Business Loan Options Blog

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Finding a venture capitalist can be like hunting a white buffalo in a dessert environment. At first, you might think that the legend that venture capitalists are extinct could be true, but then you realize you just may not be in the right environment. Unlike albino buffalo, however, venture capitalists have no notable physical characteristics to give them away from the herd. Ultimately, it can be tough to spot a venture capitalist even in places where they congregate, unless a friend knows one and makes that introduction. If you don’t move in those circles, it has been quite difficult to get an introduction to a venture capitalist just through offline networking. Now, social networking may be helping people with good business ideas and a little bit of social networking savvy to finally locate their angel investors.

Online Friends Can Help

Social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn allow people expand their social contact immensely, even going beyond their limited geographical footprint. This is especially important when trying to meet a venture capitalist, as these people generally live in the same area and fund projects within their community or only on the recommendation of someone they know. If most of the venture capitalists that fund a web startup are in Silicon Valley, California, and you are an entrepreneur that lives in Chicago, it can be a long wait to find someone willing to fund your idea. However, if you hop online, you can make friends quickly with people who live in the right areas and through their contacts end up meeting a venture capitalist you might not have met otherwise.

Special Websites

There are even special websites set up for business owners trying to make those essential business contacts to help take their business to the next level. A site called Meeteor.com will use the friends and followers already established in sites like Facebook and LinkedIn to generate more data mining on which contacts can reach a potential company or connection. Once you have a good idea how to reach that key person, you can ask that contact to introduce you online through Meeteor.com.

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Another website that has a similar payback is called. Favo.rs. This site is mostly used by people looking to expand their audience by getting favors like retweets and re-posting blog articles. Users of the site gain points for the favors they do for each other and this will lend towards more social credibility. Someone with a high social credibility might be able to request an introduction from one of the people in their network who is a venture capitalist. In fact, such types of online introductions are working for some people now even though data mining for social networking sites is still in its infancy.

Potential Hurdles

It won’t be as easy as just finding a mutual friend online, however. To reach your target venture capitalist your own social credibility will be weighed before they will agree to speak with you. If you are not in the same industry, have few credentials, or the person making the introduction also has low social credibility, it is likely that even locating the capitalist will not be enough. Like all forms of social networking, it isn’t just who you know, but who you are and what you can offer that will eventually seal the deal.

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Branding in the United States may be difficult, but add in a foreign language and a global brand in another country may end up meaning something it shouldn’t. Worried manufacturers hire linguists to help their companies market their brand in other locations to avoid being a laughingstock even before they can open their mouths. Classic examples throughout marketing history indicate that its always better to change a name that has a phonetic misinterpretation in another language, particularly when that old name isn’t too complimentary.

To Rename or Not

As companies move their brands to new countries, even the largest companies like the search engine Bing can run amuck with language faux pas’. If they had just assumed that since Bing sounds Chinese, that it would be okay. However, the phonetic word “Bing” in China actually means defect or virus. No one would be tempted to use a search engine that already warned them to beware how it works. In cases like this, a company can choose to rebrand with a whole new name that carries a different association or it can use something closely sounding like the right word, but one with better associations. Bing was renamed Bi Ying for Chinese consumption.

Other Classic Examples

Sometimes a company can luck out with the phonetic translation for their original name. Ke kou ke le in Chinese means tasty fun and it is the phonetic equivalent of Coca Cola. Mr. Muscle, on the other hand, is a cleaning solution that means chicken meat in Chinese. Manufacturers chose to rename it Mr. Powerful, instead. Some companies are warned by their linguist, but refuse to heed their warnings for e reason or another. Peugeot decided to keep their name, even though in Chinese the name closely resembles the slang word for prostitute. Rebranding is a serious choice and many companies opt to simply add new associations in the new language to make sure there is no mistake about what qualities they want associated with their product.

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Good news is already starting to surface on the U.S. economic front, even as some indicators like housing prices continue to fall. From a consumer’s viewpoint, there is more optimism showing as businesses celebrate the first decent holiday season since the start of the recession. Consumer confidence is jumping to an eight-month high as reported by the Conference board last Tuesday. This is definitely the type of news that makes for a Happy New Year. Read the rest of this entry »

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The “Made in the USA” movement has always been popular with people trying to get jobs back to this country, but now the strategy is coming to your local cities and neighborhoods. “Made in N.Y.C.” for instance is a group trying to promote items manufactured locally in the New York area. Other organizations intent on bringing manufacturing back to the United States are also going local. With farmers’ markets having so much success, it has become evident that there is a market for things made locally, and this can be extended to all manner of manufactured goods. Read the rest of this entry »

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Snow storms near Christmas have always been blamed for delayed arrivals during the holidays, but now droughts can also affect your holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »

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Move over Cyber Monday, now there is Mega Monday. Smart merchants have realized that the right marketing can lead to sales way before Christmas, during the holiday, and even the few days afterwards. The cash registers are ringing up furious sales the day after Christmas, which fell on a Monday this year causing merchants to dub it “Mega Monday.” There are a few good reasons for the extra interest in shopping, even or consumers who may have led the charge during Black Friday sales: hefty discounts, entertainment, and gift cards.

Hefty Discounts

Retailers are trying to get sales in before the end of the year, so they can count it into their income. This has caused a traffic increase of about 60 percent when compared to last year. Shoppers are also interested in stocking up on seasonal items for next year, like holiday decorations, Christmas wrappings, and toys. Those will most likely be stashed in an attic or closet waiting for next year’s holiday season. Read the rest of this entry »

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As online sales skyrocket, American retailers are finding out there is more to online shopping than just putting up virtual deals. The new Wild West may be a patch of land that doesn’t even exist physically, but for Christmas shoppers and online retailers the Christmas madness has affected their online buying experience. What was once the easiest way for couch potatoes to check people off their Christmas lists is becoming full of obstacles. Big retailers, like Best Buy, were caught unprepared for the large demand and canceled orders made as early as November of this year. It is becoming fairly obvious that online sales strategies need to take into account inventory fulfillment and customer service before they promise something they can’t deliver. Read the rest of this entry »

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Bad news for gold futures can mean good news for the economy. Gold prices have reached meteoric prices in the last few years as the economy took a tumble. However, recent prices now may show that trend reversing despite the chaos in Europe and some uncertainty in the market. In the last eight trading sessions, gold has taken a hit six times signaling to the upward trend that had gold bugs in a buying frenzy. Read the rest of this entry »

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Investors may not believe in fortune-telling when it comes to picking good stocks, but they are sitting up to listen to an oracle, Oracle Corp, that is. Tech stocks have had their share of ups and downs as the economy has seesawed, but some investors have been able to rely on some giant heavyweights to prosper despite it all. That may not hold true next year, as Oracle Corp.‘s earnings dropped for the first time in 10 years, causing a shock and awe fallout amongst investors. Not soon after the news, Oracle’s stock dropped more than 10 percent, while investors began wondering if this was a hint of future things to come for all technology stocks. Read the rest of this entry »

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In a chaotic market, investors are seeking out investments that can still yield big results. Many are betting on social networking. Recently, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal invested $300 million in Twitter shares on the secondary market. The Prince hopes this massive investment won’t just provide future returns, but will also allow him and his company, Kingdom Holding Company, to participate more with Twitter management and in their strategic decision-making processes. Even with a few bumps easily foreseeable for Twitter in the near future, many investors are beginning to leverage their portfolios with social networking buys. Read the rest of this entry »