Time2Market Business Development Coaching & Consulting

Linkedin - Can it help you build a network to support your business and professional development efforts?

I think the answer to this is, Yes!  But, as with all networking, you'll likely see better results if you make it a two-way street.  And, this site makes it easy to do that.

As you focus on your professional and business development, you may consider Linkedin one good resource to explore, with tools and functionality, for relationship building. Here are 5 main reasons why I think Linkedin can help your development efforts:

1. It’s easy to find and invite others to join your network - get back in touch, and reach out to new contacts.  And, if you are concerned about the privacy of your network, you can keep contacts hidden.
2. Referral functions help you explore new career and business connections faster.
3. Question/answer features can facilitate your knowledge and network build faster.
4. Changes in your network can be viewed daily, so you can stay up-to-date easily (if that feature is enabled by those in your network)
5. You can move your information out to others quickly, with forwarding, pdf, and messaging capabilities. Or, others can find you as a professional match with key word searches, and communicate quickly as well ....

Start up and Small Business Tips - Lessons Learned

9 small business owners share what they would have done differently starting their businesses today and the following tips result:

• create a marketing plan to promote e-commerce and build your customer base faster
• focus time and money on search engine optimization, especially if you are in a competitive market that is closely tied to on-line shopping and/or information gathering
• emphasize employee commissions as incentives to drive more business
• seize multicultural product offering and/or marketing opportunities
• consult your board of directors to sound out ideas for growth
• have a marketing and PR budget
• create a local, scalable, sales development program/model
• have a partner to work with
• get help/staff to support the business and pick up some of the work

Check out the article from Entrepreneur.com, which highlights e-commerce, real estate, health-care management, restaurant, hair care, catering, video game, and apparel retail businesses.  And, contact us, if you need to move forward fast with tips above for business growth.

International expansion – Are you prepared?

If your business is expanding internationally, look closely before you leap.  Both large and small companies sometimes underestimate the requirements and difficulty of expanding operations abroad.  Recently noted examples in the press include Google’s experiences with Orkut in Brazil, as well as the experiences of smaller firms.

Apart from understanding the business environment from a marketing perspective (e.g., business/consumer demographics, competition, etc.), examine key areas, such as:

• country specific practices and regulations relevant to your business operations and industry
• cross-border, as well as, local taxes and duties
• labor laws and practices
• foreign currency, in the context of local and global economic trends

You can read about how these factors have impacted some large and small businesses by clicking the links above.  Be sure you are prepared to create detailed market analyses and entrance plans for growth.  And, find a dedicated local person, or firm, to help establish your local presence in target markets before launch.

Build your Business - Sign up Now for August 14th Women's Leadership Exchange Event

If you've got a business to build and products or services to move to market, don't miss this one day event to work on doing it fast! Please join us and e-mail me if you would like to meet there in person.

In one day, the Women's Leadership Exchange Conference offers women business owners:

• Acclaimed facilitated networking sessions which allow you to connect with successful business owners, professionals and top executives that will have an impact on your business going forward.
• QVC Quick Product Review (!!!)
• Workshops from top experts
• Speed coaching 

I am pleased to again invite you to this unique one-day conference for women in business and offer you a special rate! Women's Leadership Exchange is committed to supporting the growth of women-led businesses in all sectors through the sharing of knowledge, resources and contacts.  Their conference is an investment with an invaluable return.  You have to see it to believe it!!

For details, see below or visit www.womensleadershipexchange.com. Please register for the conference at www.womensleadershipexchange.com and use my Source Code: AMBASS07 for $25 off.  Also, note if you are a member of a listed Supporting Organization, you receive an additional $25.00 off!

See you at the 5th ANNUAL SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CONFERENCE!
Tuesday, August 14th, 2007
from 7:30am–7:30pm

Long Beach Convention Center
300 East Ocean Boulevard
Long Beach, CA

I like Juice too...Juice Wireless and JuiceCaster that is

Qualcomm's not the only one. See Red Herring.  Great news yesterday for Juice Wireless, with the announcement of great funding partners. I like everything I've learned about Juice so far. JuiceCaster is quite interesting and the company has moved forward fast!  I'm adding Juice Wireless as my first "Showcase-able Start up", with high-energy, experienced and focused entrepreneurs leading the way.  Wishing the company and team lots of luck and will continue to watch.

5 Key Areas of Focus for Building Business

While you plan and grow your business via build, buy and/or partnering strategies, it is useful to review these five areas and to monitor them frequently. You will more readily identify business weaknesses in areas such as finance, marketing and sales, and operations and be able to strengthen your business development and growth along the way. Study what did and did not work for your business and others, then develop steps you can take that will see you through to your goals. 

We talk about 5 Key Areas of Focus for Building Business here and all 6 in our monthly newsletter. So, sign up!

Check the list...

TMT Entrepreneurs, Investors and Business Management - If your company, or one of your portfolio companies, is not here, why not? It's worth a look, considering which companies are here and why.  We've been tracking a few of these. Next Net 25 Internet Startups to Watch ...

If you did not...

get to 3GSM in Barcelona this week, some of our experts did.  If your company is operating in the telecom, media, and technology space, and you're focused on mobile communications and/or digital media, you'll need information on emerging companies, local and international competition and technology developments. E-mail or call us to schedule a time for key insights.

One VC's criteria

Technology startups and investors listen up - today I had the chance to speak with a Managing Partner at a well known Private Equity firm, which has about 40% of its portfolio in technology. On the VC side, they look at deals under $25 million - ideally with the founder still actively involved.  The prospective company is between 3 and 30 years old, ideally profitable and must be poised for growth. Should your company, or one of the companies you are working with, be on that list? Keep us posted, and tell us how your company is poised for growth.

Scaling up - I visited Google’s New York office this past week to learn more about the company’s operations here. Lots of advertising sales activity in New York, some mobile development going on here as well, and who knows what else? We had limited time, but the bottom line is that Google, as you know, is growing fast. It was at around 7,500 employees worldwide last summer, and it is now closer to 10,000, growing to ? this year, with lots of international activity. It develops and pilots products and services over quite a number of months before full commercial release, and it was interesting to see some sample timelines.

What are your plans to scale up this year?  What new products and services will be launched, and how many people will be working with you to support development activity?