By: Co-Editor, RB:

When I was a child, I went on a family vacation twice a year. We traveled every spring and summer, at least until my dad lost his job when I was 14. However, many of my friends were left home with grandparents or (in the case of my rich friends) nannies. Taking children on vacation is a relatively new phenomenon. Times have changed; family travel is maybe the most important and fastest growing segment of travel today.

Renowned Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Katrina Garnett recently launched MyLittleSwans.com. The goal of the site is to save substantial time and eliminate layers of fees for discerning global travelers and families.

Designed for all types of users, the site caters to those who like to do a lot of research and seek out a lot of advice, as well as to those who prefer a more turn-key experience – and because MyLittleSwans eliminates third party costs, users not only save time, but can also save a substantial amount of money.

Garnett founded My Little Swans in October 2007 and has invested more than $2,250,000 of her own personal capital in the creation of this business. 2008 was focused on building the site and writing and uploading content, 2009 was focused on offering limited memberships to gain live user feedback. With strong roots in Silicon Valley, Garnett was well aware that the software is a key component, making MyLittleSwans not only extraordinarily efficient, but also able to support “the next big thing” – that is, whatever comes after Facebook and Twitter – via what they deem “superlative content management systems.”
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By: The Editor

If you ask people where to advertise a product or service, most would simply say Google. What if you were looking to reach a very specific audience? Let says you were trying to market a product in the automotive business or in the real estate industry?

Based in Burlingame, CA, Leadtail.com has a created an online advertising search engine to suggest exactly where you may want to advertise your goods and service(s).

The mission of Leadtail is to make it easier for marketers, business owners, and entrepreneurs to find out where to advertise online. Leadtail does this by providing an easily search-able database of 1,700+ ad networks and quality publishers to choose from.

Leadtail is a relatively new company founded by a network of marketers who believe that “online advertising has become way too cluttered, complex, and difficult… and it doesn’t have to be that way!”
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By: The Editor

What do you get when you combine very skilled educators who have well over 30 years of experience in the US public school system as teachers with administrators and technologists who have over 30 years of experience with IBM and Unisys ???? You get eTutorWorld.net.

Based in Michigan, eTutorWorld.net looks like a very special company. They offer Math and Science online tutoring services as well as homework help for grades 5-12 including AP courses. Their services are designed to make the learning process simple yet enjoyable. Parents, you will find the learning process safe and affordable.

This company peaked my interest for many reasons. The first and most important, its a place where students can accelerate. The website is very straight forward, to the point as well as easy to use. The have a detailed video presentation on the home page. Its only about 5 minutes long and really shows you what you are in store for. Feel free to view it here.
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By: The Editor

As an entrepreneur myself and “the Editor” of GreatStartups.com, it is my jobs is to write about the good, the bad, the “not so good” and the ugly.

As many of you know, we receive a ton of companies that ask us to write stories. This particular company in my humble opinion did not “knock my socks off. ” However, I think Guidedmed.com deserves to have a mention here because their site does try to help people and I really think it expresses the true entrepreneurial spirit of trying to start/run a business.

Guidedmed seems like a micro WebMD.com, and please note micro is probably being more than fair. Guidedmed states they are based in a suburb of New York City and does not provide any further information about their business at this time.
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By: the Editor

One of the things that I like about Mashspots.com is its simplicity. Based in Portland Oregon, this company which launched in January of 2008 has made your local searching a bit easier.

MashSpots.com is a free service. Just click on any location on the their map to get the four closest places of interest. Mashspots makes it easy to find places around any location without having to know the address of the location you are searching around, just search for the city you want to search at and click on any location on the map to get the 4 closest search results.

For example, type “supermarket” is the “What” field of the website, then enter your location in the “Where?” field and instantly a ton of matches appear in your location area. It is a no brainer to use this site, yet is is an great tool to use.

In addition, they have created a great Mashspots.com application for the IPhone. Just as easy and accurate to use as if you were using your desktop. Mashspots also makes it easy if you want to intergrate their service into your website.

In closing, simple, cool, fun, accurate and useful is what describes Mashspots. After 5 minutes, you will surely find this free service useful on a daily basis.