Inkwhy is a company that would be classified as a "startup" according to the Startup America Partnership FAQs, which further clarifies the definition of startups, rampups and speedups:

• Startup: At least two people have created a business entity with the ambition to build a scalable company.
  
• Rampup: A team of five or more people that has secured at least two customers and has a clear focus on customer growth.
  
• Speedup: A company that employs at least 25 people and has established a revenue run-rate of $10MM or more.
  

You can access a plethora of resources through the Startup America Partnership, and apply for a free "Growth Kit" through our link: http://ar.gy/inkwhy. See below for more information about what the "Growth Kit" entails and our participation in the Startup America Partnership Master Challenge.

The Startup America Partnership Master Challenge contest goal is to recruit 100,000 of the best young companies by 3/31/12. All you need to do is sign your startup up with the Startup America Partnership – a non-profit organization created simply to help you grow!

The details:

Startup America is helping startups across the country grow by:

1. Providing valuable, FREE resources, connections, and unique marketing opportunities
2. Supporting regional startup ecosystems throughout the country
3. Recognizing startups as the drivers of our economy and their founders as American heroes

One of the main benefits of becoming a Startup America Firm is your free online “Growth Kit” – a virtual dashboard full of free and discounted offers including: products and services, an online startup community, original learning series, and unique marketing opportunities.

Included in your “Growth Kit” is access to over 50 Partner Offers designed to help you grow your business. These offers are provided by companies like American Express, Dell, Intuit and Microsoft, with more being added weekly.

We are thrilled to be a part of such a game-changing effort and pleased to share it with our Inkwhy blog readers. The application for a "Growth Kit" takes less than ten minutes to sign up. Click here to apply.

Yes, according to one Facebook friend who tested this out. Also, if you are a business, having a Facebook Page is generally the best way to promote your business (better than a group or profile, since Facebook has been removing business personal profile pages and group activity is not visible to all of Facebook whereas a Page can be promoted and shared with everyone). For more details and instructions about converting a profile to a Page, go to http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=18918.

There are many resources available to help individuals and businesses set up Facebook pages that will attract "Likes" -- and also services that will help promote your social media presence so that you can grow your fan base with a targeted audience that is most likely to participate and be interested in what you have to offer.

One way to create an incentive for fans is to provide a download of some sort for liking your page (see free welcome templates and additional ideas at The Social Networking Academy, through the banner above). Also, you can participate in "Like" Ladders, Silent Tagging and other exchanges through Facebook and LinkedIn to grow your fan base (although these exchanges are less likely to get you in front of your specific audience). 

Other strategies for generating Facebook fans are provided here:
- http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-page-strategy-2009-03
- http://www.toprankblog.com/2010/05/10-ways-engaging-facebook-page/
- http://thecustomercollective.com/inboundsales/48383/how-create-high-converting-facebook-fan-page

Good luck in building your Facebook Fan pages, and please also like ours here:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/INKwhy/119526094815247

(Please note, we haven't followed all the strategies and suggestions for beefing up our own Facebook page, but we're working on it!)