Help for startup launches

Launching a startup is not easy and definitely not cheap. A major part of the launch budget usually goes to advertising and editorial coverage, even when you have the right contacts. You do this to introduce your company to your potential customers and more imprtant, to your potential investors.

With hundreds of startups getting launched everyday, the question is "how do you get noticed among the crowd?"

I found one of the best solutions around for launching startups. StartUpCrunch provides an online opportunity for startups to pitch their company, services and/ or products.

So how does StartUpCrunch operate?

1. Well, if you are a startup, you put up your pitch here. The Pitches can either be in traditional video formats or or the Filmation system and must be no longer than 6 minutes long.

2. You are then ranked by peers.

3. Your StartUp is listed according to its CrunchRank and sector.


For your information, the CrunchRank is the ranking system (scale from 1 (lowest) to 100) that they use and was developed to rank startups according to their challenges and potential for success.

I like their system whereby, those pitches with higher page ranks and have received wider editorial coverage will go down and make way for the newcomers.

Finally the question that everyone has in mind is how much it's going to cost you. Well, they charge a one-off flat fee of 100€ (approximately US$131.16). That's really cheap for the exposure you are going to get.

How do you like your tea

Teh tarik and Teh ais at Syed, Kelana Jaya

I have been a tea drinker since I was a kid. Me and my father could finish a huge tea pot between us. Our favorite was always the aromatic light Darjeeling tea.

As a student in India, I once visited a Tibetan monastery where I had my first (and last) taste of special Tibetan tea. Instead of sugar and milk, they add salt and butter. It tasted like soup and I politely finished the drink but my friends refused to take another sip after the first. It was a unique experience.

In Malaysia, initially my favourite tea drink was "Teh O ais limau" (Iced lemon tea). Whenever we went out, it was the drink I always ordered. That changed after I had a severe bout of throat infection and had to stay away from cold drinks. It was then that I started "Teh Tarik" (Pulled tea). AT first I didn't like the taste and it was too sweet for me. Later on, I would always start my day with a cup of hot teh tarik at the stall near our office.

Over here in the UK, we initially made our tea like most people do, that is, boil water, pour into a tea pot with tea bags. Add milk and sugar separately. One day I was feeling a bit lazy and boiled everything in our sauce pan. Tried "pulling it" - pouring from one glass to another and Surprise! It was really tasty. Ever since then, no English style tea for us anymore.

So how do you like your tea?

Tag: tea

Dreaming of Key West

"Key West or Bust" is the blog of Leigh, one of my online friends. The title of the blog comes from her plans to live in Key West one day and in fact her latest post lists thirteen reasons to move to Key West.

Even though her blog is so pink, I really love the simple, neat and uncluttered layout.

Dreams do come true and I sincerely hope that yours do.

Search on Wabbadabba and win

I was a bit skeptical when heard about Wabbadabba - search and win. Well! What is Wabbadabba. It's a search engine with a difference. Searching on it might instantly win you a prize. The prizes range from Amazon vouchers to Plasma TV’s.

You are allowed up to a maximum of 15 searches a day and if you do win, you will see an alert like this image. You just have to tell them your name and where to send the prize. As simple as that. You can also increase your chances of winning by inviting friends. If they win, you win as well. However, in order to do that, you have to register with them first here.

I haven't won anything yet but no harm in trying.

Useful Firefox extensions

I have been searching for an extension or widgit, which could help give me the word count of my posts. I wrote about it in my Freebies blog.

Finally found a Firefox extension called Text Area Word Counter on Anna's blog Bloggers for Dollars. Really found her post on Favourite Firefox Extensions really informative and useful. In fact in the end, I ended up downloading two other extensions, which I thought might be useful, namely Search Status and Smiley Xtra. The blog has loads of useful and informative posts. Will definitely be going back there more often.

BTW, if you haven't, click to download Firefox with Google Toolbar, the best browser in the World.

What is Emo music

You might have guessed correctly that the term "Emo" is short for Emotional. However, you might be surprised to learn that this refers to a subgenre of hardcore punk music. This music phenomenon is nothing new and originates from the music of the mid-1980s Washington, DC scene. It has evolved since then and now used to describe various emotionally-charged punk rock. Of course I do wonder, soft sentimental music can also be full of emotion.

Anyway, the Emo Hairstyles websites takes a lighter look at the emo phenomenon. They call it the "ugly twin sister of Punk Hair Styles."

Their zany description of famous emo bands based on their pictures are pretty hilarious. For example, read their description of The Appleseed Cast:

Isn't that the Edge himself second from the right? What a hairdo! It looks like a mullet. I'm guessing the guy to the right of him is bald. Why else would he be wearing the hat? To the left of the Edge we have fat Che Guevara who is going for the guillera look there. It's not very emo is it?

When I last checked, they had 12 emo bands/ singers in their list, which is fast growing.

Organic food blog

My mother-in-law is a true believer in the health benefits of organic food and in fact almost everything in their fridge is organic. I too was influenced and a large percentage of our food purchases consist of this type of food. Would have loved to have 100% of our food intake to be organic but that's simply not possible. One strong factor is the cost. We simply can't afford it here in the UK.

The fact that organic food is much costlier than the normal food is one of the major reasons that turn people away from this healthy food. However, if we put into the calculations savings on hospital, medicine and other bills, we might actually be saving more in the long run as we are healthier. I don't know whether it's just in the head but we do feel healthier.


Anyway, if you are look for more information on organic food I would recommend you to visit "Live Life… Organics & Your Health". it has loads of articles on natural and alternative health topics, especially organic food. The site belongs to my friend Doris, who also writes in her personal blog and shopping blog.