This is kind of like Microsoft's BizSpark, but instead of MS software you get services from other cool startups. This is a great idea. I just signed up so we'll see.
Asking for write privileges to my twitter account gave me pause though. Just let me tweet on my own.
That seems fairly disturbing; couldn't you just say "you must follow @startuppack to be eligible"? Then you wouldn't need ongoing write permission to the user's Twitter account.
Disturbing is an exaggeration, but it would certainly be just as easy to get read only rights (just to confirm it's you) and also check to see if they're following.
This year of incorporation requirement seems to miss the point... I incorporated in 2010 (missed the cutoff date to qualify by 17 days) but the registration was mostly to hold the name way before I had started to develop the product. Now I'm getting to the point where I could use the help but because I registered the name too long ago I can't partake? Seems like the qualification should have more to do with how long the company has actually been active or if it has even launched a product than when it was incorporated... not to mention one could just spend the $50 (fee for Colorado) to form another corporation to take advantage but that sounds like a major pain in the butt and generally shady behavior.
Well considering they're doing that verification via image/document files, why not allow applicants to also submit tax returns? Seems like that would quickly show whether or not a business has been active.
Sorry if it looks sketchy, we did our best to make it smooth and clean. We will add further info on the people behind the initiative and our mission: help entrepreneurs.
Hey, Mailjet is actually in this program. And I can testify that the other companies are in it too. i.e. we met the COO from Box last week, and he confirmed that were also "in".
A company registered in England and Wales can be strongly verified online via Companies House WeBCHeck (http://wck2.companieshouse.gov.uk). This services is probably targeted at US companies but supporting the next-largest place for tech startups (</speculation>) could be a nice touch if this grows.
You are strongly verifying that someone paid the ~$25 incorporation fee, nothing else. The identity of directors does not even get verified during the process. It does not mean much without a trading history.
It's a shame they require us to be incorporated. We're holding off so far because it doesn't make sense until we either get investment or our first real employee. But at that time we will most likely be able to aford these tools. It doesn't make sense to me why they require the incorporation when it's the unincorporated companies that need this package the most :(
I think that the "incorporation" requirement is a bit unclear - technically, an LLC is not a corporation even though most small businesses that would qualify are LLCs.
Smart. Target your audience, and reduce the CaC by defraying the high value opt in cost to partners. Signed up, as we're in the window, and it couldn't come at a better time for us. Just about to launch out of alpha so we'll be getting our money's worth.
Onboarding b2b customers isn't easy, or cheap, so this is crafty move, well played.
> It is an extremely tacky move to assign a value to something you're giving away for free.
Actually in the UK it's an encouraged thing by HMRC.
HMRC would rather see you invoice a company for £5k and then to write it off as a gift, than to not see records at all.
In the case of giving to charities via this method, the government will go so far as to give you a benefit on your declared level of corporate tax as a direct result of giving something to a charity and invoicing in this way.
You might internally consider that to be a marketing activity, or a social/community/sustainability activity, but the government cares not... they strongly want to see benefits and gifts recorded and will (in some cases such as charities, non-profits, etc) will reward you by taking less tax.
That's UK specific of course, but point is: the UK government and tax office don't view it as tacky. And it's a good business incentive to offer such benefits to charities and other specified types of organisation.
We get your point. But there are no open source versions of the services offered there. It's not only "software", it's "service".
Example: Textmaster is a marketplace for copywriting & translating. Do you think that they could offer some "debian authors"? No, because they have to pay them, otherwise it would be slavery.
It is logic assign a value to the service that is offered. Tens or hundreds of thousands of businesses pay for these services. What they are paying is the value.
When you issue a coupon to offer free access to a service, you don't write it off as a marketing expense... At least, this is not what we're doing at Mailjet. And I don't think it's possible for anyone to do this, it would make things a bit too easy ^^
Imagine: "Hey friend, here's a coupon for 1000 billion emails, it doesn't matter if you don't use it, just activate the coupon so I can write the value off, this way, there won't be any benefits this year."
Will there be any exceptions for companies that are not (yet) incorporated? E.g. a company that has many big name clients/users, great product, solid community and following, etc.?
The catch is that all those companies get new customers by being a part of the bundled startup pack. It's just a way to acquire new customers for all these companies. In exchange they give you a great deal. It's win-win.
I'm genuinely curious... why do so many people seem to think this is a phishing scam?
If your business is registered by a US state, that information is on the public record. It includes your name, business address, and date of registration.
Your company URL, and company email as well aren't supposed to be private info. I'd expect you'd have them prominently placed on your website. I know I do.
Err, ok. Most of the reasons hav to do with a predictable and efficient legal and tax system. I don't think many startups have a need to keep their founders names secret.
All of the deals seem good in the short term but they are FREE for a reason, to get you hooked! I am not going to signup just because it sounds good right now. Please make sure you want to stick with that service for a long time before you jump in!
I've held off incorporating because...well, I just haven't gotten around to it. I guess I should get around to it, since I'm hoping to release in a couple weeks anyway.
Sad that I'll miss out on the chance to participate as a result, though.
I'm only interested in the Fotolia credits, but would rather leave someone else to make use of the others offers. If you signed up and want to share the Fotolia credits, let me know.
It's just a win/win situation.
One one side, business partners are happy to show their support to young startups and spread the news about their service by offering their software for free (for a limited period).
On the other side, startups can access great tools for free.
No sales pitch. No catch.
We chose to participate in this StartupPack project. We're just offering some services for free. We liked the idea and thought it could be useful for some fellow startups.
Asking for write privileges to my twitter account gave me pause though. Just let me tweet on my own.