Deal Radar 2009: Colosa

Deal Radar returns to a hot topic, enterprise open source, via an area that it has not covered recently: business process management. South America-based Colosa develops software solutions that help companies automate approval-based workflow processes by interconnecting people and systems across the organization. The company offers a free open source application, ProcessMaker®, which is an AJAX-enabled, SOA, web-based application that allows users across single and multiple sites to create and share workflows, create custom forms, route processes, and improve management control.  >>>

From Startup To 500 Million Dollars: VistaPrint CEO Robert Keane (Part 6)

SM: What is your current operating margin?

RK: Our net profit after tax is about 10%. Our EBIDTA is about 23%. Our operating profit is in the teens. >>>

Deal Radar 2009: Critical Media

CNN’s ratings soared last Thursday evening as viewers tuned in to coverage of Michael Jackson’s death, demonstrating that traditional broadcast news still has a strong pull. But when it’s not a case of breaking news, broadcasters, advertisers and publishers are still trying to figure out what forms twenty-first century media and its distribution will take. Tonight’s Deal Radar company is one answer to that question. Founded in 2002, Critical Media provides real-time broadcast media capture, search, syndication and information services. Headquartered in New York City, the company was founded by Sean Morgan, one of the founders of Pinnacor (formerly known as Screaming Media). His experience with Pinnacor taught him that TV was a powerful medium for forming public opinion around products, people and competitors, yet the ability to track broadcasts in real-time was unavailable. >>>

From Startup To 500 Million Dollars: VistaPrint CEO Robert Keane (Part 5)

SM: The strategic moves you implemented seemed to have allowed you to scale very quickly.

RK: They certainly did, especially in the 2003 to 2004 timeframe. >>>

Catching Up On Readings: Juggling Mothers

Here is a summary of the posts from this past week, in case you missed them. >>>

Why Institutional Investors Should Be Concerned About High Frequency Traders

By Guest Authors Sal L. Arnuk and Joseph Saluzzi

[This post on high frequency traders is part of the blog’s continuing effort to shine the light on various problems in the financial system as lawmakers, industry players, and journalists debate how to best reform it.]

It is now generally understood that high frequency traders (HFTs) are dominating the equity market, generating as much as 70% of the volume. >>>

From Startup To 500 Million Dollars: VistaPrint CEO Robert Keane (Part 4)

SM: What differentiated VistaPrint in such a crowded market?

RK: In retrospect, a couple of things differentiated VistaPrint and made us succeed. We didn’t try to apply the Internet just to the traditional printing industry. We came from a desktop publishing background and a manufacturing background. >>>

Demystifying Horizontal vs. Vertical Searches

By Guest Author Saad Fazil

In an earlier post I argued that Google would benefit from acquiring search engines in verticals such as travel, jobs, and products. By doing so, Google can retain “rich” traffic which otherwise might directly go to those search engines for specific needs. >>>