GoDaddy CEO Wants You to Stop Posting Jobs for a ‘Code Ninja’ | Inc.com

August 11, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We’ve all seen it: The clever job description asking if you’re a “code ninja” or a “back-end Jedi.” But what a lot of companies don’t realize is that these terms might be turning women off–and contributing to the much-maligned tech gender gap.

That’s why domain registry and hosting platform GoDaddy is going through company documents with a fine-tooth comb to rid them of gender-biased language, according to CEO Blake Irving. With the help of the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, said Irving on Fortune’s Unfiltered podcast this week, the company has been working to ensure that internal documents related to processes for hiring, promotion, and reviews in particular aren’t alienating any employees.

Why Your Business Needs Content Marketing | The Startup Magazine

August 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

We live in a world where anyone from anywhere can potentially start a business (provided they have the right tools of course) and whilst that’s undoubtedly a great world we live in, it means there is twice as much competition in any given industry.

And as if the odds aren’t already stacked against you, consumers are becoming increasingly savvy as to when they are on the receiving end of the sales spiel, and with so many ways to skip past adverts with little or no relevancy it’s easy to see how things get lost amongst the noise.

You’ve probably heard of content marketing. You may even already be doing it, although without much effort or reason, but your business needs it. Whatever your status, your businesses survival is dependent on you creating content which ultimately entices a consumer to do business with your business.

If you’re unsure on just how it can help your business to grow then this guide should help to cement just why you need it.

3D Printing Applications for Business | Business News Daily

August 10, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The process of 3D printing is quickly altering the way entrepreneurs think about their production cycles. Historically, 3D printing has been used to speed up the process of creating prototypes, but as the technology has evolved, 3D printing has made its way into large industries like the aerospace and biomedical fields. And it’s creating some groundbreaking results.

While 3D printers still have a long way to go before they are perfected, their increased adoption by companies big and small has signaled a change in thinking for businesses, during both the design and production phases. To find out more about how 3D printing technology is affecting business today and where it’s going in the future, Business News Daily spoke to engineers and entrepreneurs about the possibilities afforded by 3D printers.

Mean People — How To Deal With the Truly Nasty, Hateful Things People Say | Getentrepreneurial.com

August 8, 2016August 8, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you’re going to get big, you’re going to have to learn to deal with it.

That’s the advice many of us receive when we take those first tentative steps to get our work into the world in a much bigger way.

The bigger you get, the more you’ll be criticized or just have nasty things said about you (or even to you — anonymously online of course). So, chalk it up to jealously and move on.

Now, full disclosure, I also believed this sage advice…until a couple of weeks ago.

The History of Women in the Olympic Games Is Not What You Think | Blinkist

August 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

The 1900 Olympic Games marked a new era of equality in athletics: women were allowed to compete in the all-male games for the very first time.

Or at least that’s what Google and the Olympics’ official website would have you think.

Although this fact has slipped from the pediments of modern cultural conscience, women were participating in—and winning—the Olympic Games way back in the days of empires and chariots. What makes this especially remarkable is that women were not technically allowed to take part in the Games at all, and only unwed virgins could watch. Grown and married women who dared have a peek at what went on in the stadium did so under the mythical-sounding penalty of being hurled from the cliffs of Mount Typaeum. Understandably, this punishment was enough to dissuade many of the fairer sex.

But not all of them—and definitely not one Spartan woman named Cynisca.

British food delivery startup Deliveroo raises $275M in funding | Mashable

August 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Deliveroo, a food delivery service that is facing competition from UberEats in Europe, raised $275 million in Series E funding, the startup announced Friday.

Launched in 2013, Deliveroo delivers slightly upscale restaurant food along with alcohol, breakfast and large corporate orders. The service handles the logistics of delivery for restaurants, helping boost their sales for a flat fee.

Since its launch, the London-based startup has raised $475 million. It’s currently in 84 cities throughout Europe, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore and the United Arab Emirates.

Its most recent funding round was led by Bridgepoint, the UK’s largest private equity group, along with prior investor DST Global, US-based General Catalyst and existing investor Greenoaks Capital.

In November, Deliveroo raised $100 million in a Series D round.

Why You Should Invest in Video Marketing to Grow Your Business | Small Biz Trends

August 5, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

In the rapidly evolving landscape of marketing, businesses are constantly required to come up with improved ways to promote themselves and attract valuable leads. The rising customer expectations have led businesses to develop new strategies to meet and exceed the demands.

One of these strategies that have gained momentum recently is video marketing.

There is hardly any doubt about the fact that video-driven platforms are well-received by today’s generation. In fact, Snapchat has overtaken Twitter with a user base of more than 150 million every day compared to the 136 million daily users of Twitter.

Such increased popularity of videos has convinced businesses to rethink their digital marketing strategies and include videos to attract a flood of customers.

Know the Rules Before Your Organization Brings in Interns | Payroll Link

August 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

If you have a backlog of projects piling up because there just aren’t enough hours in the day, you may consider hiring interns to help you get caught up. This can be a great idea that provides benefits for your company and the students.

However, if you want help from interns, don’t expect to get it for free. The requirements for unpaid internships are strict. In recent years, there’s been a wave of legal actions taken by those who’ve served as interns. They’ve accused employers of violating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and/or state laws by not paying them.

The Department of Labor (DOL) has a six-factor test that you can use to determine whether a relationship with a worker could qualify as an unpaid internship. Keep in mind that this is a test, not a law. But don’t take it lightly — or you risk the possibility of incurring a fine or other legal action.

Marketing is the biggest difference between a purebred dog and a mutt | Business Insider

August 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Dogs are big business.

In Kim Kavin’s “The Dog Merchants: Inside the Big Business of Breeders, Pet Stores, and Rescuers,” she delves into the business of buying, selling, and rescuing dogs, which she estimates is worth about $11 billion annually worldwide.

If you love dogs, the dogs-as-business approach might be hard to swallow. How could your furry family member be bought, marketed, and sold as a product? How could anyone buy a “puppy mill” dog from a pet store — or alternatively, how could anyone adopt a mutt without a documented history? How will you know what you’re going to get?

But there’s one glaring conclusion in Kavin’s pages: These dogs are all the same.

Get Ready, Soon Everyone Will Be Able To Code | Co.Exist

August 4, 2016 ~ knjohn ~ Leave a comment

Code runs the world, but coding today isn’t for everyone. Generally, it’s still done by a select group of mostly male, math-literate programmers, and the rest of us are just consumers rather than participants in code’s production. “The distance between using your computer and programing your computer has gotten wider and wider.”

Could that be about to change? The media theorist Douglas Rushkoff thinks so. He’s been championing a new iPad app called Ready that he thinks marks an important shift in our relationship with software.

“The distance between using your computer and programing your computer has gotten wider and wider,” he says. “I’ve been discouraged that most portals to being a digital creator have involved these really difficult coding languages that require you to be at a certain level of sophistication in mathematics. Ready has a really simple interface that lets people have the experience of programming something for themselves.”