The two teamed up in college to launch several internet companies, including a price comparison site to help students at Harvard save money on text books. They started Tagged in 2004 (around the same time that Facebook and MySpace were getting started) and received $7 million from the Mayfield Fund, a prominent venture capital firm in 2005.  However, instead of gearing their website towards connecting with friends and family, Tagged focuses on meeting new people for dating, social gaming, and sharing common interests.

Today, the social discovery website projects that revenues will reach past $40 million in 2011 as a result of their three distinct revenue channels: virtual currency micro-payments, premium subscriptions, and advertising. Schleier-Smith and Tseng will be mentors for participants of the NewMe Accelerator, a program that brought eight tech startups to Silicon Valley where they will learn about ways to improve their companies and raise angel investments and venture capital this summer. The two co-founders spoke to the group yesterday about their challenges, and how they built Tagged.

Black Enterprise caught up with Schleier-Smith at his office and got his advice about things new start-ups should consider on everything from raising capital to moving to Silicon Valley.

• On Innovation:

You need to get people excited about the idea. You need to give people a compelling notion of what you’re building, why it’s important, why people should care, and why they’re going to use it. “The big difference between a tech start up and a car wash is that you’re doing something that no one has ever done before and in that sense it requires more emphasis on innovation,” says Schleier-Smith. “In some sense you’re proposing to create something that doesn’t exist and you have to justify why it needs to exist.”

• On Raising Capital:

“Raising capital is hard,” says Schleier-Smith. There are a lot of things that you have to do in order to be successful but one of the things that investors are looking for is momentum. Investors want to see that you’ve got business, customers, and revenues. “When you can show that the idea is moving, that it’s in some sense proven and it just needs to be built out, then money tends to follow pretty quickly, along with talented people who want to work at your company,” adds Schleier-Smith.

• On Building the Team:

Pulling together the right group of people is imperative to finding success in the tech community. “If raising money is challenging, which it is, building a successful company and getting everything right is even more challenging. Investors are keen to seeing groups of smart motivated people who are going to do what it takes to make it through the company building process,” says Schleier-Smith. “You need to find people you get along with really well. Greg and I know how to collaborate really well. Some teams are marriages of convenience. If people aren’t fully aligned. That is going to be a prescription for problems sooner or later.”

Go to next page to continue reading and watch video of Schleier-Smith’s mentorship tips…

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• On Pivoting:

“That was a tricky time in 2006 and 2007. We recognized that FaceBook was enormously innovative. They had fantastic resources, fantastic traction, and a great product. While we could see ourselves doing all of those things, they were ahead of us, and they were really good at what they were doing,” says Schleier-Smith. “There was a chance we could overtake them if they messed up, but our business plan was not based on other people making mistakes. We were trying to figure out what this business should be. That is something a lot of startups go through. It’s very rarely a linear path. It does happen, where you have the perfect idea and you just do it, but that is a small percentage of the time. It is more often that you have a general opportunity, but a whole lot of the details need to be figured out as you go along. Be really well studied on your business plan. Think diligently and honestly about what it is you’re trying to do. Ask yourself all of the questions someone could ask and all of the ways someone could challenge it. Think about competitors, risks, and all the ways it could go different than you think it would.”

• On Finding Advisors:

Johann and Greg spent a lot of time working with their advisors. One advisor, Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn and a former executive at Paypal, was key to helping them decide to pivot their business plan towards social discovery. “He was one of the people who challenged us, asked us the hard questions and forced us to really get a plan together,” says Schleier-Smith. “You want to find someone who has relevant experience. Someone who has been there and done it before, someone who you get along with well on a personal level, and you feel you can relate to.”

• On Being an Outsider in Silicon Valley:

“Meet lots of people. Be open with them. Silicon Valley is a very open and sharing culture where people like to talk about what they are doing. Certainly there are some things that are your core secret sauce that you may not want to be sharing broadly, but there are a lot of things you may be doing in your business that are fine to discuss with people. The more you can be open about you are doing, it sparks interesting discussion. I tend to be very open and people open up to you and you can discover where common passions lie. That is where you are going to forge connections that are meaningful ones.”

• On Why Moving to the Valley Worked for his Startup:

“So many of the people who are passionate about starting  tech companies have ended up here. If you want to meet and connect with those people you want to be here. Some of the challenges is there are a lot of great stuff going on so there’s a lot of competition, for hiring in particular. Finding the best product people, engineers, designers can be really challenging. There are a whole lot of talented software engineers and developers, however, there are even more entrepreneurs with business ideas, Venture Capitalists, small and big companies like Google and Facebook sucking people up. It remains very competitive to get talent.”

Music producer Ryan Leslie is the industry's modern-day Renaissance man (Image: Press)

It’s hard not to come across a track that has not in someway been touched by music producer Ryan Leslie. R-Les, as the multi-talented industry staple is commonly referred to, has produced songs for Grammy Award winning artists such as Beyoncé, Mary J. Blige and Britney Spears to highly-popular artists including rapper John “Fabolous” Jackson, Chris Brown and Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura. In fact, it’s Leslie’s work with model-turned-singer Cassie that placed the now 32-year-old entertainer/entrepreneur on the music industry’s radar. One of many reasons BlackEnterprise.com chose to speak with the multi-talented producer for Black Music Month.

Penning and producing Cassie’s chart-topping hit “Me & U,” Leslie not only brought his NextSelection imprint recognition, but led his flagship artist to get signed to Bad Boy Records in 2006, the opportunity to work alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs as executive producer on her self-titled debut album and the ability to rake in nearly $2 million over the life of the record.

Last year was a good year, as well, with Leslie lending his talent to producing Ne-Yo’s record, “Crazy Love,” Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter and Kanye West’s upcoming album, Watch the Thrown and Fabolous’ “You Be Killen Em,”a top 10 rap record. “We easily did over a million dollars in production revenue last year,” confirms Leslie.

What stands out about the Harvard grad—outside of graduating from the Ivy League college at 19 or his distinct production style—is his ingenious branding and social media strategy, which has proven to be greatly successful with his musical muse (having used MySpace as an integral role in viral promotion of Cassie’s hit single), as well as his own solo projects—Ryan Leslie, Transition, and his soon to be released Les is More, due out in early fall of this year.

“You have the control of your brand messaging through the various social media platforms—Twitter and Facebook being two of the most prominent—and you have the ability through the control of your brand messaging to attract the collaborations that will be lucrative for you as you pursue music production as a career,” says Leslie, less than a week after his YouTube channel, RyanLeslieTV, reached 39 million total views. His acknowledgment of the “exponential quantity of media” drove the brand guru to start NextSelection Lifestyle Group, a media-marketing company that’s worked on campaigns with mega-brands such as Lexus and Adidas, as well as Nicole Trunfio Jewelry.

“With NextSelection, what we are interested in doing is partnering with brands—whether they be personal brands, such as artists or corporate brands—and identifying those brands that understand the future of social media, the future of owned audiences as a way to directly market their products, and looking for the synergies between those brands to create a greater exposure for the value they provide to consumers,” says the chief-executive-officer.

With the shift in industry marketing from word-of-mouth to email and, most recently, social media, branding is an integral component in any artist or producer’s package. Leslie advises aspiring producers to focus on identifying their brand and accurately transmitting that to their audience of consumers. He suggests they focus on creating strong, distinct music; establishing strong collaboration with a manager, publishing company or another artist, and creating a strong presence, which would serve as a “calling card” he or she presents to the music industry.

It’s a concept the producer has nearly mastered, but still works to strengthen. When it comes to his upcoming album, he plans on creating something the industry has never seen before.“From a social media standpoint, there’s going to be an amazing campaign, which I believe will hopefully serve as a very creative blueprint for the way that an album is marketed in 2011 and beyond.”

• For related content, read:
• Black Music Month Power Player: Chris Chambers, The Publicist
• Black Music Power Player: Steve Stoute, The Brand Extender
• Black Music Month Power Player: Chris Lighty, The Executive

Looks like Uncle Sam is tracking down tax deadbeats through social networks and making them pay up, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal. While many of us social networking junkies have oft heard the cautionary “watch what you post” advice, this recent article gives the warning an entirely new meaning.

Some state revenue agents are mining information posted on Facebook and MySpace looking at everything from relocation announcements to financial boasts, according to the piece. Yikes.

Check out these cases cited by the WSJ:

• Minnesota authorities levied back taxes on wages of a long-running tax evader after he announced on MySpace he’d be returning to his hometown to work as a real-estate broker and gave his new employer’s name.
• Nebraska agents collected $2,000 from a deejay after he advertised on his MySpace page he’d be working a big public party
• California agents used an online discussion board to nab a tax evader who discussed his relocation.

Honestly, it’s hard to feel sorry for folks. If trying to run from the tax man, becoming an active member of social networking sites is the last thing you should be doing. Aside from the ironic and amusing information this piece presents, it also raises an important issue; with the advent of social networking, more and more the Americans seem to be giving up their desire for privacy. Not only have we flocked to these Websites, but posts, blogs, and profiles feature sometimes the most private information. While members can manage who can view their profile, and how much of it is seen, there’s still something paradoxical about having a “private” or “limited” social networking profile. As a Facebook user I still struggle with how much information to divulge.

Also, this new means of locating tax cheats is not as invasive as it sounds. For Nebraska and some other states, agencies are only allowed to use information that is publicly available online. Since they are merely viewing that which is not set to private, getting caught is the users’ own doing — or undoing. They’re also not allowed to “friend” someone using false information.

What do you think about tax agents tracking down cheats via the Internet? Is your social networking profile set to private? Do you still refuse to join the social networking frenzy? Let me know what you think.

Renita Burns is the editorial assistant at BlackEnterprise.com.

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“We didn’t have a multimillion dollar budget,” Carter says. So instead of paying for advertising, the 40-year-old mom and television producer turned to social media—blogs, online videos and social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook — to expose her business to potential customers and build a brand.

“Most businesses can benefit from social networking since it takes you where your customers are,” says Jamila White, a Bowie, Maryland-based online marketing strategist known at the E-commerce Diva.

Carter’s customers were mothers of toddlers. She had come up with the idea for creating videos that used hip-hop songs to teach children such basics as their ABCs and numbers when trying to communicate with her then three-year-old-son, Emerson, who was born with a learning disability.

“One day we were in the kitchen and I started beat boxing the ABCs,” she says. “He stopped screaming and was looking at me and I was like, ‘If I can distract him enough to stop screaming, maybe I can put instructions in the songs and [teach him] stuff.” The move worked, and eventually, Carter decided music could also help other children learn. So, with an initial investment of about $45,000 in cash and credit cards, It’s Hip-Hop Baby was born.

With a goal to expose 500,000 people to her products, Carter offered parenting bloggers free DVDs to review on their sites. Of those she targeted, sixty agreed to give the product a try; their combined Web traffic was well over the half a million goal.  Seeing the reach the Internet offered, Carter started her own blog to attract potential customers, offering parenting tips and a forum for discussing parenting issues. And realizing that social media space is a fluid two-way street, Carter agreed to post links to other bloggers’ sites on her blog in exchange for a link to her blog on their sites. She even participated in online discussions to further market her expertise. If someone blogged about childhood allergies, for example, Carter would contribute to the conversation, including a link to her blog, adding that her efforts was “so everyone who sees the comment sees what I offer.”

Next, came Carter shooting videos of parenting experts demonstrating activities such as yoga and sign language for children, and posted them on Youtube.com. People searching online for parenting information often stumbled across her videos and, in the process, her brand. “Thousands of people have come to watch the videos not knowing anything about It’s Hip-Hop Baby,” says Carter. But she makes sure there’s a link to the company’s Website on the videos. “They click on the link and you’ve got more people to your site.”

Of course, Carter rounded out her strategy by joining Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and MySpace. From profiles to pages to tweets, entrepreneurs looking to use these social media platforms to function in each of these spaces should do so as careful (yet effective as possible); a tailored and subtle approach is a must to gain direct and indirect results. On Twitter, Carter gives fellow moms an incentive to follow her by sharing parenting tips and events for children across the country.

When using Twitter, she tells followers to go to her blog to get parenting tips on various topics and her Facebook group, but she also posts many tweets simply offering info about events across the country for kids. On Facebook and LinkedIn, she’s set up groups for mothers to discuss parenting issues. She has about 1,500 followers on Twitter, but she’s able to reach them directly as well as a moms group of more than 14,000 members. And she has access to another 800 people between her Facebook and LinkedIn presences. But the proof is in the bottom line. Without spending money on marketing, Carter’s products have been featured in such media outlets as CNN, Redbook, and the Chicago Tribune, and her products are selling online at a pace of about 125 per week.

“I have a little tiny DVD brand in a world of a million children’s DVDs, but people are still buying my products,” she says. “Social networking is helping Hip-Hop Baby reach a lot of people.”

For business owners hoping to cash in on social media, consistency is the key. “Think of a leaky kitchen faucet that drips slowly and consistently,” says Jamila White, the E-commerce Diva. “It’s so powerful that over time it can wear through porcelain.”

White offers 4 more tips to keep in mind in making social media mean something for your business:

Have a goal. Too many entrepreneurs start social networking without knowing what action they want people to take once they come in contact with them, says White. Social media can sell products, spark media exposure or give a business owner credibility as an expert – different goals that would require different strategies, White says.

Create relevant content. Once you know your audience, develop content that fulfills their needs. Carter’s goal was to familiarize moms with her brand and products, so her tips made their lives easier and gave them an incentive to visit her site.

Measure your results. Keep track of whether people visit your blog, respond to your Twitter posts or buy your products. Services such as Google Analytics and StatCounter let you track your Web traffic, while services such as Bitly let you see how many people read the links you post.

Adjust your expectations. “Too many people think ‘I need to get 5000 followers on Twitter so I can sell these 5,000 books,” says White. But social networking is more about building relationships over time. “When people play golf, the relationships they create on the course often later turn into business. Social media’s the new golf course.”

Missed the 2009 Black Enterprise Entrepreneurs Conference + Expo sponsored by General Motors and ExxonMobil?

Here’s a tip from the session, “Growing Your Business Through Social Networking and New Media”:

“You have to get on Facebook or Twitter as yourself. Let people get to know you before you mention your products or services. Be very organic,” says Brandon Broussard, co-owner of Los Angeles apparel company, Baracka Wear Inc.

And remember:

Strategize. Your clientele and how often you want to interact with them will determine which platform you use.

Interest = Customers. Find something compelling about your background that separates you from the competition.

For more advice from the conference, check out the August 2009 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.

On Myspace you can “friend” strangers and discover new musical talents like so many did with singers Sean Kingston and Lily Allen. On Facebook, you can post pictures from a night of partying and in 140 characters or less you can offer condensed thoughts and impressions to a galaxy of “friends.” But in this new space of uber communications, your imprints on the world could come back to haunt you.

A growing number of hiring managers are now looking at the social networking profiles of potential candidates as another means to determine whether a person is right for the company position.

“It’s been interesting to watch this trend,” says Lauryn Franzoni, vice president and executive editor of executive recruiting firm ExecuNet’s Center for Executive Careers.

According to Franzoni, 44% of the recruiters say they have eliminated a candidate because of information they found on the internet; this is an increase from 26% of recruiters in 2005. “Prior to these social networks, it was hard to get objective references,” says Marsha Haygood, the founder and president of the career and personal development consultancy StepWise L.L.C.

She notes that, more than anything, employers want to get a better idea of a candidate’s personality, or their brand – and if the candidate will fit in with the company’s over all brand. “Anything that is out there, know that it is accessible and that it can be used to judge you,” says Haygood. Suggestive photos, any allusions to criminal activity or drug use and even negative social comments and your selection of friends can rule a candidate out.

Desiree Littlejohn, a graduate bioethics student at Union Graduate College-Mount Sinai School of Medicine will matriculate this June and is currently in the midst of a job search. She also has a Facebook profile. “I am aware that hiring managers look at the social networking profiles of potential candidates,” says Littlejohn.

“Electronic records and profiles are readily available and companies are taking advantage of the information.” Although Littlejohn feels that social networking sites are for leisure and shouldn’t be taken too seriously, she knows and understands the rules of engagement and behaves accordingly. “My profile is always is set as a private profile; my friends are the only people who can access my information. Also, I do not respond to queries or comments [where] I do not know the sender.”

Setting the privacy settings on your profile so that only people you know can view it is only the first step in making sure that your virtual presence won’t hinder your job search. But Franzoni suggest creating a positive online presence by joining professional networks like LinkedIn and conducting a Google search of your name every couple of months. Haygood suggest going a step further by creating a Google alert for your name so that in the event that something is posted about you an email update will be sent to you. “It’s important that everyone remember that what is online is always going to be there,” says Franzoni. “You have to keep in mind that a few moments of misjudgment can result in a lifetime of explanation.”

Try a government job

U.S. Census 2010: The U.S. Census Bureau is recruiting temporary part-time works for the 2010 Census. The pay is good, the hours are flexible and the work is close to home, says the Census Web site. You’re Duties: Update address lists and conduct interviews with community residents. Though most positions require a valid driver’s license and use of a vehicle, public transportation may be authorized in certain areas. Call 1-866-861-2010 or visit the U.S. Census Bureau’s Website for more information.

Operation Hope: Not only has President-elect Barack Obama done a stellar job of facing the nation in this time of uncertainty, he’s also enlisting the help of the electorate. You can apply for a job in the Obama administration on the Change.gov Website. Though the site doesn’t specify available positions, the government’s expansiveness and ability to hire workers across sectors means people with a range of experience and expertise can apply.

Field your search online

Indeed, I found a job: I’m sure most of us can think of at least one person, if not yourself, who has found a job through online listings. If you’ve already searched through the usual suspects, Monster.com, Myspace Jobs and Craigslist, cast your net wider.

Indeed.com is a job database that lists over 800,000 positions in an array of sectors. Just type in your desired location, employer or position and Indeed does the leg work. If you’re facing a layoff or have just been let go, remember, be flexible. You may not find the “perfect job” but you may find something that will pay your bills and provide for your family.

Be sure to stay away from sites that offer to help you for a fee.

Join a Yahoo Group: One of the (many) good things about the Internet is the ability to easily find people with similar interests. Browse Yahoo Groups for online communities pertaining to your career field. It’s not unusual for members to share information about job prospects. It can also serve as a support group for people who’ve experienced or may be experiencing a similar situation. Start conversations and get to know the members. There may also be invaluable invites to networking events or tips for useful resources.

What to do in the meantime

It pays the bills: It’s easy to frown upon working at McDonald’s or for a retailer, especially if you’re coming from a high-paying job. But when the bills are due, your landlord won’t accept the fact that your pride won’t allow you to take a “lesser job.” Roll up your sleeves and start applying to jobs everywhere, including a donut shops and outlet stores. Hey, my stint at Blockbuster Video meant free movie rentals and dibs on new movie releases.

Build your skills: If you’re forced to work a temporary job outside your field, it’s imperative to keep abreast of new developments in your industry so that you stay relevant. Remember, the longer you’re out of the field, the harder it may be to get a job.  This can be as simple as logging on to Youtube.com and searching for tutorials. The site is laden with how-to videos from experts. You’ll also want to search for seminars relating to your career that fit into your schedule. Don’t just take in the information—Try it! Who knows? You may be able to start your own business.

Venture into different fields: As you look for a temporary job, spend some time figuring out your latent passions and talents. Try researching careers and industries that have long interested you at the library and online. Start small and develop a plan. It may be as simple as starting a blog or learning html coding. Pick up a book, look for how-to podcasts and videos on iTunes. Find opportunity within the turmoil.

“When my book came out a year ago, there was no marketing budget for it,” recalls Abrams, who bills herself as a “smart, high-energy, big mouth” who likes to have fun. But getting the word out about a comedic retelling of a classic German fable is no easy task. Taking a page from comedian Dane Cook – who credits some of his success to his popular MySpace page – Abrams turned to social networking, a process by which communities of people with shared interests interact online.

After learning about BlackPlanet, and its popularity among African American users, Abrams created an online, celebrity-oriented talk show that would serve as a publicity vehicle for her novel. Less than two months later, Abrams had about 300,000 friends. That number has since increased to 500,000 – all “with no marketing budget whatsoever,” Abrams says.

Through the social networking site, Abrams also created a virtual book tour that resulted in 10,000 unit sales of Dare. “After those sales, the publisher took notice and developed a real, 5-city book tour for me,” says Abrams, who set up a dedicated social network page to market the virtual tour, which attracted 200,000 online subscribers. “Using the targeted social networking sites,” Abrams says. “I’ve been able to hone in on my audience and grow my business.”

Strength in numbers

In  the past few years, a slew of black-oriented social networking sites have cropped up, and today include BlackinTouch.com, Tribefly.com, UpliftthePeople.com, AllUrban.com, and BlackPeopleOne.com, just to name a few. According to Keith Bowen, chief revenue officer for New York-based Interactive One L.L.C., which owns BlackPlanet, about 42% of all blacks online are using social networking. “That number is expected to grow as more and more people dive into online social networking and experience its benefits,” Bowen says.

Small to midsized firms that lack the resources needed to market their products and services in more traditional ways often see the most gains from their social networking activities. By devoting just a few minutes a day to updating a blog, uploading a video clip (of a new product demonstration, for example) or responding to customer feedback, entrepreneurs can not only interact with potential customers, but also maintain ties with existing subscribers.

Setting the stage

To get there, users must first visit the site of interest, register, and then create a profile that others can access. Like any type of Web content, the profile should be updated regularly (at least daily, although weekly or monthly can also work, depending on the business, says Bowen), tailored to your audience and targeted at the site’s specific demographic. “Make sure your product and its message matches the environment in which it gets placed,” advises Marc Edwards, founder of black social networking site Tribefly.Setting the stage

For example, Edwards says most mainstream advertisements rely on a “catch-all” messaging strategy that doesn’t translate well in the social networking environment. “With social networking, you’re not shouting to a large mass of potential customers, but rather you are communicating your point of view at a small, intimate gathering,” ” says Edwards.

Also understand that social networkers are the consummate “flippers and skimmers” who spend just a few minutes or less on a site. Keep the message short, appealing and to the point, says Edwards, and don’t forget the most critical element of social networking: the bonds that you can establish – and maintain – with past, present, and future customers.

To black entrepreneurs looking to tap the benefits of social networking, Abrams says to go beyond the “build it and they will come” mentality and really mix it up online in a way that helps grow your business. “Start with a simple blog on a social networking site, and update it daily,” Abrams says. “Then, make yourself available to interact with others online and become a part of the community.”

Web Resource:

Black Business Space