BigCommerce Coupons And Giveaway

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming agency


http://www.bigcommerce.com/

All venture capitalists have got startup business plans piling on their desks every single day. But how many of them are the breakthrough ideas worth investing in? Australian BigCommerce has proven right to the Massachusetts based venture capital firm General Catalyst. “We quickly signed up our first 1000 customers within three months,” says Eddie Machaalani, the co-funder and co-CEO of BigCommerce, “and now we’re about to hit 20,000 customers after just 17 months.

Mitchell Harper, the other co-founder and co-CEO, explains “you can set up your own online store in a few clicks. We’re growing so quickly because we’ve made it really easy to sell online.”

If you’ve got a product and you need an easy way to sell it and advertise it, BigCommerce might be exactly what you’re looking for. All the marketing tools have been built in and the list of features is countless which targets all potential kinds of client s.

There are e-commerce newbie’s looking for tools to start with: web-based control panel, automated email marketing and almost one hundred store designs. There are e-commerce owners hoping to update and refresh their software with push to Facebook and eBay, SEO and Google Website Optimizer. And there are website designers looking for a ready platform to work with; they’ll look into painless software updates, unlimited design flexibility and premium hosting. To cut the long story short, BigCommerce has got everything for everybody.

The company overview does sound like a cliché online success story. Two IT geeks, a brilliant idea, a lot of hard work, right place, right time, huge demand and a spot on investor. (General Catalyst have also believed in BigFish, airbnb, iWalk and many others). This is how Eddie Machaalani speaks of the beginnings of their cooperation. “When we made the decision to raise capital and did our U.S tour to pitc h different VC firms, General Catalyst had already done a ton of due diligence on the market opportunity, our company and our competitors. They were very eager to invest in the company.”

BigCommerce have recently announced $2M integration fund to follow the market developments and create new better features. The software has now got built-in Pinterest and Quickbooks integration, referral system, a live chat, abandoned cart plugin and many other improvements. They tent to release new features every two weeks.

The software seems to be ahead of its competition (Shopify, Zencart, Magento) according to various online discussions, blogs and comparisons and is only getting better and smarter. E-shopping cart is gaining the whole new meaning. And what does it mean to you? Only one way to find out. (Here is a link for $100 coupon or 30 day free trial provided by BigCommerce for our readers).

[Via - Madconomist.Com]

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February 08, 2014 No Comments

Hot Startups - HitBliss

Startup Of The Day - PickyDomains.com

http://www.hitbliss.com/

With only a few legal options for accessing TV programs and movies over the internet--pay upfront (Netflix, Amazon, iTunes) or sit through advertisements (Hulu)--it was inevitable that an alternative model would emerge.

HitBliss, an online streaming site developed by husband-and-wife team Sharon Peyer and Andrew Prihodko, offers popular shows like NBC's Battlestar Galactica and hit movies from the likes of Paramount Pictures, Focus Features and Universal Pictures. Users can purchase titles from the HitBliss Store for roughly $4 per movie or $2 per TV show. But the revolution starts with the HitBliss Earn service.

Viewers in Earn peruse the same titles but sit through advertisements to bank money--about 25 cents per ad viewed--that can later be used in the HitBliss Store. To earn payouts up to twice as quickly, Earn users build a profile, adding their location, gender, age, income and browser search history. With that information, HitBliss can match a viewer to an advertiser's target demographic and ensure that the ad gets seen. How? Prompts appear in ads that require the viewer to click on it. The faster and more consistently a viewer clicks, the fewer prompts they see, and the faster they earn credits.

Put simply: Brands such as Aflac and Dr Pepper are paying people to watch and listen to their messages on HitBliss. To ease the marketing assault, HitBliss does allow viewers to skip or remove all messages from a particular brand--but they pay a penalty by sitting through more ads from other sponsors.

"Instead of relying on the old model where the advertisers pay the content owner, we let the advertisers basically reward the users for their time and attention," Peyer says. "And viewers are rewarded with the ability to actually get what they want."

Peyer and Prihodko came up with the idea while working on their previous venture, Pixamo, a photo-sharing company that had a free, ad-supported component. They recognized that the ads were being mostly ignored and concluded that targeted advertising would be more effective, and possibly more enjoyable, if users were able to control the experience. "That's when we realized we wanted to create a model that just involves the consumer and the advertiser," Peyer says.

After selling Pixamo in 2007, the two focused their efforts on developing Lexington, Mass.-based HitBliss, which launched in private beta earlier this year. While the company's film and TV library isn't yet as robust as those of its more established competitors, it does stream movies four months after they leave theaters, up to a year earlier than Netflix--which had revenue last year of a whopping $3.6 billion. And when the service exits beta later this year, Peyer and Prihodko expect to be able to offer it on smartphones and internet-enabled TVs.

Time will tell if HitBliss becomes the new answer for ad-supported streaming media. If successful, its model could apply to the likes of Pandora, gaming and other online entertainment, reshaping the public's idea of "free" media.

[Via - Entrepreneur.Com]

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August 03, 2013 No Comments

How BikeCaffe's Mike Ash Sells Lattes From A Bike

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming service 

http://bikecaffe.com

Mike Ash, who had worked in restaurants since he was 15 and earned a degree in hospitality management, hoped to one day open his own eatery. But as the years went on and he managed various restaurants and cafeterias, Ash, now 35, figured he was unlikely to ever save enough money to open his own place.

Then, flipping through a Costco circular in 2010, he saw an ad for the BikeCaffe, a British franchise concept that had recently come to the U.S. The idea was as simple as the name--a mobile coffee shop mounted on a four-wheel cycle, complete with Astoria espresso machine, blender, pastry bin, refrigerator and sink.

Ash signed on as one of the first U.S. franchisees and began fueling up downtown St. Petersburg, Fla. Today you can find him on the corner of Fourth Street and Central Avenue--or sometimes, especially if it's extra hot or rainy, inside the BB&T bank building. On weekends Ash sets up his mobile java machine at festivals and events.

Eventually, Ash hopes to step back from the grinder. "I would love to own multiple carts and spend my time marketing them," he says. "But until then, I still enjoy it. It's a pretty awesome job."

He filled us in on what it's like to be the go-to guy for to-go coffee in downtown St. Pete.

Coffee from a bike?

That can't be very good. The coffee is really, really good! It's all fair-trade organic tea and coffee, and I think we're the only place in downtown St. Pete that carries that. The biggest comment I get is, "You can't make all that stuff on your bike, can you?" Our menu is the same size as Starbucks'; we can make macchiatos, lattes, chai--everything. We also make smoothies.

All the drinks are made to order. It's a little slower than pouring drip coffee, but the quality is 10 times better.

How do you like making your own schedule?

It's kind of weird to start a business thinking you can work your own hours. But you end up working the same number of hours as before, usually more. At the same time, it's kind of cool that it's yours, and what you put into it, you get out of it. I'm always working. I get here at 6:20 a.m. to set up and leave around 4:30 p.m. I also work weekends, so at least 50 hours a week. In 16 months, I've missed only three days.

What's your biggest seller?

Lattes are always popular. People also like my seasonal drinks. I have a chalkboard and carry three or four specials per day. I usually create them myself, things like eggnog lattes, mocha peppermint hot chocolate or caramel toffee nut lattes. We have a lot of freedom to experiment.

Do you get a good workout riding the bike?

Well, the thing weighs about 400 pounds. I don't think I've ever ridden it more than half a mile at a time. It's geared super low, so if there are no hills or rough terrain, it's easy. You wouldn't win any races on it. Florida is pretty flat, so I'm lucky with that.

What's the biggest misconception about your BikeCaffe?

People assume I sell hot dogs. Every day someone comes up asking for one.

[Via - Entrepreneur.com]

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April 20, 2013 No Comments

Cool Startups - FohrCard.com

Hot Tips - The Best Free Business Tool You (Probably) Don't Know About.

http://www.fohrcard.com/

Nowadays, if a brand is solely focused on traditional marketing, i.e., television, radio, billboard and print advertising, chances are it’s not tapping its full potential. Online marketing, with the growing popularity of blogs and other social media platforms, has become critical for brand advertising as well.

Fohr Card, an analytics platform created by James Nord, a blogger and photographer, alongside Rich Tong, Tumblr’s former fashion director, and Holly Stair, a social media manager, aims to bring brands and bloggers together to form a partnership that can include advertising, sponsored content and gift giving.

With Fohr Card, bloggers are given the chance to be found by brands, where they can showcase their social media following across different social media platforms (Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc.), including their real-time traffic stats. When joining Fohr Card, bloggers agree to divulge their private Google Analytics figures to eliminate numbers-fudging.

While Chris Black, a social media marketing consultant whose clientele includes Gilt Groupe and New Balance, firmly believes that big numbers don’t necessarily equal engaged users, the Fohr Card team assures brands that not every blogger is invited to join the platform. Alongside popularity, every blogger’s Fohr Card is reviewed to guarantee quality and original content.

For brands to gain access to Fohr Card’s roster of more than 1,800 fashion and beauty bloggers, an annual membership fee of $5,000 (more for large companies and agencies) is required. They then gain access to the bloggers’ numbers. Fohr Card also allows them to sort through the numbers by region, category (DIY, menswear, nail art, etc.), and traffic on certain platforms. Puma and Oscar dela Renta are just two of Fohr Card’s brand launch partners.

Mr. Nord also divulges that they plan to eventually recruit travel, food, mommy bloggers and others to turn Fohr Card into a global marketing tool.

[Via - NicheGeek.Com]

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March 07, 2013 No Comments

How BigCommerce Got Big

Site of the day - PickyDomains.com, world's first risk free naming agency


http://www.bigcommerce.com/

All venture capitalists have got startup business plans piling on their desks every single day. But how many of them are the breakthrough ideas worth investing in? Australian BigCommerce has proven right to the Massachusetts based venture capital firm General Catalyst. “We quickly signed up our first 1000 customers within three months,” says Eddie Machaalani, the co-funder and co-CEO of BigCommerce, “and now we’re about to hit 20,000 customers after just 17 months.

Mitchell Harper, the other co-founder and co-CEO, explains “you can set up your own online store in a few clicks. We’re growing so quickly because we’ve made it really easy to sell online.”

If you’ve got a product and you need an easy way to sell it and advertise it, BigCommerce might be exactly what you’re looking for. All the marketing tools have been built in and the list of features is countless which targets all potential kinds of client s.

There are e-commerce newbie’s looking for tools to start with: web-based control panel, automated email marketing and almost one hundred store designs. There are e-commerce owners hoping to update and refresh their software with push to Facebook and eBay, SEO and Google Website Optimizer. And there are website designers looking for a ready platform to work with; they’ll look into painless software updates, unlimited design flexibility and premium hosting. To cut the long story short, BigCommerce has got everything for everybody.

The company overview does sound like a cliché online success story. Two IT geeks, a brilliant idea, a lot of hard work, right place, right time, huge demand and a spot on investor. (General Catalyst have also believed in BigFish, airbnb, iWalk and many others). This is how Eddie Machaalani speaks of the beginnings of their cooperation. “When we made the decision to raise capital and did our U.S tour to pitc h different VC firms, General Catalyst had already done a ton of due diligence on the market opportunity, our company and our competitors. They were very eager to invest in the company.”

BigCommerce have recently announced $2M integration fund to follow the market developments and create new better features. The software has now got built-in Pinterest and Quickbooks integration, referral system, a live chat, abandoned cart plugin and many other improvements. They tent to release new features every two weeks.

The software seems to be ahead of its competition (Shopify, Zencart, Magento) according to various online discussions, blogs and comparisons and is only getting better and smarter. E-shopping cart is gaining the whole new meaning. And what does it mean to you? Only one way to find out. (Here is a link for $100 coupon or 30 day free trial provided by BigCommerce for our readers).

For more unusual ways to make money, visit this site.

[Via - Madconomist.Com]

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January 13, 2013 No Comments