Foursquare will allow Turn, one of Facebook’s ad exchange partners, to target its users with ads based on their check-ins, according to Ad Age.

The move was expected, as Foursquare had been using an ad sales pitch deck since April that touted check-in targeting and pixel tracking. (Pixel tracking is one way that users are followed on the web by advertisers.)

What’s interesting about the choice of Turn is that the company is best-known as on of the adtech world’s largest “demand-side platforms” (DSPs). A DSP is basically an ad-buying system, in which clients buy inventory in a real-time bidding auction. The inventory is usually triggered by tracking cookies, so buyers can target people by their apparent interests as indicated by their web surfing history.

Turn is a major player inside FBX, Facebook’s cookie-driven, RTB ad exchange.

At Foursquare, a users’ interest will, obviously, be inferred from their check-in. The innovation here — if the implication in the ad sales pitch deck is correct — is that the ad will be triggered by the check-in. Turn can apply its database of cookies to match that check-in with a relevant audience.

It looks like Foursquare will not be offering individual users as targets, but rather anonymous blocks of users with similar interests, such as “mass market mom,” “business traveler,” and “luxury affinity.”

See Foursquare’s pitch deck here.

Welcome to the show! Let’s get started …

This is what ad clients want from Foursquare, but apparently weren’t getting until recently. Note the “IAB” reference — that’s the ad industry’s standards setter, which suggests that Foursquare was looking at a way of using standard web ads on its platform.

Hiding in plain sight: Foursquare was hooking up with a DSP back in April, it turns out.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

The sad truth is that cash flow surprises kill many startups, even though they should have been adequately funded to survive. Overall, 90% of small business failures are caused by poor cash flow, according to the D&B Small Business website. Cash is king when it comes to the financial management of a growing company, so this is not the place for shortcuts and sloppy practices.

Good cash flow management, in simple terms, means understanding every inflow and outflow of cash, and never delegating this function. In principle, you must delay every outlay of cash as long as possible, while incenting everyone who owes you money to pay it as rapidly as possible. Surprises are unanticipated lags between these two events, as well as unplanned cash outlays.

I will outline here ten key principles and disciplines that every entrepreneur must understand and practice to minimize surprises and failures in this area:

1. Failure to document cash flow projections is a disaster. No matter how small your company is today, there are more moving financial parts than you can manage dynamically in your head. Of course, you can’t predict everything, but writing down what you know will identify existing problems sooner, and allow other team members to help.

2. You can be on budget, and still run out of cash. In the real world, spending seems to happen fast, and money coming in happens slowly. Thus your monthly budget may balance, but if planned income comes later than planned expenses, you have a short-term cash flow surprise shortage. Neither banks nor investors will help you on this one.

3. Your startup may be profitable, but broke. Profits don’t necessarily translate into cash. You can make profits without making any money, since the first priority of most startups is to reinvest everything back into the business for growth. There are lots of accounting tricks to make you profitable, but it takes real cash to pay the bills.

4. Seasonal sales fluctuations eat cash. Fluctuating sales means more inventory is required to cover the ups and downs. Every dollar in inventory is a dollar less in cash available, maybe even two dollars less if your gross margin is 50%. If you try to vary the number of employees to match, that costs even more cash for hiring, firing, and layoffs.

5. Unanticipated expenses and emergencies drain cash. The chance of unanticipated expenses, in my experience, is close to 100%. It could be a natural disaster, like a flood or wind storm, or loss of key personnel, equipment failure, or a major customer complaint on the Internet. Every startup has an unplanned pivot, and these all drain cash.

6. New businesses don’t get “normal” terms. It’s easy to forget that your new office rent asks for first, last, and security; new utilities require an escrow account; and new vendors want immediate payment for the first couple of months, before they offer the normal net 30 terms. On the other side, your new customers expect a free trial period.

7. Sales volumes are still ramping up while marketing expenses are at max. In the early days of a new business, and every time you make changes, sales volumes slip just when you need them most to cover the extra marketing expenses and new infrastructure. Your old “cash cows” are dying, while the new ones are still being fed heavily.

8. Even good customers don’t always pay on time. The Kauffman Foundation reports that late payments are among the biggest challenges facing startups. According to the Receivables Exchange, small businesses now wait nearly 50 days on average to get paid. If you are dealing with distributors, that wait can easily be four or five months.

9. Higher than anticipated growth has put you in cash flow hell. The faster you grow, the more cash you need, to build product, facilities, staff, and service. These are “up front” costs that can’t wait the four or five months before the sales and revenue catch up. If you can’t deliver to match the growth, your house of cards comes tumbling down.

10. Bankers and investors hate negative surprises. If your execution doesn’t include the expected cash flow management, investments can get withheld, and executives lose their jobs. I recommend that you buffer your initial requests for funding by 25%, and then add a line of credit, to cover contingencies and minimize the chance for negative surprises.

Then there are the Founders that overreact. They pay just the smallest bills and let the rest slide. Or they stretch out all payments until vendors complain, reduce your discount, or eliminate your credit. If payroll is late, morale and confidence go down, the good people leave, and your startup spirals into the ground. For all these reasons, it’s worth your focus to prevent cash flow surprises.

Marty Zwilling

*** First published on Young Entrepreneur on 07/12/2013 ***

Startup Professionals Musings

Good morning, AdLand. Here’s what you need to know today:

In a study commissioned by Facebook, Nielsen found that advertisers have the potential to reach an audience size that is the same or larger than that of four measured networks. This news comes at a time in which rumors are flying regarding Facebook’s highly anticipated, pricey, TV-style ads.

After 29 years at TBWA, global CMO Laurie Coots is leaving.

Foursquare partnered with Turn to help advertisers make use of its location data.

Chiddy Bang wrote a song for Oreo’s.

Smoothie King 

Digiday looks at whether or not “real” journalists write for brands.

Michael Schlechter joined Omnicom’s Code Worldwide as a managing director of the New York office. He spent eight years at Havas.

Previously on Business Insider Advertising:

• What Actually Happens When You Click On Those ‘One Weird Trick’ Ads
• Software Company Intuit Will Spend Millions On A Superbowl Ad For Another Company
• AD OF THE DAY: Here’s Smirnoff’s Really Obnoxious Attempt To Win Over The ‘Ladies’
• Facebook’s Video Ads Will Cost More Than The Networks Charge For The Super Bowl
• Publicis Omnicom Group’s 4 Biggest Challenges
• McDonald’s Didn’t Put Its Name On This New Series Of Experimental Ads In France
• EMAIL: The Guy Who Turned Off Cookies In Firefox Just Quit The ‘Do Not Track’ Negotiations
• Can Crocs Be Sexy? The Company Is Arguing Its Rubber Clogs Have A Certain Erotic Appeal
• Major Cannes Award Winner Sued For Copyright Infringement

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Company / App Name: Maphill

http://www.maphill.com

What does it do?

Maphill is the largest collection of maps ever available. Maphill allows to see the world from many different angles and perspectives, in a wide variety of map types and styles.

Why do we need it?

Because low detailed maps sometimes show more than highly detailed ones. Maphill makes it very easy to embed nice looking map graphics into your blog or website. No API or JavaScript required.

Who is it for?

For website owners wanting to make their blog or website more attractive. And for anybody else wanting to see more of the world.

What makes it stand out from the crowd?

The unbeatable number of maps and the beauty hidden in them. And also the way Maphill generates the maps directly from geographic data.

What’s next?

We just launched. We would like to see our maps on more and more websites. Yes, we believe that maps can make the web a more beautiful place.

Pitch Video

http://www.maphill.com

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[STUDY] TV Is Already Losing To Facebook Among 18-24 Year Olds (Bloomberg) 
50% of television and computer users age 18-24 access Facebook during primetime hours on weeknights, according to a recent Nielsen study commissioned by Facebook. For comparison, four major television networks together attracted 37-43% of people in that young demographic. 

The findings justify Facebook’s plan to start selling TV-style commercials on its site. And while major TV networks still have a stronghold on older viewers, it’s a sign that younger generations are opting for entertainment elsewhere during TV’s most lucrative daypart. 

“[Advertisers] used to think of us [Facebook] as a niche part of their ad strategy, but this data establishes us as a really important piece of giving them reach,” said Fred Leach, Facebook’s head of measurement research. Read >

iPhone Users Gravitate To Facebook, Share Parenting And Family Content Most Often (BI Intelligence)
Social media users are three times more likely to share content via their iPhone versus their desktop computer, and 1.5-times more likely to share on their iPhone versus all other mobile devices, according to a ShareThis study published July 22. 

Facebook is the leading social platform among the iPhone user base, accounting for 66% of total sharing on iPhones, according to the study, by ShareThis Chief Scientist Dr. Yan Qu. Read >

Facebook Users Can Now Embed Posts Across The Web (AllThingsD) 
Photos, status updates, posts with hashtags, and videos all are fair game to embed in pages outside of Facebook, across the Web. Read >

(LinkedIn Blog) 
The new suite of tools available to admins includes total number of impressions, clicks, and interactions with each post. Further, admins can also see how their page compares to other firms in a similar industry.

Facebook Users Get Creative With Photo-Reply Comments (TechCrunch)
Having launched photo comments on Page posts, Facebook has made it possible for users to communicate in a whole new way. Watch for a whole new wave of memes to originate from Facebook photos. Read >

1 Out Of 4 People Friend-Request On Facebook Before The First Date (Mashable)
A survey of 3,000 participants revealed that more than 26% of people think it’s acceptable to friend-request someone on Facebook before the first date. What’s more the survey also revealed that men are more eager to become “Facebook official” with their significant other than women are. Read >

(Union Metrics) 

 

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