The Curator: Wearable Tech, Hiring Unicorns, PR Metrics, Commerce Strategy

Weekly Buzz: Sit back, relax, and enjoy our curated reads. Here’s our weekly link roundup of small business buzz, musings and muchness. A curation of the best small business talk around the web.

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The Impact of Wearable Technology on Small Business

When smartphones first burst onto the scene a number of years ago, there was no mistaking the revolutionary effect it would have on everyone. Virtually no aspect of everyday life has remained untouched by the technology, and while some may get annoyed at how glued others are to their touch screens, there’s little doubt they have improved our lives in considerable ways, especially in the business world. (Tech Cocktail)

Y Combinator Beats The Odds In Tech Investing

Investing in tech startups is a risky business. But just as the MIT Blackjack team figured out how to beat the odds in Las Vegas, Y Combinator figured out how to beat the odds in tech investing. Y Combinator, which started in Cambridge but now is in Silicon Valley, is the largest and most successful startup incubator in history. Over the past 10 years, Y Combinator provided seed funding and support to 842 companies. (The Boston Globe)

Hiring For Startups? Think Unicorns

Making the transition from a big corporate job to running a startup comes with many frightening challenges, but on the bright side, you generally get to hire people you like. But strong startup employees need to be more than likeable. They need to have multiple skill sets, a high tolerance for risk and instability, and the ability to push the company forward in an environment with limited resources. It’s not surprising that many entrepreneurs liken the hiring process to hunting unicorns. (The Globe And Mail)

Connecting The Dots Between PR Metrics and Strategy

In communications, two of our biggest jobs are to translate data and PR metrics into narratives and narratives into PR metrics. Every month, my communications team and I get together to fill in our monthly PR metrics dashboard. It’s not a glamorous process, but it does give us a chance to identify our successes and challenges over time. (PRDaily)

Mark Cuban Shares His 12 Fundamental Rules For Entrepreneurs

Over the past 30 years, billionaire “Shark Tank” investor and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has not only built his own companies but invested in over 120 others. In his book “How to Win at the Sport of Business,” he breaks down a checklist for new entrepreneurs. We explain the “Twelve Cuban Rules for Startups”… (Business Insider)

Serial Entrepreneurs Venture And Venture Again

There are entrepreneurs, and then there are serial entrepreneurs. The process of coming up with a business idea and successfully implementing it involves risk. It’s difficult to accurately gauge the market and the competitive landscape, come up with a successful business idea, hire the right people and manage them, and launch your product as a commercial success. (Investopedia)

How You Can Be a Great Mentor to Fledgling Startups

A 2014 survey of founders who participated in accelerators found that 30% of respondents cited drawbacks in the mentorship component of their program. When these same founders were asked about what could be done differently at their accelerator, “changes in mentorship” was one of the most frequent answers. (Forbes)

Could A Lawsuit Wreck Uber, Lyft?

An army of independent contractors helped Uber, Lyft and other app-economy startups grow quickly. This business model is now under threat. Alarm bells are going off around Silicon Valley. The seriousness with which two federal judges are treating two lawsuits demanding that Lyft and Uber Technologies be forced to classify drivers as employees rather than independent contractors is riveting attention on the business model that has helped these companies — and a range of other app-driven startups — grow rapidly while controlling costs. (Upstart)