How to Build a Website for a Flower Shop or Gift Shop

Building a website is what we do. We do it day in and day out. So needless to say, we know what it takes to succeed. We know how to take an idea and turn it into online powerhouse, no matter the industry. Today, we want to talk about how to make a website for Flower and Gift Shops. Our decision to focus on this industry today is due to timing: not only are there big upcoming holidays (including Mother’s Day and Father’s Day) but now is the time to start getting ramped up for the big Holiday season (i.e. Thanksgiving and Christmas).

SDI has experience building apps and websites for this specific industry: we revolutionized Flowershop.com and built a DIY training app for Bloom, Australia’s leading Floristry College. This experience has led us to identify a few necessary elements to the success of the Gift-giving industry, including the standard eCommerce essentials and an increased emphasis on Design. Additionally, these businesses need to create a highly targeted marketing campaign, utilizing the best digital marketing tools available.

Basic eCommerce Necessities

eCommerce is a massive, thriving industry that represents hundreds of billions of dollars annually. Despite the plethora of eCommerce sites, most ventures with a clear business plan, sticking to a few basic rules, succeed. Most don’t experience Amazon-levels of success, but those who stick to it generally see a significant return on their investment.

There are many key elements that any eCommerce industry needs to become a big player in the market. That being said, we will only briefly touch on the biggest hurdle: Shopping Cart Abandonment.

Shopping Cart Abandonment represents one the biggest issues in eCommerce. Simply put, the vast majority of items put in a digital shopping cart remain there, languishing in eCommerce purgatory for all time. So how does a business owner avoid this? Well, you can’t. The truth is that this is likely to always be a problem. But there are tricks to mitigate this problem, to bring abandonment rates below the industry average of 75% or so.

What are those tricks? They include email campaigns and algorithms to entice return engagement. Want more details? Well, we can’t tip our hand that much – you’ll just have to contact us to learn more!

Design

While Gift Shops are essentially an eCommerce website, there are features that make this industry unique. Specifically, Design and Marketing are big elements to creating a successful online gift shop. While both are always important to the success of any business, it’s even more crucial in this industry.

Gift-giving is a highly visual medium, but needs to be combined with a personalization aspect. Let’s take ordering flowers as an example. Flower arrangements are great, but today people love the ability to create their own arrangements. So creating a module that allows people to actually create and see the arrangement they made is a feature that will add considerable value to your site.

A module like this will require robust coding, but also needs to have a clear design that’s easy to use. Otherwise, users will ignore it, and one of your best features will go unnoticed. But design is important throughout, and needs to not only follow industry standards (so people know how to use your site) but also indicates your expertise and your style. We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Design is the epitome of science and art combined. Make sure you have the expertise needed!

Digital Marketing and Social Media

Social media is the single greatest resource for marketers today. Not only do the major networks represent a market numbering in the billions, many networks have easily identified target groups. This is important because it means marketers have readymade target populations who they know are interested in their service.

But social media marketing isn’t simple, and many inexperienced marketers waste time on social media networks that provide minimal return. A proper marketing strategy in the digital world starts with a plan to identify which markets will be the most useful to their organization. When it comes to our case industry, the best starting point is Pinterest, because it is a huge medium for people interested in design and art.

Importantly, this doesn’t mean that marketers for online gift/flower shops should ignore the big platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Both have access to markets that are enormous and are to be ignored at one’s own peril; but marketers for this industry should emphasize a strategy that places Pinterest and perhaps Instagram at the forefront.

Whether you are in the Floristry and Gift Giving game or not, SDI can help you build a website that will help your website grow a user base and improve revenue streams. We know our business – let us get to know yours.

Want to learn more? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Building a website is what we do. We do it day in and day out. So needless to say, we know what it takes to succeed. We know how to take an idea and turn it into online powerhouse, no matter the industry. Today, we want to talk about how to make a website for Flower and Gift Shops. Our decision to focus on this industry today is due to timing: not only are there big upcoming holidays (including Mother’s Day and Father’s Day) but now is the time to start getting ramped up for…

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Castivate, The Brilliant New App for Actors and Performers

Every once and a while, we like to cast a spotlight on new apps that have really impressed us. Sometimes, they’re apps for millennials, like SnapChat; other times, we like to talk about apps that can help solve world crises. But today, we want to talk about a new app revolutionizing an industry – the world of Auditions and Castings.

Now, full disclosure, SDI is the development team behind this project. But this is important: we were but a vessel for the app owners. They came to us with a full-fledged plan, a concept, and even plans for future growth (which we can’t disclose at this time). All we did was tell provide them with the tools to accomplish their dream.

App Revolution

The Castivate team comes from the world of Performance and Acting, so they had an intimate knowledge of the industry. This is the secret to the success of any entrepreneurial venture; we’ve worked on literally thousands of tech projects, providing us with unique insight into this world. When it comes to starting up a new tech tool or service in an existing industry, the most successful businesses are those started by insiders.

Castivate is no different (available for free on both iOS and Android) . For decades, performers have struggled to find the right castings, to get audition opportunities that not only match their skills but are nearby. But Castivate also approached this problem from the perspective of the casting director; a persistent issue with casting directors, especially in the world of acting, is getting talent that actually matches the role they need to fill.

So, Castivate was designed to solve this issue. It sends castings for performers (Dancers, Stage/Film Actors, Singers, and even Models) directly to a User’s phone. Sure, there are other digital options that connect performers to castings calls; mostly in the form of websites, many of them only focus on one performance arena, or one location.

Castivate, on the other hand, searches the internet for all of the performance arenas listed above, pooling it all in one single location. However, the team wanted it to be more than just a list of aggregated auditions. They had strict requirements, the first of which was an expiration date. They wanted old castings for past auditions to be removed from the list, automatically. Other requirements included a robust location feature, where castings would get sent to a user based on their geolocation.

This ensured that performers only got castings calls for local auditions (though users can select to receive all castings!). This feature means that actors, dancers, singers, and models get castings that are actually local to them, instead of combing through a bunch of castings for people clear across the country.

But this is the age of true customization. An era where tech allows us to create apps that rival the intelligence of toddlers (and potentially some adults). So our developers also utilized machine learning and a robust filter to go a step further. When users sign up for castivate, they have the option to set up a personal profile. This profile covers:

♦ Skill set

    ○ Actor, Singer, Dancer, Model – or all of the above;

♦ Age;

♦ Gender; and

♦ Ethnicity;

When combined with Machine Learning algorithms, Castivate takes this information and compares it to thousands of castings on the internet. Every day, the app selects the most relevant casting and sends it right to their phone. No endless searching for the right casting, no time wasted on auditions that are looking for someone else entirely. Just set up your profile once, and get fresh castings daily without doing anything else.

For Casting Directors, Castivate helps them find the specific talent the role needs. While Castivate doesn’t need to direct input to host auditions, directors can post on the app manually, thereby expanding the potential talent pool. Finally, we want to talk about one last awesome feature that helps both talent and directors: Castivate allows users to upload their headshots and Contact details right onto the app.

Directors can look through thousands of headshots hosted on the app, quickly tapping (or, in the case of the website, clicking) on photos to dive into the details. Even if a director doesn’t directly view the archived photos, we automatically populate headshots between casting calls, dramatically increasing the exposure of our hosted talent. Pretty awesome, right?

At the end of the day, we have an obvious stake in the success of this app. But that being said, we wrote about this because it is a prime example of entrepreneurial ingenuity. This idea would never have occurred to us, but the Castivate team didn’t have the skillset to build the app framework itself. Only when we came together did we build one of the best apps of 2017, in a field that is in dire need of technological innovation.

So, got an idea, but need some tech guidance? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us! Oh, and if you’re interested in Castivate, reach out to their team here, or download the app on iOS or Android. It is 100% free – no hidden costs, no signup fees or “platinum” user accounts. Just an amazing, life changing app, for free.

We are recognized as a top California Mobile App Development Company on DesignRush

Every once and a while, we like to cast a spotlight on new apps that have really impressed us. Sometimes, they’re apps for millennials, like SnapChat; other times, we like to talk about apps that can help solve world crises. But today, we want to talk about a new app revolutionizing an industry – the world of Auditions and Castings. Now, full disclosure, SDI is the development team behind this project. But this is important: we were but a vessel for the app owners. They came to us with a full-fledged plan, a concept, and…

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Build a Website Using Laravel – The Next BIG Thing

There are plenty of different web development tools that can help you build a website. From Magento to WordPress, the savvy entrepreneur does his research and finds the right tool for the right job. Laravel is a relative newcomer, having launched in mid 2011; but as of the launch of Laravel 5, it is now regarded as one of the top web development platforms in the world. For newcomers to website development, this is probably all Greek. Wikipedia’s definition of Laravel is about as clear as mud to those not familiar with the lingo: “a free, open source, PHP web framework…for the development of web applications following the Model-View-Controller (MVC) architectural pattern” (reference here). Like I said, clear as mud to those not familiar with the industry. The rest of this post will attempt to explain what all of it means and how it relates to building and running a website. Plus we will cover why Laravel is popular, and why our developers love to work with this web development framework. The Jargon Every industry in the world comes with its own set of terminologies, ways of discussing the industry, shorthand, and so on. The tech world is no different. More to the point, there’s no problem with this, but it can serve as a big deterrent to people looking to get into the business. Let’s take a look at some of the terms used in our Wikipedia definition: ♦ Open Source ○ Open source is a non-technical term that broadly refers to software and code that is free to use and accessible to any with an internet connection. So Laravel 5 is entirely free to download. Most web development frameworks are open source. They offer a basic level service for free, but charge for more complex services or plugins (aka. Prepackaged code that provides a specific feature). ♦ PHP

    ○ PHP is web programming language (aka code): <?php $x = "Web Development is Awesome!"; $y = 'Web Development is Awesome!'; That is a line of PHP, which, in conjunction with other lines of code, will result in a website displaying content that reads “Web Development is Awesome!” Almost all website in the world are built off PHP, along with fellow programming language .NET. PHP is robust, fast, and high functioning. It’s also relatively easy to perform simple tasks with limited coding knowledge.
♦ Web Framework
    ○ A web framework is essentially the barebones development platform. It provides developers with a complete website – say eCommerce – outline. They provide tools for rapidly assembling websites without an excessive price tag. While a custom website has its own rewards, there’s no denying that a framework like Laravel is an excellent option with faster and cheaper implementation.
♦ Web Application
    ○ A web app is a software program that operates within your web browser, like Chrome or Internet Explorer. Examples of this are numerous, but the best examples are Instant Messaging Services and email programs. Really, this term is fuzzy at best, and you can get 100 different definitions from 99 people. In general, if a website is acting more like a mobile app or a piece of software, its probably a web application
♦ Architectural Pattern
    ○ Very basically, a Software Architectural Pattern is a set of codes or coding practices that address common problems or provide common features that most websites need.
♦ Model-View-Controller (MVC)
    ○ An MVC is probably the most popular example of an Architectural Pattern. Many to most web applications use an MVC approach. We don’t want to get too far into the weeds here, but basically MVC divides an application into three parts. Each part has a different set of rules governing how it handles information and interacts with a user. Its preferred by many developers due to its extremely efficient use of code.
This is a pretty big info dump, but for the entrepreneur, it basically it boils down to this: Laravel is a free (at least at first) tool to help developers build websites in the blink of an eye, without breaking the bank. It follows industry best practices to provide an excellent foundation for your website, with a User Interface that attracts and engages users. Plus, the code is robust, with superior performance and speed. Why Laravel? As mentioned above, there are many web development frameworks out there: Symfony2, CodeIgnitor, and Magento are at least as popular as Laravel. But Laravel is really taking the development community by storm. It brings together all of the best elements of all its competitors – and does it with an elegance that brings a tear to the eyes of many a developer. Laravel is also easy to use, especially if you are just making minor revisions (a great option for website owners with limited tech expertise). Despite its simplicity, Laravel’s code still performs as fast or faster than competitors without sacrificing functionality. Plus, one Laravel’s newest tools lets developers build APIs (small lines of code that can perform basic tasks – like using using Google’s Maps API to for a navigation app) in a fraction of the time it would normally take. At the end of the day, most of the most popular web development frameworks are comparable. There is no real standout, though Laravel 5 maybe the closest we’ve seen. Each one has its pros and its cons; the framework eventually chosen depends partly on what needs a website has, and the preferences of the development team itself. For a more detailed conversation on the types of web development frameworks, give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

There are plenty of different web development tools that can help you build a website. From Magento to WordPress, the savvy entrepreneur does his research and finds the right tool for the right job. Laravel is a relative newcomer, having launched in mid 2011; but as of the launch of Laravel 5, it is now regarded as one of the top web development platforms in the world. For newcomers to website development, this is probably all Greek. Wikipedia’s definition of Laravel is about as clear as mud to those not familiar with the lingo: “a…

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A Guide to Growing Your Website with Google Optimize

A website business is unique in its ability to test multiple different experimental sets Additionally, websites have a massive pool of subjects (i.e. visitors) from which they can draw, allowing for business owners to generate a ton of data. In fact, the tools for analyzing and reporting upon this data are only just now catching up.

For businesses that are wholly dependent upon their website (such as eCommerce), have the best of these tools is necessary for survival. Data makes the world go ‘round – and those who can comprehend the data will win the day. One of the best (and new-ish) tools in the analytics game comes from a name most know well: Google.

Google Optimize

Google Optimize is a comprehensive Customer Conversion, Engagement and Retention tool that integrates with other well known Google Tools:

    ♦ BigQuery is essentially a massive cloud data storage center. Business owners with the BigQuery API can access this data storage center, enabling exponentially more powerful metrics, at lightening speeds. Without the cost of running a massive data server center.

    ♦ Google Analytics is the foundational tool that Optimize uses to understand how consumers are using your website. With the combination of these two tools, Business Owners can examine the impacts of each test and see how it impacts organizational goals.

Essentially, Google Optimize is designed to help enterprises improve the customer experience and to grow marketing capabilities. Largely, this is done through 3 robust tests designers use to compare different website UX/UI’s:

♦ A/B Tests

    ○ An A/B Test is where (usually) two distinct elements on a single page are tested against one another. Which color for the Call-to-Action button is more effective; what background image for the home banner captures the attention of more visitors?; and so on. A/B tests compare two page variants, but not data on how multiple changes interact with one another (enter multivariate testing);

♦ Multivariate Tests

    ○ A multivariate tests is basically a more complex version of an A/B test. Webmasters use multivariate tests to optimize the relationship of different variations on a single page. Multivariate tests provide a ton of data on how all the varying elements on a page are interacting with one another.

♦ Redirect Tests

    ○ Marketers and Designers use Redirect Tests to compare two completely different page designs against one another. For instance, web master can use a Redirect to simultaneously compare the results of one home page with two designs. It differs from an A/B Test in that it compares two completely different design setups, as opposed to specific elements.

There are two different versions offered to enterprises: Optimize [free], and Optimize 360 [requires a discussion with a Sales Agent]. The basic version is pretty useful for SMBs and small enterprise ventures just getting started. While it offers largely the same basic functionalities and features as 360, the testing capabilities are heavily restricted.

The biggest drawback to the basic version is the inability to select which visitors are included in your subject pool. In the opinion of many, the best feature of 360 is that an experimenter can select what Website Visitors are tested. This makes the data generated by the experiment far more valuable because you can select highly relevant users.

To put it another way: let’s say you owned a retail video game store in a popular mall. You want to know more about the people coming to your store; if Google Optimize were a real world tool, the basic version would allow you to gather information from every person who walks into your store; 360 lets you get information just from the people who actually make a purchase.

Admittedly, the comparison isn’t a great one, but the point is clear: 360 delivers data that is more valuable. But at the end of the day, all business owners operate within budgetary constraints: The basic Optimize service is excellent and extremely useful for small scale web businesses.

Engagement, Re-engagement, and Personalization

From the perspective of any business owners, customer retention is essential. The reasons a business lose a customer can run the gamut. For the most part, business is lost not because of a bad experience, but simply because people are busy, or are distracted by a new brand.

Google Optimize helps you identify returning customers, to offer a unique returning experience for said user. Even better, GO helps you identify product relationships (think “you recently purchased this book; you may also like this one!) AND high-value Users (aka Big Spenders).

If 50 years ago you had told the manager of a Macy’s that they could not only return a lost shopper to the fold, but that they could also know instantly what types of products they liked, they would have laughed you out of the store. If you told them that they could do that AND instantly know every time a big spender enters the store plus they’re spending habits, they’d call the nearest mental hospital.

However (and fortunately for the modern business owner), that’s where we are today. We have the ability to understand exactly how to satisfy the individual needs of each customer. Of course, installing and learning these tools can be an intimidating process. For that, we recommend calling Silicon Valley’s expert development team, SDI.

Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

A website business is unique in its ability to test multiple different experimental sets Additionally, websites have a massive pool of subjects (i.e. visitors) from which they can draw, allowing for business owners to generate a ton of data. In fact, the tools for analyzing and reporting upon this data are only just now catching up. For businesses that are wholly dependent upon their website (such as eCommerce), have the best of these tools is necessary for survival. Data makes the world go ‘round – and those who can comprehend the data will win the…

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How an App or Website can Growth Hack Your Gym

Apps and websites are a topic of daily conversation for most people in Silicon Valley (and not just from us!), but sometimes it’s hard to see how it’s applicable to your own business. This is especially true when you are a retailer or directly involved with the web itself. How does one use an app or website grow a business like, for instance a Gym or Dance Studio?

It comes down to how people use the internet: they don’t just use it to buy things, or read about the news. The modern web user also uses it to check out a business. To see if a business has the needed services, or to take a virtual tour. The fact is that people use the internet for pretty much everything under the sun – which makes it one of the best tools for marketing and growing your brand.

So let’s take a look at some ways that an App or Website can help growth hack a business as non-techie as a Gym.

Apps and Continued Engagement

Apps are very similar to a website, but one key difference we will discuss today is an app’s ability to push continual engagement. There are both good ways (non-intrusive, helpful ways of doing this) and not-so-good ways (annoying push notifications). There is always a desire to use the not-so-good methods because, simply put, they can be an extremely cheap and effective way to get people to notice your app.

In the long-term, however, it’s actually an effective way to not only lose app users, but to forever ruin your brand. As a gym, you probably won’t lose loyal members because of underhanded app methods, but neither will the app gain users. Additionally, it will chase away members who are only partially engaged (i.e. they only show up once a month or less).

Not only that, but both Android and iOS let you quickly silence an app in just a few seconds, so it ruins your brand without any long term positive benefits. On the flip side, “good” engagement tricks not only push engagement but actually increase the value of your app. Plus it gives Members the opportunity to leave feedback or rate particular classes – essential to not only correcting problems but to gathering information on what people like the most.

This information can then be combined with Machine Learning to inform specific individual users of a new class they might like. Additionally, an app can track the classes a member signs up for, sending push notifications to a member’s phone: i.e. a reminder, notices on cancellations, updates, and so on. A mobile app is one of the most effective engagement tools that the world has to offer – don’t neglect it!

The Face of Your Business

We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again, the website is the face of the modern organization. Everything from the choice of color design to button layout can and will change how people interact with your business. While there are definitely design guidelines one should follow when designing a website, we’re going to cover specifics that a website for a Gym or Dance Studio would need:

♦ Let’s start with the big one first: a full list of the services you offer. The landing page should display the most popular classes you offer (both the most popular at your gym, and popular classes nationwide, such as spin class) and a full accounting of all equipment.

♦ A schedule showing all classes and events should be prominently placed. An interactive schedule would be ideal, showing details of each class and the ability to signup from the calendar itself. The idea here is to make the conversion process as simple as possible. People sign on, immediately see a class they want, with all details, and then sign up. The easier it is for visitors to become members, the more money in your pocket.

♦ Trainer and teacher profiles should be clearly displayed too. A class at Gym or Dance studio is made or broken by the teacher. A brief bio, description of the classes they teach, and a rating from previous students should all be available.

♦ An update or news section is vital to improve a pages organic search results; in other words, the more often your website receives updated content, the higher it ranks your page on a search query. This can be anything from news about class cancellations, industry blogs (which also help demonstrate expertise), to general news and information.

♦ Virtual, interactive, tours of your entire facility is essential. You’re selling your space as well as a service. SDI can help you build a 360 degree tour that enables visitors to get details by room, examine every corner of every room – even the ability to zoom in on specific equipment sets providing pertinent details. And yes, you need to include bathroom and, if any, shower facilities (ideally when they are empty).

At the end of the day, a website or app, when built by the right team, can help exponentially grow your brand’s awareness and increase your membership base.

So pick up a phone and give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 (or click to contact us) to get started!

Apps and websites are a topic of daily conversation for most people in Silicon Valley (and not just from us!), but sometimes it’s hard to see how it’s applicable to your own business. This is especially true when you are a retailer or directly involved with the web itself. How does one use an app or website grow a business like, for instance a Gym or Dance Studio? It comes down to how people use the internet: they don’t just use it to buy things, or read about the news. The modern web user also…

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How Apps Can Make Money and Reduce Food Waste

World hunger is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the want or scarcity of food in a country.” Around the world, roughly 795 million people suffer from chronic undernourishment (constant food scarcity. That’s about 11% of the global population. Out of that 795 million people, 780 live in developing nations and regions.

In 2011, it is estimated that 45% of all child deaths were direct result of malnutrition and food scarcity. In developing nations, it is estimated that 50% of pregnant women, along with nearly as many children under 5 were anemic (iron deficiency is a common side effect of malnutrition). Worse, anemia is kills 1 in 5 pregnant women (see all resources here).

This doesn’t need to be the case. We’ve been doing a good job since 1990, when global hunger was nearly twice what is today, but we’re still not doing great. The sad fact about this whole situation is that there is currently enough food produced annually to feed every person in the world the daily requirement.

The biggest impediment to achieving elimination of World Hunger is poverty. Simply put, much of the world’s poorest people do not have the capital to purchase enough food, nor the land or supplies to create their own food. So the key to solving the world’s hunger crisis is either lowering the cost of food or raising the purchasing power of the lower classes (or both).

As a development company, we’re obviously tech evangelists; that is we believe in the ability of technology to solve any number of problems, from improving health systems to alleviating world hunger. But we’re also used to approaching things from the perspective of the entrepreneur. In other words, the world comes down to problems, and solutions.

The problem is that over a 10th of our world is starving. The problem is that every year, an entire third of all food produced gets wasted. That’s 1.3 billion metric tonnes of fully edible food, just tossed into the garbage. This wastage affects everything, including leading to a third of the planet’s arable land basically producing garbage.

The solution is modern technologies innovatively applied to solve the problem. Software coding, combined with the world wide web has disrupted old systems across the board. These same technologies can be applied to food waste. An excellent example of a business-side solution that is mutually beneficial to all stakeholders is Chowberry.

Chowberry, The Mobile App that’s Trying to Save the World

Chowberry is a two part solution involving both a website and (more prominently) a mobile app. Both involve selling food that is close expiring. Essentially, a partner retailer downloads the retail Chowberry app; the app uses information pulled from barcode scanners to let retailers know when the food is close to expiring. This information gets fed both into a mobile interface for the retailers, and the Chowberry website.

The Chowberry app will send a notification directly to the retailer when a product is close to expiring. The retailer can then either offer the food at a discount to low-income people, or go directly to a third party that specializes in such products.

The website takes the same information and offers it directly to the consumer. A consumer searches for food, sees the options locally, and selects the desired product. Chowberry then notifies the retailer, who sets the item aside for the consumer to come pick up.

Oscar Ekponimo, the software developer behind Chowberry, grew up knowing hunger. Mr. Ekponimo took what is a relatively simple and standard eCommerce solution and applied it to a situation he knew intimately. The result was an innovative solution that with just a pilot program, it helped 150 children in need. While this is just a small chunk of the problem, Chowberry demonstrates the power of apps, websites, and software to change the world.

The biggest downside to Chowberry is that it’s currently only available in Nigeria. But the genius behind this idea is that it’s attractive to literally all stakeholders. Look – Food waste and loss represent nearly a trillion dollars (US). That’s a trillion bucks that we’re basically lighting on fire. So food loss can not only be framed as a humanitarian issue, but also as a strictly economic issue.

For retailers, solutions like Chowberry mean that food once represented a financial loss can be turned into a profit (one that makes you feel good too). For Consumers, it means more food, for a lower cost. For Chowberry, it means making a living and giving back at the same time. A win-win situation!

The solution doesn’t have to be limited to a retail solution though. Machine learning can be used to optimize transportation methods or routes and AI can be used to predict what crops should be grown when and where. Heck, we can even write code that can help predict what areas may encounter an emergency food shortage (i.e. tracking weather to better anticipate severe events).

The point here is that Tech doesn’t have to be just about making a profit. Technology gives people tools to change the world in new and exceptionally effective ways. Got an idea? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 (or click to contact us).

World hunger is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “the want or scarcity of food in a country.” Around the world, roughly 795 million people suffer from chronic undernourishment (constant food scarcity. That’s about 11% of the global population. Out of that 795 million people, 780 live in developing nations and regions. In 2011, it is estimated that 45% of all child deaths were direct result of malnutrition and food scarcity. In developing nations, it is estimated that 50% of pregnant women, along with nearly as many children under 5 were anemic (iron deficiency…

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How to Create a Global Brand using Social Media

On August 1st, 2003, MySpace was launched. And in 14 years, Social Media has not only become a multibillion dollar industry, but has revolutionized how the world works. No one could have predicted that it would become the force for change that it has become. It has become the single most effective tool for the modern marketer.

With almost 2 billion people on some sort of Social Media platform, the industry represents the largest market in the world – by a good margin. One of the best examples of Social Media’s power lies in the Arab Spring. Twitter and Facebook helped change the world simply by existing. This power was again see in the US 2016 Presidential Election, where Facebook News played a huge, and greatly discussed role.

However, Social Media can also have an impact of a smaller sort. Namely, Social Media, when leveraged properly, can make your brand a global sensation. From 13 year old girls to the infamous PewDiePie, Social Media makes dreams come true.

And not just of idiot children and Swedish jackanapes: Chiara Ferragni turned her amatuer blogging hobby into one of the most visited blog sites on the web – and then into her own fashion line. And now she makes about $8 million annually.

But wandering into the jungle that is Social Media Marketing all willy nilly is ill advised. There is a path to follow and steps one must take in order to turn their brand into a global success. Let’s take a look at the first two steps now.

Content is [Still] King

Immortalized by Bill Gates over 20 years ago, this phrase is as true as it ever was. If you want to create a brand using Social Media, the Web, or even traditional tools, the content is what matters. As Mr. Gates argued all those years ago, creating unique, effective content that people want to read is the best way to get consumers, whether they’re shoppers or people interested in the advice you’re offering.

But just having good content isn’t enough; you need something to snag the attention of a reader. And more often than not, you’ve got about 5 seconds or 100 words to do it. There are several tried and true methods to snagging someone’s attention with good content. One of the most popular and probably the most effective is humor. Naturally though, humor is also the hardest to get right.

Humor is a double edged sword because what’s considered funny to some is quite often considered offensive to another. So while our team always recommends something of a humorous approach, we also recommend treading lightly.

There are three other common approaches as well:

Shock Value

Pros: Shock sticks out in the memory and makes people want to talk about it. Even if some don’t care for shock value, they will still talk about your brand.

Cons: Everything after the shocking reveal is often forgotten. Additionally, shock is only okay for so long. People will eventually come to expect it (and will thus not be shocked).

Information overload

Pros: It can convey effectively what your business does. This is an excellent way for people who are actively seeking out a service like yours.

Cons: Too much information can overwhelm users and turn them off. It’s also not the best way to capture traffic just surfing a Social Media site.

Emotional Bereavement

Pros: Like shock value, people talk about campaigns that evoke intense emotions like sadness.

Cons: For most industries, Emotional Bereavement is not effective. Plus, if not done perfectly, you’re just upsetting people.

The Platform

There’s a famous axiom known by many names: The Pareto Principle, The Law of the Vital Few, and, most popularly, the 80/20 Rule. This rule essentially states that 80% of income comes from 20% of your consumers. It’s been extended to cover all sorts of things, like time management and even tech investment.

As a time management principle, this will also help you in selecting a social media platform. Basically what we’re saying is that you should not be spending 80% of your time marketing on a platform that has less that 20% of your potential market. A necessary step to creating a successful Social Media campaign is researching where your target market hangs out.

Additionally, you want to make sure your platform has a number of what we like to refer to as “Key Influencers,” or people who already have a significant social media following. These people are worth their weight in marketing gold because when they’re used properly, their followers become yours. Key influencers are the best way to growth hack your brand.

But which platforms are best? Let’s take a look:

• Twitter is the haven of the one-liners. Marketers, comedians, entrepreneurs, every day folks, and recently politicians all love Twitter. This is one of the two platforms on the list in which you should definitely investing a significant amount of your effort.

• Facebook is another must for any social media campaign. About 75% to 80% of American adults are on this platform, making it the single largest marketing source in the world (about 1.5 billion people are on Facebook). Perhaps more importantly, Facebook has an evenly distributed userbase; in other words Facebook is representative almost any group of consumer.

• Pinterest is the platform for designers. It’s largest demographic are women who are interested in Fashion and design. Brands that focus on design (wedding businesses are an excellent example) should certainly invest a lot of time here.

• For B2B services, LinkedIn is indispensable. It maintains one of (if not the) largest group of professionals in the world. It is the choice for businesses targeting corporate influencers.

• Instagram, which recently IPO’d for $24 billion or so, is similar to Pinterest in that it’s an effective way to reach people who are interested in design and especially clothing fashions. This is a key platform if your target demographic is the 18-30 year old Millennial groups.

Want to know more? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

On August 1st, 2003, MySpace was launched. And in 14 years, Social Media has not only become a multibillion dollar industry, but has revolutionized how the world works. No one could have predicted that it would become the force for change that it has become. It has become the single most effective tool for the modern marketer. With almost 2 billion people on some sort of Social Media platform, the industry represents the largest market in the world – by a good margin. One of the best examples of Social Media’s power lies in the…

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5 Best Payment Gateways for eCommerce

In the era of digital shopping, the ability to accept digital payments are an absolute must. This is more than just accepting Visa and MasterCard electronically – it means offering new web-based payment methods like PayChex and PayPal. These newer forms of payment are modern business requirement for eCommerce websites and apps.

The most important part of any customer-business interaction is the Checkout stage. From traditional brick-and-mortar stores to the eCommerce enterprise, this is where people have to face how much they’ve spent. This make or break moment is even more pronounced in eCommerce, where shoppers can remove items from their cart without holding up other shoppers.

The aim of this post to today will be to cover a few key elements that should go into any payment gateway. Then we will wrap up with a brief look at the top 5 payment gateways, looking at the pros and cons of each.

User Experience is First

Don’t choose a payment gateway, choose a User Experience (UX). A payment gateway needs to make the payment experience better. It should not make the experience more difficult. It shouldn’t even really maintain the status quo. Let’s refer to the industry darling for an example: Amazon Express.

Amazon’s payment experience is so easy and seamless it’s almost too easy (hence the”accidently purchased this” feature!); it’s the UX example to which any eCommerce website should refer. The easier it is to buy something, the more money you will make; in fact a report from Analytics giant Bain and Company found that a 5% increase in customer retention resulting in a 95% increase in profits. Pretty good deal, right?

Security (duh)

All major payment gateways have security that is exceptionally robust. It’s kind of a requirement of the business! In other words, we won’t dive into this too much. If you go with pretty much any named brand you will be okay.

But if you’re thinking of an off brand gateway, the biggest red flag is if a gateway is putting the onus of security on you. Make sure that they are PCI compliant and that all payments go from the browser to the company’s own secure gateway – never over your own server! Really though, we recommend going with a verified payment gateway. This is one of the most important aspects of your business, if not the most important.

PayChex Bluepay

PayChex Bluepay is the underdog of the Payment Gateway world, but not due to quality issues. In fact, Paychex maintains an entirely inhouse sales team to help ensure high quality customer experiences. Despite this expensive approach, Paychex BluePay is still the one of the cheapest payment gateways out there. Bluepay also claims to have the highest data security in the industry, though this is hard to prove.

PayPal

If you have never heard of PayPal, you probably fell through a time portal in the 1980s and just found yourself here in 2017. First, welcome to the 21st century; remember that Trump guy who’s building all those hotels? Yea, he’s president now. Oh, and computers fit in your hand – sweet, right?

Kidding aside, PayPal’s reputation is well earned. ANd though they are a legacy tech company from the 90s, they’re still trying to grow with the times; a fact demonstrated by their recent acquisition of Braintree. Additionally, Paypal is supported on all web development platforms, making integration with existing platforms much more simple. While more expensive than Bluepay, it has 165 million users, making it pretty much a must for eCommerce sites.

Stripe

As an entrepreneur and not a developer, you may not have heard all that much about Stripe. Stripe focuses on attracting developers; something they do extremely well. They focus on creating new ways for companies to accept payment online whether through a mobile app or a subscription-based model.

Stripe is supported on most major eCommerce platforms, including Magento and Shopify. More importantly, Stripe is making a big push into the global market, an awesome opportunity for eCommerce businesses just getting started.

Amazon Payments

As referenced earlier, Amazon Payments is one of the best examples of how UX should be done in the industry. This API’s single greatest feature is it’s 1-click purchase option, which autopopulates a returning client’s information. As mentioned above, the easier it is to pay you, the more money your business will make.

Amazon Payments is supported by most major eCommerce platforms. While still more expensive than Bluepay, Payments has no setup fee and a smaller chargeback fee than other major competitors (such as Authorize.Net).

Square

This newer player in the Payment Gateway business was founded by industry legend and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey. Square is slightly different than the other names on the list because it focuses mainly on small mobile, businesses like Food Trucks. Square’s emphasis is not on eCommerce. But we wanted to cover it anyways because its an web-based payment method.

Square allows users to make quick digital payments at Brick-and-Mortar location – Starbucks being a prime example of this. The Credit Card needs to be present, but the Square POS system is able to capture Credit Card info by a tap. More recently they’ve launched a Peer-to-Peer payment service, called Square Cash.

Need a Payment Gateway for your own eCommerce website? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us – for more information on which option works best for you.

In the era of digital shopping, the ability to accept digital payments are an absolute must. This is more than just accepting Visa and MasterCard electronically – it means offering new web-based payment methods like PayChex and PayPal. These newer forms of payment are modern business requirement for eCommerce websites and apps. The most important part of any customer-business interaction is the Checkout stage. From traditional brick-and-mortar stores to the eCommerce enterprise, this is where people have to face how much they’ve spent. This make or break moment is even more pronounced in eCommerce, where…

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Turn Your Passion into a Successful Business

We all have something about which we are extremely passionate, something we love more than almost anything else. Often we look at it as only a hobby, a pastime. But why do we stop there? Why don’t we go that extra leap to turn a passion into a potentially thriving business? Most success stories in the world of Entrepreneurship start with a love of something (usually more than just money – though that’s also certainly lovely!)

The answer here is complex, but basically it all boils down to fear. Most of us are (un)content working a 9 to 5, dreaming of doing what we love as opposed to what we’re actually doing. Why? Because it’s safe, because it seems as close to a guarantee as possible. We’re afraid of it not working out, of it ruining our passion, of it costing too much.

But we’re here to tell you that it can happen, that passion is one of the key elements to a successful startup in any industry. Passion is, in fact, the one necessary element to a successful venture. There’s a reason that passion and dedication are what every Venture Capitalist and Angel Investor look for before funding an operation.

Of course, passion isn’t the only thing an entrepreneur needs to launch a successful startup. There are the tools needed to survive in this world, including a business plan, a website, and a support network. For nearly two decades, SDI has helped turn passions into successful business. We know what a startup needs to survive and, more importantly, grow in a modern economy.

A Business Plan

So let’s start low tech, with a tool that business since the beginning of time used to help figure out exactly what their business needs: a plan. A properly made business plan is composed of 3 elements:

1. Research

It is always important to understand the market, the competition, and of course, the target population. It not only helps you nail down what exact problem you have; and of course what exact solution you need to succeed.

2. Organizational Structure

Communication has been the downfall of more than one startup and even well-established businesses. Creating a clear hierarchical structure from the get go let’s people know where they stand in your organization, to whom they report for what actions, and alternative routes of communication, if necessary. Having this established before you even launch will prevent future problems.

3. Goals and Growth

Startups often struggle because they fail to outline concise goals. More than that, many startups fail to establish what counts as a successful completion of a goal. IT may seem a bit like you are putting the horse before the cart, but this is more important than you might think. This is especially true if you want to get funding from outside sources, as most VCs and Investors want to know this information.

We understand this is a lot and, unfortunately, this is only scratching the surface. For more on how to create a good business plan, contact our startup experts.

The Website

As most people know, a website is roughly comparable to a physical store. It’s the face of your business, it’s where your customers peruse your wares and/or services, and it’s where you usually collect payment for said wares and services. In other words, you want your website to be beautiful, robust, and secure.

1. Design

Website design is one part science, 1 part art, and 1 part intuition. The best designers utilize the “User Centered Design” (UCD) method. UCD means exactly what it states: designing entirely from the perspective of the user. UCD has shown clear results in our own research, with improved visitor to user conversions, better engagement, and, ultimately, more money in your pocket.

2. Robust Code

Code is what makes your website a website. There’s literally no way to describe web development without talking about programming. So, it’s important to hire a top notch development team that can make your website as awesome as your business. Whether you decide to build a website using a CMS framework like Magento or WordPress or go from the ground up, make sure to thoroughly vet your developers!

3. Security and Encryption

Good security is a combination of good code, common sense, and, quite simply, luck. Closed Parameters, SSL Certification, and User Permissions are examples of good code (contact our security experts for more). Common sense is harder to nail down, but basically boils down to not clicking on every link that gets emailed to you. Luck is even more broad, but the idea here is that there are literally millions of websites. Most will go not only unhacked, but not even noticed by malicious entities. Are you unlucky? That’s where good code and common sense come in. Hackers can’t get in if you don’t leave an opening.

There is a lot more than just passion that goes into a successful startup. But passion is what lays the groundwork for everything else. More to the point, you can hire a business, design, programming, and security experts. But passion is the one thing you can’t outsource to other people.

Got a passion you would like to turn into a successful business? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

We all have something about which we are extremely passionate, something we love more than almost anything else. Often we look at it as only a hobby, a pastime. But why do we stop there? Why don’t we go that extra leap to turn a passion into a potentially thriving business? Most success stories in the world of Entrepreneurship start with a love of something (usually more than just money – though that’s also certainly lovely!) The answer here is complex, but basically it all boils down to fear. Most of us are (un)content working…

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How to Build Software for Finance Services

Student Loans have helped millions of people in the United States achieve a college education (including many of us at SDI), especially since 2006. As of the end of 2016, over 43 million people have student loans. But there is of course, a significant downside to Student Loans: debt. Often, massive untenable debt.

If you take those 43 million Americans with student loans, they also have an average of $30,000 in debt. Overall, Student Loan debt (as of 2016) accounted for a grand total of 1.4 trillion dollars, or roughly 7.5% of the national GDP. This massive debt is not only burdensome to the holders, but represents a danger to the American economy, as it reduces the amount people can invest in the market.

But we live in a world of exceptionally clever people, people who are willing to tackle problems head on. Even better, the modern tools of tech help us fight problems with industries like Financial Services better than ever before. The perfect example of this is the Finances Services Startup, Social Finance Inc (more commonly known as SoFi).

SoFi has made some pretty big waves in the world of student loans and, more recently, the financial services industry overall. They recently raised another half billion in funding, placing their overall value at $4.3 billion – well above the “Unicorn” mark. While SoFi itself isn’t based off a tech platform in the way that SnapChat is; but recently they acquired Zenbanx, which is absolutely an online financial services platform.

While SoFi is clearly changing the game, it got our developers thinking – what else can tech do to disrupt the financial services industry? There’s clearly a market for this; after all SoFi went from a startup to a company worth over $4 billion in about 5 years. Zenbanx was itself was bought for about $100 million.

Plus, you don’t have to stop with Student Loans (SoFi certainly hasn’t); we’re living in banner times for the financial services, with the stock market higher than it has ever been. Right now, most casual investors are leery, waiting to see how it all pans out. But soon, ordinary Americans will again be drawn to the stock market and investing in general.

Hence, we have a problem (old models of financial services), and we have an opportunity (the rise of Stocks and Investing). Let’s take a look at some ways that tech can help provide a solution – and how a clever entrepreneur may take advantage.

Risk Management and Investment

Artificial Intelligence is capable of collecting, analyzing, and reporting upon untold gigabytes of data. More than that, AI learns and improves from every interaction with data (as we all wish we could!). This means it can learn to identify better metrics, better tests. But most importantly, AI is capable of running thousands of statistical models simultaneously, with slightly different variables.

In the realm of Financial Services, AI can help judge the health of an investment opportunity. It can tell a trader how risky an investment is and can even determine the level of investment a trader should make to get the biggest bang for their buck. AI can even run those models to predict the future health of an investment – using more variables than you can even imagine.

This idea isn’t anything new in the world of Finances – in fact exceptionally smart people get paid millions and millions of dollars to do just this. This position was recently immortalized by the hit show This Is Us, where one of the main characters uses weather prediction to judge agricultural yields. However, as smart as those people are, they aren’t an AI.

Security

Financial services also encompasses revolutionary ways of payment. We’ve already seen this some of these changes in the last few days (some of us are still old enough to remember what cash feels like). Today, most US Americans probably use a debit card more than anything and we all know that there were some growing pains there.

Tech really stepped up to the plate, with increased security – though admittedly that chip is a damned nuisance. That being said, Debit cards are on their way out. Android Pay, Apple Pay, Venmo, Square Cash – these are the payment methods of the future. Already, many retail locations, such as Starbucks, accept some sort of digital payment

They offer improved security through a process called tokenization (reach out to our developers to learn more about this) to help protect your money from hacked retailers. While some “Digital Wallets” can pose a security risk if a phone is lost or stolen, it’s generally a simple process to remove a devices security from any internet device.

Plus, a traditional wallet poses even more of a risk. A digital wallet means you can lock down all your credit cards with single click. With a wallet you have to cancel all your cards individually. You don’t even have to cancel your cards, always an annoying process.

Creating a better wallet isn’t the only way tech can make your money safer. The cloud, while often knocked, is actually quite a bit more secure than physical hardware. Not only does it prevent potential location-based hacks, but it’s easier to spot tampering (i.e. hackers) and to instantly update a cloud server’s security infrastructure. Don’t believe this? Visa and MasterCard are already on the cloud.

Tech can prove disruptive to this industry in more ways than the ones laid out in this post. There are dozens of ways that tech can help, including marketing and growth. Interested in starting your own Financial Services startup?

Then give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

Student Loans have helped millions of people in the United States achieve a college education (including many of us at SDI), especially since 2006. As of the end of 2016, over 43 million people have student loans. But there is of course, a significant downside to Student Loans: debt. Often, massive untenable debt. If you take those 43 million Americans with student loans, they also have an average of $30,000 in debt. Overall, Student Loan debt (as of 2016) accounted for a grand total of 1.4 trillion dollars, or roughly 7.5% of the national GDP.…

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How Tech can Create Better Learning Health Systems

New advancements in tech, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, have revolutionized everything from cars to marketing. If there is one thing that is an undeniable truth in this world, it’s that everything generates data. This isn’t a new concept; since the beginning of time people have used observation to create better ways of living: where prey is and isn’t, what grows when, even what burns hotter.

In the intervening millennia since Homo habilis first realized a rock was more effective than it’s hand, the data hasn’t changed at all. Oak still burns in basically the same way it’s burned since time began. What has changed is our ability to percept and report upon data being generated. We don’t just know how oak burns differently than pine, but we can figure out how much hotter it burns, what chemicals are being produced, even how long each fuel lasts.

Today, AI allows us to study data down to minutia. We can test every change, compare millions of sets of variables, and see how each change impacts the our system. We see this happening with Home AI Software Systems like Alexa and Google Home: these Home AIs become better at predicting what we want, but only after being exposed to our typical habits.

So when we have all this data and now have the capability to understand it more thoroughly, why have we not applied this to HealthCare? Healthcare is one of the most important issues in the world – and not just because we’re in a bit of a transitory period as we await word from the Trump Administration.

Healthcare bisects all aspects of life. Everything we do impacts our health. Every decision, every choice, changes our bodies – for better or worse. In other words, this is all data we can collect and analyze.

To some degree, this is something we’ve known for a long time. This knowledge has resulted in the rise of what the healthcare industry calls Learning Health Systems (LHS). A recent article in TechCrunch pointed out that there are currently efforts to revamp the extant LHS infrastructure. As the author points out though, these efforts largely attempt to work within existing systems and don’t take advantage of our ability to analyze the world around us.

So let’s dive deeper into how the Cloud, AI and Machine learning can help revolutionize Healthcare through Learning Health Systems.

“Collective Intelligence” and The Cloud

In the years since they hit the streets, Google’s autonomous cars have gathered over 300 years worth of driving experience. The couple million miles they’ve driven, they’ve collected more data than a human could – in several lifetimes. This is done because they act together: when one vehicle is exposed to a new scenario, they all are.

This can be easily applied to a global LHS network, creating systems that are continually improving upon ways to deliver improved care. This is especially useful when it comes to health, because every human body responds differently to different stimuli. Research and treatment that was once geographically isolated can now be shared around the world – in real time.

Through the Cloud, Healthcare providers can create sharing systems that build instantly off one another’s work. Not only that, but Cloud systems can turn standard delivery into a global experiment. A provider in Los Angeles can only pull information from a small pool of diabetics, generally not enough for a verifiable experiment. But the dozens of diabetic patients receiving daily care in LA can be combined with data from a hospital in London, or Mumbai.

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning

The power behind AI is not it’s ability to collect and analyze data. Any old computer can do that to some degree of effectiveness. AI takes it a step further: it takes all that data – and then predicts what might happen next. It helps people input different steps, to see how each step might impact the end result.

In Healthcare, AI can help providers determine more effective – and cheaper – ways of delivering healthcare. It can see how a change might impact the system overall. When combined with Machine Learning, AI can determine how to run a better healthcare system. After all, one of the biggest issues in healthcare is the cost: even Obamacare (the ACA) can be expensive for those who don’t qualify for subsidies.

Modern Tech can change this. It can point the way to lower costs without lower the quality of service. More than that, the Cloud and a global LHS Network can analyze how different providers operate. This is important because it means that clinics won’t have to experiment constantly with alternative ways of providing care: it’s already been done by someone, somewhere.

Change Healthcare Now

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

To anyone born in the United States, this phrase is pretty much second nature. These inalienable rights are not achievable without the an underlying level of basic health. One of the biggest obstacles to a universal health care system is the expense. Most nations want to see their citizenry healthy, but if a government cannot fund itself, then it collapses.

LHS networks, combined with AI, the Cloud, and other new technologies can point the way to delivering more significantly cheaper services for all people. But someone has to take the first step. Someone has to step up the plate and show the world that this can be done. How do you do it? Contact an expert development team with the skills to make it happen.

So how about it? Want to save the world and get rich while doing it? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

New advancements in tech, such as Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, have revolutionized everything from cars to marketing. If there is one thing that is an undeniable truth in this world, it’s that everything generates data. This isn’t a new concept; since the beginning of time people have used observation to create better ways of living: where prey is and isn’t, what grows when, even what burns hotter. In the intervening millennia since Homo habilis first realized a rock was more effective than it’s hand, the data hasn’t changed at all. Oak still burns in…

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How to Launch A Successful Startup Without Losing Your Peace of Mind

The United States, along with other “developed” nations are in an economic transitory period: We are slowing moving from a Skills or Manufacturing based economy, into a Knowledge-based one. In fact, our last post covered in detail how to be successful in this new economy, so feel free to read more about how software ownership might be the ticket to future financial success.

But there’s a difference between owning a software license and launching an entire tech startup. Owning a piece of software, while financially enriching isn’t as labor intensive as running an entirely new business. This is especially true in today’s economy, where the competition is fierce and plentiful.

Financing, launching, and running a startup is necessarily hard. With over 20 years of experience in the tech sphere, we’ve heard every scheme there is about how to make it easy. Here’s the simple truth – it’s never going to be easy. This is true at least until you’ve established yourself through years of hard work, and possibly beyond that.

Startups of all types require passion, dedication, and, perhaps most of all, dead presidents (i.e. cold hard cash). It’s never a simple proposition. But let’s be honest here – for those who possess the entrepreneurial spirit, simplicity is damned mundane. We do this because we’re passionate and dedicated people. Unfortunately, while we possess the previous two traits in spades, for those of us just getting started, the cold hard cash is harder to come by.

However, funding and running a startup doesn’t have to wind up with you in the Looney Bin – or make you feel like you’re dealing with the devil. There are plenty of ways to mitigate potential risks, to guide your tech startup without the stress and hair pulling. Let’s talk about a few ways to help preserve your sanity while making your venture the next SnapChat like success.

It’s All About the Business Plan

Yea, it’s like the least sexy thing ever. Creating a successful startup doesn’t begin with the cool things, like a CodeIgniter platform. Like all winning ventures, you have to start with the foundations. You need to establish the following:

a. The service and/or solution you offer. You need to make this explicit and extraordinarily clear. You want to get this to the point where you can walk up to a random person on the street and be able to explain to them what you do in 30 seconds or less.

b. The hierarchy of your business. Even if you’re currently the only person who works for your startup, eventually you will need more staff. Figure out short and long term plans for staffing, including who reports to whom. This is important because it improves communication and can help prevent personnel conflicts.

c. Long term goals and growth stages. Be clear about what you need goals you have for the future, as well as what indicates when you have completed said goal.

d. The Launch. Probably the single most stressful time in the life of any fledgling startup is when it moves from beta to actual launch. It’s the time of 18 hour days and hungry bellies. It’s the time when you either make it – or you don’t.

e. Metrics. We live in a world of data. It’s like The Matrix, but without all of the cool “I know kung fu” parts. More than one compnay has been sunked by not understanding the best way to measure that data. So research the nest metrics to use. Keep in mind this can range from very general metrics to something as specific as your sector, or even just your own business. Think on this long and hard, because it might be the best way to sustain and grow your startup.

Creating a decent Business Plan isn’t only about establishing a clear path for your startup to follow. It may very well be the single best way to attract the attention of potential funders. Venture Capitalist Firms and Angel Investors aren’t usually looking for some revolutionary idea. While disruptive businesses are doing well right now, it’s far more important to potential funders to know that you’re in it for the long haul.

Creating a solid business plan shows investors that you have thought about this long and hard. It shows that you’ve done your research, that you’ve thought about how to progress in both the near and far future. Not only does it show strategic planning, but VCs love established metrics. It makes it easy to see how well a startup is doing – judged by the founders own standards.

An excellent business plan is only part of the story though. Entrepreneurs must also plan how to market your product (that’s a whole other can of worms); they must plan how to grow their business, how to eventually get to an IPO (or sell the company), and so on. There are a lot of pitfalls that the newcomer can fall into; maybe it’s better to hire a guide!

Or Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481

The United States, along with other “developed” nations are in an economic transitory period: We are slowing moving from a Skills or Manufacturing based economy, into a Knowledge-based one. In fact, our last post covered in detail how to be successful in this new economy, so feel free to read more about how software ownership might be the ticket to future financial success. But there’s a difference between owning a software license and launching an entire tech startup. Owning a piece of software, while financially enriching isn’t as labor intensive as running an entirely new…

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How Software can Turn You into a Millionaire

Every day we get one step closer to true AI. Every day, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and increasingly more so actual Robots are growing sophistication. As technology becomes more advanced, it slowly creeps into our everyday lives, replacing humans at simple (and not so simple) tasks.

Sure technological advances almost always result in job loss in one sector. But prior to the digital era, humans were still needed for most tasks. What do we do in an age when the AI can write the hard hitting journalism? When Robots can not just build, but design? What happens when consumers can order groceries with a verbal command, and have it delivered by a drone?

Much of this is already taking place and this conversation is happening everywhere. Most economists and Industry Tycoons are asking some form of following questions: in world where everything is automated, what happens to humans? What happens to basic capital generation? How does the average worker make money in world where basic jobs are gone?

This is a legitimate question – after all, with mechanical automation replacing a human workforce, unemployment will be around 90-95%. How will anyone make money in world where the biggest cost (labor) is essentially eliminated? How will people make money in the future without these jobs we see as the core of our economy?

Ideally, this would mean that all of humanity finds peace, that robotic innovations eliminate hunger and disease, that every human on the planet becomes free of want. Without hunger or thirst, with all needs met, humans can feel free to pursue whatever makes them happy.

Or we could be realistic. The whole basis of our economic system is that humans want more than just their basic needs met. What people value changes from person to person, from culture to culture, but at the end of the day, everybody wants something more than just a full belly and warm bed.

Some people believe that this will drive even further the wealth inequality gap. Others, such as Elon Musk, argue for the need to humanity to embrace cybernetics as a legitimate evolutionary path. But we wanted to take a different angle to the central question here: how will people make enough in a world where most human labor (from manufacturing to designing, and even to actual programming) is non-existent?

We wanted to look at this and see what are the practical, actionable steps that can be taken. What can entrepreneur do to ensure their own wealth generation in a changing world? More importantly, how can it be done by the average person, the most vulnerable group to these changes in the Labor Market?

The answer is simpler than one might expect: Software. Imagine if someone knew what routes the railroads in the 19th century would take, before the railroad companies themselves knew? Buying up the land would cost pennies – and could be sold to the railroads at exorbitant prices.

That’s where we are with Robotics, AI, and the IoT. It’s quite clear that the economic future lies in owning software and hardware (as opposed to property). If you can’t control the production itself, control the means. In this case that means custom built software.

Software controls all, a fact with which our programmers are exceptionally familiar. But the ideal venture would be something that grows with the times. Because software is different than property in that it’s easy to update, to add extensive value, to grow with the times. This is important because it means that the owner would be able to generate a sustainable cash flow.

So if software is the key to Future wealth, what are the features needed to create a successful product? Let’s take a look:

• The Cloud

This seems like a weird non-sequitur, but having a cloud-based system is vital. Not only is it more secure, but it means more rapid deployment of updates and features (and thus the ability to rapidly deliver enhanced value). If you want your business to be nimble, fluid, and able to respond quickly, you must be on the Cloud.

• Machine Learning

The entire premise of modern AI is that it records and analyzes user data in order to become smarter. Digital Personal Assistants like Siri, or the more recent Home AIs utilize Machine Learning and Natural Language Processing (NLP) to become more sophisticated, to grow in value every time they’re used.

• Robust Marketing Strategy

This is nuts and bolts stuff. Some programming stuff (i.e. SEO), but as it becomes clearer that software is the next gold mine, the market will become thick with competition. You have to hit the ground running with a robust marketing campaign, even if you’re a B2B service.

• A Clear Message

As we mentioned in the above point, the market for software will become flooded. The best way to avoid this problem is to identify what exact problem you’re attempting to tackle (Start small, grow big), figure out precisely how you’re going to solve it – and then boil it down into a 30 second speech (AKA an Elevator Pitch) that’s clear, concise and explains the benefits you offer. Focus on those benefits – people don’t care how cool your model is. They want to know what they get out of it.

So want to get started but not sure how? Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us! We offer a free consultation, so we’ll even help flesh out some killer business ideas. Look forward to talking to you soon!

Every day we get one step closer to true AI. Every day, AI, the Internet of Things (IoT), and increasingly more so actual Robots are growing sophistication. As technology becomes more advanced, it slowly creeps into our everyday lives, replacing humans at simple (and not so simple) tasks. Sure technological advances almost always result in job loss in one sector. But prior to the digital era, humans were still needed for most tasks. What do we do in an age when the AI can write the hard hitting journalism? When Robots can not just build,…

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Mobile First and Next Gen Retail: Is Your Biz Ready?

2016 was a banner year for online retailers, both for standard internet traffic and mobile (quickly becoming standard) traffic. In fact, even before Black Friday, with some estimates placing online sales at about 40% of all retail sales. Others place it as low as 15% (the confusion is a combination of poor metrics, obfuscation, and outright lies), but almost all analysts now agree: by 2030, more than 50% of retail sales (excluding Bar and in-Restaurant sales) will happen online.

The numbers from Black Friday 2016 are a portent for things to come:

• Nearly $92 billion (up a 11%) sold online;

• Almost 26 billion visits to online retail sites;

• More than 50% of online sales and website visits came from a mobile device (generating nearly $30 billion in revenue);

Amazon managed to get nearly 40% of every retail dollar spent in November.

More than it being an awesome year for eCommerce, but it was a particular bad one for brick-and-mortar stores. While Amazon is adding about 100,000 jobs, brick and mortar layoffs and closures stand in stark comparison:

• Walmart is (potentially) laying off about 1000 jobs at their headquarters;

• Macy’s is really taking a deep cut, losing nearly 10,000 jobs;

• Sears sold their Premiere brand (Craftsmen) – and is closing a whopping 150 Sears & KMart locations. It is likely that this is only the first round of closures;

• The popular clothing company Limited closed all of its stores (250) and filed for Chapter 11;

All of these massive Retail corporation closures are having an even harder impact on local stores. Macys, JCPenney, Sears, and even Limited are all staples of the American Mall (often called Anchors). As the larger chains fall, the smaller stores in malls suffer even harder. The problem is threefold:

1. Malls can’t find another retailer who can rent a massive space left behind by a Sears;

2. Anchor stores provide the largest chunk of a Mall’s revenue; most aren’t profitable without it;

3. Again, Anchor stores are often the reason people go to a mall. So without the JCPennys of the world, Malls also lose foot traffic, which depresses revenue for the other stores, causing more closures, etc.

Industry Analyst RetailNext reported that not only did mall sales drop 10% in 2016, foot traffic fell an additional 13%. All across the US, malls are closing up and disappearing from the American imagination and changing the face of retail. So what does this mean for the traditional brick and mortar stores? Well, to put it bluntly: Evolve or die.

How to Evolve into a Mobile Retail Giant

Walmart, while cutting jobs, is also really pushing big into the world eCommerce. Just recently, they bought eCommerce upstart Jet.com for a cool $3 billion. Their intention is to integrate this highly successful online retail store into Walmart’s existing ecosystem. This isn’t a new trick (Microsoft was well known for just snatching up potential rivals left and right) but it does point to a way forward for traditional retailers.

Walmart did more than just buy a website. They bought an algorithm and an entire eCommerce infrastructure. They can leave Jet.com untouched and create a Walmart branded online store using Jet.com’s proven algorithm.

More than that, while these massive brick and mortar retailers are reporting store closures, they’re simultaneously reporting gains from their online outlets. So key takeaway# 1 for brick and mortar stores is that you if you would like to continue to be viable, you must have a way for your customers to buy from you online.

An eCommerce site is a great example of this – but you probably already know that. This is probably not the first time you’ve read a piece about the dire necessity of a website. The usefulness of modern tech does not end at website.

Any business generates data, but online tools like a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) System allow you to collect all of that data. When combined with Google Analytics. These tools enable ways to discover new relationships and further develop existing relationships. This data can even tell you who is local or interested in visiting your physical location, which can lead to improved marketing campaigns. So key takeaway #2: Big Data analytics can revolutionize how you conduct business.

Social media sites are not only great resources to study the competition, but are also an unparalleled tool for discovering more about potential customers. The true jewel for a retailer though is the ability to reach a global market – a potential consumer pool that cannot be reached via a brick and mortar store.

Furthermore, most of the giant Social media sites like Facebook are pushing hard to improve their platform’s potential to help retailers, both traditional and online. The prime example of this are ChatBots (aka MicroApps, aka Bots); these tools are inexpensive, effective, and represent the future of online sales, especially for impulse buys. In other words: key takeaway #3, Social Media can growth hack your business – and is necessary to the success of a modern business.

So to wrap this all up, the need for brick and mortar stores is decreasing and US Americans are changing their shopping habits. However, traditional retailers will never go away entirely; there are clear ways for traditional stores to improve their revenue using the tools of technology (beyond just building a simple website):

1. The Obvious: building an eCommerce site (or even better, an app);

2. The Data: there’s no denying the unrivaled resource in customer management represented by Big Data; and

3. The Opportunity: Social media is an amazing tool for research AND market growth.

The only other piece of advice we would like to impart before we depart: we are seeing the rise of mobile, as indicated earlier. So, no matter what you do, you need make sure your website (which you should have) functions perfectly across all devices, especially mobile devices.

The good news for the business owner and/or entrepreneur is that SDI does all of this and more. Whether you need to go mobile, build better tools for Big Data, or start your own online retail business, we can help! Give us a call at 408.805.0495/408.621.8481 – or click to contact us!

2016 was a banner year for online retailers, both for standard internet traffic and mobile (quickly becoming standard) traffic. In fact, even before Black Friday, with some estimates placing online sales at about 40% of all retail sales. Others place it as low as 15% (the confusion is a combination of poor metrics, obfuscation, and outright lies), but almost all analysts now agree: by 2030, more than 50% of retail sales (excluding Bar and in-Restaurant sales) will happen online. The numbers from Black Friday 2016 are a portent for things to come: • Nearly $92…

Read More

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