Turning Your Big Idea Into Reality

When I hired a painter to revamp the exterior of my house, I anxiously anticipated the results. He and his crew got started on a Monday morning, but by Thursday, I had yet to see the beautiful new look I was hoping for. So I asked him about it.

“I’m not a painter,” he said. “I’m a prepper.” Oh. Well, that makes more sense. Apparently, when you’re painting a house, you have to lay the right foundation if you want the work to last.

Starting a company is the same way. Entrepreneurs are innately optimistic quick starters; rushing to launch is a constant risk.

But brands are about trust, not who gets there first. Look at Myspace and Facebook, Commodore and Apple, Nintendo and Xbox. Those who prepare correctly — who slow down to make sure their big idea will actually attract customers — will succeed.

Prepare Like the Pros

There’s no magic formula to help you prepare, but the successful startups I’ve observed over the years follow these steps:

They base their big idea on research. To determine whether your big idea is viable, you should answer four questions: Who are you? Who do your potential clients think you are? What do your potential clients want you to be? What are your competitors not?
They build a brand on the research results. The personality of your brand should come from your answers to those four questions.
They design customer pathways. Create a roadmap of how you’re going to attract clients in the beginning and how you’re going to retain them. If you know where you’re going and how you want to get there, you’re less likely to make a wrong turn.
They make sure they have the right team to pull it off. Your team can be comprised of partners, employees, and/or vendors. You don’t have to have the team to fulfill your five-year plan on day one, but you do need a team to get you to day two.
They identify must-haves. For example, eBay needed a website before it could get in front of potential clients. What do you absolutely need in order to attract clients?
They then identify the next lowest-cost, highest-ROI pathways. It was essential that Facebook had a website. Duh. But it also needed an email campaign to let the first batch of users know the platform was available. It could then spend money on digital ads and SEO.

Use Preparation to Avoid Backtracking

I once watched a friend remodel a house into a setting for retail stores. He wasn’t a professional builder — just an enthusiastic entrepreneur. Sure enough, he began pouring concrete for the foundation before he installed the plumbing. Everything had to be undone.

You can never be sure you’re taking the right step. It’s more about taking your best shot at the right direction and time. Guarantees are for kids. Those who navigate successfully through the early days:

Stay calm.
Move steadily forward.
Modulate passion with rational thought and planning as they lay the foundation (the brand, resources, team, and network).

Plan Ahead for Long-Term Success

I’ve had to learn about the importance of preparation the hard way. I got involved in a venture a few years ago that was at the starting line. We were impatient. We had the team, the research, and the brand. We just didn’t have the map to show us what to do first.

We would try this and that, but only succeeded in frustrating ourselves when those things didn’t work. So we took a step back, relaxed, and started laying out the best pathways for our target clients.

We selected the pathways we could afford to take and started implementing them. As our cash flow improved, we selected the next pathway on the list and moved forward. Because we were “planning the work and working the plan,” the company doubled the size of its average client revenue for four years and continues to enjoy success today.

You, too, can achieve that kind of success. You just have to be willing to put in the work in the beginning. If you plan ahead and prepare for what’s to come, you can develop a solid customer base, avoid backtracking, and experience growth year after year.

Joshua Conran is a senior partner at Deksia, a branding agency that has been successfully developing companies for the past decade. Joshua’s focus is on winning for the client while expanding Deksia into multiple markets by utilizing systems and processes.

9 Strategies For Becoming the Best CEO You Can Be

Learning to be a better CEO is key for entrepreneurs who don’t set off to be managers and have fallen into the role by virtue of their own creation.

Below are the top nine lessons from my CEO experience at PeoplePerHour.

Learn to ask what’s important. Learn to have three major priorities at any one time. Sure, you will always have a backlog of little things. But don’t become a victim of your to-do list. Develop daily amnesia — ask yourself what is most important every day.
Focus on stakeholder value. It’s easy to get too absorbed in your deep passion for what you do and lose sight of what you are there to do as CEO: drive stakeholder value. Create value for your customers, value for your team and value for your shareholders.
Tell stories. The best way to get your message across is through storytelling. Don’t use buzzwords, geek talk and heavy corporate language. Keep it human, light and humorous. You need to charm you team, your customers, your shareholders. People relate to stories, not buzzwords.
Have a deep sense of purpose. Ask yourself: if your business disappeared tomorrow, would it really matter? To whom? And why? Make a difference to the world. At PeoplePerHour we have a solid sense of purpose we serve: Allowing people to live their dream of becoming their own boss and building their business from the ground up.
Be the gatekeeper. Don’t confuse delegation with gatekeeping. You need to be the ultimate gatekeeper in your company — you are the one defining and setting the standard. People will push you to compromise your standards for the sake of moving faster or for more freedom. Don’t be tricked and stay true to yourself.
Set high goals. Don’t start small. Your team members will often tell you to to “start small.” If you start small you stay small! Start big and set big bold goals. If you set the goalpost low, you will be good at best. Stretch staff beyond their limits. They may complain that you expect too much, but in the end they will thank you for it. There is no greater reward then helping your employees achieve what they thought was unachievable.
Self-reflect and step up. Don’t confuse confidence with self-reflection. Great CEOs are very self-reflective and demanding of themselves. Don’t doubt yourself in front of your team. Doubt yourself when you go home and look in the mirror. Figure out what your team needs from you. If you’re not stepping up every day, you will remain stagnant.
Serve others. Your job as a CEO is to serve others more than they serve you. Stop thinking about what you need from people and ask them what they need from you. Figure out what your customers need, what your team needs, and what your shareholders need. Then help them make it happen.
Develop a thick skin. Being CEO of a business – especially if you are the founder – is an emotional roller coaster. You will have some very low moments. Don’t let the emotional pressure break you. People will read you better than you think, and if they smell vulnerability and weakness, you wield less power.

Xenios Thrasyvoulou is a passionate PPHer, avid blogger, lover of art, design, and all things quirky and minimal but words in particular; he’s also a fan of the uncommon and unconventional and a vintage fanatic who specialises in poking the fire and stirring things up, and suffers from an overly curious mind. Xenios is the accidental founder of, and now fully and truly wed to, PeoplePerHour.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, YEC recently launched StartupCollective, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses.

The Truth About Your Startup’s Press Strategy

Press is a great way to build a brand. But for startups, it’s not a sustainable way to build your business. Every young company wants to be featured in “Good Morning America,” the New York Times, Inc., Fast Company, Forbes, Women’s Health and more. These major publications and dozens more have featured our two companies, but we’ve found that the results have not led to a shift in the metrics that are critical to growing our businesses.

Earning coverage from magazines, blogs and TV shows might give you a huge bump in traffic, but it’s not as meaningful as getting in front of the right audience. For example, the popular app Cody received press from several major tech publications like GigaOm and VentureBeat on their launch day. They saw a traffic spike, but it was short-lived and traffic soon returned to much lower levels, as shown in the graph below.

For their longer-term marketing strategy, they regularly wrote articles for their own blog and for other websites in the fitness industry over a period of a year. You can see that their press bump (from the graph above) is now just a blip, while their content creation has paid off in spades.

Most people consider the goal of press to be getting covered. We think that it needs to be part of a much bigger marketing mix. While strategies for scalable growth are different for every company, here are a few things that have worked for us:

Blogging. Just like Cody, Magoosh initially built its brand and company by blogging. We became a thought leader in the test prep space, specifically for the GRE. We hired an expert tutor as our first employee, and he wrote one blog article a day for nearly six months. We didn’t just focus on SEO (ranking well for search engines) – we focused on writing very high quality content so that we would build a relationship with our readers. Over time, more and more of our readers would come directly to our blog when looking for information about the GRE rather than searching on Google. We grew our traffic from 1,000 visitors/month to 20,000 visitors/month in four months using this strategy.
Customer service. We both have focused on service as a way to scale; personalized service means repeat purchases forModify, and an awesome referral business for both of our companies. Many startups say they care about service, but we think amazing service should be part of your strategic marketing strategy. You’ll provide better service if you think about the “return on investment” of your customer interactions. You measure service ROI by using a Net Promoter Score or by tracking increase in word of mouth referrals. There are different ways to accomplish this. But in the end, you need to find out if customers would refer you to their friends. The answer has to be a definitive yes in order for service to be part of scaling.

So, is press useless? Absolutely not! We think you should pursue press for a few reasons:

Credibility with investors. While your customers might not be reading press about your company, potential investors will be. Press coverage helps you build a relationship with an investor before they even know you – for instance they may have read about you in TechCrunch. You can also reference company coverage as social proof that others think you are newsworthy.Candid, a site that assigns a “culture score” based on current employees’ opinions of a company, was able to meet many new investors after their public product launch.
Credibility with retailers. If you’re selling a physical product, having press can mean a lot for retailers. Next to Modify’s product, they can have photos of the various magazines we’ve appeared in. Retailers need to convince a customer who is seeing the brand for the first time that it’s a good investment – having imagery from Self, Shape, Vanity Fair and others has helped our watch sales. Having strong coverage was integral in Modify launching its Major League Baseball watches in a dozen stadiums this season.
Credibility with future hires. Future employees are often looking to work for a hot new startup, and they often read startup press. For Magoosh, getting press in education technology publications has helped attract candidates who otherwise may have never heard of the company.
Customer base expansion. Modify appeared on “Good Morning America” twice. We considered the opportunities parts of our marketing spend; both times we sold at a loss, but we were able to acquire thousands of new customers. We’ve been able to turn over 30 percent of those folks into repeat customers.

One final thing: if you’re going to pursue press, make sure to think about how journalists work. You can’t just send them information and say, “Cover me!” Turns out, they’re people too. We recommend you take Mark Suster’s advice and think about press as a process. Build relationships and create value for the people covering you, and you’ll get more — and more valuable — coverage.

This post was co-authored by Bhavin Parikh, founder and CEO of Magoosh, which provides a convenient, fun, and effective way for students to prepare for standardized tests.

Aaron Schwartz is Founder and CEO at Modify Industries, Inc., which designs interchangeable custom watches known as Modify Watches. He loves working on startup ideas and has spent innumerable (happy) hours advising friends and former students on how to grow their ideas.

Is Social Media Working for You?

Anybody can sign up for a social media account and understand its general premise. Does that make you capable of using it for business? Like anything in business, social media (done right) requires extensive experience and understanding of people, some technology and — most importantly — marketing.

Primarily, social media users fail in one of two areas: understanding that social media fits into the larger part of a company’s overall marketing goals, and the ability to see correlations between activities on social media and quantifiable ROI. (Like in grade school math class, you don’t get credit if you don’t show your work.)

You — or your social media marketing ‘pro’ — might be using social media the wrong way if:

You don’t measure ROI

Utilize basic tools like Facebook analytics (which is free, by the way) to understand what your customers really respond to. Notice whatever seems to help you generate more likes, clicks and reach. Then, use tools like Google Analytics to see how the traffic is converting on your website. If you want to get a bit more robust, try simple, yet powerful analytics tools like Simplymeasured.com. They will help you stay connected with your audience and keep them interested, as long as you can interpret them correctly.

You call yourself a ‘guru’ or something similar

Keep your titles professional, people. Using a term like ‘guru’ usually screams that you’re a refugee from another industry and don’t really know what you’re doing. Anybody who has been in the marketing industry wants to create a professional appearance. Let others call you a guru if they’d like.

You’re not working with other departments in the business

Social media marketing is most efficient and effective when it’s coordinated with your company’s branding team, email marketing team, advertising team and other various marketing departments. For instance, your web marketing team can help drive your social media communities’ growth by linking back to your company’s social networks. Alternatively, you can gain potential leads that can convert into sales by driving traffic back to the website through content marketing. If you create original content and you work intra-departmentally, you will then be a social media rock star.

You are not identifying key influencers or competitors

Social media is a great portal for identifying potential allies and competitors. Keep an eye on your competitors to see what they’re up to. Make sure you add them to a private list on Twitter and don’t follow them, because then they’ll know. Use tools likeFollowerwonk.com to identify key influencers who may be driving the conversation in your industry. Interact with the influencers and try to involve them in various social media programs that you run. Soon you’ll have people adding you to their secret Twitter lists.

You use a tweet-by-tweet strategy

It’s easy to sign up for a social media account. The real magic happens when you have a strategy. To create a one, you must learn to understand what your audience needs through analytics, then implement a process that drives measurable ROI. With this strategy, you can plan out social media initiatives like contests. Ensure that they are successful by planning appropriately and implementing flawlessly. If you’re running a social media program but you don’t know what you’re going to accomplish next month, you are doing it wrong.

You don’t build relationships or listen

Social media is all about relationships — that’s why it’s called “social” media. It will draw engagement, encourage brand advocacy and keep customers happy. To build these key relationships you must listen to your fans’ needs. They will do some of the work for you, but you need to treat them right. Some businesses talk too much on social media. This comes across as “spamvertisement,” and their fans tune out. If a proverbial tree (your content) falls in the woods (into the newsfeed) but nobody cares, did it really happen?

Find out why people like your business by listening to them. Build your community around that.

Andy Karuza is the CEO of brandbuddee.com and a long-time social media consultant with experience in Enterprise, Startup and local small business. Also an active nightlife, fashion, entrepreneur and charity community member.

How to Be a CEO: The Sales Leader or the Chess Master

There are many types of successful entrepreneurs that build and lead great companies. Most that I have seen have elements of what I refer to as the “Chessmaster” and those of a “Sales Leader.” Some amount of each skill set is required, but it is interesting to observe which is the dominant or “go to” skill set for an entrepreneur.

After more than 15 years in the venture business and over 40 venture investments, I have found that I prefer – and work more effectively with – entrepreneurs and CEOs where the Chessmaster is the more dominant skill set.

It’s a bit of a caricature, but the Chessmaster is someone who is data-driven, constantly trying to understand the landscape, formulate strategy, run experiments and learn quickly. The Sales Leader has a big vision, has high confidence that he (or she) is right, and is highly successful in getting others to see the world their way.

Most media represent entrepreneurs as the Grand Salesman. A fellow venture investor recently stated on a panel that the qualities she looked for the most in an entrepreneur were passion and storytelling. Steve Jobs, the subject of so much Silicon Valley hagiography, was an unbelievable Salesman and got much of the world to share his worldview – but this isn’t the only route to success.

I’ve been re-reading the Lean Start Up by Eric Ries. In my opinion, the entire book describes the Chessmaster approach to launching a new product- whether a start up or as part of a bigger company. The successful companies I’ve seen and been a part of have a dedication to learning quickly and cultures where people are trained to “speak with data.” Figuring out which metrics are truly meaningful for the business, building the instrumentation to understand them, and making data driven decisions to improve product market fit and business performance are actions of a great Chessmaster.

This post was provoked by a recent blog post, “The Post Mortem,” by Return Path CEO Matt Blumberg. His main argument is that successful endeavors need post-mortems as much as failures because companies often misattribute the reasons for their success and find it hard to sustain or replicate those successes.

Success has a hundred fathers – and that is just within the company. As Matt points out, some of those claimed reasons for success come from external dynamics, market phenomena or the failures of competition. And it can be damaging –or even fatal – for companies to have the wrong interpretation of successful history. The clear thinking and intellectual honesty of this argument is one of the reasons why I enjoy working with Matt and many of the other Costanoa portfolio CEOs.

It is the relationships with great entrepreneurs that make my role in the start up ecosystem so rewarding.

I appreciate: entrepreneurs who call when they have an issue and don’t quite have a solution but just want someone else thinking about it as well; CEOs who value questions about a product or its strategic context instigating an appropriate discussion rather than getting defensive because it assumes the team hasn’t done its job well; long, informal conversations that meander through various perspectives of the business and how to align all of its elements into a coherent strategy and execution plan; debating challenges that can go unresolved because all the information isn’t there, but a concerted effort is being made to address them; executives and team members who will say what they think and add a perspective to the comments of the CEO in a board meeting, but respectfully sign up to execute a plan agreed by the team. These are the signs of a high function company- and the kind that I love to work with.

Matt brought this kind of data-driven honesty and transparency to a whole new level last week by having his 360 degree review conducted with the Return Path management team and board together in one room. He applied the core lesson to himself – you can’t improve performance if you don’t have the data – and then he committed to getting the data about his own performance.

It takes a special kind of entrepreneur to lead like that. I’ve noticed several common traits: a sense of humility, knowing what they know but also what they don’t, comfort with uncertainty, and a data-driven orientation. These are the people that make my job great.

Greg Sands is the founder and managing partner of Costanoa Venture Capital, an early stage investor incloud-based services leveraging data and analytics to solve real problems for businesses and consumers. Follow him on Twitter @gsands and read his blog posts at http://costanoavc.wordpress.com/.

8 Common Networking Faux Pas to Avoid

Networking gets a bad rap. But, as with so many things, it’s usually just the bad apples who spoil it for everyone else. As someone who has attended (and hosted) literally thousands of networking meetings and events — and is often referred to as a ‘master networker,’ for better or worse – I’m going to let you in on a few secrets of bad networking. You know, the kind that spoils it for the rest of us.

And remember, if you see yourself on my list of networking annoyances, it’s probably time to take a hard look at yourself and correct your networking wrongs before you’re labeled “THAT guy (or gal)” for good.

You ask for a meeting, sale, call or email but don’t take the initiative. Let’s say you’re in sales and ask someone to introduce you to a business owner whom they know. Said contact makes an introduction and your response is, “Call me when you can.” (Sound the loud annoying buzzer…WRONG!) If you are in the position of wanting something, it is 100 percent your job to make the call, go to his/her office, follow up, etc. If you’re not willing to take the initiative and keep the momentum moving, do not ask for the introduction, call, email or sale. Period.
You card blast. Ever attend a networking event and meet that person who hands you a card before you ask for one — and then races around the room doing the same thing to everyone else? If that’s you, throw away your cards on your own, because they are going to land in the trash anyway. If you’re looking to turn someone off before opening your mouth, that’s a surefire way to do it.
You pretend we’ve met. Have you ever gotten an email or voicemail proclaiming “It was so nice to meet you!” and you’re racking your brain to figure out who this person is? That’s probably because you don’t know. The person likely got your information in a way that you didn’t permit, and then begins to try to sell you their agenda by pretending there’s a rapport between you. It is never wise to start any relationship with a lie, no matter whether it’s business or personal, big or small.
You can’t stop talking. Want to know one of the best ways to get someone’s attention? Ask them questions, genuinely listen, and follow up with sincere responses. No other words need come from you. The more you talk about yourself without being asked, the less the person on the receiving end is likely to care.
You ask a stranger for a referral. If I don’t know you, I can’t like or trust you and therefore, I will not refer you business. Hence, if you meet me in passing, don’t ask me to find business for you. It takes work to create that type of relationship, so don’t expect it within five minutes.
Your eyes are all over the room. Ever been in a conversation with someone whose eyes are darting around the room? Did you feel like they really cared about what you were saying? Doubtful. Pay attention when you’re talking with someone. At that time, no one else matters. Don’t be the person who commits the sin of always looking for what’s “better.” Feel free to politely excuse yourself whenever the conversation is complete.
You take before you give. Looking for a job? A friend? A date? A deal? Here’s a tip: Before you ask someone for anything, consider what you can offer to them first. Just asking the question, “Is there anything I can do to help you?” will go a long way. People like to be reciprocal, so don’t treat interactions like one-sided transactions. What goes around comes around.
You’re a horse disguised as a unicorn. What looks like a horse, has wings, and a horn atop it’s a head? Did you guess a unicorn? If so, you’re correct! Don’t be a networking unicorn, because unicorns are not real. Be yourself; be real. Take off the wings and the horn and be a horse if that’s what you are. People can see through it.

If you feel called out, take a minute to identify which sins you’ve committed and work on them. Improvement is always better than stagnation. There are always new people to meet and relationships to deepen. Just like you’d tackle paying down your credit card debt, start with the habit that’s most offensive, and work your way down.

Darrah Brustein is the co-founder of Equitable Payments, a merchant services brokerage, and founder of Network Under 40, a monthly networking event for young professionals. Darrah recently authored Finance Whiz Kids, a series of kids book that teach the basics of financial education.

10 Ways to Instantly Boost Your Social Media Credibility

Question: What’s one thing an entrepreneur/startup could do TODAY to quickly boost their credibility on social media?

Answer Others’ Questions

“Establish a search query, using a tool like TweetDeck or HootSuite, around an area you have expertise in. Watch the stream and answer other people’s questions or retweet articles that you think provide valuable insight to others. The No. 1 rule about social media is “be helpful.””

Eric Holtzclaw, Laddering Works

Create Great Content

“Create great content including infographics, photos and videos, and share the content across social media platforms. If your content is not insightful, people will not want to read it or engage as much with your company. Also, consume and respond to others’ content — you might get new ideas for future content, and everyone will benefit.”

Jesse Pujji, Ampush

Be Reponsive

“Many entrepreneurs use social media as a one-way platform to spread a message to those who follow them; however, the best will engage in conversations with their followers, responding to comments and being truly accessible. “

Bhavin Parikh, Magoosh Inc

Make All Profiles Consistent

“It’s worth updating all your social media profiles and making sure they are consistent and similar. When people are looking you up, they’re seeing all of them at the same time!”

Derek Flanzraich, Greatist

Be Authentic

“Content is king, so it’s important to have something to say, and when you do, be authentic. If I see something or read something that’s interesting, I share it because others will likely find it interesting, too. I don’t take myself too seriously on Twitter; if I see something funny, I tweet it. If you’re true to yourself and simply share what interests and inspires you, you’ll build credibility.”

Dries Buytaert, Drupal

Get Endorsed

“On LinkedIn, make sure you are endorsed for the skills you want other people to recognize you for, and ask for recommendations on past positions. On Twitter, make sure you have more followers than you are following; otherwise, people will suspect you of follow-back, mass-follow/mass-flush and other such techniques.”

Christopher Pruijsen, Sterio.me

Do the Math

“Successful startups go into specifics. Everyone else talks about fluff; they’re afraid to give away company secrets. If you’re willing to provide real examples with real numbers, your posts will have five times the chance of succeeding.”

Gagan Biyani, Growth Hackers Conference

Interact Naturally

“Talk with people in your social media community. Get to know them, and let them know who you are without being a salesman. Have conversations and ask questions. This will build your reputation, and you’ll have a community supporting you. If you’re just doing sales on social media and talking about yourself, you’re doing it wrong.”

Kyle Clayton, Jackrabbit Janitorial

Sponsor High-Quality Content

“I believe sponsoring high-quality content is a great way for an entrepreneur or startup to get the message they want out there. It’s also easy and fast. It’s all about having the content first — then you can target anyone you want using Facebook ads, for example. “

Pablo Palatnik, ShadesDaddy.com

Start Writing

“I started writing more frequently on my site and for others’ sites. I instantly started getting more Twitter followers and a lot more engagement on Twitter and via email.”

Wade Foster, Zapier

How a Mentor Can Help You Scale, Not Just Start

Every morning when an entrepreneur wakes up, he or she must embrace the fact that as their startup ramps up, each day will be fraught with bigger decisions than the day before. Part of the job description is the ability to quickly process tough decisions as they could swiftly make or break a fledgling business. Many in the tech sector thrive in this type of environment as risk taking is embedded in their DNA.

And while part of the appeal of being an entrepreneur is autonomy, there are times when the most important tool a founder can utilize is a mentor who has already navigated the road of ramping up a startup.

As an entrepreneur and executive recruiter in the tech startup ecosystem, the best piece of advice I’ve heard repeated time and time again is to “lead, follow, or get out of the way.” The onus of leadership is always on a company’s chief executive.

However, part of a savvy leadership strategy is to lead with the counsel of a trusted advisor to flatten the learning curve for ramping up. The shortest route to success is to find influencers who are willing to give you truthful advice. A capable mentor will guide you past “founderitis” (an oft-dreaded, though inevitable condition among nascent leaders) and help you scale to the next level.

Well-Known Founders Who Have Faltered

There have been many high profile cases where a founder’s ego has increased to the point where they are convinced they are infallible. Steve Jobs is an example. His conflict with then-Apple CEO John Sculley over the Apple 2 and advertising strategy led to his demotion and eventual departure from Apple. This highly public time-out allowed Jobs to reflect upon his hubris and prepared him well for his return as a humbled, but much more effective leader. He made an excellent mentor after this experience.

Next, consider Yahoo’s co-founder and former-CEO Jerry Yang. Yang over-exaggerated the value of Yahoo and snubbed Microsoft’s $44.6 billion offer. As a result, he was shown the door. The Marissa Mayer era of Yahoo is in full swing now.

These founders were rock stars in getting their respective companies to a certain point, but they were removed for a reason. They couldn’t meet their businesses needs at critical junctures of development.

If a leader allows their ego to reign supreme, they run the risk of having a false sense of ability and security. It’s the rare executive who can go from the clubhouse to the penthouse without a detailed playbook. Seeking out a mentor that has your back and will call you out for shortsighted or self-absorbed behavior is crucial for staying level headed and humble.

Learn from the Best

The hottest tech leaders have the best mentors:

• Mark Zuckerberg had Steve Jobs, Sean Parker and Don Graham, among others, for advice. Their collaborative guidance and counsel put Facebook on the map and transformed the social media landscape.

• Square’s CEO and co-founder Jack Dorsey tapped philanthropist Ray Chambers for mentorship.

• Salesforce.com CEO, Mark Benioff also looked to Steve Jobs as a mentor and has spoken fondly of their business and personal relationship.

The takeaway from these successful founders is that no man/woman is an island.

Outside influence and feedback are required for successful ramp up.

Finding a Mentor

The case has been made for the value of a mentor but it begs the question – How do you find the right people?

• Take an honest look at where your startup is now and where you want it to be.

• Seek out the key influencers and decision makers who scaled a similar path

• Directly approach each influencer and candidly ask for guidance

• Once a mentor is in place, actively engage them in key decisions only – don’t inundate them for minor details or they will disengage

• Keep the relationship strong – follow the advice and give updates or candidly explain why you are going a different direction

• Accept the tough criticism; if your skill set is no longer a fit for the enterprise, consider your next move

• Add to your mentors as the enterprise scales and enters each new phase of growth

• Give back. If you are approached to act as a mentor, graciously accept the challenge and guide the next generation of leadership

The tech ecosystem evolves at an incredible rate and can be very chaotic, therefore the best strategy for smoother navigation in uncharted waters is to tap into the seasoned traveler for clear, unbiased, and effective direction.

Charley Polachi, managing partner at Polachi Access Executive Search, can provide a expert insight ion the importance of mentors, particularly for entrepreneurs in the tech industry. As an executive recruiter, he knows the importance of a mentor and their role in shaping the best executives and leaders.

Want to Succeed? Start with Confidence

Business team

Every time I read an article about what women need to do to get ahead in the male-dominated tech world of VCs and startups, I cringe. The prescription feels simplistic, but this is not a simple problem.

Fiona Murray’s recent Boston Globe Magazine piece, “Playing by the Rules,” recommended wearing a uniform, speaking confidently, networking and watching sports to get ahead. Don’t get me wrong — I am sure these tactics can help, and the research is fascinating (she found that “companies pitched by men were about 40 percent more likely to receive funding than those led by women”). But should we all just become avid football fans? I, for one, will take a thoughtful David Sedaris essay in The New Yorker over football any fall Sunday.

At the heart of Murray’s recommendations is the fact that women need to take action today while we work on solving the broader education, political and economic issues we face. Here are the bleak facts we already know:

Just over 20 percent of all engineering degrees go to women (National Academies Committee on Women in Science, Engineering and Medicine).
Only 4.2 percent of VC funding goes to women (Stanford University’s Clayman Institute for Gender Research).
Women hold only 4.2 percent of Fortune 500 CEO positions (Catalyst).
Women hold 18.3 percent of the seats in Congress (Center for American Women and Politics).

One of my favorite VCs once said that it’s just as important to be convincing as it is to be right. Confidence breeds success. We need to do a better job at mentoring women in confidence strategies. In a piece for Forbes, Dr. Candida Brush wrote, “In contrast to young men, young women are less likely to see opportunities, have a higher fear of failure and therefore, less likely to engage in entrepreneurship.” HSBC USA Chief Executive Irene Dorner echoed this when she talked about the problem of the “sticky floor” in The New York Times.

But confidence is teachable. It’s not something anyone is born with. When I quit my job to start InkHouse, my business partner and I would joke that we were faking it until we made it. We weren’t faking our knowledge about PR campaigns. We were faking the confidence of a much larger organization as we asked clients to take a bet on our nascent agency.

I won’t pretend to know how to solve this very large problem, but in my small microcosm of the business world, I have seen the following tactics work for the women who succeed. As female entrepreneurs, we have a responsibility to foster the next generation by teaching them to:

Speak up and speak confidently. Don’t save your ideas for post-meeting emails to your boss. If you have a seat at the table, show that you deserve it.
Walk into a room like you belong there. Smile, hold your head up, make eye contact, offer a firm handshake, and don’t mess with your outfit. First impressions are made in seconds, and they are based predominantly on non-verbal cues.
End thoughts as statements, not questions. If your voice goes up at the end of a statement, it sounds like a question and conveys uncertainty.
Eliminate the words “I think” before a recommendation. “I think” is a subliminal disclaimer that your idea might not be a good one. State your recommendation as though it is fact and others will consider it more seriously.
Become comfortable with silence. After articulating a recommendation, let the idea percolate. Be comfortable letting your audience thoughtfully consider your point. Don’t fill that thinking space with chitchat.
Be present. Listen first, and then formulate your response. Pay attention to the people in the room. Are they confused, interested, distracted? Base your next statement on their cues, not the thought you’ve been waiting to blurt out.
Find a way to say no by saying yes. We’re accused of taking on too much, and never saying no. There is an eloquent and productive way to say no. It could simply be that saying yes means you must put another project on the back burner. Lead with the yes, and follow up with the caveat.
Practice speaking in front of a large room. The only way to keep that warmth from coming up your neck and into your face when you present is to do it over and over again. Eventually, it will become second nature.
Do your research first. Lead with the facts. Knowledge inspires confidence. And knowledge confers authority onto your recommendations.
Use your personality to your benefit. Do not try to morph yourself into a man, or someone else’s vision of a successful career woman. Even if your boss is dictating the points you must make in a critical meeting, say them in your words. Only then will you deliver the message well.
Seek feedback selectively. If the meeting felt good to you, it probably was. Asking for needless feedback is not something a confident man would do. In the business world, no news is often good news, so take it as such.
Don’t default to apology in the face of scrutiny. Apologize only when you have done something wrong, not because someone doesn’t like your idea. You only have to own the mistakes you actually make. In all other scenarios, listen to the other person’s point of view respectfully, and calmly present your challenge.
It’s okay to say you don’t know. Find out the answer and come back with a solid recommendation. Of course, you should make sure that you know the answer nine times out of 10.

I will end with some good news. For every 10 men starting a business, there are eight women who are doing the same. Let’s make it 10 for 10.

Beth Monaghan is principal and co-founder of InkHouse Media + Marketing, a PR and content marketing agency with offices in Waltham, MA and San Francisco, CA. She blogs at InkLings and you can find her on Twitter @bamonaghan.

Listening to Employees Is Key for Startup Success

Getting a startup off the ground and running is a rare feat. Startups are unlike traditional businesses because they are often in untested industries and run by untested leaders. In many instances startup founders are new to having any sort of team to manage. This lack of experience does NOT directly point to guaranteed failure; it does however point to a guaranteed need for fast assimilation toward understanding what it means to lead. While being a “leader” is a broad concept and can take many forms, there are many basic necesities to leading a successful team. The most important arguably being the ability to communicate effectively. This is not “bossing” others, it is communicating (ie. clearly giving direction, and more importantly, listening).

While their are papers, books, and thousands of articles to read on this subject, there are some simple areas and reasons where/why listening to your team members will immediately provide valuable returns.

Understanding Their Knowledge of Your Company

Your team is responsible for running your startup’s day to day operations, and as a result, they are the most familiar with the business. They can offer more insight to which systems in place are helpful and which ones are not. A good leader employs intelligent systems that help operations flow; a great leader designs (or simply approves) these systems based on employee testing and feedback.

This means that, if there is a problem, your goal as a leader should be to utilize your employees to get to the heart of the matter. Simply saying something is wrong and that it needs to be fixed is not enough. Talk with employees about what is wrong, listen to what they think needs to be done, and make an executive decision to move forward with their feedback in mind. Giving them accountability on how issues are solved within the company will also help them become more engaged and focused towards your startup’s accomplishments.

You Win When Your Employees Win

Any solid employer-employee relationship is a mutually beneficial one. You provide them with a great work environment and benefits, and in return they deliver results and loyalty to your company. When this partnership is operating on all cylinders the outcome of a great company is virtually inevitable. Your team’s productivity grows when your employees feel respected and valued. By running an ethical business, your team reciprocates and is ethical. Josephson Institute has a great outline on the responsibilities between an employer and an employer. Having these expectations mapped out for your employees ensures that they understand that their efforts are valued and respected, making them more susceptible to want your company to succeed.

It Limits Turnover

Turnover is one of the biggest ailments of a poorly ran startup. Taking additional time to train and retrain new employees is time consuming and a productivity waster. As a startup, time is not necessarily always on your side. If you do not have an employee satisfaction and retention process in place, you are putting yourself at risk. Combating this risk can be as simple as utilizing services like Inforsurv that can provide you with direct feedback regarding employee satisfaction. By taking the time to get their feedback on how well they like working for you, you can curb potential turnover. Employees are more loyal to employers that take the time to consider the needs of their employees.

Focusing on your startup’s idea and mission are important. Ensuring your management skills coincide with employee satisfaction is even more crucial. After all, you cannot run a startup if you do not have an efficient team behind you. Listen to your team when they offer their views. Think of your employees as a wealth of knowledge on your company. Engaging them in some decisions will only increase their level of commitment and dedication to your startup. Utilize your team, create an ethical workspace, and have a great management team to create a world class-working environment. Gather employee feedback from time to time to see if adjustments need to be made. Including your team in making your startup successful is not only ideal, but is a great way for you to heighten your abilities as an entrepreneur.

5 Tips For Nurturing Company Culture At Your Growing Startup

As an entrepreneur, your startup probably began as a one-man show.

You made all the decisions — from the product to the budget to the logo. And when the time came to determine the kind of culture you wanted to build the company upon, it was merely a matter of self-reflection.

But as your business gained momentum, you needed more manpower to sustain it, so you began bringing on team members to accommodate rapid growth. With more employees, more processes, and more customers, your system became more complex, and all the components — including your company culture — became harder to control.

You might fear that the culture you envisioned is impossible to maintain, but company culture is a dynamic component of your organization, and it’s supposed to grow and change with your company. In fact, if your culture doesn’t grow and change, your company won’t survive.

Here are five practical tips for growing your culture with your organization:

1. Support Your Tribe

Your procedures, policies, structure, leadership, decisions, and products catalyze the culture you want to develop, but it’s simply impossible to create real culture. It can’t be imposed on your team, and it certainly can’t be paid for. Real culture happens naturally.

As you grow, you can’t forget about the employees you already have. They helped build the culture you have today. While some initial employees might be ready to move on to other career opportunities, it’s important to receive feedback from and show support to those employees who have been with you for an extended period.

In the book Tribal Leadership, great leaders are recognized by their ability to build and scale their “tribe.” The tribe is the muscle of the company, and its strength depends on that of the culture. Harness your tribe’s core ideals and skills, and measure the success of outcomes based on its goals and intentions.

2. Find the Right Fit

If you want to confidently build on the culture your original team constructed, you must hire people who align with it. This proves increasingly difficult as you speed-scale during your growth phase. You’re tasked with quickly evaluating candidates’ job qualifications while simultaneously deciding whether they would be good culture fits.

Ask culture-specific questions during the interview process that will indicate whether candidates would be a good fit, such as “What work environment do you thrive in best?” or “Do you prefer clearly defined tasks or clearly defined problems?” Depending on the stage your business is in, these two different answers could mean very different things culturally.

3. Welcome Feedback

Opening feedback loops in your company is instrumental to culture growth. It’s the best way to find out what’s working in your company and what isn’t. Odds are employees will identify anomalies that you’re completely unaware of.

Crunched for time? Construct the process so your team can give quick, simple feedback. The metrics of the feedback process will directly correlate with your company’s values and purposes.

Gather the data monthly or quarterly, and segment the feedback into categories by locations or team. You can also evaluate the company from a big-picture perspective. There’s no right or wrong way. You can even use tools such as TINYpulse or iDoneThis to gather team feedback.

4. Open Your Mind

When you were on your own, your culture was simply an extension of your own values. You could mold it into whatever you wanted because it was you. But as the company grows, you have to treat it as its own person and allow it to take on its own identity. Confining the culture to your original, narrow scope will only stunt its growth.

Review the feedback you collected with an open mind. Not all suggestions are feasible, but by considering them, you let your employees know that their opinions matter. Share some of the results, set targeted goals, and even implement logical recommendations.

5. Maintain Core Values

Your brand promise and purpose should remain constant. Core values should be fairly constant as well, but can evolve over time — carefully. While cultures do naturally change, it’s your job to make sure that your company culture is still aligned with these integral factors. Being flexible is one thing, but compromising your values is an entirely different ball game.

Your company culture will develop many new facets as it grows, but expanding away from your root values should be limited or handled with extreme care. Too many deviations from your ethics will make your team doubt the company’s integrity. Openly discuss any necessary adjustments with team members to assure them that you haven’t lost sight of the company’s true purpose.

Company growth is exciting for any startup. You’re finally growing your team, creating revenue, launching products, and gaining new customers. Although balancing new business, hiring, and day-to-day operations while trying to nurture your company culture may seem impossible, it’s not as hard as you think. Leaders shouldn’t try to define and impose culture. Instead, they should plant the seed and water it, knowing it will grow on its own.

Zach Ferres is the CEO of Ciplex, a full-service interactive agency that helps clients succeed online by creating award-winning digital solutions for online marketing, E-commerce and content management systems, and social network platforms. Follow them on Twitter.

Do You Have What It Takes to Start Up?

Starting a business is like joining the priesthood: It’s not something you do from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays and leave behind when Friday evening rolls around. Being an entrepreneur is a full-time occupation.

Make that preoccupation. You eat, sleep and breathe your obsession.

And if you’re one of the lucky few whose business actually takes off and you’re at it for more than just a year or two, preparing yourself for the long game can make all the difference in the world. Your well-being, success, relationships, productivity and employees’ enjoyment and enthusiasm all depend on your ability to stay focused, refreshed and energized. This is even more important during the crucial early days of a startup.

While most business literature and courses focus on preparing entrepreneurs for all the “external” challenges they’ll face — go-to market strategy, product rollouts, team recruiting, fund raising, etc. — there’s very little attention paid to all of the internal struggles one faces when launching a business. But, much like a sport, what separates champions from the rest is the ability to focus on and master this “inner” game.

Starting a business just because you want to make loads of money will most likely lead to you quitting before you really get started. Chances are in the beginning you’ll make a lot less than what you did at the job you left behind. Nothing can be more challenging to your self-esteem than working harder than anyone you know while living as if you’re back in your college dorm. Unless you’re passionate about what you do, don’t even bother getting to the starting line. Passion is what will fuel you through the inevitable lean and tough times.

Take in bios. No matter what you think, you’re not the first one to embark on this journey. Many, many others have done it before you. Reading up on other successful entrepreneurs will not only give you ideas and inspiration, but will also help you understand that most of the challenges you’re facing are not unique. It’s nice to know you have company.
Nurture a hobby. Developing an outside interest that helps shift your mind away from work is not only a great way to refresh your creative juices, it can also help introduce you to future business partners. For me, those outlets have been daily exercise and following soccer. I cannot tell you how many business meetings I have where much of the time is spent talking with a prospective customer about soccer — it’s a great icebreaker. Having interests outside of what you do makes you much more social, well-rounded and interesting. People want to do business with people they like and enjoy. Cue growth.
Seek advice, not advisers. Everyone needs some outsider’s perspective when things get tough. Don’t obsess over having a prestigious board of advisers to add to your business plan. More often than not, all you’ll only their names. Instead, build an informal network of trusted insiders who care about you and whom you can confide your inner doubts and fears. And don’t fret over “credentials” — some of the best advice comes from parents, siblings, spouses and friends who know little about your business but somehow know how to cut right to the heart of the matter.
Enjoy the game. In the process of launching and building a business, you’ll inevitably have to learn and do things that are outside your comfort zone — putting together financial models, pitching to investors, attending networking events, courting new recruits, etc. Treat what you do as a game, because it is. Learn the rules; step back and observe the movements; analyze and don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Unless you learn to enjoy every aspect of the process — even those things that keep you up at night — you’ll run out of steam all too soon.

Remember: Good things come to those who persist.

Panos Panay is a passionate entrepreneur and active startup mentor in the creative media space. As the founder of Sonicbids, he created the leading platform for bands to book gigs and market themselves online. He writes weekly about startups and entrepreneurship for blogs and publications such as Huffington Post, WSJ Accelerators and Fast Company; and guest lectures at universities including MIT Engineering, Boston University and Brown University.

Always & Not Yet: When Brand Matters

As someone who has worked with many startups to develop meaningful names and brands, I’m often asked by founders, “When should I worry about my startup’s brand.”

As a brand guy, you might imagine I’d say it matters from the very beginning. And it does.

But it also doesn’t.

Internal and external realities

In reality, there are two halves of a startup’s brand. There are intrinsic realities: what you believe about the world and how you’re going to make it a better place.

And there are external indicators of those internal realities. These include name and logo, website copy, and how you communicate with your team and with customers.

If the internal and external things are two circles in a venn diagram,brand is what’s found in the overlap.

I recommend aligning the internal and external brand elements with the stage of your company.

Beliefs matter always; external brand indicators matter, but not yet, at least not for those at the earliest stages.

Alignment occurs at product-market fit

The key turning point is product-market fit. Before product-market fit, the external stuff doesn’t matter, while the internal beliefs are essential.

Your company’s worldview guides the direction of you and your team daily. It’s the driving set of beliefs that gets you out the door to do customer discovery. To burn the midnight oil and keep the progress consistent.

But until you’ve reached product-market fit, your name and how you look don’t matter a whole lot. That’s because during one-on-one sales calls and pitches, yourepresent the brand of your company. You are literally knocking on customer’s doors.

However, once you know what’s working from a product standpoint, e.g. it’s clear what words and phrases resonate with customers, you find yourself repeating the same key sentences, and you’re ready to scale your marketing, then the external indicators become crucial.

Your brand leads the way

No longer can you personally speak with customers and walk them through your deck. Your brand, your messaging, and your channel partners become potential customers’ first point of contact with your company. If your name is distracting and your copy is unclear, building trust and excitement among potential customers will be nearly impossible.

Fortunately, by then, you should have a strong foundation for building the external parts of a robust brand.

For one, you have the benefit of countless customers conversations. During those, you uncovered the benefits that they love the most, along with traits the regularly rose to the top as important.

You also have the driving internal beliefs you’ve shared with your team from the outset. They’ve likely evolved, but so has your business.

Build your brand on truth

These truths—about your customers, about your product, and about you—serve as the basis for a compelling and authentic brand. What you’ll have will be so much richer than if you’d gone straight to GoDaddy on day one and tried a couple hundred URLs until you found something you thought was cool.

You’ll find your audience beginning to trust your brand, and they’ll do so because it’s based not on what you hoped you’d become, but what you have become. That level of authenticity is rare, especially among startups, and you’ll find it to be a compelling differentiator as you continue to scale.

The Energized Founder: 7 Ways to Boost Energy (Sans Coffee)

Businesswomen sitting on exercise balls in meeting

As entrepreneurs, we know all too well the meaning of burning the candle at both ends. From stress-filled days to sleepless nights, it’s no wonder most of the entrepreneurs I know are so addicted to coffee they may as well invest in Starbucks.

Just because you work at a startup, though, doesn’t mean you’re great at starting yourself up! And while research is mixed on just how good or bad your coffee addiction is for your health, if you’re looking for a few alternative ways to boost your energy levels, read on – because, I know all too well the importance of never-ending energy. And, as a certified health coach and author of The Recipe for Radiance: Discover Beauty’s Best-Kept Secrets In Your Kitchen, I also know the secrets:

Drink water. When glued to your desk, it can be hard to remember to drink enough water – and even harder to tell when you’re showing the early signs of dehydration. But when your energy is low, opt for a big glass of H2O instead of a refill on your cup of Joe and you’ll feel instantly energized (without the risk of an impending caffeine crash).
Snack on chocolate. Indulge that sweet-tooth with raw, dark chocolate and you’ll be less likely to feel the late-afternoon slump than if you head for the vending machine. Make a hot chocolate drink with raw cacao powder and almond milk or the Raw Brownie Batter Pudding recipe that’s featured in my new book, The Recipe For Radiance (it’s a personal favorite!).
Get outside. Whether it’s cool and brisk or warm and sunny, a 2 minute walk around the block will reset your mind and mood. Take deep breaths, meditate, or listen to your favorite song to clear your head and reset your fuel reserve.
Dance. A quick mini-dance party in your office combines too of the best energy-boosters: music and movement. Playing a great song activates the same parts of your brain that light up during sex. And moving (even just a short-burst of high energy movement) increases blood flow – and energy! If you’ve ever worked with Tony Robbins (or just seen him in action) you know it’s one of his best little secrets.
Mix it up. Switching from one task to another will help revamp your mindset and refocus your energy to starve off any energy slump. Set a timer and alternate between tasks to stay engaged and motivated.
Smell citrus. Revitalize your energy levels as well as your senses by sniffing a lemon, orange or grapefruit. Squeeze a bit of lemon in your water and it will also raise the pH level of your H2O for even better hydration. Not a fruit person? Just the smell of citrus can cure chronic fatigue so even a citrus-scented candle will do the trick!
Drink tea. Just a few cups a day have been shown to help reduce stress hormone levels, which will help to balance energy levels. Keep a pitcher of freshly brewed caffeine-free iced tea in your office fridge and you’ll not only stay stress-free, but also increase your overall health.

Alexis Wolfer is working to empower women and promote confidence through beauty as the founder and editor-in-chief ofTheBeautyBean.com, a television host/on-air expert, and a Real Beauty activist. Her first book, The Recipe For Radiance: Discover Beauty’s Best Kept Secrets In Your Kitchen (Running Press, April 2014) is available on Amazon now!