Businesses always seem to take longer to succeed than an entrepreneur expects. Seth Godin once said that overnight success in startups takes about six years, and Seth is an optimist. Thus we all look for shortcuts. Execution shortcuts would be hidden strategies to achieve the endgame sooner, without losing 40 to 60 percent of the […]
Seth Godin
7 Words of Wisdom Messages for Every Entrepreneur
When you have been on the startup firing line, you quickly learn that any insight from experts and entrepreneurs who have been there before you can make the difference between failure and success. Yet, many new entrepreneurs brazenly assume they are bulletproof, and march blindly into the fray. The result is that half or more […]
Are Women Entrepreneurs Risk Averse?
In a recent blog post Dr. Helen Smith raised a question about the differences between men and women in business. She asked, if women are more risk averse than men in business, will they be less successful? Now, as a matter of full disclosure, I must say that I have a great many women in […]
10 Things You Need to Know About Bitcoin
Names mean something, and unfortunately, the name ‘Bitcoin’ is a bit misleading, since it refers to a few things. (That’s what you get when techies are in charge of naming protocols: they work with zeros and one – you do the math.) Rik Willard is founder and CEO of MintCombine, a think-tank, virtual incubator and […]
Many Entrepreneurs Believe Viral Marketing is Free
Every time I challenge a business plan with little or no budget for marketing, I get the answer that they will be using “viral” marketing, which costs nothing. The founder explains that the product is so “buzz-worthy” that usage will spread rapidly through word-of-mouth only, meaning people loving it and recommending it to their friends. […]
Throw Conventional Marketing Tactics Out The Window
When I was first starting my business, I was bombarded with information about how to market and advertise myself. You’ve probably heard a few of these tactics before, too. Tactics like: Create an AMAZING opt-in so you can start building your list! A tagline. A really, really great tagline. Just get on all your social […]
Startups Should Be Wary of Disruptive Technologies
How many times have investors heard startups begin their pitch by touting that their technology is “disruptive?” What entrepreneurs forget, or don’t realize, is that most customers are initially wary of any technology, and that educating the market on new technology is expensive and takes a long time. People buy solutions for their problems, rather […]
The Netflix Story: How Good Management Leads to Social Media Success
We talk a lot about how the culture has changed, and it’s true. The starkest example of this is the Nielsen study from last year, which showed that the most influential medium by far is recommendations by friends, followed by the word of strangers online. Any kind of paid media trails far behind, so getting real people […]
15 Tips for Advertising on a Bootstrapper’s Budget
How should bootstrappers allocate resources for marketing and advertising? How do you figure out what’s reasonable when your company is still new? The following answers are provided by the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual […]
10 Pitch Deck Principles to Get Funded
Taken from “Here’s the Pitch. How to Pitch Your Business to Anyone, Get Funded and Win Clients.” Most pitch decks are disasters. They are confusing, boring, uninspiring, and misused. The worst thing is that it isn’t a secret. Death by PowerPoint is a syndrome as well-known as many a medical condition. Despite the efforts of […]