Earning Your Leadership Stars and Stripes

For many of us, the Fourth of July conjures up images of fireworks, hotdogs, and the unofficial start of the summer season. But when we celebrate Independence Day, it’s also important to reflect on what our founding fathers gave our nation as well as the lessons they can teach us about great leadership.

Fifty-six men signed the Declaration of Independence. They were lawyers and merchants, farmers and large plantation owners. They were educated, wealthy men. They signed and pledged their lives, fortunes, and honor to ensure that the 13 colonies could establish a sovereign nation, truly leading others by their example.

In today’s workplace, most people equate leadership with a specific position or job title. But you need more then a title on the door to have followers. True leadership is the ability to influence people to achieve a better result for an entire organization or group.

The most effective leaders have a very strong sense of self; they understand the qualities that make other people want to follow them and they know how to adjust those qualities when circumstances require them to do so. The most effective leaders are those who:

Know their own strengths and limitations;
Create and effectively communicate a positive, realistic vision;
Motivate and inspire followers to reach their potential;
Look beyond their own self-interest and encourage others to do the same;
Anticipate and manage conflicts fairly and objectively;
Exhibit self-confidence;
Respect and maintain personal and organizational values;
Are fair, reasonable and compassionate;
Instill trust; and
Behave consistently.

These leaders develop and articulate reasonable goals and hold people (including themselves) accountable. They are prepared to make difficult decisions and balance the sensitivity of individual needs with organizational needs. Employees not only recognize their power and authority but they accept it and follow these trusted leaders willingly.

There are two ways to get people to do what you want: compel them by using your “position” power or persuade them by using your “personal-relational” power. In certain situations, compelling your team to do something based solely on your position power may work best to meet production needs. But a consistent approach of, “Do this because I said so” will not serve you well in the long term because it will limit your ability to develop “personal-relational” power.

Persuasion requires developing relationships based an understanding of what makes people tick and what motivates them. The trick is to figure out how to influence and motivate your staff through the effective use of both the proverbial carrot AND stick.

An honest assessment of your leadership qualities will enable you to capitalize on your natural strengths and work to improve those you find more challenging. Ask yourself, “What kind of leader do I want to be?” and “How do I want to be perceived by those reporting to me?”

Then, create a written credo summarizing your values, beliefs, and management philosophy to help you focus not only on what you want to accomplish but how you want to do it. These are important considerations not only because it will enable you to develop effective relationships but also because it will enable you to complete the tasks at hand more effectively, making YOU more valuable to your organization.

To be a good leader, it is critical to develop management skills relating to delegation and feedback. Differences in employee abilities, skills, and style are inevitable and must be managed in order to meet workplace demands. Leaders who learn to recognize these differences and flex their leadership style to meet those needs will be more successful at managing and motivating their employees to achieve organizational objectives.

To delegate effectively, always operate under the principal that you can never be too clear. Here are some tips:

Take the time to explain the goals and objectives. If everybody from administrative support to senior staff understands the overall objective (which typically can be explained in 3 sentences in less than 30 seconds) or how their segment of the project ties into the overall goal, they will be more invested in the project and better serve the needs of the organization.
Let people know how you want information to be shared (via e-mail, voicemail, meetings, etc.), who else is working with them, and any other peculiarities specific to this project. Most importantly, let them know how best to approach you throughout the project if they need clarification or further instruction. Do not allow yourself to become a choke point or source of frustration for your team.
Set specific deadlines – “ASAP” is meaningless. So is “In a few days.” Try, “I need it in an hour,” or “I need it Wednesday afternoon.” Leave no room for ambiguity. Setting specific deadlines and allowing your team to manage their own workload will ameliorate your constant need to hover and inquire, “Is it done yet?” to the relief of both you and your team members. It is equally important that YOU adhere to team deadlines. Lead by example. Again, if you become a choke point, you will frustrate members of your team and ultimately sabotage your own career.
Provide on-going feedback to allow for corrections to be made as the project progresses. Capture those “teachable moments” along the way to strengthen your team. When delivered properly, feedback not only creates trust and cooperation; it focuses on improvements, both possible and those actually achieved. It increases skills, improves employees’ confidence and enhances your personal-relational power.

On-going, informal feedback enhances the formal appraisal process because staff members receive messages throughout the year offering immediate corrective action for very specific behaviors. The formal review can than be used to reinforce those message and focus on systematic goal setting to ensure the professional development of each person for the benefit of the individual as well as the organization.

Keep in mind, not all managers are leaders, but every leader is a manager. Your goal is not simply to make everyone happy (or miserable), but to understand how to capture individual talents and get the best out of each contributor. In his address to officers of the Virginia Regiment, George Washington once said, “Remember that it is the actions, and not the commission, that makes the officer, and that there is more expected from him than the title.” These words are still pertinent today. When you focus not only on the “what” of what it takes to be a successful leader but also on the “how,” you will see your sphere of influence grow and your career soar.

Kathleen Brady, CPC is an iPEC-certified career management coach with more than 25 years of experience helping people identify and realize their professional career goals. In GET A JOB! 10 Steps to Career Success (Inkwater Press, 2013) Brady shares her secrets for navigating the job search process from start to finish as well as practical exercises for job seekers at every level. GET A JOB! is available at www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com, and other online retailers. For more information, visit www.careerplanners.net.

Forbes called this startup conference a Must Attend.

Startup Tips: 9 Challenges To Partnering With A Bigger Company

Question: Are there any disadvantages to partnering with a company much bigger than yours, and how do you manage them?

Where’s the Control?

“The chief disadvantage of partnering with larger companies is loosing control over timeline and positioning. Typically, you are rate-limited in progress by how fast the larger organization can move, and you won’t be able to directly control the channel partner to do what you want. You can’t manage your partners, but what you can do is set firm expectations and legal obligations from the onset.”

– Victor Wong | CEO, PaperG

Watch the Time Sink

“Bigger companies, by their nature, move much slower than your company. Keeping things moving can be a struggle when you aren’t use to dealing with as much bureaucracy.”

– Wade Foster | Co-founder, Zapier

Beware of Bureaucracy

“When working with a large company, it is important to recognize that it may take some time to identify the appropriate contact, and that the person you’re working with may or may not have the influence or bandwidth to get things done. Consequently, these relationships are time-consuming to build and can take a lot of effort for a small team to manage effectively.”

– Garrett Neiman | Co-founder and CEO, CollegeSpring

Just Word of Mouth?

“Partnering with a larger company can be great, but when it comes down to it, you are just another word of mouth for them. You sometimes do more work for them while they just let your name “appear” with them. Do what works best for you and do ask yourself if you really need to partner with them. If not, then don’t even jump on the boat.”

– Ashley Bodi | co-founder, Business Beware

Getting Lost in the Shuffle

“A good partnership means that you have to have clear communication, which can be tough when you’re dealing with a company with multiple layers of stakeholders — each of whom may leave her position, veto a step or otherwise make the partnership more difficult to deal with. It’s not impossible to deal with, but when you have fewer personnel to shepherd a deal, it’s something you need to be aware of.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

Feature Creep!

“When you partner with a large company, beware the “just add one more thing” disease. Large companies are used to getting what they want and will try to push you to write more features, add more support or customize your business around their needs, sometimes to the overall detriment of your business.”

– Nathan Lustig | cofounder, Entrustet

Retention vs. Innovation

“Working with partners much bigger than you are rarely works out. Big companies are often very inflexible, slow moving, and sometimes require massive contracts that take months to negotiate and that they have no hesitation about pulling out of very quickly. The culture at many big businesses is about “job retention” rather than “innovation”, and biz dev people often keep themselves busy with meetings that go nowhere while trying to cover their behind. Despite numerous attempts, and thousands of hours, I’ve never had a partnership that made a big difference to our bottom line.”

– Matt Mickiewicz | Co-Founder, Flippa and 99designsAdjust Your Timelin

“Manage your expectations regarding timelines. Everything takes forever in larger bureaucracies. Decisions have to be reviewed and approved by three layers of management and usually one committee — the red tape can really hamper your plans if you’re not realistic about the timelines you’re working with.”

– Brent Beshore | Owner/CEO, AdVentures

Don’t Be Bullied

“A bigger company can sometimes bully you around since you are the smaller partner. You can easily manage the relationship by being very clear with expectations and and terms of the relationship.”

– John Hall | CEO, Influence & Co.

Now check out: Learn to pitch BEFORE you raise capital.

Some Of Atlanta’s Top Startups Talk About Competing For Talent

Startups face a myriad of challenges as they evolve from concept to validation, launch to revenue generation. None of these stages is easy. All require effort, perseverance, and talent. Attracting and retaining top talent is not a number one priority when held up against other pressing issues such as product development and, in some cases, attracting capital.

But when they are ready, startups have to vie for talent in a tight market. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate for IT professionals is in the low single digits. Projections indicate that by 2016, the increase in technical hiring will more than double the growth rate of all other occupations. In this hyper-competitive market where the competition is large, established corporations that can afford to extend attractive compensation packages and startups with personnel needs face an uphill climb.

In this red-hot labor market, wise startups realize that it’s not always about cash. Instead, offering a unique culture and creative perks can be just as compelling. It also helps to recruit in places that others do not.

MailChimp CEO Ben Chestnut knows firsthand how hard it is to attract talent, but it’s not because Atlanta is a barren wasteland. He uses the fact that Atlanta is a top market in the region to his advantage. “It’s very much a ‘leave no stone unturned’ approach we take, and I’d add that we tend to look under really weird stones. It helps a ton to be in Atlanta, because we’re an attractive city for talent in surrounding areas to move to.”

Soletron CEO A.J. Steigman, an Emory graduate, uses being in Atlanta, and connections with the local universities to his advantage. “The business conditions in the city are superb for startups,” says Steigman. “The positive business environment plus the ability to recruit top notch talent from local universities were the primary reasons for us getting our Buckhead office.”

Startups know there are intangibles that come into play when trying to attract talent. Founders and CEO’s alike find themselves having to sell their vision to potential employees. This is difficult in the earlier stages of a startup’s life but does get increasingly easier as it gains traction. Consistency and clarity of vision is key.

“Our sell is always the same,” offers up Michael Tavani, co-founder of Scoutmob. ”We have a huge and unique opportunity to do something magical that’s never been done before and doesn’t happen much, if ever, out of Atlanta.”

Scoutmob is one of the few business-to-consumer startups showing traction in a town known more for successes among business-to-business startups.

Unique perks go a long way toward attracting Millennial and Gen Z candidates who make up much of Scoutmob’s employee base. Located in the hip Krog Street area, this is Tavani’s description of the “vibe” at Scoutmob: “a casual environment, no set hours or vacation policy and working with a bunch of people that are determined to create something delightful that millions of people will use.”

Continue reading, and see what Adam Bitzer cofounder of Pardot and Bill Fasig CMO at Sports Challenge network have to say.

Why The Perfect Startup Pitch Isn’t A Pitch At All

Everyone loves a good story. Some of our favorite stories are from movies we watched as children. They all have the same ending: “…and they lived happily ever after.”

We know the ending before the movie even begins, so why do we watch them? We watch to see the journey. The journey that started with a struggle or a problem is finally resolved as the prince and princess ride off into the sunset.

So why, then, do most investment pitches start with, “And my company is the next Apple or Facebook”? I mean, that’s the fairytale ending, isn’t it? That our startup is the next multibillion-dollar company?

Apple and Facebook didn’t start out as multibillion-dollar companies. Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak built their first product, the Apple I, on the mere vision that computers would be used by consumers — at a time when computers were exclusively used by businesses. Through innovation after innovation, Apple evolved into the company we know today, but the journey was not done without its struggles. (If you want to get the full picture of all the company’s struggles, read the nearly 600-page biography of Steve Jobs written by Walter Isaacson.)

Besides, as an early-stage startup, there are no great revenue numbers to put on a slide – only predictions. You may have a business plan, but it could completely change tomorrow.

What you do have is a story. You have experienced a problem or seen a need. Now you are actively working to provide a solution to that problem, or fill that need. Not only that, there have been bumps in the road thus far and there will be even more in the future — so your determination and passion to get the job done needs to show.

For example, my company provides expiration date management software to the grocery industry, but my investment pitch never starts out with, “I made Date Check Pro, and it will make millions!”

Instead, I start out by describing how I used to work in a grocery store. I checked far too many expiration dates on far too many cereal boxes, and realized there had to be a better way.

The goal of starting with the story is to show that you are personally connected to the problem you are looking to solve, and that you are the right person for the job.

Knowing this, investors are more likely to connect with you, the entrepreneur. One of our investors — Peter Layton, a former partner at Goldman Sachs turned serial entrepreneur and angel investor – told me recently, “I invest in people first and the idea second. I want to hear the entrepreneur’s experience with the problem they are looking to solve, their passion to solve it, and how they plan to do so. If the story is good, I am more likely to invest since I know there is a good founder behind the idea.”

So before your next pitch, remember these key tips:

Share your story instead of pitching your company.
Keep it short — six minutes or less.
You’re running an early-stage startup. You don’t have perfect financial projections or a fireproof business plan. Include your plan to grow the company into your story, but be open to suggestions.
Practice, practice, practice. Yes it’s a cliché, but you don’t write your story in one sitting. How could you tell it perfectly on the first try?
Remember: You’re not “pitching,” just telling a story. Relax!

Andrew Hoeft is the founder of Pinpoint Software, Inc. His company has created Date Check Pro, expiration date management software that allows for proactive management of inventory and will be launching a second product late 2013. He is a co-founder of StartupMKE, a founding member of StartupWI, and a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater studying entrepreneurship. In addition, his company is a member of the Gener8tor accelerator program which provides numerous resources to start-up technology companies.

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.

Now read: Why bootstrapping might be the smartest choice you make

Jason Fried of 37signals Talks Product Design at Chicago TechWeek

It’s Chicago’s big week, and they have some awesome speakers and panels lined up.

First up, Jason Fried with Designing Products with Purpose. You probably know that 37signals builds collaboration apps for small businesses. Which means you probably know that they know what they’re talking about when it comes to product design. They’ve been in business for more than 10 years, so they’ve been through every change out there.

In the video below, Fried talks defines product design. In his view, product design doesn’t end when the product ships. Instead, designers need to think about the product and its usability years down the road.

He cautions entrepreneurs to focus and not try to do too much.

I’m always a fan of taking a vision that you have and cut it down to a manageable size so that you can actually do something.

Check out the rest of Fried’s video, and stay tuned for more TechWeek coverage.

3 Reasons Women Should Pitch Their Startups More Often

Women entrepreneurs don’t pitch as often as their male peers. I encourage women to step up to the plate, whether it’s asking for capital to fund their startup, or asking for a raise at work.

In 2012, only 16 percent of startups pitching to angels in the U.S. were women-led, according to the Center for Venture Research at the University of New Hampshire. Out of that 16 percent, 25 percent secured funding.

3 benefits of pitching your startup:

Feedback

Pitching your startup is a way that you can receive advice and suggestions from potential investors that can help your business model get closer to meeting market needs.

Connections

Don’t view pitching as a zero-sum game, where you either get funding or you don’t. Instead, view pitching as an opportunity for you to meet key influencers. While a potential investor may not be interested in investing in your startup, she/he may know someone who might want to learn more and, by pitching, you increase your network, as well as you chances of securing a relevant introduction.

And yes, capital.

One of my favorite sayings is, “If you want money, ask for feedback” (and we come full circle…). Pitching is an opportunity for you to share your startup, engage people, and secure funding. Whether someone wants to invest on the spot, or you receive a referral to a potential investor, remember that putting yourself out there can get you closer to raising capital.

Need a pep talk before venturing out to pitch? Check out the Pipeline Fellowship Blog, which features candid interviews with members of our community, as well as an Entrepreneur Prep section.

Article originally posted at Ideas Lab.

Natalia (aka Ms. Oberti Noguera) is Founder and CEO of the Pipeline Fellowship, an angel investing bootcamp for women philanthropists. Natalia holds a BA in Comparative Literature & Economics from Yale. Women’s eNews recognized her as one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century for 2012 and Business Insider included her on its 2013 list “The 30 Most Important Women in Tech under 30.” You can find Natalia on Twitter (@nakisnakis).

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.

A programmer’s guide to getting hired by a startup

Why Bootstrapping Might Be The Smartest Choice You Make

One of the earliest and most critical decisions an entrepreneur must make is whether to self-fund a startup by bootstrapping, or raise outside funding through venture capital. The implications of each decision are significant.

How you fund your company will help determine its chances of success, its scale, its long-term prospects, and ultimately, your relationship with it.

As an entrepreneur who has invested significantly in my own company, I believe that bootstrapping is the best option. It’s never easy, and it’s not always glamorous, but bootstrapping will force you to become a better, stronger entrepreneur with a more vibrant business. Here’s why:

Creative Freedom: The creative and executive freedom that entrepreneurs have at the beginning of their projects is priceless. Bootstrapping a company with your own funds protects that freedom without the (often stifling) accountability to an outside voice protecting its investment. When you bootstrap, you are that voice — and you’re the creator too. Even if you supplement with outside funding down the road, bootstrapping gives you far more control over your own business in those critical early days.
Smaller = Scrappier: With less capital to work with, you will be forced to start small, test your assumptions carefully, and then scale up. Along the way, you will learn about your products, markets and customers more intimately. And if you make mistakes — as all entrepreneurs do — they will almost certainly be smaller in scale and impact. Meanwhile, you will learn to become a scrappier, more vigilant founder.
Better Products: Another advantage of a limited budget is a greater focus on your products and services. The pressure of a shorter runway will force you to get your products right. When every last dollar matters, you need to pay attention to your customers and their needs by building a superior offering. That insight and dedication will increase the likelihood of generating revenue and building a brand more quickly.
High Stakes (But Higher Rewards): As a bootstrapper and founder, you are your company’s original (and only) shareholder. As a result, you will retain control and equity. Bootstrapping also aligns your incentives with the success of the company: If it fails, so do you; if it succeeds, you succeed too — and at higher multiples. This also keeps ownership clear and manageable; no other investors will claim parts of the company or impede the important, rapid decisions you have to make in a startup’s early days.
Smarter Decisions: You will rarely be as cautious with other people’s money as you are with your own. Bootstrapping will almost certainly make you a better manager and incentivize you to intelligently grow your business. Learning how to do more with less is one of the most important skills of an entrepreneur — and a key principle of 21^st-century business.
Better Profit Margins: Bootstrapping a business is one of the best ways to stay lean, which will do wonders for your profitability and valuation. Plus, companies running with low overhead, often enjoy a much larger profit margin. If they succeed and begin to consider exit opportunities, a low-cost margin can have a dramatic impact on earnings, which is a common basis for valuation. One of the most compelling ways to increase your exit multiple is to cut costs — a skill that bootstrapping entrepreneurs understand well.
Faster Progress: Bootstrapping usually keeps a company’s runway short — with less cash, there is less time to get a company off the ground. This is one of the greatest motivators to quickly build a product and get it to market. Rapidly testing and iterating on your offering is an efficient and cost-effective way to develop a product. It will also dramatically increase your chances of success. Outside investment often reduces that pressure, creating a cushion that can add months or even years to your timeline.
Less Outside Influence: Raising outside investment often attracts a great deal of attention, particularly when the investors are high profile or the deal is widely publicized. While glamorous and exciting, it also raises your profile significantly. In contrast, entrepreneurs who bootstrap have a major advantage: They can operate in relative secrecy for a period of time, staying off the radar as they fund their own operations. And that can make all the difference in maneuvering around competitors and building a great product .

Every entrepreneurial venture is different, of course. The one constant, however, is that success depends on an entrepreneur’s ability to execute effectively. And my years of experience as an entrepreneur have taught me that bootstrapping is a powerful, fulfilling, intelligent way to execute.

Jay leads Innovation at Best Drug Rehabilitation. In his startup experience, he has built a digital marketing agency, a content network, and an e-commerce store. Jay speaks in the Bay area about social media marketing, SEO, and current trends in the internet-startup industry.

Now check out 5 tips to succeeding in an emerging industry.

3 Components Of An Indispensable Product

At Shop It To Me, we believe companies can disrupt a market and have long-term loyalty not just by building a great or insanely fun product, but by building an indispensable product.

Look at some of the services today with the most avid users — Google Search, Apple’s iPhone (when it first came out), Twitter, Etsy, eBay, Pinterest — all have one thing in common: they have built a product that is indispensable for certain audiences.

What is indispensable?

So, what exactly is an indispensable product? I believe you can divide it into three different components:

1. An indispensable product solves an important or meaningful problem.

Every indispensable product out there solves important problems for its users. VCs often refer to this as as the “aspirin” vs “vitamin” scenario (whenever you have a headache or pain, aspirin is a must-have; vitamins are a nice-to-have).

There’s a reason Google Search is so popular — it is indispensable in two ways. Users of Google search trust it to give them answers to the most important questions. For advertisers, Google SEM and SEO has traditionally been the best place to find customers with active intent to buy their service. Selling your amazing new tax software for businesses? Get to be at the top of the search results for “business tax software” and you’ll have the huge number of highly targeted leads you need to crush your quarterly goals.

2. An indispensable product has no good substitutes.

To gain real traction, an indispensable product not only needs to solve an important need; it must lack good substitutes when it first comes out. Your product won’t be indispensable if users can easily find an alternative.

When the Apple iPhone first came out, there were no other products remotely like it. It was terrible as an actual phone, but it was the only phone out there for consumers that would let you actually search and view real web pages (as opposed to just mobile versions), or see your emails in a visually appealing and simple way.

If you want to build an indispensable product, you need to make your product unique for the customers you are going after — you can’t just be a slightly better version of a popular product and expect people to switch.

3. An indispensable product is ideally something you need on a frequent basis.

The third point is not a true requirement of indispensability, but an important attribute if you want to build a habit and get frequent usage. If people find your product indispensable but only need it once every 5 years (or once at all), you may have a great product, but you won’t be building a habit for when competitors enter the space. On the other hand, if people need your product frequently, you have the ability to train them to be accustomed to your service. This will keep users coming back long after other competitors make similar products (think of the millions of people still using MyYahoo! 10 years later).

A quick test for indispensability

So you think your product has all three of the criteria for an indispensable product. How do you know for sure that it’s indispensable? Here’s one easy test: take it away from your users and see how they react. If people start screaming that the service you provide is gone, there’s a pretty decent chance you have an indispensable product.

Think about the products that are indispensable to you. Smartphones, webmail and Twitter are all indispensable to certain people. Think of how people tense up when their phone goes missing for 15 minutes, or how a reporter would feel if they could not access their Twitter feed and had to wait until news appeared on a website.

From inadvertent tests, we know our Shop It To Me emails can be indispensable. Every once in a while our emails get delayed. When that happens, we often hear about it not only from our data but from our support box — users email us demanding (occasionally with profanity) why their salemail has not yet arrived. And with our new product, Shop It To Me Threads, we occasionally test the waters of indispensability by asking user-testers how they would feel if we removed certain features. We’ve had a number of features that users say are “really great” that we removed from our system because they didn’t notice when they were gone.

So for all of you working on the next big thing: as you build out your product, and start prioritizing features, figure out what parts are needed to make your product more indispensable. Focus your energies on that. You’ll build a stronger product and have a much larger chance of turning your idea into a wild success.

This post originally appeared on the author’s blog.

Charlie Graham is the founder and CEO of Shop It To Me, an intuitive personal shopping assistant that knows what you want and delivers it on sale in your size.

Are today’s “world changing” startups, really world changing?

4 Useful Apps To Help You Manage Your Startup

The modern business world is mobile — it’s not about brick-and-mortar offices and storefronts. It’s not about desks and computers wired to the spot. To work effectively on the go and with an equally tech-savvy customer base, you need to put together a custom array of business apps to get the job done. The following apps are excellent resources for startups, from media and marketing firms to goods and commodities retailers.

1. Square

If you’re a point-of-sale retailer and you don’t know about Square, now is the time to learn. With the help a simple peripheral, Square allows businesses of all sizes to create a mobile point-of-sale, eschewing cash registers and clunky credit card swipers altogether. Square lets you take payments, send receipts by email, set prices and track your cash flow by the minute. This is a must-have for any retailer, whether operating out of a single location or on the go.

2. Business Plan

Tracking your fledgling company’s data and presenting it to potential clients, investors, and employees is both essential and difficult. Business Plan allows you to keep all of this information in one, tidy package. It’s a great app for those who have never written a business plan before, presenting you with a simple, step-by-step template with clean graphics and a simple interface. As a bonus, Business Plan links to another app, Start-up Budget, that lets you calculate your base finances dynamically.

3. Basecamp

Just because your startup is lean and full of driven, talented people doesn’t mean it’s easy to keep all your ducks in a row. Basecamp is a full-service project management app that keeps track of info big and small. It’s a personal planner, memo-maker, inbox and filing cabinet all in one. Use it to create to-do lists, upload files to share with others in the company, and send and receive feedback to everyone on every project. Most conveniently, Basecamp isn’t entirely bound by its central app. Users can access their Basecamp account on any device that has Internet access, from a mobile device to a laptop or desktop computer.

4. BizXpenseTracker

When you’re on a tight budget (and startups are always on a tight budget), expenses can get out of hand very quickly without proper monitoring. BizXpenseTracker allows you to keep a handle on every cent you spend at home and on the road. It features trip-specific expense reports, mileage tracking, timetables, and other features to keep all the P’s and Q’s in order. It also has a handy receipt photo uploader that lets you digitize all the little purchases along the way. All of this info is easy to share via email and file managers like Dropbox.

These are just a few of the best apps out there that help startup businesses stay informed and efficient. There are many other tools for the small business community that make daily operations and networking that much easier. Apps let you run your startup free from paper, confusion, and miscommunication while saving you money and helping you make the most of the versatile technology at your disposal.

Need more knowledge check out these 10 startup tips at nibletz.com

Droppin’ Knowledge, 10 Great Startup Tips Worth Reading

Whether you’re new to startups and entrepreneurship or you need a refresher course, the startup tips here at Nibletz are definitely worth checking out. Here are 10 to start with.

How to find the right venture capitalist for your startup.

10 must read startup tips for young brands.

Traction trumps team when going for the million dollar round.

Startups is your public relations strategy outdated?

5 rules for naming your startup.

Recruiting for success, tapping into your local university.

My favorite startup wisdom came from critics.

How startups can identify their core values.

Top 5 reasons startup founders blow through money.

5 Steps for calculating your startup costs.

This startup conference will be chalk full of tips for startups everywhere else.

Image: Incrowdnow

Startup Tips: 5 Simple Ways To Collect Customer Feedback

Steve Jobs is famous for downplaying the importance of customer input, claiming customers don’t know what they want until they’ve seen it. While that philosophy has so far worked phenomenally well for Apple, most products can’t be developed in a bubble.

Even before we built our first product prototype, we spent countless hours speaking to would-be customers to gather suggestions, feedback and input. While most founders see the value in conducting market research in one way or another at the start of the development process, all too often they fail to continue this interaction. Companies should make a point of gathering feedback from customers throughout the entire development cycle — basically as long as you’re in business.

Here are five easy ways to get feedback on your product:

1. Customer Surveys

The most efficient way to garner feedback from customers is through surveys. To ensure the highest response rate possible (usually a typical rate of response is around 5 percent, and 10 percent or higher is exceptional), we recommend keeping the survey to a maximum of 15 questions. Include questions that relate to the overall industry your product fits into and whether or not customers would like to participate in any future product testing or marketing events. We use Google Forms for short questionnaires and SurveyMonkey for more in-depth surveys.

We used information from our latest survey to not only improve our product, but to ask for product reviews, case studies, more in depth feedback calls and of course to gain a larger picture of the space we play in — Google Apps.

2. Support Forums

Support forums aren’t a revolutionary idea, but the most successful forums are highly interactive. Customers should be able to give their input, comment on others’ ideas and see that you and your support team are taking active roles by responding to every single request. We use Zendesk for our forum, as well as ticketing and overall product support.

We’ve already added 15 of the most popular customer suggestions left in the forum to our product and have another 15 slated for development in the coming months. Could we have thought of those 30 ideas on our own? Probably. But ideas are generated a lot faster when you can ask a customer base of 12,000 companies what they’d like to see. Plus, you never have to worry if you’re adding features people will actually use.

3. Let Customers Provide Feedback Inside the Product

To make sure you’re gathering input from customers on an ongoing basis, include an easy way to leave feedback directly within your product. While some companies choose to pop up a review or feedback form on the third or fourth login, we chose to add a feedback window users can view or hide as they please. The widget is set up to track the exact page users leave feedback for, giving us an even better understanding of issues, suggestions and engagement on different facets of the product.

4. Wireframe Reviews

In the earliest stages of product development, we showed wireframes — the bare bones of the product UI — to “trusted testers” using Protoshare and GoToMeeting. Our user experience designer actually gave control of his mouse and keyboard to the tester, giving them a task to accomplish within the application and closely watching how they went about accomplishing said task. Feedback from these initial reviews surfaced several early problems with the product layout, including a very unpopular “edit” icon.

Today, we continue to create wireframes and set up UX and creative reviews for every new feature we develop. Everything from colors, layout and copy are up for criticism.

No matter what your product is, if you’re solving a real problem, there are people out there who want to see it solved too. Comb through user groups and forums to find your first trusted testers. These people should be experts on the area your product addresses and have real experience working with competitive products or their own self-made workarounds. Keep in mind that if you can’t find at least a handful of people willing to help with wireframe reviews, it may be time to take your idea back to the drawing board.

After you’ve released your product and have actual customers walking through wireframes, find a few unhappy customers who aren’t afraid to voice their concerns. Don’t take criticism personally — it only helps to move your product further along.

5. Feature Contests

Feedback has been so abundant that we decided to launch a feature contest. During the month of the contest, 59 feature requests, 155 votes, 87 comments and over 2,500 views were counted. We incentivized our customers to participate by ensuring the winning feature would actually be built into our product before the end of the year.

Participation was so high that we decided to choose not one, but two winners and shared the results with our entire customer base via the company blog, social media outlets, an email newsletter and even through a Google Hangout On Air.

If you make an ongoing effort to gather customer feedback throughout the product development process, at the end of the day, you’re left with better ideas, a more robust product — and a loyal customer base who knows you actually care about their opinions.

David Politis is the founder and CEO of BetterCloud, the maker of FlashPanel, the number one cloud management tool for Google Apps, and the Google Apps resource site, AsktheGooru.com. Follow him @DavePolitis.

Where do you go offline to connect with other entrepreneurs and startups?

Making Your Business Money is Important

Startup owners need to make sure they focus on making money for their business. This is the glue that holds the corporate word together. Money makes the business world go round, and you need to make sure you are doing all you can to make plenty of money. Of course, it’s important to also focus on being a legitimate and ethical business too. But, if you want success you need to make money, so this should be the principal focus.

Luckily for you, there are quite a few things you can do to achieve this. You can make changes that will save your business money, and make it money at the same time. It’s important to think about the different ways you can make money as a business. These are just a few of the most effective to help you when you’re trying to build up your company.

Customer Service

The main thing you can focus on that will help you make money easily is to work on customer service. This needs to be one of the major focuses for you as a brand. People need to associate your business with excellent service. The better customer service you can provide, the more people you’ll attract to your company. If you can impress customers, they will be more likely to do business with you. And this is one of the most effective ways to make more money for the company. So try to focus on this as much as you can when you start out as a new business.

Unique Selling Proposition

All new businesses have to have a unique selling proposition. This is something you will have read about, and you’ll need to have perfected when starting out. Basically, your USP is the thing that sets you apart from your competitors. It’s the element that attracts people to the company. You have to have a USP so strong that people can’t help but use your company. When you’re trying to make more money as a brand the unique selling point will be instrumental in helping you achieve this.

Investments

Another option you might think about taking is to make investments as a business owner. Business investments can be a little more convoluted than personal investments. They are a great way to become more lucrative and make more money. But, at the same time you need to make sure you understand what is involved. It might be a good idea to check out Alternative Investment Coach to get some ideas. Investment is a great way of making some extra money in a long-term sense. But be sure you know exactly what you need to do before you start spending any money.

When you run a company, the end goal is to make money and become successful. Business is all about profit margins, so you need to make sure you play the game a little bit. It’s important to make money for your company as much as you can. And there are plenty of ways to do this so you can have a lot of irons in the fire. Try to give yourself as many options as possible to ensure the best chance of success.

Learn to Pitch BEFORE You Start Raising Capital

It only took about six months of deal flow and a handful of “pitches” before I realized that most entrepreneurs are really, really bad at “selling themselves” and “pitching” their ideas and companies to investors.

I cringe every time I listen to a great start-up idea or read a well-written executive summary, and then watch in horror as the founder stumbles and trips throughout the “pitch.” So many good ideas and businesses never get funding and/or fail to receive the benefits of a properly funded startup – all because of a poor presentation during the “pitch.”

The sad part is that as I’m sitting there taking notes, I’m thinking to myself, if only I could have spent a few hours with this poor guy or gal BEFORE his/her presentation. We could have highlighted “this or that,” deleted a whole section here, added more about “this” and not talked about “that” –then they probably would have at least gotten a second look and due diligence follow-up.

This is not the only way to give a “pitch,” but hopefully it will help improve your presentation and increase your chances of obtaining funds. By following these eight simple suggestions you’ll be setting yourself apart from the other poor “pitches.”

1. Tell us what you do in as few words as possible.

Maybe it’s me, but it seems like most Angels and VCs are people with type “A” personalities. We have short attention spans and don’t like to waste time. Give us the “short version,” and if or when we ask questions, then you can provide us with more details. The first thing we want to do is understand what it is that you do – in plain and simple English. Next on the list, we want to know what problem you solve and why your solution is important to your customer.

2. What’s the plan? How does it scale?

As investors, we aren’t always interested in your product, but we are interested in “returns.” Your mission statement is important to me, but what is really rolling around in my head while you’re up there giving us the “pitch” is: Will this work? Is this the right guy/gal for the job? How much money will we be able to make when we sell our shares? Does this thing scale? Explain to me how you are going to market and grow the business. Most investors are in it to make a profit, and if your business doesn’t scale, it probably won’t be very profitable. I’m not interested.

3. Talk about the team.

This is very important to investors. Don’t just put up a slide of your team and their past job experiences. Tell us why you’ve assembled this team for this opportunity and highlight your expertise. We know everyone has to start somewhere. Personally, I like to see and hear your passion about the product. Because, I know that passionate people find ways to get things done when they hit the “bumps in the road,” and there will always be “bumps” along the startup highway. Startups are hard; passionate people can make it over the “bumps”.

4. What’s your go-to-market strategy?

Your great idea is useless if no one hears about it or knows it even exists. So many people spend time developing a great product, only to find out no one wants it. How are you going to get it into the hands of your customers? What is your Marketing plan? What is your customer acquisition cost? Do you have any sales channels besides your sales team?

5. What is your competitive advantage?

Chances are that you’re not the first person to see this problem and offer a solution. There are probably about 28 people working on the exact same problem in some form or another. As VCs, we have probably heard a “similar” pitch within the last several months, if not weeks. More often than not, it’s not about the idea, but about “execution of that idea” that we are all betting on. Tell us “what it is” that your team brings to the table that can help you out-execute your competition – your IP, your marketing advantage, your knowledge or your network?

6. Let us touch and feel your product.

A short demo or actual product sample is really key. I want to use it, at least see it. Is it simple? Does it solve your customer’s problem? Is it easy to use from a user’s point of view? We don’t need to understand all the features or really any of the code – I just want to know that it’s clean, works and is simple to use. It’s hard to invest in things that look too complicated and things we can’t fully understand.

7. Expose your weaknesses before we do.

Successful people understand their strengths and weaknesses. Go ahead and acknowledge your weaknesses because I guarantee that everyone in the room is asking themselves: What is it that I don’t like about this? Where are the holes in this plan? What’s holding me back from investing in these people? Does this team have what it takes? Let us know about the risks you see moving forward and tell us how you plan to handle them. Be honest.

8. Show us the FINANCIALS.

It’s hard to forecast projections for an early stage company, but show us what you’ve got; we know they’re probably wrong anyway. Explain what it will take to double or triple the sales and what kind of timeframe you will need to accomplish this. We also want to know your “breakeven” numbers. Plus, as investors we don’t particularly like to see the funds going to Founder salaries; we want you spending money in marketing, development, and sales. Oh, and make sure you tell us how much money you are trying to raise. What’s the Ask?

This isn’t the only way to get funded, but I hope it helps. If you nail these 8 key points in the “pitch” and can answer some basic questions about your product, valuation, and your competition, you’ll have a much better chance of raising funds and building your awesome company.

Dr. Tony Ratliff is a dad, dentist, entrepreneur and investor in the Indianapolis Start-up Community. He practices dentistry throughout the week, but has a passion for angel investing, business strategies, technology and start-ups. You can follow him @drtonyratliff or check out his blog Venture Capital, Start-ups and Dentistry.

A Programmer’s Guide To Getting Hired By A Startup

Programmers are in high demand by startups across the country and around the world.

In the world of “everywhere else”, next to access to capital, access to talent is one of the biggest factors holding startups back from success. This puts the ball into the programmers court. Good programmers are in high demand and can often choose where they want to go. But how will they know where that is?

Monetate, a large marketing company that leverages big data to create more personalized and engaging online experiences, released this infographic two years ago, that’s even more relevant today than it was then.

For programmers that aren’t sure where to go the infographic below helps identify the questions and the answers programmers have including:

Which type of startup is best for you

Where can you find the best openings

How do you stand out above the crowd.

Check out the infographic below.

Meet the man behind NY dress startup, BlueGala