Blog: Resources

Startup Launch Game

We have just completed our first text based game. It is called Startup Launch. This is the official Alpha release. There may be some items that still need a bit more tweaking, however, we appreciate any feedback to improve the game.

This game was built with a very interesting text based game tool called Hoot. It was very instrumental in getting this game into your hands as quickly as possible. You can see how to use it yourself.


Unconventional Meetings

Let's face it many or all of us have been part of an unproductive meeting. And there are plenty of reasons meetings get off topic or lack focus. Important meetings can be derailed from having a positive impact, and some of those reasons are listed below.

  • Lack of structure - no agenda or one lacking clarity
  • Lack of guidelines - no set meeting rules
  • Lack of perspective - not the correct set of attendees
  • Lack of information - not enough information provided ahead of the meeting
  • Lack of time - not enough time scheduled to cover information in detail

Most meetings suffer from one or more of the listed conditions. The question becomes, how do we change this and make meetings more productive and outcome focused? We need to apply unconventional methods of meeting with one another and small groups.

Things To Try

  • Offsite Meetings - Think about scheduling a team meeting somewhere other than your typical work environment. This can help spark conversation on areas team members may feel too pressured to openly disc…

Fast Financial Forecast

I recently came upon two similar yet different interesting financial projection apps. They are simple to use and do not require any login or credentials. Both resources are single page sites that take less than a minute to tweak. Keep in mind these are not intended to be feature rich or all inclusive. The sole purpose for these resources is quickly giving you financial forecasts of how much money you will make or need to make based on other factors you plug in or change.

Stand to Make - Cost - Free -This app puts your inputs into a contextual paragraph explaining what you will make based on your pricing, number of sales, length of time and payment provider fees. Since I encountered this app several weeks ago, they have added additional payment providers for even more accuracy.

Your Rate - Cost - Free - This app takes your inputs and lets you know what you should be charging at an hourly rate to make the amount of money you are targeting. There are only 3 inputs for you to change, how much you want to make,…


One Or Two For You?

I just came across two similar but different apps that could be of great help to solopreneurs, freelancers, startups and small businesses. Both apps are great for project management and have additional useful features. These offerings come from our neighboring state of Georgia created by 23rd & Walnut.

I took some time to explore the demo versions of both versions mentioned below. Each version has an intuitive interface and a solid accompanying feature set.

Solo - Cost - $0 - As you may have guessed is positioned for solopreneurs and freelancers. The bonus with this version is that the program is absolutely free. This app is more than just project management. It also offers, task management, file management, a project calendar, a task timer, an activity stream, a global search, client pages and HTML emails.

Duet - Cost - $49 - This version focuses on multiple users and the additional features they need. This version has, file management, task management, a visual invoice builder, integrated team messaging…


The Search for More

I want to briefly bring the following websites to your attention. Hopefully they will help quench your thirst for searching in many different categories.

  • Instant Domain Search - This is a great tool to hunt for the elusive perfect domain name for your venture in real time. It may not cover every possible Top Level Domain (TPL), but it is a great place to begin your search. You can also click the link below the search bar to Encrypt your searches (if you are worried that the someone may intercept your great name, this is a great feature to use).
  • Scout-o-matic - I just stumbled onto this app this morning. It looks like a great tool for discovering talented developers by location, key technologies and skills. The interface for this app is slick and the filtering is fast. If you are looking for a developer or a technical co-founder, this would be a great place to start.
  • Nolo - This is a repository full of legal forms and free legal information. The website allow provides ways for you to purchase forms, books a…