We have created an exclusive and private LinkedIn Group for our VendorCity community.  We are actively building and creating new tools and features within our own site, but in the meantime, it made sense to launch some basic collaboration opportunities for our business owners and decision makers.

You can join the group here:

http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/1313667

However, you must be a registered VendorCity user before you can join the group and interact with the rest of the community. As an FYI, by joining, you will have immediate access to these resources:

• 2008 Compensation & Entrepreneurship Report in Information Technology
• Best Practices in Speaker Program Management
• Getting a Foothold in Social Media
• 25 Surefire Ways to Capture More Clients and Make More Money - in 90 Days or Less

Thank you to the companies that have shared some of their materials with us for use on our site.

Do you have, or know of, a resource that would be appropriate for our community of small business owners and decision makers?  If so, let us know!

Additionally, we’ll also be allowing companies to add themselves so that when users recommend them, they will already be in the database with the correct contact information.  This will make it easier for everyone!

 Do you have some great ideas of how we can make our site better?  If so, let us know!

There were 25 investment groups and approximately 50 companies looking for financing.  It was my understanding that more than 100 companies requested to participate so we were pleased to be one of startups selected.

We met with:

• Matt Fates from Ascent Venture Partners
• Jesse Devitte from Borealis Ventures
• David Safaii from Windspeed Ventures
• Roger Walton from Castile Ventures
• Joe Caruso from Bantam Group
• Rod Van Sciver and David Speltz of eCoast Angel Network

The event was very well run and they even managed to find fill-in investment firms when a few investors cancelled at the last second.  Though all six were not perfectly suited to our market space, we received valuable feedback and ideas on our B2B venture from each one.  We want to thank them for taking the time to meet with us and to listen to our proposals.

Lastly, a big shout-out to Hollis McGuire, Heidi Dunn, and Matt Benson for their tireless work in making this event happen and for running things on the day of the event.  Of course, many more people were involved including all of the committee volunteers.  Thanks again for this great event!

You can access our twitter account at: http://twitter.com/vendorcity

It’s a great way to keep up-to-date on the best firms in our database and to be aware of other time-sensitive small and medium-sized business news.  Just follow us and we’ll be sure to start following you as well!

Towards that goal, we have just added new functionality to our site which enables us to review each and every recommendation before it is posted to our community of users.  We check to ensure that there is (or was) a relationship between the two firms and flag any self-recommendations or other reviews that don’t meet our “trustworthy” rules. 

If we are not certain that the review is valid, we will contact the two parties (the client and the vendor) to determine if there is indeed a relationship between them.  If we cannot verify it that they did business together, we will not post that vendor review.  So far, this has only been necessary with approximately 5% of the recommendations posted on VendorCity.

As business owners ourselves, we know the value of having a trusted source to go to when you need to find a quality vendor or service provider.  You can be sure that we are working hard behind the scenes to ensure that the B2B recommendations you read at VendorCity can be trusted. 

However, what has become crystal clear is that the process was simply too long and time-consuming.  Based upon your feedback, we have created a much simpler recommendation wizard that requires less information and allows you to enter recommendations much faster.  In the past, if you had 10 vendors to add, it would require you to go through 50 or so total screens.  It was relatively easy to use but took time loading each of those screens. 

We have some great news! Now, 10 vendors only requires 11 total screens!

So, if you haven’t seen the new recommendation wizard, be sure to log in and check it out. 

We are bringing that trusted source of valuable vendor insight online.  As a business owner, you don’t need a list of 50 different website design companies.  You just need 2 or 3 really good ones to choose from.  But, you need to know and trust that they are indeed excellent choices.  Without that trust and knowledge that the recommendations are real and can be counted upon, you cannot be sure how much value to place upon them.  Well, that’s where we come in. 

The recommendations you find in VendorCity will have been vetted and proven to be the result of two companies who did indeed do business together.  Longer term, you’ll also be able to see the specific recommendations from people you have connected with (colleagues, partners, clients, and friends) and those recommendations will be shown and highlighted to emphasize the additional trust that you place on referrals from people you know. 

Additionally, our site is being designed and improved to become the first place you visit when you have business needs.  From finding vendors and learning how to select them to resources and people who can help make your company successful, we hope that VendorCity will become your first source of information to help build and grow your company.

What kinds of information and resources would you like to have in one central place?  What kinds of events would you want to know about and how can we enhance the information to make VendorCity the place you come first when you have a business need?

Let us know!

• Leslie Poston wrote about us at Profy
• Charles Knight mentioned us in AltSearchEngines

We have some exciting news we’ll be sharing very soon but we first need to get all our ducks in a row.  Be sure to keep your eye on things here for an announcement real soon!

We’ve intentionally kept the site simple and easy to use.  At this time, it is not a destination site but a resource to use when you need to find good, high quality vendors that service your area.  As we move forward, we will add additional features that are likely to include:

• Private and public groups
• Friends
• Vendor statistics and access
• Enhanced scoring (VendorCity score) based upon more than the user rating

Of course, we want to hear from you!  Tell us what you think this site should include and what features would make it a compelling B2B vendor site.

Sign-up to join VendorCity!

• Several web site design firms that work both locally and nationally
• Business Liability Broker
• Business Contract Attorney
• Web Application Development
• Certified Public Accountants and Tax Professionals
• Professional Photographer
• Corporate Realtor
• Benefits Administration
• 401K Retirement Plan Administration
• Staffing and Recruitment
• IT Consulting

That is what you now have access to…all within the first 24 hours of our private launch.  Just think how valuable that data is to your business and how much better your company will do when it is able to quickly and efficiently find the best possible vendors and partners (and know which ones to avoid).

So, come in and register today to get access to our community-powered vendor search solution!