As a favor to a friend who is working with the Minnesota Entrepreneurs, I have compiled a list of online business discussions and communication tools for business people to use to initiative discussions online. I thought this list might be of interest to the Byte subscribers as well. If you have never gone beyond email to talk to people online, you should check out some of these resources.

Have a good week! Ann

Business Discussions

NTHT – join a conversation in progress or create a new, private conversation. Registration is required. You can also post documents (Word, PowerPoint, Excel and others) on the site for others to access. This is a Minnesota-based resource.

Incubator.com – join a conversation in progress. Investigate potential investors and incubators. Subscribers can develop private space or portfolios online.

Entrepreneurs’ Discussion Board – a web-based discussion where people seem to post questions and answers.

Entrepreneur Web – a list of various online discussion boards of interest to entrepreneurs.

Yahoo Groups Small Business Topics – a list of literally hundreds of ongoing online discussions. You need to register with Yahoo Groups to access most lists. You can also start free, online lists through Yahoo.

Google Groups – thousands of newsgroups on every topic under the sun. Great for asking a quick question (or searching for an answer). Biz.entrepreneurs is a list of potential interest.

Online Discussion Tools (for Real Time Communication)

Instant Messenger – great for spontaneous discussion with colleagues. It’s free to download, you just need an email address to register, and if you’re new to online communication beyond email it’s a good next step.

ICQ – similar to Instant Messenger (IM) in many ways, ICQ also sponsors chat rooms.

Placeware – great for giving long distance sales presentations. Not free.

Webex – great for giving long distance sales presentations. Not free.