John Maddox - 11/13 - Serious Startups

WHY IS INTEGRATED MARKETING SO IMPORTANT?

In spite of the internet’s popularity, which really goes without saying you would think, there are still businesses relying on traditional media exclusively for marketing. At the same time, most businesses are using digital marketing in some way, but treat it like a separate entity.

No matter which medium is being used, it’s important to use both offline and online channels and create an integrated marketing campaign. Combining both mediums can increase the results of a marketing campaign for all kinds of businesses from startups, small businesses, to established companies.

How Prospects Follow Up With Businesses

There are several reasons why going with an integrated approach is so important. Prospects that come across ads through offline mediums such as magazines, newspapers, radio and TV often turn to the Internet to find more information about a business. This is especially the case for companies that favor branding campaigns more than direct response campaigns.

Surprisingly, the same thing applies to Internet businesses. Prospects try to see if an Internet business can be found offline, have phone numbers they can call, and have a real office location. This is to ensure that the business they are about to deal with isn’t some fly-by-night scammer that’s only interested in taking their money. This is one of the key reasons why it’s important to have a presence in both mediums.

Where Prospects Spend Their Time Looking Online

To be specific, people use the Internet to look up the reputation and reviews of businesses they’ve come across offline. Today, there are a large number of platforms to find information about businesses. There are search engines, review sites, social media sites, and community sites that can all be used to determine if it’s worth doing dealing with a business.

These platforms allow businesses to appear where consumers are searching after they’ve been exposed to their offline marketing, but only if they jump on that opportunity. One of the best ways to integrate offline and online is to build a SEO campaign. Your business will show up in related search terms about your brand, products and services. This puts you in control of your reputation and allows you to stay competitive in your industry.Digital Marketing Opens Your Business Up to a Bigger Audience and Increases Sales

An integrated advertising effort can really open up your business to a bigger audience as well. A large portion of your market will spend more of their time online, so investing in online ads can only extend your reach. In fact, many businesses find online campaigns to be more cost effective if not just as effective than offline campaigns.

Using display advertising and retargeting via pay per click can help maximize the effectiveness of your offline campaigns. It will help continue the conversation from your offline efforts, exposing consumers to more of your marketing. This increases conversions and your ROI because consumers tend to go with businesses they are more familiar with, and also because consumers are more likely to buy after multiple engagements.

The Integrated Approach Is Ideal When Gaining Momentum Is the Goal

Businesses that are trying to create buzz about their business or any kind of viral campaign need to go with an integrated approach. In one example, the Athens tourism board used offline info points to get locals to share their viewpoint of their city while also getting tourists to spent time with locals. The whole case study can be read here.

This was followed up by an online social media campaign where local submitted photos of events, special locations and the architecture that could be found in Athens. This user generated content turned viral and soon thousands of submissions were being sent in. The result was user generated content being used to create buzz and market tourism for Athens.

Conclusion

Going with an integrated approach is necessary to stay competitive in today’s market. Both mediums complement each other in many ways. Whether you’re a digital agency or a business that strictly uses traditional media, it is worth the effort and investment in building a campaign that combines and takes advantage of both mediums.

How Crashing A Trade Show Saved Helprace

Startups can greatly benefit from attending conferences, especially if they are fighting tooth and nail to build awareness. That’s what founder Gregory Koldirkaev had to resort to when he decided to take on Zendesk and Getsatisfaction with his own customer service platform, Helprace.

After getting a small investment a decade ago, a small group of software engineers were recruited to develop a knowledge-based software. In a year, the client base grew into the hundreds. Then came the market crash, reducing the team to virtually zero.This forced a pivot into the customer service software market. Enter the need to leverage trade shows to pitch the new value proposition and get clients. There was a little problem, however. Cash flow had ground to a halt and there was a $1000 in the bank.

It was time to make a gamble. One of the world’s top customer service conferences was approaching fast. Every minute lost sitting idly in the IT industry means digging your own grave, but with the cost to register as a visitor in the prestigious Atlantic City conference priced in the thousands, it was time to get creative!

How to crash the conference without paying those pesky fees?

Staring at potential failure of his startup, Gregory had a Eureka moment. He called and called the organizers, explaining how he was a tech entrepreneur and unable to afford the ticket. Luckily, he was able to squeeze out the guest invitation he so desperately needed. (If that doesn’t work for you, think of people you know who are exhibiting and ask them to get you a free pass.)

“After hearing the news, I began dissecting my visit right there and then,” laughs Gregory. “I realized I’m going to be around people who paid all that money, who were meant to be there.”

Make the Conference Work For You

Being on your feet and pitching your product for 10 hours straight will exhaust you, so get enough sleep and plan out every move the night before.

“I made sure to have my phone ready to show relevant videos or demos before I even walked up to the booth,” recalls Gregory. “It was a great way to refresh my memory and and recap relevant discussion material.”

Large trade shows can seem overwhelming, and you can waste a good chunk of your day wandering around without getting much done. Make sure to divide up your time between the exhibitors and leave a window at the end to visit the booths you might have missed.

So Was It Worth The Risk?

Gregory booked a flight from Chicago to Atlantic City. He checked into a cheap $40 motel room 30 minutes away (to save money, of course), and was in first when the doors opened.

When all was said and done, Gregory netted hundreds of high quality leads and networking prospects. This enabled Helprace to get going with the new model and has led to many great clients and growing success.

As startup founders we always have to be willing to push the envelope, take educated gambles and be willing to fail. We can’t always control the outcome, but we do have to be ready to seize opportunity when it comes our way!

In situations like this, I, for one, can’t think of a better way to invest $300. Can you?

What is Helprace anyway?

Helprace is an emerging provider of cloud-based customer service solutions. It consists of a helpdesk ticketing system, community and a knowledge base for end-users. Users can ask a question, share an idea, report a problem or give praise. This data is seamlessly integrated into the admin interface, and support agents can directly participate in conversations. Learn more at http://helprace.com

Alex Goldfayn Explains Netflix Marketing Strategy

In this great episode, Alex Goldfayn talks about being a marketing expert for Amazon, Yelp, Netflix and other major companies, and how often marketing strategy is more important than the product or service being sold.

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The Harsh Reality Of Launching A Startup

I recently came across an article talking about how startups should hit the panic button when they only have 6 months of overhead in the bank. This premise stunned me, especially since it came from someone who invests in startups.

What world are they living in?

Having built multiple companies and invested in several more, the idea that any startup should freak out with only six months of overhead left in the bank is just absurd. Most established businesses don’t have that much.

So let’s discuss the harsh realities of launching a startup and how to overcome them.

Rushing Your Dream

Before diving into this, let me first state that you should never hold back your drive to launch a company. But prior to making the giant leap into the unknown, make sure you have looked for as many pitfalls as possible, and been brutally honest with yourself about how much money it will take to stay in business and keep the lights on at home.

In the early stages of any venture your family and friends will be on your side. But the second you start needing to borrow money, can’t cover your rent, or begin worrying about putting food on the table, most of them will tell you to stop. If you quit your job they will tell you to go back to the 9-5 world. The encouragement and belief in your dream will suddenly dry up.

If you have a good job and this is something you can start to build on the side, then don’t just quit. Keep your personal expenses covered until your new venture can. Then make the full jump. It may not be as cool, but it can greatly increase your chances of success and save personal relationships that truly matter.

Prepare For Cash Flow Heart Attacks

Now let’s assume that you’ve gotten the company going and you are growing. Generally, growth requires an increase in overhead. New employees, office space, resources etc.

While you may be getting new customers and growing your accounts receivable by leaps and bounds, reality is you will lose clients, have ones that don’t pay you, an employee that quits at a bad time, or have an unexpected expense.

One day everything looks fantastic. The next you’re having a heart attack because that big check you expected hasn’t come in…and it’s payday tomorrow.

To be honest, there really isn’t a way to avoid these kind of obstacles. All you can do is prepare for them mentally, and make sure your gambles on growth and new expenses are well thought out. Then get ready to rise to the occasion at the eleventh hour.

Getting Investors Is Hard

In spite of the idealistic thought that you will be able to raise capital to get off the ground, cover your business and personal expenses, hire a great team; the reality of this happening is very unlikely.

Not that your idea isn’t a great one. It’s just hard to convince investors to back you. What if your idea is only worth $5 million if successful and you need $500k to get going? If the opportunity to make a 2.5 million ROI (5x investment) isn’t reasonable, many are out by default. If they even take the time to let you pitch.

Let’s be real, many investors lost that much at the craps table in Vegas last week, and don’t want to wait 5-7 years for potential return.

My advice, do everything in your power to make it possible to achieve success without an investor. Even if that wouldn’t be as big or quick as you would like. This approach will give you sound direction in your planning and give you a leg up with potential investors. A basic rule of sales is creating “fear of loss”. When you’re presenting, if it’s reasonable that you don’t NEED them but would enable faster return, interest will be piqued.

No Pain. No Gain.

The harsh reality is that becoming successful is never easy. We often look at all the success stories and forget about failures. This causes so many entrepreneurs to put on blinders and refuse to account for these realities.

In my opinion, it’s much better to accept that it will be tough. Put heavy thought into your plan and get ready for the rollercoaster that is entrepreneurship. There will be pain and heartache, but if you can overcome, it will be worth it when you achieve control of your life and enjoy the freedom it brings to be the person on top.

I hope this article provides both snap back to reality thoughts and encouragement. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments section and don’t hesitate to reach out to me personally!

Stop Wasting Time on Decisions

Stop wasting so much time on decisions.

I know this immediately seems like I’m telling you to fly by the seat of your pants and put no planning into your decisions. Nothing could be further from the truth.

As an innovator, business leader, entrepreneur, parent or friend. The truth is you have to make quick decisions, and ultimately the responsibility falls on your shoulders.

The goal of this article is to pose a simple question. Do we waste time and therefore opportunity by over-analyzing possibilities, and not just pulling the trigger?

For those of you who read my article Business Innovation Requires Patience this again may seem like a counter-intuitive statement, but hang on, there is logic behind it.

So Many Decisions. So Little Time

Just think about the number of decisions you make everyday. Not big decisions. The number you have to make each day. Where to get coffee. Where to eat. What clothes to wear. What to do after work. The list goes on and on.

Now think about how many of those decisions you make in the blink of an eye.

99% of decisions are made with very little conscious thought. We react instinctively based on our past experiences. If every decision made was thought out, we would never get anything done.

As a decision maker in business, because of the responsibilities and ramifications of the choices we make, often we find ourselves over-thinking and wasting both time and opportunities. This could be a hiring decision, closing a deal, making a pivot in the business model.

Stop Over-thinking

So often, in the same blink of an eye as choosing where to get coffee, you know what the right choice is, but spend hours, days or even weeks trying to find reasons your gut instinct is wrong.

As a society, we are conditioned to search for all the reasons we are WRONG first, not why it’s the RIGHT option. By default, we immediately lengthen the time needed to make a decision, because everything being researched, discussed and/or keeping you up at night is negative. If everything you’re contemplating is a negative, it’s only natural to doubt your judgement.

I say look for the positives first. Very often, the supporting evidence to it being the right decision become readily apparent. If this is the case, then pull the trigger and go for it. Don’t waste time and energy, and more importantly, don’t miss opportunities.

Justification Of Quick Decisions

As experts in our relative fields, we know the right answer very quickly as our subconscious is analyzing and predicting outcome much more rapidly than our conscious mind. Our body even gives us physical instructions that we refer to as “gut feelings”.

When you learn to “go with your gut” rather than ignore it, you will be amazed at how much stress will fall away and the speed of which you can make correct decisions.

Studies going on for almost a century have consistently shown that our “gut reaction” is generally correct 90% of the time. Since these reactions are happening literally in the blink of an eye, the time spent looking for reasons you’re wrong becomes harder to justify. This is NOT to say you should never ask second opinions. For major decisions always look for additional validations to your initial thoughts.

Personal Defense Of Rapid Decision Making

The logic outlined has been the way I have operated my entire life. For years, I often questioned myself because so many people viewed my actions a “flying by the seat of my pants” and not thinking things through. More than a few times it was viewed as arrogance.

However, as time and again my gut instinct turned out to be the correct path, I made the conscious decision to let the chips fall where they may. This has led to being able to grow successful companies, make great hiring decisions, connect with amazing mentors and overcome adversity.

As the demand for quick pivots, instant gratification, and evolving limits of time continues to expand, my closing argument is this:

Nobody is perfect and there will always be times we make the wrong decision. The faster we know whether it was the right or wrong choice, the quicker we can either enjoy the rewards or recover from the mistake.

Learn More About The Science

Many of you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking where he dives into the concept of “thin-slicing” and using our adaptive unconscious; mental processes that work rapidly and automatically from relatively little information, to make the correct decision very rapidly.

For anyone who hasn’t, I strongly recommend you take the time to read it. For those of you who already use this process but don’t understand the scientific justification, it will be extremely encouraging. For others, it will radically change your life.

6 Tips On Pitching Your Startup Idea To Angel Investors

1. Put in sweat equity BEFORE you go after investors.

99% of investors have been in your shoes. Never forget that. They put in incredible time, effort and focus to become successful and now have the ability to help startups. If they don’t see themselves in you, the chances of them backing your company go down immensely.

2. Have real interaction with your target customers BEFORE you go pitch to investors.

So often startup founders get so tied up in their idea (and fear of it being stolen) all of their research is done in secret. No human interaction. Get out, talk to friends, co-workers and family. Call up people in your projected demographic and get their feedback on the idea. It’s amazing the insight and FREE feedback you will get that can help you answer questions from investors you never could have anticipated.

3. Do your homework and determine which investors are the right fit for your startup.

So many startup founders only focus on their pitch, not on who they are pitching to. Remember that you’re talking to a fellow human. While at the end of the day it may strictly come down to how good your idea is, most investors will tell you that it’s their faith in YOU as an entrepreneur that is the biggest factor.

4. Make sure to focus on the value proposition of your idea as a solution. Not just a how much money it can make.

No matter what your startup idea is, at the end of the day you have to appeal to investors as potential customers and paint a picture of how it solves a problem for the end user. If you are truly solving a problem, it then comes down to execution and marketing to gain success. If convince potential investors that your value proposition is realistic, they will pay attention to your valuation in much more detail.

5. Limit your pitch deck to 10 slides or less, have a short explainer video produced.

The investors get 30, 40, 50 ideas presented to them each month. Not to mention all of the companies they own and have invested in. Complex business plans and pitch decks often cause them to tune out of your presentation. Start your presentation with a well done video that explains your business and the value proposition. Then dive into your pitch deck. Video is a powerful way to gain attention, and also shows more dedication to your business idea than just a PowerPoint presentation.

6. Be prepared to fail over and over before you find an investor.

It’s amazing how many entrepreneurs become depressed after getting turned down on their first pitch and never do it again. Remember that gaining an investor is just like selling a potential customer. Not everyone will buy or believe in your product or service, so why would all investors? Make sure to walk in to your pitch confident that you will win investment capital. If you don’t…try try again.

Digital Marketing Strategies for Startups

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Many startups end up spending more money than necessary.

Which is crazy because a company can be launched for much less than expected.

The key is to use a marketing strategy that is innovative, ROI focused, and customer-centric rather than one that relies on branding and traditional mass media. One of the best ways to accomplish this is through digital marketing.

The Case for Going Digital

Digital marketing is a great alternative to traditional media. Traditional media often requires spending hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars on radio, TV and billboards. In comparison, the Internet allows advertisers to test on a small scale, easily control costs and market to targeted prospects. That’s not to say that traditional media outlets are not effective. It’s just not viable for startups with small budgets.

There are many different ways to market online. The list includes social media, paid advertising, search engine optimization (SEO), email marketing, and more. Entrepreneurs can use these platforms in innovative ways in order to acquire customers even with small budgets.

For example, using integrated marketing can maximize the results of more than one advertising/marketing platform. Another example is identifying cost effective ways to get the word out about your company

Building an Audience for Social Media Platforms and Blogs

One way that new companies can establish themselves is through social media engagement and blogging. Using social media and blogs is a great way to build an audience, create relationships and interact with the target market. Many companies are using content marketing and leveraging relationships to build followers and readers for their social media platforms and blogs.

Creating high quality content and marketing it works really well because people respond to information that is relevant to them. In many cases, readers follow up with the content creator in order to subscribe and get additional content. This is a long term strategy that can take as long as one year before a business starts to see significant growth. But after the year mark, many businesses go on to establish brand awareness and immense market presence.

The Importance of Using Search and Integrating Different Strategies

Search engine optimization (SEO) is another way to acquire new leads and customers. It is a strategy that requires you to optimize various factors on and off your website to get your website to rank in the search results. People use the search engines to do everything from learning new information, comparing different products/services to researching businesses. Getting your website to rank in the top results for search terms related to your company will help you reach targeted prospects while also branding your business.

The perfect example of integrating different marketing strategies is using both content marketing and SEO together. A content marketing campaign will help build an audience for your blog and social media platforms while also helping you acquire backlinks. Additionally, backlinks are one of the biggest contributing factors to ranking well in the search engines. The visitors that result from the search engine rankings can be directed to impactful content which is likely to be shared.

Affordable Paid Advertising Platforms

If you have a modest budget to work with, it might be a good idea to use pay per click (PPC) advertising. This is an advertising platform that is similar to offline display advertising. It will display small ads in the search engines, and you only incur costs when somebody clicks on your ad. The best feature about this advertising method is that your ad only shows up when somebody searches for search terms you’ve bid for.

Retargeting can be used in addition to pay per click advertising. This is a type of display advertising where your ad is shown to visitors across a network of websites. When a visitor comes to your website, they are tagged with a browser cookie. Usually, once a visitor leaves, you lose the chance to market to them. But with retargeting, your message will be displayed across a network of sites, allowing you to follow up with them.

An innovative strategy that can be used to make this advertising more effective is to combine it with email marketing. By leveraging your existing email list, you can refer readers to one of your pages that will tag them with the cookie. This will ensure that your readers come across your ad while they are surfing other websites.

The lesson here is that there are many different ways for a startup entrepreneur to grow. Online channels can often enhance or replace a function of a business.

For instance, a social media account can be used as a public relations tool. The result is that there are no big expenses used to hire a public relations department or company. It’s really all about exploring different marketing channels and being innovative with them.

Get Up! I Didn’t Hear No Bell!

One of my favorite scenes in Rocky V, really the only good scene in the movie, is when Rocky is in a street fight with Tommy Gunn and just getting his butt kicked. Barely conscious, he has a powerful flashback of all his hard fights, and Mickey comes to him in a vision.

Now Get Up One More Round…Fight This Guy Hard…I Didn’t Hear No Bell!

As an entrepreneur, you face tough opponents on a daily basis. It could be keeping the lights on, dealing with difficult clients, losing a major deal, or having a complicated employee situation. It often feels like you’re getting hit daily with jab, jab, uppercut, body blow.

Everyone who has been in business for any length of time knows how this feels. We have all had experiences where we’ve been knocked down and it feels like the lights are going dim.

Now watch the scene so the rest of this makes sense.

Leadership Requires Toughness

Just like a physical fight, business requires toughness – both physical and mental – and the will to win. If you don’t have your heart and soul in what you’ve set out to accomplish and people are trusting you to achieve, then when those tough times come, you are the guy or girl with a glass jaw.

Innovation Requires Agility

Just like a physical fight, innovation requires agility and reflexes. You have to be able to see opportunity and seize it, while also being able to anticipate pivots and counter-punch the competition. We often become so blinded by the big picture and long term goals that we forget to pay attention to the here and now. Avoiding pitfalls, objections, and the status quo demands being able to sidestep and get in a few jabs until you’re ready to deliver the knockout punch.

Entrepreneurship Requires Stamina

Just like a physical fight, being an entrepreneur requires stamina. Achieving success requires you to have toughness, agility, and great reflexes. Since all those traits require stamina, you better prepare yourself physically and mentally for the long road before you.

Have Rocky Style Training

Of course in the Rocky movies the insane training he does is compressed into two minutes. In life and business, you need to be training on a daily basis to keep up with the hard times that are coming.

There will be more than a few times when it seems like there is no point in going on. It would be easier to just give up. If you haven’t taken the time to push yourself when the times are good, then when you enter the ring and punches are being thrown, you might as well throw in the towel.

Prepare To Go One More Round

My encouragement to you is to surround yourself with people who have already fought the good fight. Learn from them. Go find yourself a Mickey. Use all of the amazing resources at our fingertips with mastermind groups, online forums, books, training videos.

Being an innovator requires leadership abilities and entrepreneurship requires amazing toughness. Train like you know the fight’s about to get tough.

Success is falling nine times and getting up ten. – Jon Bon Jovi

Prepare yourself for the hard times. Because they will come. Business is a knock down, drag out fight and you will find yourself on the canvas. When that happens, just do what I do. Watch that simple scene and let it speak to you in a very powerful way…then say:

Hey Life…I Didn’t Hear No Bell…One More Round!

Angel Capital Group’s Eric Dobson On Why Entrepreneurs Do What We Do

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We covered so much ground with Eric Dobson that we had to break it into two episodes. Listen to Part 1 first and then jump into this one.

Here’s a quick rundown of the topics we cover in the interview:

knowing your exit before you start,
how to appeal to companies that might want to acquire your startup,
how the word “exit” means different things to different groups of people,
why entrepreneurs do what we do,
the right way to use outsourcing, and
how to build a founder team.

Specifically regarding working with investors, Eric tells us:

what to expect as a realistic time line to getting funded from pitch to check,
how important it is for founders to have skin in the game, and
whether or not to ask for money capital than you need.

Business Innovation Requires Patience

Innovation requires patience.

I know that seems counter-intuitive to driven entrepreneurs, but hang on, there is logic behind this statement.

The vast majority of people just don’t have the ability to see future possibilities until they exist and are being used by their peers. This may seem like a degrading statement, but it’s not.

Some people have the ability to see the future possibilities others don’t. Just as often, those who have entrepreneurial vision are totally incapable of turning the dream into a reality.

Accepting this truth as an innovator will give you the patience needed to make sure your vision becomes reality.

Patience With Family & Friends

When you have an innovative idea, especially one that directly impacts your life, frustration quickly grows when you can’t convince others of its validity. Those around you not being able to understand how this could change their lives seems outrageous.

When you allow this frustration to impact how you treat those close to you, they will begin to question your abilities. The people who are most likely to help you take risks can quickly become those most opposed to your dream. Not because it’s a bad idea, but because who you are as a person is more important to them than your “crazy” business idea.

Remember that all the hours you spend contemplating and planning your idea isn’t what they are doing. Be patient. Write down your idea. Think of analogies that will have relevancy to them. Not only will this help you prepare to counter objections, it also helps get you ready for customers and potential investors.

Patience Convincing Investors

On the investor side, they are already successful. The need to take risk isn’t something they have to do. It’s something they choose to do. More importantly they want to take risk, but only with the right people. 99% of investors will tell you that the person is more vital to success of their investment capital than the idea.

Since they are getting pitched hundreds of ideas, this means they have so much to filter through. On top of that, most of them have multiple companies, incredible responsibilities and decisions to be made on a daily basis.

So in terms of patience, never expect everyone to see the potential in your idea. You have a 1 in 50 chance of getting a yes from an angel investor, and 1 in 300 chance from a VC. Many startup founders give up after being turned down the first time. Don’t give up the first time.

Just like it’s hard to convince your friends and family, it takes time to connect with the right investors, identify objections and develop ways to counter them. Not just through words but expanded business logic, customer acquisition strategies, and proof of concept.

So Why Be Patient?

As you try over and over again to convince friends, family, bosses, or potential investors of your genius, remember that people just can’t see what is in your brain. Everything about entrepreneurship requires the courage to take risk. Since very few are ready to make that leap of faith, the ability to see beyond the here and now becomes even more limited.

Changing the status quo requires being able to paint so vivid a picture, your target customers and potential investors will be able to see the future created if they adopt your new product or service. Think of painting this picture just like an artist would. While the vision is there, it takes time, patience and expertise to create something of true value.

Since there is no way to escape this truth, it is much more efficient to just accept it and leverage to your advantage. When the inevitable panic sets in that someone else is going to beat you to the punch, just remember they are facing the exact same challenges as you.

20: Caryn Tomer Talks How Startups Can Gain Exposure & Buzz

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Caryn is Techli’s Editor-in-Chief. She is a writer who loves sharing stories of innovation, no matter the location. She has her masters in mass communication from SIUE and has been in corporate marketing for 6+ years, working on campaigns for all kinds of products. When she’s not writing, you can find her hitting the trail as an avid runner and general sports enthusiast.

19: Startup & Franchise Attorney Josh Brown Explains Law For Entrepreneurs

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Josh Brown is an attorney specializing in franchise law for startups. He has worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs to launch and grow franchises and other startups.

18: CEO of oDesk Gary Swart Explains How To Grow Successful Companies

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Gary Swart is the CEO of oDesk, the world’s largest online workplace—which has more than 4 million freelancers, and on which more than $1 billion of work has been done. Gary is a thought leader in entrepreneurship; how best to hire and manage teams; and the future of work, including online work. He is passionate about helping small businesses thrive, fueled by his extensive experience working with startups and small businesses that use oDesk, as well as by mentoring entrepreneurs and business school students. Gary has spoken at the Inc. Leadership Conference, The Economist’s Ideas Economy panel, South by Southwest, TechCrunch 50, TiECon, GigaOM’s Net:Work Conference in 2010 and 2011, and at Harvard Business School which teaches a case study on oDesk. His commentary has appeared in a variety of publications including Forbes, TechCrunch and The Washington Post. He has also appeared on numerous TV and radio shows, including BBC, National Public Radio, and the Fox Business program “After the Bell.” Previously, he led SMB Sales for the Americas at IBM’s Rational Software Product Group, and also served as VP of Worldwide Sales at Intellibank, where he was responsible for leading the sales organization.

17: Pat Riley Talks Startup Accelerators & How The Game Is Changing

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Patrick Riley currently oversees the Global Accelerator Network which is an affiliation of short-term mentorship-driven accelerators started by TechStars. He started his career working for W.L. Gore and Associates and moved into the leadership of the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. Patrick left the Red Cross to manage the west coast sales and operations for a venture backed healthcare technology company. Following his passion to support start-up companies around the world, Patrick moved into his current role at the Global Accelerator Network. Outside of work, he recently finished his MBA at the University of Colorado and enjoys spending time with his wife, bike riding, traveling, and skiing around Colorado.