Starting a Project? Maybe Kickstarter Can Help

You may have heard about KickStarter already. SBDC and CITD staff learned about them after hearing about a Facebook competitor who used KickStarter to fund their start-up. Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative ideas and ambitious endeavors. It is powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands. It helps entrepreneurs inspire potential funders (every day folks) to open their wallets by offering smart, fun, and tangible rewards such as products, benefits, and experiences.

Copying the Big Guys’ Web Design? Why You Might Want to Think Again

At the SBDC and CITD we designed and update our own website. And we asked ourselves several questions during the process. But Web Usability Expert Jakob Neilson just released a great article about exactly this… “When faced with a design quandary, bosses are often inclined to say, “why don’t we just copy X?” where X is some high-profile, successful website. Site X is doing something right, since they’re so big and famous. But copying successful designs is not a foolproof way to improve your own site’s business value. Indeed, this strategy has many pitfalls. Continue reading…”

The Fastest Growing Company Ever?

Twitter? Nope. Facebook? Try again. SBDC and CITD staff came across this Forbe’s article about Groupon, in which they are lauded as the fastest growing company ever. Writer Christopher Steiner explains:  “Andrew Mason figured out how to inject hysteria into the process of bargain hunting on the Web. The result is an overnight success story called Groupon.” Continue reading…

Gunnar Schalin Selected as San Diego & Imperial Regional SBDC State Star

The Small Business Development Center and Center for International Trade Development offer Gunnar Schalin, Director of the San Diego Contracting Opportunities Center at Southwestern College as our nominee for State/Regional Star.

Have you heard about the On-the-Job Training (OJT) program? It is part of the Federal Stimulus/Recovery package created by the Obama Administration.  The San Diego Workforce Partnership has contracted Manpower to administer the program here in San Diego County.