Citizen Effect Featured Article - One Year Report Preface This article is a one-year report on the experiments with Donationware at DonationCoder.com. Throughout the article I will focus on the specific experiences of our site (DonationCoder.com) in attempting to strike a kind of middle ground - keeping software free but making enough money from donations to fund the site. This is not an article about how to make money with Donationware or an advertisement for our site. It's addressed primarily to authors who would prefer to keep their software freely available, whether for ethical or practical reasons, but need to find some way to make enough money to justify the time spent coding. You will not get rich making Donationware. 1. The reasons for writing free software are numerous and have been discussed elsewhere in depth [1a,1b]. Some coders are freeware authors for ethical reasons - believing that software should be available to everyone regardless of their financial means. 2. There are other alternatives. 3. 4. Supporter Yearbook 5.
VC 100: The Top Investors in Early-Stage Startups February 19, 2015 15+ min read Welcome to the Entrepreneur VC 100 list of top early-stage venture capital firms -- a platform highlighting the who’s who of the U.S. startup ecosystem. The ranking is based on data from PitchBook, a Seattle-based data and tech provider for the global private equity and venture capital markets. The firms are listed by total capital invested in seed and/or early-stage deals completed in the U.S. during 2014. While the ranking is focused on traditional VC firms, it also includes corporate VCs, mutual funds and other entities, as new players increasingly enter the VC game. PitchBook’s research process for VC 100 also tracks each firm’s investment activity. VC 100: U.S. venture capital firms ranked based on capital invested in U.S. early-stage deals in 2014 (in USD millions*). #1 Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Park, Calif. 2014 Early-stage investments (in millions, USD): $1,020.23 2014 Early-stage deal count: 50 Industries: Consumer products and services, software
Top 10 Indie Tools Every week brings the launch of another online service to connect musicians and fans. Beyond spending endless hours on MySpace and Facebook, what are the best affordable online tools to communicate with fans and monetize the relationship? Here are our picks in no particular order: 1. BANDZOOGLE - It all starts with a great web site and these guys give you the tools to build one quickly. If your site doesn't do everything Bandzoogle does, ask your designer why or switch. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 10. If you you found if helpful please Digg and Stumble this story. What are your favorite D.I.Y tools? Peerbackers | crowdfunding big ideas Stumbleupon - better pass your time on the Where can I find it? Here is the website of stumbleupon. How does it look? The guys from stumbleupon have created a bunch of screenshots, so I wouldn't have to make my own. Uhm, WHAT is it? StumbleUpon helps you discover and share great websites. and what makes this better then any other service of this kind? To be frank, I don't know of any service, but maybe these should be listed or even reviewed here as well. Why do you bother us with this then? It actually lets you stumble upon interesting websites! I see stumbleupon as a great way to pass time. What makes you use it? It is easy to install, easy to use; it does not distract the user, and it stays out of the way. * easy to install: the "sign up" button sends you a mozilla site or extensions. * easy to use: one click to rate sites, one click to stumble upon the next site, one click to tag a site, on click to see what others had to say, one click... you get the picture. Where's the hook? My Impression Hmmm how should I put it, it's solid.
3 Honest Ways to Raise Startup Money - Raising Startup Money - Entrepreneur.com Entrepreneurs tend to exaggerate. They exaggerate the success of their business when talking to startup investors. They exaggerate the market potential of their products to find distribution partners. They exaggerate the soundness of their strategy to recruit employees. Funding your business without exaggerating isn't easy, but there's a clear line between optimistic exaggeration and outright fabrication. Develop financial projections that are rooted in verifiable assumptionsVenture capital firms and angel investors typically want to see financial projections that shoot up like a hockey stick. Write paychecks that don't bounce, but increase as the business growsOne of the most difficult tasks for entrepreneurs is to convince talented employees to join the team and stay on the team before their company is profitable or stable. Get your clients to compete to be firstSuccessful entrepreneurs love to tell stories about how they got their first client.
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