Connect with Other Entrepreneurs Online (via @Mashable)

Here are the websites that can help Entrepreneurs to track down the appropriate entrepreneurs:

1) OnStartups: An online community and blog for startup entrepreneurs
This site is a perfect place to crowdsource all of your small business questions. After you post a question, anyone can post an answer. You and other users can vote the different responses up or down so that the best answer floats to the top — at which point, if you decide to, you can mark one response as the “accepted answer.”

2) Focus: Business Expertise for Everyone
Focus differs from other Q&A sites by maintaining a core group of experts who answer many of the questions on the site in exchange for the opportunity to promote themselves. This feature makes it more likely that you’ll receive prompt and useful responses.

3) MicroMentor:
MicroMentor is a free online service that connects small business owners with business mentors. MicroMentor offers business professionals meaningful volunteer opportunities and offers entrepreneurs one-on-one advice and business mentoring to help their business succeed. Be a mentor, find a mentor, and build a business.

4) Entrepreneur Connect:
Entrepreneur Connect is the social network where small-business owners can create a profile, explore the community, share ideas and make connections.

5) PartnerUp:
Find business partners, opportunities to get involved in businesses, commercial real estate and resources to make your company or idea a success.

6) EFactor:
The authors of business networking book The N Factor venture up the alphabet a little bit to bring you the EFactor. This social network for entrepreneurs can help you answer your questions in a handful of different ways.

7) MeetTheBoss TV:
This site gives you the opportunity for personal access to the world’s most innovative and influential business leaders. Although the rest of us probably won’t be able to get our questions for business leaders answered directly, there’s likely a video on MeetTheBoss TV that is relevant to your issue.

8 ) SCORE.org:
A resource partner with the U.S. Small Business Administration, SCORE gives free advice to entrepreneurs.

9) LinkedIn Answers:
What sets LinkedIn Answers apart from the others on this list is that people have a couple of strong motives to help you. First, people are always looking for ways to stay in touch with members of their professional networks. Answering your question is a perfect opportunity to refresh a connection. Second, people who give the best answers to questions are featured as “experts” on the Answers homepage and in each category of questions.

Key to Startup Success

These points are collected from different articles posted on Mashable, TechCrunch, etc. and after reading different articles I am coming up with one common repository.

Entrepreneurs planning to start and work on new ideas shall focus on few key points described below:

Tips for Startups:
1) As an Entrepreneur you should not think my friends is starting a company shall I also start my company? I don’t have any work other work to do shall I start my company? What should I start so that I become billionaire in few months? Things just don’t happen in few days. You can’t become a billionaire in a minute. If you think you will have profits then you have to consider the loss factor also. Think about something that fascinates you. Come you with the idea, Plan and the vision.

2) Focus on the idea: Come one with the idea and focus on the idea. The idea should give you the answer for “Why will the people use this product?” If you are coming up with the common idea than ask yourself “Why will the people use your products if N number of products are in the market?” Google, Facebook, Twitter didn’t exactly started with a food of plate ready.

3) Discuss the idea, issues, and scope: Discuss the idea with the entrepreneurs with whom you are working with. Form the team that will support the product until success. Discuss the scope of the idea. Try to come up with the solution approach for it. Ask the team that why the customer will be interested in our product. How will it benefit to the customer purchasing the product. How can we give customer support after launching the products? Don’t neglect the service that will be given to customer after the product is live.

4) Meetings: Try to organize meeting with the team everyday. Team should be open to discuss all the key points. Try to follow SCRUM methodology. Discuss the issue which can come in future and come up with the approach everyday. Divide the project into sprints and come up with the progress of the project and future plans.

10 Emerging Social Platforms

10 Emerging Social Platforms and How Businesses Can Use Them:

1. Gowalla:
Gowalla is a location-based social networking service created by Alamofire. Users ‘check-in’ at Spots in their local vicinity, either through a dedicated mobile application or through the mobile website. As a reward users will sometimes receive items from check-ins.

2. SCVNGR:
The platform enables users to earn badges and points for checking in to places. Users can also earn rewards, in the form of discounts and freebies, through completing challenges, such as snapping a picture, saying something, or completing a social check-in.

3. Whrrl:
Whrrl is a social location-based game that launched in late 2007 and now boasts over 300,000 users. Unlike other location-based apps, Whrrl is based on Societies. Users check in to locations and complete recommendations inputted by other users in order to join Societies.

4. Loopt Star:
Users check in to locations to earn rewards, including points and discounts, based on a set of factors designated by the establishments. A business owner can target by time of day, day of week, and number of times a person has previously checked in, for example.

5. Brightkite:
It enables users to check in and post comments at any location. It also features photo-posting, messaging, comments, tips, tiered rewards, and group chat capabilities.

6. Aardvark:
Aardvark is a question-and-answer platform recently acquired by Google. A user simply asks a questions, and then Aardvark algorithmically determines the best person within the user’s network to answer the question.

7. Quora:
Quora is a Q&A platform that enables anyone to ask or answer a question. Users can follow people, questions and topics. If you don’t find a topic of interest, you can create new topics.

8. Help a Reporter Out:
Help a Reporter Out (HARO) is an excellent source for journalists looking for sources or experts looking to get free press. Journalists submit queries and sources respond to those queries, which are sent out in an e-mail newsletter thrice a day, as well as via HARO’s Twitter feed.

9. NewsBasis:
Having launched just one month ago, NewsBasis has already attracted 3,300 registered sources and 580 journalists, of which a majority are active.

10. StatusNet:
StatusNet, in the words of the company, is an “open source microblogging application, aiming to be an alternative to Twitter.” It’s main benefit is that it “helps you share and connect in real-time within your own domain. With StatusNet you can encourage collaboration, build and engage your community, and be in command of your brand.”