the strength of the Amazon complaint which was filed on Friday May 2, 2008, as written in The New York Times. Amazon filed a complaint in State Supreme Court in Manhattan objecting to the law, which was approved as part of the $122 billion state budget that Gov. David A. Paterson has already signed and which went into affect yesterday.

Rallying up the Affiliate Marketing Community

Peter Bordes Jr. who is a founder, CEO, and chairman of the board of MediaTrust, Inc and an ardent blogger at www.relevantlyspeaking.com was on the recent IAB public policy meeting on the new Can-Spam legislation. In the last segment of the meeting MediaTrust’s CMO Trip Foster and ValueClick opened the affiliate tax discussion and Peter has some interesting things of note which he mentions in his post here as well is calling for petitions to be sent in to affiliatepetition@gmail.com.

Linda Woods President of PartnerCentric.com and host of Affiliate Marketing Insider a popular radio show on WebmasterRadio.fm is joining with other industry leaders and thought provokers on her Webmaster Radio show this Thursday at 12n PST/3pEST to discuss the New York Tax issue.

Brian Littleton President of ShareASale.com a top affiliate network is commenting on the topic from a network perspective on the ShareASale blog. ShareAsale is the only network I know of to date to offer New York affiliate sales reporting for their networks.

Cecily Lancit President of Affiliopolis.com has been spearheading communication attempts directly with the New York State Tax office representatives. In one of my recent posts Interview with Members of the New York State Tax Department I mentioned the phone conference we were supposed to have with the representatives from the New York Office but at the last minute the NY office stated they would prefer written questions, many persons from the industry submitted questions to Cecily to pose to the New York Office and they have responded with a time line for response of up to one month. Special thanks to Wade Tonkin of GTOManagement.com who also submitted some insightful questions along with others!

Linda Buquet of 5StarAffiliateprograms.com has been a champion concerning ensuring news and information from all around the affiliate community is disseminated to those who need her timely information by accessing her popular affiliate blog and forum.

Shawn Collins the Affiliate Marketing Industry legend and co founder of AffiliateSummit.com also has been spearheading communications of information throughout the community and taking a positive stand in support of Overstocks efforts on his popular blog AffiliateTip.com

New York Affiliate Tax Issue – What’s next?

As the President of PaulsonManagementGroup.com where we manage many affiliates programs in multiple networks, I can tell you that this issue has many of us all rechecking out processes and strategies moving forward. The discussions and emails are going around concerning the development of an affiliate industry association which we are all hoping will be established sooner rather then later. What’s next? Well we need to be prepared to answer that question, let’s hope it is not too late.

Where to register for a Sales Tax Certificate of Authority: http://www.nys-opal.com/ (click the “‘on-line applications” link on the left-hand margin and go from there.)

One particular highlight is the fact that selling consumer contact information is considered taxable and collectible if sent by a NY web publisher, and received in New York by their client.
The takeaway here is that the group referred to 4 important reference documents from this phone interview that members of the affiliate community might want to read carefully:

1. A reference document prepared to explain the legislation.

http://www.nystax.gov/pubs_and_bulls/memos/sales_memos.htm

On the left hand side, Click on TSB-M-08(3)S, which is the explanatory document on this legislation.

2. A reference Guide to Sales Tax in New York State

www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/publications/sales/pub750_208.pdf

This document outlines what goods and services are taxable. Take particular note of a short line on page 19, referring to “providing certain information services. According to follow up questions on this item in the conference call, selling consumer contact information is considered taxable and collectable if sent by a NY web publisher and received in New York by their client. The NY web publisher is considered a “merchant” and responsible for reporting and collecting the tax if they sell more than $10,000 worth of data delivered in New York to New York data purchasers. If the data is sold by a web publisher outside of New York, then the purchaser of the data in New York is responsible for reporting that purchase and the ensuing use tax. If the data is received in New Jersey, for example, then no tax is due to the State of New York.

See more interpretation on this topic in document 4, an advisory opinion on taxability of email lists.

3. Where to register for a Sales Tax Certificate of Authority:

http://www.nys-opal.com/ (click the “‘on-line applications” link on the left-hand margin and go from there.)

Take note of the fact that once a merchant or web publisher has registered, then they are responsible for collecting tax on any taxable sale shipped into the state of New York. The inference here is that once a merchant has registered to pay sales tax, then reporting from affiliates is moot – the merchant is then going to have to charge tax for every sale made in New York, whether it comes from a web publisher or their own website.

4. Advisory opinion on email lists and their taxability:

http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/advisory_opinions/sales/a07_13s.pdf

This document is a reply to a Petition for Advisory Opinion from NetCreations, Inc. on whether its charges to clients for email addresses are taxable. VERY interesting reading.

5. Advertisers vs. Web Publishers:

Aside from these important resources, there were discussions on the call that can shed some light on the law’s interpretation of who is an advertiser, and who is a publisher.

An advertisement, which is a “passive, paid message,” and exempt from this law, is differentiated by the State from the very different and very much liable, ”commission- based or success -based fee.” For example, if payment is based on clicks, or views, and no sale have to be made for payment to be received, and then it is not considered a nexus point,” say the NY experts.

If there is a success fee, or commission, then web publishers are considered “sales reps” and the definition of “nexus” has been met; then there is liability for the merchant to register, collect, and pay tax to the State if they produce over $10,000 from an affiliate(s) in the State. (See example “G” in TSB-M-08(3)S)

6. To Register or Not to Register:

Also of interest is the group’s answer to the question, “If a merchant does not register, how can you know they are doing such business in New York?”

Apparently, there is a “general audit program” that specializes in discovery, and they have a variety of tools they use to check on these things. Merchants who produce in excess of $10,000 through NY “nexus” points and who do not register “are playing the audit lottery,” according to the Tax experts. “There is no statute of limitations for merchants who qualify and do not register or file sales tax returns in New York. In a tax audit, the State can go back “as far as there is nexus” and assess hefty tax, penalty, and interest on that merchant,” they say.

7. What’s Next?

In an effort to be as helpful to the industry as possible during a time of clarification, the group agreed to Cecily Lancit President of Affiliopolis.com’s request to meet with a small group of industry leaders next week to develop an FAQ that could be accessible via the web. If you are interested in posing questions that could be considered as part of the FAQ please submit them here in this thread.

I appreciate Cecily Lancit President of Affiliopolis.com using her resources in New York to gain clarification on the New York tax issue by reaching out to representatives at the New York Tax Department office. As well, I appreciate her disseminating this information to me so that I can share it with all of you. This issue in my mind becomes more serious with the advent of knowing that they plan on taxing data as well.

I am not an accountant but from what I am understanding and according to WebProNews writer Mike Sachoff who wrote on May 6th 2008, “Online retailers doing business in New York will be required to register with the state beginning June 1, 2008 to collect taxes, or face audits for prior quarters for failing to register.” Read article here

On Friday May 2, 2008 , as written in The New York Times Amazon filed a complaint in State Supreme Court in Manhattan objecting to the law, which was approved as part of the $122 billion state budget that Gov. David A. Paterson has already signed. To make matters worse - Texas is also considering implementing a similar tax on affiliate sales - the post can be viewed here.

The discussion concerning thoughts surrounding the NY affiliate or Amazon tax as it is being called via major news publications continued heartily at the most highly populated affiliate forum AbestWeb.com, the posts can be viewed here. Today in AbestWeb.com the most popular affiliate forum in the known world, NY affiliates are posting emails and alerts they are receiving from Overstock.com concerning the affiliates being dismissed from the Overstock.com affiliate program based on the fact that they reside in NY. Read the post here.

It is times like these when services such as www.EarthClassMail.com and out of state web hosting companies become very popular for New York affiliates. What will be interesting is watching the New York tax system attempt to identify and track affiliate sales from, uh, affiliates who reside in New York…. So whose responsibility will it be to determine and prove affiliate residency? The affiliate network? The merchant? New York State tax agency?

On July 31st of 2007 an article was written by Eric Auchard for Reuters entitled, “Google wary of behavioral targeting in online ads.” Within the article Susan Wojcicki, Google Vice President of product management for advertising pointed to Google’s concern for consumer privacy and admitted the following concerning the existence of a new ad testing feature based on a consumers previous query.

“Google has been testing for several weeks a new advertising feature that delivers ads based not simply on a specific search term, but also on the immediately previous search, she said.” A user who types “Italy vacation” into a Google search box might see ads about Tuscany or cheap flights to Europe. Were the same user to subsequently search for “weather,” Google will assume there is a link between “Italy vacation” and “weather” and deliver ads tied to local weather conditions in Italy.” (Reuters 2007)

Susan,  a top Google official also stressed again in the article that, “This effort to improve ad relevancy does not involve personal information databases.” The article also repeatedly stressed the fact that Google was not tracking consumer behavior.

So was the several weeks of previous query ad testing that Susan mentions in the article in any way related to Google personalized search and did it involve the search marketers mentioned above web history accounts – which was launched on April 19th 2007? Or was this ad testing of previous query able to have been done based on consumers who have no active Google account and do not have Google web history enabled or paused? Just wondering…. (Keep reading we get an answer)

On September 24, 2007 – Google posted a great video on their YouTube channel hosted by Maile Ohye a support engineer at Google who spoke of Google’s personalized search and stressing again consumer privacy.

<Echo – Consumer privacy, consumer privacy, consumer privacy – end echo>

April 10th 2008 - Danny Sullivan has a keynote interview with Google vice president of search products & user experience Marissa Mayer during the SMX Sydney show. One of the topics centered around how “Previous Query” refinement will soon come to natural listings on Google.

Marissa Mayer stated in the interview with Danny that, “Google’s never given this feature a formal name, but Marissa said internally the company calls it “Previous Query,” the first time to my knowledge that we’ve had some type of formal name put to it. Learn the name well, because Previous Query refinement is now coming to unpaid or “organic” search results, she said.”

Danny also mentions that SEO previous query has already been happening for several weeks for some people randomly selected. He also mentions that SEO previous query will eventually affect everyone that accepts a cookie, meaning it’s not a personalized search thing that only happens if you’re logged into your Google account. Aha! Question answered! This is unique and NOT a part of personalized search…
If your company is not equipped to manage internally your natural search engine optimization issues surrounding previous query in Google, I suggest you get ready as your consumers will now be equipped to teach the machine…

Flashback - January 31, 2007 - Michael Wesch who is a cultural anthropologist and media ecologist exploring the impacts of new media on human interaction posts an amazing video Web 2.0 … The Machine is Us/ing Us.” on YouTube…

PPC Tip: For SEM’s who do not want paid search ads being pulled for previous query searches that might not be as highly targeted for your ads, note that this is an enhancement of Google’s broad match keyword ad serving so watch semantic keywords. I recommend scrutinizing which terms you do set at broad match in Google Adwords. The inclusion of negative keywords in your adgroups is key here. To read more about Google’s previous query and how it works with Google Adwords ads click here.

You can see what keyword variations have triggered your ads by running a Search Query Performance Report. (This report is only available for the search network.)

Revenews blogger
Heather Paulson of PMG

The bill which is expected to be passed June 1 is an effort to raise $50 million in tax revenue from online retailers; the fear here is that other states might also consider increasing internet sales tax collections to extend to affiliates collecting sales via their online sites and or properties within their respective states.

“The provisions would amend a sales and use tax law on the books since 1965. That law requires New York state residents who purchase items outside of the state to pay New York a “use” or sales tax if they were not charged sales tax in the state of purchase. Following similar procedures in other states that charge sales tax, the law also requires out-of-state retailers to collect and remit sales tax on products sold to New York residents if the retailers maintain a physical presence, or nexus, in the state.” (internetretailer.com)

“New provisions proposed for a New York State sales tax law, if signed by the governor, would require online retailers based outside of the state to collect and remit sales tax on customer orders received through affiliate web sites based within New York.” (internetretailer.com)

Linda Buquet at 5Star heralded an important comment that other states might be caught up in a ripple effect and impose sales tax collections from affiliates as well. Her full post can be seen here. Affiliate sales tax is a topic which will concern any affiliate in the affiliate marketing space and is causing a great deal of discussion amongst community members. InternetNews has an incredible post concerning this issue which they as well as others online are calling the “Amazon Tax” due to Amazon and it’s affiliate program being the nexus for the revival of the tax plan.

This is a matter that the affiliate community as a whole could be impacted by. As the industry grows more attention from big brother concerning how they can grab their piece of the pie will be inherit with that growth, we can only hope that if this bill passes it will stop with New York.
Internetretailer.com full article can be viewed here

I am currently on the beta waiting list and am hoping I get contacted here soon to check this out! (Hint!). The Affspy team will be at Ad-Tech San Francisco this April 15th -17th and I definitely plan on meeting up with them while I am at Ad-Tech. Looking forward to seeing this amazing technology which will truly enhance affiliates ability to find the best offers across multiple networks, saving them valuable time! Networks would be WISE to get in on this sooner rather then later! Networks can sign up here.

After a demo I will have a full review, but from what I have seen so far, this appears to be an extremely valuable tool for affiliates as well as for networks!

Video - Developing and deploying an application on Google App Engine

(Note: Beginning April 7th, we’re extending a preview release of Google App Engine — with free quota — to the first 10,000 interested developers.) Sign up here. If you’d like to sign in to Google App Engine with your Google Apps account, use the following URL: http://appengine.google.com/a/<YOURDOMAIN.COM>/
Google App Engine provides a runtime environment that uses the Python programming language. Google states that other programming languages and runtime environment configurations are being considered for future releases. Currently, Google says that the application code must be written exclusively in Python. Code with extensions written in C are not going to be supported. Google also states, that other programming languages may be supported in the future.

“Every Google App Engine application will have enough CPU, bandwidth, and storage to serve around 5 million monthly page-views.” (Google)

Google is having a very large two day developer gathering in San Francisco event May 28th – 29th concerning this new App as well as other sessions, information can be found here.

The Google App Engine development environment includes the following features:

• Dynamic webserving, with full support of common web technologies
• Persistent storage (powered by Bigtable and GFS with queries, sorting, and transactions)
• Automatic scaling and load balancing
• Google APIs for authenticating users and sending email
• Fully featured local development environment

Another exciting application development from Google! To view featured applications check out Google’s application gallery here.