Some news about StartUp Beat…

I don’t often post news about StartUp Beat itself. But I wanted to let you, the readers, know about some exciting changes coming to the site, beginning tomorrow.

The first, and the one I’m most excited about, is that the Featured Startup Pitch is opening up to everyone. If you have started, or are part of the founding team of a legitimate early-stage startup, StartUp Beat welcomes you to submit your pitch! Find the guidelines here—your Pitch will be posted as long as you meet the requirements and guidelines: http://startup-beat.local/startup-beat-featured-startup-pitch-guidelines/. This is another step in fulfilling StartUp Beat’s mission of being a platform for innovative, early-stage startups that often are ignored by other startup publications.

Additionally, a new StartUp Beat Jobs site has launched, powered by Simply Hired. It’s just for startups and people who want to work for startups. Check it out—it’s free for job seekers and only $100 per month per posting for startups that are hiring. There’s a widget on every page of StartUp Beat, or you can go directly to the site at https://startupbeat.simply-partner.com

Finally, I’ve decided to launch a new ‘native’ advertising (otherwise known as ‘sponsored posts’) program on StartUp Beat. It is designed to be part of a real revenue model for the site while also helping to avoid annoying ads as much as possible, and it allows sponsors to get maximum value. It is also intended to be an advertising forum that brings some value to readers. In other words, the sponsored posts will be more than just advertisements—they will be informative.

Each sponsored post, however, will be clearly and unmistakably marked as a ‘sponsored post.’ Featured Startup Pitches, Q&As, and all other editorial on StartUp Beat will continue to be just that: editorial—unpaid…period. If you are an advertiser and you’re interested in the program, please send a note to advertise@startupbeat.com.

I hope that these changes enhance the reader experience, while allowing StartUp Beat to grow as a place where readers can discover startups doing truly innovative things, and where entrepreneurs can tell the world about their exciting new ventures.