Paperless Post
When Harvard student James Hirschfeld couldn't find a "classy" looking digital invitation for his 21st birthday, he decided to...
Paperless Post
When Harvard student James Hirschfeld couldn't find a "classy" looking digital invitation for his 21st birthday, he decided to translate the look and feel of a high end paper invitation to the digital realm. Inspired in part by former Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg, James and his sister Alexa founded Paperless Post in 2008 hoping their concept was the next big idea. More affordable than paper stationary, the site quickly attracted high profile users like Prince Charles, Condoleezza Rice and the White House. Now, their biggest competitor, Evite, has launched a remarkably similar site called Postmark. Will the established player in the field upset the innovative startup? Only time will tell.
Panelists
Mo Koyfman, Principal at Spark Capital
Michael Simmons, Co-founder & CEO of Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour
Learning from the Pros: Ian Schrager
His groundbreaking New York City nightclub “Studio 54,” was once the hottest ticket of its day. Today, Ian Schrager is yet again turning heads with a collection of exclusive hotels and restaurants around the world, including the brand new ‘Public Chicago’ hotel on that city's gold coast. Your Business caught up with this trend-setting entrepreneur to find out how he manages to build buzz and stay ahead of the curve in a down economy in this Learning from the Pros.
Top 5: Website Necessities
In this week’s top 5, we take a look at the top five elements you should keep in mind when developing your business’s website.
5. Know the basics of Search Engine Optimization
4. Fresh, quality content
3. Easy to navigate
2. Simple, sensible web address
1. Clear description of your business
Source: Entrepreneur.com
Elevator Pitch: Berkshire Bark Chocolate
Jerome Bertuglia and Kevin Schmitz are the co-founders of Berkshire Bark Chocolate. Located in western Massachusetts, they make all-natural bark-style chocolate bars. Jerome says their use of chunky-size ingredients and fun flavor combinations led epicurious.com to call Berkshire Bark Chocolate “the Ben and Jerry’s of chocolate.” What makes their chocolates unique in the market is that although they use the highest quality ingredients; Berkshire Bark has a fun, unpretentious nature and an accessible price point. Since they launched the company five years ago, they have had an average yearly growth of 25% in sales. Berkshire Bark has two national and two regional distributors, with products in several retail stores. They are looking for an investment of $500,000 to expand facilities, purchase machinery, and for marketing. In return they think they can offer 14% return on investment and possible company equity.
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