Today, President Obama signed the JOBS Act and opened up a new avenue of funding for entrepreneurs: crowdfunding. At a ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, he reiterated his faith in American entrepreneurs to help our economy recover: “I’ve never been more confident about our future. And the reason is because of the American…
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Collecting business cards at conferences and seminars has always been a big part of the networking tradition. The more cards you gather, the more you feel connected to the business world. But what do you do with them all? How do you organize them and remember whose cards you have? More than just a business…
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Giving a solid presentation is a must for any entrepreneur looking to sell their vision to hire employees, gain fans, followers, or supporters, and raise capital. To help them communicate their ideas effectively, Shel Israel decided to write a new book titled Stellar Presentations: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Giving Great Talks. The book shares stories about…
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Knowing when to cash in the chips and move onto the next table is just as vital a skill in running a business as it is in gambling. In the case of Frugalo CEO and co-founder, Mike Cieri, he chose to walk away from a table in which the chips appeared to be stacked in…
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President Obama is expected to sign the JOBS Act on Thursday, which will allow startups to begin crowdfunding up to $1 million per year from non-accredited investors. “Access to capital is not as broadly dispersed around the nation as it should be,” said Startup America chairman Steve Case on a conference call Monday. While investment…
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The available spectrum won’t be able to handle all our mobile data use by 2013, the FCC estimated in 2010. That same year, President Obama declared that the government would make 500 megahertz of its spectrum available for commercial wireless broadband by 2020 – spectrum to help carry the traffic from smartphones that will only…
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Facebook recently introduced the Timeline format for personal accounts, which organized users’ activity according to the time it took place. A similar format was then rolled out for business pages. The new Timeline can have a big impact on the way businesses manage their Facebook account. On March 30th, 2012, Timeline will be rolled out to all business pages…
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In my blog post last week, I used Pinterest as an example of a website whose Terms of Service (TOS) sells out its users by trying to shift all risk onto them. As I pointed out, Pinterest’s indemnity clause (which made a user liable for any copyright infringement based on an image the user pinned)…
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I’m back from 6 months in Asia, which I was scorched by spicy foods, overwhelmed by the sensory overload that is China, traveled on 16 flights, and wandered all over Hong Kong, Korea, China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia (whew). But most inspiringly, I spent my days interviewing over 100 entrepreneurs, investors, and organizers….
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Groupon has been on quite the acquisition spree this year. In February, they purchased travel site Uptake, which lets you use your social networks to research travel destinations, adding to their Groupon Getaways department. Prior to that, they acquired Hyperpublic, which aggregrates place and deal data to connect people to places better, and Adku, an…
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The US Senate passed a bill yesterday that would allow startups to crowdfund their investments – and have access to cash when traditional investors are hard to come by. This victory for the CROWDFUND Act follows passage of the similar JOBS Act in the House; now, the two are waiting to be reconciled and signed…
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On Tuesday, Tech Cocktail co-founder and CEO, Frank Gruber, appeared on NPR in Washington, D.C. as a guest on the popular Kojo Nnamdi Show. The title of the show was “Mobile Money.” We’ve covered mobile payments quite a bit on Tech Cocktail, as it’s a fast-evolving space. In the broadcast recording (link is below), you…
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I went to my first SXSW when I was 17, using my sister’s badge to catch a glimpse of Janeane Garofolo at Emos in Austin. You can watch that SXSW described by then-musician Fred Armisen here. The conference has come a very long way since then. Originally a ploy by Austin bars to stay full during…
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Buzz, buzz, buzz: That’s the sound of SXSWers frenetically typing on their mobile phones and clogging up social networks with their thoughts on this week’s event. And they’ve been collectively anointing the most popular startup there, which – according to social analytics platform AddThis – is Path. Social journal startup Path launched version 2.1 on…
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If you’re a business owner, Barry Moltz wants to get your business unstuck. Author and host of Business Insanity Talk Radio, Moltz gets business owners growing again by unlocking their long forgotten potential. With decades of entrepreneurial experience in his own business ventures, as well as consulting for countless other entrepreneurs, Barry has discovered the formula…
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If you have been thinking about protecting the Intellectual Property (IP) assets of your startup, then you’ve probably heard about the America Invents Act (AIA). This law was enacted on September 16, 2011 and contains several important provisions that may affect startups’ U.S. patent rights. Here are the top 3 patent law changes you need…
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Two months after the iPad 2 debuted in March, around 40% of users surveyed said their iPad was their primary computer, up from around 30%... Read More
There are a number of startup accelerator and incubator programs in the United States. We are fans of these programs (not to be confused with... Read More
We are excited to announce the participating startups for Tech Cocktail's South by Southwest (SXSW) event: #Startuplife Celebration presented by .CO. It was one of... Read More
With our Startup Mixology Conference coming up next week followed by our classic Tech Cocktail DC Summer mixer which will showcase a handful of early-stage... Read More