Though this event will not be at the same scale and calibur as the previous gala; I promise festivities and interesting entrepreneurial pitches from the midventures community.

Where:

63 East Lake Street

Rooftop Terrace

When:

October 30th

7 pm - midnight

As usual, the dress will be strictly ‘Web Casual’

Justin brought to my attention that ‘Web Casual’ is similar to ‘Smart Casual’ as states the wikipedia article.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_casual

Halloween customes permitted.

I’m an avid techcrunch reader; and I recently came across an article about Freshbooks

Freshbooks is ‘painless billing’ - online invoicing, payments, client lists, accounts receivable, etc- in a Web 2.0 format.

But that’s not what piqued my interest.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/14/freshbooks-releases-first-quarterly-industry-benchmark-report/

It is not the tools that make Freshbooks innovative- its how they apply the data aggregated from the tools to help you run your small business. What that means is you- a small business- can be dynamically compared to other businesses in your industry or sector, according to revenue, expenses, one-time or recurring payments, etc. You get your personal report card- and you can compare that to your industry.

Take that a step further. Instead of merely comparing your business by valuation or revenue; any type of business can learn how to run itself by comparing itself across an array of statistics to its competitors; number of staff, staff salary, location, investments, even linkedin connections or software solutions in use.

Comparing report cards helps us know when to follow- and when to avoid- the new trend.

Now I just need to convince Brian to use Freshbooks.

http://gigaom.com/2008/10/09/what-startups-can-learn-from-sequoias-doomsday-warning/

Sequoia Capital has invested in and incubated some of modernity’s greatest startups; and their advice in a troubled market is: stay alive.

I like 2 components of their philosophy. 

First- focus on cash flow. What is the shortest route between you and revenue? Jump on that.

Second- get hardcore with your sales and marketing. Cut what does not work; and push whatever works harder and faster.

Something I would add to the article: Partner up, more than ever. Don’t be afraid to collaborate with or even merge with partners you would otherwise ignore. If you’re a dreamy web company; partner with a stable small business- and if you have access to customers; partner with a product you can sell them.

Let’s get creative.