The most famous poem written by British poet and philosopher Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, about a sailor returned from a long journey to the South Pole who recounts his story to a passerby. In this lengthy poem, Coleridge employs special literary techniques, including personification and repetition in a [...]

In part one of his article, Stefan Wolpers provided a working definition of bootstrapping and outlined the secrets of succeeding as a bootstrapped startup. Here he goes into two of the most important: how to save money, and how to avoid spending money. Cash is king. This is a commonplace when bootstrapping, along with the the [...]

In the first two parts of his article on online payment methods for German startups, Martin Ott outlined basic requirements and discussed the most common payment methods. In the third and final part, he looks at the costs involved and the importance of data security. What costs can be expected? The costs involved when integrating [...]

A well-known Berlin business angel revealed the mindset of the investor community recently when he said “I only invest in web start-ups with at least one SEO specialist in the team.”  Very few web companies still function completely without traffic from Google et al. Indeed, SEO used in addition to SEM is the primary source [...]

If you run a business, trying to share content on your own video site has probably been a bit of a headache: it requires specialist software, it’s difficult to programme and video takes up oodles of expensive bandwidth. But all of that is changing fast. Danish startup 23 Video is a case in point: it [...]

When people who are fond of the web and its marketing possibilties try to convince traditional marketers of this fact, they often emphasise the new possibilities of tracking offered by the digital age. We know quite well what indicators and metrics are important. The biggest problem is, that we simply don’t look at them. We [...]

In the second part of my article, I will be helping you to weigh up the advantages and disadvantages of some of the major payment methods available to online businesses. Invoice / Money Order Payment by invoice carries high risks for the retailer. First, there is the possibility of non-payment. Resulting costs for the merchant [...]

The Samwer brothers are arguably the most prolific and successful Internet investors in Germany. And the chances are that if you’re a startup entrepreneur and they invested in your company, you wouldn’t forget it in a hurry. At least, not if you were sober. But for argument’s sake let’s say that you did forget – [...]

More and more corporations are entering the mobile app market. The trends are clear that corporations must find ways to go mobile with the explosion of the smartphone market, and with that, the mobile app market. In 2009, corporations that were in the app market were just trying to get their feet wet and find [...]

The annual exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London has long been an arena for artistic rivalry among Britain’s finest painters, and the exhibition of 1832 was no exception. Paintings executed by two of the United Kingdom’s most illustrious landscape artists – J.M.W. Turner and John Constable – were hung side by side [...]

Suffering from amnesia? Or are you, as a young startup founder, perhaps just a little forgetful when it comes to large piles of investment cash? If you’re at the stage where you’re beginning to wonder who actually backed your business idea, then now may be the time for a little recap. If Team Europe Ventures [...]

Nicheworks are highly coveted or soon will be as no brand is an island. Attention and interests are focused within social streams and as individuals are empowered to define their online experiences, connecting the dots proves pivotal. If conversations are markets, nicheworks represent the glue that binds disparate conversational ecosystems. And through effective engagement, we [...]