If you’re an entrepreneur embarking on a new startup journey, there are several stock pieces of advice you’re likely to hear. Most people will tell you that getting a startup off the ground is one of the toughest challenges you will ever face. And all will warn you that unless you’re willing to put everything […]
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10 Ways to Make Your Relationship With Your CoFounder A Success
You can’t make something from nothing all by yourself. Somewhere along the line, you might decide that you’re more powerful as part of a team. But when you’re hit with a flurry of inevitable, unpredictable events (your funding kicks in, you grow like wildfire and you must scale immediately), will your team structure stretch and […]
4 Steps to Finding the Perfect Startup Partnership
Securing a partnership with a major brand may seem like winning a golden ticket for startup success, and it certainty can be! Not only can such a partnership be a really strategic way to scale, but it can also save your startup money, time, and sales effort, leading to a long-term return on investment. However, […]
Dread Startup Problems or Learn to Enjoy Challenges
If you can’t solve problems and enjoy it, you won’t make it as an entrepreneur. By definition, an entrepreneur is the first to undertake a given business, and firsts never happen without problems and frustrations. The toughest problems are people problems, like personnel issues, but there are tough operational problems as well, such as vendor […]
Online Dating Leads to More Breakups than Traditional Relationships
Online dating services like OK Cupid and Match.com are great ways to meet new people and, perhaps, that special someone you’d like to marry someday. But is online dating really as good an option as meeting a future partner in person? According to a joint study from Michigan State University and Stanford (PDF), the answer […]
Perfecting the Startup Sales Call
The sound of a phone click used to make my stomach drop. Sales calls can be one of the scariest things to learn as a new employee or business owner. Although sales calls are not always necessary, getting them right is critical. Here are a few lessons I learned over the years from working as […]
Culture and Management: What Works for a Startup?
According to Bijan Sabet: It’s seductive to convince yourself in the early days that all we need to do is keep our culture and hire more people and assume productivity goes up. Hiring without great management can be a full-blown nightmare. A great culture and enthusiastic, smart people are a strong foundation for growing a […]
Obama’s Credit Card Gets Declined at NYC Restaurant
Find out which restaurant this happened at.
The 3 Stages of Successful Fundraising
Fundraising: Love it or hate it, unless you are independently wealthy, it’s key to the success of your new startup. When done right, it can lead to lucrative partnerships with angel investors and venture capitalists. Luckily, in my experience, the process of fundraising is always similar. The following steps were most crucial in raising each […]
3 Common Startup Mistakes and How to Avoid Them
Growing up I admired Michael Jordan. In my opinion, he is the best player in basketball history. At the time he was playing professionally, I never imagined him making mistakes. But recently, I came across a quote where he said, “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty-six times, I’ve […]
The Profitability Challenge
Founders note: We will do a story on any NYC Startup that completes this challenge this weekend and documents it on video. You must submit it to us by 10/20. Reach us at dispatch@alleywatch.com. Here’s a fun weekend experiment for you, something I call the $20 Weekend Challenge: take a $20 bill out of your wallet on […]