DIRT-FT

This is an acronym for 'Do It Right The First Time'. It is a new movement focused on getting people to increase their productivity by doing tasks right the first time. If we could get the proportion of tasks performed right the first time someone turns their attention to it, we would see a significant improvement in national productivity.
When your Bookkeeper forgets to make a bank deposit on the first of the month and one of your mortgages goes NSF, you send him or her a note. All it has to say is 'DIRT-FT'.
by ProfBruce October 03, 2009
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co-branding

When brands agree to cross-promote each other. In effect, each brand becomes a separate sales channel for all the others in the group.
When a driver of a high end sedan gets out of the car wearing an expensive watch and a bespoke suit, now that is co-branding. Each of the three brands have agreed to promote each other in RL (Real Life), on television, in print, online, in social media and on the mobile web.
by ProfBruce April 23, 2011
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Social Commerce

Where consumers band together online to influence, collectively, the price of a good or service, a form of social shopping and reverse pricing.
A website or mobile app that reduces the prices of its products or services for every like or tweet that potential customers generate as a group is using a form of social commerce. Or when consumers get their friends to buy a sufficient number of ecommerce coupons, they are engaged in social commerce. In effect, consumers are banding together online to influence the price at which they are willing to buy and companies are paying their customers to do their marketing for them.
by ProfBruce April 17, 2011
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Social Commerce

Where consumers band together online to influence, collectively, the price of a good or service, a form of social shopping.
A website or mobile app that, reduces its price for every like or tweet that potential customers generate as a group or where customers can get enough of their friends to buy ecommerce coupons, are engaged in forms of social commerce. In effect, consumers are banding together online to influence the price at which they are willing to buy and companies are paying their customers to do some marketing for them.
by ProfBruce April 02, 2011
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Bootstrap Capital

Also known as self-capitalization, this is how most start-ups actually capitalize themselves. Sources of bootstrap capital include: soft capital (Mom/Dad/Rich Uncle Buck), home equity loans, supplier credit, consulting, credit cards, retainers, deposits, progress payments, receivables factoring, partners, sponsorships, guarantors, pre-sales, launch clients and more. Bootstrap capital allows the ownership to keep control of their own enterprises and not lose them to VCs and other debt or equity holders.
“Two former students decide to start a home building business. They have no capital so they: 1. find a friendly landowner who allows them to set up shop in a field and pre-sell homes with no money up front to the landowner (who gets paid when the homes sell); 2. they pre-sell 10 homes and take deposits of $20,000 per home so now they have $200,000 in their bank account; 3. they get 90 and 120 day terms from their suppliers so that the suppliers also get paid when the homes sell; 4. they take their 10 Agreements of Purchase and Sale and pledge those to the Bank for a LOC (effectively borrowing their clients' credit scores). After two years, they have $800,000 in the Bank and own 100% of the business. This example demonstrates five sources of bootstrap capital: supplier credit, pre-sales, launch clients, deposits and guarantors.”
by ProfBruce October 31, 2009
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strategic investor

A strategic investor is someone who has a strategic reason for investing in your enterprise; that is, they have an over-arching interest in your success. You can find strategic investors by looking through your supply chain and your value chain. Even your competitors can be a source of strategic start-up capital if they are looking to you as a new co-opetitor.
Say you are bootstrapping a new home builder. A trade creditor (supplier) might extend credit to you for building materials and supplies or a client might give you a sizable down payment on a home purchase; in essence, each of them become a strategic investor in your business. Or say you are starting an athletic wear clothing business, department stores might give you a cash advance in return for exclusivity or a sports drink company might sponsor your line of clothing in return for co-branding opportunities.
by ProfBruce April 03, 2011
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