ReputationDefender
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I’m a new dad (for the second time). In between the feedings, the changings, and the naps over the last few weeks, it dawned on me that becoming a parent is a lot like birthing a start-up.

Let’s dissect for a moment:

Stage 1: Conception.

You will never have so much fun again until you see your “baby” actually born. This is when you have all kinds of energy and vision about what the end result will be–yet absolutely no clarity as to what you’ll endure together to get there. You should relish this period as a Zen-like bubble. Float around with your happy thoughts before the actual work sets in.

Stage 2: Development.

The harsh reality check. Now you’re all experiencing the pain of growing your idea from a little tiny seed (“Wouldn’t this be awesome?”) to actual, 1.0 reality (“Why did we do this again?”). You hope your approach is suitably creative, colorful, and positive to influence the outcome, similar to what’s required to raise a Baby Mozart. You’re willing to get your engineers mountains of Doritos and rivers of caffeine, when the instant cravings strike. In general, it’s sleepless nights, perhaps some queasiness as you contemplate investor questions, weight gain from stress eating, even mood swings that fluctuate from utterly downcast to wildly euphoric.

Stage 3: Testing.

The finish line is so close you can feel it. The technology is nearly ready for a public audience. Now you have to run through final testing–like packing your hospital go-to bag or driving the route two or three times–which helps you feel ready for the inevitable last-minute questions and bugs. But you are ready. Or you’ve reached the point where you know everyone is thinking (because you are too), “I can’t take any more! Get out. Getoutgetoutgetout!”

Stage 4: Birth.

It’s that time. Pushing your tech start-up live is exciting, scary, sweat-inducing, pain-filled, and joyful at once. You can’t believe it’s really happening! There are fits and starts. But once the train starts moving out of the station, there’s no going back. There are only fervent prayers for success.

Stage 5: Euphoria and sleeplessness.

Your black-and-white world has exploded into vibrant, unmistakable Technicolor. Customers are active on your website and you’re discovering so much you didn’t know about your own technology, based on their reactions and interactions. There are many “learning moments”–some of them humbling (actually, most of them).

Stage 6: Contemplation.

Some time has passed. As your product has grown and changed, guided by your collective insights and wisdom, you begin to forget the pain of its infancy. It’s all obscured by the rosy, gentle glow of memory. That’s good–because your team is already starting to think about the 2.0 version.

Original article: http://www.inc.com/michael-fertik/6-stages-of-birthing-company.html

Silicon Valley, it's time to disrupt the status quo in Washington, D.C.

We're asking this of you, valley business leaders. We ask not as members of one party or another but as Americans deeply concerned by the crippling inaction in Washington, profoundly disappointed by the lack of progress toward a responsible deficit-reduction deal and utterly baffled by congressional inaction that threatens us all. These issues affect everyone regardless of where we live, what we earn or where we work.

We're asking you because we know that great change requires a disruptive force.

The thinking of innovators and the deeds of the daring have the ability to provoke meaningful change that strengthens the nation's economy for generations to come. In Silicon Valley, big, provocative ideas — like calling a constitutional convention or shutting down the Internet to advance a cause — are greeted with excitement and thoughtful consideration.

Yet in Washington, incrementalism is the way. A mere inch of movement in the right direction is trumpeted as tremendous progress.

We know better.

We were all witnesses to another recent opportunity for our elected leaders to step up in the days before May 19, when our country once again reached its debt limit. But the day passed with barely any notice and the Treasury Department is now putting "extraordinary measures" into place to avoid default.

Enough is enough.

This country is on a reckless economic course. Even with some recent short-term improvements due to a combination of small measures, one-time savings and sheer luck, the debt will soon reach unsustainable levels, which could sink the economy. The social safety net faces immense pressures, and the trustees of Social Security and Medicare tell us we must make changes. Yet we do nothing.

Most of the recent attempts to address our fiscal problems, such as the budget "sequester," represent misguided tactics that hurt our economy with indiscriminate, poorly conceived and terribly executed budget cuts. They do very little to better our long-term economic outlook.

We need an overhaul of the budget that fixes the drivers of the debt — unsustainable increases in the costs of our health and retirement programs and an outdated tax code — and that aligns the budget's priorities with a long-term growth strategy for the country.

In Silicon Valley we are willing to try new things and let those that don't work fail. With the government, too many outdated and ineffective spending and tax programs live on well beyond their usefulness.

In Silicon Valley we know how to get Washington's attention. We've rallied before when it's been critical for our own livelihoods. When the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)/Protect IP Act (PIPA) legislation threatened us, the likes of Google and Twitter fought back, and Wikipedia and Reddit shut down their sites in protest. More recently, we've helped keep immigration policy reform front and center by underscoring its importance to the technology industry.

But it's not enough to look only at our own self-interest. The debt and its impact on the economy affects us all — the valley, the entire country and the rest of the world — and it is going to significantly affect our kids. It has become a matter of urgency, not just for us but for every single American.

We're asking: What will it take for Silicon Valley to rise?

Original article: http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_23405088/michael-fertik-and-maya-macguineas-silicon-valley-needs

How do you bring a vision to life?  Michael Fertik talks innovation and entrepreneurship at the 2012 Blouin Leadership Summit.

Since the dawn of the digital revolution, workplace environments have adapted to new technologies and innovation. Now, in the search for the perfect, modern workplace, we may be regaining some of our touch by learning to embrace our past.

American innovation is by its very nature opposed to turning around and looking over its shoulders, but sometimes it might do us a little good.

When online reputation and privacy management company ReputationDefender needed to upgrade its office, it turned to Studio O+A, a San Francisco firm that has maintained Silicon Valley start-ups as clients since its practice began in 1991.

“People spend all day at the computer and in this digital world. You know, you’re working, you’re working, but there is no tangible proof of that work, and so there is this natural inclination to want to see and feel and build something,” says Denise Cherry, principal at Studio O+A and project lead for ReputationDefender’s 30,000-square-foot headquarters in Redwood City, Calif. “We’ve taken a turn back. This idea of craft, this maker concept, is really prevalent in American design now, and I think that’s great.”

“The impulse is not exactly retro,” notes O+A’s project statement. “It’s more in the nature of bringing virtual enterprises back to earth.”

Additional inspiration came from conversations with Michael Fertik, CEO of ReputationDefender, who insists that the fight against our digital pasts can be brought down to a science.

“What they do is very serious work and it is technology-based, but they think of themselves first as researchers and scientists and mathematicians before they think of themselves as engineers, so that was really a pivotal discussion for us,” says Cherry.

With that in mind, the O+A team quickly centered on Thomas Edison’s laboratory in Menlo Park, N.J. as a point of inspiration for their design. Here, in the space where he invented the phonograph and the light bulb, Edison had combined “the stark infrastructures of 19th century science with traditional wooden construction and wood furniture of the period,” into what Cherry and her team call “a prototype for the modern R&D facility.”

A quick stroll around ReputationDefender reveals custom cast iron desks and conference table bases, reclaimed wood, exposed ceilings and industrial uni-strut framing.

Panels of pegboard, corkboard and whiteboard appear throughout the space, making every surface a work zone (spontaneous formula development) or a play zone (impromptu birthday greetings).

“Our office is set up like a race track. I can literally just go jogging around the office and talk to the people that I need. I don’t have to go knock on doors,” says Loren Lachner, program manager at ReputationDefender. “I think that’s my favorite part about it, that the teams are just so out in the open.”

Edison would be proud. He was as adamant about hard work as he was about hard play. As John P. Keegan, president of the Edison Preservation Foundation explains in his forward to Blaine McCormick’s book, At Work With Edison, modern workers “are rediscovering and applying his great lessons: spurring innovation through play (just another word for trial and error) and breaking down constricting structures of conformity, standardization and efficiency.”PageBreak

Edison worked from two desks—one where he conducted business and one where he “played” or invented. Work in the ReputationDefender office, as with many start-up spaces, places a strong emphasis on play, as well—loose interaction and collaboration, spontaneous meetings, and flexibility that allows the mind to explore.

In the years before the bursting of the dot-com bubble, Cherry notes, these fun-filled spaces may have seemed like a gimmick as start-ups competed with each other on the premise of cool, rather than substance. One only needs to take a look at a Flash site from the mid-‘90s to see how bells and whistles can quickly overtake functional utility.

“Now the focus is much more on not overspending, and creating a space that works really well and represents the brand and culture of the company, but it isn’t frivolous, and it isn’t silly. There’s some authenticity to it,” Cherry says.

Edison was a pre-corporate thinker. He did not exist in a world of PSE&G or Time Warner. He didn’t have to compete against organized corporate powers controlling tens of thousands of employees.

“Soon after the coming of the large, multidivisional firm, the dominant image of an American changed from ‘rugged individualist’ to ‘organizational man.’ Big organizations dominated the American landscape for about 60 years before they began to unravel under the pressure of international competitors and new technologies like the Internet,” writes Keegan.

And there you have it: the Internet, breaking down standardization once again. We see viral stars emerge from nowhere, hacker groups like Anonymous take down government systems, and protestors brought together by tweets. These people are all playing, and shifting paradigms in the process.

“Everyone is more heads-down in traditional offices, and you don’t have an opportunity to communicate with your peers,” says Lachner. “Here the environment facilitates that, so you’re not just talking to your co-workers and making sure you’re facilitating your task at hand, but you’re facilitating awesome friendships and relationships.”

And, great—then it doesn’t have to be a problem if people are mingling around a space, making noise and getting a little hoo-hah out of their work. Aren’t we all looking for that light bulb moment?

“But in my day, we took the job that was available and we liked it,” says the man who also hauled an offset typewriter uphill both ways to work.

That is organized man, the corporation. Today, we demand more of our workspace so that we may make more of ourselves—special millennial snowflakes, all.

To sum it up from Studio O+A, “the effect is to create a workspace reflective of the values the Internet embodies: brightness, inclusiveness, ease of navigation, transparency, informality.”

Original article: http://bit.ly/18G6jx2http://bit.ly/18G6jx2

Photo credit: Jasper Sanidad

North Side independent political candidate Joey Ebanks may face legal action on several fronts in what could become a Cayman Islands test case for freedom of expression on Facebook. 

Mr. Ebanks has been threatened with lawsuits by Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor, his political rival in North Side Ezzard Miller and head of the Judicial and Legal Services Commission Dan Scott over comments made on his Facebook page. 

Mr. Ebanks has been a prolific poster on the social media site since his suspension from the Electricity Regulatory Authority last month amid a criminal investigation. 

He has pronounced it his mission to stamp out corruption in Cayman and posted a string of accusations against several high-profile figures, promising to continue delivering “beat downs” on his Facebook page. 

Governor Taylor confirmed earlier this month that “potentially defamatory postings on Facebook” had been brought to his attention. 

He said attorneys for the regulatory authority, also the subject of some of Mr. Ebanks posts, were in consultation with the attorney general over the matter. 

Mr. Scott’s lawyers delivered a “cease and desist” letter to Mr. Ebanks over postings on his Facebook page earlier this month, while Mr. Miller has said publicly that he is in discussions with his lawyers over what action to take.  

Mr. Miller also filed a complaint with the Information and Communications Technology Authority against radio station VIBE FM in connection with remarks made about him on the Joey Ebanks radio show. 

If any of the threatened legal actions make it to court, it could have vast implications for how the general public uses social media here. 

Mr. Ebanks’ innocence or guilt in the criminal case or in any libel claims will be for the courts to decide, but it is the broader implications of a potential Facebook defamation case that have sparked interest. 

The rise of social media has spawned a series of legal issues worldwide, with posters apparently unaware that they could face court action over off-hand remarks published on their personal Twitter or Facebook pages.  

American rocker Courtney Love settled out-of-court for more than $400,000 in 2011 following a Twitter-tirade against a fashion designer. 

The case of former New Zealand cricketer Chris Cairns went all the way to High Court in London in March last year where he won £90,000 in damages after allegations on Twitter that he was involved in match-fixing. 

Ashley Hurst, a UK media lawyer at the firm Olswang, who was involved in Britain’s first civil action over Facebook posts, said anyone who used social media faced a genuine risk of ending up in court over their status updates. He said the same rules that apply to newspapers over libel and defamation applied to individuals on the Internet. 

“You are responsible for what you post and so you must be in a position to prove any allegations you make,” he added. 

The Cayman Islands Constitution Order does contain a right to “freedom of expression”, but that is no defence against making false allegations that hurt a person’s reputation. 

A spokesperson for the Human Rights Commission said this was a “qualified right”, which means that a public official may interfere with this right, in certain circumstances where it is “lawful, rational, proportionate and procedurally fair to do so”, including for “the purpose of protecting the rights, reputations and freedoms of other persons”. 

The legal framework for defamation in the Cayman Islands is similar but not identical to the UK. 

There are three potential legal avenues in defamation cases: A claimant can pursue a civil action seeking financial compensation under the Defamation Law (1995 revision); the director for public prosecutions can pursue a criminal libel case through section 171 of the Penal Code (2010 revision); additionally, the Information and Communications Technology Authority Law allows for criminal charges to be brought against persons using the Internet in Cayman to “defraud, abuse, annoy, threaten or harass any other person”. 

Even a Facebook “status update” that is only published to “friends” is open to prosecution.  

Similarly reposting or retweeting a comment from someone else could land the poster in trouble if a court rules the comment causes “serious harm” to their reputation. 

Mr. Hurst added: “If you repeat a statement, the onus is on you to prove that it is true or otherwise defensible to any libel action.” 

There are protections available to Facebook posters, including the fair comment defence, but the onus is on the poster to prove the comments are based on fact. 

Anonymous posters who defame someone using a pseudonym on an Internet blog can also face legal consequences. 

Michael Roberts, founder of online defamation experts Rexxfield, acts as a kind of online bounty hunter, tracking down the people behind the pseudonyms in serious cases of harassment on the Internet. 

He said slurs on people’s character should not be dismissed as trivial because they were made in an informal setting like Facebook or Twitter. 

Mr. Roberts, who acts as an expert witness in online defamation cases, said people’s careers were built on their reputations and could be destroyed through malicious comments on the Internet. 

“A false statement in a newspaper is regional and it’s momentary, something on the Internet can be global, it can be accessible 24/7 and it can stay on there forever.” 

Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputation.Com — a business set up to help victims of Internet abuse, said that despite a slew of civil suits the law was ill-equipped to handle defamation in the Internet-age. 

He said going through the courts had the potential to magnify the impact of the libel by bringing it to a wider public audience. The company, which has clients all over the world, including in the Cayman Islands, seeks to proactively protect a client’s reputation using technical expertise to effectively bury libelous remarks amid neutral or positive information on the Web. 

He said the company’s services were increasingly in demand as people woke up to the implications of a world where everyone was a publisher. 

“I think people are just waking up to the question of how something like Facebook, which is supposed to be fun, has an impact on their lives,” he said. “They are waking up to the fact that their employers are there, their extended family is there. Anything you say on there has the potential to go global.” 

Many companies in the Cayman Islands have already adopted policies on the use of social media. 

Original article and photo credit: http://www.compasscayman.com/caycompass/2013/04/23/Legal-action-could-put-Facebook-on-trial/

Whether you are looking for a new job or want to succeed in your current one, having a dubious digital past can be an albatross round your neck. How do you deal with online liabilities?

When should I worry?

“Assume that every employer is constantly looking at your profiles,” says Michael Fertik, chief executive and founder 
of ReputationDefender , a reputation management company. “Just because you don’t get negative feedback doesn’t mean it’s not there. They probably just don’t tell you.”

It is not just photos of drunkenness and inappropriate comments you should worry about, he adds. “If you’re passionate about environmental engineering, but everything you say online is about music and cats, there’s clearly a mismatch that will raise questions.”

What can I do?

Personal branding consultant Lesley Everett advises: “If you are concerned that your online presence might raise eyebrows, add intelligent posts and comment perceptively on newspaper and magazine articles. The more ‘layers’ you add the more you dilute and obliterate your dubious past.”

Keep social networks distinct – Facebook for friends, LinkedIn for work and so on. You can use privacy settings, tagging and notification to your advantage. However, privacy policies change so may not be fail-safe.

Mr Fertik suggests: “Make sure you have LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook accounts that say who you are and use your real name as they’ll show up when people search for you. Broadcast things that you’ve read, think about professional interests and try and express a life of the mind. You don’t need to do it that often – just once a week. People spend ages on their résumé without realising Google results are also their résumé.”

What if a current boss brings it up?

“Own up to it,” says Ms Everett. “You can’t change it, but you can say that it isn’t a true reflection of you and that you’ll be more aware in the future.”

You might also consider deleting the social media accounts.

What if someone brings it up in a job interview?

Clive Davis, a director at the recruitment consultancy Robert Half, advises: “Whatever you do, don’t lie. Acknowledge that there may be some posts or photos that are not representative of how you conduct yourself in your professional life.”

“Instead of getting defensive, calmly ask them what specifically they felt was negative about your profile and address the issues individually.”

What if it’s not me?

If you are being bad­-mouthed or impersonated online, call in the experts. “A few years ago, you could have dealt with this yourself but now it’s too complex,” says Mr Fertik. “You need professional help.”

Original article: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c64c42c0-a8cb-11e2-bcfb-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2RA1tkUZO

Your search results are frequently your one and only chance to make the best first impression. ReputationDefender’s Polly Wood, who counsels CEOs, politicians and movie stars on reputational matters, offers these tips for using the Internet the right way to get your dream job.

Network, baby! Social media are digital constellations: connecting all kinds of people in an easily explored galaxy. Search by company, people, position or industry and don’t be shy about asking connections you know to introduce you to people you want to know. It makes people feel great when they have the power to do someone a good turn. And, of course, you’ll give your heartfelt thanks and return the favour one day, right?

Your digital contact book is company currency. Getting a job has always been partly about who you know, even if it’s just getting in the door for an initial interview. But now, your social media connections are your digital Filofax and who you know speaks volumes. Your LinkedIn connections and Twitter followers help communicate credibility, imply potential leads for future business, illustrate your interests, and reinforce the professional image you’ve presented to an employer. Don’t be afraid to highlight the network you’ve so carefully cultivated and put links to your profiles on your cover letters and resumes.

Get creative. Remember the web product manager who mocked up his resume to look like an Amazon page? Or the journalist who used Vine to create a clever six-second 'Hire me!' video? Exactly: they stood out. You may not need to go to such extremes – especially if you’re in a conservative field like finance – but like an outfit’s perfect pop of colour, a dose of creative genius makes you unforgettable. What could you do with a smart series of tweets, an eye-catching online portfolio, even an interactive website?

Show off your expertise. Anyone with an Internet connection and the inclination can power up a blog – and it doesn’t take much to create one for free or make it look good using no-cost blogging software like WordPress. Write thoughtful commentary on the work topics you’re passionate about. Find industry forums and professional groups online and start participating (side bonus: networking!). Switching fields? No problem. Join relevant Meetup groups – which can show up in search results – and start getting to know your new field. Leaders love initiative and you’re demonstrating tons.

Audits aren’t just for HM Revenue and Customs. You should do one too – but instead of fantasising about your return, focus on what your search results reveal to the companies that are most definitely looking for you. Google your name (and your name plus your previous employers or schools) and images. Set up a free Google Alert on your name so you see new references as they get indexed in your results real time. Remember: when it comes to the Internet, ignorance is not bliss.

Clean it up, lock it down. Does your Facebook account show a party girl in Ibiza? Twitter feed include some back-and-forth with your out-of-control ex? Hey, no judgment. (But take it down or hide it – and lock down your privacy settings as added insurance.) Always remember that the safest way to ensure that content stays private is to keep it that way – for you alone. Privacy settings change too frequently to keep up.

Watch out for atypical pitfalls. Everyone always assumes Facebook is only place you can be exposed – far from it. One group of college friends I know used a popular cookbook website to make cookbooks for wedding gifts – all with inside-joke names like 'Make Your Man Minestrone' or 'Do It In the Stacks Sandwiches.' Turns out they forgot to make their drafts private. It showed up in one girl’s search results and she was asked about it in a job interview. Can we say awkward? Another easy one to overlook: Amazon wish lists. Does your future employer really need to know the silly gag gifts you requested for your hen party?

Curate yourself online. Make sure your LinkedIn profile is professional and polished – and don’t forget to ask former colleagues and bosses to provide recommendations for you. Post your resume for free to Resume.com, which has a really nice, clean interface. Now that you’ve locked down your personal social media accounts (right?!), start a professionally oriented Facebook and Twitter. Postings can be as simple as a link to an interesting article with a short 'Fascinating piece!' to accompany it. See how smart and engaged you look?

Find e-mentors. Watch your favorite online spaces for those who are doing it the best – whose comments are just a little more clever, on-point and thoughtful than anyone else. Where else do they appear? Use these people as your e-mentors, those who show everyone how it can be done right. Our favourites? Sheryl Sandberg, Anne-Marie Slaughter, Arianna Huffington and Mindy Kaling. Become inspired!

Original article: http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/542069/10-ways-you-can-use-social-media-to-get-your-dream-job.html#s0lZzJLVAV2j2dj0.99

How do you bring a vision to life?  Michael Fertik talks innovation and entrepreneurship at the 2012 Blouin Leadership Summit.

Yes, just two.

A company is either Brave New World — or Faster, Better, Cheaper. One is not better than the other. Neither is more noble or impressive. Put another way: a company can be a huge success no matter which model it embraces. But the trick of success depends on acknowledging your company's core identity with unflinching honesty. Otherwise, it's like putting on a Superman cape when you're the Incredible Hulk — you may look the part, but you'll never fly. And playing to win means more than just playing to your strengths; it starts with knowing them.

Vision. Are you a Benz or are you a Model T? Brave New World companies are Benzes — for them, today's demand isn't half as interesting as where they see the possibilities five, 10 or 15 years in the future. And shaping that future is precisely where a Brave New World company will pump its resources — until it can create a new market category. That's what German inventor Karl Benz, father of the gasoline-powered automobile, did in 1885. In contrast, a Faster, Better, Cheaper business is a Model T — laser focused on enhancing a good product and making it more affordable, which is precisely what the assembly line did for the Model T, resulting in more and more market share.

Culture. What's your workforce's collective personality? A Brave New World culture is peopled with long-lead thinkers, intuitives who want to light up entirely new markets for their products. Accordingly, there's a much higher tolerance for extended development cycles and a greater comfort level with uncertain long-term gains. If your employees are execution maniacs who love cheetah-swift iteration and tight deadlines, welcome to the land of Faster, Better, Cheaper. An FBC team grasps the dominant market realities and pushes hard to test quickly. They roll out a fresh version of a product and then incorporate user feedback and technological advances into subsequent iterations.

Resources. Brave New World companies tend to need to raise more capital, which buys them more time to develop, make errors and push that future envelope. When they succeed, they tend to be pretty huge — think Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, Amazon, eBay and the Yahoo! of yesterday. Faster, Better, Cheaper businesses tend to be smaller. Google is the obvious exception here — while not the first search engine, it's clearly the best and biggest. Both company types have relative low records of successful exits, though Faster, Better, Cheapers tend to fare somewhat better. In part, that's because Brave New Worlds are fewer in number and far more future-dependent — Faster, Better, Cheaper companies are trying to capitalize on the currently understood and well-characterized moment and use much more concrete intel to do it.

Every entrepreneur today is operating in an environment where 75 percent of startups fail. That's why it's worth the self-examination to identify your type and give your company its best possible chance for launch and growth.

Original article: http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2013/04/there_are_only_two_types_of_ve.html

Amazon is used to facing harsh criticism. In fact, for many irate customers who didn’t receive their orders on time—especially around the holidays—going online to vent about the company's broken delivery promises almost seems like a pastime.

Take Connie V., an Amazon customer who claims on consumer complaints forum Planetfeedback that, despite paying extra for expedited delivery to ensure a Dec. 22 arrival date, her purchases did not come until the day after Christmas.

"My gifts didn't arrive until December 26th, which made my child question why Santa didn't bring them in his sled," she wrote. "I wrote two complaints to the Amazon site and never even received a reply."

Amazon probably doesn't need to worry about comments from the Connie V.’s of the world. The brand is still synonymous with online retail, and the company's stock price has climbed steadily in the last year. Amazon is now on track to become larger than Microsoft sometime in 2013.

The small retailers who rely on Amazon, however, don’t have the same luxury. One vicious review can do serious damage to a small online business, irrevocably ruining its reputation. And some retailers claim they’ve been harmed by the promises Amazon makes on their behalf.

Dani, for example, is the owner of New York-based jewelry story 47stcloseout.com. He used to sell his goods on Amazon through the company’s Pro Merchant program up until about two years ago, when he decided to pull his business from the site. He said the website was automatically making delivery date promises his company wasn't prepared to meet.

"It didn't work out well," said Dani, who asked that his last name not be used in this story. "I think it was automatic. I tried to email Amazon, but they never dealt with it."

Dani said Amazon raised expectations without his consent, promising delivery in two to three days when his business was only setup to provide five-to-seven day delivery. The busted promises led to an onslaught of negative reviews and customer complaints that damaged his business.

Other merchants who used to sell on Amazon have voiced similar complaints. Teri Noboa of Childhood Way Boutique stopped selling online in part because the site left her little control over the terms of which she sold and shipped products.

"They became very difficult to work with," Noboa said. "After a while, it was more advantageous to sell through our own site."

Amazon did not return multiple requests for comment.

Experts say the company could have a problem in its merchant program if the company’s actions are contributing to negative reviews for small business partners.

Merchants are drawn to Amazon by the promise of 85 million unique monthly visitors—45 percent more than eBay—according to the Wall Street Journal. In turn, Amazon takes a commission on every merchant sale, up to 15 percent on some items. The merchant program contributes significantly to Amazon's overall bottom line. Between 9 and 12 percent of the $48.1 billion Amazon made last year came from professional merchant commissions.

Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of ReputationDefender, which aims to improve the online reputation of retailers,

Fertik told the Daily Dot that customer feedback has become the key for small businesses who can't afford substantial advertising, to try and drum up business online. He said just one or two negative reviews (that aren't countered by an abundance of positive reviews) can be as bad as having no reviews at all.

“Reviews are the most important aspect of a small business's online reputation," he said.

It's a trend that doesn't bode well for Amazon's relationship with small businesses, but some experts say such friction may just be a "transitory" problem.

Bill McClellan of the Electronic Retailing Association (ERA) said any difficulties between Amazon and small businesses pale in comparison to the friction between small retailers and corporate chains. He said Amazon gives smaller merchants an online platform that helps them compete with the big-box retailers and their exclusive, massive online storefronts.

"I think that's where a lot of real competition is these days that threatens small businesses," McClellan said.

In addition to representing numerous small online retailers, the ERA counted Amazon among its members until about a year ago, when the organizations parted amicably over diverging legislative priorities. McClellan said that despite the complaints of some retailers over delivery promises, it hasn't been a widespread problem as far as he can tell.

He said more serious problems exist between Amazon and its small business partners in terms of search-engine optimization. Many larger online retailers (not exclusively Amazon) have made it a strategy to buy the most commonly searched Google ad terms to help control the market.  

"I'm not going to say there isn't a problem with delivery times, but if there is I think it's isolated," he said. "There are other problems that would seem more pressing to me if I were a small business owner."

Original article: http://www.dailydot.com/business/amazon-delivery-guarantee-small-business-issue/