Difference Between Having A Problem And Building A Business Around It

When Sean Harper needed a credit card processor for his first company, he signed up for the first one he saw. He ended up being swindled into tens of thousands of dollars of charges and paid almost twice the amount they expected to the first year.

That’s when Sean knew there was a problem. And after some initial research, he realized it was a problem he could build a business around. So Sean and his co-founder created FeeFighters.com.

I interviewed Sean to learn how he’s working to solve this problem for small businesses and about the recent rebranding his company went through.

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By Techli

2011 Predictions: A Facebook Scandal, Google’s War, the Bubble Continues, and the Rise of App Holding Companies

Every publication has released their predictions, most of which I feel to be on the safe side. Here are some that you won’t see anywhere else, but that I bet will come true in 2011.

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By Techli

Competition Knows No Boundaries In Hacker Cup

If you sign up for the New York City marathon, you can’t run 26.2 miles in Chicago and say you competed. Fortunately, we’re not runners (at least not after our.

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By Techli

Editorial: CEO Reflects On Failure Stories

Lessons From Business Failures It’s quite refreshing to see how far along the Chicago entrepreneurial community has come in the 2.5 years since I moved here for business school (Go.

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By Techli

Student Entrepreneur Hewett Talks Shop(pit)

Spencer Hewett is not what one might call an “average” college freshman. At Washington University in St. Louis, Spencer is one among a growing movement of young tech entrepreneurs getting their.

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By Techli

Landing Page Optimization: 4 Key Aspects to Get More Users

First impressions are everything, especially for a start-up trying to court new users. A lot of start-ups believe it takes expensive design and brilliant imagery to get people to sign-up, when in reality none of that matters. All it takes to increase conversion rate is a solid headline, contrasting call to action button, detailed additional value, and social proof.

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By Techli

Why Braintree Founder Bryan Johnson Doesn’t Hire Traditional Managers

Chicago based credit card processing company Braintree has an impressive roster of customers – 37signals, Airbnb, github, OpenTable, and more. And that’s with a team of under 20 people.

That’s not why I interviewed CEO Bryan Johnson though. I wanted to learn why their company culture is so unique, why he doesn’t hire traditional managers, and why he’s so adamant about hiring rock star e

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By Techli

Merry Tech-mas!

No matter what you’re celebrating this time of year- Christmas, Chanukah, Kwanza, Boxing Day, Winter Solstice or some other name for gorging yourself on food & opening presents- this is.

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By Techli

Chicago’s Top 30 In Tech 2010

Chicago’s Top 30 In Tech 2010   30. Funding Feeding Frenzy Coming in at the end of the year, the Funding Feeding Frenzy competition held at the Chicago SYNC center.

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By Techli

Motorola HoneyComb OS Teaser Trailer For CES Jan. 2011

Motorola has put together a pretty slick video for CES in January where they plan to unveil their new Tablet running the Android 3.0 HoneyComb OS. It’s rumored to have.

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By Techli