Introduction

Each year, over six million new businesses launch and millions more grow. This year, Microsoft is sponsoring a very special National Entrepreneurship Week February 20-25th. In this episode of Business Insanity Talk Radio, we celebrate that week and talk to some of the entrepreneurs that are participating. Co-hosting the show is Melanie Gass who is a Sr. Business Development Manager for Microsoft and the brainchild behind Entrepreneurship week. She helps shape Microsoft Community Connections (MCC) to deliver strong value to customers and influencers.

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Segment 1: John Carroll is a Manager of Local Business Outreach at Yelp. He hosts informational sessions with local business owners across North America to educate them on best practices for navigating the world of online reviews.

2:00 – Why is Yelp excited to participate in National Entrepreneurship Week?

2:45 – What is a company’s brand promise?

3:45 – How does Yelp help small businesses with free tools?

5:00 – How do businesses claim their listing on Yelp?

6:00 – Reviews are insight into your blind spots as a business owner.

8:00 – How Yelp recommends handling bad reviews.

Segment 2: Amber Colley is a Senior Vice President with Dun & Bradstreet who brings 20 years experience working with businesses of all sizes to help them grow and prosper.  She has coached thousands of business owners on establishing a business credit profile that will get them the funding, cash flow and finance terms they need.

15:30 – Why did Dun & Bradstreet decide to participate in National Entrepreneurship Week?

16:15 – How do I use data to grow my business?

18:00 – How do you find and target the right prospects?

20:00 – How do you ensure you’re getting them at the right time in the buyer journey?

21:00 – Why don’t more businesses use the data that’s available to them?

23:30 – Why you should review your customer’s credit information.

Segment 3: Carol-Lynn Grow is a co-founder of LawToolBox which is an award winning all-in-one court rules provider and deadline management system provider that helps legal professionals calculate their litigation and other deadlines in state and federal court in 50 states.

31:15 – Why did LawToolBox decide to participate in National Entrepreneuership Week?

32:15 – Why accountants and lawyers need your product?

33:45 – Why LawToolBox is collaborating with DocuSign to help law firms and legal departments go fully digital.

36:00 – How are law firms responding to the product?

Segment 4: Karen Martell leads marketing and partnerships for Square and has worked at the intersection of technology and small business for the past 10 years.

40:45 – Why is Square participating in National Entrepreneurship Week?

41:30 – How does Square empower entrepreneurs?

42:15 – How is the adoption of Square evolving in the retail space?

43:30 – Shuian Bertrand’s Square success story.

Segment 5: Melanie Gass is the senior business development manager over on Microsoft Community Connections.

49:50 – Why is Microsoft Community Connections so important?

50:45 – What role does this fill in their business?

51:30 – What Melanie is most excited about for National Entrepreneurship Week.

Sponsored by Microsoft.