Thom Singer is the director of business development at vcfo. He is also a professional speaker and the author of several books on the power of business relationships and networking. He can be reached at tsinger@vcfo.com. Establishing long-term business contacts is important to your success. In the small ecosystem that is the Austin Startup / Technology community you cannot avoid networking if you want to make sure that all opportunities come your way. Avoiding the [...]
Today’s guest blogger is Dana Duran, the director of vhr, HR Solutions from vcfo. Dana and her team of experienced HR professionals work with companies of all sizes to strategize and implement human resources strategies and solutions. She can be reached at 512-450-6560 or dduran@vcfo.com. In today’s recessionary economy, many business owners and leaders are focused on near-term tactics that will enable them to survive the current market turbulence. But what if we could instead [...]
Guest blogger Tim Wright is the principal of WrightResults, and blogs at CultureToEngage. Today he has some great information for us about the value and necessity of employee engagement in a startup. You’d think employee engagement’s meaning would be clear, even if quite a few people don’t know it. It’s probably not that they don’t know it; more likely they don’t have a mental file folder labeled “Employee Engagement.” That’s why when I answer someone’s [...]
Today’s guest blogger is Thom Singer, the director of business development for vcfo. He is also the author of several books on the power of business relationships and networking. Read his blog here. 2008 is coming to an abrupt close. This year in business will not soon be forgotten (although many will try). We have seen many ups and downs, and the economy has been rocked on several levels. As people begin to look toward [...]
Greg Garrison is the president of vrecruting – Recruiting solutions from vcfo. He has over 15 years experience in the recruiting and staffing industry, and is regularly quoted nationally as a thought-leader in employment trends. He can be reached at ggarrison (at) vcfo or 512-450-6569. Is your startup company hiring or firing? Chances are you’re doing a little of both. Neither is easy and both events impact you, the individual, your team, your company and [...]
Guest blogger Josh Dilworth works for the public relations firm Porter Novelli, and is one of the most highly regarded PR minds among the Web 2.0 community. At the University of Texas at Austin’s Ready To Commercialize conference last week, supercomputing and parallel computing legend Danny Hillis gave a most excellent talk about the key ingredients necessary for successful innovation. It was an especially relevant topic for those in attendance, as the conference-going crowd was [...]
Guest blogger Tim Wright is the principal of WrightResults, and blogs at CultureToEngage. Today he has some great information for us about the value and necessity of employee engagement in a startup. Sometime between 1997 when it started and today, the Gallup Organization’s Q12 Survey made “employee engagement” one of the latest buzz phrases. In 2006, The Gallup Organization’s Q12 Survey had surveyed more than 4 million individuals. The baseline results: 29% of employees are [...]
Today’s guest blogger is Corey Blahuta, the Austin Managing Director for vcfo, Inc. He can be reached at cblahuta@vcfo or (512)345-9441. For more information see: www.vcfo.com. My company, vcfo, hosted a great event last Thursday where a panel of experts discussed a variety of alternative financing strategies. It struck me as funny to call these “alternative strategies” as they are neither risqué nor new, they are just a bit different than the traditional path of [...]
Thom Singer is the director of business development for vcfo, inc. He is also the author of three books on the power of business relationships and networking. He can be reached at www.thomsinger.com. Have you heard? The international economy is not doing great. One cannot pick up a newspaper, read a website or hear a broadcast without stories about how the downturn in the economy is affecting everyone from Washington to Wall Street to Main [...]
One of the most unrecognized groups to help make the Austin Innotech trade show as a premier trade show is the Austin Association of Information Technology Professionals. As one of the sponsors, AITP is hosting the award program this afternoon which recognizes the city’s top technology leaders. Last year, the chapter, recognized the following IT professionals: Sam Coursen, VP & CIO of Freescale, Austin IT Executive of the Year – Private Sector Jim Weatherby, Director [...]
