Rookie Mistakes Startups Make All Too Often

When an entrepreneur is preparing to launch his first business venture, he works hard to avoid making critical mistakes. But there have been plenty of instances where business rookies made blunders that almost cost them their financial futures. If you are a business rookie, then you can smooth out your startup by learning from the mistakes of others.

Not Delivering on Promises

Image via Flickr by hz536n/George Thomas

Business rookies think that making big promises is the best way to get people interested in a new business venture. But if you do not deliver on those promises, then it could cost you dearly. In 1958, Ford marketed the Edsel as the “futuristic automobile of the future.” The anticipation was so heavy that people waited weeks just to see the new design. When it was finally released, the Edsel did not deliver on any of the marketing hype that preceded it, and it cost Ford money and severely damaged the company’s reputation.

Not Scouting the Competition

In the 1970’s, Betamax and VHS were competing to see which would be the home video format of choice. Sony was pushing the Betamax, but the bulky Betamax machines and limited tape recording time were no match for JVC’s VHS format. Sony made the mistake of not doing a comprehensive analysis of the competition before releasing its product. It is a mistake that too many rookie business owners make, and it can stop their business cold.

Not Incorporating

When you incorporate your business, it becomes its own legal entity and offers you protection from legal action. If you are not incorporated, then a customer could sue your company, and you could lose your home, your car and everything else. If you are incorporated, then you have a level of protection against legal action that can help to protect your personal assets from exposure.

Not Getting Good Money Advice

New business owners have a lot on their minds, and they need to focus on their business to make good decisions. To try to save money, rookie business owners will often neglect getting financial advice from experts because they think it is too expensive. The truth is that good financial advice can pay for itself. You can follow Fisher Investments on Twitter @FisherInvestUK to get good money advice that you can use.

Not Making Wise Decisions

The DeLorean Motor Company started building luxury cars in 1980, and their cars quickly became sought after status symbols. In 1983, founder John DeLorean was recorded telling a government informant that he thought a suitcase full of cocaine was “as good as gold,” and everything changed. It was later revealed that entrapment charges against the officers conducting the investigation allowed DeLorean to go free, but the damage was done. As a business rookie, you need to always think about your business, and make the right decisions for your company and your own future.

A business rookie is always learning important business lessons that should help him become a better business professional. But it is always a good idea to try to avoid making the big rookie mistakes that could cost you the business you have built, and everything you own.

What Do You Do With Your “Aha” Moment?

Eureka! Bingo! Aha.

The “aha moment:” the very second you know that what’s in your head makes sense. Sometimes this “aha moment” means more, though. Your aha moment is that idea that makes your eyes light up and your “free time” turn into daydreaming and/or planning sessions.

Everyone has ideas, but not everyone has an “aha” moment. But, those that do have some pretty special stories.

Though I didn’t know it the first time we shook hands, Brandon Twitty, Founder and President of Dead Inventory Management System (DIMS), is a Marine. “Tatted up” a bit, he gives the impression of a Dwayne Johnson, The Rock, mixed with a young Rocky Balboa at first glance.

“In my eyes, there are two types of ‘aha moments,’” he says. “One is, ‘yeah, I’ve got an idea, and yeah, it’s going to work.’ The other is, ‘I don’t care about anything; I don’t want another job, and this is what I want to do.’”

Most people would still consider the United States to be the wealthiest country in the world. There’s another thing that Americans are usually famous for too: waste. Witnessing firsthand this now commonplace aspect of American life, Twitty saw the opportunity lying in front of him (and all of the other employees of his former company, for that matter) quite literally being thrown in the trash.

What exactly happened, though? He explains, saying, “I was there on a Saturday, and I saw all these guys walking and wheeling away big boxes of [automation parts]. I’m an automation engineer, and I can write programs for automation lines. I knew how to program these machines. But these guys were coming back with nothing, and I knew that the only thing down there was the dumpster. ‘What did you do with all that stuff?’ I asked them. They said they threw it away. So I went and got it and sold it. That was valuable stuff.”

I asked him if the company had a problem with what he was doing, to which he responded with a nonchalant, “No, they don’t care. They do it every four months.”

After asking around the company a bit, he was able to hit the nail on the head. The reason his and other companies around the world throw perfectly good, usable products away: it’s a hassle. Companies could list the products on eBay, but it took too much time. They could keep the inventory in a corner and try to sell it later on, but it takes up dollars and space in the warehouse. Nothing was easy, and nobody wanted to take the time to do it.

Boom. Cue “aha” moment number one.

Twitty programmed a scanner to scan all the extra items in the warehouse companies wanted to sell. “You scanned the item, the scanner took that information and pulled all of the necessary data from the web, and it created a listing for that item. It basically created a full eBay listing in three to five seconds.”

For any of you who have ever tried making any money off of eBay, you know it’s impossible to list items that quickly and that efficiently. Now imagine doing an entire warehouse full of items. I’ll take the scanner.

The second “aha” moment came more like a slowly-realized epiphany.

When Twitty was asked why he thought he could get away with this, his answer was simple.

“I’m a Marine; I’ve been through hell and back. Then I was working 80 hours a week – every week – and I didn’t go home until I got the machine I was working on up and running again. If we had orders to fill before the end of the year, I was there on Christmas Eve…The work wasn’t worth the pay. I knew that I could do all of this stuff by myself,” he said. So he did. Aha.

“As an entrepreneur, you realize you can’t do it all by yourself. So it’s important to have a good team to back up your ‘aha’ moment, and I think I’ve got a good team,” Twitty finished.

(Note: Since then, DIMS has now moved to a cloud-based system for their own online marketplace: www.manufacturersinventory.com.) DIMS was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in St. Louis, MO, where they became part of the Spring 2013 class of the St. Louis-based Capitol Innovators accelerator program. Check out www.deadinventorymanagement.com for more information or follow them on Twitter (@DIMSystem and @mfrinv).

Tyler Sondag is a startup connoisseur with a hand in anything and everything you could imagine. Hailing from the ever-developing Northwest Mississippi, an alum of Saint Louis University and currently a transplant to St. Louis, Missouri, one of his main missions in life is to get and keep young people engaged in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Easy Ways To Save On Electronics As A Startup

Starting your own business is a risky venture. Technology is everything in this day and age, and getting the right equipment for your office is expensive. Here are some easy ways to save on electronics for your startup.

Bring Your Own Device

Image via Flickr by DennisCallahan

Incorporating a BYOD policy is a wise idea. With a BYOD policy, employees will use their own phones as work phones. This will save you a ton of money because you won’t have to buy phones, activate them, and sign them up for data plans. With the BlackBerry 10 OS, people can separate their phone profiles into personal and professional sides, so you won’t get confused with apps and information on either side. You can also use mobile management software so you can keep all of your employees in sync.

Another area where you’ll save money by having a BYOD policy is with office phones. If you’ve got a BYOD policy, you have employees with cell phones — there’s simply no need for an office phone. By not having an office phone, you’ll save hundreds, if not thousands.

Buy Used

Most retailers offer used or refurbished electronics at deep discounts. Take advantage of these deals. They’re under warranty and guaranteed to be as good as new. Check discount stores and online sites such as Craigslist for used furniture. On Craigslist, you’ll often run across people that are just parting with their furniture because they’re moving, so you’ll be able to strike up a good deal.

Search for Deals

Image via Flickr by analogkid281

If you have to have an item and can’t find it used, you’re going to have to search for deals. Sites such as RetailMeNot, Groupon, and CouponShack host deals from around the web, so before you buy anything from any website, check with these sites first. You may end up with free shipping for a percentage off!

Another way to look for deals is with Google Alerts. With Google Alerts, you can have Google send you an alert whenever a product drops in price. This is perfect if you’re waiting for an item to go a few dollars lower before dropping the money on it.

Move to the Cloud

Cloud computing isn’t really anything new, but its popularity is soaring. By moving your servers to the cloud, you’ll save your company thousands of dollars annually. The up-time with a service such as Amazon is likely going to be much better than your current provider, and you can use Amazon for storing data and backing up files. This is ideal for employees that want to work out of the office as they can simply log in, download the files, contribute, and upload it again for the next person to work on. With cloud storage, there’s no need for a centralized office!

If you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll quickly sink a ton of money into your startup and it’ll fail before it even gets a chance to start.

Have you tried some of these tips? What other tips did you use?

DJ Miller, a graduate student at the University of Tampa. He’s an avid gadget geek and spends most of his time reading or writing. He is a huge fantasy sports fan and even runs his own blog for fantasy help.

Why Niche Conferences Provide the Best ROI for Startups

It’s easy to assume bigger is always better — especially when you’re a small business trying to grow. When it comes to choosing a conference to attend, though, it’s not size that matters as much as niche.

By choosing conferences that have the most industry-specific content and the greatest networking opportunities for your business — as well as making a deliberate effort to meet people before, during, and after the events — you can maximize the ROI of each conference you attend, even if it’s not a monster like TED.

Large vs. Niche Conferences

Huge conferences try to appeal to a diverse pool of potential attendees, casting very large nets and offering a wide range of topics. This is great for a conference trying to sell tickets, but not for small business owners in need of specific, applicable content.

Small business owners with limited budgets need content and opportunities that meet the exact needs of their businesses to make an event worthwhile. Many niche conferences offer great educational panels and workshops for a lower ticket price than some of the big-name conferences, and it’s often easier to connect afterward with speakers.

Another advantage niche conferences have over larger, broader conferences like TED is the type of people they attract. The attendees of smaller conferences tend to be CEOs, presidents, or business owners. Having a pool of decision-makers to mingle with makes niche events networking goldmines.

How to Capitalize on Your Conference

To ensure a conference experience is a valuable one, there are steps a business owner should take before, during, and after:

Before

By doing your homework on each conference’s speaker lineup and event itinerary before you buy tickets, you can get a detailed view of the exact topics covered. Make sure the content, workshops, and speakers connect with the type of business you are and touch on the issues that are important to you.

Investigate the reputation of the organization hosting the conference. A lot of conferences look and sound attractive, but they turn out to be big pitchfests. Make sure the conference you’re attending is committed to providing you with useful material — not just providing its speakers an opportunity to sell their products and services.
Seek out social proof by talking to those who attended the year before. If the conference is new, research the speakers to make sure they’re knowledgeable.

During

With the proper approach, each session can provide value. Just keep asking one question: How does this apply to me/my business?

Listen to the questions others ask. There might be a way to apply the answers given to your own business. Don’t hesitate to connect with someone who asked an interesting question later on, either; sometimes, the most valuable insights emerge from discussions sparked in panels.
Take notes in the moment. I keep a single sheet of paper in the front of my notebook to log my “biggest takeaways.” These are the ideas I want to tackle right away once I get home, but I might lose track of them if I don’t write them down on the spot.
Stay socially active. It’s common for conferences to boast having the coolest parties and networking opportunities, but no amount of “cool” can automate the networking process. You still have to put yourself out there to make connections.

After

The day you get back is crucial. While it’s tempting to dive right in to answering your backlog of emails, right after the conference is when you’re the most motivated to take action on anything you picked up.

Pull out your “biggest takeaways,” and use them to lead a brainstorming session with your team. Decide which ideas are the best for your business, as well as how you’ll implement them.
If you don’t have a team, take out your calendar and designate a time to focus on each idea on your “biggest takeaways” list. This can keep you from losing the momentum and motivation you gained from the conference.

Although big-name conferences may hold a lot of appeal, it’s important to remember that great things come in small packages when you’re deciding where to put your hard-earned money. Look for niche events where you can really connect — you’ll get more than you ever bargained for.

Lena Requist established herself as a powerful force in business before joining ONTRAPORT as COO in 2009. The organization’s own event, Ontrapalooza, is later this fall, Lena has a passion for helping female entrepreneurs and is the founder of a virtual Women in Business group, where empowered women can share their strengths, struggles, and triumphs with each other. Connect with Lena on Google+ or Twitter.

Speaking of conferences, do you have your ticket for Everywhere Else Tennessee?

Startup Tips: 5 Tips to Make Your Inbox More Manageable

If you’re like me (or me a month ago), your inbox seems to be like a cancer that is growing faster than you can possibly lop it off. A day out of the office, or a morning of back-to-back meetings, leaves you to return to an unread email count in the hundreds. Just keeping up with your inbox could easily be your full-time job, except for the fact that it wouldn’t cross a single thing off your to-do list.

Tired of wasting time, sacrificing productivity, and putting up with inane subject lines because of email clutter? Here are five simple ways to declutter your inbox.

Set up Priority Inbox. If you use Gmail, you may be missing out on an amazing feature called Priority Inbox. I was initially hesitant to try it because I was worried I would somehow lose emails with it, but it has actually helped my productivity more than anything else I’ve done. Priority Inbox puts new emails in two different places within your inbox — one for ones it considers important, and another for ones it considers unimportant, based on the sender and subject line. Now, even though I might have 90+ new emails when I come into the office in the morning, I can immediately see the 12 that need my immediate attention, rather than getting lost in a sea of daily deal offers and cat slideshows until lunch.
Create filters. Many email providers allow you to set up filters for certain types of emails. You can use these filters to do lots of things: apply a certain label to an email, delete it, send it immediately to a certain folder and more. For the emails that aren’t urgent, set up filters so that they to skip your inbox and go straight into a certain folder for later. Then, once a day, go into that folder and see what’s new. I use this for internship applications I receive, emails from the shopping websites I subscribe to and emails sent to a former employee who no longer works with us.
Use Boomerang. Boomerang is a free plug-in for Firefox and Chrome with Gmail that allows you to do things like schedule an email to send in the future, bring an email back to your inbox at a certain time (like your flight itinerary the day before your trip) or return an email back to your inbox if you have not received a reply to it after X days. Rather than leaving an email in your inbox just to remind yourself to follow up on it or have it to easily access for later, use Boomerang to clear it out for now and have it come back when you actually need it.
Unsubscribe from 90 percent of the lists you’re on. While you probably just delete most of these unwanted emails every day, they clog your inbox, waste your time checking them off and then pushing delete, and make it hard for you to see the emails that actually matter. For a span of about a week or so, every time you get an email you do not want to receive (the ones from your mom don’t count!), take the time to open it, scroll down, and figure out how to unsubscribe from the list. It will require a little more time upfront but it will pay off in the long run when the number of emails you receive on a daily basis goes way, way down. You can also use a service like the Swizzle to help you unsubscribe from lists all at once or opt to receive daily digests from certain lists instead of individual emails.
Use your calendar rather than your inbox. People often leave emails in their inbox to remind them to do something — to make a call, start a project, or to follow up with someone. Instead of taking up valuable inbox space with emails you have already read, schedule these to-dos in your calendar to remind yourself that way. If you’ve been meaning to call to make an appointment somewhere but the place doesn’t open until Tuesday, create an event in your calendar for Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. as a reminder, rather than leaving the related email in your inbox (which you might not even see on Tuesday anyway).

Stephanie Kaplan is the co-founder, CEO & Editor-in-Chief of Her Campus Media, the #1 online community for college women and marketing platform for companies looking to reach the college market.

The Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invite-only organization comprised of the world’s most promising young entrepreneurs. In partnership with Citi, the YEC recently launched #StartupLab, a free virtual mentorship program that helps millions of entrepreneurs start and grow businesses via live video chats, an expert content library and email lessons.

4 Reasons Choosing Startup Life Over College Is Totally Worth It

In 2011, I wrote a post called “Why I Didn’t Get A Real Job” that got a lot of attention. Admittedly, it was a childish reaction to a relative’s assertion that I needed to go get a “real job.” After a few months of full-time entrepreneurship that same summer, I thought I was finally experiencing the startup life. Twenty-four-hour hackathons, no set hours, no boss — “Oh yeah!” I’d say, “let’s disrupt stuff!”

Okay, maybe I wasn’t quite the walking stereotype of Sh*t Entrepreneurs Say, but you get the point.

In April 2012, however, I sat at a crossroads: continue to just scrape by or go all in on my startup Fetchnotes. After a lot of internal struggle, five of us decided to leave the University of Michigan, and our journey eventually led us to TechStars Boston’s Fall 2012 class. With that decision 9 months in the rear view mirror, I’ve had some time to reflect on what really happens when you leave school to start a company.

1. Most people will never quite get you or what you’re doing.

When I talk to people about what I’m doing, I usually get one of these responses:

“So, are you, like, the next Mark Zuckerberg or something?”
“So is TechStars, like, paying you to work on Fetchnotes for them?”
“How long do you plan to do this before you get a real job?”
“How long until you go back to Michigan?” (As if it’s some sort of semester abroad program.)

The fact of the matter is, no one understands until they’ve been in the trenches. And that’s okay. It’s actually part of what I like about not being in Silicon Valley. Even in Boston, with its thriving entrepreneurial communities, most people I meet think what I’m doing is interesting. Maybe it’s an ego thing, but it provides a small dose of happiness every day.

2. All time is not created equal.

As you shed your other non-entrepreneurial responsibilities (like class), each individual unit of your time becomes more valuable.

You’d think it would be the opposite — when you have less time to give each hour is more precious, and there are diminishing marginal returns on your productivity. But in practice, when you have no other distractions, you actually become more productive.

As we dedicated more time and intensity to our specialties, this could be seen across all functions of the business. I became a more effective hustler. Our engineers became more efficient coders. The chemistry that evolves from a small team marching together all day, every day, in lockstep toward the same vision holds incalculable value.

3. Emotions are magnified — both the good and the bad.

Inevitably, there will be some crisis that rocks your foundation so greatly that you don’t know how to respond — and entrepreneurs are such good salesmen that most people have no idea there’s anything wrong. With no finals or homework to distract us, we walk around with a smile masking the internal disposition of a zombie. No one likes to admit it, but we tend to be emotionally unavailable to the outside world when it comes to problems in our startups. Just like parents, we never want to hear that our baby is anything but a darling prodigy.

But then, there will be days of pure, unmitigated ecstasy. You get two large investor commits in the same day. You get introduced to people who basically invented the Internet as we know it. You have two-hour whiteboard sessions with people whose theories you’ve been studying from afar. The press raves about your new release. You scream “YES!” and high-five anyone in your vicinity without explanation. You dance in place.

These are the moments that turn the Startup Bug into Serial Entrepreneur’s Disease.

4. The journey will be worth it in more ways than you can imagine.

Many more qualified people than I have espoused the virtues of starting a company over pursuing a traditional university education. But what makes it worthwhile are all the little things that mean so much more because you’re experiencing a level of career satisfaction most people must wait years for, if they ever achieve it at all.

It’s John-the-building-security-guard finally remembering your name and no longer making you sign in after three months of seeing you every single day. It’s finding out how many other people in your network have started using your product without you saying a word. It’s regularly enjoying team dinners and signing the check.

And then, one day, you look around at that very table of team members and notice that, for once, no one is talking about work. We’re reminiscing about a crazy adventure from the night before, or planning a concert for next weekend, or poking fun at each other’s dating lives. For the first time, you grasp the fact that the bonds you’ve forged would not have been so tight had you not convinced your team to take a bet on you, and more importantly, on themselves.

It’s the moment you realize that what makes you unique isn’t the pursuit of success, wealth or power. It’s that your mission in life is about the pursuit itself, rather than what you’re pursuing.

Alex Schiff is the founder and chief executive officer of Fetchnotes, which makes productivity as simple as a tweet. Prior to Fetchnotes, Alex was the vice president of Benzinga and a student at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

Three Lessons to Learn from Up-and-Coming Entrepreneurs

What makes so many up-and-coming entrepreneurs so wildly successful?

If you thought it was age, connections, or just some stroke of luck than think again because these modern entrepreneurs have something valuable to bring to the world even if it isn’t apparent to those outside of its understanding.

There is something about their work ethics, passion, and drive to explore the options that allows them to capitalize on trends, innovation, and markets long since dominated by dying companies.

1. Low barriers for action

Eyal Lichtmann sums up, quite perfectly, why agile entrepreneurs are able to make such a big impact:

“Find a niche. Go for it. Everybody has a dream, but only dreams plus action equals reality. There is no guarantee of success, but there is a guarantee of failure if you do not try … Dream big… then focus on the details.”

Traditional businesses are often govern by bureaucracy which places too many hurdles in the way of innovation and agility; smart entrepreneurs go with the flow, set out on big goals, and put in the time, energy, and resources to see a project to completion even if it hasn’t been analyzed to the 10^th degree by some “quality assurance” department.

2. A transparent, agile process

Eric Reis of the Lean Startup book/idea has two very important concepts about business that many traditional and overreaching businesses seem to miss the mark:

· Our goal is to learn as quickly as possible

· Don’t believe your own propaganda

Small and big businesses that were formed on the traditional approach such as outlining a detailed business plan, setting structure, and creating a tough product production process become bogged down with the ability to adapt their products based on customer feedback. Likewise, spikes of success can lead to having a false sense of security in the industry and market when in reality the product is already marching toward doom because it has been outclassed by an up-and-comer.

The thing you want to take away from this is that you must always pay attention to the customers and snap on a moment’s notice to make the changes that will keep them sealed to your brand.

3. Unity through creativity (not tyranny)

A boss should be a leader – not an individual that overly demands and controls every aspect of a project.

Businesses stagnant and waning in their industry, more often than not, are ruled by bosses that have an iron grip on their creative and talented team. The nit-picking and micro-management stifles creativity from those that are fully trained to complete a task – they were hired for their talent but the boss becomes their toughest hurdle.

The business that are doing great, agile things are the ones that allow for creativity thinking, flexibility in their work, encouragement from their peers and bosses, and give all the appropriate tools and resources to tackle an objective in the manner they see best fit.

Because these entrepreneurs act like leaders, rather than bosses, they are able to create and innovate in their industry where others fall flat.

Kelly Jane Brown is an aspiring writer, entrepreneur and student at UCLA.

13 Pieces of Startup Advice You Never Thought Of

Question: What’s your most unorthodox/funny/strange-but-good advice to other startup founders?

Get a Vacuuming Robot

“When you’re in startup mode, you’re not thinking about cleaning. The downside is that your environment really affects your productivity, so having a clean home office is crucial. Consider hiring a cleaning service or getting a vacuuming robot to make sure that you’re working in the best conditions so you can produce your best work!”

– Nathalie Lussier | Creator, The Website Checkup To

Working Out Will Save You Time

“I’ve found I’m so much more efficient after I work out that I always gain productive time, not lose it. Seems counter-productive for many, but my startup founder friends who don’t exercise regularly find it harder to stay focused, tougher to be creative, difficult to maintain a good diet, and are just less happy in general.”

– Derek Flanzraich | CEO and Founder, Greatist

Clean Your Employees’ Mugs

“As a founder and leader of your startup, you want to demonstrate to your team that everyone has to play multiple roles within the company — and some roles will be cool, others not so much. On Monday mornings, I like to go around and ask team members whether they need their mugs cleaned. Sure, I like to clean, but also I like to demonstrate that I am not above playing the role of a dishwasher.”

– Eric Bahn | Co-Founder, Hustle Con Media

Make a Championship Belt

“Create fun ways to reward employees. I give my employees a championship belt to place on their desks when they do something exceptional for the company. You will be able to get top performance from your employees by showcasing unique rewards.”

– John Hall | CEO, Influence & Co.

Decorate Your Work Space

“Boring work spaces make boring and less productive employees. Finding decor that you can afford and will motivate your staff might be tricky, but it is a proven fact that work performance is enhanced when employees are inspired and energized by their surroundings. Inspiration comes in many forms, so make sure your decor is consistent with your business goals.”

– Erika London | Co-Founder, iAdventure.com

Get Barefoot in the Park

“Think about it: a person takes off his shoes when he gets home and gets comfortable, which is the exact atmosphere that helps early-stage startups succeed. Early employees need to feel at home at the office, and they need to bond with their teammates like family. Don’t allow shoes at the office, and employees will stay later in the night and build a closer bond with their teammates.”

– Jun Loayza | President, Ecommerce Rules

Work in Corporate America

“This may sound weird, but it’s true. It’s wise to learn and make your mistakes on somebody else’s watch before risking everything on your own. And if you don’t have the right business skill set to start, launching your own company is going to be an uphill battle.”

– Alexandra Levit | President and Founder, Inspiration at Work

Encourage Daily Siestas

“Approximately seven hours after waking in the morning, we experience an energy drop that prevents us from working effectively. This is the perfect time to have a post-lunch, 20-minute catnap; studies have shown that midday napping can significantly improve performance. Some employees might feel uncomfortable napping during the work day, so lead by example and take a nap every day.”

– Emerson Spartz | CEO and Founder, Spartz

Get Over Yourself!

“Get over the fact that you are going to turn off a lot of people while running your startup. That includes your family, friends, prospective investors, prospective customers, media, etc. Once you do that, a great majority of the weight you carry while trying to run your startup dissipates.”

– Carmen Benitez | Co-Founder and Managing Director, Fetch Plus

Don’t Try to Boil The Ocean

” It’s a great visual analogy, and it perfectly encapsulates a major challenge for any startup founder. You’ve got to take the challenge on, one gulp at a time.”

– Brent Beshore | Owner/CEO, adventur.es

Give Time to Other Startups

“I’ve spent 10 hours a week over the past two years “advising” startups — formally or simply as a sounding board or beta tester. It’s great to have tunnel vision with your product, but supporting others has a few incredibly positive effects. You’ll meet very interesting and skilled people who can help you, and you’ll uncover clever ways to solve your own challenges.”

– Aaron Schwartz | Founder and CEO, Modify Watches

Take a Vacation

“Really, take one. When you leave your team to execute on their own, you’ll see where all the holes in your company are, and then you can work on patching them. You should be able to leave your company for a few weeks without them needing you.”

– Bhavin Parikh | CEO, Magoosh Test Prep

Don’t Live With Co-Founders

“Don’t live with your co-founders. When you’re part of a startup, you’re likely spending 15-20 hours a day with your co-founders. It’s inevitable that they will start to irritate you. If you have to spend your precious four hours of free time with them too, you can add their snoring problems to the mix!”

– Patrick Ambron | CEO, BrandYourself.com

At this national startup conference (that even you can afford) You’ll get great startup advice too!

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Been There, Done That: A How-To Guide from a Real-World Entrepreneur

Small businesses represent more than 99.7 percent of all employers in the United States. How do you get yours off the ground and running? While I was taking Indie Peace from concept to company, I learned a few things—some the hard way.

Great idea, maestro!

You’ve identified a niche and are poised to meet a need. You’re prepping to deliver a wonderful product into a market you hopefully know like the back of your hand. Feels good, doesn’t it? The tips may provide some lift to your business wings during your entrepreneurial flight and ensure sustainability along the way. Good luck!

1. Warm up your wings before you leave the nest—or crash like a rock.

There are thousands of risks in starting a new company. Reducing those risks as much as possible beforehand is vital. It’s an unknown road, yes, but without the unknown, we don’t really have an entrepreneurial adventure on our hands. Foresee the ups and downs of your journey; no one else will do it for you, and it will also help you feel less stressed as you navigate uncharted territory. The clever predictions you’ve forged from your upfront due diligence will serve you well.

Sustainability is the operative word here. Once you get going, don’t stop. Anyone can start a company, but few can sustain one. The key is seeing every possible outcome and determining the required pivot you must make along the way. Remember, this is a journey, not a destination. What do the first two years look like? What are the major milestones? Do you have all you need to meet your goals? Validate your revenue model for roadblocks. Create a journey map for your business that highlights the first major achievements.

2. Welcome the opportunity to punch holes in your business—from everyone.

Entrepreneurial wisdom can be found in the strangest of places, but be careful where you seek it. Great advice can carry the side effect of fear, so maintain your energy throughout and let nobody dampen your flame. Most times, good advice from friends or family is exuberantly given from a personal obligation to see that you don’t fall on your face. Don’t let them take the wind out of your sails.

The worthiest advice can be given from those with defeatist attitudes and the worst advice can sometimes come from those who are most qualified to give it. The least qualified can sometimes be the best for challenging your assumptions early on. They also bring an added layer of creativity, as they’re not informed on the traditional roadblocks in your industry.

Validate what you see as real threats and have a system for solving them. Punching holes in your business will serve you extremely well. Leverage all the minds around you to mitigate risk while putting your pride aside.

3. Form your board of advisors: The Specialists.

Once you get past the embryonic phases of your business concept, one of the quickest and easiest ways to sidestep landmines is to form a team of advisors, ideally consisting of successful entrepreneurs who have made the journey at least once, and leverage their expertise and experiences often. Believe it or not, most entrepreneurs love helping other businesses. They miss the startup phase and like to join in the conversations. Start with one or two people that you can call at anytime for advice. Ask family members and friends to refer you to people they know. Look for “specialists” with knowledge in a specific area, such as obtaining funding or taking a new product to market. You don’t need anything formal and your “board” never even has to have official meetings. In fact, my personal board of advisors has never gathered together to meet since we’ve been in business, but I know I can call on each one of them to advise within their specialty. They really enjoy it.

4. Find your tribe.

Find the local, entrepreneurial tribes on the same journey as you and get involved. Attend all the events and discover the ones for you. Try entrepreneur.Meetup.com, Cofounderslab.com, LinkedIn entrepreneurial groups, and spend some time on Google searching for entrepreneur societies and small business groups in your city. If you cannot find anything, create your own. The university or college near your city will probably have an entrepreneur institute on campus. Contact the director and see how you can get involved.

Co-working facilities are my favorite places to connect locally. They cater to entrepreneurs and host mixers and business pitch nights to share ideas and contacts, and are great places to meet all types of local mavens; I met my developer at one. The most important thing is to be involved; after that, the possibilities will present themselves.

If your tribe is not present locally, find them digitally. Ask your social network to make recommendations.

5. Consider a doing well by doing good business model.

Many times, sadly, businesses are formed purely for making as much money as possible. Consider ways your company can give back versus take away; a business that assists in the collective cure versus the disease. Embed something you care about into your product or service. Don’t simply form a business to make something as cheaply as possible and sell it as expensively as possible. Create a product or service that will make you smile when you go to sleep at night. This will sustain you in your business and be the primary source of your passion.

This also makes it easy for you to grab people’s attentions and elevate their eagerness to help. New businesses usually cannot afford a lot of public relations (PR) and marketing. Here’s the great gift to building a business of purpose: people want to help the “good guys”—especially in the digital sphere. Enhance your original idea accordingly. What do you care about? How can you and your business give back? For instance, in Indie Peace’s case, we support organic farming practices in the U.S. by only buying organic cotton grown on U.S. soil. All of our garments are exclusively made from organic cotton, so we eliminate herbicides, pesticides, defoliants, and fungicides from our environment and water systems. One shirt purchased versus non-organic eliminates 4oz. of pesticide use. Perhaps there’s a way you can give a percentage of sales to a charity you love.

Unless you’re creating a new market or disrupting one, you must find a way to separate your company from the “noise.” Enhance it with a social or environmental impact model. Be the small business you would like to see more of in the world. This may be tougher in the beginning, but in the long run it will generate more positive PR and social media buzz. Entrepreneur Magazine ran a two-page spread on Indie Peace—free PR I likely wouldn’t have received without our environmental mission.

6. Sell the idea that your business is great in 30 seconds.

Nail down a succinct description of your business that you can communicate in 30 seconds or less. Know it by heart. Whether you’re taking to an investor, an advisor, or a random person at a football game, it’s essential that you describe your business consistently and effectively. This also helps sharpen the way you describe your company to press, video, social media, etc. You’ll use it more than you know, so really know your company and its reason to exist.

7. Create a business plan that you actually use.

Unless you need capital, you don’t really have to have a formal business plan. Business plans tend to be stagnant documents that are read once and then forgotten. Instead, create a living “planning document” that is continually updated and revised as needed, with next steps and actionable line items that can be instantly assigned as tasks to be performed. Keep a good two-page executive summary on your company that you constantly update and are able to send out to those who express interest. Find a cloud solution that allows you to store your business work in a central location and assign out tasks with ease to others working with you. This makes it easily accessible to anyone on your team and more apt to evolve with your business. It’s great for instantly adding new team members to the conversation as well.

8. If you need capital, multiply whatever you think you need by two, and then assume you won’t get it.

Raising capital may be the biggest challenge for businesses. It was definitely the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my business. Many entrepreneurs don’t want to ask for the amount of capital they really need because they don’t want to scare off potential investors, but then end up underfunded and unable to sustain the business. It also signals to the investor that you don’t know the industry and the operational requirements for your company. Break the real number out and try to raise it in tiers.

Make 100 percent sure that if you miss an investment round, you can still keep your company in business. Funding is a moving target; it usually won’t happen when you think it will. It’s vital to have strong insulation by assuming you won’t raise the capital at the intended time. There is no way to put a timeframe on when investment will occur, but you do know when your own money will run out. When you estimate the month you need to secure the next round of working capital, add another 8 months to that and find a way to keep things moving until then. See where you can cut some up-front costs to add this investment padding.

Start with a short list of where you can go to raise the first round of capital you need—friends, family, bank, etc. Learn the art of crowdfunding. Learn all the platforms (Kiva.org, Kickstarter.com, indiegogo.com, Fundable.com, Peerbackers.com). The recent Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act encourages funding of small businesses by making it easier to raise money from many small investors instead of a few large ones. It can help you bridge the gap in funding for things like prototypes before you get to larger investors. What happens on crowdfunding sites is also valuable for validating whether or not your concept really has wings. When you’re ready to approach larger investors, divide whatever you think your business is worth by 1.3. Entrepreneurs are notorious for overvaluing their companies. This keeps you on a level with what the investors will be thinking.

9. Compete in business competitions.

Search online for new business competitions; they’re easier to win than you think. I won two of them for Indie Peace and it helped us in a multitude of ways. Always keep this on your shortlist of funding options. There are usually fewer entrants than you might expect, and if you are coming in with an environmental or social impact model, your odds increase. Moreover, these competitions provide great marketing and PR.

10. Weatherproof your business.

Set up your business to function even if there is an economic downturn, or if you do not secure investment at the intended time. Have backup suppliers. We have Indie Peace to the point now where we don’t need investors, but when we first started out, our business model relied heavily on investment rounds being achieved. This put us in dire straits when the economy tanked a few years ago. Investors were hard to find, boutiques were going bankrupt, banks were frozen, and suppliers were in the danger zone as well. Determine what your initial needs are and then take all of them off the table and figure out how the business works on the alternatives you’ve selected.

11. Develop a multi-channel strategy. Pick the right megaphones.

Take advantage of multiple online channels for promoting your business, but pick the right ones. Get to know all of them: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, Stumbleupon, etc. There are endless choices and new ones appearing every day. Find a company similar to yours on each channel and study the moves they make. There are thousands of megaphones out there—let your voice be heard, but spend time in the right places as a lot of time wasting can occur here. As with anything, measure your effectiveness. What does success look like for you on these platforms?

12. Automate you and all there is to do. Focus on the important stuff.

Take advantage of the small business productivity applications available in the cloud—they’re some of the best things to happen to solo entrepreneurs. They’ll help you automate basics such as accounting, invoicing, file sharing, and tasks management. Plus, most of them have pay-as-you-go programs that grow with your business and keep costs manageable. Plus, the less time you spend on tasks, the more time you can devote to learning how to develop your business. You know all of the things you have to do. Find a comprehensive cloud solution that lets you get more of them done in less time with fewer headaches, and as your business grows you can easily plug in new team members. An all-in-one cloud solution helps you run lean, mean, and organized.

13. FLY FLY FLY.

There’s much work to be done and you must ultimately decide the point where concept must meet tactical execution. It’s go time or not. The odds are either in your favor or not. What are odds really, other than the direct correlation between your own entrepreneurial due diligence and ability to create alternatives around the roadblocks? Thank God for entrepreneurs and their relentless ability to adapt. You’ll drive on through the night and that’s what slaps the odds in the face.

14. Do the work.

Be a business even when no one is watching, because success and character are built when no one is watching. With no one breathing over your shoulder checking in for status reports, distraction is everywhere. Act like you go to work by setting your own hours and sticking to them. Dedicate work times and let no one or nothing affect them. Know each day what you are going to accomplish and actually accomplish it. Have a dedicated workspace away from your “outside work hours” spaces. As an entrepreneur, you are taking success into your own hands. Staying organized and on-task is vital. Be careful to watch your effect on the business. Sometimes the business owner is the biggest problem.

15. Unplug and unwind.

I still struggle with this today. Establish time for yourself unrelated to your business. You’ll find that some of the best new ideas and inspirations pop up when you’re not working. Remember to keep your head up and enjoy life along the way. You only have one life to live – live it well.

Lawton Ursrey is the CEO and Founder of Indie Peace, an environmentally responsible apparel company, and Product Marketing Manager of Sage One, a simple, online accounting application for small businesses.

Is Your Unpaid Internship Program a Good Idea? 6 Legal Considerations

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate is especially high among college students and recent graduates. For those unable to find paid work, an unpaid internship might seem like a useful way to gain valuable experience, recommendations and even future job placement. Likewise, for cash-strapped startups, the idea of getting labor without having to trade liquidity or valuable equity can be too appealing to ignore.

However, there are some very serious legal considerations every for-profit company — including startups — must be aware of before attempting to hire unpaid interns.

Under federal law, every employee in America is entitled to a minimum wage, additional compensation for overtime and certain other benefits. The employer must also consider worker’s compensation, discrimination laws, employee benefits, state labor laws and unemployment insurance coverage. In order for these requirements to not apply, the employment relationship must fall under applicable legal exemptions.

In the case of Walling v. Portland Terminal Co., the United States Supreme Court held that one such exemption to the federal requirements exists for people who work for their personal advantage rather than that of their employer. Such a person may be considered a trainee instead of an employee for purposes of federal law. In this seminal court case, the Supreme Court looked to six factors in deciding whether a work program was for the intern’s own educational benefit or the advantage of their employer.

Here are the six factors considered by the Court:

The internship, even though it includes actual operation of the facilities of the employer, is similar to training which would be given in an educational environment.
The internship experience is for the benefit of the intern.
The intern does not displace regular employees, but works under close supervision of existing staff.
The employer that provides the training derives no immediate advantage from the activities of the intern; and on occasion its operations may actually be impeded.
The intern is not necessarily entitled to a job at the conclusion of the internship.
The employer and the intern understand that the intern is not entitled to wages for the time spent in the internship.

The DOL has taken the position that for the exemption to apply, all of the factors listed above must be met. While some of the above requirements may be covered by an effective agreement, those that are subjective create a substantial burden on a company looking to hire interns to create a substantive program that meets these criteria.

The key takeaways for anyone looking to hire unpaid interns is that you need an appreciation for the nebulous area of the law you are entering, understand the difficulty of complying with the Department of Labor’s specifications, and finally, ensure you do all you can to be in compliance with the law.

Peter I. Minton is the founder and President of Minton Law Group, P.C. His practice focuses on the representation of startups and emerging businesses in business transactions, capital raising, corporate governance and general corporate matters. Prior to founding the Minton Law Group, P.C., Peter attended the University of Pennsylvania and Georgetown University Law Center. Upon graduation, he began his practice in the mergers & acquisitions department of a large New York City law firm where he represented private equity and hedge fund clients in a diverse range of transactions. He is a admitted to the New York bar.

5 Ways Your Startup Should Be Using Video

I started “producing” my own videos when I was 8 years old. From the time my sister and I were deemed old enough to hold the family camera without breaking it, we were hooked on the wonders of video. Back then, polished videos were still a luxury. I never would have guessed that consumer-level cameras would soon fit in my pocket, or that video would become such a powerful piece of my own business.

I recently got together with my friend and fellow entrepreneur, Ariane Fisher, co-founder of the crowdsourced, cloud-based Storymix Media, to brainstorm a few of our favorite ways to use video to save time, pump up marketing and improve business practices:

Use video to train new staff. Most of our staff works remotely, so we don’t always have the luxury of sitting down with new team members to walk them through training. Instead, we use Camtasia, a screen recording software, to record ourselves walking through our processes step-by-step. When new team members start, we have a dozen videos that they can watch. These videos don’t have to be perfect and polished, as long as you can get your point across.
Use quick video tutorials to help clients understand complex topics. Most of our clients have hectic schedules, so we often use Camtasia to record short screen recordings in place of web conferencing. We simply send them links to private videos that walk them through specific concepts, and they can watch the videos on their own schedules. “Video tutorials are a great way to provide value to your existing clients,” says Fisher. “At Storymix, we use video tutorials to help clients get creative with our product and use it in ways they hadn’t considered.”
Use video to bring testimonials to life. A written testimonial is a powerful marketing tool, but a video testimonial is even more credible. “Testimonial videos seem more authentic to prospective clients than written reviews,” says Fisher. “They don’t have to be daunting or intrusive; they can be filmed in the comfort of your client’s home using their webcam. You can schedule a phone call with them after delivering your product or completing your service. Talk with them for a few minutes about what they enjoyed most. Then ask them to hit record on their webcam and keep speaking with them in an interview style.”
Create a short value proposition video for your website. Your value proposition is your promise to potential customers. Use a video on your website to quickly and clearly explain the benefits of what you’re offering. As Fisher puts it, “Explainer videos are super hot and a quick way to explain your value props to prospective clients. You can hire high-end professional services, or even go the DIY route and create your own explainer video using your existing footage and a voiceover with a USB mic.” Check out an example from her company on YouTube.
Use video to make yourself more visible in search engines. YouTube is the second-largest search engine in the world. “Google owns YouTube and places higher value on inbound links from their own platform,” says Fisher.

Whether you’re using video to communicate among your own team members or to complement your marketing, the most important thing is that you set aside time to jump in and start experimenting with it. Video is becoming a powerful part of modern business—if you’re not using it, you’re missing out on endless opportunities.

Allie Siarto is the co-founder of Loudpixel, a social analytics company focused on social media monitoring, insights, measurement and infographics. She also runs a project called Entretrip, a co-traveling experience for location independent entrepreneurs, and a digital marketing innovation podcast called The Apt Marketer.

Wait, So Co-Working Isn’t Great?

Co-working is all the rage these days, and for good reason. Many co-working spaces geared towards startups are really hybrid incubator programs. While co-working isn’t new, it’s definitely grown in popularity.

Today’s co-working spaces are often colocated with other startup programs. Those that aren’t housing an accelerator often host small workshops and other curriculum based activities for their members. Of course spaces like 1871, 1776 in DC and The Nashville Entrepreneur Center all house coworking space, incubation space, and accelerators.

Ok so if you’re not familiar, co-working spaces are office space where you can rent a desk or desk space through membership. They’re ideal for those entrepreneurs, startups, small businesses, and remote workers who work out of the house and either need some real interaction with human beings or want to keep their work life and home life separate. Most co-working spaces offer a variety of plans whether it be a few days a month, weekly, monthly, or annually.

Most co-working spaces throw in all of the necessities for work as well. Coffee machines, fax machines, internet, copiers, and other business tools are often included in rent or membership fees. Many co-working spaces also have lecture rooms, meeting rooms, and conference rooms available for their members to either claim, reserve, or rent.

Bigger cities usually have multiple co-working spaces, and there are several startups like DC based Speek and DC based CONT3NT which actually work out of two locations (1776 and Fishbowl).

Many co-working spaces, including Nashville’s Entrepreneur Center, 1871, 1776, CoWork Jax, and The Iron Yard in South Carolina have generously allowed Nibletz to work out of their space while traveling.

The other underlying idea behind co-working is collaboration and collision. You may find your next great technical co-founder or a developer at the coworking space you’re working at. You may be able to provide some much needed business development help to another entrepreneur, and heck, just like school and college, you may make friends. Wow!

Most co-working spaces are available around the clock and many of them also have activities outside of general “work” like cookouts and even field trips. Several co-working spaces also facilitate mentorship or in-service days for local law firms, PR firms, and accounting offices. All in the name of spurring innovation, growth, startups and the economy right?

Well this past weekend Business Insider took a different look in a piece called Montessori Management. In that piece they explored the backlash that several entrepreneurs are having in the co-working space.

Some entrepreneurs feel that co-working is distracting. Others feel that co-working spaces are ripe for stealing ideas, and many feel like forced collaboration actually feels–well–forced.

Business Insider takes a much deeper look though, tracing the roots of Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page who had Montessori educations. An education that promotes democratic learning, collaboration where everyone has a voice. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales also had Montessori educations.

Knocking down walls and throwing in gigantic tables for everyone to work at seems like a good idea on the surface. Perhaps in the startup or small business “co-working model” it works. It seems to work whenever we work out of a co-working space, but for big corporations is it the way to go?

Some people believe that the forced collaboration and the atmosphere created by it can actually be detrimental to business. To some the “Kumbaya” approach to working and collaboration isn’t the way to go. “A focus on interpersonal harmony can actually hurt team performance,” Mark de Rond a Cambridge academic told The Economist. Sometimes there is so much collaboration and so many meetings on top of meetings that people are meeting and collaborating to decide if they are going to meet and collaborate, all the while getting nothing done.

Shifting back to the startup co-working space though, I am definitely still on the side that co-working is good for startups. With the failure rate of startups, co-working spaces give you an opportunity to meet like minded colleagues who may need you or who you may need down the road. In our experience, nothing bad has come out of co-working. In fact we got our Managing Editor after co-working at the LaunchPad in Memphis.

And, just so you know, here are some great coworking spaces around the country.

3 Startup Lessons From an NFL Coach

With the 2013-14 NFL season kicking into full gear, and as I settle into my Sunday ritual, I’m reminded of why my hero, head coach Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks, is just that — a hero.

Since he took the reins in Seattle in 2010, Pete’s taken a below-average team and turned out a Superbowl contender. His leadership style can be applied to a startup and to leading a company. There is a lot to like:

“Do it better than it has ever been done before”: Pete inspires his team and his program to “do it better” than ever before. He believes this mantra at his core. I know I can certainly do a better job of evaluating, optimizing, and maximizing every area of production in my business.

So can you. Once a year, make sure to break down every aspect of operations — from your cleaning service to board meetings. Evaluate how you can do better than anyone has before.

“Be different”: The Seahawks leadership has specifically looked for players with unique skills and traits. They then put them in a position where they can take full advantage of their strengths and minimize their weaknesses. Through this process, the Seahawks have acquired a collection of players that others didn’t value as highly. These players were able to fit together to perform at a very high level.

With the market for technical talent as competitive as it is, part of the challenge for a successful startup and technology company is to think outside of the box. Who are the right types of people and what skills should you look to hire for? With a specific salary amount available, it is critical to use dollars to achieve maximum output. What are the people and skills that are undervalued but can add tremendous value when put together?

“Compete”: Competition is about setting up an environment where people are driven to perform to their maximum ability. Doing this while retaining team camaraderie and spirit is difficult. I believe Pete has done an excellent job of communicating the purpose of internal competition – to make each player better. Grading games and practice tape, comparing players, and completing detailed evaluations naturally creates a meritocracy. Pete believes that if there is an available player who will improve the team, it is his responsibility to make a change in order to make the team as competitive as possible.

The takeaway: Set up an environment that requires everyone to up their game each day. Use data and transparency to show your employees how they are performing, and be very clear that it is your responsibility to use the limited number of positions and expenses to make the best company it can be.

And with that … Go Seahawks!

Matt Ehrlichman is the CEO of Porch, where you can get inspired by the best home projects your neighbors have completed, see what any home project will cost, and find the best service professional your neighbors and friends recommend. Previous to Porch, Matt was a founder and CEO of Thriva (acquired by Active Network) and Chief Strategy Officer of Active Network (2011 IPO). Matt lives in Seattle, WA.

YEC founder Scott Gerber keynoting at this huge startup conference for startups “everywhere else”

Chicago Startup Dabble Trying To Save Itself With Honesty

Dabble is a great Chicago-based startup that’s trying to serve as a marketplace for people to take specialty classes on anything from guitar playing to bridge playing to designing websites. The market place for this kind of startup is getting kind of crowded, but the two women behind the wheel, Erin Hopmann and Jess Lybeck are doing whatever they can to chug along.

In all fairness Dabble is doing a little better than just dabbling. Mashable reports that they’ve raised $500,000 in two angel rounds. They’ve received a bunch of good press locally and regionally. In fact they are often compared to other startups with similar ideas as one of the first to market. Add to that the fact that they are on pace to double sales in 2013 and you may be wondering why the need to “save themselves”.

Well at one point, after closing their angel rounds, Hopmann and Lybeck took on a few more employees and salaries for themselves. At this point they’ve cut back down from 7 employees to 3 and also stopped taking a salary. It would seem sales aren’t sustaining the company and they are looking for another big round of funding to get it over the hump.

So they’ve decided to try something a little different. Both Hopmann and Lybeck are penning a blog called “30 Days of Honesty.” “What do you do when you’re struggling with a company you love” is the headline at the top of their blog. In it they talk about the trials and problems they are going through right now as they run out of runway.

The hope is to help other entrepreneurs, and at the same time maybe find that special investment that will get them to the next level.

The women told Mashable that they’ve already received responses from customers who offered to pay more to keep the startup afloat. Other entrepreneurs have written in with encouragement, ideas, and words of wisdom, and they also just set up an appointment with an investor who had read the blog.

Today (September 10th) marks day 16 of their quest.

What comes next? Hoppmann says she may have to find work if the company doesn’t turn around. “If it’s a month from now, and there’s not some hope for taking pay out of Dabble by the end of the year, I will go and seek out something that is a source of income,” she said in the interview

They aren’t the first ones to talk about a startup failing. There was an anonymous Tumblr called “My Startup Has 30 days to Live,” and even our good friends at WorkForPie penned a thought provoking post as they were running out of runway earlier this summer.

What happens next for Dabble? You can keep up with their plight here. Hopefully they will find both the knowledge and the money they need to continue. If not, hopefully they’ll dust themselves off and start again.

What’s it like to fail? Lucas Rayala, the founder of Minnesota startup Altsie, who chronicled the failure of his startup in TechCrunch will speak on that topic at Everywhere Else Cincinnati.