Entrepreneur Magazine features Columbus Startup Weekend 2009 Success YourMilton

We've had three successful Startup Weekends in Central Ohio since 2008, and each has produced a handful of innovative new companies.  Several of these have enjoyed continued development and success following the initial weekend of intense ideation.  I wrote a post earlier this year, prior to SWCIII, detailing the ongoing successes from 2008 and 2009. Our Central Ohio community is full of entrepreneurs and innovators that are making their mark in our community and beyond. Eric Ralph is one of these creative leaders. Entrepreneur Magazine has recently featured Eric's (2009 SWC II)  company, YourMilton in the Website to Watch section of the September issue.

The Entrepreneur Magazine article is in its entirety below. The article appears here if you want to see the original.

Your Management Guru

Meet Milton, a virtual office manager for small businesses in need of supervision.
By Jason Ankeny   |   Entrepreneur Magazine - September 2010

Projects
Milton's Project Manager

tool prepares estimates, tracks outstanding proposals and schedules follow-ups to help seal the deal. Once work begins, the service tracks time and expenses against the original estimate, and it also serves up follow-through reminders if a project appears to lose momentum. "Over time, you can compare projects and improve your estimates and pricing," Ralph says. "It's a great tool to determine what kinds of projects are most profitable."

Contacts
YourMilton.com manages your contacts, projects and finances so you don't have to. The brainchild of marketing, pricing and profitability expert Eric Ralph, the Milton web application organizes and simplifies project life cycles from start to finish, streamlining cost estimates, spending and billing along the way. "A lot of freelancers and small firms face the same problem--there's no integrated system for them to manage all aspects of their business," says Ralph, founder and president of Columbus, Ohio-based Milton. "Milton gives you that visibility." Clarity begins with a list of questions designed to prioritize contacts and separate good leads from bad. Milton also reminds execs when it's time to reconnect with clients, and it integrates contacts from different social networking platforms.

Finances
Milton's Finance Manager oversees client billing and sends reminders when invoices

go 30 days past due. The service also assembles profitability reports broken down by client or project. And Milton's own financial impact? The service is available to individuals for $15 per month, which includes unlimited contacts, projects and invoices. A three-user package is available for $60 monthly, with the option to add more users for an additional $20 each.

Chicago-based writer Jason Ankeny is the executive editor of Fiercemobile content, a daily electronic newsletter dedicated to mobile media, applications and marketing.

Central Ohio is home to a growing number of diverse entrepreneurs and innovative companies developing ideas, services and products in a variety of field such as medical products, IT, mobile applications, energy and environmental.  We should expect to see more articles in publications highlighting the region's growing entrepreneurial influence.  In the meantime, HIGH FIVE, Eric!
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