For most of us social media is a time waster. It’s mindless entertainment that fills in gaps in our days. But for some people it’s a job. For them the mobile app just won’t do. They need power tools to manage all of their social media accounts, and that’s exactly what Sprout Social offers. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that offers “a management and egnagement platform for social business.” Sprout Social’s software offers all of the tools that one might need to engage with customers, publish content, and analyze the effectiveness of social marketing. This kind of platform is a must have for any company that takes social seriously.
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Chances are that most of your communications with employers at this point are your submitting applications and their not responding. If you’re lucky, you may get a rejection letter… or even an invitation for an interview. Eventually it will get better and your communications will lead to the acceptance of a job offer. From there it will get boring–stuff like health insurance enrollment and reminders to clean up after yourself in the communal kitchen. While employee communications are often mundane, they’re an extremely important part of running a business. GuideSpark is a Menlo Park, CA based company that has built a “robust employee communications platform” that “allows HR executives to toss out the stacks of pamphlets and eliminate time-consuming seminars, and offers a new way to educate employees on complex HR topics like benefits, health care reform, and compensation programs.”
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It’s hard to feel any sympathy for software developers. They’re one of the most employable groups of people on Earth, and they can apply their skills to almost anything they want. However, they’re working in the technology industry which is defined by constant change. A piece of software that used to need to run on a single platform is now expected to work on all kinds of devices. Xamarin is the answer for developers who want their software to work for as many people as possible. The San Francisco, CA based company allows developers to write “apps entirely in C#, sharing the same code on iOS, Android, Windows and Mac.” Why do something four different ways when you can do it once?
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You’ve probably looked at thousands of ads already today, but chances are that you haven’t thought about how they got in front of you. Behind all of those ads is a group of people who made a complicated set of decisions to get that specific message to you in a specific place at a specific time. Managing those kinds of decisions at scale is really hard. Centro makes it easier. They’re a Chicago, IL based company that works “to improve the lives of those working in the advertising industry by building media management software that helps marketers engage with audiences across all digital channels in the most successful manner possible.” The goal is put all of the options in one place so that advertisers can make the best decisions for themselves or for clients.
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Health is all about information. There was a time when we didn’t know how unhealthy smoking was. Now we do. Many people will live longer, healthier lives because of this knowledge. Any tool that can help both doctors and patients make more informed decisions is immensely valuable. Healthline is a San Francisco, CA based company that has built “the largest, most clinically accurate classification of health information available on the web.” They offer this resource both to consumers in the form of Healthline.com and to brands in a variety of solutions.
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It used to be that most websites were the same for everybody, but today almost everything seems to be personalized. Whether I log into Facebook, search on Google, or visit a jobs website, there’s a very good chance that my experience is being altered based on data that they’ve collected about me. Sites with this customization based on who is logged in used to be referred to (and maybe still are) as portals. Liferay Portal is free and open source software that allows anyone to build this kind of web experience. Liferay is a Diamond Bar, CA based company that was started in 2004 and “houses a professional services group that provides training, consulting and enterprise support services” focused on the Liferay Portal software.
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If you haven’t been a victim of hacking yet, you will be. Even if you do everything in your power to protect your data, another party that you’ve trusted will have a breach at some point. Hopefully the companies that you trust are doing everything in their power to keep your data as secure as possible. That means being aware of the latest threats and detecting breaches immediately when they happen. Those two things are the specialty of Boulder, CO based LogRhythm, “the largest and fastest growing independent security intelligence company in the world.” This space is only going to keep growing in importance, and LogRhythm is leading the way.
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If you want to see me act like a child, take me furniture shopping on an empty stomach. It’s weird. I really appreciate what good furniture does for a space–whether it’s home or office–I think I just get freaked out by all the fake setups in a furniture store or something. I much prefer looking in a catalog and seeing a really cool office setup or a cozy living room. Even though they’re still staged, it feels more authentic. Haworth is a Holland, MI based company that “can make your environments work harder for you.” In other words, they make and sell furniture that is stylish yet functional (and they sell a lot of it–more than $1 billion a year).
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Have you ever caught someone talking about you behind your back? Whether they’re saying something nice or something mean, it can be pretty awkward. Still, it’s nice to know where you stand with people. For brands it’s a bit different. The awkwardness isn’t as much of a worry, and the information gained from hearing what people have to say can have tremendous business value. The problem is that overhearing a conversation isn’t a reasonable way to compile actionable information. That’s why newBrandAnalytics has developed “a social media monitoring and online reputation management tool that transforms online reviews into operational social intelligence.” The company is based in Washington, DC, and it helps companies pinpoint ways that they “can excel in customer experience management.”
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Some people can flat out sell. Give them any product, and they’ll convince people to hand over money for it. When these kinds of people are paired with great products in a market that they’re familiar with, the magic really happens. Think Billy Mays. He had a formula for finding, developing, and marketing household products that you’d never buy without his influence. Stroll is a Philadelphia, PA based company with a similar ability to sell and market; however, they’re solely focused on consumer education products. The company’s mission is “to transform lives by discovering the world’s best educational products and turning them into best-sellers.” Apparently they’re succeeding–Stroll made the Inc. 5000 with 424% thee-year growth to $84.9 million in revenue.
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Today is Opening Day of the NFL season! I’m probably less excited about that than the average American male (I’m a baseball guy), but it’s still a really big deal. Sports generate tons of economic activity. I know people who go to ridiculous lengths to get an edge for their fantasy teams, so you can just imagine how far actual teams and players will go (cough… PEDs). Some of the biggest advancements outside of biotechnology have come on the video side. Hudl is a Lincoln, NE based company behind many of those innovations. As they put it, they “help coaches and athletes win with video.” The technology must be working because Hudl just landed at #149 on the Inc. 5000 with 2,535% three-year growth to $14.1 million in revenue.
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Amy and I have been in our new place for just over a month now. We love it, mostly because our landlord allowed us to get a puppy (but the neighborhood, deck, and everything else are pretty awesome too). We did a lot of looking on Zillow, Redfin, and other sites, but they all offered pretty disappointing experiences (lots of junk listings and hard to use interfaces). We eventually ended up using a real estate agent, and she found the rental for us. I was the first person to say that real estate agents were being made obsolete by websites, but my recent experience proved me wrong. Still, the web keeps becoming a better and better tool to find a place to live. Lovely is a San Francisco, CA based startup that is playing a role in the progress. They know “how painful it can be to rent an apartment and think it should be faster, easier, and more transparent.”
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It used to be that airlines were the only businesses that I could earn rewards with, but as many markets have become more competitive, companies from all kinds of industries have jumped on the bandwagon. While offering great products and services at reasonable prices should be enough to keep customers, many companies aren’t able to do that–so they offer rewards instead. The problem is that managing a rewards program has nothing to do with running most business. That’s where Destination Rewards steps in. They’re a Boca Raton, FL (and Plymouth, MI) based company that creates and manages “web-based customized rewards programs.” Destination Rewards does all of the heavy lifting, and their clients can just plug and play.
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Everybody hates bills, but people especially hate bills that take extra work to pay. Writing a check, filling out a form, addressing an envelope, and affixing a stamp is almost worse than the financial hit from paying the bill (at least it is in my book). Convenient bill paying not only helps consumers, but it also helps companies collect on bills faster. Billtrust is a Hamilton, NJ based company that has “developed state-of-the-art products and services designed to simplify the billing process.” Whether it’s business to business billing or business to consumer billing, Billtrust offers solutions that save all parties time and money.
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I downloaded my first MP3 from an AOL chat room. I was an extremely early adopter when it came to “file sharing,” but after the lawsuits started and some of my favorite services were shut down, I gave up. Torrenting became all of the rage, and I missed the boat. I’ve heard a lot about BitTorrent, but I never realized that they are a real company with more than 100 employees. They’re based in San Francisco, CA, and they are “passionate about building a better, smarter Internet through distributed computing.” That may sound like an unattainable mission for such a small company, but it’s not. BitTorrent’s protocols account for 20-40% of the Internet’s traffic, which means that the company has a ton of influence..
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I’ve mentioned a few times that I’ve been working hard to get in shape for my wedding. So far I’ve lost about 35 pounds while adding muscle. All of my success has come from the Paleo diet and a personal trainer. I like sticking to the basics when it comes to health, but some people are looking for an answer in a bottle. NutraClick provides such answers. They are a Boston, MA based natural products company that builds “brands by developing winning products and leveraging the power of online marketing to drive offline demand.” So far they have products in Sports Nutrition, Natural Health, Age-Specific Skincare, and Beauty (with a side of social selling), and I’m sure more are on the way.
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There used to be three places that you could buy video advertisements: ABC, NBC, and CBS. Now there are millions. Nearly every website has the capability to sell video advertising, though very few have a team to sell the ads the way a tv station would (and that’s not even the best way to do it necessarily). SpotXchange is a Westminster, CO based company that makes buying and selling video advertising easy. In fact, they claim to have “the largest global marketplace of video ad inventory, reaching 110 million unique visitors each month in more than 35 countries.” It allows publishers and brands to link up that might never have connected without SpotXchange.
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In my day… Macs and PCs used completely different file formats. Writing a paper on my Mac (I was one of the few back then) and printing it on one of my school’s PCs was always a risky proposition. If I didn’t convert the file properly, I might end up with no homework and a really lame excuse for my teacher. We’re well past those days, yet many people still struggle with PDFs and other files. A simple request to sign a form and send it back can lead me down a half hour process of trying to find any way possible to avoid buying a new ink cartridge for my printer. Next time I’m going to try Nitro. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that builds “easy-to-use products that help people work smarter with digital documents.” Whether it’s for personal use or for a corporation with thousands of employees, Nitro offers a simple, affordable solution.
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I was way ahead on the flash sales and members only shopping thing. I did a writeup on Gilt Groupe almost five years ago just as the business model was catching on. While there isn’t nearly as much excitement about the space as there used to be, it’s still a great way to sell stuff (time constraints and sales both have amazing psychological effects on people). And that’s why I think it’s worth taking a look at Rue La La. They’re a Boston, MA and New York, NY based company that curates “Boutiques filled with the best of the best in women’s and men’s fashion, home, travel, kids, and more.” Each sale lasts 48 hours and is limited to members only (though becoming a member is about as easy as signing up).
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If there’s anything that the Internet is perfect for, it’s finding hotels. Whether you’re looking for a place off the highway to stop for the night or a luxury vacation, you’re going to be better off if you use the web. Since so many people go online to find hotels, the competition for attention is getting really tough (especially now that Google has entered the market and inserted their product at the top of search results). Most hotel owners aren’t Internet marketing experts, so how do they make sure that people find them? They use buuteeq, a Seattle, WA based company and “easy-to-use web application that improves your hotel’s online marketing on the web, on mobile devices, and on Facebook.” It gives hotel owners everything they need to compete with the major chains who have huge teams dedicated to online marketing.
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I’m often asked how I’m able to consistently find interesting companies to cover. It’s all about what I call the always looking approach. If you open your eyes, you start to realize that your life is full of cues that can lead you to interesting employers. One of my favorite exercises is to walk around downtown Chicago and look at all of the billboards and signs. There’s always something new and interesting. But what about the company that makes the the signs? That’s Watchfire. They’re a Danville, IL based company that got its start as ” Time-O-Matic, an industry leader in innovations like the Time and Temperature signs that became landmarks at banks and downtown corner stores across the nation.” Now they’re in the business of LED signs of all shapes and sizes. A lot of people think that they’re not affected by outdoor advertising. I can almost guarantee that’s not true. One of Watchfire’s big products is the Price Watcher sign for gas stations. You can’t tell me that you don’t pick a gas station based on the prices shown on those signs!
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A few months ago my cleaning lady brought a printed out picture with her to work. It was a pair of headphones that her grandchild in Poland wanted for Christmas. She explained to me in broken English that the headphones were very expensive in Poland and much cheaper here. She wanted to know where to buy them. When I told her that I could order them on Amazon for what would amount to nearly four house cleanings for her, she decided that her grandchild would have to appreciate a less expensive gift. In case it isn’t obvious, the headphones on the print out were from Beats by Dr. Dre, a Santa Monica, CA based company that “provides a premium sound experience at every touch point of the consumer’s life.” In only six years Dr. Dre has built an iconic brand (one that Polish kids tell their grandmothers in America about) in a market where most people used to use whatever came free with their CD or MP3 players. (I’m still perfectly happy with my Apple earbuds.)
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Most of the time when we’re browsing the web, we’re really just looking for pictures to click on. There’s a reason that single frame memes and Instagram are two of the hottest online trends right now. Brands are catching on and realizing that a few stock photographs aren’t going to cut it. Some are investing in expensive, high quality photo shoots to show off their products, but others are taking a different approach. They’re crowdsourcing images from customers and fans. Olapic is a New York, NY based company that provides the technology that allows brands to “collect, curate and display high quality photos of” products that their “customers are already posting on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and more.” User generated content is not only free, but it also tells a story in a way that the brand itself can’t.
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One of the hardest parts about starting a business is finding product-market fit (in other words developing a product or service that customers will pay for). It’s usually a big mistake to invest in a product without having validated the market. This is true whether you’re a first time entrepreneur or one of the biggest companies in the world. Affinnova typically works with the latter. They’re a Waltham, MA based “high-growth software and services company that enables innovative organizations to drive better ideas to market faster.” Affinnova has developed a technology platform that helps their clients do everything from generate new concepts to testing them with potential customers. This isn’t your typical market research company–Affinnova’s solutions are based on an algorithm that “mimics evolutionary principles to create a survival-of-the-fittest vetting process.”
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There is almost no better business model than selling subscriptions. You do the hard part of making the sale once, and then you reap the benefits for (hopefully) years to come. Most people think of subscriptions in terms of things like magazines, web sites, and gym memberships, but we’re quickly moving towards a world where many of our purchases are made on a subscription basis. I’ve already subscribed to paper towels and toilet paper on Amazon (though they’re sending them too often right now). Any product that we consume on a somewhat predictable basis should become a subscription. OrderGroove is a company that helps other businesses make that happen. They’re based in New York, NY, and they have built a platform that makes adding subscriptions to an already existing e-commerce platform very simple.
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I constantly get asked where I find all of the companies that I write about. The short answer is everywhere. But one of my favorite sources is you. You may be running short on ideas right now (that’s why you signed up for my e-mails), but things will change. You’ll get an internship, and hopefully you’ll report back where. That’s what one reader did, which is why I know about Ampush. They’re a San Francisco, CA based company that helps “advertisers leverage the scale and precision of the Facebook media platform to develop and engage their customer graph.” Facebook’s advertising options are amazingly powerful, but only if you know how to use them. I’ve toyed with buying ads, and it has never been ROI positive for me. Ampush combines knowhow with technology to helps make sure that their investment in Facebook advertising is worthwhile.
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This Gangnam Style craze is kind of ridiculous, right? I originally saw the video in July and found it pretty amusing, but didn’t think much more of it. A couple months later it has over a quarter billion views on YouTube. I’m not sure if the interest will carry over into other Korean entertainment acts, but if it does, DramaFever is extremely well positioned. They are a New York, NY based company that gives “you a better way to find and watch the best TV and movies from around the world.” Their original focus was on Korean dramas, but they are rapidly expanding their offerings of tv shows and movies from Taiwan, China, Singapore and the Philippines. Bollywood films and latin telenovelas will come next. What’s interesting about DramaFever is that they target their content toward English speaking audiences, so it’s not just about giving expats the content that they miss from home.
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There are some websites that I never intentionally visit, but I always end up visiting anyway. Links to their articles just pop up all over the place–Facebook, Twitter, Google, and even e-mails from friends. Business Insider is one of those sites. I’m not typically a huge fan of their content (maybe because they published an “article” that was derived completely from comments on our post about Bridgewater Associates), but they’re certainly prolific. They cover a wide range of verticals, which makes them a good source for students who want to stay current on news and events in a particular industry. Business Insider is based in New York, NY and was founded in 2007, and since then they’ve been able to drive a ton of traffic. That traffic has helped put Business Insider at #354 on the Inc. 500 with 1,055% three-year growth and $7.7 million in revenue.
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On Friday I visited one my Dad’s college friends at his workshop. He makes sails for traditional boats, and he’s been doing it for a long time. He doesn’t get a lot of incoming calls from potential clients (it’s a pretty niche business), but when he does, he almost always makes the sale (no pun intended). It’s because he has developed a process that shows potential customers that he’s undoubtedly the best guy for the job. He does it all by hand (even to the point of writing a personal letter), but it’s essentially automated. He spends about 15 minutes on it every morning, and that’s it. While that approach won’t work in a lot of business, nearly every company can benefit from automating parts of their marketing. Pardot is a company that provides software to do exactly that. They’re based in Atlanta, GA, and they came in at #172 on the Inc. 500 with 2,001% three-year growth and $7.4 million in revenue.
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The Air & Water Show is happening here in Chicago this weekend. With the Blue Angels buzzing the city and parachuters dropping down in preparation for the real show tomorrow, I’m reminded that a part of me always wanted to be a fighter jet pilot. Unfortunately, I’m 6’3 and near-sighted, so that was never going to happen. The closest that I’m ever going to get is playing MetalStorm: Wingman on my iPad. In case you’ve never played, it’s an awesome fighter jet simulator game. There’s a single player mode that’s pretty fun, and you can also go one-on-one online if you want to get smoked by random middle schoolers (it’s a good ego check). MetalStorm: Wingman, along with Battle Nations and Trade Nations, is produced by Z2Live, which is a Seattle, WA based company that “creates original next-generation, free-to-play, social and multiplayer games for mobile devices.”
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