Posts Tagged ‘Startups’
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
 Three elements can restore U.S. competitiveness and create new jobs, says a Center For Public Policy Innovation report, “Restoring U.S. Competitiveness: Creating Jobs and Unleashing the Potential of Small Businesses through Technology and Innovation.
“Startups and small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. They are responsible for the vast majority of all new jobs created in the United States; they are the nation’s greatest source of innovation; and they are critical to helping restore U.S. competitiveness,” CPPI President and CEO Chris Long said. “This report addresses real policy and regulatory solutions that can help spur U.S. job growth and innovation in the coming years.”
“Job creation has rightfully dominated most conversations of late. This report sheds light on the precursor to job creation and what I find to be top of mind for the CEOs I meet with – access to capital, global markets and modern technology. Focusing on those three elements can help small businesses thrive in a way that will reinvigorate the U.S. economy,” added Steve Felice, president and chief commercial officer of Dell, who moderated CPPI’s December panel discussion.
Key findings from CPPI’s special report include:
Access to a Variety of Capital. Many investors aren’t aware of startups in their region. Bringing visibility to these new firms will help attract investment from local resources. Also, making the capital gains tax exemption permanent for investors in qualified small businesses (QSB) would provide a corporate tax credit of up to $5 million for these QSBs in the first taxable year of profit, followed by a 50 percent corporate income tax exclusion in the two succeeding taxable years to help finance growth.
Access to Modern Technology. Cloud computing and mobile technologies have lowered the cost of entry for smaller firms, allowing them to invest more in their innovative ideas. Moreover, global supply chains used to be controlled by larger firms; however, smaller firms now have the ability to build virtual supply chains to expand their presence around the globe.
Access to Global Markets. President Obama is committed to opening up foreign markets to American businesses, as evidenced by his pledge to double the amount of exports over the next five years. He also reiterated this commitment in his State of the Union Address last week stating “I will go anywhere in the world to open new markets for American products.” A number of government agencies, including the Small Business Administration, have already been providing small businesses with information and assistance to help them bring their products to overseas markets. Making these programs easier to find would help smaller firms take advantage of these valuable resources.
Distinguishing Startups from Small Businesses. Failure is a natural and important part of successful firm development. Startup owners learn valuable lessons when their firms fail, and they often develop an expanded professional network that will benefit them over the long term.
CPPI’s latest report on restoring U.S. competitiveness can be downloaded from the organization’s web site atwww.cppionline.org.
Tags: access to capital, CPPI, global markets, new technology, Restoring U.S. Competitiveness, small business job creation, Startups
Posted in best practices, Economic Development, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, IT, Studies, surveys, reports | No Comments »
Monday, January 30th, 2012
 TechStars, recently recognized as the No. 1 startup accelerator in the world, and Microsoft Corp. are working together to help startups fast-track their businesses with free cloud services.
The enhanced program allows TechStars accelerators in Boulder, Colo.; Boston; New York; Seattle; and Texas to offer each of their startups up to$60,000 of Windows Azure compute and storage over a 24-month period, at no cost.
Interviewing entrepreneurs over the last few years for the TechJournal and hearing their pitches at TechMedia’s annual Southeast Venture Conference (next one slated for Tysons Corner, VA, Feb. 29-March 1), we know that the ability to operate via cloud services has enabled many tech startups to launch with much less capital then they needed previously.
Many use Amazon’s cloud, which eliminates the need for them to have significant in house infrastructure. It also makes software that only large Enterprise firms could afford just a decade ago, available to small and medium-sized businesses.
BizSpark Plus is an extension of the Microsoft BizSpark program, designed to accelerate the success of startups around the world. BizSpark Plus works through select incubators and accelerators such as TechStars to provide value-added products and services to high-potential startups.
In addition to offering this to TechStars, Microsoft is making this offer available to all founders whose accelerator is part of theGlobal Accelerator Network, a network of nearly 40 high-quality accelerators from around the world that follow a model similar to TechStars.
“Our passion is helping startups succeed around the world by providing funding and mentorship from the best and brightest Internet entrepreneurs and investors on the planet. The enhanced relationship with Microsoft will allow us to provide our founders with even more valuable support and services,” said David Cohen, founder and CEO of TechStars. “Access to technologies such as Windows Azure and other software and services from Microsoft through the BizSpark Plus program gives our companies a leg up in the all-encompassing race to scale and succeed.”
TechStars has a wealth of experience working with tech startups around the world that are building products and services in the cloud. Cloud applications and smart devices are driving the new startup ecosystem, affording startups the ability to drive user adoption, scale their companies and generate financial returns with far less capital and much more quickly than ever before.
Windows Azure offers a simple, comprehensive and powerful platform for the creation of Web applications and services.
Tags: Boston, Boulder, cloud services, CO, free cloud servicess for startups, M&A, Microsoft, New York, NYC, Seattle, Southeast Venture Conference, Startups, Tech Stars, Texas, Windows Azure
Posted in Cloud, Internet/New Media, IT | No Comments »
Monday, July 18th, 2011
 Joe Procopio Adzerk Founder and CEO James Avery is the kind of guy you just sort of immediately feel a kinship with. It’s not because he’s filthy rich, although he is, or because he’s quick to give you a sticker, he’s got tons of them, it’s the fact that he’s a straight talker who always happens to know exactly what he’s talking about.
Example: At the recent Tech Jobs Under the Big Top job fair, when a dozen RTP startups got up on stage to present to roughly 250 job seekers, Avery showed a minute or two of the Startup Guys video, which then faded to black with the caption:
“Not all startups are full of ****.”
What Did He Just Say?
Huge laugh from the crowd, but this is exactly what Avery is about. It’s a joke, right? Or is it? I dig that. Plus he hired someone from that event, so obviously at least one other person dug it as well.
I feel a kinship with Avery because we took a similar path. We both got out of the corporate technology world and started one-person consulting practices that grew over time into larger and more successful consulting practices. Neither of us were ultimately happy, no wait, neither of us were fulfilled. Something was missing.
It was the startup thing.
So while I started shifting the focus of my practice to the startup world, Avery went out and started another company.
Enter Adzerk
More specifically, he bought an ad network in 2007 which was bare bones, and he replaced it and built on top of it. In the beginning, he was only using it for himself, but then he started another vertical ad network and modified the software to run both of them, The Lounge and Ruby Row.
When he tried to start a third ad network, he realized that the software itself was a more compelling play than creating and running ad networks.
Now, there’s a long history of companies in the ad-tech industry trying to run networks and sell software at the same time, and usually the software part ends up becoming the ugly stepchild. You just can’t do both and have both be successful. So in December 2010, he sold off one of the ad networks and focused on the stepchild.
The RTP Startup Playbook
An office in American Underground came first. And when the Underground announced via Twitter that Adzerk was moving in, Avery got a tweet asking if he was hiring.
Now he had space, an engineer, and a little bit of runway. So when he saw how much of an impact those dollars made, he knew he needed more.
He ran the gamut of the RTP support structure, including the aforementioned job fair, the CED Venture Conference (although he knew everyone there), TechMedia’s Internet Summit (where he met the guys from Argyle, Spring Metrics, and JobKatch), Launch Durham (although he launched at Calacanis’ LAUNCH Conference), and even though he was too far along for Startup Stampede or Launchbox, he eventually hired three former Launchboxers.
Elevator Pitch
Most every ad server has two fundamental problems. It’s likely built on 90s technology and it’s probably run by a big media company.
Adzerk is independent and based on current generation technology. And they innovate. Right now they have what Avery calls an “incrementally better ad server.” It’s faster, the ads get served asynchronously, stats are real time, all cloud based, scales quickly.
Some publishers care a lot about this, others don’t. So Adzerk has carved out a market where those features are differentiators. But Avery knows that having an “incrementally better” mousetrap is not enough.
So Adzerk is going after bigger game. They’re bucking the traditional model – enterprise software, contracts, etc. Thus, the pitch becomes “let’s change the way ad-serving works.”
Good pitch!
Eight months go by. $650K seed round.
This is where the story gets a little funny, because out of that $650K Avery finished raising this month, exactly $25,000, or just a little under 4%, came from in-state.
Avery says he was naïve as every other first-time fundraiser, figuring he’d go to the people he knew, find the right ones at the right time, and get just what he needed to get to the next level. It took about a month before he realized he needed to talk to anyone and everyone who would pick up the phone. So he did.
That says two things. But neither of them is a soap-boxy “Local investors need to invest in more local companies!”
Santa Claus. What?
I’ve got a great analogy for this. This is like asking Santa Claus to quit bringing a bunch of presents every Christmas and instead just show up with one present on the 25th of each month.
I know. That one came to me in a traffic jam.
The frustrating thing about the RTP investment region is that we’ve got a bunch of investors and a bunch of startups but 95% of the time the goals of one do not match the intentions of the other, and vice versa.
When Avery and I discussed this, the lament wasn’t “Man, it would be cool if the local VCs would start investing their big bucks in early stage companies,” it was more like “Man, it would be cool if we had some apparatus here by which several early-stage companies could raise $100K on a standard term sheet.”
That’s the first thing. The second thing is a lot more hopeful.
Startup Investing Enters the 2000s
Adzerk’s path to funding is not unique. There have been a number of investments here lately that have involved money from the west coast, New York, pretty much everywhere, and it’s getting easier. During his fundraise, Avery left the area twice, and one of those trips was to shake hands with the lead before they signed the term sheet.
It’s a good tale, a no-BS founder product company with customers and revenue operates within a robustly-evolving support system to land seed-stage money and swing for the fences
Rinse and repeat, people.
Joe Procopio heads up product engineering for sports media startup StatSheet . He also owns consulting firm Intrepid Company (http://IntrepidCompany.com) and creative network Intrepid Media and runs the startup social ExitEvent (http://ExitEvent.com). Joe can be reached via Twitter @jproco and read at joeprocopio.com.
Tags: Adzerk, Adzerk seed round, Amercian Underground, CED Venture Conference, Durham, Internet Summit, James Avery, Joe Procopio, NC, RTP, RTP Startup Playbook, Startup Guys, Startups, Tech Jobs Under the Big Top
Posted in Carolinas, Columns, Events, Internet/New Media, IT, North Carolina, Tech Culture, TechLife | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, June 22nd, 2011
By Allan Maurer
 Home Elephant ATLANTA -Chandler Powell, a co-founder of the hyper local neighborhood social media site Home Elephant, was in Chicago working on a project with his colleague Matt Fromm when he got a call from his wife in Atlanta. Crying, she told him a drunk had followed her while she was out walking the dog and said some bad things to her. “I wanted to warn the neighbors, but even though I had lived there seven years, I only knew about three. That felt wrong and I started working on Home Elephant that night,” Powell says.
One of the realities of the modern world is that many of us no longer know our neighbors well if at all. I’ve lived in apartment complexes where I knew the family next to my unit and no one else. Home Elephant, an Atlanta-based startup wants to make us neighborly again – via the web.
It’s not the only company trying to build a hyper local neighborhood hub — we’ve covered others that act as places to research a neighborhood before moving into it and still others focused on local news and so on (some are www.i-neighbors.org and www.everyblock.com). Home Elephant, though, is intended as a niche social media platform where neighbors can meet, create events calendars (so you won’t forget which day is trash pickup and which is recycling day or when the next condo meeting will be held).
The company launched in January and is currently building a user base, says co-founder Chandler Powell, who created the self-funded site with Jeff Jahn and Matt Fromm.
The three founders previously started a software business together.
Powell says they initially built the site to cover their own neighborhood up to a mile around. Then, 60 days ago, they released it worldwide and already they have 4,103 (or more by now) neighborhoods from 43 countries and every U.S. state signed up. We just added ours while doing research for this story.
Sign up is easy. You just put in your name, address and email and from there you’ll be paired with a neighborhood if one is already created, or you can create one, if not.
Powell says they’re being judicious about privacy and won’t store any address info on users. “Once you enter it, we swipe it,” he says. “No spammer in China can get your home address.”
It’s likely first users from many neighborhoods won’t know email addresses of their neighbors any more than I do, so you may have to do some social engineering of your own to make this work for your neighborhood.
But once it’s up and running, users could handle a problem like the one that inspired Powell to start the site: “If someone sees something suspicious they can snap a photo and send an alert in addition to calling the police,” he says.
Powell says the company hopes to focus on monetization in Phase II. “We’ve had conversations with large local and national retailers,” he notes. They’ve also heard from the NOA about using it to push out weather alerts for specific areas.
“We could make money selling third-party connections to a weather service,” Powell says. He adds the company has also received emails from some “big names” who want to advertise.
Home Elephant recently also released an iPhone app for the service, which was well received.
See also: Home Elephant new iPhone app makes neighbors more neighborly
Tags: Allan Maurer, Atlanta, Chandler Powell, Everyblock.com, Home Elephant, i-neighbors, iPhone apps, Jeff Jahn, Matt Fromm, neighborhood social media platform, Startups
Posted in Georgia, Internet/New Media, IT | Comments Off
Tuesday, March 15th, 2011
 WASHINGTON, DC – Sponto, a mobile platform to help college students find social events and parties, has closed on a $200,000 equity investment from Amplifier Ventures of McLean, VA.
The company says the funding will be used to complete the first commercial release of the Sponto event-sharing platform, to expand to new schools, and to grow its software development team. As part of the investment, Sponto has joined the Amplifier Business Accelerator Program.
Jamey Harvey, Sponto’s CEO and co-founder, said, “College students are looking for a way to manage their social and personal lives on their most used platform – the mobile device. We let them do that without having to worry about being friended by their adult relatives.”
The company intends to commercially launch its next generation offering on Android, iPhone and Blackberry in Washington, DC universities in the second quarter, and extend to other markets in time for the fall.
“Sponto lets students know ‘where the action’ is in real time, join in, publicize and meet up. We like mobile investments that offer users meaningful utility and value,” said Jonathan Aberman, Managing Director, Amplifier Ventures. “As the industry of real-time offers and couponing matures, a check-in free platform like Sponto offers advertisers the best opportunity to provide customers with location-based content at the right time and place.”
Sponto launched the first generation of its Android, iPhone and Blackberry apps exclusively at the University of Maryland late 2010 and has more than doubled its active user base since integrating with Facebook in March 2011.
TechJournal South is a TechMedia company. TechMedia presents the annual conferences:
SoutheastVentureConference: www.seventure.org
Internet Summit: www.internetsummit.com
Digital East: www.digitaleast.com
Digital Summit: www.digitalsummit.com
Tags: Amplifier Ventures, mobile apps, social event finder for college students, Sponto, Startups, venture capital
Posted in Internet/New Media, IT, Mobile, Money, Telecommunications | Comments Off
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – Many would-be entrepreneurs have an idea for doing something big, but don’t know how to get feedback on the concept.
Anthony Edwards, himself a serial entrepreneur and Bill Sarine, founder of EntreDot, which mentors and coaches early stage companies, co-founded the Research Triangle-based RTP IdeaLab so anyone can get feedback and advice from experienced and successful entrepreneurs on “How to take that idea and turn it into reality,” says Edwards.
Founded in August 2010, IdeaLab held its first meeting, intentionally kept small (19 people attended) in November and it’s next, which is limited to 100, is slated for Wednesday, January 26, at 8 a.m., at RTP Headquarters at 12 Davis Drive.
“RTP IdeaLab fills that void and allows bright entrepreneurial minds to vet their ideas and receive mentoring to determine what the potential could be,” says Sarine.
The “idea” is to bring together people with a “pre-entrepreneurial, pre-incubator,” stage concept that is perhaps not yet fully formed. “The group may help improve the idea or you might find people to help you pursue it,” says Edwards.
Edwards tells us IdeaLab evolved from a discussion in which someone bemoaned the lack of a place to brainstorm startup ideas and network. “I can envision that organization,” he thought.
While the meetings are the focus of the group right now, Edwards says, “We definitely want to do more. We’re looking for a sponsor to polish the website and help us make it a resource for ideas.”
One of the things motivating him, Edwards says, “Is that the RTP is a great community. If someone came to me with a great idea and said can you put a team together, I could put three teams together today.”
As an example of how an idea might develop during a meeting, Edwards noted that at the first IdeaLab meeting someone suggested developing a smartphone app that would create a virtual presence. Someone suggested such an app could be used at the Gettysburg Battlefield to provide information as a visitor moved around, who fought on that spot, and so on, which clarified the concept.
Edwards founded Tavve software where he was CTO for 14 years. He currently runs Hanoversoft, a consulting firm he founded after leaving Tavve. “Since leaving Tavve I’ve been very active in networking and helping entrepreneurs. I’ve helped half a dozen built toward creating a company.”
Tags: Anthony Edwards, Bill Sarine, entrepreneurs, Events, NC, Research Trinagle, RTPIdeaLab, Startups
Posted in Carolinas, Events, North Carolina | 1 Comment »
Monday, September 20th, 2010
 DURHAM, NC – The LaunchBox Digital startup program says a number of its early stage firms need help.
Those seeking employees include Spring Metrics, which is building “next generation web analytics.” The team includes experienced entrepreneurs from Google, Motricity, and Blackboard and is looking for a part-time contract to work on the user-facing side of its application.
Work would begin ASAP. Send resumes and any relevant URLs to shannon@springmetrics.com. Cover letter not necessary.
Leaguescape, which plans to become “the one-stop destination for fantasy sports betting,” is looking for an intern or web designer with UX talent and design skills. Contact Dan@Leaguescape.com for your interest/questions.
HealtheME, a mobile health and web-based obseity mangement platform is loking ofr a developer for front end web work and content experts in nutrition, excercise physiology, and behaviorists/psychologists. Contact: srachmuth@healthemedoc.com if you are interested.
CityPockets Inc. is looking for a web developer with good back end development experience.
CityPockets is an online voucher management platform for group-buying sites such as Groupon, Living Social, BuyWithMe, etc. It helps users store and organize all their pre-paid online vouchers from over 130 group-buying sites in the US. Users can set custom reminders, share purchases with friends, see merchant locations on one map, and more.
See jobs@citypockets.com if you are interested.
Keona Health is empowering patients with personalized recommendations on whether to see a doctor and when, leading to improved safety, efficiency, and lower costs. It has partnered with top researchers at UNC and Duke to develop this system. We are looking for Java and .NET developers who have experience working with databases, XML, web services, and web applications.
Send email to to jason@keonahealth.com if interested.
Contact
Tags: CityPockets, HealtheMe, LaunchBox Digital, Leaguescape, Spring Metrics, Startups, tech jobs
Posted in Business Briefs, Carolinas, Internet/New Media, North Carolina, TechJobs | Comments Off
Friday, May 28th, 2010
 It is difficult to overstate the importance of entrepreneurs to the success of the U.S. economy, says a new report from TD Economics.
“While economists spend a lot of time analyzing near-term trends and developments in aggregate data, economic growth over the longer-term is driven primarily by individuals taking risks and making sacrifices in order to bring innovative ideas to market,” writes TD economist James Marple in “Small and Medium Sized Businesses Key to U.S. Economic Recovery.”
Marple points out that small and medium-sized businesses, typically firms with fewer than 500 employees, make up 99.7 percent of all U.S. companies and more than half of total employment in the country.
He adds, “They are also profoundly important to generating new employment.”
We noted in an earlier post that while large tech firms such as IBM continue to shed jobs, portfolio companies at many venture firms are hiring (see: Job hunting? Venture-backed startups are hiring
The TD report says that businesses formed within the last five years have been responsible for the vast majority of net job growth in the last two decades (a statistic we found amazing).
Looking ahead, the report says, the U.S. economic recovery will depend largely on the performance of U.S. small businesses, which “suffered a disproportionate share of the job losses and many still have difficulty accessing credit form some lenders.”
Fortunately, he adds, things are beginning to look up.
We think this is another indication that government policy on national, state and local levels should pay much more attention to supporting, nurturing, and developing small businesses, entrepreneurs and startups rather than spending so much time and money on chasing large manufacturers and big companies.
North Carolina invested a lot of time, money and energy in recruiting a Dell computer manufacturing plant to the state that is shutting down operations after only a few years.
Would that money have been better spent helping develop and support startup operations that would generate jobs for a decade or more?
We see more and more evidence that making sure small businesses and startups have access to capital and support they need to succeed is far more important than shoring up large industries that are often dinosaurs that face near extinction every time some economic volcano blows its top. – Allan Maurer
Tags: economic recovery, entrepereneurs, government policies, Report, small business, Startups
Posted in Alabama, Arkansas, Carolinas, Economic Development, Florida, Georgia, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, IT, Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, Other SE, Potomac, Studies, surveys, reports, Tennessee, Virginia, Washington, DC, West Virginia | Comments Off
Thursday, April 29th, 2010
 Retro Soviet matchbook art. Social Matchbook helps companies fire up their rockets. WASHINGTON, DC -Social Matchbox, which organizes a bi-annual event for Web and software startups to present to investors, will hear 11 companies at its spring event tonight (Thursday, April S29).
Presenting tonight are the firms picked from 65 nominees:
WebTaps, ShoutReel, CardStar, CouplesSpark, WhereMark, Heliograph, BreweryFans, Replyz, Ringio, Starfish Retention Solutions and Cardagin Networks.
Presenters will be given 10 minutes to talk about their product and answer questions from an audience full of their peers, investors, and members of the startup community. All presenters will be considered for the prestigious Community Choice Award, based on the audience’s votes, and the Founder’s Award, based on votes from startup founders who have previously been selected to present at Social Matchbox.
Social Matchbox has helped propel presenters to success over the past three years since the event’s humble beginnings with a $35 Guitar Center Amp and a microphone. A few of these presenter alumni include:
*Clearspring (funded), CollectiveX (funded), GeniusRocket (funded), Grab Networks (two startups meged), HonestyOnline (funded), HotPads.com (funded), Jam Legend (funded), Legal River (funded), Living Social (funded), Mixx (funded), Mobile Posse (funded), OPower (funded), Qloud (acquired), Razoo (funded), Searchles (funded), Social Gaming Network, TapMetrics (recently acquired by Millennial Media), TinselVision (funded), Unblab (funded), Webs.com (funded), and many others.
Tags: DC, Events, Social Matchbook, Startups
Posted in Events, Internet/New Media, IT, Maryland, Potomac, Virginia, Washington, DC | Comments Off
Tuesday, April 27th, 2010
By Allan Maurer
 RESEARCH TRIANGLE, NC – The North Carolina Department of Revenue’s attempts to get Internet retailer Amazon.com to collect sales taxes on purchases by state residents has already caused trouble for Internet-based startups.
When the dispute began, North Carolina maintained that by having sales associates in the state, Amazon established what is called “nexus,” or the substantial presence the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled is necessary for a state to collect taxes from a company.
Amazon retaliated by dismissing all of its North Carolina sales affiliates, some of whom were doing substantial business and paying income taxes on the profits. Their only recourse was to leave the state.
Tougher for Internet startups
But entrepreneurs launching Internet-centric businesses in North Carolina continue to face a tougher uphill climb without the early income that the Amazon affiliate relationships produced.
Bill Bing and Mitesh Patel, for instance, tell us it has made it more difficult to get some steam in the engine at their latest venture, Loyalese.com. They want Loyalese to be a free loyalty rewards program that gives consumers cash back for purchases made through Loyalese. “Affiliates would be a big part of our business,” says Bing.
The company launch is still a month away, but Bing says that when they talk to potential investors or partners, “They know we’re not going to Amazon on board and it’s an additional hurdle.
“The place it hits hardest is our ability to have that additional revenue stream,” Bing says. “It slows our ability to scale. It’s one more thing that makes it difficult to be in the Southeast instead of another geography.”
What will the long term impact be?
He adds, “This impacts our ability to create more jobs in the state. The state may collect a couple of million today, but the longterm cost to the state will be far greater.”
Some state estimates say North Carolina will lose $162 million or more in sales taxes on Internet purchases this year. The state sales tax is 5.75 percent.
The whole issue goes way beyond just North Carolina and Amazon, however. Many Internet retailers offer affiliate relationships that help Internet startups gain traction and obtain investments. Other states, including New York, and Colorado and others are also battling with Amazon and other Internet retailers over the sales tax issue.
“Everyone is waiting to see how this plays out,” says Bing.
Latest round: tax amnesty offered
In the latest round of events, North Carolina threatened Amazon with legal action if it did not provide the state with information on its residents’ purchases going back to 2003. Amazon countered by suing the state in federal court in Seattle, where it is located.
Serial entrepreneur Bob Butler, founder of Bestthinking.com, his latest venture, says, “Targeting one company with a tax law, rushing to file contempt charges, and instilling fear in its customers about tax audits and lost privacy is making this look like a blood feud.”
In the suit, Amazon contends that complying with the state’s demands would violate the privacy rights of people who may have bought “sensitive” books, tapes, dvds or other materials from the company. Amazon says those purchases amount to 50 million items.
North Carolina then offered Internet retailers what it calls “The Internet Transactions Resolution Program.” By joining the program and agreeing to collect sales and use taxes in the future, a business will not be assessed tax, penalties and interest for prior liability.
NC Revenue Secretary Ken Lay said the amnesty deal has nothing to do with Amazon’s suit. Uh huh.
A spokesperson for the NC Department of Justice tells us its attorney’s are preparing a response to the Amazon suit, but has no comment on it at this time.
Federal intervention needed?
Catherine Fox-Simpson of major tax advisory firm BDO, tells us, “States are becoming very aggressive. They’ve seen a huge drop in their revenue. It’s impacting every business, but small businesses are taking a lot of the burden.”
She agrees with Tech America’s Senior Director of Tax Policy, Bartlett Cleland who told us in a previous interview on the topic that Congress needs to step into the fray and settle the issue on a federal level. “But I think that’s a long way from happening,” says Fox-Simpson.
An ugly battle of wills
“Because of the Internet, it’s now easy to become a multi-state business,” she says. “The way businesses enter and exit states regularly makes it very complicated.”
Butler, who feels the affects of all this directly, since his new business would have profited from an Amazon affiliate relationship, concludes, “Our universities, tech industry, life sciences, and reputation for business friendly public policies have long been the four cornerstones of the economic success of NC.
“This ugly battle of wills undermines the NC tech industry and destroys any perception that NC is business friendly. It’s time for the Governor or General Assembly to step up and call for a time out and consider that the collateral damage, which began with 6,000 NC websites losing tens of millions in revenue and investment capital, will continue for many years beyond the current budget crisis.”
For further reading:
The Tax Foundation sees the Amazon tax as unconstitiutional: Amazon tax unconstitutional
A good, multi-state overview from Stateline:
The ‘Amazon tax’ war escalates
Previously on TechJournal South:
North Carolina and other states spar with Web retailers
NC’s “Amazon tax” could backfire
Tags: Amazon tax, BDO, Bestthinking.com, Internet retailers, Loyalese, NC, nexus, Startups, Tech America
Posted in Carolinas, Government/Defense, Internet/New Media, North Carolina | 2 Comments »
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