“If you are running a small business, you know that to be successful you need to be a jack-of-all-trades. The smart way to manage everything from company finances, to client relations, to marketing, is to use the right tools – tools that are simple enough that they won’t require you to spend a lot of time and money you don’t have setting them up. In this guide we cover the 25 best web2.0 applications for entrepreneurs who are looking for simple, cheap, and effective solutions to solving some of the tasks facing their small business or startup.”

“What should my local chiropractor do? Or the acupuncturist? Or the pet store? What about that small church or mosque? The web has changed the game for a lot of organizations, but for the local business, it’s more of a threat and a quandary than an asset. My doctor went to a seminar yesterday ($100+) where the ‘expert’ was busy selling her on buying a domain name, hiring a designer, using web development software, understanding site maps and navigation and keywords and metatags and servers…”

“1. World of Warcraft account now expensable
2. College dropout programmer buddy needed a job
3. Bought a domain with lots of x’s in it
4. Wanted to get in Fast Company
5. Dad had nothing else to invest in
6. If all else fails, you get to keep the chairs
7. Developing a taste for beef ramen
8. Found hot venue for a launch party
9. While coding drunk, accidentally mashed up two apps…”

There’s nothing wrong with being unsure. If you’re a hacker thinking about starting a startup and hesitating before taking the leap, you’re part of a grand tradition. Larry and Sergey seem to have felt the same before they started Google, and so did Jerry and Filo before they started Yahoo. In fact, I’d guess the most successful startups are the ones started by uncertain hackers rather than gung-ho business guys.”

“It is important that cofounders exhibit complementary skills and common objectives. Identify your weaknesses and make sure those are your cofounder’s strengths. I want to spend most of our effort on perfecting the presentation layer of our first product, but Adam makes sure we invest in our backend code so it is easily expandable to future product lines. Adam is good at Adam stuff; I’m good at Matt stuff; together we are good at Xobni stuff.”

“In my day job, I not only hear a lot of PowerPoint pitches, but I also read a lot of business plans. The PowerPoint pitches explain my Ménière’s disease, but the business plans explain my recent need for reading glasses. One of my goals for blogging is to reduce the external factors that are causing the degradation of my body, so this entry’s topic is the zen of business plans.”

“Here are three founder scenarios, all with parallels to cases I teach our MBA students: #1: You have an idea for a great product and want to start a company. Do you start it yourself (and keep all of the equity) or do you find a good co-founder (with whom you have to split the equity 50/50)?…”

“Startups have been multiplying like rabbits over the past three years. Due to the added competition, many startups are beginning to narrow their focus to a much smaller demographic…. Becoming a master of any of the smaller niches has many great advantages, such as less competition, loyal readership, and better focus. All marketers exploit a basic positioning principle that states that it is better to be first than to be better. It is clearly too late to be the first social network, or bookmarking service, or video sharing startup. Consequently, the Web 2.0 era demands that startups put intense focus on their niche regardless of the smaller demographics.”

“The original plan had been to create an online game. But they were just about out of money. And then Butterfield had this crazy vision of building a photo-sharing website, and before you knew it Flickr was a cultural phenomenon. Ya-hoooo!”

“The benefits of working from home are obvious. If you’re a regular employee: you skip the commute and there are no office distractions for the day. If you’re an entrepreneur: reduced overheads, no commuting and a congenial working environment.”

“A behind-the-scenes look at selling dropsend.com.” Ryan and Gil Carson is blog all the gory details — costs, profits, motivations, user stats and more — in an attempt to go almost completely transparent.

“Evan williams and Biz Stone have taken back Odeo from its backers to form part of a company focused on innovation through multiple products, rather than exit. It’s like a tech. startup version of the recent trend for private equity takeovers of public companies. But it could point to a better model for Internet startups — the model of normal companies like corner stores. Here’s why.” More: The Birth of Obvious Corp. at evhead.

“Since I’ve started my new career as a venture capitalist I have become keenly aware of some of the classic mistakes that geeks make when trying to raise money for a new business. Instead of writing the same comments over and over again I thought I’d try to summarize some of the mistakes that people — especially smart people — make when they decide to try to turn their bright ideas into money. Here then is my top-ten list of geek business myths…”

“Last week, Michael Calore, posted his take on Web 2.0 Winners and Losers and while I agreed with some of his picks, there were a lot that I didn’t thing belong. I also wanted to go a bit more indepth as to why these sites have made the list. With that in mind I have put together my list of 10 Web 2.0 losers and winners…”

“Want to really know what makes the wealthiest entrepreneurs tick? Fourteen self-made members of the vaunted Forbes 400 shared candid, contrarian and even comedic answers to 20 thoughtful questions–ranging from what they eat for breakfast and how they pray to the importance (or lack thereof) of getting an M.B.A. and what advice they would give aspiring entrepreneurs.”