Ryan Holmes started his entrepreneurship journey in an unlikely industry.

The founder of popular Twitter client and social media dashboard Hootsuite may be a web guy now, but he started out with something very offline: paintball. The Vancouver-based Holmes’ first business was a paintball company, which is still thriving and is run by his brother today.

Cramster is a free online study community and a leading provider of online homework help for college and high school students. The site offers solutions and hints for popular textbooks, and has a community of subject experts available to answer questions. The company was founded in 2003 by Robert Angarita and Aaron Hawkey, and just received $6 million in Series B funding.

Toronto-based CrowdReel allows you to explore and share photos posted on Twitter. Users can browse photos by trending topic, popular photos, photos their friends have posted, or through the Live Reel. The site was created by Jeff Brenner and Peter Kieltyka and launched in March 2010.

San Francisco-based Xobni (Inbox spelled backwards) is a plugin that allows you to manage and search your contacts and email through Outlook and on the BlackBerry. It creates a profile for every person you communicate with that contains contact information, threaded conversations, and a social network profile. The company just raised $16.2 million in Series C funding.

GoldenHook is a Paris-based company that allows you to order custom-designed knit beanies and scarves. The twist is you can choose which real grandma will knit your item – you can check out photos and profiles of each one of the Grannies on the site before you place your order.

Will startups get squeezed by a tech hiring binge?

GigaOM writer Mathew Ingram discusses the increase in hiring activity in the technology sector at big companies like Google and Intel. He says the hiring binge could put a squeeze on the available talent pool and push the price of labor up. Learn More

Out of the loop in Silicon Valley

The New York Times’ Claire Cain Miller wrote this in-depth article about the lack of female founders in Silicon Valley, and the disparity between the number of female business owners and the percent of venture-backed female-led startups. Miller also writes about the lack of women who pursue high-tech degrees like Computer Science. Learn More

The importance of modeling for business success

In this post on his popular social media and community blog Chris Brogan talks about the importance of knowing who you model your business after. Determine what your business model is, and find out which individuals are running their businesses the same way and what takeaways you can apply to your own startup. Learn More

3 things every entrepreneur needs to know about exit strategies

Tim Berry writes on his Planning Startup Stories blog about what entrepreneurs need to know about exit strategies. He says you need to have an exit strategy if you need outside investment, and every entrepreneur eventually needs an exit. Learn More

The iPad: a cautionary tale for founders

Entrepreneur and investor Eric Paley writes on his Anything’s Possible blog about why the iPad is a terrible example for entrepreneurs. He says the iPad wasn’t designed or marketed with a clear use case, and rewrites the launch using a startup to show how founders shouldn’t follow in Apple’s footsteps. Learn More

The case for being disruptively good

Umair Haque writes on his Harvard Business Review blog about the case for better business practices, and why companies are motivated to do good (citing examples like Pepsi Refresh). He mentions Jeff Jarvis’ rule that “in a hyperconnected world, the costs of evil explode.” Learn More

	Scott Meyer
		@scottdavidmeyer
		9cloudsinc.com

Scott is the founder and Chief Outreach Officer at 9 Clouds Inc., a social marketing firm based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

	Linda Ockwell-Jenner
		@lindaoj
		motivationalsteps.com

Linda is an entrepreneur and speaker from Waterloo, Ontario. She is the founder of Motivational Steps, as well as the Small Business Community Network, which connects local entrepreneurs.