As someone who spends a lot of time demo’ing applications and websites, the iPad is (almost) a perfect tool when meeting with clients and investors. Having to take out my laptop and try to navigate while showing sites is a real pain, so being able to use a tablet just makes so much sense. Plus, I am a mac fan and have lots of Apple products (an iPhone, several iPods, four MacBooks, AppleTV, etc…).

But there are two major issues that are stopping me from running to pick up the latest Mac Toy:

1. I can’t configure the iPad for what I need.
On my MacBook Pro I have a webserver installed which means I can demo applications and websites “locally” on my computer without having to connect to the internet. This is really important because in many restaurants you can’t get a reliable wi-fi connection, and I spend a lot of my time showing products that aren’t live yet.

2. Apple’s “Lock In” strategy is driving me away
Trying to move applications, music, files from one Apple device to another is becoming increasingly difficult – even when I have purchased the software or music from Apple. I recently spent several hours trying to listen to my music on AppleTV after they forced me to upgrade my iTunes to make it work.

I think that Apple has superior design and some great applications, but at this point I’ll wait for Google to launch a tablet and I’m pretty sure my next phone is going to be an Android.

It’s too bad that we have to breakup – it’s been a great ride Apple – but the relationship has to end and this time it really is you, not me.

We are excited to announce a new project that we’re working on called WebCollaboration.

The new application will provide small teams and independent developers, designers, and consultants with an elegant, smart, and easy to use platform to communicate with clients and other team members.

We’re a virtual company with clients all over north america, so its important for us to be able to communicate on projects, share documents, and discuss what’s happening in our industry. It’s also very important for us to provide our clients with a clean, professional view of their project progress, and efficient and consolidated communication throughout their projects.

We know that there are (a lot of) other online collaboration applications on the web, but we think there’s room for a lot of innovation in this space that will help small businesses look more professional while simplifying and adding value to client interaction.

In typical Mercury Grove style, we’ll be blogging about our progress as we develop the app.

To learn more about the project and to signup for beta access, check out http://www.webcollaboration.com. While you’re there, help us choose a new logo!

I used to be fairly active in politics and I’ve run several campaigns – both as candidate and as part of a candidate’s team. A political campaign is a short, high-intensity sprint to the polls and you spend all of your time promoting, broadcasting, engaging… selling yourself, your candidate, and your ideas. You can usually count on people to tell you that they like your ideas, like you or your candidate, and plan on voting for you at the polls. But come election day, all the kind words, promises, and positive press don’t mean anything. People need to take action and vote.

Starting a business is very similar. Everyone will encourage you and give you positive feedback, but ultimately you need them to reach for their wallets – which is far more difficult. Especially when no one’s ever heard of you, you have no track record, and your ideas are untested.

So where do you start?

You need to do the same thing that every other company does – leverage trust with potential customers.

Large brands continue to establish trust by displaying their track record of success, publishing their financials, through celebrity endorsements, and big budget advertising. All of this effort generates an element of trust in customers when they purchase a product or service.

For most small businesses, your first customers aren’t going to buy your product or service – they’re going to hire you. YOU have a track record, and people trust that you will do what you say you are going to do. Sell to enough people who trust you, and you’ll begin building a track record and brand that extends beyond your personal “trust bank”.

Practically speaking, the first thing every entrepreneur (or team of entrepreneurs) should do is make a list of all the people they know that:

• Are potential users / buyers of your product or service
• Are connected to potential users / buyers of your product or service

This is your “trust circle” and should be the basis for all of your hustling in the early days of your business. In fact, I would recommend selling to these people before you launch your product or service (and get them to pay upfront!). By landing a couple of contracts or sales with this circle, you begin developing more trust in your bank and can leverage it to solicit recommendations and referrals, establish a track record, and get some publicity.

When we set out to build Network Hippo this was our primary focus – how can we evaluate our network of contacts to determine who was in our circle of trust – and how can we expand it over time. We broke down all of the contacts you have as an entrepreneur or small business and applied a unique “value” algorithm that was based on how probable it was that someone would buy your product or service (or help you find your next job). The result looks like this:

Too often entrepreneurs focus on the people least likely to buy – the “general public”. Small businesses that are starting grow too often neglect the biggest potential for new sales opportunities – existing or past customers. But these are the people who are the likeliest to buy from you.

So if you’re starting a business, remember that trust is the most valuable asset you have and represents the greatest potential for new sales. Take time, early in the process, to make your list of high potential people in your network, and people who can connect you to the right people (and will endorse you). It’s the easiest and fastest way to grow your business!

There’s a new post there now called “Networking made icky“.

I hope you’ll check out the new blog, and update your bookmarks. The feed for the new site is: http://feeds.feedburner.com/NetworkHippo

Mail Chimp is an easy-to-use email campaign management system that is perfect for startups as you can get up and running quickly, get awesome reporting, and really see the impact of your mail messages.

Now you can export your contact lists – the whole list, or by custom groups or tags – from directly within Network Hippo.

Here’s how it works:

1. Go to “settings for this network”
2. Click on “integrations”
3. Click on MailChimp and enter your API (found in the account settings of Mail Chimp) and click save
4. Return to your contact list
5. Select a group, tag, or “all” from contacts
6. Click on “import/export” and then “export”
7. Select MailChimp as the export type, and then select which list you want to add your contacts to from your mailchimp account

It’s super simple. Below is a short video showing you how easy it is.

We plan on extending our partnership with MailChimp by adding reporting features on the dashboard and within user records, so stay tuned!

Last night I attended the Ottawa Startup drinks and met some great people. As usual, I left the event with a dozen business cards from people who were really interesting and that might lead to some great future collaboration.

So now what?

As usual, I’ll follow-up with everyone today, while our conversation is fresh in my mind, and we’ll probably exchange an email or two. But now, unlike before, I’ll enter their contact information in Network Hippo – including where I met them, what we discussed, and tag them with keywords that will make it easy for me to find their information in the future. My email to them will be saved in the system, as will their response, and Hippo will remind me to stay in contact with them over time.

No more business card graveyard – and I’ve got a much better chance to build stronger relationships with interesting people.