Just as movies are made outside of Hollywood and cars are built outside of Detroit, entrepreneurs, startups, and venture capitalists are present in places other than Silicon Valley. Worldwide, there are business-friendly environments that are conducive to expansion of technological advancements. This graphic by Gist examines these various “Entrepreneur Meccas” where talent and dollars collide to bring advancements to the world. Click to enlarge. (Via: Gist. H/T: Cleveland VW.)…

The “Startup Sea” is broad and loaded with life. There are those who are considered predators, which means someone has to be the prey. It’s a self-sustaining culture as long as there’s enough people (and dollars) looking for “the next big thing” coming into our lives. That part, at least, seems to be consistent. Everyone from angel investors to tech bloggers play a role. It can be an ugly process to create something wonderful. This graphic by our friends at Udemy examines this ecosystem and makes the distinct roles come to life. Click to enlarge. …

The new global economy isn’t defined by the battle for the newest machines or precious ore, but a battle of ideas. Not ideas like concepts, fantastic new technologies, or complex economic models, but innovators and inventors–thinkers and entrepreneurs. With world markets shaky and the United States standing on the brink of a double dip recession, the country is suffering from brain drain: talented, well-educated college graduates, finding dismal opportunities domestically, are seeking their fortune abroad. Silicon Valley isn’t just in California anymore; it can be found in fledgling…

The concept of business intelligence has been around for decades, but only in the last dozen or so years has it become an essential tool that businesses use to make major decisions about directions and strategies. The rise of the internet has made it the central focus of companies around the world whether they’re internet-based or not. As a result, BI’s important has continued to rise. Society is transitioning towards using mobile devices as primary tools for day-to-day life. Many of the purchases and other transactions occurring in the world are shifting towards promoting mobile interactions…

The only thing certain about the future of daily deals is that the industry’s future is uncertain. It’s not a play on words or a failed attempt at sounding clever. If you ask 10 people where daily deals will be a year from now, you’ll probably get 10 completely different responses. The truth is, nobody knows for sure. We know that Wall Street isn’t treating Groupon well right now. We know that LivingSocial is looking as strong today as Groupon did a year ago after announcing a national deal with McDonald’s. We know that fortunes in the daily deals industry can turn on a dime. We also know that users are…

In less than a month, Groupon’s highly-lauded stocks have plummeted from their IPO sale price of $28 closing today at $15.24, down 46% since their November 4th initial public offering. That’s the good news. The bad news is that recovery, if any, will be short-lived. We anticipated bad times, declaring that Groupon was not IPO-ready, but it appears that things are worse than we thought. Since going public, Groupon has done very little to enhance or promote their product the way that a newly-public company normally would. Their “big launch” this month of an “exciting new feature” is, for the most…

After delivering a keynote at last week’s Driving Sales Executive Summit at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, three things emerged from listening to other speakers and talking with many of the dealer principals and owners that attended the event: Social media is still a mysterious creature as it applies to direct sales businesses such as for car dealers. Local advertising and marketing are becoming focal points and the tech-savvy dealers at the event knew it. Few dealerships have the right person in place to meet the needs. What most of them need is a digital manager. It’s not the internet manager, a position…

Most people have grown accustomed to ignoring banner ads. There are browser plugins that block them and filters that hide them. Even when they’re visible, many people simply pretend like they aren’t there. The problem isn’t with the people. They problem is with the ads themselves. In many cases, they simply all look the same. Sale this. Special that. Stock photo, some text, and a button to click to get more information. They’re old. According to research by BuySellAds, there are ways to make banner ads more appealing. As an increasing number of people spend a growing amount of time online, websites…

There are two signs that point to a company entering into “desperation mode”: big cuts and big investments. Big, risky investments often signal prosperity at large companies, but they can also mean the exact opposite as companies try to buy their way out of bad situations and stagnant balance sheets. The latter seems to be the case with Sprint, a company that is committing a lot more money than they plan on bringing in over the next couple of years. First, there’s the iPhone. While the initial announcement that Sprint was getting the iPhone was met with glee, the decisions they’ve made since them…

There have been questions over the last few years about the validity of social media as a marketing or business tool. Some have embraced it and swear by it, while others have tried it and failed, writing it off as a fad that didn’t work for their industry. The reality is that both are right to some extent. Much of the success or failure of using Facebook in particular for business is industry-specific. Granted, there are ways to be creative and use it in ways that others do not, but there’s a reason why BMW has more Facebook likes than Ford. This infographic by our friends at Pagemodo breaks down some of…