Entrepreneurial

A woman shops at a Whole Foods supermarket in New York. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

Got the next great organic food product? Wondering how to get it into your local Whole Foods store? Then Tom Rich is the guy to talk to.

Rich is the grocery coordinator for the 27-store Rocky Mountain region of the Austin, Texas-based supermarket chain. He works in the health-oriented, food-centric city of Boulder, Colorado, where the company’s recently expanded Pearl Street store is considered a rich testing ground for new concepts.

“Part of the responsibility in our position is to find new, emerging brands,” Rich said. “We’re trying to build our bullpen. We’re tasked to do that here.”

He gives two examples of concepts that began in Boulder and were subsequently given national treatment throughout Whole Foods’ 300-store network: all-natural nut butter producer Justin’s and flatbread and burrito bowl maker EVOL.

– Shane Mac is the co-founder of online job recruitment startup Hello There. He is also the director of marketing at Zaarly and formerly spearheaded marketing at Gist (acquired by RIM). This is an edited version of the original article that appeared on Quick Sprout. The views expressed are his own. –

About a year ago, I sat in a coffee shop pitching a new idea to one of the founders of Startup Weekend, Clint Nelson. Never would I have predicted that this one meeting would have such an impact on the next year of my life.

The entire concept was all on one page of my notebook: sketches, pricing models, tag lines and even people I should sell it to. I’ve put every idea from notes, books, speeches, and product sketches in an indexed notebook since I read a post by Tim Ferriss two years ago.

– Kelly Phillips Erb is a small business owner and practicing tax attorney at the Erb Law Firm in Philadelphia. She is also the author of the popular Tax Girl blog. The views expressed are her own. –

Chances are, you’ve already filed, as only a third of all tax returns are filed during the last week of tax season. But if you haven’t, keep these tips in mind:

- Postage rates for large envelopes went up yesterday (yes, yesterday). If you’re mailing your return – and it’s a big one – make sure to allow extra time at the post office.

A woman fills out an income tax form in New York. REUTERS/Mike Segar

– Stephanie Rabiner is a contributor to FindLaw’s Free Enterprise blog. FindLaw is a Thomson Reuters publication. This article originally appeared here. –

There is no definite answer for those of you who wish to know just what is tax deductible for a small business.

According to the painfully dry tax code, a business may deduct all expenses that are ordinary, necessary and reasonable.

A call center employee uses a calculator in Tokyo. REUTERS/Yuriko Nakao

– Ed Buchholz is the co-founder and CEO of 60mo, a cloud-based financial services company catering to small business owners. The views expressed are his own. –

Most everyone is familiar with the cliché: more money, more problems. But what if the problem is money?

Keeping your tech startup solvent requires the avoidance of several common budget mistakes. A budget or lack thereof can make or break a startup. Keep your overhead intact by doing the following:

South Korean fighting bulls lock horns with each other during a 2005 Seoul bullfighting festival April 30, 2005. REUTERS/You Sung-Ho

– Jeff Haden writes for BNET. This article originally appeared here. The views expressed are his own. –

Sadly, many people grow to hate their businesses. (You may be one of them.) What you once loved has become a source of disillusionment, pressure, and stress. You’re sick of your business.

Despite Groupon’s virtual stranglehold on the group-buying space, David Payne thinks it’s vulnerable.

The co-founder of rival startup Scoutmob said Groupon’s margins aren’t sustainable and feels he has a better solution for deal-crazy consumers and businesses.

“When people look at this space they see it as a zero-sum game,” said Payne, who has heard all the naysayers since launching his Atlanta-based company last year. “They see it as Groupon’s raised a billion dollars in private capital and some (other) companies have raised one, or ten or twenty (million)… how can they compete?”

Price and value is what led Chris Gafoor to purchase a press release distribution plan from GroupPrice.

“It gives you more bang for your buck,” said the president and CEO of Miami-based BluStar Media Inc, who paid $39 for a GroupPrice deal that he estimated would have cost $200 elsewhere. The deal guaranteed Gafoor’s company a minimum of 5,000 views of its press release in 30 days.

GroupPrice is a business-to-business version of the group-buying trend that offers deals specifically for Internet-based small businesses. Van Jepson, CEO of the Redwood City, California-based firm, got the idea for the business when he ran a previous Web company.

– Mark Boslet is a senior editor for the Venture Capital Journal, a Thomson Reuters publication. This article appeared on PE Hub. –

Last week, Forbes published its Midas List of venture investors with Jim Breyer of Accel Partners edging out Sequoia’s Michael Moritz and Greylock’s Reid Hoffman for the top spot.

This closely followed list of VC moneymen has become something of a Who’s Who of the business. Its focus is the highest-profile GPs with the best track records.

The Securities and Exchange Commission appears ready to extend a transition period for some private equity firms and other investment advisers required to register with the agency under provisions in the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.

The changes have been the cause of much worry and harried preparation among advisers, particularly smaller and mid-sized private-equity firms subject to new requirements under the legislation.

SEC Associate Director Robert Plaze told Reuters the transition period would likely be extended, but stressed the agency had not yet acted.