Make Millions Writing Jingles

In high school, Joel Simon wanted to be a rock star; at Cornell University, a lawyer. But his epiphany came seven months into a what-the-heck job he’d taken writing ad jingles, when 50 mysterious envelopes arrived. “They were all checks,” Mr. Simon says. “Every single one.” They were residuals from a Clorox jingle he’d written for a small commercial music house, JSM Music. Every time it aired, he got paid–more than $70,000 in all. “I had no idea how much money could be made,” the Brooklyn native admits.

See Full Story http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=35&totalRows_profile_detail=40&year=22&pid=10011

DailyCandy.Com = $25 MIllion A Year

New Yorkers who pride themselves on being in the know about the newest restaurants, hottest nightclubs and must-hit sample sales never miss DailyCandy e-newsletters. In the six years since Dany Levy launched DailyCandy New York, it has become a powerful trendsetter that regularly bestows stardom on little-known businesses. Advertisers are rabid over it. DailyCandy has been profitable since the fourth quarter of 2001. Last year, Ms. Levy sold a minority stake in the company, which was valued at $130 million. The company, which e-mails its free newsletters to more than 2 million subscribers, expects to generate revenues of $25 million this year.

http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=20&totalRows_profile_detail=40&year=22&pid=10011

Meetup.com = $3 Million a year

Scott Heiferman’s Meetup, the Web site where people connect and form social networking groups, was launched just as former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean decided to run for president in 2004. Mr. Dean’s supporters used the site to build a movement, earning Meetup a place in grassroots-organizing history.

With $3 million in annual revenue and 3 million registered users, the networking site helps people form book and fan clubs and make political associations online and in person. Mr. Heiferman sees Meetup as a force for creating broad social movements in the 21st century.

“We’re just getting started,” he says. “There are things to learn, causes to forward and problems in your life that can be helped by forming community groups.”

http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=15&totalRows_profile_detail=40&year=22&pid=10011

Propertyshack.com = $1million a year

Ryan slack has left a series of 4.0 grade-point averages and perfect SAT scores in his wake. At only 23, he was named chief operating officer of Champion Trailers, a manufacturer in his native California.

Today, he runs PropertyShark.com, a Brooklyn-based Web site through which users can dig up sales prices, appraisal values, code violation information, even the names of previous owners for 25 million properties in 20 markets around the country. Membership has ballooned to more than 200,000 since Mr. Slack joined the business three years ago.

http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/profile.php?pageNum_profile_detail=36&year=22&pid=10038

Crains 2007 40 Under 40

Helen Allen
Crystal McCrary Anthony
Jason Binn
Sarah Caddick
Nicholas Cagliuso
Maurice L. Coleman
Chris Concannon
Janine DiGioacchino
Michael Duda
Adam Epstein
Jason R. Finger
Neal Goldman
Mark Gordon
Matthew Greitzer
Eric Heaton
Scott Heiferman
Kenny Lao
Adrienne Lazarus
Bryan Leach
Wendy Cai
Dany Levy
Sarah Tomassi Lindman
Andrew Mathias
Merry Miller
Sara Mirski
Angela Burt-Murray
Rohan Oza
Michele Penzer
Laurel Pickering
Jessica Pincomb
Jefrey Pollock
Maite Quinn
Daniel Bernard Roumain
Andrea Batista Schlesinger
Felix Sención
Joel Simon
Ryan Slack
Elizabeth Weymouth
Amira Yunis
Steve Zeng

http://www.newyorkbusiness-risingstars.com/lists.php?year=22

Designashirt.com $6 MIllion A Year

DesignAShirt.com President, John Anton

www.designashirt.com

help@designashirt.com

Business Type:E-Commerce

2007 Revenue:$6 million

No. of Employees:27

http://finance.yahoo.com/smallbiz/article/featuredbiz/25399

Really Dumb CEO

One of the companies I am working with is an enterprise software play. These guys are still very much in the embryonic stages, having been funded solely by the wallet (and credit cards) of the founder. I serve as an advisor to the company, and the other day, I stopped by his office to get an update on things and see how I could help them get to the next level.

It is important to point out that this company is pre-prototype still (and obviously pre-revenue). They are very cash strapped and are seeking to raise an outside round of capital. The CEO also doesn’t yet have a track record in building new companies – this is his first – although he does have a great amount of industry street credibility.

The CEO informed me that they had a quote from a firm in India for $20K to build a Flash marketing demo. This demo would give potential investors an overview of how the product will work, and how companies can best utilize it. Ideally, the presentation would be shown during investor pitches, embedded within the Powerpoint slides.

I then asked the CEO how much capital it would take to actually get the prototype out the door. The answer? About $30K and about three months worth of work (also using an offshore team).

Click Here for full story

Foreclosure Rise Brings Business To Investor

Mr. Barnes works the rock bottom of the housing market, what his lawyer calls the “sub-subprime market.” He and his partners buy foreclosed homes by the dozens, sight unseen, often for just a few thousand dollars apiece. They resell them to low-income buyers who would have trouble qualifying for bank mortgages, providing many buyers with seller financing.

Mr. Barnes farms out most of the deals to a group of about 40 investors around the country, collecting $1,000 for each deal he passes on to them. Last year, he says, he and the investors bought more than 1,400 foreclosed homes. Mr. Barnes, who never attended college, says his real-estate investment income topped $1 million last year.

Whole article http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117383870384136371.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

2 Year Old iConclude.Com acquired for $60 million

IConclude of Bellevue has agreed to be sold for about $60 million in cash, stock and dividends to Opsware, a publicly traded Sunnyvale, Calif.-based company that helps firms automate information technology operations.

Founded in early 2005 by Sunny Gupta and Jeff Gerber, iConclude makes software that helps companies automatically fix technical problems in data centers.

IConclude raised $9 million in April from Madrona Venture Group, Greylock Partners and Shasta Ventures, bringing total financing to $12 million. It posted $1.2 million in sales last year, with customers such as Alaska Airlines, Glaxo Smith Kline and Haliburton.

This is not the first time that Opsware has bought a Madrona-backed startup in the Seattle area. In 2004, it bought Redmond’s Rendition Networks in a deal valued at about $33 million.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/306436_iconclude07.html

From Computer programmer to 6 Figure Personal Trainer

After being discharged in 2004 with an annual salary of around $42,000 and 10 years of experience under his belt, Myers decided to become a full-time personal trainer instead of pursuing a career in computers. “That’s what I liked,” he said.

But when General Dynamics (Charts) offered him $350,000 to spend a year in Iraq as an independent contractor working on tracking program, Myers decided he couldn’t turn down the opportunity. But he didn’t want to put his budding career as a personal trainer on hold either.

Instead, he used his computer skills to build his business online. “I kept an online personal training journal,” Myers explained. While in Iraq, He charged clients $300 to $400 a month to provide them with a full nutrition program as well as training tips and general advice via email and message boards.

And when the 12 months were up, Myers immediately returned to his wife, Kristen, and his personal training career.

Starting from scratch

With the money he made working for General Dynamics and the client base he had built up, he rented a studio in San Antonio, Texas for $2,500 a month and hired two full-time trainers.

That was “a big risk,” Myers said, “I had never paid rent on a place or hired employees or anything before.”

Again, he put his computer skills to work building a Web site and mastering key words and cues used by search engines. “When people search (online) for trainers in San Antonio, they find me.”

“The first two months we were open, we grossed $70,000 a month.” Now, Myers, who charges $75 to $90 an hour, says he brings in approximately $250,000 a year through his studio and plans to open another one in the area soon.

http://money.cnn.com/2007/03/05/smbusiness/smallbiz_boyd/index.htm

The Business of Hanger Advertising

This company sells advertising on hangers .. UNBELIEVABLE !!!   www.hangernetwork.com

Newyourkey.Com Will Store Your Spare Keys

 http://www.newyourkey.com/

Today’s edition of the Manhattan Users Guide points us to a new service: NewYourKey, which holds on to a copy of your keys and promises to deliver them whenever you might need them, “within an hour, even if you’re three sheets to the wind at 3 am,” as MUG puts it. “Especially then.” Clunky name and over-Flashed Website notwithstanding, we kind of dig the idea. And with Valentine’s Day approaching, we’re thinking the company could really broaden its service. Like, when we throw our beloved’s keys in his face, forgetting that ours are attached, and they all fall in the gutter, it’d be great if NewYorkKey’s messenger not only delivered our spares but also told us we’re too good for that loser, anyway, and took our cell phone away for the night. And maybe brought over an ex, too? Just a suggestion.

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2007/02/local_company_will_deliver_you.html

UsedCardboardBoxes.com = $750,000 A Year

A MOVING EXPERIENCE
UsedCardboardBoxes.com sells used packing material to lower the cost of changing locations.

By Howard Fine
Staff Reporter

When Marty Metro moved to a home in Los Angeles five years ago, he did what many Angelenos do when they prepare to move: he scoured around local electronics store, clothing stores and wherever else he could find used boxes so that he wouldn’t have to pay $50 or $100 or more for boxes from U-Haul or UPS.

He found the boxes he needed, but as a former technology consultant, Metro figured there must be an easier way to obtain used boxes, at a discount.

“There had to be a way to use technology to match up people who had boxes with people who needed them, “ Metro said.

See Full Story http://www.usedcardboardboxes.com/static_page.php?id=22

7 Habits of Highly Effective Web Apps

1. Don’t roll out a clone of another product.

The second YouTube might be successful; but it’s not very likely to bring anyone $1.65bn of success. And if you are the seventh online calendar or the 22nd social bookmarking service, then you need to be offering something very much better than the leader to make an impact.

Hits: Netvibes, del.icio.us, flickr, photobucket.

[Counter-example: MySpace - definitely not the first social network, but maybe it launched at the right time to capture a wave of people who had broadband and a desire to use the Internet in this way?]

2. Simplicity is the key

Applications that try to do too much lose focus and fall between stools. Stellar successes do a single thing very well.

Hits: Twitter, flickr, StumbleUpon, YouTube

Misses: Odeo, hubpages, edgeio, 30boxes

[Counter-example: MySpace, again, doesn’t appear to be faltering despite its attempts to be all things to all users. Also, the Netvibes-style personalised homepage/RSS reader/search portal has dozens of functions and appears to me to be gaining ground.]

3. Don’t sell technology; sell user empowerment

Applications that are built for the readers of Techcrunch or for the development community might possibly get you the attention of a future employer, but won’t make your fortune. Don’t be a ‘technology tourist destination’.

Full Article http://twopointouch.com/2007/02/21/7-habits-of-highly-effective-web-apps/