Venture Capital, Marketing, Legal, General
Resources
VCs
investing in web-based startups
This link will take you to a new page on this site that contains a list
of some of the leading VCs that invest in internet startups. Good luck!
Raise
start-up capital
The Ottawa Capital
Network assists in creating efficiencies in the capital market through
programs aimed at educating the entrepreneurial community, creating
linkages among the investment community and providing knowledge and
support to the business community. The Ottawa Capital Network (OCN) is a
program of OCRI’s Entrepreneurship Centre. OCRI is a not-for-profit
organization that builds on the strengths of the region to advance
research and development, lifelong learning, professional development
and community infrastructure.
Marketing Wisdom from Marketing Sherpa (pdf)
This is a 50-page PDF document created by 99 marketing agencies and
contributors. The study was sponsored by WebTrends back in 2004, but it
is still a must read piece for marketing.
Business and Marketing
Plan Samples
Writing a plan is a tedious and time
consuming work. But you don't need to start from scratch. Save yoursef a
lot of time and effort by using an existing template. This website
provides a great collection of business plans, marketing plans, cash
flow analysis and reports - free of charge. Got of 'samples', select the
type of plan you need, and then select the type of business you are in.
Modify existing information to reflect your business situation.
Top tools selected and reviewed by users NEW!
Fantastic list of tools for all sorts of
purposes, from free webconferencing to free course management to free
movie editing software.
Name your
business, product or website
Excellent free tool to help you
find the right name for your business, product or website. We also liked
their voice recognition software that liberates you from typing and lets
you use your vocal cords (not good for cubicles!)
Startup kit from a pro
Tools for your virtual and physical office. Albeit its 2005 publication
date, this is still a great resource.
Write a good business plan
Easy-to-read, concise, and clear step-by-step guide on how to write a
winning business plan. Excellent information provided by the government
of Canada.
Incorporate your
business in Canada
This is a paralegal company widely used by lawyers in Canada as an
outsourcing resource. Since 1995, Canadian Entrepreneurs and businesses
have been able to Incorporate, Register Trade Name or Sole
Proprietorship, order NUANS reports and name reservation reports,
and complete Annual Return filings and Corporate updates using Arvic.
This company provides excellent customer service.
Find a free
service in exchange for your own
This is a small
bartering website based in Canada (Ottawa). The goal of this service is
to help small business owners get their businesses off the ground on a
shoe string by exchanging skills, services, and goods with each other.
The site supports posting, search, account management features, email
alerts, and messaging. Everything is free to users.
Take care of your taxes
This
site provides very useful information related to Canadian income taxes.
Use their tables to play various scenarios, whether you are an
independent proprietor or own a corporation.
How to Use Gmail as a Business Diary and More Cool Online
Management Tips
Want to be run your business on the go? Want to be
organized and stay organized in ONE place? Want to be fast yet
efficient? Want to use convenient tools? Then this tutorial is a
must. Highly recommended.
Free
Web Conferencing and Webinar Software
Free
web conferencing service
For teleconferencing, use
+1-218-936-6666 (U.S. telephone number) free of charge. Note that long distance charges
will apply. But you can buy a phone card at your nearest gas station and
use it for North American calls. A $5-dollar card will usually give you
over 300 minutes (we use Apple). If you are doing online training, buy a
phone card for each user and send them PINs by email. This will keep
your teleconferencing costs down, at the negligible level.
Mikogo - NEW!
Works very well, but
the site goes down occasionally.
Yugma
Works well, but the latency is too high. It often takes 30 seconds for
the screen to load. Don't expect much from their support if you are
using their free service. They have paid options as well.
For a full service with all features, they
charge $14.95 per month as the most basic service. Note that you
will need a phone or a teleconferencing service if you are planning to
have a web-based meeting, there is no voice services provided by Yugma (see the link above).
Zoho
web-based
programmes for small businesses,
including online presentations, planner, chat, wiki calendar, project
management tools, etc.
Email Campaign Management
Systems
-
NEW!
Vertical
Response
This system has an excellent interface and a very intuitive flow. The
features and capabilities are superb and yet extremely easy to use.
They offer cross-reference tracking with Google Analytics and
Salesforce.com, which is a great added bonus. The best program I've
seen so far. They are also the most economical. You pay only when you
send a campaign, there are no monthly fees. For 5000 email addresses,
the cost is around $30. One issue we discovered with them is they do
not support heavy HTML code. Emails with heavy HTML code get corrupted
on delivery. So if you are using VerticalResponse, create simple
designs, with no gradient effects, layered images, nested tables, etc.
iContact
Their interface is also nice and quite intuitive. Monthly fees start
at $9.95. They provide good HTML support. Our heavy HTML format with a
lot of fancy gradient backgrounds and layered images did not get
corrupted.
GotMarketing, now
Campaigner
Canadian email management system. Quite good, but not as
cost-effective as Vertical Response or iContact.
Constant Contact
The interface is less intuitive than in other email management
systems, and the cost is higher, but it is still a good service. They
offer decent templates, which can save you a lot of time and effort.
Groupmail
Reports say that their support for heavy HTML code is fantastic. But
it comes at a price. This system is best suited for businesses who
rely on email marketing heavily.
Document Management Software & Miscellaneous
Hidden treasures of Power Point. Things you'd wish you knew!
Have a nice presentation?
Add your voice, a few buttons, post it on your website, and you have a
self-running online seminar. You can add capabilities to collect user
feedback, add button controls and other perks with a few mouse clicks.
Read a few
more pages about some advanced features and transform your online
presence in a matter of minutes.
Create a blog
quickly
A
blog is a personal website where you share your thoughts,
hobbies, and other things that matter to you with your readers, free
of charge. Having been around for a few years, blogs are now
becoming more and more popular and are being used by both small and
medium businesses as marketing vehicles. If you are interested in
starting a blog, this Google-owned site offers a simple 3-step solution: create
an account, name your blog and choose a template for it. Blogger
also allows you to streamline AdSense ads to your blog.
Discount computer gear
Here you will find a
small sample of unique products that will make life easier and more fun.
Products from lightweight laptops, high quality sound systems,
accessories and programs to make your computing experience both
enjoyable and productive.
Industry Blogs
Directory of blogs by industry. Excellent resource of information.
Rent email lists -
NEW!
This is a good option if your have decent budget. In
the long run, invest in building your own lists.
WebSiteGrader -
NEW!
Check your site rating with Google, Alexa,
Technorati and others. Receive basic SEO analysis of
your site (note that like with all tools, some
entries are questionable).
Popular
links for startups -
NEW!
Market
yourself online
-
NEW!
Create a few paragraphs
describing your main business advantages or services and send this
information to the outlets below. Your will get fantastic results and
can spend as little as $0.00 (zero). Make sure your paragraphs are well
written.
Market yourself via media -
NEW!
View All SEO Resources
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Anna
Tulchinsky 