Four Steps To Building Real Entrepreneurship In Latin America: A Sobering Assessment From Vivek Wadhwa

By guest author Kirk Laughlin of Nearshore Americas

Vivek Wadhwa, currently a visiting scholar at UC Berkeley, gives Latin America poor grades. The problem with Latin America’s startup culture is it is afraid of risk, says Wadhwa, one of the nation’s experts on tech entrepreneurship and someone who has nearly perfected the art of business-appropriate bluntness. >>>

How To Use Your Financial Statements To Improve Cash Flow

By guest authors James Adams, Senior Financial Analyst, Sageworks, Inc., and Brian Hamilton, CEO, Sageworks, Inc.

In business, as in most endeavors, passion is a key ingredient to success. Entrepreneurs who genuinely enjoy sales, operations, and customer service are much more likely to build profitable firms than individuals who are simply “going through the motions” of business in the name of making money. But even the most enthusiastic managers will enjoy much greater success if their passion is governed by sound financial discipline, which stems from an understanding of their financial statements. >>>

Making Money With Blogs

Blogs are no longer new, bloggers no more a rarity. Many of us have travelled the path of blogging, and some like Michael Arrington and Arianna Huffington have made serious money leveraging their blogs as significant media platforms. In this post, I want to give you some thoughts on making money blogging, an endeavor that has left most journalists and writers decidedly frustrated.

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1M/1M Creates Affiliate Program, Will Help Entrepreneurship, Tech, And Business Bloggers Monetize

Today many quality advocates and providers to the entrepreneurial ecosystem are either underpaid or not paid at all, including some popular entrepreneurship, tech, and business bloggers, angel investor networks, business incubation associations, and entrepreneurship development organizations. In line with the One Million by One Million (1M/1M) philosophy to strengthen the entire entrepreneurial eco-system, the new 1M/1M affiliate program will generate additional revenues for some and could be the first decent revenue option for others.

The 1M/1M affiliate program offers a generous affiliate commission to partners: 10% of the $1,000 annual 1M/1M Premium Membership fee with an extended cookie duration of 12 months. So for every entrepreneur referred to the 1M/1M premium program, the affiliate partner will receive $100 if the sale occurs at any time within 12 months.
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1Mby1M Deal Radar 2011: HootSuite, Vancouver, British Columbia

Mashable perhaps says it best: “So many statuses, so little time.” Social media can be an excellent tool for small businesses to collaborate and to build and maintain relationships with new and returning customers, but managing multiple profiles, commentary, and brand mentions – and keeping social media assets secure – can be a daunting task. HootSuite, which builds and markets a social media dashboard for Web and mobile platforms, aims to help individuals and organizations manage multiple social profiles including Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, among others. Users can also monitor brand mentions, schedule updates, and track results with modular reports that integrate with Google Analytics and Facebook Insights.  The product includes security features to prevent account hijacking and mistakes when posting to corporate profiles. >>>

Your Questions About Joining 1M/1M Premium

Folks, I know many of you and your friends are contemplating joining 1M/1M premium. If you have any questions about the program, at tomorrow’s roundtable, I will spend time answering them. Please come to the session so we can tackle all your issues, and help you move forward. Register here.

1M/1M: OrangeScape Wins TiE50

I am thrilled to announce that 1M/1M premium company OrangeScape has been recognized as a “Top 50 Startup” by the 2011 TiE50 Awards Program recognizing 50 most promising startups worldwide. OrangeScape was one of more than 1,600 technology startups that was nominated. Awards are given in the presence of more than 3,000 attendees at TiEcon 2011 to be held May 13 and 14. TiEcon (www.tiecon.org) is the world’s largest conference for technology entrepreneurs and is held each year in the Silicon Valley.

Related reading: India’s Rising Tech Stars (Forbes) | Indian Company Plugs Gap in Google’s Enterprise Strategy (RWW)

1M/1M: Corporate Sponsors, Affiliates, Incubators – Business Models for Partnerships

Folks, We’re looking to connect with potential corporate sponsors for 1M/1M. We’re currently working with Microsoft on a Bizspark startup grant program, and would love to connect with other corporate partners interested in reaching this highly segmented audience through a brand with immense goodwill.

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