Startup
Avoid Rookie Mistakes
Far too often, new entrepreneurs make first year decisions that can put a major dent in the inaugural year of your new entrepreneurial venture. Even someone who has a lot of corporate experience cannot understand the firefight of being a business owner until you have to meet your first payroll.
7 (and a Half) Tips to Run a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign
Contrary to popular belief—and the old saying that too many cooks spoil the broth—crowdfunding cooperation is precisely what drives success, and it does this via 7.5 simple steps:
5 Steps for Calculating Your Startup Costs
You can’t create a realistic business plan without knowing how much it will cost to get your business up and running. If you don’t have an idea of your startup costs, you won’t know how long you’ll have to bootstrap, how much funding you’ll need, how quickly to scale. In other words, without calculating your startup costs, you don’t really know where you’re going—or how you’re going to get there. And your company could fail before you even hit the break-even point.
I Screwed Up: How Three Famed Entrepreneurs Learned From Failure
Fran Tarkenton, the football-pro-turned-businessman, tasted failure straight out of the entrepreneurship gate. “When I was 27, a lawyer friend told me he could help me start a business, and he could run it, and I should use my money,” Tarkenton says.
Running More Than One Business? How to Set Up Multiple Business Ventures
If you’re running multiple business projects, you’ve probably been stumped on what’s the best way to structure all these ventures. Should you form one corporation to cover them all? Should you form an LLC for each one?
How Entrepreneurs Qualify for Funding from Banks
A common question I get is “How do I get a bank loan to fund my startup?” The default answer is that it probably won’t happen, because most banks just don’t make bank loans to startups. The failure rate is just too high, and startups typically don’t have the assets or revenue stream to back up the loan. That’s why Angel investors are so sought after by entrepreneurs.
Do You Understand Your Differentiation? Does Your Customer?
Over the past few weeks, I’ve written a number of posts about Value Propositions and Pricing. They’ve generated a lot of conversation in various venues. One of the things that’s struck me is the lack of discussion on differentiation.
3 Key Startup Jobs to Outsource
If you’re running an early-stage startup, chances are there are some knowledge gaps in your core team. You may be strong on the technical side or a product whiz, but what about financial strategy, administration, HR? Are you prepared to manage the day-to-day of your startup, from recruiting new talent to bookkeeping to financial planning?
4 Reasons Why Being a Mompreneur Is Healthy for Both the Kids and the Business
Power to the mompreneurs indeed! Being both a parent and owner of a small business is not without its daily balancing act. As both a CEO and mom to two very active sons, I know all about the art of time management and taking care not to spread myself too thin with the activities I participate in. I love being a mompreneur and find it to be the gift that keeps on giving for both my children and the company.