Let’s assume you are starting a company because you’ve either been laid-off, had it with the boss or decided to pursue your dreams. My guess if you are like most Americans then you likely won’t be able to give more then $1,000 to the cause. Let’s be real, you are likely not going to receive a bank loan anytime soon.

1st.
Pick a company name and register your business with your State’s Secretary of State. I’d recommend using LegalZoom to setup an LLC, especially if you have business partners. The LLC let’s you get up and running quickly with minimal costs. As your business matures, then decide if another corporate suffix is better for you. You’ll be able to afford fancy lawyers at that point.

Cost $149

2nd.
Find a domain name. Good luck with this one! It’s the main reason why you see so many companies with funky, misspelled names these days. If you aren’t the most creative person use a services like NameBoy to toss around word variations. Once you find one which works, register it on GoDaddy.

Sure I’ve ranted about GoDaddy in the past but their service is still pretty darn good.

Cost $20

3rd.
Buy a Synology NAS with two 1TB internal drives. If there is only one thing I would suggest you spend money on, it’s this. The Synology NAS will give you RAIDed network file storage which can be shared with other co-workers as your company grows. It’s especially nice because the Synology NAS allows for FTP services for those co-workers which are connecting to you remotely. I’m figuring you haven’t closed on that fancy first office just yet.

Bonus: Synology can run FTP, SSH, DDNS and Apache so you can use it to run your web site while you start figuring out your business plan.

Cost $550

4th.
Using GoDaddy as your DNS server, point your email hosting to Google Apps and run your domain name using GMail. You’ll get a free email service which kick the crap out of spammers.

Google Apps also contains Google Docs and Spreadsheets but there is just something nice about having files on your a Synology NAS as opposed to in Google. Once Google develops a way for me to download a backup of the data then I might reconsider this.

Cost $0

5th.
Download and install OpenOffice. I don’t care if you are running Mac, PC or Linux. The OpenOffice team deserves a lot of respect for building a kick-ass free alternative to Microsoft Office and this desktop download won’t disappoint. It will allow you to create spreadsheets, word docs, presentations, drawings and simple databases. You might even consider keeping it as you grow.

Cost $0

6th.
Setup chat, AIM, Skype and any other of the plethora of instant messaging tools. This will help you resist the need to purchase land-lines from the blood-sucking telcos.

Cost $0

7th.
Setup YouMail. This service will give your cell phone some class. I’m guessing it’s going to play double duty between your home life and your new business identity. YouMail takes your cell phone voicemails and emails them to you as MP3s. It also let’s you personalize the voicemail greetings so you can filter the call for a more professional greeting depending on which client or prospect is calling in. Goodbye generic voicemail messages!

Cost $0

8th.
Purchase a real accounting package like Quickbooks. Yes, I know there are tools like BlinkSale and others which you can generate invoices with, but Quickbooks is time-tested and at the end of the year your accountant will thank you.

Cost $180

9th.
Lastly, use BaseCamp to setup a collaborative environment between your internal team and your customers. BaseCamp is free to manage your first project on, after that you’ll have to pay a minimal fee to add more projects and features.

Cost $0 (at first)

There, that’s it! This is how we’d do it again in 2008. The combination of these tools and services will give your new start-up the legs it needs to move forward as well as a polished image which will hide the fact that you are poaching wireless internet and working in a nearby coffee shop.

Good luck and don’t let this shitty economy get you down!

Lack of Authenticity
Social media, the Social Web or Web 2.0, whatever you want to call it, only works when you are authentic! Let me repeat, it ONLY works when you are authentic. Your efforts will fail the minute you or your company tries to manufacture buzz or censor the message. Frequent users of social media can smell a fake.

I realize this is a serious shift in thinking for most businesses. In America especially, political correctness has been so ingrained in our culture that we often over-sensor our communication and shred any meaningful substance from the message. Anyone can write a glowing press release full of pat-yourself-on-the-back statements and fluff but it takes real balls to write about your failures and your missteps. Be real with your customers and followers. Give them something they can sink their teeth into, don’t dish them up whipped cream when they want steak!

Lack of Identity and Vision
Who are you? Think about this. With an exception to Howard Hughes I’m at a lost for an example of a hermit who’s made a name for themselves. Likewise a corporate identity is grown overtime through interactions and positions on various issues. Companies need to wake up and develop real corporate visions and position statements, then hire employees who buy into and champion that vision.

This is something we are currently struggling with at Imulus. We admire companies like Patagonia, Apple, 37Signals and IDEO. These companies have clear positions and identities because their founders have laid out the basic tenants of the company’s values. In a sense, these companies are creating a movement and asking their employees to be activist. This is why so often you’ll see the term “cultist” tied to Apple fanatics.

Lack of Interaction
A conversation is quickly killed when one of the parties doesn’t shut the hell up. For companies to really benefit from the Social Web they need to interact with followers and customers. Ask questions, read what others are saying and participate. This isn’t a one-way street.

As an example, I wrote a blog post about Quantcast a few months back. Within 2 days of the post, Adam, the CMO of Quantcast left me a comment. That, is a perfect example of how to use the Social Web.

There really isn’t a need to write more about this, just watch it for yourself.

For those unfamiliar with 37Signals’ software and design principals here are a few examples to give you a flavor of their thinking:

• Less is more.
• Meetings are useless.
• Working remotely and collaborating is better then being in an office and interrupting each other.
• Chunk large projects into smaller bits which can be completed quickly.
• Focus on speed rather then perfection.
• Don’t do specification, wireframing or usability studies. They are a waste of time.
• Personas are bullshit.
• Invest in what doesn’t change like speed and customer service.
• Roadmaps and planning are useless.
• Morale feeds off progress.

Now, I’m a big fan of 37Signals and what they have done; however it’s a mistake for interactive agencies, web designers and developers to wholeheartedly adopt 37Signals’ ways of working without establishing a strong reputation first. It is key to point out that 37Signals is a product development company, not an agency focused on developing marketing sites or building custom client applications. 37Signals builds for 37Signals!

I asked Jason, “Why don’t you do consulting work or client work any longer?” His response was “it isn’t profitable compared to product development.” I’m sure he is 100% correct. The 12 person team at 37Signals is raking in millions of dollars in revenue each year. By contrast client work is time consuming, labor intensive and involves lots of education between both sides of the project. We are a company of 9 people and we haven’t even crossed the million dollar revenue mark yet.

Jason’s presentation did address several audience questions about client work. Which can be summed up as follows:

• Select your client’s carefully. Not every client is a good match.
• Train your clients on how you work, rather then how they expect you to work.
• RFPs and scope-of-work project estimations should be avoided at all cost because the written description can be interpreted differently depending on the reader.

37Signals originally started as a web design company and then they morphed into a product development company because the product work was far more profitable. Therefore I have to be critical of how their recommendations apply to us interactive agencies. Their advice doesn’t come from success in the client services area!

The ONLY way a client is going to be willing to accept those 3 points is if they know your agency’s record, and they RESPECT your abilities above all other agencies. Let’s use an example. If Widget Corp is looking for an agency to redesign their aging ecommerce site, and two other equal agencies are willing to bend to the desires of Widget Corp’s RFP, then good luck getting that project.

There is something to be said about standing your ground and holding true to your principles however at the end of the day if you don’t have revenue, then you don’t have a business. I’m not interested in being a martyr for the cause.

I’ve always admired the work of IDEO. They are a company which solves problems for their clients in a very fluid and evolving manner. They have put themselves in a position of respect, they do amazing work and I’m pretty sure they are VERY profitable. Any web company doing client related work would be well served to study the success of IDEO while blending in the philosophies of 37Signal’s product development methodologies.

At Imulus we plan on doing things differently. We’ll be proof that a interactive agency can develop great products while doing extraordinary client work. We don’t believe the two are mutually exclusive. Our position is the our brand of doing great client work and great product development will put us in a position of respect. This position will allow us to negotiate using the 3 points above.

This is our position and what makes Imulus unique in the realm of interactive agencies.

Any job posting usually nets 20 resumes a day for at least 1 week after the posting. Experience ranges widely across any of the resumes we receive. We’ve seen everything from individuals who think they are a God’s gift to us; to people who have amazing web skills but send resumes loaded with typos and broken links.

We don’t read every line in a resume. We don’t have time for that, instead we believe in the “Blink Test“. We are looking at each resume for “it”, whatever “it” is. This means that each resume is scanned and decided on in less then 20 seconds. If we find a resume which takes longer then 20 seconds to evaluate we move it to the “maybe” pile and it’s passed onto the office for evaluation. If the majority of the office is intrigued then we move the resume to the “strong” pile where we proceed to the interview process.

So what is “it”?
There is consistency to our approach. I believe there is a set of 4 characteristics that the “maybe” and “strong” piles have in common.

• Simplicity: We look at the candidate’s ability to communicate their skills in the most concise way possible. This extends into code and design, not just written communication.
• Honesty: Yes, everyone believes they are hardworking, dedicated and organized. However, let us call references to figure that out for ourselves.
• Show Us: We are not looking a monster list of applications used, but instead we are looking for examples of how the tools were used to solve problems.
• Writing Skills: It’s tough to hide the inability to write. If the resume is fraught with poor grammar, typos and sentence structure then it will lead to ineffective email communication or poor internal documentation. (This one personally is my biggest challenge.)

So, if you know anyone who has these characteristics and is looking for an job, send them our way.

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The Checkout screen makes full use of the display area rather then asking the user to enter each piece of customer data on a separate page. They don’t beat you down to create an account but they make it easy in case you’d like to come back again. Shipping and tax is updated on the fly and you are given the chance to review the total cost before you submit your order.

Checkout is SO NICE!

There are other items about the Incase Web site which I like, but I think it’s important to give them respect for thinking about the user and not following the typical flow of most product driven ecommerce site.

In the video Joe tells Obama that he is “getting ready to buy a company which makes between $250 to $280 thousand dollars a year.” OK… stop right there, is this gross or net?

As a small business owner you are taxed on your NET profits, not your GROSS. Let’s just make some guesstimates here, say Joe has 2 other employees. If Joe’s business is pulling in $250k a year and you minus expenses, say $45k per plumber, plus the cost of the trucks, gas, health insurance and various other expenses, then Joe might be left with under $100k in taxable salary.

Under Obama’s plan Joe will pay less taxes. This isn’t rocket science and I’m not sure why the difference hasn’t been asked. I blame Obama for not asking the right follow-up questions to Joe.

If Joe is REALLY pulling in NET profits of $260k then I’m going to start learning how to lay pipe!

Today I logged in and immediately noticed something different… more black… more people… more flashing content…. huh? Yeah, they redesigned it.

Stunner! Did their internal IT team design this one?

I never thought I would say this, but the original site was better then the redesign. The homepage layout is atrocious and makes me work far too hard. I see boxes flashing and changing, type screaming at me and a 10+ different services to choose from.

Let’s play a game. How many typefaces / treatments can you find? I count 17.

How much pricing information can be fit into 430 x 360 pixels?

The site reads like a bad combination of used car dealer, pawn shop and thrift store.

Nothing like consolidating navigation options

OK… perhaps I’m being too harsh, but I don’t think so. Let’s just say GoDaddy’s target market are those people who have never purchased a domain in the past. These users are likely less technically savvy and somewhat unfamiliar with the more technical side of the Web. Therefore wouldn’t it make sense to simplify the layout…. to offer less options… to streamline the process?

On another note, what does NASCAR Racing and GoDaddy have in common? Other then the car they sponsor I’m really unsure as to why they have selected to market themselves using race car drivers.

Danica... when was the last time you registered a domain name?

I just don’t get it. I’d love to hear GoDaddy speak about the rationale behind this redesign and how their changes have made GoDaddy more useful to the average user.

The memorial is loaded with symbolism:

1. Upon entry you see fragments of the Trade Towers which really serve to center you before entering the main walkway



2. The ground is landscaped into three rings surrounding the sculpture. Each ring representing the three attacks of that day



3. In the center, there are two fountains with voids at the base which symbolize the lost towers and the water rising to the heavens.



4. There are 9 maples around the fountain to commemorate the 9 local victims of the attacks



5. There are 42 small lights around the pathway which represent the 42 children from Pennsylvania who lost parents that day
6. 58 Red Bud trees represent the 58 Victims from Pennsylvania lost in the attacks

If you are ever in Bucks County, Pennsylvania I highly recommend visiting this beautiful memorial.

Here are a few samples of how the Fulgurated images look. The Obama one is my favorite because of how subtle it is.
*credit to Fumi

The YouTube video does it some justice.

Apparently he is patenting the device to protect it from misuse by corporate interest…. ie.. guerrilla marketing.