New York SBDC Research Network

By Tim Berry From Bplans Startups and high-growth businesses can learn a lot from angel investors, regardless of whether you’re seeking funding to grow your business or not. And if you pitch and get turned down, their feedback can be really valuable in helping you think about what you need to do next to meet your funding goals. I’ve seen this over and over in my dealings, both as an angel investor on my own and as a member of a local angel investment group. Most angel investors don’t just reject startups—we explain why. And we don’t just say yes either; we explain what else is needed... Angel investors are individuals willing to invest their own money to fund new startups. Most of them have made money with startups; they’ve been through the wringer, they’ve succeeded, and they are in a position to share. They can teach you a lot. So if you’re a startup, always focus on listening first.

By Anna Wells From ThomasNet There are some new car options that have been a little lumpy in their rollout – and none more so than the “infotainment system.” Car makers have been continuing their push towards the biggest and most functional dash screens, but a recent report in the Wall Street Journal asks us to pause and take stock of where we’re at with infotainment… and where we’re headed. The Wall Street Journal is calling your car’s infotainment system “the last unconquered screen” and suggests a battle is brewing over how they can be used in the future to market new products and services. Currently, this screen is considered to be the only one where advertisers can’t really reach out – but that, of course, is about to change. A January report on The Drive introduced us to Telenav, a wireless services provider, that’s launching a platform that can deliver location-based ads to a vehicle’s infotainment system. These can be tweaked based on time of day or route but might look

By Lucy Koch From eMarketer A couple weeks ago, headline after headline heralded the moment when US e-commerce (“clicks”) finally surpassed in-store sales (“bricks”), per slightly misconstrued data from the US Census Bureau. This seemed to confirm what many perceive as reality: Brick-and-mortar stores struggle as e-commerce continues to grow at double-digit rates every year. But the headlines didn’t tell the full story, and many people got the wrong impression as a result. What the stories should have clarified was that online sales across all categories accounted for 11.813% of retail spending in February, while sales from general merchandise retailers via their brick-and-mortar stores accounted for 11.807%. (And while “general merchandise” sounds like it could account for everything, it actually represents a more specific segment of retail that excludes auto, food, beverage, apparel, and accessory sales.) We forecast that retail e-commerce will account for 10.9% of total U

By Carly Klein From Bplans For a lot of non-technical founders—that is, entrepreneurs with a business idea but without technical expertise—sourcing software development talent is critical. In many areas, however, the high demand for tech talent appears to be larger than the supply of qualified tech and software developers for hire. As a result, a lot of founders are turning to international outsourcing. While this may be an innovative solution to your immediate need for tech talent needs, the question of how to protect your intellectual property when outsourcing software development has probably crossed your mind. The last thing you want is to have simply handed your idea and your intellectual property over to a potential competitor. It’s a valid concern. The best thing you can do is create an IP protection strategy and document it in a business plan, so you’ve integrated it into your larger business strategy.

Written by Yext for eMarketing Whether you own a local business or handle digital marketing for a brand which operates physical locations, the quality of your local business listings can either improve — or erode — your customer experience. Local listings contain the public facts about each of your business locations, including store hours, contact information, holiday schedules, menu items, and people profiles, which are necessary for both search engines and consumers to make informed decisions about you. Seventy-three-percent of high-intent consumers don't visit a brand’s website before making a decision, according to Yext research from April 2017. So even if the information on your website is accurate and up-to-date, any inconsistency across third-party services could prevent consumers from finding the information they’re looking for. It might seem like the amount of facts about your business continually increases. It should! Specificity is critical when it comes to pro

Article by Blake Droesch From eMarketer More than 500,000 active influencers are operating just on Instagram, according to a study by InfluencerDB. That’s 39% of all Instagram accounts with more than 15,000 followers. And among this group of active Instagram influencers, 81% have followings between 15,000 and 100,000 users. With so many options, marketers can find influencers who closely match their brand’s ethos. But it also means the influencer field is at risk of becoming oversaturated, which presents several challenges to marketers. “While the increase has definitely led to more available influencers to work with, brands need to be careful,” said Jessica Dooley, US social practice lead at Mindshare. “The emergence of influencer marketing into a scalable channel has increased a brand’s liability to fraud and potential controversy. Now more than ever, it is paramount that any influencer activation is rooted in a more rigorous evaluation process.”

From All Area Codes The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) publishes both daily and monthly data on the number of complaints consumers submit about telemarketers allegedly violating Do Not Call rules. In each of the past three years, complaints increase during the March and April tax season. During the peak of the third week in April, the average daily complaints are 10% higher than the last week of March and more than 5 times the January daily average. Because April 15th sometimes falls on a weekend, tax day isn't always on the 15th. It was on the 18th in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, it was on the 17th. In 2019, April 15th falls on a Monday so it will be the tax deadline for most consumers. For this tax season, consumers should be alert when answering calls related to their tax returns because they are likely scams. The IRS has stated repeatedly that they will not call consumers to demand immediate payment for taxes. Further, they will not call without first sending a bill in th