Turning Travel Into A Startup? Here’s How It’s Done

The travel sector offers some of the most profitable business ideas. Since the 1930s, travel has been perceived as an increasingly popular hobby. But it’s the Millennials who have given it back its golden glory. Indeed, young adults have a great interest in investing in experiences instead of materialistic belongings. As a result, the appeal

5 Cities Where Start Ups Are Thriving

Start ups aren’t just thriving in New York and San Francisco.  There’s other lesser talked about cities where businesses are doing great.  In these cities you’ll find: Great transport links. Plenty of local customers and suppliers. Thriving technology hubs. And a lot of skilled employees. So let’s talk through some of these now.   You may

Serial Entrepreneurs: Short Term Failure Doesn’t Matter in the Context of Forever

Since 1996 I’ve been a contributor to several teen leadership development organizations, my favorite of which are the Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA). I’ve designed and run RYLA programs for more than 2,000 teens in New Jersey and Tennessee. I credit most of my early managerial skills to these programs. I had to figure out how to build

5 Tips to Make Your Conference a Success

Everywhere Else Tennessee is a startup conference we host here in Memphis. This year featured a robust lineup of speakers, including Chris Lyons of Andreessen Horowitz and Josh Miller of Branch. The event also featured a “Startup Ave” pitch contest, where companies came together in events to pitch their products before moving on to the

Jim McKelvey: I’m Just Lying To You

Jim McKelvey speaking at EE Tennessee.Jim McKelvey, co- founder of Square, spoke at EE Tennessee today. Contradictory to the majority of the conferences other speakers, McKelvey was adamant failure shouldn’t be an option.

McKelvey spoke about how startup culture is evangelized as sexy, even though the majority of startups tend to fail. So McKelvey made a list of the seven golden truths behind such sexy success:

Founder-Driven PR: Why It’s Important To Drive Your Own Campaign

Paul Andreen speaking at EE Tennessee about founder-driven PRWhen driving visibility for your venture, whether you’re still a startup or a profit-generating company, having a strong PR campaign is crucial.

But, as Joel Andren (founder and CEO of Press Friendly) spoke about today at EE Tennessee, hiring a PR agency isn’t actually your best bet. Driving your own campaign is the best way to create authentic, consistent visibility for your business.

Community Building: Vital To Moving Everywhere (Else)

community (c)Laura WhitenerCommunity size can flux, but for entrepreneurs it’s not the size that matters, it’s how real it is. Community means vitality, which means loyalty early and later down the line.

At EE Tennessee, the first three speakers of the morning all spoke about one common idea: community being vital to a business. Jared Steffes, founder and president of FuryWing, Ryan Hoover, co-creater of Product Hunt, and Mike Muhney, co-founder of ACT!, all spoke about tapping in to community, pre-existing or not, to build their success.