Tesla Motors, the American automaker startup company that focuses on electric vehicles, has formed a partnership with Daimler. In the partnership, the two automakers will share information about vehicle projects, electric drive systems and battery systems. Additionally, Daimler has acquired approximately 10% of Tesla Motors.

While the exact amount that Daimler paid hasn’t been release, a few industry experts believe the amount to be in the $50 million ballpark. By partnering with Tesla Motors, Daimler hopes to be able to quickly advance in the electric car market.

Said Dr. Thomas Weber of Daimler: “Our strategic partnership is an important step to accelerate the commercialization of electric drives globally. As a young and dynamic company, Tesla stands for visionary power and pioneering spirit. Together with Daimler’s 120 years of experience in the automotive sector this collaboration is a unique combination of two companies’ strengths. This marks another important milestone in Daimler’s strategy for sustainable mobility.”

Tesla Motors was also excited about the partnership.

“Daimler has set the benchmark for engineering excellence and vehicle quality for more than a century,” said Elon Musk, Tesla Motors CEO. “It is an honor and a powerful endorsement of our technology that Daimler would choose to invest in and partner with Tesla.”

Daimler makes cars under many brands including Mercedes-Benz, Smart and Maybach. Telsa expects to have a Model S sedan available in late 2011 that has zero emissions and is all electric.

Tesla Roadster (Image: Flickr)

When you create a startup company, you probably have million dollar dreams. And while being ambitious is a good thing in the startup world, you have to take the correct steps in achieving your ultimate goals.

Here are five steps to help control startup company ambition:

1) Outline your ultimate goals
It’s healthy to figure out the ultimate goals of your startup company. Doing so early on will help you figure out how to navigate the business through the early years.

2) Plan your short-term goals
Once you know your long-term goal, create short-term goals to get your business on the right road. You should plan multiple goals that act as stepping stones to the ultimate goals.

3) Concentrate on one goal at a time
Now that you have your goals, aim your company’s concentration toward one goal at a time. Try not to switch to tangents along the way.

4) Make Sure Everyone is On Board
If you have employees, they should all fully understand the next goal. Having everyone working as a team can build camaraderie and a sense of accomplishment once you reach each goal.

5) Remain Patient
Having a time frame limit for each goal usually does more harm than good. Goals can be attained at varying speeds depending on uncontrollable circumstances. Even if it takes years, remain patient and keep your eye on the goal that is in front of you.

Reach for the Stars (Image: Flickr)

Naming your startup company will be one of the most important you make early on in the startup process. You don’t wait to waste too much time on this step but you definitely want to do your best to come up with a name that will stand the test of time.

Do you have no idea what to name your startup? Here are five tips to success:

Startup Name Idea (Image: Flickr)

1) Start with the Dot Com
Especially if your startup is an online business, you should begin with a domain name search. If the domain name is available, that makes it a much, much better startup name.

2) Make it Short
The domain name and startup name should be as short as possible. Avoid using hyphens in the domain name and you don’t want more than three words.

3) Make it Memorable
While your advertising could be based in the online world, word of mouth will always be important. If someone can’t remember the name, that process becomes impossible.

4) Make it Relevant
Your startup name should be relevant to the industry field. This helps it become more instantly memorable.

5) Research your Findings
Once you come up with a name that you like, that’s just the beginning. You need to make sure that name is available and free to use. If it’s trademarked, you’ll need to find another name for your startup.

Redneck Bank is unlike any bank you’ve ever seen. See for yourself at RedneckBank.com. At first glance the website looks like it may be a joke but it’s actually very real. In fact, it’s generous rates have people flocking to this startup online bank.

Redneck Bank (Image: Screen Capture)

Redneck Bank is basically a branded website that is actually a part of the Bank of the Wichitas, a bank that has been around for more than 95 years. Technically, it’s the company’s Internet Banking Division.

With so many online banks battling for business, the company obviously decided to use a gimmick to attract customers. And as you’d see on the website, the gimmick is done amazingly well. As their motto states, RedneckBank.com is “where bankin’s funner”.

The lesson to learn from Redneck Bank is that gimmicks do work. If you have a startup business that is entering a competitive niche, having a gimmick that allows your business to stand out can be a very good business plan.

We’ll try to contact someone with Redneck Bank to see if we can get an interview and learn more about the planning that went behind the website’s creation.

Recently, I corresponded with a number of successful startup business owners and I asked each about the industries with the top startup potential for the rest of 2009. Here are the top ten most mentioned industries that these experts believe are conducive for startups for at least the rest of this year:

10. Child care. More and more families are being forced to have both adults work full-time jobs to make ends meet.

9. Blogging. With the seemingly imminent downfall of the newspaper industries, blogging appears to have a bright future.

8. Government related. Many of our experts believed that the governments around the world will grow enormously throughout the rest of the year.

7. Online video. While online video has come a long ways in the last few years, our experts believe we are just at the tip of the iceberg.

6. Health. Compared to five years ago, many more people are concerned about what they eat and their fitness level.

5. Mobile. It seems as if anything and everything is moving into the mobile world.

4. Social media. With the success of websites such as Twitter and Facebook, this industry simply cannot be ignored.

3. Retirement. The number of retired individuals in the United States will skyrocket in upcoming years. Anything in the retirement field appears to be a winning startup idea.

2. Going green. The eco-friendly movement has an amazing amount of momentum.

1. Work at home. With more people losing their jobs, the demand for work at home jobs will grow by the month.

Working at Home (Image: Flickr)

When you get to the point in your startup business that you start hiring outside help, be sure to avoid the common hiring errors. Hiring employees is a very complicated process that should be extensively planned. A few wrong hires could be the death of a startup business.

Here are five common hiring errors made by startup businesses:

5. Hiring after short-term gains. A lot of startups make the mistake of making long-term hires after short-term gains. For example, if you have a business that has a busy season, don’t hire full-time employees due solely to that busy part of the year. Instead, consider adding part-time and temporary workers when needed. It’s always best to have employees with too much to do than too little.

4. Overpaying employees. As a startup business owner, it may feel good to give other people their dream jobs. However, do your due diligence to ensure that you are paying market value. Additionally, don’t hand out stock options or ownership percentages unless absolutely needed.

3. Hiring friends. The old saying says not to mix friends and money, and that’s especially true in the startup business world. When hiring, start each potential employee at an equal level during the interviewing process.

2. Not having a complete job description. When you hire someone, have specific jobs in mind. Hiring people to just help out means you haven’t done enough research. Each employee should have specific job details.

1. Hiring employees too early. Don’t get too excited too quickly. You should continue working with a limited workforce as long as possible. Hiring outside help should be an obvious last resort.

Is it time for your startup business to start hiring? (Image: Flickr)

While successful online startup companies come in all shapes and sizes, there are a few common characteristics that many share. These characteristics of winning online startups are true for just about every online field.

1. The startup offers a free service that previously wasn’t free. If a startup enters a field that typically charges the consumer but is able to offer a free alternative, that startup is likely to get a flood of quick and loyal business.

2. The startup creates a new niche. A lot of startups try to enter an already established niche. However, if a startup ventures into uncharted territory and creates a new niche, their chances of major success is higher.

3. The startup allows the user to make money. Especially in these rough economic times, people are looking for ways to make money. If a startup offers money as an incentive, they could grow very quickly. As a real life example, consider the origins of the Amazon affiliate program.

4. The startup builds a viral community. This characteristic is getting more and more prevalent. If a startup offers its user base an easy way to share their experience or draw in others, that viral characteristic is very powerful.

5. The startup piggybacks on the success of a previously successful startup. Millions of dollars have been made by startup companies that piggyback other successful companies. For example, hundreds of successful startups in the last few years have been companies that built add-ons, plug-ins and customizations for websites such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter.

Does your online startup business idea share a characteristic? (Image: Flickr)

Last month, we looked at the benefits for startups during a recession. This month, I’ll highlight a few issues that make it difficult to build a startup business during a recession.

Thankfully, the good news outweighs the bad news as long as you know how to avoid the common pitfalls. Here are the pitfalls to be on the lookout for when starting a business during a recession:

5. Beware of failing companies.
If you are going to rely on other companies, make sure those companies are recession-proof. For example, many subcontracting companies in the auto industry have gone out of business after relying on companies that are now struggling to survive.

4. Don’t rely on excessive consumer spending.
The first thing to disappear during a recession is consumer confidence. Once consumer confidence is gone, consumer spending is going to drastically drop.

3. Price means more than quality.
When the economy is booming, you may be able to beat the competition as a startup by offering better quality. However, in a recession, it’s almost impossible to beat the incumbents in the industry without offering lower prices.

2. Consider starting part-time.
A lot of people quit their day job to begin a startup. That is a riskier proposition during a recession. With fewer and fewer jobs available, now is not a good time to quit and follow your dreams without a backup plan.

1. Don’t rely on outside funding.
It’s not impossible to secure funding for your business during a recession, but it’s a difficult and long process. If possible, your startup should be able to get off the ground without any outside aid.

If you are serious about your startup business, one aspect you should definitely consider is the location of your startup business. The easiest option is to stay in the city where you are currently living, however sometimes it makes sense to move to another area to give your business a better chance of succeeding.

Here are some questions you should consider when deciding what city you should call when when creating your startup business:

Where are your potential customers located? If your potential customers are all located in a certain city, it may make sense to move your startup to that city. For example, if all of your customers would be located in the Hollywood film industry, moving to Hollywood could be a good idea.

Do you need specialized workers? If your startup could potentially require a number of specialized or highly-trained workers, you should make sure the city where you live has the needed workers. If your city is too small, you may have to move to a larger city or a city with a nearby university.

Do you need cheap office space? If your startup will eventually require a lot of office space or a lot of warehouse space, it could make a lot of sense to move to a smaller city where real estate is cheapest.

Will your business require a lot of traveling? Travel should definitely be considered when you are selecting your startup city. For example. if you will have a lot of customers coming in for meetings, you should be in a city that is easy to get to via major airlines.

Does your city have special programs for startups? Many cities in the United States have special programs and assistance for startup companies. This is growing truer and truer as the economy worsens because many cities are desperate for jobs. If your city doesn’t have such programs, look for a city near you that does.

Select your startup city carefully (Image: Flickr)

Offshoring, a business practice that is oftentimes referred to as outsourcing, is very appealing to online startup businesses. In fact, thousands of successful online startups have utilized offshoring to help get their business off the ground. While there are definite advantages to offshoring, you should also be aware of the drawbacks.

Three Positive Offshoring Aspects

1. Cost. Saving money is obviously the most positive aspect of offshoring. You can find workers in other countries willing to do the same work for much less. Sometimes the savings can even be more than 90%.

2. Timeliness. There are many companies that specialize in offshoring and they are able to put multiple workers on the same project to speed up the production time.

3. Flexibility. Since offshoring usually involves freelance work, you typically will only have to pay when there is actually work that needs to be done.

Three Negative Offshoring Aspects

1. Safety issues. Due to the person or company doing your work being in a different country, it’s very difficult to recover any money if a dispute arises. If the work involves any patents or copyrights, you’d be facing even further risks.

2. Lack of control. If someone is working in your office, you can usual control what is being done and when it’s being done. You don’t have anywhere near that amount of control if you are offshoring your work.

3. Follow-up assistance. Getting help after the work is completed can be difficult if you are offshoring. For example, if you have a piece of software created and then it suddenly stops working, finding the necessary help to get it up and running again could prove impossible.

Offshoring for your Online Startup Business (Image: Flickr)