Reaching Your Zen: Relaxing Before an Investor Meeting

Startup Tips, Investor Tips, Guest Post, Tony Monteleone An investor meeting often means your livelihood. You’re about to ask a bunch of people to trust in your idea and help you fund it. You’re rightfully excited, and even a little nervous. The only issue is that when you’re nervous, you aren’t performing well, and the investors standing in front of you can see it. To really knock it out of the park in an investor meeting, you’ve got to calm down and slow down. There are a few ways to help you reach some inner peace before you dive into the shark tank.

Slow Down

There’s a theory that says wise people speak slowly. That doesn’t mean they speak in long, drawn out syllables. It means they’re thinking about everything they say before they say it. It’s not even noticeable to the people they’re speaking to.

But slowing down isn’t usually in any person’s head before an investor meeting. From the minute you hear the investor meeting is scheduled to when you jump in the car, your mind is going 150 miles per hour. You’re going over things again and again in your head, trying to make sure that you’ve got your pitch as nailed down as you can.

Here’s the thing, though: once you get into the car, there’s nothing more you can do. You’ve already prepared as much as you can. Think of it like a bride on her wedding day. It’s easy for her to get worked up on the day of the wedding, worried that something might go wrong. But on the wedding day, after she’s zipped up into her dress, there’s nothing more she can do. That’s her chance to just relax and enjoy the day. The same concept applies to you and your pitch. Once you’re on the way to the meeting, it’s time to just slow down, relax, and realize you just can’t cram another memory into your brain.

Avoiding Amygdala Hijack

On your brain stem, the second gland before the brain is called the amygdala. This little gland controls what we call the “freeze, fight, or flight” response. The amygdala produces adrenaline, and it can hijack your brain. When you’re faced with a situation that jumpstarts your amygdala, it fires in .8 milliseconds and it takes over your brain. Your brain—even brains with the highest of IQs—is unable to reason. The only thing you’re thinking about is fighting or getting out of the situation.

After your brain is hijacked, it can take up to 18 minutes for your brain to regain control again. If it happens five minutes before your investor meeting starts, you can kiss your investors goodbye. Countering an amygdala hijack isn’t easy, but it’s possible to avoid it by just staying away from drama. Don’t talk to your angry significant other, and don’t call your estranged brother who’s asking for money. Just keep your mind clear and focused on the task.

Counteracting the Amygdala Hijack and the Positive Hijack

If you do let your brain get hijacked by the amygdala, there are ways you can counteract it. If a tiger was attacking you, your amygdala would take over, and you would either fight the tiger or run away from it. If your brain gets hijacked, do something you wouldn’t do if a tiger was about to attack you. Drink water, sit down, or lean against a wall. This slows you down and calms you down, and helps to counteract the 18 minutes of hijack you’re about to face. In fact, a mark of high-level leaders is the ability to sense a hijack coming on and do something to counteract it ahead of time, like going for a walk.

Your other option is the positive hijack. In a similar way to the amygdala hijack, you can trick your brain into being completely calm. Smells often do that, or things that remind you of something happy. My positive hijack, for example, is listening to Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” It reminds me of my brother and my childhood, and puts me in a happy place before an investor meeting.

Do what you have to do to calm down before a meeting. In the long term, practice slowing your thinking. In the short term, avoid drama and focus on good things. Take your mind away from the stress. If that’s eating a giant ice cream cone, do it. Find your positive hijacks and use them to dominate your investor meetings.

Tony Monteleone(@StartupTony) is a serial entrepreneur and does Business Development for PERQ, a marketing technology and promotions company that specializes in increasing online and in store traffic for businesses. He also serves as the Indianapolis Chapter Director for Startup Grind.

4 Best Practices for Scaling Your Startup

Earlier this year, Wildfire (the Google-owned company that helps businesses create social media apps) announced they were retiring their small business offerings. Wildfire also happens to be one of my company’s competitors, so the news caught my attention. Their decision was baffling to me. It seemed like they were shutting the door on thousands of customers by eliminating their basic plans — which meant only a fraction of small business owners would be able afford to use Wildfire’s product.

This got me thinking about scale. Wildfire’s architecture must require lots of manual attention, which in turn requires a huge staff. If a small business client and a Fortune 500 client require the same amount of effort, I can see why at a certain point, they had to cut the strings.

Here are a few things to consider if you want to scale your product or service:

Grow your company without growing your staff (too much).

Social coupon-sharing companies came out of nowhere and revolutionized the coupon concept. And while I can see how they grew so quickly because of their innovative idea, from what I can tell most of the models still require a traditional sales team to reach out to the local small business owners who are the mostly likely to use their product. Yes, they’re making big profits, but they have a huge payroll; I’m not sure the model can be scaled efficiently.

Automate what can be automated.

If I were building the next coupon-sharing business, I’d make offer a do-it-yourself coupon creation option. This is sort of what I did with ShortStack. Before my team created ShortStack, we had a successful web design agency. The company was doing well, but was labor-intensive (follow leads, pitch clients, put together RFPs, etc.) and required more staffing resources than I could manage to grow in a meaningful way.

Soon, I realized I’d be better off if my team created a DIY version of what we were using in house and offer it to everyone. In essence, we switched from a service model to a product model. Yes, we still have some clients who need hand-holding, but the vast majority of our users can use what we make right out of the proverbial box. The automation model allows us to serve 200,000+ users with a staff of 12, versus 20 clients with a staff of 12.

Shift from outbound to inbound marketing.

Not every company can afford to have a sales team out pounding the pavement. People are expensive! Instead, think about how to pivot so you can bring customers to you rather than having to chase after them. I know this won’t work for every type of business, but I’m finding that having a small but dedicated content-marketing team is turning out to be way more cost-effective than spending money on advertising.

My analogy is that blog posts, infographics, etc. are like solar-powered cars. Advertising is the gas guzzler. We have content that was created last year that still gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and leads people to our company website and blog. I’d rather devote resources to my development team who work on making our product better and better and to my content team who gets the word out.

Consider the possibility of franchising.

I’ve focused mostly on technology here, but there is a scaling option for other sorts of businesses: franchising. Let’s say you own a successful cupcake bakery in a big city. You get lots of great press and have loyal customers, but opening shops around town might be too difficult. But if you focus on your idea/model/brand — and on packaging the best parts of what is working for you — and offer them to aspiring bakers in any city, you will make a percentage of the sales of several small businesses without having to manage the staff it takes to run them. (Word to the wise: make sure you have have good legal counsel to prevent spawning your own competition.)

If you think about scaling from the outset, you’ll be more likely to grow your company without huge hiccups. And you’ll be less likely to have to abandon the customers who helped make you successful in the first place.

Jim Belosic is the co-founder and CEO of Pancake Labs, a software company based in Reno, Nev. The company is best known for its flagship product, ShortStack, software that’s designed to help small business owners and designers create custom apps that harness the power of social media (www.shortstack.com). ShortStack recently celebrated its second birthday; Pancake Laboratories has several new software products slated for release in 2013.

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.

How LaunchHouse Redefines Social Networking

Todd Goldstein (l) and Dar Caldwell (r), co-founders of LaunchHouse

Like many of today’s adults who are past the traditional college roommate stage of their lives, Mitch Turck shares a house with others who are saving money by living together. But unlike those who have cobbled new housing arrangements out of financial stresses, Turck was one of 19 applicants for nine available spaces in two homes. Previously based in Pittsburgh, the entrepreneur researched accelerator programs, applied for this unique startup “neighborhood,” then picked up and moved in August….to Cleveland.

The city commonly known as the “Mistake by the Lake,” Cleveland might be the punchline of many jokes. For entrepreneurs looking for a cost-efficient and supportive base from which to grow a startup, however, this Midwestern location offers some seriously kick-ass perks. A lot of those benefits are thanks to LaunchHouse (http://launchhouse.com), a startup accelerator that came on the scene in 2008. Home to more than 200 companies through its co-working office program, LaunchHouse added two actual houses to its leasing options in April. Located just around the corner from its 23,000 square-foot main facility, the two residences are filled with entrepreneurs like Turck. They come from a variety of locales, two from as far away as China.

“Why would anyone ever move to Cleveland?”

The question is posed, and promptly answered, by Todd Goldstein, Chief Executive Officer of LaunchHouse. Along with co-founder Dar Caldwell, Goldstein has been at the front lines of creating this tight-knit startup community.

“This is bringing interest from all over the world,” says Goldstein. “Only 30 percent of the applicants for the housing were from the northeast Ohio region. We’re here in Cleveland asking what early-stage entrepreneurs need. They need social, cultural, and educational support. They need an ecosystem.”

And what an ecosystem it is. Entrepreneurs who reside in the two houses and those who use the co-working spaces at LaunchHouse enjoy more than just hot coffee. There’s the expected: whiteboards, first-come-first-serve desks, private offices, copiers, conference rooms. And there’s the decidedly unexpected: a gigantic open production space housing enterprises ranging from landscapers and agricultural suppliers to videographers and fashion designers; hens housed in the parking lot; a puppy following Caldwell as he gives a tour; 3-D printers; Gigabit broadband with super-fast Internet access.

In-house eggs + Gigabit connectivity = LaunchHouse ecosystem

What? The same space that has in-house fresh eggs also boasts connectivity rivaling that of Google Fiber’s Kansas City Startup Village. LaunchHouse partnered earlier this year with OneCommunity (http://onecommunity.org), a nonprofit established in 2003 that owns and operates a high-speed all-fiber network spanning 24 counties and over 2,000 miles in northeast Ohio. Experienced at providing data service for more than 2,300 public institutions, OneCommunity first worked with LaunchHouse to bring the high-speed Internet to the 23,000 square feet of co-working space. The two enterprises turned the corner, literally and figuratively, when they partnered to extend the service to the two LaunchHouse entrepreneurs’ residences which are located on a quiet side street just off the busy commercial setting of the accelerator’s Lee Road location. Think of it as northeast Ohio’s first “fiberhood.”

While the high-speed connectivity is certainly a draw for those who want to live in an entrepreneur house or pay as little as $125 per month for 24/7 access to the co-working space, it’s the social connectivity fostered by LaunchHouse’s leadership that really makes it work as a startup accelerator. For instance, Caldwell, Goldstein and the five partners they’ve added to the LaunchHouse team since 2008 host 20-25 MeetUp groups per month. There is always something going on at LaunchHouse.

“They’re all encouraged to use the space for free,” says Caldwell. “We have hackerthons here, workshops, our ‘Whiteboard Wednesdays’ when we brainstorm ideas. It’s an open community.”

Social, social, social: the startup’s version of real estate’s “location, location, location”

For Jeremy Handel, managing partner of Handelabra Studio and Handelabra Games (http://handelabra.com), the openness at LaunchHouse benefits his creativity – and his business. The videogame developer took the much-worn path tread by many entrepreneurs: from attic office to coffeehouse office to traditional office. That last one, with its traditional rents, proved too expensive; Handel moved to LaunchHouse about one year ago and became one of their portfolio companies. (LaunchHouse invests in selected startups).

“Initially, I moved here because it’s cheaper,” says Handel. “But the number one selling point is the social. I get up and walk around, talk with people to see what’s going on. It’s the first place that has felt collaborative. Here, an idea shared is grown, not stolen.”

And Turck, who is growing his Vendalize (http://vendalize.com) local search tag startup both in the entrepreneur house and in the co-working space, agrees. “In an office by yourself, you have to motivate yourself. When you’re socializing with others, the pace is faster. It’s easier to work harder.”

Juli Kaylor Gray has covered traditional business topics, as well as offbeat fare ranging from lenticular art exhibits to the “wedding-on-a-hike minister,” in her ten years as a freelance writer and magazine editor. Based in Cleveland, Ohio, she’s a focused Tweep at @QuirkyCleveland and a distracted blogger at http://quirkycleveland.com/.

An Online Fashionista Learns Business At #EECincinnati

protectyourpumps

A few weeks back I literally stumbled across a web post about an upcoming conference called Everywhere Else. The event was to be held in Cincinnati and was geared towards start ups located in the Midwest, with a focus on connecting entrepreneurs with investors. I wasn’t necessarily looking for an investor for our company. However, I decided to register and attend. Cincinnati is only a 6 hour drive from Milwaukee and figured I might learn something and meet some cool people. I’m glad I took the road trip, because I was able to do both!

In 2011, I started a company called www.protectyourpumps.com. I consider myself to be a legitimate “shoe addict” with a shoe collection that is about 80% high heels. I believe women feel the most beautiful, confident and alive when wearing shoes they love. Like most ladies, I didn’t mind spending a good chunk of change on quality shoes, however it was frustrating when they became damaged quickly. For that reason, I started a business to sell protective items for ladies footwear, allowing them to step out in confidence.

It’s no secret the major fashion hubs in America are in Los Angeles and New York, so I often travel to attend various fashion events. Attending Everywhere Else Cincinnati was a bit out of the box for me as it was not at all fashion related. In attending this conference I learned business is a lot like music. Listening to only one genre of music can be quite boring and in doing so, you miss out on a lot of good tunes. The same applies to business. As entrepreneurs we are all on similar journeys. It’s great to mix it up sometimes and learn from someone in another industry.

The presentations at Everywhere Else Cincinnati were jammed packed with useful information. Here are my top 5 takeaways, which I plan to use help grow Protect Your Pumps.

1.) Dear Countermined, Please go away! Prior to this conference I honestly had not heard of Andrew Warner or Mixergy. (I know shame on me) However, I left feeling very inspired by him and the journey he is on. He gave a great presentation on your true mind (true,useful and wanted thoughts) vs countermined (not true, not useful and not wanted thoughts). I’m excited to implement some of the practices he talked about to shut my countermined down because hanging on to the negativity only holds me back.

2.) 299 is not 300 Jeff Hoffman founder of Priceline knocked his presentation out the park! He delivered an invaluable tip for entrepreneurs, run hard to the finish line! Jeff said doing 299 of something when you are suppose to 300 is essentially giving up and that is the difference between you and the other guy (or gal).

3.) Your Brand is Your Personality Show it off! In my notebook the only word on the page about Patrick J Woods was AWESOME! He talked about giving your brand beliefs and personality. I hadn’t really thought about it in that way and I’m excited to say we currently have some things underway to really develop the Protect Your Pumps brand more and bring it to life!

4.) Start up CEO=Sales(wo)man and Sales Manager Evan Owens said “All Start up CEO’s are salesmen and sales manager. Learn that role and you’ll soon be leading an organization worth talking about.” That struck a chord with me because in the world of so many internet distractions, it is easy to get away from what is going to keep your business thriving which is SALES.

5.) Respect Niche Skills Evan also said “If you meet a guy who claims to be the best at web development, design, seo and social media. He probably isn’t that good at anything.” This is very important because as a start up, lets keep it real money can be tight. We always want to get bang for our buck. However, finding good people who are strong in a particular area is crucial.

My list of takeaways from this conference goes way beyond 5, however I just wanted to share a few. I’m excited to take these lessons and put them in action. I’ll see you in Memphis!

Kathryn Jackson

CEO/Founder Protect Your Pumps

Author of Blog Skipping in Stilettos-Shoes+Substance

www.skippinginstiettos.cm

www.protectyourpumps.com

Facebook: Protect Your Pumps

Twitter: @KathrynNJackson @Protect_Pumps

Instagram: Protectyourpumps

How to Stay Ahead of Startup Trends

technology If you feel like you’re always behind the times in startup trends, you’re not alone. Journalists build their entire careers on being analysts of the industry, trying to become the one who predicted the next Apple or Google. Following those journalists will connect you with greater trends and analysis. Many of them build and maintain lists of prominent industry figures you should follow.

If you’re still feeling stuck, it may be time for a more aggressive strategy on keeping up with the news.

Study the Investors

On the blog of Toby Ruckert, you’re likely to find articles about things like how to secure government funding for your startup. This might sound like an obvious tip at first glance. Who doesn’t want government money if it will help launch and won’t come at a high interest rate? But Toby takes the tip further by discussing how you can shift the work of having to apply for government funding to investors.

Reading investor blogs get you inside the head of people that have been in the game for years. They know what it takes for companies to grow and become successful brands in a crowded market. You might not be able to meet with them personally, but their blogs are full of free knowledge. Seek out lists of investors where you can.

Study Which Startups Succeed

The kind of startups that succeed tell you a lot about the climate that you are competing against. Take Honey as an example. The idea of finding deals for users might sound like a turn off for online retailers, but as the numbers increase the hype behind the small startup is growing too. Co-founder Ryan Hudson says that the company is succeeding based on word of mouth marketing. He claims the majority of traffic is from users typing the URL of Honey directly into their browsers.

Honey might be spreading so virally because of its leak on Reddit, but it could be related to the quality of service that users want. The startup adds value to users, so people are willing to pass it on to friends and family. Not every startup will catch like Honey, but you can take time to evaluate your business model and find its sticky value.

Even simpler than that, read the blogs of successful startups. They will often discuss their process, brag about accomplishments and talk about new partnerships they have acquired.

Study the Tools Startups Use

If you didn’t know, some of the most successful startups around are currently built on Python. Quora, Instagram and Pinterest all use the programming language to render their pages in-browser. Python is one of many popular frameworks currently favored by Web developers worldwide. Ruby on Rails is another simplistic programming language, both are free to learn from manuals on the Web or from Code University.

Knowing which languages are popular helps you hire developers to build the vision you want.

Visit Universities

Robert Scoble claims that he saw a self-driving car debut at Stanford University in 2007. Today, there are several tech companies and car companies seeking to build one and get it on the market. Universities like Stanford and MIT are the best and brightest that American schools have to offer. If you want to know what the next generation will be using, take a peek in on some of the technology these students are playing with.

You can also head over to Boston, where robotics is fairly huge and where some of the brightest minds in the fields are building amazing machines that can carry heavy loads and navigate complicated terrain on their own.

Network Face to Face

Getting out and meeting people is a great method of figuring out what companies might be into. Not every business executive has time to meet with you, but hanging out at local networking events and talking with experts in the field to write a blog post are both great ways to gain knowledge from experienced people.

Follow Trends Online

Google Trends and Twitter are two good places to start if you want to see what’s brewing in the tech scene, but you can find interesting trends all over the Web if you know where to search. Sites like Reddit divide their groups up by interest, making it easy to find a niche and search for the trends that niche thrives on. News sites like NPR and CNN have technology sections that feature stories about new ideas being toyed with, and new procedures that have become standard. NPR has done extensive reporting on the viability of fracking in the wake of a natural gas boom in the United States. Knowing these types of trends, and some of the debates behind them, influences where investor money goes.

Travel

If possible, travel to other countries and discover their startup scenes for more inspiration. You’ll learn things like Africa’s shift toward a society less reliant on physical currency, or how Brazil and South America are experiencing a small tech boom. Take a cue from Hollywood, an industry that routinely borrows from all over the world, there is always profit to be had from good ideas.

Kevin is an account director at Online Rep Management and has been working within internet marketing and public relations for over 8 years. Kevin got his start working online in SEO, link building, and some affiliate marketing. Kevin is most passionate about helping good brands become online entities. Check out ORM or follow Kevin on twitter!

4 Ways To Reevaluate Your Startup Strategy

startupsign It’s never the wrong time to de-clutter and simplify. Just as you should bring fresh air into a stuffy house, you can also breathe life into a company to achieve an improved state of success.

DUST OFF THE COBWEBS

When your marketing goes stale, so does your business. The purpose of cleaning up your online business is to stay relevant to consumers. So, what does it take to be relevant?

Stay up with the times. Take time every few months to read about new marketing tactics that can apply to your business.

Be better! Look at what your competitors are doing online, and see if you can do it better.

Be social. Don’t leave your Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest accounts unattended for long periods of time or consumers will view you as stale, resulting in a loss of fans, followers and connections.

Appeal to the masses. Make sure the content you are posting appeals to the appropriate audience and remains cognizant of what’s trending in your industry.

STRATEGIZE AND ORGANIZE

Have you embraced the social media realm yet? Let’s face it: social media engagement is important for business success. However, you must be mindful of what you are posting and engaging in on social media. Social activity for the sake of activity is a waste of time. You want to eliminate the excess that doesn’t benefit you.

If it’s not relevant, appealing, or creating revenue for your company, it’s not working for you. At the end of the day, your social interactions should bring a return on investment. There should always be a payoff, so there must be a sound strategy behind any social initiative. Here is one strategy you can follow:

Pinpoint the ultimate goal. What do we want from our visitors? What is our call to action? Once you have a goal in mind, you can commit and act to follow through and succeed.

Look at your site’s analytics. What are you doing that’s working? What is not working? What could work better? There is always room for improvement — find out what can and should be improved.

Look at the social analytics. What do Facebook or Twitter have to offer your business that you may not be taking advantage of? Social media continues to grow, so keeping up to stay relevant is critical.

REFINE A FAMILIAR FOCUS: YOUR AUDIENCE

Whether you’re sweeping up dust bunnies or brainstorming new business strategies, you can ask yourself these questions when reviewing your online marketing:

What will people think about these efforts?

How will they make people feel?

What will people do with this information?

Your content should give your audience something to think about, something to feel good about, and something productive to do. It can appeal to urgency with a limited-time offer or appeal to kindness with a charitable campaign.

No matter what you choose to do, you must focus on how the campaign and efforts will affect your audience. Rethinking or refining your marketing plans will give your business a renewed edge.

REFRESH YOUR BRAND

If you are an extreme organizer, you won’t stop at just the kitchen or attic. You’re going to fix up the entire house, top to bottom. Consider adopting this mentality for refreshing your brand as a whole. Remember these tips for improving your online business brand:

Define what your brand currently represents. Apple, Pepsi, and McDonald’s have used a variety of different slogans over the years to tailor their brand messages and stay relevant to consumers. It’s part of what makes them so successful. You can do this, too.

Be consistent in your presentation. Don’t forget what you’ve defined from the beginning. Although your look or slogan may change, the heart of your business should remain the same.

Be willing to grow and evolve based on your vision, your audience, and your image (keeping consistency in mind).

Rinse and repeat.

Adam DeGraide is the CEO and founder of Astonish, which was recently ranked 267th on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. DeGraide and his team are the driving forces behind a vision to help the insurance industry across the country grow its businesses by using the Internet. Now currently serving over 800 retail brokers in America, Adam DeGraide and his team at Astonish are encouraging the insurance industry across the country to “join the Internet marketing revolution, or get left behind!”

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.

5 Tips to Building a Great Startup Team (From Anywhere)

most-effective-team-300x200 It is not easy to be the CEO of an up-and-coming startup, especially when you are frequently out of your office talking to investors and the actual time you spend in contact with your team is limited. It gets even more complicated when you manage multiple teams working in different cities.

Is it really possible to work together without being in a one place? How do you join forces with a distributed team and not much face-to-face interaction?

The key is to create a powerful team that works effectively even when the boss is not available. A startup team is like a basketball team — you will not win if you do not play together.

As CEO, you need to realize that each team member plays a role in your company and each individual is part of the whole. If you want to work effectively your team must be harmonious. Here’s how:

Build trust and respect. Nurture a team-oriented environment based on trust and respect, without which there will only be limited success. A startup is like a ship going through high uncertainty. The captain needs the trust of his team, because people follow trust and integrity, not a person. Trust can balance uncertainty and give the team the ability to work together no matter what. Likewise, if you are not in the office, you have to be sure that team members will cooperate in the atmosphere of open communication. The stronger the trust, the better the team will navigate without the captain on board.
Be true to your word. If you demand high productivity and quality work, you’d better be as good as your word. You get what you give. If you promise to do something, be sure you will fulfill it. When team members notice that you are a reliable person, they will emulate your behavior.
Organize a meeting for all employees. If you want to improve teamwork, help people get to know each other better. Organize in-person meetings for all workers (all teams) at least once a year or more if possible. Informal conversations bring people together and warm up human relationships. One option is to invite your team to play a game, like football or basketball. If players want to win, they have to focus on cooperation. The same principle is present in teamwork. And through teamwork and team sports, individual character and natural talents are expressed. They have to make decisions fast so they don’t have time to prepare their reactions. Those are the situations where pure character is exposed and real relationships are built.
Take advantage of conflict. There are no teams exempt from occasional misunderstandings. Somewhere, somehow, conflict will show up. When confrontation between employees gets out of a hand in a startup, the CEO must face it. Don’t complicate the situation by deciding what is good or bad. Listen to all sides carefully and then talk to other team members who observed the quarrel. Brainstorming solutions favorable for both sides may even result in ideas that would never have come to mind without the conflict. Confrontations make people think about both viewpoints. More points of view means more possibilities.
Make hiring a team effort. If you want to hire a new person, discuss this with your team. Let your team members talk with the candidate. They will work together and it’s important this person fit into the team. Of course, experience and suitable qualifications are important — but the most important qualities to hire for are always personality and compatible social skills. With regards to trust and respect described above, these traits are like glue. They help people communicate. They can bring different people together, whereas qualifications just ensure tasks are completed properly.

Arek Skuza is an entrepreneur born in Poland and working globally (Europe and USA). Made one exit and raised capital for 3 companies. Currently CEO of iTraff Technology. Caroline Golas also contributed to this article.

Top 6 Tips for Crowdfunding Your Startup

If you own or plan on starting your own business, you may have considered crowdfunding to raise additional capital. If you haven’t, you should.

It’s quickly becoming an extremely popular form of project and startup funding, primarily since it frees you from having to pay back the interest that goes along with a business loan. Essentially it allows you to collect funds in the form of donations.

While businesses can offer incentives or (now) equity in exchange for donations, this overhead is usually much smaller than what you would be facing in terms of interest payments to a bank.

Crowdfunding also offers a chance to connect with people who are truly interested in what you’re doing and who believe in you on a personal level– not just in your business model.

cf1

Image courtesy of jannoon028 — FreeDigitalPhotos.net

There’s no question that crowdfunding is a workable and viable financing method; so for entrepreneurs looking to get on board, here are few tips to take note of moving forward:

1. Plan a marketing campaign — Your crowdfunding campaign will only yield returns under an effective marketing campaign. Make sure you sketch out a marketing plan ahead of time and avoid the “build-it-and-they-will-come” mentality.

2. Research and know your target audience — When you do go to market your crowdfunding campaign, you need to know who to market it to. Try and identify those who are most likely to donate and make sure they know about your campaign.

3. Create a pitch video for your project — A pitch video should be a short, 30-second-or-less clip explaining your project, what it’s about and why you’re asking people to donate. While it should be short and to-the-point, it should also be convicting and passionate.

Here are a few helpfulexamples.

4. Leverage your social media following — Businesses that have a substantial social media following have a tremendous opportunity to get their campaign in front of a lot of eyes. Use your social media account as a component of your marketing campaign; though make sure not to put all your eggs in this one basket.

5. Have incentives — Smaller projects can sometimes get away with not having any incentives and just asking for donations. However, incentives are always going to increase the likelihood that people will donate. Whatever those incentives might be, make sure to keep it low-cost so that you’re not needlessly increasing overhead.

6. Have a spending plan in place — Once you start to bring in money, you’ll want to have a plan in place for how you eventually intend to spend it. In fact, it doesn’t hurt to have this information available to potential donors from the beginning, so that they know exactly how their money is being used.

Also be sure to follow up with those who donate to let them know how you’re using their money and what level of success your project is seeing.

Not a Passive Solution

On the surface, crowdfunding might seem like asking for a handout or getting free money; however, that’s not the case at all.

Crowdfunding isn’t a passive solution to your business project; it requires a tremendous amount of work and preparation, both before, during and after you launch the campaign. While it does give you more flexibility and independence than traditional methods of financing, it still requires you to be sharp and well-prepared for the task at hand.

That being said, if you can be proactive and thorough about your approach, a crowdfunding campaign could be ideal for your business needs.

Camille McClane is a freelance writer and online entrepreneur who hopes to have her very own business someday. Working withHostPapa has given her the opportunity to share her knowledge of the online world, including SEO and social media marketing. Entrepreneurs today have so many options, and she highly encourages others to explore all of them!

Oversee Your Business Without Being Chained to a Desk

Guest post, Startup tips, startup monitoring You would think that advances in technology would reduce the amount of hours you spend at work. You’d be wrong, as Technology Digital finds that white collar jobs are sitting at a 60-hour work week, and anyone chasing that elusive 40-hour beast is written off as a part-time dabbler. While it will take quite some time to change the societal and corporate culture, you can put technology to work for you in at least making your time more comfortable. You don’t have to be chained to a desk day in, day out to oversee and manage your business, departments and employees. Instead, put your smartphone to work so you can get a change of scenery.

Bring Your Own Device

BYOD policies bring more benefits than headaches to most corporations, but if you’re a CTO or needing to manage a variety of mobile devices in a secure and safe manner, it takes some time to work out a cross-platform solution. One such solution, Blackberry’s Mobile Device Management, allows you to take advantage of Blackberry’s secure setup. The Blackberry 10 OS allows you to create a virtualized environment that is kept entirely separate from everything else installed on the device, and supplies mailing and calendar functions, among others. MDM is a cross-platform version of that so you can increase the safety and security of every mobile platform accessing your work network.

Productivity Apps

Productivity apps streamline your day-to-day tasks, as well as keeping you on track with employee activities and essential business information. Stocks is a solid, free Blackberry app that keeps you on track with the stock market, an essential bit of information if you’re a publicly traded company. Evernote is an essential bit of software that works well with small or large teams, or for your own personal notes. Since it’s a cross platform app, you can access your notes from any location, whether it’s your phone or computer. When you need to keep your notes on hand when you’re out of the office, this is the perfect choice for you.

Cloud-based Storage

Cloud-based storage is essential to unlocking you from your office. When you can access your files from any location, at any time, there’s no real reason for you to stick around work if you’re not otherwise needed on-site. Instead, you can head down to the beach and work on your tan while you’re getting the profit and loss statements ready for your department. Many cloud services are compatible with Blackberry, such as Google Drive and Dropbox. However, one the most useful apps you can get is one that allows you to access all your files in any of the cloud storage sites supported. This app is called Playcloud, and it also lets you bring up FTP and local files.

The Role of IT Training in Today’s Startup World

The Role of IT Training in Today’s Startup World

The world of business and startups has changed a great deal over the course of the past decade or so. No longer is it practical to think that a business can be operated without IT, and whether that comes from an employee who is well-versed on the subject or yourself will depend upon both how much interest/time you have in learning more about IT and how much you can afford someone else to take care of things for you. The fact is, every business owner can benefit from increasing his base of knowledge when it comes to IT, especially when it comes to overseeing daily operations.

You don’t have to delegate a huge amount of time if you want to prioritize IT, but putting some effort into the equation will definitely help to push your business in the right direction. Here are just a few reasons why IT training is more important in today’s business world than ever in the past.

Businesses Rely on IT to Keep Moving

Years ago, IT didn’t usually take up a great deal of space in the minds of business owners when it came to day-to-day operations. Today, however, it is essential part of running a company. Without IT, the flow, retrieval and storage of information for businesses of all kinds would come to a screeching halt. Many business owners who simply don’t have the time or interest to handle the IT side of the business, and while this can be an effective tool, it can also be quite costly. Understanding more about how to handle the day-to-day logistics of your business’s IT can be quite freeing and is more than worth your while.

IT Is Crucial to Customer Satisfaction

Your customers need to know that they can get in touch with you no matter what time of day or night they need to. This means that if your website, email or other IT-related services are down, you’ll not only be missing out on the chance to bring in new business, but will also be running the risk of angering current clients and customers. Gaining a better understanding of IT will allow you to take care of any issues that might pop up, which means that any downtime can be cut to an absolute minimum. If you’re in the dark and can’t get in touch with whomever is handling your IT, you’re bound to run into issues that could be costly to your business.

IT Will Only Become More Integrative

Technology is advancing at an alarming rate, and businesses of all kinds rely on it for daily operations. While there are still certain types of businesses that don’t utilize IT as much as others, this is likely to change as the Internet continues to become a central aspect of the professional world. This will be especially important in terms of security. Understanding IT and training your employees to do the same will be a huge part of providing online security for your company in the years to come. It’s safe to assume that years from now, a business that doesn’t have solid integration of IT will have an immensely difficult time finding success and surviving in the marketplace.

There are plenty of resources online and elsewhere that can help teach you about IT issues. Follow the link here to learn more about an education in IT security measures and the technology involved in protecting your IP.

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

3 Tools That Promote Startup Security

Startup Security, Cloud Security, Guest Post Startup business owners normally don’t associate the security threats that haunt larger corporations with their enterprises, but the reality is that malicious code, BYOD malware, data theft, phishing, payment fraud and other attacks pose just as much risk for startups as they do to larger businesses.

CEO of Web Security at CloudFare Matthew Prince states that it’s not just giant retailers like Amazon that are under threats–businesses with 100 employees or even less can also become targets. The 36-employee operated company itself became a target when hackers gained access to sensitive customer information and were nearly successful.

Moreover, it’s not just the startups themselves that the attackers target. They’re aware that newly formed companies can give them access (act as a gateway) to some of the larger corporations who are usually clients of startup companies. According to a report from Symantec, the world’s top 500 companies have over 60 collaborations on average.

While you may not be able to enjoy the perks of military-level security, you still need to pay attention to protect your business from possible threats.

Some of the tools that startup business owners can leverage to enhance startup security are:

1. Cloud backup

From employee screening records to business contacts, the hard drives of your office computers are likely to be filled with precious data that you can’t afford to lose. However, a virus can inflict them at any moment, and they can also malfunction on their own. Other unfortunate things like fire or a natural disaster can also lead to the loss of important data.

A survey conducted by Carbonite reveals that 48% of businesses operating on a small scale suffer from lost data of 2-20 employees, which leads to decrease in productivity and revenue. It is therefore important to opt for cloud backup solutions, which have several advantages over on-site services. Some of the benefits include remote backups, top notch data-encryption and automatic restore when the data is wiped out.

2. Virus-protection software

Ransomware, spyware, malware and viruses can infect your smart devices, flash drives, Windows PCs and Macs at any point. Applied Research conducted a survey in 2012 among 2,100 businesses, and the results revealed that most of them have been regular victims of cyber-attacks such as malware, phishing, email virus etc.

These are a few reasons why virus-protection software is important, but you shouldn’t go on a blind buying spree. What you need is software specifically designed for virus-proned small businesses. A business antivirus software program can protect your mail servers, files servers, and all of you precious IT from the comfort of the cloud.

3. Secure payment protected

Visa Inc. estimates that out of 100% credit-card data breaches that take place, 95% of them are targeted towards small business operators. Most of the payment threats surround those startups that regularly engage in online payment transactions.

Luckily, there are ways to include an extra layer of protection to payment systems. For example, Discover offers an online number service that allows customers to sign in to the account and create a unique credit card number to make a purchase. That number can only be used once, even if a cyber-criminal gains access to it.

These tools will add top level protection to your business operations and secure your data, devices and investment when anything unfortunate happens.

What tools do you use to enhance startup security? Feel free to share your answers in the comments section below.

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

11 Marketing Tools Your Startup Needs For Launch

Question: What ONE must-have tool should small businesses include in their marketing campaign when launching a new product? (events, pop-up shops, swag, social media campaigns, etc.)

Mailchimp Is a Must

“For every new product launch, we collect emails via MailChimp. We use their email campaign and auto-responder functionality to draft countdown emails so that our customers receive regular updates and pre-specified intervals prior to launch. These email campaigns get customers excited about our launch and result in increased conversion.”

– Bhavin Parikh | CEO, Magoosh Test Prep

Landing Pages with Unbounce

“Landing pages are a must when launching a new product. They let you easily focus the potential consumers attention on the actions that you deem desirable. With new products, money is scarce, so having the highest conversion rate is of necessity. My product of choice is Unbounce — it’s dead simple to use, and they also have new and improved features for the advanced user.”

– Lawrence Watkins | Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers

Create a Dedicated Email

“As you’re building buzz for your product, there must be a customer and sponsor support team ready to handle incoming questions. Put your email out there everywhere and encourage questions, ideas and communication. Don’t just have the email account, but be ready with resources, FAQs and engagement specialists to nurture your early adopters and raving fans and help them promote you further.”

– Kelly Azevedo | Founder, She’s Got Systems

Set Up Google Analytics Properly

“You can’t have a good marketing campaign without tracking in-depth analytics throughout the entire process. Not only is Google Analytics great because it’s free, but they continue to add more robust features for tracking every detail of each visitor on your site, which will help you understand the location, referrers/keywords, behaviors, site usage, and transactions of each of your visitors.”

– Seth Kravitz | CEO, Technori

Incorporate Retargeting Pixels.

“Use a service like ReTargeter or AdWords Remarketing in order to drop cookies for first-time visitors to your website, so that you have the opportunity to remarket to them later and stay top of mind. Start building your remarketing list from day one.”

– Matt Mickiewicz | Co-Founder, Flippa and 99designs

Utilize Hacker News

“Hacker News is a great place to launch a product. If you submit your site correctly, it could drive thousands of visits within a few hours and collect excellent feedback. Make sure to read how to use Hacker News first though!”

– Ben Lang | Founder, Mapped In Israel

Put In a Squeeze Page

“If I had to recommend one tool for any product launch, it would be a “squeeze page,” also known as an opt-in page. Get an account with an email service provider (ESP), create a squeeze page, and point potential customers to it during your pre-launch. Send emails to your subscriber list building anticipation for the launch, and then offer your subscribers a limited-time offer upon the launch.”

– Pete Kennedy | Co-Founder and Managing Partner, Main Street ROI

Let People Use Your Product!

“If the goal is to get people to use your product and talk about your product, then it seems logical that you should get that product into as many hands as possible. If it’s online, this means a trial. If it’s food, it means having tons of samples. If it’s jeans, give away your jeans. You can talk and hype something all you want, but the product speaks for itself. A worthwhile investment.”

– Luke Burgis | Director, ActivPrayer

Bloggers Create the Buzz

“A lot of small businesses focus on long-lead, print media without realizing the power of blogs. Even relatively small blogs have the power to convert sales with links in a much more powerful way than print ever can — and even have the potential to take on their life of their own through social sharing.”

– Alexis Wolfer | Founder/CEO, The Beauty Bean

Coordinate a Social Media Push

“Including fans in the conversation or decision-making process prior to launch is by far the most valuable pre-promotion you can do. We generally narrow new watch designs or colors down to three or four options before running a vote on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. It’s our “Threadless meets Kickstarter” model: whether we receive 100 votes or 1,000, we learn from our biggest advocates!”

– Aaron Schwartz | Founder and CEO, Modify Watches

Collect Real Testimonials and Reviews

“No matter what else you do to market a new product, you need to have proof that it does what you say it does. Getting people outside your company to try the product and talk about it is the only initial source of that proof that you can set up before the product goes on the market. So make the effort to get testimonials and reviews from beta testers and pre-launch customers.”

– Thursday Bram | Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting

Startup Tips: 4 Ways To Defuse An Awkward Business Situation

As female entrepreneurs under the age of 30, my business partner Brittany and I have found ourselves in our fair share of uncomfortable situations. From being carded at client dinners, to being asked if we were the sales girls, our looks and gender have never gone unnoticed by clients.

Since starting the company in January 2011, we have found that no one wants an awkward situation to blow over faster than the person who just made the ultimate blunder. Instead of mumbling “awkward turtle” or cringing at the ordeal, we have discovered another approach that works every time: light-hearted laughter! Spinning the situation from an uncomfortable exchange to a talking point will endear clients. They will appreciate that you didn’t harp on their misstep.

Below are a few maneuvers we’ve used in less-than-ideal situations that left us feeling more like Michael Jordan going for the slam dunk, instead of the towel boy:

Awkward Encounter #1: Founder Faux Pas

Client: “It has been great to meet with you ladies. We are looking forward to meeting with your upper management next week.”
‘ZinePak Response: Brittany: “Kim, are you free next week?”
Kim: “For these guys, I’m sure I can work something out. You?”
Brittany: “Yes, I’m great. Congratulations gentleman, the founders of the company are totally available for a meeting next week as long as you bring the coffee.”

Why It Works: You are letting your client know where you stand in the company hierarchy without belittling them. This proves helpful for the future as the client is more likely to only reach out to you when there is high-level question or concern instead of a task that one of the team members under you can handle.

Awkward Encounter #2: Whose Daughter Are You?

Client: “Oh, you are Kim and Brittany?! How did you get this meeting? Do one of your fathers work here or something?”
‘ZinePak Response: “I can see that our reputation preceded us as opposed to our dashing looks, and I can’t be mad about that! Our fathers don’t work here but we know a few dads in the building who have worked with us in the past and think we are pretty awesome. Does that count?”

Why It Works: Establishing presence within a company is paramount. By letting this person know that you have done deals within the company allows them to mentally put you into a “recommended” grouping in their mind. This also gives them the opportunity to ask you, “Who else have you worked with?,” hopefully giving them a way to change the conversation since their first sentenced started out with a less then positive tone!

Awkward Encounter #3: Your ID, Please

We’re at a client dinner when the waiter so eloquently asks: “Can I see your ID, miss?”
‘ZinePak Response: “I keep forgetting to tell my Botox team and plastic surgeon to take it easy. Next thing you know, I won’t be able to buy a lotto ticket!”

Why It Works: You are showing your client that you recognize your young age and embrace it in a humorous way. This lets them know that you aren’t trying to be something you’re not by dressing or acting differently. This amount of comfort with your client will allow a friendly, low-key, and no-fuss atmosphere to flourish.

Awkward Encounter #4: Mistaken Identity

We’re out with a client when a stranger refers to me or Brittany or being the client’s daughter/little sister.
‘ZinePak Response: “I wish I could get an ounce of their good looks! Sadly, this is just my client. Instead of sharing a gene pool we share projects and contracts.”

Why It Works: Show me a person who doesn’t like a compliment and I will show you a world-class fibber! First-class flattery isn’t dead as long as it is done in a sincere (and not creepy!) way. Whether it is complimenting someone on a new suit or haircut, going back to business basics is never out of style.

Just remember that at the end of the day, it is best to always be true to yourself. Brittany and I don’t try to pile on makeup or add enough hair spray to make us look older. We just put all of our focus on the most important thing: our work! Clients care that the work we put in front of them is creative and dynamic, and not about how many wrinkle lines they can make out on our foreheads.

Kim Kaupe is the co-founder of ‘ZinePak, a custom publication company that creates engaging fan packages for entertainers, brands, and celebrities. She graduated with a BA in Marketing from The University of Florida in 2008 and roots loyally for her Gators. Most recently, she and her business partner Brittany Hodak were named to Advertising Age’s 40 Under 40 List for 2013.

The Wildly Successful Marketing Secrets of Startups

Typically, startups are lean, with a limited supply of money, talent, and time, meaning they don’t have resources to throw around willy-nilly. While this can induce panicky feelings for a lot of business owners, the upside is that it automatically forces burgeoning startups to wield the resources they do have sharply and intelligently.

This balancing act can get a bit tricky when it comes to marketing, because the internet has enabled an absolutely ludicrous array of options, opinions, and ideas to spring up. Get a website up! Contact investors! Use Pinterest! Start a YouTube channel! It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer scope of modern marketing and completely lose your head.

But focus! There are simple rules to keep in mind to craft the best marketing plan possible that fits your business. Any company’s product or service is built around a specific target audience, right? No matter how long your company’s been around or how much money it brings in, make sure your marketing is specifically targeted to your demographic as well, or it will flounder. While keeping in mind that your approach should be tailored to suit your audience, use these tips to make your marketing the best it can be!

Follow Mint’s Shining Example

Mint, a personal financial management service started in 2006, was built around the young professional demographic their chief marketer, Noah Kegan, thought was being neglected, and they aimed their content marketing accordingly with huge success. Behold, their secrets…Quality Content

Take a look at their MintLife blog yourself, and tell me if you don’t get sucked in by their entertaining, oh-so-easy-on-the-eyes infographics, and their friendly, direct, and helpful writing. Mint made sure to only engage quality writers and illustrators, both in-house and freelance. A lot of companies trip themselves up by going for quantity over quality and turning off many potential customers with low-grade content.

Remember that while quality content marketing may be a long game, it yields undeniable results.

Variety of Content

Knowing well how to appeal to their customer base of young internet-savvy professionals, Mint uses a variety of media to engage and hold their interest. Their blog doesn’t have just articles, but also videos, infographics, and slideshows, which keeps their site fresh and a pleasure to share with others.

Social Channels

To build up trust, Mint spread their content out to well-known social channels like Digg and Reddit and even more commendably, did it well. For the uninitiated, these social sharing sites can be tricky to navigate and come out the other end with positive feedback, especially Reddit. Mint managed to pull it off by genuinely engaging with readers of both sites. (Hint:don’t be spammy.)

Metrics

Mint also relentlessly used carefully selected metrics to track the reactions to their content, and then used that knowledge to pursue what was working and drop what wasn’t. This means they were constantly improving on what they’d done before.

But don’t make the mistake of thinking the benefits of quality content marketing is a one-way street. Content marketing benefits your company hugely as well, by allowing you to engage intelligently and consistently with your community, and make sure you are always thinking about next steps to self-improve and evolve.

Quality content marketing is infectious. Heck, sometimes I’ll sign up for a service I might not even use, just because of how appreciative I am for that company’s content. Simply signing up for their service makes me more likely to be a paying customer in the future or pass along word of it to others who may convert to profitable users themselves. The same principle applies to the pricing of e-books which (at an average of $3-4) sell for drastically cheaper than paper books. Why is that? Even if customers don’t actually read the book, the low price means they don’t have much to lose in purchasing it, and just the simple act of acquisition means you are more likely to spread the word to other potential customers.

Be Creative

Don’t limit yourself in the terms of how you interact with your user base. In a sea of businesses and other startups jockeying for recognition, why should they choose you? Stand out (in a good way) and your audience will be delighted with and appreciate your extra effort.

Be Thoughtful

Consider your future courses of action carefully. Letting your ideas incubate and then acting accordingly will benefit you much more than trying out new fads at random. Having a smart team with similar values and a solid grasp on what’s important to your company’s growth really helps with this.

Be Aggressive

Don’t be afraid to really put yourself out there. You have a lot of competition, after all, and you won’t reach your goals by being passive in your efforts.

Always Fine-tune

Pursue strategies that have proven results and prune out what isn’t working. This will keep your company a solid marketing foundation to build off of and keep operations efficient.

In the end, it simply comes down to being a valued resource, which means being trusted, reliable, smart, entertaining, and helpful.

Christine Beuhler is a regular contributor to Markerly’s blog. Markerly is a content agency that connects your brand to influencers.