Category Archives: Start ups

VT Benefit Corp Seeking Full-Stack Developer

Posted on Monday, February 10, 2020 by No comments yet

Front Porch Forum is seeking an Intermediate or Senior-level Developer to join our team. The position is full-time and based in Burlington (remote optional). Be part of a world-class team of engineers. Help us fulfill our community-building mission.

Click here for details.

FPF Co-founder to Speak in Bennington

Posted on Friday, June 8, 2018 by No comments yet

Front Porch Forum co-founder and CEO, Michael Wood-Lewis will speak in Bennington on June 21 at the Bennington Museum as part of The Lightning Jar Leadership Speaker Series. Come join us and hear how Front Porch Forum is helping to change conversations in our communities.

This Speaker Series brings entrepreneurs and business leaders to Bennington from all over to tell their stories about building and growing businesses in Vermont. The Lightning Jar is Bennington’s entrepreneurial hub and professional development community.

For more information on our upcoming visit to Bennington, click here.

A new business develops as a result of a few postings

Posted on Thursday, October 19, 2017 by No comments yet

Entrepreneurs find Front Porch Forum a valuable resource!

“I never intended to own a cell phone repair shop rather I was trying to earn extra money to help fund my other business. After a few posts on Front Porch Forum I realized the demand was there so I decided to go for it. I’ve been advertising for over a year with FPF which has helped grow 802 Mobile to one of Vermont’s leading companies for iPhone, iPad, & Android repair services. If it wasn’t for FPF my thriving business would have never existed.”  – Ryan at 802 Mobile 

Are you familiar with FPF’s Business Directory? You’ll find a collection of close to 10,000 Vermont businesses and nonprofits that participate.

Boosting small business in Vermont

Posted on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 by No comments yet

Many small businesses find success by posting on Front Porch Forum.

“My business started as a side gig gardening.  I got all my jobs through FPF.  In 2 years I had more work than I could handle and was able to quit my day job.”  • Jonathan with Better Trees and Gardens

“I have a small contracting business and work was very slow, so my wife said let’s try this site. My business increased to almost a full calendar of work. Thank you FPF.”  • Russell with R.P.M Contracting

Front Porch Forum is amazing! I filled the openings in my cleaning schedule. So many responses in just a few hours.”  • Kari in Montpelier

 Own your business? Post on FPF and use our Business Directory!

Local economic development tool used in Vermont

Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2015 by No comments yet

“Thanks for all you do – Front Porch Forum has been terrific in helping us reach our citizens with our business and economic development messages.”
• Chairman of a local economic development commission in Vermont

Front Porch Forum Now Statewide in Vermont

Posted on Thursday, September 26, 2013 by No comments yet

FPF_birds_squareFront Porch Forum is now available in every town and neighborhood in Vermont!  Check out the media coverage here.

Please tell friends, family, co-workers, schoolmates and others to join at FrontPorchForum.com. Share the news via email lists, newsletters, Facebook, Twitter… all channels are appreciated!

We’re especially grateful to the Vermont Council on Rural Development for supporting FPF’s expansion to the entire state.

We depend on word-of-mouth from FPF members to spread the news to others… so please pitch in. Send people to: http://FrontPorchForum.com

Thanks much!

-Michael and the FPF team

UPDATE:  Responses are pouring in from around Vermont…

  • CONGRATS FPF – THAT IS QUITE SOME ACHIEVEMENT!  You have a lot of fans out here!  -Will, Burlington
  • Congratulations to you and your team for making FPF part of our way of life!  -Mickey, Cambridge
  • You have done a great service for Vermont. Thank you.  -Barbara, South Hero
  • I cannot thank you enough for starting the FPF !! It has been such a wonderful way of neighbor helping neighbor! We get so much more news this way than any other source!! -Ginger, Williston
  • I saw this announcement as GREAT news, as I enjoy my FPF. Thanks for all the work you do and the Staff does behind the scenes. This truly is a great community resource. – John, Fairfax
  • I love FPF and look forward to reading it every day. -Kitty, East Montpelier
  • I think FPF is great, and read every Ferrisburgh issue. Thanks, and keep up the good work. -Don, Ferrisburgh
  • Congratulations on reaching Every Vermont Town and Neighborhood with your awesome Front Porch Forum. This is an enormous community and Vermont strengthening accomplishment. Your significant contribution, using technology to build and enliven people’s lives and our neighborhoods via FPF, has greatly increased my neighborly collaboration and sense of belonging, and I’ve lived in the same house for over 30 years. Who’ll ever know the extent of positive social change that you all have catalyzed? Thank you one and all. Gratefully, a FPF regular… -Jean, Burlington

Facebook vs. Housework? Foursquare on the Ropes?

Posted on Monday, November 26, 2012 by No comments yet

#VT – Not everyone is rosy about all social media.  First, from Information Week

A recent study from The University of Canterbury at New Zealand shows… What was a bit surprising was how Facebook fared: It placed 29th out of 30 daily behaviors that study participants were asked to rank. In fact, it would seem, the only thing that makes people happy less than Facebook is recovering from illness. Facebook ranked 28th in engagement and 24th in pleasure. It ranked dead last in meaning…

Ranking higher than Facebook on the happiness, meaning and engagement meter were housework, studying, and paid work… I’m not a huge housework fan, but when it comes to happiness, meaning and engagement, I get more out of housework than I get from Facebook. After I clean the kitchen, for example, I am happy with how nice it looks. There’s meaning in what I did: My family has clean dishes and a clean workspace. We don’t worry about food poisoning… I think the point is that activities with purpose give us happiness, meaning and a sense of engagement — and Facebook all too often seems to serve none of these areas. That should worry businesses who hope to use Facebook to their benefit.
 And from Forbes
Here’s a prediction: Foursquare will be the next highly-funded casualty in the social media sphere… Rather than be disruptive, Foursquare is being dysfunctional. The company is trying desperately to follow industry leaders instead of leading an industry. They are stuck in social media no man’s land.

Foursquare was founded in 2009 as a local “check-in” service. To-date, the company has raised more than $70 million (the last funding valued the company at $600 million). In 2010, FacebookGoogle and Yelp added their own version of Foursquare’s most compelling feature ““ the check-in. This summer, after getting crushed for two years by competitors, Foursquare decided to finally de-emphasize check-in and the game it had created around becoming “mayor” of a location. Only geeks with dreams of being the Michael Bloomberg of the Soho Starbucks were playing…

Don’t get me wrong; checking in is useful on a user’s primary social platform if they don’t mind the privacy implications. Many people want to let friends know where they are or brag about being at a cool event. But like the GPS was to TomTom, the “check-in” is to Foursquare. It was their one trick. Satellite navigation went into both cars and phones ““ bruising TomTom. Similarly the check-in was built into Facebook, Yelp, Google and Trip Advisor. Will it be the death of Foursquare’s pony? By the time Foursquare realized they were becoming irrelevant, it was too late. I estimate that the company has cash for 12 more months of operation with its current 150 employees. There may still be time for a fix.