Happy Birthday Craigslist. The schlubby classified ad site, which managed to blow up the newspaper business by behaving decidedly unbusinesslike, was founded nearly 15 years ago, according to a blog post from the site's eponymous founder Craig Newmark. He digs up what he calls "the earliest archaeological find" from the site's early days. It's a message directing users of the Well, an early social network, to Newmark's new home page. "My focus, on this page, is on events around San Francisco that involve arts and technology, privacy rights, local writers and artists, and any other item that strikes my fancy," he wrote. "The approach is as minimalist as I could make." PSFK, which flags the post, puts it in perspective, "From that simple start, today the site serves over twenty billion page views per month, putting it in 37th place overall among web sites worldwide and 11th place overall among web sites in the United States." When is it okay to check your cellphone? If you're having dinner with your spouse and your phone buzzes with a text, do you reach for it? If you reach for it, do you text back? In Farhad Manjoo's house, that would be verboten (at least not without asking permission). In fact, one shouldn't text at all when having a face-to-face conversation, according to Slate's attempt to set the ground rules for cell phone use. On Twitter last week, young technophiles like the New York Times's Nick Bilton argued the opposite. When Bilton's lunching with his boss he leaves his phone alone, but around other tech-savvy people his own age, he texts without compunction. We're hoping the bit about his wife texting him to get his attention during dinner was a joke. Google begins selling business software. Apple's iPhone App Store has created a billion dollar opportunity for small businesses that develop applications and games for the popular gadget. Now Google is trying to pull off the same trick for business software, which could be great news for business-to-business companies in need of customers. TechCrunch reports on the release of the Google Apps Marketplace, which allows companies to sell web-based business software that integrates with programs like Gmail and Google Docs. The app strategy will undoubtedly improve Google's already impressive (and free) software offering. But it could also be an opportunity for entrepreneurs. "For...small startup developers, it means instant access to more users than they can likely imagine," TechCrunch writes. "It also potentially means something more important: money." How to handle employee turnover. Entrepreneur turned venture capitalist Mark Suster posted on his blog, Both Sides of the Table, about how the difficulty of moving from one job to the next. On A VC, Fred Wilson responds by breaking down the issue from every side: the employee, the current employer, and the future employer. One recommendation: If a key employee leaves suddenly, it's worth exercising some patience before bringing an outsider onboard. In that scenario, a "battlefield promotion" might be the best option. Charting the Facebook economy. We've written in the past about the dangers of building your business on someone else's platform. But many companies, undeterred by that risk--and attracted by the prospect of hundreds of millions of potential customers--have built business models that rely heavily on Facebook. The Guardian takes a stab at estimating the size of the Facebook economy, figuring that among a slew of companies such as Playfish, Zynga, and Plancast, the social network's broader economy is easily worth several billion dollars. The article asks "whether [Facebook is] a viable ecosystem, a bubble or a house of cards." How to simplify your phone system. Can't get an invitation to Google Voice, the free service that transcribes voicemails and rings multiple numbers? (Read more about Google Voice here.) A start-up called Phonebooth.com is attempting to pick up the slack, Mashable reports. The website is now offering Phonebooth OnDemand, which is a full-featured phone service that will set you back $20 a month per user. The no-cost version, which is called Phonebooth Free and is aimed at small businesses, will give you a local number with up to five extensions, call-forwarding to multiple sources, and voicemail with transcription. More from Inc. Magazine: Get this delivered to your inbox. Or get it on the Kindle. Follow us on Twitter. And on Tumblr. Friend us on Facebook.

Last March we profiled 26 ventures hatched by the newly unemployed. Amid signs of economic recovery, we check in with each of them

Hey internet entrepreneurs, celebrities are encroaching on your market. Thanks to flexible technology and an abundance of developers, web start-ups are practically the new must-have accessory for Hollywood types, reports Business Insider. Check out their list of the 10 companies to watch. There are the A-listers like Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Media and Will Ferrell's FunnyOrDie. But did you know that Ludacris and Will.i.am have social networks? Or that Peter Gabriel came up with a Pandora-killer and Kim Kardashian launched the Netflix of footwear? Big numbers from Tumblr. We've periodically sung the praises of blogging start-up Tumblr, which boasts slick technology and an entrepreneurial prodigy of a founder. Today, via Mashable, Tumblr announced some serious traffic growth: 1 billion pageviews and 15,000 new users joining everyday. Meanwhile, Mashable reports that Tumblr, which has operated thus far without a business model, "plans to launch a two revenue generating features next month." Advice for first time CEOs. Bijan Sabet deals with a lot of neophytes but he doesn't mind (via peHUB). "In consumer Internet companies, first time CEOs are the norm - perhaps even encouraged and preferred," says the general partner at Spark Capital. He has two nuggets of advice for greenhorn CEOs: 1) Share bad news with your board and investors early and 2) always be planning for contingencies. "The 'what if' exercise is incredibly valuable and tells me that a CEO is thinking extremely strategically and not afraid to admit that things sometimes do take longer." Another acquisition for giant vacation rental company. When HomeAway raised an astounding $250 million in a single venture funding round back in 2008, CEO Brian Sharples told Inc.: "There are going to be some great opportunities [for acquisitions] the next couple of years." Now, TechCrunch reports that HomeAway has bought the publisher of AlugueTemporada.com.br, Brazil's best known vacation rental site. This is at least the third acquisition the company has made since its last funding round and the first outside of North America and Europe. How not to kill your start-up. ReadWriteWeb has put together a list of core principles entrepreneurs should internalize in order to keep their start-ups from biting the big one. One thing the post says to dodge is the tendency to become caught up in the allure of modern technology. "Consider other sources of competitive power than just technological sophistication, such as superior customer experience or service, exclusive distribution partnerships, or other market-based advantages." The most provocative, and perhaps, pertinent piece of advice? "Remember that sometimes start-ups need to be killed, for their own good -- or yours, at least." Apps for TV have yet to catch on It is estimated that by the end of 2010, Americans will own more than two million Web-connected TVs. And in 2009, Yahoo! announced that Samsung, Sony, LG, and Vizio televisions would come with its Connected TV software, which is open to all developers. However, unlike the Apple App store, which had more than 3,000 programs just two months after its debut and more than 140,000 by 2010, apps for TV haven't taken off. Only 35 full-featured apps are available on the Yahoo! service. BusinessWeek reports one reason apps for TV have yet to take off is that the approval process for television apps is more difficult than for their online counterparts. After Yahoo! approves the App, each individual TV maker must also approve the app. Some TVs cannot run certain types of code, and TV makers are reluctant to take on the risk of being blamed for an app that disappoints. Selling your business? A lawyer can help. Over at the New York Times' You're the Boss blog, lawyer Harry Styron offers pointers on selling a business and when to get a lawyer involved (hint: not until the decision has been made to sell, ideally not out of necessity). Especially for family run businesses, Styron says, "if the decision to sell is a result of a key family member having died or become ill or if the prospect of selling the business means some family member is going to lose a good job or a good income, the decision to sell was made too late." Now all you need to know is whether your lawyer should specialize in entrepreneurship. How to cope with changes at the workplace. From budget cuts, to massive layoffs, to new management techniques, there are plenty of reasons why changes at the office can stress out employees. A recent survey conducted by Right Management, a career management consulting firm, shows that 31 percent of employees have trouble adapting to changes in the workplace, Boston.com reports. The Boston.com team has also come up with five tips on how to deal with change in the workplace, which include taking time to get to know a new boss in order to develop a good working relationship, staying on top of the latest skills that employers expect when seeking out job candidates in your field, and having an open flow of communication with your manager if you feel too bogged down by your workload. More from Inc. Magazine: Get this delivered to your inbox. Or get it on the Kindle Follow us on Twitter or Tumblr. Friend us on Facebook. Apply now for the 2010 Inc. 500|5000.

Interim executives fill managerial roles. To get the most out of them, companies must find the right match and acknowledge internal problems

The "real" story on Facebook's founding. On Friday, Silicon Alley Insider published the results of its two-year investigation into the controversial founding of Facebook. Among the new details to emerge is this purported IM from Mark Zuckerberg to a friend right before Facebook's launch, in which Zuckerberg suggests that he is intentionally delaying the launch of a similar site, HarvardConnections, which he had previously agreed to work on. "I feel like the right thing to do is finish the facebook and wait until the last day before I'm supposed to have their thing ready and then be like 'look yours isn't as good as this so if you want to join mine you can…otherwise I can help you with yours later.'" How to start a company when you still have a job. Over at a Smart Bear, Jason Cohen tackles the subject of bootstrapping a start-up using your salary. He recommends picking a slow growth business--you can afford this because you already have a salary--that doesn't require you to answer emails or phone calls during normal business hours. "Remember, your immediate goal isn't to make millions of dollars, it's to build a business just solid enough to quit your day job," he writes. You also have to make sure you don't get sued by your employer. To avoid this, Cohen suggests being upfront about what you're doing and getting a signed letter from a company representative that gives you the go-ahead to work on your business on your own time. "When it comes to company property, be paranoid," he writes. "Assume everything you do on the Internet is recorded, cataloged, tagged, and monitored continuously by a methamphetamine-powered slave-army." (Via Hacker News.) How to get a better night's sleep. Having trouble keeping your eyes open? Couldn't wind down after all that Oscar excitement last night? You're not alone. Seventy-five percent of Americans report having problems sleeping a few nights a week, which can lead to missed workdays, errors on the job, and even diminished job satisfaction. Web Worker Daily has some tips for better sleep in honor of National Sleep Awareness Week and we . 1. Go to sleep at the same time every night. 2. Keep your room in total darkness. 3. Don't drink tea, coffee, or soda late in the day. 4. Avoid sugary foods later in the evening, and opt for snacks with tryptophan in them instead, like bananas, sunflower seeds, or low-fat yogurt. Lastly, experiment with a little white noise. A plea to abandon ad blocking. As more businesses grow increasingly dependent on a solid Web presence for survival, tech-related news site Ars Technica writes that there's one menace threatening to snatch away the crutch: ad blocking. After observing over a period of time that a substantial amount of users were using software to block the site's advertisements, founder Ken Fisher decided to explain to readers exactly how and why ad blocking can hurt your favorite websites. "If you have an ad blocker running, and you load 10 pages on the site, you consume resources from us -- bandwidth being only one of them -- but provide us with no revenue," the post says. Fisher, who goes on to compare ad blocking to "running a restaurant where 40 percent of the people who came and ate didn't pay," also detailed a 12-hour experiment to make content disappear for visitors using a specific ad blocking program, which was met with mixed results. While it was a technical success, Fisher says he found out that most ad blockers were not doing so with ill intent, which raises an important question for business owners and developers alike: Is it ethical to block content for users who block your ads? Apple nixes "cookie cutter" apps. In its latest crackdown on the appsphere, Apple is reaching out to companies that build apps from a single template, writes TechCrunch. Apple isn't opposed to these app generators categorically, but just wants to weed out apps that are little more than RSS feeds. Still reaching out to companies individually and suggesting that they add more features seems like unproductive micromanagement to us. See these 15 CEOs on their ways to be more productive and check out the best iPhone apps for business. Pandora's potential IPO. In the past we've written about Pandora's near-death experience, and how it was saved by it's loyal user base. Now the Internet radio start-up that got 347 no's before it landed it's second round of funding is being wooed by a slew of investors, writes The New York Times. The company's success in the mobile sphere has piqued VC interest and though it says it is focusing on growth rather than going public, it hired a new CFO Steve Cakebread who held the same position at Salesforce.com when it went public. Wi-Fi phones for China. China Unicom, one of three Chinese state-owned telecommunications carriers, is working with Apple to introduce iPhones with Wi-Fi capability to China, the Wall Street Journal reports. Up to now, government regulations have forced the companies to disable Wi-Fi capability in the iPhone, which makes the phone less attractive than fully functional iPhones that are resold in China from other markets. More from Inc. Magazine: Get this delivered to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Tumblr. Friend us on Facebook. Apply now for the 2010 Inc. 500|5000.

Lobbyists for small businesses, construction companies, manufacturers and other trade groups are racing the clock to convince Congress to reinstate the federal estate tax they’ve fought for years to abolish.

Small business owners, who often borrow against homes and offices, are suffering from the vicious cycle that's keeping credit tight and pushing real estate down

The education of Mark Zuckerberg. The Wall Street Journal has a must-read profile of Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who has kept a firm hold on his company, even as he's raised hundreds of millions of dollars and plotted an eventual initial public offering. The Journal reveals that Zuckerberg has grown up a lot over the last few years, for instance giving up the practice of ending meetings by leading his employees in a chant of "domination." Meanwhile, the article reports that he still owns 25% of the company's stock, controlling most of the voting shares, and three of the five board seats. He's also fond of quoting from--of all things--the movie "Troy." The business lesson of a bad haircut. Think back to the last time you got a really bad haircut. Did you complain to the hairstylist directly? Probably not. If you're like most people, you simply paid your money, sulked away, and then proceeded to complain to anyone who would listen. On her blog, Kicking Niche, marketing guru Mary Dean points out the business lesson to be learned from a bad haircut experience. Namely, that "lack of complaints does not indicate a job well done." As Dean explains, just because your customers aren't actively voicing their displeasure to you, that doesn't mean they aren't doing so to their family and friends. Austin-area residents can catch Dean speak today at the RISE Austin conference about the business opportunities of marketing towards the female demographic. Why you should give yourself a "Do Over." Do you keep yourself awake at night torturing yourself about an unsuccessful email? Do you ever replay a bad interaction with someone while you're still in the middle of a meeting with them? Former venture capitalist and professional coach Jerry Colonna figured out a way to help entrepreneurs break through the "obsessive rumination, self-recrimination, re-writing of the script." And he figured it out by coming to terms with his relationship with Oreos. In short: give yourself a Do Over and try again. (Hat tip, peHUB) More venture capitalists expected to back start-ups in 2010. According to a recent survey conducted by tax and advisory firm KPMG, venture capitalists are optimistic that a rebound will occur this year, after flagging opportunities in 2009, the Boston Globe reports. The survey polled 200 venture capitalists, including investors, bankers and entrepreneurs, and found that 67 percent of respondents expected investments in start-up and growth companies to increase in 2010--compared to a mere 23 percent predicting growth in investments in 2009. Companies that supply green technologies were singled out to receive more attention from venture capitalists, with 38 percent of respondents expecting the energy storage and efficiency sector to see the most investment. Get ready for the electronic medical-records boom. According to CNNMoney, the next goldmine tech start-up industry will be medical records,. There are currently about 300 to 400 companies in the United States fighting for the relatively new market, but small start-ups are poised to hold their own against branches of large corporations. One reason is that of the doctors' offices that have yet to adopt electronic records, the majority are small businesses themselves. Until recently, the bigger players ignored them, focusing on larger hospitals and clinics. Small start-ups were able to fill the niche by offering lower cost products and creative solutions to smaller clinics. Expect long lines at Apple stores on April 3. It's coming. Apple announced this morning that the first iPads will be available in the U.S. on April 3, TechCrunch reports. Those will be Wi-Fi models. The versions that have both Wi-Fi and 3G will be coming later in the month. Pre-ordering for U.S. customers starts on March 12, both online and at Apple retail locations. For more on the much-hyped tablet, take a look at Inc.com's iPad coverage. Winery prices hit the bottom of the barrel. If you're interested in buying a business to flip it, wine is probably not the place to look right now. But as a long term investment, current prices may be too good to pass up, writes WalletPop (via Huffington Post). John Bergman, of Bergman Euro-National, a firm that sells estates in the Napa, Sonoma, and Mendocino regions, says that while prices for wineries have bottomed out, better times are on the way. Foreign investors are already looking to take advantage of the situation. For comparison, see this Arizona winery we profiled a few months back as our business for sale, and check out this gadget guide for wine lovers. A jeans start-up designed with your iPhone in mind. Ever wish you had a pair of jeans with a pocket that was meant for your iPhone or iPod touch? Thanks to WTFJeans, a denim startup based in France, your wardrobe wishes are about to come true, Mashable reports. With a pocket designed specifically for your iPhone with micro-fiber interior protection, not to mention a secret USB stick pocket, these jeans aim to fit both your style and gadget-protecting needs. Look for them in early May, and expect them to set you about 59 euro (about $80). More from Inc. Magazine: Get this delivered to your inbox. Follow us on Twitter. Follow us on Tumblr. Friend us on Facebook. Apply now for the 2010 Inc. 500|5000.

Approach local bankers, informal investors, and peer-to-peer lenders, such as Prosper and Zopa, and talk up revenue history, accounts receivable, and inventory

As Congress continues to shape a jobs bill, data from payroll companies suggest that small businesses have started to hire

Ever since the Oakland-based East Bay Express published an explosive story called Yelp and the Business of Extortion 2.0 a year ago, Yelp Inc. CEO Jeremy Stoppelman has been dealing with charges that the company has a bad habit of shaking down small businesses. The scheme, say critics, is that Yelp ...

The U.S. Internal Revenue Service will extend a moratorium on penalties until June 1 for failing to report transactions considered tax shelters.

Take a look at 10 companies reinventing America's energy infrastructure. Changing the way we use energy is going to require more than just new ways of generating electricity. At an innovation summit organized by ARPA-E (a research branch of the DOE modeled after DARPA that looks at high-risk, high-reward ideas), most of the finalists for funding had the lofty ambition of reinventing the entire energy system, reports Wired. Check out Wired's list of ten companies leading us to more a sustainable future. Phonic Devices makes thermoelectric materials that converts "waste heat," the byproduct of industrial processes directly into electricity. Graphene Energy figured out a way to get more energy density out of graphene, a one-atom thick configuration of carbon. And Makani Windpower, the brainchild of mad scientist Saul Griffith, uses large kites at high altitudes to get the most out of wind power. Check out our recent feature on the incorrigible inventor, Saul Griffith's House of Cool Ideas. For first product, the fewer features the better. You know all those product managers obsessed with feature-rich first products? Steve Blank would like to have a word with them. In his most recent post, he explains how the goal should be the exact opposite: "the minimum feature set." "The reality," he writes, "is that the minimum feature set is 1) a tactic to reduce wasted engineering hours (code left on the floor) and 2) to get the product in the hands of early visionary customers as soon as possible." Google, for one, is a believer. Small business plea for direct lending. AIG, GM, and scores of banks have received bailout money from the federal government. But recovery efforts directed at small businesses have stalled out at the lender level, where large corporations continue to get preferential treatment. Back in October, legislation that would require the SBA to help companies willing to find lenders and, as a last resort, lend the money directly was passed in the House. But it's currently facing a tougher time in the Senate in part due to ongoing skepticism from the current administration, reports the Wall Street Journal. On the campaign trail, Obama proposed expanding the SBA's ability to give direct funds to companies hit by the recession. But then recanted, saying direct lending would create a "massive bureaucracy." On Friday, entrepreneurs testified at a congressional hearing that the $30 billion TARP initiative to help community banks lend to local companies would be better spent by giving it to the SBA to lend out. Raising money, with a little help from your friends. Interesting video on the RISE Austin site from Maggie Miller, a social entrepreneur and founder of the micro-finance organization, DiscoverHope Fund. When raising start-up capital, Miller says she would talk to everyone she saw and "literally make 100 friends a day." Those friends helped her raise an initial $60,000 for the project, often $100 at a time. Her advice to other entrepreneurs is to, "Surround yourself with people who will cultivate that hope in you. You never really know who is set up to support you in that particular inspirational goal that you have." In other news from the RISE Austin conference, Inc. editor Jane Berentson took some time away from her magazine duties to serve on a panel of judges for a quick-pitch competition. The winner was Steve Barcik, CEO of FireFly LED Lighting, a maker of energy-efficient light bulbs. The 2-minute opportunity checklist for entrepreneurs. If you have a business concept on the back burner but you want to test it for holes before trying to sell friends, family, and VCs on the idea, the Harvard Business Review has an 18 question checklist that can help. It starts out with the basic and essential question "Does your idea soothe someone's pain, discomfort, frustration, or dissatisfaction?" and grills you on other key particulars such as whether you can sneak by big competitors unnoticed for a while. The post also offers some counterintuitive advice: if everyone loves your idea, you're in trouble. "Unless you have at least one major detractor, then you are probably not onto something big. In fact, if everyone thinks it's a wonderful thing to do, then probably a legion of competitors is on the launch pad." Apple bans a popular iPhone app ... again. The review process for the App Store has become rather notorious for its strict and seemingly arbitrary guidelines, with Apple quashing thousands of apps within the past few months, citing reasons that puzzle developers. According to TechCrunch, the latest on the chopping block was Tokyo-based Tonchidot, whose augmented reality app Sekai Camera is Japan's most downloaded iPhone app to date. The app, which allows users to tag their surroundings with virtual content like text and video, employs a GPS function that collects nearby Wi-Fi signals, which Apple apparently no likey. Click here for more info on the augmented reality craze, and one investor who was particularly wowed by Tonchidot's TechCrunch conference debut. Protect your business from corrupt employees It's easy to think of employees as family. But that can be a risky mindset, reports the WSJ. Employee frauds at businesses with fewer than 100 employees--which tend to use fewer internal controls, security cameras, and other defensive tactics--cause a median loss $57,000 higher than the median losses of larger organizations. Business owners can help protect themselves from these losses by installing an anonymous employee hotline, requiring all employees and managers to participate in inspection procedures, and requiring employees who are handling money or inventory work in teams of two or more. How cities and states develop programs to help small businesses. Rather than wait for the federal government to figure out how to get funding to Main Street, several states and municipalities have initiated programs to help local businesses and save jobs, The New York Times reports. A small business council in the Cleveland area created a program to encourage consumers to buy products from locally-owned stores. Likewise, North Carolina began a pilot program called BizBoost last year, in which the state gave $600,000 to help the Charlotte area rebound from big bank layoffs. Since last fall, the program has been able to provide financial guidance to 158 small businesses. More from Inc. Magazine: Get this delivered to your inbox. Or get it on the Kindle Follow us on Twitter or Tumblr. Friend us on Facebook. Apply now for the 2010 Inc. 500|5000.

The site faces a lawsuit—and a barrage of criticism—for mingling ads and reviews