IncPlace:Shake hands with your new business partners—all 6.6 billion of them. At IncPlace, you connect with people and organizations of all sizes from around the globe, to discuss business, and learn new ways to grow your own. Better, faster, and cheaper than an M.B.A.—that's IncPlace.

"Why, then the world's mine oyster,
Which I with sword will open."
-- The Merry Wives of Windsor (II, ii, 2-3)

These stirring words from one Bard help us introduce another -- Krista Bard, President of CCPA, whose 'State of the City' event we recently attended.

Krista has the honor of being the subject of the first IncPlace podcast. Here, she discusses how small business collaboration and community support go a long way in growing a business.

We hope Krista's expertise provides just the sword you need to crack open your own business oyster (you get what I mean). Many thanks, Krista! And happy listening to all.



And for your viewing pleasure ... here I am with Krista the night of the event.



Seun joined in the fun, too. Here, we're discussing small business Web development.



Behold, the actual podcast production! Here's Julia Rocchi, one of our producers, with Krista hot on the mic.

Labels: Business Development, CCPA, Krista Bard, Podcast

Last week, Team IncPlace went native.

That is, we attended Philadelphia’s Fifth Annual State of the City, hosted by the Center City Proprietors Association (CCPA). This event brings together local business and civic leaders to discuss achievements and failures of the past year, and set goals for the coming one.

This year, it also brought me and Seun, who live and work in Philadelphia, putting us in the unique position to comment as citizens and businessmen. Here are our observations.

Philly's Top Challenges

Some of the speakers talked about making the city friendlier to venture capitalists and financial institutions to attract new business, and help the city incubate strong business ideas. Easier said than done in our fair city, thanks to several significant roadblocks.

One, nobody wants to pay Philly’s high business privilege tax. Apparently, no one on the panel wanted to discuss it either, and never explained why the business tax hasn't been lowered yet, or removed entirely.

One panelist even went so far as to defend the tax structure, saying Europeans find us a bargain, thanks to the exchange rate. This is more than a non-sequitur, it’s total crap. How many mega European conglomerate companies do you see investing in downtown Philadelphia?

Point is, favorable tax structures encourage business development. You can’t have one without the other. Philly has neither.

Two, Philly is not generally viewed as a progressive city. Other cities have boasted skyscraper-rich skylines and strong business communities for years. But the new office towers in Philly's skyline are recent, and old ones are mostly vacant.

Moreover, only two of those new towers are successful right now: the Cira Centre and the Comcast Center, which is under construction. And the reason for their leasing success? The offer of 10-year tax abatements. (See point number one.)

Finally, Philadelphia lacks the Internet infrastructure to tap into the global economy. To its credit, the city has several WiFi programs in the works. When completed, these will help local business access new opportunities online, reach new audiences, and participate fully in the global exchange.

Until then, however, businesses are under economic house arrest, confined to the national marketplace.

Philly's Best Opportunities

Lest readers outside the area think Philly is a business development backwater, here are a few ways Philly is poised to fully earn the title ‘next great city.’

I was intrigued by the use of new media at Greater Philadelphia Tourism Marketing Corporation. President and CEO Meryl Levitz spoke about her organization’s efforts to embrace new social media as a way to spread their messages. They’ve even hired a social media director to spearhead the changes.

No time like the present! The current Web 2.0 landscape is the perfect breeding ground for such expansion. Communities and businesses have tremendous opportunity to promote themselves over many different channels, and reach a large, diverse audience quickly and inexpensively.

Social media can also support Thomas Morr’s call at Select Greater Philadelphia for outreach programs that educate organizations about doing business in Philadelphia. The right promotional materials, applied appropriately, can be a great complement to the city’s revamped image, and help reinforce positive positioning.

The most telling moment of the evening came at its very end. Krista Bard, CCPA’s president, directly expressed her concerns to me about how businesses must get online in order to succeed.

She’s heard countless stories of business owners frustrated with getting online these days. Yet why is this even an issue, she asked, considering all the new Web 2.0 community building tools available, and the supposed ease of e-commerce?

Sad, but true, Krista. There’s a business side to the digital divide that few discuss, but many experience. And it’s preventing small businesses from capturing e-commerce profits, and large and mid-sized business from capturing new customers and vendors.

Herein lies Philly’s biggest opportunity. The city can deliver a one-two punch to the competition by attracting new businesses, and then helping them all get online, too. This will put the City of Brotherly Love on the map, online and offline, and turn the Sixth Annual State of the City into a celebration.

Labels: Business Development, Philadelphia, Tax structure, Web development, WiFi

Credibility. It's a small business's strongest currency, the special sauce that dazzles investors, employees, and customers. That's according to the results of the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED), summarized at Inc.com.

Here are some of my own suggestions for kicking your venture's success up a notch.

First, don't be afraid to forgo formality. Traditional business plans are not always necessary. A brief executive summary, a short competitive analysis, and a simple budget outline often make good starting points. People often spend (waste?) months perfecting their business plans, only to be shot down by an investor at the first meeting.

That's because the idea of a 'perfect business plan' is a myth. You can't be perfect, because the market and competition are always shifting. Your business has to hit the moving target.

To do so, you must constantly monitor your space. Continue to refine your company goals. Be innovative. Keep moving forward. Maintain flexibility. Be open to change. And check your ego at the door. Few things go right on the first go-around, so be prepared to fail.

Next, find business mentors, and pick their brains for valuable advice or lessons learned. Same goes for internal strength. Seek partners and employees who are open-minded, collaborative, and open to feedback.

One simple trick: Hire people who are smarter than you, and then leave them alone to do their best work. Micromanaging limits company growth and creativity (not to mention drives everyone bonkers).

Finally, take advantage of real-world education. College degrees certainly have merit, but day-to-day business also requires common sense and situational awareness. The more attuned your senses, the faster you can act -- and with better results.

Labels: Business Development, Inc.com, Small business

Here’s a subject I’ve believed in -- and lived -- my entire 28-year career: the power of insecurity.

I went into the family business full time in 1978. Our company, J.W.S. Delavau, Inc., manufactured high-volume, low-margin nutritional supplements. At the time, we got little respect and even less attention within the industry.

Our facility reflected our spirits. We worked in a 100-year-old, five-story building in a rough Philadelphia neighborhood, with zero capital to invest in expansion or upgrades.

Our bad situation soon worsened. The bank told us we had 60 days to get our act together, or it would pull our loan. Then we lost our top two customers. Insecurity was running high, and the wolves were at the door.

To survive, we had to be innovative and lean. But the turning point didn't come overnight. First, we focused on improving our primary product line, calcium. It generated good press over time, and we slowly gained more business.

This revenue let us buy better equipment. We refined our unique processes, and increased throughput by 50x. We also recruited better management personnel, and hired people with deep experience in larger pharmaceutical companies. And we moved our facility to a new building, finally gaining full control of our process, product, and costs.

The industry noticed our 180-degree transformation. Soon, we attracted branded pharmaceutical companies to buy from us, as we were one of the only companies that could meet their standards. This established us as the low-cost producer with high-end quality.

Ultimately, we became the most profitable company by percentage in our industry, employing over 400 people. Our reputation as innovators preceded us; other firms clamored to see how we did it. In 2002, an LBO firm in New York acquired us, with the promise to expand on the company's upward movements.

Step by step. Inch by inch. Lot of crossed fingers and holding breath. As the company's key decision maker, I was responsible for keeping the house of cards erect. But even at our most successful period, I never shook the mindset that it could crash at any moment. I did not want to go back to the “good old days” -- truly some of the worst in my life.

These fears and insecurities focused me on keeping a competitive edge. Without the early challenges, I could not have forged the company -- or myself -- into our ultimate successes. We were always out to prove that we were as good as or better than every other company in the industry. And it turned out we were, thanks to hard work and sheer grit.

As my life experience shows, insecurity is a great motivator, especially when you understand it, and know how to leverage it. Remember, though, to temper your fears with belief and confidence in your abilities. Otherwise, you'll be crippled before you even enter the race.

Labels: Business Development, Delavau, Philadelphia, Small business

I’m a Yahoo! fan -- have been since its early days as a leader in online innovation. In the Internet's youth, Yahoo! embodied what it meant to be an Internet success, similar to YouTube's status for the Web 2.0 era.

Today is a different story. Smaller startup companies are succeeding, while Yahoo! sits at a standstill.

Why the switch? As Internet companies like Yahoo! grow, they shift their business focus -- a necessary evolution. Yet they also shed the startup spirit that made them successful in the first place.

No wonder, then, that today's entrepreneurs can take on established companies. Their ample supply of startup spirit drives innovative thinking. Their lean teams -- five employees or less -- keep them nimble and creative, which leads to newer, cutting-edge products much faster than at companies with 10,000 people ... like Yahoo!.

Google is a rare exception for large companies. They have sustained the startup environment throughout rapid growth. Also, they're well-known for hiring the very best people, and giving them a comfortable place to brainstorm day and night -- an approach that keeps them ahead of the pack.

With such high consumer expectations in this Web 2.0 era, company size no longer matters. Rather, a company must recruit forward-thinking, creative people, and focus on building innovative products.

If a company can make life easier, cheaper, smarter, or better, they will change the way people function. That's what will set them apart, and put them ahead.

Labels: Business Development, Entrepreneurs, Yahoo

Last word on my recent Facebook and follow-up posts, I promise. The soapbox has one more good rant in it ...

‘Young’ does not equal ‘stupid.’ Yet many people believe it does. I call this phenomenon the Gray Hair Effect, a.k.a. ageism. Or in this case, youngism. Because I’m not talking about discrimination toward senior citizens. I’m talking about discrimination toward younger business people.

I’m 25. I have a start-up venture to my name. I’ve worked as a partner in my family investment firm. Usually before I meet with someone, I call them, introduce myself, shoot the breeze, discuss the agenda -- anything to make the meeting warmer and more productive later.

Then I show up. Here, the Gray Hair Effect comes into play. The same person I just spoke to on the phone will ask, “Hey, where’s your boss, Andy? You know, that guy I talked to on the phone?”

And God forbid I arrive with an older partner. Then most conversation is directed toward them -- even if I’m the one asking the questions. It’s like a bizarre, late-in-life interpretation of ‘children should be seen and not heard’.

I recognize that most people who hold power positions in companies tend to be older. After all, it often takes time, education, and experience to reach positions with greater responsibility.

What I don’t understand is their negative attitude toward younger businesspeople. Why should anybody care how old you are when dealing with business? The last time I checked, some of the most successful people in the world started off young, particularly in the Web 2.0 world.

Some fast facts:

* Michael Dell started his computer company in his dorm room at University of Texas at Austin. He was 19. He is now a billionaire.

* Sergey Brin and Larry Page at Google started a search engine when they were in their mid-twenties. They are now two of the richest people in the world.

* Chad Hurley, Steve Chen, and Jawed Karim started YouTube -- that’s right -- in their twenties.

* Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe were in their twenties when they founded MySpace.

* Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg was 19 -- another dorm-room upstart.

* Kevin Rose of Digg.com was on the cover of BusinessWeek. He’s now 30.

Let’s face it: Age is no longer a prerequisite for success. Good ideas are good ideas, regardless of time spent on the planet. The face of business is changing, and it counts fewer wrinkles.

Now I want to hand the mic over to you. Young business people: Have you faced age discrimination in the business world, from peers or from older workers? If so, how have you responded to it? What lessons have you learned?

Older business people: Same questions! Have you faced age discrimination from peers or younger workers? Your responses? Lessons learned?

Go. Type. Respond. In the meantime, here are some tips I follow to combat the Gray Hair Effect in my own life: (Though I think this is sound advice for any age group.)

1. Be a domain expert. Know what you’re talking about. Do as much research as you can on the topic you’re meeting about, especially if you’re pitching a business idea. The more facts and figures your grasp, the more respect you will command in a business situation.

2. Practice your presentation. Never go into a meeting cold. And please, don’t open with a cheesy joke. This shows lack of confidence and originality in the presenter.

3. Observe your body language and the audience’s body language. When someone is speaking to you, lean in towards them to show your interest. Conversely, avoid sitting back in the chair with crossed arms -- an indicator of insecurity and disinterest.

4. Use your hands when speaking. Count ideas on your fingers. Point to people you connect with. Bang your hand on the table to emphasize a strong point. Scan the crowd, and make eye contact with everyone in the room. And don’t wring your hands -- that screams nerves.

5. Get excited! Raise your voice when you are making a strong point about your product. Emphasize ideas that catch the attention and imagination of your audience. If you’re not engaged in your own work, how can you expect anyone else to be?

6. Ask questions. This counts even in lousy meetings. You never know what tidbit of info might be useful later. Keep your ears open, and write everything down.

7. Don’t burn bridges. Swallow your pride when necessary, however unpleasant it might be. None of us have crystal balls, and we never know whose path we will intersect later in life, or in what capacity. The more polite and professional you remain, the more willing people will be to work with you at any point.

And one final caveat to my peers in the business world: Time does not stand still. I already count 15 gray hairs on my head. One day, we’ll be the older workers, and a new generation will be complaining about us. So let’s remember where we came from, and snuff out the Gray Hair Effect forever.

Labels: Age, Business Development, Presentation, Small business