Inc.com

Yahoo's Marissa Mayer publicly said that she constantly thinks of who should replace her top execs. Cold blooded?

During the recent Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, Yahoo's CEO Marissa Mayer said something that raised my eyebrows.

According to Business Insider, Mayer said she "constantly thinks about who could do a better job" on her management team. "I think about who could be a better COO. I think about who could be a better CFO."

Since coming to Yahoo in July of last year, Mayer has replaced much of the company's senior management team with her own, having brought in Henrique De Castro as COO and Ken Goldman as CFO, among others.

Goldman was apparently in the audience when Mayer made her remarks, which she then followed up with, "Sorry Ken, it's just a thought experiment I do."

Cold Blooded or Necessary Evil?

Now, I'm not going to say that kind of thing doesn't happen all the time in the boardrooms of corporate America. It does. I've had far worse things hurled at me by a CEO or two when I was a senior executive in the tech industry. But always in a private conference room; never in a public forum. Never like that.

A board director once told me a story about a well-known high-tech chief executive. He said the guy would sit in his executive staff meetings and imagine each of his top execs with their compensation emblazoned on their forehead and ask himself if they were worth it or not.

Sure, that's cold-blooded, but he kept it to himself, which is no big deal.

What is telling is that the kind of behavior Mayer exhibited at the Goldman conference reportedly was often on display when she worked for Google. I believe that.

In any case, Mayer's comments at the conference were probably humiliating for the executives in question. They don't reflect well on her or on her potential for retaining executive talent at Yahoo.

When I was discussing this with a colleague, she said, "I sure hope those guys are paid plenty to put up with that kind of crap." Indeed, they probably are.

Still, that's no way to treat employees. I don't care how much they make.

India's growth rate has fallen off a cliff, and the prospects for an immediate rebound are dim. But reports of the economy's death are a bit exaggerated.

Dreams died first, now reality is hitting hard. A colossal mismanagement of the Indian economy--the second-fastest growing member the world’s trillion-dollar GDP club--is now showing unmistakable evidence of being derailed. India’s economic growth will fall to 5% for the financial year that ends in March 2013, the lowest in 10 years, government projections said last week. This is below all expectations, including IMF’s. The comparable numbers stood at 9.3% in 2010-11 and 6.2% the next year. The fall, in other words, has been precipitous.

Is it time to give up on India? Well, maybe in the short run, but certainly not in the long term. Here’s why:

Politics will support recovery. The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the governing coalition, has just brought in a new face as its leader. Sonia Gandhi’s 42-year-old son Rahul was predictably made vice-president last month, and that could changes things—for Rahul and the country. This is the first time that the heir to India’s most famous political name has been given direct responsibility for the success of his party; previously he had been surrounded by apparatchiks who could take the fall for failures. In other words, if the economy tanks further and voters take it out on the UPA, it’s on Rahul’s head. Result: Expect huge political energy will go behind bringing the economy back.

Demographics will demand it. Rahul is focused on the young people of India, as well he should be: The country has 500 million people below the age of 25. This “young and impatient” demographic, as Rahul puts it, needs jobs and those with jobs need raises. Both are conspicuous by their absence, which is a problem for the new leader of an incumbent coalition. The only way out: creating a policy atmosphere that encourages entrepreneurs to take risk, set up businesses, and hire.

However, starting a business remains hard… At the end of the day, it is not economic figures that will attract entrepreneurs; rather, what matters is the ease with which they are able to enter India, set up businesses and profit from them. On that count, India continues to score badly--it ranks 132 out of 185 countries in ease of doing business. This won’t be fixed immediately and will remain a barrier in the near term. But if the first few steps are taken in the right direction, it would send the right signals.

…And capital is scarce. The Indian central bank is keeping interest rates high because of runaway inflation, and the government remains in an acute ‘policy freeze’ that won’t be unfamiliar to Americans facing policy gridlock in Washington. The two forces have combined to limit private investment. Public sector investment will be limited as the government has to control its fiscal deficit, which finance minister P Chidambaram hopes to bring down to 5.3% of GDP this year. Signals from New Delhi suggest that leaders recognize the need to encourage investment. What they will do about it, though, remains unclear.

Still, 5% growth is nothing to sneeze at…While India bemoans a growth rate of 5%, most advanced economies would be thrilled by it. World output will grow by 3.5% in 2013--the US will likely grow by 2.0%, Japan by 1.2%, and the Euro area will contract by 0.2%. There are only two growth economies with scale, and one of them is India. (China is the other, of course, with a projected 8.2% growth rate.)

And the potential of India’s growing middle class is still awesome. Despite all the problems, India’s consumer spending is expected to close 2013 at 59.7% of GDP. That adds up to a $1.2 trillion market. Given that India’s per capita income stands at less than $1,300, compared to $48,000 for the US or $8,400 for China, there is a lot of upside. Granted, the next couple of years may be fairly gloomy measured against India’s long-range potential. But that potential is there. Best advice: Keep your eyes focused on the next 10 years.

You're selling your small business for a reason, but your buyer may have other plans for you.

After carefully weighing your professional and personal goals, you've decided that it's the right time for someone else to handle the herculean task of owning and operating your small business. Although exiting the business you've owned (and possibly started) might be bittersweet, you're excited about moving on to the next stage of your life.

So far so good, right? Maybe not. Some business sellers never reach the next stage because they didn't incorporate their desired sale outcomes and future plans into their selling strategy.

At the end of the day, all sellers have the same goal--to attract qualified buyers and receive the best possible price for their companies. But it's what you intend to do the day after the deal is finalized that will shape how you market your business, negotiate terms, and execute the sale.

Managing the Sale

A successful business sale is a balancing act between seller goals and marketplace realities. Whether you plan to retire, buy another business or even work a normal nine-to-five job, every decision you make about your personal goals will change the way you present your sale to buyers--and vice versa.

At BizBuySell.com, our sellers have a broad range of goals and desired outcomes. To achieve these goals, there are several key issues and concerns they need to manage during the sale process.

1. Financial Position

The prevalence of seller financing in today's business-for-sale marketplace is a problem for sellers who want or need to receive all proceeds at the time of sale. If you are retiring or can afford to delay receipt of a portion of the selling price, seller financing will make your company much more attractive to prospective buyers.

But if your company is heavily financed or if your goal is to buy another business, seller financing may not be an option. So to raise your company's profile with buyers, you need to begin preparing for the sale earlier, positioning your company to attract top-tier buyers capable of self-financing or securing capital from a third-party lender.

2. Company Involvement

Many sellers are surprised to learn that hands-on involvement with their companies might continue after the sale. Often, the buyers of small businesses want the seller to remain actively engaged in the company for a period of months or years, as a consultant or sometimes as a paid employee.

If your goal is to make a clean break from the business at the time of sale, you need to make your intentions known to prospects early in the process. On the other hand, if your future plans enable you to remain with the business after the sale, be sure to advertise your availability and use it as a tool during negotiations.

3. Business Continuity

In family businesses and companies where there is a deep, personal connection, it's common for the seller to be concerned about the continuity of the company. Although you may have future plans that are unrelated to the business, your primary motivation is to see your company flourish for the sake of your employees or the next generation of family members.

The ongoing vitality of your business is an admirable goal. But it may involve making certain concessions that could jeopardize your post-exit plans. For example, family members almost always expect seller financing and a below-market price when they acquire the company. If you're selling the business to your employees you may need to make similar concessions, so it's important to evaluate the implications of your decision before you pull the trigger on the sale.

4. Ability to Compete

Buyers want to protect their investment and frequently require a guarantee that the seller won't open a similar business in the same geographic market, at least not for a while. The way they achieve this guarantee is through a non-compete clause--a contractual mechanism that prohibits sellers from directly competing with the buyer for a specific period of time.

But what if your goal is to pursue employment at a company in the same field? Will a non-compete clause threaten your ability to make a living after you exit the business? These are issues that need to be considered and resolved prior to signing the closing documents.

For sellers, the best advice is to avoid taking anything for granted. If you aren't sure how your personal goals will impact the sale process, consult a business broker and other professionals for guidance.

Note: This will be my last column for Inc.com. I would like to thank Inc. for the opportunity and send my appreciation to all the readers who interacted with and shared the articles. For more articles on buying and selling a small business, I encourage you to read upcoming pieces by Curtis Kroeker, the new group general manager of BizBuySell.com. Farewell and thanks again!

Take control of your analytics--make sure you haven't fallen into one of these six common traps.

It's 3p.m. Do you know where your Web analytics are?

If you're doing any kind of online marketing, it's crucial that you have access to your analytics to be able to measure and learn. Often, businesses don't even realize that they can't access or decipher those analytics until we start poking around. How could that be? Here are six ways it happens and what you can do about it.

Scenario #1: Don't Ask, Don't Get

So your site is running Web analytics, but you's barely know it since you only receive sporadic reporting from your marketing partner. Or worse, you don't receive reporting at all unless you ask, and when you do it's an unformatted, unanalyzed data dump. Unless you plan on boning up on your web analytics technical skills, it may be time to consider another resource. Your Web analytics analysis should tell you stories: about what's working, what's not, how close or how far you are from your objectives and what those spikes or anomalies in your data sets really mean. If your current provider isn't delivering that, time to look elsewhere.

Scenario #2: Analytics Held Hostage

You just reviewed your monthly P&L and certain dips in online revenue areas have you concerned. You need to gather information immediately, but you can't view your reports directly because you've never been given log-in information. You don't own your own data.

Don't let this happen to you! Even if you like the idea of outsourcing your reporting and analysis, be sure you always get the administrator rights to your account.

Scenario #3: Unqualified Technicians

Your analytics were implemented by a third-party or an internal IT department, and you think everything is hunky-dory because you are receiving regular reporting. An attempt at a deeper dive however, reveals the software or code was improperly set-up. The data is inaccurate, conflicting or even missing. Maybe multiple versions of analytics code on the same page led to double-counting of website traffic. Or, analytics "goals," were set up but actually have nothing to do with key performance indicators. So all your data is irrelevant.

Audit your analytics to root out improper or inadequate software set-up and to ensure that you can feel confident in the report data you're receiving.

Scenario #4: IT-in-the-Way

I don't mean to bash IT, but if you're a busy company with finite internal IT resources and your digital marketing analysis relies on fast implementation or fixes by IT, you might wind up waiting a lot longer than you care to. In fact, since IT spends the better portion of its time putting out fires or handling individual user requests, your campaign might be over by the time IT gets around to your request.

To avoid this problem, include IT on your planning and start early. Treat IT well and thank them for their help--they're your ally, not your enemy.

Scenario #5: Fear Trumps Data

Your COO just met with a big-name vendor who enlightened him that "social media is the way of the world." The COO calls the marketing director and demands the company move ahead immediately on a project to implement Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Meanwhile, for the past three months, a team of mid-level managers in the marketing department has already conducted extensive market research and data analysis to determine that social media should not be your main focus. Rather than piss off the COO, the marketing director trashes three months of solid research.

Solutions? Nurture a culture of testing marketing ideas and one that empowers people at all levels to speak-out when a radical marketing shift could hamper business objectives. Otherwise, you could end up trying to show the value of friends or fans for the next six months instead of driving real revenue through proven tactics.

Scenario #6: Set-It-and-Forgot-It

You launched your Web analytics two years ago, but you really haven't revisited your set-up since then. Think for a minute how much about digital marketing has changed in just two years. What about mobile access? Is your Facebook page cannibalizing your website traffic? What else has changed? The worst thing to do with your Web analytics is nothing--or to fall back on your initial analysis points. You know the marketing world is evolving fast. So should your analytics.

As SBA chief Karen Mills prepares to leave office, a look at her legacy.

When Karen Gordon Mills, the 23rd Administrator of the Small Business Administration announced her resignation this week, it raised plenty of questions about the future of the agency, as well as the impact Mills has had on it and the lives of small business owners during the Great Recession.

Mills did not say why she was leaving or what she will do next, but her departure marks the fourth high-ranking woman in the Obama Administration to leave during the President's second term. Mills was only the second woman to head up the SBA in its 60 year history.

For all the political talk that small businesses are the engine that drive the economy, it's the SBA administrator's job to make it happen.

After inheriting an agency that was largely neglected by George W. Bush, most observers agree that she updated it into something more vital and more open. The agency Mills inherited four years ago had seen its budget slashed nearly 30 percent since 2001, and its staffing diminished almost 20 percent. In contrast, Mills' SBA assisted small businesses at record levels. And, the Administrator now holds a cabinet seat, for the first time since President Bill Clinton's tenure.

"I am confident that the SBA will be a driving force in [small businesses'] success for decades to come." Mills wrote in her resignation letter to staffers.

Not everyone agrees, of course. Not surprisingly, Mills is especially controversial to conservative business groups, which say the Administrator did not do enough to help small businesses, particularly when it came to increasing contracting opportunities.

"The economy is just not rebounding, and in terms of [Karen Mills'] legacy, I'm not blaming her, but I think the Administration did not do enough to help small businesses recover," says Susan Eckerly, senior vice president for public policy for the National Federation of Independent Business, a right-leaning lobby.

As the severity of the financial crisis became apparent and credit markets froze, Mills made it her task, upon being unanimously confirmed by the Senate in April 2009, to try to get funding to businesses as quickly as possible.

"[Karen Mills] came in at a really difficult time when small businesses could not access lending, and the economy was in the tank, and I think she worked trying to address those issues," Molly Brogan, spokeswoman for the National Small Business Association says.

An Uphill Battle

As her first order of business, Mills shepherded through a number of measures to staunch the bleeding, initiating bridge loans that had a 100 percent guarantee for hard-hit, credit-challenged businesses.

SBA lending had fallen off a cliff. Issuance of the agency's flagship 7(a) loans declined more than 50 percent in 2009. And so Mills went to work, with the help of three quarters of a billion dollars of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money, to try to speed up processing times for the loans. In addition to increasing the government guarantee to 90 percent, and increasing the loan amount to $5 million from $2 million, Mills also got more than 1,000 community banks to start participating again in the SBA program, which had been dominated by a handful of large banks.

One of Mills' most important achievements was her input on the Small Business Jobs Act from 2010. The act strengthened small business lending, increased loan amounts for key lending programs, and increased financing to growing sectors, such as for small business exporters, and to key industries, such as small auto dealers, in the form of floor financing plans.

In the past four years, SBA lending has recovered and includes two record years of more than $30 billion in 2011 and 2012. (Of course, an improving overall economy deserves some of the credit.) In total, Mills' SBA helped 200,000 small businesses with financing worth more than $100 billion, according to the SBA.

But not everyone's getting the funding they want.

Maria E Martinez, president and chief executive officer of Naturally Green Products, a manufacturer of eco-friendly cleaning products in Orlando, Florida, says she had a terrific relationship with the SBA in the 1990s with her first company, a janitorial services provider. That company easily received three loans from the SBA, to fund such things as a partner buy-out and the purchase of a building. Though Martinez paid back all of her loans, she was unable to obtain financing for her second, current business from the SBA starting in 2008, despite that business' profitability and stellar client list.

"Right now I am working with a broker who works with minority businesses to find them funding outside of the box," Martinez says, adding that banks in her area are still not lending, even with the government guarantee. Martinez is looking for a $12 million loan to purchase her own factory building. Private equity firms are interested, but she doesn't want to sell more than 25 percent of her company, she says.

Other critics say Mills could have done a better job, especially for women-owned businesses, and contracting in general.

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained?

Mills's background indicated she might try to take the SBA in a new direction. The daughter of Tootsie Roll president and chief executive Melvin Gordon, Mills holds an A.B in economics and an MBA from Harvard. Her background took her from the private sector to a state-level economic development role in the public sector, in Maine, where she encouraged the development of business clusters--a philosophy she brought to the SBA.

Mills's turn in private equity--she was a partner at Solera Capital and a founder of an early-stage investment group in Maine called MMP Group--colored her perspective. She favored, for example, broadening the scope of small business to include venture-backed companies. Supporters say Mills understood that in a shifting economy, small businesses could not be painted with one broad stroke: Some would remain on Main Street, small and important to the local economy. Others would leap past those boundaries and become the next Google or Apple or Amazon. (In fact, Nike, Staples, Apple, Federal Express, Ben & Jerry’s, Outback Steakhouse, and Hewlett-Packard all received SBA loans as startups.)

But the emphasis on venture capital alienated some traditionalists.

Even the generally-friendly National Small Business Association says that the influence of the venture community has at times been perhaps too strong, particularly with the Small Business Innovation and Research program, which funds small, majority-owned companies in research areas. New rules recently opened up participation in the program to venture capital firms.

Mills also expanded the Small Business Investment Company structure to include venture firms that want to invest in start-up companies.

"The SBA needs to evolve and recognize that a lot of [economic growth] will come from fast-growing small businesses," Mills told this reporter in 2008, when she was still president of MMP Group. "It is very important we have a more granular understanding at the federal policy level about the voice of small business, because it is not a one-size-fits-all category."

Using the Youngtown, Ohio, Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute as a model, the president called for Congress to pass legislation to fund 15 more. But the city was quietly reinventing itself before this national attention.

In his State of the Union Address last night, President Obama said he believes the next revolution in American manufacturing has already begun thanks to 3D printing and additive manufacturing. The President announced the creation of three more manufacturing innovation institutes--similar to the one launched last year in Youngstown, Ohio. He also urged Congress to pass legislation to fund nearly a dozen more.

Some background: In August 2012, the federal government pledged $30 million, in conjunction with a $45 million investment commitment from five federal agencies and $40 million from manufacturing firms and educational institutions, to launch a military-run innovation hub in Youngstown. The purpose of the hub, called the Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute, is to explore how the applications of 3D printing and additive manufacturing (which is just 3D printing on an industrial scale) can spur innovation in the American manufacturing sector.

But well before this federal initiative, Youngstown has been on a path to reinvention--trying to recapture its place as a national techonology hub. In a 2010 Inc. feature, author Bill Donahue wrote about Youngstown's hard-knock history:

Youngstown died on September 19, 1977. That was Black Monday. Forty-one hundred workers at the Campbell plant of Youngstown Sheet and Tube, the city's biggest employer, showed up that morning to learn they had been laid off, permanently. A spirit of fear and anomie had been seeping into Youngstown for years, as the U.S. steel industry withered and the local foundries, once owned by the lions of Millionaire's Row, got sold off to out-of-town conglomerates. Now, despair set in. By the early 1980s, Youngstown had one of the highest arson rates in the country. Sheet and Tube had shuttered another plant. U.S. Steel and Republic Steel left Youngstown, too. All told, greater Youngstown lost about 50,000 jobs in steel and related industries.

But, as the story points out, in 2005, there was a shake up of sorts.

Things got so dire that in 2005, the city's voters did a 180. They elected as mayor Jay Williams, a 34-year-old African American banker and political rookie who carried a vision to make Youngstown "healthy and leaner," largely by demolishing vacant houses and revitalizing downtown. Williams, who is still mayor, is now therock star of the rust belt's burgeoning "shrinking city" movement. He appears frequently on national television and has been invited to the White House. He works in tandem with Tim Ryan, who is just 36.

The story goes on to reveal how this turn of events changed the landscape, and the growth of the scrappy Youngstown Business Incubator (YBI), prompted a revival of creative energy.

Until about 2005, Youngstown was a hard sell to young creative types. Now, though, there is a small community of tech people who have come back to their hometown, to embrace the place as though it were the lost Holy Land. The group's guiding spirit is Tyler Clark, a 34-year-old musician and Web-strategy consultant who serves as YBI's "chief imagination officer," helping local businesses spruce up their websites... Clark's wife, Jaci, a photographer who grew up here, came back, and the visit was a revelation. The Clarks bought a meticulously maintained five-bedroom Millionaire's Row manse, once the home of Sharon Steel president Henry Roemer, for $188,000.

And, as of 2010, the outlook for Youngstown was cautiously optimistic. He wrote:

Ned Hill, the dean of Cleveland State University's urban affairs program, feels Youngstown has momentum. "There's unprecedented optimism there," he told me. "The mayor is walk-on-water amazing, and they know what they're doing at the incubator. They realize that incubation isn't just about giving away free space. And because that area is dominated by community, as opposed to national, banks, the tech companies can get good financing. The bankers there are willing to take a little risk to get Youngstown going again."

For Hill, the big question is: Will software companies stay in Youngstown? Tech start-ups are often funded by venture capital -- and VC firms have no qualms about selling a company as soon as it achieves some success and letting it be swept out of town. "Will that happen in Youngstown, or are YBI companies poised to stay and grow?" Hill asks. "The honest answer is, I just don't know. I am not smarter than the market."

What is it that really separates super-successful entrepreneurs from average Joes? They really get to know the people they do business with. Here's how.

If you've ever spoken with a highly-successful entrepreneur and felt like you were being interrogated, it probably wasn't your imagination.

Based on survey research I've done for my new book Business Brilliant, I've found that the self-made rich (those who have a net worth of $10 million or more) are very serious about getting to know the people they do business with. No matter how smart or talented you are, they want to take your full measure before they consider going forward with you. It's not a bad practice to learn from.

Here are the three crucial questions (commonly ignored by most people) that nearly all super-successful entrepreneurs insist on getting answers to:

1. 'How much do you earn and what are you worth?'

If you don't know what someone earns or how much money they already have, how can you be sure that you're not wasting their time--or that they're not wasting yours? For some people, bringing home a $10,000 deal is worth long hours of hard work into the night. For others, it's scarcely worth any effort at all. You need to bring the right size opportunity to people you do business with.

2. 'What are you good at?'

Top entrepreneurs are all about delegation. They want to work with people who are performing only at the height of their capabilities, so they can maximize their contributions to a project. Knowing the specifics of what a potential partner is exceptionally good at--instead of making assumptions--gives you a clearer picture of what you can count on him for.

'….and what are you not very good at?'

The crucial flipside of the same question. You need to know your partners’ weaknesses, too--whether they're self-aware or not. Steering your associates around their weaknesses and putting them to work in areas of their strengths is the smartest way to limit risk and maximize results. If you ignore your partners’ vulnerabilities, a project can sink before you have a chance to intervene.

3. 'How do you cope with setbacks and failures?'

Some entrepreneurs avoid working with those who have only known success. Why? Because it's hard to predict how such people might react to hardship and loss. Some people who have never failed are like hothouse flowers--valuable and attractive, for sure, but unlikely to survive in any less-than-perfect climate. When troubles arise--when they're needed the most--they're more likely to wilt than blossom.

What is the sum value of knowing the answers to these three crucial questions? You'll know what motivates the people you're in business with.

What's more: You'll get yourself closer to operating like the super-successful.

In my Business Brilliant survey, more than 80 percent of the self-made rich agreed with the statement: "It is essential that I understand the motivations of my business associates." But among a sample of ordinary middle-class people, fewer than 20 percent said the same.

Most people don't even want to know these things about their potential business partners. Most people are either too afraid to ask, or not resourceful enough to get answers by other means.

But if you disregard asking these three crucial questions, just know that you're probably exposing your projects and your livelihood to some degree of avoidable risk.

That's because you'll be following the timid practices of average people, and ignoring the business-brilliant practices of the super-successful. You've been warned.

According to at least one study, the size of a CEO's signature has a direct link to personality and leadership abilities.

What does a CEO’s John Hancock say about his or her personality? The larger the signature, the bigger the ego--at least, according to one study.

And a large ego leads to narcissistic tendencies, according to a recent study released by the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina. The study examined CEO signatures on SEC filings to "measure" and "capture the CEO’s narcissism."

Self-admiring CEOs, the study said, are likely to spend more aggressively and carelessly than their more down-to-earth counterparts.

The study said:

In general, the standardized regression coefficients show that the effect of narcissism is roughly as large as the effect of firm size and firm age. Taken together, our results indicate that narcissism has an economically significant impact on firm performance.

Despite this tendency toward poor performance, the study said that narcissistic CEOs are likely to "enjoy higher compensation, both unconditionally and relative to the next highest paid executive at their firm."

But researchers admit that their findings, while intriguing, may have limitations.

Their proxy for narcissism—signature size—could also be influenced by other factors, such as physical characteristics, education and upbringing, and the way the CEO learned to write.

John Paul Osborn, a forensic document examiner at Osborn & Son in New Jersey, goes a step further, saying he believes the entire premise is unscientific.

“This type of assessment is a pseudoscience, often referred to as graphology or graphoanalysis, which may be enjoyable entertainment at the county fair or at parties but has as much meaning as astrology or tealeaf reading according to many people in my field,” he said to Inc. via email.

“It is, in my opinion, both dangerous and unjust to label anyone with traits like narcissism based on something which lacks any real scientific basis,” he added.

You should describe every quality you want in your new hire. Right? Wrong. You're actually excluding potentially great fits.

Though it sounds counterintuitive, if a job description is too detailed, it can actually deter qualified applicants from applying.

“Sometimes recruiters or employers will want to use very specific terms, but at the same time they review résumés people submit anyway and find a person who could bring a whole different perspective to the job,” says Jennifer Loftus, founding partner and national director of Astron Solutions, an HR consulting firm in New York City. “You have to think in broader terms, to know in which areas you can and can’t compromise.”

Here are a few helpful hints to help you craft the perfect job description.

Catch the reader's eye from the beginning. Think about the candidate you want, and consider what might appeal to him or her. Use targeted questions or statements, such as "Want to work for a dynamic company that makes the world a greener place?" Craft your introduction according to what appeals to your target audience and taps into the qualities it will have, or the essential functions of the position being posted.

Know the difference between preferred and required. Beyond absolute essentials (make-or-break skills, such as licenses or a very niche kind of knowledge), the perfect candidate may not tick every box on your list of preferred qualifications, experiences, and background items. It may be tempting to rattle on about preferences, but just don't. Exceedingly exclusionary language may send someone great running for the hills.

Keep it short. You should list three to five essential responsibilities or competencies someone would need to have to be successful in that job, and list the basics in terms of education, experience, and whether the candidate needs to have supervisory experience. Depending on the complexity of the job in question, Loftus says, 400 to 800 words should suffice.

Put a human voice in your job post. No one wants to work for a robot. Infuse job descriptions with the voice and personality of your company, as this will set you apart and help potential candidates get a feel for whether they’re a good fit for your company. And, the tone of the posting should be true to the organization’s culture. For example, an organization focused on serious health issues most likely wouldn’t have a culture of fun and jovial silliness.

Another critical element is that the wording of the post should focus more on the reader than the employer. Focus on the you rather than the we. "People like to hear about themselves and think of things in terms of themselves," Loftus explains.

Woo potential candidates. You are not, after all, the only fish in the sea, and courting your perfect candidate begins with the first word of your post. Pictures are helpful, even if it’s simply the company’s logo. Graphics brighten a page, and proper spelling, grammar, and a neat format are always essential and must not be overlooked. Bullet points can help break up paragraphs of information.

Keep the process simple. Your job description should give clear, concise directions on how to apply. A process that is cumbersome may run people off. Streamline instructions with numbers or bullet points, have as few as possible (five is a good number), and limit each point to one or two brief sentences.

When speaking in public, you may want to borrow a page from the President's playbook.

In advance of his State of the Union address, President Obama's advisers said he decided to use the occasion to speak directly to the American people rather than focusing on a deadlocked Congress.

But the speech’s impact may have had just as much to do with the President’s decision to speak like the American people as it did to speak to them. It’s one element of the televised address that employers may want to adopt unanimously.

Obama favored a stripped-down delivery style, resulting in a speech that many pundits hailed as more plainspoken--and evocative--than previous installments of the annual Congressional oratory.

“If I’ve got a message that I want to get across, I want to deliver it in a manner that’s easiest for the audience to grasp and understand,” said New York-based communications expert McAdory Lipscomb Jr., who coaches business leaders in public speaking.

A positive emotional response from the audience when using this tactic, he said, is no accident.

“[The audience] is not having to work as hard to keep up, and it also means they’re more engaged in hearing what the next point may be. That kind of delivery is bonding,” he added.

When it comes to speaking to a group of employees or giving a presentation, Lipscomb has a few tips.

He cautions leaders to avoid using jargon as a tool-- it does not, in fact, make you sound more relatable. Jargon can sabotage your message, distract people who aren't familiar with it, and sometimes make people cringe.

A better tactic for speakers, he says, is to deconstruct a message into terms that are "granular" rather than foisting huge ideas on an audience at one time.

Brief silences, also, should be valued as time for listeners to comprehend, rather than viewed as airtime that needs to be filled.

Ultimately, says Lipscomb, an audience member's response to a speaker may have as much to do with the relationship established through delivery as the message itself.

“Your four-hundredth time delivering it has to sound as fresh, original, unique, and enthusiastic as the first time you said it," he added. "Everyone in that large audience needs to think they’re having a one-on-one conversation.”

Most CEO's of acquired companies stick around less than a year, but Honest Tea's Seth Goldman explains why he's staying put at Coca-Cola.

In my last post, I discussed some of the guiding principles that have helped Honest Tea keep its brand mojo as part of The Coca-Cola Company. But the way we act isn't enough to ensure success--it's also important to think about the environment that allows our mission-driven enterprise to thrive within a larger corporation.

Of course there's more than one recipe for how a large corporation and a mission-driven company can coexist and grow together--but here are a few elements of our partnership with Coca-Cola that help make it a symbiotic relationship.

1. A Hospitable Environment for Entrepreneurship

Many acquired companies struggle to find a role in their new parent company, but the fact that Coca-Cola has a unit (Venturing & Emerging Brands (VEB)) specifically dedicated to incubate, support, and occasionally shelter brands like Honest Tea is extremely important. And while the proper framework is essential, the right mindset is also needed--a balance between patience and impatience. Most CEO's of acquired companies stick around less than a year because each party has a different sense of what is possible. Large companies make decisions more slowly, but once they get aligned behind a new brand, the results can be powerful.

2. A Supportive Environment for Sustainability

Many companies profess a desire to support green practices, but don't allocate the proper resources and talent to fulfill that commitment. Coca-Cola's PlantBottle is an exciting innovation that has the potential to lead packaged goods companies away from our reliance on non-renewable materials. We look forward to being able to sell Honest Tea in the PlantBottle in the coming years. And while Coke's commitments to package and water neutrality by 2020 are ambitious, they are the kind of big ideas our society needs to embrace if we are going to have a shot at fundamentally changing our extractive relationship with the environment. As a result of this mindset, our initiatives around organics and recycling find receptive internal audiences.

3. A Team With the Ability to Grow and Evolve

I often hear from entrepreneurs who became too frustrated with corporate bureaucracy to stick around once their company was sold. Before we partnered with Coke the Honest Tea team usually had to shout for attention beyond the scale of our business--whether it was being included in a shelf set in a store or getting production time at a bottling plant.As partners with Coke, we learned pretty quickly that yelling isn't very effective in a large organization that is heavily reliant on data, process, and routines. My senior team (five out of eight of whom were with us before the Coca-Cola relationship) and I have evolved, learning different ways for Honest Tea to gain access to sales and marketing opportunities--the biggest lesson being that great performance is the most effective way to create the next big opportunity.

So what's different for me personally since the deal? Actually not that much. I still bike to the office when I'm not traveling. And the work is still fun and challenging--the distribution struggles I've written about are certainly easier. The reporting structure is a little different--instead of reporting to a board, we have monthly Operating Reviews with the VEB team. And because we continue to have aggressive growth and profitability targets, we still enlist our office accounting and operations team to pitch in with sales.

Our team still frequently shares hotel rooms on the road, though admittedly in somewhat nicer hotels. A Maryland politician recently asked me what was next for me, but I told him there's still a lot of work to be done with Honest Tea. Moreover, I feel just as passionate about the issues that caused me to start Honest Tea--and now we actually have a chance to drive change at scale, rather than just be a model for others.

One notable difference is that I don't have the company's loans hanging over my head--every bank we worked with required me to personally guarantee them, even when the loans were far in excess of my net worth. That, along with the new mattress my wife and I bought once the deal was closed, helps me sleep a little better.

You can ignore social media, but that won't make it go away. Here's how to manage when it goes off the rails.

All publicity is good publicity? The rules on that have certainly changed in the social-media era. Companies need to take care to avoid a social-media meltdown like Applebee's experienced earlier this year.

In case you missed it, here's what happened:

Applebee's customer writes a snide note referencing God and leaves no tip for waitress.

Waitress posts receipt on Reddit, with visible signature.

Reddit readers respond, overwhelmingly in favor of the waitress.

Applebee's fires the waitress.

Social media explodes. Applebee's takes a public beating.

You want to avoid this type of thing. There is no guaranteed way to do so, but here are eight tips to help you avoid the pitfalls that Applebee's fell into.

Identify the right "bad guy." Applebee's decided it was the waitress. The Internet decided it was the customer. This was a huge mistake for Applebee's. The company should have asked itself, What is more important? Happy employees or a single cheapskate customer?

Your social-media manager (and yes, you need one) should read Reddit (and other sites). Your company may not want to have a Twitter account, a Facebook page, or write a blog. But that doesn't mean you can just ignore what's being said on those sites. Somebody needs to be responsible for being aware of and responding to things on the Internet. Your company may never end up being called out for its behavior by the Internet community, but if it does happen, you need to be aware of the right way to respond.

Your social-media manager needs to be in the know and totally loyal. The former is easier to find than the latter, but both are critical. Applebee's isn't the only company to make this mistake. HMV ended up with its mass layoffs being live tweeted. Tweets like "We're tweeting live from HR where we're all being fired! Exciting!!!" and "Just overheard our marketing director (he's staying, folks!) ask 'How do I shut down Twitter?'" went viral. Layoffs happen. Some person not being fired should have taken control of the account long before the first person was notified. The last thing you want is someone with the keys to your Facebook account being caught by surprise.

Remember, the Internet is forever. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just pull down a tweet and have it disappear forever? But you can't. The HMV debacle was stopped fairly quickly. But once something like that is up, long enough for one person to retweet it or save a screen capture, it's forever. And keep in mind that you can set up your Twitter account to automatically retweet other accounts. So, realizing even three seconds later that what was posted was a bad idea, is 3 seconds too late.

Social-media followers cannot stand hypocrisy. Applebee's came out with an official statement, saying, "We wish this situation didn't happen...Our franchisee has apologized to the Guest and has taken disciplinary action with the Team Member for violating their Guest's right to privacy." Sounds like a good, solid reason for firing someone. The waitress clearly violated a company policy by posting a receipt with the guest's name clearly visible. But remember that thing about the Internet being forever? Not long before, the official Applebee's social-media person had posted a nice comment from a guest, with name clearly visible. Sigh. (Journalist R. L. Stollar has all the screen captures from this historic social-media meltdown.) Applebee's took down that post, but by then it was too late. If your policy says, "No customer identities should be published on the Internet," then no customer identities should be published on the Internet.

You need a clear, legal social-media policy. This is not easy. You cannot prevent your employees from speaking to one another (and "speaking" includes posting to one another on Facebook) about working conditions. So you cannot ban people from complaining about pay, for instance. But you can make a policy that prohibits posting customer information. Just apply it equally.

Remember, your lowest-level employee has a voice, and it may be louder than your spokesperson's. Back in the day, if you wanted media attention you had to have connections or a public relations person or something that only important people had. Now, it takes an Internet connection. Though most employee ramblings are ignored by the Internet community, some are not. If you treat your employees badly, it's likely to come back to bite you in a big way.

If you're feeling defensive, it's time to shut up. Posting a customer signature was a bad idea. The waitress should not have done so. So, if company policy is to terminate someone for such an offense, terminate and then shut up. Defensiveness encourages further attacks, and you will not win against the Internet. So, just be quiet.

Having a perfectly smooth social-media life is not always possible, but these tips should help prevent complete disasters.

Last night, President Obama spoke about the economy and creating jobs, and the government's role in both. But I wish he'd said something else.

I'm happy about a lot of things about the State of the Union address last night. Jodie Foster did not jump onstage and announce she was coming out of the closet. Kanye West did not interrupt the President's speech and take credit for killing Bin Laden. No shoes were thrown. Nothing was lip-synced.

Seriously, though, President Obama is an accomplished communicator, and I like him. In the State of the Union last night, he was strongest when he outlined several huge (albeit unlikely) proposals. He spoke of the need to reform immigration and have better laws over who can own guns. He wants to raise the minimum wage, provide health care for all, and create better schools. I'm pretty sure he proposed ending male pattern baldness in my lifetime, too. (At least, I hope he did.) "The greatest nation on earth cannot keep conducting its business by drifting from one manufactured crisis to another," he said.

These are all great ideas. No one can argue his passion.

But when President Obama also spoke--at length--about the economy and creating jobs, and the government's role in both, his speech was not as strong--particularly if you're a business owner like you and me. (Thankfully, it was not as bad as Bill Pullman's Independence Day speech. "We will not go quietly into the night"? Really?) Here's what President Obama missed in the State of the Union:

1. He keeps saying the government should play a significant role in the economy.

President Obama wants to spend more on infrastructure. He also wants to make significant investments in energy, technology, and education. He wants to create more so-called manufacturing innovation institutes and offer incentives to employers who manufacture here in the United States. He wants to give tax benefits to those who hire more employees or invest in small businesses. It's all good. If you have the money. But if you read a newspaper once in a while, you know the country doesn't have the money right now. The U.S. already has massive debts.

Plus, I've heard this speech before. Oh, right, it was President Obama's State of the Union address in 2009. Back then, he promised millions of new jobs and a revived economy once his $800 billion stimulus program spent on (you guessed it) infrastructure, energy, technology, and education took effect. And he talked up extended short-term tax cuts and other goodies like tax credits for businesses that hire more people. The President subsequently extended the reach of the Small Business Administration and gave its head a Cabinet position. He made more federal loan guarantees available for small businesses. And the Fed joined the party with easy money and lots of liquidity. But the result? Anemic growth. In fact, the economy is projected to grow less than 2 percent this year, and unemployment has stayed stubbornly at 8 percent.

Frankly, the economy is growing too slowly because owners like me are afraid to invest and hire. I don't know what else the government plans to do to "help" out. Please, just protect owners from enemies and keep cities safe and the legal system fair. If possible, limit exposure to Lady Gaga, too. Make sure commerce can be done over the roads, rails, and skies. And balance your own books. Other than that, please let me worry about expanding my own company--and the economy will grow.

What had I hoped to hear? "As a government, we have done enough to rescue our financial system and set it on the right path. Now it's up to the private sector. Going forward and to create a more stable economy, I'm going to get the government's books in order and leave you to do the same. You have my word on that."

2. He didn't convince me he's going to get the country's debt under control.

Speaking of balancing the country's books, President Obama was not convincing on the national debt. At last count, it was approximately $16 trillion, which is now officially more than America's gross domestic product, and almost as much as Oprah earned last year alone. And although the Congressional Budget Office projects lower deficits over the coming years (mainly because of arguable assumptions about estimated growth and tax receipts), the national debt is projected to substantially climb over the next two decades at its current pace. This is a big concern for my business. If the national debt continues to grow as forecast, many economists believe that the country will likely suffer from higher inflation, interest rates, an unstable dollar, and emergency spending cuts and potential tax increases that will create more uncertainty than ever before.

But what's President Obama going to do to get this debt under control? He continues to say he will do something about the cost of Medicare, Social Security, and other entitlements that currently make up about 40 percent of our annual spending, and he's "open to all ideas." But then I hear about more spending programs, taxing the wealthy, and blaming the opposition in Congress.

What did I hope to hear? "I am going to agree on a ratio of spending cuts and tax revenue with Congress that will reduce the national debt to at least 50 percent of GDP within the next seven years. You have my word on that."

3. He's not leading toward a compromise with his opposition in Congress.

Any competent negotiator knows that the definition of a successful deal is when both sides walk away feeling like winners. But the President doesn't seem to have this leadership skill so far. He seems unable to forge a working government with his opposition. Is that his fault? No. But it is his responsibility. He has to compromise and lead the way to compromise. I am tired of hearing about long-term deficit and tax reform and complaints about Congress. It's been four years. Show me. I expect there to be compromises, because that's what I do every day of my business life. I expect the President to negotiate, be flexible, give a little, take a little. I expect him to govern.

What did I hope to hear? "Mr. Boehner, our negotiations have been difficult. But I promise we will together get a tax reform and deficit deal done this year. You have my word on this."

Those were the three things I hoped to hear last night. But I didn't. Was it a good speech? Sure. But I still prefer when Jules Winnfield (played by Samuel L. Jackson) delivered "The path of the righteous man" speech in Pulp Fiction. Now, that was awesome.

You could outsource this marketing, or you could tap a rich--but free--source of content right in front of you.

You desperately need more online content: You want more people to talk about your products, your services, and your company. You could definitely use the SEO boost, too. And you want to better engage your customers and hopefully even create a community.

Though you could outsource to freelancers--and maybe have tried that already--they don't really know your company or your products. And where engaging your customers is concerned, authenticity is everything.

Who can engage your customers in a genuine, authentic way? The answer is right in front of you: your employees.

I talked to James Paden and Lee Jorgenson of Compendium, a content marketing platform that lets businesses create, capture, and manage content on their own branded hubs, for tips on making employee-generated content work for your business:

1. Don't try to force a style or "voice."

Different people engage different audiences, but no one engages with corporate speak. Don't try to force a particular style. Let your employees communicate in their own way.

Real people want to engage with real people--make sure your employees communicate professionally, but otherwise let them be real.

2. Don't limit the playing field.

Many companies "let" the CEO communicate. Some extend the privilege to marketing. Why not open participation up to other departments: customer service, engineering, tech, product development? Different people have different interests.

The more people who participate--and the broader the range of functional areas participating--the more chances you have to meet different needs and engage different audiences.

3. Be gentle with editing.

Many people say they've never felt more valued than when they were asked to write about their opinions and perspectives; they feel they play a key role in benefitting the brand.

Set some ground rules and then step back. You can still approve content before it goes live, but generally speaking show your appreciation for your employees' efforts by protecting their message and respecting their content.

You'll be surprised by how professional your employee authors will be, especially if you...

4. Highlight and promote individual authors.

Display author names, titles, and photos. Help give them exposure and build their individual brands. Make your employees stars and their visibility will reflect well on your company.

And their visibility will help them care more about creating great content, because it's theirs.

5. Ask authors to tie their social accounts to the content marketing platform.

ExactTarget, an interactive marketing software company, has almost 70 active authors. They share ExactTarget content with their personal connections, using their own social networks to expand the company's social reach. (ExactTarget's blog is a great example of a diverse collection of employee-created content.)

Encourage your employees to share. They have their own social networks--take advantage of them.

6. Take advantage of Google author rank.

Let individual authors tie in to their Google profiles. That may improve SEO results through contextual relevance for different topics and help broaden your overall reach.

7. Share results.

Good content marketing platforms track individual statistics, such as visits, comments, social traffic, and search traffic. It's a great way to give feedback to the authors and unleash their competitive juices.

8. Think beyond marketing.

Your blog can also be a great recruiting tool. Employee content can highlight your culture, your facilities, outside activities, and community efforts. Cultural fit is extremely important, so let prospective employees see ahead of time whether they'll fit.

Plus, employee blogs are like a digital extension of a résumé. Allow employees to create content and you implicitly show you want to help them build their careers.

9. Forget command and control.

Employee-generated content makes the "one voice" approach to communication impossible.

And that's why it works so well. Sometimes an author's unique style can become a huge voice for the company--authenticity, not corporate speak, results in real credibility and a real connection between an author and an audience.

More than 40 studies affirm that this simple, practical technique doubles your chance of getting a yes, but surprisingly few people put it into use regularly.

If we're all in sales, as the old saying goes, then we're all in the persuasion business. And this is particularly true for entrepreneurs. Whether you're asking investors to hand over their money, potential customers to try your product, or employees to give their best, much of your day is probably spent persuading people. So how do you do it well?

There are a million hints and tricks out there--some more practical than others. A little swearing might help, suggest some studies, or if that's not appropriate for a given situation, how about simply adding a because statement to your request? Meanwhile, classic techniques like social proof, or convincing someone that everyone else is already doing whatever you're trying to get the person to do, or stressing scarcity are well known and frequently employed.

But for some reason, amid all this chatter about how to be more persuasive, one simple, practical, and well-tested technique had largely got lost in the shuffle. According to a recent post laying out the idea on PsyBlog, a whopping 42 studies with 22,000 participants have found the technique roughly doubles the chances of someone agreeing to a request.

What is it? Simply reminding people they're free. The blog calls it the But You Are Free technique, or BYAF for short:

This simple approach is all about reaffirming people's freedom to choose. When you ask someone to do something, you add on the sentiment that they are free to choose.

By reaffirming their freedom you are indirectly saying to them: I am not threatening your right to say no. You have a free choice…

People have been shown to donate more to good causes, agree more readily to a survey and give more to someone asking for a bus fare home.

The exact words used are not especially important. The studies have shown that using the phrase "But obviously do not feel obliged" worked just as well as "but you are free."

What is important is that the request is made face-to-face: the power of the technique drops off otherwise. Even over email, though, it does still have an effect, although it is somewhat reduced.

Are you using the BYAF and, if not, are you going to start?

The president's speech is likely to fire up his base--and his opponents. A rundown of the lightning-rod issues.

President Obama ain't looking to compromise.

The trick in these speeches--Obama's and every president's--is to fire up the base, but also to word proposals so that they sound completely uncontroversial. It's a tough rhetorical line to walk. (And presidents have a pretty low success rate when it comes to getting their SOTU proposals enacted.)

It's particularly tough right now. The environment is so partisan that one poll before the speech showed how support for some of Obama's proposals rises and falls dramatically based on whether his name is attached to them. Ask Republican voters how they feel about a path to citizenship for illegal aliens, for example, and 60 percent support it. Tell them that's Obama's plan, though, and support drops to 39 percent.

So, while the President's speech was a call to action for the middle class, the really interesting stuff came in his direct challenges to Congress. With that in mind, here are the five biggest partisan lightning rods from Obama's speech Tuesday evening.

Immigration Reform

"Send me a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the next few months, and I will sign it right away," Obama challenged. All of which is great, but the President wasn't successful on immigration reform in 2009, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Even though polls show Americans want action on this issue, the parties are sharply divided on how to go about it.

Minimum Wage Increase

In the abstract, increasing the minimum wage shouldn't be all that controversial. I mean, if you're working for $7.25 an hour, it's kind of hard not to feel sympathy for you. (Though there are economic arguments bolstering both sides.) But, an increase has very little chance of getting through the House. And let's not forget, as Doyle McManus of the Los Angeles Times tweeted, "Minimum wage increase was a 2008 Obama campaign proposal, too. Only in 2008 it was $9.50. Now it's only $9.00."

Tax Reform & Debt Ceiling

Seems like everybody should be in favor of closing loopholes and reforming the tax code when you put it this way, right? But hidden in plain sight in the president's remarks was a real challenge, calling out the Republicans for linking a rise in the debt ceiling, without which the government could default, to tax reform.

"Let's agree, right here, right now, to keep the people's government open, pay our bills on time, and always uphold the full faith and credit of the United States of America," Obama said.

Climate Change

On this one, you almost don't need to go beyond the text of the speech.

Obama urged Congress to pass a climate change bill, "like the one John McCain and Joe Lieberman worked on together a few years ago."

However, he added a threat:

"If Congress won't act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my Cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy."

Gun Control

The President saved his boldest rhetoric for last. There's so little common ground here that basically anything Obama said on gun control was bound to be seen as super-partisan. A Republican congressman brought Ted Nugent, who keeps saying things like the President should "suck on my machine gun," as his guest. So, Obama responded by framing a failure to vote on gun control as a personal affront to Gabby Giffords and the families of Aurora, Colo. and Newtown, Conn.

This question is guaranteed to reveal the most organized, analytical, and efficient candidates.

"I want you to explain something to me. Pick any topic you want: a hobby you have, a book you’ve read, a project you worked on--anything. You’ll have just five minutes to explain it. At the beginning of the five minutes you shouldn't assume anything about what I know, and at the end I should understand whatever is most important about this topic. During the five minutes, I might ask you some questions, and you can ask me questions. Take as much time as you want to think it through, and let me know when you want to start."

-- Kevin Morrill, CTO and co-founder of Referly, a San Francisco-based start-up. He has used this question more than 200 times.

"It is amazing how many candidates will not premeditate before diving into this interview question," adds Morrill on the Referly blog. "What's most incredible about this is how accurately it predicts disorganized and non-goal directed behavior on the job. I’ve been overruled a few times by my manager on a hiring decision, and this question was a harbinger of things to come. Conversely, the people who think it through and have a few crystal clear points are amongst the best people I’ve worked with."

Before using the question, consider these pointers:

"As they start explaining, I make sure to have the most vacant look on my face possible," writes Morrill. "I do not give any ‘uh huh’ or ‘I see’ kind of interjections that underlie most conversations. A star candidate will pick up on this and ask if I understand so far.

"Explaining by analogy is a shortcut some of the best candidates use. One example I heard while someone was teaching me the basics of poker was to take advantage of the fact I had played backgammon even though I hadn’t played poker. He talked about how in backgammon all the pieces on the board are exposed information that both players can see, but in poker you have hidden information. These types of explanations go a long way towards quickly communicating an idea with all kinds of implications very succinctly.”

Morrill notes that "only one or two out of every 10 candidates will do well on all these points." But those numbers should improve: At press time, Referly was hiring for engineering and marketing positions. We’re guessing the new candidates will be a little more prepared.

Related Articles

The Unconnected Need Not Apply: Social Recruiting Revisited
Hiring Checklist: 4 Characteristics That Matter
10 Ways to Recruit Smarter, Not Harder

There's a better way to pay for dinner--at least according to this start-up. The founders explain the origins of the idea.

The best opportunities for entrepreneurs often exist in those bits of life that we all take for granted. Restaurants are a perfect example. How many millions of times a day do people get their meals, eat, and wait for the server to drop off that little black folder with the slot for a credit card?

And yet, there are many reasons why a different system could benefit to restaurants and patrons alike. A rogue waiter skimming credit card servers can be a security nightmare. Customers can walk away with both copies of a charge slip, stiffing the restaurant.

Even if all is on the up and up, the usual payment process means that the customer experience is almost completely contained between the patrons and the waitstaff, which gives managers little to no opportunity to learn of problems, unless they become so significant that people formally complain.

That is what Joe Snell and Andy Pope, co-founders and CEO and CTO, respectively, of Viableware realized. They thought there might be room for a better approach.

A Better Mousetrap

The two-and-a-half-year-old company offers a payment system with a secure framework--a major barrier to entry--and additional advantages for a full-service restaurant, the particular market niche they're pursuing. Viableware uses custom tablet hardware rather than depending on a consumer-oriented product like an iPad or a Square card reader for a smartphone.

Creating their own hardware in partnership with major design firm Synapse Product Development was a major reason that the start-up costs ran into the "millions." "We had to pay them a lot of money because we wanted to do it right," says Snell.

A waste? Not at all. Although Apple clearly has mindshare when it comes to tablets, the hardware requirements of a restaurant leave plenty of room for opportunity. "These things are going to be handled by thousands of people," Snell says. "They're going to get ketchup spilled on them." Units will get poked and prodded, and need to last for years. "A consumer device [is not] designed like that," he says. Deploying an iPad or Samsung Galaxy tablet would have left them on the hook for replacements when things went wrong. (So far, the company has raised $5.5 million largely from angel investors in the Northwest and is in the middle of raising a $3.5 million series B round.)

Viableware wrote the software to work with what Snell says are the two top restaurant point-of-sale system, MICROS Systems and NCR Dinnerware. The start-up also has more than half-a-dozen software development kits from other leading systems "so we can tie it in when we have interest" from a customer.

The portable payment stations--called "RAILS"--handle the entire transaction, passing payment information to the card processor without retaining credit card data afterward. Customers can get details of the meal and skip the receipt or ask for it to be emailed or printed. A RAIL can split the check for the patrons and charge the parts to their various credit cards.

The RAIL can display an ad, as an additional revenue stream, and survey patrons about the dining experience. Although most restaurants would be lucky to get 1 or 2 percent response for a paper card left at the table, in its beta tests, Viableware says it has seen roughly 75 percent participation.

The Opportunity

Morgan Plant, vice-president of food and beverage at Joie de Vivre Hospitality, which operates a chain of boutique hotels, has been testing the system in a pilot project. "If you dine in Europe, they've been using pay at the table for years," she says. "For years, my IT director and I have been talking about this. There weren't great solutions out there."

They saw Viableware last year at an industry trade show. The idea of not having cocktail waitresses holding multiple credit cards for customers and being a potential security point of failure is a relief, and the survey capability has turned out to be very handy. "If they check [that the meal] wasn't good, it will send a text message to all the managers so they can reach the customer before they leave, which is huge," says Plant.

How much money could this translate into? According to Snell, there are 400,000 full-service restaurants in the U.S. alone. The business model is to provide the necessary hardware and software for between $300 and $600 a month per location. "If I focus just on this market and we get any percentage of market share, we would have a very successful company" without expanding the target market, he says.

To rephrase a cliché, sometimes if you build a better mousetrap, your customers start booking reservations far in advance.

This entrepreneur created a site that detects where you are sitting, and adjusts the font automatically.

Responsive design, a web design approach in which websites are optimized for various screen sizes, has become a buzzword recently, as more and more companies aim to reach consumers through multiple devices.

Croatian designer, Marko Dugonjic, took the concept one step further by publishing a demo that combines face detection and responsive typography. In his responsive typography experiment, the website's font automatically adjusts to readable size, based on how far you are from the screen.

Here's how it works: With permission to use your webcam, the page detects your face movement and calculates your distance to the screen. As you move further from the screen, the font size of the paragraph instantly become larger; and vice versa. When you move around, you also get to see the ratio, width, and font size in real time. If you are hesitant to show your face but still want to try out the site, you can put any magazine page with a headshot in front of your webcam--the application can detect that, too.

The page, which is still in beta, combines the Web Real-Time Communication (WebRTC) framework and Javascript code for real-time face-tracking, according to the site.

Dugonjic told Inc. via Twitter that he had pondered the idea for a few years, but he did not come up with anything tangible until he learned about WebRTC and getUserMedia. He explained that once his team managed to capture the user and calculate the reading distance, setting the optimal letter size was relatively easy.

One application of responsive typography is to create a personalized reading experience for the device owner, according to Dugonji.

"We are not there yet, but I hope that this demo will spark people's imagination and encourage designers and developers to think about the experiences of tomorrow," he wrote to Inc.

There's one simple and foolproof way to get rid of a bad customer without taking on emotional baggage.

If you run your own business, you've had this experience: A customer calls you up/walks in the door/sends you an email ordering your product or service. And your heart sinks. For whatever reason--low pay, high hassles, dislike for the work, or simple boredom from doing the same thing too long--you don't want to sell to this customer anymore.

But what do you do? Especially if it's a long-time customer? I just don't want to do business with you is bound to lead to a lengthy and unpleasant conversation (I've learned that the hard way). I've decided to pursue other opportunities is better, but may still result in uncomfortable questions and hurt feelings.

Through trial and error I've learned that there's one simple and foolproof way to get rid of a bad customer without taking on emotional baggage: Raise your price to more than the customer will pay. Here's how to do it gracefully:

Step 1: Research your new pricing

You are about to ask for a dramatic price increase. In fact, you're going to come up with a new price that is so high you're certain your bad customer will never, ever pay it. It may be twice what the customer is paying you now, or even more.

Why are you asking for this new price? You have to have a good reason. It could be that you've looked around and found that your previous price was way below the market. (Chances are, no matter what you do, you can find many instances of someone else doing it for a lot more.) It may be that the price of your supplies has sharply increased. There could be any number of reasons you suddenly need a lot more money from this customer. Come up with one that's as reasonable as you can.

Step 2: Announce your new pricing

It should be difficult for you to say this new price without stammering. Once, with a particularly odious customer I carefully explained that the freelance work I was doing was taking up twice as much of my time as I had originally anticipated and so I would need to be paid twice as much. (I told the editor this by email so no one could see me blush.)

One caveat: There's always the possibility that your bad customer will say yes to the higher price. I've had this happen twice. So you had better make sure your new price is so astronomical that it makes keeping the bad customer worthwhile.

Step 3: Offer an alternative

Fortunately for me, I have an old friend who is also a freelance writer and is willing to put up with a lot more aggravation than I am. He also will sometimes accept lower prices, primarily because he works blindingly fast.

Every time I fire a customer, I also provide an introduction to this friend. My friend is happy of the opportunity for new work, and my bad customer has a new source for content. I know my friend will do a good job so I'm not leaving the customer in the lurch.

If you don't have someone like my friend ready and waiting, do a little research. There are certain to be people or companies just starting out in your industry who'd be happy of a referral, or websites where your bad customer can find someone to replace you. With the suggestion of an alternative, the bad customer is less likely to try to negotiate down your new high price, and more likely to just go away.

Step 4: Leave the door open

Whatever happens, I try never, never to leave a customer on bad terms. The one thing you can count on in any business is that nothing stays the same. A low-paying customer may increase its budget. The employee who made a customer difficult to work with might leave. Conversely, the one pleasant employee at the bad customer may go elsewhere and I may want to work with him or her. Or, the customer may turn out be best friends with your best customer. These are just a few examples of why it's always a bad idea to leave someone on unpleasant or uncomfortable terms.

Whatever you do, make sure to leave your bad customer feeling really good.