The Startup America Partnership has promised over $1 billion in special services to 100,000 startup companies over the next three years. The private sector group held its first board meeting at the White House last week. These are some of the major highlights that emerged.

Background on Startup America: The partnership was launched at the White House as part an initiative to celebrate entrepreneurship. Under the chairmanship of AOL co-founder Steve Case, the alliance brings together major corporations, funders, service providers, mentors and advisors. The Kauffman and Case Foundations are founding partners, and American Express OPEN, Dell Inc., Intuit Inc. and Microsoft are sponsors. Fifty private sector partners have committed over $1.2 billion in resources to date. Almost 2,000 startup companies have already registered since the release of its platform in September 2011. Corporate commitments support the growth of startups in five key areas: expertise, services, talent, customers and capital.

Sample Expertise Offerings: The Consumer Electronics Association will welcome qualified Startup America entrepreneurs to the 2012 International CES, the world’s largest consumer technology tradeshow on January 10 through January 13 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Cooley LLP, a full-service global law firm, will offer 5 firms each month a special flat fee package including business formation, intellectual property and funding advice.

Sample Services Offerings: Turnstone, a Steelcase brand, is offering qualified firms free space plan consulting and 18 percent off their products for an estimated value of over $1 million. Qualifying firms can also get special prices and packages from NetSuite and Palo Alto Software, Accrisoft content management solutions, Bigstock and Shutterstock photos, and Legalzoom document services and legal plans.

Sample Talent Offerings: LinkedIn is donating up to 100,000 free subscriptions valued at $12 million. Other companies offering various benefits including free listings and credits include Top Prospect, Elance, IQ Talent Partners, The Resumator and ThinkHR.

Sample Customers Offerings: Emma, a web-based communications service for small businesses, is offering $86 million in free services including complimentary 6 month subscriptions and 20% lifetime discounts. All Startup America firms will also get a $100 credit at Eventbrite.

Sample Capital Offerings: Lendio, an online loan platform, has donated about $54 million to cover free premium memberships and other discounts. All eligible Startup America firms can also get 10% discounts on Dun and Bradstreet Credibility Corp. subscriptions.

Scott Case, CEO of the Startup America Partnership, says, “Every startup in the country should register now to utilize these resources and jumpstart their growth.” Each Startup America Firm gets a personalized dashboard “Growth Kit” so they can select the most relevant offerings and interact online. Visit www.startupamericapartnership.org or follow at www.twitter.com/startupamerica and www.facebook.com/startupamerica.

The winter holidays are the heaviest sales period for many small businesses. When you’ve got more customers coming to your website, you want them to stick around until their purchase is complete. Yet, studies show that almost half of all shopping carts get abandoned for one reason or another. Make an early New Year’s resolution to reduce shopping cart abandonment with these 5 tips.

Manage shipping costs. High shipping costs are the biggest reason why potential customers ditch their shopping carts full of goods. You can’t control what the Post Office or Federal Express charges but you can make the bad news easier for your customers. State shipping costs up front to avoid unpleasant last minute surprises. Offer a range of shipping options so people can get reduced rates when they don’t need the item in a hurry. Most of all, beware of tacking on extra charges to cover handling or guarantee a replacement, especially if you promised free shipping. It will breed mistrust and ill will.

Let people know where they are in the process. Use a progress bar to show people how much they’ve completed compared to how much they’ve got left to finalize their purchase. You can break it down into categories like Checkout, Billing and Shipping, Order Confirmation and Order Complete. Or you can have it show a decreasing percentage as they go through each step. Of course, the bar needs to be accurate so you don’t lose credibility and irritate your customers.

Give second chances. About one third of shoppers will leave but try to come back to complete their purchase. Keep their carts waiting for them by using persistent cookies. Otherwise, they probably will take their business elsewhere. If you capture emails early in the process, it’s also a good idea to send trigger emails reminding them that they started a purchase. Just don’t overdo it.

Allow guest purchases. Many people don’t want to spend time registering or give out their personal information. This is especially true when it’s likely to be a one-time purchase like a holiday gift for someone else. Give people the option to make guest purchases and put that before the registration menu so they see it in time.

Offer good deals and coupons. Consumers these days are comparison shopping and looking for coupons and discounts on everything. Provide special promotion codes to call attention to the best deals you have to offer and help people feel like they’re getting a bargain.

Leave no shopping cart behind. Put these suggestions to work to simplify your check out process and increase your percentage of completed sales.

Smart metrics are essential to any successful business. Remember former New York City mayor Ed Koch who was famous for asking everybody “How am I doing?” You might want to be a little more selective, but you still need a way to measure the results you’re getting. This is a crash course on metrics.

Definition of Metrics: Metrics are measurements of any value. The critical questions are what do you need to measure and how can you measure it. No matter what your line of work, that’s likely to include time and costs, quality and customer satisfaction. In this economy, you need to make ongoing evaluations and improvements just to survive.

Different Kinds of Metrics: Just like your old college courses, metrics can be designed on a pass/fail basis or you can define an acceptable range and give yourself a grade accordingly. All metrics should be as simple as possible so employees will be more likely to use them and apply them accurately. They need to be informative in the sense of letting you know whether things are getting better or worse over time. You also want them to be reliable. Two different people measuring the same thing should get the same result. Most of all, they should be relevant to you and your customers. Pay attention to industry norms. They provide a good gauge of what matters and allow you to benchmark yourself against your competitors. Most companies will need to create multiple metrics for things like financial performance, productivity and customer satisfaction.

Striking a Balance: Without metrics you run the risk of failing to maintain acceptable quality standards. That could mean lost customers and winding up with a bunch of shoddy merchandise no one wants to buy. On the other hand, it’s sometimes dangerous to exceed customer expectations. Your products might wind up being so expensive that people will shop for lower-priced alternatives. In addition, one benefit sometimes comes at the expense of another. Your oven may be a culinary wonder but then people say it takes up too much kitchen space.

Where to Start: The needs and desires of your customers should provide your starting point. Focus on externals and outputs first. Then, you can worry about the internal processes that will enable you to fulfill those expectations and goals.

How To Use Metrics: The best metrics don’t matter unless you use them. There may be legal requirements for collecting and reporting some data like safety features. Other typical uses include external communications with your customers and other stakeholders to enhance your sales and image and internal communications with management and employees to improve performance and productivity.