New York SBDC Research Network

From Bplans : An early question among potential co-founders during discussions about commitment was always “have you raised money yet?” as if it’s a requirement of doing a tech startup. It seems like a common trend with first-time tech entrepreneurs—and even some more experienced entrepreneurs—to think of fundraising as a required step in the process of starting a technology company. They read articles on TechCrunch about how startups are raising huge, early rounds of funding from VCs, then begin putting together pitch decks and attempt to seek out funding for their own startup. However, if you look at the history of today’s biggest tech companies, nearly all of them started without raising outside funds. Facebook, Apple, and Microsoft all started in garages or dorms, and didn’t raise money until later on when they were ready to scale up operations. In fact, many companies are successful without ever raising outside money, including PlentyofFish, Balsamiq Mockups, and Shutterstoc

One may be barred from working in a job that is related to a criminal conviction. Understanding which jobs you can and cannot be hired for has been difficult for employer and potential employee. As this article from Minnesota states: The American Bar Association created the Collateral Consequences website to show how different types of criminal convictions affect employment and other resources. The rules about barred occupations and work restrictions are complicated. The collateral consequences of a criminal conviction—legal sanctions and restrictions imposed upon people because of their criminal record—are hard to find and harder to understand. Now it will be easier to do both. Congress directed the National Institute of Justice to collect and study collateral consequences in all U.S. jurisdictions, and NIJ selected the ABA Criminal Justice Section to perform the necessary research and analysis. The results are now being made available through this interactive tool. It has

From MarketProfs : Public relations is sometimes referred to as the "persuasion business," and that nickname says it all. PR campaigns are largely about convincing an audience that something (such as an event, a person, a company, or a transaction) is important and supporting that claim with clear reasons. However, it may be time for the PR industry to start campaigning on its own behalf. Global industry growth slowed to 5% in 2015 marking a significant downshift from its double-digit growth just two years prior. Meanwhile, spending on PR information and software is going up, reaching $2.9B in 2015—a 5.5% increase over 2014. The diverging dynamics show that in 2016 and beyond, PR needs to be a business of technologically powered proof—not just persuasion. For the PR industry to grow and thrive, it needs to prove its direct value in the most tangible ways possible. Amid the ever-evolving digital media landscape, the following best-practices will be integral to prov

By  Carmel Martin  and  Angela Hanks   Apprenticeships, paid training programs that combine on-the-job training and classroom instruction, are an effective yet underused strategy for training workers for in-demand jobs. In 2014, in an effort to increase the use of apprenticeship as a pathway to middle-class employment, President Obama set a national goal to double the number of U.S. apprenticeships within five years. Since then, the Department of Labor has made unprecedented investments to support the development and expansion of new and existing apprenticeship programs, announcing or awarding $265 million in funding, thanks, in part, to a historic, bipartisan agreement made by Congress and based on the president’s 2016 budget. As part of that initiative, the Department of Labor is  awarding 14 contracts  to industry and workforce intermediaries to advance two major goals for expanding apprenticeship programs in the United States: *expanding apprenticeships in new industr

From the American Institute for Economic Research Politicians love to talk about small business, but often use the topic for a quick photo op and feel-good story about the economy. However, both major presidential candidates are proposing policies that are highly relevant to small business owners. Hillary Clinton focuses on “leveling the playing field” between small and large businesses, while Donald Trump advocates policies intended to help businesses regardless of size. A comparison of these proposals highlights an interesting question: How differently should the government treat small and large businesses? Clinton’s website has a page dedicated to small business, including those photo ops, but also a sizable list of policy proposals. Virtually all of the proposals focus on the premise that small businesses face greater or different challenges related to taxation, financing and regulation than their large counterparts. Perhaps the proposal of Clinton’s that could have the most

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Improving Small Business Cyber Security Act of 2016 this week, to help small businesses protect themselves from cyberattacks. A companion bill is still working its way through the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY), Chairman of the House Small Business Committee was approved by voice vote on a bipartisan basis. Here are the main nuggets from that press release : American small businesses are under cyberattack like never before. By one estimate, 71 percent of cyberattacks occurred in businesses with fewer than 100 employees. With America’s 28 million small businesses making up 54 percent of annual sales in the U.S., the frequency of such attacks and the high costs they create for small businesses could have ripple effects throughout our economy. Small businesses are often not prepared to prevent cyberattacks or easily recover from the damages of successful intrusions. A report by Internet security firm McAfe

From Bplans Almost every business has some form of insurance to protect it from fires, lawsuits, and vandalism—things that are 100 percent not boring. In fact, the first business insurance policies came from Lloyd’s of London, which used to be a coffee shop where sailors and merchants gathered. It was a perfect storm: Lloyd’s picked up on how dangerous sailing was and that merchants wanted insurance in case their sailors were thrown overboard, goods were lost at seas, or pirates did pirate-y things. This little coffee shop starting selling marine insurance and soon enough, it became the nexus of the insurance world. Three hundred years later, it still is. If you’re a small-business owner, chances are you don’t need pirate insurance. If you do, heaven help you. For most business owners, there are four non-pirate kinds of insurance that cover most major exposures.

From nectjobs : Screening for the right person for the job is always a challenge. You need someone not only qualified but with a passion for the work and a desire to serve. You do not always have the luxury of multiple interviews, following up with past employers, calling all character references, or reading through multi-page resumes to help you find the right candidate for the open position. What follows are 50 quick, easy-to-use, and immediately applied interview questions. These questions will help you to decide quickly whether the candidate you are interviewing is the right fit or not. Each question has been filtered through a vast array of human resources scenarios to determine if any are “questionable” or “offensive” based on current HR laws, regulations, and interviewing rules, (e.g., discriminatory questions based on violations of ADA, Title VI, etc.), and each one has passed the test in the US at the time of this writing.

The  Business Dynamics Statistics  provide annual statistics on establishments, firm startups, and job creation and loss from 1976 to 2014 by firm size, firm age, industrial sector, state and metropolitan statistical area. These statistics provide snapshots of current and historical U.S. entrepreneurial activity, plus geographic and industry detail about where jobs are being created and lost in the U.S. economy. Data tables are available by  firm characteristics  and  establishment characteristics , as well as through the  application programming interface .

If you are a small business siuccess, submit your nomination today for the 2017 National Small Business Week Awards. All nominations must be mailed or hand delivered to the nearest SBA Office no later than 3:00 PM ET on January 10, 2017. Consult the Awards Guidelines for a list of National Small Business Week Awards, eligibility criteria, selection process, evaluation criteria and how to submit a nomination package. National Small Business Week has served as our nation’s salute to small business owners. That’s more than 50 years of celebrating small business owners who create two out of every three new jobs for Americans. Many household names were previous National Small Business Week award winners, including Ben and Jerry’s, Calloway Golf, Chobani, Dogfish Head, Stoneyfield Farm, Pacifica and Tom’s of Maine. And in recognizing the changing face of America, the SBA’s National Small Business Week awards honor individuals and businesses that reflect our nation’s rich diversity. All n

By  Marco Carbajo , Guest Blogger For every business, the cash flowing into a company is essential for covering the day to day expenses necessary to operate a business. It keeps lights on and doors open; cash flow is truly the life blood of a business. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon that companies of all shapes and sizes have to slow business growth due to lack of cash flow needed for expansion. To combat this, a business owner may increase the amount of cash coming in by generating more sales and converting those sales into cash as soon as possible. Another way is to conserve the company’s cash flow. While there are many ways to conserve cash flow such as cutting costs, bartering, re-negotiating with creditors, and cutting inventory; one method in particular is through Net 30 accounts. By asking for  credit terms from your suppliers  you enable your business to hold onto cash for a longer period of time. You can obtain products and services your business needs and defer the payment

From MarketingProfs : Marketing is impatient. We want more leads, more brand recognition, more social shares. We want a fatter pipeline, fuller funnel, more ideas, and (often) more credit. And we want it now. Yet, ironically, the companies that will have the biggest marketing wins this fall won't get there by going faster. Instead, they will get there by... wait for it... slowing down. In our fast-paced, always-on, agile, want-it-yesterday, mile-a-minute world... there is a critical need to slow down. Why? Because doing so allows you to achieve real results—faster. Or, rather, we need to identify those key moments when we need to slow down, because doing so allows the business to grow faster. (And better. And with more integrity.) We need to invite slow to fuel fast. Wasn't Ben Franklin spot-on when he said, "Remember that time is money"? Doesn't wisdom hold that when you slow down, you're roadkill? Nope. The opposite is true. Although th

Heidelberg Bread makes unique products free of preservatives and packaged with old world charm – artisan breads, rolls, baguettes, pastries, muffins, and scones. It’s a local business whose ingredients are sourced from area farmers and other businesses. The business employs local people whose money stays in the community, and the company supports charities such as Compassion Coalition whose mission is to distribute food to emergency food providers. When Boyd Bissell started the company in 1983, he was going against the grain, where the norm in the bakery marketplace was bleached flour and shelf-life extending preservatives. His vision was mass-manufactured artisan bread products with locally sourced, all-natural ingredients and no preservatives. Today customer demand is outpacing the bakery’s capacity, so Boyd consulted the SBDC for assistance with financing to build a new state-of-the-art manufacturing facility. The building expansion project of $5.7

A wealth of services are available to entrepreneurial-minded students at the State University of New York. Those in scientific or technological disciplines can turn their research into a real business with the help of the New York Small Business Development Center, university technology transfer departments, and the SUNY Research Foundation. Check out our new video HERE . See other NYSBDC videos on our YouTube channel .

From the Wall Street Journal Universal product codes — UPCs — are the 12-digit numbers that appear under the barcodes on many U.S. products. Getting a UPC means first joining a group to get assigned a unique identification number. They are given out by GS1 US, a nonprofit group that sets standards for international commerce. Here’s how it works: Businesses pay to join GS1 US , and in exchange, it assigns each member its own identification number that appears as the first part of its UPC. Membership can be pricey -- an initial fee of least $250, plus annual renewal fees starting at $50. Companies usually need different UPC codes for each product they sell, even if it is just a different size. So companies will add more numbers to their GS1-issued identification code to identify each of their products. You save money by using a UPC code reseller, but if you're selling through major retailers, this isn't an option.