On April 9th 2012 Facebook announced that it would acquire Instagram for $1bn. An impressive sum for a company less than 2 years old and with fewer than a dozen employees.
An even more impressive sum when you realise that Instagram had no clear revenue plan.
According to some reports Instagram co founder and CEO Kevin Systrom, who owns 40% of the company, stands to make $400m from the sale before taxes.
Instagram is a great app for the iPhone (and now the Android) which allows you to take photos and apply cool filters to them to give them the look of photographs taken on a 1970′s Kodak Instamatic or Polaroid Landcamera.
To gauge the popularity of the Instagram app you only need to look at your Facebook newsfeed to see that almost every image is posted via Instagram. In fact I wonder if more photos are taken and shared through Instagram than they are directly from the photo app on the iPhone.
Just a few days ago one of my Facebook friends posted a link to the story of 9 year old entrepreneur Caine Monroy who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad’s auto part store. …
Billionaire entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, has this week backed a plan for school leavers who opt not to go to university but start a business instead.
Branson’s plan, which is currently …
When running a project and it’s running behind plan when should you quit and when should you carry on? Here’s a technique you can apply to the projects you’re working on to decide when to …
In this post we look at why a great idea or a good business plan is no substitute for taking action.
“Too much talk, too little do”
Tom Peters, In Search of Excellence
In 1982, Tom Peters along …
Welcome to Weekend Roundup. This is a collection of some great posts that I’ve come across over the previous week.
I don’t go into major depth on each one, but encourage you to check them out …
Business books are a cheap way of improving your business education without a large time commitment or financial outlay.
For many years I’ve been a big fan of buying business books. In fact I’ve got shelves …
Welcome to Weekend Roundup. This is a collection of some great posts that I’ve come across over the previous week.
I don’t go into major depth on each one, but encourage you to check them out …
Welcome to Weekend Roundup. This is a collection of some great posts that I’ve come across over the previous week.
I don’t go into major depth on each one, but encourage you to check them out …
I could take the time to read a fiction book, but I don’t. I would rather read websites, newspapers, magazines, looking for ideas and concepts that I can use. I spend time in bookstores because …
Over the next few weeks you will read blogs, newspaper articles and endure hours of TV coverage talking about the year that’s just about to end/gone and what the writer or presenter has learned over …
Raving fans are customers that love your products or services so much they not only tell or their friends and family about your stuff, they show them how to use it and sell it for …
Five years ago did you know where you would be today? Even if you had a vague idea of where you’d be, chances are reality is different to how you imagined it would turn out.
For …
This is a guest post from Yolanda Facio at Red Hot Momentum. When you’ve finished reading this post please tweet, “like” and share your thoughts in the comments below.
As a small business owner you need …
If it is, then our friends over at FirepoleMarketing.com want to talk to you!
Semi local business are those that as well as trading in the local community also have an online element, which allows their …
This is a guest post by Timo Kiander from TimoKiander.com. Timo is a productivity guru and here he shares 7 Time Saving Tips For Entrepreneurs.
As an entrepreneur, your life is pretty hectic at times. Emails …
If you are not in the UK or won’t be in the UK on 3rd November 2011, you have permission to ignore this post.
This is a guest post by my good friend and BRT community …
Buying is quite often an emotional decision. When a client is faced with a choice of two competing offers the chances are they will buy from the person that they trust the most.
At one time …
So you’ve come this far, you’ve done all the hard work, had the signs made and erected, unpacked the stock and placed it on the shelves, but now is not the time to take your …
This is a guest post by Yolanda Facio from Red Hot Momentum.
Yeah right.
Here’s the thing, it all started in the very, very early 1900’s like 1908-ish. Marshall Field’s department store in Chicago began to use …
On Day 7 we talked about how to create a Marketing Plan. In today’s post we talk about how to execute it.
Contrary to popular opinion, marketing is an activity which starts before the business starts …
*Or insert type of business here
As a coach working with entrepreneurs from the IT industry, one of the most common questions that I get asked is “how can I get more clients for my business?”
As …
This is the eighth part of the 10 Days to Start Up series. In case you missed the previous articles in the series you can catch up here.
In this post we are going to talk …
This is the seventh part of the 10 days to starting a business series. In case you missed the earlier articles in the series you can catch up here.
Today we’re going to focus on Marketing, …
This is a guest post by Yolanda Facio from Red Hot Momentum.
Last week my very smart friend, Lisa Wood, wrote a very quick post on sharing. In its brevity was a very powerful message. I …
My name is Matthew Needham and I'm a full time interim manager and consultant. I work with businesses large and small to help them grow their businesses, save money or improve their business processes.
I'm an entrepreneur, accountant and blogger. You can read more about me, or The Big Red Tomato Company on the About Page.
