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Popular Articles
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Hired a friend...may need to fire him : startups
I need some advice. I've been working alone on a startup for the past two years and got some funding (to last two more years). I wrote that I'd hire an engineer into the plan and hired a friend. He's been working with me for about 5 months. From the start he asked me to match his salary at his previous job in marketing (I said no and paid him 90k instead of 110k), he wants stock, got me to buy him a computer, and has taken a couple vacations all ready. I feel like he's ... (Read Full Article)
LLC vs. S Corp: Which Is Right for Your Startup?
Explore mashable.com (Feb 17 2012)
Choosing the right business structure can be a daunting task for the small business owner or entrepreneur. You may have heard that the traditional C Corporation is overkill for most small businesses, and results in higher overall tax payments through something known as double taxation. But if the C Corporation isn’t right, then what is? In my last post, I discussed how the LLC (limited liability company) and S Corporation are popular structures for small businesses since they avoid this double t
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10 People Who Will Drain Energy From Your Company
Explore Startup Professionals Musings (Feb 16 2012)
Every organization, no matter how small, has one or more people who are quite simply obnoxious, and they drain energy from everyone and can strangle your company. Sometimes they are also intellectually brilliant, or closely related to the boss, so there is no easy way out. In fact, they may even be the boss. So if you find this article taped to your desk, it may be time to look in the mirror. At any rate, if you are stuck working in an office, at least you deserve some clues on how to recognize
(Read Full Article)
Comment Mentions: Bill Gates Marty Zwilling
How to cut costs when sales are down
Explore smarta.com (Feb 13 2012)
When business is booming, start-ups often find themselves taking the cash with one hand and spending with the other. No problem, and that's good business. But when sales hit a lull, how do you cut your outgoings and balance the cash flow as quickly as possible? Here are our top tips to cutting back during dry spells. It may mean an initial outlay, but switching to environmentally friendly options could save you tons in the long run and it won't do your brand image any damage either. One huge adv (Read Full Article)
Tips For Starting a Company When You Have Young Kids
Explore ConversionRater (Feb 10 2012)
It’s no secret that starting a company takes a lot of time and is a huge amount of work. I’m sure it’s always been this way for people starting companies, but in the current state of technology startups the situation is amplified with the pace of business, always-on nature of the internet, the ability to “work” from anywhere, and the fear that your competitors are two kids in a college dorm room working 20 hour days eating Top Ramen and drinking Mt. Dew. It’s also no secret that having a baby an
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Red Flags To Avoid When Talking About Competitors
Explore Startup Professionals Musings (Feb 10 2012)
One of the most important questions you will be asked by potential investors is how your solutions beats the competition, not just today, but over the three to five year life of their investment. There is no perfect answer to this question, but there are many wrong answers which will immediately jeopardize your credibility. The concept is called “sustainable competitive advantage.” A good answer might be “We have several patents on the base technology, which is so robust that we expect to roll o
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Comment Mentions: IBM Marty Zwilling
3 Numbers All Entrepreneurs Should Know
In the early days of a startup, it can be tough to find good data to help with decision-making. Put a priority on these three numbers, and you'll be fine. To make good decisions, you need good data. That’s a given, right? But in a start-up, what data should you be looking at? In the early days of a startup, sometimes there isn’t much to measure. A comparison of this year’s sales compared to last year’s isn’t all that helpful if you’ve only been around for eight months. But that doesn’t mean ...
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Comment Mentions: Don Rainey
5 Tips on How to Create the Best Work Environment for Your Startup
Explore markharai.com (Feb 6 2012)
Trust – always be honest with your team on the condition of your startup – always follow through with what you say you’re going to do. Exaggerating and embellishing facts and promising things you either can’t or don’t intent to follow-through with will destroy your credibility and chance to build something great. Team Work – a team environment will get everyone on the same page and working for the same goals. It makes everyone accountable for victories as well as defeats and will help drive a wi
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How to Find the ‘Star Performer’ in Every Employee
Explore Startup Professionals Musings (Feb 3 2012)
Every startup and every big business wishes that all their employees were star performers, but wishing doesn’t make it happen. Some coaches and leaders seem to have the magic for bringing out the best in everyone. Research has shown that it isn’t magic, but a focus on engaging people in their work, so that their work triggers the same emotions as play does for you. Some of you cynics may think that such a thing isn’t possible, but Shawn Kent Hayashi, who has worked for years with entrepreneurs, as well as Fortune 500 giants, argues otherwise. In ...
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Comment Mentions: Marty Zwilling
Startup Lessons From 17 Hard-Hitting Quotes In "Moneyball"
Explore On Startups by Dharmesh Shah (Feb 2 2012)
I'm an idiot. Not all of the time, mind you, not even most of the time, but every now and then, I'm an idiot. Like the time my friend and co-founder Brian Halligan asked me to read the book “Moneyball”. This was back when we had first launched our startup, HubSpot. “But, I'm not a baseball guy,” I said. “It's not about baseball. It's about data.” And, I put it on my reading list, and then still failed to read it. I even bought the book, but still failed to read it That was a ...
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10 Leasing Tips Every New Business and Startup Should Know
Explore XYDO | Social News Evolved (Feb 1 2012)
A topic that is rarely covered but is relevant to almost every start up. Highly recommend you skim this:
(Read Full Article)While startups and new businesses may already realize the many benefits of leasing their equipment, including conserving their cash and significant tax benefits, they also need to carefully research their equipment financing needs before signing the dotted line. Startups and new businesses should consider the following tips to make sure that they don’t make any costly mistakes.
6 Characteristics that Investors Look for in an Entrepreneur
Angel investors don’t care. When angels are evaluating the founder of a company that intrigues them, they just want to know if the leader is actually a leader. How can they tell? Here are six personality traits that any angel should want to see in every entrepreneur: * Bold Entrepreneurs must take calculated risks. They must not be afraid to ask for what they need. They must be assertive. Angels need to ask the right questions to determine whether the founder is bold because he’ll need that trai (Read Full Article)
Comment Mentions: Apple Steve Jobs Mark Cuban
12 Negotiation Tips Every Start-up Entrepreneur Should Know
Explore Arbitrage Magazine (Jan 27 2012)
This is a great insight on start ups:
(Read Full Article)An Entrepreneur spends a lot of time negotiating in his life, be it with vendors, customers, employees, investors or even family back home. Having spent a lot of time with purchase or supply-chain guys in enterprises, whose primary job is to negotiate day in and day out, there are quite a few tricks ! You won’t learn these things in B-schools as they have been learnt from a lot of first-hand experiences and trial and errors by top Entrepreneurs. 1. Play your cards close to your chest : A lot of
10 Startup Survival Tips in the Age of the Platform - Business Exchange
Explore Business Exchange (Jan 27 2012)
10 Startup Survival Tips in the Age of the Platfor... Every startup, as well as mature business, needs to learn as much as possible from Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google,... Added to Bootstrapping a Startup by Connectture com share your reaction | | add to topics | report save | No reactions yet Join now Discover, organize and share content on Business Exchange. Already a user? Sign in to share your reaction. (Read Full Article)
Business Essential You Might Be Missing
A Silicon Valley CEO tells how he learned that company values aren't a nice add-on. They're mandatory to holding your business together. By Jessica Stillman | @EntryLevelRebel | shutterstock images Tweet You've got the idea for a company and posess the necessary skills. Maybe you even have money, co-founders and a solid business plan, but one Silicon Valley CEO says there’s one additional, essential ingredient your new company might be missing: values. You may think of things like mission, value
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Comment Mentions: Jessica Stillman
57 Things I've Learned Founding 3 Tech Companies
Explore Business Insider (Jan 25 2012)
1/58 1. Build something you are personally passionate about 2. User experience matters a lot 3. Be technical 4. The CEO of a startup must, must, must be the product manager 5. Stack rank your features 6. Use a bug tracking system and religiously manage development action items from it. 7. Ship it 8. Ship it fast and ship it often 9. The only thing that matters is how good your product is 10. The only judge of how good your product is is how much y (Read Full Article)
A Smart Business Knows 8 Ways to Pivot Their Vision
Explore forbes.com (Jan 23 2012)
One of the hottest buzzword for startups these days is “pivot.” The term, introduced by entrepreneur and venture advisor Eric Ries in an article on Lessons Learned a couple of years ago, is properly used to describe smart startups that change direction quickly, but stay grounded in what they’ve learned. They keep one foot in the past and place one foot in a new possible future. Over time, this pivoting may lead them a bit away from their original vision, but not away from the common principles t
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Management Debt
Explore ben's blog (Jan 19 2012)
Thanks to Ward Connelly, the metaphor technical debt is now a well-understood concept. While you may be able to borrow time by writing quick and dirty code, you will eventually have to pay it back—with interest. Often this trade-off makes sense, but you will run into serious trouble if you fail to keep the trade-off… (Read Full Article)
What Now? Hiring
Explore Peter Levine (Jan 17 2012)
Last month, as CEO of SpiderNet, you were faced with the issue of firing your VP of Engineering, who initially seemed like a rock star but proved to lack motivation, didn’t gain his team’s respect, and was ultimately ineffective. You talked with your board and everyone unanimously agreed that you should terminate the VP immediately and ask your co-founder to manage the Engineering team in the interim. It was also agreed that the company would search for a new VP of Engineering after the new year (Read Full Article)
Comment Mentions: Andreessen Horowitz SpiderNet
The 5 Basic Building Blocks For Branding Your Startup
Explore Tue, 01/10/2012 (Jan 10 2012)
Starting up a business is hard work, really hard work. Every day, the founders have to juggle mundane tasks: pitching new clients or investors, making sure there’s toner in the printer, sweet-talking clients, and managing contractors--all while having cash-flow-related panic attacks. With all these daily commitments constantly eating up your precious time, it leaves little room for the important stuff, the reason you started the business to begin with: to do things your own way, by pursuing your
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Everything I need to know about startups, I learned from a crime boss
Explore gigaom.com (Jan 7 2012)
The door opened and into the room walked the most dangerous person I’ve ever met. He reached towards his belt and slowly pulled out his .45 caliber handgun, raised it and paused to evaluate my expression. “No disrespect, but it’s been pressing into my hip all day.” He placed the gun on the coffee table, relaxed into the leather sofa and let his guard down for the first time in a very long while. This person, let’s call him Kobayashi (I’m a Usual Suspects fan), is one of the most interesting peop
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Comment Mentions: Jason Fried Los Angeles TechStars
25 Common-Sense Tips for Tech Startups
Explore Digital Inspiration (Jan 6 2012)
Whether you are lone developer building a web app in the basement of your apartment or a small team of young entrepreneurs working on the next big thing, here are some simple tips and advice that should help bring more people to your product. 1. On the site’s homepage, always explain the purpose of your product in simple English without using words like revolutionary or cutting-edge. Just let people know why they should use your product and what problems does it solve? 2. Write a detailed FAQ pa
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Check the Work Ethic In Your Company, If You Dare
Explore Startup Professionals Musings (Jan 2 2012)
Great entrepreneurs have long been the epitome of people with a great work ethic. But many complain to me that it is becoming harder and harder to find team members and employees who demonstrate and live the same culture. Somewhere along the way, work ethic seems to have been replaced by a pervasive sense of entitlement, especially in the younger generations. As the new year starts, now is the time to assess your own situation, set out clearly what you expect from each and every team member, and unleash the entrepreneur inside every employee. As a guide, I enjoyed the ...
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Comment Mentions: Marty Zwilling Gallup Organization
How to Become a Must-Have
Explore smartfaststartup.com (Dec 30 2011)
Most real startups don’t grow like this: hockey stick revenue projection Instead, most successful startups grow like this: 3 loops Those initial loops are unsuccessful attempts to create a product people want to use. The problem is those loops can take months and/or millions of dollars to get through, and many startups never get there. But a startup can get through at least one or two of those loops quickly, in a matter of
(Read Full Article)
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Pawan Deshpande » A Startup Partner Needs More Than a Good Resume
This is very true!
Pawan Deshpande » Entrepreneurs Confuse Product and Business Plans
This is a must read.
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