From the category archives:
We all forget too easily: the best startup funding is sales. Sure, angel investment, friends and family, SBA loans, all of those options are necessary for most startups. But sales is better.
If you can, find the early customers. Give them a deal, make them important, work with them to optimize their needs; but make a [...]
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The sun was coming out, just peeking through from behind the tall pine trees on the hill above my house, as I drove into the office this morning. I’d woken up before dawn and gotten back on the computer.
Does my title to this post seem paradoxical? A twist on the old “the harder I [...]
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Every startup has its own natural level of startup costs. It’s built into the circumstances, like strategy, location, and resources. Call it the natural startup level; or maybe the sweet spot.
1. The Plan
For example, Mabel’s Thai restaurant in San Francisco is going to need about $950,000, while Ralph’s new catering business needs only about $50,000. [...]
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Seems to me like the recession has hit bottom and the economy is starting back up.
It’s not just sales at our company which are picking up. It’s also people I know and talk to, like the other 24 investors in my angel investor group which met last week; most of them are business owners. And people at [...]
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I like the title: "Just Start," as in start your business, shades of the now famous Nike "Just do it" campaign. Just start.
I’m pleased to be speaking along with John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing, Ken Yancey, CEO of SCORE, and Rich Sloan of StartupNation for this free webinar next wednesday.
It’s a free [...]
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Adeo Ressi doesn’t like what he calls a slanted field on the deals entrepreneurs get from investors. He says (I’m quoting):
Honestly, I think that the entrepreneur gets a raw deal today, and that this has gotten a lot worse since I started in 1994. Entrepreneurs are victims of a lot of predatory and exploitative behavior.
This [...]
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You want this book: Escape from Cubicle Nation, by Pamela Slim. She’s been writing a great blog for several years, and now she’s put much of the soul of that blog into her new book, with the same name. You want it if you’re working for a company and thinking about going on your [...]
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Joanna Van Vleck has revamped her business plan at least half a dozen times, made a new take on an old idea work sensationally, and is riding triple-digit growth during this recession.
So, when she humbly offers 10 lessons for startups, it’s worth listening.
Joanna is founder and CEO of the Trunk Club, which is a network [...]
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