By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Today, I will discuss a site that can be an extreme help to our readers and small businesses and startups everywhere. The site is called docstoc.com.

Docstoc.com is the premier online community and marketplace to find and share professional documents. Docstoc provides the platform to upload and share documents, and serves as a vast repository of free and for purchase legal, business, financial, technical, and educational documents that can be easily searched, previewed and downloaded.

Docstoc, Inc was founded by Jason Nazar and Alon Shwartz. Its product was subsequently launched to the public in November 2007. It is backed by the venture capital firm Rustic Canyon. They founders also received funding from the co-founders/investors in MySpace, LowerMyBills.com, Mp3.com, PriceGrabber and Baidu. The company is located in Santa Monica, California.

Docstoc also provides technology through various APIs and Widgets to help facilitate the sharing and promotion of documents across the web. The site has popularized the use of embedding documents throughout the blogosphere and mainstream media.

On March 3, 2010, the document-sharing site announced the opening of a marketplace to enable any business owners to buy and sell professional content through the DocStoc platform. The company is calling it an eBay for business resources and documents.

The company has partnered with LegalZoom who is selling its content throughout the site. Docstoc is one of the fastest growing internet companies targeting Small Business, it currently reaches over 20M unique visitors a month, and are aiming to be the largest trafficked site on the internet for small business

The company is offering deals with this new marketplace. You can keep 100% of all revenue for the first 60 days (then split even 50/50 between the content owner and Docstoc, no other fees or charges).

With more than 240,000 business start-up documents downloaded last month alone and the average business start-up plan retailing for $15 through the DocStore, there is an opportunity for a marketplace where small businesses owners can sell proven documents to budding entrepreneurs.

Business owners can buy legal agreements, tax forms, HR templates, research reports and more for a fraction of the cost of obtaining them directly through lawyers, accountants, consultants and analysts. For instance, to have a lawyer draw up a partnership agreement would cost a minimum of $500, compared to $25 through the DocStore.

So if you are a startup or small business and are locking to cut professional costs and costs associated with document preparation, I urge you to visit docstoc.com.

Post from: GreatStartups.com

By: Co-Editor, Bobby B:

Outright.com recently announced that Xpenser.com, the online service that tracks expenses via mobile devices—e-mail, SMS, Twitter, IM, or voice, will integrate with Outright.com. The new feature went live October 8, 2009.

This announcement follows Outright’s newest integrations with PayPal, Expensify and eBay, which were announced the previous week and is the latest development in Outright’s desire to serve small businesses. Their goal is to make financial management simpler and faster so sole proprietors can spend more time growing their business and less time on their back office.

Xspenser.com lets you record expenses via whatever means are available to you for free. They can be sent in via Email, SMS, Twitter, IM or voice. For example, from your blackberry you could email “Lunch 80.00 with ABC client”. Then you use the Web interface to edit and finalize expenses or export them to your financial management software.

This integration is one of the many ways that Outright’s open API can sync up with other third parties to streamline the financial record keeping process for business owners.

Outright is a very simple-to-use to track income and expenses, pay estimated taxes on time, and see how your business is doing. It’s perfect for self-employed people.

Backed by leading early stage investors, Outright is streamlining the work involved with owning a business, helping entrepreneurs pay the right taxes, record financial transactions, and keep their businesses on track and growing. Outright was created after watching a number of small businesses struggle to capture all of their business deductions, often piecing together a number of different solutions. Whether it was sticking every possible receipt in a file folder and shipping it off to a bookkeeper, or tracking everything in a huge spreadsheet, or even using a couple of different web sites to track time and create invoices, too much time and effort is spent on the least enjoyable part of running one’s own business. The goal of Outright is to keep it as simple as possible, while helping entrepreneurs track all of their income and expenses to get their taxes done accurately.

Post from: GreatStartups.com

By: The Editor

We have all spent countless hours doing research on the latest electronic gadgets to find bargain prices before purchasing. Whether it’s a MP3 player, digital camera, netbook, laser printer, new computer, we all want the best available price.

Based of out London comes Aroxo which may change the way that online buying is done. This is why I say its “Ebay meets Amazon” in the title.

Aroxo is a totally new and unique marketplace, which helps buyers and sellers find the best deal for many consumer products. There is no need to ever again waste time searching multiple websites for the best deal as Aroxo brings key sellers directly to you.

As a buyer you simply ‘Say What You’ll Pay’ for thousands of items which will soon include everything from MP3 Players to laptops to washing machines.

Sellers compete for your business and send you their best offer for the item you want. The seller will include their price plus any delivery charges and details of their returns policy etc.

Buyers simply compare seller offers and can buy immediately or negotiate in private for a better deal.

For a buyer Aroxo is really easy to use and there’s no commitment to buy, just to ‘Say What You’ll Pay’. It’s also free and is completely anonymous as no-one gets your details until you decide to complete your purchase.

For a seller Aroxo is a new and efficient sales channel in a tough trading environment, where sellers can access pre-qualified sales leads (i.e. people who really want what you are selling and who have taken the time to state what they want and the price they are willing to pay for it). Potential buyers can be targeted with precision based on price, location and previous transaction history. Once a seller’s item list has been uploaded, real-time demand for each item can be seen and buyers can be targeted. As prices are not publicly disclosed it’s perfect as a channel to sell items k at a discount without ruining your existing sales channels.

The guys at Aroxo have spent a ton of time developing the site. Programming has been over 2 ½ years in the making with over 250,000 lines of code. If you know anything about custom coding a website, this is a huge number.

On March 12, 2009 it was announced that Aroxo was voted by the London Business Schools Technology Summit as “UK’s Hottest Start-up 2009.”

I briefly spoke with Matt Roger, co-founder of Aroxo and he says: “Aroxo is open to anyone around the world to use, however, currently we’re focusing on the UK market, with a full US launch coming soon!”

This is a company that is looking to change the way online businesses is conducted, keep on eye out on Aroxo.

Post from: GreatStartups.com

By: The Editor

For the past few months GreatStartups.com has primarily written about companies less than 2 years old. Today, I decided to write about a company that has been around since 1999. I think as entrepreneurs it is always great to see companies that were just startups that have blossomed into successful businesses.

Based in San Mateo, California, Vendio.com has grown tremendously over the last 10 years. If you have something to sell online, chances are you want to use some of their online services.

Vendio lets you reach buyers where they are shopping, without forcing you to learn a different interface for each channel. Whether you are a seasoned online sales veteran, or the next ecommerce success story, Vendio makes it easy to build and run your online business no matter where your buyers shop.

Vendio says on their website “The keys to successful selling: Get quality products in front of buyers at a reasonable price, and manage your sales and customers effectively. The Vendio Platform provides you the easiest and most robust solution available to manage all your online selling: eBay, Amazon.com, or your own store. Completely hosted with nothing to install and no upfront fees, the Vendio Platform grows with you. Describe an item once and make it available to buyers on your own free online store, Amazon.com, eBay, Google Product Search, and other online channels. As sales come in, the Vendio Platform enables you to process all orders using one convenient interface while keeping inventory quantities in sync across your sales channels.”

Vendio did a 40-minute interview with Cindy Shebley of Web Seller Circle. This video provides a great overview of who Vendio is a company, what they do and how they can help you reach buyers where they are shopping - whether it’s eBay, Amazon, Google or your own store.

Web Sellers Circle Presents: Vendio - A New Solution for Multi-Channel Sellers from Vendio Services on Vimeo.

I think it is fair to say that Vendio gives you a competitive edge regarldess of what product you are offering to the public. The Vendio Platform lets you manage items, orders, buyer communication all through one integrated Platform. Vendio is offering your very own store for free. If you sell online or are thinking about it, be sure to visit http://vendio.com.

Post from: GreatStartups.com