Archive for 2010

See how YouRenew has revolutionized the recycling world

YouRenew was recently showcased on All Things Considered segment NPR.   After frantically going to the website to determine the value of my drawer full of out-dated gadgets, I contacted YouRenew to tell us their adventure story.   David Walker shares the exciting chronicles of the YouRenew journey with KikScore…

1. Tell us about YouRenew and who you focus on serving?

YouRenew is an electronics re-marketing and recycling company that allows individuals to sell back their used mobile electronics and keep them out of landfills.   Customers across the country visit to find their devices, receive an instant price quote and download a free shipping label to send in their devices – once the devices arrive at the YouRenew facility, customers are sent a check within days.

We recently launched CorporateRenew, a service that allows businesses and other organizations to sell back their used cell phones and smart phones to enhance their environmental credibility while adding to their bottom lines.  We have been gaining significant traction across the country with business in a wide variety of fields via our website.

2. How did the YouRenew website and recycle service come about?

YouRenew was founded in March of 2009 by Rich Littlehale and Bob Casey who believed that given a convenient opportunity and proper incentive, individuals and organizations want to do the right thing with their used mobile electronics.  As only 10% of the discarded cell phones in the US were recycled in 2008, Rich and Bob saw tremendous opportunity to grow a business and make significant social change.

3. Where will YouRenew focus most of its energy in 2010?

In 2010 YouRenew and CorporateRenew will focus most of their energy on reaching out to individuals and organizations to let them know that there is a better alternative than the trash can. Both businesses and individuals are able to receive significant value for their used electronics and can take pride in knowing that they won’t end up in a landfill.

4. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about offering an online service, what are those?

The best lesson we can pass on about having an online business is to be fully transparent to the customer. Individuals and business clients want to know exactly what we do with their used electronics, and we show them! Any business that believes in their service as we do at YouRenew and CorporateRenew should be transparent with their customers.

5. As 2010 begins, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?

As 2010 begins we see a lot more individuals and businesses putting significant emphasis on environmental responsibility.  This is a great trend for us as we offer a service that proves that being green is not just an environmentally beneficial decision, but is a financially beneficial decision as well.

6. If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?

We would have to be Tom Kelly Jr. from Tommy Boy as we are young, creating jobs in Connecticut, and Tommy Boy is simply a great movie!

7. If YouRenew could have a token spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?

In the midst of the Winter Olympics, we would have to go with Apolo Anton Ohno as he revolutionized a niche sport and brought it to national fame.  With e-waste just becoming a significant issue, we are revolutionizing the way individuals and organizations dispose of their used mobile devices.

8. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?

This year alone 1 billion cell phones will be created world-wide. Help us keep them out of landfills and bring you significant value for your used devices through YouRenew.com and CorporateRenew.com.

Thanks YouRenew… now back to searching through my drawers.  Please share any other recycling tips you’ve discovered.

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Archive for 2010

Send Us Your Questions For Social Commerce Camp DC

As many of you know tomorrow  KikScore, Network Solutions, and MyBusinessAssistant.com will be putting on a first of its kind event in Washington DC from 8am-noon called Social Commerce Camp DC.  As we mentioned before this first time FREE event is getting some serious buzz with the recent coverage in Techcocktail and the Washington Examiner.  It has also been covered on multiple blogs including WomenGrowBusiness and GrowSmartBusiness. We are excited to announce that the event is now completely SOLD OUT!  Thanks to the more than 100 small businesses, social media enthusiasts and online sellers that have signed up.

Since this event is more about the participants than the organizers, sponsors and the speakers we want to know what are your questions that you would like covered during the morning sessions.  Please leave us your thoughts and questions in our comments section below.  We will make sure they get them to Shashi B, Shonali Burke and Steve Fisher.  Or find us on Twitter at @kikscore, @shashib,  @shonali or @stevenfisher.

If you have any questions about the agenda for tomorrow’s Social Commerce Camp DC, please visit the event page we set up.

On behalf of the organizers, sponsors and everyone else involved with pulling Social Commerce Camp DC together we want to convey our thanks to the community as we prepare for tomorrow’s event!  Bring your questions and get ready to participate and network.

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Archive for 2010

Free Events Aren't "Free" for Organizers — But Worth Every Penny

As we’ve mentioned quite a bit, KikScore is co-hosting a free social commerce camp in D.C. this Saturday (sccdc.eventbrite.com).  Because of the good graces of many people (the speakers and the law firm, Mayer Brown, that is providing the space), we are able to provide a very informative 3-hour event that 100 small businesses have signed up for already (we have 10 tix left, if you’re interested). 

Free content, free space…seems straight forward enough.  But we’ve spent a lot of time on this to make it happen.  You just don’t think about it, but you need: food/drink (which is harder to arrange than you may think, since we need to pick up at 7:30 am on Saturday in downtown D.C….which is dead on Saturdays); a projector for the presentations (everyone has them at work, but you don’t have one laying around the house, so Network Solutions is coming through for us on this); an extension cord for the projector (again, silly to think about, but pretty crucial); name tags and markers (not pricey, but just one more thing to get); and signage (did you know that printing out larger signs is pretty expensive…i didn’t).

We thought we had everything covered, then we thought…hmm, sign-up sheet and email reminder of the event (with suggested topics from the audience).  I’m starting to understand why companies have event marketers.  The best thing I’m taking from this is that this event will be our first of many and we’ll have a lot of lessons to pull from for our next even (hopefully in Denver, CO).

It’s been a lot of things to think about, but we’re really excited about all the sign-ups and buzz (we’ve had to re-open sign-ups twice).  Hope you can attend…if not, hope to see you at the next event.

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Archive for 2010

Collaboration Tools for Small Businesses to Consider When Offshoring Their Software Development Work

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Archive for 2010

At What Point Should a Small Business Call in the Lawyers?

“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”.  It’s a oft-repeated phrase from Henry VI (and from many former clients).  Love them or not, at some point, every small business is going to have to work with (or against) a lawyer.  Some do it early, some later.  Think about just setting up a business.  Do you do operate as a sole enterprise, and LLC, a corporation or (if working with others) a partnership.  What are the implications of these decisions? 

You get past formation, now does your business have a special product or process that should be protected with a patent filing?  Is your business name something you want to protect (or at least prevent your competitors from using) — if so, looks like you’ll have to consider filing for a trademark. Your website is up and running…do you have a site agreement, terms of use, etc?  What about a privacy policy?  Where do you get a good and enforceable service agreement?  Now your business is growing and you must hire employees and contractors to help, what agreements do you need in place and are you aware of the relevant employment laws and regulations.

I’m not making this post an advertisement for the legal practice, but with all the potholes out there, it’s scary.  If your business is fairly straight-forward, you can take advantage of commercial forms (take a look at LegalZoom).  But that won’t get you all the way there.  For example, we here at KikScore have a couple of lawyers as part of the team (myself included).  You’d think we wouldn’t need to hire outside lawyers for our start-up.  Well, it may be because we don’t have the brightest lawyers on staff (myself included), but we have a patent lawyer and an outside corporate lawyer helping us out.  I’m not saying this is the way to go…I’m sure because of our backgrounds we over think a lot of the decisions.  In fact, my dad has operated relatively lawyer-free for the past 30 years and has handled most of his business disputes in small claims court.  But he’s also heavily armed, so it’s not an apples-to-apples comparison.

What’s your opinion on when to call in the unfrozen cave-man lawyer?

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Archive for 2010

Small Business Interview with CardSauce.com owner Kevin Hoyle

It’s February 15th… How did you celebrate the weekend with your Special Valentine?   Chances are high you sent or gave a card.  So, how long did you stand there in the card aisle, climbing over other sentiment seekers, trying to find the perfect one?  Our KikScore interview today is with a unique online card company that not only offers one of a kind designs and sentiments, but will also print and mail it for you! CardSauce has surely spiced up the greeting card industry and we are excited that owner Kevin Hoyle took the time to share his story.

1. Tell us about CardSauce.com and who you focus on serving?
CardSauce.com.comis a new online hub for quality, physical greeting cards and we’re here to spice-up the industry by offering a unique, user-driven experience! At CardSauce.com, we cater to…
– Buyers: When a customer places an order, we print the card(s) and mail it to the recipient(s) for them.
– Sellers: Artists (or graphic designer, photographer, etc) have the opportunity to upload original sauces (greeting cards) and sell them. Each time an artist’s design is purchased, he/she makes $1. It’s a true user-driven experience. While we do feature some original CardSauce.com designs, the cards featured are mainly “by the people, for the people”.
 

2. How did you get started selling online?
When the amount of times I found myself staring at unoriginal, unexciting cards at traditional stores and reseller outlets began to add up. I realized I was spending more time looking for an appealing card than I was on celebrating the actual event that the card was intended for. So I thought, why not move the future of greeting cards away from the mainstream corporations and place it into the hands of everyday people like you and me? Whether physical greeting cards are given to remind of an old memory shared, create a new memory, serve as inspiration, or spark a laugh, they all serve a common purpose: to relate or connect in some way to the recipient. So by allowing everyone and anyone the opportunity to create and sell original designs – not only does it generate creative cards for buyers to choose from – but it adds a level of authenticity to the industry as well. Sellers from various backgrounds, cultures, religions, etc can put a little piece of their life into their designs – building a portfolio of cards that offers something for everyone.

Why is CardSauce.com physically online, you may ask?  Well, in addition to it being more cost-effective to start (I’m a “one-man-band” with limited funding), it adds convenience for buyers and sellers.  Buyers can quickly browse the database of designs by category or key word, and can purchase and send cards from the comfort of their own home (plus let’s face it… gas money and stamps add up).  Meanwhile, sellers can pursue a hobby they may not have otherwise had the opportunity to pursue – all while making a profit, or royalties, on each sale.
 

3. Where will CardSauce.com focus most of its energy in 2010?
In 2008 we focused our resources on web development and software.  Once CardSauce.com went live to the public in 2009, we realized we were not yet where we wanted to be and continued our focus on site enhancements.  Now that we feel comfortable with our offering from a web standpoint, we’ll focus our energy toward generating awareness and site traffic in 2010 – while continuing to enhance our core offerings.

4. If you had 2 lessons learned from your business that you could pass on to others about selling online, what are those?
My two lessons would be more about business start-up than CardSauce.com.  First and foremost, technology – computers and the web in particular – is not as accommodating as people may assume. Sure, technology continues to advance at an incredibly fast rate and there are gadgets and software that exist today that people never assumed possible.   But that doesn’t mean you can “do whatever you want” with a website (remember, I’m not the IT guy here).

When I was first scoping out my idea to potential web developers, I lost count of the amount of times I heard “that’s not doable”, “there’s no way to build that”, or “we can do that, but it’s going to be incredibly time-consuming and will cost you thousands of dollars”. I essentially had to change the blueprints of the website throughout the process and it was very educational.  Things seemingly as simple as having PayPal split a single payment to two recipients is not doable, and that altered the entire make-up of the CardSauce.com checkout process.  It’s really incredible – though sometimes it causes some road bumps.

The second lesson I learned is don’t rush it, no matter what “it” is!  For example: Card Sauce, Inc. was incorporated in the fall of 2007 based on expectations set by my original web developer that the site would go live to the public within the next four months.  The site didn’t go live to the public until the summer of 2009! That’s two years of paying federal and state taxes without any source of revenue… NOT cool! 

Another example is when CardSauce.com.com finally did go live in June of 2009, it was not ready from a visual standpoint or a functional standpoint.  I was forced to hire on a new web developer and start from the ground up behind the scenes, while the original site just kind of took up real-estate on the web. With first impressions being so powerful, it’s important to capitalize on potential customers (buyers and sellers) immediately and we were unable to do that. There’s no telling how much business we lost in those early months.

5. As 2010 begins, what do you see as 2 new trends in your business this year?
Growth and revenue. With ’08 and ’09 being all about web development and 2010 being all about generating awareness and site traffic, it’s difficult to imagine any other trend(s) taking over one of the top two spots.

6. If your business/store could be any movie or movie character, what movie/movie character would it be and why?
Great question; I think I’ll go with Finding Nemo.  With industry powerhouses like Hallmark and American Greeting Corp. around, CardSauce.com is a classic “little fish trying to make it in a big pond” scenario – but in the end I think we’ll be able to pull it off.

7. If CardSauce.com could have a dream spokesperson for your company who would it be and why?
Not really sure; greeting cards aren’t exactly the type of product or gift that fall into the “seeking celebrity endorsements” category. I’d imagine we’d probably work the humor angle and find someone witty and original to exemplify the user-generated designs available for purchase.

8. How do the folks at CardSauce.com let loose after a busy day working?
Well, I’m currently operating a “one-man-band” that is only just beginning to focus on generating awareness and site traffic (revenue), remember? So, until CardSauce.com starts to pick up, it is my “after hours” gig. I currently work full-time during the day and spend many a late nights trying to perfect the sauce. When I’m not working, I enjoy letting loose in a variety of ways – whether it be dabbling in some physical activity (the gym, ice hockey, etc) or a frosty beverage with friends/family. Now that it’s ski/snowboard season here in Boston, I hope to be able to make a few treks north as well.

9. Do you have any parting thoughts for our readers and the small business community?
Only to support the CardSauce.com revolution and buy your quality, physical greeting cards online, of course!

So, get out the calendar, outline your greeting card list this year and surprise someone with a unique CardSauce.com design! And, share your spokesperson ideas with Kevin and CardSauce.

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Archive for 2010

Buzz Building for Social Commerce Camp DC – Network, Learn & Engage

Social Commerce Camp DC is just  one week away!  Put away those shovels and snow shoes and get ready to network with other small businesses and learn and discuss social media, small business, ecommerce, online stores, PR and marketing.

In case you have not heard, KikScore, Network Solutions, MyBusinessAssistant.com, and Mayer Brown will be putting on a first of its kind event in Washington DC on Saturday, February 20, 2010 from 8am-noon.  Its Social Commerce Camp DC. This first time FREE event is generating some serious buzz and just this week was covered by Techcocktail and the Washington Examiner.

Social Commerce Camp DC is great for small businesses, online merchants and entrepreneurs who want to get online and grow their business.  The morning long session will be moderated by Network Solutions Social Media Swami and DC Tech Titan, Shashi Bellamkonda, and will feature two industry experts, Shonali Burke (recently named Top 25 Women that Rock Social Media) and social media and movie producer Steve Fisher, each of  them focusing on discussing real and practical ways of building and growing a small business.

Here is the agenda for Social Commerce Camp DC on February 20, 2010:

8 a.m to 9 a.m:  Continental breakfast , registration and networking

9 a.m to 9.45:  Session 1 – Social Media 101 for Small Business – Shashi Bellamkonda – Social Media Swami – Network Solutions

10.00 to 10.45:  Session 2 – Creating a Killer Social User Experience with your e-Commerce Site – Steve Fisher –browncoatsmovie.com

10.45 to 11.15:  Check your Twitter account/ blogging time

11.15 to Noon:  Session 3 – PR tips and best practices for small business – Shonali Burke president IABC DC , Principal Shonali Burke Consulting & Editor https://womengrowbusiness.com

Sign up details are right here for Social Commerce Camp DC.  Space is very limited and its filling up fast.  We had over 10 signups just yesterday!

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Archive for 2010

American Idol and Our New Start-Up

I’m sitting on the couch, watching the latest American Idol episode.  Two things cross my mind.  First, if Simon Cowell is going to leave, I only plan on tuning in next year if Howard Stern is the “honest” judge.  And, by all accounts, there’s a decent chance that may happen.  The second thing that occurs to me is that there are some decent correlations between start-ups and American Idol.  What are they?  Here’s a fun list:

1.  Talent is only Half the Battle:  In Adam Smith’s finest hour, efficient markets rule the day and ours is a completely idea/concept driven economy.  But this isn’t Mr. Smith’s ideal economy and style often overrules substance.  Often times with American Idol, those with the best voices don’t advance.  Instead, those with a “story” or a “hook” advance.  The best example of this is Sanjaya — no real talent other than creating buzz that advance far into the competition.  The same is true with start-ups.  You can have the best concept/product in the room, but it won’t matter unless you have an excellent marketing plan.

2.  Hurry Up and Wait —  People stand in line for days to audition for 30 sec0nds.  Painful boredom leading up to small windows of defining moments –you live or die within those moments.  The same is true for new businesses.  Your concept lives or dies by how you do in a call or meeting. 

3.  Balance of personalities.  You have Randy Jackson (the technician), Kara (the nicer one) and Simon (the honest voice).  Most businesses have a similar balance of views — as no single view can best handle all situations. 

4.  Talent Comes from Anywhere — Kelly Clarkson was an unknown before AI — she is now an industry force because of the opportunity given to her.  Similar with business, Silicon Valley doesn’t have a monopoly on technology or new concepts.  The next big thing can come from anywhere, including Farg0-Moorhead.

Those are my 4 paralells — feel free to share other similarities.

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Archive for 2010

Issues Escalation and Support Guidelines in a start-up environment

You may have noticed a pattern here at KikScore where feedback and the question of when is a product ‘ready’  are hot topics. So, how do you define, measure, and enforce quality in a start up product? Once the product is ‘live’, how can you effectively support your product and react to customer issues and concerns? There are a few key software quality assurance guidelines to follow that apply to products of all shapes and sizes.

During the development phase you must test, test and retest. Depending upon the complexity of the software being developed, this could be a short or lengthy venture. Testing in phases, as pieces of the application become available, is highly recommended. This allows you to not only find major issues early, but also helps ensure you aren’t building upon sub-par code as the product continues through the life-cycle. Also, find a means to track and report status on any and all issues found during the test cycles. A spreadsheet can work if you don’t have a bug tracking system and there are a few free/easy to use ones available.

Even if you had ample time to test everything you could think of, upon release to the general user community, they will find issues you never dreamed of. Once you are ‘live’, your team needs to gauge the severity of any issue that is uncovered or reported to assess the impact and allocate resource(s) accordingly to address it. This is critical in the case where there are limited development resources and you need to prioritize their work so as not to affect other focus growth areas.

Severity can be broken into 3 levels – this also gives the entire team a common terminology when discussing issues.

Severity 1

— Core functionality is not working.
— There is no available work-around to perform the requested action.
— Error messages are displayed.

Severity 2

— Basic functionality is in question.
— There is a work-around to gain access and perform the requested action.
— The system handles the situation gracefully, either with a general ‘logged out’ message or other user-friendly notification.

Severity 3

— General usability items.
— Application is functioning fine, but confusion is raised throughout the display or general system navigation.

Once you’ve qualified the issue, how do you support it through the process and keep the customer informed?
Let’s assume you have a Severity 1 – how do you deal with it? In a small start-up shop, where most of the team has day jobs, creating an on-call or support tier works wonders.

1. Create a weekly on-call support staff that rotates and consists of 2 resources per week.
On a weekly call (or other avenue that applies) — Identify the 2 on-call resources per 1 week interval

2. During the support week, the 2 resources on-call are responsible for researching issues reported and be point of contact for:
— responding to the customer(s) who reported the issue
— involving other team members as needed to escalate/resolve the issue(s)

3. Support resources are required to provide daily updates to the rest of the team on progress of reported issues.

4. Where a code change or update is required, the support resource(s) schedule a team call to outline next steps and expectations

5. If 4 happens, the entire team should discuss the response back to customer(s) on the fix.

The Golden Rule – If a customer found the issue and actively complains – always treat as Severity 1. Be open and honest with your customers surrounding errors that are found and get a fix released in a timely manner. This builds trust in not only your product and support but builds integrity into your brand. What is your quality cycle or lessons learned?

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Archive for 2010

KikScore's New Look: Don't Go Changin' Unless It's A Lot Better

So we launched KikScore a few months ago and we had, in our minds, a pretty good marketing site.  But in our own echo-chamber, all of our ideas sound great.  We then did something that was truly smart — we started listening to people outside our own company.  We asked for feedback from friends and family, customers and industry professionals.  We even used a cool site called usertesting.com — which allows you to watch strangers review your site (you hear their comments and see how they navigate the pages).

We gathered up the feedback and the trends were eye-opening.  They broke out along the general categories of: (a) how is your product different; (b) where do you sign up; and (c) what exactly does the service work.  So we went back to the drawing board (and when I say we, I mean our partner, Joel, went spent countless hours on the re-design).

Our new marketing site is out (www.KikScore.com).  In a post coming soon, Joel will provide his thoughts on design and the evolution of messaging.  But until then, we’re going to continue to solicit feedback…as we can always get better.  Please take a look at our new site and provide us your thoughts.

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