Question: what if you have a launched business + the trademark to the name and someone still owns and won't sell the .com URL? We own the .co and all other extentions but the .com is preferred, would you go about thr same way groupon did it in this case?
It's not spammy but it does include graphics, colors, layouts, etc. Also I could be wrong but I think using an html email gives you a more accurate open rate.
Sure some people can misuse html email's but I don't think they are all bad.
We pulled all of these localized resources from the city specific StartupDigest's we publish. Thought it would be a good idea to put them all on page and accessible outside of the email newsletter.
Would appreciate your thoughts and if you have any city specific (national + international) blogs, news sites, or resources to add leave it as a comment below.
If you are targeting restaurants (if not pick a good segment, small business is huge) then I would suggest going at off hours (very early or late), going in person, and talking to the owner face to face.
Most likely if its a small business restaurant the owner will be there. Even better is buy breakfast or dinner at the restaurant.
Then when you get a chance explain the problem you are trying to solve and a brief explanation on what you are doing, with the goal of getting feedback and their opinion. Only then if the owner is interested in hearing more should you follow up with an official pitch/presentation on what you can do.
It's a hard and slow process but no one said #startuplife is easy
Never used Groupon, but you might want to try emailing/calling some of the Retailers that have used Groupon in the smaller cities and see firsthand how effective it is.
Might be hard to find a "Retail Owner" here on HN.
Open rate varies a lot city to city but we see anywhere between 20%-60% opens across all of the issues.
We still use twitter/facebook to spread our blog posts, archives, etc but email is our main channel of distribution. For us we see twitter bringing ~30% of our subscribers, facebook doesn't do so well for us.
In our experience, once you hit above 50k subscribers it starts to get the attention of advertisers. Also important is how long you have been doing it for, it takes time to build up trust.
Thanks for the great comment and recommendation! We are writing up a quick post about our experience as a email newsletter company, will post it here once its up.
There was just a HN story asking about non-developer success stories (sorry don't have the link, writing this using the HN iPhone app) this is a perfect story for that discussion.
A large % of companies were started by non-coders, and this is a good example of one. Not to say anyone can solve hard technical problems but just because you can't code doesn't mean you can't start something great.
There is nothing wrong with starting a business in a traditional industry, the most important thing is doing something you love and want to do.
Local investors and successful entrepreneurs: the early-stage entrepreneurs in your cities need you now more than ever. We need you to take your vision, put it on the ground, and carry your city and your followers up with you.
We need you to be our heroes.
Go with your associates and assistants to local events. Their eyes and ears aren’t trained like yours to find insane talent and bigtime ideas. They can’t inspire us with their experience and insight like you can.
We need your perspective and physical presence to find the best your city has to offer and to help us bust through the brick walls that are stacked in front of us.
Give us your presence at one event each week at a bar down your street. We need your instant and honest feedback. When you’re there to give it, you will make our ideas, our companies, and your city better, faster.
To be clear, this isn’t charity work. Being on the ground floor again will remind you why you got into this business in the first place (or, maybe, why you should get out). If all you think about is dollars, I bet you’ll find companies to advise and invest in that no one else has heard about yet.
But all money aside, do you believe your city can be home to the next company to shake up the world?
If you want to make your city into a true startup hub, you need to show us your face.
You may never write a check to a local startup, but we will never forget those who shook our hand and told us what we needed to hear first, even if you reject our ideas because our market, the team, or the traction isn’t right.
This is, as David Lee said last week, “a pay-it-forward business.” If you pay one night forward to your followers, your company, and your city, each one will give more to you than you can possibly imagine.
Ron Conway is a hero to Silicon Valley. Fred Wilson is a hero to New York.