Question: What’s the worst business advice somebody gave you when you were starting your business (and how did you prove them wrong)? 1. Don’t Do It “Possibly the most heart-crushing, tear-jerking thing anyone has ever said to me was, “Don’t pursue your passion.” Not many people can make a living off their creative passions, but I proved them wrong by working hard and never letting other people’s opinions affect…
Tackling the Question of Valuation for Seed-Stage Startups
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship / February 4, 2014How much should I raise? How expensive are your experiments? In any startup, there are huge risks in your future. Your job as a seed-stage company is to identify the biggest risks and tackle them first. Money doesn’t buy you a ticket around these risks. Instead, fundraising allows your team to build experiments that attempt to solve these challenges. At LabDoor, the most expensive part of our early…
In this video, Dan Martell, founder and CEO of Clarity, addresses the importance of inbound lead generation for online products and services, including: The importance of content marketing Why social media and content marketing aren’t really “free” How many sign-ups per day a startup needs to gain momentum And finally, what virality really means. Watch the full clip above. And for more great marketing pointers, check out Dan’s other articles right here on…
5 Tips for Living a Healthy Startup Lifestyle
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Health & Fitness / January 28, 2014The startup lifestyle can be grueling. If you’re not careful, it can take a serious toll on your physical and mental health. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a CTO, a programmer, or work in a nontechnical capacity; everyone needs a startup survival strategy to help them maintain their work-life balance as they learn to juggle an ever-growing workload, excessively long days and a personal life. It can be…
9 Places to Get Business Tech Advice in a Pinch
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Startup Advice / December 26, 2013QUESTION: YOUR ABSOLUTE FAVORITE PLACE TO GET BUSINESS TECH ADVICE IN A PINCH? (E.G. QUORA, TWITTER, ETC.) WHY? 1. HOP ONTO HUBSPOT “When I need to learn about business tech in a hurry, the first place that I always look is HubSpot. They have a very complete knowledge base on all things related to Internet marketing. Their white papers and case studies are especially helpful because they give real-life examples…
The 6 Skills That Made These 6 Top Entrepreneurs Successful
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Startup Advice / December 9, 2013I’m not sure if there are any other occupations out there that require as many skills and abilities as it takes to be an entrepreneur. If you’re a pilot, you need to be familiar with the operation of your aircraft – but you don’t have to source its parts, build it and then sell it to an airline in order to be successful. If you’re an engineer, you…
13 Things That Make Right Now the Best Time to be an Entrepreneur
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship / November 20, 2013QUESTION: NAME ONE CHARACTERISTIC ABOUT THIS GENERATION OR TIME IN HISTORY THAT MAKES BECOMING AN ENTREPRENEUR EASIER OR MORE REWARDING THAN EVER BEFORE. 1. MODERN MENTORSHIP MODEL “Because this is the first digital generation, aspiring entrepreneurs have an opportunity to use social/mobile software they’ve grown up with to build a network of people navigating their careers together for the first time. This network opens the door for mentorship.…
What I Learned About Entrepreneurship From Running
by / ⠀Entrepreneurship• Health & Fitness / November 7, 2013Last month, I ran a total of 120 kilometers, which included running my personal best in an unexpected half marathon. I spent a lot of time on the road — just me, some music, the sound of my (sometimes ragged) breathing and most importantly, my thoughts. One of the recurring themes to pop into my head while running in the last month was the similarity between how I…
Question: What process do you use to spur creativity — in yourself and your team — especially when you’re feeling blocked? 1. Mindmapping Works Like a Champ “Start with a topic or question, and mindmap your way around it. Don’t censor yourself as you come up with all the surrounding topics and bubbles that go with your initial topics. This type of “hyperlinked” thinking is what allows us…
If you’re like me (or me a month ago), your inbox seems to be like a cancer that is growing faster than you can possibly lop it off. A day out of the office, or a morning of back-to-back meetings, leaves you to return to an unread email count in the hundreds. Just keeping up with your inbox could easily be your full-time job, except for the fact…