Business networking is a big part of how business deals get done these days -- but it has become harder and harder to make business networking beneficial. For some people, face-to-face networking at meetings for professional groups and association chapters works well to meet new people. For others, online networking using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and e-mail discussion lists works well to increase the number of connections, friends,

Meeting people at networking events is a great way to grow your professional network of connections — plus increase the frequency of visiting with people you already know. People who share a common interest, problem, or profession benefit from spending face-to-face time with like-minded people. You know networking is great — however, there are times when you can't find a well-matched networking group

Big events used to be a great way to pull people together, motivate them, and update them on new information. Corporations held large internal meetings. And, industry associations held large annual conventions for their members. However, the low cost of the Internet and the high cost of convention halls, hotels, and airlines - plus

The Web-based webinar has become a popular way to make a presentation to people no matter where they are. However, online webinars have gotten a bad reputation - audience members do other tasks during webinars, and some people say they have left the room while a webinar is in progress. Since SureToMeet provides event registration services for organizations holding both in-person meetings and online webinars, we have an interest in organizations having successful webinars!

People attend meeting and events over and over again because they feel they receive value from attending each time. Once they attend a few meetings and don't feel that they benefited they quit attending. It's no secret that we all act that way. What seems to be a secret

One of the topics that came up in my post Mobile Internet Apple Facebook was around open vs. closed platforms. This issue comes up at the start of almost every new startup company in a variety of forms. I’m constantly struggling with trying to figure out the best way to pull together solutions, especially with how fast things move.

A post by Fred Wilson pointed me to Dave McClure's Startup Metrics presentation. This is a great presentation and one that I'm going to point out to startup / early stage company CEOs. Normally, when I am talking to the founder of any startup trying to figure out what they need to do, one of the things I always try to do is understand their business at its core. In many cases, I can break it down into: Customer Acquisition Cost – how will you reach prospects, how will you convert them and how

I generally am working as an acting CTO for about 3-4 start-ups or other companies at any one time. I was just talking with someone who asked me to define how that could work and what they meant. Great question. I also found this interesting graphic of the changing needs around the CTO role in different

For some reason over the past week, I've been asked by three different people I know about job opportunities that might fit them. Since, I've given them the same advice, I thought it was worth putting in my blog. I personally believe that the best way to hire, find partners, and find a job is through a network.

I just had an all-too common conversation with the founder of a startup who had spent more than a year working with a software development company who had produced a mess. The mess really comes from a developer who was willing to get started on a product that was not fully thought out. I always take a very different approach in early conversations. If I’m being asked to do startup software development, I’m going