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Montreal, Quebec, June 23rd 2008 - LavaBlast Software launches Franchise NewsBlast (http://news.lavablast.com), a free online system which provides franchise news to franchisors, franchisees, franchise service providers, and franchise wannabes. The system allows visitors to keep up with what's new in franchising by collaboratively selecting the best franchise news. Visitors are invited to submit articles related to franchising which they feel would interest the other members of this online community.

Franchise NewsBlast covers a wide range of subjects related to franchising such as legal issues, franchise technology, new franchise opportunities, franchise trends, and even franchise humor. Anyone can become an editor because Franchise NewsBlast allows its members to blast interesting franchise news items, allowing the best articles to rise to the top. Because of a collaborative community effort, people interested in franchising can quickly keep up to speed with franchise news without having to visit the hundreds of franchise blogs available on the Internet.

Motivating Factors

There are a few motivating factors behind the launch of this new franchise community, which benefits a wide range of people.

For readers: Save time!

In the franchise industry, readers typically do not have the time to visit, on a daily basis, the hundreds of franchise-related websites which are available on the Internet. Readers are interested in receiving quality franchise news but simply don't have the time to filter through the large volume of articles published every day. Franchise NewsBlast solves this problem by aggregating news from various sources and publishing the cream of the crop. Readers can also share opinions on external articles directly on Franchise NewsBlast, allowing them to connect with others in the franchise community.

For bloggers: A niche-specific aggregator, maintained by the community.

An important part of blogging is informing the community about your blog and getting your articles to interested readers who might not have found your blog. Franchise NewsBlast is similar to the very popular Digg except that it focuses exclusively on the franchise niche. On Digg, it is impossible to get an article reviewed by enough people with interest in the franchising industry given the general nature of the community. Quality franchise-related articles typically fall through the cracks of such mass-population sites whereas they can become very popular on niche-specific sites. Additionally, bloggers can leverage their existing visitor base by adding a "Blast It" icon on each of their franchise-related posts, increasing each article's popularity on Franchise NewsBlast.

For franchisors: An incentive to start blogging!

It is not easy (or cheap) for a small franchisor to get their name out in the franchise community. Hundreds of new franchise systems are born every year and Franchise NewsBlast is one of the ways these new franchisors can join the online franchise community. As approximately 25% of all franchise systems have less than 10 locations, small franchisors are a big part of the franchise community and they deserve to be heard. After starting their own blog to share lessons learned, current market trends, or elements which different their franchise, franchisors can use Franchise NewsBlast to drive traffic to their blog and get feedback on their system from various franchise professionals or simply attract new franchise prospects.

A collaborative effort

A large number of franchise websites are created with the intention to promote the highest-bidding set of franchise brands whereas Franchise NewsBlast is intended to inform people, not to showcase franchise opportunities. Thanks to collaboration between peers, Franchise NewsBlast intends to complement existing franchise communities such as Blue Mau Mau. LavaBlast adapted the open source software which powers DotNetKicks, a news site dedicated to .NET software, to focus on the franchise niche and allow anyone to become an editor.  Readers are encouraged to start posting news on Franchise NewsBlast immediately and inform other people in the franchise industry of its existence. 

For more information, please visit Franchise NewsBlast at http://news.lavablast.com.

About LavaBlast Software Inc.

LavaBlast Software Inc. has developed FranchiseBlast, a web-based software solution for the franchise industry that simplifies day-to-day franchise operations by integrating the franchisee's point of sale and the franchise's e-commerce site with the franchise intranet. The integration of existing software is a proven way to leverage the franchise's original software investment during an economic downturn.

• Email: info (@) lavablast.com
• Web: http://www.lavablast.com
• Phone: 1-201-467-LAVA (5282)

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A month or so ago we mentioned co-working environments in one of our blog posts about startup lessons. It appears we're now the number one hit on Google for co-working software startups. When I first heard of co-working, I assumed they were mainstream because the added value these environments bring to software startups is so obvious. However, they are an emerging trend in the software world and you should expect to hear more about them in the future. 

The advantages of co-working environments:

1. It provides a location where members of a small core team can meet, brainstorm, and work on their new idea.
2. It is a low-cost alternative to renting/owning your own office. You can use the space as much or as little as you need it and don't need to buy chairs, desks, a photocopier, fax machine, espresso machine, routers, etc.
3. It opens the door to meeting new people and networking with peers in the same industry.

In a sense, they improve on the familiar software engineering lab environment that is available to university students and we know universities help create startup hubs.

Given the fact that it has become so inexpensive to start your own software company, co-working environments are a perfect fit for the small software start-ups that want to strike it big but have limited resources. Furthermore, who better to help you with your software startup business plan than someone who's gone through the process in the past? Most government agencies that help you start your business don't fully grasp software companies, but the people in a software co-working environment do!

Rather than ramble on about why co-working environments are so great, I'd like to make an announcement: 

LavaBlast Software will develop an industry-specific POS and interactive kiosk for The Code Factory, a new franchisor in the co-working arena.

The Code Factory will open their first location within a couple weeks. Ian Graham, the founder, is very much involved in the Ottawa startup community and this co-working space will definitely help budding software entrepreneurs in the Ottawa-region. The first event to be held at the Ottawa location will be the Ottawa Web Weekend, who is currently looking for more programmers for the event!  Those of you who are not familiar with the franchise industry (and thought it was limited to McDonalds and Subway) might be surprised to see a co-working environment using the franchise model but you'd be surprised by the wide variety of businesses that do (software shops, web design shops, etc.)!

Not only are we very happy to have a new franchisor on board, we're especially excited by the fact that The Code Factory will be out first client outside the child-related retail industry to use our industry-specific interactive kiosk as a key differentiator.

As stated in one of our recent software start-up posts, we submitted our full-length business plan in this contest : 10th annual Québec Entrepreneurship Contest.  In the east part of Montreal alone, over eighty business plans were submitted.  Two weeks ago, we learned we were amongst the twenty-some finalists for the first round of the contest (there are three rounds: local, regional, national). On Monday, we had a short interview with the jury who decided which of the finalists would win in each category. It was a good way to practice our pitch, not only with the jury but also the other entrepreneurs that were being interviewed. Yesterday, at the awards ceremony for Montreal-East, we won the first prize in the Technological & Technical Innovation category.  Woohoo :). We won a cash prize and a one year membership to the chamber of commerce. 

We wanted to congratulate our good friends at Web Estate Management who also won a prize in the Services category! We had a long chat with the winners of the transformation / manufacturing category, Brik-a-Blok Inc.

Writing a business plan is a complex exercise if you want to do it properly. However, participating in a business plan contest can give you the small push you need to actually write it down and define your vision and your short/long term plan. If you aim to be a well-rounded software engineer doing more than coding, writing your plan brings a bit of variety to your day and allows you to distance yourself from the code for a few hours. We tackle business issues as if they were engineering problems and learned a lot during the whole process. (It is a known fact that it is the exercise of writing the plan that is valuable, not the document itself, which will evolve with the company.)

Even at this stage of the contest, we've already met some really interesting people that showed interest in our solution and had a few business propositions. The visibility that such a contest can offer in the media cannot be underestimated; some newspapers will most probably mention our company along with our sexy faces.

Yesterday was the ceremony for Montreal-East; we are now participating in the regional contest.  We'll know at the end of the month if we are in the finalists!  Wish us luck!  Regardless of the outcome, this was a very gratifying experience.